Rock and Roll

The last time I was this nervous (and felt this out of my depth) was back in November 1999. I was 15 and playing in the semi – final of the Leinster U21’s Hockey cup. I had only been playing the game for a couple of years, and was having to psyche myself up to face drag flicks from the likes of Justin Sheriff (a guy who was an Irish International at that stage and has since gone on to amass a rake of caps and play the game at the highest levels possible). I “bluffed” my way through the first half so to speak, we were on top. Second half the pressure came on and I bottled it big style; we lost 6 – 3.

The experience proved beneficial though. We came back the next year and won the competition with me a much more solid presence behind the defence; I went on to play the game adequately before I left it behind a couple of years ago.

My point? Feeling out of your depth in an activity will happen to everyone at some point. You can do one of two things. You can avoid the challenge and stay in your comfort zone or you can embrace whatever it is that faces you, do your best and analyse where you went wrong when it is over – and come back new and improved the next time.

As such, I am going to go out today and give it a go. I can’t do much else really. The Irish Open will begin in four and a half hours with the biggest starting field ever assembled in the history of European Poker. The field will be filled with a mixture of some of the most proven and experienced professional players in the game; a bunch of chancy degenerate gamblers and rubbish online qualifiers with little or no deep stack live experience; and then the likes of me – solid club players who can be good or awful depending on the day that is in it.

Since I last updated this blog I have been running worse than I actually thought was possible. I have been getting cold cards, been getting outdrawn constantly when I get in ahead – and as a result have had no results worth talking about. I am down a bit of money on the year so far, and my confidence is not where it needs to be for an event like this. If we could have played this last December when I felt invincible and was pulling good results left, right and centre I would fancy myself to be there pushing for the final table on day three. That seems a long time ago however.

Day one in this event is about survival. That is what I did in Drogheda. I hung in past some awful stuff there. Came back the second day and was rewarded with some spots – and went on to profit. At the IPC I turned up unprepared, in the wrong mindset – and was gone after 5 hours. The structure today has been much criticised on boards, and such criticism is warranted in my opinion. 10,000 chips and one hour levels sounds good, but if you consider the following you will see that there are two levels missing – leaving a savage jump before the last level of the day:

25 / 50
50 / 100
100 / 200
150 / 300
150 / 300 / 25
200 / 400 / 25
300 / 600 / 50
400 / 800 / 50
600 / 1200 / 100

Thus, you need to find chips in the first three hours or you will be in a spot of bother as you move to the end of the day.

Preparation

I am writing this from the comfortable surroundings of a hotel room in the Fitzwillam on Stephens green. I went in to register last night (bedlam) and quickly got out of there, escaping to a nearby bar for a couple of quiet pints with a good friend of mine. I got nine hours sleep last night (the most I have got in some time) and I feel rested and ready. I have been mentally running this event over in my mind for the last few weeks. I feel up for it and focused. I have taken criticism on the board over the past few months for my behaviour at the table. Well so what.

I thrive on adrenaline – when I am pumped up I play better. This seems counter – intuitive to many of the internet cash players or those that have been on the scene longer than me. But people forget that everyone is different. If I am there pumping the fist, tapping the table and wearing the highs and lows on my sleeve I am probably playing my best poker. Watch guys like Matusow and Hellmuth. If they are sounding off, it just shows that they have checked in mentally on that particular day. They care. They don’t want to lose. The best Hockey games I ever played I would be a raging terror – I thrive on getting worked up. When I do something well and feel in control of a situation I tend to show it. It just means I am in the zone and feeling it. So feck off if you don’t like it – I’ll buy you a beer after.

What people sometimes forget in a tournament like this is that you may very well play every street perfectly and be out after five hours. Every bet, every check, every call, every fold may be optimal – and you are still on the rail. When you play your best in a tournament like this you increase your odds of winning what is essentially a lottery – you maximize your chance of passing through the minefield unscathed. That is what I am aiming to do.

Let’s rock.