The BrucePoker.com Live Tour

The Brucepoker Live tour kicks off Sunday at the Crowne Plaza hotel Dundalk at 4 pm. There's a guaranteed prize pool of €10,000 but I'd imagine this will be passed easily, has the makings of a good game so hopefully see you there.

There's not much action in the country in the run up to the IO and as the blog consists mostly of my tournament reviews I cant imagine many posts over the next two months. I wont go to Walsall for leg 2 of the GUKPT this week but probably will play leg 3 in London the end of March. I'm playing a little online but not any real volume. Live, I've been playing a couple of nights a week at the Olympus Casino in Waterford. Seamus and Brian have reopened the card room in partnership, its a lovely spot for a game and hopefully it takes off this time as the lads deserve support.

Cheltneham is only two weeks away and I cant wait. I have a couple of very nice antepost vouchers that I hope to be collecting. I'll have one more major bet over the four days and that will be on Kasbah Bliss in the world hurdle, 11/8 might seem short to some but value is a relative term and I cant see anything touching this one.



I mate informed me that I'm featured in the above book for the greatest bluff in the history of poker. Obviously I was straight on to amazon for a copy; small piece on the no cards hand from the 2007 Irish Open. Amusing to be in a Racingpost publication written by Graham Sharpe.

GJPDS €500 side

I had no intention of entering this having just busted in the main event but had just enough time to clear my head before it started. I also realised that there isn't a decent game in the country until the Irish Open so I decided to dust my self off and jump in. A decent turnout of 84 players lined up.

My starting table had plenty regular heads from the Irish scene on it, so if nothing else, I was going to have an enjoyable game. I wasn't going to hang around here and was opening a lot of pots. I just called Mick McCluskey SB raise with KK and Mick did very well to just check call the river holding an ace on a AAKxx board. The last hand before the break I held 75os on a 467R flop and lead into five players for 400; Colly from Drogheda raised to 2400 and I pushed when it got back to me. This put me on 16k at the dinner break after three levels.

Shortly after the break I double through 5spin5 from boards having raised 33, hit my set and held against his nut flush draw. Willie "yultired" Clyness joined the table, I enjoy Willies dry humor and he came up with a beauty when a player at the table started complaining his luck. "there's no unlucky players at this table, in fact were all very lucky. Don't you know you beat odds of three million to one when you were sperm to reach the egg first". However Willie was a little unfortunate a few hands later to run his bottom set into my top one.

The table broke soon enough and I brought my now big 45k stack to a table that included Ciaran Burke, a player whose game I have a lot of respect for. With the blinds 200/400 myself and Ciaran managed to get 100k in the middle between us, both holding AKs which is totally standard with our history. The table was joined by a very active young French player. He had his stack up to 40k after a couple of outrages suck outs and had taken a particular liking to my bigblind.

Never one to shy away from mixing it up with this type of player, I got stuck into a good few pots with the guy. I had bluffed him off two pots and he had taken three from me showing air on each occasion. I get his 40k stack with blinds 500/1000 and calling his 2400 open with 97os in the bigblind and hitting a magical 977 flop. He hit a flush on the turn and the chips fly in on the river when he triumphantly flips his flush. Every-time you looked at this guy while in a hand with him, he would give a little wink at you and I couldn't resist a little wink back before I showed my boat. Sometimes poka is sweet.

This put me in a great position with close to 90k three tables left and about a 35k average. I lost close to 20k in a blind on blind with top pair against bottom two in a hand I should really of gotten away from and had 70k when the table broke with 18 remaining.

We only played a few hands on my new table before we broke for the night. I was very disappointed at this as it was only about 2.20 am and I really felt they should of played to the money and final table.

I lost a race to a shorty first hand of the day and then had to fold two hands I 3bets so was back in the pack. I dropped to about 30k but had it back to just 60k when I went out. Down to 14 players and into our forth level of the day with blinds 1500/3000 and 300 ante so average bigblind was 20. A young Asian/English player who was moving his chips in liberally and basically getting away with murder pushed his 100k stack and I couldn't get my 60k in fast enough with AJ. I was looking in good shape against his A5os until the Qd brought the flush for him on the river.

The €300 game was just starting but I'd had enough for one weekend, I was through the redcow roundabout within 60 seconds of the Queen hitting the river.

Battered & Bruised

I don't like whinging when probability decides to fuck with me but battered & bruised was how I felt on the drive home after playing two tournaments at this weekends GJP European deep-stack festival. I went out of the main event on day two with 70 players left, AA verses AK AIPF and out of the monkey side event four off the money in a double the average pot AJ verses A5os. While the second one was only a 70/30, when the forth diamond hit the river, I was gutted as I felt a hold saw me in a super spot for a top three finish.

A 50k starting stack was new territory to me and I wasn't that sure of how to approach the dynamic change if I'm honest. I didn't know anyone on my starting table which had three French players and a couple of English ones. In level Two I had pocket Queens four times in eight hands and ran into three flopped sets without an Ace or King on the board. I lost about 7k chips over those hands and soon dropped to 30k. I rallied back to 60k and was then back to 40k in the last hand before the dinner break when a good French player bluffed me off a big pot with A high on the river in a pot that that I would never of let get that far if we were shallower.

Over the next four levels I found no hands and was having difficultly finding spots with a very laggy, stacked up, English player two to my left and the good French player next to him. I remember 4-betting the English lag with AK suited and folding to a push; he showed Kings. I won a race with AQs v 99 for my remaining 20k just into the last level and a couple of late squeezes saw me finish the day on 59600 which I was very pleased with as It had been a gruelling days grind. I was however disappointed that there was a seat redraw as I felt I had a good read on the betting patterns of the big stack on the table.

I started playing fairly tight on day two but picked up some chips in small pots when I floated the flop against eventual second Jason and a few more with a thin river bet on a 4 flushed board with the 8 of suit against good English pro Stu Rutter. I was playing close to 80k when I made up the small blind with 34os in a five way pot. A French player bet half pot on a 9 5 2, two club flop and I called and blinked the non club 6 on the turn for the second nuts. The French player was well stacked so I lead the turn for 10k. The river paired the nine which I thought might be a good card for me to get paid so I lead for 20k. He goes into the tank for a decent amount of time and makes the call; I turn over my straight fully expecting to see the pot shipped my way and I'm surprised to see him flip over fives full of nines.

I exit the tournament about ten minutes later to the same player. He opens in early position and I pick up the rockets in the SB I think. The raiser has had two opens snapped off in the previous couple of hands so I'm sure he has a hand and decide 3-betting is my best option. He puts me in for my stack of 43k and I'm looking good to win a 90k pot against AK until the boards comes QQJ10 to see me exit in 71st position. Donal commented as I left the table that, " at least I had a good story" hmm I rather have had the chips.

I'm not sure about the structure TBH and certainly wouldn't like to play it every week. There is an extraordinary amount of play early but I was watching the clock closely and once it hit 50 players left it played out like any other tournament. For long periods leading to the final table the average bigblind was less then 30. So, for example at that stage of the event, the structure was actually a lot worse then the Irish Classic or JPs masters where the average bigblind never fell below 60 bigblind at any time before the final tables. I think the structure needs tweaking; a suggestion would be run a 45 minute clock for the first ten levels, then increase to 75 minute levels. I think this would bring balance to the event.

I'll do a review of the €500 game later in the week

The Lakes of Killarney Festival

My favorite online site, Brucepoker.com teamed up with my favorite tournament organiser to bring us this years Lakes of Killarney Festival. With €5,000 added by Brucepoker and 145 starters, a tasty prize pool of €77,500 was on offer for the €500+50 buy in.

I started very well and had my 15k starting stack up to 20k after the first three levels leading to the dinner break and I was feeling pretty good about my game and table. My disposition was changed by external factors when a dope tried to cause trouble for me in something that had nothing to do with the game in Killarney. When I returned to the table my focus wasn't great and I played pretty badly losing all my chips before level six.

I played the €300 side event on Saturday which had 50 starters and enjoyed my table although again I didn't play well. I did manage to get my chips in good on my exit hand; AQ v A8 AIPF. Pat managed to grind his way into 5th for €1500 which was a good achievement given the stack he had the whole tournament.

There was one or two rumblings about the quality of the hotel which I thought were ridiculous. It cost €31 a night PPS, served breakfast til noon and the bar stayed open til 5 am. The carvery was available in the bar all day into the evening and was top class so no complaints from me on the hotel front. The tournaments were run to an excellent standard, with great structures but you know your always going to get this with Connie and Matt at the helm. I think Killerney is the only spot in Ireland where major tournaments are run that I have never had a result. If I was told that I would never get a result there, I'd still be first registered for any event the lads run because your always guaranteed a great weekend in the Kingdom.

Although the poker was no good for me I still managed to sneak a profit on the weekend. Flipper set the under/over for the number of starters at 138 and I jumped on the over. I also had a couple of bets on the event when 20 players remained, namely Derek Murry and Paul Coyle both at 14/1, €100 each way on each ( 1/5 odds 4 places ). The lads did a deal on chips heads up with Derek taking the Trophy and a few quid more then Paul.

Mr Coyle first came to my attention at the JP Masters last May and has impressed me every time I've seen him play. Paul took a huge hit early on the final table losing a 600k pot AK v AQ but showed great character and resilience by not letting it affect him. Myself and Derek have been good mates since we Both final tabled the winter festival in Cork 2005. Derek became predominantly an online player in 2006 but has in the last year rediscovered his love for live tournaments. That's two victory's in the last three big tournaments in the country and an IPC final table in between for Derek so he is definitely making his presence felt. Both lads are smashing players but also great blokes and with young players of this nature, quality and temperament coming through, the future of Irish poker is in safe hands.

The starting table I was on at the IPC was the focus of last nights show on RTE, These were my thoughts on the table after the tournaments; "This years IPC is scheduled to go out in eight one hour episodes on RTE and when we moved to the TV table the production guys were hoping to get an episode from the table by the end of play. Well if they do achieve this it will be the worst hours TV poker of all time. While there was plenty of banter I don't think there was one interesting hand occurred during our two hour plus stint". So if you want to watch a very boring hours poker show then heres the link. I should be back on the show this week or next week and it should make for better TV.

I'm a Grinda

Clonmel's Park Hotel was the venue for this years Celtic poker tour grand final. Of the 201 starters something like 160 were qualifiers from the tour over the previous year. This meant for a tournament with €130,000 prizepool, the line up would be relatively soft. Some people are snobby towards this tour but I've always played the odd game and I'll take my value where I can find it thank you very much. I wasnt alone as through the field was a sprinkling of well known top class players.

My starting table was very soft but I didn't play very well on it and was quiet spewey in the first two levels. Flipper said he was still happy to see me moved as it gave him free reign to reek havoc on the unsuspecting CPT regs. When I got to my new table, Thomas Finneran was two to my left and Micheal Thrinby was on his left. This sorted out my spew because having two of Irelands top tournament players with position on you allows no room for error.

I was motoring along nicely and had my 25k starting stack ( 10k for €500 entry and 15k for €200 rebuy or top up ) up tp over 50k until I lost a race to Thomas Ak v 1010. This momentum stopper had me grinding for the rest of the day and after a few card dead levels I finished the day on 29k.

Day two continued in a similar vein until about five hours into the day when an unusual hand occurred. Blinds 800/1500 I'm playing 39k in the bigblind holding two red fives. UTG limped ( had limped a good bit ) , next to act raises to 5,000, next to act pushes for 8,300 and two more come alone. I don't think UTG will squeeze so I'm in the unusual position of set mining for >20% of my stack sure I'm getting the right odd. I blink the five and take down a nice pot getting one taker for me remaining 31k. Unfortunately I lose 30k next hand with a straight to a bigger one and have a bad hour to find myself short again.

I managed to grind into the money eventually finishing in 15th for €1750 but was never really a factor in the tournament. I had swapped a few 10% and two of my three swaps were going well into the final table. Brian Nolan an excellent player out of Waterford eventually finished 8th for €4k; Brian has come on a tun in the last year with some big scores online and its only a matter of time before he makes his presence known at a national level. I had also swapped 10% with the eventual winner of the €37k first prize and a man that needs no introduction, the great Flipper. So a nice weekends profit; roll on Killarney.

Charity Event at IPC

From pokerevents
Congratulations to Nicky Power who took down the hotly contested €300 Charity event in his usual inimitable style. 127 players contested this event and the action was thick and fast from the start. All the travelling players, professional and amateur alike, madeit their business to support this worthwhile cause.

In the end, a final table was made in the early hours of Monday morning and included some well known faces such as Anto O'Callaghan, Trevor McGoona and Nicky Power. After a fiercesome heads-up battle between Nicky and Anto, Nicky was to eventually emerge the victor and claim the €7,500 first prize.

It was the second year a Waterford man triumphed in the event with Pat Storan having lifted the honours in 2008. Power also follows in the footsteps of former world champion Noel Furlong who won the event in 2007. The €330 event, of which €100 went directly to homeless charities in Ireland, raised €18,200 for Galway Simon and once all pledges are collected is expected to reach €40,000, with Dublin Simon and Brother Kevin of the Capuchin Day Centre the beneficiaries.

Padraig Parkinson, one of the organizers of the event, added, “We’d like to thank everyone who played and all the companies who contributed financially to the success of the event. Without them it wouldn’t exist and we’re deeply grateful.”

I hit the bar after my exit from the IPC main event so was in good spirit when the "Poker for the Homeless" event started at nine. I never drink when playing larger buyins these days which is very different from when I started out but allow myself a few drinks for the last game of festivals. Having said that I wasnt going to throw my chips away as this event carries more prestige then the entry fee merits. The fact that my buddy Pat Storan was the defending champion also added a little spice to the event for me.

With a 6k starting stack it was going to be a fast enough structure and I got the perfect start when Dave Masters doubled me up early when I held the rockets. The tournament defining hand came for me when 50 or so of the 130 starters remained. You know the Father Ted episode where Dougal sees the big red "do not press" button on the plane; its a bit like that. Blinds 300/600 100 ante, I'm playing 20k in SB when UTG raises 1800 and gets three callers. I'm small blind with J9os and about to fold when the do not press button appears in my mind and off course I shove. UTG calls and I four flush his AK on the river, luclkbox.

This gives me a nice stack to cruise to the last two tables where I get a big double with QQ just before the final table. Chip leader going into the FT but the structure is fast with about 12 bigblind average and I think six of the nine are within four blinds of me. The line up included Trevor McGoona Anto O'Callagham, Adam Fallon and Rory Hogan who finished second to me in a tournament in Limerick last year.

The FT went well enough for me I made a big call with A10 to knock out the 4th place finisher and was in a good position when I took a hit three handed. Rory pushes the button for 100k Anto playing 200k called as do I playing 400k with KQs. Flop comes Qk3 with two of a suit and Anto folds to my bet. Rory has 108os so is drawing fairly slim but hits running tens. I get HU with Anto eventually and we split the cash for €6,000 each but both of us want the trophy. I win it in a race with A10 verses 66.
KQQ, decent flop for A10

Theres a $1,000 freeroll on Thursday with a $200 bounty on my head which should be a bit of craic on Brucepoker at eight. Also looking forward to the Brucepoker.com sponsored Lakes of Killareny festival; Details here. This festival was absolutely brilliant last year, fantastic structure and the hotel catered for every need at a super price for the quality of the place.

IPC 2009

I didn't have high expectations when I headed off to Galway last Thursday. I did a post last year of how Galway has never been the happiest hunting ground for me. I had been asked if I wanted to play on one of the feature tables. Now I knew this would mean playing on a very difficult starting table but the fact that I'm sponsored meant this was a good opportunity to promote the Brucepoker.com brand so it was an EV trade off I was happy to make.

Although I envisaged a decent starting table I hadn't expected as strong a line up as I got. Have a look at these five beauties lined up together. From left to right, Ciaran O' Leary, Marty Smyth, Mark Goodwin, Sideshow, Julian Gardner. I started very well and was up to 17k in chips by the end of the second level. The only hand I remember from those levels, I raised 99 and got two callers. My C-bet on an A23 rainbow flop was called by the chap directly to my left and I gave up on the hand. However the turn was checked back and a beautiful 9 sprang on the river where I got I nice pot sized value bet paid.

The next hand I played of any consequence was against Maria Maceiras. Maria had been by far the most aggressive player up until this point, we had clashed a few times in the previous levels and I was looking to try win a pot against her and slow her down. I'm still not sure about the way I played the following hand but it worked out very well. Maria raised from early position which ment nothing as she was probably opening about 40% of pots and I called with 6c7c in the big blind. Flop is 10cJc3x and I check raise her C-bet. Now I think she is calling with a lot of one pair hands here with the intention of re-evaluating on the turn when I act because at this stage my hand is transparently enough a draw I feel. I lead hard at the turn expecting her to fold most one pair hands, certainly AJ A10 and when she calls I'm finished with it. Another lucky river gives me the flush. Normally I just shove the river here but i didn't want to lose a big bet; I'm playing just short of 9k and she has 12k. I throw a 5k chip in which is 25 big blinds and Maria calls after a long dwell, my gut tells me I got maxim value.

This years IPC is scheduled to go out in eight one hour episodes on RTE and when we moved to the TV table the production guys were hoping to get an episode from the table by the end of play. Well if they do achieve this it will be the worst hours TV poker of all time. While there was plenty of banter I don't think there was one interesting hand occurred during our two hour plus stint. The table was broken as the last level of the day started and I had maintained my 25k stack until the second last hand of the night went i dropped 8k with QQ against a well played KK.

After a redraw I had a very interesting table for day two. Legends, Padraig Parkinson and Donnacha O'Dee, my good mate Derek Murry who was well chipped up and Maria who exited early and unluckily in a monster pot with a flopped top set verses a combo draw.


We were moved to the TV table early enough in the day and not long in Mr Parkinson got most of my stack. Standard enough hand given the stacks with Padraig pushing the cut off for about 9k with K9 and I call in from the BB with tens. This left me very short. I managed to get a couple of pushes through and then added a decent few chips when Derek raised 4.5k over a limper and then folded fours to my additional 9k push with AQ. We were on the table for about 90 minutes and I managed to maintain my stack without seeing any hands. Neill Channing and Jessy May were commenting on the session and both were very complementary on my play later with Channing saying that he ran out of superlatives to describe how well I played the shortstack. It's great to hear this from these guys but in all honesty its not that hard to play a 10-15 BB stack. My thought after the chat with Channing was I hope to god I get a chance later in the tournament to show you what I can do with a big stack.

My new table has Derek two to my left with the impressive Rory Rees Brennan next to him. It becomes apparent immediately that there is a few soft spots on this table. I get my now customary Brucie bonus hand with about 60 players remaining in the tournament when I push my 16k from the SB with Ac4c into KK and spike an ace. This gives me a few chips to play with and I get my stack to over 50k without showdown before I play my biggest pot of the tournament thus far.

I raise UTG and Derek who has taken a few hits pushes for 41k; I think I can get away form the Jacks for a number of reasons but dont and Der has the Rockets. Back down to 11k I double through Rory with 44 Vs AJ and get a steal through to get up to 31k. I then hit 70 when I get it in against Breandan Ruane with AK V AQ.

The table breaks shortly after this and were heading for the bubble. Chris Dowling the eventually second is the bigstack on the new table and played an excellent bubble. I was totally card dead for this period and couldnt find a spot but luckily enough the bubble burst fast enough.

At this stage play was stopped and we were informed that extra chips were being added to the tournament. This was a disaster for the organisers and I gave my opinion on the situtation in the boards.ie forum

" I think the situation was handled commendably. The physical chip management security system was obviously breached. But there was audits in place to identify the breach and the organisers acted swiftly and decisively once the problem was identified. I was very impressed whit how it was handled.

People will argue that there shouldn't of been a problem in the first place but if someone is intent on breaking down security, it will happen. As northern banks improved there security after they were relieved of 40 million, the system in place here will also be improved in future".

I feel Donal and Fintan handled a horrible situation in an exemplary manner and deserve a lot or credit for this. Play was eventually stopped for the day with all the chips in the tournament being substituted.

So back for day three with 18 bigblinds and hoping to run good. Were on the TV table again but its a little strange as with the unscheduled early start the cameras aren't running. I lose most of my stack in a race to Johnny Weaffer with Jacks V AQ early enough, get a double up with A5 V Q9 a couple of hands later and exit next hand pushing 910s from the cut off into Pete Murphy's AK. So another deep but ultimately disappointing run; I'm happy with my performance overall, I gave myself a small squeak when in all honesty with the cards I was dealt over the event I should never of had one.