Well, a semi-promising start to the trip here has ended like most of my year, cashless.
I played the IPT €1,100 side event last Saturday. I had a lovely starting table and was going along nicely, until I hit a major reversal. 
on a QXX flop versus 
, Aces on the turn and the river left me with about 3k.
I hung around for four more levels grinding this back to about 
10k, but a badly timed cold four-bet put paid to me when I ran into the Kings.
I couldn't really face the other side event but did play online on Sunday. My room had the best connection in the hotel that we were in, so the lads set up camp there for the big Sunday. Myself, Jude, Tom the Bomb, Derek Murray and Chris Dowling all played in a small enough place.
Having these lads at your disposal to bounce hands off can only improve your game.
The second major tournament of the trip was the EMOP at a €1,650 buy-in. The structure for the EMOP events are fairly fast, with the first four levels at 45 minutes and a couple of levels missing from the standard (75/150 and the 150/300 repeat). I wouldn't advocate this fast a structure for all events, but I did enjoy it here. You basically know you have to get in there from the start.
My starting table had Reesy and Chubs on it, luckily enough they were both to my right. The first hand of any real consequence I played was against Andrew, who had lost half his stack at this stage. It was a button on blind situation, where we got them in racing and my Tens held.
I played well over the next few levels chipping up to around 50k, but it all came unstuck when I ran AK into AA for an 80k pot, with the blinds 400/800. The rest of my chips went, when I ran into the Aces again.
Well done to John, who put in another super performance and never looked anything but the winner until coolered three-handed.
I enjoyed the two weeks in Malta, it's a lovely spot and my mate Alex made sure I didn't get caught up in the usual hotel casino loop that goes with poker trips, so big thanks to him.
I did however leave the island with a fairly sour taste in my mouth, after doing my stones in sports betting. I had been on a very good run since Vegas in that department, but it turned on me two weeks before I hit Malta.
Golf is where I do most of my punting and I always seem to do serious twine when the tournaments go to the Far East. Every year I tell myself to reduce my stakes when they move over there, but I always seem to end up chasing and punting higher. Throw in a few boredom days playing roulette on the nags and it turned into a disaster of a trip for the bankroll. Hopefully I can win the IPC next week to clear October's loses!