Patience wins the day

It's been up and down few weeks for me pokerwise since Killarney. No big wins or crazy hands to report, I had acuminated a small but decent profit considering I was busto at the start and only playing very low buy-ins but by beginning of March the profit margin was slipping back... It was frustrating! I was losing all my races deep in the game to unbelievable coolers.

One example: Playing the Voodoo's €100 game last Thursday, we are down to 12, when UTG (chipleader) raises 3xBB, UTG+1 shoves with 7BB, I'm next to act - I find KK and I've 12BB left... I move all-in. Action folds back to BB, he asks for a count and starts counting his 15/16BB stack... then shoves all-in. UTG folds. I table my cowboys, UTG+1 shows K10o sheepishly and BB tables KdJd... The board slaps out 3 diamonds and the dealer whacks my cowboys into the muck before I copped what had happened!

After this cooler, on the back of several others, I was getting very disillusioned with poker in general. The Paysafecard Ladies Poker Championships was coming up and I already registered my interest to play since it was first announced... When I woke up Friday morning after the Voodoo's tournament, the day before the Ladies game - I was seriously thinking "I'm running bad... why bother?!"

Then Susie texted me; Ciara had just called her all excited about the game the next day. Ciara was going with Ro, who already had her ticket from the Satellite. I had played with Ciara, Susie, Ro in the Satellite for the game, but ended up first out when Ro called my all-n with KJ on a 9 high flop (I had A9) and hit her K on river(!) Hmrph! These are pub players from my local game, something in me just thought: "Ha! They won't last in this game... But then its a bit rich me thinking like this if I can't put my money where my mouth is and prove it?!" So I along I went...

Susie and JCB always moan about these 'women only' poker events, pointing out the poor standard of play and lack of respect for raises. I stopped thinking like this some time ago, if you are decent player you CAN go deep

When we arrived I was shocked to see there was barely 30 players registered and the game was due to start in like, 5 mins... where were the 'over 110 players pre-registered' as announced?! Stephen McLean had worked very hard to get the information out there, he took a gamble on making this event a direct on the day buy-in, when usually he opts for online full paid pre-registration in his games.

By the time the game got underway there was 37 players. There were a number of good players in the room: Collette 'Smurph' Murphy; Jane Topkin; Cat O'Neill; last year's runner-up (I later discovered her name was Rebecca McAdams - a well known poker journalist) whose play I was really impressed with in the Ladies game last year. Sitting in seat 2 on table 3 I had Smurph diagonally opposite me, there were three female dealers as well: Sharon G, Lorraine Gately and another from Northern Ireland that I didn’t know.

I got off to a fine start in the second hand, when I completed the blind from SB holding Q7o. There was 6 limpers in the pot(!) Flop came Qc7c3c, action checked all around. Turn was 8d; I bet out 300, the players folded back to the button on my immediate left who called. Turn was Kd. I bet out 350, button raised to 600 - dealer corrected her saying that minimum raise must be 700. I ain't folding my two pair so threw out the extra 350 before she put the extra 100 in... She tabled two black aces for an over-pair(!) I threw in my two pair... nice wee pot comes back to me!

What was noticeable very early was all these serial limpers and people playing too many hands. I punished those limpers raising big from CO/button couple of times with air. The Northern Ireland dealer, Chantelle, was doing the same, she went very short in the first level but bounced back very well just before the first break. Then fell back again after the break, before shooting back up again. While watching her I noticed that she had no respect for the position players. She re-raised with suited connectors as much as raising/calling with any ace to the river very successfully too. After tangling in a couple of pots with her, my stack drifted back under 10k. When I found AKs in CO, I made the standard 4bb raise. Button (calling-station/bluffer) called as did Chantelle in BB. Flop came Q high rainbow, Chantelle bet out a pot size bet, I felt she was just pushing us out and flat called to see what button did, button folded. Rag on turn, Chantelle being first to act bet more slightly than the pot size bet... I just knew she had nothing on the board. But I couldn'r rule out any underpair (66-99 or 1010 even for trips) I contemplated coming over the top by going all-in but her turn bet was more than 40% of my remaining stack, shoving would be -EVs for me as it wasn't enough to get her out of the pot after putting in so much... I had no option but to fold. That hand cost me a lot of valuable chips, I fell back to 6k. I got hyper-aggressive after this, raising/shoving, stealing blinds and limper's chips until my stack was back up to 9k... when this hand happened.

Smurph was in BB, UTG, UTG+1 (both serial limpers)and UTG+2 (never raises only limps - same girl who limped in with AA in 2nd hand)joined the action... I was next to act and found 10 10; still in hyper-aggro mode I made a 6bb raise. Everyone folded back to UTG+2 who merely called as I expected, flop came AK10, as UTG+2 checked - I made a pot size bet, she then mini-raised me, I insta-shoved praying she didn't have aces or kings... I had her covered by just 4.5k. To my amazement she calls and flips over JJ, I show my 10s for a set and held my breath for the J/Q cooler that thankfully never came! I was back up over starting stack again...

I calmed down and settled back to pace myself, until 2 orbits later when blinds 150/300, Margaret (Fitz regular) came to take the place of the AA/JJ girl I knocked out. She's not played any hands; it looked like she was short... Finding 99 UTG, I bet out 3.5BB, but one by one they all folded back to Margaret in BB who shoved her small stack over the line. Taking a look at the stack I mistakenly assumed 4k (it was closer to 6k) and insta-shoved my stack over she shows AK and the K high board doubles her up; that decimated my stack by 50%... I got too cocky over-valuing nines, meh(!) Big lesson learnt here: asking for a count and THINK before I make any calls!

From this level right up until 500/1000 I got nothing... no more hands, just rubbish, all I could do was sit back and watch as Chantelle (the pretty dealer) and Smurph started running all over the table; bursting players left right and centre. Growing increasingly short I kept looking for key spots to shove to steal blinds etc, I was desperate - shoving with K4s, J10, 78s etc... even shoved once with crap 102o I think... thankfully I got no callers on these hands(!) One shove with A5 got called by AJ, the lovely 995xx board that ran out was a god send! That double-up just before our table broke helped me through the card-death that lasted two orbits when I got moved my next table.

On table one was Gillian Armstrong (the Boyle Poker sponsored player); Jane Topkin (runner-up from JP's mini-WSOP game) and Margaret (a very good aggressive player from Dundalk - regular at Cue Club & Poker Ireland 100 games) I had an awful position on the latter who was the table chipleader, sitting immediately on my left. Usually I enjoy chatting with Margaret at the table but being so short, plus it was a new table, I was back to square one watching and pegging the other players; I remained stoic saying very little... Margaret must have thought I was being rude ignoring her! I shoved twice with KK and QQ but got no callers, showing both I was setting my image for future shoves...

UTG a serial limper made an unusual min-raise the blinds; action folded back to me. Finding 99 on button, after thinking I decided I couldn't fold here with <10bbs, so all-in I went. To my horror Margaret came over the top into UTG... UTG tanked then folded (she later admitted she had AK! WTF?) Margaret tabled KJs and I felt a cold numb feeling of de va ju coming over me at the sight of them... was another tournament going to be ended for me by a poxy KJ(!)

The dealer looked at me and mouths 'good luck', then turns the flop one card up... the top card was a King... urgh! Collective groans all around from the table ladies in sympathy. I stood up to leave as the dealer, slowly spread out the rest of the flop when a glorious nine appeared from under the king and I squealed in delight! Yaaaay!!!! But that didn't get me out of danger. I was still all-in or fold mode as the blinds were going up 1k/2k.

That was also the beginning of the end for poor Margaret, she never won another pot after that... By this stage there were a lot of short stacks on the table, shoving spots were getting rarer. I folded 33 and 55 both times to a raise and re-raise all-in, when the initial raiser called and the board came out - I would have won both times had I called... meh(!)

With Margaret now out of the picture, Jane Topkins who had slowly amassed a sizable stack at this stage started to put pressure on the small stacks, kept raising into all the shorties blinds or limping/raising on flop... she had me on my toes! I re-raised all-in back into her once with KQs and she insta-folded - after that she stopped playing into me.

To my right was a novice player, who admitted she's only played hold 'em since last October, unlike the serial limpers she put it a few decent raises and made a lot of interesting moves. She was joint chipleader with Jane. Every time she was in SB to my BB and there was no other action on the table - she would look at my short-stack and fold pushing her small blind towards me saying 'here... you can have it, I fold.' Bless her - she saved me a few times by doing this! I wouldn't have been that nice if the shoe was on the other foot...

We were down to 10, the blinds had just gone up to 1.5k/3k when Jane limped in, a tight-passive shortie in Button mini raised, I found 33 in BB and swore I was not folding it this time! As I shoved right over the top with 23k, Jane folded after a dwell and button insta-called with AJ - I had her covered. The board that came out was sick: AJ5...5...3 Ouch! And with that I had my place on the final table as the 2nd shortest stack with 35k.

On the final table - only Margaret (Fitz regular) was shorter than me, Chantelle was next in chips, just couple odd thousand more than me. I was surprised as she was tournament chipleader at the last break? Smurph was chipleader with almost 90k, Susie wasn't far behind her with 50k, the rest of the table varied between 40-45k. Rebecca McAdams, a Westbury regular, Jane and the Novice from my previous table made up the rest of the table.

Susie was the unlucky player out in 9th place, after shoving her AJs into Smurph's AA... Margaret was next to go... followed by the novice player. By the time we were 6 handed, I was just behind Smurph in chips having doubled up via the Westbury player with 10 10, flopped a set, turned a house then rivered poker-10s for good measure! We had a deal to take €50 from 1st and 2nd to create a 6th prize - everyone agreed, having decimated Christina (Westbury player) she was happy to push her short stack with any two half decent cards, but her raced didn't hold and she was gone in 6th.

One orbit later I found AA UTG+2, I made my stanadard raise to 22,000 (blinds 4k/8k) Smurph insta-flattened as the others got out of the way. Flop came AK10 all hearts... we both checked. I lead out on the rag turn for 30,000. Smurph tanked before coming over the top... I insta-called showing my trips. The river bricks and poor Smurph is left with <5BB. Few hands later she's gone in 5th place for €250... she immediately sailed off for the Voodoo Festival main event, came back next day 2nd in chips but no joy with AK into 99... UL Smurph! Rebecca McAdams was the next casualty out in 4th when I reraised from SB into her BB.
Then there were three... After doubling Chantelle up not just once or twice but THRICE! I was back playing ultra-tight and putting pressure on Jane for a change! Jane in button was short on 45k, Chantelle was on 136k while I had 150k approx when the biggest car crash happened!

I was in SB, Chantelle was in BB with blinds now 4k/8k. Jane was in button on 46k. As I expected she shoved. I knew she was showing with a wide range but I didn’t want to double her up, finding A9o I knew my only option was to go all-in to isolate the action. I had a bad, bad feeling about this hand... so I tanked, considered the payouts and asked for a count of other player’s chips before shoving my stack over the line... Chantelle snapped called with KK. Jane tables A9s and I knew I had lost the game...

The kings hold, Jane is gone in 3rd place and I am down to >3BB... two shoves later and I was out 2nd for €950 after running K8s into Chantelle's 22. GG... UL... WP... etc. Pose for some photos, smile and good night!

Over all - it wasn’t my finest game but I was happy with how I played, my game plan went askew a few times but the winning factor that saved me was patience. There was a small satisfaction knowing I also outlasted the other DPN regulars! This year's game favoured the strong players, as the final table testified to this. Chantelle was a well deserving winner having played well all day, never losing her cool once. It was a brilliant experience to play on tables with strong experienced players like Smurph, Rebecca, Margaret and Jane.

Kudos to Stephen McLean for a great tournament, while the numbers was very disappointing, the structure was great, it was clear he had put a lot of work into organising the day. The craic was mighty all day, by the time the final table started it was clear that today was the day of the good players...

Roll on next year!

Poker in the Pub Grand Final - Trip Report

I came down on Thursday to deal the team event (and get valuable reads/info on the players too of course!) and worked from 7:30pm til 7:30am... crashed into bed and didn't wake up til 3:30pm. The game was starting at 5pm; as I went to register I got an unexpected surprise - there was an additional €30 registration fee due. For what!? I win a ticket and still have to pay registration??? That one’s new to me...

Heading to the restaurant in the bar for a decent meal before we started, I met up with Willow and Eamon Connolly. Talking about the registration fee, I was informed that the organisers were already operating at a loss, due to associated outlay costs like chips, advertising, printing, staff etc.

I barely made it to my seat before the first hand was dealt. Looking down finding AQs in the first hand, I was UTG and didn't want to raise this early – really hate getting good hands so early in the game. So I limped, two other players limped in, button re-pots to 350. I called for the extra 300, MP folds and CO-1 threw in 300 with a 1k chip underneath. Dealer checked and pointed out the chip... 'Are you re-raising Sir?' 'Erm... yeah... yeah...' the player nodded. Button called the extra 1k. I felt it might have been a mistake rather than a genuine re-raise, considering button flat called rather than re-raised, I knew I should get out of this pot but was was well stacked enough to call the extra 1k to see the flop which came J high rainbow. Urgh. I knew I was finished with this hand if either players’ put a bet out. Sure enough, CO-1 bets 1,500; Button came over the top to 4.5k. I insta-mucked. CO-1 flat called. Turn saw another 4k from each player while river was checked down. CO-1 shows AA and Button KK... Nice angleshoot with the €1k re-raise sir(!)

I didn't see or play another decent hand til the 2nd level when I raised to 550 with 10 10; a loose player re-raised to 1200. He had been doing this a lot, raising with ace rags, suited connectors, small pairs etc. I felt I was ahead of his range and re-potted to 3,600... he folded. Two hands later I was in BB to his button. He was down to 6k approx, several limpers in the pot; I had AQs he raised to 650 on button. I re-raised to 3250, as action folded back to him he laughed then folded showing J10s. That brought me back up over starting stack for the first time since we started. I was on a table of serial-limpers who just wanted to see a flop for cheap but folded a lot to any raise. I hovered along taking couple more small pots with well placed raises, had to fold to a re-raise from BB when I attempted a raised with QJs from CO. By the first break at end of 3rd level, I was sitting on 17.5k, when I met Thomas Maguire who was sitting well on 24k having “only played 3 hands” getting well paid on them all. Didn’t see him again after this – hope you went deep mate?

At the break the final numbers were confirmed. Out of 800-odd players who actually qualified, 706 had turned up to play. A staggering amazing number, but when you consider the prize fund was just €65,000 plus a €10,000 WSOP Vegas package, it works out at €107 approx per player and not the €200 per player as advertised.
Granted most players would have won a ticket having just played 4 weeks of the league, but some people (like me) would have played 8 or 12 weeks to qualify. With an average 8 week play at €10pw, plus the €30 registration fee making a total of €120 average outlay per player for an event that actually would have cost less to enter directly was thought-provoking. There was only €4 per week per player was going into the overall prize fund, but considering that for every one person that qualified, there were at least 7-10 other players who didn’t qualify – shouldn’t there have been a lot more than €65,000 in that prize pool? Another gripe was the prizes, they were only paying out the top 18 or 2.5% of the field, which represented much less than standard 10-15% of usual games.

After the break, I drifted down to 13/14k in BB (200/400) with card death and losing chips in one hand when I limped re-raised with AJ s UTG and was forced to fold them to a re-raise all-in from the initial limper. I tanked long enough before I folded showing the ace and mucking the J face down; he tables QQ. “AK?” he asked – I nodded – the players rapped the table. I knew I had respect.

Then came the first pivot hand of the tournament: Next hand saw me in BB with 6s10s when UTG raises to 600, two players along with the Button called. I was getting pissed off at having my blinds raised into (I had to fold them every time since the break) had decided I would to call to see a flop with any two.

6d10d7s flop... woooo! I checked, UTG puts out 1200, others fold. I think for minute – he could be flushing? I’m out of position for a re-raise so decided to flat call. 7c on turn ... I checked, UTG put out 2000, again I tanked then flat called. 2c on river, I opt to bet out 3250 on river as I felt he had missed and I didn’t really want to show my cards... but UTG calls showing AdKd(!) “I put you on a bluff chasing a flush draw” he says... Scooping in 8.5k I finally got my stack over the 20k mark for the first time!

Two hands later I’m on button when I opted to raise with Q4o as BB (same player UTG from my 610s hand) calls, he’s been leaking a lot of chips... he became the table chipleader very early but was on clearly on tilt after a massive bluff and losing three pots in a row. Everyone else folded. Flop comes 949 rainbow. BB checks I bet a pot size bet. He insta-calls. Turn is 3, action went check-bet-call... on the river came a K. He checks. I felt I was ahead but, opted to check behind in case he had hit the king. “Two pair” I announce, he nodded “yeah I have two pair too... which pair you got?” tabling my Q4, he announced its good and mucks(!) OMG!

I decided to go back into tight mode as I felt I had just shot my image with that hand... I folded for couple more orbits before getting moved to another table. In my first hand I got 99, had no read on the table but I wasn't limping with them... I made a standard 3xBB raise (blinds were 300/600 at this stage) they all folded, I showed my nines. Next hand I got 77, and opted to limp in. Three other limpers and SB completed, BB checked. Flop came AdQd8c, old man in SB bet 1200, I saw this as a probe bet, so flat called, other players folded. 10c came on turn. Old man bet out 1200... I sensed weakness and put him on a flush draw or Qx, so put in a re-raise to 2800, he folded. Phew!

Also on this table was a Gum-type woman player - you know the one who makes HUGE crazy bets and you just can't see where she's going. She was swigging back bottles of beer and was well oiled too. As the table chipleader, she limped in pre then shoved the flop a lot, or bet out 6-10xBB pre-flop... I had to fold my AcQc to her shove on the Q high flop with 3 hearts, as I just didn’t feel I was a head and was drifting back down to 23k. The average stack at this stage was 20k, when my second pivot hand happened: she limped UTG+2, I was in CO with Ad10d and decided to made a re-raise to 3200, action folded back to her. She flat called. Flop came AhKdJd, just as the flop appeared she snapped 'ALL IN!' But I had made my mind up not to let her bully me again – so insta-called to see J10s; 10c on turn and 3d on the river just sweetened the deal... and I was up to a heady 48k.

The structure had changed - instead of antes kicking in at the 150/300 level as advertised on the forum, it was put back to the 1000/2000 level. I wasn't too impressed with this as there was a lot of small stacks still in, blinding themselves down waiting for the good cards and shoving with 4/5/6/7BBs and doubling up to stay in the game.

After winning a couple more pots at this table I got moved again to my 3rd (and ultimately final) table with 54k. Losing one big race with AJ into shorties AK on a A rag flop – he limped called my raise then shoved the flop. I was down to 41k approx when I pick up my first AA. UGT+1 raised to 4,500 (blinds were 500/1000) I was in MP and re-raised to 13,500. As the rest of players folded back to UTG+1 he tanked for an age then shoved, he had me well covered but it was an insta-call for me. Tabling my aces, he showed KK, no king on board and I'm up to 83k!

The antes started to kick in, with the 1000/2000 level being repeated with 100 ante, putting pressure on a lot of small stacks to shove with marginal hands, calling a couple of players, I steadily built my stack up to 128k. I heard the announcement that the ‘tournament chipleader’ was sitting on 117k... eh?! Excuse me! I was just about to call the TD over to tell him, when I checked my big blind holding Jc10c; too many limpers in the pot to re-raise. Flop comes Qc9s3c - I bet out half the pot, it fold back to player on button (total novice player – calling all the way to river with any pair, draws and Aces) he flat calls. Turn is 7x I put out a huge pot bet and again he calls... 8c on river - I've got the flush as well as straight - I jam it to put him all in and he auto calls showing Kc4c for better flush... Urgh! Sick... I'm back down to 79k. Got paid off with another AA, and shoved into re-raise trying ti isolate the small stack holding QQ but both shortie min-raiser and the re-raiser folded. My stack went back up to 93k before we finished for the night at 1:15am. The average was 48k and there was 220 approx players remaining.

Willow from Voodoo was still in, sitting on 45k, we agreed to swap 5% of each other and went for ONE drink to relax before hitting the sack... One drink with Willow?! LOL! It was 4 brandies later before I escaped to my bed at 3am! Waking with a slight hangover in the morning, I went down for breakfast downed a gallon of water then over to the leisure centre for a swim/sauna session to clear my head before starting back at 2pm.

Heading in to play day 2 I noticed from the player list I was in 24th place with 92,000 (dealer error on sheet) - vowing to play tight; I made a colossal error in my first hand: spying 2 red aces, I made a standard raise UTG; UTG+1 min-re-raises - I re-potted to put him all in. He calls with JJ, as I turned over my hand to my horror I had Ah4d.... aaaaaaahhhhh! Mortification! Lost 35k in that pot - was so angry I went on min-tilt and donked away another 20k attempting raises with rubbish that I had to fold to re-raises. At the break I was down to 46k just under the average - I gave myself a mental ticking off and restarted with a better frame of mind. Was all-in or fold mode. Shoved about 6/7 times but no callers... made two bad laydowns – I genuinely could not decide if I did right thing or not.

Finding A8s in BB I was considering a shove if there were limpers or min-raisers, when UTG+1 shoved for 21k, I was on 50-odd approx and blinds were 2000/4000 with 200 antes, average stack had increased to 58k approx. CO flat calls leaving himself with 40k approx behind; this player had just moved to our table after the break and was a serial limper – I had very little reads on him. I tanked for ages before folding. Was disgusted to see UTG+1 table A5o and CO tables QhJh... and sicker was the flop: AA8xx. Meh!

I shoved next hand with QQ – no callers. Got the blinds, antes and one limper’s 4k to keep me going for another orbit. I had 55 UTG+2, was considering a raise/shove/fold when UTG+3 shoved all-in out of turn and the rest of the table started to insta-fold their cards. Dealer tried to stop them but saw Novice player then said ‘yeah call’ getting his chips ready. Dealer stopped him then brought the action back to me. I tanked for ages was about to have the clock put on me when I folded. Novice player calls with A7o, UTG+2 shows AQ... And you won’t believe what came on the board – not one 5 but TWO bloody 5’s(!) AQ wins with top kicker. Meh!

A few more uncalled shoves with QQ, AK, 66, and 10 10 (I showed them all... ) got my stack back up to 65k – but I wasn’t out of danger. The blinds were now a crippling 4000/8000/500 antes and the game was in crapshoot mode with the average stack only 100k. As I found A2s UTG+1, the Novice player to my right was now table chipleader on 200+ folded, rest of table had various amounts from 50-100k I didn’t feel good about the hand but I had enough to put a lot of pressure on other players to fold and steal the blinds and antes (17k total) that I desperately needed. I shoved...

SB woke up with JJ and snaps called leaving himself with 25/30k... Board read out 3...4...6... 10...K... and I'm gone by 5pm. Somewhere between 85-90th place... the board said 95, I thought I was 94th having just seen another player exit before me but there were good few players crashing out and they didn’t update the board properly. 10 minutes after I exited – the board read 80 players left... so I can only speculate it was in the region of 85-90. Not bad out of 706 players and for my first major tournament!

The game was a terrific experience – I was happy with how I played on day one, but day two was so-so: I let the small things bother me, made too many rash decisions and over played some hands; I could have waited another orbit or two for a better shoving spot, considering one of the short stacks on my table managed to get to the final two tables and cashed. But if’s and and’s and all that... I have to take responsibility for my play too.

I wasn’t due to go back on dealing duty until Sunday, after taking a small break I decided to play the €80+20 side event. Got off to a good start, but had a very good player on the table putting solid pressure on other players, finding AQs in button, he raise in MP to 5.5/6xBB I min-re-raised him only for him to tank then shove his stack in. I was stuck... kicking myself for re-raising - calling with AQ would have been fine but attempting a re-raise here is idiocy at its best, as his action was suggesting AA/KK/QQ – AK even... I folded face up. Talking to him the next day he admitted he had nothing, that I was miles ahead... LOL! Nice move mate, congrats on coming 4th in the end too. I went completely card dead after this; steals were few and far between, getting caught by the raising blinds (which was only 15 minutes not the 20mins I expected), constant shoving by other players and the unexpected antes that came in later. Finding my first ace in almost 4 orbits while UTG, ignoring the weak suited kicker, the binds were 600/1200/100 and I had only 7000 left. Needing that double up fast, I shoved to ensure I had my stack in first but ran into another player’s AJ – that’s all she wrote...

Giving up on poker for the night, I went for a walk about talking to various players still in the main event; Willow was still in - going strong winning all her races! I was full of hopes for the 5% cash as well! But it wasn’t to be... she crashed out in 30-something place. UL, WP girl!

The eventual main event winner – Elaine Kiernan from Laois, played a sterling game establishing herself as chipleader from 5/6 tables out, right up until the end. Watching her, I couldn’t help sensing the uncanny similarities between her game and Susie Woosie’s... Good luck to her in Las Vegas!

The off-duty staff started rounding up numbers for a side game, I was going to say no, but hey it was only €20 and the staff games are always fun. There were two tables going. We were so rowdy the TD’s still working in the main event and side events had to tell us to pipe down. Serious bickering started out on the other table over who was to be moved to our table when two unfortunates were quickly eliminated (including Neil Kelly aka ‘shoving fish’) leading to the pot being split between the tables into two sit-n-go’s. I ended up 3 handed with one of the floor staff – James- and Paddy Winston; we remained 3 handed for 2 hours! The craic was just brilliant; I thought it would never end! We finally agreed on a crazy deal - €70 each, €10 to the dealer who stayed with us and play on for the last €20. Finally James, who kept limping in with premium hands got sucked out by moi, I ended heads up with Paddy while the stacks went up and down before I knocked him out with pocket kings. Best game of the day IMO!

Loss making claw-back or underlay alert aside, you have to admit that the Poker in the Pub organisers are on to a very good thing here... These are players that NEVER get play the big events; these are tomorrow’s fish that we need to re-stock the dwindling traditional main events. They have done the industry a big favour. This was the ideal game to give them a taste of the ‘real thing’, to encourage them to try their game at a higher level. Several players even talked about ‘trying’ the upcoming Ladbrookes festival. The atmosphere in the place was electric, the event was well run and there was a general sense of fun, a total contrast to the air of seriousness that populated the last Ladbrookes Festival, in the same centre last November.

Great weekend of poker, if these players keep playing then the future of poker is very secure! Chcek the gallery here and see for yourself!

Whitewash!

I’ve not had time to post a few updates, there’s been too much happening in the last month, I’m amazed I managed to find time to play poker, never mind learn and play Mythical!

‘Mythical?!’I can hear your puzzled voices already before this post has been written! You can blame Trisha Stephens for this one...

We’ve all seen that group of 2-4 players playing with two decks of cards at the breaks and after a tournament in the Jackpot, Voodoo and other places. After throwing their money into a pot, the players are dealt 10 cards to make 2, 3 or 4 sets – a straight flush run, 3 or 4 of a kind, etc and complete it before the other players. It is similar to Kalooki, except you keep your sets in your hand and you can’t add to other sets. Mythical allows you to an imaginary ‘mythical’ card to complete the sets. The other players can then dump their sets, but are penalised with points for the game as well as any leftover cards in their hands. If the player makes his sets without the mythical card it is a ‘Bonus’ which means the game penalty point is doubled for that round. As each player hits the maximum penalty points, they are out, with the last man standing taking the pot. If the sole surviving player wins the game without getting one penalty points it’s a ‘whitewash’ which means the other players have to pay double the entry to the luckbox. After standing around watching others play Mythical for so long, I was dying to have a go but didn’t have the nerve to ask them to include me.

On the 5th January I played my first poker game of the year €20+5 Tuesday night game in the Voodoo but no joy. Trish who was out earlier along with Joe the Show and one other player had been playing Mythical in the corner. Joe went for food, and the other player went for a smoke, I sat down to chat with Trish, gave her the lowdown on my game. Asking how she was doing in Mythical, she moaned that Joe was cleaning them up... “Do you play Mythical?” She asked me. “No, never tried it. But I think I have an idea how it’s played...” I replied

“Wanna try play a game with me? No money, just have a go for 100 points?” Trish offered, I didn’t need to be told twice!

Trish won the practice game, only by a few points but it was a close one, she suggested playing another game for a fiver, yeah okay... when the other players came back 20 minutes later, I was already €5 richer, and agree to join the game for €10. Coming a close second to Joe the Show, I was down €5... Joe had us all agreeing to play another game, which I took down for €40, Trish took the 3rd game then I had another glory potting the 4th game for a sweet €60 (Joe the Show talked us into upping the buy-in to €15!) We played a final game, can’t remember who won it but heading home that night I was €50-60 richer and hooked!

I wasn’t as lucky the next night I played; I got hammered for €60 wiping out my new mini-mythical-bankroll! Meh! I think would have stopped there and then but the Voodoo decided to host a Mythical tournament the following week and it looked really good – for €30 I wanted to give it a go. Playing a few more games I managed to run up a small enough profit on the 3rd night, just enough to cover my buy-in for the Mythical Tournament at least!

Most players know that Mythical can be pure luck, while there is an element of skill in watching and determining what to keep, knowing what to throw away. It is still down to luck...

The Mythical Tournament started with 16 players; 4 players on each table, only 2 will get through to the next round, they will face 2 more players. Only the two players still in will reach the final 4. First round points was played to 100, in the second round we played to 150 with the final 4 playing to 200 points. I barely made it through the 1st round, I was 3rd in points and next to exit when I got a lovely bonus hand to eliminate the 2nd place player and advance myself and Eamon Connolly into the next round. In the second round I got several wins in a row to guarantee my place in the final round against Trish Stephens, Big John and another girl. I got an early Mythical within one orbit leading to a spectacular 70+ points for poor Trisha! As Trisha and the other girl later exited I went into heads up with Big John who is considered the ‘Granddaddy of Mythical’, I was on 80 points to his 176 and feeling very positive but it wasn’t to be. Big John won three grand slams in a row to elbow me out into 2nd place for €180. LOL!

But the most memorable game has to be last week – Tuesday 26th to be exact, playing the regular Tuesday game in the Voodoo. I played a €10 Mythical game with Joe the Show at the break and got my first Whitewash! LOLOLOL! Joe had been egging me on to play for more than €10, but I insisted €10 was enough... handing me the extra €10, ever the gracious loser, Joe rubbed it in: “And to think you could have gotten more off me had you agreed to play for €20! Ha!”

I played a few more mythical games but for every night I leave with a profit the next night I lose it all again! The Voodoo has agreed to make the Mythical tournament a regular monthly event, looking forward to the next one on 18th February...

Don’t worry folks, I haven’t given up on poker... while I’ve not won any games outright, apart from splitting a local €40 pub game heads up for €240 each, I’ve managed a few decent runner-up cashes. Overall, since the 4th January to date, I am up just over €400 (yes I’m keeping tabs!) after buy-ins, which is not a bad start to 2010 considering how busto I was at the end of 2009! I’m sticking to good bankroll management and staying with the low buy-in games up to €40 max until I put that figure over €1000.

But the icing on the cake has to be gaining my entry ticket to the Poker in the Pub grand final on 5th February. With a €65,000 guaranteed prize fund including a WSOP entry and trip to Vegas to play for – this is the biggest game I’ve ever played and as the entry was covered during 2009... I’m practically freerolling it!

I’ll be re-reading my Harrington books, especially End Game, checking out all the pro-articles online, to polish up my game. I'll be formatting a serious game plan in my head before I sit down to play on Friday night... Expect a detailed write up on the game in my next blog post.

Woo! Hoo! Bring it on!

Finally!

What do ya think of my new skin?!

Played omaha on iPoker tonight, I'm barely finding my feet on this so started with 1c/2c 6max game and pwned it big time! $5 into $14 in 1 hour then got up and left.

Back to work today, after the Christmas break (what break?! I need another holiday to recover!) got LOADS done... but still behind, meh! Two more days to deadline...

Will work on the blog list again soon

Please bear with me...

Reading through my past posts I've been feeling a bit sorry for this blog - I've really abandoned it of late. I've fallen into that trap when blogging about poker becomes 'a chore', or as the traffic increases or I'm playing with certain people - I'm getting wary of what I'm writing about. It never used to be that way... *sigh*

Some players take to it well, some don't. Others start fishing for information: "Who's xxx on yer blog? Ah c'mon, ya gotta tell me!"

Deciding to change my blog page design. I never really like it to be honest. Should have kept the 'Luscious Lips' design but the amount of ghey comments I got over it was just...grrrrrr! I went fishing for a new one, trying on several when I realised I had to be elsewhere and just left it. Today I said: 'Hey! It's a new year, fresh start, good excuse as any for a new skin...'

That was 5 hours ago... and I'm still NOT happy with this page!

There are LOADS of wonderful sassy poker blog-skin designs out there, but only for Wordpress or MySpace or Bebo(!) I've gone through many a poker blog, usually one get bored start clicking on your mates blog 'links' and just head off clicking, browsing, surfing... yes I've ended up going deep into blogs of total complete random strangers, non-poker blogs even. But not one on Worldpress... nor MySpace... or Bebo(!) Who the f@#k design these while leaving us poor Blogspots in the shade?!

Anyone know how to convert these into XML for Blogger? Please, please contact me! Anyway I'm currently experimenting with several skins so please excuse the various changes, mad colours/schemes/designs appearing here over the next few days...

I must apologise for the loss of my links too - especially if you are one of those total random strangers 'just passing through' shocked to discover an actual dead-end - I must stress this is a happy dead-end, just need to clarify that as the only other dead-end-blogs you find out there are those written by people 'contemplating suicide'. Seriously... I am not! No matter how bad my poker is - I do have better things in life that I excel at, well things I think I excel at!

In the meantime I'm seeing spots, swirls and sprinkles... I've tried pink, red and sabre-green... And it's 5 long hours and I'm still NOT happy... I'm all googled out now.


On a positive note - I've not played poker at all tonight... LOL! Good night!

2009 Review : My Annus Horribilis

2009 has been both my best and worse year poker-wise since I started playing poker...

I'm not going into detail of the games I played or a month by month analysis - basically in a nutshell: its been awful! I'm starting 2010 totally busto.

I lost far more than I have won, I even lost the wee bankroll I started this year on which had been accumulated over the previous 2 years. For the first time in almost 3 years of playing I finished a year 'deep in the minus' category. Despite cashing well in the final 6 weeks where I won an €1,475 approx in various live MTT's in Voodoo, local pub games and Fitzwilliam - but it still wasn't enough to get me out of the red...My saving grace as to be all the various dealing jobs that I have done in festivals around the country this year, without these I would have been in serious debt.

Looking at my first post of 2008, I had some resolutions:

1. Stay away from the cash tables till I get some coaching. LOL! I tried, lord I tried...
2. Play all the IDP events, the UK Deaf Poker Open and two of the Swedish Deaf Poker tournaments. Yes, Yes and No... :( The Swedish Events clashed with other commitments. I became Chairperson of IDP in a difficult year, as with the mainstream poker, we have seen a drop in numbers.
3. Play at least two of the big tournaments on the Irish Poker scene LOL! Had the IPO in mind but got asked to work at it (wasn't flush enough to buy-in either, aimed to get a ticket for 'Poker in The Pub' league game and failed by a measy 1 point(!)
4. To show an 100% increase on my current poker profit for 2009 LOL!
5. Improve my tournament game more This, I am proud to report, was my one success in 2009.

My learning curve rose very sharp in 2009. I getting better reads on players and making far more hero calls and re-raises than I used to... I'm bluffing more and getting away with it 90% of the time. I am making better use of position, pot-odds, M factors and percentages to determine if my hands are worth shoving for. And best of all: I no longer lose it when some ass slowplays me or calls my pre-flop raise with spanners and hits good... I just laugh!


For 2010... I've just three 'small' resolutions:

1 - End on a Profit... even a €100 will be an improvement on this year!
2 - Stay away from cash games... and stop playing prop bets in Mythical
3 - Keep that learning curve growing... Keep telling myself: Every fish will get her day!



Happy New Year everyone... see you at the tables!

Dreary November

November was a strange month... at first I announced I was taking a break but it barely last 3 weeks(!)

I had emptied all my online accounts in a fit of 'I'm serious about this break!' so no online games for me til I discovered I had a lot of FPP on Stars and used them to qualify for everything going: - Sunday Millions, Sunday 250k, Joe Cada 100k, I got a ticket into them all! But got nothing to show for my valiant efforts, not even a deep run... Meh!

I had a run in with a rude and gormless player. You know the type that shows their mates the cards and mucks them so no one else can see them, or the one that acts out of turn and tells you to "F.. OFF I can do what I bleedin loike!" when you try to mediate the game; or the one that throws his chip into the pot and takes his change back, often helping himself to another 100/500 and plays dumb when challenged on it; or the one that eggs players on to call "ah ye have to call now, you can't fold dere!" or criticises other players "How can you call with THAT? I don't care if you were in the bleedin' blinds FOLD THEM!" You get the picture...

I have zero tolerance for such behaviour which happens quite a LOT in pub games... usually I ignore it, unless my chips are in the pot of course! But this particular night I had just been knocked out (I had shoved for 9BBs with 66, one Fish was egged on by his Mouthy friend to call me leaving himself <2bbs, he tables K10s and hits a 10 on River) I was still sitting at the table as I was hemmed in (I didn't mind initially as I had just brought a drink...) when the action in the next hand lead our Fish to show his cards to Mouthy they guffawed about the hand and the dealer in me auto-said "Show one show all..." "Eh?! No I f..in' don't have to show! You are not in this game so don't be tellin me whata do! Cheek of ye!" I calmly pointed out it wasn't me but the other players who lose out on that information. "Its nowth to do with you! WE DO NOT HAVE TO SHOW!" Mouthy roared at me. I called TD over as once Mouthy gets started he gets worse and worse... TD confirmed that the I was correct if a player shows one player he must show the rest of the table. Mouth didn't like been shown up and went on roaring about me still at the table when I was out of the game - I pointed out that I was hemmed in to the wall and "waiting for someone to stand up and let me out!" As the TD asked me to leave the table the players got up and made room for me to leave with Mouthy still roaring away "Yeah, tell her to get the f... out and go home!" I left, didn't get to finish my drink(!) In fairness I was more annoyed about not finishing my drink than Mouthy roaring at me!

That's pub players for ya! LOL! I usually don't get involved with bad players like these, but being a dealer I usually spout rules on auto-pilot - gotta try to button it at times too...


I went back into Voodoo for the Wednesday night Ladbroke game last week and ran hot on the final table chipleader all the way to HU... then hit a wall! I went from having the chiplead 4-1 advantage to 1-2 underdog against Skinny John (Jackpot regular now living in the Voodoo); I had good hands but John kept hitting straights, flushes, two pairs and chipped away at my stack til he was ahead - then out of the blue John offered to split for €275 each(!) Oh yes please, thank you very much! I was so disappointed not to have the spot prize (poker chip set in wheelie case) to play for on this night, or to have Roy the Boy's scalp to steal either...

The following week I played the Wednesday game again and came 3rd, started final table 2nd in chips and won a few key pots playing a mixed loose-tight style. One well known bluffer (Daire) raised on button into my BB, I called with 82s, Board came 453 (two hearts), player bet out and I called, the turn (Q) went check-check, I bet out I hit my straight on river(6) and got called by AJ! The player kept going on and on and on about that hand all night. Between Daire and another player (Chipleader)I started getting dogged big time, I had to fold to 4bets and re-raises. When the game got down to 3 hand, I found A9s in SB, made the raise into the CL's BB. He flat called, flop came 773 (2 suits), summarising that he had shoved to my previous raises post-flop I opted to shove and he insta-called with A7o to put me out of the game, meh!


I got my Cochlear Implant switched on this week and the sound is just urgh!!! I have a constant buzz and I'm petrified crossing the road its like something big coming at you from all angles... I keep looking around me expecting to see a rugby scrum coming my way! Playing at the table is just overwhelming, as a result I'm off-form so please do call my raises(!)