Playing The Nuts

Last night I played in a small tournament. Nothing odd about that, except that this was face-to-face rather than online!

It was my first experience of The Nuts Poker League ("As Seen On TV" - on Dragons' Den). If you're in the UK and fancy some friendly poker with no money involved than you might want to check it out.

No money? That's right. The Nuts is a league system, much like a darts or table footy pub league. The game is a simple no-limit Hold 'Em knock out and points are awarded depending on final position. Points are tallied up quarterly - and what do points mean? Well, initially a seat at the regional finals, then potentially the national championship. There's even talk (not confirmed on the website) of the ultimate winner getting a seat at the World Series.

The advantage of playing for points (apart from being legal!) is that it costs nothing to play. Nothing. I was sceptical about this, expecting some hidden charge like a sign-up fee, but there really is no catch. The league is supported by the pubs, who are basically paying to get people through their doors on quiet nights. A win-win setup.

The game last night had just over 20 players of varying degrees of skill. The organiser did a good job of making sure that everyone was comfortable with the game and he even acted as drinks waiter for us!

How did I do? Went out on the bubble at position nine with the top eight going to the final table and the points. Which I don't think is too bad considering that a) the best cards I was dealt all night were 8-8 and b) the woman on my left played lots of starting hands and frequently managed to hit the flop.

I'll definitely be going back.

Labels: nuts, poker, uk