Dom's Poker Blog

Time for another ramble

2008-09-25T13:32:00.003+01:00

I admit it has been quite a while since my last update, but believe me, you aren't missing much.

So what has happened me poker wise since my last brief update? Not much really. I returned from Vegas with less money than I went (not a huge amount in the scheme of things however), ran well after I came back for a couple of weeks, then started losing. I think I have only played 3 times in the last 6 weeks, I haven't played online in several months, and I have not been enjoying the game lately.

I know I have had some fatalistic updates on this wristslitfest of a blog, but I have not enjoyed poker in the last 3-4 months in all fairness, probably starting before I went to Vegas at all. I have noticeably been playing terribly and making terrible decisions borne out of some ill conceived notion that I conconcted from nowhere at the time to justify my decision to myself. It has at times felt like I was literally burning money, especially in Omaha cash games where I have made some ridiculously stupid moves lately.

It is hard to admit at times, but I am playing such a weak tight game lately that it depresses me. Knowing this is probably the first step to addressing it, but knowing it is also the easy part. Fixing it is the difficult bit. I know people go through phases like this all the time, but it is the first time in a long time that I have not wanted to play much at all, and the last 6 weeks are easily the least poker I have played in the last 4 1/2 years.

It is with all this in mind that I have decided not to go to Killarney to play in the event that I have been looking forward to for ages. I think it will be a great weekend with loads of good people there, so a good time in that respect will be nearly guaranteed. However, I think it would be a guaranteed loss of money so I cannot justify it in my current humour with the game, especially if it were to turn out like my experience in Tramore when I got frustrated with my play that I left a day early with a hotel room paid for and all. Killarney is just too far to do that. I really do wish I was going, but I don't hate money that much.

I will also not be playing the IPO, but this is for a different reason as I have a stag to attend that weekend in Galway. I would have played this otherwise but not to be.

I have not tried to qualify for the Winter Festival in Citywest on the bank holiday weekend yet and I really should as I would love to play that and I am certainly not forking out entry money for that as it is way above my budget but it should be an excellent event as well. I think I will try to go back to basics somewhat in poker terms and play some more tournaments and cut back on the cash games somewhat. Who knows though, a couple of decent nights and this will all be forgotten I guess.

On other fronts, I have just returned from a 2 week break in the states, with a week of it spent in Florida. This included 2 nights spent in Key West which was surreal due to the number of bikers in the place. It was Bikers Week there, and there must have been 2 thousand of them, mostly on Harleys, quite a few with their 'bitches', and the average age being close to 50 I would guess, no joke. The women with them were often quite scary (although there were a few exceptions of course) with scantily clad, leathery skinned, pot bellied, 50 year old women being typical fare there. I still have some mental scars. Other memorable parts of the trip included a visit to Ocracoke Island in North Carolina, home of the best beach in the US 2007, and a trip to Busch Gardens for some high octane rollercaoster action. Relaxation was probably the key point of this trip and I am deighted to report that this objective was achieved in full, and considering the content of the first few articles in this entry, it couldn't have come at a better time.

That's me for now. I shall be back some time between tomorrow and the end of the year for another update I'm sure.

Quick update

2008-06-26T00:36:00.002+01:00

Don't have time now to post a proper update, but needless to say I finished about 62nd in a 565 runner event wit47k for first. That is my only tourney so far. Cash going great though. AA cracked, KK into AA. Sets cracked etc etc. So far so standard etc. I plan to do more drinking from now on though. :)

Ran into a few lads so far out here, trying to stay outof the sun etc etc as I hear it is bad for a pale mofo like me. Was going to play the 540 Omaha in the Venetian today, but stayed in be to watch the ftball instead (11.45 am kickoff).

I'll probably post news of my second level bustout in th next tourney I play sometime soon.

Cheers.

Leaving on a jetplane....

2008-06-20T00:11:00.002+01:00

In 36 hours I should be on the plane on the way to LA from where it is a short hop to vegas. Bad time then to be sick of poker, but as of last weekend that is officially where I stood.

On consecutive weekends I played in €500 buy in tournies. First was the Fitz 500 that attracted 65 runners. I was a fairly early casualty from this having done ok at the start, then lost over half my stack when the action went like this:

UTG limp for 150, folded to me I raise to 600 with AKo, next to act flat calls, then UTG goes all in for 3200. I check out the stack of the other guy and see he has just over 6k, so I raise enough to put him all in and hew instantly calls with AJs!!!! UTG shorty had TT, and the board came a spiffing QJ5JQ to see the fella to my left scoop with his AJ which was worth 40+ BB's preflop against someone who had raised twice. Way to go. After that I was struggling and eventually lost a race with AK vs 99. Ah well.

Then last weekend I was in Tramore for the Big Slick 500 game which had 142 runners. I never really got going in this tbh, and a couple of ill timed plays seen me knocked out just at the end of the first days play. I played the side event the next day and bluffed off a few chips in the first round, before getting KK all in preflop vs AA. Goodnight, and only 20 mins in.

Cash games are going just as bad for me to be honest. I knew something like this run would happen at some point after my decent start to the year, but to happen just before Vegas isn't the best of timing. I haven't played since last Sunday night which for me is a huge stretch to not play for, and I won't play til I get to Vegas.

I am looking forward to it though, even if only because I won't be in work for 2 weeks. I remember thinking last year that I wouldn't go back to Vegas this year, but my weakness shone through in the end and hopefully I won't feel the same at the end of this trip. I am bringing just under $6k with me, and I would be annoyed if that doesn't last me my trip. Ideally of course I want to come back in profit, and that will be my goal of course, but I will take things as they come. If it starts badly I might have to reassess some of the plans for tournies that I had and just stick to the cash games which judging by the standard last year should be a source of some profit at least.

I will be bringing my laptop with me, so I may update this during my trip if anything interesting happens. I'm sure my avid readers will be pressing refresh every 5 seconds in anticipation of that one!!!!

Vegas will be a trip of cards and nights out, but like last year I don't intend to mix the two or go mad before I play any tournies.

It's good to see some of the Irish lads out there get a bit of success early on with Gavin Kelly having cashed in a WSOP event and chopped a Venetian event, and John O'Shea having finished 5th in a WSOP event for almost $100k. I don't know the lads very well (talked to Gavin once last year in Vegas, and John a couple of times in the Fitz), but all the same it is nice to see local lads doing well. Also, a mention to honourary Paddy, Lawrence Cowsar who came close in the $1500 PLO event, coming 20th when a big score was so close. Pair the board dammit!!!!!

OK, that's it from me for now, hopefully I will come back from Vegas in one piece to update this again.......

50th Post

2008-05-12T14:46:00.002+01:00

I noticed as I was starting this, that I had 49 previous posts. Not that I am going to do a review of the last 25 months of my blog or anything, that would be just pointless.

I am getting suspicious of this poker lark now tbh. Something terrible is waiting around the corner for me. don't get me wrong, I still have losing nights, such as last night when I did 700 in the 2/5 Omaha in the Fitz. It wasn't that mad a game really, I've played madder 1/2 games tbh, but still didn't get the luck I needed in the game. Was up 400 at one stage, then got 3 outered for a 750+ pot and it kept going down from there.

However, that is a relatively rare blackspot the last while. I split the Fitz EOM for 3k, got 2k from the cash league in the Fitz, won a ticket for the 500 tourney in June, and had my biggest ever nightly cash win last Saturday night (1800). I played several of the events at JP's festival on the bank holiday weekend as well with absolutely no success. There was the usual mixed standard in both players and dealers (some of whom made me want to scream at them), but overall it was a very well run festival from what I saw and I am delighted that there were decent numbers in (most) events, as JP/Christine are lovely people from my experiences.

What is coming up for me? WEll in the next couple of months I have a few things in particular that I hope prove fruitful.

1. Fitz 500 on June 7th. Won a ticket for this. Probably not a huge number of runners, but I would hope for a good showing in this.
2. Waterford Festival, June 13-15. Playing the main event in this (550) in Tramore, and I believe there will be approx 200 entries in this, so a nice touch would prove very fruitful. Again, the standard will quite likely be very mixed, but I am looking forward to this as I hear Neill Kelly runs a good show although I have never played one of his events before.
3. Vegas, 21/6 - 5/7. Looking forward to this. Flying Dub - LA - Vegas and reverse on the way back. This is the same route I went last year and it was grand. I'm looking forward to this now, as I haven't had a real break from work (except Christmas which is stressful enough anyways) since Vegas last year, so I need some time off. I haven't even had a sick day in 16 months. I'm not 100% what I am going to play over there, but I intend to be a bit more adventurous than last year.

Last year in Vegas I was running and playing terribly coming up to it for a few months, as opposed to when I booked it. This year it is the other way around. When I booked it I was starting to run and play well, but coming off a long downswing. It has sustained itself since and by my standards have made a very healthy profit so far this year. Unless I get some large stroke of fortune and win something like the Waterford Open etc, I am never going to have a stellar year, but if the yearly average win out at current trends then I will be extremely happy with my lot in poker. That is getting a bit carried away though at this point. There are lots of potential positives, but plenty of possible pitfalls as well.

Ok, for the laugh, here is an ultra quick review of my 4 and a bit poker playing years so far.

Year 1 - Learning. Didn't keep any records. Almost certainly lost, not that much though as I was very careful about it.
Year 2 - Started keeping records halfway into this year. I think I broke even on the year. My records show profit, but I know I lost in the months before. Stakes starting to get bigger.
Year 3 - I thought this was my breakthrough year. 5 figure profit, first big tourney, first TV appearance. Things can only get better surely.
Year 4 - *BANG, *CRASH*, *WALLOP*, *KABLAMMO*. Batman didn't take as much of a hammering as my confidence, ego and results took. Not a disastrous year financially, but nearly every month was a losing one. Wiped out previous years profit. What happened? Did manage to play in the Irish Open though which was a goal of mine.
Year 5 - So far so good. Cash in the Irish Open, final tabled 50% of the tournies I have played, won or split 25% of them so far including sats for tickets. Slightly down in cash, but not that much. Regained all my previous years losses and some more on top. So far.

That is me for now.

Caio

Random Post

2008-04-21T14:04:00.003+01:00

I have feck all specific to write about, so I'll just see where this goes.

I hate work.

Not much has happened me pokerwise in the last while so not much point talking about it really.

I hate work.

I booked my flights to Vegas for the summer last week though. I think the pain of sitting here in work drove me to do it as otherwise I would have no holiday plans until September, with my last trip away being last July to Vegas as well. I'm fairly sure that last year I said iw ouldn't bother going this year unless I won a main event seat, but typically I did a full 360 turnaround, going over now, but not being there to play the main event even in the unlikely circumstances that I won a ticket. I doubt I will even play a satellite though, so that is an unlikely outcome.

I hate work.

Instead I plan on playing some smaller events in the Venetian, cash games, and possibly a $2k event in the WSOP, finances permitting, but that is certainly not a priority. Other things I plan on doing when there include Buying plenty of discounted stuff since it is just so cheap, and getting drunk several times. I was planning on pushing the boat out and staying in the Venetian for my trip, but then rethought it and I am now thinking more about staying somewhere like "Bills Gamblin' Hall and Saloon". The name alone is great. It is cheap, gets good reviews on trip advisor, and is damn central, being across the road from Ceasers and Ballys, and next door to the Flamingo.

I hate work.

The subtle them of this seems to be developing into the fact that I am not overenamoured by my job currently. The fact that I am consistent loser in my 8 entered draws per year in the lotto is not helping me gain an escape route, and I believe I am way too cynical towards all the bullshit and rubbish that goes on in these places to think that a change of job (but in the same area) would help me get my work mojo back, if indeed I was ever in possession of said mojo in the first place. The natural escape route for someone of my persuasion might be to see if I can make enough money playing online to escape, but even if I was able to I would be fairly reluctant to do more than take a 6-12 month career break to restore my sanity. However, the fact that I cannot motivate myself to play online to get a bankroll to play at stakes that would be meaningful enough to hurt/reward says that it is 100% fiction to think I will ever be an online 'pro'. For this to happen I would need a couple of years consistency at decent stakes with decent winnings, but that isn't likely.

I hate work.

Ideally I would be able to change career to something less soul destroying but there are a couple of holes in that theory such as (1) I don't want to take a drop in pay that would accompany a career change. (2) I don't want to retrain. (3) I can't think of anything that I would like to change to realistically. I think I may be stuck where I am.

I hate work.

On a different note, bug week in sport coming up now with the Champions league and the Heineken cup semi finals over the next week and a bit. Liverpool, Barcelona and Munster are the teams I will be actively cheering for, with obviously Liverpool being foremost among them. Hopefully they can see of Chelsea, but it will be far from easy. This year for some reason, there seems to be more expectation on Liverpool to actually beat Chelsea, whereas the last two times they played them in this competition Chelsea were healthy favourites. I really hope that Liverpool keep a clean sheet in the first leg. My ideal scenario involves 3 Chelsea red cards and a 5-0 win for Liverpool in the first leg, but I'm sure I'd be only too delighted with a 2-0 home win in the first leg and 1-1 away from home. I doubt it will be easy though and could go either way. Ok, I got interrupted here so lost my stream of whatever thought may have existing, although I'm not sure any coherent sentences were contained in this post at all.

Oh, I nearly forgot. I hate work.

That is all.

Irish Open mostly

2008-04-02T15:21:00.002+01:00

I decided to play the second start day at the Irish Open for a few reasons, none of which are really interesting enough to put in print, but that was indeed the day I started. We kicked off knowing there was a big overlay of around €200k, so that was a bit of a boost to start with. My start table was badly designed for me, with two of the most competent players at it directly to my left, including Derek Murray who amassed a big stack early through some nice presents. I also had Thomas Dunwoody, the guy who finished 3rd at my start table as well.

It started off quite well, and within 30 mins I had my 10k stack up to 11.5k, and would have been over 13k had my KJ on a flop of KKJ not lost to A6, and my AQ not lost to 9T (of Dunwoody) when I raised preflop, checked behind on a flop of J96 turned an A and bet it to get called, and checked behind on a river T. After that I was stuck near starting stack for an age. In the first level or two I got AQ about 4 times, JJ about 3 times and TT, 99 a couple of times as well, and I got AK once in this time. The last couple of hours at this table were very card dead, and then I got a bad beat by being moved to one of the later eating tables instead of the early eating tables - I was starved.

Our table got broke just before lunch as I mentioned above, with no real drama involving me, and my new table looked an altogether tougher proposition. I recognised a few faces at it, Namir from the Fitz, Paul Leckey, Runit Somiaya and Fran Egan was there as well. Not long afterwards, Julian Thew got moved there as well, as did Sylvester Geoghgan (sp?). I was extremeyl card dead here as well (a theme throughout) and I doubt I showed down more than a couple of checked BB or SB hands before my brief burst of action. I was staying just below average most of the time and in no real rush as blinds were still low. I raised with 88 on this occasion to 1900 (300/600/50), and the BB pushed for just under 6k. Getting just over 2/1, and sick of folding, I made a reluctant call and was shown QQ. No miracle and I was down to just over 8k. Next hand I make the same opening raise with 99 this time, and get reraised by Rumit Somiaya. At this point I am certainly not laying it down and it's either double up or bust, being in the last level of the day. I won a race against AQ and got back to average nearly.

Then I stole a few k in a battle of the blinds. On a 984 flop, holding 95 I bet out 1000 and got raised to 2600 (I think). I call. Turn comes an 8, and despite it being a fairly risky strategy, I think this is a good card for me so I bet 4k, knowing this guy is a reasonable player and shouldn't make a call without an 8 (or better), and I had 10k behind in case of a disaster push from him which I couldn't call. He folded saying he had J9, and I duly told him I had K9, so nh etc etc. I ended up the day within touching distance of average and was delighted with the end of days play as I had manufactured a reasonable stack from no cards and very little showdown poker, which I couldn't play as I had no cards to do so with. It was incredible how bad the cards were, and surely couldn't be that bad on day two I told myself.

So I thought!!!! My redraw had Glen McCabe (northern guy, good player) and Neil Channing (eventual winner) directly to my left. Also at the table was the well dressed Norwegian who was one of the chip leaders after day 1 with 90k. I started off patiently, bleeding blinds and then I stole a couple of blinds, careful never to go after the same blinds too often (this is something I am paranoid about as I know it irks me when it happens to me until I play back). I definitely did not want to get played back at with the cards I had. A couple of moves went wrong and suddenly I was down to 10000 ish with blinds at 500/100 and about to go up. I played a few hands differently, seeing flops out of position, and stop and going when uncoordinated flops came up, and also by stealing a bit more, and by the time this table broke 30 mins later, I was up to 30k without showing down a hand.

My new table was a lot more unfamiliar to me in terms of faces, but there were aggressive young American players either side of me. I was quite active at this table getting some reasonable raising hands in position, but between one thing and another lost 6k in the first 30 mins or so there when this happened. Early position raise to 4500 (800/1500/100). This guy had lost the last pot after being bluffed out of it, and he also wore a PPP qualifier shirt and seemed unfamiliar with a poker table. this combination, allied to the fact that we now had a similar number of chips, led me to push for 24kish with AQ from the SB. 24k was an awkward stack size there as I couldn't raise without committing more than half my stack, plus I would have been happy taking it there. Surpisingly though, after a think, he called with AJ and when no miracle happened I had doubled up to 51k (almost average again which was 53k). Happy days. A while later I am back to around 35k after a few misadventures, when the TD comes over and says next BB, moving to the TV table, and lo and behold, who should that be but myself.

After about a 15 minute delay for form filling, getting mic'ed up, and waiting til a break in play, I got to sit down. There were a few familiar faces there in Smurph, Padraig Parkinson and Conor Tait, and most of the table besides a short stack Smurph, had me covered. I get a raise with 88 UTG through, and then Padraig sweats me down after I reraise his raise from the button. He thinks for ages, asks how much I have left, counts out a raise, talks some more, then eventually folds. He had 72o I saw later. Tbh, although I wanted him to fold, it was hardly the most nerve wracking experience of my life - I am used to being given the big think at poker tables at this point. My defining point at this table though was when I called an all in for half my stack with AQ, only for Conor Tait to think and fold showing 99. The flop came A94 and would have killed me stone dead, but as it was I knocked out shortie with QT, so happy days. After this point things went wrong for me. Here is an update I put on boards at the time, which also includes some issues I had away from cards.

============================================================
Oh god I'm drained. 16 hours of poker, and I have not seen AA, KK or QQ, and AK only once. I was down to 11k at one point, got it up to 30k without a showdown (would have been behind if called nearly every time). I am so card dead it is siiiick, but still in (just).

I got AQ a few times today (as you may have seen) and doubled up and knocked someone out with it. I was up to near 90k with the average at 65k or so, but the blinds were 2k/4k at that stage. I got a few raises snapped off and the blinds took their toll.

Lol, 13.5k left with blinds at 4/8/1k tomorrow. Two all in wins needed to be respectable. Turning into an awful crapshoot though. I have a couple of complaints. Firstly, we were playing 6 handed on the feature table for about 20 mins despite repeated requests for players, we were playing 7 handed most of the rest of the time, and I was there for over 2 hours (including nearly an hour after they stopped filming). Play was stopped several times, once for well over 5 mins, clock running all the time. On the bubble they were playing hand for hand on 9 tables, but the clock was still running. It took 20 mins for 2 hands to be played at one point when I think the clock should be stopped, and the blinds went up during this point. We were ready to go at 2k/4k (I was sb) with 3 mins left in the level, but didn't start until 3 mins into the next level when we had to put in the extra for the new level and ante.

This is the worst bit. At one point during this delay I stood up and moved about 3 feet from my table, no action at surrounding tables, all waiting. I was told by one of the staff (blonde woman with no sense of humour at all I learned a few times over the weekend) to sit in my seat or I would get a time penalty. I asked was she serious and she said "that's the rules".

All in all though, considering the cards I got, and the fact that I escaped the noose at the feature table when Conor Tate laid down 99, I am delighted. I am the shortest of the shortstacks left I'd imagine.Also, heard some of Ciaran O'Learys commentary. I won't comment any further.
===============================================================

I had made the money, and considering I was in for €205 in total including tip at the satellite, I was at least making a decent return on my money. At the end of play I was the shortest stack left, partially due to a brain freeze trying to move up the money ladder at that point (I was tired, etc etc), but I don't want to go into details really.

Day 3 lasted all of one hand when my J2 was no match for Surindar Sunar's AJ. Ah well, €6500 was better than a kick in the teeth, but I didn't want to only limp into the prize money. Sadly though, I didn't really get a spot with the rubbish I was getting dealt. In theory I could have won with rubbish at some point in a lucky double up, but no point thinking about that now. I never got a spot to put my money in good or push in a reasonable spot, so that is that.

Aside from the Irish Open, I played in the €500+50 game in the SE the day I got knocked out of the IO, but it was a bad idea. I didn't play terribly, but I certainly was not in the right frame of mind to play my best and it didn't go particularly well.

Cash games are going ok for me recently after a terrible start to the year in them, and I am nearly back to even for the year in them, so allied with a healty profit from tournies, this year is a hell of a lot rosier so far than last year was.

Online is kind of in a stopped state for me now, despite me getting my online bankroll to a new level (for me, but still severly underrolled for the games I play). If I do get a bit of conviction to do this and it keeps running as well as it has for the last 3k hands, then it wouldn't be long before I was rolled properly for it. Considering how much work depresses me, and how much I hate getting up early in the mornings (although most people consider my rising time as late), you would think I might put a bit more effort into online poker.

However, there is a large part of me that would not like to play online poker for a living either, despite the fact that I have in no way ever proved I would be able to. In theory it is a brilliant idea, but in reality I tihnk I might be unsuited to it, as I like live play far too much. Ideally what I would have loved was a bigger score in the IO and take 3 or 6 months off work to do some travel, and some relaxation and destress from work, but sadly I fell about 20k short of the target I needed to follow through on that.

I'll keep plugging away though I'm sure, there are always more opportunities around the corner.

That't my lot for now, good luck.

Pre Irish Open Update

2008-03-20T15:54:00.002Z

This is a quick gap update to fill in between my last update and my Irish Open tales. I haven't played that much relative to my normal schedule, truth be told, but it has been a quite profitable few weeks.

A couple of days after my last update I played in the Sporting Emporium €220 game, fresh from my ticket success in the same venue. There were 49 runners, and I got off to a great start with a couple of big hands that had me one of the chip leaders early on. After the first break though I stayed practically level for an age though after a card dead spell, and only when I got moved to balance the tables at 6 and 6 did things pick up for me. The pivotal pot probably was a bluff that I got through against an aggressive players, although he played this hand less aggressively that I expected upon hearing what he said his holding was afterwards.

I raise UTG, UTG+1 calls, all else folds. I have ATo. Flop is QJxr, and I lead out. Called instantly. Turn is a blank and I shove for a pot size bet. A big dwell up has me worried, but as he is counting his chips I am aware that a call would cripple him at this point if he lost. He eventually folded. I showed, he said he had KQ (didn't show) and tbh this surprised me that he folded, although as far as he was concerned, I had been playing quite tight throughout, so that probably coloured his decision somewhat.

A couple of hands later I get QQ and get it all in against Oz and his AK. My QQ holds up and I double up. then I knock Oz out a couple of hands later with QQ again against his Q7. Some rush and I was clear chip leader. The final table started and it was an interesting one with Liam Flood in fine flow. I never really lost any chips at the final table, and slowly amassed more. I must say though that I was certainly getting better than average cards whch at this point in the game is always a plus. I can't really be arsed to bore either myself or anyone else with more details, but eventually I split it with another guy for just under 3k each after the tip. I should really have played on since I am failry sure I would have won (as sure as you can be in poker really, which is not very) but for several reasons I didn't.

Cash games have been up and down again, but I seem to have stopped bleeding money, which is nice, and I even had one excellent night (1230 profit). My biggest hand that night was 6678ds, fiver preflop. Flcop comes 459 with 2 spades (I had spades). I just called a bet of 20 along with another player. Turn comes a magical 6. Bet of 75, fold, then I make it 300, called. River is a 4. Checked to me, and I shove for 375 more. Once he thinks for more than 2 seconds I know I am good and will him to call, which he does after about 3 minutes of thinking, and my house was good. Why don't pots like those come along more often? Usually I am the one on the other side it seems. Ah well. Things are ok at the moment, so I won't ruin it by complaining too much.

Anyways, the Irish Open started today, and I play on day 1B tomorrow. Numbers are certainly not as was hoped. Only 316 players turned up for day 1A, and 400 need to play tomorrow to exceed the guarantee, although I am sure they will as second days usually get bigger numbers. A second supersatellite has been announced for tonight as well, which is unusual and shows how desperate they really are to get the numbers in. I went out last night for a look, and the room looked very well, kind of like a 1/4 model of the WSOP room. I probably won't go out tonight again though, I might just prepare by playing some Omaha in the Fitz, we'll see. One way or another, I am looking forward to it, so I hope it isn't a huge anticlimax that ends with me getting shafted, or blinded out. Any other exit type and it will be fine. Either way I am nearly on a freeroll to it anyhow so I'm going to give it my best shot. I feel I am on a good run of form and confidence, so let's see how the luck holds in a big one.

I really hope local players I know and like do well in this, and if I don't win it (gotta be optimistic) then I hope some local does.

Yay Me!!!!

2008-02-27T15:07:00.002Z

OK, let's get the downbeat stuff out of the way first.

Since my last update I have lost every cash session and got raped in the process. How many 2 outers must a man endure in big pots? Also, I had the chip lead in the Fitz 125 FO but donked it away stupidly to finish 7th. This is the type of thing I have been trying to get rid of from my game. Losing chips on a bluff is one thing, but bad play that causes me to lose chips is another. I still managed another final table though although only 24 runners. Good tourney though.

On to the good news which I'm sure most of my few visitors are already aware of - I have won my ticket to the Irish Open in Citywest on Easter weekend. I went to the Sporting Emporium (and had the usual frustration trying to park remotely close to it, grrrr) where they had a €150+15 with 1 rebuy or topup for €150. I expected a good few runners to turn up, but in the end 130 had paid in to this with 112 of them either rebuying or topping up, to generate 8 tickets. A lot of work to get through it seemed.

The night started badly for me. I only recognised a few of my starting table, not that it mattered, with the chief to my right. I yoyoed a lot with my first lot of chips when I shoved for 2975 after a limper at 100/200 and a raise to 600. The limper instashipped for just less than I had, and the raiser called after a think. I had AKo, raiser has JJ, limp/shover had 5c3c. Genius. 3 on the flop, and 3 on the river sealed that deal. Made no difference to me as i was behind to JJ anyhow, but JJ man was not happy. Standard in general with one or 2 exceptions was terrible. Rebuy just before the break it is then!

After the break I got a nice donation when I raised with KQ suited, got called by one of the blinds. Flop K85r, check I bet 1k, call. Turn is a T, check, I go all in for my last 2k, he calls and tables J5o. WTF? No help for him and I double up. Then I get 55 UTG, make a bit of a mess of the hand I think, but I do one thing right when I make a call of an allin on the turn on a 7664 board with 55 which is good against KTo who had raised preflop and bet flop and turn. I am not particularly happy with my play in the hand, but I made the right call in the end anyhow. I lose a few chips before this happens........

Table breaks and I am moved to a table with a hyper aggressive guy and a few randomers and Vera. I got a near double up from hyper aggressive guy when I call one of his frequent preflop overraises, and check flop and turn hoping he will commit himself as I have enough of it to be confident I am well ahead a lot against him and know he won't resist a double check. He bets 4k on turn into a 7k pot, I go all in for 8k and he folds quickly. Not much drama for a while before the SB to my BB loses a few chips and has been quite active at the table. There is one limper for 1200 and SB shoves into my BB for just over 12k. The original limper has about 16k or so and is a poor player, and I have about 32k at this stage. I look down at ATo and think the SB's range here is big enough to justify getting involved. I call and the limper folds after a think (said he had J9). SB tables AK and it is an oops for me, but a T99xx board sees me get lucky. I still think it was a standard enough call really, but he did get unlucky.

I was not getting much cards to play with so any time I entered a pot and met with resistance or a reraise I generally lost chips on. I was dwindling from my comfortable position however and blinds were starting to bite. I'm not sure an awful lot of drama outside the standard happened me for quite a while, and real cards were a rarity. I was getting a lot of A rag hands, but almost always UTG or after a raise, so hard to play and I decided to bide my time. After a while it looked like my time had come when I got AsJs and shoved for 35k (3k/6k) but the BB looked at his cards and uttered 'Ah sure I guess I might as well' this made me fell that I was well ahead when he pushed for about 20k total, but was a bit puzzled and annoyed (by the fact that I was dominated) when he tabled AKo. Not to worry, a nice J on the turn came to the rescue, and I was beginning to see how easy this dogging thing actually was, no wonder so many other poeple are at it constantly!!!! Hard luck sir.

At this point we were down to about 12 or so and it was very nervy with 1 big stack on each table and the rest floating between medium and tiny. I was towards the smaller end of that scale sadly until the following happened when we were 5 handed (4k/8k). Pat Storan pushed for 60k, and I looked down at KK. As soon as I saw them I immediately thought, this is it, I am going to go out on a real hand, a bad beat story for my blog. Woe is me. After I had finished scorching the felt and waiting for Eshan to decide if he would put some of his multitude of chips into the pot blind, then deciding not to, I turned my KK over, to be greeted by AK. Every card kept appearing to be an A on the flop, turn and river, but thankfully, none of them were and I had doubled up to over 100k. Phew. I felt sorry for Pat to run into a cooler like that at such a critical time 2 away from the tickets, but delighted for myself for doubling up. Pat never got going again and went out a couple of hands later so we formed a final table of 9 with 1 unlucky soul going away with nothing and 8 happy punters.

It only lasted a couple of hands, and at 5.40am we were finally done and I had got my ticket at the 3rd time of asking

1st time - Spent €210, returns €180
2nd time - Spent €210, returns €500
3rd time - Spent €315, returns ticket

So if you include the €150 tip I left (I had to borrow cash for that even), I got my ticket for €205. Not too shabby. I won't be playing another one of those this year despite the fact that I have a good record in them, especially in the Emporium where I have qualified for 3 major tourneys from 4 (maybe 5) attempts.

I told Alex to submit me for day 1B as I probably would not be able to get the Thursday off work due to ongoing crap that bores me, so I am certainly not going to enlighten anyone else that doesn't need to know about it. I am looking forward to this now, and hoping for a few breaks along the way as I know that if a few things go my way I am capable of going deep in this. I am not really the 4 bet bluff soul reading type player that garners a lot of attention, but I have enough to my game, despite several shortcomings (including not being able to pull of the 4 bet bluff soul reading moves), to look forward to this with hope.

Now to win the Fitz end of month, CHL's end of month and the SE start of month in the next few days. Now that would be a story, and I'd love for you to be reading about it, but holding ones breath might involve a very long wait. I'm not greedy, winning one will do me :)

For now, adios.

Tourneys.........

2008-02-16T15:42:00.002Z

Since my last post I have played 7 tournies. Nothing unusual there you might say, I am a poker player after all, but I will provide a brief synopsis for you on them. All of these were played in the Fitz

Tourney 1: €125 Freeze out.
Only 16 runners for this, the first running of this event. However I get an early double up when I raise KQs, and take a free turn card which hits my middle pin for the straight against a flopped set. From there on I was consistent but by the time I got to heads up I was outchipped by 5-1. However, there was still plenty of play left in this tourney, and 90 minuntes later I emerged victorous after a swinging battle which saw me draw level, then go 10-1 up, then go back to behind again, then finally win it. Very enjoyable.

Tourney 2: IO sat, €110, with 1 rebuy or topup.
29 runners in this, 1 ticket and some cash for next two, but eventually 3rd and 4th got 180 each instead of 360 for 3rd, just to get money back. I had an early rebuy in thhis, but then played a good game to get to a tough final table. The final 5 were myself, Denis Reyes, Ronan Ryan, Paul Cryan and Thomas "Bomber" Nolan. It was a very tough lineup aand I never really got to where I wanted to be with this and finished 4th. Ah well, mney back sort of.

Tourney 3: League final, freeroll.
This is a bit of a crapshoot with the structure in place, but I started with plenty of chips. Never got going really sadly and exited around 4 from the money for the second time in a row in this. Ah well.

Tourney 4: Monday Freezeout, €80.
35 runners or so, and a very enjoyable game. I got lucky once when I called a preflop raise with QJ from the button. It was checked to me on a flop of Kxx and I shoved. I was well goosed when called by KT, or so I though, but a T on the turn and an A on the river saw broadway materialise from nowhere. Then I cruised to the final table where I made a big/marginal/bad play 4 handed when I shoved all in after a raise and a smaller allin with AQ, and the original raiser shoved after a big think. I was up against KK and TT, and lost both pots to be down to 4k utg with blinds of 1500/3k. I doubled up and a bit more 3 times in 10 minutes, taking out another player in the process, so then we were 3 handed, and one of them was the guy I was headsup with in tourney 1 above, and he had a big chip lead, so some sort of deja vu developing. Sadly it didn't work out as I finally made a stand with AT and ran into the CL's JJ. gg, wp.

Tourney 5: Tuesday €55 DC.
65 runners in this and the usual poor standard. I received a few nice donations and was comfortable until I tangled with a very aggerssive Dutch player who was just to my right the entire tournament. He raised for the umpteenth time (to 8k) and I shoved over the top for 34k with AQ. He instacalled with KK, and oops. Maybe I should have played it differently, but I have seen him make big calls with less than premium hands, so maye it wasn't that bad a play. Hindsight is great it seems. I finished 12th in this when another FT seemed inevitable.

Tourney 6: IO sat, €110 with 1 rebuy or topup.
Same structure as the above one, but 37 runners for this with 1 ticket and 2k in cash spread 2nd - 4th. I played some good stuff in this tournament I thought, and there were some very aggressive players at my table all night so patience and picking spots paid off a few times, and I was comfortable in this all night pretty much with an excellent, almost too good for Thursday night, structure. Got to the final table of this again at 1.30 and there were a couple of good players, a couple of bad aggressive players, a couple of poor players, and one or 2 that I didn't know much about. There was a good bit of cagey play in this as there was still loads of play left. After a while though we were down to 4 again with one good, one bad, and one aggressively bad player left with me. the aggressive player eventually committed hari kari, and we were down to three. I was second in chips at this point, and a couple fo key ahnds happened against the bad shortstack. I get QQ in the small blind, and after the button folds I call only. The BB has only 33k left after an 8k BB. Flop comes JcJd5c, and I check again hoping he will shove, and he duly does. I call quickly and he turns Tc6c for the flush draw. no messing about and both turn and river are clubs, and I have none. Damn. Five minutes later I raise from the button to 22k with Kh6s. SB calls, and BB folds after a big think. Flop comes Ks8h7h. SB checks and I shove for more than he has. He thinks and calls with Jd9d. WTF? The inevitable T for the middle pin only out fell on the river. Next hand I have 1/4 of my stack in on the BB so I get the rest in and lose. FFS. Ticket there for the taking and I get done twice to got out 3rd for €500 at 5.30 am and work in the morning. I was so gutted.

Tourney 7: €60 with 1 rebuy for €50. Scalps.
I decided to get back on the horse and play another tourney straight away as cash games were very up and down for me with no consistency. I used all my patience in this game and once I got a couple of double ups from an aggressive player I was flying. I got to the final table with no real drama, and was about 5thin chips with a big chip leader, Dave Finnegan. I mad one 'leave my blinds alone' play with A4o which I checked , but bet a flop of 833. Button, who had limped, minraised to 6k. I instantly shoved when it got back to me, and he folded after a think. I showed (a rarity) and he quieted down a bit after that it seemed, but considering that everyone else at the table (bar one) fell to Daves monster stack within half an hour, it was hard to tell anything really. I got headsup somehow with 31k vs around 350k, so slightly outchipped. Dave seemed reluctant to double me up so it was cagey for a few minutes but then I did double up. I snapped off a few raises and bet flops a few times, and then got up to around 100k, when I got lucky to double up again with T8 vs K3 on a KT6 flop. a T on the turn sealed that deal. At this point we decided to chop it for a few reasons. It may not have been in my best interests but I was happy enough at that point with 1300 and we played a blind Omaha hand for the end of moneth ticket included in the prize. I of course won that as well, so not a bad night all in all. I only got 2 scalps though including one in the first 5 mins from someone who didn't rebuy, so a strange tourney really.

It has been an unusual run for me with some very consistent results, punctuated by some erratic cash results. I will try another couple of times to qualify for the IO, and I have no other real plans for the near future at this point, I guess I will just see what happens.

A very serious update for you there I know, but listening to commentary of the Liverpool FA cup match, it is hard to be lighthearted.

Realisation!!!!!

2008-01-12T17:48:00.000Z

I have just realised something I should have known for a long time.

Poker for me is like football for Liverpool.

Pretty bold statement you might say, but I'll explain. It is very frustrating being a Liverpool fan, but I persevere. It is very frustrating playing poker, but I persevere. False hope is another thing in common. Just when I think things are going to turn around, and this could be my year, I have a disastrous sequence of events. This is a familiar scenario to any Liverpool fan as well. I regularly play against opponents I deem to be inferior to myself in the poker department (call it false conceitedness if you will) but I consistently struggle. Liverpool are the epitomy of struggling against so called inferior opponents. I regularly struggle against opponents I deem to be fairly equal or superior to myself, and that compares similarly to Liverpools record against the Utd's, Arsenals and Chelseas of the world.

Sadly though I don't have a good European record to console myself with.

OK, enough of that. Time for a mini review of 2007.

Tournaments - terrible. In the latter part of the year I played less and less of them but overall I had a dismal record for 2007.

Cash - Mixed. I had some good days and some bad days, and had a relatively small profit in these over the year, but not near as much as I would have liked. Still not good enough.

Online - Not worth mentioning. Terrible effort to start playing regularly online and a dismal failure in terms of hands played and effort expended.

Overall I had a loss than was nearly as big as my profit for 2006 so I was very underwhelmed overall with my year pokerwise.

2008

I am not going to make any brash predictions for 2008. If I happen to qualify for any big events then great, but I am probably not going to put a huge amount of effort into qualifying as they will mostly just cost me money that would be better spent elsewhere. I intend to play very few of the regular weekly tournies around Dublin, but will hopefully play one or 2 events a month on average around the 200-300 mark. This is obviously dependent on how my cash games are running, but I hope that overall I can be less reckless than I have been in the past in certain regards. I am going to try to concentrate on playing smarter, not more often. I have also had an encouraging start to the year online, but since I am currently playing mostly 1/2 PLO underrolled, it could go pear shaped soon and pretty much kill my online interest.

The pipedream as regards online would be to keep plugging away for a few months, get to a point where I am bankrolled for 2/4 and be able to play there and withdraw any winnings above a certain level. However, since I am quite severly underrolled for the game the likelyhood of a few bad sessions, which is extremely possible, mean that it could be squashed fairly quickly. There are early encouraging early signs though. Over the first 1000 hands on my new db (yes, I know, very few) I am running at just over 28ptbb/100 at a combination of 1/2 and .50/1 on UltimateBet. If I could keep that up it would be a doddle, but somehow I can't imagine it will be anything like this over even the first 5k hands, never mind anything serious. I am also only playing about 8 or 9 hours a week at this point an 2/3 tables at a time, far from serious and dedicated as you can see, but it is a start.

If this starts to take off or fails dismally or even just peters out, I will say it here. One thing I can guarantee though is that it will be underwhelming.

Back on the horse

2007-11-21T16:17:00.000Z

OK, I nearly kept my promise. I said on Sat 10th, that I would not play til Sat 17th, and the cash league final. However, Friday 16th was payday, and while I did not need payday to have the money to play (I am not that broke yet!!!), it was a good excuse so off to the Omaha I went.

Several hours later, and including losing a €500 pot with AAJ6ss against KKT9ss all in preflop when it was obvious I had AA when the board came KKJA8 - sick - I still won €475 for the night, so not too bad.

On Saturday then, I went down for the league final at 6pm in the Fitz. The prizepool was €32k +€5k added by the club, so with only 97 qualified players, 67 turning up, and 27 paid, it promised to be a lucrative tournament since I was starting with 21,800 chips for my 218 hours.

However, the promise turned to dismay fairly quickly when the structure became obvious. This was put in place apparantly by a lot of the older crowd saying they hoped it didn't go on too late. In my opinion this is a load of bollocks, and if they didn't like a good structure they should stay at home. I am not saying it should be 45 min clock, repeated levels etc by any means, but a 25 min clock with no levelsw skipped would have sufficed, but 20 mins for the first 5 levels, with 2 levels skipped, reduced the level of play quite severly I think. At the break a few of us had a word with Denise who then changed the clock to 30 mins from then on, as opposed to playing 2 more 20 min levels. It helped a bit, but my cards did not, and losing several races later (or same difference, mid pair with 3 overs on the flop, and being shown top pair when I folded and similar) I was out in 30th, only 3 from the money.

Ah well. The Omaha cash games started off a little later, and I spun my initial €200 into €1800 for a very profitable night, and that helped alleviate the disappointment of earlier somewhat. I have played a couple of times since as well with a breakeven night and a -€300 night. So much for taking it easy!!!!

The Waterford Winter Festival was on last weekend as well and I am a bit disappointed I wasn't there, although it was totally my own decision due to running-and-playing-badedness. By all accounts it was a fantastically structured and run tournament, and I really hope to get down to the next one of these in March, just after the Irish Open.

Also, the SE has their €1k event this coming weekend, but unfortunately I will be away. Otherwise I would definitely have played a Satellite or two for this, but sadly, there is not much point as I won't be around to play it. I haven't been to the SE in a while, as I am playing less tournaments than I have done, but I must not leave it too long before the next time.

That's all the non intrigue I have for you this time. Another update will be along no sooner than a week, and no later than 3 months.

Quick Edit: Those of you with eyes at least mouse sharp will have noticed that I have chnged my template and finally added a few links. I intend to find where that mysterious new burst of energy came from, but given the fact that it soon disappeared, I may have a problem locating the energy to perform this investigation. Not quite a catch 22, but it is at leat a catch 18 difficulty. Hmmm, ah well.

Oh, I also got my DVR station for my new toy, my Archos 605, so I must go an play with that. I also got a 500GB external hard drive delivered to me as well. Yes, I am a bit of a geek really, what of it? You got a problem with that, punk?

Another Moan

2007-11-11T04:05:00.000Z

Right, I am now officially sick of poker. I am not going to trouble my 5 occasional visitors with bad beat stories or I'll get a new nickname.

This year has been by far my most difficult in poker. The last 12 months has been a constant downswing with only a couple of bright spots in between. Everything I think I know about poker seems to fly in the face of what I constantly see at tables nowadays and to be honest it is really breaking my spirit. I enjoy the banter, competition and thinking that is involved in the game but it is years like this that make me realise what a hard way it is to make a few bucks. I have been playing well in patches, but overall I would rate my play as worse in tourneys especially than last year, although that may be results based thinking.

For the next couple of weeks at least I will be taking it easy pokerwise. I have a few external expenses as well so that doesn't help. Until I have a result of sorts though I will try to be strict enough about how much of my salary I 'invest' in poker. I will still be playing now and then, I am far too ill not to, but apart from the Fitz league final on Nov 17th, where I will start with around a 22k stack (in the top 15 I must admit), I have no plans to play, although I might cave in and play the 100 FO in CHL's on Friday (payday coincidentally).

I even turned down an offer to be sponsored into the 300 Omaha event in the Fitz on Monday, but as I said "I couldn't do that you you". I am generally an amiable, happy enough person who enjoys a good moan (somewhat paradoxically), but this is stretching me in a poker sense. I think a while playing less might do me good. On the upside, I might bother to play a bit more online which I have been neglecting even more than usual despite good intentions.

Ah well. As the chief would say, "That's poker".

More random things

2007-08-13T15:06:00.000+01:00

Since my last update there hasn't been a lot of action of note. I was in Vegas the last time I updated so I might as well update the rest of that.

As far as poker went, I played a $500+40 game at the Wynn on the Friday before I left, and it was a very good structure at the start, but once they decided to skip a couple of levels in the mid portion, it became quite crapshooty and despite a triple up at one stage, circumstances conspired to leave me trying to create a stack aggressively rather than being able to play a more patient game. Obviously this didn't work a treat and I finished 21st from 69 runners. I played a few more cash sessions before I left as well in Bally's and finished with a few winning sessions. The last one there was truly remarkable for the presence of one Romanian guy who dropped about $2500 in about 90 mins, and this in a capped game where he bought in for either $200 or $300 each time. I managed to get his stack one of those times, but I wasn't really prepared for his maniacal style so probably didn't get as much value as I should have out of him.

I went shopping as well the last day before I came home and it was really cheap. I am not one for shopping as those of you that know me might have guessed, but I managed to get loads of good stuff for feck all, including a new bag to carry the overflow in.

Back on the wet sod again and hopes were raised with a €1k profit in my first cash session back in the Fitz. Happy days. Overall since then things have been going better, although there were the few inevitable setbacks in there. The last few days though have provided the first time this year I have had 4 winning sessions in a row, and one of them from a hole so that was more satisfying almost. I was even playing the Holdem cash game in the Fitz last night as there was no €50 Omaha game. I know that I knew the standard was horrific in there, but last night was a real eye opener for me. An example of a hand like this is where someone limps for 2 and then calls a second raise to €55 preflop of an all in, and shoves all in for 120 or so on a flop of KJ5 (2 clubs). Turn and river were both Q's including the Q clubs. The all in preflop guy turns over AQ, and the other guy who went all in on the flop? 42c naturally to take it down, down to Chinatown. I admit I caught a few decent hands, but I did get dogged as well as few times. I made €500 profit for about 4 hours play, and this was playing pretty much rock like. I don't know if there is enough there to convince me to play more HE cash games, but you never know. One of the main things stopping me from doing this is the presence of a few particularly annoying people at the tables.

One option to get around this might be to play more in the new casino about to open in the premises of the former Merrion Casino. This is to be called 'Cool Hand Lukes' and the poker side is to be run by Luke Ivory, formerly of the Fitz. It is opening this Friday and looks to have a good tournie schedule, but with a couple of issues that I won't go into here. I will head along on Friday to the opening anyhow, and there should be a big crowd there with plenty of familiar faces from among the staff and customers with at least 9 of the dealers from the Fitz leaving to work in there, and that's only the ones that I know of. I will definitely still frequent the Fitz as well though, and I suppose the balance of custom will ultimately decide where I play the majority of my cash games. The Fitz have a cash league running now since the start of August until the end of September. If you get more than 30 hours accumulated you qualify for the tourney in October sometime with a guaranteed prizepool of €25k. I think I have about 26 hours accumulated already, so at this rate I will have a good starting stack, but sure we'll see.

On another note I have recently been watching Heroes a few episodes at a time and I am at episode 16 now I think, so I'll be finished in a few days. It is a good, compulsive viewing type series. It is obviosuly a bit fantastical, but there are a few good subtle humour moments in it as well, such as the time Goerge Takei (Sulu from the original Star Trek) appears in one episode and drives off in a car with a licence plate of NCC 1701. Yes, I am a nerd, so what. You wanna fight?

I am also trying to decide when I will take a few sickies from work. It will have to be well timed I reckon, as I have no days off to play with before the end of the year. My current thinking is 10-12 Sep, but the last time I planned to take a sickie I got sick, so maybe justice was served. Also, I am a notorious bottler when it comes to taking sickies, and just get up defeated by life and grumble my way through work.

Aaaanyways, back to poker. There are a few things coming up in the next few months, but I am not sure how many of them I will play. I am a bit hacked off by tournament poker lately. There is a mini festival coming up in the SE in a few weeks time, and the main event is a €500 game. I would like to play in this, but I am not forking out €500 quid for it the way I am playing in tournies at the minute. I will play some sats for it though, and might even start tomorrow night when there is a €50 with 1 rebuy game on for it. We'll see. Also in the pipeline is Big Slicks Winter festival. The main event in this is a €500 game with a tasty structure, but again it is one I am unlikely to play in, although of the events slated for the rest of the year in that price bracket, it seems to have the best structure.

The Fitz have also released details on their website of their 17 day festival in November. The timings and some of the events in total don't make sense to me. For example, the main event in this is a €1500 event. However, some genius decided this should take place on a Monday-Wednesday with start times of 6pm, 6pm and 4pm. This is not exactly conducive to local players who want to take part in this. Also, there is a seniors event, a ladies event, and a media event. WTF? I don't know who did up this schedule, but it is a tad ambitious I think, as well as poorly planned, and not just because of the main event issue above. Hopefully there will be change before then. As part of this as well, the World Faceup Holdem Championship takes place. It is an interesting concept I think, but will probably result in lots of coinflips and allins preflop. It will be a bit of fun but at €100 with 1 rebuy it is not something to have no regard for.

Good luck for now.

Vegas Part 1

2007-07-12T11:38:00.000+01:00

OK, Ive been in Vegas for around 9-10 days now so time for an update. I have been playing mostly 1/2 in Bally's where I am staying but have ventured to Ceasers for the 1/3 and played a couple of the 550 supersats for the main event.

After a dodgy first days play that culminated in getting it all in on a J high flop with AA vs a flopped set of 4's things improved. I had 3 winning sessions in a row for a total of around 1100, including flopping a straight flush, and straddling for 4 another time, raising to 24 with AA when there were 6 limpers, 4 of whom called my raise. I bet 100 on a T33 board and got raised by the big tank at the table which I called to ses JJ and I hold up. So far so good.

I played 2 500+50 megasats as well, and they were crapshooty as hell. I last under 3 levels in the first one and TJ Cloutier was at my table for a time in this. In the second one I go deeper and with about 70 players left, 16 tickets the following happens. I am BB with 14k (about avg at the 500/1000/100 level) and with blinds about to go up to 800/1600/200. UTG+1 raises to 3k and it is folded back to me. This guy has just lost the hand before and seemed a bit upset about it. Irrespective of that I think it is fairly standard for me to push here with my TT and he instacalls with AQ. The final board of AA3A8 wasn't really what I was hoping for and that was my main event ambitions gone.

Since then I can't do anything right. Here is what has happened in the 3 sessions since.

1. Ballys
a. I flop a straight with A2 from the blinds. My bet was raised on the flop, and all the money goes in on the J on the turn. Of course the river is also a J and his 55 wins.
b. I raise a straddler with AQd, he calls and board comes JdJxTd. Check check. Turn 6d. He checks, I bet he raises, I call. River is another 6 and he value bets. Horrible card. I fold, he shows J.
c. I complete from SB with 44 with a few limpers and check raise a flop of A54 (2 diamonds). I get reraised by UTG and I set him in. He has limped UTG with 23 and I get no help on turn or river.

2. Ceasers - Game is playing maniacally but with a few shorties.
a. I run KK into AA. 100 gone.
b. I run set into set. 100 gone.
c. I raise call short idiots all in. He has KTo, I have 88 which doesn't hold up.
d. In a raised 3 handed pot I flop top 2 pair on an AdTd9x board. Idiot bets 15, I raise to 45, he calls. Turn is a Qx. He checks, I bet 70, he shoves for 120 whcih I call. River Qx is no help to me as he filled his gutshot on the turn. Nice hand sir. Both main maniacs have left at this point so I leave too.

3. Ballys.
a. I reraise from SB to 45 with QQ. BB shoves for 85 which I have to call and she hits an unnecessary A on the river to trip up.
b. I flop top 2 pair on a JT4 board and money goes in etc etc. He fills up his house on the turn when a 4 hits, so his J4 is good.

I am so pissed off with poker. There are a few hands I haven't played well, probably including a couple of the above, but overall I am playing ok, and considering the monkeys that populate most of the games here I am disgusted that I am down overall even taking out the sats (only about 500, but still).

I haven't played any of the tournies here though apart from the sats, but there is a good one in the Wynn from Tues-Fri which I only found out about last weekend. It is a 300+30 game with an excellent structure so I will play that Friday if I can force myself out of bed for the noon start time. There are also some okish structure ones in Ceasers that I will play before I leave as well, so hopefully I will report on them before too long.

On the non poker side there is not much to report really, and even if there was the juicy bits would be censored. The night of Mike Laceys birthdays was a good one and after a night at the Tilted Kilt, Voodoo and the Hooker Bar in the Rio, part of which was spent blatering to Andy Bloch I managed to get home for around 6.30am, so not that late, even though I did play the 10am sat the morning before so I was well tired. I haven't really ventured out much during the day as it is searingly hot. It reached 120F a couple of days I think so AC is fine with me. I had a couple of other excursions out into the night, but nothing too wild or wonderful. Also, to walk from Ballys down to the MGM, across and into NY,NY, into Bellagio, then Ceasers, down to the Frontier, across to Wynn, up to the Venetian and then back to Ballys takes a surprisingly long time. Three hours to be exact. I know it was 10.30 when I started, but it was still over 100F, so not the brightest idea I have ever had.

Thats the lot for now. One good thing I can report on is that I am getting a good bit of sleep every night, but those damn housekeeping wenches better stop annoying me, and someone stole the do not disturb sign, the bastards, so they do disturb.

Bright Light City

2007-06-25T16:23:00.000+01:00

Ok, I am off to Vegas next Monday. I went into the bank today to collect a chunk of $$$, so I have a starting allowance for there anyways and I'll see how that goes.

I am really looking forward to it. I think the change in location if nothing else will do my game the power of good to be honest. I haven't played much since the last entry here, once in the Se in a round of each tournie in which I finished 4th after playing pretty well but it dragged on and the inevitable lack of patience and extra tiredness surfaced around 3.30am. The only other time I have played live was in the Fitz scalps, and I was gone before the break in a dramatic departure from tradition there. I plaed some cash afterwards like a bit of a donkey. I should have stayed in the holdem game but it was boring me somewhat I have to admit. Ah well, never mind.

I have no real plans for what I am going to do in Vegas, I think the best plan is to wing it and see what the guys who have been out there for a while say. Chances are I will paly a supersat for the main event, and assuming failure in that, just stick to cash mostly with a few of the smaller tournies around the place thrown in, all things being equal.

Once this is over, assuming I am still alive and solvent, thoughts will turn to the rest of the year pokerwise. There will be a few festivals later in the year I would like to play, but chances are I will have to restrict myself. I will play in the Poker Ireland event which hopes to get 1000 runners, and hopefully I will be able to play in the Big Slick event in Waterford in November as well. Beyond that I have no real idea what is happening, but I assume there will be some chances to qualify for the Dublin EPT event although the buyin has increased, and I assume GJP will be holding another 1k event. I may have to rob a bank to pay for this I reckon. Then again, I rob a bank every day practically since I get paid by one every month for my daily 'contributions'.

I have played online a wee bit lately as well and have been doing ok on UB Omaha, but I don't really play often enough to see much of a tangible benefit.

On a non poker note, I have been watching the first couple of series of "My Name is Earl" recently, and have to say that I really enjoy it. I only watched the first couple of episodes on a DVD that was there for some reason because I was bored, but I found myself watching 7 or 8 episodes a sitting. I definitely recommend it to anyone who isn't familiar with it. Although my 'cousin' can be slow in getting it to me, it is worth the wait.

Anyhoo, this'll probably be my last update before I post the Disney version of my trip.

Laterzzzz

Where do we go from here????

2007-06-06T16:35:00.000+01:00

OK, some issues are distressing me somewhat.

Firstly, there is the matter of Luke Ivory parting company with the Fitz. I have no idea what happened, and I am not going to speculate about it either, beyond saying that it is not normal for someone to 'decide' to leave their job. Obviously something happened to trigger this and I am sad about this as the Fitz has been for a number of years my club of choice to go to, and one where I felt almost at home. Luke was a big part of that, and I don't think anyone can underestimate the impact of having someone as personable, likeable, and knowledgeable as the front man for your poker operations. It is a big loss for the Fitz, and I don't really know what it is going to look like in a few months without him there.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that it is extremely likely that Luke will be in another club in Dublin at some point in the near future, whether this is a new club or an existing one, and due to the nature of a good few of the old school regulars who seem nearly brand loyal, then it appears to me that their brand is Luke. This could have a big effect on the numbers attending the Fitz, and a further dilution of the alreday strained market is not really what I am hoping for.

The poker scene has developed in the last few years in Dublin, and whereas when I started playing in the Fitz, some 42 months ago, a €100 Freezeout was a big deal, and something to be aspired to almost, but not anymore. People have gotten fussier, more demanding, and expect lots from every tournament they play. If there is a new cardroom to develop out of this, then the 'more of the same' approach is not something that will be good for the game I think. Numbers have fallen off in recent times somewhat with the SE and the Jackpot competing with the Fitz as well as the pub games and home games that some people love to play. Luke is a great TD and a great guy, but from a selfish point of view I hope this doesn't make it more difficult to get a good game. Who knows what will happen to the Fitz's poker room, but I suspect that whoever is put in charge will try to keep things as they are. I hope that this does not affect the current staff too much either, as I don't really like change. One way or another I probably won't be in any time soon anyways, for reasons I will get into now.

Anyways, enough about that. I am off to Vegas on July 2nd, and I am looking forward to that, but there are a few things troubling me.

1. I have not won a seat in the main event of the WSOP.
2. I have not tried to win a seat in the main event of the WSOP.
3. I am on a terrible run lately, so my funds are somewhat dwindling.
4. I may not be able to have as much fun over there as I had hoped.

All in all though I am still going to enjoy it as much as I can, and if things are going badly over there at the start I will just have to be cleverer about it and spend my money in a more targeted fashion.

This is not a fact that I am proud of overall, but I have been keeping detailed records of my live play for 23 months. In the first 16 months I had 12 winning, and 4 losing months. In the last 7 months (including this month) they have all been losing months for me. There have still been a few high points, like qualifying for the Irish Open, and some decent cash results, but almost universally my tournament game sucks (to use an Americanism). I won't embarrass myself with any further stats, but I don't know what way to take this? Is this a downswing? Was I experiencing positive variance before and now it is evening itself out? It is a very depressing issue and one that will be keeping me out of the cardrooms for a few weeks (I might visit once, for a €50 tournie or something though). It is helping that for the next 2 weekends I have to go away, so that temptation is removed, but it won't help me overcome my problems.

Is the game changing and I am not keeping up? Is it just a prolonged spell of bad variance combined with the poorer play that goes along with such runs? I know several others on bad runs as well, and from reading blogs I know it is a common thing. Poker does seem to go on streaks to a certain extent. I do not know why this is, as cards have no memory, and there should be no reasons for clustering like this. The one issue though that does lead to this, and it is often the hardest one to spot, is how you are palying. Even a small change in your game subconsciously can affect the outcome of a couple of key hands, and this may lead to a knock in confidence, which in turn leads to more subconscious errors. However, I am really trying hard to eradicate this type of crap from my game, but it does not seem to be working. What I would like to know though, is why it rarely seems to happen to me that my AA get into a situation where I am up against KK. but the other way around seems to happen with far more regularity?

It is a conspiracy I tells ya.

I really must try though to qualify for the WSOP. What I will do I think is try to play in the Stars, and FT supersatellities where they are guaranteeing 150 and 100 seats respectively. It will be a big ask to get one of these seats as there will likely be around 7000 in the stars one, and around 2500 in the FT game, so plenty of luck and concentration will be needed. the problem with this though is that they are on the 17th of June, and earlier that evening I am coming back from a stag party in Slovakia, so I might not be in tip top shape to be honest. Hopefully I can give it a shot though, and not be lazy about it.

Roll on Vegas.

Oh My!!!

2007-05-03T14:13:00.000+01:00

Very exciting times recently, what with the drama of the Champions league and all. I have decided that I am going to have the most expensive week of my life in a few weeks.

1. Go to the Heineken cup final on May 20th. Tickets have been booked for a while so why not. I fly home on Monday, getting to Dublin at 16:45.
2. Go to the Champions league final in Athens. I have booked a package deal to go through Abbey Travel. The pain of the cost hurts, but I don't think I could justify to myself not going after not going last time. Pity it is at the far end of the continent again. Spain, France, Germany, Italy or the likes would have been much easier to access. Fly out at 04:00 on Tuesday (9 hours after landing from London), and back in Dublin at 18:00 on Thursday.
3. Playing the GJP main event in Drogheda on Friday. I have this paid for already, but may have to cancel this if things go badly at some point.

I hadn't played since last Thursday until last night. Last Thursday was a game I shouldn't really have played as I was not in the right frame of mind to be honest, but there you go. I exited early with KK vs AA, and palyed a cash game for a while, in which I had to reload, then was up money, and then left breaking exactly even. Could be worse I guess.

I am starting to fret over my finances for Vegas somewhat with the week detailed above coming in at probably over 4k when spending money is factored in, and since my year hasn't been great, so far at least, poker wise it is a bit of a stretch. Ah well, it's only money.

Adieu.

More Stuff

2007-04-26T13:31:00.000+01:00

I nearly had a very good weekend last weekend. But I didn't. It wasn't bad either, but I lost one big flip, and palyed another hand wrongly which led to me losing my €450 profit and €300 buyin in one hand in the 50 Omaha, which I really don't want to go into as I know how I played it wrongly and will learn from it. Damn you Laurence and damn me for my bad play that allowed you into the pot.

The flop I lost was in the scalps game in the Fitz on Friday, when I went out in 8th place in a pot for 1/3 of the chips in play. I had raised to 12k (2k/4k) UTG with AKs and Ronan, who covered, came over the top all in. I had 56k total, and the way this tournie was I didn't really consider folding before I called as the blinds were going up next hand to 2500/5k. Two spades on the flop gave me plenty of hope but I missed. Ah well, at least I made the final table. the cash hand from above happened about an hour later too, so double whammy. I was still only down a little over 200 for the night so not too bad.

Sunday I played in the €40 rebuy game. This hasn't been getting many numbers unfortunately, despite it being a decent enough game with plenty of chips in play, relative to other games anyways. A series of hands being cracked led to me going all in blind UTG the last hand before the break with 700 chips (50/100) which I won, and from there on I didn't look back and finished second. It was only for €500, but important for my tournie confidence, despite that game hardly being populated by world beaters.

I have also decided to play the GJP main event for €1k. I shouldn't really play this, but I have secured backers to the tune of 40%, and I also feel my game is a lot more focused and together than it has been recently, and I am looking forward to this game. I played well for the first half of day one the last time this was on, only to shit away 10k on a bluff soon after, and then find myself under a bit of pressure later, and going out on the second day with QQ vs JJ in a pot to get me back to over average. Hopefully this won't happen again. Also, I have played in 3 tournies that have 3 or more days designed for them and I have at least made day two each time, so I am hopeful of another fairly deep run. This game is on May 25th in Drogheda, and I can't wait now.

On a different note, the Fitz are making changes to their tournies for the better, as the Monday, Tuesday and Friday games are getting more chips and extended blind levels. This can only be good for the games and the Dublin scene as a whole, and bring the Fitz game broadly into line with the structures of the Sporting Emporium, which has had improved games for a while now. There are three main reasons why I don't play more in the Sporting Emporium, and these are:

1. Parking is a nightmare.
2. There is no food menu there.
3. There are rarely any Omaha cash games.

If these things change, or even numbers two and three as number one is unlikely to, then I would definitely consider going there more, as now I rarely go outside of their €200 game and their satellites, which I have a good record in too. Until then though I'll mostly stick with the Fitz, and even though I had decided not to, I will probably play the end of month game tonight. I was planning to get up early tomorrow in order to leave Dublin at 4, but I can delay that by a while and not get into work until 10, and that is sounding like a good idea to me at this point.

The Fitz also have 5 great Ladbrokes packages to give away this year for the WSOP, so I will probably play in a couple of those at least. Hopefully the next few months will be an exciting time, and one way or another I am looking forward to going to Vegas in July.

Stuff

2007-04-20T13:01:00.000+01:00

I have no idea what this post is going to be about at this point, probably a rant, a bad beat and a few complaints as usual!!!!

These posts are like buses it seems at present, except without the incumbent knackers and the piss of course.

At the moment I am mostly in anticapation of things to come, namely the Champions League semi finals when Liverpool can hopefully recreate what happened a couple of years ago, and also to my Vegas trip at the start of July. I have been playing a good bit more in the way of cash games lately and in general they have been going alright. I haven't had a substantial win but most of my wins have been in the 600-900 profit, so still good, especially since I am not generally the type of player to push it too much after I get into good profit like that.

I nearly had another good night last night in the Fitz €100 game but a 2 outer on a JT2r board when I held TT62, vs JTX2. All the money went in on the flop, so about a €1200 pot went south when one of the remaining two Jacks in the deck hit on fourth street. Ah well, not much can be done about it. And, yes, I know TT62 is a rubbish hand.

This weather is depressing me, not that it takes much to depress me when I am in work. Hot,cold, wet or dry, they all usually make me feel depressed in work. The good thing is that due to me forgetting about this post it is now Friday evening so I get to go in about 30 mins or so.

I will play the Fitz scalps game tonight and probably a cash game after my 14th place finish in that.

Also, I have been thinking about getting an Omaha book and I believe the one by Rolf Sltobloom is the one to read. I might check with my 'cousins' (force of habit) first, might actually resort to buying it!!!!

That's me for now, it helped pass a bit of my day anyways.

Adios.

Happy Birthday!!!!

2007-04-17T12:12:00.000+01:00

It's been one year (and a few days, but who is counting) since this blog was born and probably serves as a microcosm of my life to date.

Early years: Willing to learn and enthusiastic.

Middle years: Some exciting developments make me optimistic for the future.

Later years: Laziness bites and I settle into a not very good rut.

Since my last post a fair bit has happened me pokerwise, but also very little movement paradoxically. I am generally playing less tournaments that I have been, and they are still not turning into a profitable venture for me. I did however manage to jambag my way into the Irish Open at pretty much the last hurdle in the SE. There were 125 runners and 10 tickets as it turned out. I started off pretty slowly but a few good hands after the break, including one (and only) pivotal dogging of someone when I pot committed myself to a raise with AT, and I pretty much cruised to a ticket in the end. I was really looking forward to this.

My Irish Open day started when I got up around 1pm on Good Friday (early for me on a day off), scraped the dirt off, consumed some nutrition, and drove into town. I got to the Burlington at around 3 o'clock, about an hour before scheduled start. When my seat assignment came up on screen I scanned it for any familiar faces or well known names. Blank on both counts, although I did recognise a couple of names vaguely.

I take my seat anyhow (seat 2) and the table isn't exactly the hardest table I have ever been at to be honest, with a coupld of loose raisers, a couple of absolute calling stations, a couple of donkeys and a couple of good players. All in all not too shabby. However, the 2 calling stations are proving to be problematic as I can't ever get them to move off the hand, and one had a tendency to call flop and turn bets and then hugely overbet the river. Sadly I couldn't catch anything to exploit the situation and the chips went elsewhere. I won a few hands at this table but was between 6k and 11k the whole time I was there. I was briefly moved to another table before that too was broken and not much changed for me there.

On my 3rd table things were a bit more interesting with several faces I knew and a couple I recognised. At this table I got up to my day 1 high of around 13.5k before falling back to an 8k stack overnight. Great. There were only 9 stacks lower than me remaining after day 1, and there were only 2 stacks in total at our table that were above average, so the situation was a bit desperate really.

On day 2 I briefly came back, and in the course of 25 mins I was all in 5 times.

33 vs K8o - 2nd hand of the day, my 33 was too strong for Vincent Melinns K8o.
AA vs 55 - My AA no match for a flopped set all in preflop. Win this I was up to 30k.
A8o vs A4s - Same muppet that had the 55 limp called my allin (next hand after AA) for 2/3rds of his stack. Split pot.
66 vs 44 vs J8s - Win this I am up to 30k also. J8 hits a flush, I win side pot.
J9s vs QQ - First hand I have gone in behind and I stay there. BB was not meant to have a hand that strong. Ah well, at least I went out with a bang.

I also played the Omaha rebuy event (€300) and rebought after the first hand. Action like this.

I am BB (25/50) with 89TT (diamonds). A couple of limpers, MP makes it 325. A couple of callers and I call also as do a couple more. 6 to the flop.

AdTh7d - middle set, open ender, diamonds. Preflop raiser checks, and next to act bets the pot (~2k). I am loving this flop so I move in and he quickly calls with AAxx. I miss and it is rebuy time. Oh well. I don't win a single hand and don't rebuy again, so I am out before the break. Great.

Cash games have been going somewhat better for me recently, with several wins in the region of €700 profit, but I just can't get a breakthrough in a tournament. Even when I am motoring along nicely I lose vital races, or get done in crucial pots. It is very frustrating to be honest.

Last night as well I played online for the first time in a few weeks, and it was all going well until I got stacked on 2 tables simultaneously. AK vs 88 on an AK6 flop when all the money went in. 8 on the turn. KKxx on a KQxr board on a 3 way all in on the flop when one gimp made a runner runner flush to go with his top 2 pair. This is the closest I have been to being on tilt in a long while but I managed to calm myself down a bit. I think I broke even, so with some bonus cleared and rakeback I made a marginal profit. Great. After that session I realised why I don't play NLHE cash games either live or online - I get bored or just play badly sometimes and generally lose. I haven't adapted to them as opposed to tournies.

I don't really have any poker plans for the immediate future to be honest. I would like to play in the GJP main event, but I can't be arsed to deposit money in another site to be honest, especially one with a decent deposit bonus that I know I am not going to clear. Maybe at some point in the future I will be in a better position, or more likely to clear it, but that time is not now. I may play one of the sats in the Jackpot, or maybe the SE or Fitz might have some for it as well.

I should really do what I have been promising myself as well and at least try to qualify for the WSOP in the summer since I am going to be there in 11 weeks. I hope I have enough dosh to be able to enjoy myself properly over there, as there are a few unexpected non poker related things happening now.

Bye for now, hopefully it won't be 2 months before my next update.

Brrrrrrrrrr

2007-02-28T19:28:00.000Z

I've been running cold lately, so cold in fact that I think I may need a few of my appendages amputated due to frostbite. I wouldn't even think of posting how long it's been since I've had a decent result as that would cause extreme embarrassment.

I have as usual succumbed to my online apathy, and briefly roused myself from it yesterday to play an $80 sat to the Stars $650 sat for the WSOP. I decided that if I could make $80 in Omaha in 15 mins I would play it, otherwise I would leave it. Happily I won $81 after hitting a big flop that held up, and played it. However my reverie was short lived and I got nowhere near the ticket. Plenty of time left though to get into this Sundays game, and I might try to get into Saturdays $325 game before then too.

I am caught in 2 minds about the SE 200 game on Saturday. I really want to play it, but the way I have been running and playing, which probably counts for a good bit of the running bad thing, it would just be a waste of money. I really the thought of being dead money but lately that is all I seem to be. It is just as well that I am playing a lot less than I have been, so the financial impact is lesser than it has been in the past on similar bad runs.

What can I do about this? I know that I should try to concentrate on making as few mistakes as possible and things will come around. However, when I am playing lately I seem to be going against my instincts, playing too tight, and to top it off I am not really getting the cards either.

Yes, I know, that old chestnut. However, I have not been dealt AA in the whole of 2007 in hold'em. Fact. This is obviously not a prerequisite for winning hands, but the amount of sets I have hit are tiny. Even the hands I don't play miss. That is how it is. On the upside though, I get to write another whinge post.

I am going to New York in a couple of weeks so I am looking forward to that too, and until I get back poker will be limited, aside from maybe some WSOP sats. I am also looking forward to when the whole of the Tribeca network is transferred to the Playtech network. Although I have never played on their software, it looks far more like the interfaces that I am used to, and hopefully I will not be repulsed at the thought of using the software like I used to with the old Tribeca software.

Hopefully I will have something better to report in the next edition of "Dom - The Complaints And The Crying".

Bye now.

New Year Update

2007-01-16T12:13:00.000Z

It's been very quiet so far for me this year. I have played live only a few times with no effect either way. It's lose a session win a session poker for me, and I have had no results in tournies so far.

I have been playing online somewhat more lately and have even started playing online MTT's a bit more too. I have played 3 and finished 12th out of 1200 in one for $130 profit (great) when $5.5k was for first, and 2 others where I finished about 250th from 1k runners. There is some awful play in these $10-$30 freezeouts, so getting into a decent position is not too hard, but avoiding the inevitable beats that follow is the thing that can make or break one of these games. I have played a decent amount of online Omaha lately too with some success. My PTBB is running at close to 8 now which is ok I think, but since I don't play a great volume of hands in general it is hard to see a tangible benefit from it at the levels I play at.

Part of my motivation for playing online is due to the fact that I have booked flights to go to Vegas during the WSOP this summer. I could not make it last year due to other financial committments so did not even try, and the year before I did not really try wither, whcih in hindsight is probably a good thing. I think however that now is a good time to bite the bullet on this as it is something that I have wanted to do for the last few years. My finances have settled down and even if I have a bad trip financially within the limits I set myself of course, I don't mind too much. Of course I am not going to go not caring if I lose, but if it happens it will not cause any financial difficulties for me. If I go over there and do very badly at the start in whatever I play in, then I will have to concentrate on the drinking and other aspects of Vegas, and wouldn't that be a terrible thing indeed.

Ideally what I would like to see happen is this.

1. Win a seat to the main event in the WSOP.
2. Make a decent return from online and live games over the next 6 months in order to provide myself with a proper bankroll to play some of the secent non WSOP games if I don't qualify for the main event, as well as cash games over there.

I travel on the 2nd July and return on the 17th (day of the final table, so I will probably have to change my plans to play in it.......). After looking at all the various travel options and nearly deciding to go with Virgin Atlantic which would have involved a nightly stay at Gatwick, I have decided togo with Aer Lingus to La, with a transfer a few hours later to LV, and I should arrive in LV around 7.30pm in time for a quick snooze, shower and time for a wander around the srtip. I had submitted my booking for Harrahs for 15 nights, but got an email a few hours later saying "There has been a problem with your booking. Please return to the website and resubmit it". I sent them back an email (no response so far, might have to ring) asking what the problem was, as I think it was probably due to the fact that my card is not US issued, and if so then resubmitting my application is hardly likely to fix that. It didn't seem to be an automated, no response mail, but I think the main thing I want to be sure of is that my credit card did not get charged regardless, although it said it didn't. I do not want to have the cost of 30 nights stay on my card, 15 is more than enough.

Edit: An update to say that I have booked into Bally's for 15 nights. It is a few quid dearer per night than Harrah's, but fuck it, I might as well push the boat out somewhat. I want to stay in as central a location as possible and you don't get much more central than that. It is connected to Paris via a walkway too and I hear there is a great buffet there too. I am so looking forward to this.

Assuming that I do not get that booking sent out I am still inclined to stay at Harrahs, but the Excalibur seems to be a bit cheaper, if a bit further up the strip, and seems to be more of a resort theme hotel, which I am not sure is a good thing or a bad thing. One way or another though, I am really looking forward to this, and hopefully once the big sites start the multi seat qualifiers for the ME I can start getting in amongst them. The big annoyance though is that I'll have to qualify into them too. I know Stars run a lot of double shoot outs, but I have not had much success in the (very) few shootout format tournies I have played. I may try my hand at them though.

So far this year my travel schedule looks something like this.

1. Jan 27th - Austria skiing for a week. Not a lot of snow yet though :(
2. Mar 13th - New York for 8 days.
3. May 19th - London for the weekend to go to the Heineken Cup Final.
4. Jun 22nd - Bratislave for a stag weekend.
5. Jul 2nd - Vegas for 15 days.

It's a hard life. I will probably be near broke come the end of July, but at least I will hopefully enjoy it.

Poker plans for the year include taking it as it comes, and that is pretty much about it. I have no real plans to play in any online qualifiers for the Irish Open as it would involve playing on Tribeca which is anathema (spelling corrected, I should have checked) to me. I may play some live qualifiers if there is likely to be a decent amount of seats up for grabs.

Anyways, that is me for now.

Happy flopping,

Dom

Yearly Review of Sorts

2006-12-19T16:02:00.000Z

Hardly a comprehensive review of my year, but sure here is a bit of an attempt anyhow.

Results

Live Cash Games: Definitely could do better. I mush prefer playing Omaha to Holdem cash games but I am barely better than breakeven in my stats which is disappointing really. From 100+ live sessions I am only about €2k in profit for the year (incl 1k loss in last 2 weeks).

Live Tournaments: I have played 150+ live tourneys this year, cashing in 44 of these, and 18 top 3 finishes. I have had a couple of good results, but overall I am disappointed with my year. I am €10k in profit for the year in tournaments.

Online Cash Games: I play mostly cash games when I play online, and mostly Omaha, although I am playing a little more NLHE lately. I don't take this seriously enough, and generally play at .50/1 which is the same as this time last year. Not good enough. I have got a rakeback deal though, but not crazy about the site for the reason that HH's are extremely hard to save for PT purposes.

Online Tournaments: I play very, very few of these and have had no real results in the few I have played.

Overall Grade: C

I have improved this year, especially in tournament play, I have no doubt about that, and I think in the main my tournament game is pretty good. I would give myself a B for tournaments, but only a D for cash games.

Next Year Ambitions

Well the obvious one is to do better!!! I think I will play less times live anyhow, as I have been palying a bit less the last few months. Also one thing I have been doing this year is playing in some of the smaller tournaments such as the rebuy ones in the Fitz, but not taking it seriously which is a serious leak in money over the course of a year, so next year I will either not play them or else play them properly. These games can be very profitable over the course of a year if taken seriously as they tend to be played by some pretty poor players.

My cash game play needs some looking at. I will try to identify where I need to be more aggressive, and when to let a hand go, but this is easier said than done I'm afraid. I will also try to start playing more online. I am never going to be one of the guys who 4 tables for 25 hours a week online, I enjoy live play too much for that to happen, and I also get bored somewhat easily online. I hope by the end of 2007 to be playing 2/4 within my online bankroll in both Holdem and Omaha, but I doubt I will achieve this aim unless I win an online tourney for a decent amount. Oh, and I must start playing some more online tourneys too.....

I think some realistic objectives are:

1. Attempt to make 10k profit in live tourneys.
2. Attempt to make 6k profit from live cash games.
3. Attempt to qualify for some big live tourneys, including WSOP and hopefully qualify for at least one.
4. Play more online and try to take it seriously.
5. Make a discernable profit online.

I doubt anything notable will happen between now and the end of the year but if it does I will update.

Happy stuff and Merry everything to any reading this by the way and I look forward to facing you next year again.

Schwinggggg

2006-12-05T14:52:00.000Z

No it's not an Austin Power reference, it is a reference to my fortunes over the last few days. Swingy to say the least.

Firstly though, Drogheda. I really enjoyed the tourney there and I lasted a couple of hours into the second day when I got it all in preflop with QQ vs JJ only for a J to spike on the flop. Ah well. I can't be arsed to write a full report, but I did post somewhat of a report in the thread on boards.ie that was set up for reports. I played a cash game afterwards on Saturday and ended up almost 400, so not too bad.

The last few days though from Thursday-Sunday involved 4 tournaments and at least 7 cash tables. Thursday was the Fitz end of month, and a much improved structure with 6500 chips, no antes and 3x20 min, 5x30 min and the rest at 45 min levels meant there was far more play in it, but I think this only worked due to there bwing only 76 runners. I managed to finish 5th in this when my QQ (again) was beaten by Snowys 86, when I refused to lay them down on a 566 board. Ah well still 900 profit so not too bad.

Friday involved me coming in my usual range of positions (10-15) in the scalps game. I seem to do fine in this until it gets to crapshoot mode, so that maybe says something about it or me, I'm not sure. Cash game afterwards yielded a negative profit.

Saturday was the SE 200 game and this was a wierd experience as I got some great cards but didn't get paid on my big ones apart from a double up with QQ vs JJ (which held up this time). I had to lay down 88 on a 773 board and AQ on a QJ8x board which hurt my stack and then took a stand against Wes who had raised or pushed about 5 out the last 6 hands with TT. He called with AJs and hit a J on the river to knock me out. I had a disastrous time on the SE cash tables then to lose another 800, usually on the river, with one hand in particular when I flopped the nuts in Omaha and this was a perfect candidate of a hand where it is quite probably correct to lay down the current nuts. I got stuck in the hand though, and as a consequence got just plain stuck. Off to the Fitz with me then as any good sick player does, made all my losses back through some terrible Holdem players and some big Omaha hands, and then lost a bit of it back through plain gambling. Finished a bit down for the day but nowhere the 4 figure sum I was when I went to the Fitz. Phew.

Sunday I played a bit, but it wasn't very interesting, and I won a few quid, so I came out the right side of swingy by a total of a few hundred. Meh, not too bad.

We are getting near the end of the year and it is nearly time for reviews etc, and so far my records show 8 profitable months and 3 unprofitable ones from live play. Online I have no real idea, but there isn't much in it one way or another, that much I know. At the year end I might post some stats, but not sure if I want to. One thing I will say - November put a nice gloss on my year.

Between now and the year end there is the PPP Xmas Cracker and the Fitz 500, which I am not sure if I will play. Chances are I will play in one of them anyways, and there is much better value in the SE one with the added money and no reg fee.

If anyone has any money making ideas (other than win loads palying poker, not working out really) let me know, and I am not talking about the spam type comments that get posted on my blog. Some ideas I currently have are:

Write a book on my poker life:
A look at the life of an Irish poker messer. Follow him as he ignores bankroll rules, plays like an idiot, but still makes a small profit over time. Meet all the interesting characters that he interacts with over the poker tables, and watch him as he gets bored playing online. This will come about when a publisher reads this blog and discovers my hidden genius.

Realistic Likelyhood: .000001% chance. I wouldn't want to or couldn't be arsed to write it, and who in their right mind would read it? I can still dream that it would work though.

Appear on a reality TV show:
Well I have to be at least as entertaining as the idiots they actually put on it, don't I?

Realistic Likelyhood: Zero. Can you imagine? *shudder*

Win the lotto:
This is the easiest option effort wise.

Realistic Likelyhood: Unfortunately this is also the most unlikely at roughly 1 in 20 million or some such for every line I do, and about 4 times higher on the EuroMillions. It'd be great though.

Get a Rich Lady to take care of me:
Hmmm, this is very appealing, but since I struggle to get poor or normal income women, getting a very rich one to pamper me is very unlikely.

Start a Radio Station:
A mix of music, poker, news and random shite. This will be a big hit with the 20-34 year olds of a certain mental disposition.

Realistic Likelyhood: Actually this is very likely as I have been approached to do this. Oh, wait, no I haven't. Sorry.

Well that's all the random shit I have to say for now. Adios etc.

All kinds of Everything

2006-11-24T11:11:00.000Z

A good bit has happened since my last proper post. One of those things that has happened since is that I had a long post wrote on the satellite to the EPM but of course blogspot decided to crash and become unavailable when I tried to publish it. Always keep a backup, people.

As mentioned, I won a ticket to play in the European Poker Masters and I was looking forward to this. The day arrived and I had taken Friday off to ensure I had a good sleep in before it. When I got to the SE to register at around 2pm I seen Eric Seidel at a table reading a book, Howard Lederer standing at the bar talking, and Mike Matusow doing an interview on camera. I was getting excited at this point. Reading the media waivers and T's & C's amused me somewhat, especially the part that said some thing like 'The Poker Channel has all rights to this broadcast throughout the Universe on all current and yet to be devised forms of media'. I can just imagine the interplanetery lawsuit that might erupt is the denizens of Persius 5 broadcast this over Christmas.

Anyways, on to the tourney. There were 75 runners I think and the following were some of the names in this.

Mike Matusow
Eric Seidel
Howard Lederer
Allen Cunningham
Chris Ferguson
Clonie Gowan
Gavin Smith
Dave Colclough
Andy Black
Liam Flood
John McGill
Peter Roche
A few other notables that I can't think of the names of, as well as a good few other pros of the lesser well known variety.

My first table though consisted of entirely Irish palyers, most of which I had played with before, so it was a strange start. I didn't get too involved in the first level and then our table broke and I got moved into the seat Peter Roche had been occupying at a table that included Howard Lederer, Eric Seidel and Alan Smurfit (of the K Club clan). I think during my first hour at the table I didn't play a hand. In the following 2 before the dinner break I think I played about 5 hands, all of which I won and took me to a stack of about 15k at the first break. We started with 10k and 60 minute levels.

The second hand back after the break was when I got involved in my first big pot. Blinds are 100/200 and I am in the BB. Two EP limpers, SB calls and I check my option with K9 spades. The flop comes a beautiful As8s5s which is checked around. The turn comes 3s and I bet 400 which is raised to 2k by the SB (he check raised me!!). I think and flat call it. River is 6s, so there are 2 unlikely straight flush draws out there (2s4s or 4s7s), but I was not unduly worried about this. SB bets 4k into me, I raise it to 10k (which I thought put him all in but as it turned out he had me covered. I had only about 12k in total behind) and he shoves all in which I call. He shows the QsJd and says 'oh you have the king'. Nice donation.

That put me in good shape and the other key hand of the day for me came when I was in the BB (600) also with about 30k. It was folded to the SB (300 - he covers me), and before I looked I told him there was no shame in folding. He calls anyhow and I look at 66. With the blinds and antes (75) there is 1500 in the pot, so I make it 1800 more to play which is called. Flop comes a lovely 568r. He checks, I lead for 2500, he calls. Turn is another 8. He leads for 3k, I make it 8k. I meant to raise to about 10k, but jsut took an arbitrary amount of chips. He calls. River is a 10. He leads for 5k into about a 27k pot which is very strange I think. I have only about 17k behind at this point and did contemplate pushing, but quickly decided a call was the sensible course of action. He showed 84 soooted and my sixes full take down a nice put. I was in cruise control after that, winning small pots, getting to a high of about 50k. I finish the day though on 45k which put me second in chips overnight, albeit in a very bunched field.

The most embarrassing incident of the day happened only a short time before play ended. I raised from the CO with AKs and it got round to the BB. I was seating in seat 8 (8 handed, so beside the dealer) and started talking to the BB about a hand earlier when he thought he dogged me when I had fuck all in fact. He folded anyhow and I said to him "OK, I'll show you just this once", and proceeded to show my AK. What I only realised when the others at the table started looking and acting shocked is that Howard Lederer had called from the small blind. Oops. A ruling was given that I was not allowed to bet at any point in the hand, only call. Flop comes T high with 3 hearts. Howard bets he turn which is a J and I of course can't call. It was an embarrassing incident, but these things happen occasionally. It just goes to prove that you should always be alert. The most comical aspect of it is that this incident, at 12.30am, on the 7th level of the day, is the first hand I have shown all day when not required to.........

I was in good shape starting day 2, but I got a horrendous run of cards and got blinded down somewhat, and losing a 30k with ATs vs shorties KJo all in preflop didn't help either. When it got down to about 18 players or so I was in trouble and hanging in. Some how though I managed to survive without ever being all in and knocked Andy Black (shortstack) out along the way. I only surpassed my initial chip total for the day in the last 15 mins of play, so that shows what a struggle it was.

I had made the final table!!!!!!

The final table took place not in the SE, where the rest of the event took place, but in the Royal Colelge of Physicians. It was a mad experience, what with filling out a questionairre, doing a pre tournament interview, 2 post tournament interviews, and wearing a heart monitor and a microphone during play. Everything was different. The cards were bigger, the chips were much bigger, there was a glass sheet to put your cards on so the camera could see. There was a dude with a microphone announcing when someone raised (Mel Judah or else Barry who had done the first 2 days), and we were sitting at one of those semi circular tables. We had to do a walk on for the cameras one by one to audience applause.

I actually thought it would be more nerve wracking than it was, but to be honest it was little different when we got down to it. There were a few teething difficulties along the wy, such as starting an hour late, stopping for 10 mins after 3 hands and having to get the cameras looked at a couple of other times, but after the initial hiccups it went smoothly enough.

The final table lineup and approx chip counts were as follows.

1: Dave Colclough 222k
2: Thomas Trings 22.5k
3: Me 58k
4: Tony Baitson 108k
5: Adrian Walshe 120k
6: Alan Smurfit 51k
7: Vera Duffy 6.5k
8: Thomas Wahlroos 169k

The blinds were reset to 1k/2k/200 for the first 30 mins, instead of the 2k/4k/500 we ended at the night before. I made my usual folding start, and it was about a round of the table in when I won my first hand, stealing the blinds. I did this a few times, getting called prefop twice, both times winning with a flop bet, once with an overpair, once with a missed K high on an A high board. The highest I got in the entire tournament was about 70k I believe.

Th crucial hand came for me when I raised with AQd on the button to 10k (1500/3k/300) and Tony on the SB goes all in straight away. Tony had just lost a big pot a few hands ago so I knew a few things.

1. He had a fairly wide range. Any pair, and decent A, possible even decent suited connectors.
2. He knew I wouldn't call unless I had a genuine hand.
3. I was in good shape against his range.
4. He might have thought it was just a button raise.

It was an easy enough call getting nearly 2/1 on the rest of my chips based on the above and he flipped 44 over. I missed and am on life support at this point with only 10k left. We go on a break at this point which I wasn't overjoyed about, as I knew I only had 3 hands at most left so I wanted to get it over with one way or another. When we came back, on the 2nd hand I pick up TT which is loads good enough, so I ship my small stack in. Thomas W reraises to keep Dave Colclough out, and after a think Dave does fold.

Thomas shows KQo and we are in another race. The fop comes all low - lovely - but with 3 hearts and he has the K of hearts, so nasty. The turn is another low red cards, but a diamond and the river is the killer A hearts to give him the nuts, and I am out. Ah well.

In a way I was happy enough because I didn't do anything wrong, I just didn't win a race. Mostly I was gutted though. Very gutted. With 85.5k for first it was disappointing to come away with 6,750. I know that is a nice sum of money and a nice profit on 315 etc etc, but I am sure that most of the readers of this know where I am coming from, as opposed to a load of other people who interpret me saying I was gutted as the same thing as saying "I don't want 6750 at all".

I am on a good run lately, and am feeling confident in my game. I also promised myself that if I cashed in the EPM I would play in the GJP festival main event which is a hefty €1000+75 entry, so I am going to play in that. By way of preparation I play my first Fitz tournie in 2 weeks last night, the €150 freezeout, and for good measure split it 3 ways with Ray and Dennis for 1100 each, so that is Drogheda taken care of :)

I'll report on my Drogheda game at some point too.

Bye now.

Quick Update

2006-11-08T12:21:00.000Z

This is just a quick note to say that I have qualified for the Full Tilt European Poker Masters event in the Sporting Emporium starting on Nov 17th. I won my ticket last night in a 150 with 1 rebuy event, and boy am I looking forward to it. Loads of the big Full Tilt branded players such as Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Carlos Mortenson, Mike Matusow, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harmon, Ram Vaswani and the rest of the mob are slated to be playing in this.

It's been a good week for me, hope next week is better :)

SE 200 game

2006-11-07T11:37:00.000Z

I had been somewhat looking forward to playing in the Sporting Emporium 200+20 deepstack game since the last one, which I could not play in, so I arrive early and I am actually the first person registered for the tournament proper, although there are 3 satellites going on altogether for this when I go in. I don't bother playing one as I was going to pay in anyhow, so don't really like overpaying for a tournament of this size.

I had feared there would be a low turnout as it seemed it was going to be that was at the appointed start time, but when the numbers eventually settled down there were 61 runners, which was a decent turnout considering this is the second time only that this ran.

I sat down to my table and wasn't too impressed with this table as there were too many good players, such as Laim Flood, Eoin Olin, Dave Masters and Sikes (from boards, don't know his real name) as well some other guys I didn't know. I was assigned to seat 2 and proceeded to play like a donkey for the first 5x30 minute levels. It didn't help that I was card dead, and the few hands that I chose to play I played terribly.

At one point just before the break my first key hand hapopens. I have 3600 in total, with blinds at 150-300, and with 1 limper I make it 1300 to play with 22 from one off the cutoff. Part of the reason I make this play is because I have been palying so tight and think it unlikely I will get a caller unless there is a monster out there, and part of it is because I have to do something to accumulate chips at this point. It is folded to the BB who thinks and pushes all in. I am well covered and when it is folded back to me I think for a minute and decide that I am pot committed, so I make the call, and he flips over AK for a race situation. The board pairs on the flop to give him extra outs, but I survive and double up. A couple of blind takes in the next couple of hansd take me to just over starting stack at the first break. Things can only really get better.

After the break I had resolved to try to make better decisions and not play in the weak tight manner I had been playing in to that point. Easier said than done, but a few small pot wins soon after the break gave me a bit more confidence and I was gradually building some chips. Just when I was feeling comfortable with my table I was moved, and found myself at a table where I was fairly familiar with a lot of the players sucha s Ehsan (Gholimoli) to my right, Tony (Flushdraw) to my left, and Willow and Eamonn Connolly at the table also. I think I raised the first hand I played at this table, and continued to raise and take blinds far more often than I would have normally. I was feeling myself playing confidently, and getting reasonable, but still not premium hands. However, the button on my BB kept raising every time, and I came close to playing back a couple of times, but it seemed that he was just being a card rack as he showed hand after hand of premium pairs. through some decent play including the following against Tony, I got to a reasonable stack.

I have 88 (not sure of position, probably MP) and make a relatively standard open raise to approx 2100 with blinds at 300/600 with an ante of 50. Tony calls to my left. Flop comes TT4 (or similiar), and I check. Tony Bets 5k, and I go into the tank for a few minutes. I have around 18k back and Tony covers by maybe 7/8k. I cannot see Tony flat calling here and betting with a hand that beats me so I push and he folds after a dwell up and says he had 55, so good fold Tony. Another key hand here is where I flat call a raise preflop with AQ against a serial raiser and intend to bet out at any flop, which I do and he duly folds.

I knock out a shortstack (Deadparrot from boards) and I am motoring and around average stack (40k), but a big stack on the table. We are down to 2 tables at this stage and playing 6 handed.

Then I get moved to the other table and this is where most of the chips are residing, so opportunity and danger lurk in equal measure here. I get a raise reraised in short order and let it go, then I call a raise from UTG when I am BB with ATo. I flat call the raise, intending to bet out at any flop again. I do so with a 6k bet (about 7.5k in the pot) on a K97r board, which after a dwell up and a request for a count of my chips gets slightly worryingly called. A blank rag hits the turn and this changes nothing in my head, and even though I am well covered I have enough left to not get called by anything other than a strong holding. I push for 25k approx, and after a dwell up it is folded to me. I found out later he had J9 for second pair, but this was a holding he found it hard to call a push thankfully for half his chips.

When we break for the final table I still have around 40k with the average at around 54k, but with the blinds at the start of the 1k/2k level I am not under immediate pressure. the final table consists of a few faces I am somewhat familiar with and a few I am not. Eamonn Connolly, Ollie Boyce, Sikes, Mickste, Phil (the Hammers fan), Eoin, an American guy from Full Tilt and 1 other guy whose name I don't know make up the final table along with myself.

Ollie is the first causualty in one of the first few hands, and not too long after I take out the Full Tilt guy when my AKs hit to take out his 88. Flops and post flop play is at a premium which reduces what I firmly believe to be an edge I have over a lot of the remaining players. Most hands are of the fold, fold, fold, big raise, everyone fold type. I plug away and when Eamonn gets knocked out in 5th place we are near the end of the days play. The SE closes at 6am, which is most inconvenient as I want to get this played to a finish, but it is not going to happen. When John announces last hand of the night I am in the BB (4k), and when Eoin completes I decide to chekc with KT hoping to either lose a small pot if I miss or win a big one since my hand strength is farily disguised, and I know Eoin is an aggressive player who has a tendency on occasion to overplay hands and overbet them.

The flop come K87 (with 2 clubs) and is perfect for my purposes. Eoin comes out betting 12k and I flat call. Turn comes an offsuit 9 giving me an openended straight draw as well as top pair. To my surpriseEoin announces all in for around 65k, and it takes me a few seconds only to call. Eoin tables T4 and is drawing dead to a split pot, and a 2 on the river is no help to him and he is the 4th place finisher, pushing me into the slightest of chipleads. we talk deal but none happens so we are to come back on Sunday at 8pm to finish this off.

When we restart the chipcounts are as follows:

Me 201k
Mick 199k
Phil 89k

The first hand I am small blind, complete and fold to a flop bet. The second hand, I fold, Phil completes, Mick raises and Phil immediately pushes all in. Mick thinks for a minute or two and makes the correct call with 66 to see Phil tabling K2, but Phil hits 2 pair to double himself up, and put Mick under pressure. A few hands later I open raise (3k/6k/500) to 21k with AJo, and after Phil folds, Mick announces all in for around 105k. Mick has been the most aggressive palyer I have encountered over the course of the tournament, so this helped me reach a relatively quick decision and I called to see Mick table KTo. The flop brought a T and no more help for me to see him double up. This wasn't going to plan for me. Another lost pot and a few blinds later meant that I was down to under 50 and in serious danger. A couple of uncalled pushes plus some reraises when I was fairly sure Mick was weak, including the following hand helped me up to a stack of around 180k again.

Mick completes SB and I check BB holding J6. Flop comes QJT, and I am fairly sure I am ahead here and call a flop bet of around 15k. Turn is a T and goes check, check. River is another T and it is a funky dangerous board but even aftrer Mick bets 40k I don't believe him and push for my total of 80k which he folds to fairly quickly.

I am still stacking this when the next hand is dealt and I am SB with 56. Mick calls from the button, I complete, and Phil checks for a flop which comes a gorgeous 554. I pause from my chip stacking to check, Phil bets 17k, and Mick folds after a think. I flat call. Turn is a magnificant 6 which I check. Phil bets 30k, and knowing that I can't flat call this without totally giving away my hand I move in, which surprisingly is called instantly. Phil has the misfortune to be holding Q5 and misses the river, so he exits in 3rd place, giving me around 360k of the chips in play.

A couple of hands into heads up play I raise with A4o to 25k (4k/8k) and Mick moves in instantly. I call quite quickly given his known aggression in this situation, and am delighted when he tables Q4o to leave himself very much dominated. The dreaded Q hits the flop though to give him a slight chip lead. Another crucial hand happens with I check to see a flop when he complees the SB from the button. I have Q8 and am fairly happy with the TJQ flop. We had been discussing a deal at this pint, but it was decided to play on, at which point I bet 20k on that flop. Mick called and the 9 on the turn gave me a straight which was checked by both parties. The river was another T and I bet out 30k which Mick raised to 75k. I didn't like it too much but I called andways to see him table K9 for the flopped straight, and I was in dire straights now.

His aggression level increased again and I couldn't do anything about it as I did not want to play for all my chips with 62,52,72 etc which I got about 4 or 5 hands in a row. I eventually make a stand for about 85k with QJ and get called by K9. An 894 flop gave me 10 outs twice but neither happened so I had to be content with 2nd place.

I feel happy with my play after the first break, and the fact that I didn't dog anyone the whole tournament and was always either ahead or at worst in a race situation whne the money went in (including the unfortunate hand for Phil when 3 handed - I had made my house when the money went in, even though it would have went in regardless) made me feel good. The fact that I wsan't dogged until the last 3 either at any point was positive variance working in my favour, but I feel I played as well as I could and enjoyed the tourney as a whole. Well done to Mick too, his aggressive game played off in the end, and although I presonally feel I had the edge in experience and skill, his aggression sufficiently dulled that (if it even existed, but I have to believe it did).

I anyone reading this hasn't played in this before and enjoys a good structure tourney then this is one for you. It will be on the first Saturday of every month I believe in the SE and is excellent value for money given the structure.

See you at the tables.

Festival Time

2006-11-03T16:21:00.000Z

The Fitz PokerFest took place last week and I was aiming to play as many of the tournies as I could, so to that end I took Thursday and Friday off work.

Wednesday
This was a €40 multi rebuy game that attracted 76 runners, and a 30 minute clock most of the way I think. By the break I had not won that many hands, but managed to win a multiway pot just before to stand in decent shape with the topup. To be honest I can't recall an awful lot about this tournie u pto the point where we got to the last 2 tables. I was playing fairly well and not getting in any big confrontations really when a guy who has jsut lost a decent pot raised big preflop (to 14k from 1500/3000) and I look at KK and shove preflop for about 50k. It gets back to this guy (a decent player but made a too big raise initially I think). He thinks and doesn't really like it but he calls for the other 16k he has left. Flop comes 245, turn is a 3 and river is a 6. Of course he has A7o to have the straight. At first I though it was a split pot, but then realised the 7 played and I was a tad annoyed.

Two hands later I have 20k left, blinds just gone up to 2k/4k and I push with AJo, and get called by a player not even in the blinds who has a 60k stack with QJo!!!! Flop is Q44 and that is all she wrote and i bubble in the first tournie of the festival. Wonderful.

Thursday
I play in the 270 game in the Fitz, and was unimpressed by the new structure, but I believe that Luke is going to make changes next month, based in part on a post I wrote on boards that he read. I also have to commend him for changing the structure part way through to make it more playable based on comments players were making, but it was too late for me to survive this time I am afraid. However I went to the cash games and won €1300 in Omaha so happy days.

Friday
There was a €50 multi rebuy game on Friday instead of the scalps. This was a really good game and I enjoyed it mostly. I didn't really get going before the break,a nd it was only when I got moved to a new table that things picked up. First hand there I was BB for 300. EP raised to 900, 3 other callers, so I peel off another 600 from my 11k stack with 57 clubs. The funniest part is that I ask Luke (young English dealer) for 'a very specifc flush, I mean flop', and then he flops K93, all clubs. He says 'There is a flush for you' to which I reply 'That'll do' and bet 4k. Original raiser goes all it, and one of the other limper also goes all in. At this point I could potentially be drawing dead, but there are 8 tables left still so I gamble, see 99 from original raiser for a set, and AA with A clubs from someone who flat called original raise. Two red, non pairing cards give me a tank of 35k, and from there I go steadily upwards all the way. I am playing well, playing the player at least as much as the cards, and generally feeling in the groove. We redraw seats for the last two tables, and when it gets 10 handed I get moved to balance the tables at 5 each. There is fairly cagey play on this table, and I have raised and took the blinds a few times, and reraised once and not got called. Then the following hand happens.

I am the Button and it is folded to me. I have 102k, blinds just gone up to 4k/8k (5am) and I make it 30k to go. Bobby (spectre from boards) is SB and goes all in, and he is the only person there who has me covered. This leaves me with a dilemma. I have played with Bobby a couple of times, but not too often. i don't believe he would be doing this with rubbish, but I believe any pair (well, ok 66+), or AT+ to be his range at this point for a reraise, playing 5 handed at this point in the tournament to a button raise.

I am getting 2/1 on the rest of my money at this point and if I win I am a big favourite to take a large chunk of the prize money. If I fold I have a bit of work to do but I am still there. I decide to go for the win as the prize structure was only geared for the top 4 really. I table my 99 and Bobby has AK of diamonds. the flop comes all rags which is good, but with 2 diamonds which is not. The trun and river are both raggy diamonds also, and that is the end of me, so I bubble the Final Table again, but get a few quid for my troubles this time. Great.

Saturday
I play the 500 game in the Fitz as I have 475 in credit, and 55 players start. I don't last very long as in the second level I limp with A6 hearts from the button, and call a raise from the SB, so 4 to the flop. Flop comes A63 clubs, so I have top 2 at this point. SB bets out for 1k, and this gets raised to 3k by MP. It comes to me and I think. There is no way SB has a flush I reckon, and MP I think either has a decent A or else jsut doesn't believe the lead out by SB. I eventually decide to push for 6.3k, and as expected SB folds, and MP thinks and calls. He shows AJ with the J clubs. He precedes to hit the J on the river for a higher two pair, and that is me. I don't think this was a great call by him to be honest, but I probably didn't play it optimally either.

I went downstairs and regestired to play in the 100 Omaha rebuy game, and hit everything before the break, but nothing after it and was gone in 15th. I won my money back in a cash game though, so not too bad.

Sunday
Went drinking

Monday
Played in the 100 rebuy, and only topped up. It was going OK before the break, when a ropey call against Marq helped me to 5 k, and with a 5k topup, I was ok. First hand after the break I nearly doubled up with KK vs TT all in preflop, but from that point on I seen nothing in the way of cards. I did enjoy the tables though as I got moved to a table with Steve Davis, and as any other time I have played with him, I have found him to be a gentleman, and a witty one at that. I eventyually got knocked out when I push from SB with A3 only to find BB with AK. Ah Well..

I enjoyed the events, there was a good structure in them all, if only I could have had a rub of the green at the right time. I am going to play the SE 200+20 game this evening and I am looking forward to it as there is a very good structure to it. Hopefully I can report success in that one.

Adios for now.

Preview post

2006-10-28T07:46:00.000+01:00

I will be witing a full report of my travails at the Fitz Poker Festival when it is over. I hope ye can all hold ye're breath.

Read the highs, the lows, the boring bits. It'll all be there. Read it here before the making of 'Dom - The Fest' in the Spring - A Jerry Bruckheimer film.

Oh, and I would just like to say thanks to Laurence (hope that is spelt right) for returning 'my' money to me in the Omaha game after all these months. I am not convinced it was the right amount, but we'll call it quits.

Where now?

2006-10-18T12:09:00.000+01:00

I am stuck in a poker rut I think. I am doing fine in the last 2 weeks and have practically erased the disatrous September I had. However, this doesn't stop me musing on where my poker is taking me.

What I am doing:
I play about 3 tournaments a week (on average), almost always in the Fitz, and at weekends or occasional weeknights I play Omaha cash games too. This has been my pattern for quite some time, and the big result has not happened.

What I should be doing:
Play less weekly tournaments, play more online and concentrate my live play on specific tournaments such as the plethora of 200-300 games that are monthly affairs in various places. Online I could concentrate on trying to qualify for bigger events as well as having a much bigger game selectionto choose from at any given time.

The problem with me and the above is that I enjoy playing live. I enjoy the banter, the sensory overload that comes from a live game, and also the challenge of primitive mano et mano (or womano) poker action. I don't particularly enjoy online, and don't take it seriously enough to ever be in danger of turning a big profit from it. Usually I only play the games I enjoy online, i.e. Pot Limit Omaha and usually also play above my bankroll as I definitely do not like microlimit playing. I lack discipline at times, but that is due to my lazy streak, which is more than a streak really to be honest.

I am sure I will get to a point where I will either give up the pretence that I am going to change or I actually do change. Another, and perhaps more likely outcome, is that I reach a happy medium. I know I should play more online, and I am in the process of withdrawing money from most of the sites I play in and consolidating it in Neteller, probably moving it to PokerStars where it would become a semblence of a proper bankroll rather than small amounts spread over various places.

To do the above I had to ring Neteller to get them to reactivate my account as it was closed when I logged in to it in work. They asked me did I log in from the UK at one point, and then the penny clicked. Where I work is routed via a UK server as it is a British company that I work for, and this would explain that question. I believe the problem came when a location outside my stated country was seen to try and access my account. They were very helpful and despite being on hold for about 7 minutes at the start due to a queuing system, I had the issue resolved in less than 10 minutes. I was dreading that they were going to ask for passport scan etc, as I never got asked for that information when I linked my bank account to it, but thankfully it was only security questions, which really aren't that secure to anyone that knows anything about me at all.

I am looking forward to the 500 game in the Fitz on Saturday 28th, as I have 475 in credit from recent tournaments, so I will be looking to use that to play in the 500 game. I was hoping to play in it last month, but the way things were running I could not justify it to be honest. it did however look like a good structured game with 8k starting stack and a 45 minute clock. Hopefully it will get 60+ runners, but due to the fact that it is on the same weekend as the EPT events in the Regency I am not sure how numbers will be.

Events I would like to play in the next 6 weeks and likelyhood of playing:
Fitz EOM Oct - 60%. I may have to work that night :-(
Fitz 500 - 80%. I have to dodge part of a birthday celebration weekend (not mine).
Green Joker Poker 250 - 25%. I keep meaning to go but never get round to it.
Green Joker Poker Festival 1000 - <5%. Would love to play but it is too much money to splash.
GJP 300* - 75% - Likely to play in this one I think. Supporting event to the 1k game.
GJP 200* - 25% - Will play in this if I can't play in the 300 game.
EPT - 0.00001% - Will play in this if a miracle happens to give me loads of money.
EPM - 0.0001% - Again, very unlikely. Possibly more qualifiers in the SE for this I might play.

I think I need more money to be honest, but who doesn't. Bye for now, and see you at the tables.

* I think these events are 300 and 200. They may be 400 and 300.

The world put to rights

2006-10-13T11:34:00.000+01:00

Something seems to be up, I am being prepared for a fall I think. Things have been going well lately, without being spectacular. The last 3 tournies I have played in the Fitz have resulted in 2 splits and a 4th place, and add to that a decent, if small by that game standards, profit in the 100 Omaha, and the world is suddenly a less shit place.

I am not suffering bad beats much lately and that is where things are different than last month. One thing I need to start doing though is doing better in bigger fields. Most of the tournies I win or come in the top 3-4 are around the 30-50 entries mark, but where there are 70 or more I don't seem to last the pace which is very frustrating. I think I know what the cause of this in general is but the paradox for me is that I think this aspect is one of the strong points of my game. Confusing isn't it?

Brief explanation about the above is as follows. I am not a loose, gamble type player most of the time. This is not to say I don't mix my game up, but mixing your game up is very different to being a loose player. Everyone knows that I am not a loose player, so I do not get the action I need a lot of the time that I have big hands, and I do not make loose calls that might double me up at important parts of the tournament. Personally I prefer not to take a 40-60 shot unless I am in a shortstack position, but it seems to me that a lot of the types that do well in tournaments are the type that put their money in there and seem to win a far higher percentage than they should. The reason why this is also one of the better aspects of my game is that is means I rarely go into hands unless on a shortstacked steal, as a big dog.

Maybe I will experiment with that a bit at some stage, but unless it is in the rebuy period of a multi-rebuy tournie I can't justify doing that in my head. It is in essence a shit or bust approach to the tournie that produces either a big stack that can be used to bully the table or will ensure you get an early seat at a cash game. Who knows if I will try this soon? I don't think I am giving any trade secrets away when I am saying it goes against my natural game anyhow.

Last weekend I went over with the Fitz crowd to the Gutshot club in London for the twice annual challenge match. Once again we didn't win the team event but we should have. We kept getting outdrawn, their shortstacks kept surviving despite being in as big underdogs several times when getting knocked out would have given us the win. I also played in the £200 Pot Limit Omaha tournament over there with 40 minute blinds, and 6k starting stack. I enjoyed this game up to the point when I got knocked out when the board would not pair up which I thought was very unobliging of it. I finished in 19/57 runners and with £4k as first prize it would have gone down very nicely indeed.

I hada very enjoyable weekend in general though, playing poker on Friday night and saturday afternoon, and drinking on Friday afternoon (a few anyways) and Saturday evening onwards (a lot). I didn't play any cash games at all over there but from what I seen and heard from others, I am glad I didn't. I met a nice bunch of people over there though and I look forward to trying to help take the cup back for the Fitz next time, even though we take it far less seriously than they seem to.

I am not playing online as much as I had hoped I would, mostly due to my short little span of attention (as Paul Simon would say), and partly due to the fact that my PC is playing up on me in a most mystifying way. I am up a few buyins though in the games I have played, but it is still only a very part time thing for me. Also, due to my mystifying experience I cannot access my PokerTracker database anymore and it is really irritating me.

Ah well. Oh, and if anyone is bored play an online game called curveball. I think it is great and very addictive. I can get to level 7 without losing a life nearly all the time. about 50% of the time I get past level 7 (It took me ages to get past it first), and I have only got to level 9 a couple of times. Good hand eye coordination required!!!

See you at the tables.

I am shit

2006-09-26T00:04:00.000+01:00

No more needs to be said. I seem to misplay every hand in tournaments lately, can't catch a big hand, and in cash games it is worse. I had all the tickets for a raffle lately but I still lost.

Wah, wah, bitch, moan, moan, etc.

I hope to update once I start playing a bit better, but I am taking a few days off from love poker, and since I have Broadband again (hooray!) I can do other things. I have learnt that I am still bad at online poker too though, but I am promising myself that I will play more STT's even though they bore the hell out of me, as I have done ok in the few that I have played.

Oh look, there is some paint drying, yes I know, more interesting than this isn't it? I'll put you out of your misery. Bye now.

September 4th

2006-09-04T15:16:00.000+01:00

Since the last post I played in the PokerEvents team game, the Fitz end of month and a few other games too. The team event started off fairly quietly after a scare that the Laois team would get broken due to no shows, but the Offaly team was the one to miss out instead. We got 2 of their players including Rory Liffey, and that turned out to be very good for us. I ended up busting out in 180th place out of 310 runners with a probably misplayed QQ which was very disappointing, but after a long second day spectating things finally worked out well when Rory's 7th place, allied with strong performances from Rob Taylor and Brian Murphy gained us enough points to finish joint second with Tyrone and behind Leitrim for a total of 2375 each which was nice.

I enjoyed watching the second days play, but to be honest I can't say I found some of the PE staff to be polite or reasonable, and I had to fight back arguments quite a lot. This wasn't with dealers but with the floor staff who I felt showed a lack of respect at times to people who had paid a lot of money to enter the tournament. At times alright there was a need to try and get players back from the table, but the rigidity of it, the allowance of certain 'favoured' people to walk around unfettered, and the rudeness at times didn't endear them to me. I have since heard that Stephen and Donal have left PE so there will be some new people coming on board it seems.

The end of month tournie in the Fitz was one I got into cheaply again via the one handed Omaha sats, so that was good, but I busted out just before midnight, walking into Paddy Hicks' AA preflop. I'll say no more about it. Friday night scalps then seen me build a big stack by the break and I had 17k which was probably more than 3x the average at the time. After the break I went into static mode, mindful of my occasional tendency when well stacked to try and get too clever and throw it away, so I decided to play solidly which went fine until I ran into the biggest maniac I have ever seen. He would reraise with any two cards, and call a big all in with any 2 suited cards. I managed to get into a 26k pot preflop at 200/400 against him with TT vs his A3o, and of course he hit an A on the river to cripple me. I got my shortstack back to soemthing palyable but then tried a move to isolate a shortstacks all in that ran into KK when I had JTs. No miracle and off to an unsuccessful session at the cash games.

So far this year I have had 6 profitable months, and 2 unprofitable months, and I am up somewhat for the year, but not as much as I was hoping at the start of the year. Hopefully I can avaoid any disastrous periods for the rest of the year and hopefully get a few decent tournament results which I haven't done in the longest of time except in the small tournaments.

Catching my Breath

2006-08-24T15:32:00.000+01:00

I have just had my longest break from poker in 2 years, as I was at a wedding and then on holiday, so I had 17 days away from poker. I can't say that I didn't want to play at any time during this period but I resisted the temptation to go out of my way for this. I played last night just to get back in the swing of things but no luck, and I got bored and gave away the last of my chips in a spot of blind pushing rather than be shotstacked and hang on.

Before I left my good bubble had burst and so I went away on a bad patch, but that's what breaks are for isn't it? I am playing in the Laois team this weekend coming in the Irish Poker Championships team event run by PokerEvents and hopefully it will be a good event (for me and my team anyhow). I have absolutely no Laois ties apart from the fact that Andy, who was asked to pick the Laois team, knows me fairly well in a poker sense from the Fitz and asked me to play since they were short a couple of players. We have a decent enough team from the players that I know anyhow, but it is a pity that Paul Jackson cannot play as I was looking forward to seeing how he played against the field.

Hopefully I will be reporting on it next week in a positive light. It is just a pity that the Citywest hotel is so awkward to get to without a car, but I suppose it is a necessay evil since other venues are just too small.

After the Famine

2006-07-13T14:45:00.000+01:00

I have meant to update this several times since I actually have, but better late than never. The last time I updated things were very different for me. I was living 20 mins from the Fitz, I couldn't make the money in a tournament to save my life, and things were just ticking along.

Business has picked up though, and that most cruel of mistresses - The River - is being kind to me.

Let me take myself back to the weekend before last (Sunday 2nd). I came in late into the Fitz after the football and sat straight into the 50 Omaha game. It was a well stacked game but not maniacal. I sat in with 250 which is about my standard sit in amount. Things were going fairly slowly until a Hold'em player (Hughie - never seen him play Omaha before) sat into the game. He proceeded to pump 100 into 4 pots in a row, 3 of them preflop. One of them I call the preflop action for 100 with KKJTds from the blinds. The flop (600 in pot) comes fairly raggy but with 2 spades on board. I have only 150 left so I go all in and get 3 callers. The turn blanks and the river comes a lovely spade and with no one on the nut flush draw I take the lot for over a grand in the pot, so happy days. I stick around for another couple of hours, and get rivered horribly by a middle pin straight (he had no other outs) in a fairly big pot, but I pick up enough others to recover to leave with about a grand in total, so not too bad.

I played the Monday night tournie then but I can't remember much about it, and was probably out early. I played cash games as well and my records show that I made about 100 from that, so I left pretty much even for the night. Details are great, aren't they?

The next time I played was in the 150 FO on Thursday. Before this tournie I noticed that I was on my worst run ever (since I began keeping records anyhow) without cashing or 10 tournaments to put it another way. The previous worst had been 7. This made me determined to make the money and I did that, but only just, reaching the final table as one of about 4 terminally short shortstacks. I exited in 8th when my Kd with a mystery card (5d as it turned out) got called by Dennis' TT. Only 50 profit, but at least my duck was technically broken.

I played the scalps tournament the next night and there was a huge turnout of 112 runners thanks to a load of English guys over for the Charity Headsup match the next day in the Fitz, and also due to a last longest bet posted on boards with Dave Masters generously adding 200 to the pot for this. I never threatened the last longest though. Before the break I won a few pots early on but I kept getting my raises reraised near the break. This was very frustrating, especially as I was out of position most of the time and I never had a premium hand to play back with. I always held AJ/AQ/middle pair or some such, not what I want to be calling an all in reraise with. After the break I went fairly card dead, and at one stage after losing a few chips in a pot I got dealt KK in EP. I decide to limp as there had been raises every hand, but no, not this one. I was shortstacked and tried to get cute (3k with blinds of 200-400) 6 players to the pot and up she pops, the dirty A. Needless to say there are interested parties and I run away with my tail between my legs. I go out a few hands later when on the blinds and I enter into the spirit of it, by playing blind (in 2 hands), and of course I lose. Cash game please!!!!!

Cash game (round of each) starts off badly for me when I hold 99xx on a board of 982 (with 2 clubs). I bet pot (only 10), get 5 callers. Turn is Ac putting the flush out there. checked all round, and the river is 2, filling me up. I bet 50, and get reraised to 120. Hmmm thinks I. I have about 150 back, and 70 more to me. I am suspicious but still call, and he turns over 22 for quads. Typical. I reload to 200 after losing the rest of it and the following pot happens.

Me 185
Button ~400

I limp in MP with A9o in the holdem round and it gets raised by the button to 10 (regular player, we know each others game reasonably well) and only I call. Flop comes 984r. I bet 25 into him and he calls. At this point I am fairly sure he is on a big A but doesn't believe me. Turn is the perfect card - A. I bet 50 into him, and he reraises me to 125. Since I only have 150 left I go all in fo course and he calls and is disgusted with my hand, and he has AK as I figured. No K and I win a decent pot. I play for another while and leave nearly 200 up in the cash game for a small profit for the night.

The next day I turn up for the Charity rebuy game in the Fitz, and it is sheer madness. I rebuy 5 times and topup (25 a time), but there are 2 guys who rebuy 27 and 20 times respectively. It was brilliant fun before and indeed after the break, but before the break it was sheer madness with allins on every hand practically. I had 11500 at the break after quadrupling my rebuy up (blind) on the last hand and topping up for 3500. There were loads of chips in play and after the break it settled into a really good tournament. There were pretty much only decent players left after the break when the madness ceased, and I was doing ok. A few hands in particular stand out for me, all happening on the second last table.

Hand 1: 5 or 6 handed I hold A9o in the SB (500/1000). Folded to the BB who raises to 4000. I know a lot of the time4 he is doing this with air as he had just tripled up recently and I got the feeling he was just pulling a move. This being the case I push with A9 for 21k, confident that I would take the pot there. I hadn't counte on the BB thinking and counting and then thinking soem more. After a few mins he eventually folds, and as I suspected the button raiser folds quickly. To my shock the BB shown his folded QQ. I have played with this guy a lot and I think he would have called me on my own but the presence of the button having open raised put him off. Thankfully for me.

Hand 2: A few hands after the first one and I have 66 in the SB. A guy who just lost most of his chips in the previous hand pushes for 6.5k. I call instantly, and he has AJo, much better than I thought, but still ok. flop of QT8 him a double belly buster with the overcards also. A 6 on the turn takes away the overcards, but a K on the river wins him the hand. I could have done without a 14k swing just then. This left me with about 17k.

I won a couple of hands in a row then, once when I flopped a set of 2's and another time betting with air. We were on the bubble with blinds of 1k/2k when the following hand happened:

Hand 3: I am in the BB. UTG raises to 5k. Folded back to me and I push for 22k. Called instantly and I cover, only just. Hands are AJd for me and AKc for UTG. Oops. I spike a J on the flop though to burst the bubble and I go to the final table with 45k and I am in 3rd place. Sorry Andy.

The final table has 6 of the e English guys on it along with myself, Mike Lacey and Mark Kenny. I don't make a move for the first while and I think 3 players are knocked out before I decide to raise with 78h from MP. BB goes all in and I think my original raise covered. He had overcards, but I hit my flush out he goes. When 4 handed there is only 1 of the 6 English guys left along with myself, Mark and Mike. I am in the SB at 4k/8k and it is folded to me. I have KQ off and raise to 24k (I only have 66k total). Mike instantly goes all in, and I call getting around 3-1 for the remainder of my money. He has A3 but I flop a K to win the hand. Mike busts out after losing the next 2 hands also, but in each hand he was ahead each time when the money went in, unlucky Mike. At 3 handed we played on for a while but with the blinds at 5k/10k and chips fairly even (I had about 140k to about 120k each) and the time at nearly 4am we split it 3 ways. So after deducting for dealers and for a donation to the charity fund I left about 600 in profit for the night so not too bad, and I really enjoyed the tournament, both the banter and the play.

The next time I played was on Wednesday night. I have not played this tournament lately, but since I was able to come into town in a borrowed car I thought why not. I was going to go to the SE but in the end decided not to and stuck with the Fitz. There were 44 runners so not too bad. I was playing fairly well but couldn't accumulate a mot of chips. An example of this is when AQ rivered a T to split the pot with me on a board of KQJ3T when I held AA. After the break (no rebuy, only topup) I was again not getting many chips. Turning point came when I had 77 in the SB, and Button had pushed. I also went all in and another shortie called. I was up against QJ and KJ and the first card seen on the flop was a nice 7. Despite 4 spades on the board I still held up as neither had a spade. Several of the people on my table were weak/tight players. They would call a preflop raise then fold almost every time on the flop. I gained a good few chips this way and was well stacked when I knocked someone out on the bubble.

I was second in chips on the FT at the start, well behind big Stuart who had been on a different table to me all night. A few hands into this I raise, Stuey calls and folds to a flop bet. I show AA as it is the first hand I showed on the table. I had won one decent pot before that. 3 crucial hands happen then.

Hand 1: I have AQo in the BB. 1.5k/3k, 1 limper 5 handed and the SB raises to 10k. She had been very aggressive and raised about 5 of the last 8 pots, showing a low pair, a raggy ace, KJ and a couple of no shows. I feel I am well ahead of her range, and would be very unlucky to be behind here so I push for 35k. Folded to her who calls quickly with 66?? Long story short I hit A on the river to cripple her.

Hand 2: Very next hand there was an UTG limper. I raise to 16k from SB with 88. UTG goes all in for about 22k, and I make the call. He had AQ this time. A on the flop isn't looking great for me but I hit 8 on the river (again) so knock him out. I soon knock out player from Hand 1 also.

Hand 3: This is the biggest luckbox hand but again not anything I was going to do differently. 3 handed, I am on the SB with AJo and button limps. 2k/4k. I open raise to 14k, BB folds and then button (Stuey) raises to 40k. This being Stuart could mean a monster or could mean a small pair or a raggy A. I cover him by about 40 so I push allin and he makes the call. Monster pot and I am not loving it at this stage. Sure enough as luck would have it he has AA and I am in big trouble. 3 hearts on the flop gives me hope though as I have Ah, and when turn and river both bring hearts too I win a monster pot and dog Stuey. AJ, 3 handed, against Stuey, I dare anyone to play it differently.

Heads up and I have about 150k to about 20k. This guy barely played a hand apart from doubling up early on the FT. I think it lasts about 5 hands when my JJ (slowplayed) beat his T7 on a K74 board. Turn and river blanks and I outright win for the first time in a while. Good feeling, and even though the competition was not exactly that strong in the whole there were some decent players there. I was hapy enough anyways, 1k for first.

I am in profit for the year now again, and hopefully this run will continue for a while, I could do with it.

On a side note I have purchased 1% of both Oscar Fred and Dave Masters for the World Series, so I would like to say good luck to them.

Hopefully I will still be in a happy mood the next time I post.

Fitz End of Month Game

2006-06-30T10:44:00.000+01:00

I decided to play the Fitz end of month despite being undecided for most of the day, but the fact that I wanted to play even though I knew I probably shouldn't, decided it.

I was seated in Seat 1, Table 6 for the first few hours and the table was grand, a few familiar faces, a few decent Northern lads and a few random types. I won the first 2 pots for very small amounts, flopping a set of 4's in the first hand and raising and picking up the blinds only in the second hand with AQo. I wasn't doing an awful lot at this stage and the biggest pot I won before the break was when I raised with AQo to 425 at the 50-100 level with 2 limpers. All folded to the second limper who called. Flop comes Q54 with 2 diamonds, and there is a bet of 500 into me. The other guy in this pot is one of my favourite players to take chips off as he talks a good game - regularly - but doesn't play one. I raised him to 1750 and he called. Turn comes T, no flush on board and he checks. I duly go all in for about 2700, and he thinks and folds after a bit saying that he had a queen. That was a perfect example of how to leak away over 2k with a poor holding out of position.

Anyhow, I pick up a few more small pots before the break, mostly due to a lot of the tight play at the table, so at the break I have 7700. Not bad but not great. I have still not shown down a hand at this point. After the break I start of steady enough, winning a couple more small pots and I am around the 7.5k mark still when I decide to get creative with a call (100/200) with Q6d in the cutoff. BB checks his option (despite looking like raising at one point). Flop comes AdQs3d. Perfect thinks I. Obviously so did other players!!!! The BB bet 450, an EP limper raised to 1550 and it comes back to me. I have a few options here -

1. Fold - Not something I was considering really. Why else did I call if not to see a flop like that?
2. Call - The cautious me wanted to do this. The old me would have.
3. Raise - This is a better option in a more deepstacked situation. Raising here would pot commit anyhow.
4. Push - This is really the obvious one, and of course the one I went for.

So I pushed for a total of about 7.5k and the BB got out of the way quickly enough. The first raiser though had a good think and after a couple of minutes got the clock called on him (not by me I must add). He got the 30 second warning, the 15 second warning, the 10 second warning, the countdown from 5, and in true McGyver fashion he waited unti l second before making the fold. He showed what he folded and it was AJh. Didn't seem like the hand to go into the tank over to be honest, but there you go. He had about 9k back after his bet so it would have been for 2/3 of his remaining stack.

So I toddled along winning small pots and get to peak of 13k when I was moved table, and there were a few more faces on this table I was familiar with. The crucial hand on this table came when I had 88 UTG and decided to raise. This was after a couple of rounds of the table when I think I had played precisely 1 hand, and that was a battle of the blinds, which was split between myself and Reggie. Blinds 400-800 I raise to 2300 UTG. Kevin Fitzpatrick goes all in for 4500 and then another guy who was at my table all night before it broke, went all in for 5800. Folded back to me and I make the call after a small deliberation. I was happy when the showed AJ for Kevin, and AK for the other guy. Happy that was until the turn brought an A, and no help on the river meant I was back to around 6.5k. I worked my way back to around 10k with a few pushes and then t the 800-1500 level with the blinds approaching fast, UTG minraised and it came to me with KQs. Now I know this is a poor hand in a raised pot, but this guy was the type of player who minraises with a middling Ace because he 'thinks he should'.

I pushed anyhow, happy to either push him off it (calling was over 60% of his stack) or take an uneven race against Ax. I had less than 7BB and it was my BB in about 3 hands. He called with AT anyhow, ad neither of us connected so I was gone in around 24th.

Ah well. I thought I played well and considering I only got 3 pp's (44 twice, 88) and didn't see AK at all all night, I thought I did ok. I was disappointed though not to get further. Another night I would have folded the KQ and tried to pick a better spot, but there were a few shortish stacks so the chances of getting into a pot under favourable circumstances weren't great. I am going to miss the scalps tonight anyhow, and it will only be the 7th time this year I have not played on a Friday night. Maybe I should look for a life. I have only played on Saturday night 8 times though, so that isn't as damning a statistic.

Adios 'til next time.

At least I am consistent

2006-06-29T15:33:00.000+01:00

In my last 7 tournaments (5 of them since my last post) I have finished in the top 20 - but only once made the FT and even then didn't make the money. The upshot of this of course is that while I am generally not going out early it is not good to me since I am making no money from it. I am however turning a small profit at the cash tables so overall June is a profitable month so far, if not one to have me rolling in the cash. After the disaster that was May though it is good to steady the ship.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of the tournies around dublin are way too shallow stacked so one mistake, bad timing, or one bad beat and you are dead, and usually one or the other seems to happen to me at some stage of the tournament.

I am probably going to play the Fitz EOM tournament tonight so we'll see how I do then. I am feeling that I am playing ok lately while not hitting the heights or getting the big breaks I need at the right time in big pots.

This is only a fairly short post so not much more to say, except I don't know how frequently I will be playing poker for the next while as sometime next week I am moving apartment and since I don't have a car (soon to be rectified hopefully) and this place is not near as centrally located I may be less conveniently placed to play as much. When you couple this with the fact that I don't know how long it will take to sort out broadband and tv access in this new place either I am possibly in for a frustrating while. Then again I do work in town (well nearly) so I may just stay in town after work and get a taxi home after the Fitz, but this approach could be expensive after a while. Just as well my SSIA is maturing (Cheers Charlie) in a months time and I will probably buy a wagon then and I can get back to normal.

Anyways, bye for now, sorry for wasting 49 seconds of your life by writing this tripe that you just wrote. I promise that my next one will be filled with hands where I ballsed things up and also lots of complaining that I never got got cards and when I did I never got action.

Quiet Time

2006-06-15T14:19:00.000+01:00

I haven't played much poker in the last while so not an awful lot to report. Since the last update I have played twice only. The first time was in the first run of the Fitz 150 game. This got 49 runners which isn't bad for the first time. Hopefully it will get a consistent 50-60 runners as it is a good structure, and there isn't an awful lot elase on a Thursday apart from the SE double chance which I am not that fond of to be honest.

Anyways, starting stack of 5k, 3x20 minute levels and then 30 min levels. There were one or two teething problme swith the clock but aside from this I enjoyed the tournament in general. Before the break I barely made a move, only playing 2 hands and barely picking up much in either of these pots. I have a tad over starting stack at the break.

After the break I got moved table and first hand I lost around 1500 when playing QTs from the button. A couple of hands later though I got dealt 88 in late position and raised to 700 (100/200). button called, and he was the guy who had taken the 1500 off me. He is an aggressive (usually) tricky and good player. Flop comes 78Ar so perfect flop. I check into him, he checks back. Turn is 7 filling me up. I bet 1200, calls quickly. River is T I think, I bet 2100 into him and he quickly calls. I flip my house over, he taps the table and shows an A and mucks. I got lucky then a couple of times once when raising in the cutoff with KQ in an unopened pot, and BB goes allin for less than double my raise so naturally I called. He showed AK and a Q on the flop meant I increase again. Sorry Jason.

At this point I lost a few more chips in 2 hands against a newcomer to the table who smacked of bullying with his chips but I never quite had the conviction to go over the top against him. Yet.

Then came another hand. I got dealt 66 in MP. Ronan then raised to 1500 (200/400) from EP and I pushed for 4100 hoping he would respect my raise and let me steal there cause I knew I wasn't in great shape. Ronan knows my game as well as anyone in the Fitz, as I play a lot of tournaments as well as cash games with him. It gets backto Ronan and he thinks about it for a bit and says 'I think we are in a race' and calls showing 88. Bugger. A 6 on the flop though gets me out of it though, the case 6 as it turns out as one lad afterwards says he had one.

Then I played 99 (nearly 9.5k now), raising to 1500 from lp on 200/400 with a limper. The button (bullying guy from above) called. Flop comes QT4r. I bet 1700 into the pot and he thinks for a bit and calls. Oh-Oh. I resolve now to push any blank (I have him on KQ at the worst(for me), probably a decent T though) and the turn duly obliges as it is a rainbow completing 7. I push for 6200 instantly into a pot of around 6500 so not an overbet at all. He thinks for ages which I think is a bit of bluster really as I don't think he was strong enough to call as I hadn't played it weakly. I think he was planning to push on any weakness from me, but there is a good chance I was behind so I didn't want this. He folded anyhow after a think.

Then came 'the hand' and just as I was starting to really enjoy the game. I was SB and Macker was BB (300/600). Folded to me and I complete with K7o. Flop comes a tasty KT7 with 2 hearts. I lead for 1000 which is promptly raised to 5k. He has me covered. There are 3 possibilites here I reckon. Flush draw and a pair. I have seen Macker do this a few times on this type of draw. T7 which was what I really wanted, or KT which I didn't. I pushed for 13k which was quickly called and the horrible KT was turned over. Turn was a K so I was dying here anyhow if we saw this.

My mistakes in this hand:
Not raising preflop. May not have worked against KT but it may have.
Not respecting Mackers reraise. I knew he had a decent hand, I just vainly hoped it was worse than mine. Macker doesn't raise with shit.
Not folding preflop.

Ah well. Out in 14th I think.

Not an awful lot to report from the Monday 100+10 game either. Only 36 runners, I lost a good few chips early on to mad Tom, and got them back a while later when I doubled up with KK then won a decent pot on a board of KK97 with 77 vs KQ. Thanks for checking the flop :)

I didn't really get going in this game and went out in 12th. I didn't play last weekend as I was in Hamburg getting very drunk on a mates stag party, and I won't be playing this weekend as I will be at home for my bimonthly visit. Assuming I don't go on Sunday evening either this will be 2 visits in 13 days, my most barren run for quite a while. No harm though with the World Cup and all. I haven't played online either really in the last 2-3 weeks. I will be moving apartment though in a few weeks so both online and offline will be more difficult for me so I may just go mad.

Bye now.

Couldn't think of a title

2006-06-06T14:10:00.000+01:00

The bank holiday weekend proved too much for me to resist and I got back into playing cash games I must report. Sunday started off with me going to the rebuy tournie in the Fitz. This was the oddest tournament I have played in a while. I had to rebuy after the first hand when I had AA, went all in again on the 3rd hand and won a race vs AK. Overall I had AA twice, KK, QQ twice, JJ, AK twice and I was still knocked out at 11.10 when my QQ got beaten by AJ. Ah well.

Onto the Omaha cash games and it started off reasonably slowly, My first decent hand of the night was when I flopped the nut flush from the BB and took a chance and checked it. One player bets 25, 1 caller and I call also. Turn is inconsequential. SB bets 50, I go all in for ~150 and take it there without a caller.

The biggest pot of the night is as follows. I have taken this as pretty much a cut and paste from a thread I started on boards.ie but I have filled in the gap at the bottom.

I make it €4 on the blind UTG, 5 callers, I have no live option. My hand AsTsKdTh.

Flop 9TJr (25)

I check (~400), next player (~375) bets pot, 1 caller (~150), I call to see turn.

Turn 5s (100).

This card gives me nut spade draw as well as the inside straight draw to the nuts and trips. This is the situation I am thinking about here. I have a huge draw (20 outs). Potentially the flop bet caller has a set of jacks but I dont think so (his call of the pony didn't look to confident). Even if he does, I still have 12 outs to the nuts (straight and flush).

Should I lead the betting into this pot in this big draw situation knowing that the player to my left almost certainly has KQ? He is normally a Hold'em only player. He knows enough about Omaha to know not to lead the betting with crap, but he is not a regular or tricky player. If I lead here there is a good chance all the money goes in now. If I check/call and hit there is a good likelyhood that I will not get paid, against most players anyhow.

Anyhow, I check, other guy bets pot (100), third player folds and I call.River J (300)Board now: JsTd9h5sJd

I lead with the underfull for 200, and after a think get called somehow and scoop the pot. I won a couple of other decent pots as well as missing a couple of draws and getting outdrawn a couiplf of times, but I leave at the bright and early time of 6.45 with a healthy profit.

Monday night I was going to give a miss, but have a trademark last minute change of heart and decide to play the 100 freezeout. There was a disappointing turnout of only around 45, and I was on a tough table featuring Vivian, Paddy, Niall O'Callaghan and Cecil, with Kevin Farrelly getting moved there too before the break.

There were 2 big hands that I was involved in before the break. Hand 1 (75-150) I get JTd in the BB and call a raise from Paddy (SB) to 650, and 3 of us see a flop of JcQdKd, so I have a pair and an open ended straight flush draw. Monster!

Paddy goes all in and I call for less than his bet (I had about 1800) and Cecil folds (had JT spades he says). I hit a 9 on the turn for my straight and Paddy's AQ is no good when the river is a blank.

Two hands later (100-200) I am on the button. It is folded around to Stewart (Loose, aggressive, shortstacked) and he goes in for 1025. Folded to me and I instantly call with AQo. SB goes all in for 550 citing value and then BB (Niall) thinks and calls. I wasn't too comfortable with this situation now to be honest as I felt that the size of the initial all in was big enough for me not to risk a raise to keep out marginal hands from the only 2 players still to act. Now I wish I had raised.

Anyhow, flop comes out A94r. Perfect thinks I, especially when Niall checks to me. I bet 2k into the pot and Niall reluctantly goes all in for 2475 which I call. Cards turned over and Stewart had KJo, I had AQo and Niall had AJo. SB had some other cards I can't recall, but irrelevant. Lovely thinks I, until the J on the turn cripples me and leaves me with only 2k to play with. Ouch.

I was thinking that I should perhaps have raised to isolate, but if I ran into a monster I would at least have had the opportunity to get away from it preflop which a flat call would allow. Ah well.

Things do not improve and I go out 3 hands after the break when my 44 run into KK. Stick my name on the Omaha there Denise, cheers.

Anyhoo, onto the Omaha cash game and it was a very uneventful game for me. The high point: 180 in profit. The low point: 90 down. I left at roughly the midpoint with 50 profit in this game and a small loss for the night.

Next up for me will probably be the new 150 game in the Fitz on Thursday night. I am away in Hamburg for a stag this weekend so won't be playing (poker at least).

Bye for now.

Ignore, Ignore

2006-06-04T04:36:00.000+01:00

Firstly thanks to those brave few that read and post encouraging comments. Yes I know I probably should take a complete break for a couple of weeks, take deep breaths etc but even when things are running poorly I still enjoy it all in a perverted sense.

Since I last posted here I have played 3 nights on the trot. Thursday in the SE saw me doing ok for the first while. The main decent pot I won I kinda plumbed a bit for. I limped from MP with 9Th. Flop comes 7TA, 2 diamonds and 1 heart, 5 players 50-100. SB bets 200, BB calls, I think and call leaving 900 behind. 1 more caller so pot on the turn is 1300. My thinking here is that if the turn comes 9,T,8 or a heart I am going to push, if not I will get away from the pot. Turn comes 6h. Checked to me and I push. CO calls instantly and SB calls (all in for less than me) too. Oh oh I think. I would have been happy to take the pot ther. CO shows A5 for 2 pair (no flop raise???) and SB has J5d for the other flush draw. River come a nice Qh so I take the flush.

Maybe it was just me though but I thought the standard seemed better than normal for a Thursday in the SE. Not great still, but better, so I was hopeful of a decent run. I got moved table and the cards duly obliged my optimism by drying up completely. I barely played a hand before the table broke about an hour later and after the break which I had around 5k at, so ok.

At my new table I think I raised the first 2 hands with not much and took the blinds. Then I got involved in another pot when I hit top 2 on the flop with KJs so won that with a flop bet. I lost a significant pot when I was trying to semi-steal from the button with KQo with 2 limpers. BB went all in for about 40% of my stack, and almost twice my raise. I called anyways and wasn't too disappointed to see ATo. I hit my Q on the flop but an A on the river did for me. Next time in the BB I checked to see a battle of the blind flops with Q6o (I should prob have raised here irrespective of my holding tbh). Flop comes 999 and it is checked which I am happy to agree to. Turn is a Q giving me the house. SB bets out for 600 (blinds 200-400). I call. River is J, and SB bets 1100. To be honest I don't know why but I went all in, he called instantly with his 9 surprisingly. I don't know why I went all in there really, as the likelhood was that I would be splitting it at best as he showed interest only when the Q came and still bet the river. He had to have either a Q or a 9, but then again this being Thursday in the SE who knows. Ah well.

Scalps on Friday started off brilliantly and got up to over 6k early with TT vs 88 all in preflop and QQ vs J9 on the J high flop. After this though every time I made a bet or raise (even a reraise once) I got played back at strongly. I always had some of it but never enough to justify playing with this action. I was at less than starting stack at the break and the topup brought me to around 5k so a bit if work to do. Things restarted slowly but got better with me dogging people twice in quick succession when I had to make a move once with KQ vs AK and once when I misread the situation but got lucky. A reraise from the BB of a SB bet (loose, bad player) with K2 on a board of KQ64r won me another pot to take me to 25k with blinds at 400/800 so I was in good shape. I missed a couple of flops after raises preflop and had to lay down to action and this shortstacked me soon. I lasted a while longer but exited in 15th. Better but not good enough.

Onto the round of each game on Saturday night. For a while this was my non serious favourite game, but then I got pissed off with the standard of play in the Omaha and stopped going. Recently I have started playing it again and it has paid off with this being my only recent successes with a 1st and a 3rd in recent weeks. Not great money but a start. Tonight there was a massive 36 runners, and I played it properly from start to finish as opposed to my usualy manic style before then break. There were the usual dodgy players among the decent ones.

I got off to a quiet start but by the break had over 6k including topup with only 1 rebuy so in for €50. After the break I was moved table immediately and got blinded down to 2500 (with 1 played and lost raised pot too). With the blinds at 300-600 and Omaha starting I got my chips in with a fairly crap hand but flopped a flush in a 3 way pot so I tripled up (and a bit for the BB). Next hand I had KK88 and flopped another flush in a 4 way pot to nearly quadruple up, so from 2500 to 30k in 2 hands!!! Omaha is great. Things kept going ok and I made it to the FT with 40k, 4 places paid. 900, 480, 270 and 130 were the prizes. Things were still going ok when I raised with KKJJds and got reraised by Austin for around 33k (his whole stack). I called and he hit a heart flush even though his AA were good anyhow. This put me back to 14k and there were 8 left.

A couple of blind steals and one double up put me back to over 30k. I yoyoed between this and about 18k for a while until I got doubled up again. I was playing good, pressure poker, and really enjoying the game. When 4 handed we were going to freeze the blinds at 2k-4k with myself, Dave Whelan, Austin and Paul Fox left in it, but Austin objected (I would love to know why really, it turned into a crap shoot then). Paul got taken out by Dave and my aggressive play, sometimes with cards, sometimes not, got me into a decent position again. After a while of tooing and froing the stacks were fairly even with me on 61k, Austin on 67k and Dave on 70k. The blinds at this stage were 400-8000 and a raise committed nearly half a stack so crap shoot city it was. Due to this a deal was agreed and we took over 500 each with a few shekels for the dealers.

This is a welcome boost to the coffers but doesn't change my recent stance on cash games. I would need a bigger win than that for it.

I must say though that I did enjoy that game, and thinking back, about 80% of the pots I won were at Omaha, mostly just bets taking it down uncontested. I enjoy the feeling that I know I am one of the better Omaha players that play the game, although with Dave Whelan, Oscar, Austin, Paul Fox and Mark (kinaldo from boards) on the FT it was never going to be a cakewalk. I am not saying that I am a great Omaha player as I know I have loads to learn about at game, as at NL holdem, but considering most of the other players in the game I am always confident about my play in it in this tournament.

Anyways, post over, and hopefully I can get back to better results in general. I will need to if I am to make a 5th consecutive league final appearance at the Fitz as I am currently in 12th and even the legend that is Bob Battersby is ahead of me in it.

Plans for the week ahead? Who knows. Probably play Sunday night and either Monday or Tuesday. Next weekend I will be on a different mission when I jet to Hamburg for a workmates stag. Considering the World Cup is starting that weekend and Argentina play Ivory Coast (with their reverse Irish flag) on the Saturday in Hamburg it should be a good weekend.

Auf Weidersehn (I didn't check spelling, so apologies if it is incorrect) for now.

SELECT MAX(PAIN) FROM CARDS;

2006-05-31T12:17:00.000+01:00

Double chance didn't even give me one chance. I played thia last night and there was a decent turnout or about 70 players. I got off to a good start winning the first hand but sadly that was to be my nadir. My steals preflop got reraised a couple of times, I had to lay down top pair (Q) K kicker in the face of bets from an aggressive but good player, and played a hand nearly right,but ultimately wrong. On a limped pot 4 seen a flop. I was on the button and it was checked to me on a board of J63 with 2 hearts. I bet 2/3 the pot (I have none of it) and got one quick caller. Flush draw thought I. This being my thinking I somehow managed to contrive to check the turn behind when the 4 of clubs arrived. River brought another non heart and I bet again more than half the pot when it was checked to me. Of course I was called by missed flush draw and 4th pair which was good (9h4h). I messed that hand by not betting the turn which I knew myself and was said to me as well just after the break by another player. It is the things like that that I hjave stopped doing properly lately. It would be churlish of me to just blame the cards for my bad run as even though I know I play well in fits and starts, there is no consistency to my game, and I am bottling out of making the right decisions because I must subconsciously think 'there is no way I will win no matter what I do'.

No wonder I have Eeyore as my avatar on boards. Apt on 2 fronts.

1. I am a donkey
2. I am pessimistic

Anyways, after the failure of that bluff I was never presented with an opportunity to get chips. I stole blinds a couple of times, but never had a had where I wanted a caller despite needing one. I did get a caller though when I opened all in with 62. I lost surprisingly. 5 levels of poker and not one pocket pair of any size. I had AKo once and AJs once. I also had KQs once but way out of position. These are the only decent hands I got. The main problem I have with the double chance game is that there are never really enough chips to make plays, especially when the game is populated by guys who like middle or bottom pair too much to let you win with a bluff. It is all very well saying 'wait til you get a big hand then you will take their chips'. This never even close to happening.

I may or may not play the scalps game on Friday. I definitely will not play in the CityWest this weekend as apart from being an extremely awkward location for a carless person such as I currently am, I cannot justify spending between 300-3000 on tournaments at the moment. Ah well. Hopefully if Forest Gump was on the right tracks I have eaten all the coffee creams by now and am coming into the turkish delights (my personal favourites - they are either love em or hate em) now.

On and On and On and Ariston.........

2006-05-29T14:32:00.000+01:00

Ho Hum. It is official. May is now the worst recorded month (records since August and at least a few before that) ever, and possibly beyond records.

It is rigid game selection for me for a while though, I think double chance Tuesday and Friday scalps it seems, with no cash games. I know runs come and runs go, but this one seems particularly depressing. I have still had a few (very few though by my standards) final tables and cashes but they are generally minor placings so no advance.

One good thing about this is that I have to get more creative with my cards but considering some of the players who play in the Fitz tournies though bluffing can be a very expensive way to get involved in a hand. Lately big pairs get no action, I rarely flop big, and my big draws miss.

I did not intend this blog to be a vehicle for moaning and I hope it does not pan out that way over the long term. Anyways, onto the weekends poker action.

On Friday evening I left work to go into the Gresham Hotel to play a satellite for the 500 game in there that evening. I registered for a 2 ticket 100+5 satellite and their was a fairly tough line up at the table considering. People I knew(or knew of) were, Collette (Smurph), Dave Masters, Phil Harris, Tom Nolan (split the Fitz end of month 2 days earlier), and the inimitable player known to me only as Chief Brody (not a name I assigned to him, yet apt) from the Sporting Emporium.

It started out very slowly for me but I stole a few pots and then eventually took out the player in 4th place with JT vs 99. With 3 of us left and 2 tickets I was very confident having about 13000, Dave Masters about 14000 and Collette only about 3000 left. At this stage I was sure between us we would be able to take Collette out but once she doubled up via Dave and started stealing blinds with a more damaging stack eventually I called her all in bet with a suited K (terrible play but I was in gamble mode). She had AJ and it held up. This put me down to about 6k and Collette up to around 12k then. Next hand I pushed from the SB into Collettes BB with J8 suited. She called with KQo. I hit my straight on the turn but Collette hit a 4 flush on the river to knock me out. The most annoying thing is that I was te only one of the 3 of us who did not have a ticket. I don't know how I managed to keep it that way. No Gresham game for me then.

The next day I went to the Fitz for satellites for their 500 game, and again I was going well in the first satellite I played but lost a race to exit in 3rd. If I had won that I would have been all but heads up against an inexperienced palyer holding a big chip lead for the ticket. I played another sat and after being early chip lead I ran 77 into AA and then lost a race the next hand to be sent to the rails. I was annoyed with myself. To compound all this I went home and played some 1/2 Pot Limit Omaha and managed to lose an $800 pot with AAQQds when I flopped top set and nut flush draw on a Q73 board only to lose to runner runner flush (he had top 2 and backdoor draw when he pushed after my pot bet on the flop). Ouch. To bed with me.

Sunday I played the €40 rebuy game. I had €55 credit left so paid the entry with this and had a whole tenner left over for a rebuy/topup. I had a limit set in my head of 125 but knew if needed I would go to 165. However, things worked out fairly well. I got AA twice during the first 2 levels, but didnt get paid too well with them, I flopped a set of 8's after calling an all in bet vs AQ. I was also mixing my play up well and making some timed reraises. At this point I was happy with my play and up to about 8k from a start of 2k. Then came a hand when I convinced myself to do the wrong thing - twice. I held Q9 in the BB and checked to a flop of QJ9. I bet 3/4 pot and got one caller who looked like he was going to reraise. This guy was someone I have seen occasionally and is not a sophisticated player at all. He is the type who thinks about raising by handling lots of chips without realising that this is saying he has a big hand. I still ignored my own head though and check called turn and river blanks. I declare 2 pair and he says flush. I kindly point out that there is no flush on the board and he goes oh sorry, straight and turns over 8T and points out how he thought he had flopped a straight flush on a board with 2 Hearts and 1 Diamond. As I said to him, "as long as you know you have something I suppose". I was pissed off with myself more than his misdeclaration at this though. This cost me a few thousand and I won 1 more pot before the break to take me to 5k and with the 4k topup I was in ok shape, especially since I did not rebuy and only had to contribute 30 for my topup.

After the break I won a decent pot with 88 leading preflop, flop and turn on a board of J627. Chips went in on turn with him having floped a flush draw with K7d and turn a pair. My 88 held up though, and up to 11.5k for a healthy stack with blinds at 75/150 only. Then a few minutes later I got moved table and despite seeing AK on my first hand on that table I could not get a hand. 68o, 79o and Q2o are the very frequent hands I seen on this table. I moved in a few times but never got a caller. Any hands I tried to get creative on always backfired with players making moves just before I could do anything. Cards are very frustrating at times and not helped when most hands involving a 60-90 second dwell up (or longer). None by me though as my decisions were all easy. Seeing others turn over KK, AA, QQ etc at least let me know that the good cards were in the pack somewhere!!!!!! I was feeling good about my game and there were a couple of bad players and one or 2 bluffers as well so there were chips available should the opportunity present itself but it never did. I must reintroduce myself to opportunity though as I have a feeling the bitch has deleted my number and got a restraining order.

Oh ya, eventually I got KQs suited in the BB and the SB who tried to raise but failed (how hard is it to double 2??? Why try to minraise a shortstack??? Cause he is a bad player) called my allin for 9k at 1k/2k with AK and I got no reprieve. Adios. 1.35am and 14th. At least I read Olly and Gavin split it, and not the muppets. Well played lads, good to see good players getting the dosh.

I think the DC game tomorrow in the Fitz will be my next game, but who knows. I am in the process of buying an apartment and spent 2k on the weekend on couches and a bed so I need to save and earn money even though I am financewise a bit more would not go astray. As stated though cash games are def out for a while. I may just play more MTT's online as they are cheaper and might keep me out of trouble.

Soon maybe............

Silly game this anyways.......

2006-05-22T14:46:00.000+01:00

Well there it is. Poker. What a bitch. It is nearly 3 weeks since I updated this blog and I have been on a bit of a streak, and not a good one really. The only positive result was in the saturday round of each tourney 2 weeks ago when I got third, and even then I lost most of that in a cash game.

The issue is not just bad beats, or bad play or bad cards, but a frustrating combination of all 3.

Here are 2 examples that I played properly (open to comment) but that both worked out wrong, and both from the scalps tournie, but different weeks.

First example is JJ in the cutoff. Blinds are just gone up to 800-1500 and I have approx 15k. UTG, not too long at the table, only seen one or two strong all in hands not called, goes all in for approx 8k. This I was calling. Before it gets to me a player very newly arrived to the table who I was not familiar with say call instantly, and puts all his chips in (15k) but he declared call so only 8k stays in. What to do? The recent blind increase had just cut my stack to 10BB, but with a full round of the table that wasn't on it's own enough. I thought about it and figured that I was at best against overcards, at worst a big dog. I laid it down with a bit of disgust as I had flopped quad Jacks about 10 mins earlier so I was fond of them at that point. First all in had AJ, second had AQ, double paired, low board meant a split that I would have taken. Just to clarify my decision was all in or fold, never contemplating call with my stack and a flat caller of the raise. It was the instant decision of the guy who turned out to have AQo that really was the clincher here. There were about 18 players on 2 tables left at this point. I know it was the right decision really given the action but it still rankles that I made the right decision when no reads were available and I would have nearly trebled up taking the blinds into account. Ah well. I didn't last much longer.

The next weeks tournament and this is the situation. TT in 3rd position. Blinds are 50/100, near the end of the second level. I had just rebought when my overcards and flush draw missed so I had exactly 3k. Action folded to me and I make it 400 to go. Guy to my left, first time in the Fitz, but had played before it seemed (hadn't made many moves) went all in for 1575. BB think and calls and it is decision time for me. Here is my thinking at this point.

1. I could fold and be left with 2600 and the blinds coming up soon, but they are still low so no matter.
2. I could flat call and evaluate leaving about half my stack to play with.
3. I could push and get a sidepot going with BB flat caller who I felt had over cards.

I went with option 3 and got called after a short think. Imagine my surprise when I turned over my TT to find 99 to my left and 77 in the BB. Happy days!!!! Jason in seat 1 had thrown a 7 in too so 3 cards to avoid, only one of which will knock me out, the other will put lose me 100 in this pot. Flop is AK6, turn is another 6 and river is the case 7. Gutted. The outcome is not as important here for thought purposes as the decision. I felt I was behind one player but ahead of the other, albeit him with over cards. I think my decision to go all in here was the right one to get a sidepot or else get a 2-1 shot (if BB folded) at either overcards or overpair (not sure whether my read percentages make this worthwhile or not). I may actually post this one boards to get opinions........

Cash games are not going well for me either so I am scaling down my poker for a while. I will play the end of month game in the fitz on Wednesday and maybe the Sunday game too as I have 325 credit to use, but I will not be comitting much of my own lolly to it. And no cash games I repeat.

I cannot make up my mind one one important issue in Omaha. Is it better to call a bet with no improvers when you have the nuts on the flop/turn to see what the next card brings (which could minimise profits and also losses) or raise this spot (which could maximise both profits and also losses). Usually I go with the second approach but lately I have been getting raped with this approach. People calling either with draws that hit or calling/reraising with the same hand and improvers and hitting. I know the short answer to this question is 'it depends' and the long answer is probably just a longer version of 'it depends' but it frustrates the hell out of me.

I cannot remember the last time in either tournament or cash when the deck hit me in the face. I can't believe it is only a couple of months since I had 9 winning cash sessions in a row. It seems like years. At least I get to whinge about it anyways.

Treading Water

2006-05-03T15:51:00.000+01:00

I have played a few times in the last week. Not an awful lot to say about it, I won as much as I lost pretty much. I got myself into and then out of a big hole last Friday night, and over the weekend I was in the Fitz until closing on 2 nights.

The main thing that annoyed me about the weekend is the one occasion when I misread the board and was convinced when I had the nut flush and confidently put my money into the pot, when infact I only had the second nuts. I realised this as soon as I took my hand off the money, which was obviously too late at that point. I felt like banging my head off a wall. Instead I reloaded and things improved.

I also played a 'home' game on Sunday night with a few lads that I know from the Fitz and I couldn't get going, even when the switch was made to Omaha (briefly anyways) of which I was 1 of only 3 people there I think who are comfortable at playing Omaha for cash. One of the draws that I missed in particular was particularly mystifying (up to 23 outs twice I counted).

Ah well. I also played the league final in the Fitz and as per usual an accommodating deal was done and a few of us took 250 each in time for people to play the Monday night tournament which I missed due to the Boards World Cup Sweepstake Tournament which I bombed in too.

I need my poker mojo back.

Chip and a Chair

2006-04-25T13:55:00.000+01:00

I went to the Fitz 100+10 game last night and there was as big a crowd at this as I can remember. 8 full tables, due in part to the fact that the PokerEvents thing in the Red Cow was not on last night for some reason.

Before the break I didn't see a single pair, and no A better than ATo. It was hard to pick up any chips with those but the few pots I did play and bluffed at when it was checked around to me on the flop I won. The advantage of being a rock I guess. At the break not much had happened and I had 5100 from a starting stack of 4k, not great, but just about playable.

After the break things improved a bit, I won a couple of pots preflop, took out a very shortstacked player from my BB and then this happened.

Dealt TT in the SB. Folded around to the cutoff who called (BB 600). Button, very LAG made it 2200. I pushed instantly from the SB (6800 total) as I knew I was ahead of a large percentage of his range. I would have been happy to pick up the pot there but was also happy to take my chances with TT against most of his likely holdings which I figured as any pair, any suited A, any 2 face broadways.

BB folds and cutoff thinks for a while. At this point the button says to the cutoff 'It'd be great if you called cause then I wouldn't have to'. Whether he viewed this as an enticement to call or whatever, the cutoff folded. Button then moans, groans, says he wished he didn't raise so much, and then calls under apparant discomfort (he had 100 less than me so I have change). He flips over 33 and happy days I am 80-20 to more than double up to 14700. Flop comes A high, no danger to me. Turn is the dreaded 3 and river no help to me. Chip and a chair time.

I go all in next hand on the blind from the button for my last 100 and triple up to 300 when my blind TT (ironically) wins the centre pot. I was a couple of hands before throwing in my 300 with A8s which wins vs QQ when A comes on the flop to quadruple me up to 1200. A couple of hands later I throw my money (2 BB's now!!!) with Q9o and against the 2 blinds the flop reads QTJ (2 spades). SB goes all in and BB calls. SB shows A7o and BB shows 93o ?????? Mad. Turn is J, river 9, I triple up to 3600 and SB knocked out on the river by BB. Game on. Or not. Cards turn to jelly then, blinds go up, I eventually went all in blind from BB with 800 of my 2400 in the pot and lost with 52s vs TT. They joined to the last 2 tables when I left.

Perhaps I should have been more aggressive when I had tripled up to 3600 and tried to pick up a couple more blinds on the steal. If I had been called though I would have been big underdog, and there were raises most hands into me so unopened pots were rare. Ah well. If, but, maybe. None of them any good to me. I was reasonably happy with the way I played but hopefully my luck and the cards are waiting for the end of month game on Thursday to come good.

I Michael McDowell follows through and is successful in his threats to get all casino type establishments closed down I will not be a happy bunny. To me it will be like getting sacked from my job with no hope of finding another one in this country. It will be like the dark days of emigration when people were forced to look overseas for a job. Except I wouldn't emigrate. i'd just complain, work my 'day job' and play more online.

Small break from the fray

2006-04-24T14:44:00.000+01:00

One days poker in 7 is about as much of a break as I take these days, but last night I went down to the Fitz to play the stress free €20 rebuy tournament but I never got to play in it. Instead when i went in i decided to play a €110 freezeout satellite for a €550 satellite for the €5k game. There were 10 players and 2 tickets, and it was going ok for the first hour, I had won a good few small pots but no big ones. The end came for me when I had AK and the board came AJ8 only for me to run into a caller with JJ. Ah well. Played cash game and finished the night dead level after some to-ing and fro-ing up and down, so at least got my tournie entry back.

The how of the above is not really important though now. A couple of items I would like to mention are related to my tournament play. There are certain situations I have problems playing, and I will try to explain those here.

Firstly, the situation where I flop 2 pair with a holding such as AT on a 99T board. Invariably when this happens I cannot stop myself putting out a bet. When I get a caller there are three things that go through my head:

1. Does he have a 9?
2. Does he have similiar to me?
3. Is he calling intending to pick off the pot on the turn despite his own holding?

A lot of the way I treat this delends on what type of player I am playing against. Some players just will not do option 3. A lot of other players will not just flat call with a 9, they will raise outright. I seem to misplay this hand a lot by betting the flop, even out of position and then passively checking on the flop, and allowing it to be taken from me. I think the problem here is that it is rare that i am playing in a deep stacked tournament often enough that will allow me to bet the flop, and bet the turn again unsure where I am still. This is a hand that is much better played in position, as to be honest, most hands are, but when you are not sure whether you are ahead or not, the last thing you want is to build a pot that you are never convinced you will stand a raise on.

This should be basic stuff to most people, but I am struggling to come up with a reliable line on this type of holding OOP as a lot of the time a follow up bet will commit you to the pot in most of the regular tournaments I play in. this is another aspect of my game that I have to work on in tournament play. The first step as they say in AA (apparantly) is admitting you have a problem.

It is amazing that the more you play this game the more you realise that you don't know about it. 12 months ago I would have had a higher opinion of my game than I do now, but that is not saying I was better then, I wasn't - I just didn't know how much I didn't know. Sounds a bit Donald Rumsfeld, but you get the message. I think I am a decent tournament player. I know the ABC, and maybe this is what I revert to too often to be truly an effective player. When I feel myself playing well it is when I am mixing it up, playing a lot of hands aggressively and winning most of them. This is not a strategy that I employ often enough, and at times I will not feel able to do this at a table, whether it is due to the other players and who they are, or whether it is because it is I do not have enough chips to effectively do this. I do this more often at the multi rebuy lower stakes tournaments. This is probably due to a few things:

1. The generally lower standard of player (not a universal though by any means)
2. The safety net of multi rebuys.
3. Being less gutted if I crash out due to less potential winnings.

The above is not meant to imply that I play 'scared' at few rebuy or bigger buy in events/freezeouts, as that would not be true. I have not played a lot of big tournaments, none with a buy in of more than €500 (excepting reg fee) and about 18 between €250-€500 entry, but only cashing in 4 of these with no "big" finish - yet. I play tighter in these events generally but I still pick my spots when I can, especially in position. I think more and more of my 'play dilemmas' will involve playing hands out of position. It is hard to find a generic position on these type of hands though, as each one depends on all the usual factors.

This was just a series of general ramblings and there are one or two other things that I meant to write about but between trying to write this and trying to work, and trying to stay awake I cannot remember what they were. Early night for me tonight, and will probably play the Fitz Double chance tomorrow night.

One other thing I will probably be doing this week is having a session with a mate of mine online, analysing each others online play and seeing where we disagree and each can improve. The day I think I have it all learnt will either be the day I quit, or the day i win the WSOP main event, and I think everyone reading this knows which one is a tad more likely.

Happy flopping to ye all (I am being optimistic with the plural I know, but hey...)

Another visit to the SE

2006-04-21T15:55:00.000+01:00

Went to the SE 75+5 on Wednesday night. There were only 28 runners and there were only about 10 people I knew there, but none that I knew very well.

Started off brilliantly with AA in the first hand and Declan Fagan who was sitting to my left obliged with a raise which I flat call and and he bet/bluffed the flop only for me to raise and him to fold instantly. It was kinda going average by the break. I lost my first set of chips when my top pair got rivered by a flush, and then I doubled up with JJ vs TT which I nearly threw away when reraised all in preflop by a very aggressive player, but I had 400 out of my last 2k in there so if I was behind then so be it, I'd go home. The break came and I had 3400.

After the break I was moved table and Gholimoli from boards was scooping pots at a mad rate and knocked 3 players out in about 8 hands, once with a great read and call, and the other times with good cards too.

The standard in general at this table though was woeful. I can barely beleive some of the play, such as when I was called on a board of 2,3,5,6,3 when I turn bet it. 2 callers. I checked the river as I was sure there was a 5 in one of their hands and I was OOP. The winner? A2o. Another hand I was called by bottom pair again, and I won that time. Another hand I bet the J84r flop, a decent bet, was called and I checked it down when trun/river came Q/J with my 89 holding and my opponent had called the flop bet with Q9o and then checked the turn and river. Amazing play really. Anyways, I made the final table fairly shortstacked and then on the FT things turned around a bit. First with KJs I moved allin and was called by Gholi with 88. I hit a straight on the river to win that, and I think next hand I knocked him out with A6 vs 55 (he was fairly shortstacked, and I was BB and called). There was some shocking play at the FT too but I couldn't really take advantage of it and finished in 3rd for €310. Not too bad, but not what I was really hoping for either. Ah well. I have 3 Ft appearances from 5 visits to the SE. I may start going more regularly than I have been on Weds/Thurs esp when the midweek football starts.

This weekend I will be on a poker break since I will be at home, and won't play til either Sunday or Monday night. The Fitz end of month is on next week too so hopefully I will get a good run in that again soon as it has been a while since I got a touch there. I might even defend my 'Blind Omaha' champion status beforehand.

More stuff

2006-04-18T13:36:00.000+01:00

Short post coming up here. Went down Sunday, played ok in the 20 rebuy game, no good though. Played cash, no good though. Same nuts changed when his improvers came into play in a 650 pot so I went home.

On Monday night I played the second World Cup of Poker qualifier on Stars. There were only 19 people in it so win 4 heads up matches and I was on the team. Mad, and for only 50 FPP too!!!!

Unfortunately I only won one match and in short order lost my second one after believing that my opponent would call bets on every streeet including preflop without having hit something decent which I knew he didn't. Instead he called me with bottom pair terrible kicker which beat my bluff. Ah well, pity it wasn't 2/3.

I watched the Irish Open final last night and was amazed by the standard of most of the players. Just goes to show how much luck plays a part. Jon Wong was the guy I wanted to win it cause he seemed to have a good feel for what was going on, just couldn't pick up a premium hand, and any time he had a decent one someone else had a better one and he made the right laydowns.

A few days off from live poker now, may play a bit online. I am in a weekly final to a monthly qualifier for the WSOP next weekend on Sportingbet, so by Sunday evening I may have qualified for $6. Just a bit unlikely though but I can dream.

About time, and oh so close........

2006-04-16T17:11:00.000+01:00

Last night I decided to forego the usual Saturday night drinks and play the round of each tournament instead. This is a tournament that I swore not to play again, but of course this only lasted about 2 months. There ere about 35 runners and before the break I was calling blind, raising blind and so on, and usually found monsters when I looked at my cards!!!

By the break, despite my best efforts I had no rebuys and about 7.5k including topup. After the break I played properly but couldn't increase my stack, it was win one, lose one. Then I decided to move allin on my BB if there were no raises, and I duly did and showed 35s when all folded. I think this helped me get callers on my next 2 monster Omaha hands so plan worked and I moved upt oone of the CL's. When the FT started I was the CL but not that much in it. Vernon got busy early on and knocked out 3 players to get a big chip lead, but then he pissed it all away to me thankfully when he called with second pair in a holdem hand to my weak top pair, and when he called my all in with a lower straight in Omaha when I had the nuts. I had the chance to knock out the 2 remaining other players in one fell swoop but I passed the winning hand when really I should have played as I had so many chips. When it got down to 2 I was bout 3-1 chiplead but when Alex suggested that we make it 700-500 instead of 800-400 I agreed and took the main chunk. Not a great prize but it'll do me.

Played the Omaha cash game then and a fairly uneventful night ended up with mr 50 down by closing time. There was a fair bit of needle in the game though which I wasn't too comfortable with as everyone knew each other, but there was no lasting damage, and due to the amount of swings created by dirty river cards I can understand it too.

The one controversial moment of the night came as follows:

Flop came Jc3c8h. All check.
Turn Tc. First Position allin for 35. Next to act and a few others folded.
River 9c. Snowy turns over KcQcxx fot he straight flush to the K. The allin drunk stranger turned over a straight. He had gone allin on a flush board with a straight!!! The bad thing here is that this made Neil fold his 7c8cxx which would have made a low striaght flush on the river. Snowy is adamant that he would have checked the turn for the bad beat with the pot small. The guy who had the straight tried to tell us that there were only 2 clubs when he bet, and when old there were 3 says 'ah sure, I didn't see them'. Muppet cost me and 6 others about 625 each, Snowy about 4250 and Neil abut 8500. Painful. Ah well, not much to be done for it. That is the nearest I have ever come to being on a bad beat table.

At least I still made about 600 profit last night, cancelled out Friday night.......

Good Friday? Says who?

2006-04-15T19:43:00.000+01:00

Not a great or even average Friday for me I am afraid. Played in the scalps tournament last night, with around 100 other brave souls. Before the break I was not involved in a lot of hands but won the last 2 to leave me with nearly 7k including topup after the break. Then instead of not being involved in many I got one of my legendary (with myself anyways) dry runs of cards, as opposed to Vinny 'Longlad' who came to the table and proceeded to go from 7900 to 35k in 3 hands in a row with QQ, KK and AK from the seat just to my right. Somehow I managed to make it to around 16th place, but didn't get the bit of luck I needed.

Cash game was bad too. Last hand of the night sums it up really. 25 in the pot on the flop. Flop comes AdJd2c. I have KJJ3. First to act bets 25, MP raises it to 100 immediately. The reason I knew I was ahead here is that MP would have reraised EP with any drawing hand or any 2 pair at all as they had clashed a few times and there was an element of 'I know you are at it' about the reraise. I had 125 left and went all in. Both players call so about 400 in the pot. Turn coms an A and I was sure that was me gone, and it was. MP turned over A2 with no other draws for top and bottom on the flop, and was fairly apologetic saying that he knew he was ahead of other guy etc etc. There you go. Bad night financially then. 110 + 500 in tournie and cash. Ah well, didnt make the magic 10 in a row cash game profit, but I can try and make it one in a row tonight.

I was going to go to the pub but I had decided that this weekend was for poker so I better stick to it. I might even play in the round of each game despite me swearing never to play it again the last time I was down. Too many people who don't know how to play Omaha frustrate me, and people never go away from a hand. Great if you hit the nuts though.........

Holy Thursday Batman!!

2006-04-14T19:33:00.000+01:00

Went down to the Fitz last night for the €75 rebuy satellite for the sdpt (doesn't exactly roll off the tongue does it?) There were only about 20 runners for a total of €2500. I was first out on the final table when my AQ hit a Q high flop and ran into KK. Ah well.

On to the caah games then and sat into a Hold'em game with €100 while waiting for the Omaha and folded every hand from CO until I was UTG when I saw AA. Made it the max of€7 and had only the 4 callers. Flop comes 664, I bet the pot (€35), got raised by LP and this being the Fitz almost expected to see a holding of 64 when I called, but he never showed and I won. Omaha was then called and I sat down to that with my €210 or so, got that up to about 400 in the first hand when I won a side pot and split the centre on a board of JT784r when I held KQ92. Happy days and good start.

I managed to win another big pot soon, with the money in on a flop of 884 when I held A983 (from BB despite a small raise). Turn was T, river 3 to fill my boat. Opponent never showed and left the table then. That had me up to around 750 and this turned out to be the high point of my night as the cards dried up dramatically for a very lean spell. I ended up leaving at 4.30 with €405 for a total profit for the night of €155 (€150 for buyin and topup in tournie and €100 in cash game).

Scalps now tonight, and more than likely more Omaha after that. I am now on a record 9 winning cash sessions in a row. Long may it continue........

Funny Story, Bad Beats & from Bad to Good

2006-04-13T10:35:00.000+01:00

All in a nights work. Was a weird night last night. Decided to go to the SE €75+5 dc game. The standard at my table for the most part amazed me by being decidedly bad. There were at least 3 bad players at my table, but of course by the time I had figured this out, one of them had got knocked out and I was a dc reload to the bad. This was only 10 mins in. To be honest though i didn't see any action with hands all night.

Pocket 99 in the sb the first hand, decided to limp, missed folded. Third hand got AA, 2 limpers at 25-50, I make it 275, everyone folds which as it turns out is most unlike this table. I played a couple of drawing hands weakly then as seems to be the norm lately, but I always seem to get these type of hands in the blinds so always oop. KK when shortstacked wasn't my saviour as noone looked me up, and J8s a few hands later definitely wasn't when I got 2 callers this time. Ah well.

It was 11.30 at this stage and in my head it made sense to go the Fitz for a cash game (no Omaha going on in SE). Outside the Fitz I seen a really strange and quite frankly baffling incident. I was chatting to someone when Red (Charlie McCreevy type character, regular in Fitz) comes outside and a guy who seemed to be well known but not for me, seems fit to tell him that Red (50 odd, hardly clad by Calvin Klein) has the nicest top that he has ever seen. Red then offers to sell it to him for a tenner and the other guy practically snaps his arm off in accepting. The exchange is done, both parties express their pleasure with the transaction, and just as I am going in I hear Red say 'If I freeze on the way home I'll sue you'. Mad.

Anyways onto the poker. I mentioned bad beats in the title and these come from the tournament. I wasn't involved in any of these. They all happened before the break.

KK beaten by KJ all in preflop
AA beaten by AQ all in preflop
JJ beaten by 99 all in preflop
KJ beaten by AK all in on a J high flop

I sat in the round of each game and seen one on the most horrible beats happening, and again I wasn't involved. 3 players to a flop, €75 in the pot. Flop is AsQh3h. Bet, allin, allin, call goes the action, about €1k between centre and sidepots.

Player 1 shows AhAxx (top set)
Player 2 shows Kh5hxx (nut flush draw with lone A out)
Player 3 shows AQxx (top two pair)

Turn Q, River Q. Sick for the AA.

Not much happened for me when I sat in the newly started round of each game. I sat down with 200, and rebought for 100 more when downto about 60. Up to about 250 when called to the Omaha only 50 game. There was no 100 game on last night so it was a curious mix of 100 game players and 50 games players. I was definitely at the lower end of the range stack wise at this stage but said I would see what the game was like. To be honest it wasn't the maddest game I have ever been at, I expected worse, especially when Andy Black came to the table and started raising and reraising every hand for a while preflop. There were about 4/5 100 game players there and stack sizes up to about 3k so plently of money and opportunities to get it in the pot.

An early hand I was dealt at this table seen me play 3345 from the BB for a modest raise to €5. Flop comes a lovely 36Jr. I bet the pot (€35), one caller. Turn is Q to complete the rainbow and I can't see how that would have helped and am fairly sure I am ahead as this player would have raised me in an instant if I was behind to a bigger set. I bet pot again (€100 for ease) and it is called instantly. River is A, and if she hit backdoor broadway then so be it, my last money was going in the pot. I had her covered by €30 so got change. What did she show down when I threw over my set of 3's?

A bloody A and crap crap. No draws, nothing, just the losy overpair which hit on the river. €500 pot gone south. Cheers. The look on Snowy's face (he was playing), and Daisy's shake of the head said it all. I was tempted at this stage to go but since I have been on a good run lately decided to just throw 100 more at the problem, making it a total of 400 for the night. Not ideal, but not too upsetting if I lost it.

Anyways, I know such a small stack at that table is not what I want to be doing, but I decide to play on for a while anyhow. I go for a drink of water etc to calm down, and not get tilty.

Get back to the table, win a couple of middling pots, one with a turned poker of 8's and I get my stack up to around 350. I hover between 3-400 for a while and 2 crucial hands happen. Well ok, the first one is not crucial to me but it annoyed my a wee bit. I decide to call a raise to €3 from the button with AdQd3c4c (terrible hand but there you go). Flop comes Ac8d6d. Early position bets pot (€15), Andy Black repots it for 60, and only me to act before original raiser. I was definitely calling the first raise, and when it is potted again I was tempted to. The thing that made me not call was that first raiser had only 125 total including his bet so I fully expect him to go allin. The problem with this was that it was a valid raise and Andy would have pushed lots more into it driving me out. Upshot, I folded. Original riaser elects only to call however (may have done differently if I played maybe??). Turn is Kc. If I had managed to still be in this hand I would have pushed with 2 flush draws, albeit only 4 high for one of them. More betting all in on this card, and river is 2c, and my backdoor flush draw would have been good. I know that I had no right to be there really with only a bare flush draw on the flop, but still annoyed me as I would have won €800 pot if original raiser had 115 instead of 125. Ah well.

Next crucial hand I call a raise to €45 preflop from LP with QQJ9 with hearts. Flop comes QJ7, 2 spades. Andy Black pots it (€225) and I push for €335 total. Turn is irrelevant as is river and I win a near €900 pot. Sweet. Andy leaves after this hand (not enough action I guess for him) and Scott Gray goes busto a few hands later as does another guy so the game is dying and I decide to leave with €875 in hand at 4.30am. €80 for tournament and €400 buy in still leaves me with a healthy €395 profit for the night. Considering where I was after herself caught the A on the river I will gladly take that.

Cash games are good to me lately. Last 8 I have played have been profitable for a total of €2820 in 25 days. I know this can't last but it doesn't stop me hoping that it last a while longer at least.

If I could translate that into tournament play as well then that would be brilliant, but I am not sure if it is a coincidence that my tournament play is dipping when my cash play is on the up? Maybe it is irrelevant since Omaha and Hold'em are very different in styles required. Maybe it is relevant since I am playing draws in Hold'em weakly which is my normal approach now (unless no one has an interest) in PLO, especially oop. It is something I will hopefully figure out soon.

Also, I believe Rumit Somaiya was at the Omaha cash game last night too. I will check against a picture of him later, as I can't check 'gambling' sites from work. It was definitely some English/Asian guy called Rumit and in the week of the Irish Open it seems like more than a coincidence. I may be wrong though.

For now adieu.

Setting the tone.....

2006-04-12T16:35:00.000+01:00

Well everyone else is at it, so why not me? I have been playing poker since around September 2003 when I got invited to a home game by a colleague. Who knew where it would lead?

My current poker profile is something like the following:

Play online now and then, mostly PLO at .5/1 on PokerStars, and play some tournies too. I don't play online regularly enough to take it as seriously as I should. I have played 4000 PLO hands in about 10 weeks, and a few SNG's and a couple of tournies so that shows my 'level of commitment'.

My main poker playing is done in the Fitzwilliam Card Club in Dublin, hereafter known as 'The Fitz'. I play around 3/4 times a week which usually consists of a tournament followed by an Omaha cash game.

Things I would like this blog to achieve:
- Show off loads of bigs wins (I can dream)
- Open my general play to scrutiny by posting key hands/moves
- International superstardom

My 2006 so far has been characterised by a middling January, terrible February, stablising March, and good start to April. I have given myself a good talking to recently over my Omaha cash play in particular, and things I hope to eliminate from my game include:
- Betting single draw hands on the flop from EP
- Going mad with AAds hands preflop
- Drawing to non nut flush unless that is a back door hand
- Calling when I know in my heart of hearts that I am behind
- Bluffing most of the Fitz players. There are some that this work with, but too many are willing to call with 3rd nut hands. This is where money can be won and lost.

Hold'em tournament play improvement:
- I am probably regarded as a 'solid' player. Long term if I can get regarded as a 'good' player then this is my goal.
- Open up my range more in LP. I have been doing this lately with mixed success.
- Be less timid in higher buyin events. Fitz end of month game is a good example. I find myself quite passive during these games and this is not good.
- Think. Often the most obvious answer is the correct answer. Don't overthink gut instinct decisions. They can be right quite a lot of the time. This is often a result of some subconscious thing that you notice through time with players, not just a random 'feeling'. Don't trust this implicitly though.
- Improve shorthanded play late in tournaments.
- Confidence. I like to think that I am quite confident at the poker table. In most events that I play at I know most of the others at the table, and this helps in this respect. I find random players are more reluctant to take on a confident player who knows how to play.

There is a lot of bullshit in the above probably, and there will be more to follow in the posts that follow this. I will try to report on as many of the tournies/cash games I play that I can, at least until laziness overtakes me.