DAY TWO

I had ordered a room service breakfast for 10:00 so, after a fitful 4 hours sleep or so I was back up. Made the card – room for two. Split the €30 Blind Omaha (sold percentages to Dave Kingston and Phantom Lord – idiot that I am) and decided to buy – in to the €300 game. Well, I didn’t reckon I would last long in the main event and Mike was happy to let me do it – though on some level you could argue that it was pure degeneracy on my part.

That kicked off about 3 and I was sat at a table with Smurph’s Martin to my left and Dave Kingston to my right. The table also included Noel Hayes (BCB on boards) and a couple of Northern lads. It was a pretty tough table. And I was playing well. Apart from a bad hand with Noel where I paid him off down to the turn with 99 before I eventually realised on the river that he had KK and not AK as I had assumed, I was on fire. Bluffed Dave off a decent pot and sent him on uber tilt when I showed him a pair as opposed to what he presumed was a straight (he was gone in 10 minutes after blowing a gasket with 7d3d), and made a fecking brilliant call against a late arrival from Dublin in a big pot after I correctly deduced that my bottom pair was good on a Board with completed flush and straight possibilities. Then, after a raise and re – raise pre – flop I found JJ on the button and laid it down after correctly deducing that the second guy (Colin) had me beat (he won a monster pot with AA against a man of less faith than I). By the time the main event started I had worked my way up to 13,500 chips. Something nice to come back to then thought I.

Main Event re – draw had put me at a table with Paddy Tobin and a couple of big stacks including Paul Higgins two to my left. My strategy was simple – GAMBLE. Any pair, any suited picture holding would be enough to push on if I could get in the pot first and I would go on any two if folded to me in late position. First hand I find 55 UTG. Nice one. All In. Folded around to the big blind – an English guy with a decent stack. He deliberates for a couple of minutes before passing 66 face – up. WTF? I duly show my 55 and he isn’t too happy. How can you pass 66 there? Folded to him in the small blind and he pushes blind. I look down at A3 and decide that is more than good enough against two random cards. He flips over Q3 and I stand up to be back in it. A few hands later there is a raise, my new English friend pushes and I find AK. Decide to chance it and push while declaring, “Gamble all – in”. First guy folds and English guy flips AK. My oh my. I steal a nice little multi way pot by pushing on the river and representing three nines. Paul Higgins folds what I presume is a weak K to give me the pot. So, up to 21,000 when I find KK in mid position. Folded to me. I raise to 3,000. Paul makes it 9,000 and I push. After a couple of minutes he calls with QQ. I stand up to be on 43,000 and very much back in the tournament. Come on.

There is no question that the above section amounted to my slice of unbelievable good fortune. Two mistakes by a player lets me back in and I get it in on the good end of a big pair versus big pair collision. That is lucky as far as I am concerned. Blessed, you might say.

I get moved to a new table and find Marq sitting to my left. I also find AA not soon after. There is an EP raise, I re – raise and when he pushes I call for all my chips. He tables AK and I stand up to vault up to 83,000 chips. I can’t quite believe what is happening and realise that I am a bit wired after what has gone down in the last hour so I decide to revisit my €300 stack and blow off some steam. Find I still have a lot of chips and just stick them in blind repeatedly. Lose one, and then win a couple in a row including a wonderful runner - runner straight suckout by J3 against KK. Our table turns into a riot for 10 minutes before Barry eventually busts me when his K10 outdraws my 94. Then, it was back to more pressing business.

The Hand

Some Northern dude with about 115,000 chips is now sitting two to my left. I have 80,000. I pick up AA second to act. Paul Lecky folds and I make it 5,000. Marq folds, Northern guy calls. Everyone else mucks. Flop 10 – 5 – 3 rainbow (Pot 12400). This is a brilliant flop for me. I decide to get tricky and overbet the pot in the hope of disguising my hand, firing 15,000 at it. The guy thinks and for a few moments before min – raising me to 30,000. The little guy in my head starts tap dancing. I quickly work things out. I rule out all two pair possibilities as 53, 103, 105 cannot call my raise pre – flop. The only thing I should be worried about is a set, most likely of fives or tens. I soon rule either out as I reckon a set will most likely call my overbet. I just don’t believe that he would make the min – raise with such a strong holding. If he is tricky, he might push in the hopes that I have an overpair and to disguise his own hand but I can’t figure he will re – raise the minimum. It looks most likely that he has A10. So I can call his min – raise as I am miles ahead, but if I’m right I am less likely to get paid on the turn, particularly if a J, Q or K fall. So, I push.

He doesn’t call instantly which means he doesn’t have the set or an outlandish two – pair. He starts grilling me and indicates that he is “going to have to call my bluff with AK”. I tell him that I will show him if he folds and that if he has A10 he should pass as it is no good. He starts blatantly asking me if I have AK. Then telling me I have AK. I just reiterate that I will show if he lays down. After about five minutes I shut up and just stare back. There is nothing left to say. Tony Baitson (flushdraw) later noted to me that he reckoned I was speech playing him into folding. There was a part of me that would have been happy with a fold as the 35,000 profit in the middle was great value and I suppose I hated the thoughts of him sucking out with a freak 10 on the turn or river. It’s very difficult to explain – I wanted a call, but would have been happy with a fold even though I knew I was an 85% - 15% favourite.

After convincing himself that I have AK he calls and I immediately flip over AA. He has Q10 of clubs. Turn and River blank and I soar over the 160,000-chip barrier. Marq has to help me stack them up, as I have never had such an amount in front of me (and am particularly incompetent handling chips anyway it must be said). The guy who has donated notes that “they are only on loan”. Pfft.

I steal a little pot and bust Paul Lecky when he pushes in on the SB after it is folded. I find A10 and figure it crushes his short stack range. He tables Q10 and at the dinner break I have 180,000 chips. Pure madness.

HELL (Lock – up)

After the Dinner break Andy Black replaces my departed benefactor, and that leaves me with two exceptional players to my immediate left. Then on Andy’s left there is a mad local gamblor who is willing to stick it in with small pairs or any two picture cards. This makes him quite difficult to deal with, as he won’t lay down his blind easily, calling raises with all sorts of mad stuff – and then hitting every flop. Marq and Andy are in good shape – Marq having made a brilliant and brave call in the last level with top pair to double up off an aggressive Northen player named Sean who overplayed a flush draw. Over the next three hours I gradually lose ground. Simply put, I am intimidated by the position I find myself in. Rather than seizing the day I am worried about losing it all. I go card dead, but that really isn’t a valid excuse for how badly I am playing. The table is getting much tougher as Connor Doyle gets moved over and I am failing to find good steal opportunities. I double Mr Doyle up after I raise to 6,000 with A – J in early position. Connor has 32,000 in the small blind and re – pops me to 20,000. Now that bet should set off alarm bells in my head. But recent confrontations with Conor in the Jackpot are clouding my judgement. For some reason I reckon he is at it and re – raise to stick him in. I actually think I am ahead when I do this – he tables a well-played QQ, and I should never pay him. Stupid.

I win one good three – way pot with myself, Marq and Andy. I limp on the button with A9. Two lads check. Blinds are 1,500 – 3,000 I think. Board ends up showing two pair 5 – 5 – 10 – 10 – x. On the river Marq bets 7,000, Andy calls instantly and I make the overcall. Marq mistakenly thought his 4 –2 was 5-2 while Andy was playing a high card J – my A was good. This was given suspicious looks by the two boys but I only called because I thought I was ahead – figuring the first one in would take a stab with nothing and that Andy could make the call with a K or A. I was confident that I was at least splitting the pot and felt the overcall was fine. Now, Marq actually thought he did have a 5 so I misread the intentions behind the bet, but I was happy enough with the logic behind my call.

However, that hand was but a brief halt to my path down a slippery slope. I was little more than a spectator. First watching Marq cripple Andy after the great one blew a fuse and chose the worst possible time to bluff. Then watching Connor Doyle get upset with the mad play of gamblor, go on tilt and get it all in with 66 versus JJ. Lucky Doyle caught four spades on the board to match the 6 of spades in his hand. He immediately notes that he is only going to play gamblor until has him busted, a feat he would eventually achieve when the tournament had 18 left. Oscar arrived short –stacked (as usual). Oscar plays very patient and will generally have something when he sticks his chips in unless he can find a very specific situation to make a move (which is probably more often than I give him credit for). He wasn’t at the table long when he open pushed from UTG with what he later said was KK. I found 1010 but made the fold without too much trouble. Soon however, Oscar was gone, Andy was gone and Marc won a race against one of the English players at the table that had been playing a very patient and solid game. So it was final two tables time and I was down to about 120,000 chips with 18 left and the blinds at 2,500 / 5,000. Treading water was the correct term for what I was doing. It was announced that we would play down to 15, the first paying position at €1,500.

I had avoided tangling with Marq in a big pot for a full six hours. However, with him now as chip leader we got involved after a short spell at the new table. I found 88 in early position and made it 15,000 to go. He was the only caller. The flop came x –x –9. He checked, I bet 15,000. He called. The pot was now big enough that my tournament was on the line and I knew that he had caught the nine. I also had a strong feeling that I couldn’t get rid of him so I checked behind on the turn and folded to his value bet on the river. He showed the nine and took it down while asking me if I had 88. Well-done Marq. Feck. I was now done to 85,000 and didn’t really know where I was. The last break of the night was called and I struggled to regain some composure. At this point I didn’t think that I could push through the bubble. Rounders 123 was short stacked to my right as was Eoghan Lyons and Niall to my immediate left. There were a couple on the other table aswell, but all I could think about was the ground I had lost. When my previous table had broken Connor Doyle had come up to me and told me to keep my cool, that I was nearly there. I guess it was obvious that I hadn’t got out of first gear since dinner and was floundering in the business end of a big tournament.


HIT IN THE FACE BY THE DECK (PART TWO)

I needn’t have worried, for Lady luck was about to favour me yet again. A few minutes in after the break. I find QQ in the SB I think (not sure). Paul Higgins raises to 25,000 in early position, it comes back to me and I stick the tank in (80,000 or so). After a dwell and some whispered maths Paul calls me with 99. I hold out to get my second double up in a day off him. A wave of relief crashed over me. I was fine now. Plenty of chips to get across the line with. Aidan and I played a slightly interesting pot when he raised in the small blind after it was folded to him. I found 77 and started wondering if a push could knock him off. I asked Aidan how much he had behind, and got him counting aloud and moving his chips before he realised what I was at and shut up shop. He had given me enough however for me to figure that the remaining 76,000 (“is that the right amount Aidan?”lol) chips in his possession would go over the line if I raised. So I mucked without showing and he flashed 1010.

And soon enough, that was it. Connor Doyle inflicted hurt on the other table taking out two of the bubble boys in races against underpairs. Darragh was the bubble boy after his brave call with 77 was undone by Doyle’s runner, runner straight to the Queen. Play was over. I had made the money in my first major tournament and had a playable stack of 152,000 to come back to. I had played awful poker with the chip lead and had started the day with no expectation so it felt very much like a bonus to be still in there with a shout.

We got back to the Bar with a desperate thirst and started flooring drink into us. Had an interesting chat with Ollie and Tony; Tony asked me if I felt I could win – I informed him that the final table was the absolute limit of my ambitions. Anyway, at 04:30 I walked back into the Bar after chatting with various people outside. The lads had lined up about 50 bottles of beer on two tables. I automatically picked two up and started chatting to Aenghus while slugging away. Thankfully, sense prevailed after about 30 seconds and I realised that I wasn’t far off an all – nighter. I put the beer down, said my goodbyes and headed to bed. Exhausted but happy.

I am teh win!!

Success!! Glorious and unexpected success. In short, my luck held for the last two days of a spectacular tournament to give me my first noteworthy tournament victory. I had said in my last update last Friday that I would need to not get unlucky to do well. I didn't. I got an incredible stroke of good fortune at the start of day two and, from then on, never got my entire tournament on the line without being a big statistical favorite - and held up every time. I would rather be lucky than good though - right?

Now this is going to be long. I will write about day one here in this first section. It will probably be the most boring section to read about but has real significance for me as the difference in how I felt on Friday night to Saturday night is something I will never forget. Also, I may get the minute details of some hands wrong. Please forgive me for my brain does try hard.

Day One

My first decision of the weekend happened to be an excellent one. Taking the day off work after four days of stressful overtime was most definitely + EV. I had a good lie in and a relaxed breakfast and gradually felt my way into the day. Jeff (DIT Poker on Boards) was dealing on the Friday night along with a couple of good friends of mine (Richie and Anto). It was a relief to not have to worry about trains and taxis. It was also nice to have a couple of mates to chat with on the way up. We went for an unnecessarily indulgent Eddie Rockets, played some Pro Evo as the lane (my Play Station incantation is an even dodgier goalkeeper than me...!!) and watched the Final Table of last summers Tournament of Champions. It was funny watching Andy Black blowing a gasket on TV (more of him later) - and Mike Sexton is one hell of a bloody player.

Got to the Hotel, registered and checked in. Gathered my thoughts and found Aenghus, Paddy Tobin and one of the Mayfair (Aenghus' card club in Arklow) regulars having a pint in the bar. I was horrendously nervous so I figured a pint or two would be a good idea. Those two rushed off to the tournament area and, like a clever fox, I moved over to Ehsan, Eoin Olin and Len to have another couple. It was with (rather well concealed) shock that I greeted late arrival Niall O'Callaghan's news that the tournament had started. Here was I boozing in the bar at 20:30, with the biggest tournament of my life going on in another part of the hotel. Sigh.

I eventually arrived to find the tournament a couple of hands in. It was really dark in the poker room for reasons unknown to me at the time (apparently a slide show had taken place). First table - not too bad. Brendan Walls and Adam Smith were the only two players I recognized. Brendan has been running very well and was off the back of an impressive result in Singapore. I was in seat three though, and he wasn't such an immediate factor for me from seat 7 (when I had excellent position, he would be OOP and vice versa). Seat two had what turned out be a very tight player - he played premium hands quite well but it was easy enough to figure out where I was with him. The two players to my left seemed slightly nervous, though there was a younger guy in four who gradually found his way into things and would be playing quite well by the fourth level. Seat eight had an older Northern lad - "Junior". He was a dangerous, aggressive opponent. he was very active early on, played position well and was fighting hard for every chip he put in the pot. One of Nicky Power's lads was in nine. I assumed that he would be very aggressive as Nicky had commented on this feature of the Waterford lads not so long ago on Boards. he played quite slow however, and I would be happy enough to know where I was with him.

While playing my first few hands Jeff wandered up catching me unawares. He shoved €50 in my pocket and noted that he had 5 percent of me. Sure Jeff. Sucker.

I started badly it must be said. I was getting involved OOP, was getting outplayed on the later streets and wasn't planning my hands well. I was all over the place to be honest and missing every flop I saw wasn't helping. A few minutes into the second level and I was down to 11,500 chips. I think I might of stolen a small pot before finally doing something well. I was dealt J7 (the magic J7!!) on the button. There were a couple of early position limpers including Adam Smith (seat 1). He had been active early on and seemed to have quite a range. He had bullied me off a pot about 20 mins in and was firing bullets on the later streets. The flop came A - 7 - 3 with two diamonds. It was checked around to me and I gave a free card. Turn was an offsuit eight and it was checked around to Smith who bet 400 (pot 500 on turn). I had a feeling that he wasn't that strong and I had position so I called. The river was another non - diamond eight. Only Smith and I were left. He bet 1000. Mmmm. I had promised that I would think things through in this tournament, so I didn't make the obvious insta - muck. I began to analyse the situation. If he has an A on a two diamond flop he should bet, right? I though he might check an 8 on the end as he likes to be tricky. I began thinking my seven was good. Call. He stops and taps the table and I flip over my rubbish pair, rubbish kicker. Oh boy. He wasn't happy about that I can tell you. He starts making faces and sweats me by re - examining his cards for about 40 seconds before discarding them without showing. He along with Junior at the other end of the table started sniggering and making sly comments that read: THIS MAN IS A FISH. Grand so said I. But inside my head there was a little man who was clenching his fist and telling me that I had every right to be here. First break I was back to 14,000 - which wasn't bad considering that I had struggled early doors.

15,000 would become some sort of Everest for me over the next couple of hours. I would get up a bit and sink back down. I played a bad hand against Junior when I went against my internal logic and paid off his two pair on the turn with pocket 77, and then failed to bluff the completed flush when he checked to me on the river. Got back up a small bit and found AhAd on the small blind. Limper, raise to 700, I make it 2000. Small Blind deliberates for a few seconds before re - popping me to 7,000. YIPPEE!!!! Folded back around to me and I go AAAwwww IIInnn. He insta - calls and turns over two Black Aces. FFS. It is funny what effect this has on you. I was pretty card dead and in need of a boost. When he re - raised me I thought KK and double up time. Instead, all I got was a measly 300 chips. Boo!!

However, I was murdering poor Adam Smith. 88 in early position. He limps, I make it 650. Flop is A - K - 4 (2 hearts). He checks, I bet 1100. He calls. River is a dangerous off - suit 10, lol. He checks and I fire 3000 into the pot. He clearly doesn't like that, but I figure he can't call with what I presume is a flush draw or weak A. He mucks. I'm feeling good. Over 15,000 at the second break and Joe "the show" gets moved to the table. We are both wearing DIT poker hoodies which is good for a laugh or two (considering we have absolutely no affiliation to the place - we're sponsored like!!). Joe is heavily involved as usual and gets very lucky in a pot to keep him alive. Bob Battersby then gets moved to our table and a heavily debated pot (between Jeff and Anto that is) takes place. I get JJ in mid position. Folded to me and I make it 1600 (blinds 200 - 400). Short stack in five after being unlucky to Joe shoves in for 3600 (grand). Bob (who has a huge tank over 40,000) flat calls. Oh - no. In that spot, I would have thought that a flat call from 75% of players in the field would mean an absolute monster. He knows I have raised, and he still flat calls. Now, as pointed out on Boards - against Bob I should have insta - shoved. Simple as. If I was unsure about where I was I should still have seen a flop given the monster odds, as it would probably have been checked to the end anyway. However, I decided I needed a set to beat Bob and folded. Made the mistake of showing it too (I'm a muppet). Short - stack shows KK and Bob shows 88. Flop comes J - 6 - 6 to roars of derision from Joe.

I get moved table soon after to find Andy Black to my immediate left at a table that has a few big tanks and a recently relocated Adam Smith (excellent for me that) at the other end. In my head I was thinking that I had thrown away my chance to accumulate chips and get into this thing. I am all at sea so to speak. I have a terrible hour. I try to chop around in a few pots without any success. With blinds at 300 - 600 in the cut - off I find A - Js in the cutoff after it is folded round and raise to 2,000. Blind is that of a tough Dublin player named John (not sure of surname). He thinks for quite a while before putting out enough chips to stick me in (11,500). I am in a place at this point where I could just throw it all away. And I want to. He is the kind of player capable of a move. I nearly call, I really do. However that little guy wags his finger and reminds me that we didn't come to this thing to go out calling behind. I'm not sure so I fold. He doesn't show but was to tell me at the dinner break on the Saturday that he had A - K. At the final break I am left with just over 8,000 chips. I am feeling slightly ill and very hard done by. Head back to the Hotel room to try and pull myself together. Decide that I am not going down without a fight. Lets go.

I come out firing and start open pushing to take blinds. Get up to 11,000 or so. Make it 2,500 on Adam Smith's blind with 44. He calls. The two of us see a flop of 5-5-k. He checks, I check. Turn is a 10. I know he is going to bet and I know that I am going to push. Its a simple game really. He bets 3,500 and I push my remaining 8,500 in after a slight hesitation. He dwells for a long time but finds a fold declaring that "a King is no good there is it?". I tell him it isn’t while mucking. So, 25 minutes after being dead I'm up to 19,000 chips - my chip high of the tournament. Andy has taken a couple of hits and has 8,100 chips left. I find AQ UTG plus 2. Make it 2,500. Andy insta - pushes behind me. Folded back around. I decide his range his big and that he either has a weak A or a small pair. Eventually I find a call and he turns over A9o. I tap the table only to see a powerful ugly 9 appear on the flop. AAAAaaaaaaGGGGGGhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Within a half an hour Andy has 45,000 chips in front of him as he tries to convince me that it was a race: "I had 3 outs five times - and that’s not counting the straight or flush draws". FFS. I am slinking out of this tournament and decide to take something out of it by chatting to the great one for a few minutes about the psychology of poker. Andy Black is quite a character it must be said. Slightly bonkers but really interesting. Aenghus is briefly moved to my right and says that he is having a tough night before we are broken up (he will exit when he gets it in 1010 vs. AA pre - flop). I shake Andy's head and note that it was a pleasure. And it was, in a manner of speaking.

Moved to a table that has monster stacks 10 minutes into the 500 - 1,000 level. Brendan Walls is briefly to my left before he is unluckily busted by Leonard from the Fitz after cleverly getting himself in the middle with AA against QQ. Q on the flop. Sick. Kevin Fitzpatrick is two to my right, while Willow is short - stacked and referring to me as "Mark" for some unknown reason. Nice fella Kevin.

I have 8,000 chips and am pushing or folding. It is hard though as the table is quite active and aggressive and doesn’t want to feed the Bear (me). I open push with anything half - decent if folded to me late but get no action. And I am so card dead, that I never find a hand to make a stand with in my blinds or when there has been a raise or a couple of limpers. I open push with KK (the one hand I find) in early position and get no action. The day is wrapping up fast though as play will end with either 63 left or the end of the eight level. In the end, 63 comes first and I am left utterly dejected on 5,700 chips. It really is a case of what might have been. I played the JJ hand all wrong and threw away a good spot to get chips. I eventually found some rhythm and was about to get 28,000 chips infront of me when Andy had the temerity to suck - out. However, I tried to look on the positives. I made some good moves on Adam Smith. I didn't see much in the way of starting hands or "you complete me" flops. I was still there. Two weeks earlier after a Lane match, Stephen McClean had told me that just being there on the second day was good. At 5:30 on Saturday morning - I couldn't have disagreed more.

Back to the hotel and it was impossible to get a drink or a sandwich. Why wouldn't a hotel take advantage of idiot poker players with more money than sense? When anyone asked how I am doing I referred to myself as "on a life-support machine with full ventilator". I got to my bed hungry and depressed, and fell asleep to the HOH section on how to play "Red zone M" poker (M of 1 - 5 - mine would be under four).

The Road to Mecca...

Or Drogheda as it may be known by some.

The Green Joker Poker Main Event starts this evening. I am excited and nervous. Quite simply, I have never played an event of this structure and prizepool before. 15,000 starting stack, 1 hour levels - no running ante at any point. Wow.

I have played a few deepish stack events over the past six weeks. The Fitz €500 twice, the SE €200 twice and the GJP Drogheda €250 game. I have cashed in none of these events. However, progress is definately being made. In the last update on this blog I concentrated on my exit hand from the SE Boards game, where I blew a gasket and donated my stack to Reggie. That tourney had come a week after my first attempt at the Fitz €500 (I don't like the term monkey - so there!!). I had got intimitaded by the structure and some of the opposition and ended up playing a terrible Tight weak game on the night. I would bet too much pre - flop, give up too easily off the flop and completely bottle it on the later streets. I was not planning my hands, and I was not playing the opposition. Moreover, I gave up on the night too easily - disheartened by huge stacks when I still had an M of over 10. In the end I just went in blind and headed down to the SE to win my entry fee back. I achieved that, but it was hardly a successful night.

My second attempt at the Fitz game over the EPT weekend was somewhat of a turning point. I played extremely well against some top opposition despite having no cards or luck all night. I also had had the pleasure of watching Dave O' Callaghan go to work at my table for most of the night in a tournament he would go on to win. I ended up finishing an extremely dissapointing 10th after taking two horrible beats in pots that would have put me back in it.

I would like to think that my very best, focused and disciplined poker could approach the money in this tournament. However, I can't afford to make any mistakes and my lack of experience at this level will just have to be gotten over. I will give it my best and write a full report on the weekends play here - though if I bubble I will probably not want to...!!