I was in a foul and aggressive mood - lots of things were just going wrong. The IDP committee members were totally getting on my whick doing feck all as I'm running around lumped with organising the Deepstack Classic Festival and handling all the emails, texts, updating website and dealing with last minute player change... Grrrr!
Susie Woosie texted me to say she was on her way to DPN's Hartstown €50+10 FO, which was also doubling up as a tribute night in Mark Troy's honour (he won a €40 Satt to the IPO via DPN and finished 3rd in for a nice €33k payday!). With the added €100 bounty on Mark's head and finger food provided at the break the game promises to be big. I decided to give it a spin.
Arriving at the venue, I was disappointed that only 23 players turned up. This game regularly attracts 30-36 players on average but recently numbers have been down around 25 mark. Sign of the times for poker really?
Sitting down to play, I was delighted to find Mark on my table. But I was finding it hard to get a hold on chips with Gav going all-in on the flop in every 2nd or 3rd hand. In one hand I raised from MP with AK, newbie player (very short, playing every hand), Mark (in CO & button) and Gav (SB) call to see the flop A85. Gav shoves and I fold after a dwell. Mark insta-mucks when newbie called with A5, Gav has A8, turn was a king - meh!
Down to 5k from the 8.5k starting stack I just sat back and folded into the action, just waiting for a decent hand to present itself. Finding 99 I limp UTG-call a raise, then checkraised the 9 high flop, player folded scowling and muttering at me. That put me back up to 11k as our table got broken, I was with Mark and Gav on the 2nd table with 16 players left. Finding JJ in CO I raise 4xBB; Gav calls from BB and the Chipleader (on 40k) to my right, who limped in , completes. Blinds are 300-600 at this stage and I have 11k approx, Gave had just lost 10k in a big pot 2 hands previously but had me covered by 3/4k. Flop comes J high, and Gav shoves. Chipleader mucks as I push my chips into the middle. Gav shows AJ and my set holds to bring my stack up to 24k!
Few hands later I'm in BB with 83 (blinds now 400/800), action folds around to Chipleader in SB who completes. It is blind-on-blind as flop comes AKK... check-check... A on turn... again check-check. The river is 7; as Chipleader throws out 1200. I just didn't put him on anything there bar a 7; which I knew I would beat with my 8. I only had 3 cards to beat and just had a gut-feeling feeling that he was aiming to steal so I called... As he tables 65s and I show my 8 then the 3 - there is an uproar!
- What a call!!!?
- You got balls calling with 8 high on THAT flop!
- Haw! Haw! And here's me thinkin' you were a player Julianne(!)
Mark comes to my defence - pointing out that the bet wasn't big enough to make me fold, he would have called too. That shut them up sharpish! I was delighted my soulread worked!
By the time we get to final table I am on 33k, the 8 high call had them all folding to my raises/re-raises! Chipleader is still on 40k approx, two to my left and Mark is on 30-odd-K two to my right with Robbie the taxi man between us just under 30k and the rest all shorties.
Sitting tight, I got blessed with a couple of good hands and knock out one of the shorties who shoved to my raise. Mark loses a big pot leaving himself very short on the button; action folds around to Mark with Robbie and myself in blinds. As Mark shoves his 3.5xBB remaining stack out, Robbie and I insta call! Holding QJs, we checked down all the streets on a AKxxx board to see Mark holding 65o, I table my Queen high and Robbie mucks! Yayyy! That €100 bounty is mine!!!
After that I started running amok - open raising every hand and grabbed the chiplead as we were reduced down to 4 players. Chipleader then exits the other 3 players to retain his chip-lead as we enter heads-up. Checking the prizes - €500 for 1st and €350 for 2nd I decided both were equally good to take... and open shoved with air a few times, limped in with decent hands but had to fold to CL's pot-size bets after I hit nothing. Showing a couple of bluffs I vowed not to fold the next decent hand. Reducing the chiplead to a 60-40 margin in my favour, I limp in on button with KdQd, chipleader shoves and I insta-call to see him table 52o. My king-high holds to give me victory! GG, WP, Good night etc.
At last a 1st place win too!
This week we have the Irish Deaf Poker's Deepstack Classic II festival with 40 registered players, including 8 Swedish players and 1 UK player joining us. The Swedish will arrive on Thursday and want to meet up for a 1/2 NL cash game(!) So this win is very much appreciated!
Hero-calling with high cards sure pay off well! ;-D
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
At last a win to report!
LOL! Here's the best news: I finally broke the Voodoo Final Table curse I've been carrying on me! Nowt big to boast about mind but a 2nd place finish for €205 in the Voodoo Ladbroke's €15+15 game is not to be sneezed at consider my dismal run in the last few months...
For those of you coming to this blog late, I've reached the final table in 90% of the MTT tournaments I've played in the Voodoo over the past two months ... and only cashed once - winning my buy-in back(!) I would have given up on the place but Derek, Adam, Nick and the crew are so nice, you won't find any place more friendly or welcoming in Dublin. Plus its full of fish attracted to the low buy-in games (as well as some good friends too!) the banter is brilliant and the cafe rivals the Fitz with the great selection (and value) of food on offer.
I had no plans to play the Wednesday Ladbookes sponsored game as Irish Deaf Poker had arranged a last minute satt game that the Voodoo agreed to host for us. I had an ulterior motive that I'll go into in a moment... We had with one free ticket added (thanks to a generous Susie Woosie who donated her ahem, winnings from the Ladies League the previous Thursday) I had aimed this Satt at the girls, but with only two of them interested/available, I had no option but throw it open to all IDP players.
The €10+5FO was only advertised to the players on Tuesday night, I had 8 replies. Ah well - one table is good enough to go ahead... I informed Nick of the numbers and the fact I would be late (I teach a basic computer class to Deaf adults in the Irish Deaf Society every Wednesday night - with a babysitter already booked for the night I tend to take advantage of a live game afterwards...) I was delighted walking in to find 13 players already playing with several short/big stacks already; we were €10 short of a 3rd ticket so I suggested the first person knocked out be allowed to re-buy for €10... all agreed!
Already blinded down by almost 25% of my stack I had a struggle getting back to a even keel on a horrible table with Frank G (brilliant aggro-LAG) two to my left and Glen da Fish (think of an Eddie the Eagle type who just won't fold his bottom pair...) in button to my BB calling every raise going both running over the table! If one wasn't in the pot by river, the other was(!) I barely held up til we were down to the final 8...
Still nursing the shortest stack and getting irritate by the shoddy standard the game was heading going by the early exit of good players by the hands of Frank/Glen's rubbish holdings. I started eyeing up the Ladbrokes Tournament wishfully, where some of the exited IDP players had drifted into... talking it over with Trish who was just out of the game, with only 5 minutes to the break/the end of the buy-in period. Whether it was worth joining at this stage getting 6k chips while blinds were 100/200 and let my stack get blinded down til I went in. She said yes, but I hummed hawed...
The 47 registered players made it such a juicy pot I so wanted IN; making a decision to shove with the next 'best' hand - if I win, I stay on this table and take home a ticket to the deepstack; if I lose - well, I take a shot at the other tournament. Couple hands later I raised pre from CO-1 with Kh4h (I blame Cat O'Neill for this one!) for 60% of my stack... Frank G using his massive stack as usual threw-in a huge handful of 500 chip's then gave a start in horror when he realised I was in the pot... sensing a weakness, I knew it would be a coin flip so all-in I went. Frank tables A10o, flop comes two low hearts, turn was 10c but no heart or king on the river to save me... I duly skipped off to join the Ladbookes tournament.
Within 25 minutes I was down to a miserable 1,600, shoved on button with muck two limpers and blinds all folded(!) 2,300 going into BB 150/300(!) Had a player dogging me big time in two pots, snapping off my raises or calling then hitting... Urgh! Finding Kh10h in BB, UGT made a min-raise to 600, with no less than 4 callers by the time it came back to me. With 5 players in the pot - I elected to call, rather than shove.... Flop came 9h8h4x... I had pre-checked dark, UTG made a continuation bet of €500, 2 other callers before it came back to me. I called, vowing to shove the turn - which was a 10... UTG and MP (IDP's Mark McLaughlin) called. Declan who was on Button then shoved all-in, Urgh! UTG called and Mark reluctantly folded. Both Declan and UTG showed 76o for straight but the beautiful Ah fell on river to keep me alive and over starting stack for the first time since the game started.
It was all upward from here... I was joint 2nd chipleader starting out with 21,500, the average player was on 18k; chipleader was on circa. 32k. After exiting some shorties including Tom Maguire who shoved with K10 into my A10. Limping in with As8s hoping to get action, 4 players and flop comes A high with 2 clubs and possible straight. Roy Keating (IDP Player is in BB and shoves, BB (uber tight player) insta-calls for 40% of his stack, he looked like he was going to raise pre- but checked instead. Other player folds after a dwell, smelling a rat I folded reluctantly - my only option would have to push which would have put me under 20k if he calls and wins. There was still 7 players left with 4 getting paid. Roy tables Jc4c for one pair/flush draw, and BB tables Qc9c. No club comes on turn or river but the 9 on River seals the pot for BB. Urgh! Bad fold me!
I was getting feck all action to my raises, which was fine when I was bluffing but in fact I had AA, KK, QQ... I was basically stealing blinds and not getting paid good, limping in and mini-raising pot was causing them to insta fold(!) Limping with a bluff hand (96s) from MP with one caller behind and shortie goes all-in on button for 3xBB; BB and caller folds, I'm looking at getting 3-to-1 for my money here playing a coin flip that Frank Grace would not hesitate to play and thus elected to call. Shortie wins of course but I get a lot of grief for my call(!) After that I get a lot of action and quickly became chipleader on 70k when we get down to 4 handed.
I lose two key races and was sitting on a 2-1 deficit by the time I got to HU with the players who started FT with 32k, but remained very quietly under the radar. In HU he min-raised every pot... I went totally card dead! Getting 73, 94, 82 etc I had no choice but lay down my hands to the raises, any raises I called, I was missing the flop and facing a huge bet... in 15 minutes the deficit had grown a sick 8-1(!) Clawing it back 5-1 with a couple of all-ins I checked to see a flop KQ5, holding 95s and two suits on the board I shoved. CL insta-called with KQ... board bricks and I'm out in 2nd place. WP Sir... a couple of players watching the match pointed out that my HU play was very weak - I should have shoved in a lot of spots, but with hardly any read on the CL plus card death I was at a disadvantage for shoving.
I won't complain about 'only' winning €204 while CL got €350-odd - I'm so grateful to get some confidence in my play back! Need to put some much needed work into my end game strategy - especially HU before the Deepstack next week. Couple of nights with Dan Harrington me thinks.
Putting €50 on cash table I rolled it up to €175 before the tiredness kicked in and had to call it a night. A €300 profit after buy-ins, tips, and wee blackjack flutter is good enough for me!
On the poker front I was working at the IPO last weekend - which marked my 2nd anniversary of dealing, my third IPO too. Every year I promise I will play it 'next year' but when the time comes I'm always asked to work - and it's hard to say no, especially if you aren't bankrolled for this! Its a top notch festival and I really enjoyed working it - took me a few days to recover naturally! Finishing early on Sunday just before the FT started - I rushed home to follow the live streaming supporting two players: Cat O'Neill one of the familiar female faces on the scene that I deal a lot to (and regard as personal hero) played an incredible game considering the wild field of 1400-odd players she had to wade through, as a female bounty player no less, this made her an attractive target for all the mad LAGs! The closer she got to the FT, I had her pegged to take it down but the pokah gods are cruel with their hands. Still exiting in a respectable 4th place is still impressive, I was so thrilled for her! Bravo Cat! One local player that I play on the pub circuit with - Mark Troy, who won his buy-in via a DPN €40 satt came an impressive 3rd for a cool €33k payday... WP Sir! Goes to show even the decent small-time players can do well sometime! Hope for me yet... LOL!
There's less than 8 days left to IDP's Deepstack Classic Festival... my first festival as chairperson of IDP. We have 41 players registered, a tad small compared to the record breaking 75 players we had last year... but we do have a recession so I'm not going to get worked up about it. Bring it on, boys!
For those of you coming to this blog late, I've reached the final table in 90% of the MTT tournaments I've played in the Voodoo over the past two months ... and only cashed once - winning my buy-in back(!) I would have given up on the place but Derek, Adam, Nick and the crew are so nice, you won't find any place more friendly or welcoming in Dublin. Plus its full of fish attracted to the low buy-in games (as well as some good friends too!) the banter is brilliant and the cafe rivals the Fitz with the great selection (and value) of food on offer.
I had no plans to play the Wednesday Ladbookes sponsored game as Irish Deaf Poker had arranged a last minute satt game that the Voodoo agreed to host for us. I had an ulterior motive that I'll go into in a moment... We had with one free ticket added (thanks to a generous Susie Woosie who donated her ahem, winnings from the Ladies League the previous Thursday) I had aimed this Satt at the girls, but with only two of them interested/available, I had no option but throw it open to all IDP players.
The €10+5FO was only advertised to the players on Tuesday night, I had 8 replies. Ah well - one table is good enough to go ahead... I informed Nick of the numbers and the fact I would be late (I teach a basic computer class to Deaf adults in the Irish Deaf Society every Wednesday night - with a babysitter already booked for the night I tend to take advantage of a live game afterwards...) I was delighted walking in to find 13 players already playing with several short/big stacks already; we were €10 short of a 3rd ticket so I suggested the first person knocked out be allowed to re-buy for €10... all agreed!
Already blinded down by almost 25% of my stack I had a struggle getting back to a even keel on a horrible table with Frank G (brilliant aggro-LAG) two to my left and Glen da Fish (think of an Eddie the Eagle type who just won't fold his bottom pair...) in button to my BB calling every raise going both running over the table! If one wasn't in the pot by river, the other was(!) I barely held up til we were down to the final 8...
Still nursing the shortest stack and getting irritate by the shoddy standard the game was heading going by the early exit of good players by the hands of Frank/Glen's rubbish holdings. I started eyeing up the Ladbrokes Tournament wishfully, where some of the exited IDP players had drifted into... talking it over with Trish who was just out of the game, with only 5 minutes to the break/the end of the buy-in period. Whether it was worth joining at this stage getting 6k chips while blinds were 100/200 and let my stack get blinded down til I went in. She said yes, but I hummed hawed...
The 47 registered players made it such a juicy pot I so wanted IN; making a decision to shove with the next 'best' hand - if I win, I stay on this table and take home a ticket to the deepstack; if I lose - well, I take a shot at the other tournament. Couple hands later I raised pre from CO-1 with Kh4h (I blame Cat O'Neill for this one!) for 60% of my stack... Frank G using his massive stack as usual threw-in a huge handful of 500 chip's then gave a start in horror when he realised I was in the pot... sensing a weakness, I knew it would be a coin flip so all-in I went. Frank tables A10o, flop comes two low hearts, turn was 10c but no heart or king on the river to save me... I duly skipped off to join the Ladbookes tournament.
Within 25 minutes I was down to a miserable 1,600, shoved on button with muck two limpers and blinds all folded(!) 2,300 going into BB 150/300(!) Had a player dogging me big time in two pots, snapping off my raises or calling then hitting... Urgh! Finding Kh10h in BB, UGT made a min-raise to 600, with no less than 4 callers by the time it came back to me. With 5 players in the pot - I elected to call, rather than shove.... Flop came 9h8h4x... I had pre-checked dark, UTG made a continuation bet of €500, 2 other callers before it came back to me. I called, vowing to shove the turn - which was a 10... UTG and MP (IDP's Mark McLaughlin) called. Declan who was on Button then shoved all-in, Urgh! UTG called and Mark reluctantly folded. Both Declan and UTG showed 76o for straight but the beautiful Ah fell on river to keep me alive and over starting stack for the first time since the game started.
It was all upward from here... I was joint 2nd chipleader starting out with 21,500, the average player was on 18k; chipleader was on circa. 32k. After exiting some shorties including Tom Maguire who shoved with K10 into my A10. Limping in with As8s hoping to get action, 4 players and flop comes A high with 2 clubs and possible straight. Roy Keating (IDP Player is in BB and shoves, BB (uber tight player) insta-calls for 40% of his stack, he looked like he was going to raise pre- but checked instead. Other player folds after a dwell, smelling a rat I folded reluctantly - my only option would have to push which would have put me under 20k if he calls and wins. There was still 7 players left with 4 getting paid. Roy tables Jc4c for one pair/flush draw, and BB tables Qc9c. No club comes on turn or river but the 9 on River seals the pot for BB. Urgh! Bad fold me!
I was getting feck all action to my raises, which was fine when I was bluffing but in fact I had AA, KK, QQ... I was basically stealing blinds and not getting paid good, limping in and mini-raising pot was causing them to insta fold(!) Limping with a bluff hand (96s) from MP with one caller behind and shortie goes all-in on button for 3xBB; BB and caller folds, I'm looking at getting 3-to-1 for my money here playing a coin flip that Frank Grace would not hesitate to play and thus elected to call. Shortie wins of course but I get a lot of grief for my call(!) After that I get a lot of action and quickly became chipleader on 70k when we get down to 4 handed.
I lose two key races and was sitting on a 2-1 deficit by the time I got to HU with the players who started FT with 32k, but remained very quietly under the radar. In HU he min-raised every pot... I went totally card dead! Getting 73, 94, 82 etc I had no choice but lay down my hands to the raises, any raises I called, I was missing the flop and facing a huge bet... in 15 minutes the deficit had grown a sick 8-1(!) Clawing it back 5-1 with a couple of all-ins I checked to see a flop KQ5, holding 95s and two suits on the board I shoved. CL insta-called with KQ... board bricks and I'm out in 2nd place. WP Sir... a couple of players watching the match pointed out that my HU play was very weak - I should have shoved in a lot of spots, but with hardly any read on the CL plus card death I was at a disadvantage for shoving.
I won't complain about 'only' winning €204 while CL got €350-odd - I'm so grateful to get some confidence in my play back! Need to put some much needed work into my end game strategy - especially HU before the Deepstack next week. Couple of nights with Dan Harrington me thinks.
Putting €50 on cash table I rolled it up to €175 before the tiredness kicked in and had to call it a night. A €300 profit after buy-ins, tips, and wee blackjack flutter is good enough for me!
On the poker front I was working at the IPO last weekend - which marked my 2nd anniversary of dealing, my third IPO too. Every year I promise I will play it 'next year' but when the time comes I'm always asked to work - and it's hard to say no, especially if you aren't bankrolled for this! Its a top notch festival and I really enjoyed working it - took me a few days to recover naturally! Finishing early on Sunday just before the FT started - I rushed home to follow the live streaming supporting two players: Cat O'Neill one of the familiar female faces on the scene that I deal a lot to (and regard as personal hero) played an incredible game considering the wild field of 1400-odd players she had to wade through, as a female bounty player no less, this made her an attractive target for all the mad LAGs! The closer she got to the FT, I had her pegged to take it down but the pokah gods are cruel with their hands. Still exiting in a respectable 4th place is still impressive, I was so thrilled for her! Bravo Cat! One local player that I play on the pub circuit with - Mark Troy, who won his buy-in via a DPN €40 satt came an impressive 3rd for a cool €33k payday... WP Sir! Goes to show even the decent small-time players can do well sometime! Hope for me yet... LOL!
There's less than 8 days left to IDP's Deepstack Classic Festival... my first festival as chairperson of IDP. We have 41 players registered, a tad small compared to the record breaking 75 players we had last year... but we do have a recession so I'm not going to get worked up about it. Bring it on, boys!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Getting there... getting there!
I've been consistently going deep in practially all my games over in past few weeks, right to the final table even, but apart from a few small cashes, best being a 4th place €170 win, it's getting disheartening...
I did have one 2nd place win: at Dublin Poker Night's €40 10-player SnG Satt for the Cavan Open. David (Afex on Boards) won the €220 ticket while I crashed into second place for €165 after starting HU as chipleader with 3-1 lead! I actually busted out in the second hand of the game with AK, AK3 on board and Ollie shoved over my 4-bet on flop with trip 3s and rivered a house just to rub my nose in it... Thankfully as first out I was allowed to re-buy. And carefully fought my way to chipleader and remained there until HU. Ah sure €85 up is better than being €80 down!
Was advised to check out the €30FO deepstack game in Fitzpatricks on Tuesday nights. Venturing in last week they had 46 players with 5 places paid out; got to final table with average stack in danger of getting blinded out when I min-raised with A8s, Marie called me from SB then Tom (TM on Boards) shoved All-In from the BB. I had him covered but Marie (older woman, Fitz regular) was chipleader - I shoved over the top of Tom to isolate, and Marie folds. Tom shows AQo I hit my straight on the flop but got piped by his Ace for runner-runner flush to leave me with <3BB. Next hand finding K8s UTG+1, I shoved, action folded back to IDP player Frank Grace in BB, he called with the monster 94o: 9 on flop, 4 on river and I was gone in 6th place... Our Frank went on to split it HU with Marie. WP mate! Was back in Fitzpatrick's this week and exited 9th... first hand of the final table(!)
Played the €50+5 FO in the Sporting last Sunday, I choose the SE because I knew there was a €1,500 guarantee plus with 2-3 tables it wouldn't go on all night. Ha! Little did I know what would happen... With a nice overlay to aim for, there was 3 tables with 37 players. I was happy with how I played, picked up AA no less than three times in the first 2 levels but didn't get paid much with them but it sorted my image for the rest of the game and allowed me to bluff in a couple key hands! Til I lost big holding KK to LAG's raggy ace that rived an 'Ace from Space' and enduring total card death before getting to final table as the shortest stack. Picked my spots well and won enough chips to survive, grabbed the chiplead briefly when we got down to five handed. But the previous owner took them back once the bubble busted. It took almost 2 hours from start of FT til the bubble was busted! had I known that I wouldn't have played there! Tiredness started kicking in, as well as being over-conscious of the time (it was way past 1am at this stage) made me play a little looser. Losing 60% of my stack overvaluing AJs against AKs in a raise-reraise-shove-blind-on-blind action... I then shoved next hand with my remaining 6-7BBs from SB with A4 into BB's 77, the sevens hold and I'm gone in 4th for €170... Kinda glad I left when I did, heard the game continued for another hour or so! Any later and I would not have got up for work next morning! I still think I would have easily won this but for the lateness of the game...
The Voodoo Card Club has become my new base! Apart from the nearest club to my home, the staff are so friendly, the food is good and the tournaments are excellent value... the Ladies League on Thursday nights are great craic! I keep reaching final tables in 3 out of 4 games that I've played here too, but truth be told I've only cashed ONCE! Meh! Next time, I'm going to do a 'Paul Fox' and fold into the money on FT before I play a bloody hand...
Was advised to check out the €30FO deepstack game in Fitzpatricks on Tuesday nights. Venturing in last week they had 46 players with 5 places paid out; got to final table with average stack in danger of getting blinded out when I min-raised with A8s, Marie called me from SB then Tom (TM on Boards) shoved All-In from the BB. I had him covered but Marie (older woman, Fitz regular) was chipleader - I shoved over the top of Tom to isolate, and Marie folds. Tom shows AQo I hit my straight on the flop but got piped by his Ace for runner-runner flush to leave me with <3BB. Next hand finding K8s UTG+1, I shoved, action folded back to IDP player Frank Grace in BB, he called with the monster 94o: 9 on flop, 4 on river and I was gone in 6th place... Our Frank went on to split it HU with Marie. WP mate! Was back in Fitzpatrick's this week and exited 9th... first hand of the final table(!)
Played the €50+5 FO in the Sporting last Sunday, I choose the SE because I knew there was a €1,500 guarantee plus with 2-3 tables it wouldn't go on all night. Ha! Little did I know what would happen... With a nice overlay to aim for, there was 3 tables with 37 players. I was happy with how I played, picked up AA no less than three times in the first 2 levels but didn't get paid much with them but it sorted my image for the rest of the game and allowed me to bluff in a couple key hands! Til I lost big holding KK to LAG's raggy ace that rived an 'Ace from Space' and enduring total card death before getting to final table as the shortest stack. Picked my spots well and won enough chips to survive, grabbed the chiplead briefly when we got down to five handed. But the previous owner took them back once the bubble busted. It took almost 2 hours from start of FT til the bubble was busted! had I known that I wouldn't have played there! Tiredness started kicking in, as well as being over-conscious of the time (it was way past 1am at this stage) made me play a little looser. Losing 60% of my stack overvaluing AJs against AKs in a raise-reraise-shove-blind-on-blind action... I then shoved next hand with my remaining 6-7BBs from SB with A4 into BB's 77, the sevens hold and I'm gone in 4th for €170... Kinda glad I left when I did, heard the game continued for another hour or so! Any later and I would not have got up for work next morning! I still think I would have easily won this but for the lateness of the game...
The Voodoo Card Club has become my new base! Apart from the nearest club to my home, the staff are so friendly, the food is good and the tournaments are excellent value... the Ladies League on Thursday nights are great craic! I keep reaching final tables in 3 out of 4 games that I've played here too, but truth be told I've only cashed ONCE! Meh! Next time, I'm going to do a 'Paul Fox' and fold into the money on FT before I play a bloody hand...
Cash action was sick... I swear I find the worse of the on bingo tables on offer, I do! Was dealing in Killarney (the worse job to date IMO, but I digress) and got signed off early one night, missed the bus back to the hotel, got bored waiting around so went into the cash room. Spun €60 into €300-odd with the nut flush, was about to leave when I decided to play my BB the very next hand, a Drunk in CO had raised to 10, button and SB called, finding 99 naturally I call too. Flop comes 962 (wheeeeee!) I bet out on all streets as drunk calls, until 6 hits the river and the drunk shoves. I called to see him table 66(!) Urgh... lost €165 in that hand. WP Sir. Later after grinding my cash back up to €235, when this hand happened: Drunk was still on table, player to his left had been replaced by a new player who was calling every hand, EVERY raise with ATC and hitting. I limped in with Ad3d in MP for a family pot of €20 to see a flop: Jd2d3h - action checks to drunk who does his usual slow act, while he was waffling, Mad Player throws in €30. Drunk loses it: “HEY! f*#@ing bloody cheek of ya, it was MY go! I bet ya got nuthin’! I’m ALL-IN... lets see if ya call now!” Mad player replies ‘yeah... I call’. Next player goes all-in... I was stunned. Facing a huge pot with the nut-flush-draw getting 3 to 1 for my money plus I had them all covered apart from the drunk by €20 odd, didn't stop me from shoving my stack over... praying one time please! But the board bricks, CO shows 5d4d, mad player has J6o while other player shows AsQs; the mad player's pair of Jack holds for a cool €1k pot while I accept the small side-pot. I just gave up and left... This beat has really put me off playing cash.
Online I'm up/down - played one of the Irish Poker Rankings Online game and came 4th, missed it the following two weeks when I couldn't register due to a cake software issue; played again a couple weeks later and was gone before first level with QQ-v-AA... went on uber-tilt two weeks ago and cleaned my online accounts out playing total shite. So couldn't play the last game. But last I saw I was hanging on 5th or 6th in the overall list.... WP to Doke for topping the list - there's no stopping this guy!
Have decided if I don't get a decent live touch soon - I'm going to take a break for a while as I genuinely can't afford to keep playing... with the 2nd November as my cut-off point.
The Irish Deaf Poker 2nd Annual Deepstack Classic Festival is almost up on us, since Ciaran's departure I've been pulling out the stops to get the game off the ground and drum up the players to play it. With 17 days left and only 31 players registered, and 10 of them are non-Irish! At our recent IDP 'Super Satt' night in the Deaf club - 4 of the 6 ticket winners demanded cash instead of the ticket(!) We have until 26th October to get 50 deaf players, the committee have decided if IDP don't get this minimum number then we will open the game to hearing players. Me thinks they'll play just fine among us deafies - I'll film our Frank signing the table signs for them to learn and throw in an ISL version of 'Bing Bang Blaow' to be sure! LOL - now that will be fun to do!
See you at the tables!
See you at the tables!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Bubble... Bubble... Toil and Trouble!
It's been an up and down summer... more downs than ups... more bad beats and sticky situs than I care to remember! I'm getting to the point that I'm playing a consistently losing game, going deep but bubbling within a few yards of the cash - the bad variance is constant. I'm growing deep into a minus profit figure and it's bugging me: "I'm losing my touch here... what the hell is happening?!!"
Taking a valuable stepback I recently noticed a few key factors attributing to the constant downswing:
1 - I'm not paying sufficient attention to hands any more, especially post-game, as I used to. I'm letting them go without going over the action in my head, analysing them, putting them through pokerstove and recalculating the M, questioning myself how I should have played it differently, was it the correct move for me? I've been switching off to the extent that I can't remember the details the next day! A bad omen. The main reason I've been switching off is to stop myself from losing the rag with moronic people calling me with atrocious holdings and hitting them and/or putting myself into tilt and throwing my chips away.
2 - I've widened my range waaaay too much! I blame all the bad beats for this one honest! When you see some donk win with 69o in MP calling your raises holding K10s on button: pre-, post-flop and all-in on the turn with a board that reads 7710 K only to spike an 8 on the river to complete his gutshot and wallop you out of the game. Only natural that I see them bloody 69 a couple of games later and decide to hop along and bluff with them, but hit zilch! Of course I DID get lucky a few times with similar equally atrocious holdings: the most memorable being 7d4d shoving on turn to an all diamond board, and getting called by trips Kings and a straight... to treble me up to glares and tuts, BUT my raise holding AA a few hands later in the same game didn't garner any respect from the table and put me back into short stack nijia mode... Back to ABC poker for me!
3 - Playing online while doing other stuff - not paying proper attention to the game. I prefer playing SnG/MTTs rather than cash - I don't have the nous for playing cash online. This hard-hitting well-written post on Boards was a reality smack in the face, as I read down the list I was guilty of all these errors! Urgh! So now the TV stays off, no website open, etc. AND When the table is on a break I get up and take a break too. Aside: The preservance paid off with a 4th place finish in the new Irish Poker Online Rankings game on 9th September, even if I was a tad loose on the final table taking advantage of position more than anything else and annoying the hell out of one of the players (and taking 65% of his stack in the process) The same player then started dogging me, shoving into all my raises and berating me in the chat box, once the bubble burst after a long play 5-handed I was happy to call his shove with 88 only to see his 104s river a flush and I was out 4th... the other players then ganged up to push him out in 3rd.
4 - I've stopped reading HHH Theory sections in poker forums, poker books and other online sources. I used to devour these! Anything new I read I would put into practice, more than often with good results. This could be a key point why my game is in a rut. I'm not switching gears as often I should, I'm not respecting the images of the other players and 'quiting while I'm still ahead', I'm not picking my spots as well as I should. I've three poker books on loan from friends - I need to take some time out from poker, brush up on my theory and read them!
5 - There's a lot of personal crap going on elsewhere in my life: I had a serious life-threatening illness in July that put me in hospital for 10 days, thankfully I have recovered well from it (and no, it wasn't Swine Flu! LOL!) I am due to have a cochlear implant this November a very scary and emotional for me. I've had a lot of courtroom-tussles with my Ex; this has been ongoing for past 3.5 years but he stepped up the pressure BIG time this year; thankfully, it seems like Justice is prevailing for me at last! My work is busier than usual, the amount of people who use our service have increased sharply and we are already feeling the strain in an unforgiving economic climate. How can I reason and fight for a client who got full ISL interpreting for 30-hour week education course last year now can only get a maximum of 80 hours for ONE year?! It's very hard to sit down at a table and play with all these stress-factors on top of you...
Last night I was in a mood for a game - posting a request for recommendations on Facebook; I got some great suggestions: New AK Club opening night in Maynooth (sounds great but not going into a club I've never been before on my ownio!) Voodoo Ladbrookes €15+15 night with Roy the Boy in attendance; Fitzwilliam with €25r/b game (I don't have a lot of tournament luck in the Fitz plus the huge size of the field always means a late finish - impractical for working gal like me); Freeroll plus 2nd Irish Poker Rankings Online game on BrucePoker; JJP's €2k 'guaranteed' game. Considering I had a 4th place to defend in the IPR game and a $700 freeroll sounds good... I choose that.
Rushing home I logged on to register, saw both listings beside each other, a quick look on the IPR game showed 5 players registered including Doke and Smurph. I clicked on the freeroll, registered for that - saw the other freeroll for a ticket to Bruce game on Sunday in Carlow (I'm in Limerick this Sunday - detour on the way home maybe??) reg'ed for that too... came back to the listings and ... the green highlighted IPR game was gone? Impossible! I searched everywhere, nothing. Noticed that no MTTs were showing from 8:35pm to 00:00am - urgh? Another blip on Cake? Contacted Smurph, it was still showing on her PC. Logged off, restarted and tried again - still not showing. Contacted support - 'Try uninstalling the software and reinstalling it..." FFS! I gave up - switched off the laptop got in my car and drove to Voodoo; was there in 15 minutes!
Voodoo club is lovely, nice set up and a great pub (Ryans) to the back of it. After a warm welcome from Paul and Adam I was assigned to Roy the Boy's table, the game had already 10 mins gone on the clock when I sat down to BB. Second hand I had 77 in SB button; BB was dead stack, UTG raised to 250, Roy was UTG+1 and re-raised to 750. Action folded to me I flatted putting Roy on a aggro-move with any two (well.... I did read his book you know! LOL!) UTG shoved, Roy insta-called and I insta-mucked! UTG showed AA and Roy had KK and sucked out with a K on the river. Facing a re-buy UTG was €5 short of necessary funds, Roy instantly jumped up and opened his wallet and put the €5 on the table 'pffft'ing off UTG's offer to 'pay him back later'. Really decent of Roy IMO.
One orbit later, blinds 75-150 I had Ks10s on button LAG in MP raised 350, three callers, I called for value. BB comes along for ride. Flop comes 8sQs3x, actions checks to me. Betting out 700, leaving 1100 behind, initial raiser calls as others folded. As comes on turn, raiser checks I insta-shove, he calls after a dwell announcing trips tabling 33, I show my flush. But the board pairs and I'm looking for my 2nd chance 2k chips. Playing tight, I get to final table having grinded my stack up to 3,900 with small pots here/there; paying out 3 places. I get blinded down to 2,850 when I find AQs in SB. Shortie in CO shoves 66, I have him covered and shove. I was stunned when BB with 4.8k calls with A9s leaving himself with less than 2k(!) A9 on board and I'm toast in 6th or 7th place. Meh! Voodoo is an Aquarium waiting to be tapped! Well worth a visit, definitely a 2nd... or more!
To summarise: if my actions to get out this rut works then my big win is just around the corner! If it doesn't happen... I'll copy Susie and take a long break from Poker!
Taking a valuable stepback I recently noticed a few key factors attributing to the constant downswing:
1 - I'm not paying sufficient attention to hands any more, especially post-game, as I used to. I'm letting them go without going over the action in my head, analysing them, putting them through pokerstove and recalculating the M, questioning myself how I should have played it differently, was it the correct move for me? I've been switching off to the extent that I can't remember the details the next day! A bad omen. The main reason I've been switching off is to stop myself from losing the rag with moronic people calling me with atrocious holdings and hitting them and/or putting myself into tilt and throwing my chips away.
2 - I've widened my range waaaay too much! I blame all the bad beats for this one honest! When you see some donk win with 69o in MP calling your raises holding K10s on button: pre-, post-flop and all-in on the turn with a board that reads 7710 K only to spike an 8 on the river to complete his gutshot and wallop you out of the game. Only natural that I see them bloody 69 a couple of games later and decide to hop along and bluff with them, but hit zilch! Of course I DID get lucky a few times with similar equally atrocious holdings: the most memorable being 7d4d shoving on turn to an all diamond board, and getting called by trips Kings and a straight... to treble me up to glares and tuts, BUT my raise holding AA a few hands later in the same game didn't garner any respect from the table and put me back into short stack nijia mode... Back to ABC poker for me!
3 - Playing online while doing other stuff - not paying proper attention to the game. I prefer playing SnG/MTTs rather than cash - I don't have the nous for playing cash online. This hard-hitting well-written post on Boards was a reality smack in the face, as I read down the list I was guilty of all these errors! Urgh! So now the TV stays off, no website open, etc. AND When the table is on a break I get up and take a break too. Aside: The preservance paid off with a 4th place finish in the new Irish Poker Online Rankings game on 9th September, even if I was a tad loose on the final table taking advantage of position more than anything else and annoying the hell out of one of the players (and taking 65% of his stack in the process) The same player then started dogging me, shoving into all my raises and berating me in the chat box, once the bubble burst after a long play 5-handed I was happy to call his shove with 88 only to see his 104s river a flush and I was out 4th... the other players then ganged up to push him out in 3rd.
4 - I've stopped reading HHH Theory sections in poker forums, poker books and other online sources. I used to devour these! Anything new I read I would put into practice, more than often with good results. This could be a key point why my game is in a rut. I'm not switching gears as often I should, I'm not respecting the images of the other players and 'quiting while I'm still ahead', I'm not picking my spots as well as I should. I've three poker books on loan from friends - I need to take some time out from poker, brush up on my theory and read them!
5 - There's a lot of personal crap going on elsewhere in my life: I had a serious life-threatening illness in July that put me in hospital for 10 days, thankfully I have recovered well from it (and no, it wasn't Swine Flu! LOL!) I am due to have a cochlear implant this November a very scary and emotional for me. I've had a lot of courtroom-tussles with my Ex; this has been ongoing for past 3.5 years but he stepped up the pressure BIG time this year; thankfully, it seems like Justice is prevailing for me at last! My work is busier than usual, the amount of people who use our service have increased sharply and we are already feeling the strain in an unforgiving economic climate. How can I reason and fight for a client who got full ISL interpreting for 30-hour week education course last year now can only get a maximum of 80 hours for ONE year?! It's very hard to sit down at a table and play with all these stress-factors on top of you...
Last night I was in a mood for a game - posting a request for recommendations on Facebook; I got some great suggestions: New AK Club opening night in Maynooth (sounds great but not going into a club I've never been before on my ownio!) Voodoo Ladbrookes €15+15 night with Roy the Boy in attendance; Fitzwilliam with €25r/b game (I don't have a lot of tournament luck in the Fitz plus the huge size of the field always means a late finish - impractical for working gal like me); Freeroll plus 2nd Irish Poker Rankings Online game on BrucePoker; JJP's €2k 'guaranteed' game. Considering I had a 4th place to defend in the IPR game and a $700 freeroll sounds good... I choose that.
Rushing home I logged on to register, saw both listings beside each other, a quick look on the IPR game showed 5 players registered including Doke and Smurph. I clicked on the freeroll, registered for that - saw the other freeroll for a ticket to Bruce game on Sunday in Carlow (I'm in Limerick this Sunday - detour on the way home maybe??) reg'ed for that too... came back to the listings and ... the green highlighted IPR game was gone? Impossible! I searched everywhere, nothing. Noticed that no MTTs were showing from 8:35pm to 00:00am - urgh? Another blip on Cake? Contacted Smurph, it was still showing on her PC. Logged off, restarted and tried again - still not showing. Contacted support - 'Try uninstalling the software and reinstalling it..." FFS! I gave up - switched off the laptop got in my car and drove to Voodoo; was there in 15 minutes!
Voodoo club is lovely, nice set up and a great pub (Ryans) to the back of it. After a warm welcome from Paul and Adam I was assigned to Roy the Boy's table, the game had already 10 mins gone on the clock when I sat down to BB. Second hand I had 77 in SB button; BB was dead stack, UTG raised to 250, Roy was UTG+1 and re-raised to 750. Action folded to me I flatted putting Roy on a aggro-move with any two (well.... I did read his book you know! LOL!) UTG shoved, Roy insta-called and I insta-mucked! UTG showed AA and Roy had KK and sucked out with a K on the river. Facing a re-buy UTG was €5 short of necessary funds, Roy instantly jumped up and opened his wallet and put the €5 on the table 'pffft'ing off UTG's offer to 'pay him back later'. Really decent of Roy IMO.
One orbit later, blinds 75-150 I had Ks10s on button LAG in MP raised 350, three callers, I called for value. BB comes along for ride. Flop comes 8sQs3x, actions checks to me. Betting out 700, leaving 1100 behind, initial raiser calls as others folded. As comes on turn, raiser checks I insta-shove, he calls after a dwell announcing trips tabling 33, I show my flush. But the board pairs and I'm looking for my 2nd chance 2k chips. Playing tight, I get to final table having grinded my stack up to 3,900 with small pots here/there; paying out 3 places. I get blinded down to 2,850 when I find AQs in SB. Shortie in CO shoves 66, I have him covered and shove. I was stunned when BB with 4.8k calls with A9s leaving himself with less than 2k(!) A9 on board and I'm toast in 6th or 7th place. Meh! Voodoo is an Aquarium waiting to be tapped! Well worth a visit, definitely a 2nd... or more!
To summarise: if my actions to get out this rut works then my big win is just around the corner! If it doesn't happen... I'll copy Susie and take a long break from Poker!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wonderful News!!!! (I Love Spam)
MANAGING PARTNER ROGER FLETCHER BAKER SOLICITORS & Co
326-328 Old Street London,
EC1V 9DR
England
ATTENTION:
I am Roger Baker, an attorney at law. A deceased client of mine, that shares the same last name as yours, died as a result of a heart-related condition on March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
I am contacting you to seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to my late client. He has a deposit of Seventeen Million Five hundred Thousand Dollars (US$17,500,000) left behind.
This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. If this business proposition offends your moral values, do accept my apology.
I can be reached on :rfbchambers11@gmail.com
Sincerely Yours,
Barrister Roger Baker.
Attorney at Law
Email : rfbchambers11@gmail.com
Tel : +447599873786
******************
WOW!
Looks like I'll be playing in all the big buy-ins now, plus a few of the WSOP events, anyone have the contact details for the EPT organisers?
Must draft up my letter of resignation for my Boss!
Wait... do you guys think I'd be better off asking for a career break after all it is only $17.5m (€11m) ... I just fear it might be gone in two years... I could spend a million a month at the tables very easily, so I might be glad to have the auld job to fall back on?
Just thought it was fair to give you pros some advance warning before I'm set loose with the cash...
I'm rich!!!!
326-328 Old Street London,
EC1V 9DR
England
ATTENTION:
I am Roger Baker, an attorney at law. A deceased client of mine, that shares the same last name as yours, died as a result of a heart-related condition on March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
I am contacting you to seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to my late client. He has a deposit of Seventeen Million Five hundred Thousand Dollars (US$17,500,000) left behind.
This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. If this business proposition offends your moral values, do accept my apology.
I can be reached on :rfbchambers11@gmail.com
Sincerely Yours,
Barrister Roger Baker.
Attorney at Law
Email : rfbchambers11@gmail.com
Tel : +447599873786
******************
WOW!
Looks like I'll be playing in all the big buy-ins now, plus a few of the WSOP events, anyone have the contact details for the EPT organisers?
Must draft up my letter of resignation for my Boss!
Wait... do you guys think I'd be better off asking for a career break after all it is only $17.5m (€11m) ... I just fear it might be gone in two years... I could spend a million a month at the tables very easily, so I might be glad to have the auld job to fall back on?
Just thought it was fair to give you pros some advance warning before I'm set loose with the cash...
I'm rich!!!!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Falling flat on my face....
I had the biggest 'Urgh!!!' night of the year last night...
The Fitzwilliam End of Month game was on last night, decided to try a Satt myself a ticket; joined a €60, 10 player Satt for 2 tickets, was in MP when I found Ad10d in the 4th/5th hand dealt. I hadn't played any hands at this stage. One limper plus the blinds (25/50) I raised to 200. Player next to me (old guy - plays very wide range) calls, Phil (PGodkin on Boards.ie) re-raises to 800. I've played Philip before, he often re-raises if he has position with any ace/pairs, as action folded back to me I felt my holding was good and I flat called leaving myself with 700 behind. Flop comes QdJd8h; I had a nice clean inside straight draw, flush draw and straight flush draw - with 17 outs, I shipped! Phil insta-called with AcKs... then groaned when he saw my hand... But no diamond, never mind a king or nine, to save me and Phil is fist-pumping as his better kicker holds to put me first out of the Satt(!) Urgh!!!
Denise offers me another Satt but I declined - instead I asked to join the list for a cash table... Playing 1/2 PLHE cash, I raised to €10 UTG+2 with two black 7s, MP, CO and Button calls to see a flop of 8s9s10s. I checked along with MP, CO bets 50, Button ships for 180 approx... I'm in a spot. I WANT to call the Button, an awful LAG, who I had pegged as chasing a A high flush draw with one pair on the board but CO's raise just scared me more as a good hand. All I had was 2 outs to beat him... my instincts were screaming at me to call! Showing my cards to the players on either side of me, I folded after a dwell. CO insta-calls the all in, as the dealer deals the SICKEST card on the turn: 6s(!) Button shows As9x as I predicted, and takes the pot, while CO had trips... Urgh!!!
But wait... there's more...
Irish Poker Radio asked me for a brief interview to talk about IDP, I agreed until I saw the questions! It was more about ME than IDP... eek! The interview was being recorded in the Fitzwilliam in the corner where the €50 Blackjack table is... I nearly chickened out, but demurred and spent the whole afternoon preparing my answers etc. But when I arrived my mind went blank and all my well prepared answers went out the window! I just hope I don't sound like an idiot! Nicky O'D and Iain were lovely, putting me at ease, reassuring me it was grand etc. It'll be a while before they show the interview, they will have a hard task editing out all my 'ummms' and 'errrs' making sense out of my speech, LOL! Nicky has kindly promised me a few transcripts from the show so that deaf/hard of hearing poker lovers can follow what was said. I'll put them up on IDP website when I get them...
Just as I said my goodbyes - I turned swiftly around to go back to the tables, slipped on the tiles and fell spectacularly flat on my face...
Urgh!!!!
The Fitzwilliam End of Month game was on last night, decided to try a Satt myself a ticket; joined a €60, 10 player Satt for 2 tickets, was in MP when I found Ad10d in the 4th/5th hand dealt. I hadn't played any hands at this stage. One limper plus the blinds (25/50) I raised to 200. Player next to me (old guy - plays very wide range) calls, Phil (PGodkin on Boards.ie) re-raises to 800. I've played Philip before, he often re-raises if he has position with any ace/pairs, as action folded back to me I felt my holding was good and I flat called leaving myself with 700 behind. Flop comes QdJd8h; I had a nice clean inside straight draw, flush draw and straight flush draw - with 17 outs, I shipped! Phil insta-called with AcKs... then groaned when he saw my hand... But no diamond, never mind a king or nine, to save me and Phil is fist-pumping as his better kicker holds to put me first out of the Satt(!) Urgh!!!
Denise offers me another Satt but I declined - instead I asked to join the list for a cash table... Playing 1/2 PLHE cash, I raised to €10 UTG+2 with two black 7s, MP, CO and Button calls to see a flop of 8s9s10s. I checked along with MP, CO bets 50, Button ships for 180 approx... I'm in a spot. I WANT to call the Button, an awful LAG, who I had pegged as chasing a A high flush draw with one pair on the board but CO's raise just scared me more as a good hand. All I had was 2 outs to beat him... my instincts were screaming at me to call! Showing my cards to the players on either side of me, I folded after a dwell. CO insta-calls the all in, as the dealer deals the SICKEST card on the turn: 6s(!) Button shows As9x as I predicted, and takes the pot, while CO had trips... Urgh!!!
But wait... there's more...
Irish Poker Radio asked me for a brief interview to talk about IDP, I agreed until I saw the questions! It was more about ME than IDP... eek! The interview was being recorded in the Fitzwilliam in the corner where the €50 Blackjack table is... I nearly chickened out, but demurred and spent the whole afternoon preparing my answers etc. But when I arrived my mind went blank and all my well prepared answers went out the window! I just hope I don't sound like an idiot! Nicky O'D and Iain were lovely, putting me at ease, reassuring me it was grand etc. It'll be a while before they show the interview, they will have a hard task editing out all my 'ummms' and 'errrs' making sense out of my speech, LOL! Nicky has kindly promised me a few transcripts from the show so that deaf/hard of hearing poker lovers can follow what was said. I'll put them up on IDP website when I get them...
Just as I said my goodbyes - I turned swiftly around to go back to the tables, slipped on the tiles and fell spectacularly flat on my face...
Urgh!!!!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Ciarán Moloney Tribute Night (photos now on IrishDeafPoker.com!)
For years, Cee had been dreaming about taking time off work and travelling the world. Getting a team place on the Irish Squad for Taipei Deaflympics was the Push he needed to achieve that dream... Going travelling means he has to step down from the IDP, so muggins here has been nominated to take over from him (pending official approval from the members of course!) My first job was to organise a good send off for him.
Finding a suitable date to suit everyone was almost impossible but August 8th was the one and only date that no one had an excuse for! After asking around, checking Boards to ensure our event didn't clash with anyone else's, confirming it with the Jackpot etc., I posted the event up, bombarded people and spammed everyone I knew about the event. Then the proposed Joan Vickers' Fundraiser in the new Voodoo club on the same night, was announced a mere few days later. I was disappointed, as I would have loved to attended that Joan was always big at supporting women playing poker; the Fundraiser raised almost €2,000 for the family - kudos to those who organised it. I notice the Fitz have a Memorial game for her later on this year - will definitely be attending that.
As I arrived in the Jackpot on Saturday evening, there were very few people around, I had a list of 28/29 pre-reg names but 7/8 players texted me with excuses at the last minute, disappointing but what can you do? I notice the Jackpot staff were telling drop-ins that the event was a 'private-game for deaf players only' I stepped in quickly and informed them that it was open to all players not just IDP. Cee plays far more with hearing players than deaf, we were not closing the ranks for them if they wanted to come along and wish him well while having a go at tackling his bounty... Plus the more money in the pot the happier the IDP players will be!
The game finally kicked off at 8:30 with 18 players, Cee was fashionably late as per usual. Three more latecomers joined us after the 1st level, with a final entry in the 2nd level to bring us to a total of 23 players.
My game started with the two luckboxes running over my table basically calling pre-flop raises with any two cards and hitting the board sickeningly-goot! E.g. my AsQs were no good against K4o on a AKsx4sx board(!) I was down to less than half the starting stack by the 2nd level...
On Cee's table the action was flying, no doubt punctuated by the added treat of the bounty on his head! Cee was playing more TAG'ish rather than the LAG game he's usually known for in the IDP, but no one was paying attention! With all his raises getting snapped off left right and centre! The Bounty Hand came sooner than anticipated and the entire room stopped playing to watch the race to Cee's table...
Tim Grace was in BB with 12k approx, blinds 75/150, Andy Smith had 10k and opened with a standard raise from UTG+2. Finding AAs Cee shoved for 3k (approx) from CO-1 Tim insta-flattened as did Andy. Flop came J10x. Tim checked, Andy shoved and Tim called. Andy showed AK for straight draw and Tim tabled a horrendous KJo! But much to Cee's disgust the turn brought the suited Jack, to give Andy more outs for flush/straight-flush draw as well as trips for Tim... Cee started roaring for the remaining Ace but no... The sickest card of all came on the turn - Jack - giving luckbox Tim runner-runner quads, the €100 bounty and the added privilege of knocking Cee FIRST out of the game!
I felt sorry for Cee, especially as it's his 'night', Cee's mate Declan suggested that Cee be allowed to rebuy. I agreed, announcing to the players that Cee and Andy (couldn't exclude Andy as he was knocked out same time as Cee) would be allowed to re-buy because of the Bounty hand; but no one else can re-buy. It also boosted the prize pool to a nice €750 - not too bad for a €33 buy-in!
At the break the IDP made a presentation to Cee, amid thunderous applause and cheers, we had a fun card using various indiscriminating photographs, a special framed appreciation in honour his work to IDP over the past 3 years, plus €100 toward a buy-in to poker game of his choice. After a brief speech from Cee thanking people for coming, telling us how he set up IDP, its growth from strength to strength, with approx 30 'regular' IDP players (maximum ever was 37 but we have 47 listed IDP members to date) and the honour of our biggest event with 70 deaf players last November including those from Sweden, UK and Finland.
Cee will be a hard act for me to follow in IDP!
Unfortunately I didn't get to the final table, after a much needed triple up with AK against same K4o fish holding A3 on a AK3xx board, I went on downward spiral finally eliminated by Mark McLaughlin on Button to my BB. As action had folded around to him, he raised to 2,100 (blinds 200/400), Lorraine was in SB (playing ultra-tight) insta-folded. Putting him on a steal, Mark had been bullying the table with his huge 30k+ stack, I found A10o with had barely 11.5xBBs left, I decided to shoved. It was 'Ugh!' seeing his AK! No help from the board and Mark's AK holds.
One of the IDP regs looked at me as the chips were pushed toward Mark and signed to his mate "Watch, this is where QueenJ gets angry! Right?" I looked over at him and laughed - "Angry? Why would I be angry? I got beaten by a superior hand not a mickey mouse crap that YOU usually call me with! Well played Mark..." Mark went on to exit in 5th place.
Cee made it to the final table too only to crash in 8th place courtesy of David Bowers. Bowers must have been in cahoots with dealer as she kept dealing him AA (twice!), KK, AK and the nutz in EVERY single hand! There were 5 places being paid out (€350, €190, €100, €50, €50 in that order...) but Bowers refused to negotiate any deals, refused to allow money off top to pay out 6th place, or increase 4th place etc. Karma has a way of working on people like that. The dealer was changed when it went down to 3 handed and the Bowers-winning-streak was halted. Geoff Foy exited in 3rd place, leaving Bowers and David 'Muffman' Mulligan to play heads-up, Muffman went from a 3-1 underdog to a worthy winner shoving Bowers into the shade!
I went over to join the 50c/1€ side cash table, but the IDP bog standard of play continued here. Putting €50, I barely made it up to €60 after 2 tough orbits, when I called a MP's €2 min-raise with 4s5s from BB along with 6 others. Flop came Js,4,5; I raised to pot €14; Andy Smith who was UTG to my left, flat called as did MP raiser. Turn 8s giving me flush draw, I shoved for my remaining €43/44, Andy insta-called and other player tanked for a while before folding. The river was non-spade 6, and Andy tables 77 for sick runner-runner straight... Meh! The initial raiser announced that he had "10,10"... Welcome to IDP(!)
Too lazy to go to the ATM, I borrowed €50 from JamesR, and whacked that up to €125 thanks to Cee mainly, raising and re-raising with my 109s to his 107o on a 10,10,8,J,x board (sorry Cee!) before the table broke. Gave JamesR back his €50 then wandered over to the €1/€2 cash table and ran my €75 up to €325 in 1.5 hours before calling it a night at 5am. Should have done that in the first place... LOL!
Profit aside, I had a good night, it was great game for everyone...
Just hope Cee had fun too! Now, go and enjoy your travels mate, and be sure to do us proud in Taipei (as the Goalie with the Irish Squad) just keep your eyes off the local girls and don't let the big balls in!!! Please make sure you come home in one piece too, Cee!
On behalf of IDP: Big ups to Paul and all his crew in the Jackpot for their fantastic support! The staff did a sterling job making great effort signing throughout the game, it was noted. We got very positive feedback from the IDP players, they asked me to thank the dealers, the TD, the serving girls for all the drinks and the lovely spread at the break. Last but not least: a heartfelt 'thank you' to all the players that came along for Cee...
Next week is the Annual Vera Duffy Classic in the Sporting Emporium, I have great memories of playing in this last year - will be donating again for sure!
See you all at the tables!
Finding a suitable date to suit everyone was almost impossible but August 8th was the one and only date that no one had an excuse for! After asking around, checking Boards to ensure our event didn't clash with anyone else's, confirming it with the Jackpot etc., I posted the event up, bombarded people and spammed everyone I knew about the event. Then the proposed Joan Vickers' Fundraiser in the new Voodoo club on the same night, was announced a mere few days later. I was disappointed, as I would have loved to attended that Joan was always big at supporting women playing poker; the Fundraiser raised almost €2,000 for the family - kudos to those who organised it. I notice the Fitz have a Memorial game for her later on this year - will definitely be attending that.
As I arrived in the Jackpot on Saturday evening, there were very few people around, I had a list of 28/29 pre-reg names but 7/8 players texted me with excuses at the last minute, disappointing but what can you do? I notice the Jackpot staff were telling drop-ins that the event was a 'private-game for deaf players only' I stepped in quickly and informed them that it was open to all players not just IDP. Cee plays far more with hearing players than deaf, we were not closing the ranks for them if they wanted to come along and wish him well while having a go at tackling his bounty... Plus the more money in the pot the happier the IDP players will be!
The game finally kicked off at 8:30 with 18 players, Cee was fashionably late as per usual. Three more latecomers joined us after the 1st level, with a final entry in the 2nd level to bring us to a total of 23 players.
My game started with the two luckboxes running over my table basically calling pre-flop raises with any two cards and hitting the board sickeningly-goot! E.g. my AsQs were no good against K4o on a AKsx4sx board(!) I was down to less than half the starting stack by the 2nd level...
On Cee's table the action was flying, no doubt punctuated by the added treat of the bounty on his head! Cee was playing more TAG'ish rather than the LAG game he's usually known for in the IDP, but no one was paying attention! With all his raises getting snapped off left right and centre! The Bounty Hand came sooner than anticipated and the entire room stopped playing to watch the race to Cee's table...
Tim Grace was in BB with 12k approx, blinds 75/150, Andy Smith had 10k and opened with a standard raise from UTG+2. Finding AAs Cee shoved for 3k (approx) from CO-1 Tim insta-flattened as did Andy. Flop came J10x. Tim checked, Andy shoved and Tim called. Andy showed AK for straight draw and Tim tabled a horrendous KJo! But much to Cee's disgust the turn brought the suited Jack, to give Andy more outs for flush/straight-flush draw as well as trips for Tim... Cee started roaring for the remaining Ace but no... The sickest card of all came on the turn - Jack - giving luckbox Tim runner-runner quads, the €100 bounty and the added privilege of knocking Cee FIRST out of the game!
I felt sorry for Cee, especially as it's his 'night', Cee's mate Declan suggested that Cee be allowed to rebuy. I agreed, announcing to the players that Cee and Andy (couldn't exclude Andy as he was knocked out same time as Cee) would be allowed to re-buy because of the Bounty hand; but no one else can re-buy. It also boosted the prize pool to a nice €750 - not too bad for a €33 buy-in!
At the break the IDP made a presentation to Cee, amid thunderous applause and cheers, we had a fun card using various indiscriminating photographs, a special framed appreciation in honour his work to IDP over the past 3 years, plus €100 toward a buy-in to poker game of his choice. After a brief speech from Cee thanking people for coming, telling us how he set up IDP, its growth from strength to strength, with approx 30 'regular' IDP players (maximum ever was 37 but we have 47 listed IDP members to date) and the honour of our biggest event with 70 deaf players last November including those from Sweden, UK and Finland.
Cee will be a hard act for me to follow in IDP!
Unfortunately I didn't get to the final table, after a much needed triple up with AK against same K4o fish holding A3 on a AK3xx board, I went on downward spiral finally eliminated by Mark McLaughlin on Button to my BB. As action had folded around to him, he raised to 2,100 (blinds 200/400), Lorraine was in SB (playing ultra-tight) insta-folded. Putting him on a steal, Mark had been bullying the table with his huge 30k+ stack, I found A10o with had barely 11.5xBBs left, I decided to shoved. It was 'Ugh!' seeing his AK! No help from the board and Mark's AK holds.
One of the IDP regs looked at me as the chips were pushed toward Mark and signed to his mate "Watch, this is where QueenJ gets angry! Right?" I looked over at him and laughed - "Angry? Why would I be angry? I got beaten by a superior hand not a mickey mouse crap that YOU usually call me with! Well played Mark..." Mark went on to exit in 5th place.
Cee made it to the final table too only to crash in 8th place courtesy of David Bowers. Bowers must have been in cahoots with dealer as she kept dealing him AA (twice!), KK, AK and the nutz in EVERY single hand! There were 5 places being paid out (€350, €190, €100, €50, €50 in that order...) but Bowers refused to negotiate any deals, refused to allow money off top to pay out 6th place, or increase 4th place etc. Karma has a way of working on people like that. The dealer was changed when it went down to 3 handed and the Bowers-winning-streak was halted. Geoff Foy exited in 3rd place, leaving Bowers and David 'Muffman' Mulligan to play heads-up, Muffman went from a 3-1 underdog to a worthy winner shoving Bowers into the shade!
I went over to join the 50c/1€ side cash table, but the IDP bog standard of play continued here. Putting €50, I barely made it up to €60 after 2 tough orbits, when I called a MP's €2 min-raise with 4s5s from BB along with 6 others. Flop came Js,4,5; I raised to pot €14; Andy Smith who was UTG to my left, flat called as did MP raiser. Turn 8s giving me flush draw, I shoved for my remaining €43/44, Andy insta-called and other player tanked for a while before folding. The river was non-spade 6, and Andy tables 77 for sick runner-runner straight... Meh! The initial raiser announced that he had "10,10"... Welcome to IDP(!)
Too lazy to go to the ATM, I borrowed €50 from JamesR, and whacked that up to €125 thanks to Cee mainly, raising and re-raising with my 109s to his 107o on a 10,10,8,J,x board (sorry Cee!) before the table broke. Gave JamesR back his €50 then wandered over to the €1/€2 cash table and ran my €75 up to €325 in 1.5 hours before calling it a night at 5am. Should have done that in the first place... LOL!
Profit aside, I had a good night, it was great game for everyone...
Just hope Cee had fun too! Now, go and enjoy your travels mate, and be sure to do us proud in Taipei (as the Goalie with the Irish Squad) just keep your eyes off the local girls and don't let the big balls in!!! Please make sure you come home in one piece too, Cee!
On behalf of IDP: Big ups to Paul and all his crew in the Jackpot for their fantastic support! The staff did a sterling job making great effort signing throughout the game, it was noted. We got very positive feedback from the IDP players, they asked me to thank the dealers, the TD, the serving girls for all the drinks and the lovely spread at the break. Last but not least: a heartfelt 'thank you' to all the players that came along for Cee...
Next week is the Annual Vera Duffy Classic in the Sporting Emporium, I have great memories of playing in this last year - will be donating again for sure!
See you all at the tables!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)