I got knocked F%^&ing out - UKIPT Dublin

This is the sixth calendar year I've been producing a blog and I know I've produced the odd decent one and many mundane ones. You win a bit, lose a bit, win a few 50/50s 70/30s; lose a few. Only so many ways you can describe it.

These days I produce most of my blogs for Boylepoker and tbh, I try to describe as few poker hands in them as possible. They've become boring to me to write so I assume the reader must feel similar. Unfortunately this blog is going to contain many poker hands as I have nothing else to give. 

I only lasted into level six on day 1A of UKIPT Dublin but got to play a heap of big pots for the short time I was in. The first of these was level two, blinds 50-100. I flopped a set of two's on a K 10 2 rainbow flop from the small blind in a four-way pot.. I lead the flop and the button was the only caller. Turn was a 9 and I bet again, the button raised and I called. River was a Jack and I blocker/value bet 20 BBs into the 50 BB pot, button calls and holds KK for flopped top set. It's not often your happy after losing a relatively big pot but this was such an occasion.

The next orbit I pick up the boots, I'm in SB again and playing 12k. There's a raise early and button flats, I raise chunky and both call. Flop K 10 8 with two clubs, I lead for 1,150 and get raised by the button to 2,850. With the board texture and the fact that the same opponent had flat the set of Kings the previous hand, I decided to 'get' m in'. He held 10 8 for bottom two and a King fell on the turn to counterfeit.

This got me to 25k and I had worked this to around 38k  over the next two levels until I run Kings into Aces preflop for around Twenty of them. The owner of the Aces dwelt and announced "I think I have to call" when facing the final pre-flop raise, which lead me to believe he didn't hold Aces, however I think it was more the ultimate nit-roll rather then slowroll.

I get the chip back shortly after in a dream spot. I raise 33 in early position, the button min raises, the guy who had the aces in previous hand calls from the small blind and I call to hit a set. Flop A J 9 and I'm suprised to see it checked through. My head is thinking   3  3  3 PLS - bink - a beautiful 3 amazingly appears. SB leads for 1,500, I make it 3,500 and the button now flats, SB folds. I jam 13k on the blank river and the button tank calls. I asked him what he held and he said A J which would kinda make sense except I saw a queen in his cards as he folded. The SB told me later he held Kings in the hand. I'm Lucky in so many ways in that hand.

The table broke immediately and my new table was well stacked and filled with "playa's". Think mirror shades, beat headphones and European accents. I lost 15k of my 40k in a blind on blind debacle. I call the SB raise in position with A6, flop is 10 7 4, I float. The 8 on the turn gave me double gutter outs and with the ace, I decided to put my opponent to the sword, unfortunately he held kings which held.

My exit hand was to the same opponent a few hands later. I had 80 Blinds at the start of the hand, blinds 150-300-25. He raises cut-off and I 3-bet AK from the button. he four bet to 14 BBs and knowing my image isn't great, i elect to shove feeling I can get looked of light enough. Sure enough he calls it off with AQ and gets there.

Usually getting knocked out this early doesn't bother me. Your simply not in the tournament long enough to be emotionally attached. However I was a bit gutted this time around. I consider this a good thing as it should matter and hurt.                               
    

    

Some thoughts on this years Irish Open

Below is the tournament part of my IO this year that went up on the Boyles blog yesterday. Basically just had a bad  tournament, 20k to zero in six hours. That's the way it goes sometimes, wasn't anything I could of done differently. I just want to add a few observation here on my personal blog; well moan a bit I guess.

"

My starting table included Dara O'Kearney, Faraz 'the toilet' Jaka and eventual winner Kevin Vandersmissen. I had a miserable tournament. I lost 25% of my chips when Jaka got there on the river in a hand I played well bar him hitting a three outer. Another 25% of my stack went when I raised KQ; hit a lovely QQ10 flop but lost to a turned gut shot. 

It was a very interesting table with 'The Toilet' running riot over the first four levels. He was playing about 70% of hands and hit a lot of lucky rivers when barrelling to amass a 70k stack by dinner. One level later he was out after getting smashed up by an excellent Australian player whose name I never got to know. 

Vandersmissen was having a similar day to myself until he made a sick call for his tournament life. He held pocket sixes, on a paired board with all over-cards facing a river bet that effectively put him all in. It was a hugely impressive hero call and he amassed chips with ease after taking that pot.

My own tournament ended in level seven. I got 17 blinds in pre-flop with AK verses AQ to no avail"

A few observations on the event.

The antes: 

It may seem a small thing in the overall scheme but It's inexcusable to have ante's of 1/16th & 1/20th of a bigblind in a major tournament. Like who the hell produces the structure because it's certainly not someone that understands tournament structures. How hard can it be to consult someone on what a proper ante to BB ratio should be. As I said it may see a small issue but its unprofessional and looks bad to oversea visitors. Having said that it's something that's easily fixed and the overall structure has come on heaps with the increased starting stack. I remember playing the IO in 2006, with a 10k starting stack, no repeat 150/300, or 500/1000, 1200/2400 levels.

The Field: size reduction and demographic 

these are the numbers from recent years
2007 = 708  
2008 =  667 
2009 = 700         
2010 = 708
2011 = 615
2012 = 502

Big reduction over the last two years, a number of factors in play here, the recession and a saturation of tournament's would  be the major ones. I'm sure PPP are doing everything they can on this front but it's just a sign of the times. It's worth noting that finishing second in 2008 got you the same money as winning in 2012.

As for the make up of the field. Someone commented the field this year was if 300 bad players were taken out and replaced with 100 top class online MTT players. Again this is a sign of the times, black Friday and in general online grinders realising the value in this event.   

The Hotel 


I'm not a big fan of the Burlington. I booked the poker rate for 4 nights, went for breakfast the first morning and was told that there wasn't a breaky included with my booking. On a normal week it's €69 a night to stay there with breaky included, poker players rate €79 with no breaky. It's not a huge deal but an example of players being screwed over. I think the food in general and pints in the hotel bar are over priced slop. I had a few nice pints in a pub across the road on Saturday afternoon and the difference in quality was huge, clean the pipes pls, drink is important. 


 Final Table Atmosphere

This is a trade off, we saw it in 2006 when the FT went live on Skysports and again this year for hole cards to be shown on the stream. The quality and coverage available on the stream production over the event is second to none and ground breaking.  However, below is a video from the 2007 final, watch the last 20 seconds or so. The atmosphere was electric, compare that to the sterile offering this year. This is what made the tournament special for a lot of people. I think the tournament is probably giving up too much for the viewer at home to be allowed to view the hole cards.          


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpGgbWWNb6o&feature=g-hist&context=G26a294eAHT4WDqgABAA


 These are just a few observations and areas where improvements can be made. Overall I think PPP do a great job on the tournament.
 

More City West

I travelled back to the City West Friday to play the €500 side event. What a contrast from the previous week, the place was hopping. The Norwegian Masters itself had over a thousand entries and there must have been nearly double that amount travelled over from the Scandinavian country.

There were up to 45 cash tables running at peak times, with games running round the clock. These guys certainly came to gamble from some of the stories I was hearing, crazy action by all account.

My table in the €500 8-handed consisted of seven Norwegians, two decent players; the rest weren’t up to much. I lost 90% of my chips in the 75-150 level when I hit a set of two’s on a 932 flop. I check raised heavy into multiple players on the flop, and put in a chunky bet on the 5 turn to one player.

I hated the 4 on the river and blocker bet 3k. The opponent shoved for 10k, it was now 7k to win 40k. After deciding this person was capable of spazing in the spot, I called to be shown pocket sixes. I was at least proved correct on my assumption on the player later. A guy bet 3k on the river on an AAJ83 board from 7k and she put him in with air, he had quads.

Anyhow, that hand in level three left me 3k. I still felt I had a chance to get back into it; the table was just so good. I ground a micro shortstack for the next three levels nursing it up to 12k and then won a race, 88 v AJ.

Just as I hit the dizzy heights of 25k into the last level of the night I got coolered blind on blind, AQ into AK. Disappointing as I had fought very hard for the resurrection.          

JP deserves a medal from Failte Ireland for bringing this event to these shores. It was without doubt the busiest poker festival I have ever seen outside Vegas. The income statement for March in the City West resort’s books must look very healthy indeed.

All roads lead to the Burlo this week for the big one. If I told you I was confidant it would be a lie. I don’t feel I’ve played well in recent events, but the Irish Open usually brings out the best in me, so fingers crossed. I should arrive relaxed anyhow. Keeping with tradition, I’ll be spending this week at the Kclub in preparation.

Finally won one

Don't be silly, of course I didn't win a poker tournament, I'm talking about Tiger.

I did like him at Bayhill and took some 8/1. However I hadn't the heart to go in as strong as I did on his last outing at Doral. I was on such a terrible run and hadn't the confidence or balls to really pull the trigger again. Nice to book a winner and break the bad run anyway.

I put in a poor showing in the JP Masters. I called a 50 blind turn shove in Level 5 with AK on a KK107 three-spade board. I read the guy as being terrified of the call, when he was just terrified I had a bigger Flush. In reality it was an awful call as his hand was pretty transparent the way it had played out.

The tournament itself was packed with good players and offered very little value. Every good grinder in the country had turned out with the promise of loads of Norwegian value to be had. The Vikings never showed, and the result was a field of only 88 players with five or six recognisable players on every table.

JP seemed pretty gutted with the turnout for his flagship event and more or less said he'd got it wrong and should have held the tournament back until this weekend. Hindsight and all that, but thankfully the numbers have picked up since, and the masses have arrived from Norway, just a little bit later then expected.

My good buddy Knuckles from Cork took the event down. While the prize pool was down, it certainly played out as a hugely difficult tournament to win. Peter is a top player who never complains on a bad run, this is a well-deserved victory and hopefully the start of a good run for one the games nicest people.

I thought about playing the €300 game on Saturday but with the poor numbers opted for the golf course instead. Golf is such a frustrating game, I was on fire a few weeks ago, at the moment I'm hitting the ball like an eighty year old. At least the weathers good and the lads are generous with the handicapping.

I'll be back to the City West Thursday for the €150 shootout and hopefully play the €500 game Friday. Badly need to get some practice in for the Irish Open the following week.

I'd love to be able to drive the ball like that

No poker to report on over the last two weeks so it'll have to be a drinking and gambling blog. I missed the Western Open as it clashed with my youngest brother - Anthony's - stag. About twenty of us hit the stag mecca of Kilkenny for a good day and night without to much damage.

Last weekend the WCG at Doral was the center of my universe. I try to avoid lumping on pre event these days unless it top ten or twenty markets. However I got stuck right in here, I felt that Tiger would be punted hard for the event, so decided I should be able to get a nice freeroll before kick off by taking the Monday prices 

As the week went on I got stuck into a lot more bets. Westwood 6/4 top ten looked huge, Kaymer 40/1, I'll have some of that EW, and it went on. Meanwhile the big tipsters who have a huge say on how the golf markets develop, totally ignored Tiger. I decided to run with him and go for the touch.

By Sunday I was buried. I punted Bradley to get out, and that looked good for the front nine before he surprisingly imploded. It was a disaster of an event for me.

With Cheltenham on the horizon, I felt I could dig myself out of a hole. I was interested in the leading trainer market. I made it a dead match between Mullins and Henderson, and priced it 4/5 n' 5/4. I thought getting the 5/4 Mullins when I made him 4/5 was great stuff altogether, and punted it accordingly with numerous firms. Oh how I wish I had decided the 2/1 Henderson when I made him 5/4 was where the value lay.

Most other bets I had for the week involved 'Hurricane Fly' in one form or another, so it was all pretty grim. By 3.30 Thursday I rang my brother Robbie and asked if he fancied a few holes of golf.

Anyone who has ever played golf with me will know I'm the worst driver of a ball in the world, historically I hit my 5 iron further then my drives. I started using a new driver recently with much better results.


We were only playing 13 holes and played up the 18th with another two ball. After I pinged my drive, a chap in the other group commented, " Jesus, I'd love to be able to drive the ball like that". It brought some grin to my face, the losses of the previous seven days faded to a distant memory.

Back to the poker next week with the JP Masters Friday, this is the start of a fantastic 12 day festival in the City West with an amazing 51 tournaments scheduled. 
       

Galway Washout

I went to Galway full of expectation last Wednesday and left late Saturday night with empty pockets and broken dreams. Now that may sound a bit depressing, but it happens to thousands of people every year on Galway race week and I've been doing it for years. One thing is guaranteed in the 'City of the Tribes' you'll of had some fun blowing your hard earned.

I had initially registered for the Friday but a big gang had planned a piss up to cerebrate Derek Murray's  birthday post play Thursday. This meant a change of starting day and a three hour drive on Wednesday with the early noon start. Tom 'the bomb' Finneran convinced me the best hangover avoidance option was to play the rebuy satellite. I managed to do €300 for a €770 seat, not lasting long after the first break.

This set the tone for the rest of they week, if there was a hand to be lost, a bet to go down or a dinner bill to pay, I found it.

My main event was fast; the 15k starting stack was my peak chip stack. I got no hands and didn't play well. Firstly I bluffed off 40% of my chips, I luckily got these back in a hand against Limerick native Jamie Daly. I raised pre with 2h7h, totally missed the flop but kept firing on a 7 turn and a two river. Jamie's fellow county man, Paul Carr seem to get more pleasure from the hand the myself when I relayed it to him later, perverse crowd those Limerick lads!  

This got me back close to starting, but I dribbled to 8k in level five (150-300) then lost them in a blind on blind situation. SB limped, I raise 88 and we get it in on a 10 7 5 two spade flop, he held Js 9s and hit his nine on the turn.

At least I had plenty company at the bar as Derek, Jude and Tall Michéal were also out at this stage. A nice meal and plenty drink followed Thursday. Friday was more of the same although I did venture back to the poker room for the fun €100+50+10 turbo scalp game.

It wasn't that much fun, I think I was at the table 40 minutes before any of the players even spoke. I did hang in until the last three tables of the 150 field but lost a race to exit.

Saturday was spent in the company of Marty Smyth on our laptops punting everything that moved, it didn't go well. We went for dinner and when I lost the gamble for that one, 'well' it was time to surrender, Marty just doesn't win dinner flips ever.    

I couldn't face the €300 game so just chilled watching the golf before driving home about eleven in the evening. It all might come across as a little miserable but in honesty I had a great few days catching up and socialising with friends. The Radisson Galway is in my top three venues for a poker event in Ireland and produced the goods yet again; I can't wait for the next time.                         

Euro Deep Stack - D4

I was saying to Bops on the drive up to this on Wednesday that I felt very rusty and hoped for some kind of run to blow off the cobwebs. I managed to make the money for a min cash, meaning I got the table time I felt I needed anyhow so I guess we can call that a small success.

I played day one A as I tend to do at €550 events, it keeps the expenses down should I bust and means a refreshed start for day two should I make that; so win-win.

My table on day one had some very good players, Ross Johnson impressed and EPT London second Stephen O'Dwyer seemed decent, although one player stole the show. Watching the Chief crush dreams for a full day was a pleasure to see at close quarters.

The man is obviously a poker genius and was operating on a level so far ahead of anyone else that we hadn't a clue what he was at. He amassed a top ten stack over the day mastering spots that would make Durrrr a nervous wreck.

My own day went ok, I was going along nicely and had more then doubled the starting stack when I dropped about 30k to Ross in a hand he played well and I didn't. I locked up for a bit after this, got going again to110k and then donated another 50k to the same man AK v KK.

 This was into the last level and my 60k were looking very measly amount when I got a table move. First hand at new table I get a double, raising KQ utg and getting it in against a flush draw on a queen high flop. I pick up another small pot two hands later when the table breaks and I’m allocated back to the seat I had left three hands earlier with a much improved 130k. We finish shortly after this and I bag 160k.

Day two started very slowly for me I don’t think I played a single hand in the first hour. I got a bit more active after this but every time I seemed to be getting ahead of the game I lose a decent pot. Two 100k reversals spring to mind; AK v AJ in pre, and a blind on blind with Jacks v A7 where the ace floated and spiked the turn.

 I was grinding a re-shove stack on the live stream table for the two hours leading to the bubble and just as it bust I picked up AQhh and shove 23 blinds over a late position raiser. Unfortunately the bigblind woke up with the boots.

I enjoyed the tournament and look forward to playing the UKIPT Galway this week a little less rusty. DaGunman O'Shea has kindly offered me a loan of his crush hammer for the tournament so a deep run is almost certain.