Had to share this one with ye!
After leaving the Jackpot at 4am approx; taxi's were very scarce on the ground, as scores of people were walking out of the city. Sis and I popped into a nearby kebab place to wait out the 'rush'... I got talking to this tall, fine looking specimen, Sis discovered he lived 'in Castleknock' and suggested we share a taxi over... as she went outside for a smoke while hoping to hail a taxi. The flirting was coming on nicely, as you know, easy on the eye and all that! I casually mentioned we had been playing poker since 1am. This was the gist of the conversation that followed:
- Ah poker? Any ya good?
- Ah I'm okay, not the best mind... but I'm getting there! (...don't mention the losing streak!)
- It a tough game to master...
- I agree!
- Yeah... you have to be able to work out what card is coming next...
- Eh? You play poker too? (...uh oh...)
- Of course, all the time, its all in the mind, you just need to know what's coming next. (... ??? ...)
- Really? Hmmm... I would have said luck, position and pot odds would be more important...
- No, no, no, no, no, no, no... *interrupts*... if you play like that you won't win! ...Luck?!! *scoffs at me while shaking his head* (... eh???...)
- Well I would calculate what outs I have left before betting further if I was in a pot but I gotta admit its almost impossible to predict what card will come out, surely?! (... ah, here lies a 'pub player' a la Boardie definition...)
- No seriously, that's how you win. I'm telling ya... I play all over the place... won €5k last week actually... so I know what I'm talking about. (... really? ...)
- €5k? What did you start with? What was the buy-in
- €500
- How many players? 15? 20?
- Naw... You can only play with 6 players, that the proper way to play... 6 people on one table, ye can't play with more than 6... Thought you know your poker?! (...ah ha... )
- 6? And you won €5k? (... red flag....)
- Yeah! Great game!
- Wow... Where was that game?
- Terry Rogers... upstairs... private members only (...alarm bells...)
- Do you ever play in the Jackpot? Sporting Emporium? Fitzwilliam...
- Where's? Never heard of them... do ya reckon your sister will get us a cab soon? So we can head back to your place for a party... or whatever? Haw! Haw! (... sirens ... )
- Errrrr... ha! Ha! good question... Hold on a sec, I'll run out and have a look... (... aaaaaannnnnnnd good night Mister!)
Jeeze! The things you guys come out with!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Cash game in the Jackpot
Got well and truly jarred on Saturday night at a friend's 40th birthday bash... wasn't in the mood for dancing or house parties, so I dragged my sister to the Jackpot to check out the cash game and made a right holy show of myself!
We stumbled in the door, the place was buzzing with 3 cash tables running, I plonked myself down at the only empty seat at the 1/2 PL table... threw €50 at the dealer amid titters from the rest of the table, I glanced around and realised that I was surrounded by players with 400-600-800 in front of them! Eeek! Not wishing to admit defeat (along with drunken bravado) I ignored them and proceeded to take an interest in the game vowing to play ultra-tight...
Don't remember the first few hands, but notice there was a lot of loose-playing and hardly any bluffing, the chip-leader was in a raise/re-raise race with another player who was practically the next short-stack after me bar one, pushing him all-in, player re-brought for €250 then proceed to lose €200 in the next couple of hands to chip-leader again. Ouch! He stomped off on a break... Just after this I limped in with AJo, flop showed AJx, I called €20 bet to see turn before shipping my remaining €15 to win the pot and double up to €90. Folded several more hands before getting AA on the button; there were 5 limpers so I couldn't bet any more than €12 - a dry flop came out rainbow 10 high, chip-leader threw in €10, I called. Turn brought another low card, Chip-Leader checked... I bet €20... he insta-raised to push me all-in with a smug look and I duly obeyed; he showed KK and I exposed my aces slowly as the entire table cracked up laughing... Said short-stacked player came back, took one look at my stack and muttered 'what happened there...?' Chip-leader replied something along the lines of 'she can play... watch her!' R.E.S.P.E.C.T!
I slowly worked my stack up to €280, growing almost stone-cold sober at this stage! I got stung for €60 calling a player All-In with his 910 -v- my A6 on a 678Ax board then lost a bigger with my QQ's on a JJ10 board against another chip-leader's J9... ah well, so much for drunken bravado! I gave up at that point, it was 4am and I was too tired to continue anyway; went to prise my sister away from the roulette wheel! She was so loud, I was telling her off just as loud, we nearly got asked to leave! Eventually went home with €80... €30 more than I started! LOL!
Looking back I should have put a limit in my head, say €200, then got up when I had this amount... Ah well!
Good night but don't think I'll be playing Jackpot, drunk or sober, for a while!
Photo:Me & Sis - just before our Jackpot adventure!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Success in the 2008 Irish Open Deaf Poker Championship!
Irish Deaf Poker group held the first ever Irish Open for Deaf poker players, on 3rd May, with Paddy Power Poker sponsoring the event. There were 46 runners from Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales, Lithuania and Australia! While the latter two countries representatives are currently residing in Ireland/Northern Ireland, it still added a nice international feel to the event!
Since I was playing bad of late, I went in with mixed feelings and no aspirations of winning. The TD - the wonderful Derek AKA the Clamper on boards.ie - texted me the night before to ask if I would deal for him; I replied I was playing but if I got knocked out early I will deal no problem. He replied laughing that he doubted it. On the day, he coolly informed me he had predicted that I would be in the top 5% ... I laughed him off! Then thought, feck it I got this ticket practically free - lets just play the game and enjoy it!
I felt the starting stack of 5k with 20 minute blinds was too low, they either should increase the blind times or increase the stack sizes... Ben Palmer the UK Deaf Open winner was first out as a result of two bad beats in a row! He quickly established himself as chipleader on my table, but bet heavily holding full-house against an all-in holding 4 of a kind... twice! Ouch!
By end of level two I was playing card-dead and had dropped down to 3k. Awful! Then came these lovely hands:
Blinds were 75/150; I was UTG with pocket 8s. BB had approx 8k. I raised to 450, got two callers: button and BB. Flop came out 89J. BB bet 1k, I thought for a moment and shoved all-in with rest of my stack. Button folded and BB called with AJ. My 88s held and my pot doubled to 6.5k. Next hand I was BB with K9 hearts; I checked to see the flop with 3 callers. Flop came out 9x9xQh. SB bet 1k, I called, rest folded. Both SB and myself called. Turn was low heart, SB shoved all-in with his remaining 2k, I thought for a moment then called. SB showed AQ and my set of 9s held up on the river! I had 12k at first break (Average was 7k) the chipleader (UK's Henry McD) at that stage had 17k.
After the break, we were re-seated, there were 3 tables left. I don't remember any specific hands, but I had beeee-ooooot-iful hands (AA, KK, straights, full houses etc) got involved in several pots against short stacks; eliminated them and increased my stack to a cool 53k by dinner break (average was 10k). Good going... good going!
We were down to the final 18 players after dinner; as the playing got tight, I got very loose and started stealing the blinds and re-raising players and limpers. By the time I sat down at the final table, I realised I was the last woman in the game (and chipleader with 95k) I moved into ultra-tight playing mode.
But I played soooooo tight it cost me nearly half my stack(!) At one stage I had 120k (my highest), blinds was 1k/2k, I raised to 8k with KQ suited, got called by David Bowers, BB raised with 25k. I folded, crediting both players with Aces; David called. Flop was KQJxx. Both players checked to the river. David won the pot with 10J and BB showed 99. With 6 players left, I was down to 75k, I looked down to see QQ. Blinds was 1.5/3k; I was CO-1 and raised to 12k. Nick O'Halloran was in BB shoved all-in with 15.5k, David Bowers, who had just limped in UTG, called and I threw in the remaining 3.5k. Flop came down K95 and David insta-shoved with 26k. I thought for a moment.... then folded my Queens. BB showed J10 and David showed AJ. (Foooooooo!!!) The turn and river yielded nothing to help Nick who bubbled in 6th place (only 5 places paying out) UL Nick. I was furious with myself for laying down those queens!!!!! This is my only regret of the day - apart from this hand; I was really happy with how I played!
I went back into loose playing mode raising and re-raising bets; and quickly brought my stack back up to 90k. When this hand happened:
Keenan 'Keeno' Byrne was shortstacked for most of the final table, had started going all-in and stealing the blinds for the last three/four hands with no callers. I looked down to see KQ suited, and limped in on the button. Keenan was in SB and went all-in with 48k, I insta-called him. Keeno showed pocket 6s and the board showed A953x to uphold his pair and push him into 2nd highest stack behind the new chipleader David Bowers.
Liam Moloney was kicked out in 5th place; David Mulligan exited in 4th place. We were down to 3, Keeno and David had 90/95k I was sitting on 50k... I went completely hand dead from this point, folded my cards to raises. David wrangled in a couple of huge pots with Keeno and grew very short stacked, before exiting in 3rd place.
Going into heads-up I had 58k to Keeno's 180k pot, with blinds at 8k/15k... a huge disadvantage, I knew I was finished. My Heads-Up playing is always weak... I went down to 38k when my exit hand happened. I shoved with K10 off into Keeno's A6 and the board gave him the 6 to win 1st place and €920. I exited in a very respectable 2nd place with €552!
Very good game from Keeno who started the final table with 2nd smallest stack - a well deserved win.
The top 3 winners (from left): David Bowers, myself & Keeno Byrne
Well done to Ciarán and the IDP for a well organised tournament, the TD & dealers were well able to handle communication with the deaf players mastering the basic playing signs well... Thumbs Up all around!
Good game and great day! ...And before you ask - yes I'm back in BLACK!
Since I was playing bad of late, I went in with mixed feelings and no aspirations of winning. The TD - the wonderful Derek AKA the Clamper on boards.ie - texted me the night before to ask if I would deal for him; I replied I was playing but if I got knocked out early I will deal no problem. He replied laughing that he doubted it. On the day, he coolly informed me he had predicted that I would be in the top 5% ... I laughed him off! Then thought, feck it I got this ticket practically free - lets just play the game and enjoy it!
I felt the starting stack of 5k with 20 minute blinds was too low, they either should increase the blind times or increase the stack sizes... Ben Palmer the UK Deaf Open winner was first out as a result of two bad beats in a row! He quickly established himself as chipleader on my table, but bet heavily holding full-house against an all-in holding 4 of a kind... twice! Ouch!
By end of level two I was playing card-dead and had dropped down to 3k. Awful! Then came these lovely hands:
Blinds were 75/150; I was UTG with pocket 8s. BB had approx 8k. I raised to 450, got two callers: button and BB. Flop came out 89J. BB bet 1k, I thought for a moment and shoved all-in with rest of my stack. Button folded and BB called with AJ. My 88s held and my pot doubled to 6.5k. Next hand I was BB with K9 hearts; I checked to see the flop with 3 callers. Flop came out 9x9xQh. SB bet 1k, I called, rest folded. Both SB and myself called. Turn was low heart, SB shoved all-in with his remaining 2k, I thought for a moment then called. SB showed AQ and my set of 9s held up on the river! I had 12k at first break (Average was 7k) the chipleader (UK's Henry McD) at that stage had 17k.
After the break, we were re-seated, there were 3 tables left. I don't remember any specific hands, but I had beeee-ooooot-iful hands (AA, KK, straights, full houses etc) got involved in several pots against short stacks; eliminated them and increased my stack to a cool 53k by dinner break (average was 10k). Good going... good going!
We were down to the final 18 players after dinner; as the playing got tight, I got very loose and started stealing the blinds and re-raising players and limpers. By the time I sat down at the final table, I realised I was the last woman in the game (and chipleader with 95k) I moved into ultra-tight playing mode.
But I played soooooo tight it cost me nearly half my stack(!) At one stage I had 120k (my highest), blinds was 1k/2k, I raised to 8k with KQ suited, got called by David Bowers, BB raised with 25k. I folded, crediting both players with Aces; David called. Flop was KQJxx. Both players checked to the river. David won the pot with 10J and BB showed 99. With 6 players left, I was down to 75k, I looked down to see QQ. Blinds was 1.5/3k; I was CO-1 and raised to 12k. Nick O'Halloran was in BB shoved all-in with 15.5k, David Bowers, who had just limped in UTG, called and I threw in the remaining 3.5k. Flop came down K95 and David insta-shoved with 26k. I thought for a moment.... then folded my Queens. BB showed J10 and David showed AJ. (Foooooooo!!!) The turn and river yielded nothing to help Nick who bubbled in 6th place (only 5 places paying out) UL Nick. I was furious with myself for laying down those queens!!!!! This is my only regret of the day - apart from this hand; I was really happy with how I played!
I went back into loose playing mode raising and re-raising bets; and quickly brought my stack back up to 90k. When this hand happened:
Keenan 'Keeno' Byrne was shortstacked for most of the final table, had started going all-in and stealing the blinds for the last three/four hands with no callers. I looked down to see KQ suited, and limped in on the button. Keenan was in SB and went all-in with 48k, I insta-called him. Keeno showed pocket 6s and the board showed A953x to uphold his pair and push him into 2nd highest stack behind the new chipleader David Bowers.
Liam Moloney was kicked out in 5th place; David Mulligan exited in 4th place. We were down to 3, Keeno and David had 90/95k I was sitting on 50k... I went completely hand dead from this point, folded my cards to raises. David wrangled in a couple of huge pots with Keeno and grew very short stacked, before exiting in 3rd place.
Going into heads-up I had 58k to Keeno's 180k pot, with blinds at 8k/15k... a huge disadvantage, I knew I was finished. My Heads-Up playing is always weak... I went down to 38k when my exit hand happened. I shoved with K10 off into Keeno's A6 and the board gave him the 6 to win 1st place and €920. I exited in a very respectable 2nd place with €552!
Very good game from Keeno who started the final table with 2nd smallest stack - a well deserved win.
The top 3 winners (from left): David Bowers, myself & Keeno Byrne
Well done to Ciarán and the IDP for a well organised tournament, the TD & dealers were well able to handle communication with the deaf players mastering the basic playing signs well... Thumbs Up all around!
Good game and great day! ...And before you ask - yes I'm back in BLACK!
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