All in.

I moved away from Birmingham recently. I'd sorted a job out already so I didn't have that to worry about but I was planted basically in the middle of a new planet. Whilst I wouldn't say that I left behind an active social life, I did leave a handful of people behind whose time I really valued. But Skype exists so that's okay. When I was at University, my spare time was taken up by things that required you to be a student to get involved with so my hobbies were non-existent once I graduated. It was time to start anew.

In search for a new hobby, I thought about what would be affordable, given that my job barely sustains me let alone all the debt I have to sort out, and I had a look at what I was already interested in. I already love running but at the moment I'm not good enough, or confident enough, to justify joining a club - though it is on the to-do list for the near future. And simply continuing solitary running wouldn't push me to meet new people. Being fascinated by Victoria Coren and her love of, and success in, poker, I thought I'd emerge from the world of online and found myself doing alright in a friendly game in The Endeavour last night.

Poker is a very interesting game in that beforehand all players are friendly, banterous and welcoming but during play one would expect them to draw a line and simply concentrate. That's certainly what I intended to do. I didn't win anything, in the end, and called an all-in stupidly when I was in the top three chips-wise in the first round. Stupid, stupid move.

It'll take me a while to be able to maintain a winning streak without getting a little carried away, I reckon, because I'm an open book. I will always remember my high school drama teacher telling an awful joke on a theatre trip coach one evening and giggling in my direction a few seconds after. The joke didn't tickle her, it was my reaction. I wasn't aware that I'd twitched even at all but apparently there was significant disgust on show. Whoops. Thankfully she had an excellent sense of humour and was used to it. She then went on to influence one of my biggest life decisions and I followed in her footsteps with exactly the same course at exactly the same University. But that's a different matter altogether.

So my first attempt at real life poker with a timed tournament was not a terrible one. Discounting the few months of friendly games between flatmates in first year, now I know what it's like to play in person rather than behind a screen. Will I be returning next week? Probably. Got my membership card, have to use it now!