Pounding the Table with my Fist

2008-03-20T23:00:00.003Z

PLAYING THE IRISH OPEN

What it says on the tin basically. After much deliberation and internal debate I finally decided that my recent form and current confidence in my game; allied to the size of the competition and the huge value that it represents - meant that I simply couldn't sit it out.

I spent €510 in trying to qualify unsuccessfully, and the sticker price of €4500 is beyond my bankroll at the moment on account of my decision to quit my job and spend the next while traveling (more of that in a later entry). However, a solution was reached when I managed to agree a deal with an investor which allows me to enter the tournament for a price that is bankroll comfortable for me. I have no intention of naming my backer or discussing the terms. Suffice to say that I will play the tournament for 50% of any prize money I may be awarded.

My reservations about this tournament will be well known to anyone who has read my posts on boards. Last year I was a little starry eyed about the entire affair. To be honest, this time around I'm more weather beaten and feeling wiser to the whole thing. I'll be taking my seat tomorrow at 2pm with the mindset that this is simply another poker tournament. I'll do my best. We'll see what happens.

I have promised my backer a detailed trip report of my participation in the event so you can expect that to appear here next week at some point (I HAVE to do it this time). In the first week of April I'll stick up a more general catch up type entry and briefly talk about my deep run in the GJP European deepstack championships back in February.

Hopefully I'll run well tomorrow. Good luck.

2007-11-26T22:12:00.000Z

THE WINNERS ENCLOSURE (Again, finally)

Ok, 41st in the IPO for €410. Got angle shot on my exit hand. That was annoying.

Out after three hours or so in the ME in Waterford after I get it in with Ac9c on a QcAh2c flop in a 18k pot at the start of the 100 / 200 level against Connor Doyle. He calls with 2s3s for my shove of 7.4k after some of the most unusual speech play ever. 2d on the river. lol. Such a sick, sick man.

Then finish 12 of 118 in the €250 side event for a paltry €400 after a grueling 14 hrs of play. But that was ALL my fault after I misplayed three hands in a row to go from comfortable stack to out.

After all of that I was undecided on whether to bother with the €1k in the SE. Made the decision on the Thursday and headed in to pay though - cause I have teh sickness.

Didn't seem like such a good decision after play finished on Friday mind. I ended day one with 14.5k after one of the most horrible days of tournament poker ever. Basically, David Callaghen is better at poker than me. It was a frightening experience to be on a table with a truly world class player who was going after me and kicking the balls off me. But tournaments are a skill game obv; and my squeeze shove with 6d9d beating his AdQd AIPF in a 40BB pot was just one of the numerous beats he took on his way out of the tournament. Being the best player don't mean a whole lot sometimes in donkaments - despite the fantastic structure in the SE.

Anywho, I turn up on day two with a positive attitude and double up on the third hand. Declan open limps in mp. I limp KsJs in the CO. Button and both blinds come along. Flop has 3.4k in it already and comes down Qs9s3x. DING DING DING. Time to gambol. Declan leads for 2k and I make it 6k with 7.4k. He calls after a little thought. With Declan this is top pair a lot, so I figure myself for 15 clean outs and that he would most likely fold if the turn is an Ace. So, without looking at the turn I shove when he checks. He dwells for about 3 mins; gives me the immortal line that is "I think I'm behind..." before calling with Qd10d. However, I run good and river the 10s for a straight flush. Sweet. 30k.

A few hours later I'm on 80k, helped in part by some missed draw chasing to meaty flop and turn bets by the Canadian Danielle. Her whirlwind descent from 81k to busto in less than an hour of 300 / 600 / 50 was quite a spectacle it must be said. Later Frank Callaghan makes it 3700 or something (basically a bigger raise than it should be) when folded to him on the button at 400 / 800. I make it 13k with KK in the bb and hold versus his AQ to move to 100k. I take out Reggie Corrigan in a 15BB pot when he shoves over my open with AdQh. Obv, his AA never beats my Q on the flop; trips on the turn; one card nut flush on the river. Seemed like a nice fella.

Take my only step backwards on the day after a short stacked Cormac shoves his small blind when folded to him. As the hand is being dealt I ask him if he is open pushing the top 70% into me. He chuckles and agrees. Sooo, when he shoves I make the insta call with A2o and lose to his Q3o. lolz.

But that setback is righted when I make it 3500 with 89o second to act and a guy playing 45 - 50k calls next to act. Heads up to the 885 with two hearts flop. DING DING DING. I lead for 5k. He thinks and calls. Turn 6. I make it 13.5k and he ships it after a little count. I call quick and beat his A5.

So we have like 140k and Michael Trimby is just settling into the seat on my right with 80k when he raises his button to 3900 at 600 / 1200 / 100. I call with 77 in the sb because we are deep and I have no idea what his range is; plus he is apparently a very tough player and playing a re raised pot OOP against him with no reads or gauge of his range is probably not ideal. Anyway, flop is 662 rainbow. I check. And he gives away his hand by saying "better check for that 6"; rechecking his cards and checking behind. Images of 56; 67; A6 flash through my head when Ursula turns a 7. DING DING DING. I lead for 8.5k. He thinks and makes it 21k. No need to slowplay here so I just wave the hand and go all - in. He snaps with 63. A 3 on the river comes just in case we don't like betting and raising monsters on the turn.

I take out the bubble boy (a decent PPP qualifier) when I win a race with AK > 1010 and end the day with a quarter of the chips in play at 265k.

Yesterday I just played patient and ground out chips. Didn't play particularly well and made a few mistakes. Missing value bets; calling a little too light sometimes; and making the most retarded preflop fold of KK ever. But I had the bigstack; the structure was great (90 min clock ftw); and unless I got horribly coolered or outdrawn my style of play and huge lead was always going to see me through to the business end.

And, as it was, Rob with 295k; Declan with 400k; and myself with 395k decided to chop it €16k each after Roy made an unfortunate error in a raise size preflop which committed him to doubling Rob up and crippling himself ( he lost A9<22 next hand). We left the remaining €1.7k for the dealers and that was that.

It feels good to be out of it for the year and seeing some profit (including online) on 2008. It is a relief to get big win number two out of the way exactly one year after GJP one. The reality is that I have played much better poker in other games this year - particularly last May during two days of ducking and diving in defense of my title which was to fall short on the bubble. But I ran well this weekend and got lucky never to get unlucky. That's tournament poker - an individual win will never be flawless or particularly significant in of itself. But do the right things often enough and you'll get there in the end. Hopefully people will shut up now and leave me to it. We'll see. Meanwhile, I'll chug along and aim to improve. I HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO AND LOADS OF LEAKS TO FIX.

GRIPES

For all the positive things about the poker room in the SE and all the great work John and Alex do - it must be noted that some things are simply not up to scratch. The 6pm - 6am opening hours are not sufficient. The lack of a regular kitchen sticks out like a sore thumb. And the catered food thrown up to us over the three days was abysmal at best. Roy and Peter Heslin having to duck out to Eddie Rockets for dinner is simply unacceptable. Compare that to the steak dinner we were treated to by Mike Lacey last year - and he was only charging a €70 reg.

John and Alex have their hands tied and would surely murder the competition if they were let bring their ideas to fruition by upper management.

2007-10-01T22:04:00.000+01:00

RUGBY : (

Let’s go back approximately 16 years to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4bn6StyxvU

That’s the closest an Irish team has ever come to the Semi – Finals of a rugby world cup. Stirring stuff eh (even with French commentary)? Of course, Australia rolled up their sleeves; put the head down – and went down the other end of the pitch from the restart to win the game. Because that’s what winning teams do. They win.

AN EIGHT YEAR CYCLE OUT AT SEA

Ultimately, Irish rugby has had many moments like Gordon Hamilton’s above try – small incidents of rebellion against that power which ultimately reigns all powerful over Irish sport on the world stage: the self defeating power of underachievement and failure. Eight years after the above game, an Irish team containing such willing - yet hopelessly limited - players like Tommy Tierney and Justin Bishop went down to a plucky and overachieving Argentinean side in Lens. Despite the Irish camping on their line for about 8 minutes before the ball went dead. Despite desperate phase and phase of picking and driving from the forwards, and despite the medieval tactic of the 15 man lineout: it was all to no avail and the blazers in the IRFU were jolted into the professional era – almost against their will.

Lens was undoubtedly a shockingly low point in Irish rugby history, but it should hardly have been unexpected. From 1991 to 1999 our international team was an absolute laughing stock. The likes of Geoghan and Galway were surrounded by players who defined the term “amateur athlete”. We beat England a couple of times of course (most famously when Geoghan barrelled over into the corner in Twickenham) – but such blips were vastly outnumbered by the times an Irish team would give a good 20 minutes before allowing the floodgates to open. Everything that stank about Irish rugby could be summed up by Nicky Poppelwell scoring a try against New Zealand in the 1995 world cup and celebrating by sticking up the fingers to the vastly superior opposition. Yeah, well done Nicky: Ireland went on to be trounced 43 – 19.

“THE GOLDEN GENERATION”

Professionalism was approved by the IRB in 1995. But it was not until the 1997 – 98 season that the provinces were allowed to contract full time players. The Irish team was packed with those that had headed over to the premiership to ply their trade. After Lens, the approach changed. Money was pumped into the provincial set up, and attitudes changed. Ireland went to Twickenham in February 2000 and had their arse handed to them 50 – 18. That was Justin Bishop’s last game for Ireland. Two weeks later Hickie was recalled; O’ Gara and Stringer started their first full International at half – back; O’ Driscoll came in as the “golden generation” took their first steps. We beat France in Paris for the first time since 1972. Then in April, Munster went to Toulouse and stuck it to them like only Munster could in a performance filled with passion, desire and no little skill – exemplified by Hayes’s finish of magnificent multi – phase team try that wrapped the victory up.

Inexplicably, Gatland was replaced by O’ Sullivan in November 2001. While it was probably undeserved, progress continued. And so we settled into six years of being competitive. The Grand Slam was close, but always out of reach. Surely next year we thought? Argentina was edged past in the 2003 world cup. We all enjoyed a great performance against the hosts – the highpoint being O’ Driscoll’s brave try. And it didn’t seem so bad that we never turned up against France in the quarter final – the future looked bright. England was beaten in Twickenham on the occasion of their triumphant homecoming as World Champions in 2004. And then was beaten the next three years in a row for good measure. At times we played wonderful rugby and looked really fucking special. On the provincial front, Munster performed the miracle matches. And eventually put it all together and won. Leinster could point to some scintillating performances away to Bath and Toulouse. 15 months ago we went down to New Zealand and should have won the first test; gave them a fright in the second. And the good times built up towards what we hoped would be a fitting crescendo as we hammered South Africa in the autumn internationals; and we kicked England around in Croke Park.

And yet? There was no Grand Slam. There was no Six Nations championship. Four attempts at New Zealand in six years yielded another four defeats. Munster, for all their courage and bravery, needed three cracks of the whip before they won the Heineken cup. They LOST the greatest European club match of all time against Wasps. Leinster LOST an eminently winnable semi – final against a half interested French outfit in 2003 – at Lansdowne road. While winning four straight games against England felt good – the reality was that English rugby spent the last four years mired in the doldrums. They waited two years too long to finally jettison the heroes of 2003; then spent the next two years playing every player and his brother in a frantic effort to rebuild. Yeah, we were competitive. Yeah, we played some nice rugby. But over the last six years this “golden generation” has done NOTHING that a previous Irish team hadn’t done.

What O’ Sullivan gambled on was the creation of a world – class 15 that could beat all comers. As opposed to reaching for squad depth over the past four years; he concentrated on identifying the first choice for every position – and giving them every chance to gel. The plan was that first 15 would arrive in France fit and in form. There was no plan B – but no – one really thought we would need it when plan A appeared so refined. And, despite some minor setbacks during the warm up games, they turned up fit. But in form? Not even a little bit.

O’ Sullivan noted in the RTE documentary on last year’s six nations campaign that had the agonising TMO decision in the France / Scotland game on Paddy’s day gone our way – Ireland would not have been a better team for it. We would be six nation’s champions sure, but that title would make no difference to the actual talent level of the team. Wise words indeed – but after the Irish team walked off the pitch in Rome, nothing has been right. The provinces went out of the Heineken cup with barely a whimper. A patchwork side were man handled by vastly superior hosts over two tests in Argentina. As much as we all wanted to put horrendous performances in the warm – up games against Scotland and Italy to one side as “blips”; the laboured performance against Namibia should not have been as much of a shock as it was.

The thing is this Irish team probably was not as good as it thought it was. And, no matter how good any rugby team may be in theory, when you don’t perform you just won’t be doing much at International level. During the Georgia game there was plenty of clapping and shouting – but the basics were not being executed to an acceptable standard. The passion was there against France, but every time something good happened and a platform was established – a lineout would be squandered; or a silly penalty conceded ala Wallace stepping on Chabal. And, despite the fact that the likes of O’ Gara, Darcy and Horan were wildly out of sorts – what could O’ Sullivan do? The plan was that O’ Gara would do what he had been doing for years in a green or red jersey (think Argentina at Lansdowne in 2004 or Leicester in Welford road in 2006). Paddy Wallace was not a real replacement – that wasn’t the way preparations had been carried out over the previous four years. As opposed to giving the necessary game time to Wallace at out – half; we were content to give him a run with the second string every so often. He doesn’t even play out – half for Ulster!! With the whole lot on the line against Argentina, there was some improvement. O’ Connell was furious in the loose. O’ Driscoll looked like the best player in the world at his position again. Hayes gave another solid performance. But overall there was no zing. No fluidity. No consistency. Kicks were overcooked; wrong options were taken; key lineout’s were disrupted; key catches were dropped (by the massively over hyped Murphy).

The reality is, as I have argued above, that our expectations may have been misplaced to some degree. Beating the hosts in Paris is not something Irish teams are good at. Argentina is a tough, professional and fiercely determined outfit. They carry an ever present chip on their shoulder over what they perceive as “second class citizen” treatment from the IRB. Beating them was never a given. And failure to top the group was always going to deliver us into the arms of New Zealand in the quarter finals. As such, a failure to progress beyond the group stages is not an unmitigated disaster in and of itself.

However, this Irish team has – to use one of the oft favoured clichés of it’s coach – “died wondering”. Even if the expectations of what could be achieved were somewhat unreasonable, the team failed to do everything in its powers to hit the high bars that were set in place over the past four years. That is unforgivable. And that is what frustrates and annoys. Yet again, an Irish team has buckled under the weight of anticipation and failed to perform. When ever the favourites tag is applied to Irish athletes, they squirm and squeal beneath it. What is different about this Irish team from previous failures is that they speak more eloquently about their shortcomings. They make losing neater and more of an art. They seem genuinely disappointed and hurt when they don’t do what they are supposed to do. Well fuck them.

GOING FORWARD – THE GRIM REALITY

There are now two choices:

1) We can persevere with the selection policies of the O’ Sullivan era for another 18 months or so. And hope that the “golden generation” finally does what it has long threatened by doing a Grand Slam in 2009 (when we will next have England and France at home). Let them have a last hurrah before we resign ourselves to the darkness of a painful rebuilding process.

2) Or we can rule out any player who is unlikely to make 2011 from future Ireland matches. Accept some heavy and painful defeats and sacrifice short term competitiveness in the hope of building a SQUAD who can compete in the next world cup; and maybe win the one after.

The unfortunate reality is that we cannot do both. Here’s something to think about: the players who will start for Ireland at key positions like out half and prop in our first game of RWC 2011 have probably never being involved in an Irish squad previously. O’ Gara will be 34; Horan and Hayes may not see too many more Irish squads before they retire from the international game. You can probably fit fullback, wing, and one of the second row positions in that same bracket. Paddy Wallace is 27, and has never bedded in at the out – half position for Ulster – because of the durability of Humphreys. It is extremely unlikely that he can morph into an international standard no. 10 at this stage of his career. As such, if we want to rebuild, we will need to gamble on the untried and untested. We will need to take chances and leaps of faith in potential and promise. This will hurt us on the scoreboard.

In all probability, no matter what is done going forward from this world cup – we will be unable to fashion a group of athletes who can realistically expect to win it all in four years time. We now must look forward to another uncertain eight year cycle. The club game has been left to rot over the past eight years as a trade off for provincial success. The majority of the successful U21 squad of three years ago has left the game behind. There is not an abundance of young talent straining at the leash for an opportunity to come through. It will be hard to manufacture the “golden generation” of tomorrow.

THE END OF AN ERA – A TIME FOR ASSESSMENT?

As I come towards the end of this rant, I realise that what really grinds my gears is the fact that despite all the talk, all the optimism, all the investment – we are in the exact same place as Lens eight years on. Eddie O’ Sullivan has overseen three quarters of that period. And while he cannot be blamed for all of the failings of this world cup (the players need to perform at the end of the day) – it should seem perfectly reasonable to every logical person that now would be the ideal time to reflect on where we are as a rugby nation; on what has been achieved in the O’ Sullivan era; and whether we think he is the man to take this team forward over the next four to eight years. Instead, the IRB in its infinite wisdom decided to deny them such an opportunity by extending his contract BEFORE this world cup began. In my humble opinion, a coach who had failed to win the six nations; do a grand slam; or reach a world cup semi final should have faced some hard questions from his employers at this point in time. And given that the core of this team will not be around in four years – it is not a time for a focus on continuity. We did not need to contemplate major rebuilding after 2003. Now that it is necessary, we should be wondering whether to go with a completely fresh approach.

Beware of the fancy talk we will hear over the course of the next six nations. There will be interviews where players stress how defeat will make them stronger. How they will aim to learn from this world cup. How we need to take two steps back to take one forward. That it all “goes in the pot”. Whatever is said over the coming years; whatever is done; and whoever gets to do it – the goal should be simple:

To not be where we are now in eight years time – a place we were in eight years ago. We need to aim for good performances and good results to be signs of real progress that take us forward - not for them to be nothing more than blips that tease us into believing that our sporting culture has changed. We need them to be more than meaningless acts of defiance.

2007-07-13T11:19:00.000+01:00

A RANT:

So I saw this in Muso’s Vegas blog:

“Time to cheer on the other Irish involved in the main event. Good Irish players whose names won't be known by ESPN. Because they don't throw tantrums when they have a bad beat. They don't berate players for bad play. They don't wave crappy shark card protectors in front of cameras. They can't afford to play all 50 or so events at the WSOP. One of them might end up being remembered - for the right reason. We can but hope. That’s a biased view of course but I'm just a little fed up of some of these so-called big name players. If it is a pro that wins it let it be a pro we can respect. A pro who doesn't think the sun shines out of his arse because he won some tournament a few years back and has been milking it ever since when in reality they just got sponsored because obnoxious sells.”

And it annoyed me. Any Irish poker players without the tank to go to Vegas or without the tank to enter many events cannot consider themselves unlucky. I wasn’t over there because I didn’t put the necessary time and money into ME qualifiers. If I had gone over without a ticket, I could personally afford travel, accommodation (three weeks max), ME entry, $5k in side tournaments – and then I would be poker busto. The fact that I haven’t got the kind of tank that would allow me to be there for seven weeks and play $100k worth of events is because I haven’t won that type of money. Because I am not good enough at poker to have won that sort of money. It is not a case of hard – luck, or not getting sponsored because I lack the requisite level of obnoxiousness – it is simply because I am not good enough.

From reading 2 + 2 over the past six weeks and the blogs of many of the young internet professionals over in Vegas really giving the tournaments a run (either through being good enough to convince a backer to pay 100% of entry fees // selling a lot of their action // being profitable enough to self stake themselves for whatever tournament and cash games they want to play) it is clear that if you are serious about the game – you should be seriously competing in the WSOP. The tournaments have big prize pools, big fields, big fish. While some of the structures for the smaller buy – in WSOP events are bad, those events are the most positive EV because they attract the worst players. The sit and go action and satellites at the Rio sound mind boggingly awful in terms of standard. So you need to be hitting these events hard. And before anyone starts muttering “lol donkaments” or starts babbling on about how real poker players play cash, etc – consider the fact that each WSOP event has been filled with high stakes cash game players (both live and online). In the eyes of the best poker players in the world, the events are just too soft and cannot be missed. The chance of a big score is too great to pass up.

Now Muso is correct when he says that some of the “TV pros” are noticeable for the wrong reasons – and many of them are far from being perfect, non – leak poker players. But it is not just the big known pros who are cashing left, right and centre – the Hendon mob database is filling up with previously unknown names of young 20 something’s who are graduating from the interweb. Yes, there is massive variance. Yes, not every bracelet winner or dude who made a final table from the past month and a half will be a great player. But it would be churlish to ignore the fact that good and great players are getting rewarded in Vegas. Guys over there getting sleep before playing, not fucking themselves up with alcohol and allowing themselves the greatest chance of success are getting paid. Padraig Parkinson threw a post up on boards complimenting the Irish contingent and noting how they had done themselves proud and weren’t “grim” like players from other nations. That’s nice and all, but the flag in Vegas is being carried by the likes of Alan Smurfitt and old war horses like Donnacha O’ Dea, Scott Grey and Padraig himself. The truly successful younger players like Halibut, Eoin Olin, Valor, Robin Lacey, NFR, KP etc, didn’t hone their skills and sharpen their fundamentals on the way up to where they are now by reading boards.

For all the Irish people playing a decent amount. For all of the guys taking time to post strategy on boards every day – there are very few that have reached the highest levels. And it ain’t something that we can put down to anything other than our own incompetence. Having success playing cards in Ireland doesn’t really amount to much at the end of the day. And not having a big enough tank to play tournaments you want to play is not the fault of ESPN or the big name pros. It lies squarely on your own shoulders.

Finally, there will be those who will read the above and argue that poker is supposed to be “fun”, or contend that they only play it for the “craic”. Whatever. It is a competitive game. And we keep score by how much we win. If I am not in Vegas at the moment it means that I have failed at poker over the past 12 months. Hopefully, the next 12 months will be different.

End vent.

OTHER THINGS:

I have half written a report on GJP 2. I may finish it and stick it up. I may not. It was massively disappointing to work hard for two days and just fall short of a cash finish.

I have decided to take a notebook with me to the next couple of tournaments I play and record key hands – so that I can make a detailed record and start reviewing things more closely. I’m not playing very well at the moment and am down a bit on the year. July – November is the period of the year that I am not as busy in work and I should be playing less tired and distracted. Therefore, it seems the right time to really focus on my game.

I’m thinking that I will play the JP game this Sunday (expect funny looks from the pub players when I am scribbling in a notebook, lol) and record all significant hands and write out one of those really boring hand history type trip reports with thought processes, etc. It will be boring to write and read – but should prove beneficial.

2007-04-06T12:01:00.000+01:00

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.

2007-01-25T22:08:00.000Z

Getting the Year Started

First big win of the year out of the way and, hopefully, I can firmly consign the debacle of the IPC to the dustbin of the past. Or something.

The win in question involved me securing my passage to the 2007 Irish Open at the first attempt via a €100 one rebuy or top - up satellite at the Emporium. The long and the short of it is that I played terrible poker till the break, found a few hands immediately upon the resumption of play and got doubled up through Dave Masters. From then on I just played a very steady and conservative game, arriving at the final table with 10BBs. And I just hung in there, did some things right and kept my composure as we neared the ticket bubble. Finally, after over seven hours of play I was one of the three remaining players from the initial 68 starters. The other two qualifiers were Dacman and DocO of Boards. DocO, or Donal, is a cracking bloke and excellent player. I expect him to do well in the actual event itself. Further details of what went down can be found in this thread on Boards:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055044369

This is a huge result for me. It represents a notional profit of €3,300 - but is a much more significant result than the simple figures involved. On Easter Thursday of last year I was playing a €20 freezeout in the Merrion, gawping up at the big Board listing the entries for the main event. A few of the visiting pros were slumming in the tourney for the craic, and there was a real buzz about the place. On the Sunday I wandered over to the event to rail the main event itself for a while. I remember getting a real buzz from simply being in the venue. The set up was obviously amazing and seeing that amount of good players in the one place was fascinating. I was gawping at the surroundings while wondering if I would ever get to that level. This year I will be there as part of the main event itself - and will be competing in my third big Irish tourney in succesion.

To put my progress more bluntly, last year I played a qualifier for the €300 side event at the open. I failed misreably in the event run by Jeff, and couldn't actually justify buying in directly to that sidegame. How times have changed...

And so we roll onto the National Student Championship this weekend. Stephen McClean has put a massive amount of work into this and I am sure that it will live up to his own high expectations. For €70 we will be treated to 10,000 chips, 45 minute levels and the blind and ante structure employed at last year's World Series Main Event. The field will be mixed - a lot of bad players, a lot of tight ABC players, and then a few truly talented players. A lot of people I know will be playing, and a lot of trash has been talked. Therefore, pride is at stake and I will be aiming to go deep - despite the small stake involved. I will stick a report of my (hopefully extended) involvement here.

Adios Baby:

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v210155NMPJteSG;jsessionid=B6EA867A4FB0CEEF769A543DCD5538BD

Poker before the Internet: I don't gamble either Noel!!

2007-01-08T12:01:00.000Z

A Bad Weekend

Bad weekend at the IPC. First off the financial implications:

Mega Satellite: 300 + 30
ME SnG 2 ticket satellite: 300 + 20
750 SnG 2 ticket satellite: 175
Dealer tips: 140
“Media” SnG (see donkfest): 50

Total outlay: 1015

Minus 350 for luckboxing the aforementioned donkfest equals a total cost of 665 for a truly depressing two days of poker. Oh well.

Thursday: Mega Satellite

Arrived for this and quickly realised that the room was full of good players milling about the place. Structure was better than expected – 6,000 starting with 30 min blinds and every level included (running ante from 150 / 300). Top 20% of the field was to get tickets meaning that there would be 27 qualifiers and 800 cash for the bubble. I put my game face on and settled down for a slog…

…Only to exit after 40 mins!! Table had a couple of tough players including the Scandie who finished second in the 750, Walter who split the Fitz 500 a few weeks back and Matt Tyler to my immediate left. Pre – flop action was heavy and most hands were won before or on the flop with no cards shown.

I played two hands in anger before I was chucked out. Hand 1, I find KK UTG + 2, weakest player at the table limps (any Ace / K, any two suited – really awful player), I make it 350 as we are still in first level, folded back around to the dude who calls. I watch him look at the flop. I reckon he has hit – confirmed as he reaches for a 500 chip. I am heartbroken to see an A – 5 – 3 board. Stew for 30 seconds before mucking. He flips over A3 offsuit. Bah. Tap the table and say “good hand sir”.

Hand 2, I have 5,300 remaining. Scandie dude raises to 550 third to act (second level now). I find QQ on the button. Repop to 1600. He thinks, rechecks, and asks me how much I have left before deciding to call. Flop (3350) is 5d5h4d. He checks. Good flop for me. Reckon I am ahead and that he has a weaker pair or AK. The pair could call an all – in whereas I am happy for the AK to feck off (it is a satellite) so I tank it for my remaining 3700. He insta – calls and shows a cleverly played AA. Fair enough. The guy outplayed me and deserved my chips.

SnG No. 1

So, I decide to give a sit and go a shot and resolve not to play the main event if I fail(I would be paying 2150 – automatic bad value). Sit down at a table that includes a few of the English lads, Lam Trinh (more on him later) and Phillip Baker. Do a few things right and manage to get three handed second in chips to Lam and one of the English pros. Get it all in against the short stack with 99 vs A9 and am discombobulated to see and A on the river. Recover to sneak in when I make a call with A3 after Lam open pushes on the button with 74. A on the flop quells the drama. We had been three handed for 35 mins and I was happy enough with the way I kept my cool to push through.

Friday: Main Event

Long, stressful day in work behind me, I managed to get home and change and make it to Citywest in the space of 30 mins. Not exactly ideally prepared, I was dismayed to find myself at a table that included Brendan McKenna, Dave Masters, Eddie “the Eagle” Kavanagh, Trevor McGoona, Vinnie “Longlad” and a really awful calling station qualifier. I was dismayed for a couple of reasons. One, I was hoping to get a couple of big names at my table as I was in on the cheap and liked the idea of playing somebody not on the regular circuit. Two, the table would hurt me if I saw no cards as you will find it difficult to get Brendan and Eddie to lay down hands and Dave would be a concern as he had good position on me.

I lasted five hours. Got 77 four hands in on my BB. It was raised to 225 by the guy second to act. I called, and had to check / fold an Akx flop. Card dead for the rest of the first level. Found AJclubs third to act at start of level 2, raised to 400 and was called by the rubbish qualifier. 9c84 flop with two spades. He checks and I bet 700. He thinks and calls. Q of spades on the turn. Check, check. Another 8 on the river and he checks. I reckon I’m done with this one and check behind. He shows Kc8c. Meh.

Won a small pot when I completed my small blind with K5. The flop brought a K and two clubs. Checked around and we saw a 5 on the turn. I bet the pot and Trevor called. As the button was thinking, one of the bad dealers turned over the river (Qc). Hated that card. I made it look as if I was annoyed and was reluctant for the card to be reshuffled in and a new river dealt. I now knew that Trevor wasn’t on the flush but the button was. Donal was called over and the table informed of the procedure. Button realised his flush was less likely and he folded. New river is a red A and I make a weak half pot bet hoping that Trevor will figure me for an annoyed missed flush. However, he passed. I reckon a non – Ace would have given me some value.

Got to the first break with 6900. I had bled off some chips to Eddie when I raised in early position with KQ and he called in the small blind. He checked dark and I followed suit on an AQx rainbow board. He checked a turn that put two to a flush out. I bet the pot of 800 and he minraised me. That’s a fold against Eddie. Other than that, I had just missed flops everytime I was forced to call on the small blind or button when given huge odds and had found nothing to get dramatic with.

Back from the break, I make an opportunistic steal of a late returning blind. Raise in early position with A9 and get a continuation bet through against one caller on a K high flop. And then that was it. Nothing to play, I couldn’t hit a flop when able to complete. My image was rock like – so I could steal once every other round from earlyish position as everyone would have to put me as mega strong. But this was a risky business and I couldn’t find a way to accumulate chips. Vinnie was eventually busted (he played some good poker including savage laydown and was quite unlucky in spots) and replaced with Lam Trinh. Lam came over with a big stack of 25,000 or so. He was quiet for a few hands but then got busy. Very busy. He was raising about 6 or 7 of 10 hands during the 150 / 300 level. Always for 850 pre – flop. He would follow through on all streets and was forced to show A8 and Q10 – however he also won a couple of decent pots and showed KK once.

My exit. Last five minutes of the 150 / 300 level. I get 99 on the button – best hand of the day. I am on 7300 chips. Lam makes it 850 from early position. I figured his range was huge and that I was most likely ahead. I was therefore willing to go to the bat with the hand if necessary. So, I repopped to 3200. If he wanted it in pre – flop that was fine by me, if he wanted to go away then that was good also – given that there was now 1300 in the pot. I reckoned that if he laid down it would signal that he should stay away from me – leave my blinds alone etc. I was sticking half my stack in and hadn’t really played a hand since he moved over to the table.

He called. Wasn’t expecting that. Board came 7 – 5 – 2 with two to a flush. I had decided that he would stick me in on any flop. He did as I expected. I made a quick call. He had JJ and my tournament was over. Ho hum. Lam would finish day one as chip leader, and be up to 250k a few hours into day two before bluffing away his stack. He played hyper – aggressive at all times. I guess the thing is that when a guy like that gets a hand he gets paid off.

I was furious with my exit. I have position on the guy – I should call. Putting in half my stack there is real donkish. I’m making it so he can only play with a range of hands that beats the crap out of 99. If I call, I would still have lost money on that board – but I would be giving myself an opportunity to get away – or some fold equity if I re – raised the flop. I had never gone through five hours at a table with such a run of cards and I was frustrated from being unable to get anything going. Tired from a full day at work – it was hard to keep patient and convince myself that it was a marathon, not a sprint. This all contributed to my exit – but it just isn’t good enough at that level to go out like that.

SnG No. 2

Joined the antesup updating team for a while and was convinced to play a SnG qualifier for the 750 by Donal O’ Connor (former SE dealer – DocO on Boards). I was only too happy to do this, as, within three hours of my exit, I was nicely beered up. We joined a table that had Paddy McClosky, Eddie “the Eagle” Kavanagh (busted despite amassing 27,000 chips in the first three hours), MD Wexford of Boards and Brendan Walls.

Again I did a couple of things right and found myself three handed with Eddie and Donal. Got Eddie over the line when he was shortstacked after he pushed on the button with 33 into my big blind and I found AA.

Ace on the flop. 3 on the turn. 3 on the river.

Pretty shaken after that but clung in to secure a ticket along with Donal after we managed to edge Eddie out.

Saturday: 750 sidegame

The structure for this was awful for a buyin of this level. 4 x 25 min levels // running ante in from level 5 which reverted to a 40 min clock // 8,000 starting chips. I would never have paid in directly.

Starting table tough. A couple of English pros, Mick McClosky, Brendan Walls and a good TAG German player. I chipped up to 10,500 before I got QQ UTG in the 75 / 150 level. Raised to 700 and an English player to my immediate left called. He had been calling me frequently and trying to play me off pots. I was getting the better of him thus far however – and he was down to his last 4500. The flop was low and raggy. I led out for 1500, fully convinced I was ahead. He deliberated for a second or two before tossing the rest in. I’m always calling – he always has AA. I was lucky he didn’t have more chips I suppose, but it was just a sign that things were not going my way.

At the break I had 6300. I came back to 150 / 300 / 25 so had to start finding steals. Managed to maintain my chipstack throughout the level despite going terminally card dead again. First few minutes of the 200 / 400 level I find AA in the Small blind. Finally!! Folded all the way around to me. The big blind had only just joined the table and goes: “I’m getting a walk here right?” I raise of course, and he wastes two minutes of everyone’s time with a stupid dwell up before folding. Bah.

A steal in the cutoff is snapped off and I am down to 5300 when I find 22 third to act. There is 825 in the pot pre – flop at this level. I have only shown down two hands up to this point: QQ and a suited Ace a few hands in to the first level which held up after some checking following my bet of an A high flop. My image must therefore be tight. The big blind is some old guy with a beard who is as loose as they come. He has been at the table since the break so will have seen me do little for about an hour. He has been calling with all sorts of mad stuff – I figure he will call a standard raise and I will hate every flop. So I push.

Folded to the old guy. He thinks for a few moments. Rechecks. Asks for a count (he has 8000 chips by the way). Reluctantly puts in his chips after a further minute or so of dwelling. Does he have a bigger pair? I won’t cry if I see overcards. He waits on the dealer to count chips and prepare his change. I show my ducks. He pauses. Rechecks. Finally flips over KK. Slowrolling cunt. It’s not big. It’s not clever folks. Why do they do it? I had maintained a fairly pleasant demeanour at the table and certaintly didn’t do anything out of order. Fucking sick.

Updating, Boozing and Luckboxing

So I spent the rest of the night helping with the updates. I luckboxed a mad €50 sit and go which included Lacey, Pat O’ Callaghan, Jen and Snoopy from Blonde Poker and Big City Banker. Beat Snoopy heads up when I:

Got it in with K3 on a KQ9 board. He had Q9. I turned a 3 (Mr Pillow Talk told me to ship it).

Got it in pre – flop with J10 versus Snoopy’s AA after he raised the button (Mr Pillow Talk looked at me as if I was from the planet “aquarium” when I shipped it). J on the flop. 10 on the river.

Rather be lucky than good right?

Random Observations

The updating is tough. I don’t think I will ever enjoy watching the business end of a big one after being there myself before. How Tom, Mike, Jen and Adam do it on a regular basis is beyond me.

Slowrolling cunts deserve to die. The sooner that kind of behaviour is eliminated from the game the better.

Smurph fully deserved her final table and would have gone all the way with a bit of luck. Great performance from a great player.

Eoin Olin will get a big result this year.

Ollie Boyce made a great point on the Friday that work and good poker don’t mix. You can’t expect to play your best when tired and stressed out from a long day at work. Next time I play one of these big events I will have to have a day off before. It really helped in Drogheda looking back and, although I was in on the cheap for this one, I may have done better if I was rested and properly focused. If you don’t give yourself every opportunity to play well you can’t be too disappointed when you don’t.

Oh, and - apparantly I rock at sit and goes!!

2006-12-13T01:09:00.000Z

The Final Day

So, woke up after three hours sleep for day three. Had another good breakfast. However, I was tired. I felt shattered. Not a kind of tiredness where you could simply go back to sleep mind - but rather a general grogginess at the back of my thoughts. But, the reality was that I wasn't getting anymore sleep and it was simply time to get on with the biggest day of my relatively short poker career (can I call it a career?).

I did a fair bit of walking around between the hotel and cardroom during the lead up to a 2pm kickoff; interspersed with some chatting in the lobby. I was really nervous - though I was doing my best not to show it. I eventually settled in the cardroom about 15 mins before kick - off and headed to the back to sit down and get my head straight. Mick McClosky wandered over with notepad and pen in tow and started asking a few questions; I obliged him with details of my miracolous recovery during day two.

I was starting back to a stack of 152, 000. Blinds would be 4,000 / 8,000 for about 35 mins. That left me quite comfortable. I was given the added benefit of the table with 8 - a definate advantage. My seating draw was also extremely beneficial. I had two short stacks to my left - Eoghan Lyons and Niall; followed by Stewart Dobbins who was probably a bit too tight (Paddy Tobin had noted this to me). Marq then followed. He was the big threat at the table - but was far enough away for me to try and stay out of his way. Eugene Hanratty, Paddy Tobin and Rounders then made up the three players to my right. Eoghan and Niall were dangerous players but, as they were shortstacks, I couldn't really complain.

Things moved fast early on without me being involved. Marq doubled Niall up before knocking Eoghan and Aidan out when he found QQ vs Eoghan's open push onto his blind with J9, and called Aidan's re - raise all in with 66 with AK - finding an A on the flop (Rounders was an idiot for changing out of the Rugby jersey!!). As the room began to fill up with punters for the 200 game - a crowd began to gather around the two tables. I won't lie - it was a nice buzz to be at the final two tables of a big event. This is where I wanted to be.

The real good news was that I had begun much better than I had finished the previous day. I was able to pick on Stewart's blinds six handed, and was getting the better of Paddy in the blind on blind confronations following Aidan's demise. Niall was causing me no end of trouble however. I would raise his blind if folded to me - he would push all - in. I would then limp if folded to me - he would push all - in. I was hoping for a hand to profit from this but it never arrived that afternoon. I eventually was forced to fold my rags everytime it got around to me. I wasn't happy about it but I was getting thoroughly outplayed by the the poet - as he warbled away to his walkman. Overall, I was holding my position despite being pretty card - dead. It was really stressful however, as every time you got involved in a pot your stack was at risk. The table was playing in such a way that there were very few flops being taken - raises were getting through or getting snapped off; and when a player got shortstacked they would automatically up their aggression levels and start open - pushing at every opportunity.

I made one very clever play on Marq. We were 13 handed with blinds at 5,000 / 10,000 when Olllie Boyce was all - in and called at the other table (he would exit on the hand). Marq had raised UTG to 30,000. I was on the button with about 130,000 chips total. I had 75o but quickly decided that this was a good time to make a play - and also that Marq didn't need a monster to raise. I wondered aloud about what was going on at the other table before repopping Marq All - In. He knew something was up, but after he began deliberations I figured he would eventually find a fold. After sweating me for a couple of minutes he mucked.

Bad Patch

We were now down to eleven. I was surviving but, with blinds at 5,000 / 10,000 my deviating stack of 130,000 - 150,000 was beginning to come under some pressure. This was ok if I could keep ducking and diving away from serious confrontation but, alas, in the space of one round of the table I was suddenly on 95,000 and in need of a hand. What happened? I lost a round of blinds - then Stewart found a hand to play back at my steal attempt. Two hands later I find AJ on the cutoff. This was a very good hand six handed and much better than some of the rubbish I had been stealing with so I raised Eugene's blind to 30,000. Upsettingly, he repopped me to 85,000. Balls. Now, up to this point I hadn't picked on Eugene much. He was playing a good game and had put in some nice resteals to build his stack - coupled with a double up against Paddy when he edged a race with AJ vs 1010 on the river. The table had been playing fairly aggressively pre - flop and I reckoned that he didn't need a big pair or Ace to play back at me. I gave myself time to think and studied a bit. Something told me that Eugene was happy with his hand and would get it in. Something told me I was beat. After three or four minutes I found a fold - Eugene showed me AQ. Well. I was now in trouble.

Paddy somehow made an emotional come - back from the dead to chip leader at the table after outflopping Marq when forced in blind immediately after losing the coinflip to Eugene (Marq made an excellent raise with K4 imo). He was playing a really brave and aggressive game and wasn't afraid to get his chips in the middle. I managed to hang in there for a while - but was now having to open push to steal blinds. And then - ladyluck delivered me the boots one more time. Paddy made it 45,000 UTG with the blinds now at 6,000 / 12,000 and I took my time and deliberated with the rockets before pushing back over the top for 101,000. Paddy was forced to make the call with 88 and we flipped over - me once again getting my stack in the middle with a massive statistical edge. I couldn't watch as the gallery converged on our table and quickly moved off to the side of the room - listening to Luke announcing the board from the background. I had no clue what was on that board except that I knew I had held up to be back in the tournament and in great shape to hit the final table. I let out a couple of roars and sat back down knowing that I had enough infront of me to get over one more obstacle. The final table was set 30 minutes later when Niall copped a bad beat against Eugene to exit in 11th - his QQ getting dogged by A9 with an A on the turn. And soon after Stewart was forced to stick his last few chips in with 2 - 4 and lost to Marq's Q7.

The Final Table

At the start of the day I had told myself that the key objective was to make the Final Table. If I could get that far anything might happen. Moreover, making the final table of a big tournament would be a big achievment in of itself. I had got there with 199,000 chips - which put me in fifth place as we sat back down. The majority of chips had been on the other table and Mick and Paul were in good shape. Eugene was the big chip leader though - and Connor Doyle had lost a lot of ground after taking some sick beats during the course of the afternoon. At the break we spoke out in the car park. He still seemed confident and motivated and I really thought that I wouldn't be able to get past him if we both got down to the last two or three.

It's a wierd thing, but I always manage to finish a few places above what my chip placing at the start of final tables would dictate. Fifth place represented a payout of 10,000. That would have amounted to my biggest tournament payout ever (infact, 8th place would have surpassed the previous high). In short, the stakes were high and every rung up the ladder would mean something to me.
I lost a round of blinds, got a steal through and then came back over the top of a Liam Barker raise to put me in a comfortable situation with about 240,000 chips. Then the madness started. In the space of 15 minutes Paul Higgins had stacked Connor on an absolutely sick flop when they were both in the blinds (A,6,K - Paul A6 // Connor K6). A few hands later Paul vaulted to over 1.1 million when Eugene stacked himself with TPTK on a board with completed straight and flush possibillities. Paul had actually made a straight flush and had played it well - betting on the flop and turn - but Eugene had moved all in far too quick for my liking.

30 mins later Paddy went out in a very funny hand. He was badly short stacked with blinds at 6,000 / 12,000 and pushed all - in when folded to him on the button. Brendan "the Badger" McKenna called instantly with JJ and Paddy bemoaned that Marq had his outs as he mucked 22 face - up!! Paddy had 23 and was gone despite false hope in the form of a 569 flop. About an hour later and Marq was gone when he open pushed with K9 into Mick who made a call with AQ and held up despite Marq getting a lot of outs on the turn. Marq had an outstanding tournament, is a real gentleman and was very unlucky to be card - dead on the last day.

We were now down to five and I had locked up 10,000. I had lost ground though. I was card - dead and had being subconciously avoiding getting involved as the carnage ensued. We were playing shorthanded at an aggressive table and I was just getting blinded away. To top everything else, I was tired and hungry and not focusing well. Mick McClosky inadvertantly got me back in it by insisting on a break at the end of the 8,000 / 16,000. He also showed his experience by suggesting that we avail of the restaurant in the Hotel as opposed to the catered slop that had been churned out to the players over the weekend. This eatery was nice. Really nice. The five remaining players along with Luke, Mike, Tom, Marq and Lilly (dealer from the Fitz) enjoyed a tasty and satisfying dinner at the expense of Green Joker Poker.

Wow. What a feeling it was eating a 30 EUR fillet steak and sipping a glass of decent wine in the knowledge that I was 10,000 EUR richer. My oh my, did it feel good. I was exhausted and burnt out, but I was filled with a real sense of achievment. I would be going back to 158,000 chips at the 10,000 / 20,000 level. I was very short and would need to start gambling my way back into contention. However, as dinner wore on I made a decision. I would go back up there and go for it. I would start pushing and look for a double up. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain and if it didn't work out, so what? I had already done myself proud and far exceeded any expectations I had coming back on day two.

Getting Stuck In

So we go back. First hand, Mick makes it 40,000 UTG. I find KQ. Brilliant - "I'm all in". Mick deliberates and eventually folds after I promise to show. He grimaces when I flip over, meaning he passed an Ace. I fold UTG next hand. On my blind there is a call and I push to take the pot down. Few hands later Mick again opens the pot with a raise and I push all in with A10. There is another dwell up before he passes. I then push UTG with 87 to take his blind, confidence now soaring. Mick has been hurt by these exchanges, and when Brendan open - pushes for 245,000 chips with KQ Mick announces that he is "making a stand" with 99. The flop misses before a K appears on the turn to raucous cheers from the local support. Mick is left with 90,000 and moves in the next hand. I look down at 77, immediately decide I crush the range of a tilted shortstack and push over the top. Mick shows an Ace and announces that he hasn't looked at the other one. It is a 4 and, despite a hairy flop and turn that brings some sick counterfeiting possibillities, my hand holds up to leave us with four.

I know have over 400,000 chips (wtf?) and am looking in good shape. There is some sparring and almost no flops before I find QQ on the button. The previous hand I had limped before folding to a minimum raise from Brendan on the BB that came after much mock pleading from me for the table "to play some poker". Liam has folded, and Brendan and I are still joking about the previous hand. MMmmm...I decide that this is the perfect time to get tricky so I limp on the button. Now, I am fully aware that open limping on the button is generally an awful play. Three handed it is just diabolical. To be honest, I don't think that I had limped into a pot more than two or three times over the last two days of the tournament. However, given the situation it just felt like the right thing to do with my big pair.

Brendan giggled (well about as much as a man of his build and demeanour can giggle) before limping also. Paul took a peek before shaking his head, and noting that we wouldn't be seeing any flops for cheap. He then repopped to 90,000. Funny what goes through the head at times like that. I was going all in on QQ. No question. I paused and played with my cards and looked at Paul, and then his stack - just like I had all weekend when pondering a decision. Then I announced I was all - in and moved the tank to the centre of the table. When he stopped and studied, I just knew that I was ahead. I leaned back in my chair and we just stared down for a few minutes. Eventually, I noted to Paul that he "had lovely eyes". It cracked the tension a bit, maybe made me look a bit nervous - I dunno. A couple of seconds later Paul made the call and sighed when I showed the ladies. He flipped AQ. Again I couldn't watch and walked around the cardroom. I had managed to put my tournament on the line as a big favourite on more time. But I had held up every time thus far and knew that I would inevitably get done at some point - why not now when it mattered the most? Somehow though, I dodged an Ace and won the pot.

Now, admittedly I did celebrate wildly after this hand and my behaviour after my big hands has been justly criticised by Tony and Marq on Boards. All I can say is that I never mean't my celebrations to goad my opponents or Lord it up in anyway. I was on a rollercoaster of adrenaline and emotion over the last two days and was playing under significant fatigue and stress. When you get your chips in the middle pre - flop, ahead or behind, the game no longer becomes a mental excercise or a game of skill. Your work is done. You cannot control it from there on. You can only hope that it works out. You simply become a supporter of yourself and your hand and, like it is when you are actively watching any sport, you desperately want a particular outcome. It is a massive relief when it arrives. A mixture of joy, anger and excitement. I need to work on this aspect of my game and reign in my emotions in such situations - and ultimately avoid the outpours of emotion.

The Finish Line

The tournament really did have an amazing structure and was run in a highly thoughtful and professional manner by Mike and Luke. They were clearly concerned about avoiding any resemblence to a crapshoot or any restrictions on good play. They offered the blinds to be maintained at 10,000 / 20,000 for another hour. Eventhough it was to the advantage of the two shorter stacks, I readily agreed. We were here to play the best poker possible after all.

Paul just couldn't recover from our collision. He doubled Liam up after losing a coinflip with 55 to A10, doubled Brendan up and then exited when he ran A5 into Liam's AJ on an A high flop. I owe my tournament to Paul in a way, as he was unfortunate to double me through three times during the last two days when he ran monsters into my mega - monsters. Watch out for him though guys - he is a really good player and I have a feeling that he will improve substantially as he moves more into live events.

That left three players. On my left I had Brendan. He was being roared on by the bystanders and was clearly having fun - so much so that he seemed to have little care risking his chips on draws or marginal hands. At Dinner, he had noted on the subject of pot odds that he "don't bother with them". Interesting. Then on my right I had an experienced pro in Liam Barker, a good player who had been around the block a few times. It was clear to me that of the three of us he was the most skilled and capable player. Moreover, it was also obvious to me that he would have a much better abillity to change gears. As we began to get involved in heads up he was taking control, stealing a few pots to get within striking distance. The split of money was 19k // 25k // 49k. That was a lot to gamble on. Three handed is tough, starting requirements drop to a level where they almost become non - existent - and chip counts can quickly swing back and forth. As we neared the break (which would signal the start of the 15,000 / 30,000 level) I quietly suggested that we might talk some business.

Negotiations

When we went on break I was determined not to play another hand. I was ahead on chips and wanted to push through an agreement now - when I could get the best of it. We had got to a point where the figures were really significant and I didn't fancy gambling when I knew that I had no experience of finishing an event of this magnitude. Liam disappeared off, so I quickly pulled Brendan aside and put forward my idea:

Everyone take second place prize money, look after the dealers and split the balance proportionally using our respective chip counts as a guide.

Brendan instantly agreed. I then put it to Liam. However, it quickly became clear that he was not his own boss on this one. Apparantly Peter Roche had a significant percentage of Liam and wanted to consider his options carefully. While Liam and Peter procrastinated, a few of the locals were circling Brendan and telling him that he was giving up too much to the shortstack if he accepted my deal. They were suggesting that he should push for less, or just play it out. This was bad. To top it off, I found Marq, Reggie and Dappergent in the hotel telling me that Liam definately wouldn't deal. Fcuk this shit. I went back in more determined than ever to wrap it up.

It was certainty that Liam and Peter were split over playing on or taking my generous (considering Liam's stack - size) proposal. The longer they stalled, the closer Brendan was coming to letting his pride take over. He was irritated that the two pros were dragging their feet and, egged on by the locals, it wouldn't take much more for him to just lose it and storm in with intentions of blowing away the table. I had put myself in a bad position as I had clearly displayed the fact that I didn't want to play on - the lads would know this if we went back. Eventually though, we shook hands and it was over. I had made more than a year's salary in one weekend.

Formalities

I've never opened a bottle of champagne before. Never had the need. The bar I worked in while in college didn't have customers that bought champagne, and I don't come from a family that buys such luxuries. I wasn't prepared for a proper presentation with pictures, handshakes et all. As such, I must have looked something like a rabbit in headlights. Mike didn't want us pushing blind for the title so I was declared the winner and, to be perfectly honest, I didn't think it fair on Brendan and Liam that I was singled out. We were all equal on the day as far as I was concerned.

After that was over I had a few pints with Mick in the bar and stepped into a 2/5 NL cashgame where I dropped 500 after being on the end of a horrendous slowroll from Niall. It was so bad that I would normally want to upturn the table after such an occurance. But this one time I didn't mind. After all, I had just won 30,000 EUR.

2006-11-30T17:19:00.000Z

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.

2006-11-29T19:47:00.000Z

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).

2006-11-24T12:15:00.000Z

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...!!

2006-10-09T20:28:00.000+01:00

Meh, it's another blog essentially. I hope that that the effort of writing about my play will encourage me to become more analytical about my game. I've sorta come to the conclusion that I am about as adept at explaining why I do certain things at a poker table as a Jungle Cat would be at explaining the reason why they use certain hunting techniques.

A large reason why I have decided to join the rank of the internet geeky types, was my untimely demise in the Board's €200 game on Saturday - held in the comfortable surrounds of the S.E.

First out!!! An instinct told me to push all of my chips over the line in the second level despite the fact that my opponent (Reggie) had me by the balls. To compound my error, I spent the rest of the night hoovering around the club relaying my tale of woe to anyone who would listen. I would conclude the repeated conversation with a shrug of the shoulders and the immortal words: "I would play the hand the same way everytime". Sigh.

The below discussion exposed the paucity of this gibberish:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055000479

I have been playing cards since May 2005. I learned the game through home games where I would be the deadest of the deadest money. I improved and began performing better - winning the odd time before having instant success in Vegas Night Pub tournaments (the Industry standard when it comes to Pub Tourneys in Dublin as far as I am concerned).

It is now almost a year since I played my first tourneys in the Fitz and SE. I had a wonderful run of beginners luck. Cashing at the first attempt in the Sunday shorthanded game in the Fitz; winning on my first visit to the Emporium. I managed to split the €150 in the SE at the first attempt, coming through a field that would I now recognise as containing some of the finest players in Dublin. In short, I won about €4,000 in a whirlwind six week spell.

But I wasn't exactly sure how I had managed it.

I had some good natural qualities. I was aggressive and willing to pump it if I detected weakness in my opponents. I was also willing to play pretty much any two cards making it difficult for me to be put on a hand. But I was very lucky. I now realise that I didn't really understand such fundamental concepts as pot - odds, position and betsizing. Because of this off kilter style (or lack of awareness of the standard style - you choose), I created problems for the opposition and was playing with a huge amount of confidence - but I didn't have any basis for analysing or re - tooling my game when the bad times started.

The run of good variance ended (of course it did - I'm not the Chief!!) and I have had to relearn and develop my game since the turn of this year. I have stuck with it. I can confidently say that anyone who played against me between March and June of this year would have been perfectly correct in labelling me as a big Sea Bass. I was doing everything wrong, despite endlessly coming up with reasons why it was actually right. To compound my poor play I wasn't seeing much in the way of good runs of cards and was developing a "poor me" complex.

The haze has cleared. I have developed a niche in live cash games through learning how to play a useful style of pot limit that is suited to the Dublin cardrooms (and after paying a not insignificant learning Tax). I managed a good tournament result in the Jackpot recently on a night where I played solidly, didn't make many mistakes and got plenty of help from a generally kind deck. It was a positive result for me because I am sure that I would not have gotten that result four months earlier, even with the cards I got on the night. I would have found a way to feck it up.

I can become a much, much better player though. I have so much to learn about the game in general and there are endless aspects of my personal play that can be worked on and improved.

It is my hope that the act of writing about my play and attempting to revisit why I played certain situations as I did will help the process of improvment. It may not make for interesting reading, but it will certaintly be useful from my own perspective.