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.