Last night the intrepid UK QuirkStars played in the inaugural Econsultancy poker tournament, appropriately named The Digital Nuts.  A field of 50 industry folk gathered at The Loose Cannon poker club for the tournament; each player hoping to prove himself (unfortunately there was a lack of ladies at the tournament) the Doyle Brunson of the London geek scene. For those poker fans out there, the tournament was a dealer dealt, no limit Texas Hold 'em affair with a £30 buy in and the option to top-up or rebuy within the first hour. After the first hour (and a snack break), we switched to a freeze out (ie. no further buy ins), with the blinds rising every 15 minutes. 

Quirk was represented by Jon "The Rat" Ratcliffe, Carlos "Yak Milker" Menezes and myself. The rest of the players came from other agencies, were clients, Econsultancy and a few ringers. The game was aggressive from the start, with many players taking advantage of the rebuys within the first 30 minutes.  The QuirkStars' strategy was to keep our heads down, and try to let the other players knock each other out.  Tournament poker, unlike a cash game, is all about survival, so we were playing tight and hoping to save our energy and aggression for the end.  

This strategy proved largely effective, with both Carlos and I making the final table - Jon unfortunately went out earlier, having his trip aces cracked by a lucky straight.  The final table proved to be a blood bath, with massive blinds pushing the players to a new level of aggression.  As I entered it with the shortest chip stack, I was forced to take a gamble and go all in pre flop on a pair Jacks, and was called by the other short stack with ace queen. This proved to be a decisive hand, with my jacks standing up, allowing me to double through.  Meanwhile, Yak Milker Menezes was playing solid poker, knocking out three of the remaining six players - a sneaky, slow-played trip ace which saw the chip leader losing most of his stack was probably Carlos' best hand.  The tournament ended with Carlos and I 'heads up' against each other, which only lasted to two hands - the final hand seeing my ace eight holding up against his king eight. So against all the odds, the Quirk team managed to place first and second (defeating some 48 players), and walk out with a healthy prize.

Winning and money aside, we had an awesome evening and met a lot of cool people. A big thanks are due to Chris and his team at Econsultancy for organising - we can't wait for the next one. Based on the fun we had last night, we are keen to organise a regular Geek Poker game at our offices in London Bridge, so anybody who is keen to play should drop me an email.

Poker Evening Kickoff.

The Winner in Action.

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