IO 08

Last satellite attempt turned out to be a fun one. Very first hand I flop a set and get paid . Now the last live set I flopped was the in the sporting emporium game at the end of November and that got one outed so when I hit one here and it held I started thinking nice thoughts. The table was conservative to say the least; I had expected loads of scandies firing chips all over the place but in fact at least four on the table didn't even top up. Bracelet winner Alan Smurfit was on the table for a while and after he left former main event winner Noel Furlong joined it. I hadn't played with Furlong before but knew he had an erratic reputation however one of the hands he played has my head still spinning a bit. The blinds were 600/1200 and the BB had one BB behind, I raise the button to 3600 with Q7 Furlong calls and pushes on an 6h3h2h flop with a black 89!!

Anyhow ran good in the satt and although it was close at the end managed to get in. Think all the shorties like myself owe Noel Magner a big TY for his swashbuckling bubble buster with QQ.

Decided to go for day two as I fancied a few drinks after the satt; ended up having an unplanned few two many the Thursday night as well but hangovers never stopped me playing well before. So it was a sicknic that faced the starting table of;

Jesper Hougaard 27 1........... asicknic
David Craig 27 2
Roberto Merida 27 3
nicholas Howard 27 4
Frannie Hogan 27 5
Nicky Power 27 6
Conor Tate 27 7
Kevin O'Connell 27 8
Julian Thew 27 9

I could think of three easier to have lined up to your left but wasn't that bothered tbh. First three levels were fairly quiet, the biggest pot i played being for about 3k which i took down on the turn against Thew. My stack had just dropped from about 13k to 10k when the following hand occurred. I get 9s10s and complete after a button limp and we take a flop of 8s7c4s. I lead and Conor Tate raises from the BB; I push for another 7k and get called by Ks7s. Although I didn't expect to be called I wasn't gonna be in terrible shape against any-hand but Conner's was the worst possible hand to find calling leaving me with 36% equity I think. Thankfully a Jc on the river doubled me through. I wasn't happy to see the table break shortly afterwords.

My new table had Dave masters, Liam Flood on my right, scandi and french biggish stacks to Liam's that were raising every pot. This table was explosive with players busting every other hand. I lost any chance I had of mixing it up on the table when my stack dropped to 8k when I flopped a set of 4's on an 8c4c3h flop and called Liam down on the turn and river when the club hit the turn having re popped him on the flop. I think the hand was a cooler and tbh i did well not to go broke. The last two levels were a real struggle as there were 5/6 big stacks on the table and without seeing anything that resembled a decent hand I survived with 10275 chips for day two.

I was feeling really good despite my chip count and was confident I could get into the tournament but it wasn't to be. Having snapped off a raise and playing 13k its folded to me in the sb holding Q10, the bb seems tight to me so i decide to put him in for his 7k and after some deliberation he calls with 77. I'm happy its a race but although a KJ flop gives me hope I'm down to just over 6k. Three hands later I pick up KK, push and get called by AK an A high flop sends me to the rail. I wasn't disappointed as I has played as good as I could through the tournament and that's all one can really do in such a big field. That and hope the poker goods shine on you.

I still had a bit of an interest as I had swapped a few % with the Fox and Derek Murry and had done a deal with last years winner Marty where if either of us cashed big they paid the other into the WPT final which would of been nice but alas none made the end of the day. I was talking to Marty later and he told me how after he found out of my exit he said to his girlfriends mate that meant he had no shares left. He said she was very confused by this and he spent 15 minutes explaining about swapping shares to her until he realised she thought he was saying swapping showers lol.

As ever paddypower put on a super show the room being magically set up but while the city west is a splendid venue for me it just didn't reach the great atmosphere of the previous two years although I cant explain why. I was happy Neill Channing won in the end; I played with him a few times and always thought him one of the good guys. I was speaking to him just before the FT started and told him he deserved the win as he had worked hard for it. He knew I meant all the time he had spent over the years playing the game and replied with the look of a person totally confident " your right I do deserve it"

Satts smatts

Played another couple of IO satts the weekend but no luck in Waterford or Galway. Cruised through the tournament in Waterford and had the chip lead with 130k of the 680k in play when the final table started but that went badly. With three tickets up for grabs I was in a great position as most of the final table wanted money and I had it worked out that if I could of gotten close to 200k with 6 players left I could of negotiated a ticket for myself. I lost 30k in each of two pots where I had hit two pair on paired flops, eventually going out pushing 10 BBs AQ into KK in 6th after about two hours of looking down at 25os, got a €1000 consolation anyway.

Another three seats on offer in Galway the following night but went out with about 14 left. This was a faster structure then the night before and although I never really got above average stack was just starting to fancy my chances when a client called my pre raise with J3. Blinds were 1k2k with an ante and I had raised to 6k of my 25k with Q10 and pushed on a KhJhx flop but was called by Jh3h. I think its a standard call on the flop but wtf is he doing in the hand.

I'll probably throw €900 at the city west satt on wednesday but if i don't run good in that I wont be buying in. A couple of people have contacted me with staking offers but I'm not going to avail of them. I'm very grateful for the offers but TBH if I'm not prepared to gamble with my own money on the event how ethical is it to do so with others. Best of luck to everyone I know playing especially Derek Murry from Galway and Chris and the Fox from the deise

Comedians

I was put onto this earlier, seems a couple of comedians have been having fun at my expense on the blondepedia



I'll shall be getting MCLOVING

If you throw enough shit ........but will it

A couple of weeks ago I made a post where I said I was going to play two more IO satts max as I intended buying in anyhow. I spoke of how I knew for sure that if I did a load on satts and then bought in my head wouldn't be right playing the event. I should of really stuck with this as I've done over €2500 on satts so far and with a few weeks to go to the event I can see this increasing if I don't bag me one soon. It's a bit of a dilemma but I don't see how I can logically justify buying in now if I don't win in over the next two weeks. So in effect I could be knocked out of this years event before it starts on the pre qualifying tables all over the country :-( .

The first satt I played was in the emporium and on the way home I said to Pat I had a bad feeling that I wouldn't win in. I really should of went with the read and stopped playing them and concentrated on grinding online the last few weeks. Its two weeks off yet but ATM I don't think I'll be buying in, It's just two big a % of my roll for one event. I'd say I'll play two more satts max but really need to leave them for a week to get my head right.

I purely blame stts for this but I've played a couple of live hands really badly, basically calling light which is a kind of mindset you get into when multitabling stts at high blinds. It's simply acting without thinking and something I need to work on to get right.