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.