Nicky Power/ nicnicnic's blog

Do you want to hear a sick one?

2012-01-25T13:39:00.000Z

This was the question I was asked returning from a smoke in Clane Friday night from a random person I didn't know. Usually I just listen to the persons badbeat, nodding away with a numb brain. This time I just said "not really" as I was a bit steamed on Guinness and thus not at my diplomatic best. I hope the gentleman involved didn't take offence, but I think I was doing him a favor long term.

The tournament was good craic. My starting table had great potential with John O'Shea, Chris Dowling & a few notable IPB heads, unfortunately none of them were on the Guinness buzz with me.

There was six levels played on day one, I spent at least four of those in the bar, making it through the day with an average chip stack. I think my best play of the time I spent on the table was to come up with a nickname for Chris 'showdown' Dowling.

Having had my fill of the black stuff I staggered off to bed about 3am and thought that was it for the night. Imagine my surprise to wake about 5am and find the legendary Mark Reilly on the bed beside me. Now I do like Mark a lot and was regaled by his story of how he went from being on the lash in leixlip to ending up on my bed, but I did ask him to please %&$% off to the poker room when he starting discussing PLO strategy.

The next day didn't go well poker wise. I got my last 20 blinds in preflop with 66 v AK and if I'm honest, I wasn't that gutted to lose the race. My intentions this year are to win races in big buy in events and lose them in the smaller ones.

It was an excellent tournament in a really nice venue but once I was out I headed home. It was a big weekend on the sports betting front for me. To cut that story short I should of stayed where I was.

Irish Poker Championship 2012

2012-01-11T00:15:00.000Z

I think we've seen this event change in one way or another every year since it's inception in 2006. I never would of foreseen it playing out as a side event, but that's what happened this year. The tournament had a €750 buy in and over 200 starters, add to this the title and it was still a tournament well worth giving your all for.

Contrary to the ribbing I get, I'm not really a great one for side events. Usually after getting knocked out of a main event, I find it hard to give a side event my full attention. This wasn't the case last weekend as my early exit from the WPT meant I felt as I hadn't really played, so was well up for this.

The Bomber

My starting table had a few familiar faces, Including Bomber and Andrew Grimason. There was a real nice atmosphere on the table with everyone in good form.

I started steady enough, then hit a bit of a heater just before and after the dinner break trebling my 20k starting stack. We were only playing six levels and the table broke for the last one. I ended the day with a top ten stack of 66k with around half the field still in.

Day two was an odd one. I loved my starting table but it was first to break. They were breaking tables down one of two lines and every time I drew the next table to break. I'm the type of player ( well i guess most are ) that likes time to settle into a table. Subsequently I was three hours into the day and had broken 5 times.

My stack was maintained until I lost a third of it with AJ v KK, it was a shortish corner and I was happy enough calling the 18 big blinds it cost to call the 4bet shove. Again just after this, I get moved again to the next table to break. I know it shouldn't bother me but it was doing my head in at this stage.

I needn't of worried though as the poker gods were soon to put me out of my misery. I was only at the table a couple of hands when I picked up QQ. First to act opened, and I 3-bet from a 40k stack with blinds 500-1000-100, The button shipped for about 120k holding AQ. An ace on the flop meant no fourth life time cash in the IPC.

It wasn't too disappointing, we were about 40 off the money and, well you want to get them in in that spot every time. I dont know where the IPC as a tournament goes from here, but I think we can assume it wont stay the same as this year. The tournament has a good legacy, and needs to find a stand alone berth.

WPT Dublin

2012-01-09T01:53:00.000Z

The general vibe leading up to the inaugural WPT Ireland was that the tournament would not be a success. My gut told me differently, I had told the man behind bringing the tournament here ( Ian Langstaff ) a couple of months ago that I thought it would work and we'd get 300 starters.

I thought the event had three big positives going for it; 1, Ireland has a history of a big field buy ins the first week in January. 2, the City west venue, overseas visitors like it and come back. 3, the brand, every poker player in Ireland would fancy a crack at a WPT title.

As it played out, the event was a resounding success attracting a field of 333 starters, including a host of big name stars from around Europe. In fact it could well of been the best field ever assembled in the country. Dom Hever who blogs for irishpokerboards described the field as " being like the Irish Open, without the 300 bad players".

One area where the WPT people got it very wrong was the chips. Each denomination of chip was a plethora of colors with the 5000 and 100 chip closely resembling each other. Barney boatman was the main sufferer of this when he mistakenly opened for 15,000 instead of the intended 300 and a player put him in holding QQ. Barney call with 1010 for a very unfortunate exit.

While the tournament itself was a huge success, my own display was an abysmal failure. Looking at some of the starting tables I had definitely drawn a good one. However that wasn't much consultation exiting in level five.

all the cool kids are wearing these

In honesty I made no mistakes so cant be too disappointed, it was just one of those days where my opponents kept having the goods or got there as hands progressed. On four occasions I had to fold after putting a decent percentage of my chip into pots, and each time was shown the nut flush. Just a bad day at the office.

As the tournament progressed Dave Shallow became the dominant force. The home contingents performance wasn't great with the notable exception of Ronan 'Gilly' Gilligan, Ken Doherty & Dan Smyth.

The 1997 World Snooker champ taking down a major poker title would of been the biggest headline grabber. However, the talented Doherty's run would end in a creditable 16th place finish.

Dan Smyth, owner of a surname that's synonymous with taking down major Irish events looked like making a big challenge for the title, when he grabbed the chip lead two tables out. Dan has a fantastic online record but a number of reversals saw his commendable challenge peter out in 11th.

This left Gilly as the remaining Irish hope. A Galway based player Ronan was rooming with my mate Derek Murray. Derek has mentioned to me on a number of occasions that he rates Gilligan very highly as a player and relayed to me pre-tournament that Ronan had won entry in a $50 satellite and his intentions were to play the event as it it was a $50 buy in rather then a €2,500.

True to his word, Gilly got his full 300 big-blind starting stack in verses two sets (one folded ) in only the second hand of the tournament, pushing a flush draw and never looked back. His third place finish was a swashbuckling display and is a fine addition to his 2nd place finish in the 2010 UKIPT Dublin for his CV.

In the end Shallow was a worthy winner of a fantastic tournament, which is a wonderful addition to the Irish poker calendar.

Back to Work

2012-01-02T12:47:00.000Z

Hope everyone had a good Chrishmas and got over the New Year without too bad a hangover. I must admit to being a bit of a Christmas grouch, although I hide it well enough and the feast of sport on over the holiday keeps me some way sane.

It's back to work this week. 1st up is tonight's fantastic $10,000 added Festival Frenzy tournament at Boylepoker. I'm sure most of you will have qualified for this non-direct buy in event already; if you haven't satellites are running all day today ending at 6.45 with the main event starting at seven.

On Thursday I'll be at the City West for the WPT Ireland. When I started out playing the game, this date was always filled with the Irish Poker Championship at the same venue and that event returns to it's spiritual home as a side event of the WPT starting the Friday.

The WPT is a hard one to call turnout wise. On a negative its relatively big buy in for a country where disposable income is at an all time low. This makes it hard to see where the walk in buy ins will come from. There's also the clash with the PCA, which could affect overseas visitors.

The positive is the brand, every poker player in the country will fancy the title of WPT champion, so a few mattresses will be raided to come up with the buy in.

I've herd people predicting very low turnout for the event, but personally I think the numbers will be decent. I'd call anything over 150 starters a relative success for this type of buy in, in its first year. Hopefully it gets over 250 and establishes itself as a permanent way to kick off the poker year.

I, as every other Irish poker player, kinda like the ring of " Irish WPT Champion".

State of the nation

2011-12-30T00:54:00.000Z

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. I usually do a long annual review but I'm just not in the writing rambling mode ATM and feel it wouldn't be interesting for me to write or for anyone to read.

I didn't have a great year poker-wise, but I didn't really play that much poker over the year compared to previously.

The Hendon Mob database will show six cashes for a total of $30,000. I probably did about $20,000 in buy-ins over the year if even that, and wouldn't have played more than 15-18 tournaments that register on the HMD.

It's not as abysmal as last year anyway, and the fact that Boyles sponsored me for my tournament entries mean that at least the $30k was profit.

The highlight of the year was a semi-deep run at the Irish Open. I had a lovely stack deep into Day 2 but made a big call, which was wrong and saw me return day three with a playable 30 bigs. I got unlucky in a hand with four tables remaining and bar that a final table was a definite possibility.

The year was going very bad for me punting wise and doing €25,000 in May sports betting more or less meant no Vegas - I really couldn't face doing another 25k over there and I'm sure that's what would have happened had I went as the noggin wasn't in the right place.

I hit a punting downswing for six months in the middle of the year that was character building. Thankfully things picked up significantly from October on or I could have been busking to get over the Christmas.

In general I think 2011 was a very good year for Irish poker, mostly down to Eoghan and Dermot final tabling the WSOP & WSOPE main events. There were more events than ever played in the country and generally numbers held up well in very difficult financial times for people.

Hopefully, this remains the case for the year ahead - I'm really looking forward to kicking it off with Ireland's first WPT next week, what better way to start the year then a major buy in at City West. Anyhow, thanks to everyone who read the blog over the year, I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year!

Macau Winter Festival

2011-12-12T15:38:00.000Z

If I'm ever feeling poker isn't going great, the answer is always to go and play in Cork.

There's number of factors in play here, good banter at the tables, I generally run well and I pass the accounting practice I used to work in on the drive to Cork.

An office environment was never really for me, I'm much more suited to gambling and golfing everyday, and passing that place always brings into perspective how lucky I've been to be able to do what I like everyday for the past six year since I left that job.

I arrived at about 45 minutes into level one and proceeded to add 30% to my starting stack the very first hand I sat for. I raised Qc10c, hit queens full of tens, and got 120 big blinds of value from the hand.

My starting table was decent with plenty of banter. John Keown & Lucky Jimmy McSweeney are always great craic and good action players so it was a very enjoyable table for me.

We were only playing seven levels on day one and I got a big double in the last level where I made a call for all my chips on the turn with top top against Tony 'the coo' Cooneys 75 big blind check shove. I felt I was good and this was the case, so I had a nice stack to head back with on the Saturday.

I had played Thursday and after Friday's Day 1B play 45 was returning of the 94 starters with me lying third in chips. With15 players left I had a 1/4 of a million and was feeling pretty good about things. I had a steady enough day without ever being under any pressure. I then lost 170k pot to the eventual second AsQs v his KK, the QSS flop looked well but I didn't improve.

It had bee a long day and I was anxious to watch the golf from Dubai the next morning so I suggested to pay two extra places so we could get finished for the night at about 2.30am. Everyone seems happy enough with this, our table was very closely matched in chips and no one was really going to be able to run over the bubble.

I was home at 4.15 and up at 8 for the golf. I got a nice little scoop from Quiros on a spread market, but that was to be the highlight of the day. I had 153k returning, which was above average, but I just couldn't get anything going in the first two levels of the Sunday.

My seat draw wasn't great, Albert Kenny on my direct left, the shove happy Mark Spellman next and then eventual winner Jamie Flynn. Spellman must have shoved over 80% of my opens in those first two hours and with the blinds rising I was left with a shoving stack myself. My 19 bigs went in over a Jamie min open holding 33, he had 1010 so out the gap.

Obviously disappointing to bubble the final table, but it hasn't changed enthusiasm for playing poker in Cork and nice to end the year with a cash. I still had an interest with 10% of Bops who put in a good performance to finish 5th. Well done to Jamie on the win, I flagged him as one to watch earlier in the year in the blog and know the [W] meant a lot to him.

It's an addiction

2011-11-29T02:35:00.001Z

I suffer from a golf watching addiction, if there's golf on the TV from anywhere in the world I cant not watch it. This time of year it's all from Asia and the Southern Hemisphere so I'm pulling a lot of all nighters.

I had a good bet on Germany each way in the world cup last weekend. They looked a bit off the pace going into Fridays third round, which suited me as I had to head up to Dublin early Saturday morning to do the commentary for the IPO Final table.

I went to bed about two, was reading for a bit and decided to check the scores on the phone before I slept. Germany were -6 through nine holes and joint leaders. This meant getting up to watch the rest of the round, and heading to Dublin with no sleep.

I enjoyed covering the final table with the legend that is Padraig Parkinson. The three Irish lads put in great performances, huge well done to Rory, Paul and Mark. Considering they were the bottom three in chips going into the day, to finish, 6th, 3rd & 2nd was super stuff. Also, congratulations to 2011 IPO champion Luke Martens.

John took over from me at around six to allow me head into the Fitz for their festival main event. If I'm honest I'd have rathered go home to bed as I was fairly shattered. As it turned out this would of been a good move, as I never got going in the event.

I exited in the 300-600-25 level shoving 22 big blinds with 22 over an UTG raise. A very questionable shove and staying with a trend in recent tournaments for me, I walked straight into the aces again. I got home about 1 am and there was only one thing to do - stay up all night again watching the golf!

WSOP's

2011-11-08T04:21:00.000Z

It seems there's been a poker festival in one form or another every weekend for the past four months in Ireland and quiet frankly something had to give. Unfortunately it gave at one of the best value, best structured and most professionally run tournament of the year, JP's mini WSOP.

JP must be puling his hair out trying to fathom why his numbers are down so much; he really does focus on players needs first and provides excellent events. Having said all that, and even with a 40% reduction in numbers, I can't praise this festival enough, such a great weekend.

My tournament went the way of recent events for me and I walked into aces again early enough, so out the gap. The taker of my chips was very happy anyway going by the screaming and hollering she did after the hand, , it’s was exactly the reaction I always wishedI could get from women, WP Michelle.

I did indulge in a lot of alcohol after my exit and had a great night. JP is some man in fairness, I left his room at 9 am after a messy drunken sit and go and he was still playing with the lads. Yet he was somehow like a new pin in his TD roll at two pm just five hours later.

I on the other hand was spent and couldn't face playing any side events, so I headed home to watch the breeders cup & the golf from China. Thankfully Kaymer rediscovered his form and booked me a nice touch.

I feel I've definitely played two many low buy in festivals over the last few months and it's something I'm going to have to look at. I love the game, however you need play with enthusiasm and you need a competitive drive, I have been going to tournaments with neither. I'm not playing badly but I do feel I'm just going through the motions a lot of the time recently, and not giving 100%. As I said it's something I need to think about.

Like every other poker player in the country who wasn't in Vegas, I was glued to the live stream as Eoghan O' Dea lived out all our dream at the WSOP final table. Eoghan can be very proud of how he played and how he carried himself through out the event and especially last night. He showed a lot of class and was a great ambassador for Irish poker players.

IWF

2011-11-02T01:43:00.000Z

The weekends Irish Winter Festival was a bit of a non event for me, disappointing as it's one of the best chances of a touch each year.

I knew 2009 IWF champ Micheal O'Sulivan and Tom Kitt on my starting table, the rest were a mixed bunch, but none were throwing their chips away. There was an active German who was in a lot of pots and I still cant decide whether he was good or not but apart from him it was a stagnant enough grind of a table.

I lost two decent pots in the early levels. Pot one I lost the least with a flopped set against a turned flush. The second was more expensive with AJ on an AAxxx board verses the Germans AQ. This saw me drop to 6k, but I chipped back up to starting in two hands where I pulled fairly dangerous tournament ending moves if I got called.

I dropped to 12k in the level after dinner and the table broke. My new table looked a different preposition with a chipped up Mick-G on my right and Niall Smyth and a busy English player I had played with at the IO on my left, both with stacks.

I'd say the average stack on the table was 25k and after two rounds I had 10k and an old American guy open shipped 24k UTG, I look down at AhKh in the cut off.

It's an 80 big blind shove that I really don't have to call and my gut says no. I then start thinking this is the best hand I've seen in six hours and I need a chip at this table.

I've seen some funny shit at the tables in my time so talk myself into the call, sure enough the guy turns over the aces and I'm out.

Great to see an Irish 1-2-3 in the event and a big Congratulations to John, Noel & Chris on their performances.

This weekend it's the JP mini WSOP game in the Maldron Hotel, This event is the best structured mid-low buy in of the year with an enormous amount of play for the €360 buy in. If you want to experience a tournament run like clockwork with a major events feel for a fraction of the price, do not miss this.

Oh what fun we had ....

2011-10-26T15:21:00.002+01:00

I think it's fair to say that last weekends IPO was a resounding success, it certainly ticked all the boxes for my own criteria for a magic poker festival.

The team IPO deserve huge plaudits here as amazingly the main event produced the 2nd largest field ever assembled in the history of European poker, just falling just shy of IPO 2009, which holds the record. Almost 1400 souls turned out in the Regency, which just goes to show how much the poker community love this event.

My own tournament didn't go well, I started badly dropping to 10k, I rallied to 30k fairly quickly, and then lost them as quickly going out in the 300-600 level.

Cal McCarty my mentee in the Boylepoker mentor challenge involving John and myself; thankfully managed to hang in a good bit longer and we scooped that one at least - so big well played to Cal, great working with you through the event.

My early exit freed me up to do some promotional duties for Boylepoker. I suppose some may question whether drinking copious amounts of the black stuff constitutes a duty. However I feel it's very important to meet people at the various bars during the event.

I did partake in a number of commentary stints over the weekend and if I say so myself, we did a jolly good job on that. The stint I did Saturday night with John and Ciaran will probably go down as a benchmark moment in live streaming poker history. We certainly moved the goal posts from what is the norm; it was some craic doing it with the lads and the feedback was very good so hopefully we didn't offend too many.

One deplorable incident I witnessed while in the commentary booth on Saturday evening needs to be brought to people's attention. Mick McClosky coolered Iain Cheyne in a hand to knock him out. Upon Iain leaving the table Mick leaped from his seat and performed a number of pelvic thrusts. A truly horrid scene and one I hope to never to witness at a poker event again.

I do have to apologies to one punter over another incident in toilets. I was entering a cubicle and chatted briefly to a lad at the sink when John made it known that he was in the cubicle next door, with cottaging references.

Aghast at such a suggestion I decided while washing my hands, I'd throw some water over John's door. At the exact time the water flew over the right cubicle, John emerged from the left one. We obviously legged it.

It really was such a great few days and after a plethora of nondescript events, this was an Irish poker festival at it's very best. A huge well done to team IPO for producing a tremendous event, and congratulations to the final eight, all who cashed, and indeed all who partook - roll on IPO 2012.

It’s the IPO !!

2011-10-18T14:11:00.004+01:00

Well it's time for another Boylepoker IPO festival, or 'the peoples tournament' as I call it. This is probably my favorite poker weekend of the whole year.

The tournament is simply a celebration of the game of poker and a wonderful time is always assured. Win or lose this weekend, everyone goes home with a smile on their face.

If you haven't gotten you place already there's 10 IPO Seats guaranteed tonight in the IPO mega sat at nine and direct buy in registration is open until Thursday.

After the glut of events in September I've been taking it easy last couple of weeks. I did play the John Hennessy memorial tournament in The Poker Lounge, Waterford on Saturday night. This was a €110 freezout with €20 of the buy in going to charity.

There was a good few faces from around the country in attendance, including Jason Tompkins, Paul Lucy and Derek & Phil Baker. I flopped a couple of early sets in the game and got a good stack, eventually chopping it four way for €900.

It was a really good atmosphere in the club, and on the nights over €5,000 was raised for the local Hospice, a fantastic effort and well done to everyone involved, it just goes to show the generosity of the poker community.

Phil Baker deserves a special mention as he did a super job as auctioneer on the night and definitely added at least 25% value to the items sold with his harassment of the bidders.

One class moment occurred when the bidding was on an overnight stay with Dinner for two at the moorings Dungarvan valued at about €160. Someone was slagging Tommy Walsh, and Tommy gave them the two fingers; Phil snapped in straight away with sold to Tommy for €200.

Killarney

2011-10-03T01:06:00.004+01:00

I got to play Killeen Thursday for the Kerry mans price of €30, thanks to Keith Cummins for organising it. The extra €30 I lost to him was still well worth it. Derek Murray had booked one of the apartments for us at the Gleneagles complex and this was definitely the way to go, they're a great option and 10 times better then a hotel room.

Obviously the large fridge needed to be filled with beer and when Derek arrived down about midnight and we decided on a nightcap. Unfortunately we seemed to find plenty to chat about at it was pretty late and lots of beers before we turned in.

My day one was an odd one, I can't remember many hands but I did run about eight chunky river bluffs without a single one getting through. Quiet simply this is bad play by me as a large percentage of the field is of an over fifty demographic that come from pub or club games. Everyone knows the way to play this type of player is chunky value betting not bluffs, however they seemed such good spot to me at the time, I guess they put me on AK!!

I managed to get through the day with 32,000, but day two wouldn't last long. About twenty minutes in I raised AK and Larry Ryan 3-bet to 6.5 bigs, I shoved my 27 blinds, which he just covered. Larry went into the tank for a decent while, I knew he had a hand and more or less had his range at AQ JJ or 1010.

There was a bit of banter an I could of induced a fold - Larry told me later that he would of folded if I said yes when he asked would I show - but I was probably optimistically thinking AQ was a decent percentage of his range. Anyhow Larry's Jacks held and I was on my bike to the €300 side event.

This had 200 runners and I had an average stack with 60 players left. It was shallow enough but a lovely game and any bit of run good at that stage and I'd of given myself a right chance. Unfortunately a missed Flush Draw with me as aggressor left me with 10 bigs. I hung in until around 40 players left but my A4 shove found Trevor Dineen's AJ.

The Killarney Festival is such a great event and I do love playing in the INEC, it really is like playing in a poker arena, and outside of the RIO it's probably my favourite venue. Numbers were down this year but clashing with the EPT London and EMOP Barcelona this was to be expected and had the bonus of the absence of a lot of top players. I think all things considered 560 players was a very respectable turnout.

UKIPT Dublin - I'm an optimist

2011-09-13T16:28:00.014+01:00

Maybe its the fact there's so much on these days but the thought of staying in the Ballsbridge Inn for last weekends UKIPT just didn't appeal to me. With this in mind I decided on playing day 1-A hopefully returning on the Saturday for day two.

My starting table was nice enough but I couldn't get anything going early. It was quiet a strange first four levels as I in fact doubled up four players but never had more then starting stack myself.

A table move in level five when my stack was at 8k saw a change of fortunes. It looked a more difficult table with the guy who won the Cork leg and an Edinburgh finalist but a good rush of cards saw my stack hit 40k within 30 minutes on the table.

I coasted through the rest of the day and bagged up 57k which was just shy of 50 bigs and ahead of the average for day two.

One thing that really pissed me off on day one was that they cleared the main room floor of 20 tables for €100 side event meaning 12 tables from the main event were dumped in a sweatbox room upstairs with no AC.

When I saw the redraw its was obvious there would be plenty action on the new table with the Thomas 'Bomber' Nolan dynamic in play. Bomber is an action player, but he also seem to effect action from others on the table and that was the case here.

One had in the first level of day two, I actually managed to chip up 30 bigblinds ( 60% of average chips ) Pre-flop. Bomber opened, I 3-bet to 7.5x - Padge Barry made it 15x - Bombers calls and I jam to win the pot; I didn't have it.

This brought me over 100k but my momentum was stopped soon after when a relatively shortstack shoved 910 over my A9 button open and got there.

Level 3 of the day with blinds 1k/2k was where my pivotal hand of the tournament occurred. We were about 35 off the money and I was playing about 75k at the start of the hand. Bomber opened and a young polish player who was clearly steaming after been shown a bluff from Bomber a few hands before flatted, I called the button with KdQd.

The flop was 9 7 4 with two diamonds and Bomber lead for a near pot 15k and the Polish player shoved for 40k. My thinking here is Bomber had a hand with one pair probably a nine and was just trying to take down the pot while the shover range was wide enough considering his disposition and contained many worse draws to mine.

I felt I could fold Bomber out and would have 15 outs twice a lot of the time or could even be possibly ahead with King high. Anyway being the optimistic I am I went with it, bomber folded and I was 54.5 % favorite against my opponents pocket tens getting 2/1 for my 40k.

If I had hit it would of given me a lovely stack to attack the bubble with and was well worth the risk, unfortunately I didn't and would exit soon after shoving AJ over the same players AQ cut-off open.

That's the second UKIPT in a row I've basically done for my tournament in a big pot with a draw. I've been entering them with the intention of gambling to get a stack because of the field size and flat payout structure so I cant complain.

I'm no Jessy May-Unibet Dublin

2011-08-31T01:49:00.008+01:00

The City West is in my top two favourite venues for a poker festival in Ireland, so I was happy to see a major event back at the venue after a two-year absence.

I met John O'Shea, Tom Hanlon and Marty at the K Club on Thursday and thoroughly enjoyed our game, although I didn't bring my best. After nine holes I looked like getting stuck a monkey, but a better back nine and an impressive partner in John got me out.

I played the turbo on Thursday night, where I got a hell of a lot of big blinds in pre-flop holding KQ with about half the field gone. Well, you can't really fold a hand as pretty as KQ in a turbo I feel.

In the main event, I was a bit surprised to see EPT former grand final winner Pieter De Korver sitting two to my left on my starting table. One of the commentators described him as the best player in the tournament. In reality he wasn't even the best player at the table and was schooled freely on numerous occasions by Ian 'Bops' Ronan.

My tournament ended at level seven, playing 30k, blinds 300-600-75 ante. A relatively new player to the table who was frankly awful had been there four orbits and on each orbit had limped called a raise from UTG, and did so here. UTG + 1 called and I made it 2600 from the button with QQ; both called to see a 1022 rainbow flop.

First to act check-shoves covering me after UTG+1 had raised 4500 and I had called. I folded QQ on a nine high board the previous week in Cork but I just couldn't get away here. In my head I could see this guy showing up with 10J or even under-pairs to the ten, although I did consider the A2 he did show up with. I'm happy with my call.

I was asked to commentate for the live stream for the last two levels play on the day and had to endure watching the guy butchering his healthy stack. I'd done some live commentary in the past but I really didn't enjoy doing it here. I think it was the fact that it was a very dead table and I knew none of the players, along with having to watch my chips being spewed made me jump ship to the bar after an hour.

I didn't play poker for the rest of the weekend but had a decent sweat from percentage swaps with Marty Smyth and Derek Murray. Marty fell just short of the Money after losing a healthy stack in a couple of coolers. Derek had a great run finishing 15th for €5,000, and but for a beat with twenty left would of went very deep.

The button shipped 20 bigs in the hand, which was nearly average stack for the tournament at the time. Derek said he didn't like risking the chips with 88, as he felt he had a good edge on his table but after observing the pusher for a while, read him as very uncomfortable. It was A4 os and seeing fours land on both turn and river was a horrid way to lose the hand.

All in all I enjoyed the weekend; you can only run deep in a certain percentage of tournaments you play and just have to suck up the inevitable ones you exit early.

Irish Classic

2011-08-23T00:50:00.003+01:00

The Classic festival in the Macau runs all week and is Ireland's largest casino based poker festival.

I just played the PLO and Main Event this year. The Omaha was on Wednesday night and had a poor turnout with a field of only seventeen.

I finished fourth for nought at five am, which made for a depressing drive home. The tournament was won by Alex 'The Prof' Lopez, with Chris Dowling taking second after some business heads up.

A sign of changing times could be gleaned from the weekend's prize pool; in 2008 the winner's prize for the main event was €81,000, this year the 'total' prize pool was less then that figure. The Macau had decreased the buy-in as a reaction to the current economic climate and a saturated calendar of poker events; they also added a re-buy option this year. The tournament was a still a great success and with 17 players choosing to buy in twice, that seems to have worked well also.

I said in a blog recently that I was unsure about these tournaments that give players the option to re-buy, when multiple day ones are in place. It's clearly an advantage to the top players who have large bankrolls, however is it fair to increase such players edge? I still haven't made my mind up, but it's definitely a topical subject as this type of event is becoming more prevalent.

My Main Event was going well for the first half of day one and into level four I had almost trebled my starting stack. Things turned on me after this however and I had a serious of unfortunate reversals which saw me finish the day with less then what I started. I rallied early on day two but was out just before dinner in a flip against the impressive Nelius Foley.

Seven on a Saturday night isn't the worst time to get knocked out of a tournament in Cork, and a big gang of the tournament causalities including Big Al, Paul Carr and Eoghan O'Dea hit the town for a messy night's drinking.

I returned home early Sunday morning but followed what looked a cracking final table online. Two of the south's favourite poker players; Peter 'Knuckles' Higgins and Brian 'The Fox' O'Keefe had good runs but fell short of the real money finishing 9th and 7th respectively.

Limerick player Con Collins followed up his recent 4th place finish at the JP Masters by filling the same position here. Upon Con's exit, the three remaining players agreed to deal, where Pat Curran took home €19,000 and the trophy, Tony Collins and David Croke both picked up a very healthy €15,000.

Circles

2011-08-11T16:09:00.000+01:00

No, I'm not plugging Google +, rather circles casino Clonmel where I played a €275 summer game last Sunday.

51 players turned out for the one-day event and I got the most in a 4-way chip equity chop at 5 am. I took home €3,300 which was 26% of the total prize pool, so not a bad day's work.

I was treading water early on in this event, but got lucky three tables out when I squeezed KQ into a limpers AK. I never really looked back after this and although I was short enough going to the final table, things fell my way.

One sweet hand that I'll remember from the tournament occurred six handed. I raised 10 7os in the cut-off and hit the old 89J flop. I got it in on the flop against the BB's top pair. This gave me the chip lead and I was happy to chop shortly after, when we lost another player.

It was an enjoyable, well-structured game and the staff at Circles were top class, I'll be back for their Winter Festival in early December.

My next poker outing is the Irish Classic in the Macau Cork next week. You have the option here to play Day 1A and if it doesn't work out, you can buy back in on the second day one. I'm not sure how I feel about these tournaments that you can buy back into, but I don't think I'll be availing of the option. I just don't like the idea of being in for a grand in a monkey game, where realistically a maximum of 10% of the field will only have re-entered.

On the golf front, it's the last major of the year this weekend. I had a nice touch out of Kaymer in this one last year but I haven't really gotten involved pre tee this time - I'll see how the first two days go and have a punt Saturday. TBH my confidence in doing anything-right punting wise isn't great. I'm in a trough for about ten weeks on the golf and not attacking this major with my usual vigour.

Not up to much this weekend, the highlight will be a trip to Killarney Friday to play Killeen. Just looking at the forecast now and it's not great but I'll put up with some rain to play this smashing course.

EMOP Dublin

2011-08-02T00:07:00.004+01:00

Clontarf Castle Hotel was the venue for the inaugural visit of the European Masters of Poker tour to these shores. It proved to be a fantastic venue with a top room for a poker tournament. Having played a few of the tours events overseas I knew what to expect- 200 or so Scandinavian online qualifiers most of mediocre ability and hopefully boosted by a good turnout form the home team.

Connie O'Sullivan's, Cue Club events team were running the show and as you could expect with these guys, all targets were met. 300+ players sat down over the two starting days to fight it out for the title. I opted for day one B and my starting table seemed tough enough initially but I warmed to it as the levels progressed.

At the first break I commented to a friend that I expected an Asian kid on my left to start playing back at me soon. First hand back he did, I can’t see how I could of folded my jacks after just making this prediction and his aces held in a 28k pot. Thankfully I doubled immediately after with kings to get back to starting stack of 20k.

Over the next few hours I hit a brilliant run of starting hands, unfortunately they kept getting smashed. I had to give up on Aces three times over the next four levels, costing me plenty on each occasion.

Seven levels into the ten level day I got a table move, I had only about 15k at this stage but was stagnating and hoping the move could ignite me into the tournament. My new table covered the spectrum of Irish poker. On my left was tall Michael Graydon, Mick is having a sick year online and is topping the pocket5s Irish table for 2011. On my right, legend of Irish poker, former WSOP main event finalist George McKeever, so quiet the contrast.

Funnily enough I had never played with George before. I must of impressed him somewhat as after two hours of playing on the table he asked me if I'd like to swap 5% in the event.

I was going along OK and had doubled my stack when I ran AK into A9 just before the last level of the night. I'm well used to losing 30-70's, so it wouldn't bother me generally. However, the fact the dealer burst out laughing when my opponent hit a flush on the river had me steaming I must admit.

Just into the final level with ten big blinds left I got a lucky double shoving A5 into A10. But it was to no avail as thirty minutes later I lost a race for 60k, which was average stack, AK v JJ.

It was a difficult days poker for me as every time I looked like getting something going the deck swung against me. I feel had I won the late race I could well of have had a run at this one, but wasn't to be. I'm never too disappointed once I've played decent poker and I was very happy with my game over the day.

I'll be writing on the event for my columns in the star and bluff and will have a more macro-based sum up of the tournament in those. But big well done to all the Irish that cashed, especially The two Micks and Doke who nearly held off the invaders.

Other Stuff

2011-07-26T04:56:00.009+01:00

This isn't a blog that's going up on Boyles. I seem to be getting caught up a lot in writing over the last year - the bluff column and more recently for the poker supplement in the star and while I enjoy it - I need to be a bit more reader focused then having a good old waffle like I used to here. I always liked blogging but never envisaged my bull being published in magazines and newspapers. The only real conclusion I can come up with on those happenings is the community is severely starved of literary talent.

I never made Vegas this year which I dont really regret, there was a number of factors why I didn't go but the main one was I hit a bad run punting and didn't have a spare 25k lying around. I could of went down the road of selling action but just didn't fancy it, the enthusiasm just wasn't there and I have no regrets of not making a better effort to get over.

The few games I did play over the last month were more piss ups then serious games. Not very professional I know but the buyins were small and killarney and tramore - well its hard not to hit the beer in those spots. I'm a bit involved in putting on the tramore tournament so I'm not 100% comfortable playing it for that reason and might not play it next year.

There's a couple of really good games on the horizon and you wont see me touching a drop at these starting with the EMOP this week.

There's a real change in the landscape of Irish poker this year and while I'm happy to see tours like the emop and unibet hitting these shores. Along with the ukipt They're definitely squeezing the traditional events that existed but if it gives players shots at bigger prizepools then I suppose that's what we want.

The other side of the coin though is I hate seeing tournaments like the winter festival and the Irish Classic dropping buy in to try compete. The classic had a near 300k prizepool in 2008- it looks like it will do well to have 100k one this year. I guess its survival of the fittest and if you dont have a way of mass producing qualifiers your going to suffer in the current macro-eco climate.

On the punting front I lost the plot completely on the golf for a while- punting in grands pre tournament on outright market is just too high variance for my liquidity and that's well reined in. TBH if I spent the time I spent watching and punting golf on my poker game over the last 18 months.......you get the picture.

I'm not sure if anyone still drops in here anymore but I'll try post here the odd time with stuff that I feel falls outside my role with Boyles just to keep the old blog going.

Open Time

2011-07-12T01:48:00.003+01:00

On the poker front I played twice the weekend- the monthly game in the poker lounge Waterford where I came third and the summer game in the Cue Club Killarney where I lasted about a third of the time it took me to get there. Still Killarney's always great craic to go out in this time of year so wasn't a wasted trip.

A couple of great event coming up - we have the Boylepoker Waterford Masters next week; the Masters is always a top class little tournament with a great atmosphere. Then the following week the EMOP visits Ireland for the first time. This takes place in Clontraf Castle and a good purse is guaranteed.

This weekend will be spent watching the Open Championship. I'm punting Kaymer; he's been going through a swing change and watching him play in France two weeks ago he looked nearly right to me. He's on record as saying he doesn't love links golf but in reality has a superb links record, he's also one of the best ball strikers in windy conditions which we can expect over the four days. All in all 25/1 looks a very decent price and well worth a bet. I should add however that this tip comes with a public warning, I'm very much out of form punting wise the past two months.

Celtic Poker Tour Grand Final

2011-06-07T21:04:00.000+01:00

The Celtic Poker tour has been running since 2004 and every year has a grand final.

Initially you had to win one of the many tour games to get into this, but they opened it up to all comers since 2008. Every year more regulars of the wider Irish scene find their way to Carlow for the finals and one inevitably wins- this year was no different.

The CPT is predominantly a rural tour and the demographic of the tour regulars would be mainly over forty. The events are a social night out for them and an enjoyable atmosphere to play poker is always in place. However over the three day excellently structured Grand Final the regular's style of play just isn't up to it.

The Final table was littered with recognisable 'names'. Colette Murphy and Mick McCloskey both had good runs but fell short on the final table. Alan McIntyre followed up his 5th place finish at the JP Masters by filling the same spot here.

With four remaining, Tom Kitt took total command in a massive pot with AQ v KK, the ace on the river added to Tom's already impressive stack and sending Noel 'twang' O'Brien to the rail in cruel fashion.

After a few hours sparring and the stacks levelling up measurably the three remaining players, Kitt, Tommy Walsh and Dimitri Pembroke decided to deal with Tom taking 19k and the trophy, Tommy and Dimitri getting a healthy 15k each.

I managed to increase my side event specialist reputation (which I hate) over the weekend taking down the €220 game for 4k and was very close to getting the best deal of my career in the process.

Three-handed, with me holding a huge chip advantage, the two lads discussed chopping second and third place money and giving me first. A ticket for a future event included in the second prize eventually killed the deal but it would have been fun to get full first place money in a deal with three players remaining.

UKIPT Cork & Senior Moments

2011-05-23T15:06:00.008+01:00

I was regged for day one A of the UKIPT Cork, which would mean a free day Friday if I managed to make day two. I decided commuting was my best option as stars had monopolised the hotel and a free day spent in Cork means a hangover for day two anyway.

I should of known it wasn't going to be my weekend when on the Thursday morning I put two Weetabix in an ashtray for breakfast; my first senior moment of the weekend.

I felt this was always going to be a sell out and a capacity 602 souls ponied up the buy in for the inaugural Cork leg of the tour, 320 played day one A.

I had a nice steady starting table and was still on my starting stack into level five when things got a bit busy. I was on the wrong side of a set over set incident early in the level and dropped to 6k; before the level finished I was playing forty.

My upward spiral continued for the next five levels and over a few table breaks until level ten when I came unstuck.

Playing a little over 70 bigs I called a 3-bet out of position with AsQs. When I checked raised the Js10c8c flop pot sized c-bet, I was committed. The two red kings my opponent held left me with 37% equity which was ok by me, I was dreading AcKc which would of been much worse.

I was left with 6 bigs after the hand and hung in for about an hour eventually losing a 25 big race in the last level of the day to eventual forth, young Limerick player, Jamie Flynn. I had played with Jamie before at a Macau festival and he has an impressive game and is one to watch out for in the future.

I still had a lot of interest in the event as I had taken percentages of about ten players ranging from 10% to 50%. Thankfully this didn't go unrewarded, I managed to recoup €70 as one of my 10% had a min cash.

I stayed at home- played golf Friday- and returned Saturday for the €330 side event. I was toying with playing the high roller event but Nick Newport told me not to as there wasn't enough money for winning it.

This turned out to be good advice as I played like a numpty in the 300 game. I went out having my second senior moment of the weekend. My 5 bet shove might not seem terrible on the face of it, as it was small blind verses button. In reality it was horrid, the chance my opponent was betting light was about the same as bumping into Elvis in Tesco’s.

My other moment over the weekend involved golf punting. The last time they ran the Volvo Matchplay was 2009 and it was by far my worst losing week on golf ever. After that event I have steered clear of matchplay events,

With this in mind I proceeded to have my biggest pre tournament outright bet of the year on Lee Westwood. Westy was on fire and finished his two group matches in 27 holes total. In fact he was -19 for 45 holes in the tournament after his match with Poulter Saturday morning.

I'm sure this was of great solace to him on the flight home that afternoon; it wasn't much consolation for me. Fuelled by a deep hatred for Poulter I was going to get him for Lee. I proceeded to martingale against him for the rest of the event. There was only ever going to be one outcome- I'm not backing matchplay anymore.

The JP Masters

2011-05-15T17:06:00.004+01:00

While the Irish Open is a wonderful event and I wouldn't swap it for all the EPTea's in China; but it does bleed the Irish poker economy.

With Easter falling so late this year, we poker players had just eight days to dust off our Open hangovers and head to the Ballsbridge Inn for the fourth instalment of the JP Masters. Unfortunately many never made it!

It was a very disappointing. 175 players turned out for the main event with all the side events suffering too.

I guess with a congested calendar something had to give, it's such a pity it was the turnout for this fantastic event.

Quite simply JP McCann runs the best show in the country and his tournaments need and deserve to be supported better then this.

The tournament itself was a classic with many of the country's top players fighting out the latter stages.

I cruised through Day 1 with a lovely stack but came a cropper early in Day 2, losing a massive pot to eventual winner, Tony 'The Pirate' Rafter.

Mark McDonell had amassed a huge stack and looked to be unstoppable until the poker Gods decided he was, well, stoppable.

A series of beats saw Mark eventually finish just short of the final table but it really is just a matter of time for this guy.

The class of the final eight was testament to the fantastic structure and Tony can take great satisfaction for seeing off that lot.

IO 11

2011-04-26T23:15:00.010+01:00

This was my sixth Irish Open and having done nothing in the event since 2007 I was determined to make some sort of run. In the end I finished 36th for €7,500, disappointing in the end, but definitely a decent showing.

The pre tournament preparation involved three days in the wonderful surroundings of the kclub. The first two days it was the usual suspects; Marty, Julian and Paul Spillane. Yet again Smyth showed his philanthropic side by covering all our expenses for the coming weekend with his loses on the course.

Thursdays outing was organised and bankrolled by Mr Liam Flood; thanks for the inclusion Liam. The four-ball I played in consisted of myself and three legends of the game, Bellagio Tournament Director Jack McCelland, WSOP finalist George McKeever and Mayo's finest Danny McHugh.

I was a great honor to spend an afternoon with such greats of the game. I do sometimes worry about Marty, he managed to lose money to 13 of the 20 players in the group; obviously the other six were unlucky he hadn't a bet with them.

After some grub in the Kclub it was onto the Burlington and straight to bed. Hmm not, the best laid plans and all that, I did manage to get to bed by six though.

My starting table was christened the table of death on the reporting sites. I'd imagine we killed off a few viewers from the live stream anyway for the two levels we featured. The table included Johney Weaffer, Doke, Reesy, Mark Spellman, dutch sensation Paul Berande.

Every chip won on this table was like drawing blood, except for the 5k I spewed to John early that is. No idea what I was at in the hand but It had me on the back foot for the rest of the day.

At one stage on the feature table I dropped to 10k and remember thinking thank God they increased the starting stack to 20k this year. I was really just hanging in most of the day until I won a race with Queens in the second last level.

I ended the day on 30k, a bit behind the average but 30 bigs going back was fine by me. My only goal going into the day was to be still in at the end. I've been having a lot of good day two's in recent tournaments and was hoping for another.

The first level on day 2 I added about 15k to my stack, then early in the next level I caught a beauty of a hand that got me right into the tournament.

Jason Tompkins min raised the cut off and the button called, I decided to see a flop with 6d3d giving Jason some verbals " blame the button when smash this flop". I think 334 flop could be considered smashing it. I checked, Jason raised 4400 and button flatted, I bumped it up to 13,400. Jason got out of the way but the button shoved 99 covering me.

This put me on about 95k and I was able to add to this steadily for the next 5-6 hours without setback until this table broke.

I had 170k ish when I moved to my new table. On my left on this table were two very aggro well stacked players, eventual finalist Finn Aleksi Savala and a good young English Lag. Whit most opens getting three and four bet I figured tightening my opening range optimal.

I added a handy 50k to my stack when a player shoved AJ and I woke up with the Aces. Then added another fifty when I opened 88 to 13,500, the English lad flatted and the Finn bumped it to 27,500. I felt it a good spot to 4-bet and my raise to 65k took it down.

We were on the bubble at this stage and I was about to pull my move of the tournament. David O'Neill, the tournament director announced over the mike while standing behind me that the sponsors would be giving the 65th place finisher free entry into next years event.

I said, " God bless Paddypowers", Dave obviously though this was a nice statement and asked would I say it over the mike. Always happy to oblige I got my hands on the mike and proceeded to say, " I play on boylepoker.com, you should to". A few choice words followed from Dave, which are unrepeatable here.

With the bubble broke the chips started flying in as usual. I raised 77 in early and a player called in the big. This gent had been all in numerous times and his modus was to flat and shove the flop. Sure enough he shoved the k55 flop, it's 100k to call but I feel I'm ahead of his shoving range here.

I tanked for a good while and my gut was telling me he had a small pair. I gave it some verbals but made a mistake, I said, " I have pocket tens and think I'm good here". His face visible dropped and I called to be shown 99. Why I didn't say I held eights is beyond me.

This was a very important pot to get wrong, It meant coming back for day three with a grinding stack of 180k and thirty bigs instead of a possible 380k stack with a lot more manoeuvring room.

My starting table for day three had Tureniec and Earmes and another few big stacks. I wasn't going to be opening to light but felt I could hopefully get a few chips 4-bet shoving as there was bound to be a lot of levelling going on. As it turned out the table broke after one level and I left with what I had started.

My new table looked light on chips and a lot easier, I had direct position on the Finnish player from the night before and relative stacks meant I was a threat to the players with position on me.

I was quiet comfortable for a level on this table and really felt if it didn't break I could of manoeuvred my way to the last two tables easily enough. That was until the last hand before the break.

Aleksi opened the SB and I decided to take a flop in position with Kh Jh, and what a flop I got Kx 5h 3h. He leads and I bump it up, which he flats. Ac on the turn went check/check and I called a bet on a blank river to be showed A2os. It was a bit of a sicken-er and left me with 8 bigs, which I shoved blind when folded to me in the cut off just after the break. I was racing J6os v the buttons A9 and although I hit the front on the turn the river sent me to the rail.

I hung around railing Marty and then Jude but wasn't in any mode for celebrating and headed home upon the two lads exiting.

I was happy to get some sort of run on reflection, I feel I played well on the whole and that's all I can do really. I think it was the best Irish Open I've played, the increase in starting stack made a huge difference and I think It showed with the quality of field left in on day three.

From what I saw Niall Smyth put in a fantastic performance and was a deserved winner. We needed to keep the title at home for the first time in four years so big well done to Niall for achieving this.

Looking towards the Irish Open

2011-04-13T22:22:00.001+01:00

It's nearing the big one! The Irish Open once again becomes the focus for every poker player in the country. The tournament quiet simply dwarfs everything else that plays out over the year here.

An idea of the magnitude can be gleaned from the fact that a fifth place finish will guarantee a bigger payday then winning the next biggest tournament in Ireland for the year.

I first played the Open in 2006 when it was a bit a benchmark year, as this is when the game really exploded in Ireland.

I had won a one-seat satellite in Waterford and headed for Dublin full of naive confidence. I had only played a couple of ranking events at this stage and was totally blown away by the whole set up when I arrived at Jury's Inn for the event.

No such thing as a super satellite the previous day back then, we had a €400 re-buy with 2000 chips per buy-in and 4000 for the top up. I thought it better for my pocket to give up after four buy-ins and just hit the bar, having not reached the add-on.

My starting table the next day included Mike Caro, Marty Smyth, Rob Young, Simon Trumper and Steve Jelinek. Caro had been brought over by the sponsors as a "star" player and a hand I was involved with him in level two, is still the weirdest I have ever played.

With the blinds 50/100, three players including Caro on the button limped into my big blind, I checked my option holding Q7. The Q77 flop looked very nice and I checked, as did the next two players.

At this stage I'm thinking to myself, the best way to extract a thousand or two in chips when Mike suddenly announces all-in. It took a few seconds to register what had happened but sure enough he moved his 8,600 stack into the middle to win a pot of 400.

I obviously called and Mike turned up A2 off suit, for no draw no pair. Caro is known as the mad genius of poker and was clearly operating on a different planet to the rest of us mere mortals with this advanced play. It went way over my head anyway.

I remember accumulating a lovely stack for the next few hours, but I was to become unstuck before the end of play. Eventual sixth Paul Daly was moved to my table and we played a monster pot with all the chips going in on the turn, where my set of Jacks looked very healthy until the King on the river matched the two he held.

The beat haunted me for months afterwards, but a lasting addiction with the tournament had been formed.

The 2011 Irish Open will be held in the Burlington Hotel from the 21st to the 24th of April; one time.

No cigar in Castlebar

2011-03-01T02:48:00.005Z

The Breaffy House Hotel, Castlebar, was the venue for the inaugural Boylepoker sponsored Western Open.

It's the type of event that epitomises every thing that's good about Irish poker. A well-run, excellently structured main event, plenty of support events, crazy cash action and a 24-hour bar, all in a self-contained arena.

I really like these types of games coming to new regions. They're generally very well supported by the natives and give regulars who travel the country from that area a well deserved break from pounding the road to the more familiar destinations.

A knock-on bonus is that for probably 50% of the field it's their first taste of a major poker festival and a lot of these will subsequently travel to other events in the future.

Martin Silk was our host and as is Silky's character, you'd expect something a little different; he didn't disappoint. On the Thursday night, celebrity boxing brought the crowds out in force.

The heavyweight bout between Fintan Gavin and Liam from Celtic Poker was the main attraction. Fintan never ceases to amaze and I was shocked to see some serious boxing skills on show in the match; check it out on Youtube.

The other quirk was taking 10% from the prize pool and splitting it between the chip-leaders on day one and two. I'm all for innovation and trying new things but I'm not a fan of this one. Giving ten times the buy-in twice, was too much and while everything was transparent here, I think it can lead to possible skullduggery if it became the norm.

My tournament went well enough. After scrapping through day one with less then the starting stack, I managed a good day two, getting my humble 13k to a respectable 220k by the time the bubble broke and we finished for the day.

There was 24 returned for day three and I made the final eight with about average. With five left I still had average chips but walked into a few hands here and exited for €3,000. A little disappointing to only get three as there was close to €50,000 still in the pot when five of us remained.

I went out pushing 14 blinds over a cut off raise, but the big blind and eventual winner Aiden Culllinane, woke up with a hand. I had played with Aiden for the three days and there was a Jamie Gold type of inevitability about his march to the title.

All in all, an enjoyable weekend with a satisfactory showing in the tournament so I can't complain. Well done to Aiden and everyone else who cashed and everyone involved in putting the festival together.

Some Superbowl Run Good

2011-02-08T17:26:00.000Z

I had some pretty funny run good during the superbowl. Its half time and there four of us in a group conversation on msn (John O'Shea, Marty Smyth and Paul Spillane), I'm fairly drunk and that lads are saying the under line at 54.5 looks good at 10/11.

I decide to have €330/300 for an interest, I then think this isn't enough and go in for another €770. I relay my bet to the lads and John asks can I get 1100 on for him as he can’t get on where he is at the moment. I do it and cut n paste the bet receipt in to msn. Marty cops that I've actually done the overs by mistake.

I get straight onto live chat to try reverse the bet, its taking time and when the operator gets back to me; I've actually done the €770 on the overs as-well by mistake. I decide now this is a total mess and I'll just take the hit myself so I inform John the bet is cancelled and tell the live chat to just leave the bets stand.

Now I'm left with 1440 net on the overs line, which I don't want. An early second half Steelers touchdown then changes the line to 57.5. Eureka, I have another 1440 on the unders at 5/6 which means I'm out for a tiny loss and freerolling 55-57 pts for €2,500. That field goal two minutes from the full time to bring the total points to 56 pts was very sweet indeed.

European Deepstack Poker Championship

2011-02-07T22:50:00.008Z

The fourth installment of the European Deepstack Poker Championship took place in Dublin at the weekend.

I've always felt the structure for this one a bit gimmicky, you get a mass of big-blinds on day one to mess around with, but the subsequent days play out like any other tournament.

However, you can't argue with a turnout of 740 players, of which amazingly only about 15% were Irish.

The majority of overseas visitors to the event were French, with a healthy sprinkling of Danish, Belgium and Germans. I really don't understand the bad press French players get, I always enjoy playing with them as there generally funny, cordial and make for a very active table dynamic.

I played Day 1A, which as it turned out was good idea. The day ones were a gruelling fourteen hours, so a day's rest in-between was a benefit.

The day went well over-all. I started fast, dropped a bit, got lucky to cooler Dennis O'Kane and played a good last level to finish on 110k, which was average.

There was one rather odd occurrence on my first table.

I was chatting away and a chap standing behind me, whom had been talking to the player sitting beside me, asks me am I from Waterford? I reply, 'I am', thinking he's picked up on my accent.

He then proceeds to ask me do I know Nicky Power and was he playing today. Now I'm a little taken aback by this but I tell him "He is and I think he's on table two", (I'm sitting at table two). The gent proceeds to tell me that he knows Nicky well and must go over and have a chat with him. It was all rather confusing.

The first two levels of day two were quiet. I then lost 66% of my chips in an v flip leaving me rather short. Luckily I was able to double shortly after with v in a short corner and never looked back for the rest of the day.

In about a four-hour period I managed to get 90k to over 700k without ever having more then a small portion of my chips in at showdown.

Again, with about two levels left my table broke. The new table was a different proposition, with many big stacks held by very good players including the unstoppable Sean Prendiville.

We were approaching the bubble but it was a funny dynamic as the table was stacked and mostly by "players", so no-one was able to take control and abuse the bubble.

I finished the day on a healthy 640k, with the average 500k and 72 players remaining.

Going back for day three I felt I had a right shout at the title. Instead, I had one of those days where it just went against me.

It started brightly when I called a 150k shove with Jacks and got to over 800k but that was to be my peak.

I was bet off a few pots and lost two 40/60 for smallish showdowns. With the blinds rising, I was left with a shoving stack.

I hung in for two levels but just never found a hand to double and inevitably I eventually ran into a hand, when I shoved 10BBs with into .

So, out in 27th on a split pay bubble for €1425. It didn't feel like a lot for over two days hard work, but its good to play well and get a cash on my first outing of the year.

In general I think the Irish put in a good showing over the tournament, we had 33% of the field with thirty players left. It went a bit wrong for us from there on in, last men standing were Sean with another great performance to bubble the final table and Fergal Cawley who came sixth.

The Irishpokerboards forum live updates are getting better every event they cover. The lads are doing super work and certainly adding an enjoyable dimension to these events. They're covering these voluntary and deserve big thanks from us all for the fantastic service they provide.

Soft launch 2011

2011-01-12T19:28:00.004Z

The Irish poker calendar used to kick off with a bang, but with the Irish Poker Championships and the Lakes of Killarney both moving from their traditional berth, it's a very quiet start to the year.

A new tournament I will be playing is the Irish Premier Poker Festival (I.P.P.F), with a buy-in of €250, and €50,000 guaranteed, this looks like a decent game.

The festival is held at The Westgrove Hotel, Clane, County Kildare, from the 20th to 23rd of January. A smashing venue and a full programme of support events ensure a great weekend of poker.

I've been pottering away a good bit online for the first time in ages. I have been cashing in a lot of MTT's but no real joy as yet.

The Winter Promotion series of tournaments on Boylepoker seem to be going great. While the potential for overlay never materialised, there seems to be great value in the events and it just goes to show what can be achieved with a pro-active satellite schedule in place for the nightly guarantees.

The best run I got was 75th in Sunday's $200,000 guarantee losing a big flip v to exit. I'll definitely have another go at that one this Sunday.

2010 Reviewed

2010-12-29T01:28:00.008Z

I've been blogging for four years now and each year I've done a yearly review. The previous ones were relatively successful and always included a few decent scores. This year's review reads basically; got knocked out, got knocked out, got knocked out etc etc...

From a personal point of view I really enjoyed myself in 2010. I enjoy the lifestyle and freedom poker has afforded me over the last five years and last year was no different.

The highlight of the year for me is always Vegas. The highlight for my ego was being on the cover of Cardplayer magazine, although the airbrushing was a bit iffy. I also started a monthly column in Bluff magazine, which I enjoy and seem to get good feedback from.

It was a great honour to represent Boylepoker.com for the year. I feel these days sponsorship from a site involves a lot more then turning up at a tournament and wearing a patch.

I'd like to think I have added value for Boyle's from a marketing position and hopefully was seen as a good ambassador for the site.

From a poker perspective, the first five months of the year I was worried if I'm honest. I couldn't seem to get anything going, exiting loads of events without getting above the starting stack. A lot of these tournaments I felt I was just making up the numbers and didn't think I was playing well.

The last seven months I think I played very well, accumulating stacks freely in the early to middle stages of events. However, I kept falling short in tournament after tournament. I've practically never bubbled over my poker years, so seeing myself outlast 75-85% of fields in event after event and then exiting was surprising to me.

I like to think I'm pragmatic about how I'm playing and couldn't see how I was doing anything wrong over that seven-month period. All I can put it down to honestly is variance catching up with me.

Win a race here and there, the main event day three springs to mind, and it could be very different looking back. Basically that's how small the margins are between a great or terrible year in tournament poker, a flip here and there.

When I did a 'well' on the old boards forum, (John is doing an excellent job on his one, at irishpokerboards.com ATM, check it out). Tony 'Flushdraw' Baitson asked the following question...

What is your poker expectation from 2008?

I answered, "Because the variance is so much in MTTs,i wouldn't be surprised if I didn't have any results that register for all of 2008 on the Hendonmob database. On the other hand I wouldn't be surprised to have ten results on it for the year. That's the nature/reality of being a live tournament player".

When I did my poker accounts at the end of the year it showed around €20,000 in profit. The only reason it was in profit was Boylepoker.com were picking up the tab for most of my tournament entries.

As my poker expenses over the year would have been close enough to €20k. The bottom line is a bad losing year relative to my buy-ins, but not on my pocket.

This isn't the first time I've had a losing year playing live MTT's, 2006 was similar but well offset back then by online profits.

The past two years I'm more of a recreational online player, playing just some of the big Sunday tournaments if I'm at home, or the odd tournament during the week. I did have a decent enough year punting golf, which always helps.

Looking towards 2011, I'm confident, if I keep playing like I have since June, it's only a matter of time before I click again. I do intend to play more online over the coming year.

I've never been much of an online MTT grinder but my intentions are to get stuck into them this year and see how it goes.

I kind of fell out of love with playing online, but I can feel a real zest for playing building in me recently. I even bought a new desktop and installed hold'em manager this week, in preparation.

Anyway, I hope people have enjoyed reading the blog for the year gone. Have a great 2011.

Brain Pain

2010-12-14T12:10:00.005Z

I travelled to Cork on Friday for the three day Christmas festival. Having got through day one with an average stack, I was having a good day amassing a healthy stack through day two.

When we took a fifteen minute break at nine I had about 10% of the total chips in play, with 24 players remaining. For the first twenty minutes after the break I hit a brutal run of reversals, losing four all-in pre flop showdowns in the space of about eight hands - v , v , v and v .

Throw in losing with KK and JJ in between the showdowns and I went from chip leader to short stack. A fairly brutal turn of events and I never recovered, eventually going out with a badly timed shove in 13th position.

You'll never hear me moaning about how I run. Variance is a huge part of tournament poker and I generally take the bad with the good and just get on with it, but I must admit to feeling a little sorry for myself on the drive home after that run.

The Macau Winter Festival was the first tournament I ever won on a national stage back in 2005. That year there were 67 starters at a buy-in of €1,100. The tournament was televised on one of those magazine type poker shows Sky used to do. I'd say the make-up of the field in 2005 was about 33% locals, with the remaining field consisting of sponsored pro's.

This year there were 75 starters at €550, with probably 90% locals. The tournament is a good example of how the landscape of tournament poker has changed. In 2005 there was a handful of national level tournaments, these days there seems to be one every other week and no doubt the prestige that the Macau Christmas tournament once held, has now been vastly diluted.

There has been a plethora of new successful events that have sprung up over the last few years. These events have generally been smaller a buy-in, with larger fields then the traditional "big" tournaments that existed.

Seeing the success of the new tournaments, it seems that the organisers of the existing events have decided the best way forward is to reduce the buy-in of their events to mirror the new successful games. This has been seen over the last two years, with The Irish Championship, The Irish Classic, European Deepstack, JP Masters, Macau Winter Festival all reducing their entry fees.

I totally understand why the promoters of these events have reacted in the manner they have. Poker festivals make money on cash game rake not the tournaments, so it's understandable that the promoters have all adopted the pile them high, sell them cheap logic.

However, I think they have in general made a mistake. They should have embraced the uniqueness of the events instead of just falling back into the pack. Events with legacy have lost their potential for real continuity. In most cases, instead of promoting the unique selling points of these events, the easy option has been chosen.

What we now have is a calendar packed with more and more none-descript monkey buy-in events. Instead of six or seven must-play unique tournaments that attracted overseas visitors we now have two, the Winter Festival and the Irish Open.

This has left a gap in the market for bigger buy-in games and it seems that slack is going to be taken up by the overseas tours. This coming year there's an EMOP coming to Ireland late in July. There are also solid rumours of a leg of the Unibet tour and WPT hitting these shores.

I have no idea how these new events will run in the current recessionary climate. What I do know is I would much rather win a 400 field €1,500 buy-in, Irish Classic or European Deep-stack, then EMOP or Unibet leg.

RIP IPC

2010-12-07T01:45:00.004Z

Following on from my unplanned visit the previous week, it was back to Galway on Thursday for the UKIPT-IPC.

The weather had become a lot worse in Waterford but I was sure once I got about 20 miles west, the rest of the trip would be ok. As I suspected it was, and it took me the standard three hours to get there.

I found it quite amusing when Neil Kelly told me that he had decided his best option was to get to Galway by motorway, so he went Waterford-Dublin-Galway, taking a wonderful eight and a half hours, WP!

When the event finally kicked off after a day's delay, my starting table looked horrific with Rory Rees Brennan, Dermot Blaine, the eventual winner and benefactor of my chips was Nick Risk, who I'd played at the IWF and Nick Silver who won the UKIPT Dublin last year, basically ten pros.

The first real hand I played, I spewed about 4k of my starting twenty in a bad spot. The second hand I played, I went out in an odd one.

Nick one raised and was called by Nick two. I decided to just call from the small blind with , disguising the strength of my hand. Rory also came along from the BB. The JXX dry flop was checked to Risk who bet 650, I called and the other two got out of the way.

The turn was an innocuous three and I checked again. This is where the hand got a bit strange. Risk bet 6100, which stunned me a little and took me a few seconds to assimilate.

He'd either mistaken a 5k chip for a 500 one, was making a rather strange bet or was pulling an angle for me to believe he'd mistaken his chips. I was leaning towards the first and this was confirmed, when Silver pointed to his bet size and his face dropped.

I decided to just push, as I felt he wasn't putting another chip in the pot if he was bluffing and I was getting called by many worse hands because of the odd dynamic. He vocally made a crying call which made me think I was good, but was in fact drawing to two outs against a turned set of threes.

It was disappointing; I'd probably have lost a third of my chips in the hand anyway but would never have burst. When I found out that there was a table re-draw for the tournament after the second level, this tilted me a lot more as the starting table should never have been.

It was a simple error, whereby the shuffle button on the software on the list of entries was never pressed. This meant that the players were seated in the order as they were received. Basically all Stars' qualifiers were seated together, same for live qualifiers, direct buy-ins etc.

I think someone should have copped what happened earlier when the four Pokerstars pros were seated in a line on the same table.

For the rest of the weekend I played two side events, lasting until the last three tables in the first and murdering my chips in the second.

I said before the event that I wasn't a fan of reducing the buy-in, as I felt it reduced the prestige of the Irish Championship. The event was hugely changed from previous years and for me just hadn't the same buzz.

It's a pie in the sky dream but I'd love to see two top tournaments in Galway, a UKIPT leg and bring back the old IPC.

I did hear a funny story from the cash tables late on the Saturday night. One of the players wasn't happy with a ruling given by the floor staff. The irate punter somehow thought the matter merited the attention of the guards, who duly arrived and arrested him!

Quick Trip

2010-12-01T22:21:00.005Z

I made an unexpected trip to Galway on Saturday. I was chilling at home around two, losing money on the afternoon's racing when the phone rang. My buddy Danny Guiney, who had qualified for the final of the BOSP 2010, was sounding very disappointed as his flight had been cancelled.

I told him to get a cab straight to my gaff from the airport and I'd get him there. My thinking was, I'd save money by missing the rest of the racing and be guaranteed a good night out in Galway, as is always the case.

The roads up were grand once we hit Carrick, but for the first 15 miles they were fairly bad and Danny was crying like a little girl that he wanted to go home as I was doing my best ice-trucker impersonation.

The tournament was running about 90 minutes when we got to the Eglinton and Danny had eight BBs. I left him to get on with it and rounded up a crew, (Derek Murray, Knuckles and Eoin Dixon), for the session. When we checked the live stream from the hotel bar, Dan was heads up for the $10,000 sponsorship package, but unfortunately he just fell short to Richard Campbell.

So it was commiserations to Danny, I know it was gutting for him. However, congratulations to Richard and welcome to the team.

The night didn't disappoint anyway, it was quite nuts. Big fair play to Fintan, who went out of the way to show us the top Galwegian nightspots.

Unfortunately for Danny, his run bad for the weekend didn't end just yet. The following morning Danny asked me would I mind if he got the plane home. This suited, as I'd rather face a three-hour drive dying with a hangover alone. As I was halfway home I got a call from him telling me his flight was cancelled, hopefully he's gotten home since!

It's back cross-country tomorrow for the IPC. I'm not sure how the numbers will turn out with the current prolonged bout of weather, hopefully it gets 300 as the tournament deserves a good sized field. I'm really looking forward to the event anyway.

I probably should be feeling down about the game with the year I've had. Conversely, I don't think I've ever felt as positive as to where my game is at. It's possible I'm totally deluded, but either way I can't wait to get going the coming weekend.

More Malta

2010-11-19T10:57:00.009Z

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!

IPT Main Event

2010-11-13T11:42:00.003Z

I was well up for this, feeling great about my game and full of confidence when the tournament started. Four hours later I was thinking of the side events, but that's generally the way of tournament poker.

My starting table had some Italian team pro and an Irish one (Jude). It was an OK table with two definite soft spots.

There really wasn't much to report over the first three levels, I'd lost about 25% of my starting stack. Most of this went on a river bluff with air on a straight-flushing board and getting called by a pair.

My exit hand was interesting enough I think. There's an early position raise and one of the the soft-spots calls the button, I call from the big blind with , the blinds are 100-200. I like the flop. The initial raiser bets 1100 and button calls, as do I.

The turn is a black nine and the initial raiser bets 3k and is called by the button after my initial check. I'm confident the initial raiser had a big Ace here and I'm almost certain I'm ahead of the button whom I'm putting on big connecting hearts.

It look like the perfect spot to me as I'm picking up 11k in the middle for my 14k if I can fold them out, and while I think it's possible the button can call with his draw I'm happy enough to take that given my equity.

When I shove the initial raiser folds quickly enough, the button looked like he was in pain and seemed to be trying to fold on a number of occasions. However he eventually called and I wasn't pleased with what he showed up with, 9h. I had read it almost perfectly but hadn't accounted for him pairing his nine on the turn.

It was still a pretty big call on the turn by him for about 60% of his stack. I think the deciding factor in his call was being taken off a hand, not long before by the Italian stars guy. All in all I think I played the hand well and it was just a bit unfortunate he binked the turn. I hadn't seen semblance of a hand all day and it was time to try and force it a bit so can't complain.

There's an €1,100 side event today at five so I'm hoping for a better run at that.

Stones and Bones

2010-11-10T12:34:00.004Z

I couldn't make JP's main event but I did head to Tallaght for the €250 side event on Saturday and the €150 Shoot-out on Sunday.

Saturday's game was good craic with some enjoyable hands but I never really got going, exiting level seven. I spent the rest of the night boozing heavy; culminating in a few old style JP Sit & Go's which were fun.

I bubbled Sunday's shoot-out. Cruised through my first table and all the other second tables were finished when I made a bit of a gambly call with on the bubble of mine. I had a couple of 70-30 reversals during the table and with the blinds rising had to get them in I think. As it turned out, I wasn't in a great spot as the big blind woke up with aces.

By this stage of the weekend there's fairly bad weather and I'm bricking it about the following morning's flight to Malta. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a great flyer at the best of times so you can imagine my state with a severe weather warning in place. Luckily it was wrong and the morning flight took off in very calm conditions.

I'm staying with my friend Alex Collier who moved here 18 months ago so I called around to his work place so he could drop me to his apartment on arrival. Alex used to build rally car engines in Ireland, so it was amusing to see him suited and booted in his new role (flogging up-scale time shares).

We went to the casino on Monday night and I managed to pick up entry to this week's IPT €2,200 game in a small 30ish field tournament. I ran pretty well here, betting all streets in two hands on the final table and backing into the nuts to the indignation of a few of the locals and Italian players. Nice start to the trip anyway.

Alex brought me around the whole island yesterday showing me all the sights. This basically involved seeing a number of very old stone structures. These included the oldest man made stone thing in the world and the third largest free standing dome, all very impressive.

We did go to catacombs which were interesting. We kind of got a bit away from the official tour and I had to stop Alex taking a piece of a skeleton which he wanted as a card protector. After some time noising around the lights went out, the tour was finished and it was the tour guide trying to give us a bit of a fright, it worked.

I'll move into a hotel tomorrow closer to the casino and Derek, Jude and a good few more of the lads are getting over Thurs/Fri so hopefully one of us can get a touch in the wonderfully sounding Italian Poker Tour.

Cork still loves me anyway

2010-11-01T01:28:00.003Z

I played the Macau monthly tournament on Friday night in Cork. This is a €275 entry, €10k guaranteed one night tournament that I try to make every month.

I almost turned back about a third of the way through the drive to Cork, traffic was at a standstill due to an oil spill before Dungarvan. By the end of the night I was glad I stuck with it, as I managed to take the lion's share of the purse and even got to suck out on big Al.

The tournament has a good structure but inevitably gets a bit fast as the night progresses. By about 4.30am a deal was suggested whereby the remaining six players get €1,500 each, leaving €1,000 for first and €700 for second to play for.

As the payment for 6th was a measly €400 and I was the shortest stack, I was only too happy to agree to the deal, I've never been one to turn down free money. I then proceeded to run like god and secure the extra grand for first.

On the drive home I couldn't help thinking that if I had run that good at the previous week's IWF, I could have probably wrapped up the three-day event in two.

Next up is JP's mini World Series festival. I'm heading straight to Malta after JP's game for two weeks, taking in the IPT and EMOP final. I'm also looking forward to catching up with my good buddy Alex Collier who moved there eighteen months ago.

Winter Festival Blues

2010-10-29T02:20:00.003+01:00

I was looking forward to this one. The IWF boasts the second largest prize pool of the calendar year and with good runs at the title the previous two years, I was confident entering the tournament.

My plan was to arrive late to the Burlington on Friday night and get a good night kip. I checked in at ten and was in the bar at 10.05. Wally told me he'd been playing cash all night and asked could he use the spare bed in my room for a kip the following morning. I got to bed about five, Wally woke me about 7.30 carrying a bag that suggested he intended to stay longer than the original nap time requested.

I started the game a little hung-over and a lot jaded, after my two and a half hours kip. My starting table had Derek Murray, Pauric (Digiman on IPB) and a decent American player who recently won the UKIPT Scotland.

The first two levels were just feeling out the table. In level three I lost a few chips to Pauric, trapping into his turned flush. There was a decent enough Latvian player on the table whom I got a very lucky double from playing about 12k.

He had call numerous three-bets showing up with hands like Q8, so I wasn't that worried when he called mine while I was holding Queens. I got very worried when we got it in on the Jack high two-club flop, with him holding top set. I picked up a flushdraw on the turn and rivered a Queen.

The rest of the day went very well. I gradually grew my stack all day without playing any big pot or ever being in danger of going out, eventually finishing with 78,000. This was a top twenty stack with 110 left, so I was in a very healthy position.

It had been a very long twelve-hour day's poker, so I decided to skip a post play drink and retired to my room for that over due good night sleep but I hadn't factored in Wally. I was awoken from a coma state about six, as he had decided to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix at full volume.

Back to the tables and not as refreshed as I hoped, the first two hours were spent protecting my stack, as I wasn't finding any hands. When I eventually found AK I got it in with a shorter stacks . The Queen on the river was unfortunate. It meant the difference of having 50 or 25 big blinds nearing the period, where people are thinking of making the cash.

I did chip back my losses in the hand fast enough, by upping my aggression but was out soon. While playing something between 70-80k, I raised the small blind and Funkymonk from IPB over shoved from the big. I more or less snapped with and lost to his Tens.

I'm sure my hand played well against his pushing range and if I had known his hand, I think I would have taken the race anyway. The implied advantage of getting my hands on 150k in chips, twenty-five from the money in a tournament with a huge amount of satellite winners is fairly massive.

Ultimately, it was another disappointing tournament, continuing the run of getting my hands on chips but exiting with around 20% of the field remaining. I wouldn't be human if I wasn't finding this run frustrating. However, I'm playing well and getting my hands on chips, so I'm actually feeling very good and positive about my game.

I was unlucky not to get a draw out of the tournament in the end, as I had backed eventual third, Tom "The Bomb" Finnernan at 50/1. Tom's a top player but couldn't catch a break on the final table, having entered it 4/1 favourite to take it down. It was still a great and well deserved result for Tom.

The weekend wasn't a total washout, as I was lucky enough to back Jonathan Byrd in the PGA event in Las Vegas at 60/1. It was some buzz seeing him get a hole in one to wrap it up on the fourth play off hole.

I'll spare everyone the story of Wally waking me up at six that morning.

IPO Weekend

2010-10-26T11:45:00.002+01:00

Firstly, a big well done to Lisa, Ciaran, Jerry, everyone else at Boylepoker and Poker Ireland for yet again producing the biggest poker tournament of the year outside of Las Vegas.

I can only imagine the amount of work that goes into pulling off the IPO, but pull it off they did and what a great weekend it was again!

I played golf with the usual suspects (Paul, Marty and Julian) in the K Club on the Wednesday and Thursday before the event. Honours were split but if you saw the trashing Marty and myself got on day one, you wouldn't have backed us at 10/1 to recoup our losses on day two.

We headed to the Regency on Thursday evening and were settled in at the bar for the Montpelier rugby game. Marty said he was going in heavy on them to cover the handicap earlier in the day. I had a grand on and while I shouldn't say Marty's bet, it was 10x mine anyway.

Five minutes into the match, Marty came out with this gem of a question. Are Montpelier in the blue or grey? Something he probably should know, with a five-figure wager involved you'd think.

Montpelier, in the blue, won handily and the rest of the night was spent enjoying a relaxing few drinks.

I really enjoyed the whole tournament. I had a very pleasant starting table and the whole room seemed to be enjoying the game. I never really got going and just before dinner I ran Queens into Aces, which left me with five blinds. I needed to get these in before the blinds hit me and unfortunately I ran my J4os into Kings.

I did, however, last long enough to get a few quid from Mr Smyth in a last longer

Over the rest of the weekend I did three stints of commentating for the live stream, got two rounds of golf in and many more rounds of drinks.

It really was a hugely enjoyable weekend. Mickey May summed it up late in the bar on the Sunday night when she said, "The atmosphere at the IPO is something special, it's the people's tournament".

More Killarney

2010-10-05T01:28:00.004+01:00

It was back to Killarney last weekend for the 250k guaranteed €500 game. There were rumours of large wagers between Connie and Fintan Gavin on whether this one would get a bigger field then the UKIPT Dublin.

When I was a child, one of the earliest doctrines my father taught me was never to bet with a cute Kerrymen and sure enough Connie scooped that bet with 633 turning out. This number is slightly down on previous years but still a great achievement to produce that size of field.

A golf day was arranged on Killeen for Thursday and yours truly scooped the first prize of €200 into my Ladbrokes account with 35pts. I love that course, it really is something else.

The danger of going to these festivals a day early is inevitably you end up on the lash. You can have the best intentions in the world but meeting up with everyone generally leads to a few beers.

The result of Thursday night meant I entered the tournament a little hung-over. This isn't the worst anti-spew mechanism in the world, as I'll usually start a little tighter in that condition.

I was plodding along grand and had added 66% to my 15k starting when in the final hand before dinner, I got dealt the Kings. The big blind was dealt Aces and after the usual raising procedure we got it in and I was lucky enough to bink a straight on the river, thus adding his 16k stack to mine.

The rest of day one was uneventful enough and I finished the day on a healthy enough 44k with the average around 30.

I got off to a great start on day two when I flopped gin-holding 33 on a 773 board and managed to get the full double through from an over-pair. This table broke soon enough and I ran pretty well on my new table.

I won a massive pot with verses a few hours into the day. I had 4-bet my opponent recently enough and he must have felt I was bullying him when he shoved the over me when I did it again. Understandable enough, but I had Aces the first time I did it.

I was playing about 180k now with average around the 50 mark, so a massive stack. Unfortunately that was as good as it got. On a new table not much went right for me and eventually I ran Queens into Aces about a dozen off the money for my last 90k with the blinds at 2/4k.

That's three of the last four major events I've played in Ireland where I've amassed a super stack midway though day two and haven't converted to even a min cash.

It's all very depressing really but you get plenty of time to mull over things on the drive home from Kerry and my conclusion is I didn't do a single thing wrong, it just went against me. At least I'm getting my hands on chips and if I keep doing that a conversion isn't far off.

Big well done to Marty Smyth and John O'Shea on their great performances in London for the EPT, it was getting very exciting following the updates and great to see both hit the money.

Barcelona

2010-09-27T23:30:00.004+01:00

I travelled over on the Wednesday for the Barcelona leg of the European Masters of Poker tour.

Having opted for day 2A on the Friday, George Power whom I was sharing a hotel room with, and myself decided on a few beers in the Casino to pass the evening. After a gallon of grey goose vodka we headed off into the Barcelona night.

I'm not 100% what our plan of attack was, but this is when I won my only flip of the weekend. George got robbed, well pick-pocketed to be precise. Actually, it was probably a 40/60 I won, as I was in a worse condition then George, so probably the easier target.

The tournament started very well for me. I wasn't hitting hands but my timing seemed to be good and I nicked a lot of pots and was getting all the marginal decisions right. I had the 20k starting up to 32k after the first four levels and was close to 40k by the end of level five.

I lost a biggish pot with on an Ace high flop to a turned two pair. If I'm honest I made a bad call on the last two streets in that hand, as I was fairly sure I was behind. I had picked up that my opponents bet sizing had changed and deep down knew I was being taken to value town.

I was still playing a healthy 25k when I picked up the boots. It was the perfect time as I had raised the previous three hands. When I was re-raised I decided a shove had a decent chance of getting looked up light enough. As it worked out there was no way my Scandi opponent was ever folding his Jacks and unfortunately he hit another on the flop.

There was a fairly amusing hand involving the guy who took me out a little earlier. Our table was next to the rail and after a while I was suspicious that a Spanish kid on the table had a spotter who was relaying info on people's hole cards to him. After a hand played out with a woman on the table I was sure I was right and was just about to have a word with the TD when the following hand occurred.

The Spanish kid calls a raise and the Scandi bumps it up to about four times the pot. The original raiser folds and the kid tanks. The spotter moves to the other side and starts signalling the kid who then over shoves pocket fours. It was very funny to see the Scandi snap with os and win the pot.

There must have been about twenty Irish over for the tournament, a huge increase from the two, Connie O'Sullivan and myself, that played this event last year. The form horses of Irish poker at the moment Dermot Blain and the unstoppable Sean Prendiville finished 8th and 3rd of the 400 starters, so kudos again to both.

I enjoyed the structure; it started fast with 4 x 45 minute levels and an hour thereafter. Most of the lads liked this as you get into the antes quickly. I'm generally of the opinion that most tournaments have too much play early and too little late and this incremental increase in blind time frame definitely allows for a more balanced structure.

UKIPT Dublin

2010-09-14T12:58:00.002+01:00

I came down with a bad cold Wednesday. By Thursday, day one of the tournament, I was running a high temperature and truly miserable.

I battled through the day ok, the first five levels went well, at one stage I had about 30k in chips from the fifteen starting stack. I went completely card dead the last two levels and finished the day on twenty.

I got to play for a bit with two players you generally don't expect in a monkey Dublin event, Vanessa Rousso and Miami John Cernuto.

Back in July before day two of the main event John was drawn on Derek Murry left. He never showed due to Illness and was blinded out. At the second break that day in the smoking area of the Rio, Derek was blaming John's no show for the loss of most of his chips.

Derek was getting into pots he normally wouldn't because of the dead blind. I informed John - "F%&* that Miami he's costing me my tournament here" - of Derek's words in the Rio, which he got a good kick out of.

Rousso was on the table for the last hour, I was stone dead at this stage and didn't play any hands with her, but she definitely carries herself very well an seems a good ambassador for the game.

When I got back for day two I was really sick. My chips went in on a four bet shove, holding 810os against a laggy enough big stacks AK. I've probably never been happier to get knocked out of a tournament and I was home in bed in Waterford within a couple of hours.

I did return Sunday and played the charity game. Myself, Marty and Paul Carr had a prop bet, who had the most chips at five o'clock. All three of us had exactly zero chips by that time, a fair feat considering we sat down at three thirty.

Drawless and Pairless

2010-09-08T01:38:00.005+01:00

Connie runs a €250 event in the Cue Club, Killarney every year and I've attended the tournament since 2006. It's always a lovely weekend, with a really good vibe in the club.

I headed down Thursday night as myself, Con, Dave and Keith Cummins had arranged to play two rounds of golf on the Friday. The first round was on the truly magnificent Killeen course, which recently held the Irish Open and after lunch we spent the evening on its sister course, Mahoney Point. If there's a better setting for golf I've yet to see it. The scenery is really something else.

The tournament started Saturday and for the first four or five levels I was going nowhere. As the blinds rose, I started to get a few spots to pick up chips. In one particular hand, I shipped with from the small blind after a few limpers and Eamonn Foley was kind enough to pass AK in the big.

This came back to haunt Eamonn, as a while later I won a race to knock him out. I was going along grand with about a half an hour's play left in the day, when I raised UTG. I checked shoved on a J 4 2, two-heart flop hoping my opponent would put me on the flush draw. This ruse worked perfectly, as he called with .

The 60k pot would have put me over 100k and given me a top three chip stack the next day, if a three hadn't hit the turn. As it did, I went back with forty. My opponent told me later in the hotel bar, that he knew he was behind but felt the three was coming. That conversation was enough to send me to bed early, well about 4am anyway.

Eighteen returned on Sunday, with a 44k average - my stack exactly - and eight people paid. With ten left I had worked it up to about eighty. Cue Club regular, Shella, had been on my table the previous night and all day Sunday. The lady was a min-raising machine and was having a good day.

I raised the button with K3os and Shella min-raised me for about the thirtieth time in the tournament. I peeled a flop, as I was sure of my read on her, when she missed a flop and sure enough she missed it - so I shoved an extra 22 bigs over her 5x lead.

It had never crossed my mind that Shella might have had the same read on me, as I had on her but obviously she did. She called me with AQ no draw on the rainbow flop.

As always, I really enjoyed the few days in Killarney. It's a great place to visit for a festival and with the big one in October on the horizon, I can't wait to get back.

Cork's good

2010-08-31T21:01:00.001+01:00

When I play poker in Cork I'm generally more enthusiastic about the game. I've often wondered why this is the case. I usually get some kind of a result there, but I'm not so fickle about the game to be that result orientated.

I think the realisation of the reason struck me when I was going through Dungarvan last Monday on my way to the Macau. As I was passing the accounting practice where I jacked in my job nearly five years ago to play poker full time, I was filled with very warm and positive feelings towards the game; god I hated that job!

Ken is making a real effort to produce a different kind of festival than we are used to here in Ireland and he came up with a super week's poker, with something for everyone.

Monday and Tuesday saw a shoot-out and short-handed tournament. I played both with no real depth, but both were very enjoyable and deserved more support.

On Thursday, Marty and myself headed to the pub early in preparation for the PLO event. We all arrived a bit late, and we were lucky enough that local socialite, Flipper, was able to fit us in on his tight schedule for a sweet dinner that Mark Spellman kindly paid for.

I'm not even decent at PLO but it's a game you can run well in. Buoyed by the dozen or so Guinness in the system, I got away with a few retarded bluffs early and got a nice stack together. The pivotal hand of the tournament for me was against Marty with about twelve players left and us both being chip leaders.

Now, I'd never question Marty's play at PLO, but his move of calling all those chips with a pair of threes and a ten high flush draw on the flop went way over my head.

The final table went okay, but by six in the morning, with five remaining and a hangover kicking in, I was delighted to take second place money of €2,500. The other four (obviously bedazzled by my PLO skills), got €1,500 and included Paul Spillane and Noel Magner, who went on to take the trophy- so well done Noel.

Friday was Day 1B of the main event and the starting table was difficult enough. I lost the two biggest pots I played over the day, a 28k pot with v the of James Hawkeye McManus, and a 24k pot last hand of the night, with Kings against a flush draw that went in on the turn.

With 14k going back for day two, I was hopeful rather then confident. Second hand in, I lose half of these when I call a short's shove with AJ and lose, he had 67. Queue the heater, I win two races with 77 and then hit a set over set and end level one with 50k.

Over the next three levels I get this to 100k, but fall back a bit just before dinner and get moved to a new table with about 75k. The first hand I play here costs me about 20k. Kings on a Jack high flop, against an elderly gent who wouldn't put down AQ, no draw, and hit the Ace.

Having recouped to about 80k, my exit came at the hands of the same gent. I raise the button with and we see a two club flop. He check raises me to 20k and I shove to be called with a set of three's.

I may seem spewy to be putting in that amount of chips with a bad over pair, but at the time I was confident I was value shoving.

It was a really enjoyable week overall. We managed to get in three rounds of golf with Marty winning the first two. His comment to his mate Ronan near the end of the second round, about me being easy money, deserved retribution and retribution was what he got Sunday, with me taking by far the biggest pot of the week.

We're heading to Donegal for four days golf this week and I'm sure he'll have his revenge as he'll know the courses fairly well.

I'm looking forward to September's poker. The first weekend, I'll be at the Cue Club in Killarney for a €300 game. This should be another cracking weekend. I don't think I'll bother going to London at any stage but will take in the UKIPT Dublin and I've booked flights to Barcelona on the 22nd to take in the EMOP, an €1,100 buy in event that I played last year.

Scalps your way to IPO bonus chips

2010-08-22T22:19:00.000+01:00

I'm currently in Cork for the seven-day Macau festival. This is one of my favourite festivals of the year and while I've had no luck in the shoot-out and short-handed events so far, I'm still very hopeful I can bag myself a decent result before the week's out.

Speaking of favourite festivals, the IPO is closing in fast and it's about time I got my bonus chips earned. Boyles are running a great little series of scalp tournaments next week with plenty of added money.

As well as being great craic, these $5 and $10 buy-in tournaments will go a fair way to totting up the points needed to secure the bonus chips for the big one in October. Why not join myself and the rest of the team every night next week for the 8.30pm scalp games?!

8.30pm Aug 23rd	Scalp Series 1	$10 + $1 FO	$100 added + four $25 pro bounties
8.30pm Aug 24th	Scalp Series 2	$5 + .50c FO	$100 added + four $25 pro bounties
8.30pm Aug 25th	Scalp Series 3	$10 + $1 FO	$100 added + four $25 pro bounties
8.30pm Aug 26th	Scalp Series 4	$5 + .50c FO	$100 added + four $25 pro bounties
8.30pm Aug 27th	Scalp Series 5	$10 + $1 FO	$100 added + four $25 pro bounties

Race Week

2010-08-05T23:48:00.003+01:00

After Tramore, myself and Marty went to the Carton House for a couple of rounds of golf with Paul Spillane and then headed onto Galway.

Marty thinks we should play golf with Paul once a week, now that he's unemployed but I can't afford losing to him every week - so I suppose once a month will have to do. They actually do a great deal at Carton, around €125 for an overnight stay and both courses.

Galway was a good laugh. Marty mentioned in his blog that a couple of impromptus €500 re-buy STT's that sprung up Tuesday and Wednesday. They were right craic and I nicked a few quid in them both.

The Wednesday night one only had seven starters but with 14 re-buys, it was certainly worth winning. There were two randomers that would have been value in a $5 STT and Fintan as well; so massive value all round.

I managed to chop it with Paul Carr. I took 6k, with Paul getting 4.5k. Comment of the night went to Marty when he earnestly said, "Isn't it amazing how Fintan could nearly win an EPT with all those players in it and he has zero chance of winning a seven man single table."

No joy in Thursday's €1,000 buy-in invitational the ICCCCCCC; I was second out losing most of my chips in a cooler to Big Mick.

I played the hundred nightly festival game after my exit and made the final table but got dogged first hand.

Went racing Friday and made a few quid, after which it was back to the casino for the €250 game. Again, no joy, but a very enjoyable tournament.

I don't think I have ever left race week with money in my pocket, so driving home Saturday with a profit for the week felt rather good.

Waterford Masters

2010-07-26T02:09:00.004+01:00

We had the second instalment of the Waterford Masters over the weekend. This is my local tournament, and with some personal involvement in putting it together, it was great to see it filled to capacity again this year.

I more or less missed the first two levels. I was out spanking Marty, Paul and Ciaran on one of my local courses, Faithleg, which made me an hour late. The second hour was spent just catching up with people when I got to the Grand.

At the break my first table broke and I was moved to the Irish Elky's table, JP McCann. Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know the esteem I hold JP as a tournament director/operator in, but JP seemed to think he had suddenly become a world class poker player.

In fairness, he was doing a great impression of it for a while! He had more moves than Michael Jackson on a Friday night. It was the best craic I've had on the poker table in a few years, with about ten epic hands between us.

I doubled JP up three times over four levels and finally got rid of the fecker early on the Saturday.

I had ended the Friday on 19k having peaked earlier with 30k. On Saturday I hit a bit of a heater early, knocking out three players before I coolered Richie Lawlor (Cork) in a big pot - v . This gave me about 90k and I kicked on to about 120k, taking the chip lead a couple of levels during the day.

I played well over the next six levels but wasn't adding to my stack. I lost a biggish pot to a Mark McKeever set, with on a Q 9 2 flop. It seemed standard enough but I could have gotten away from it.

I managed to chip it back up over the next three or so hours but it just turned on me then. Late in the day, I moved tables and went out playing about 70k blinds 1200/2400, in a blind on blind situation.

Carl Fitz-the proud owner of 20 pro V one golf balls and a renowned economist, raised from the sb 7500 and I called with Ah 5h. Kx 10x 2h flop, went check-check. Carl bet 7500 on 4h turn. I over raise to 29k, basically committing myself to the pot and call his AK when he shoves.

I'm a bit ambiguous about my play in this hand. I don't think it's good but I don't think it's bad either. I suppose I could have just called the turn but at the time this felt a little weak with my holdings.

I had been on the previous table for nine hours over the day and lasted three hands on my new table. To go out in 36th was disappointing, continuing my run of semi-deep runs in tournaments without a conversion.

The Boylepoker sponsored pro's were put to shame by VIP manager Ciaran Corbett, who put up a great performance to make the money and last two tables, so kudos to C.

Well done to everyone who worked hard over the weekend to make the festival a success and a big thanks to everyone who travelled to the event and all the locals for the support.

Also, it was good to see the title stay at home this year! Congrats to Chris Frisby on taking it down.

Going to head to Galway for the racing festival. There's a 1k buy-in exhibition STT Thursday night in the Eglington Casino which looks like easy money, so I'll probably play that.

Vegas Review

2010-07-19T23:20:00.005+01:00

When you bust the Main Event - it's get out of town time. It's an odd dynamic really. One minute you're plugged into the biggest of them all, then one hand and ten minutes later you're looking for the fastest way out of the place.

Vegas in June/July is a magical place for any poker player and every time I go I feel lucky to be there. I may not have done much on the felt this year but I still had a great trip.

I didn't play as much as I thought I was going to, but when I played I thought I brought my best game to the tables. I played five bracelet events and saw off 75% of the field in all of them without cashing.

I remember back in 2008 after getting knocked out of a string of high level tournaments in the first level, being asked by Connie O'Sullivan what I was doing wrong and whether I was worried. My answer was, "Nothing, as I thought if I play long enough, I will see every sequence of finishing position."

Stevie Devlin asked me a similar question in Vegas this year and got the same answer. I don't think I've ever bubbled a big event and generally when I see off 75% of a field I'd convert to cash most of the time. So, to hit a run like that at the WSOP is pretty unlucky I think.

Once you've seen off that amount of the field, you're generally emotionally into the tournaments. To have a run like that also hurts that bit more each time you exit. Having said that, all you can really hope for at any given tournament is to play well and I feel I played to the best of my ability for the trip.

My exit hand in the Main was very standard. I was way ahead of the guys pushing range and maybe slightly unlucky not to be dominating. I think I would have kicked onto the money at least had I won that race, but thems the breaks. It was only the second time that I was all-in during the event and the first time I was a huge fav.

Over the two and a half days I played, I hit some lovely hands and felt I was running well in general. Funnily enough I had no cards the previous year but never at any stage this year had I more chips then last. It's not easy to cash in the main and it just brought home to me how well I must have played last year.

Apart from the bracelet events I only played poker three other occasions. A $500 STT that I chopped with Derek Murray for $2350 profit. I also pulled $6,700 profit out of a satellite; had a saviour with two of the lads and slight deal done at the end. These covered a lot of my expenses for the trip and are where a lot of value can still be found. I really should of ground a bit more of these types of games readily available in the Rio.

The other game I played was late one night in the Rio, when I was hanging around waiting for Tommy Finneran. I somehow let Dara, Rob and Cat talk me into playing the €100 nightly tournament at midnight - a truly surreal experience.

I really enjoyed my time in Vegas this year. I spent a lot of time with very good friends and not enough time with other good friends. I enjoyed my poker, the few nights out and the golf, so a big thanks to everyone who shared the trip with me. Also big thanks to Boylepoker for the support, disappointing I couldn't convert for those who won percentages in the WSOPieces promotion.

Busted but not broken

2010-07-13T20:02:00.004+01:00

Derek Murray said to me earlier in the week that the day you bust the main event is the worst day of the year for a poker player. He's right, but you have to put it perspective, If the worst thing that happens to you in a year is busting a poker tournament then things ain't to bad.

I got back yesterday with 66k and on paper what looked a handy enough table, by the end of the first two hours I though the table was better then it looked on research.

The first two hour session didn't go well, lots of raises snapped off and no continuation bets getting through. I did three bet twice light over the two hours which allowed me keep my stack at 50k at least, which was over 40 bigs.

When we returned after the break I got over the 60k again when I picked up 1010 in the SB. UTG raised to 3k blinds 600/1200-200 ante , something he seemed fond of doing and got one caller. I usually flat here but my read was UTG was weak and the caller was folding 100% of the time having seen him fold QQ face up earlier to late position raise and three bet.

I raised to 11k fairly sure it would take the 9,600 in the middle. To my surprise the initial raiser pushed. My read was that the tens were good but my head said calling for 42 bigs with 1010 was nuts so I folded. I kinda regret not going with my gut.

Soon after playing 52k and with blinds 800/1600-200 ante. I'm BB holding AK and the button opens for 3900 and I make it 11,000. It's the forth time in an hour I've three bet him, once from the BB with AA and twice from the button with dirt. The guy has also dropped from 150k to about 70k in the previous hour.

basically I'm expecting him to four bet, so when he shoves, I cant get the chips into the pot fast enough with the AK. He held 44 and won the race. While I'll three bet light in position, I'm never doing it from the blinds with over 20 bigs, so his shove is questionable I think. My three bet range here is crushing his hand and I don't think I'm ever folding once I do it.

It's a pity as I felt I had a really good handle on the table at that stage and if I won the race I'm confidant I could of built on that for the rest of the day.

Obviously I'm very disappointed to exit, but pragmatic enough about it at the same time. I'll do a review blog on the trip when I get home later in the week.

Last of the Mohigan's

2010-07-10T08:53:00.002+01:00

Gutted to see Derek and Tommy whom I'm sharing the house at 2367 Mohigan drive with, both bust today, however it did make me the last of the Mohigan's.

The day is a bit of a blur at the moment but there were some great hands. I got lucky early when I picked up AA and the big blind checked raised me on a k 10 6 two diamonds flop. I called and folded when another King hit the turn. He showed 1010 and I'd of lost more chips if the second King didn't come.

Shortly after I raised 43os UTG, blinds 200/400, one caller and we saw a K 6 4 flop. I bet and think I was finished with the hand until I binked another 4 on the turn. He called again and also a pot sized river bet. Poor guy was fairly dejected when I flipped my hand but it didn't do my table image much good and I was snapped off about the next six times I opened.

I was happy enough when the table broke towards the end of the forth hour of the day. The new table was interesting, a guy to my right sporting a bracelet, to his right a Norwegian who seemed to be getting a lot of press attention, turned out he was a double Olympian gold medal winner at cross country skiing. There was also two older guys who were total mongs but were hitting everything.

The first hand I played on the table I called 66 on the button, the 876 flop looked good, the 6 on the turn looked even better. The UTG raiser had check called flop and turn, when the checked his remaining 18k on the river, I decided to chance a shove. The fact that he tanked for five minutes with AK for ace high told me it was probably the right move.

At dinner I had 43k within 4 hands after dinner I was down to 22k. I had raised all four and connected to three flops. Unfortunately the old guys were calling me down and I knew I was fucked when the river four flushed two of the boards and another four straighted.

The next hand I picked up 88 UTG but decided to just fold them as I didn't fancy the fifth open in a row, obv the board came 8 5 3 rainbow and two guys go to war.

A bit steaming now,I knew I had to buckle down and hang in to pick the right spot and try double. I was quiet over the next 90 minutes, picking the odd spot to maintain my short stack. Coming towards the end I shoved 33 on the button for 22 bigs after two limpers. Then with five hands left I flatted 44 after a raise and call from the small blind, the big came along. The Q 8 4 two spade flop brought a tear of joy to my eye, the 10k bet from one of the older guys wasn't half bad news either. I knew he wasn't for folding so put my remaining 28k in and was delighted to see a red QK. The Q on the turn did give a bit of a fright but thankfully I didn't take a bad one.

66k at the end of the day and looking forward to Monday.

We never did find the car keys after, so decided to ring the rental company. Within an hour they had towed away the key less car and replaced it with a new one Including an apology for taking so long. I was impressed.

Through Day One

2010-07-08T10:27:00.002+01:00

Finished Day one of the main event with 33,925 in chips, which is coincidently within 50 chips of what I finished day one with last year.

The day got off to a disastrous start as we were set to head to the Rio about 11.40, but the car keys decided to disappear. Twenty minutes later, after ripping the house apart we rang a cab and arrived with 50 minutes of the first level over. We still haven't found the keys :-(

The first level went really well, almost immediately upon sitting down I picked up a nut flush and won 5k. I ended the level on 37k.

Early in level two I flatted an open with eights and three of us saw a A 8 4 two heart flop. I called the initial raisers 900 continuation and the button min-raised, when the opener re-popped to 4800 it was time to pump it and that took down the pot. The hand saw me hit my high for the day at 43,000 chips.

Level three was uneventful. In level four I lost 8k when I got of line against a guy who flopped a monster and dropped to 25k, but got them back soon enough when I hit an 8 8 4 flop holding 44.

We played half of level five and I lost 6k in the last three hands. When I left the amazon I felt that I hadn't played well over the day. Having reviewed the day I think I played all right, I can only think of one mistake where I 3-bet KK when a trigger happy, relatively short would probably of shoved had I smoothed. I guess I just felt I should of had a lot more chips then I did when the day finished and was being a bit hard on myself.

Anyway I'm back Friday for day two. Table draws are going to be a major influence from here on in, so hopefully I get a good one.

A dummies guide to hookers

2010-07-07T18:05:00.000+01:00

Somebody really needs to put together a 'Dummies Guide to Hookers in Vegas' for the Irish. Every year out here you hear three or four stories of Irish poker players being fleeced while pissed.

There's been a huge amount of strokes pulled by these 'ladies of the night' but the stories generally fall into three categories. The simplistic pocket dipping in a strip club. The basic robbery in the hotel room and a few times I've heard of the more sinister modus where lads thinking they've pull while at a strip or night club and waking the following day realising they've been spiked with a sedative and totally fleeced.

I did hear a pretty funny one this year. One of the more senior members of the Irish crew procured the services of one of these lovely girls in the aptly named hooker bar in the Rio and they both retired to his room.

Monies changed hands and the Brazzer- we'll call her lolly for the sake of the story - asks can she take a shower to prepare herself. Mick (oops didn't mean to name him) is waiting patiently on the bed reassured that his needs will soon be catered for, listening to the shower running in the background.

After about ten minutes, he calls for Lolly and when there's no reply he checks out the bathroom to find it empty and realises she's done a legger with the $400 he's given her. Not being one to be taken for a sucker, our hero dresses quickly and hurries back to the casino floor where he quickly spots Lolly working on another trick.

Mick creates a bit of a scene and is about to call over security. Lolly pleads with him not to and quickly hands him a bunch of notes, his refund she calls it.

Twenty minutes later when Mick is relaxing in his room, there's a knock on the door. When he opens it he's quiet surprised to see it's Lolly. She tells him that she's actually just give him $600, instead of the $400 she meant to and could she have the $200 extra back. Only in Vegas!

The Main Event

2010-07-06T16:15:00.002+01:00

It's all becoming a bit blurred here at this stage with the head unable to differentiate between tournaments and such. How the hell some players play everyday for the series without going bonkers is beyond me, but I guess they all go a level of nuts.

I did manage to cover a lot of my expenses for the trip in a mega satt yesterday so that was nice, also gives me the feeling that I'm running ok.

I play the main event tomorrow and this is what the trips all about for me. I'm looking forward to it hugely and feeling quietly confidant I can get something going in it.

At the start of this year I don't think I got above starting stack in a tournament for about three months. More recently I been getting off to good starts but not getting any real depth. Hopefully this changes in the main. It's all variance but fingers crossed I can get me some positive.

On the golf front I took out misters Smyth and Spillane at Paul's home course Bali Hi. Two gentlemen with very different sporting ethical/morale philosophies on the course.

We have bets on front/back and overall. At the ninth Marty was 2pts up looking a lock for front nine until he hit his shot into the bunker at the easyish par 3 . As I was about to play he told me to dump the seven iron in my hand and play a nine. I obviously nailed it and he scratched. Paul would of told me to take a six.

Getting out of the blocks

2010-07-02T09:23:00.004+01:00

Just busted another shallow starting stack WSOP event a couple of hours ago. Again I broke well out of the starting stalls, amassing more then 3x starting stack after two levels but again couldn't kick on.

That's four events now I've started well with zero conversions. I honestly don't think I'm doing a whole lot wrong, just not getting the rub of the green. In fact I think I've played some very good poker over the last week.

I regged for day one C of the main before I left the Rio tonight. My original plan was to play one A on the fifth but as were planning a big night out on the third ( UFC + piss up ) I've decided that at my age I need a few days extra to recover.

Myself and Marty's nemeses on the golf course seem to be flying at the poker out here. I railed Julian Gardner putting up a great performance in the 5k PLO last night where he finished sixth and Mr Spillane is cleaning up at the support festivals. Hopefully we can relieve them of some of their hard earned over the coming two weeks.

1k event

2010-06-27T17:52:00.003+01:00

AS myself Tommy, Derek and Jude were driving to the Rio for yesterdays $1,000 buy in 3k, the discussion was how many of us would make level seven through the dinner break. The general consensus was if one of us made it then that would equal par.

As it happened three of us did but only Jude lasted the extra couple of levels to the end of play.

It's was nice to get some kind of a run on my first event. At a couple of stages I got relatively decent stacks together. In level 5 I had 12k before a few setbacks and hit dinner with 6k.

I played well in level seven and got it up to 13k, but level eight went bad and I ended up shoving 78 clubs on the button into AJ. I played well over the day but did get a little frustrated towards the end when things went against me, it does take a little time to get accustomed to and not let the yanks annoy.

I was on Judes table and he finished with 30k which is nicely above average. We more or less just stayed out of each other's way, but he is a very impressive player.

Eventful enough

2010-06-25T22:56:00.006+01:00

Flight's over were fine without turbulence thank god. Played 27 holes of golf on Thursday morning with Marty and Tommy "nine life's" Finnernan. Marty wrote recently about all the percentages he was going to win off people on the course but he got off to a bad start losing 3% to me here.

At one stage in the round I was taking a bend fairly fast and Tommy was flung from the cart. Had to be seen to be believed but how Tom escaped serious injury god will only know.

Id regged for Fridays $1,500 and headed for Paul Lucy's party at the high roller villa in the Mirage. I've honestly never seen such opulence, the pad was truly amazing. Everyone showed and it was a right craic. Although going there I was hopeful of someone better to share the huge hot tub with then Paul Carr and Derek Murry. Fair play to Paul for going to the effort of putting this on it really was a great night.

I didn't hang the dog and was fresh enough getting ready to hit the Rio this morning when I got a phone call from Tommy. He was in hospital and needed me to go and get him out as they wouldn't release him of his own accord. When I got there it was worrying as he was out cold with an impressive array of tubes and monitors sticking out of him, thankfully he was fine though. Seemingly the taxi he was heading home in was involved in a three car smash.

By the time I got through this I'd missed the first two levels of the $1,500 when they take the chips out of play. I'm heading in later to get a refund and to reg for tomorrows $1k.

Off to the desert for a while

2010-06-21T02:38:00.005+01:00

Flying out Wednesday to Las Vegas. I'd say I'm going with a mindset of pragmatic confidence. Anyone going there thinking there going to burst the place up is just being unrealistic

I was listening to a 2p2 podcast interview recently with George 'Jorj95' Lind. Lind who won the SCOOP player of the series, went 37 events at the 2009 WSOP without a cash. This may seem an awful run for a top player but its not really when you consider the field sizes.

A few years ago I used to play a lot of six man stts on-line. I was a decent winner in them and played near to perfect strategy. Once I hit a streak of 33 games without a cash.

If I was to say I'm going to Vegas and going to make a final table or win a certain amount of money over the seven or so tournaments I will play, it would just be foolish.

So what are my expectations for the trip? Well I'm going to play between 6-8 WSOP events with the lowest field being around 2000 runners. If I played seven I think I'd be slightly odds on to get a cash, maybe 5/6 or 4/5.

I think the main event is my best shot. It's a unique tournament with an unbelievable structure. I feel my skill set fits well with what's required to do well in it. I learned a lot about this event last year when I went out on day five in 350th. With half decent table draws, I'd probably make myself around 11/2 to hit the money again.

This will be my third trip to Vegas for the series and what ever happens I'll enjoy the whole experience. I started playing NLH five years ago in small pub games and feel very lucky to have progressed to play at the level I do. For me it doesn't get any bigger then the WSOP, I'm relishing the challenge of the next few weeks and just hoping the poker Gods might take a shine to me. Please, wish me luck!

WSOPieces

2010-06-12T13:58:00.002+01:00

Boyles are giving customers a chance win WSOP main event percentages of Marty the Multi, John O'Shea and myself from Monday at Boylepoker.com

Tournament Details

Tournament Promotion - Week 1 (Monday June 14th)
Date	Tournament	Buy-in
Mon - June 14th	WSOPieces 1% of Marty	$5 + $0.50
Tues - June 15th	WSOPieces 1% of John	$5 + $0.50
Wed - June 16th	WSOPieces 1% of Nicky	$10 + $1
Thurs - June 17th	WSOPieces 1% of Multi	$10 + 1
Fri - June 18th	WSOPieces 1% Marty & 1% Nicky	*Freeroll

*Fridays Tournament - Free entry if you have played two of the early tournaments. Please note: Multi = Peter “Multiplier” Murphy

Tournament Promotion - Week 2 (Monday June 21st)
Schedule	Prizes	Buy-in
Mon - June 21st	WSOPieces 1% of Marty	$10 + 1
Tues - June 22nd	WSOPieces 1% of John	$10 + $1
Wed - June 23rd	WSOPieces 1% of Nicky	$5 + 0.50
Thurs - June 24th	WSOPieces 1% of Multi	$5 + 0.50
Fri - June 25th	WSOPieces 1% John & 1% Multi	*Freeroll

*Fridays Tournament - Free entry if you have played two of the early tournaments.

VIP Players - Week 1 (Monday June 14th)
Schedule	Stage 1
Mon - June 14th	Earn 50 VIP points to qualify for Monday week 2 Freeroll
Tues - June 15th	Earn 100 VIP points to qualify for Tuesday week 2 Freeroll
Wed - June 16th	Earn 250 VIP points to qualify for Wednesday week 2 Freeroll
Thurs - June 17th	Earn 500 VIP points to qualify for Thursday week 2 Freeroll

VIP Players - Week 2 (Monday June 21st)
Schedule	Tournament	Qualifiers
Mon - June 21st	VIP: WSOPieces 1% Multi	From Mon June 14th
Tues - June 22nd	VIP: WSOPieces 1% Nicky	From Tues June 15th
Wed - June 23rd	VIP: WSOPieces 1% John	From Wed June 16th
Thurs - June 24th	VIP: WSOPieces 1% Marty	From Thurs June 17th
Fri - June 25th	GRAND FINALE - WSOPieces 1% of ALL	From all promotions

* GRAND FINALE - Open to every player who took part in any of the early promotions, both cash and tournament. First place will win 1% of each pro in the main event of the WSOP. There will be $500 Added to the prize pool for second place down. As a special bonus, if none of the four pros cash, the winner of the Grand Finale will be given a cash bonus equivalent to the second place cash.

Downtown Brown Floored

2010-06-08T00:02:00.006+01:00

No poker of any consequence to report on as such. I've been playing the big Sundays the last few week. I seem to be amassing stacks early enough, converting to a few cashes, but nothing decent.

Really just getting a bit of practice in preparation for huge fields in Vegas.

Irishpokerboards.com had a golf outing at the Kclub Friday and Saturday which was good craic. Fifteen of us played both specular courses in beautiful weather.

I was teamed with Paul Spillane and we dispatched Messrs Rory Brown and Tom Kitt handily enough on the Ryder cup course the Friday.

Rory is a good golfer and was assistant or trainee pro at the Kclub a few years back but doesn't play seriously these days.

Downtown brought in the big guns teaming with Chris Dowling on Saturday. Obviously feeling very confident of revenge they pushed to up the stakes. We played $200 front, back and overall and scooped the lot.

Very enjoyable, I played shite overall but was happy enough to win three holes for the team, Paul put in a blinder.

The lads will get there chance again in Vegas; gamblers > golfers again IMO.

One funny moment on the forth hole when we were on the green and a ball from the group behind nearly hit the green for the second hole running. Paul lost it a bit and let rip at Eoin Olin, who was standing 50 yards away from Ciaran Corbett who had actually hit the shot.

Overall a really good couple of days and I'm signed up for the next one already.

Good Luck Paul

2010-06-01T02:46:00.002+01:00

Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine. ~Robert C. Gallagher

Paul Spillane announced on the irishpokerboards forum recently that he was parting ways with Boylepoker.

Under Paul’s guidance, Boylepoker has made great strides over the last two or so years. We moved from just being an online poker provider, to playing an integral part in the wider Irish poker scene.

The initiative to become the first Irish site to support and sponsor Irish players was a greatly welcomed by all players in the country.

Turning the boylepoker.com, landing site into a semi social network, where thousands come every week to read the blogs, view videos and listen to radio- was a brilliant strategy, that created interaction and built relationships with customers.

Boyle’s involvement in the IPO gave everyone the opportunity to experience a major tournament for the cost of a monthly club game.

I think it’s fair to say Paul should be very proud of what he achieved in his time at Boylepoker. I’m sure the innovative, visionary and dynamic team he leaves behind will, build upon his legacy.

I should add my goodwill towards Paul exists only away from the golf course-on the course the guy has the morals Somali pirate.

Irish picks for a bracelet

2010-05-30T16:46:00.002+01:00

It's that time of year when every poker player's thoughts turn to the bright light city.

With the English having such a good year last time round, it's time for us Irish to stand up and be counted.

We can't have the old enemy taking all the glory! Marty Smyth was our last bracelet winner in 2008 and after an abysmal year for the Irish in 2009, I'm sure we can nick at least one this year.

There's another twenty I could have chosen, but I'm going with these half dozen as our best chances. I believe the following have that extra intangible something, an innate ability to win tournaments.

1. Derek Murray: I watched Derek win an FTOPs for $125,000 recently; he just slaughtered the field from 100 players out. Primarily an online MTT expert, he has a string of good live results. Murray will be entering the series with more confidence than ever before and can continue his magnificent form this year in Vegas.

2. Peter 'The Multiplier' Murphy: Best known for turning grains of rice into paddy fields of dollars in online challenges. Peter has an unrivalled record in reaching major final tables in Ireland over the past two years. It's only a matter of time before Pete takes down a major title and it could easily happen at this year's WSOP.

3. Marty Smyth: When Marty beat Neill Channing heads up at the world open, Neil commented, "Marty is an amazing player, you don't even know the guy is in the room until he's leaving with the winners cheque". On my introduction to this piece I spoke of players with the innate ability to win tournaments. No one compares to Marty for this ability. After an unbelievable 2008, where he won everything, 2009 was relatively quiet for Mr Smyth. I fully expect a return to form and hopefully a second bracelet.

4. Jude Ainsworth: Jude is simply a beast of a poker player. Having won the Irish Poker Championships in 2008, Jude kicked on with a number of huge scores online, culminating with the 2009 SCOOP Championship with a million dollar first prize. Anyone who watched that final table would know just how good a player he is. A number of high finishes on the EPT circuit this year, where he seemed to amass huge stacks at ease will put him in good stead for the challenges of the summer.

5. Padraig Parkinson: With all Padraig's media functions, it is generally forgotten how good a poker player this guy is. I've never forgot and he reminded everyone else this year, being crowned Irish Champion. Padraig practically invented the small ball style that is so successful in the modern game. Having spoken with him at the Irish Open, it's clear Parkinson's focus is firmly on finally getting his bracelet this year and I think he just might do it.

6. John O'Shea: Fresh from his recent WPT Championship final table, John's confidence is at an all-time high. Inquisitive, driven and hugely talented, John plays most variants of poker and has a full schedule planned. It is almost a lock that he will feature deep at some stage over the six weeks and hopefully he brings one home.

JP Masters Festival

2010-05-10T23:15:00.005+01:00

I love this festival - JP puts a huge amount of work into getting every detail right and constantly strives for improvements.

Chatting with him after last year's festival, he wanted to find a way of finishing earlier without any compromise of the great structure.

The previous two years the final table ran into early Monday and he wanted to give the finalists a chance to celebrate. His solution was to introduce ante's at the 100/200 level and to go eight handed as early as possibly; it worked a treat.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to play eight handed for long. I lost a quarter of my stack to a Silky set. Another quarter not connecting with multiple cheap flops over five hours and the last half pushing a flopped flush draw verses top pair.

The two side events went no better. In the €300 I slowed played Queens expertly - unfortunately my opponent held Kings. The €150 saw another early exit getting it in pre flop with the boots verses the Fox's tens.

Similarly to the recent Celtic poker tour game, this is filled with players who are used to playing much faster structures. Hence, a huge amount of value for players who play the better structures regularly.

Amazingly, Sean Prenderville went back to back. Some performance again, I'm sure there is a bit of run good involved to achieve such a brilliant feat, but Sean must be doing a hell of a lot right at the same time, so a huge well done to him.

Another three that are showing great form are Jason Tompkins, second in the CPT and bubbled the final table here in a couple of coolers, Donal O'Connor who had double final tables and Dara O'Kearney with a forth and FT in the main side at JP's game. Well done to all.

Well done also to the Waterford lads who managed to cash. My friend Pat Storan who is getting back into the grove with a double cash, Jim Ringland and Gally who was second in the €150 for a nice €4,000.

I had another good chat with JP Sunday. I think he was disappointed that the numbers were slightly down on last year. I told him I thought breaking the 200 mark in these recessionary times was a great result.

As we rambled on about how the recession was affecting the poker ecosystem, it really struck me why I've always been so supportive of this guy. It was clear that the cash wasn't good over the weekend, this obviously means less profits.

JP's distress was focused on the fact that dealer's tips were down and his main thoughts were about counter-acting this next year, to ensure the high quality is maintained for future events.

He told me his hierarchy of objectives when running an event are:

1) make sure everything is spot on for the players
2) ensure he has the best dealers and it's worth their time to work his events
3) make a few quid for himself.

This ethos is exactly why I've always said JP is the best tournament operator in the country.

Cardplayer

2010-05-05T19:04:00.003+01:00

I've somehow managed to nip onto the cover of this months Cardplayer Europe. Rebecca McAdams was very nice to me in this linked piece. Although I feel calling me a role model is probably taking her artistic licence a little far. Cardplayer

CPT final Carlow

2010-04-25T22:14:00.008+01:00

Firstly, huge kudos to John on his magnificent run at the WPT Championship. I know John will be gutted, but he can take great pride from such a brilliant performance.

With John's drive and talent, it's only a matter of time before he scoops a major title on the world stage.

The Celtic Poker Tour grand final had a €1,100 buy-in and 130 starters, with a 20,000 starting stack and one hour clock. For the top players in the country there is no greater value event on the poker calendar.

As I write this, it's down to four players including Dara, Jason Tompkins and Sean Prenderville with Donal O'Connor finishing an unlucky seventh. I think any knowledgeable person looking at the line-up would have the four lads in there top ten to run deep.

The CPT is more or less a rural tour and has a big following of a similar demographic, who more or less play the same style. Basically plenty of limp calling and never folding top pair.

The early levels were a bit of a minefield. Every open got 4/5 callers and every limper is calling 100% of their limp range. This is fine when you're hitting flops but if you're not, the best policy is probably giving up. The early levels here are about getting value from your made hands, I feel bluffing is not wise.

Couldn't get anything going until level three, where I picked up a good pot when I raised A6 and hit top two and another with the bullets.

Was cruising along nicely with 45k, when I get QQ in the small blind. Short stack pushed for 1600 and he was min raised from mid-position. I was fairly sure the raiser had a big hand, so I gave him a bit of talk about how his kings were in big trouble. His reaction confirmed to me that I was right.

I probably should have just folded the Queens, as I wasn't getting the odds to mine for his 23k, I just didn't want to and hit a Q33 flop. The other player had 5k left by the time the river King hit. I was so sure of his hand that I actually check called the 5k reluctantly into the 40k pot.

Had the king not hit, I'd have been on 70k with two hours play left, the chip lead at the end of play for the day was under 80k.

I buckled down for the rest of the day and managed to finish on 34k ahead of the average.

I had a great table but unfortunately it broke early on day two. My new table was harder with Sean Prenderville, Donal O'Connor and Bops on it.

Third or fourth hand on the table, I four bet Sean light. My following button I opened KdQd and Sean 3-bet me again from the BB. I peeled a low flop and floated his C-bet. My plan was going fine when he checked the turn but became unhinged when he shoved over my bet.

Gutsy move with the A8, for ace high which he showed, I would have called very light, just not K high light (just see result now and Sean went onto win it so at least the chips were put to good use).

This dropped me just under the starting stack, which was decimated further in a race AK v 99. I wilted away soon after.

I enjoyed the event; it was well run with a great structure and good atmosphere.

With a third of the year over my results have been woeful. I suppose I should be a bit worried about this, but I'm not. I've really only played a hand full of tournaments this year. I have a decent understanding of what variance can do to you from my STT days and I'm not panicking just yet.

I'm actually in a very positive place with the game mentally. I've been playing a bit more the last few weeks and I'm really enjoying playing. If I'm honest my enthusiasm for the game had weaned seriously for about a six months period.

I can't put my finger on the reason for the inertia in that period. I guess it's just a natural cycle. When you've spent as much time doing anything, as I have playing poker over the past five years, there's bound to be a flat spot. I'm just very happy to be hungry to play and still enjoying it.

No Joy but Good Times

2010-04-13T00:50:00.008+01:00

I headed to the Burlington Thursday evening, full of the hope that the poker gods would shine on me and my name would be on the trophy come Monday evening. I'll be back next year with the same optimism.

Decided on playing the super satellite late. Mainly as a ploy to keep me out of trouble. It worked as I managed to pass the bar, which was hopping upon my exit at 2 am

I knew Jay Renehan and recognised a couple a couple of other Irish lads at my starting table. It looked a decent draw until top English pro's Andy Ward and Laurence Houghton filled the two empty seats after about 30 minutes

.
I had dropped to 7,500 after finding and in two hands where opponents chased draws and hit. I was happy I had lost the minimum.

After another level the table was broken. Andrew Grimason was running the show on my new table, which was far more aggro than the first.

The early and were the only two hands I had for the first six hours. All I really could do was to maintain my stack between 9k and 11k for this time

Towards the end of level six, the chip leader at the table limped in early position, the first limp in three hours. Another three followed and I made up the small blind with . The flop of was rather pleasing. However, I started to think it might not be my day when all five checked the flop behind and then folded to my small lead when a second suit Jack hit the turn.

My exit came on a new table shortly into level seven. Jason Tompkins opened the button to 1,100 and I re-popped to 3,400 holding off suit with the intention of calling a shove. Unfortunately he held .

Jason is a player I've played against over the years and has developed into one of the best in the country. My initial reaction was it was a cooler as Jason's range for opening here is any two cards.

Given time to digest the hand, I should probably fold when he pushes. Our stack sizes were practically identical. And as he knows I'd seldom raised/folded over 8 of my 23 blinds here, he almost always had me crushed when he shoved.

Another fantastic run from Pete Murphy. His record in reaching final tables in major Irish tournaments over the last two years is phenomenal. It really is just a matter of time until he gets his hands on a major title.

I was gutted for runner up Paul Carr. Paul's a top lad and regular at every festival in the country. He put up an epic showing and but for a cruel river would of been crowned champion. When the dust settles, I'm sure he'll take some solace from the €312k cheque and his place assured in Irish poker history.

Having exited the tournament, it was onto the back up plan of Marty's s

tag. Marty was a little surprised to find himself handcuffed to a dwarf for 24 hours. He was probably more surprised to find the dwarf spooning him in bed the next morning.

The following week was spent golfing at the fabulous Lough Erne Golf Resort. We did take a day off from the golf for Marty's wedding.

A fantastic week, in a smashing spot with the best of company, good times.

Irish Open

2010-03-30T05:25:00.004+01:00

Easter weekend is the most important annual religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. For poker players in Ireland, it means one thing; the most important tournament of the year is upon us.

The Irish Open is Europe's longest running poker festival. The significance of the event in Ireland can be gleaned from the fact that the prize-pool on offer is greater than the next five major Irish events cumulative prize pools totalled.

The tournament has two major changes from last year; the structure and venue.

The structure for the Irish Open this year sees a couple of needed extra levels added. Also, those lucky enough to make day two will see an increase in the duration of each level from 60 to 75 minutes.

While these are major improvements, I still can't understand the resistance to an increase of starting chips from ten thousand. Sooner or later the stakeholders will have to fall in line with every other major poker event in the world and give a larger starting stack.

This year's tournament sees a return to the 2007 IO venue, the Burlington Hotel. I'm not aware of the reasons for the move from the City West, but both are great locations, so another fantastic festival can be expected.

The last time the Burlo held the event, I was lucky enough to be part of an epic final table. The final nine in 2007 included Peter Eastgate, Roland De Wolfe, Sorel Mizzi and eventual champion Marty Smyth.

I finished sixth for €100,000 having entered the final day 2/7 in chips, I was so disappointed upon my exit, that I drove straight home and didn't leave the house for three days! I somehow don't think I'd be as disappointed now about nicking 100k.

2007 was also the last time an Irishman kept the title on home soil. Hopefully we can see off the raiders this year.

If the budget needed for the Open is beyond your bankroll, the Bank Casino Cork are running an alternative festival. This have a main event buy in of €275 and hosts three side events, so something for most pockets on offer.

Tight Kerry men

2010-03-23T01:01:00.006Z

Kerry men have in general attained a reputation for playing tight poker. I saw this taken to a new level at the Paddy's day Deep Stack extravaganza at the Macau Casino Cork.

In the main event a Kerry player smooth called the river with a royal flush, in the round of each side event I saw another check behind the river holding the nuts. Loosen up lads.

The Main Tournament was a €440 buy in with 73 runners and boasted a 50,000 starting stack.

I was critical of the recent European Deep Stack's structure and this wasn't much different. I'm not saying these tournaments don't have merit and deserve a place on the calendar, just that the structures need to be a bit more balanced.

Of the 73 that started day one, 68 made day two, so we lost just shy of 7% of the field on the first day. This isn't enough and playing the day just all seemed so pointless to be honest.

I feel leaving out the 25/50 and 75/150 levels while introducing the ante at 100/200 would improve these structures no end.

My tournament itself was going fine until we hit level nine (500/1000-100 ante) when I lost a bunch of chips to a chap who considered 42s a profitable hand to play out of position. I had raised his limp pre and stuck in a good flop bet with my Queens on a flop.

I suppose I could have folded the river after checking behind when a second two hit the turn, but I'm a bit of a station.

Shortly following that hand, I lost the main chunk of my chips all in pre holing v . After a minor rally I went out two levels later in a button cut off exchange holding against stalwart of the Cork poker scene, Zeke Tuits Aces.

I did play the round of each tournament, but no good. Shout out to the three lads from my local club in Waterford; Shamu, Eric and lucky Colin Fardy who chopped it three handed.

Poker For The Homeless

2010-03-16T00:56:00.004Z

The Jackpot was the venue for this wonderful event. Its a great testament to the players that numbers were up on last year in these recessionary times and €15,000 was raised for such a worthy cause.

Padraig Parkinson deserves a lot of credit for the work he and his team put into to these events. It's pretty unusual to see Padraig getting players out of the pub to start the tournament as we did on Friday night.

Fridays game was €100 freezeout and had a tremendous atmosphere.

There was a virtual horse race where the entrants were auctioned off. Eddie Walsh's horse won and Eddie proceeded to donate his €1,600 first prize to the charity; a super gesture.

Top trainer Philip Rothwell gave an impromptus preview of the Cheltenham festival which was well received by all the players, I'll reserve judgement until his tips run.

Former international prop-forward Reggie Corrigan was one of the celebrity players. It was quiet funny seeing the bouncer refusing Reggie entry when I was leaving. Reggie being the easy going type he is; thankfully for the bouncers sake, also saw the funny side of it.

Twenty seven teams turned up on Sunday for the four-man team event. My team consisted of Ray Kent, Pat Storan, Marty Smyth and myself.

It was touch and go whether Marty made it as he was still in the blackbelt tournament in the Vic in London late on Saturday night. Being the Champ he is he managed to lose his chips just in time before play ended.

All to no avail though as Marty exited early on Sunday, he did however stay in long enough to win the last longer bet with me.

All in all a great weekends poker, its not often that the participation is more important then the winning where poker events are concerned, but on this occasion that's certainly the case.

Bandit

2010-03-01T01:09:00.007Z

Marty brought a bandit to the K Club last week for the golf, but he didn't do it right. Kevin played off twenty and did what all good golf hustlers do, just scraped home for his team on day one. Then on day two when the stakes were up, he shot the lights out, hitting a magnificent 38 points on the Smurfit course to secure a 14 point victory for his team.

What did Marty do wrong? He teamed Kevin with me, TY TY Mr Smyth.

Over dinner he told me the story of how the week before he laid his mate 50/1 on Marty to win an arm-wrestle. The mind boggles that he actually went on to win it, the arm-wrestle, not the bet.

I woke last Sunday refreshed after the two days at the K Club and mad to play poker. I was very happy about this, as it's a zest I've always had, but has been sadly lacking a bit lately.

I had a good look at Irishpokerboards.com to see what was on live. My choice was a €50 game in Tramore, or a €100 game in Dundalk. Instead, I decided to give the bigger online Sundays a spin.

Played about $1,200 worth of buy-ins and got a decent sweat in the warm up for a while, but ultimately died in 72nd for $1,600.

I travelled to Cork Friday night for the €275 Macau monthly tournament. Played well enough and hit the final table with the chip lead. With nine left and six paid, a few of the lads wanted to pay an extra three places for their buy-in.

I refused, as it just gave the three short stacks free reign to launch their chips. Within twenty minutes, I had doubled all three up, dropping from 180k to a shortish 60k. Over the next two hours I managed to chip it back to 220k and at 6 AM with six players remaining, I agreed to a chop based on chip counts.

This is always in favour of the big stack and I picked up €3,000, which was the second place money. Not going to retire on it, but always nice to hit any type of result when you haven't been making the first break for two months.

I had hoped to get to Dublin on Saturday but the late finish killed that plan. JP was running a tournament with a new innovative structure that by all accounts, was a great success. Hopefully I make the next one.

Not much on the calendar over the coming weeks. I won't go to Galway for the PLO, as I don't play the game and can't see the point of throwing grands away.

Friday the 12th sees the Simon charity game in the Jackpot and everyone should really try to get along to support this worthy cause.

The Long Drive

2010-02-16T23:35:00.005Z

Following on from the deep stack festival, I was heading across the water for a week. Monday to Thursday was spent playing golf in Celtic Manor, then onto Manchester for leg two of the UKIPT.

I drove to Dundalk to collect Paul Spillane, then to Dublin for the ferry to Holyhead. Leaving the ferry for the long drive across Wales, my sat nav jacked. I was driving in rush hour traffic without a clue where I was going, so I decided to stop at a garage to get a map.

Tired and a wee bit stressed, I somehow managed to mistake the services entrance and went the wrong way onto a slip road for the motorway. Luckily, I copped it and got into reverse just in time to avoid an on coming truck. Paul was of course obliviously snoozing through the lot and will never know how close he came to an untimely end.

Good craic at the golf, although that Ryder Cup course has way too many 430 yard par fours for my liking.

Headed off to Manchester, refreshed and determined to put my abysmal record in England right. I lasted four levels over two tournaments.

I played three hands of any consequence in the main event. The first, I flopped top two with AK and should have folded by the river, against Rob Taylor's flopped set of kings. The second I folded Jacks as an over pair on the turn and got shown kings.

The third, and exit hand was rather unique. I started the hand with 5500, blinds 75/150 raising AK to one caller. When I C-bet 700 on a 10 7 2 rainbow flop, my opponent asked how much I had behind. He then proceeded to push enough chips to cover me over the line, but announced call while doing so.

It was deemed a call of my 700 bet. Obviously I was finished with the hand, until I paired my King on the turn. I bet small and he put me in holding pocket nines and blinked another on the river, GG!

My performance in the £330 side event can be best described as embarrassing.

I was happy enough to get out of Manchester by Sunday. The generic Grosvenor Casino isn't my favourite place to play poker; if I'm honest I find them rather depressing. I'll probably play the Scottish and maybe Brighton leg of this tour but won't be rushing back for the £500 legs.

Global Warming

2010-02-16T23:07:00.001Z

The buy-in for the 2010 European Deep Stack saw a major shift downwards; €1650 to €550. Personally I wasn't a fan; however who could argue with a 200% increase in numbers.

It's a strange affair to see 80% of the 465 field made up of non Irish, playing a tournament in Dublin, but that's what we got. I personally don't get all the hate towards French players; I find them cordial and generally good fun to play against. I'd love to see them here in these numbers every week.

My tournament went well for the first five levels adding 40% to my stack. After peaking at around 70,000 - I then lost a couple of decent pots holding big over-pairs; once folding and once calling. This left me relatively short with 30,000 which I got in spectacularly bad. I held 55 and pushed after I had 3-bet pre-flop on an AJ7 rainbow flop. I looked pretty stupid when my opponent (Alan Fleming) showed up with AA, ah well!

The structure for the deep stack boasts a 50,000 starting stack. I'm not a fan and feel it's a bit of a gimmick, as inevitably the average big blind gets pretty low when the meat of the tournament is reached.

The structure came in for a bit of stick on the Irishpokerboards.com forum, when it dropped to eighteen big blinds average approaching the bubble. Mike Lacy the founder of the event came out with one of the most bizarre statements I've ever herd, 'It was nothing to do with the structure why the average stack to big blind ratio got so low'. So I suppose it must have been global warming or planet alignment.

In fairness, Mike has done great work for Irish Poker over the years and has always been innovative and trend setting in his events, so I shouldn't be too critical. As I said, I just found the statement totally bizarre.

Exotic Clonmel

2010-02-02T23:47:00.004Z

Marty Smyth may be scuba diving on an island off Oz and John O'Shea at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but I think I drew the long straw getting to go to Clonmel for the coursing festival.

The first coursing NLH festival was in 2006. Two English gents sat into a cash game and threw a party, it was their first time playing, I bought in for €300 and cashed out €12,000.

I had only been playing a year at the time and it was a huge score for me. One of these gents was at my table Sunday and it was amusing to hear him telling me he has progressed to playing the biggest cash game in London, with some of the best players in the world.

I only played the main tournament where a decent 158 started. My starting table had Eoghan Lyons and Silky at it. I shared a house with Eoghan in Vegas in '07 and he's a top player but has been off the scene since moving to Australia in early '08, it was good to see him playing again.

I played reasonably well through the tournament and had an average stack, 18 big blinds, when I ran into with 26 players left and 20 paid. I raised under the gun and the button, who had been steady, pushed just covering me.

If I'm honest, I maybe could have folded, but in general I'm not folding very often with 18 blinds.

I'm looking forward to the next two weeks. The 'European Deep Stack' should be interesting if a bit strange, as its mainly populated with French players. I think the field is expected to reach 460 starters with roughly only 60 Irish.

The following week sees leg two of the UKIPT in Manchester. I've never cashed in about six attempts across the water, so hopefully I can right that.

It's only been about six weeks since the IPC and I think I've played four tournaments in total since, but it feels like ages since I hit the money in a tournament.

I'ts not easy getting money from Kerrymen

2010-01-20T01:45:00.009Z

I go to Killarney at least three times a year to play poker and in general find if very difficult to extract any money from the place myself. On the other hand Pat Storan whom I always go with has an excellent record down that way. As we generally swap a decent percentage, the petrol money usually gets covered at least.

It was nearly a similar story this trip. I went semi deep making the last five tables but in reality was never a factor. Pat on the other hand got himself in a great spot but unfortunately was coolered on the money and final table bubble for 33% of the total chips in play.

I played the side event but was messing a bit having a few beers, very enjoyable but inevitability no joy.

Connie always makes sure all the players needs are catered for and the Drumhall is a smashing spot for this type of festival. A 24 hour bar is a novelty, it was a bit like 'one flew over the coo coos nest' at about 4 am on Saturday night but all good fun really.

The turn out for the ' Lakes of Killarney ' main event was a bit disappointing in comparisons to recent years, but it was still a great weekend and the cash action seemed to hold up very well. Hopefully its down to peoples hesitancy to travel due to recent weather, as it really is a great weekends poker and deserves support.

Next up for me is the 'European Deep Stack' festival in Dublin the first weekend in February. I'm driving straight to the 2010 Ryder Cup venue, Celtic Manor for a weeks golf with the usual suspects after this and then onto Manchester for leg two of the UKIPT tour.

G G G Galway again

2010-01-11T22:29:00.005Z

Travelled up to Galway last weekend for the Eglington Casino's party in honour of Misters Parkinson and Marrow. It's a long drive, especially in the current weather conditions, but was well worth it as I had a great weekend - mostly spent in McSwiggen's pub.

The tournaments at these regular parties are great value for the locals as everyone travelling seems to go to the pub before the game, return to pub at first break, then decide getting rid of their chips is the best option.

Pretty stupid as Friday's game was a €250 buy-in, but at least six of us did it Friday within 20 minutes of the post break restart. It was some craic in the pub though and fair play to Marty Smyth for giving everyone an interest in the Aussie Millions.

Saturday was the final of the Irish Poker Rankings. A single table where everyone started with different chip amounts equating to the amount of ranking points they accumulated over the year. There was an even more visible difference on view than the chip increments as the event started - those that were in the pub until four AM and those that weren't.

I was first out losing a race in level five. Dara O'Kearney went on to a well-deserved win, taking the €5,000 first prize.

This week has the third instalment of, 'The Lakes of Killarney' festival. This has a €550 main event and is always an excellent weekend. I've never cashed, so hoping to put that right come Sunday.

2009 Reviewed

2009-12-31T22:32:00.019Z

2009 was a very enjoyable year for me. It started January in Galway grinding a shortstack into the money in the IPC and funnily enough ended doing exactly the same thing in December. In between were a couple of decent performances, horrid beats as well as the odd mind numbing mistake. A standard enough year I guess for a live tournament specialist.

Galway in January was fun. I finished 20th in the main event which was my first ever cash in the city busting a perceived jinx. I didn't have to wait long for my second as that night I won the Simon charity event. This was a lovely event to win for me personally as my bro Pat Storan had won it the year before and the tournaments founder Parky is simply one of my favorite people.

The two other tournaments that month were the CPT grand final in Clonmel and the Lakes of Killarney Festival. I Managed another minor cash in Clonmel, €1750 for 15th and picked up an additional €3700 for 10% of Flipper who put in an excellent performance to win it. I never thought I'd see a trophy bigger then Flippers ego so its only fitting that he should be the one to win it. No cash in Kerry but managed to nick a few quid when I backed eventual winner Derek Murry at 14/1 two tables out.

February was the Deepstack and a couple of beats in main event and monkey side. AA cracked by AK day two of main event and getting four flushed just shy of final table in side. March was a nothing month with no decent game, a nice little ante post bet on Zaynar at 33/1 for the triumph hurdle made it a profitable one, thanks again for that one Ciaran.

April was my forth Irish Open and my shortest going out slow playing QQ while Jamie from Limerick was doing likewise with AA. I played well on a difficult table in the €1500 side but exited early enough also. Still had a great weekend anyway though, it's a deadly social occasion and even managed to get a few rounds of golf in where a lasting healthy golf rivalry with a mister Paul Spillane was formed. The weekend was semi saved financially by the 10% I had of my then boss and good mate, Paul Smallwood who put in a top performance coming 5th in the €1500 game.

May is JP masters month. Played well in main event but exited close to end of play on day one. I did somehow manage to win the PLO event here. It was my first live PLO tournament and 100% fluked but felt good non the less. The other game I played in May was the GUKPT Newcastle. Myself big Pauly, Keith McFadden and Chris Dowling headed off by road for this one, although we had a good craic the car was noticeably light on Stirling on the drive home.

June/July was the highlight of the year for me as I found the perfect mix. Loads of golf with great company and the greatest poker festival in the world. I was in Vegas for a month and think I spent more time on the golf course with Marty Smyth, Paul Spillane and Julian Gardner then I did playing poker. This may sound stupid to some but believe me, I wouldn't be in the right frame of mind for the main event if all I did was play poker everyday. As it worked out, although I did nothing in the other WSOP events I played, I don't think I could of entered the big one in better shape mentally.

Although never in great shape through the four and a bit days I lasted in the ME, the only time I was all in at showdown was my exit AQ v AK on Day five in 353rd for $30k. Its the pinnacle for live tournament players and every morning of the 12 days -because of breaks- I was surviving in the tournament, I woke ten foot tall. The experience I gained this year will stand me in good stead for future WSOP main events and I've been chomping at the bit ever since to sit again in that arena.

Back home the inaugural Waterford Masters took place in Tramore. I was involved in putting this one on and it gave me great pleasure to see the top players from all over the country playing in my home county. I made the last five tables before losing a race to go out. Over all the Festival was a great success and boasted a top class final table. Marty put up a great performance to finish second and in doing so gave me my biggest golfing win. I got €2,100 and a funny story. On the previous Friday we played for percentages in Tramore and Cork the following month. Having destroyed Marty on the front nine we doubled down on separate bets on the back nine winning one each. Being the gent I am I allowed Marty pick what tournament he wanted me to have a percentage in. His reply " you can have the Tramore one as I wont be trying " :-)

August has the Irish Classic in Cork, I was disappointed to see the buy in reduced this year as I felt it took a little prestige from a tournament that's close to my heart. Didn't matter much as I went out in 24th just off the money. I had managed to make the FT of the PLO earlier in the week but also shy of the cash. Had a great weeks golf again so wasn't a total wash out.

The previous week to this was spent in Barcelona at a EMOP event with Connie. No joy but a nice week as Connie is always the best of company.

Other notables in August were making the final table of TCOP in city west and finishing my association with Brucepoker. I made the final table second in chips but only lasted four hands. Felt I had left my team down after the performance as we were still well in with a chance of place money at least. As for finishing with Bruce's. Well I felt I had a good year with them and gave good value for their investment; I certainly had no bad feelings towards them as it was purely an understandable business based decision.

The only thing I played in September was the TV LNSP. My table was epic for the wrong reasons and I didn't cover myself in glory. Got much slagging post this one about getting knocked out by Bernard Dunne so it was fun seeing him go onto to win the thing outright.

October was always going to be a big month with three major festivals. Broke another hoodoo getting a nice touch in Killarney, doing a deal heads up in the €300 event and collecting €13,000. This was followed by the IPO, no cashing but a social weekend that rivals the IO for the criac. What an achievement it is to gather 1,440 players in a tournament in a country as small as Ireland. Eight of us headed of to the K club for a couple of days for what hopefully becomes an annual event, pokers ryder cup. There's a return leg planned in Celtic Manor this February.

The winter festival was the last of the October treble. Looking back on the year this is the one that hurts. I had myself in a super spot with 27 player remaining and think I should of at least reached the final table. I was probably a little hard on myself after the event but still have regrets re that one finishing 22nd for €4,400.

November saw a new addition to the calendar, the JP mini WSOP. No joy here but as ever JP put on a great festival. For me this guy is the best around at what he does and I always look forward to his events.

December had the Macau winter and a second no cash in cork which meant I went a year for the first time since I started playing not taking home some lolly from either of of the big Cork festivals.

I played really well in the second IPC of the year in Galway. For a while there at the end of day two and start of day three I thought I might get to the final table. In the end I never caught a break, finishing 15th for €4,200. Another €5k was picked up for the percentage I had of mister Parkinson who put on a master class to take it down. It was a real pleasure to see Padraig crowned as Irish Poker Champion.

The other major happening for me in December was becoming a Boylepoker sponsored player. With all respect to Bruce's it felt like a step up to me and was a major confidence boast and compliment to secure the deal. While I still consider Paul Spillane my nemesis on the golf-course I also see him as a good friend and a person with a great understanding and visionary approach to the poker industry. I hope in 2010 I can live up to the high standards set by Paul, his team and fellow Boylepoker pros Marty, Padraig and John O Shea.

All in all I think I can say 2009 was a reasonable success. I probably played 18-22 significant tournaments with eight cashes and a very good ROI. I didn't manage a major final table but had semi decent runs at three of the five greater then €1,500 buy ins in the country and a WSOP main cash. Throw in a few nice side wins and I gotta be happy overall. I've always said the major luck factor in the tournament game is which ones you run good in. If I ran like I did in the sides in Killarney or Galway at the last three tables of either IPCs or IWF then it would of been a magic year. Maybe next year.

On a more pragmatic note, reading back over my 2008 review before I started this blog. Sentiments like improved work ethic and better focus were splashed around liberally. I was however realistic to only state one objective for the upcoming year; to make more then had I been working. This I achieved for the fifth year running. The hendon mob data records show a marginal better year then last but only an uninformed person would take that database as a reflection of a poker players P&L. In 2006 I had two small cashes on the HMD amounting to $7,000, in each of the last two years I had over $80,000 on it. The fact is I made more profit in 2006 from poker then either the last two years.

My inertia towards all aspect of the game apart from the relatively larger live events grew deeper over the last twelve months. In fact to the degree that the only real poker I've played have been bigger events in Ireland and a couple of trips overseas. The fact that I was/am sponsored, means I'm lucky enough not to have to worry about buy ins but I've no doubt its also added to my inertia to the grind. The way I've being playing the last two years is OK for someone that has a bank account containing a mega tournament touch but not for the journeyman player that I am.

So goals for 2010 are, to make more then I would of working and I'll include a hope to get some kind of grind on. I do feel there's a decent chance of this happening in a default kinda way as I've knocked the sports betting on the head which was keeping me preoccupied between festivals.

IPC (GUIPT) 20??

2009-12-22T18:33:00.002Z

I headed off to Galway for strangely enough, my second Irish Poker Championship of 2009. I don't know the official line on whether it was the 2010 championship, so we'll go for the 20??

Fintan Gavin has a big say in how comfortable your stay in the smashing Radisson Hotel in Galway will be. As poker players take over the whole hotel, a number of suites on the executive 5th floor are available at very reasonable rates. Last year he gazumped me for the Devilfish at the last minute, but after much slagging throughout the year I ended up with a very luxurious room, so thanks for that Fintan.

I was up two days before the main event for one of the now famed Eglinton Casino parties. I couldn't miss this one as it was for my bro Derek Murray, to celebrate his recent great win in FTOPS 24.

We had a great night and Thursday was spent lazing around nursing a hangover. I did venture down to the Stars party to do an interview with Iain and Dara for Irish Poker Radio, but didn't take advantage of the free bar.

Day one was one of the hardest, most miserable days of poker I've ever played. Although I only knew Eoin Olin, it became apparent early that there was literally no value to be had on the table I was playing. It was definitely one of the hardest starting tables that I've encountered. This, coupled with the fact that my only hands over the day were in level two and in level 3, meant for a very difficult day's poker. I scraped through with 8400 over 13 big blinds.

I actually felt good about getting through the day and commented to a few people that while I was very low I didn't think I was finished with this one by a long way. It was my first outing for Boylepoker.com and I wasn't giving up without fight. I felt I could claw my way into the tournament.

A redraw saw Marty Smyth and big Al at my table but that broke after about one level. The new table had Mick McCool and JP Kelly and it was here that I caught a couple of hands. First, doubling up with v and then doubling again over three streets, having raised and hitting trips. This saw me reach 35k, which I was able to protect without much to work with over the next 90 minutes until I was moved again.

My new table had some good players - Matt Perrins and Jerome Bradpiece on my left and leader of the Irish rankings Francis ' Wally' McCormack and John Duthie to my right.

I caught a few hands here to get to 60k and then hit a nice double with to break the 100k mark. We were heading for the bubble where I'll be aggressive normally but some times you just can't. Perrins was on my left and being chip leader, it was his show. There wasn't a lot I could do except sit tight because of my position and hope for a premium, which never arrived. The day finished with 36 players in the money, I had 100,500 in chips, the equivalent of just over 25 big blinds.

I fought the good fight on day three and lasted into the end of the 4th hour of play, seeing off 20 of the 36 players that began the day. In that time I saw a few people that started the day with similar chips to me hit a few hands and win their races allowing them to gather final table stacks. I on the other hand, was hanging in on crumbs all day.

My exit was a straight race - v . I had 11 blinds but got it in with dead money in the middle so got the value of racing for 30 blinds, which was just under the average at the time. I can't but be happy with the performance here. I got myself in a position of racing for 5% of the total chips in play, when in all reality, with the hands I was dealt I shouldn't have made it through the first day. Would have been nice to win that race and run good, but if I keep putting myself in that spot I'll get my turn.

I stayed to rail an epic final table. Big Mick and Cat have been serial final tabling all year, so a big well done to them again. When the dust settled it came down to Padraig Parkinson and Paul Marrow heads up, both are great friends of mine so I was obviously thrilled for them. The lads chopped the cash shipping a generous amount to the dealers and charity, but still had a great battle with an EPT London and the small matter of being crowned Irish Poker Champion on the line.

Padraig took the title; people forget with all his other media functions how great a player this guy is. I never have and over the years when asked who the best player I have ever played is, I always answer Padraig Parkinson. The man is a wonderful poker player and a great guy who has helped me enormously with advice over the past few years, so it was great to see him take this down. He played a textbook final table and there was inevitability about the direction of the trophy from a long way out.

Having said that, if ever a tournament had two champions it was this one. Mister sartorial elegance himself Paul Marrow, is a huge character on the Irish poker scene and it was great to see him rewarded here. The memory that will stick with me is chatting with Paul after day one. He had made it through the day with 17k but his joy at this had to be seen to be believed. The guy was absolutely buzzing, I've never seen a person more happy getting through a day's poker that didn't involve lifting a trophy. I guess it says how much this guy loves the game.

Monday night was a brilliant craic in the bar. Overall the entire tournament was great, brilliant structure and I loved the way it was played over four days rather than the usual three. That's me pokered out for 2009, I'll do a review blog of my year some time over the holidays, have a great Christmas and a winning new year.

Thoughts on becoming a Boylepoker Player

2009-12-21T20:27:00.005Z

Below is a blog entry I did for the Boyle blog. I'll be blogging on the Boyle site and will duplicate the posts here as I've always kept this blog as a kinda personal poker diary. I'll still be using this blog specifically for some stuff. Hopefully get my yearly review done over the holidays.

New Boylepoker pro Nicky Power has a nice ring to it - well I think so anyway. I was delighted to secure the deal with Boyles as quite simply, it feels like getting picked to play poker for Ireland.

I've been lucky to get to know Marty Smyth and Padraig Parkinson well enough to consider both good friends over the past few years, but they are still heroes to me. Becoming a Boylepoker-sponsored player and wearing the Boyle colours alongside these guys, really is a dream come true.

I visited Boylepoker HQ last Tuesday to chat about my role with the company and had a great day. The poker team at Boyle's made me feel very welcome. While I've gotten to know Paul, Ciaran, Lisa and Gerry socially, seeing them in their working environment was a great insight into the reason Boylepoker.com has been so successful. They seem to work together with an exceptional harmony and it's clear that their mission is 100% customer focused.

We went out for a great meal Tuesday evening and then onto the pub, where Lisa totally owned me at pool. I worry a little for Marty at times; he lost money to Ciaran Corbett - in a pub called Corbett's - at some hoops game they play there. Obviously great game selection by Ciaran though.

I stayed over at Paul's gaff and we chatted into the night, mainly about golf handicaps for Vegas this year. A bit like the recent government/public union meetings, after protracted negotiations no agreement could be reached.

It was at this late night drunken chat that Paul revealed it was between Flipper and myself for a sponsorship deal. He said he couldn't decide between us and cunningly hatched a plan for a secret poll. The question Nicky Power or Flipper was added to the heads up interviews. Thankfully I was picked seventeen to one (I can't believe Boyle's gave Noel Hayes a heads up).

I feel this is a great opportunity Boyle's are giving me and hopefully I can repay them with some decent results over the coming year. I'll certainly be giving it my all anyway and can't think of a better place to start than this week's Irish Championships, which will be my first outing in the colours.

Bounty Tournament at 8 Tonight.

2009-12-16T16:00:00.001Z

To celebrate the announcement of Nicky Power as our new sponsored pro we are going to run a $10 + $1 Nicky Power Tournament with $1,000 ADDED tonight (Wednesday 16/12/09) at 20:00. The tournament will also have a $250 Bounty on Nicky Power himself (Nickname: NickyP0wer), and 3 x $50 Nicky Bounties. The $50 bounty names are WaterfordsFinest, NickysJumper and NickyLuvsFlipper

The Tournament is a No-limit Hold’em Freezeout with 1.5K Starting Stack, and 8 Min Blinds.

Oi

2009-12-11T03:22:00.005Z

It was announced Wednesday that I'm now a Boylepoker sponsored player. Obviously I'm well chuffed about this development. I did a blog here . I'm going to be blogging for the Boyle's site but intend to keep this blog going in some form. IPC starts tomorrow and really looking forward to it, hopefully bringing my A-game. A big thanks to everyone that wished me well on boards, facebook, and text.

Boring

2009-11-24T02:09:00.004Z

Really not much to post about. Played twice live since my last post, both small local games. The monthly game at Olympus where I never got going and winning an €80 buy in for a grand on my first visit to the skyline club in Clonmel yesterday. Smashing little spot there if anyone gets the chance to visit.

My most enjoyable games in the last two months have been a local pub game where I meet up with two of my brothers on a Wednesday. The great thing about this one is the lock in with ashtrays out at 11. I've always loved a good pub game and this one is the best in Waterford since the legendary nineteen game back in 2006.

I haven't had a bet in about ten days which is for the best. Went a bit nuts for about a week after the winter festival ( was definitely tilting after that tournament ). Did some serious damage but took a pull just in time. History generally repeats itself with my punting. I can go for months betting astutely using a good bankroll/staking plan and then boom all hell breaks loose. I end up doing my stones wagering way bigger then normal on basically anything without rhyme nor reason. A particularly sickener was having a grand on Mickelson to win in Singapore and not backing him the following week when he wins in Shanghai.

The only upside to this is I'll probably have to start playing online soon out of total boredom. Really missing the old game of golf. Spent the week railing Isildur on full tilt. Interesting stuff and the Pill Babb angle is hilarious although I'm unsure if its healthy for a 40 year old to be trolling 2+2 as much as I have been on that.

Probably not going to bother with the Fitz festival this week. I've never played it as card room festivals in the capital just don't appeal. The Macau festival is on the week after, was a little disappointed to see the buy in reduced from €1100 to €550 but I guess its a sign of the times, should be a good festival as ever eitherway.

No Focus

2009-11-17T00:09:00.003Z

Played three events at JPs mini world series the weekend before the last without a result. The main event I went back Saturday with a healthy 40k. Had a rush of cards that I havent seen in ages; AA twice KK QQ, flopping a set and was out within an hour of play. Funny old game. Played the €250 game and ran kk into Ak in about level seven I think and no good in the Sunday shootout either. A great addition to the calendar and as ever with JPs games, ran to perfection.

I'm playing no poker outside the big festivals in Ireland since the summer and really need to find some focus and get some kinda of grind going. Be better off playing STTs or something online then doing my stones on betfair anyway.

Big congrats to Derek Murry on wining FTOPs24 and a cool $125,000 last night. Was railing and chatting on msn with Derek for about the last six hours of the tournament and he put in an awesome performance. He hit the chip lead about 150 players out and was in total control all the way to the finishing line. Derek has hit the last 2/3 tables and run bad in similar events a lot so it was great to see him hit a big one, one for the good guys, WD m8

Blow Up ? Probably

2009-10-31T23:36:00.010Z

Home for two days then back to Dublin for the Winter festival. I finished 13th in this one last year and I entered the weekend with the out look of having some unfinished business. I was feeling good about my game after the recent little touch in Killarney and with this in mind I kept swaps to a minimum.

My first big game since parting ways with my benefactor so back to what I always did; satellite. After a major hiccup just post rebuy stage, I was left with seven BBs but a quick treable with AA and double shortly after saw me back comfortable. I didn't top 18k through the game but cruised to the ticket handy enough with 50 of the 200 starters getting in. So in for €450.

I had a great starting table but unfortunately it was an early breaker. Had Channing to my right playing well on my new table. We clashed with me holding AA, unfortunately he held the same hand; plenty histrionics from both of us before we got our circa 20k stacks in over five bets pre. I had a bad level six and dropped to 9k when we had our last break of the day.

I felt I played very well in level seven chipping up to 25k; I was very happy with the way I played one marginal spot. Into the last level of the day I had taken a little hit and was playing 20k when I raised K9s in mid. Flop was a lovely K99 and got a full double up, getting my stack in over three streets against the unfortunate John Hennessey. Was happy enough going back day two with 40k.

Day two went very well until the third last hand of the night. I was just tapping away for 3/4 levels, then I hit a big double. Ali Mali who was living up to his reputation for the unorthodox shoved his 52k stack over my EP open of 6k with 1010. Playing 50k I was happy enough to get them in here, he held A7 and Tony Cooney informed me he folded an ace so a great spot for me. With a few more chips to move now I stepped it up a bit and was gathering chips. I won two races against a shortish Coo and even shorter Bops.

Up to about 200k now, about 20 off the money my plan was all out attack towards the bubble. However that plan took a major setback in the following hand. The impressive Paul Dooley, whom I hadn't seen since he finished 8th in the 2007 Irish Open limped, blinds 1500/3000 and I bumped it to 12k with 46os which he called and checked shoved over my 20k c-bet on a 3 4 7 flop. Getting almost 3/1 and fairly certain I've nine outs I'm always calling but there was a few raised brows when I turned my hand.

That cost me over 70k and a raise or two snapped of brought me back into the pack as we closed in on the bubble. By this time Marty Smyth had moved to my right and we were on the feature table. Marty had just had about four openings snapped off no doubt by big hands when he opened the button, I've KQ in the SB and shove. Marty's 99 doesn't look great when I hit the nut straight on the flop but I think I'm dead when he turns a set. Luckily the river bricks and were one off the money. I had 9% of Marty; one of my three 5% swaps ( Jude and Danny the others ) and had won the other 4% on the golf course the previous morning so probably not the smartest move getting lucky against the most proven winner in the field.

I had 150,000 now and although only average chip I was big stack on my table which was passive with a few hanging into the money. Basically, the perfect spot to take advantage of the bubble. Thankfully the bubble lasted a good while and I was able to more then double my stack in that period. I won a blind on blind race shortly after this to hit 400k when a strange one occurred.

The eventual runner up Micheal Murphy raised in EP I'm BB with 66. Just as the SB folds he turns his hand face up, AK. Obviously misunderstanding I'm still in the hand. Anyway I call and hit my set on a 10 6 3 flop. Its a horrible spot for him and I just shove and show as I think its the fairest thing to do but I think he may of shoved the flop had he not of turned his hand so probably a little unlucky for me and as things turned hugely lucky for him.

We thought we were playing to 27 player all day but when we hit that number we were told that we had to play until the end of level 11 another 40 minutes. A fight in the poker area was a little off putting around the same time. Three new players had joined the table as we broke to three tables and around this time I lost a bit of momentum dropping back a bit in chips. The third last hand of the night I raised AQ in early and the BB repopped me to 70k; I straight away decided to fold but 30 seconds later there was 600k in the middle and I needed to hit an ace which never arrived against his KK.

The hand has haunted me all week. I looked at the guy before folding and he was wearing a hairband. When I looked at the guy he was nervous, I somehow decided fuck this I'm not having some dude with a hairband push me around. I also misinterpreted something Stevie Devlin said about the guy when he came to the table. I've been beaten myself up about the hand but tbh I'm not sure if the push was as bad as I've been thinking and I'm just being result orientated. It could certainly be deemed as unnecessary as I was getting chips handy enough but I had no real hands through the tournament so got most of the chips I had playing unnecessary hands. I'm definitely folding out all but 4 hands and maybe all but 2 and had 4-bet shoved air a couple of times through the tourney so I guess you live by the sword.....

I came back the next day with 10 BBs but still hopeful. As the blinds were so big It wouldn't take much to get back into it. I couldn't get a spot the first 13 hands but luckily got a walk on my BB. second orbit I shoved Q10 when its folded to me in the cut off, unfortunately the BB woke up with AA; out in 22nd for €4,400, GG.

I really enjoyed the tournament, Its the first time in a while I've had a good stack to play with in one of these and generally I thought I played very well although I think from the spot I was in after the bubble I make the final table a high percentage of the time. I donno how bad the AQ hand is but my initial inclination was to fold so that tells me the shove was a mistake, then again if your going to win a 400 man tournament, your going to have to come out on top in a big pot 30/70 spot like this at least once.

IPO Weekend

2009-10-29T20:56:00.010Z

It's been a busy two weeks with two very different but equally very successful festivals. The IPO was a great weekend and everyone involved from Boyles and PokerIreland deserve a lot of praise for producing such a great event for at an affordable buyin. I was one of the bounties so had the weekend comped by boyles which is always handy.

My tournament only lasted about 4 levels eventually going out with top pair on the flop to an overpair. I lost most of my chips earlier when I flopped top pair and flushdraw and got it in against a Frenchman's second pair and over-card. I played the PLO and got a good stack together but went out in the last three tables in a huge pot holding top and bottom pair and nut flush draw verses a set.

The premise of the IPO is to bring big time poker to the masses and an amazing turnout of 1,440 says there doing something right. I had Andy Black and Neill Channing on my tables over the weekend and while I'm a little past being starstruck by poker players. I'm also sure that if I was just starting out like many of the field, I'd of been very grateful of the opportunity to mix it up with two of the biggest names in the game.

Eight of us headed from the Regency to the K-club for an Ireland verses England ryder cup type challenge, playing both courses. We slaughtered them in the fourballs on the European course. Myself and captain Marty Smyth winning 8&7 with Paul Spillane and John O'Shea winning 7&6.

We basically thought we just had to turn up the next day but Julian Gardner rallied his troops and to my amazement anyway, the English took the first three matches. It was down to me to win my match against Tristan McDonald to save us from having to give the old enemy a free weekend at the K-club. One up going to the 18th on the magical Smurfit course I wrapped it up with a super 8 iron to eight feet to the island green. Marty had priced up the matches and I had €450 at 4/6 on myself while Julian had a nice little monkey double on me, 4/6 and himself 10/11. Looks like there's a rematch planned for Celtic Manor early next year so looking forward to that.
18th green on the Smurfit course

Side Event Specialist ?

2009-10-27T00:57:00.005Z

I've had three nice results in side events this year. The Simon charity, JP PLO and Killarney a couple of weeks ago. A number of people have commented to me over the last couple of months that I'm a side event specialist and that tag must of spread because to my surprise Neil Channing commented the same thing to me the other day at the table. His comment got me thinking and if I'm honest Irked me because the tag does annoy me. Why ? because since I started playing the major festivals in Ireland 4 years ago I haven't played that many side events. Mainly because I've bloody well still been in the main events.

For me over the Irish poker calendar there are four major festivals; IPC, IO, Irish Classic and the winter festival. Since I started playing four years ago, I've played, four opens, four ipc, four classics and two Winters. A total of 14. Of those I've cashed in seven; final tabling the open, two last three tables in the IPC, a chop and 12th in the Classic and a 13th and 22nd in the winter. I'm a little pissed off writing this having busted today in 22nd in the winter festival as I lost a hand for a healthy chip lead with 24 players remaining, but those results look to me like a main event specialist rather then the few scores I've had in side events. It's not easy to make the final three tables of these events as anyone who plays them regularly will tell you, so to have made at least that stage 50% of the time, I must be doing something right. Now I just need to figure out how to start winning the fucking things.

I'll stick up a report from the last two weekends tournaments during the week.

Crying Baby gets the Bottle

2009-10-06T00:19:00.011+01:00

More people have commented to me in person on my last post then any other I've made since I started the blog. I didn't think it was that negative but I guess it can be seen that way when people are used to me being generally upbeat about poker. In level five of this years IPC I went card dead and it feels that I've been looking at 94os for the last nine months since that point. I don't care who the fuck you are you cant win that much at this game if the only ammunition your getting it tripe to play with, hence the last post. Subjective perspectives in poker are the reason so many bad players keep playing the game. I like to think I'm objective and realistic about having a terrible distribution of starting hands all year but could be just kidding myself without stats to back it up; either way I definitely ran much better then I have been in Killarney the weekend.

I have yet to play in a better venue for a poker tournament then the INEC Killarney and a fantastic 750 players started the main event. I would rather of not had Paul Lecky with direct position on me but apart from that I had a good starting table. I ran top two into a set early, shortly after flopped two set in quick succession. It was all rather insignificant though as the hands occurred in the unnecessary 25/25 level and none of the pots were bigger then 4k.

For most of the day I wasn't above 17k or under 13k so pretty uneventful stuff. I got a table move just into the last and picked up a good pot with aces. Heading into the last 30 minutes I knew many players would be locking up for the day so decided to up it a gear and chip up. I raise 5h3h in early position, two callers including BB. Flop comes 662, I lead for 2200 get re popped by BB to 7100. Now I think I can fold out a lot of hands here but when my 26k shove get called A6 isn't one of them. Its one of those ones that when you walk into a hand you look tick but I'm happy enough with it. So off to the bar for a very long night.

It was touch and go weather I even entered the €300 side event; I was glad I did in the end. Didn't seem like I was going anywhere in this and dropped to 6k into level two. Twice in that level I was all in on the river with total air. The first when I double floated a scandi and shoved the river when he checked. Second one was a triple barrel against an older guy chasing down a flush draw. Got a table move and cant remember any hands but got the 13k i arrived with to 50k by the end of play when 60 of the 275 starters remained.

Fairly good table coming back with myself and Derek Murry being the most active but in general not tangling with each other. I got a good stack when I cracked aces with kings for 50% of my chips but gave them back as soon as I got them, running into aces again. When the money broke I was short enough but that average blinds were about 15 so it was about running good from here on in. I won a race against Oz three tables out and one against a young lad from Tralee on the second last table.

When the final started I was one of the lower stacks. Vivian Hyland and Derek were on the FT which being the superstitious fool I am; I took as as good omen as the last time I shared a FT with both I won ( winter festival Cork 05 ). When my first raise was snapped off I was left with 89k, blinds 6k/12 2 ante. Easy stack to push and by the time we hit 8k/15k I had pushed to about 230k. I then doubled when I pushed over Paul Carr from Limericks open with AJ and ran into a good Scottish lads KK; sweet A on the flop.

I then take out Paul when I raise 8h10h utg, he calls from the blind and I check behind a 10 5 2 flop. The turn is an eight giving me top two, Paul check raises me all in with a flushdraw and I hold. The Scottish lad Richard got Derek in a race and shortly after knocks out the 4th and 3rd leaving him with about a 5/1 chip lead for the heads up which was pretty epic if over quickly. In the space of six hands I turned around the 5/1 disadvantage to a 5/1 lead and was back to where I started, when he offered a 15/13k split in his favor. It was about €1,200 more then my chips were worth and wining the title didn't mean anything to me so I was happy enough to deal. All in all delighted with the result. 13k is a decent result in an Irish tournament, Its the equivalent of what 4th got for the Irish Classic this year and over twice what I got for 13th in the winter festival last year; so a super return for the €300 entry.

My heat of Late Night Pokerstars heat went out Sunday night. I missed it as was still playing in Killarney but caught it Monday. Happy enough with how I came across, I was a bit worried as I had been on the beer before they shot it. John Higgins got a load of stick on boards for being pissed. John made the mistake of thinking he could out drink Parky. I arrived in the city west at 3 and the lads were having a few at that stage. The filming of our heat was to start at 7 but didn't get going until nine by which stage a few of us were well oiled but John was twisted. I went for a piss about 15 minutes before filming started and John was asleep on a sink in the jaxx. John was great craic all day and hey, who hasn't got a little caught up in the beer at a poker event in the city west from time to time.

No London

2009-09-25T02:16:00.004+01:00

Was toying with the idea of going to London for a couple of the EPT side events but decided against it. I do not enjoy playing in England and when I weighted it up I just decided I didn't want to go. Inertia probably best describes my view on poker the last few weeks as I've had no real enthusiasm about playing. I wasn't even going to go to Killarney next week but its to much value to miss and I'll be there.

October is a good month in Ireland with the Killarney festival the IPO and the Winter Festival. Its been to long since I've hit a final table of a decent game so hopefully I can right that in October. I only played one other WCOOP event after the $1k NLH; a $200 NL O8 tourney and cashed for double my buy in. With the long nights and bad weather setting in I really should start some kind of grind online. There was a time I really enjoyed grinding online but seems these days I'd rather open betfair then a poker site.

In another two months I'll have been playing full time four years. I suppose when you've been at something as intense as poker full time, there has to come periods where you just don't want to play and thats where I'm at at the moment. However, I know I'll get the juices flowing again soon enough and be playing with the vigour that I always have.

Moving On

2009-09-15T02:00:00.002+01:00

My Sponsorship deal with Brucepoker finished a couple of weeks ago. I had a great year with them and feel I added value for the monies I received. I would like to thank them for the sponsorship and wish Bruces and especially 'head of poker' my good mate, Paul Smallwood, every success in the future.

Haven't been playing much the last couple of weeks. I did play event 28 of the WCOOP on stars. This was a $1050 entry two day game with a 3 million guarantee. I felt I played very well on day one without getting much ammunition in the way of starting hands and managed to reach day two with a near average stack. 176 Players of the 3268 entrants started back tonight; unfortunately I couldn't catch a break eventually going out when my A6 was out raced by QK in a 40 BB pot.

Sick sick structure but you would really expect to be deeper then 87th after playing for 14 hours in an online tournament. I swapped a few % with three people, two of whom, ( Dara and Derek ) went deep in the money also but like me had no luck when it mattered. I satted in for $82 so guess I should be happy with the$4900 but the half million for first would definitely of come in handy.

Whose the Monkey on the Box

2009-09-07T01:28:00.006+01:00

Played the late night pokerstars which is going out on RTE late September. Didn't exactly cover myself in glory. My heat was changed from the original line up with Fintan and John Higggins swapping with Padraig and Ken Doherty to an earlier heat. I've seen the results posted so I guess I can blog my unspectacular performance. It's 100k starting with blinds 1/2 going up every 18 hands.

I raise a good few pots early with total rubbish and showed so when i picked up Ak I raised to 7k ( blinds 1k 2k ) as I felt there was a decent chance I'd get three bet so wanted to inflate the pot a little so I could four bet shove. Bernard Dunne called from the button. He had spewed about 40% of his stack in the first few hands and I had him pegged as particularly clueless. I miss the two club flop and C-bet 11k which he calls. When the flush completes on the turn, I shove, which in reality is a pot sized second barrel bluff because of his stack. Unfortunately he holds Ac3c for the nuts.

He gets more of my chips when he limps in early as do two others and I complete with KJ, blinds 2k4k. Flop Jxx and I check. Bernard bets 4k, 1 BB, I call. I check/call 8k on brick turn and the same river to be shown QQ. This leaves me with 5bb. I double against Fintan AQ v 89 but go out shortly after pushing 10 BBs with K10 into Bernard's A10. Definitely not my greatest 40 minutes poker and gonna look a bit of a monkey on TV but should have good metagame benefits anyway :-)

Team Event in City West

2009-08-27T14:01:00.003+01:00

I'm not the greatest fan of team events in general. From experience they generally mean playing in above average fields for very little reward. Having said that I was happy enough to play for the CueClub team when Connie asked me last week as I had decided to travel up for the side events anyway.

Our team got off to a decent start and were one of two teams to enter Saturday with a full quota of players. Saturday started really bad losing three players almost immediately, through no fault of there own. The most unlikely of Kerrymen, Willie Clynes being the most unfortunate. The rest of the day went pretty well for us and the remaining three of fought our way back into the mix. As I said these events usually have well above average fields for the buyin and my table saturday was one of the best I played on in Ireland all year. O' Shea, BigGPimpMick, Tilty Taylor, Mouthy Masters, The Pirate, TD Donal ect ect; right craic but no easy chips.

By the time the FT was reached Sunday I was last Kerry Man standing, needing to win to secure second for the team. I was probably 2nd in chips when I raised Ah9h from the SB into the chip leader from Leeds and called his shove. Unfortunately he held AQ. Having seen the gent play the previous day I'm happy enough with my call; its not as marginal as it looks against this opponent. Chatting with Dara after he maintained its a mistake not to call here and although I had some doubt on my drive home, having digested the hand its a call alright.

I'm thinking I'll take the weekend off and I'm back to the City West next for the filming of late night pokerstars which goes out on RTE this Autumn. Here's my heat, should be good craic;

HEAT 3 19:00-22:30hrs
Celeb Ken Doherty Confirmed
Celeb Bernard Dunne Confirmed
Poker Player Nicky Power Confirmed
Poker Player Padraig Parkinson Confirmed
OnLine Qualifier Elizabeth Mullally
OnLine Qualifier Martin McDDonagh

Chin Up

2009-08-19T21:35:00.005+01:00

Headed down for the Macau festival on the Tuesday for a round of golf before the PLO tournament that night; neither went well. Sideshow and Gavin Stevens taking out myself and Flipper. I made the FT of the Omaha but exited in eight before the money, nice showing from Bops who finished second.

The next three days saw more golf twice on the smashing Castlemartyr course with Marty, Paul Spillane and Paul's mate Tristan, who had won the Tuesday nights PLO. Got raped twice playing skins but got most back on Friday in a two man scramble playing with Paul. Had a nice meal and drinks Wednesday night which ended about 6 am in Flippers new Balla pad so decided to go for starting day 2, Friday

My main event starting table was great and I got to 40k in chips with two levels of the day remaining. I did spew a bit after that dropping to 25k before rallying to 33k at the end of play. Day two was going very well and I reached level nine of the game with 80k but that was as good as it got. Most of this came in a double where I raised the cut-off with KJos, SB called and the raise meant the BB was all in. Flop 7 8 10 with two diamonds giving me a double gutter; check/check. Queen on the turn gives me the nuts and I get it in with the SB who to my surprise is drawing to a jack for a chop holding KK.

I had a real momentum stopper in level three when I call a raise on the button with 44, the SB comes along and we see a JJ2, two diamond flop. The initial raiser bet 3.5k, I decided to float. The SB called also. When both checked the 10h turn I bet 66% of the pot. I was sure the initial raiser didn't hold a Jack and having played with the SB before was confidant enough that this bet would take the pot; the sb called leaving about 12k behind ( yuk) and the initial raiser folds. I'm not a happy camper when we check the 6x river to be shown 9d6d.

I get no real hands over the next four levels with a lot of raises snapped off and have about 50k when I play a hand with williamhill sponsored player, James Browning. Blinds 1/2k 200 ante, he limps as does one other and I make it 10k with 88 from the BB. He tanks gives some waffle and ships his 40k, The guy had limped called a ship by me in the gukpt Newcastle earlier in the year with 66 and he had shipped over about three openings earlier where i folded. I was sure he hadn't limped with a premium and think he thought I had him pegged for a total rock and thus will fold most hands to him. Anyway having made up my mind while he tanked, I snapped and was disappointed to be shown 1010.

This saw me drop to 10k; 5 BBs. I managed to get it back to 40k by the end of the 1200/2400 level but blew most of that again with a spewy call when the six of diamonds merchant pushed over my button Q9s raise. I exited in a 65k pot shortly afterwards with QQ v AJ, A on the turn. Think I went out eight off the money in 24th position. Although I didn't play particularly well I enjoyed the tournament and the week in Cork.

The pattern all year for me seems to be to get decent chips over the first 8 levels and then basically go completely card dead and scrape into the money or just miss it. Very frustrating but I'm not reading to much into it as in general I feel I'm playing close to optimally all year.

Cork next week weeeeeeeeeee

2009-08-07T02:30:00.004+01:00

The Irish Classic and the Macau festivals in general are one of, if not the highlight of the year for me. This is probably result based as I can usually dig out a result there but I really love playing the festivals in the Macau. I'm fairly sure if the hendon mob did a ranking on festivals there like they do for British casinos I'd be top of the list, fingers crossed I can continue to do the business there next week. I heading down Tuesday for the PLO ( really for golf Wednesday ) and will probably play day one of the main event Thursday.

Barcelona didn't go to well but had a good weekend with Connie who had no joy either. I exited the main event with A10 on a 1055 flop for 50BBs verses 95 in a raised pot in level four. I felt very good about my starting table as it was mostly filled with value. Without going into to much detail I'm happy enough with how my exit played out although it may seem marginal at best at face value. The tournament had 370 starters, the structure was a bit fast at the start for a €1000+150 game ( 1st 4 levels 45 mins , 10k chips) , there seemed plenty play later on and I'll have a few stabs at qualifying for the series final in Malta early September.

With Vegas and that I haven't had much time for online recently but I'm looking forward to getting stuck back into it after Cork. The little I've played on Brucepokers new platform since the changeover has been very encouraging and I really like the new site. I'm intending putting in decent hour over the coming months, probably playing STTs and MTTs and some low stakes PLO, trying to improve in that.

This weekend I'll play the Joan Vickers Charity event in the new Voodoo club in Dublin, a very worthy cause and give me a chance to check of the new club at the same time. Sunday the Brucepoker live show hits Carlow in Atlantis casino, another great spot for a game.

Waterford Masters

2009-07-29T02:43:00.005+01:00

I'm generally good with remembering hands from tournaments but last weekends have gone missing in my mind. I ended day one on 37k which was in good shape. Had a great first level in day two getting close to 60k, after that I stagnated and the rest of the day was a grind. I was eventually out in a race with Tom Kitt, A10 v 77 for about a 90k pot, with about 40 players left. I did have 15% ( 10 of it won playing golf :-) of Marty's action which was worth €2,100 to me; WP Marty. In fairness he put up a stunning performance to finish 2nd as he was ultra short coming back on Sunday.

My job of putting the structure together ( the quality of the final table tells me I did a good job ) for the main event and annoying a few people to come down was pretty easy compared to the work all the others put in over the weekend. Well done to all the dealers they played a blinder and floor staff ( Wayne, Robert, Gary, Keith, Kevin and Seamus ), they did a brilliant Job, Fox was pretty good in his ambassadorial role; also the Brucepoker team who did a fantastic job setting up the room. Biggest thanks goes to the players especially all those that traveled from outside the deise, the 197 starters for the main event was a super turnout.

This was everyone involved first major festival and overall I feel it can be considered a great success. There was a bit of a mix up with the food and one or two other minor area's that wont happen again but as I said for a first go I think it was a top tournament from a players point of view. I don't think we ever pretended the Grand Hotel was the ritz but in many ways, the rustic nature of the place gave the tournament a certain ambiance and uniqueness. Again, big thanks to all that attended and congrats to all who cashed esp Jay and Marty, two exceptional players who are a credit to the game.

I'm off to Barcelona tomorrow to play the Spanish leg of the European Masters of Poker Tour. Total spur of the moment stuff stemming from a phone call at about seven tonight from Connie. Structure isn't anything to right home about but hopefully I can hit a few cards.

All Roads lead to Tramore

2009-07-22T13:57:00.003+01:00

Almost back to normal after the month in Vegas. Sleep pattern has been messed up alright but that's to be expected. On reflection I'm happy with how the trip went, got a semi deep run at the greatest tournament in the world, had a great month in the sun and came home with a few bob so all in all happy enough. Of course I would of loved to have gotten my hands on a few chips on day five and been able to express myself but overall I played the hand I was dealt as well as anyone could and I have gleaned a lot of experience from the 35 hours play I lasted in the tournament. Hopefully this will stand to my benefit in future WSOPs if I'm lucky enough to be in a position to play them.

On a related note. Opened my case last Friday after leaving Vegas last Wednesday. Leaflet inside saying it was searched by US customs; assuming this was either in Vegas or New York as baggage was transferred to connecting flight. I had put the laptop in the suitcase and I'm assuming the customs never put it back in when they finished the search as it was in its own case on top of everything else when I packed. After three days trying to get someone at air lingus they tell me its not there problem and give me a number for Shannon and JFK airports. Anyone have any experience on what avenues I should be tackling to chase this down.

Finally this weekend sees the inaugural Brucepoker.com sponsored Waterford Masters. Bigslick had run the Waterford open the last few years but they had nothing planned this year with there focus on there big Killarney game. Myself, Fox and Seamus with Pronutz and Bruce's on board decided to put on the Waterford Masters to produce a quality event for the southeast. ATM it looks that its a sellout with the 200 capacity reached. Top class players are heading to Tramore from all over the country and a fantastic weekends poker is promised.

Goodnight from Las Vegas

2009-07-14T03:54:00.006+01:00

I was disappointed after my exit yesterday but today its all history. In all fairness I was always just hanging in hoping to hit a rush so cant be that upset going out. Played golf with Marty yesterday afternoon and again today which was enjoyable as usual; the gambling has increased over the last few rounds but no-one getting that much ahead.

Tony/Flushdraw on boards asked me some questions on boards that were interesting, I'll post them below.

Before you played, you would have had an expectation from the tournament, did you exceed it or fall short?

When I started playing I'd go into tournaments thinking to myself I'm gonna win this or whatever but I never have any expectations entering any tournament these days so i suppose cashing does exceed what I'd expect.

Related to above, if you got a decent run of premium cards, would you have fancied yourself for a really deep finish?

Well I don't know, I saw some relatively big stacks come and go over the four days so I guess that could of been me, my stack was relatively easy to play without any big decisions. I felt going back yesterday if I could hit a few hands I could get to the last 100 or even 50 and then take it from there. With the blinds so big at that stage a big stack is never far away. A double and treble up would of put me well over a million. I knew going into yesterday that I would have to go to and win at showdown something I was able to avoid the whole way through. If I could of had the AK in that hand and picked up a hand or two after I could of went deep. I think there was loads of people playing once they made the money more or less thought that was there job done and were quiet happy to go home. I wasnt one of them, I wanted it and was prepared for the deep run.

How tough was it to stay focused for the duration?

I really just played in the moment, its just so big that I just kept telling myself all I can control is playing my table and my hand. I think I had a better sence of achievement half way through day three when all the players were in one room for the first time then when the money was broke

Any preperation you would change for next time?

None, I played the main event in 2007 and knew I got it all wrong preperation wise. This time I got it totally right "for me". I honestly dont think I could of sat down each day in better shape.

Who was the toughest opponent you faced?

A young swede who was 2nd in the masters classic last year was very impressive on day two when he had chips. He lost them to a guy that played a hand terribly against him and got lucky. Once he got shortish he wasn't a factor and rocked it but when he was flowing with chips he was very impressive. The table I was moved to at the end of day three looked very good but thankfully I was there for only 30 mins, during that time I saw Kenny Tran butcher a hand that cost him 400k, he may of lost the chips anyway but the way they went in was woeful.

Best hand played?

Hugely marginal re-re-steel on day three, 3-better had no F/E but I was confident all the planets were aliened. I have know doubt this hand was essential in me making the money.

Worst hand played?

The kd3d hand in level two of day one was the only hand I played badly but as Valor said it was a train wreck.

How much did Flippers bet with Hectorjelly spur you on?

I think Hector had slightly the best of it at 3/1 but only marginally, I'd say I was somewhere between 10/3 and 7/2 to cash. The table draw variance is something that cant be accounted for in such a bet and is a huge influence on the outcomes.

Whats next on the list?

Tramore, Friday week

All Over Baby

2009-07-13T00:15:00.002+01:00

Just exited the WSOP main event in 353rd place for $29,911. The 8.5 million first prize would of probably killed me anyhow :-)

Got QQ on first orbit and no action, folded for 20 hands, got a reshove through exit hand -1 taking my stack back over 150k. Pushed AsQS over a 1.2 million stacks open, miles ahead of his range but unfortunetly he has AK. 330k in the middle and the only time I was all-in at showdown the whole game. GG.

Short Day Four, in the Money

2009-07-12T06:57:00.003+01:00

So through the less then scheduled three levels of day four. With 158k going back I was pretty confident of cashing. My main focus was to cash as this is no ordinary bubble. With the amount of cash on offer and also how far away the finishing line is, cashing rather then chip accumulation with my stack was always the focus.

Having said that I kinda gave myself a cut-off point, If I dropped below 100k with less then 40 to go to the money I was sitting in. I got to that point when I 3-bet a Danish player called uffer's, open of 11k to 33k with Ackc, it was checked down after a nine high three spade flop, he had two red fours. I had a chat with him having a smoke during the ten minute a hand actual bubble and he told me he was sponsored in as he was a stand up comedian and tv star in Denmark and wasn't much of a player; no shit.

I was basically in sit out mode after that hand, I did open shove 90k with kings blinds 2500/5000 500 ante, not 100% if this is the right play but I felt I needed another round if I was to have any chance of getting back into it when the bubble broke. We got to hand for hand fast enough; five off the money. Lost the first four in five hands but I think the last one took 12 hands at about eight minutes a hand, it was painful stuff.

I busted the bubble with about 75k and had it up to 185k when my table broke going into the last 30 minutes of play. My new table looked horrific, I was way the smallest stack with about four monsters including Kenny tran on my button and the two guys on my left over a million. I folded to the end of play without seeing a semblance of a hand although one hand made me smile. UTG raise to 16k and got three callers, I held 84os in bb and wish I had made a spewy call as the flop was 888 and two guys went to war.

I'm happy to make the money as the last three days play have been an epic grind with very little cards. However I think the two major factors in making the cash were my table draws and one sick shove I made yesterday. My tables on both days were about as good as you could get as a shortstack with no big stacked Lags. The shove was halfway through level four when I was down to 50k and felt I was going nowhere. The cut-off who was a light opener bet 6k and I was sure the buttons raise to 17k was a steel; I shoved my 50k from the BB with 10 4 os. Now the guy was getting like 75 for 33 for the call but I had a great Image and my hand had to look a monster, it was also costing him 60% of his stack. Thankfully he folded quickly and that gave me the spurt into the last level I needed.

So I'm back for day five with 3k less then I started today, on the bright side I've 19 bigblinds which will be easy enough to play and I'm only four doubles off being a clear chip leader.

Cliff Note-Day Three

2009-07-11T18:00:00.002+01:00

was between 50/70k for the first 7 hours play. 50k half way through second last level, ended day on 158k. really had no cards all day, jj 88 level two, QQ 88 last level, no other pair over sixes or AK all day so delighted to finish on what I did.

Hopefully wont get a chance to do a decent review for a day or two anyway.

Anyone txting, I'm getting loads but not replying when playing or asleep:-) need to cash to pay the phone bill ATM which is redic

Day Two

2009-07-09T08:31:00.003+01:00

So 33k going back; I had no real strategy going into the day, just worry about my table and make the next level is all you can really do I believe in a field of this magnitude. Level one was quiet I added 3k to my stack. The only hand I recall was when I picked up Queens on the button. UTG an oldish guy raised to 1100, I decided to play them slowly and called, the SB shipped for 17k which I was calling until UTG ships for 50k; SB held AKs and UTG AA. Felt good after the hand as I lose chips on an eight high flop if SB didn't ship. My starting table was ok, perljammer was the only player I recognized but he was short and lost them early enough.

Level two I got to 54k winning most of those chips in two pots. Pot one against a young English player when I called a raise pre with AJ and call an Axx flop, an Ace turn and a 5k bet on the river, he held A10. The second hand I played I had no idea where I was TBH. I raise early to 1500, blinds 250/500 with AQ and get min-raised by an oldish tight player. I call the extra 1500 and the flop is AKK. I check and he bets 3000, call and its checked down, he has 1010.

Level three the table breaks and my new table is tougher with lots of big stacks. Just after I sit down I spot one clear soft spot, Amerillo Slim shoves 50k into a 5k pot and shows AK for no-draw no pair. There's a 30ish American niggling him and he gave as good as he got so he isn't totally senile. I end level three on 56k.

Two hands of any consequence in level four both where I held AQos against two good big stacks. Hand one I call a bet on the turn with ace high which is good and hand two I connect with the flop and get two streets of value, ended level on 64k.

By the last level of the day there was some crazy hands on the table, about ten players had come and gone and there was 4 monster stacks over 200k. One hand a guy scoops 340k after flopping a straight flush holding 7d9d another a guy 3-bets a flop to 100k in a 4-bet pot and shows 32os for bottom pair. I picked up my biggest pot of the day early in the level when I raised the cutoff with KhQh and get a K two rag one heart flop. A guy who had lost about 100 of a 170k stack in the previous 30 mins check raises my 4k bet to 11k. I'm confident I'm good here so just smooth. The turn is the Ah giving me the nut flush draw and I check behind. When he checks the blank river I'm sure he has a worse king and get a nice 14k bet called after he dwells for an age. I found the last 45mins very hard with all the big stacks playing well and not getting a sniff on a decent starting hand. This saw me drop from my tournament high of 90k to a finishing 72k.

All in all I think I can be happy with my performance over the day. The Queens in level one were the only sniff of a premium I got over the day so, to more then double my stack in the 10 hours felt like a decent days work. This is a complete monster of a tournament and totally different from anything that I've experienced. By the time I sit down Friday it will be seven days since I was first dealt a hand. I'm just going in with the same frame of mind I've had so far; play my table and make the next level.

A couple of people have recommended that I shouldn't post hands I play while still in the tournament. While I appreciate the advice and have given it some thought, I don't think it's a worry in a field this size at this stage and if I'm lucky enough to get any deeper I wont have time for these type of reports.

One Eight of the Way

2009-07-05T09:58:00.004+01:00

Got through day one with 33k in chips which I'm happy enough with. This is a marathon and going back at 200/400 blinds, 33k is plenty. I was very happy with my play over the day except for one hand I played in level two which I didn't cover myself in glory but I'm still unsure about.

Level one went very well; the first real hand I played i check raised the turn in a 4-bet pot after leading the flop against a very good aggro Russian with 8 high and took the pot. The guy had already 3-bet me the first three times I opened so I had 4-bet him in the hand with 7d8d. Shortly after this I take down a big pot against the same guy. I open AKos and four see an AK2 rainbow flop, I bet 600, the Russian is the only caller. When he calls my 1200 bet on a 7 turn I feel I may in trouble but hit the King for the boat on the river. I lead for 2.6 and he re-pops to 7500, I raise another 11k and after an age he folds 22, for Twos full face up. I finish the level on a healthy 45k and know by this stage that the two best of my opponents ( a French and the Russian ) are on my direct left; of the others the two on my direct right are weak passive Americans next to them a capable Swede and one terrible and a so so yank at the other end of the table.

Into level two I chip up a little then lose a few K when I'm calling down the Russians bluff and he spikes a river. We had been playing eight handed until a young stars qualifier is placed between the French and Russian. He raises UTG +1 and about six see a flop. I have Kd3d in the BB on a 4x5d7d flop. The new player makes it 800 and I repop to 2300 when the rest get out of the way, he makes it 6200 and I go again to 16400. He tanks for an age and I'm sure he is folding but eventually he shoves and he just covers my remaining 27k. I fear Ad 6d and fold. I'm really not that happy with my 4-bet in the hand, I think I was to aggressive here and the hand is still annoying me. I just rock it up for the next hour as I need time to recover from the hand and finish the level on 25k.

Level three was very quiet at the table and very little happened. We were on the second last hand before the break when I play my first hand of consequence of the level. The retarded yank who had been open limping 80% of pots by this stage did so again. The Swede who was isolating about half of the limps makes it 1600 ( blinds 150/300 ) I make it 4800 from the button with AdKd and the Swede calls. I completely miss the flop and C-Bet 7200, he is in pain but after two mins shoves and shows Queens when I fold.

I'm chatting with Dara at the last break and he gives me a bit of a pep talk, just as I re-enter the Rio I tell him I'm the best player at my table and there's no way I'm not making day two. So into level four with 15k which drops to 11k after a bit. I get about 7k in a pot against the mong when I make a big call with Jacks on a KK99 board. I then chip up to 25k but drop back to 18 when I give up AK on a A 7 2r board ( young stars player shows set twos ). In my last big hand of the day I amazingly pick up about 15k without showdown. I open for 1k UTG with Queens and get five callers. On a 2 4 6 rainbow I decide this is it and check. The player next to me who has replaced the French player bets 600 into the 6k+ pot and a yank at the top makes it 2500, I make it 8500 leaving 8700 behind. He calls after a bit of deliberation which definitely confuses me but I'm fairly sure I'm good, he proceeds to fold to my shove on an 8 turn. All in all I'm happy to be going back with what I have but think I made the day a lot harder then it should of been by losing that 16k in the hand in level two.

Ready for Action

2009-07-03T01:08:00.002+01:00

Played the Wynn course yesterday, deadly course, a little pricey to play everyday but I recommend playing it the once anyway. It's such an awesome, unique setting for a golf course. Marty took the spoils in a five ball, hard to keep that guy down.

Really looking forward to day one of the Main Event tomorrow morning. Honestly don't think I could be in better shape mentally heading into it. I'll be bringing my A-Game that's for sure, lets hope its enough and I don't run bad.

Its all about the Main Event

2009-06-30T22:51:00.002+01:00

I've played relatively very little poker since I've been here. To some this may seem a little odd as I could be playing a tournament every day. The last time I was here that's exactly what I did and by the time the main event came around, it just became another tournament. This year my initial plans were to just fly in for the big one. Through boredom I decided to come out early but I consciously decided not to play that much. People whom I've been spending time with here with lots more experience then me ( Marty, Padraig, Julian ) seem to be taking the same approach so I'm confident that's its the right approach. I registered yesterday for day one A which is this Friday.

Never got a look in in the $1500 yesterday, went out after 90 minutes AK v 1010 up to that point I had raised twice with small pairs and given up on unfavourable flops after multiple callers. The only other hand I played was raising 88 in cutoff and my C-bet getting shoved over. All in all a bad day, I didn't actually win a single pot. Meh that's the nature of those things, I've no doubt that there's a huge amount of value in the $1500s but you still need to hit a few hands and win the odd race.

On the golf front we play the Wynn tomorrow which I'm looking forward to.