I was up in Belfast on friday, and myself and cat had decided to play the party poker €350 game in waterford, run by the crew from big slick poker.
It took us ages to get there, and we were nearly 90 mins late, we got in near the end of level 2, there was i think 47 runners, playing for 3 tickets to the irish poker championships in january and about 11k in cash also.
It was a decent field with locals like nicky power, sideshow bob, big al, and others such as rory liffey, scott gray and mick mccloskey, along with some of the dublin players like dara o kearney and john weafer.
10k starting stack and 45 mins blinds led to a decent game, and manus was there from pokerevents to see over things and run updates on their website.
I was on about 8k when i found JJ in the bb, rory liffey had limped for 300, there was another limper and the sb had called, i made it 1600 from the bb, rory thought about it, and went all in, he was very busy early on and had a big stack. I went into the tank. I eventually decided he most likely had a middle pair, it was what my instinct was saying, i was confident he didnt want a call, so i called, he had 88 and i doubled up.
i then had KK against someones QQ and before i knew it with players going out at a speed the like of which ive rarely seen, i had over 50k well above average and there was 14 players left.
We were playing down to 9 that night, Cat got moved to my table and she was also doing well, on about 40k.
A few more went and we were on the FT bubble for the night , 10 left, me and cat both comfortable on above 40k, which was average.
Then she played a big pot with Big Al, which he claimed to have kings, the board was Q high, she had jacks and folded to his river shove. Very hard to know what he had here given his range and image and it was a really tough spot for her.
We were 5 handed at this point, id lost about 10k having 2 button raises snapped, one by sideshow who had the lead, he showed me QQ after i laid down (i had AT), another by the bb, who seemed loosish.
I find QQ on the button, make the same raise, and the BB shoves over me again, we get it all in and he has KK and i go out in 10th :(
This was just one of those situations imo and not much i could of done about it.
Cat finished the day short on 23k, but on the final table. She did an interview with manus just before the FT started which can be seen here:
www.pokerevents.ie/audio/cat.wav
She doubled up by slow playing a set vs sideshow and soon they were down to 8 and she had 50k, just short of average, 5 places were being paid.
I was going between playing the 200 support game which had just started and railing the FT in a manner that people have seen me do before !
Then , all of a sudden lots of FT action, Rory Liffey have shoved in his now very short stack, the chip leader , Paul Warren had re shoved and Cat was sitting there with KK, 3 all ins and a huge pot, Rory had QQ and Paul took both of them out with his AA.
I had made an ok start in the 200, and cat jumped straight into this after going out of the main, it had started an hour previous.
A deal was done 5 way between nicky power, sideshow, big al and 2 others in the main, taking €3500 each.
A few hours later myself and cat were in the final 9 of the 200 game. She was short and pushed with QQ, again running into AA, sick one, she played so well in both events.
By the way, she has her own blog now, which is far more professionally written than mine obv, its on http://www.oneillcat.blogspot.com/
I steadily built my stack, being very careful as some of the play was well, lets say loose.
I have a lead 4 handed when i lose a monster pot with JJ vs a guy who was slightly hyper, the locals call him Ginny, he had AQ, and rivered the Q to much delight for himself.
Eventually we get 3 handed, and the bb for my button, was calling my raises with literally any 2 cards, which would normally be bad news for him, but he kept hitting, he won the key pot when he called my 12k raise, 2/4k blinds with 46 and made a str8 when i flopped top pair.
I came 3rd and got €1150 which covered our expenses for the weekend. Between the 2 of us , we played about 22 hours of live poker in the Tower , and well, broke even, fun weekend though.
Got some points in the 8 legged league for a 5k bonus.
Next leg is in the Fitz this saturday, i will be there if i dont make it through day 1 in bolton, so hopefully i wont be there !!!
Online wise, ive broke even since cork, lost a big, then won about 4k tonight before connection issues brought an early end to my play.
Year to date to end of Aug, im up €11k live (after paying out my %'s) and $68k online.
Thats total profit of about €58k for the 8 months.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Cork Final table
Only updating this now, the rate at which i update the blog suggests there would be no hope for me if i actually had to work !! Anyway, reason i am doing this now if that ipoker just went down on me in the middle on a 500 stt, and i got blinded out. So not going to play any more tonight, as its may be risky, and i was in form, with 3 wins out of 3 to start the evening before that happened.
Anyway, was excited on the sunday morning of the cork final table, nice to be back with a shot of a decent prize, and it had been a while since id gone deep in a big multi. With 78k for the win, and 4k for 10th, there was a huge amount to play for on the day. I was shortest stack, but, i remembered the sporting game in november, i started that FT shortest 2, and went on to win, so i had some hope. I also knew i had a mega tight image from the night before, where i took pretty much no chances, just wanting to get on the FT, get 10 handed, then regroup. The structure remained excellent, i had 92k, blinds were 3/6k, so i still have some room to maneovere.
About an hour in, i was hanging on a big, on 78k, with blinds about to go up again soon, i had to move a move. It was folded around to johnaton butters in the sb, he made a small raise. I had expected him to raise me here with a huge range, as i was playing so tight, and i found KQ on the bb. This i felt played well against his range, which was any A, and K and certainly any small pair, as well as air or suited connectors. I felt i had folding equity but if called, should be live, and after a thought he did call me, with A3. Now everyone needs a little luck to win a big MTT, and this was my turn, this hand was the only hand i remember getting it in behind and sucking out bar the final hand of HU in the tourney. Whilst A3 is only a small fav over KQ, its a huge fav after a A36 rainbow flop !!!! Time to get my coat, no, not quite, a T on the turn and nicola, who seems to be my lucky dealer produced a tremendous jack on the river, now its game on...........
Soon after i get AA vs QQ and stand, then i go back to playing tight, i dont waste any chips by raising with hands i will have to fold.
Butters had gone short and jammed atc imo on the button, i had AQ in the sb, i call and beat his K2.
We got down to 7, where we stayed for a while, til we lost sideshow, after a battle of the blinds with nicky power, who was playing very solidly himself.
Jeff Duvall and Olivier the french guy kept tangling, i was keeping well out of trouble, eventually jeff departed.
We got down to 4 and there was talk of a deal, i was happy at this as the variance in the cash was huge, at the time i had 650k, nicky 650k, olivier 800k, and ryan from cork 550k.
The numbers ran as 42k, 42k, 46k and 39k and we were all happy, we took off 1k each to play for and the trophy.
After this everyone loosened up, it was hard to stay focused, i re shoved over nickys button raise with AJ, he called with AJ also and i 4 flushed him.
I didnt feel like i had done much wrong all day, but i was running really well, picking up big hands as i needed them, and getting hands to stand up when i needed it too.
I felt the poker gods were paying me back for the horrific few months id had live, and i felt the trophy had my name on it.
I got heads up with olivier level in chips, the same guy who was on my immediate left on my starting table, he thought i was the rock of gibralter, and im sure he expected to hammer me heads up. However, i am well aware of how to play heads up poker, and the battle commenced. At this stage, i was re focused, now really wanting the extra 4k and of course the title. We fought no one giving an inch for about 90 mins, we were still dead level. Then they put up the blinds and after he opened i shoved KJ , he called with AT , i knew i was going to hit, it was my day, and that was it, i was irish poker classic champ for 2008 :D
I was buzzing afterwards, my biggest single win, and confidence restored. Last year i finalled a very high % of tourneys played, this year, i do nothing, then get a win. Its weird how it works but i was happy.
Many thanks to Ken and Donal and everyone at the Macau for a superb event, i seem to be a munster expert, my results in cork and waterford are always good.
Afterwards i did an interview with Mick McCloskey for poker europa which should be out in a month or 2, so look out for that.
Anyway, was excited on the sunday morning of the cork final table, nice to be back with a shot of a decent prize, and it had been a while since id gone deep in a big multi. With 78k for the win, and 4k for 10th, there was a huge amount to play for on the day. I was shortest stack, but, i remembered the sporting game in november, i started that FT shortest 2, and went on to win, so i had some hope. I also knew i had a mega tight image from the night before, where i took pretty much no chances, just wanting to get on the FT, get 10 handed, then regroup. The structure remained excellent, i had 92k, blinds were 3/6k, so i still have some room to maneovere.
About an hour in, i was hanging on a big, on 78k, with blinds about to go up again soon, i had to move a move. It was folded around to johnaton butters in the sb, he made a small raise. I had expected him to raise me here with a huge range, as i was playing so tight, and i found KQ on the bb. This i felt played well against his range, which was any A, and K and certainly any small pair, as well as air or suited connectors. I felt i had folding equity but if called, should be live, and after a thought he did call me, with A3. Now everyone needs a little luck to win a big MTT, and this was my turn, this hand was the only hand i remember getting it in behind and sucking out bar the final hand of HU in the tourney. Whilst A3 is only a small fav over KQ, its a huge fav after a A36 rainbow flop !!!! Time to get my coat, no, not quite, a T on the turn and nicola, who seems to be my lucky dealer produced a tremendous jack on the river, now its game on...........
Soon after i get AA vs QQ and stand, then i go back to playing tight, i dont waste any chips by raising with hands i will have to fold.
Butters had gone short and jammed atc imo on the button, i had AQ in the sb, i call and beat his K2.
We got down to 7, where we stayed for a while, til we lost sideshow, after a battle of the blinds with nicky power, who was playing very solidly himself.
Jeff Duvall and Olivier the french guy kept tangling, i was keeping well out of trouble, eventually jeff departed.
We got down to 4 and there was talk of a deal, i was happy at this as the variance in the cash was huge, at the time i had 650k, nicky 650k, olivier 800k, and ryan from cork 550k.
The numbers ran as 42k, 42k, 46k and 39k and we were all happy, we took off 1k each to play for and the trophy.
After this everyone loosened up, it was hard to stay focused, i re shoved over nickys button raise with AJ, he called with AJ also and i 4 flushed him.
I didnt feel like i had done much wrong all day, but i was running really well, picking up big hands as i needed them, and getting hands to stand up when i needed it too.
I felt the poker gods were paying me back for the horrific few months id had live, and i felt the trophy had my name on it.
I got heads up with olivier level in chips, the same guy who was on my immediate left on my starting table, he thought i was the rock of gibralter, and im sure he expected to hammer me heads up. However, i am well aware of how to play heads up poker, and the battle commenced. At this stage, i was re focused, now really wanting the extra 4k and of course the title. We fought no one giving an inch for about 90 mins, we were still dead level. Then they put up the blinds and after he opened i shoved KJ , he called with AT , i knew i was going to hit, it was my day, and that was it, i was irish poker classic champ for 2008 :D
I was buzzing afterwards, my biggest single win, and confidence restored. Last year i finalled a very high % of tourneys played, this year, i do nothing, then get a win. Its weird how it works but i was happy.
Many thanks to Ken and Donal and everyone at the Macau for a superb event, i seem to be a munster expert, my results in cork and waterford are always good.
Afterwards i did an interview with Mick McCloskey for poker europa which should be out in a month or 2, so look out for that.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Cork
Travelled to Cork on the thurs in time for the super sat. I love playing in the Macau, have cashed 3 times in my last 2 visits there (in side events). Club is excellently set up, food is superb and tourney is well run by Donal and Ken.
I jumped in the 200 super sat, had a double average stack early on, when i bet a Q23 flop with Qx, a local re raised me, and because of some history, i was sure i was ahead, i jam , he calls me with A5 and hits, grrr. Went back to my hotel room, knocked over my laptop, busted the power cable, and battery went dead, so couldnt even go online, great start !!
Was talking to Laura during the week and she agreed to sell me her ticket at a discounted price, but wanted some action, so i gave her 10% of it also.
Main event started with 15k stack and 75 min levels, throughout the whole tourney the average stack was very comfy, and the tourney never got fast or crapshooty at all.
My starting table had smurph to my right, and a tricky french guy to my left. I played tight, keep out of trouble, didnt take any chances and still had about 14k after a few hours when Rob Sherwood was moved to my right. He had about 8-9k, and soon we were in a raised pot, i called with TT, and the flop came KTx. He leads strongly, i re raise. He knows me and knows i have a hand here, thinks for a long time before jamming with AA and im up to about 22k.
Then i get moved, won a few smallish pots, to have 43k before bomber bluffed me off one late in the day, finished on 38k, average was 29k so happy with my days work.
Back at 2pm for a long day 2, we played for about 13 hours and fatigue was deffo a factor for some players later in the day. i more or less stayed on 38k for the first few hours, then i got moved to a tough looking table with BlueSq UK pro Kevin O Leary, David LaRonde who came 2nd in Luton, Connie, and Gary Clarke. I called an utg raise in the SB with 22, Gary also called in the bb, flop was J42 rainbow, we all check, turn is a 9, i check, Gary bets 6k, i make it 16k, he jams, its only about 17k more to me, i call, he has 76 for complete air and i win a nice pot.
I win a few more small pots and then get moved to a table with the french guy, olivier and Eoin Olin. Im keeping out of the way of a lot of the action as the structures dictates that this is easily doable. i call a raise from the French guy with 99, flop comes 9 high with 2 spades, i re raise his bet, he calls. Turn is another spade, i lead for 3/4 pot, he folds. (I think he checks a lot of his range on this turn, and i dont want to give him a free card for a 4th spade). My image at this stage of the tourney is incredibly rocky, and i am aware of this. Ive taken very few chances to date, and have hardly entered a pot in the tourney i havent taken down, albeit, ive played very few pots. However, as i hear of monster pots and guys stacks swinging all over the place, my stack was steadily incresing by 10k each level, for most of the day.
As we get near the bubble, myself and Eoin both have similar stacks, we both expect to go deep and decide to swop 10% on the break, leaving myself with 80% of my action. Laura and Cat and several others are keenly following the excellent updates on boards at this stage and my phone is in use quite a lot keeping people up to date.
I get to 100k, and we are down to 2 tables. I use my image to represent a set in one pot, where the flop comes low, risking 20% of my stack with a re raise and this gets through, player who raised utg claims to fold queens.
Then, the last 3 hours or so of day 2, i go completely and utterly card dead, i dont think i get even 1 half playable hand, i battle and cautious try and maintain my stack at near to 100k.
In fact, it never goes above 130k, and i end the day on 91500, with 10 players left, im relieved to be going to a 10 handed table, and blinds 3/6k, ive still loads of play despite being the shortest.
Im gtd 4k, but excited at the prospect of coming back for day 3, and a shot at 80k.........a good start to the day and its all to play for.
I jumped in the 200 super sat, had a double average stack early on, when i bet a Q23 flop with Qx, a local re raised me, and because of some history, i was sure i was ahead, i jam , he calls me with A5 and hits, grrr. Went back to my hotel room, knocked over my laptop, busted the power cable, and battery went dead, so couldnt even go online, great start !!
Was talking to Laura during the week and she agreed to sell me her ticket at a discounted price, but wanted some action, so i gave her 10% of it also.
Main event started with 15k stack and 75 min levels, throughout the whole tourney the average stack was very comfy, and the tourney never got fast or crapshooty at all.
My starting table had smurph to my right, and a tricky french guy to my left. I played tight, keep out of trouble, didnt take any chances and still had about 14k after a few hours when Rob Sherwood was moved to my right. He had about 8-9k, and soon we were in a raised pot, i called with TT, and the flop came KTx. He leads strongly, i re raise. He knows me and knows i have a hand here, thinks for a long time before jamming with AA and im up to about 22k.
Then i get moved, won a few smallish pots, to have 43k before bomber bluffed me off one late in the day, finished on 38k, average was 29k so happy with my days work.
Back at 2pm for a long day 2, we played for about 13 hours and fatigue was deffo a factor for some players later in the day. i more or less stayed on 38k for the first few hours, then i got moved to a tough looking table with BlueSq UK pro Kevin O Leary, David LaRonde who came 2nd in Luton, Connie, and Gary Clarke. I called an utg raise in the SB with 22, Gary also called in the bb, flop was J42 rainbow, we all check, turn is a 9, i check, Gary bets 6k, i make it 16k, he jams, its only about 17k more to me, i call, he has 76 for complete air and i win a nice pot.
I win a few more small pots and then get moved to a table with the french guy, olivier and Eoin Olin. Im keeping out of the way of a lot of the action as the structures dictates that this is easily doable. i call a raise from the French guy with 99, flop comes 9 high with 2 spades, i re raise his bet, he calls. Turn is another spade, i lead for 3/4 pot, he folds. (I think he checks a lot of his range on this turn, and i dont want to give him a free card for a 4th spade). My image at this stage of the tourney is incredibly rocky, and i am aware of this. Ive taken very few chances to date, and have hardly entered a pot in the tourney i havent taken down, albeit, ive played very few pots. However, as i hear of monster pots and guys stacks swinging all over the place, my stack was steadily incresing by 10k each level, for most of the day.
As we get near the bubble, myself and Eoin both have similar stacks, we both expect to go deep and decide to swop 10% on the break, leaving myself with 80% of my action. Laura and Cat and several others are keenly following the excellent updates on boards at this stage and my phone is in use quite a lot keeping people up to date.
I get to 100k, and we are down to 2 tables. I use my image to represent a set in one pot, where the flop comes low, risking 20% of my stack with a re raise and this gets through, player who raised utg claims to fold queens.
Then, the last 3 hours or so of day 2, i go completely and utterly card dead, i dont think i get even 1 half playable hand, i battle and cautious try and maintain my stack at near to 100k.
In fact, it never goes above 130k, and i end the day on 91500, with 10 players left, im relieved to be going to a 10 handed table, and blinds 3/6k, ive still loads of play despite being the shortest.
Im gtd 4k, but excited at the prospect of coming back for day 3, and a shot at 80k.........a good start to the day and its all to play for.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Luton
Travelled over with Cat, who was gonna play the side events, met Paul Smallwood on the plane who had qualified online, and Dara had already played on the Thurs and had got through to day 2 with about 25k, hopes were high of a change in recent fortune.
Was having a decent year poker wise b4 vegas, disgusted with how i went over there, then online afterwards, despite winning 11k my first week back, i had a huge down turn.
Got 2 outered on river, all in pre or on flop 3 times for 4k+ pots in one day in 10/20.
Had a run of 6 bubbles in a row in 1k stts, 4 out of the 6 times getting it in dominating ahead.
I couldnt hit any draw, nor could i get anything to stand up, was unbelievable.
I was a little short on confidence going to Luton, but ready and knowing i still have a big edge in these GUKPT, and i really was due a result in 2008.
Got an ok first table and settled into the game, had about 10700 in level 2 when a guy who had been reasonably active made it 350 under the gun. I find KK on the button and make it 1100 to go. The small blind was a likeable, chatty sort of guy, he says to the utg, are u coming in as well, then he makes it 3600 to go. Alarms bells for me, utg folds , and i think about the situation.
Ive not been active, he must think i have a big hand, hes put in over 1/3rd of his stack out of position, and hes giving it some speech play, i start to fear the worst, then he says, u got tens there bud, trying to get me to think he might have jacks/queens, something i dont think he does if he actually has one of those hands, he must have aces, i fold the kings pre, he shows aces.
Bullet dodged, feel like im in the zone, and glad to still be in. Soon i play my second hand, i raise with AK, flop comes Kxx all hearts, i bet , get raised and fold again, show AJ hearts this time !!
3rd hand i flop top pair again, a 4th spade hits, he checks, i bet again, get raised, have to fold that with no spades. Finally, after a cut off raise, i get AA on the blind, I re raise for 1/4 my remaining stack, and go out to TT after a T hits the flop, what a nightmare 4 hours.......The way i ran in the states, and have ran in england all year is just unreal, surely i has to change soon.
Not in Luton though, despite doing well online over there, i actually won about 8k online over there (but then lost it during the following week where i more or less couldnt win a hand).
I dont want the blog to turn into a rant of bad beats, but jeez, i played the 100 side, game, the 250 rebuy side, and the 300 side, and didnt do very well. Cat went deepish in the 100 and 250, just missing the money and taking some beats too, depressing times for us.
In the 100, there was a local loon, literally jamming 3 times a lap, raising a showing air a lot, he had called a raise in 2 spots, open shipped a KK2 flop and showed 23 earlier. I finally get JJ after being card dead from the start, its loons button, i limp certain he will jam, he jams , i call, he has AA.
In the 300 game, i play really well, best hand i see in 5 hours in QJs, literally no AK, AJ, not one pair i could remember, im up to 26k, average 21k, and about 25 players left, blinds are 400/800 and the cut off opens for a large 4k, hmm, the button was short, and jamming a lot after being crippled, he jams again for 6k, i look at QQ in the bb, i re jam all in, cut off who has same stack as me has AA.
Incredibly, on the trip, i had JJ once, QQ twice and KK once, all 4 times someone had AA, odds on this are millions to 1, i had AA once, and lost to a set..........good bye Luton.
Well done to Dara, who played really well for a cash, he has an excellent report on this on http://www.dokearney.blogspot.com/, well worth a read.
Off to Cork next, surely i am overdue at this stage, will keep battling away.
Down €24k live now on the year, and up $70k online.......
Was having a decent year poker wise b4 vegas, disgusted with how i went over there, then online afterwards, despite winning 11k my first week back, i had a huge down turn.
Got 2 outered on river, all in pre or on flop 3 times for 4k+ pots in one day in 10/20.
Had a run of 6 bubbles in a row in 1k stts, 4 out of the 6 times getting it in dominating ahead.
I couldnt hit any draw, nor could i get anything to stand up, was unbelievable.
I was a little short on confidence going to Luton, but ready and knowing i still have a big edge in these GUKPT, and i really was due a result in 2008.
Got an ok first table and settled into the game, had about 10700 in level 2 when a guy who had been reasonably active made it 350 under the gun. I find KK on the button and make it 1100 to go. The small blind was a likeable, chatty sort of guy, he says to the utg, are u coming in as well, then he makes it 3600 to go. Alarms bells for me, utg folds , and i think about the situation.
Ive not been active, he must think i have a big hand, hes put in over 1/3rd of his stack out of position, and hes giving it some speech play, i start to fear the worst, then he says, u got tens there bud, trying to get me to think he might have jacks/queens, something i dont think he does if he actually has one of those hands, he must have aces, i fold the kings pre, he shows aces.
Bullet dodged, feel like im in the zone, and glad to still be in. Soon i play my second hand, i raise with AK, flop comes Kxx all hearts, i bet , get raised and fold again, show AJ hearts this time !!
3rd hand i flop top pair again, a 4th spade hits, he checks, i bet again, get raised, have to fold that with no spades. Finally, after a cut off raise, i get AA on the blind, I re raise for 1/4 my remaining stack, and go out to TT after a T hits the flop, what a nightmare 4 hours.......The way i ran in the states, and have ran in england all year is just unreal, surely i has to change soon.
Not in Luton though, despite doing well online over there, i actually won about 8k online over there (but then lost it during the following week where i more or less couldnt win a hand).
I dont want the blog to turn into a rant of bad beats, but jeez, i played the 100 side, game, the 250 rebuy side, and the 300 side, and didnt do very well. Cat went deepish in the 100 and 250, just missing the money and taking some beats too, depressing times for us.
In the 100, there was a local loon, literally jamming 3 times a lap, raising a showing air a lot, he had called a raise in 2 spots, open shipped a KK2 flop and showed 23 earlier. I finally get JJ after being card dead from the start, its loons button, i limp certain he will jam, he jams , i call, he has AA.
In the 300 game, i play really well, best hand i see in 5 hours in QJs, literally no AK, AJ, not one pair i could remember, im up to 26k, average 21k, and about 25 players left, blinds are 400/800 and the cut off opens for a large 4k, hmm, the button was short, and jamming a lot after being crippled, he jams again for 6k, i look at QQ in the bb, i re jam all in, cut off who has same stack as me has AA.
Incredibly, on the trip, i had JJ once, QQ twice and KK once, all 4 times someone had AA, odds on this are millions to 1, i had AA once, and lost to a set..........good bye Luton.
Well done to Dara, who played really well for a cash, he has an excellent report on this on http://www.dokearney.blogspot.com/, well worth a read.
Off to Cork next, surely i am overdue at this stage, will keep battling away.
Down €24k live now on the year, and up $70k online.......
Vegas report
Flew with Continental via new york to vegas, long trip, and i was tired but excited when i arrived. Jumped into a taxi, some foreign dude with bad english, he didnt seem sure where the house was, my directions may not of been spot on, but nightmare, driving up and down cheyenne avenue for almost 2 hours looking for mustang street, eventually, we stopped in a 7-11, i had to go in and get a map, find it, and direct him, in the end, $120 for a $40 taxi ride, not an ideal start.
Arrived at the house and met marty smyth, his girlfriend karen, and marty mccabe who got there the day before. The house was fantastic, loads of plasmas in all the rooms, pool table, spacious, basketball court outside aswell as outdoor jacuzzi, swimming pool , hammocks, etc.
Brilliant set up, just a tad too far from the strip, meant we had to hire a couple of cars, but great when u are going for as long as 5 weeks, huge diff to be able to get away from hotels etc and away from the constant ching ching of the slots etc on the casino floor.
Also, many a night was spent chilling outside in the heat, having bbqs, listening to music and chilling in the jacuzzi with some beers.
Poker wise, my plan was to play the $1500 shootout the next day, since i play a lot of stts, thought this would suit, but, it was capped and sold out by the time me and marty went to register for it.
Didnt actually play much the first few days, just chilling out and settling in. I really enjoy the general buzz in vegas, and love spending time there, my 4th time there altogether.
Played a lot of tournies in my time there, and really did badly in all of them to be honest. Structures are quite poor, levels usually short, as are starting stacks, and no 75/150 level etc, and i never really got a huge stack together in any of them.
Best structures were in the Venetian, 15k stack 40 min clock for $500, but again, a few hours in , the antes get very large making it a bit of a push fest.
Played 1500 wsop games x 2, 1 2k game, about 5 venetian 500 games all without a cash.
Also played the 1k main event mega, which is great value 4 times, with no luck again, as well as the nightly 330 in the rio a few times, and 3 or 4 500 sit and gos.
In the 4 sit and goes i played, i bubbled 2, went out 1st hand with KK vs 77 in one, and went out first hand i played in the other.
I had to buy in to the main event, played the 2nd day 1, never won a pot of more than a couple of big blinds, despite a fair bit of value at the table. I was getting frustrated and down to about 12k, when i raised with 99, flop came 982 with 2 hearts, i bet, guy re raised, i jammed , he called with 67 hearts and a black T on the turn sent me out in level 3.
All in all tourney poker in vegas was a disaster for me, the standard is not high, i just never got going, probably didnt play my best, and never ran anything like well.
Cash game wise i did ok, played about 14 5/10 sessions and won about 12 of them, recovered some of my buy ins, but still didnt put in the hours i should of in this, it is soft, and maybe more cash, less high variance tourneys would of been better.
However, vegas itself is amazing, had a brilliant holiday, great craic in the house with the lads, kp, hali, mike, andy, jim, pillow and the 2 martys. Martys gf Karen was also there for the first couple of weeks and Cat came over for the last 12 days.
Met up with lots of irish over there, and some of my mates from uk too. Went to Pure nightclub with Graham Clarkson and Martys mate Andy one night, unreal place, best nightclub i have seen. We got a table, which effectively cost us over $600 between 3 of us, but then , the killers came on stage and started playing live, unannounced !
Went to plenty of other bars and places which were great craic including the irish bar in new york new york and dicks last resort in the escalibur where mike could usually be found hanging out late at night.
Saw all the usual attractions, fountains etc, and went to a couple of shows, cirque du soleils love, beatles tribute in the mirage and Ka in the MGM, both absolutely brilliant. (especially Ka, highly recommeded).
Another obvious highlight was the 10k omaha world championship. Marty Smyth, world class player and extreme sound guy, made the final table. Most of the Irish in vegas created a soccor stadium type atmosphere in the Rio, chants of you'll never beat the irish etc ringing out. And what a night of drama, as he takes it down for over 800k and the coveted gold bracelet. Fantastic stuff, and lifted every one of us out there. Martys sponsor, Paul Spillane came out after, took us to lunch and then the house got well stocked up for a range of parties, which lasted for most of the rest of the trip. Just after the win, KP rushed to the bar, ordering about 20 white russians and as many beers as they can fit on the counter and a huge night of celebration kicks off. He has a bbq where 70 odd people were invited and another great evening took place.
All in all, we had a great time, and it was wonderful to see Marty take down some a huge prize, which establishes him firmly as a great in the game.
A couple of days from the end of the trip and i was hugely stuck. Cat was here now, and we had done some shopping and looking around the strip, we played our last tourney, the 550 in the venetian again. As usual i was gone quick , but she was playing brilliant and soon was near the chip lead. I was pacing up and down on the rail looking for the best view, as i do, really hoping for the miracle result, $78k for the winner ! After a really long day , 14 of them made it through to day 2, and she was in with a chance. Down to 12 and the key hand happened, she opened on the button, and after the sb jammed, she made a great call with 99, vs 33, but disaster struck for us as a 3 hit the flop, $2600 for 12th, damn those american events are so top heavy.
So despite having a brilliant time over there, and a hugely enjoyable 5 weeks, i ended up down $20k on poker and about $10k on non poker expenses, so ouch, work to do now i am home.
Arrived at the house and met marty smyth, his girlfriend karen, and marty mccabe who got there the day before. The house was fantastic, loads of plasmas in all the rooms, pool table, spacious, basketball court outside aswell as outdoor jacuzzi, swimming pool , hammocks, etc.
Brilliant set up, just a tad too far from the strip, meant we had to hire a couple of cars, but great when u are going for as long as 5 weeks, huge diff to be able to get away from hotels etc and away from the constant ching ching of the slots etc on the casino floor.
Also, many a night was spent chilling outside in the heat, having bbqs, listening to music and chilling in the jacuzzi with some beers.
Poker wise, my plan was to play the $1500 shootout the next day, since i play a lot of stts, thought this would suit, but, it was capped and sold out by the time me and marty went to register for it.
Didnt actually play much the first few days, just chilling out and settling in. I really enjoy the general buzz in vegas, and love spending time there, my 4th time there altogether.
Played a lot of tournies in my time there, and really did badly in all of them to be honest. Structures are quite poor, levels usually short, as are starting stacks, and no 75/150 level etc, and i never really got a huge stack together in any of them.
Best structures were in the Venetian, 15k stack 40 min clock for $500, but again, a few hours in , the antes get very large making it a bit of a push fest.
Played 1500 wsop games x 2, 1 2k game, about 5 venetian 500 games all without a cash.
Also played the 1k main event mega, which is great value 4 times, with no luck again, as well as the nightly 330 in the rio a few times, and 3 or 4 500 sit and gos.
In the 4 sit and goes i played, i bubbled 2, went out 1st hand with KK vs 77 in one, and went out first hand i played in the other.
I had to buy in to the main event, played the 2nd day 1, never won a pot of more than a couple of big blinds, despite a fair bit of value at the table. I was getting frustrated and down to about 12k, when i raised with 99, flop came 982 with 2 hearts, i bet, guy re raised, i jammed , he called with 67 hearts and a black T on the turn sent me out in level 3.
All in all tourney poker in vegas was a disaster for me, the standard is not high, i just never got going, probably didnt play my best, and never ran anything like well.
Cash game wise i did ok, played about 14 5/10 sessions and won about 12 of them, recovered some of my buy ins, but still didnt put in the hours i should of in this, it is soft, and maybe more cash, less high variance tourneys would of been better.
However, vegas itself is amazing, had a brilliant holiday, great craic in the house with the lads, kp, hali, mike, andy, jim, pillow and the 2 martys. Martys gf Karen was also there for the first couple of weeks and Cat came over for the last 12 days.
Met up with lots of irish over there, and some of my mates from uk too. Went to Pure nightclub with Graham Clarkson and Martys mate Andy one night, unreal place, best nightclub i have seen. We got a table, which effectively cost us over $600 between 3 of us, but then , the killers came on stage and started playing live, unannounced !
Went to plenty of other bars and places which were great craic including the irish bar in new york new york and dicks last resort in the escalibur where mike could usually be found hanging out late at night.
Saw all the usual attractions, fountains etc, and went to a couple of shows, cirque du soleils love, beatles tribute in the mirage and Ka in the MGM, both absolutely brilliant. (especially Ka, highly recommeded).
Another obvious highlight was the 10k omaha world championship. Marty Smyth, world class player and extreme sound guy, made the final table. Most of the Irish in vegas created a soccor stadium type atmosphere in the Rio, chants of you'll never beat the irish etc ringing out. And what a night of drama, as he takes it down for over 800k and the coveted gold bracelet. Fantastic stuff, and lifted every one of us out there. Martys sponsor, Paul Spillane came out after, took us to lunch and then the house got well stocked up for a range of parties, which lasted for most of the rest of the trip. Just after the win, KP rushed to the bar, ordering about 20 white russians and as many beers as they can fit on the counter and a huge night of celebration kicks off. He has a bbq where 70 odd people were invited and another great evening took place.
All in all, we had a great time, and it was wonderful to see Marty take down some a huge prize, which establishes him firmly as a great in the game.
A couple of days from the end of the trip and i was hugely stuck. Cat was here now, and we had done some shopping and looking around the strip, we played our last tourney, the 550 in the venetian again. As usual i was gone quick , but she was playing brilliant and soon was near the chip lead. I was pacing up and down on the rail looking for the best view, as i do, really hoping for the miracle result, $78k for the winner ! After a really long day , 14 of them made it through to day 2, and she was in with a chance. Down to 12 and the key hand happened, she opened on the button, and after the sb jammed, she made a great call with 99, vs 33, but disaster struck for us as a 3 hit the flop, $2600 for 12th, damn those american events are so top heavy.
So despite having a brilliant time over there, and a hugely enjoyable 5 weeks, i ended up down $20k on poker and about $10k on non poker expenses, so ouch, work to do now i am home.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
sporting 1k game and ready for vegas
After paris i played the 270 game in the fitz for the first time in ages on the thurs. About 82 runners in this, and i played ok. Didnt see many cards, had KK QQ and JJ once in first 4 levels, and all of them beat. Later on the structure got quite tight, and although i peaked at 28k, never felt comfortable and went out in 17th. I thought the overall standard was poor, many of the fitz regulars seem to be of a lower standard than the SE regs. Some quite strange stuff witnessed in the first few levels which i wont go into. I ended up on table 1, downstairs. Throughout the tourney, no effort was made to communicate the no of runners, avg stack, players left etc, i had to physically go upstairs and have a look to try and see where i was in the grand scheme of the tourney. Also didnt think the much aclaimed meal was up to much. Didnt enjoy it much to be honest and the only thing i would go back for was the standard of play.
Next night went to the SE , for the 1k game, had to buy in. Got stuck on around 13k after about 3 levels, no need to worry as amazing stucture, 49 runners in all. Then i tangled in a pot with Paul (pabloh on boards). He is a good solid player, and i checked my bb with Q2o after a few limpers. The flop came 26Q with 2 spades, i cheked , he bet 800, i made it 2500, he calls. Now i think he has a flush draw a lot, turn comes a non spade ace, i still think im good, cant have him on AQ, so i bet 4500, he calls. Now i dont like it, i dont think he calls with just the flush draw, yet with a set, he may re raise me. River is an awful 6, conterfeiting my 2 pair. Ive 7k left, and would need to jam to take the pot down. I could represent a set or a 6 by doing this, but it goes check check and he had A7 spades for the rivered better 2 pair, missed flush draw. I think i played this meh, but im also pretty sure i take this down on the turn if Paul didnt improve. Soon after im down to 3k, when i get aces, so i std raise to 700, christy, very very loose player calls on the bb, flop comes J96, i bet half my stack, begging for action, he assumes i have AK and jams with 94 off, rivers the 4 and its all over. Great tourney this though, and nice food for once. Very upset to see kp bubble this from a nice stack after running KK into AA, sick one.
Next night and back in for the 250 game, Cat was down from belfast, so i put her in also. I didnt do great, went out tamely in midfielf, but, she played awesome, seemed in control of her tables from a long way out, crusing up to 70k and the chip lead just before the end of the day. With 10 left, she ran AA into Kevin Farrellys QQ all in re for 40k pot, flop came QQ4, so bad end to the day. But, back for day 2 and no stopping her, continuing to build her stack despite a strong final table including Oz, Jay, Derek the dangerousand Ionapaul. Some after it was all over and she won it outright for €4300, i , like several others was very impressed.
I played the 150 game and came 8th, just missing out on a cash.
Ive been motoring on online, running bad in TTs, on a current long run of 3rds that has me on tilt as per sharkscope. In fact John O Shea alluding in his blog, he has now over taking me on sharkscope. But, been flying well in the cash, and up $8k online since my last update overall.
Therefore $78k up online and back to €7k down live.
Im all paked for vegas, gonna play the 200 in the SE tonight, then straight to the airport, sleep on the plane and ready to go for the $1500 shootout on monday in Vegas. Will keep this up to date for the duration of my 5 weeks out there. Looking forward to it a lot, hopefully all will go well.
Next night went to the SE , for the 1k game, had to buy in. Got stuck on around 13k after about 3 levels, no need to worry as amazing stucture, 49 runners in all. Then i tangled in a pot with Paul (pabloh on boards). He is a good solid player, and i checked my bb with Q2o after a few limpers. The flop came 26Q with 2 spades, i cheked , he bet 800, i made it 2500, he calls. Now i think he has a flush draw a lot, turn comes a non spade ace, i still think im good, cant have him on AQ, so i bet 4500, he calls. Now i dont like it, i dont think he calls with just the flush draw, yet with a set, he may re raise me. River is an awful 6, conterfeiting my 2 pair. Ive 7k left, and would need to jam to take the pot down. I could represent a set or a 6 by doing this, but it goes check check and he had A7 spades for the rivered better 2 pair, missed flush draw. I think i played this meh, but im also pretty sure i take this down on the turn if Paul didnt improve. Soon after im down to 3k, when i get aces, so i std raise to 700, christy, very very loose player calls on the bb, flop comes J96, i bet half my stack, begging for action, he assumes i have AK and jams with 94 off, rivers the 4 and its all over. Great tourney this though, and nice food for once. Very upset to see kp bubble this from a nice stack after running KK into AA, sick one.
Next night and back in for the 250 game, Cat was down from belfast, so i put her in also. I didnt do great, went out tamely in midfielf, but, she played awesome, seemed in control of her tables from a long way out, crusing up to 70k and the chip lead just before the end of the day. With 10 left, she ran AA into Kevin Farrellys QQ all in re for 40k pot, flop came QQ4, so bad end to the day. But, back for day 2 and no stopping her, continuing to build her stack despite a strong final table including Oz, Jay, Derek the dangerousand Ionapaul. Some after it was all over and she won it outright for €4300, i , like several others was very impressed.
I played the 150 game and came 8th, just missing out on a cash.
Ive been motoring on online, running bad in TTs, on a current long run of 3rds that has me on tilt as per sharkscope. In fact John O Shea alluding in his blog, he has now over taking me on sharkscope. But, been flying well in the cash, and up $8k online since my last update overall.
Therefore $78k up online and back to €7k down live.
Im all paked for vegas, gonna play the 200 in the SE tonight, then straight to the airport, sleep on the plane and ready to go for the $1500 shootout on monday in Vegas. Will keep this up to date for the duration of my 5 weeks out there. Looking forward to it a lot, hopefully all will go well.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
post to update a few things
yes yes, im a lazy f*cker, only updating this now, a lot has happened since a month ago.
i went to manchester for the GUKPT, as is becoming standard with me now, i found the game soft, cruised up to 30k, and failed to make day 2 by going out in the last level of day 1 !!
I was quite annoyed really, i managed to get 3/4s of my stack in with 66 , which doesnt sound good, but im not 100% sure exactly where i played it wrong.
After having peaked at 30k, i was playing 25k and comfortable, around average with over half the field gone, when a loose player who was raising a lot opened for a standard 3bbs in mid position. He has me covered, i have 66 in the cut off, and decide to call, he is agg and can fire some barrels, or indeed he may have a hand, i decide if i hit a 6 i could win a big pot, so i call for set value. As soon as i do this, i see the small blind looking at the pot, now im thinking, this is a great time for him to squeeze, the mid pos guy could have a wideish range, and i can never be that strong, he fires out 6k on top on the original 2400 raise. Now, im done with this if the original re raiser repops, or indeed if he folds i probably just give it up also, but he decides to flat call. Its back to me, and its 6k to call with about 22k already in the pot, and some implied odds on top of this, i could fold here, but i decide to call and re assess on the flop.
The flop comes 458 rainbow. The SB jams for 8k, the big stack folds, and now , i have to call another 8k into a 30k pot, with at least 6 outs, and the chance im ahead of a squeeze or AK type hand. This is an auto call (i should probably fold to the re raise pre but i didnt). So, after wondering how i managed to get 16400 in with 66 leaving me about 7.5k behind, im delighted to see he has AK off and im favourite to have a huge stack......K on the river and im short.
im patient with the 7k and end up raising half my stack on the cut off with AQ for the SB to rejam, when obv i cant fold any hand, so i call and have his KQ !!! crushed til he flops 2 Ks and im out.
After this i had the worst online cash session ive had since march 07 when i lost 2 12k+ cash pots in a day at 20/40.
It was friday night, late, best time to play, found a 10/20 table with 2 awful players, one of them one of the worst ive ever seen, bingo, great chance to win 5k im thinking, and salvage the day.
What happened next could be put into any nightmare and not look out of place.
I was immediately alerted to how bad one of the french players was when i opened the button 6 handed to 80 with 77, frenchy calls from the bb. Flop comes a rather nice looking AJ7 with 2 hearts. He check calls 150. Turn is a 3rd heart, a 5 or something he checks again, ive no particular reason to think he has FD, and dont want to give him free 4th heart, so i bet about 380, he snaps again, turn is a horrendous 4th heart, so it goes check check, im AMAZED to see the gentleman has 22 with the 2 of hearts !!
Anyway, about 2 laps later i raise his button again with Q9 diamonds, i was isolating him a lot as he always calls pre, and folds a lot of flops when he totally misses. Flop comes another excellent Q97 with 2 hearts again, he check call pot again. Turn comes a 3rd heart, he open shoves for 2k, big overbet. Ive no idea what he has, but dont think he has a flush so i call, he has T7 with the T of hearts, and bingo, 4th heart on the river again, grrrr, steam from ears time.
I reload, call a raise of 80 on position after 3 callers with 22, flop comes AQ2 with 2 spades. Original raiser bets 300, 1 caller, i make it 1k, raiser calls, caller calls again. Turn comes a 4, i jam for 1200 after he checks, he calls with 75 spades, river is a spade, lovely !!
Now, im tilting a bit, reload and call a raise with A5 suited, flop comes A95 and i get it in vs A9, ffs, 8k gone in just over an hour, just as well none of the conspiracy theorists who think it might be rigged saw this session.
Next live game was JPs 750 masters, lovely structure with 1 hour clock and 15k stacks, and some awful pub style players. Got nicely through day 1, without much worries or tough spots, then early on day 1, duke doubles me up by 4 bet shoving over my KK with 77. Im cruising at 100k 4 tables out, and im a great position to cash. Im quite for a while, and under no pressure, i decide to open it up a big and raise with 76 suited in mid pos, i get called by a very loose player who i felt may be on tilt after being bluffed off a pot just before by paul coyle, who final tabled, and i must say this guy certainly likes the huge 2 and 3 barrel moves. Anyway, flop comes 467 with 2 spades, i lead for 10k, this other guy jams for about 80k.......i call and he had 68 of spades and hits the 8 on the turn, and the 5 of spades for the str8 flush on the river. Very next hand i get TT , and tiltily get it in vs Coyle, who for once has a hand, AQ, and hits his Q. Dissapointed to go out of this, really should of had an edge given the structure 4 tables out , and a huge missed chance with a nice prizepool. Nice to see some decent lads getting a nice cash in this too.
Played the omaha the next day, ran awful, hardly flopped a pair and then donated my stack to sean gregory with a poor move out of frustration, after this i played an incredibly soft cash table against several people who could hardly stand and won about 700.
Went to Newcastle with another GUKPT chance, really hoping to grasp it this time, for my vegas fund, and to repay mike and brians faith in me. After playing a turned straight very bad early on and losing some value, i played great for the rest of the day, getting the most from each spot and making some good calls. Apart from one hand, a loose player raised, i called with QQ, to trap. Whilst he was loose, he would fold a lot of hands if i re raised there, flop comes T high, i expect him to fire and i raise and win the pot , he confuses me by checking, i fire, and he puts in a decent reraise, uggg, i call, turn is a blank, and he jams for 10k , theres 10k already in the pot......now what can i beat, he looks comfortable, im sure he thinks he is ahead here, surely he cant put me on AT, he must have TT or AA i decide, i can only beat QQ, my trap has backfired, i fold, i dont show, he shows JJ, sick inside now.
Anyway, i play a set well against same player later and end the day of over 49k, and cruising in 8th place of the 60 players left, in with a shout for once. On day 2, i get a nice table, im 2nd in chips on it, behind James Akenhead, who is overall leader and a very good player, Also on the table is Dara O Kearney , winner of the drogheda deepstack, and also a very good player. Id been chatting to Dara over there, hes very solid, and an interesting character. He posts as Doke on boards, and you should read the link in his signature to his article about a race where he ran 200 kms in 24 hours, its an amaznig read !
Anyway, im cruising on 57k, apart from James and Dara the rest of the table are very poor. Inexplicably, i clash with James, he raised in mid pos, i look at AK in the bb, i dont want to clash with him, i could call and play a small pot, i decide to reraise his 3k bet to 12k, as he has a wide opening range, and i wanted to take it down pre, he calls after thinking and seeing how much i had left. Im surprised he flats here, and worried, flop comes Jxx, i give up and check, he checks, turn is a K, i lead at it for 3/4 pot, i think im probably ahead now, he thinks again and calls, the river is the ace, he jams it. Now in reality he has a set here or has me bet almost always, im getting a huge price to call, and he knows this, he also knows i can have AK here a lot , i really should fold, id have 20k behind and still in the game, i call, he has a well played AA, and im out.
Quite annoyed with myself here, yes, i had top 2, but in reality, against a good player, i dont like the way i played the hand in general. I then lost 400 in cash, clearly on tilt, then i wished Dara luck and headed home.........another missed chance, next time.
I got back into playing STTs online and have been doing ok again, and recovered lately in the online cash side of things.
Im about 24k up now on the year on ipoker stts and about 45k on cash.
I had a few nice runs in online MTTs also, including 2nd place in the 50 rebuy 50k gtd for 8k, just before i went to newcastle. There was 13.5k for 1st, and i lost a race for 5.5k heads up, but still a fantastic result. I didnt know the other guy, but both of us woulda liked to chop as we were even heads up, but theres no facility for this on ipoker.
I had a nice little run in the sporting emporium last week also, got out of the house for the 100 freezeout on friday, and managed to win this for €1200, 31 runners, my first live win since the chop in the november 1k game.
With confidence gained from this, i headed back in on friday, with my girlfriend Cat , there was another 100 freezeout, and interestingly we managed to get heads up in this, we chopped it (i had a 85k - 40k lead).
Then, back there again for their tourney lead final, i dont play live in there much, but i scrapped into the top 40 for there league final play off in 37th, i was one of the shortest stacks starting off, but played some good stuff that night to chop it with mick stephens for 3k each.
After this i headed to Paris, met up with my scottish mate Graham Clarkson, we spent a couple of nights going to Roland Garros by day to watch the french open tennis, and then playing cash games in the Aviation club by night. The tennis is great, you can get right up close to the play on the outside courts, and the athmosphere on centre court is good. A bit of rain dampened things slightly, but still a great thing to go and see.
The aviation clubs is amazing, monday night and 12 cash tables in full flow. Games run on well into the morning and the standard is lower than anywhere in Ireland.
The players are extremely loose, play large stacks, and call far too much. Theres a lot of mixed games and graham was playing dealers choice games with 5 card Omaha hi lo and Concheval amongst the mix.
The NLH consisted of 2 tables of 5/5 nl with 250 min buy in and 2 tables of 10/10 with 500 min buy in. I was happy in the 5/5 game, with average stacks of about 2k.
First hand i sat down i saw a flop of 678 and 3 1.5k stacks in the middle, 2 blanks and 1 guy shows J9 and the pot is scooped by 75, interesting stuff.
I limped JJ under the gun, everyone limps, looney on the blind makes it 60 as usual, i jam for 500 (bought in short to start off with), he insta fist pump snap calls me, uh oh, flop comes AQxxx with 3 diamonds, can i be good , of course, he shows 33. (i know in a decent game this would be a weird way to play JJ, but not against these guys).
The membership is €100 to get in the door, and after this on the 5/5 tables its 25 quid an hour in rake, this is easily beatable.
On the 2nd day id AA and KK cracked, by 66 and 45s and was stuck 1800 early, however, over 2 nights in there i cleared €2100 after rake. I will defo be back, might like a week in paris after i get back from vegas.
Last night i just missed out of the sat for the SE 1k game online, making an unecessary move with 88 with 7 left and 3.5 seats, needless stuff, but then i won 4k at 10/20 afterwards, so good night in the end.
Overall im up $70k online in 2008 and now down €5k live. This leads to an overall profit for the first 5 months of about €40k.
Im going to play the 270 game in the fitz for the 1st time in a year tonight, then the 1k game in the sporting tomorrow.
On sunday week the 8th June im off to Vegas, playing the shootout on the 9th.
We have the house for 5 weeks, Marty has organised it, its a cool pad with pool table, swimming pool and even a basketball court, cant wait to get over there.
i went to manchester for the GUKPT, as is becoming standard with me now, i found the game soft, cruised up to 30k, and failed to make day 2 by going out in the last level of day 1 !!
I was quite annoyed really, i managed to get 3/4s of my stack in with 66 , which doesnt sound good, but im not 100% sure exactly where i played it wrong.
After having peaked at 30k, i was playing 25k and comfortable, around average with over half the field gone, when a loose player who was raising a lot opened for a standard 3bbs in mid position. He has me covered, i have 66 in the cut off, and decide to call, he is agg and can fire some barrels, or indeed he may have a hand, i decide if i hit a 6 i could win a big pot, so i call for set value. As soon as i do this, i see the small blind looking at the pot, now im thinking, this is a great time for him to squeeze, the mid pos guy could have a wideish range, and i can never be that strong, he fires out 6k on top on the original 2400 raise. Now, im done with this if the original re raiser repops, or indeed if he folds i probably just give it up also, but he decides to flat call. Its back to me, and its 6k to call with about 22k already in the pot, and some implied odds on top of this, i could fold here, but i decide to call and re assess on the flop.
The flop comes 458 rainbow. The SB jams for 8k, the big stack folds, and now , i have to call another 8k into a 30k pot, with at least 6 outs, and the chance im ahead of a squeeze or AK type hand. This is an auto call (i should probably fold to the re raise pre but i didnt). So, after wondering how i managed to get 16400 in with 66 leaving me about 7.5k behind, im delighted to see he has AK off and im favourite to have a huge stack......K on the river and im short.
im patient with the 7k and end up raising half my stack on the cut off with AQ for the SB to rejam, when obv i cant fold any hand, so i call and have his KQ !!! crushed til he flops 2 Ks and im out.
After this i had the worst online cash session ive had since march 07 when i lost 2 12k+ cash pots in a day at 20/40.
It was friday night, late, best time to play, found a 10/20 table with 2 awful players, one of them one of the worst ive ever seen, bingo, great chance to win 5k im thinking, and salvage the day.
What happened next could be put into any nightmare and not look out of place.
I was immediately alerted to how bad one of the french players was when i opened the button 6 handed to 80 with 77, frenchy calls from the bb. Flop comes a rather nice looking AJ7 with 2 hearts. He check calls 150. Turn is a 3rd heart, a 5 or something he checks again, ive no particular reason to think he has FD, and dont want to give him free 4th heart, so i bet about 380, he snaps again, turn is a horrendous 4th heart, so it goes check check, im AMAZED to see the gentleman has 22 with the 2 of hearts !!
Anyway, about 2 laps later i raise his button again with Q9 diamonds, i was isolating him a lot as he always calls pre, and folds a lot of flops when he totally misses. Flop comes another excellent Q97 with 2 hearts again, he check call pot again. Turn comes a 3rd heart, he open shoves for 2k, big overbet. Ive no idea what he has, but dont think he has a flush so i call, he has T7 with the T of hearts, and bingo, 4th heart on the river again, grrrr, steam from ears time.
I reload, call a raise of 80 on position after 3 callers with 22, flop comes AQ2 with 2 spades. Original raiser bets 300, 1 caller, i make it 1k, raiser calls, caller calls again. Turn comes a 4, i jam for 1200 after he checks, he calls with 75 spades, river is a spade, lovely !!
Now, im tilting a bit, reload and call a raise with A5 suited, flop comes A95 and i get it in vs A9, ffs, 8k gone in just over an hour, just as well none of the conspiracy theorists who think it might be rigged saw this session.
Next live game was JPs 750 masters, lovely structure with 1 hour clock and 15k stacks, and some awful pub style players. Got nicely through day 1, without much worries or tough spots, then early on day 1, duke doubles me up by 4 bet shoving over my KK with 77. Im cruising at 100k 4 tables out, and im a great position to cash. Im quite for a while, and under no pressure, i decide to open it up a big and raise with 76 suited in mid pos, i get called by a very loose player who i felt may be on tilt after being bluffed off a pot just before by paul coyle, who final tabled, and i must say this guy certainly likes the huge 2 and 3 barrel moves. Anyway, flop comes 467 with 2 spades, i lead for 10k, this other guy jams for about 80k.......i call and he had 68 of spades and hits the 8 on the turn, and the 5 of spades for the str8 flush on the river. Very next hand i get TT , and tiltily get it in vs Coyle, who for once has a hand, AQ, and hits his Q. Dissapointed to go out of this, really should of had an edge given the structure 4 tables out , and a huge missed chance with a nice prizepool. Nice to see some decent lads getting a nice cash in this too.
Played the omaha the next day, ran awful, hardly flopped a pair and then donated my stack to sean gregory with a poor move out of frustration, after this i played an incredibly soft cash table against several people who could hardly stand and won about 700.
Went to Newcastle with another GUKPT chance, really hoping to grasp it this time, for my vegas fund, and to repay mike and brians faith in me. After playing a turned straight very bad early on and losing some value, i played great for the rest of the day, getting the most from each spot and making some good calls. Apart from one hand, a loose player raised, i called with QQ, to trap. Whilst he was loose, he would fold a lot of hands if i re raised there, flop comes T high, i expect him to fire and i raise and win the pot , he confuses me by checking, i fire, and he puts in a decent reraise, uggg, i call, turn is a blank, and he jams for 10k , theres 10k already in the pot......now what can i beat, he looks comfortable, im sure he thinks he is ahead here, surely he cant put me on AT, he must have TT or AA i decide, i can only beat QQ, my trap has backfired, i fold, i dont show, he shows JJ, sick inside now.
Anyway, i play a set well against same player later and end the day of over 49k, and cruising in 8th place of the 60 players left, in with a shout for once. On day 2, i get a nice table, im 2nd in chips on it, behind James Akenhead, who is overall leader and a very good player, Also on the table is Dara O Kearney , winner of the drogheda deepstack, and also a very good player. Id been chatting to Dara over there, hes very solid, and an interesting character. He posts as Doke on boards, and you should read the link in his signature to his article about a race where he ran 200 kms in 24 hours, its an amaznig read !
Anyway, im cruising on 57k, apart from James and Dara the rest of the table are very poor. Inexplicably, i clash with James, he raised in mid pos, i look at AK in the bb, i dont want to clash with him, i could call and play a small pot, i decide to reraise his 3k bet to 12k, as he has a wide opening range, and i wanted to take it down pre, he calls after thinking and seeing how much i had left. Im surprised he flats here, and worried, flop comes Jxx, i give up and check, he checks, turn is a K, i lead at it for 3/4 pot, i think im probably ahead now, he thinks again and calls, the river is the ace, he jams it. Now in reality he has a set here or has me bet almost always, im getting a huge price to call, and he knows this, he also knows i can have AK here a lot , i really should fold, id have 20k behind and still in the game, i call, he has a well played AA, and im out.
Quite annoyed with myself here, yes, i had top 2, but in reality, against a good player, i dont like the way i played the hand in general. I then lost 400 in cash, clearly on tilt, then i wished Dara luck and headed home.........another missed chance, next time.
I got back into playing STTs online and have been doing ok again, and recovered lately in the online cash side of things.
Im about 24k up now on the year on ipoker stts and about 45k on cash.
I had a few nice runs in online MTTs also, including 2nd place in the 50 rebuy 50k gtd for 8k, just before i went to newcastle. There was 13.5k for 1st, and i lost a race for 5.5k heads up, but still a fantastic result. I didnt know the other guy, but both of us woulda liked to chop as we were even heads up, but theres no facility for this on ipoker.
I had a nice little run in the sporting emporium last week also, got out of the house for the 100 freezeout on friday, and managed to win this for €1200, 31 runners, my first live win since the chop in the november 1k game.
With confidence gained from this, i headed back in on friday, with my girlfriend Cat , there was another 100 freezeout, and interestingly we managed to get heads up in this, we chopped it (i had a 85k - 40k lead).
Then, back there again for their tourney lead final, i dont play live in there much, but i scrapped into the top 40 for there league final play off in 37th, i was one of the shortest stacks starting off, but played some good stuff that night to chop it with mick stephens for 3k each.
After this i headed to Paris, met up with my scottish mate Graham Clarkson, we spent a couple of nights going to Roland Garros by day to watch the french open tennis, and then playing cash games in the Aviation club by night. The tennis is great, you can get right up close to the play on the outside courts, and the athmosphere on centre court is good. A bit of rain dampened things slightly, but still a great thing to go and see.
The aviation clubs is amazing, monday night and 12 cash tables in full flow. Games run on well into the morning and the standard is lower than anywhere in Ireland.
The players are extremely loose, play large stacks, and call far too much. Theres a lot of mixed games and graham was playing dealers choice games with 5 card Omaha hi lo and Concheval amongst the mix.
The NLH consisted of 2 tables of 5/5 nl with 250 min buy in and 2 tables of 10/10 with 500 min buy in. I was happy in the 5/5 game, with average stacks of about 2k.
First hand i sat down i saw a flop of 678 and 3 1.5k stacks in the middle, 2 blanks and 1 guy shows J9 and the pot is scooped by 75, interesting stuff.
I limped JJ under the gun, everyone limps, looney on the blind makes it 60 as usual, i jam for 500 (bought in short to start off with), he insta fist pump snap calls me, uh oh, flop comes AQxxx with 3 diamonds, can i be good , of course, he shows 33. (i know in a decent game this would be a weird way to play JJ, but not against these guys).
The membership is €100 to get in the door, and after this on the 5/5 tables its 25 quid an hour in rake, this is easily beatable.
On the 2nd day id AA and KK cracked, by 66 and 45s and was stuck 1800 early, however, over 2 nights in there i cleared €2100 after rake. I will defo be back, might like a week in paris after i get back from vegas.
Last night i just missed out of the sat for the SE 1k game online, making an unecessary move with 88 with 7 left and 3.5 seats, needless stuff, but then i won 4k at 10/20 afterwards, so good night in the end.
Overall im up $70k online in 2008 and now down €5k live. This leads to an overall profit for the first 5 months of about €40k.
Im going to play the 270 game in the fitz for the 1st time in a year tonight, then the 1k game in the sporting tomorrow.
On sunday week the 8th June im off to Vegas, playing the shootout on the 9th.
We have the house for 5 weeks, Marty has organised it, its a cool pad with pool table, swimming pool and even a basketball court, cant wait to get over there.
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