State of the poker nation

A recent tweet by well-known Irish poker player Chris Dowling a few weeks back has been resonating in my head since I read it. I’m not sure of the exact context it was said in, but Chris tweeted something along the lines of “your average professional poker player these days is “not” someone that people want to spend time with”.

I agree. I’m not having a go here at current poker pros. The fact is the pro of today is far more; well professional and extremely better at playing poker than their predecessors. But I believe evolution has given us a top tier of poker professional that ultimately have an adverse effect on the attractiveness of the game to a wider audience.

The game has become to some extent a causality of its own success. Wave after wave of young smart people have turned the game into an academic exercise. If you’re not playing thirty tournaments a night, with a ‘rain man’ propensity to assimilate and make decisions on vast quantities of HUD information, you’re simply not at the races.

The end result of this is that while the standard of play within the game has improved exponentially. The game itself is losing its appeal to a wider audience, is not attracting new people into the game and also losing the battle to keep current recreational players.

If we look at the live scene in Ireland the decline in major prize pool events has been dramatic over the last five years. While there can be no doubt that the wider economy has played a role in this, I believe how the game has developed, and the type of player this has spawned is every bit as much to blame.

It’s not the present generations fault, but today’s pro is a stockbroker if you will, purely motivated by monetary gain. The problem with this is sustainability. In the past poker attracted new people through the wide array personalities that played the game. Today’s pros are falling into a very singular demographic group.

The poker million final used to air for seven hours live on skysports one, this was on top of the multiple weekly two hour heat shows. It was filled with poker players from numerous demographic groups with personalities the public found interesting.

The Irish Open final table was screened live on skysports in 2006. In 2007 it was aired on RTE, the national network in a type of ‘match of the day’ format after each days play. All these shows attracted massive audiences, ergo legions of new people were introduced to the game.

It’s a sad fact that these broadcasters wouldn’t dream of putting on those shows today. The reason? Unfortunately the fun and personality has left the game. Who wants to watch clone twenty year olds talk jargon about merging their ranges, barring the already converted and devoted.

The Irish and UK markets are relatively mature and what has happened here will undoubtedly also occur in those poker markets that are currently at an earlier stage of the cycle.

I don’t know if this deterioration in the appeal of the game to newcomers will or can ever be reversed. If it is to happen, a paradigm shift in the mentality of the current crop of pro players needs to occur. They will need to engage with recreational players, they need to become more extroverted and less exclusive to other pros in the time they spend at the table. They need to simply be nicer, it’s really not that hard and they may be surprised with how interesting people from outside their normal networks actually are.

The future of the game needs your average professional poker player to become someone that people “do” want to spend time with.

Galway UKIPT - get there by hook or crook

Two months ago there was a tournament held at Wembly stadium that had a €600,000 overly. It's a tournament that I have herd discussed a lot in poker circles since. Any of my friends that played the event were of the opinion that it was the best tournament they had ever played. The majority of players including myself have regrets of not playing that tournament.

This week in Galway the organisers for the UKIPT have assembled a purpose built world class poker arena in the heart of the city. They have guaranteed €1,000,000 for €1,100 buy in which is a colossal commitment on their behalf given the current trends of poker here in Ireland.

Much of the talk here in Galway is how big the overlay will be. The numbers being spouted about are ranging up to €400,000. My advice is don't be like me and all the other players after Wembly regretting not playing. This one is just a drive away so if it means raiding the kids piggy bank, mugging a granny or skimming the Xmas diddly club, every effort has to be made to get to Galway this coming week.    

I've been here a week now and it's all been socialising as was the plan. I've had a great time that involved racing, golf, swimming most days and drinking, lots of drinking. I've basically had a nice weeks holiday but the serious poker starts tomorrow with the €2,500 Irish Poker Championship.

As with the main event, it's a difficult call on what kind of numbers the IPC will get, but hopefully it's a good turnout. I've registered for day one B of the main which is Friday. The plan for the week is a deep run in the IPC and if that doesn't happen it'll be the same activities as last week minus the drinking, the liver has spoken.

Just to say again if you are in anyway considering attending Galway this week, just go for it. Even if the budget seems a stretch take the punt, if just to play one of the many satellites that run all week.

WSOP Nostalgia

The Internet is currently awash with WSOP related nostalgia. Nolan Dalla covered the landmark 2003 WSOP in a wonderful sequence of blogs for it’s tenth anniversary. The ever-entertaining Jesse May is on top form in his blog “Ya Luckbox” providing us with daily anecdotes and video clips of WSOP gone by.

All this reminiscing had me remembering a funny little incident that occurred during my first visit to the WSOP in 2007.

I was playing my first ever bracelet event, a $1500 NLH and we had reached the dinner break. Anyone who has played at the WSOP will be familiar with the dinner break dilemma of where to eat.

Remember this was 2007, a year where major bracelet events were decided in a freezing giant tent in the area currently used as the outside smoking area. Lets just say the ROI wasn’t as tuned into player need as today and the “poker kitchen” close to the playing area ‘now’ wasn’t in play back then.

Some sustenance meant a rushed two-mile trek to the main casino and inevitably a long line at one of the dining options the Rio had on offer. My companion on this endeavour was Gavin Kelly a young Internet phenom whom I was sharing a house with for the series. We decided on “Gaylord” the Rio’s Indian restaurant.

Upon entering the restaurant the Maitre’ D approached us and asked, “Were we playing the poker tournament”. When we replied yes he ushered us straight to a seat and immediately produced menus, we ordered quickly.

At this stage I noticed Devilfish, Marcel Luske and Mel Judah sitting at the table next to us. Back then TV name poker players were the stars of the show and I felt like a right baller to be dining in so close quarters to such esteemed ‘names’.

Our starters arrived and I noticed some rumblings from the stars table that I thought were directed in our directions. Almost immediately once the appetisers were finished the plates were cleared and our main courses arrived.  This caused rather more commotion on the opposite table and now I was sure it was directed at us.

When the Maitre’ D arrived with our coffee and bill, he was accosted by Mel Judah. Mel in rather colourful language pointed out that our table, which had entered the restaurant fifteen minutes after his table, had now finished their full meal, yet his table had yet to be served starters. The Maitre’ D reply was priceless; ” but sir, they are poker players”!

The 40 Guns/Masters weekend

The 40 guns was a rather novelty name for an innovative tournament run in Tramore last week. €1,000 buy in, limited to 40 players and run over one day. I liked the idea a lot and loved the fact it was on my doorstep. The only drawback for me was a clash with the Masters that I was prepared to sacrifice for such a good tournament.

The field was a mix of players from the region and a few shrewdies who had travelled to the event. There had been many satellites run in Clonmel, Waterford, Dungarvan so for a lot of the field it was a buy in outside their usual range.

Looking at the four starting tables I’d say I got the short straw but ran well in the seat draw, having direct position on Padraig O Neill and Liam O Donoghue.

With 30,000 starting stack and 45 minute clock there was heaps of play and I did my usual party piece of spewing half my starting stack over the first two levels. Having knuckled down I picked up a few hands and played a few pots well to be among the chip leaders after level four on 60,000. 

After a very nice three-course dinner, it became obvious from the low attrition rate that this was going to be a long grind. First place was €16,000 and ultimate pain was guaranteed for one player with the bubble being €4,000 for fourth.

My VPIP definitely dropped a chunk when the full Masters coverage started on TV. I have UPC at home so was grateful to Chris Dowling for his iPhone with skygo and it wasn’t even tactical generosity as he was on another table.  

The game had become very slow and the blinds definitely caught up with the structure with 20 BB average and two tables left. I lost a big race 77 v AK with 12 remaining for which would have given me 16% of total chips. I shoved a lot to get those chips back and had a little under average when the final table started. The table draw ran against me this time with a decent stacked Padraig and big-stacked Liam now having direct position on me. 

I had a clear strategy in my head at this stage. With such a big bubble under no circumstances be short stacked playing it.  Basically, take a punt if possible to get chips. For the first two rounds of the FT I had no spot and we lost two players.

The first time it was folded to me on the cut off I had 12 BB’s and the blinds were going up in a couple on minutes. I felt it was an ATC shove as the BB seemed tight and was shorter then me. Liam woke up with a hand and I was lucky to be in a 40/60 but not lucky enough to win it.

Well done to Liam on the victory and commiseration to Padraig who was the unfortunate 5^th. 

The Masters didn’t go great, I got a few quid out of Westwood top Englishman which would of covered my pre tournament bets. I had kind of avoided Tiger pre tournament but when he stiffed his drop on the 15^th on day two after unfortunately hitting the flag and water the previous shot; I decided this was a ‘pivotal’ moment and ploughed in. How right I was!  

Irish Open 2013

This was my 8^th Irish Open, having first played the event in 2006. As poker years are akin to ‘dog’ years, I played those eight tournaments over a 56-year period. The tournament didn’t change that much year to year in that time, a gradually improvement in structure occurred and arguably the standard of play.

This year there was a significant structure change and ignoring registration fee a 37.5% drop in buy in. The tournament may of lost a few big names because of the smaller buy in and the bubble may of broke on day three rather then day two. However all in all, for me it felt as big a tournament as any other Irish Open I have played.

courtesy of Danny Maxwell

This was my third year to cash in those eight attempts and certainly deep and around the bubble if felt exactly the same as previous years. Actually scratch that, there was one notable difference. Former TD, Dave O’Neill was sorely missed running frantically around on the bubble roaring at players and spectators alike to return to their seats and get behind the rail.

My tournament went ok. Unusually for me I can’t actually recall much of day one. I know from my twitter feed I had starting stack with two levels remaining and ended the day on an above average 74k without playing a big pot.

I had a good table draw on day two. The only person I knew was John Stokes who I used to play a lot with in the old ‘Blazing Aces’ club in Waterford. I steadily amassed chips all day and hit 250k with two levels remaining. A lot of things had went my. I remember calling a few big barrels turn and river with ace high and being good. Barrelling myself with 44 on a scary board and being good. Getting to showdown holding queen high and being good and most memorably check shoving turn with 66 on a 2235 board, getting snapped and holding verses a king flush draw.

It then turned on me. I was probable a little rash to 3–bet commit A2os losing 75k to this particular gent from the bigblind, his raised AK from the smallblind held. Within 2 minutes I raised called KQss and lost another 75k to A8. I was still comfortable on this table and confidant I could recoup until a few minutes later the floor person informed me I was moving tables.

My internal reaction was “oh no”. I had been on the table ten hours and to move now relatively short-stacked, I feared the worst. My new table had a few familiar faces including Noel Hayes, Liam Flood and Andrew ‘ulduffer’ Sweeney.

Flood was running the show here and it was a pleasure to see. I can honestly say for the last 90 minutes on day two Liam was by far the best player I had played with over the three days I lasted in the tournament. He had a 3-bet percentage of around 60% chipped up from 120k to 400k; it really was delightful to see.

My chip count improved in tandem with Liam’s for the same period but in a much luckier fashion. Firstly I got my 100k in with AK verses QQ and win. Shortly after I picked up AA and the same unfortunate player who held the queens picked up the kings. Day three would start with a healthy 375k, which was 9/64.

We started day three ten off the money. I wasn’t in great shape; it wasn’t the usual Irish Open hangover complaint but rather radiator problems. I was a big loser of the Burlington room roulette and got a horrible old one, 7^th floor at the front. The radiator wouldn’t turn off and made a constant noise akin to Niagara Falls. I didn’t get much sleep.

Things got worse when I sat at my table a saw the five hero’s lined up on my left. Derek Wall and Andrew Sweeney, two pretty unexploitable young pros. Mad Mick McCloskey and Liam Flood whom although having a combined age of over 300 were probably the two most frequent 3-betters in the tournament and an English based gent who’s only English seemed to be raise or re-raise. I couldn’t see a strategy of opening a lot of pots working here, as all were decently stacked. Well that’s not exactly true, I’d lost 100k in small pots before I actually decided that. 

I remember two hands in the run up to bubble time. One I opened one of my few pots light from early position, Liam put in a chunky 3-bet. I considered this a good spot for a light 4-bet as Liam has a merged range with his 60% 3-bet percentage he folded and showed AJ. The second hand I 3-bet AK chunky from the small blind verses the English gents early open, call. Flop AK10cc I lead and he at least 4x’s it, I shove and take a nice pot.   

The bubble dragged and I mean dragged, it must have been 90 minutes. We were the feature table and it must of made for boring viewing as everyone was decently stacked and chip movement was minimal as at this stage ever one realised the table couldn’t be run over. It finally popped and I had 450k about 1.5x average and in great shape to make a run for the final table I felt.       

Unfortunately this was where my good fortune in this tournament. For the next four hours I was dealt complete trash and any time I tried to make something happen I lost another few chips. At dinner I was left with a reshove stack of 200k, which was 18 big blinds. Upon returning from dinner the blinds went through me and I shoved 16bigs holding K9cc over a cutoff raise. Declan Connolly woke up in the big blind with AQ o it was out the gap.

Looking back there was no mistakes, maybe two hands I’d of played different with hindsight but these were marginal spots. I wasn’t gutted upon exit, you become pretty pragmatic when you’ve played the Irish Open for 56 years and I didn’t feel I had actually played particularly well but just did the standard stuff correctly. I got a hell of a lot of support from people via twitter/text and at the event, I’d like to thank all for the well wishes      

UKIPT Cork – A philosophical paradigm shift

My exit has been bothering me from the UKIPT in Cork last Thursday. It was the second last level of eight played on the day. I was low stacked (18 bigs) on what looked a tough active table with plenty chips. I decided to punt my stack in a bad spot with pocket two’s.

There’s nothing unusual there for me; you know the Father Ted episode set on the aeroplane where Dougal’s finger hovers over the red button with the “Do Not Press” sign. Well I’m a bit like that historically with the ducks. I’ve knocked myself out of so many tournaments with them over the years they’ve become a bit like my own red button, but it really was a bad spot this time.

A couple of things brought home to me how stupid it was to punt those chips. Firstly, Tommy Finneran winning the event having returned for day two with 7,500 chips, less then I lost in that hand. Secondly was remembering the only UKIPT I have cashed in to date, the first ever one in Galway which was a €2,200 buy in.

I described my starting table in that 2009 tournament in my blog at the time as “the toughest starting table I ever played on, and I didn’t know a player on it”. As it turned out it contained an unknown, Jake Cody, Toby Lewis and Chris Brammer. The table never broke and I got nothing going all day, scraping through with 40% of starting stack.

I finished 15^th in that tournament, never having chips but losing a race on the last two tables for 1.5 times the average. Basically I gave myself a chance in an event I never really should have had. Fast-forward to last Thursday and I showed an opposite mindset because I considered it necessary to take a bad spot to gamble because “it’s a tough table”.

That may seem long-winded way of describing losing 18 bigs in a 400-player field but as I said at the start, the hand has been bothering me and represents to me how my mindset has changed for the worse over the intervening years.

The day had started well getting my 15k starting stack up to 32k on one of the more difficult tables in the room. It went wrong after the second break. I had lost a couple of small pots and then a big one when I picked up Jacks on the small blind while Aidan Connolly held the button and the boots. This brought me back to starting stack and over the next hour I had four table moves, which is never ideal.

I managed to lose small pots on all my new tables before arriving on my last table with 6,000 chips, which was 15 bigs. I got a temporary stay of execution when I shoved Fours on the button into the BB’s Aces and flopped quads. I then lost some raising A6s and betting two streets and checking back the river on an ace high flop, the bigblind held A10. My exit was within a couple of hands from this.

I did follow events closely online over the remainder of the event and was delighted to see Tommy Finneran take down a major Irish title. My first memory of Tommy is from the 2007 Irish open and him 6-bet shoving on, and showing A3 to Peter Eastgate. You have to remember this was 2007, when this wouldn’t of been that prominent a play, and Tommy was a quiet rural looking lad, so it made a bit of an impression on me.

We’ve been good mates ever since, travelling together and sharing a house in Vegas in 2010. Tommy has been a constant in the latter stages of big Irish tournaments over the last six year only to run bad late. To say he deserved this one would be an understatement.

D4 DeepStack

The 6th instalment of European Deepstack Poker Championship took place in Dublin at the weekend. I’ve played the tournament every year bar the 1^st but have to admit I have no love for the event. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great event run to the highest standards and brings a huge amount of value to these shores. I’ve just 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 the turnouts over the years of which amazingly 80% travel from overseas.

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

I guess my main problem with the event is a personal one. Give me 500 big blinds at the start of a tournament and I just can’t stop spewing. I sat down to my table on day one and it became obvious early that it was a great table. A couple of capable players and the rest were average at best. Within an hour I had lost half my stack spewing and was by far the worst player at the table.

I knew I was playing terribly but just couldn’t seem to stop. I left the table for an hour to clear the head before I blew the lot. Upon return the rest of the table must have been confused as I played some super stuff trebling my stack within an hour and not putting a chip wrong.

I returned for day two with 90k and had increased this to 110k when I lost the lot in flopped set verses flopped straight debacle in the second level of the day. I wasn’t that disappointed, over half the field was still in at that stage so we were still a long way from the money. Also, for some reason getting it in bad makes for easier emotions upon exit these days for me.

Three Irish players made the final nine. The always-impressive Marc MacDonnell was first out of the final table. Marc had yet again held the chip lead after play on day one, something he seems to achieve with abnormal consistency. I can honestly say Marc is the most impressive person I’ve ever seen to gather chips and when he starts to put his end game together live the rest of us might as well not turn up. He’s that good he’ll probably win everything.

 Pat Smyth finished in 8^th position. I played with Pat on a final table in Tramore last year in a small tournament he won and he is a sound chap with a lot of game. I guess that’s to be expected as the pedigree is there with him being an uncle of Jason Tompkins.

This left the home hopes on the capable shoulders of Declan Connelly. Declan final tabled the Irish Open in 2010 where he finished 7^th after losing a massive race to Paul Carr so wasn’t going to be phased by the task at hand. After a gruelling battle he would come out on top taking the €50,000 1^st prize and title of 2013 European Deep stack Poker Champion.

WPTN Dublin

Ireland traditionally kicks off the year with a major event. In the past Christmas was spent in anticipation of the Pokerevents Irish Poker Championships. Currently the WPT have taken over the mantle of producing a top event on week one in January. While this year offering was reduced from a full WPT title to a National title it was still a big tournament with a special location on the calendar.

 What’s so special about the date? Well I can guarantee you it’s probably the only tournament of the year that every entry enters with a newfound confidence. No matter how bad you’ve been running of how bad your results the previous year the slate is clean entering this one. It’s a new start a rebirth and everyone is thinking maybe just maybe this is my year.

 Thus it was with a new found optimism I headed to the City West complex on the Thursday evening before day one-B. The confidence didn’t last long. I decided to play the super satellite. About half way through a gent decided to limp/shove 25 BB’s with K7os into my Jacks and got there.

 Upon exit I met Fintan Gavin, Tom Hanlon and Kirsty from pokerstars. Fintan suggests one drink. I have never been a big fan of the noon start for poker tournaments and certainly wasn’t that Friday because I was now nursing a brute of a hangover.

 Sandwiched between Dermot Blain and the Impressive Marc Wright and Ronan Gilligan in attendance, I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy ride so just kept my head down and avoided tough spots.

Over the day I wasn’t playing a lot of pots but was wining the one’s I played. I then got a full double after dinner with AA, shoving 1.5x the pot on the river having pretty much nailed my opponents AQ on the Q high board. This put me on 55k and I finished what was all in all an uneventful enough days poker with 74k ahead of the average.

 An early night was in order and I arrived the next day full of bounce with 89 of the 236 field remaining. The table looked tough enough, there was two young Scandis on the table one particularly aggro, whom I’d tangled a bit with the day before, the other two to my left whom I was to find out was just as aggro.

The first hand I played was against a middle-aged lady who opened early, I flatted AK expecting some action behind which didn’t occur. I checked back The K10x flop and called turn and river losing 9 bigs in the hand to a set. It felt like id dodged a bullet after the hand and I won two small pots shortly after.

About an hour in a big hand developed on the table, the Scandi I’d play with the previous day 5-bet shove QKos into Sunny Chattha’s JJ. When the QK got there, I commented to Andy Black on my left that it really is an injustice for QK to win that hand.

 The exact next hand I’m dealt JJ on the button and the northern European gent in the big blind ended up 5-bet shoving A7os on me. I couldn’t get the chips into the pot fast enough but alas to no avail as an Ace flopped. I had 66k (55bigs) starting the hand so it was a huge pot for that stage of the tournament with 70 players remaining and 27 paid.

 Generally I’m pretty good to take an exit but I was absolutely gutted here. Rather then being my usual gracious self I made a sarcastic “well played “ comment and let out a few expletives leaving the tournament area. It’s very unlike me; I’m blaming all that bloody New Year optimism. At least the guy put the chips to good use going onto to finish 2nd in the event.

A Morsel of Form

"Form" that mystical intangible that rules poker players’ lives. Forms give it and forms take it away. When we're in form the worlds all rainbows and lollypops, when we're not, every day looks like a scene from Se7en.

Over dramatic? Definitely, but every player will know what I mean. When we're out of form we grasp for any sign that a downswing might be about to turn. If we win a race or fade a flushdraw, book the smallest win or cash, we think maybe just maybe the tide has turned and we're on the up. It's all very irrational I know but it is what it is.

This year has been pretty shit one for me. Most of it my own doing, I simply don't play enough these days. A run of bad results over 15 tournaments probably means a whole year for me, for many that's a bad night.

I've been grasping for a bit of form all year, a morsel of that intangible that gets me feeling I'm not dead money. Truthfully I had totally written off 2012 and my illogical thought process told me 2013 would be immeasurably better. With this in mind it was nice to find a little form last weekend.

 On Thursday, Ciaran rang me and asked me to play the WPT satellite on Boyles as he expected an overlay. Only Twelve players and one seat but I ran pretty well and won it handy. Now when things are going well winning that wouldn't even register, but when they're not you start thinking, hmmm maybe just maybe a bit of form.

The slight optimism continued into the weekend when again I ran pretty well chopping (taking Trophy and 4k) the Macau Winter Festival. The tournament is not the touch it once was. I won it in 2005 getting 20k and it's boasted prize pools of well in excess of 100k for a few years. These days the event is reduced to a €350 entry 15k guarantee total prize pool (which it didn't quiet reach). Still it made for my most enjoyable drive home in a while.

I played no better or worse then I have in any event for the last six months, I just found that bit of "form".

Shout outs to my roomy and regular travel companion Ian 'Bops' Rohan who clocked another final table appearance finishing an unlucky 4th, and Limericks Jamie 'Jamfly' Flynn who put in a determined title defence too finish third.     

JP's MiniWSOP

The Village Green card club Tallaght was the venue for this festival over last weekend. This was my second time visiting the JP's new club and it really is a great spot for a game. JP understands poker players needs and really does cross the T's and dot the I’s when it comes too putting on an event.

 I just played the main event opting for day one-A. The game was a re-entry. When I made day two it felt like a min-cash already, as I wouldn't have too have a second go.

 The day itself went very well after an early mishap. Practically after sitting down I lost a decent chunk to Rory Brown but don’t think I lost another sizable pot over the day. I held AJ on a JJ4xx board against Rory's 44. Lucky enough it was first level I guess, as it could be a tournament ender a bit later on.

 I was moved straight away after this hand and the new table had a lot of familiar friendly faces. Tim Farrelly seems to be a constant on every table I've played on over the last few months and I was sandwiched between Colette 'Smurf' Murphy and Wes Farrell. Big shout out to Wes on his super result in the Sunday Million, definitely one for the good guys.  

 I was going along nicely when I won a big pot stacking Eoin Olin. I flopped a set, Eoin turned two pair and the chip went in. This put me on 90k and I was playing around 100k into the last level of the day when I won a late race against with AK against Paul Carnegie's QQ. I finished on 148k which was 4th biggest chip stack after the two day ones. 
 
 Day two started slowly and ended abruptly. I was playing around 130k just after the first break, blinds 1200-2400. Rasheed Mahmood who went onto finish 5th raised UTG, I 3-bet KK from the BB and Rasheed shipped AK just covering me.

 It's been a recurring theme this year that the 1st time I'm all-in in a tournament I'm out and unfortunately the trend continued with an ace flopping. The pot would of put me in good shape with a top two stack 20 off the money. Instead it was a leisurely afternoons drive back to Waterford. 

I really enjoyed the event; it was good to see so many good players in attendance from all over the country. I feel I'm playing a lot better poker then earlier in the year which I'm happy about. Hopefully I can turn that good play into a few results before the end of the year as it's been abysmal so far result wise. Big well done to all whom cashed, especially Liam O Donoghue on his second place finish and 2012 MiniWSOP champ Chris O Connor.    

IWF 2012

I met that great poker philosopher Mick Muldoon when leaving my room to play the tournament. Mick described the Winter Festival as the best value big buy in event left in Europe. I wasn’t that excited about playing given my recent form but this short conversation totally changed my perspective and got me enthusiastic about playing.

I found some more enthusiasm almost immediately after the poker started. After only a few nothing pots I got a full double. I raised QQ from the small blind after one limper. He called and we saw a QJ2 rainbow pot. I lead; he raised and called my three-bet. I lead 60 (3k) bigs on the innocuous 5 that turned and 160 (8k) bigs on the river 6. This river bet was met with a push for about another 7k, he held QJ. I think 400 BBs is the most I have ever won in a tournament hand.

The next six levels were only memorable for the lack of anything resembling a hand. I had managed to maintain my stack until level 8 when I coolered a player and won a few other pots to get to 75k.

That was to be my tournament peak as I lost 60k of them with AK into AA. You may expect they would go in preflop here but I just called my opponent’s (can’t think of gentleman’s name) 4-bet pre in position. I read him as very strong for a number of reasons and should of just folded. 

It was checked to the turn with the board showing QJJx, I bet 12k he minned, I tanked. Changed my mind a few times at this stage but eventually pushed and got a reluctant enough call I think. I went with my read on the turn and was wrong; I should have gone with it preflop.

I suppose I did well not to blow the rest over the last level after that mishap and returned day two with about starting stack AKA 19.3 blinds.

There were very few chips on the new table on day two, with only Keith McFadden being above average. I got an early double JJ v A10 belonging to Eoin Olin. Shortly after I had Eoin all in with my QQ v 99 too get me to the dizzy heights of 60k but he binked the 9 which was to come back to haunt me.

Towards the end of the second level we had lost a lot of players from the table and it was a getting tougher with bigger stacks. I had 30 blinds and was aware of the blinds rising soon. I 4-bet shoved 43os from the button after Andrew Grimason had opened the hi-jack and Wes Farrell 3-bet. Eoin woke up with QQ in the bigblind and I was on the rail.

I don’t mind my exit. I could of hung around waiting for hands and try worming into a min-cash, but from experience the IWF is a great tournament to have chips hitting bubble time, and that was what I was planning to get.

Next up is JP’s mine-wsop at the Village Green card club Tallaght this weekend; I’m looking forward to it.     

The IPO 2012

I had never made it past level six in an IPO. My goal entering day one was to make level seven, which I managed by twenty minutes. A success? Debatable, but one thing for sure IPO2012 was a huge success.

Playing the IPO conflicts me a little. As a Boylepoker representative I feel I have a certain role to play over the weekend. Do some commentary on the live stream, help out where I can, be social, meet and have a beer and generally be nice to people.

This is where the conflict arises; I almost feel it’s my duty to get knocked out. I dogged a chap that had travelled over from Holland in level six blind on blind and I was honestly gutted to do so. It’s a funny one.

My tournament ended in a pre flop all in cooler involving my AK and Jay O’Toole’s 7h8h. Jay flopped the world and I left the tournament as un-gutted as a man will ever be upon exit.

This freed me up for live stream commentary duties that I enjoyed a lot. The streaming at the IPO is done in a very informal manner, it differs from the norm but I think in a way that’s a great fit for this tournament. Over the weekend I got to ‘chew the fat’ with some of my all time poker hero’s.

Watching Jesse May and Padraig Parkinson commentating on Late Night Poker got me interested in the game so it’s quiet surreal to actually be chatting with them on the live stream. Neil Channing, John O’Shea and Ciaran Corbett aren’t the worse for an old natter either.

The IPO has a history of innovation and this year Iain Cheyne unveiled his EVCount system. The system lets people at home follow the chip counts and tables of every player in the tournament in real time. I suppose it’s like an online lobby for live tournaments and by all accounts was a huge success. No doubt Iain will make millions from it so well played that man.

The Bluff Irish poker awards took place on Sunday night of the IPO. Ciaran had booked a magician as the warm up act and he was great craic. I was up for two awards, best blogger and best spammer, aka best social media user. I don’t really get the second category but need not of worried, as I failed miserably to bink. I don’t think anyone could of argued with the winners TBH and it was nice to be nominated.

It was a pleasure to be there to see Padraig pick up the legend award. Not that we needed any confirmation that the man is a legend.

While the IPO has a relatively small buy in, it’s a huge tournament. Ciaran, Gerry and all the Boylepoker crew, Stephen and an army of staff all put in a huge effort to make sure everything is in place for us players to enjoy ourselves. Huge well done to all those involved for making IPO2012 such a fantastic celebration of poker.

Cork Swaps and Mega Satts

I played a decent game in Cork the weekend. The guarantee had a 100k Dollar which translated into a €360 entry €80 bounty and €40 reg.

Ian ‘Bop’ Ronan whom I often travel with and swap a few percent with was playing day 1A; I had opted for 1B. I got a text on the Friday morning from Bops suggesting a 10% swap. I said we’d go five as I fully expected to win the tournament and wanted to keep most of the money I was going to get for doing so. I was regretting not swapping the ten when Ian emerged as chip leader on day one A.  

My starting table was ok, but the line up on my left got progressively worse over the first few levels. After two hours my direct left look far more difficult then normal for a game in Cork. WPT 2^nd Gilly followed by Tom Kittt and then former Winter Festival champ Michael O’Sullivan.

I started nicely getting to 30k. This dropped to 8k in level 4, but I then hit a nice run to get to a peak of 120k. In the mean time the table got a lot easier with the three previously mentioned either exiting or moved.

This had me in a great position heading into the last two levels of the day but two hands changed everything. I was guilty of over aggression with a small pair, which cost me 40k. I had decided before I opened if a certain player 3-bet me I was having none of it. What a time for him to find the boots.  I was still playing a very healthy stack on my exit hand where a guy went nuts with a five high flush draw. I had to call his over shove having flopped two pair but couldn’t fade.

Disappointing as it really was a good table. Bops went onto put in another great performance, maintaining a big stack all the way until coolered five handed.

There are only few days to go until the IPO kicks off on Friday. Everyone I was speaking to over the weekend seem to be looking forward to this year’s instalment and it’s setting up for a cracking weekend. If your haven’t got your seat yet, Boyle’s are running Mega Satellites every night this week at eight with a whopping 20 seats guaranteed. These Mega’s are a fantastic opportunity to bag your seat so get in and lets make this the best IPO yet.                         

Fundalk

Wonderful Dundalk was the destination last weekend for the final leg of the Irish Tour. I drove up with Pat on Saturday morning and such was my enthusiasm to get to Ireland's capital of 'fun' I arrived 90 minutes early. Ok, I got the starting time wrong.

My starting table looked very similar to the Cork leg of the tour with Tim Farrelly and Ken Ralph as opponents again. The poker didn't go well. I remember one good fold, one bad call, winning a 40/60 and losing a 70/30 eventually losing a race to exit.

Much more intriguing to me was Pats suggestion that we use the time we had on our hands before the tournament started, to nip across the border to Newry as he " wanted to pick something up". This got me interested. I had Pat down as a fairly straight laced guy. Could he be involved in some subversive green diesel smuggling ring. Must be at least something illegal like, fireworks, booze. Nope not Pat, a fucking batch of kitchen rolls from Sainsbury's I smuggled back across the border.

The highlight of the day was dinner with Pat, Tim and Dundalks most famous son, Ciaran Corbett. It was obvious Ciaran would know all the top spots and sure enough he brought us to a little gem of a restaurant. It was the best egg sausage and chips I'd had in ages.

After the feed it was back to the poker room where I planted myself behind Pat trying to bokk him. He didnt last too long and we were home by midnight.

The tour maybe didn't get the support it deserved over the four legs but it's a tough environment out there. I don't know what else they could of done to bring in the numbers, the games themselves were put on to the highest standards in good venues with decent guarantees.

I can't sign off without giving Mad Mick McCloskey a shout out. Mick final tabled all four legs of the tour, a huge performance. Well done Mad Mick.         

     
   

Celtic Poker Tour Final 2012

The Celtic Tour Final is one of my favourite games of the year. With 80% of the field having won entry over the year at regional games and an average age demographic twenty years older then the norm for similar buy ins. Playing this tournament is a little like stepping back in time to 2005.

I did spot a few heroes in the room. You’d have to consider yourself a tad unlucky if your starting table at a CPT game included Internet phenomena’s Jude ‘j.thaddeus’ Ainsworth or Nelius ‘danceofddead’ Foley.  

Thankfully I avoided both and had a lovely table, only one good player and I don’t think my bigblind was raised more then twice in the first four levels. I had almost doubled my starting stack by the first break and commented to Derek Murray, “I couldn’t see how I was going to lose any chips on this table”. This was such a silly thing to say as I managed to lose 100 blinds in the first two hands after that break.

I managed to get these chips back when I flopped the nut flush in an unraised multiway pot, but then made the fatal fancy play error. I made a big check raise bluff when a flush hit the turn in a hand I shouldn’t have been in and then pumped the river when a forth club fell. JJ called me with the jack of clubs.

Cathal Shine a top player who had joined the table said I had played the hand perfectly and he couldn’t understand how my opponent found the call. This made me feel a little better, although I really shouldn’t of been running big bluffs on this table, big value bet yes. Again I was back to the 20k starting stack and with the blinds rising and table toughening I had severely restricted myself.

My exit came in the ninth level in a standard enough spot. Blinds 400-800 and playing 25k I find the Kings with a raise and 3-bet before me to act, I’m up against AK and the Ace flops. I must admit to being a bit gutted on the drive home. With a hold and 50k entering the last two levels of play of the day I’d of fancied my chances of accumulating a stack.             

       

I Drive

Living at the bottom of the country means a recurring conflict when traveling to  poker events. Do you go alone, thus allowing a quick exit upon busting, or do you travel with a friend. This offers company on the often long drives, but brings it with the risk of either of you having to wait around if one bust early and the other goes deep.     

From experience I've become to favor the drive alone option. Too often I've found myself in the position of railing a travel companion. When these friends are in showdown situations, I'm ashamed to say I'm usually hoping they bust.

I had arranged to go check out JP McCann's new card room in Tallaght Village with Pat Storen for a €120 buy in €10,000 guaranteed tournament. I rang Pat early on Saturday to say I'd drive up separately rather then accompany him just in case one of us bust early and the other goes deep. Pat's reply was " sure thats not going to happen, I'll collect you in twenty minutes".

The tournament started at two and sure enough I got knocked out after 90 minutes and Pat went on to cash in the 100 runner field. I had a few beers and a few trips to the bookies but eventually I had to succumb to partaking in a pastime I despise, live cash.

I used to play a lot of live cash back in 2005 and 2006 before I got a real turn against it. I formed the opinion that the whole premise of it was rather predatory. Most of the money won is either from drunks or vulnerable people with very little chance of winning.

I spent about six hours playing cash Saturday and my thoughts on the pastime haven't changed. I'm not preaching to anyone here just saying it's not for me.

The only saving grace was the venue. The Village Green card club is a smashing spot for a game  of poker. It's a bright and spacious card room, tastefully decorated with a very nice bar area and enough space too easily hold major tournaments.

About ten hours after my exit I herd "all in and call", I look across to where the tournament was running and Pat was involved. I'm ashamed to say my feelings didn't involve disappointment when he grabbed his coat.                 

Southern Open

The third leg of the Irish Tour, The Southern Open took place at the Macau in Cork over the weekend. The organisers have adjusted the structure slightly from the previous legs to allow the tournaments to run over two days.

The guys who run the tour were pretty sure that they would 'not' reach the €30,000 guarantee in the run up to the €300 buy in event. A number of other games were on the weekend and the host venue didn't have much time to fill satellites with this event coming right on the tail of the Irish Classic.

In fairness to the Irish Tour they could easily of pulled the guarantee or even the tournament, but they decided they would take the hit and run with it. This looked like a very costly decision early on as only 25 players were seated at the start of the tournament, which would of meant a €24,000 overlay.

At this stage the powers of social media kicked into full swing. Twitter and Facebook became awash with the news of a massive overlay. By the time the 6 levels of late registration closed the field had increased to a respectable 93 players and the overlay was reduced to €5,000.

My starting table was packed with good players. Chris Dowling, Tim Farrelly, Ken Ralph, Tony Collins, Jamie 'brutal' Flynn. You get the idea, no easy chips. I slugged away all day and every time I looked like getting a stack to play with I'd hit a reversal.

I don't think I'm one to complain about how I'm running but one instant well into the day brought home to me where my mindset is currently at. I had needlessly slow played aces as I got all my chips in on the turn against kings. As the dealer counted out the pot, Chris Dowling asked me do you have the aces because the look on you face says you have the kings.

I'm sitting there 95% favorite to win the showdown and instead of fist pumping in my head, I'm fully expecting to be sent packing, This really is not a good place to be as a poker player.

Into level 12, I lost half my stack to Kieran 'the croc' Walsh in a QQ v 1010 cooler. Then another few chips when I decided not to call off with a flush draw while having odds to do so if the draw was live. A few people said I should of called here but I'm happy enough my decision not to. 

My exit came shortly after with three tables remaining in the tournament. Gary Clarke raised UTG the SB made it 10k, I shoved from the BB with QQ for 38k. Gary folded and the SB called with Jacks and hit one on the flop. Pity as it was an above average pot and I'd have fancied a deep run if I could of held.


I felt very rusty in the Irish Classic two weeks ago. I wasn't making glaring mistakes but just wasn't plugged in and on the drive home a couple of hand stuck in my head where I definitely gave up too easily and missed spots. I guess you can't just expect to turn up once every four weeks and be on your A-game. Time to get the finger out and put in a bit of volume for the rest of the year.

Irish Classic

The Irish Classic in Cork was the target last weekend. I always look forward to playing in the Macau sporting club, generally you can be assured of some banter on the tables and historically I do well there. The banter was great last weekend, unfortunately the poker didn't go so well.

My starting table included Paul Carr, Fintan Gavin and the WBO International Middleweight Champion Gary 'Spike' O'Sullivan. It's unusual to see a total novice in a €500 buy in but Gary had never played poker before so I guess that could be considered a good table draw. Fintan ever the gentleman took Spike under his wing and gave him loads of advice. Well maybe not loads but he showed him a hand ranking chart on his phone and told him to fold every time Fintan raised him.

It was a pretty good table and I doubled my 20k starting stack over the first six levels without playing a sizable or memorable pot. The last two levels of the night went bad for me and I returned day two with 28k which was 28 bigblinds.

My starting table on day two was tough including Chris Dowling directly on my left and good young Cork players, Tadhg Ryan and Colin Hammond. I found Kings, Aces and AK early but had to fold the kings on a ace high 3 spade flop after my continuation bet was raised and just took a few bigs with the other two premiums.

My exit came at the hands of Dowling in the second level of the day with 36 of the 103 starters remaining. I shoved 19 bigs over a button open with AJ and Chris woke up with AQ in the big blind. A jack on the turn game me a glimmer of hope but the Queen to follow on the river meant that hope didn't last long.

I was chatting to fellow Waterford native Dave 'Kakak' McCarty before start of play on Saturday. Dave is a real enthusiast of the game but wasn't overly confidant of his prospects in the conversation we had so it was a nice surprise to see he finished second for €10,000. 

The Irish Classic used to be the major Irish poker event of the summer months. Unfortunately recent years have seen a sizable drop in buy in, numbers and consequently prize pool. The extent of this could be gleaned from the fact that cashing for 5th place in 2008 was equal to 1st place money this year.          

It's a harsh environment for tournament operators in Ireland at present. With a glut of events and patrons disposable income almost non existent, putting bums on seats has never been more difficult.
It's probably nostalgia  on my behalf but I do feel bad about the decline of the event in recent years.   

Compulsive Viewing

Congrats to John O’Shea on his great run in the WSOP Main Event. I must admit to being very impressed with the fact that John needed to finish around 12^th in the main event to get out on the trip. Such a pity he couldn’t catch a few breaks inside the last 200.Would of made for some ending to the documentary Setanta are shooting about John. 

I played the Munster Masters in Tramore last weekend. The €250 buy in tournament only got 50 runners and I finished 6^th for a little over double the buy in. While the numbers were small, it was an enjoyable game with a good structure.

I lost a big pot with about 15 players left and never really recovered. Being in shove mode for so long it was inevitable that I’d get called at some stage and in reality I was a bit fortunate to even make the money.
I’ll be on lock-down mode this weekend watching the Open Championship. This is my favourite weeks golf of the year and I’ll be glued to the TV savoring every minute of the forty or so hours coverage.

I’m not going to try tipping a winner as I’m a bit perplexed and don’t really have a strong fancy. I had a few small speculative bets on the outright markets, but will mainly play that in running.

A couple of bets I’ll be having on other markets include; Mark Leishman at 10/1 for a top twenty finish with Boylesports. Leishman is a recent winner on the PGA tour and a player goes a bit under the radar. He’s generally over priced as is the case this week and is in the form of his life.

I’ll also be having a decent punt on Ben Curtis for his opening day three ball against two players woefully out of form in Trevor Immelman and Paul Casey. 18-hole three ball markets aren’t usually a place that I often get involved in, but this one looks too good to pass up.

Musical Chairs

There were two games on last Saturday. A €120 game in the City West and a €350 two day game which was part of a ‘Summer Festival’ in the Fitz. I opted for the latter, which unfortunately only attracted 26 players, the game in the City West got a massive 500 players.   

The Fitz game started with two tables and when a few more entered, I was moved to the third table. After 20 minutes on my new table I ran a King high flush into the nut flush of James 'Hawkeye' McManus. Meanwhile I looked across to my old seat, which was filled by Fintan Gavin, and he had quadrupled his starting stack in that time. I kind of felt it wasn’t going to be my day.

Nothing went right after and I exited in 16th after roughly 3 hours play, at least I lasted long enough for the legendry Fitz feed. I had travelled up with Ian ‘Bops’ Ronan and although we had swapped percentages, I’m ashamed to say I was more hoping he got knocked out quickly rather then win the thing. Bops is never one to hang around short-stacked, luckily he finished 14th.

I had dropped into the City West on my way to Dublin and the numbers for that game were astounding. Celtic poker tours with their regional partners, JP and Nick O’Hara in this instance, have been putting on these €120 buy in $25,000 guarantees for over a year now.

These games have become hugely popular attracting more and more recreational players to them, rather then playing the expense laden multi-day festival event. Professionally run; low buy in, softer fields, with a chance of a decent score at the end. What’s not to like? With the economy in the state it is Celtic Poker Tour have clearly produced the product that fits the current market well, and these event will be where much of the poker playing community will be getting their fix for the foreseeable future.         

Well done to Jason Tompkins on his WSOP final table in event #54 last night, a great performance getting through 3,200 players to finish 6th. BigMickG aka Mick Graydon is currently 12/22 in event #56 so hopefully another late nights railing lays ahead tonight.