If someone mentions a poker tournament, an English pub is rarely the venue you imagine.
Nick Eastwood, who goes by Eastyyy22, told the tale of his first-ever pub poker tournament win in South London. The story will make any live poker player appreciate the relatively tame casinos they visit.
Nick told the tale while streaming on 888poker.
A Pub Poker Tournament in South London
I went to play this pub tournament in South London. It was a private game in a members club. My girlfriend invited me and asked if I wanted to come. It was a £20 freezeout in a private members club with about 25 to 30 people, and I was like, "No, I don't want to come. It sounds awful." I'd have to drive down there, and it was a freeze-out, so if you bust early, you're done. These pub tournament formats are typically super aggressive, so there's a very real chance I could have lost first hand. You start with about 50, 60, or 70 big blinds or something.
Anyway, I get there and meet up with her and we walk past this geezer [a British term for an elderly man] who's walking towards the members club, and she said, "That's the guy that runs the game." He looks like a bit of a knob, and she goes, "He's a [British expletive]." I went, "Oh, really?" I mean, you know, I'm sure a lot of people say that about others, and they don't end up being that bad.
I ended up on this geezer's table, and he is a giga-[British expletive], like, absolute asshole. Every hand, he was telling people what they should do. He was atrocious, by the way. My girlfriend was also at my table, and he asked, "Has this guy played before?" She replied, "No, he's new." I went, "Yeah, it's one of my first times." He responded, "All right, okay," and then was trying to say a bunch of stuff about every hand. He would just talk a load of nonsense about each spot. He was really loud and abrasive, super full of himself.
Educating the New Player (The Wrong Way)
Then this girl, who was new to the game, played a hand where someone shoved out of turn. Instead of betting the minimum so she could see the river, she thought she had to go all in or fold. No one explained this to her. She went all-in, thinking she had to match the all-in because they'd gone out of turn. After she did that, she lost to top set with two pair.
The guy goes, "You know, what you've done there, it's a learning curve. What you should have done is just bet one big blind, and then he couldn't have raised. The other person would have just done that as well. Yeah, what you've done there is... you won't do it again now that you've learned that. But yeah, that's what you should have done. Now you're out, so there's nothing you can do about it. Those are the rules, unfortunately. I couldn't have told you in the hand because it wouldn't be fair."
He just wouldn't shut up for about two minutes, saying the same thing over and over again to her. She's literally sitting there with no idea what's going on. Can you imagine knowing that rule when you're completely new to the game? I was thinking, "F*** this guy, man."
Slowly Getting Under the Villian's Skin
It was a £5 bounty as well – £20 buy-in and £5 bounty. Basically, if you knock someone out, you get a fiver [a £5 bill]. Anyway, he knocks someone out and starts talking about how well he's playing. He's like, "You got a fiver? Got a fiver, by the way?" They obviously have to give the fiver over. He takes the fiver, knocks someone else out, and he's just stacking his chips like this, really loud, saying, "Got a fiver? Got a fiver? Have you?" I'm like, "F*** this guy, please let me stack him." He's got all the chips as well, and I'm short.
Anyway, he plays this hand where he's got on a board or something. It's a bricky board with no flush completion. He snap-checks back the river because he thinks it's a four-flush with top two pair. I said, "Mate, how have you not value bet that? There's £10 in the pot." He's like, "Oh, f***ing hell! I thought that Seven of Hearts was a Seven of Diamonds. I thought it was a four-flush. Going to lose to a f***ing four-flush." I replied, "Oh, it's just a learning curve, isn't it, mate? It's a learning curve. You've got to learn how to read the board, haven't you?" He f***ing hated it.
From that point on, he was all over me.
I was min-raising because obviously, the blinds are so high. He's like, "Oh, what's all this f***ing min-raising?" I min-raised on this big blind and he goes, "I'm just going to f***ing call everything, aren't I? Because I can't fold anything. I've already got £800 out there. Well, I... there's not anything f***ing hands I'm going to fold."
He defends and then just snap-folds on the flop. He's like, "Oh, it's only £800 anyway. Stupid raise size. What am I going to do against that?"
The Final Table with £220 for 1st
"So we get to the final table, and I've got quite a few chips. I won a few flips on the second table, which is not like me. Anyway, I'm at the final table, I've got the chip lead, and he's second in chips. We get down to the final four, and he's shoving all-in, going, "Oh yeah, you know I'm doing this because of that. Oh, you shouldn't have done that. Oh, you've only got this left. You should be in there. You've got to start risking it. Got to start f***ing taking a risk." He's telling everyone what they should do.
This guy is one of the worst players I've ever seen, by the way. One of the worst players I've ever seen, and I was like, "Just please let me stack him." The other two players have got nothing. They've got no chips, zero, nada. We're talking, you know, less than 10 big blinds.
I jam the button with , and he's in the big blind. He's got like half of my chips. The other two have got like 2 to 5 big blinds, max. Anyway, I shove, and he goes, "Oh f***, I've got to call. Call"'
"He's got . I'm thinking this is the worst call ever because obviously, we've got two people that are going out, and the payouts are £40, £60, £110, and £220. So it's obviously just a giga punt, like an ICM problem.
It's self-dealt, so I've got the deck, and I'm like, "Please, dealer." I say to him, "Good luck." Nothing. He's just staring at the board. I make a point of it and hold the deck, and I go, "Good luck, mate." Nothing. Just staring at the board. I went, "Right, here we go then."
Flop's a . I'm like, "Oh, please." Turn's a brick, and then I shit you not, guys, the river – I've got the river in my hand, it's not even hit the board. I've seen it's a brick, and I've gone, "Got a fiver?" and laid it down. He's gone, "F***ing hell! Hang on a minute, mate! Jesus! F***ing hell!" I'm like, "Have you got a fiver?" He's stropping around and throws the payouts at the table. He's like, "You sort it out," and throws my fiver at me.
Then I knock the next two people out, and I said, "Don't worry guys, you buy yourself a drink." I wanted it to feed back to him that I didn't take their bounties. I'd snap-asked for his bounty, but I'd let the others off just to piss him off even more. At the end, I shook his hand and said, "Thanks very much for the game." He couldn't even look me in the eye. So I don't think I'll be getting invited back, which was kind of the idea. It was very, very enjoyable, I have to say."
"When I asked him for that fiver and I knocked him out, we took it down for £220. I swapped half with my girlfriend, so there was a bit of a waste of time, but I had a much better time than I thought I was going to have at a sober pub game.
Oh, another amazing moment on the final table. Six left, and there are five paid. He goes, "Right guys," he goes, "F***ing, right guys, we're on the button." And I went, "Do you mean on the bubble?" He goes, "Oh yeah, f***. Oh yeah, the f***ing bubble, whatever, whatever."
What a knob."