The Banker

and the silence was astounding

2008-11-19T09:39:00.001-08:00

eh, so I havent blogged in ages. Been pretty busy with 'stuf' etc so in an attempt to fill the void i am going to throw something together about poker happenings recently, im gonna post an article that I have written for Flush mag, and I am also gonna link to another interesting article and other stuff.

Anyway - poker. In recent times I have not played too much live as Ive been banging out the hands online, a few bangs in the Fitz resulting in another final table in their monthly game but still lacking a win in it. I played the SE monthly game which got a very disappointing 17 runners. I played a few random cash sessions from 1/2 right up to the worst value ROE game in the Fitz that ran at 2/5/10 - it was probably the best lineup at a live cash game in a dublin casino for a long long time, Id safely say I was the value but was lucky enough to get out with a bit of profit.

Enough of the past, in the next few weeks we have festival games in the SE, Fitz, Cork, Monaghan, Wexford as well as a great looking event in DTD and also the GUKPT grand final if you are so inclined. There is also the ECOOP happening on ipoker with some sheksy events in it. Then after xmas there is the IPC in Galway and I want to try and make this. Im also going to play either the Fitz or Cork (which are both on the same weekend) and maybe if I run good there I might hit DTD as Donal is planning on going and we had good craic earlier in the year when we both went for the Norwegian Poker Championships.

In other news I am going to plug my employers (Paddy Power Poker) Sole Survivor promotion - basically for next years Irish Open, if you qualify online with PPP and are the highest placing PPP online qualifier then you win 100,000 euro! I may be involved but anybody who tells me that this isnt an amazing promotion needs to have their head examined and their perception of value and a good promotion realigned.

anyway - I was asked by flush Poker Magazine to write an artilce for publication so I decided I would do one on the transition from holdem to plo. I dont know much about either game but i ran a bluff and it got through!

the article is called Tight is Right

I’m not unlike many other poker players. I first found No Limit Holdem and later heard of this magical mystery game where you got 4 cards instead of 2 and figured it must therefore be twice as easy to win money at it. I loaded it up and splashed around, I built a good relationship with the bet pot button, ran good, won a few quid thought I was the second coming only to have my lack of understanding of the game land me back on terra firma with a bang.

I’m going to bet that the above sounds familiar to many inexperienced players like me. You have found yourself to be bored of 6 max NLH, the games have gone too tight, the fish are missing, it has turned into a war of 3 betting, 4 betting light and then 5 betting to balance your range or some other similar stuff that you read on the internet forums and it just isn’t fun anymore. So you have now found a new home amongst the many other burgeoning PLO enthusiasts.

What I will impart over the coming paragraphs isn’t going to turn you into a skilled PLO player, it might not even turn you into a winning PLO player but it might help you to lose less in the early days and it will hopefully accelerate your understanding of the basic concepts and plug the bad leaks that are common to many who attempt the transition from 6 max NLH to 6 max PLO.

Stats

It is often suggested that 6 Max NLH is somewhat of a robotic game. Qurom has been reached on a range of preferred optimal and complimenting poker tracker player stats, whether they be 24/17 or 32/22.

In so far as people suggest that Holdem is solved the complete opposite is true for PLO. 23/17 isn’t better than 44/33 and neither could be argued to be better than 70/25. Each player brings a different skill set to the table. One players post flop skills may be so far ahead of the opposition that he can profitably play 70% of his hands.

Noted high stakes player Ben Grundy is one such example. He is on record of having a VPIP of 80% and a PFR of 42% over a sample of 115,000 hands. Admittedly these stats are skewed by Bens preference for shorter handed games but I think you will never find a winning holdem player with similar stats over such a large sample.

Tight is right

Whatever your preferred style of playing holdem may be, it is best to forget it when you begin playing PLO. It is commonly suggested that on average you see more flops in PLO as your starting hands present many more opportunities. This is a trap, do not immediately fall in love with seeing lots and lots of flops as a beginning player a conservative approach may be most prudent.

As you begin the journey of learning PLO I would consider playing too loose to be a mistake. Playing too loose will usually manifest itself in making many post flop mistakes as you find yourself in situations which you are not prepared for. You will pick up many bad habits and correcting these bad habits is a far greater task than it is to start out with the policy that tight is right.

This is especially true when playing from the blinds, don’t be afraid to fold you small blind in a limped pot when your 4 cards resemble a bag of spanners rather than a hand you can play profitably out of position. Count how many times you check fold an unimproved hand from the SB or BB and by the time you get to ten you will realize how big of a leak in your game this can be. If you can be a break even player from the SB and BB then you are achieving far more than most will ever achieve in this game.

When I first started playing 6 max PLO my poker tracker stats were an amazingly tight 23/8. I personally found that there were many fundamental benefits to this. I concentrated primarily on starting hand selection and it gave me a great understanding and respect for the benefit of position and also for the power of the fold button. The corollary to my tight stats was that my post flop aggression factors ran at a very high level. As my starting hands were very strong, the expectation is that they will also play well post flop and that overall this strategy should lead you towards the door that says profit.

Open your eyes

For an inexperienced player like me, starting hand selection and appreciation of position were the building blocks upon which to develop my game. The complete all around players have many weapons in their artillery but they built them over time. As I became more comfortable with my game I began to concentrate on improving two other aspects of my play, firstly I began to play a wider range of hands in position and secondly I concentrated far more on my opponent than ever before.

The button is the most profitable position on the table in 6 max games. Not because the RNG skews the strength of hands you get dealt on the button but rather it is because you have the benefit of position over all of your opponents. Their action gives you information and you can use this to win more and more pots. The idea here is that you are representing strength and this must begin preflop so always make sure to enter the pot for a raise.

One habit which I urge people to get into is that of taking notes on your opponents. You need to learn other players tendencies and use that to your advantage. These don’t have to be extensive but every little helps. When I look at my player notes I see comments like, “always leads with a set”, “plays strong draws very aggressively”, “continuation bets with a massive frequency”, “will bluff river when he misses draws” and “calls light, value bet this guy a little thinner”, these notes are worth money to me over time.

If I know that a guy will call behind on two streets with a draw and then bluff the river when he misses then I need to be leading two streets with my top set or flopped straight and then I need to check the river as this is my only remaining opportunity to get value from my hand – after all it would be rude of me to deprive him of the opportunity to bluff me off the nuts.

These notes or awareness of my opponents tendencies also help me to play my hands optimally. It allows me to sometimes fire the 3rd barrel on the river when my opponents post flop play has lead to him pretty much turning his hand face up as a draw. It allows me to stuff the turn when I know a player will always check call my flop continuation bet with one pair on a dry board in the hope of the turn card improving his hand. All this information is profit over time.

Learn the odds

PLO is a game of percentages. The variance in the game is far higher than holdem and the edge that you have over your opponent is often times reduced. You will rarely be a dominating 4/1 favourite as in holdem with an over pair facing an under pair. With this in mind its worth spending some time familiarizing yourself with a PLO odds calculator. Are you aware of how strong a hand like a wrap and a flush draw is against top set, or are you aware of how strong a pair, flush draw and a gutshot is against a bare pair of Aces?

If you aren’t familiar with your postflop equity in spots like this then make it a priority to put at least 10 hands a day into an odds calculator, depending on how many tables you play at once you could leave the odds calculator open in the background and put in hands shortly after you play them. Knowledge is power so use it to your advantage.

Build on strong foundations

As with everything in life fundamentals are important. You can’t build a skyscraper on a sand doon, you have to ensure that the foundations are solid and this also holds true for all forms of poker. If you are starting the journey of learning 6 max PLO then concentrate on the foundations and hopefully from there you can build your very own skyscraper.

Continuing on the PLO theme here is a link to a really interesting article by High Stakes Pro, Brian Townsend - he discusses the non linearity of post flop hand ranges.

Something else which may be of interest is this thread on 2+2 where high stakes pro Ben 'MilkyBarKid' Grundy does an 'In the Well' thread

As ever we finish with a tune!! good performance from TV On The Radio on Later. I was soo tempted to put up a Seasick Steve tune but plumped for these guys instead. Also, I took in another Jack L gig recently - I cant tell you often enough - go see this guy live - he is different gravy!

You need to let me get behind your backbone

2008-08-25T16:35:00.001-07:00

Just shy of 3 weeks in South Africa, that’s 3 weeks without the laptop, 3 weeks without immediate access to the Sporting Emporium or the Fitzwilliam, 3 weeks without working in the Poker Industry, 3 weeks without multiple daily checks of poker forums. This is the closest thing I have experienced to normality for quite some time, and it felt pretty good.

So we touched down in Cape Town, and by we I mean Mike, Rob, Neassa, Colette and Siobhan. We kind of had a schedule set out for the trip and I can assure you that it didn’t include me getting locked in an Irish Pub on the first night and singing Fat Bottomed Girls on Karaoke.

Sobriety kicked in the following afternoon as we made our way to Table Mountain, its Cape Towns answer to the Devils Bit. This wasn’t Thurles though and a trip up to the top cost a handful of rand and access to the cable car. Upon arrival to the top we walked around a bit which was great, Cape Town looked the same from here as it did 20 yards over there but sure we will give it a lash anyway. We could see some bay from the other side of the mountain top which included a café/bar type place so you could relax and enjoy the scenery if you were so inclined.

After a short delay we finally got out of town the following afternoon when the Mercedes Vito we had ordered arrived in the guise of a Nissan Primastar! After much consultation and discussion we arrived at the car depot (initially it was delivered to our hotel) where they were insistent that they didn’t have a Vito and that we would have to make do with the Nissan. We relented, but just for the craic I took a picture of Mike beside the Mercedes Vito which was parked 20 yards from the front door of the office? Bizzare really!

After a false start with the satnav we finally made our way for the Stellenbosch wine district. This was a pretty cool area, rolling hills with vines as far as the eye could see. We hadn’t done a whole lot of research on which vineyard we should visit and after a short game of Russian roulette we arrived in the Morgenhof Estate, did a bit of testing, pretended to know far more about wine that we actually did, purchased some wine, checked out the cellars and made for our lodgings down the road.

Now this was class, little did we know that we had booked ourselves to stay in the Knorhoek vineyard for the night. Check out the view from my balcony the next morning. Dinner was offered and availed of. The rooms were pretty nice. We gorged ourselves on the recently purchased Morgenhof Merlot, Vintage Port and Sweet wine along with crackers, a selection of cheeses and some salami. Sure why not I suppose?

Next stop was Mossel Bay, not a lot to note here really. Messed around on a tennis court which was attached to our luxurious 5 star accommodation They forgot to deliver the chips that we ordered with our lunch in some café we stopped in. Hit on a pretty good restaurant that night called Jazzburys. You could also purchase a multifunctional rod here if you were in need of one.

Next was Plettenburg Bay. This I liked and we ended up staying 4 nights here despite originally having planned to stay only 2 although we were in danger of being shown the door when impromptu press ups took place by the side of the table we were eating our first lunch in much to the amusement of the staff, fellow diners and passers by. Siobhan wasn’t very good at pressups so she did a monkey impression instead. Plett seemed to be a self contained paradise. Some great places to eat and we found two of them in the shape of Miguels and Fu.shi. I was pretty impressed with Fu.shi and they served up some good cocktails to help us along our way.

4 of the gang with to the exclusion of Neassa and yours truly did a sky dive so everybody was on cloud nine afterwards. They have some pretty good memories from the DVD’s of the jump which were really well produced. Plett is known as being a whale haven, that’s not to say that it resembles Coppers on the Saturday night of a Mayo game in Croker, it is actually where lots of whales spend the winter. We hired some kayaks and made our way with our guide Giovanni to see the whales getting it on and doing there thing. 160 litres of sperm a shot apparently > be sure to swim with your mouth closed as they do it 20 times a day.

On the last evening we took it handy and made our way to a secluded part of the shoreline and sat drinking some beers, watching the sun set and generally just having a laugh before making out way to the local cinema to watch Wanted.. don’t bother imo. A nice pic here of the sky at sunset.

The next morning we were scheduled to make our way to our Safari/Game Reserve which was Kariega. It was a bit of a drive but we made it in time for lunch with the assistance of a tail wind. This place was pure class. We had our own villa with a pool, chef, host, waiter, game ranger, pool, bar – pretty much food and drink on demand. Having arrived on the first day and unloaded the van we sat by the pool downing beer whilst we waited to be summoned for lunch. Where did it all go wrong?

Our game ranger was Albert, a pretty relaxed dude from Zimbabwe who told us he was getting married the following week and he told us about the ritual or routine or whatever you call it. Basically, he pays the brides old man off to approve of the marriage. Traditionally he gifts him a couple of cows based on various things including how much she has cost him growing up, whether or not she went to university etc. Tradition is fucked though and money speaks all languages so keep your cows and il take the cash instead seems to be the order of the day. If they elope without payment of this dowry all future bad luck will be attributed to this non payment. Its probably best pay up and not be blamed for everything that happens. (ive not checked but I always thought that a dowry was given by the father of the bride to the groom – sure it is the southern hemisphere and they do everything backwards down there, the toilet even flushes the other way around)

The routine here went something like this.. Eat > Game Drive > Eat > Drink > Game Drive> Eat > Drink> Sleep > rinse and repeat. We spotted Lion, Rhino, Buffalo, Elephant, Zebra, Giraffe and many others including the Impala – who could forget those fuckers, there everywhere. The Warthogs appear to be right lads altogether, very shy. It was pretty funny when a Buffalo decided to take a closer look at our van and started sniffing the side, it was funny watching the girls scatter to the other side of the van with an impressive level of acceleration! Our host was a bit of a pain. Oh shame! A great experience overall.

Sad to be leaving our lodgings in Kariega we now made our way for Port Alfred which is home to the 43 flight school. Colette had a friend who was training to be a pilot here and it happened to be his last day of training and he took her and her sis (Siobhan) up in the sky for a flight around town.

That night in PA was one of our best of the trip. Having downed a nice steak we made our way to the upstairs bar where we met up with other Irish people who were training to be pilots over there and it turned into a right night. Fully loaded and ready for bed around 11.30 we did the sensible thing and beat a path to the local night club, The Snorting Grunter, hows about that for the name of a nightclub then? The taxi driver tried to warn us against going in! Sure were grand the lads are following down afterwards.

Well drunk and deprived of some of our senses 6 white people dancing to some RnB must have looked funny in a club full of black people but sure we will give it a lash. Eventually the others arrived and we took to downing Jaegerbombs, at a cost of about e1.70 per bomb it was effectively paying us to make a mess of ourselves by drinking these things. Ugh, Vodka and Red bull for an energy kick and Morgans Spiced and Coke when one felt like slipping into a reflective mood at the bar. But of course, where else would you be discussing life and all it contains?

The following day our guest house resembled a small hospital with one of us sicker than the next. A quick trip to KFC for some hangover food and a trip to the sand doons did nothing to restore any sense of normality in our aching systems. We did have a chance to go to the worst kip of a restaurant on the trip when we visited the highly recommended Boardwalk. The soup was fantastic but the rest was woeful.

The following day we drove back down the coast to Port Elizabeth, dumped the van and spun back to Cape Town via kulula airways. This time around I think we all found Cape Town to be a more pleasurable experience. We were staying down at the Q&A Waterfront which is the main touristy district with shops, cafes, restaurants, bars and the like. We struck gold when we found 221 Restaurant, previously known as Mortons on the Wharf this place was an absolute gem. I had been told about it by the taxi driver who dropped me to the airport the morning I departed Dublin. Apparently if you listen to enough shite from them you will eventually hear something that’s worth hearing and will benefit you.

The following day Colette, Siobhan and myself made took a day trip to the Cape of Good Hope. Some pretty cool scenery down here and we ate lunch in a restaurant that without doubt must offer the best table view of anywhere in the world. If somebody can tell me that they have had lunch with a better view than this I will be shocked.

The following day we took a trip of the Townships in the morning. They are mad, families living in a room the size of a modest bathroom in a house in the western world. We stopped into the local witch doctor and the local B&B – yeah a B&B in a township, ud want ur head examined but apparently it appears in the latest version of the Lonely Planet guide. Different strokes for different folks I suppose. We also drove by street vendors selling sheep heads and beef livers amongst other things. Overall it was pretty mad to have been through these neighborhoods, some bizarre sights.

In the afternoon we took a trip to Robben Island where Mandela and many other political prisoners were housed up for years, it was also a leper colony as well as a conventional prison. The tour guides on the island are former political prisoners so you are really getting a first hand account of the way it used to be. The tour guide told us of there affection towards the Irish as the medical staff who worked on the Island were largely Irish and compassionate towards the affected. This place is a few k from Cape Town and the view back to the mainland is a nice one.

That was about it, we relaxed for a day before making our way back to Ireland. Overall it was a great place to visit. Some things stick out from the trip. There is no unemployment benefit in SA. Kids up to 12 and pensioners over 65 get an allowance, other than that its sink or swim. Get a job, make your own industry such as being a market vendor or else turn to crime. This explains why the level of crime in SA is so high.

Those that bother over there seem to engineer some form of employment for themselves. Two funny things that happened on the trip occurred both times we stopped for diesel. When you pull in each pump is assigned an assistant who will fill the tank and proceed to wash the windscreen etc. At the first filling station we gave the girl a 20 rand tip which we discovered was large by local standards as apparently the norm is 1 or 2 rand. She started to smile and run around the forecourt telling everybody about the large tip she had received. As Mike remarked there was so much smiling taking place that all you could see was white teeth.

When we were dropping back the van to the airport we filled it again and having given your man all the change we could muster (13 rand) he was most thankful as he was making bowing gestures at the side of the car when Mike hopped out and asked him if he drank? Don’t we all? Mike opens the boot where we have 20 cans of Castle beer, he reaches in and pulls a 6 pack and hands it to him. He ran off with delight, think of how he felt when he was called back only to be given another 14 cans. White teeth all around again!

The food and cost of it was a generally high standard. Starter, Main, Desert, Coffee, Wine and maybe a cocktail or two with a beer or something would come to 300 rand each or c. 27 euro. If you ever happen to make your way to Cape Town then be sure to call at 221 and sample the Cognac Peppered Fillet Steak – it would give a dog a bone, top class!

Poker content – getting dogged since I came home, flopping sets is proving to be –EV, I Cant seem to get a hold.

A woman of middle age, licks and thumbs another page.

2008-07-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well its been a while. When I was in Vegas I did my blogging on www.paddypowerpoker.com/blog so some of you may have picked it up there. Vegas went fine, another winning trip for me with some good cash sessions and and a near miss in the only donkament I played where I came 7th of 142 in a Bellagio $1080 for $3,500.

The prize payout is so sick with $51k for first. With 12 players remaining I played a pot for 25% of the chips in play where my AJ got turned by A10 in a huge pot. That left me with a few blinds which I pushed my way into 7th with before my AQ fell foul of Eric Larcheveque’s KK. He went on to win and from 3 tables out he was my only worry. The value in these events is phenomenal with people playing so so bad. At one stage my table included Neil Channing and James Akenhead but that was as bad as it got as they were two of the toughest marks in an otherwise soft field.

Back from Vegas I played the Sporting Emporiums 400+40 game and I donked off a final table stack with 18 players left. I’ve given the SE some stick before but they now have a fine menu in there and the food for the tournament was savage.

Just this last week I went to London for the filming of the Poker Million in the Sky Sports studios. Was pretty cool to sit in the green room and watch two heats where you can see the hole cards and also listen to Jesse and Roy in the commentary box.

The morning heat had a cool lineup that included Soren Kongsgaard, Andrew Feldman (whom not a lot may know but believe me when I tell you that he is a really exceptional player), Ryan Fronda and a few others whom I didn’t know too well. This heat is going to make great TV with some really exciting play in it. Fronda eventually won having had all his money in 3 handed with J9 v Kongsgaard JJ and he dogged really well. The moral of this heat was that getting your money in ahead was a poor strategy.

The afternoon included Paddy Power Pokers very own Ciaran ‘Big C’ O’Leary who was trying his luck against Jeff Kimber, Jennifer Tilly, Richard ‘Chufty’ Ashby, Marios Hogten and Paddy O’Connor. Ciaran came out on top when defeating the very imp-ressive Marios Hogten in heads up battle having came from behind against Chufty in a significant pot when 4 handed which sent Chufty to the rail.

Other news on the Poke Million front is that Liam Flood has also won his heat and makes yet another appearance in the Semi finals. Liam was desperately unlucky in the final last year when Joe Beevers 2 outered him, if there is justice he will at least secure his place in the final this year again.

Afterwards we had some good craic which started when Mad Marty Wilson who was acting as the TD ushered us all to the front of the studios and told us that he had a bus coming to collect us to take us back into London city centre. We were delighted when the bus arrived and Marty asked opened the front door and enquired if the Bus drivers name was Victor? Were on a winner lads, jump in and off we go. 16 of us jump in, the bus turns and makes its way for the exit with Marty in the front having a right old time with Victor.

After a couple of minutes it transpires that somebody else had a bus booked that evening also, and guess what, their bus drivers name was Victor also. What are the chances? Two busses, picking up from the same point and both busdrivers have the same name, and best of all, we were on the wrong bus. At the top of the road we meet our intended bus going the other way so we double back amid great laughter and finally proceed to the Hilton Paddington hotel.

Upon arrival we proceed to the top floor restauraunt where we were treated to a lovely meal by the competition hosts Ladbrokes. For the meal I had the pleasure of sitting next to Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak. I have to say, she gets plenty of stick from different quarters but she is a most pleasant person and is really really grounded. We have good craic over dinner with Jesse May and Big C in flying form also.

Somehow TJ Cloutier gets mentioned in conversation and with that I mention the now infamous TJ Cookier thread when Phil burst out in laughter and exclaims it is one of the best threads he has ever seen on 2+2, he proceeds to reel off his other favourite thread and proclaims the awesomeness of the 2+2 photoshop threads even chuckling at some of the creations he had been part of.

He then went on to tell us of the WSOP main event disguise and that how ESPN copped after maybe 30 minutes or so that it was him. He said how people commented on if he had won millions in some tournament of if he had previously robbed a bank or something. Then he tells of some bird who arrives who believes that the cameras are there for her as she is an aspiring poker player who is trying to make a big name for herself. Phil stayed quiet and had an inner chuckle at the speculation as to why the cameras were so busy around his table.

A good trip to London all around and Im looking forward to going back for the Semi Finals and hopefully Final in December.

Im all right jack keep your hands off of my stack

2008-06-10T07:11:00.001-07:00

The sickest of them all, no, I'm not talking about jbravado here for he is now a reformed man, im talking about Archie Karas. I first heard of Archie when one of my work colleagues sent me a link to a Tom Sexton article in Pokernews. It was ill, what I didnt realise until yesterday evening was that the article in question was only Part 1 of a 10 part series.

As a taster here is a quick interview with Archie from Vegas just a few days ago.

And here are the series of 10 articles about him, if you have a spare 30 mins than I would think that you could do worse than read them

Part 1 - Archie Karas, the worlds biggest gambler

Part 2 - The story of shooting Pool

Part 3 - Poker Stories

Part 4 - More Poker

Part 5 - Transporting Millions

Part 6 - Shooting Dice

Part 7 - The Downside

Part 8 - Mini Streaks

Part 9 - According to Jack

Part 10 - The Comeback

The more I know - the less I understand

2008-06-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

So im off to Vegas on June 25th for 13 nights, pretty nice and im looking forward to it. Playing a bit live lately and ive had 5/5 winning nights of varying proportions.

Anyway I just read the below post on 2+2, im not sure if this guy wrote it himself or scalped it from elsewhere. One way or another its a pretty good read so I decided to throw it up here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's your problem. You don't have the fortitude, nor bankroll, nor temperment, to be a casino. A casino is a big ol' building, where people's dreams might possibly come true. Especially if you own the building.

Casinos get rich, expand a whole city, and get richer, by offering bets where the casino has a two or three percent advantage. But the bets have to be offered, have to be wagered, a million times. Roulette, for instance: red or black, odd or even, high or low, the house has a 5.25% advantage on all but one bet on the layout.

Will the customer occasionally have a streak? Of course. A full third of the customers that evening will actually have a winning night. The casino doesn't care. You, of course, would be willing to walk in front of a truck. Will one drunken guy actually make several thousand dollars, having started with twenty bucks? Of course. The casino doesn't care. You, by the way, will not even walk out looking for the truck, you will put a bullet in your brain, right there at the table. The casino is right, and you are not right. "correct mathmatically" might be a better term than "right".

You think, apparently, that when you have a winning hand, and the 'customer' is drawing to a flush on the river, You've Got Him Nailed. You don't. You have only created a situation where you have four times the advantage that a casino has. You have a situation where it's 80-20 that you're going to win.

Now I want you to work really, really hard on this, because you haven't yet. If it's 80-20 for you, how many times out of a hundred can we predict that the 'customer' will hit his flush? The answer is twenty times out of a hundred. ('Grab that man. Don't let him dash toward the highway'.)

Can the 'customer' have a streak of winners? You bet he can. ('Grab that revolver'). He might hit several in a row.

Why do you care? (Because you're an idiot). No, it's because you haven't given it the appropriate amount of thought, and because you're not bankrolled well, and because you care about the outcome, and you should not care.

You should have enough in your bankroll that you can offer the 'customer' his flush draw about a hundred times a day. You want him (assuming he's dumb enough: but you're right, there are millions of 'em) to call your bet, and shoot for his flush draw. 80-20 in your favor, if he's betting on the river, 60-40 in your favor if he's betting on the turn (and, you get to charge him MORE for the river, if he's not all in).

If he wins his bet, and you're smart enough to be a casino, you should comp him: buy him a few drinks, compliment that ugly date he brought with him, buy him dinner if you have to, but keep him right there, making his bet over, and over, again.

But not you: you are involved. You are worried. You are so upset that he won one, or ten, of those bets. But the fact is, if that happens a thousand times (that bet where you are 80-20), you will be a rich man. You should be grateful, when you have put the 'customer' in a postion where you offer an 80-20 proposition, and he takes you up on it.

Here's what you should do: change your attitude. Play standard poker. Lose your emotion. You don't care about this bet, or the next one. You just want the guy to keep playing, if he's going to keep playing at the odds you're offering. Charge him for his longshot bet. He'll pay? He'll go for it? OUTSTANDING.......

Grind it out. (They call it that, for a reason). Lose your personal involvement with one hand, or one session. If you're playing right, the money, in smaller amounts, will roll in. (Not in larger amounts: you're not entitled to larger amounts. When your opponent bets his flush draw and loses, you didn't win the whole amount. You won the whole amount LESS the fact that one out of five times you're going to lose, and thus give some back. But believe me, there will be plenty left over.)

Quit caring about your results. Play standard poker. If you're doing it right, the money will roll in.

Play standard poker. If you're doing it right, you're offering the customer bets where your advantage is four times that which built Las Vegas. Do it all day long. All week long. All year long. Grind it out.

Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives

2008-05-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

bleh, ok as I stated in my well id love to play in one of those 6 handed shoot out games on TV, something like the poker million or the party poker open etc. Anyway, i cant play in these unless I actually try to qualify so I gave my first shot at the Ladbrokes Poker Million yesterday evening in the $1500 + $100 weekly grand final. I through $300 onto Laddies yesterday afternoon and spun it into $1,200 playing PLO. So the game is starting in 30mins so i lodge the balance of $400 and play away.

21 players start and there is a package for first while 2nd, 3rd and 4th get $5,500, $3,600 and $2,100 respectively. Needless to say I finish 5th when my AA was no match for QJ on a J72 board with all the money going in on the flop. Pretty disappointed to go out on the bubble and if I win that hand I have real shot at a ticket.

The good news was that the ticket was won by Eoin O'Dea, it would make for an interesting heat if he gets drawn against his old man in the heats.... Other good news was that Chub finished 6th in the ECOOP event for a $20k score - very sweet weekend indded for him.

In other news the Irish Open 2008 has started to be put up on you tube, obviously 6:20 into the below clip is the highlight of the whole show.

This is a pretty classic song from a band i've highlighted here before

If only i had thought of the right words

2008-05-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

but hey, a picture paints a thousand words so here are some random shots from the IO.

Heads Up Neil Channing and Donal Norton

Doyle Brunson

Isaac 'WestmenloAA' Baron

Mike 'Timex' McDonald

Sorel 'Imper1um' Mizzi

mega mega white thing

2008-05-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

just a quick post, I played FTOPS event 22 last night on Full Tilt. It was the PLO 100r, I was in for 209 total and managed to finish a pretty respectable 27th from 940 or so startes for a return of 1500 or so.

Was pretty happy to have done so well and I had a few moments like this along the way...

Full Tilt Poker Game #6457824907: FTOPS Event #22 (44841290), Table 4 - 1500/3000 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 21:06:57 ET - 2008/05/17
Seat 1: adiprene (38,570)
Seat 2: gamble24x7 (34,432)
Seat 4: hairinsoup2 (38,292)
Seat 5: magmacgamble (19,789)
Seat 6: pairdboard21 (65,644)
Seat 7: tlyzack (124,869)
Seat 8: Willis Fillers (61,760)
Seat 9: BigNittyBanker (24,850)
hairinsoup2 posts the small blind of 1,500
magmacgamble posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BigNittyBanker [8c 9c Qs Ts]
pairdboard21 folds
tlyzack folds
Willis Fillers raises to 9,000
BigNittyBanker raises to 24,850, and is all in
adiprene raises to 38,570, and is all in
gamble24x7 has 15 seconds left to act
gamble24x7 folds
hairinsoup2 folds
magmacgamble folds
Willis Fillers folds
adiprene shows [Ad 5d As Tc]
BigNittyBanker shows [8c 9c Qs Ts]
Uncalled bet of 13,720 returned to adiprene
*** FLOP *** [4h Th Td]
*** TURN *** [4h Th Td] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [4h Th Td 8d] [Jc]
adiprene shows three of a kind, Tens
BigNittyBanker shows a full house, Tens full of Eights
BigNittyBanker wins the pot (63,200) with a full house, Tens full of Eights
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 63,200 | Rake 0
Board: [4h Th Td 8d Jc]
Seat 1: adiprene showed [Ad 5d As Tc] and lost with three of a kind, Tens
Seat 2: gamble24x7 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: hairinsoup2 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: magmacgamble (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: pairdboard21 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: tlyzack didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Willis Fillers folded before the Flop
Seat 9: BigNittyBanker showed [8c 9c Qs Ts] and won (63,200) with a full house, Tens full of Eights

then this hit me hard... I reckon if I win this Im getting some good momentum at the right time

Full Tilt Poker Game #6458036709: FTOPS Event #22 (44841290), Table 4 - 2500/5000 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 21:24:05 ET - 2008/05/17
Seat 1: fangeltosse (32,688)
Seat 3: Rollover2k (125,441)
Seat 4: hairinsoup2 (36,792)
Seat 5: playa_n_pimp (105,638)
Seat 6: pairdboard21 (61,233)
Seat 7: tlyzack (145,775)
Seat 8: Willis Fillers (17,980)
Seat 9: BigNittyBanker (86,632)
Rollover2k posts the small blind of 2,500
hairinsoup2 posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BigNittyBanker [5c As 5h Ad]
playa_n_pimp folds
pairdboard21 folds
tlyzack has 15 seconds left to act
tlyzack calls 5,000
Willis Fillers has 15 seconds left to act
Willis Fillers has requested TIME
Willis Fillers calls 5,000
BigNittyBanker raises to 27,500
fangeltosse folds
Rollover2k folds
hairinsoup2 folds
tlyzack calls 22,500
Willis Fillers calls 12,980, and is all in
*** FLOP *** [7d Ah 4h]
tlyzack has 15 seconds left to act
tlyzack checks
BigNittyBanker bets 59,132, and is all in
Berry Johnston sits down
Berry Johnston adds 120,954
tlyzack folds
BigNittyBanker shows [5c As 5h Ad]
Willis Fillers shows [8d 5d 2s 8s]
Uncalled bet of 59,132 returned to BigNittyBanker
*** TURN *** [7d Ah 4h] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [7d Ah 4h Th] [6c]
BigNittyBanker wins the side pot (19,040)
BigNittyBanker shows three of a kind, Aces
Willis Fillers shows a straight, Eight high
Willis Fillers wins the main pot (61,440) with a straight, Eight high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 80,480 Main pot 61,440. Side pot 19,040. | Rake 0
Board: [7d Ah 4h Th 6c]
Seat 1: fangeltosse (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Rollover2k (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: hairinsoup2 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: playa_n_pimp didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: pairdboard21 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: tlyzack folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Willis Fillers showed [8d 5d 2s 8s] and won (61,440) with a straight, Eight high
Seat 9: BigNittyBanker showed [5c As 5h Ad] and won (19,040) with three of a kind, Aces

When we got down to the last 40 or so players there were some pretty well known names left inc Genius28, Froodoo, Nenad Medic (who eventually knocked me out) and Berry Johnston. Earlier in the tourney I had BoostedJ and Thomas Wahlroos on my table for quite some time also.

Enjoyable game overall and one im pretty happy with considering my lack of experience playing both PLO and PLO donkaments.

We can't evolve alone without you

2008-05-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

Bit of a random post and keeping in line with my heretofore trustworthy system of lyrics and video im putting in my obligatory video

Now for the purpose of the post... check out this for a mad video..

You know your walking real slow, smiling at everyone

2008-05-10T06:03:00.000-07:00

Its been some time since Ive done a blog update so I have a few hours to burn in Madrid before I hit for the Airport so I said id put a little somthing together.

My poker lately has consisted of some live cash sessions in the Sporting Emporium. I set a challenge to win 5k in 9 days or something and was up to 3,100 when I had a pretty sick night which involved the following hands.

On a board of QXX with two clubs I get it all in for a 1600 pot v John S where he held the NFD, he hits the turn to scoop.

Then later in the game I play a pretty sick hand against Jay. The game is playing 1/2/5 live and Im on the button and its decided to allow a 10 misisippi straddle which I choose to put on. Cormac completes 10 from the straddle and Jay makes it 60 to go in LP. I call OTB with KQo and we see a flop of K72 with two clubs. Its checked to me and I bet and then Jay C/R me so I start to think about. Obv he has raised pre so he has some sort of a hand. As we are playing quite deep I reckon Jay never has AA, AK or KK here as he would lead at the pot to protect it, also he would never raise 77 or 22 like this pre. Couple this with Jays love of bluff check raising and I figured I was ahead. I also figured Jay wasnt turning 10 10 or similar into a stone cold bluff and he was at least pulling the move with some equity. So at worse he has a flush draw and I feel AQo,AJo ect are large parts of his range. I call knowing that he is going to follow through and shove every turn so im fuking for no club or A. BAM the turn is an offsuit Q giving me top two and after a short dwell Jay shoves for like 800 more and I jam my chips into the middle a la Phil Hellmuth. The dealer proceeds to put the sickest A on the river and before Jay even turns his cards I know he has got there, sure enough he tables AQ and scoops the 2300 pot.

So i slide home and return on the Friday night and proceed to tilt off 1000, before I know it im only winning 600 or so in the poeriod of time and im pretty disgusted with myself. I go in on Saturday night to play the 100 fo and finish 2nd after playing well so at least it finished it off ok even if i didnt scoop the 5k as planned.

Last weekend myself and Donal Norton went to Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham for the Norwegian Poker Championships, a 500stg event with 514 runners. Both of us made day 2 with healthy stacks. I finally busted in 71st after a sick 2 days of cards. I never had AA, KK, AK or flopped a set and built my stack from restealing and playing pretty well in general in any pot I played. My exit hand was when I shoved on a button open from the BB and he happened to have KK. gg... Donal busted in about 100th or so.

Dusk Till Dawn is a serious place and I recommend that people try and get across for their 321 weekends. Fly into East Midlans with Ryanair and its only 15 mins down the road to DTD. Highly recommended.

I hop into the cash tables and play 5/5 omaha, i do my tank in my second hand when i get AA62ds in pre against an action loving scandi with AJJ10ds but he only has one live suit. I proceed to hit my set but he backdoors a flush, nh, gg, wp, fu! I reload and pot away and move to a 2/2 ROE as the game im in has gone dead and 4 handed. I proceed to do my loot again when I flop a pair, oesd and FD against some beautiful norwegian birds bottom pair, low wrap which is pretty much in bits. I put the hand into an odds calc and I was 75% when the loot went in, needless to say she rivered trips to dog me. Good thing she was beautiful looking or id have been upset.

I fly back to Dublin and play JP's 300 side event, 120 runners or so and I bust in 16th or so in the last hand of the day when I shove over an OR with damn all and im cooked drawing to 3 outs when called. The tale of AA continued as the one time I got it i lost to QQ qith 36 players or so left. If I won that pot I had 10% of the chips in play, instead im back to turbo bullyiong with my short stack.

On the monday I proceed to get 2 penalty points en route from Dundrum shopping centre to the Red Cow and arrive a little tilty when the 250 Omaha tourney has just started, I hop in, 32 runners and after myself KP and Mark Reily chip it 3 ways and play for the trophy I proceed to lose HU to MArk after I bust KP in 3rd. Really enjoyable game and WP to JP and co who run an excellent show.

Right now I am doing an In The Well thread on boards.ie which is interesting. I started the thread trying to get KP down there and next thing I know im doing it myself. lol!

He sings the songs that remind him of the good times

2008-03-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

Quick Spin of Fridays Action.

David Nicholson Mares Hurdle – Chomba Womba is my NAP of the week. The dangers are obvious.

Ballymore Properties Novice Hurdle – Fiveforthree or Venalmar, take your pick. I oppose Aigle D’Or readily.

Coral Cup – meh

Triumph Hurdle – Franchoek will be difficult to beat, theres not a lot in his price though.

Bartlett Novices Hurdle – take your pick, maybe Liskennett EW at a big price

Gold Cup – I think Kauto Star is best of the principals but don’t rule out that both of them may get chinned.

Hunters Chase – Agus A Vic will take the beating. Drombeag (yeah baby) and Lord Or Illusion to be in the mix also.

Grand Annual – meh, Enlightenment, My Petra,

County Hurdle – hmm, stick a pin in it.

G’luk – too tired to do a full preview..

Don't try to understand'em, Just rope and throw and brand'em

2008-03-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

When I look at the card for the first days action at Cheltenham I quickly discover why my enthusiasm for the festival this year has been somewhat subdued. Overall the novice division lacks the sparkle of previous years and as this is the division which captures my interest more than most then its unsurprising that as I approach this years festival I am already looking forward to the concluding races, not because I will be sorry to see the back of it! No, its because the penultimate race carries my nap of the meeting.

Anyway back to Day 1 action.

Supreme Novice Hurdle - This race appears devoid of the screaming red hot favourite/hype horse that we are used to. Starting with the principals I strike a line through Captain Cee Bee – there are better ways to burn money rather than putting it on this chap and I make him my first lay of the week in both the win and place markets.

I find it very hard to make a case for punting anything strongly in this race. My idea of a bet in this race is Cork All Star, I think he represents good value at 9/1 mark. However it is important that we don’t get a deluge of rain. The horse loves the course, his jumping is sketchy but I think it will improve considerably for better ground. He has already shown his liking for this course and while his form this season looks poor it is better that it appears at first glance.

He won convincingly on his debut, was then in the course of beating the highly thought of Muirhead nto until squatting at the last, he then ran what appeared to be average enough the next two times but I remain convinced that the better ground and course will bring out the best in him and at 9/1 il take my chance for small money.

As an alternative I would think that those looking for a 40/1 outsider could plump on Tranquil Sea, goodish ground and likely strong gallop on this course will bring out the best of him.

Arkle - The race appears to revolve around Noland who was victorious 2 seasons ago in the Supreme Novice Hurdle, he then missed a season through injury but has been back this year with two victories over fences and he approaches this race as the punters favourite.

For me this horse is a poor favorite. I think he is more likely to wind up on the deck than in the winners enclosure. Thus far his jumping has been sketchy in small fields so with the pace of the race I suspect he will be swept off his feet here. The problem with opposing him here though is that the opposition don’t look too hot and the next best in the market, Tidal Bay, is stepping down in trip and is coming from a stable which is currently in the doldrums.

All this said I expect the British public to latch onto Noland and I will again be on the lay side in both win and place markets. At 3.0 and 1.60 ish. Overall I just think he is far too short for what he has achieved and is a value lay.

Looking for one to oppose him with is difficult though. I don’t like backing horses who have fallen as a novice when it comes to the Arkle but it didn’t stop Moscow Flyer and I don’t expect that it will stop Clopf either. This was a really classy young horse who has had a choppy career to date. I think he is standout value at 10/1 in this race and it would be wrong to rule him out on the basis of his fall lto as prior to falling he had jumped very well. EW for the loot!!

Champion Hurdle - hmm, ok, I cant tell you how annoyed I was that Straw Bear got chinned lto as he was gonna be my biggest place lay of the week but the value is gone from it now as he is trading at pretty much his real price. I don’t really want to dwell on the race too much but Osanna mugged them at the start lto in a race where Sublimity was reported to be all wrong beforehand. Sizing Europe pissed in lto against horses who don’t cut it at the minimum and before that got 6lb from Osana and gave him a beating. He also doesn’t jump with the fluency that you expect from a champion hurdler.

Harchibald appears to be in fine form again but will likely cave in on the run in. Id love it if he won but I don’t think it can happen. To cut a long story short I would be happy to oppose Sizing Europe and Osanna. Id like to play on Sublimity at the given prices, Harchibald is an in running play for traders, for one of the better priced horses id give Katchit a squeak. I know he has the wrong age profile but damn it he loves the course and is very decent. Il not be losing the run of myself either way in this race as I expect a half dozen to be in contention coming down the hill and turning for home.

William Hill Handicap Chase – no real interest in this race, I’m not overly keen to back him as he has often looked to be soft as shit but Abragante is chucked into this race and represents lots of value at 12/1.

Cross Country Chase – described as the race where they go around and around in the middle until the jolly is in front and then they run up the home straight to the finish line and I think this year will be no different. Wonderkid looks like it has the race in the bag and should be more than capable of overcoming the handicap that is Ken Whelan on his back.

An outsider to consider in this race is A New Story, his style of racing will suit this race and if he is even half competent over the more unusual obstacles then he could well be rattling up the hill at the business end.

Fred Winter Hurdle – I don’t do these races but it looks between Ashkazar and River Liane. I don’t have 10/1 about either of them so I am happy to sit the race out but good luck if you want to play in this race.

I picked this tune as its what I will probably have if this week goes bad..

Two kids, a dog, and a cautionary wife.

2008-03-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

Ugh its been a long time since ive updated this. Ive been busy doing ‘stuff’ of late so im gonna give it a quick burst.

Walsall.

5/5 PLO game – utter sickness, despite doing my bollocks im pretty sure the cash games were golden over there. In short, my wraps missed, and my opponents wraps hit.

Ac8c8x5x and I flop top set and NFD against a made straight, obv get it all in on flop and fade in a pretty big pot.

KdJh10d9h – flop Kh4d3d, I check flop from 1st position and it gets checked behind. Turn is the Qh giving me the complete wrap and two flush draws. I get it all in on the turn against the bare top two pair no blockers and I miss 25? outs I think. I rem putting the hand into an odds calculator at the time and I was 65%/60% flop and turn I think.

Then I have 5678 one suit and get it all in on a flop of 478r – made nuts and top two. Mad Turk pots for 180 with the overwrap blockers/Gutshot of 9910X, I ship and Ewan Jones comes ott again on the button with 910JX. Im 55% against Ewan assuming he is all live but with 3 of his outs in Turks hand im bigger still. He hits on the turn and the river doesn’t pare my redraw.

I play the main event and go out with AQ v KK early doors when I don’t give Mick McCool credit for a hand. DOH.

Dublin.

Fitz EOM. Im playing 8500 at 200/400. I open to 1200 with 66 and Adam Fallon makes it 3500, my stack size is 1k light for this to be bombproof but I instaship when it gets back to me cos I felt the tempo of the game was gonna lead to Adam 3betting me with a very wide range the next time I opened. He dwelt and called with KJ and hit his K. As I said my stack was 1k light for him to fold easily. Having said that I think he paid poor attn to his raise and my stack when he made it 3500. Thoughts?

SE 200 – I turn a set of 6’s and push into the nuts, good night.

SE 50 – felt I played poorly this last week so went in for some corrective therapy. 43 starters and I bubbled in 7th. A plethora of limpers and I push from BB with 7h3h, Paddy O’Neill had limped AQ on the button and called.

Cash games, some good nights mixed with some bad nights. Pushed AK into KK in the 5/10 last week and dropped 1k, won shy of 1k in the same game the previous week. And had flip flopping back to back Omaha sessions also. Dropped some on Saturday night also but won a little on the Tuesday night of the SE sat.

Online

Been playing a little Omaha on Stars and Party later – tis going pretty well but I am finding that I play best in short sessions.

Im pretty busy in the coming weeks in the run up to the Irish Open so there wont be any poker updates until after then at which point it will be the Irish Open from the other side!! I will put up something daily during Cheltenahm with my thoughts.

Control yourself, take only what you need from him

2008-02-05T04:36:00.000-08:00

So ive been meaning to write one for the last week but its only now I find myself getting around to it. As ever there has been a good bit going on in the last while. Plenty of cash action and a couple of donkaments thrown in for good measure.

The story on the cash front involves some good sessions in the 1/2/5 nl in the Emporium, an ok session in the Fitz 2/5 nl in which I did well to get out of a hole I which I was unfortunate to find myself in early doors. For the purists out there I should point out I got out of the hole by limp raising AA from EP – I didn’t get doubled up, no I got a beautiful treble up. Of course its retarded to limp with AA, or so people say but in the live cash games in Dublin I am adamant that the play is fine so long as you do it very very infrequently. Anyway enough of that.

I played like a donk one night in the 1/2/5 in the SE, I got out losing 45euro and it felt like id booked a massive win. One interesting hand from the night is where it was button on blind, I was btn with 10 10 – the hand is discussed more here.

I played a bit of Omaha in the Fitz and missed more wraps than statistically possible (well maybe not but when you get braodway wrap and nfd and fade all it feels like your missing them all).

The GJP Deepstack festival is currently on and I stupidly played the 500+50 shorthanded event. I am not able to apply myself to tourneys – I need to give them up. Anyway ive been skipping along the early part of this entry it is because im going to expand on some of the cash action from Drogheda.

1/2/5 PLO and I get in for 500 and im up to 1500 within 90 mins – I have literally bet every scare card that fell in that period and got away with murder as Michael Muldoon is the only player at the table who ive played with. He finally calls me with a bad two pair on a highly coordinated board and my cover is blown. Owen Mullan was walking past the table calling me a rock and when Michael made that call I was fcked. I couldn’t get a bet through if my life depended on it. The game was breaking so I switched to a 1/2/5 NL and this is where the real fun begins.

The table consists of Eoin Olin and Ciaran Burke who ive played with plenty, it also consisted of 3 hicks from Fermanagh or somewhere. The 3 boys were getting drunk and when one of them slowrolls a woman at the table my blood boils so I buy in for another moneky as I now want to bust the fucker and slow roll him in the process. Im pretty card dead when I 3bet AJ from the SB and the fermanagh hick passes AQ from the straddle.

The banter is mighty as the lads are probably the best players in Ireland and an orbit or so later I complete from the BB after 2 limpers with 10 8. The straddle moves all in for 246 and talks about how he needs to get it in pre. I want to bust his ass so badly I call his push with 10 8. The board comes KQ7QK, he turns over 72o and my 10 high scoops the loot. At this point ive to leave the table as im bent over with laughter.

‘Theres no need for that heye, no need to be making a fool of him with 10 8’ – im now public enemy number one. When another one of the hicks moves to my immediate left to replace the earlier casualty he becomes one of the most obnoxious pricks ive ever heard. He is lorrying abuse at the woman who was earlier busted and slowrolled by hick eile or Geordie as we were learning his name to be. He finally leaves the table and when he does return later we play some pots of interest.

1/2/5 and after a limper he makes it 25, he gets called in 2 spots and I make it 125 from the button with AK, he finally pushes fro 330 total or so and I turn the A to bust his QQ. Of course he is bemused as to how I could call his 330 with AK, well if he was bemused with how I could call with AK he was certainly gonna be in for a treat later in the night.

He moves away and comes back again, and has got about 650 of a stack in front of him when this hand comes up..

Geordie limps for 5, Hick limps for 5, Stranger limps for 5, I make it 35 to go on the button with KJo, at this point the floor manager comes over to tell us that we have 3 hands left after this one.

Geordie call 35, Hick calls 35, Stranger goes all in for 64, I call, Geordie call and Hick tries to go all in (that’s what good players do).

Anway 4 of us to a flop of Ah Jh Xx, so ive flopped 2nd pair, hmmm.

Geordie checks, Hick bets 140, and the action in on me, Im about to fold when I get thinking and shoot him a glance and he appears ever so slightly uneasy. Time to sweat him!!

I go into the tank for ages, I never lift my head from the felt in front of me as I run the hand through my head. He passed up 2 opportunites to raise a good A, he was more adept at calling rather than betting or raising, particularly post flop. Why oh why would he bet this board into me as the PFR. Im still thinking, nothing would satisfy this focker more than to show me a bluff, high fives and back slapping all around from his hick pals as they get one up on the lad from Dublin. Georide passes a comment about how I cant fold A10, then says how Hick must have a hand as he is betting into a dry side pot. This leads me to thinking that the hick is pulling one as Georide having played more with him would be wiser to his actions.

Im in the tank now for maybe 4 mins when the clock is called, I ask the dealer to tell me when ive 20seconds left. All this time ive not looked at the villain. When the dealer says 20 left, I look at the hick and he is staring through me like he has just walked into his house to find me humping his wife on the ktchen table, he is gripping onto the side of the poker table like he is clinging to life and his chest is heaving so badly he is not far off hyperventilating.

BOOM – I have this focker where I want him, I call the 140.

Turn brings the 8h which is ugly enough, the hick pauses for a brief moment and pushes his stack of 440 odd into the middle. This was no ordinary push of chips, this was the most pronounced push of a chip stack you could see, he stopped short of pushing them under my nose.

I checkd if I had the Kh, I didn’t, ah well, call anyway with little hesitation. Then the sickest 4h falls on the river to 4 flush the board, ugh, is this turd has the 2h im getting sick. He turns over 94o, no draw, a stone cold bluff on the first two streets. I lean across, berate him for the gimp he is and for what he deserves having said what he said to the woman earlier (what he said to her could only classify him as lowly scum), I flick him the K and tell him he reckoned an hour ago I was the worst player in Ireland, then I flick him the J – I stand up give a shout, laugh at him, shout ‘give me all the money’, laugh at him again, let a few claps out of me and then fall into the chair with delight with further laughter and berating. My only disappointment is that the woman he gave so much abuse to earlier wasn’t there to see his demise.

How the fck could I call with KJ? I lol as I listen to his rants of ‘But how could he call Geordie, how could he call? I mean I bet 440 on the turn, how could he call with that’

Once I regained my composure I did instantly apologise for the shouting etc. Of couse having pulled his pants down in front of his pals, spanking him and making him look like a turd in front of his gimpish hick pals I then had to endure the typical ‘cross me again and il destroy you’ comments that were of course to be expected from somebody of his ilk. I can just picture the dialogue in the pub at the weekend, ‘ah yeah, he took the loot, but I set him fairly straight afterwards, told him hed not cross me again or id make bits of him, he knew I wasn’t messing’, then Geordie would rebuff and confirm the hicks stature in Fermanagh pub society, ‘Ah yeah hick, you had the last say in it, he wont cross ya alright, you’re the right lad’.

The more I see, the more I know, the more I know, the less I understand

2008-01-21T12:54:00.000-08:00

Im not fully sure, but im beginning to think that im kinda rigged.

After making my last blog post on Tuesday evening I decided to head into the Sporting Emporium for a bit of live action. This was to be the beginning of an action packed week. I don’t normally do posts which detail lots of hands or poker playing but this is gonna be one of them. If you have no interest in this and would rather watch a music video then just skip to the end of the post. Im not even sure what video it will be yet, but il think of something.

Into the SE anyway and im potting away in the ½ pl game. After buying in for 300 im up to about 390 without many memorable hands when the following hand occurs. The game is playing 1/2/5 live and UTG limps, MP limps and I make it 30 OTB with 8s5s, BB calls, Straddle calls, then UTG whom I hadn’t noticed was only playing 65 ships the lot in, MP folds and I decide to squeeze and isolate and accept the juice of the extra 30’s from the BB and straddle as compensation for my bad holding. So I make it 310 to go and then the BB is in the tank. I can see he is agonising a little over his holding. As he continues to dwell im thinking what a fish, just fold your AJ or whatever muck your holding, if its not good enough to 3 bet me preflop then you can harldy call a 4bet shove? Oh wait? Oh oh! Apparently it is and after a dwell of maybe 3 or 4 minutes he ships it in and I call the remaining 70 or w/e.

Me…… “your ahead”
Him….. “I don’t think so”
ME…… “No, no, your definitely ahead, I have 8 high”
Him…… “what?”

And in a look of amazement he flicks over his cards and exposes KK, yeah a pair of fucking KINGS. What a gimp, I instantly summon the poker karma god and tell him that if there is any justice I should bust his ass for playing KK this way.

The dealer obliges with a 5 on the flop and another on the river and I scoop the loot as the villain flys off screaming and mumbling about him im a fish. Nh, wp, gg, ul… fu.

I cant remember a whole lot else of the night but I know I left with a profit of €975 on the night.

So I spin in again on the Wednesday evening, I arrive early as Im not intending to stay late. I know I got stuck pretty badly early doors. One pot I recall is when I 3bet AKs to 55 preflop from the BB and get called by a mp limper. We get it in on a flop of AxAd10d and he scoops the loot with Qd2d. “ah, I said id see a flop and sure if I hit anything id know where I was” he says, is it any wonder live cash games are so profitable?

Later I hold 55 OTB and on a flop of 10 10 5 with a bet and a call into me I get no action as in what can only be classified as a bad beat in live poker neither of then hold a 10. I don’t recall much else but when I leave around midnight I take with me €175 profit.

Thursday night and again im in early and on the first table when it starts. This is one hell of a swingy night of poker. I get it aipf early doors with JJ v KK and spike a J to double up early and take a 600 pot.

Shortly afterwards I limp As5s for 5 from LP and when the button pops it to 25 I call and 3 of us see a flop. Just before flop is dealt I notice villain flicking up and studying his cards, with this im pretty sure he has AK/AQ/AJ and he is checking the suits. The flop comes 7s7c5c and when I check it to him he bets 75, I CR him to 300 and he tanks it… for ages, and ages. He starts shaking his head as if he has just had his AA cracked by 78os. Im beginning to doubt myself and my preflop read, when he is delaying so long I rule out the flushdraw as he would have called by now and I figure maybe he has 1010 or w/e. He finally calls the the board comes running clubs ugh. He turns over AcKh…. OMFG!!! He called me with AK high and it can only go down as one of the worst calls ever witnessed. I later discover that he rated AK unimproved as good postflop as he did preflop and in a later hand I see him overcall psb on the flop and turn with it when he could never ever be good. To make it worse he just leaks away my money over the next couple of hours and I sit helplessly as I cant get a hand against him. Ugh.

In the very next hand there is a table full of limpers and I look down at QQ, I pick up an indiscriminate amount of chips and stuff them into the middle as if Im tilting. Unfortunately I get no action.

IT takes a while before things take a turn for the better but in the interim I flop a set of 7’s in a raised pot against Murat and crai on the flop which has 3 spades, surprisingly Murat had two black aces and he scoops with a river spade.

Reload for 300 more and im driving pretty hard now trying to get myself out of the hole when I pot QJs from the C/O and get called by 3 of the limpers, one of which is Murat. When they check the flop of Q 9 8r I pot it again, Murat calls and then calls 190 on the turn with a double belly buster and his 10 6 scoops. Sigh.

I reload again and drive harder than ever, I flop the nut straight on a 678r board and get a full double up against the gimp end of the straight.

Then I call a raise from the blinds with 33 in a 4 way pot and I check bottom set on a 763r board, the button goes all in for his last 80 or so, I call and the others fold much to my disgust. I show him 33 and he in turn shows me 77 ugh, set over set makes baby jesus cry but when the dealer pops a 3 on the river for quads the tears quickly dry. Rigged!

Friday night is rank as I blow 1200 in a series of disgusting hands. AA no good 3 ways against a flopped set and a flopped straight I get away from it on the flop but its just annoying. I call a turn push from some gimp and have him dead to 2 outs but he manages to hit one of them on the river. I run a bluff against top set. Then TPTK runs into a set. Then in a pot where I raised button after limpers with 4c5c I raise a donk lead on a flop of Kc8c4s, I hit my flush on the turn only to find other guy with a bigger flush. Pretty tough night all in all where nothing seemed to go right.

Saturday night starts off pretty bad again and before I know it im stuck 800, again I reload and start to drive pretty hard. I don’t recall any big hands early doors, just a succession of small pots after small pots, or else my memory is just clouded by some pretty huge pots later in the night.

Im pretty much level for the night when I move to the 1/2/5 NL from the 1/2/5 PL as I know the game is gonna get an influx of drunks as the pubs close.

I buy into the 1/2/5nl with 700 as its pretty much covering the table and hover around for ages without any action or progress. 2am and I decide to head for a burger in abrakebabra as the chef had called in sick to the SE restaurunt so I couldn’t get my regular deluxe steak sandwich. (ha ha – this wont be lost on everybody). When I get back in John has moved me to the main NL table and then the beauty starts.

Im in the BB when Adam Fallon makes it 20 utg, when John Katkin from Full Tilt calls from the SB I tell Adam im calling to bust his ass. I have Jc5c and when John leads for 50 on a J 5 3r flop I call and Adam folds after a moments dwell. Adam claims to have folded QJ and ive no reason to believe he didn’t. When the case J falls on the turn we get it all in, John has 33 for the underfull and a bucketful of sickness and I get a clean double up.

Im potting away and winning a few small pots here and there when I raise from CO with Ah8h and Adam calls from the BB, The board of J88 and I bet pretty much full pot, Adam says he thinks he is good and calls, the board comes Qs9s to fill pretty much every draw. Adam c/c the turn also and when he leads the river im in a pretty sick spot. Im in the tank and he tells me to fold and stop pretending that I have a decision. I flash him my 8 and I sense he knows that he is fooked so I call and Im good.

Im not fully sure about the next hand with ollyk but I know he had been 3 betting a bit preflop so I decided I was gonna take a stand the next time he did it. I think (im not 100% here) I call a 3bet from him (or else a std raise) from him in position with K10 and when he checks a 10 high board to me I bet and he calls. Turn is a Q and he leads pretty quick, I call and then he leads a Q river pretty quick again, Im very very close to folding but Ollys chest is heaving soi figure he is at it, I call and he declares A high. Lesson – you cant bluff stations! Or as John Scanlon chirps in, “yeah you can, but theres no point, they don’t fold” J

Again I call a 3bet in positon from Peter Maughan with 5s3d. The board comes Qs 9s8s and he checks to me so I check behind, When he checks a 5x turn to me I bet 80% or so of pot and he calls, bingo another 5 falls on the river and when he checks I bet 175 and he pays me! Pretty lucky to be fair, I wasn’t betting the river unimproved, he had AQ with no spades.

The next hand is really interesting and a perfect reason why live cash is so profitable! Donkeys will pay you with A high!!! I raise from C/o with AJ and cbet a 4x5s8s flop and John O’Shea c/r me large. I call and then call a 250 turn bet unimproved when 4x falls (he bet turn really really fast), the river falls an 8 and he checks and I turn over A high expecting to be good… lol he shows me a flopped straight. Donkey!!

They save the best (by that I mean sickest) until last. We are down to the very last hand of the night and im in the straddle for 5, pretty much everybody limps and then John Katkin makes it 60 to go from the BB, I call with 9s7s as do 4 others. The board comes A J 8 and its checked around, im ready to muck when the gutshot filling 10 falls on the turn and John leads at it for 275. I pick up two stacks of blacks and put them in the middle and he has to call as he has top set!! He checked top set, let me hit and did the loot.

After a bad start I left the SE with 2,300 profit which was pretty nice. I went on for some early morning sickness in the Jackpot and left exactly level after a couple of hours. Pretty hectic week was had. Some serious sickness scattered through the week.

Thought of a song, apt for my change in fortunes (albeit swingy) this week.

When we grow up we'll both be soldiers

2008-01-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

So, 2008, carry on from 2007? Nah, not just yet.

The year started in Galway at the IPC, 2k buyin, televised event and run by Pokerevents and Party Poker, 298 players turned up and this augurs well for the Irish Poker landscape and for the upcoming Irish Open.

Anyway, being the sick degen that I am I couldn’t resist playing the event despite thinking that I wouldn’t be able to. A late reversal of fortunes and I made it down just in time for the start of the main event. Not wanting to dwell on it too long I had an awful table draw, I started well but then went card dead and everytime I made a move I ran into a real hand. I finally exited near the end of day 1.

I thought I played pretty conservatively in the main, well at least that’s what I though until I met Thomas Finneran in the bar later that evening and he told me that I was a mad Scandi wrapped up in the body of an Irishman. Or you could say im something a little like this chap.

Not to worry, Im in Galway, all is not lost, I made for the bar and had a lash of pints of cider with all the others who had fell on the sword of a stupid bluff. Having spent the weekend promoting the Irish Open I feel that if I don’t make it in the poker industry that I could definitely make it as a pimp. If you were in Galway that weekend and somehow hadn’t heard about the Irish Open up to that point I will guarantee that you know about it now! See you all in March!

Anyway good craic was had down there. I hooked up with Ciaran O’Leary whom I had mighty craic with in Vegas, he is one hell of a nice guy and finally bubbled the final table. I also hooked up with Mick McCool who to this point I had never met. I have to admit that his blog is one which I enjoy reading most, meeting thre man in the flesh wasn’t a let down. I have to admit he is a nice guy and nice guys win prizes – yeah he went on to scoop second behind local winner Jude Ainsworth.

Mick is making an industry out of updating his blog with his trip report but all the same its making a mighty fine read. He is full of praise for O’Leary as a player, as was Smurph who again made the money and went out when her AK was no match for KQ – poker sucks, hard luck Smurph.

I played some cash down there which included 2/5 holdem, 2/5 ROE, 5/10 omaha, 1/3 holdem and finally I played some 10/20 holdem with the infamous Captain Tom Franklin. IF your not sure who Captain Tom is then google has the answer, just make sure to include the name Brandi in the search field. To be fair he seems like a pretty nice guy.

The rake down there was pretty bad, it was 5% capped at eur25 in all games. So in a 10/20 holdem game there was a pony being taken from pretty much every pot! Ouch..

‘Eh, is there a seat available in the 10/20?’ When he answered ‘Certainly sir’ and gestured to the table I later realized that in his head he was really thinking

‘Certainly sir, get your chips over there then turn around and plump your arse on the counter and your man will apply the Vaseline, your gonna need it when you see the rake’

Anyway I think between my mixture of games I cleared approx 400 in cash games. If I had got 30% rakeback I reckon it may well have been one of my most profitable weekend ever as im prolly due 10k in that alone!

Back on the Dublin scene things havn't been running great – i've got unlucky in a few spots including missing 21 outs twice when my KdQd flopped Jd 10d 4h all in on the flop against 10s 5c in a 3bet pot preflop for approx 1800 total. Floped Top set and checkd it to a maniac who checked behind, I lead the turn, my line looks week having been the aggressor preflop and he ships it over the top in a 1200 pot and hits his gutshot!

Then most recently I had 78 on a 10 9 2 J board and was no match for QQ in another 1100 pot or so. Then in the same session I sat tight, finally got the Kings and shipped it all in preflop only to be shown Aces. lol

Anyway, not to worry that’s poker, the above hands don’t bother me too much, getting it in good is all you can do, the rest will look after itself in the long run.

Coming up in the coming weeks GJP has their festival of poker, Im playing the 500eur shorthanded event which should be dead interesting. Im undecided about the 1500 main event. With so many chips in play the best player over the few days is likely to win. Anyway it makes for an interesting number of events.

More news on the domestic front surrounds Rob Taylor who has announced a sponsorship deal. He is a rock steady player so good luck to him.On the blogging front ive added a few blogs inc Rob Taylors and F-Badgers which are worth reading.

Ive also added a link to the articles I write for Card Player Magazine. Ive just submitted my Cheltenham preview which is pretty difficult to do 9 weeks in advance, I never like raving on about horses but Ive no choice but to highlight a horse named Time Electric. I've put him in my preview and im putting him here for anybody who likes an antepost punt. He is currently best priced 10/1 fav for the Champion Bumper, ive snaffled something a little better but I still think the 10/1 represents vaue.

I should add that this is the first horse I have ever backed antepost for the Cheltenham Bumper as value is typically scarce. This is the sort of horse who could well start 3/1 on the day and on the evidence of his one and only run I wouldn't lay him at any price. You can take a look at his debut in the ATR archives if your interested, you might not see what I see in him so your just gonna have to trust me that its there. He is the best young horse I have seen in a long long time, if he stays fit and well you are gonna see him go to the top.

I leave you with this one.. good luck at the tables…

I'm the general salute me soldier

2007-12-30T09:58:00.000-08:00

2007 - Poker Review

My 2007 review begins in December 2006. At this point I was a casual player who wasn’t playing very long and was deffo very bad in so far as I didn’t understand why I was doing things in certain spots etc. Anyway in Dec 2006 I qualified for the Irish Open for the sum of $12 and at this point I decided that I better put a bit of work into my game.

I decided that I wanted to play the IPC in Jan and qualified in a new years day super satellite. Played the event, 300 or so runners and I busted in 70th or so after losing pretty much all my stack in the first level when the board 4 flushed against my flopped top set. Playing this tournament was one of the best learning experiences I have had in poker.

Up until mid Feb I spent plenty of time examining my game. I played a few tourneys in town and had great success after the IPC – although I finished outside of the money there I personally felt I had achieved something by getting so far. I am 100% confident that I would not now exit on the hand I did in that tourney were I top play it now. I think the confidence I got from playing this event helped me in Jan/Feb.

I started back playing some live cash games in town, up until this point my live cash play consisted of me concentrating hard early, playing tight, building a stack and then blowing it over the course of a few hands in spots I shouldn’t be getting myself into. This changed around mid feb when I was ‘in training’ for the Irish Open. I spent lots of time reading boards and posting hands – even stupid retarded ones which must have made me read like a donkey to the general public but ones which I felt I was going to benefit from.

At this point I had begun thinking more about the game that ever before. I am naturally a logical thinker and poker is a logical game based on actions and reactions in certain circumstances – learning whats good and bad in these spots was what I was now doing and I was applying them to my game. I could see my game developing and was happy with my progress at this point.

Shortly after I play the Irish Open, I finish 35th for 10k. Whippeee. I learnt so much from this it was scary. It was some battle but definitely the single biggest learning experience in my poker playing life. It would have been different though. I ran KK into AA and lost 1300 chips in level 1, I won a vital race early on day 2 when my JJ held against AK etc.. But I suppose that’s poker. I continued to post hands and examine my play. This hand sticks in my mind. I robbed it from 2p2 and put it on boards. I often search for it and read the thread. I think it is an excellent hand for a number of reasons.

I played GJP and Cork and it was pretty much a waste of 2500 – I wasn’t mentally prepared for either event at that point and playing tournies when I know im not gonna be giving 100% is something im trying to correct. I know understand that the reason I wasn’t focused on these games was because I was playing so much cash and running so well. I pretty much went from mid Feb to Mid may playing a minimum of 2 nights a week in the SE and had 2 losing sessions. I was finding it so easy I used to joke that the SE was like a walk in ATM machince. It didn’t bother me to pay 1k into a tournie and get knocked out cos I was playing so well in cash games that I felt like I know I would have it won back that night – this was bad for my general respect for tourney poker at this point.

At this point I also threw $300 on Full Tilt and spun like a little demon at small stakes Omaha, I was later to withdraw the price of a trip to vegas. I wasn’t particularly interested in going to vegas until I spoke with Mark Davis one night in the SE. We were on the same table in the monthely 200 game and at the break we hada chat and he kindly told me that he felt I was one of the most impressive young players he had sat at a table with in Dublin for quite some time. I told him I was working hard on my game and he told me that Vegas would work wonders for it and that I should go and use it to improve my game. Vegas came, Vegas went, profit was made, trip was paid for, game improved – all the boxes were ticked for me.

Not a lot happening on the domestic front when I returned but I continued to churn what seemed like endless profit from live cash games. Then I hit my first downswing. I always felt I was quite good at managing downswings – I just stopped playing. This time I didn’t stop and it hurt me a little more that it should have. Not the end of the world though and I was just taking it easy and getting ready for an assault on what I expected would be a tasty week of side game at the Dublin EPT. The action wasn’t as good as expected but I ran hotter than a young Nigerian and chucked in 10k or so profit in one week which was simply magic for me.

I logged a 5th place finish in the Sporting Emporium 1000 game, played and busted the 1500 Fitzwilliam when I really should have done much much better after a promising start, I got the guts of my buyin back in the cash games the following night. I went to Waterford for the craic and donked away a massive chip stack in a tournament I had no intention of playing – again I got my buying and expenses back in the cash games. This aspect really annoys me. I just want to be able to not play when I know I shouldn’t. I don’t tend to get into cash games when I know I shouldn’t and its stupid of me to get into tournies when in the same frame of mind.

December has been a quiet month on the poker front. I’ve been playing a bit of live Omaha in a game I really shouldn’t be in but im holding my own thus far. I prolly stop playing it once ive lost back the few k profit ive logged and remind myself not to get into the game again.

In short, I feel I’ve made massive strides as a poker player this year. I was starting off a low base though. The IPC, Irish Open and Vegas and the time ive spent analyzing the game and hands on boards have been the biggest learning points for me. Add to this the fact that I have constantly challenged myself and my game in various ways.

2007 has been a great year for me in poker, ive made loads of $$ and my game has improved. I am consciously aware of some major deficiencies in my game that I am trying to correct, im not gonna get into them here but when you sit at a table with me and think DONKEY then im prolly thinking the same thing myself and im conscious that I need to correct my failings.

Looking forward to 2008. In October I took up a role with Paddy Power Poker which means I will not be able to play the Irish Open 2008 which is a pity as it is going to be one hell of an event. Work commitments mean I will also be unable to play the IPC. Im gonna try play one of the GUKPT events in the early months of the year if I can squeezr it in. I also want to get to Vegas for the WSOP and this time to take a crack at some of the events. Probably the main event and if not then one or two of the side events – time will tell. Other than that I have no other goals other than improve my Omaha game and make money.

Good luck to all in 2008. I’ve chosen this song to sum up my 2007.

Ever since I was little, ever since I was little it looked like fun

2007-11-26T13:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, its been a while since my last entry and if I was to write all that happened since then id have to serialise it in some trashy Sunday paper. To keep things short im gonna just write about the Sporting Emporium Festival main event which carried a buyin of €1000+100, got 72 runners and in which I finished 5th for €4,660.

Start on Friday night and my table has Michal Muldoon to my immediate right and at Storan to my immediate left, Willow Connolly is also on the table, I cant recall who else. I was delighted to be on table 3 which meant that f I survived I would be one of the last to break and find myself on a new table.

Anyway things start well, A raise in mp and I flat call with A10 on the button. The flop comes A 10 9, I think 6 of us have seen a flop, Willow who raised cbets, it gets called by Michael Muldoon, I make a raise and Pat Storan who has checked calls from the SB, the rest fold. Pats call bothers me, anyway I bet the turn strong hard when he checks it to me as it is very draw heavy, I take down the pot and build my stack.

Next hand of note is when I get QQ and make it 225 to go after a limper, Pat Storan makes it 600, I call. Flop comes 9 high and I check call a bet as Pats 3bet range surely cant be that big, Turn comes a 10 and I check call another barrel but im not entirely happy about it. The river comes a Q and I bet 5k and Pat calls and it transpires that ive just rivered his AA.

Having position on Muldoon is a luxury, he is a very good player but I think any decent player could manage him in my spot once they have had some table history. I play two interesting hands with him in within 2 orbits of the table. In the first he raises the CO and I call behind with QJs, the flop comes A 10 6 and its checked by all 4 of us who have seen the flop. Turn brings a Q and its checked to me in position again. I check behind, I feel im good but reckon I can get value from Muldoon on the end. River blanks, its checked to me and I bet 350 which is about 40% of the pot, Tony who made the final table calls and then Muldoon raised to 1750 – wtf? I don’t know what he has but his bet is so bad, my chips beat him into the pot, Tony folds and Muldoon mucks instantly. His line here is so bad.

The next big hand we play is interesting, ive snaffled some small ones from him in between but at the 50/100 level Tony open limps on the button, Muldoon makes it 550 from the sb and I call in the BB with JJ. The board comes Kc8c2d, Muldoon fires full pot of 1200, I call thinking im ahead and also in the knowledge that he cbets 100% of his range. Turn is a non significant 5x, Muldoon checks and I check behind, I fairly confident im good here, is he has a K he protects it from the draw, if he has a draw he bets it – anyway I check behind hoping he will fire the river. The river completes the flush with the 3c, Muldoon fires 5k, yes 5k into a pot of 3600, I call and he mucks his AQ face up.

At this point I know I have him rattled and Ive built my stack nicely courtesy of him. He is looking at me kinda steaming, I lean across and tell him ‘il let you out of my pocket when were going for dinner’.. DING DING.

I win a few more pots, Pat Storan gets knocked out and is replaced by Alan Dillon (Rogue Trader from boards). I play a hand a while later where I raise with KK in ep, soe dude from Cavan whose name I forget calls behind, I can tell he has something as he is pretty tight, Muldoon calls when it gets back to him. The flop comes Q 8 2r, I lead for 2200 and the Cavan dude raises me to 7200, folded back and im not liking my spot. He could think AQ is the nuts here, but he is unlikely to raise it, QQ is out of the question as id hear from him preflop, im cutting out my stack, contemplating a call but leaning towards a fold when next thing he calls clock on me. Red rag, bull etc, I go nuts, im only in the tank 40 seconds at the most, we are playing a 1100 entry game with a 1 hour clock and this guy is trying to take the piss out of me?? I figure he is the sort to raise with 88 here and fold face up telling him that I hoped he had 88 and cost himself a double up, he didn’t show so im fairly confident I was toast. KP also reckoned he had a set there nearly 100% of the time.

Im on 40k when I get moved table, Roy Brindly and Jay O’Toole are to my left with big stacks, im not in a happy place!!! Not to worry, Im only to be here less than 2 orbits before the table breaks but im to lose half my stack as follows…

AK no good when I missed the flop and had to fold, JJ no good on a K high flop, 10 10 no good on a AQ flop, QQ aipf against A9, I flop top set and he runner runners me with a straight. I raise 10 10 in ep and James Thompson goes all in, I think, cut out the additional chips and decide to ask James if im racing or 4/1 behind. I look at him and say that if my QQ wasn’t cracked id have called by now, he let his customary giggle so I called pretty confident I was racing at worst, his AK hits and suddenly im on 17k… ugh.

I get moved back to table 4, Roy Brindley, Rob Taylor and Big John on my left, Peter Heslin and Gavin Kelly on my right, not pretty. I bide my time and get myself to day 2 with 18k or so in chips after wining a couple of pots of no significance and the blinds are at 300/600 for my return.

I get back and have no joy early on day 2, I cant remember the exact hand but I lost a decent sized pot somehow. Then im on 12k, the blinds are 400/800 and im needing chips badly when UTG limps, another limper and I make it 4000 to go with KK. Its folded back to UTG who calls. The flop comes A high and he checks 3 streets as do I and his A8 scoops. Balls.

Im left with 8200, I blind down to 6700 before shipping after a limper with AQ, Roy calls with AJ and I double up. Shortly afterwards I double up again when I limp with 44, hit a set and a guy check raises me all in with top pair no kicker. Boom!!

I lose back a bit of my stack then in a hand where the whole table was going, WTF did he have? Peter Heslin raises in HJ and I call otb with KQs as do a few others. The flop comes 1042 or something similar. Peter bets, I reckon he is betting all of his range so I decide to call and take him off it on the turn. The turn brings a J and I back into an oesd, he bets and I have to just call hoping to hit, I miss the river, he bets and I insta muck. The table scratch their heads!!

Anyway we get down to 9, I cant remember much else other than a hand I played really really badly against Michael Trimby that cost me 30k in chips. Im back for the final table with 50k in chips and the blinds at 800/1600, im short stacked but ive got some play in my stack.

In the third hand I raise UTG with 99 and get called in the BB by Declan O’Connell with a monster tank. I spy a 9 in the window and im dancing inside on a flop of A 10 9r. Declan check calls a 5,500 bet on the flop, yes he has the ace, Turn is another Ace and if im correct, he has the ace then im getting a complete double up. I bet 10k, as I want to keep him in knowing that is he alls he cant for the river, he has AJ when I finally push the river and I scoop….

Nothing much else to note other than a hand where I get 99 in the BB and call an ep raise from Lloyd. He makes a horrendous call on the turn when stuffed with A10 which isn’t even ahead of my bluffing range in this spot, hits the river and checks behind then when he is ahead.. It was a 45k pot and robbed me of considerable momentum at that point in the game, if I win that pot im on 125ish, instead im on 80ish and on the back foot again. If I could win this pot Id of had more room to manoeuvre.

Roy raises strong in LP, Declan calls from the button and I come over the top in the SB with AA, it was a perfect spot for a squeeze with 72o so it was a pity to wasnt AA on the hand. Unfortunately I don’t get looked up. Then Peter makes it 12 to go in HJ and I come ott on the button with AA and he folds 1010, argh!!! How hard is it to get chips here. Peter was shortish at that point and I was surprised to hear he folded 1010.

Were down to 5 handed and Rob raises UTG, I come ott otb with AK and he folds AQ. Another donkey gives me a courtesy double up but unfortunately there were no random donkeys at this FT, chips were hard to gather.

I blind away and then I play a hand where Roy limps for 4k, Declan limps and I complete form the SB with KQ, I really should have squeezed here and I now regret that I didn’t as it was to become my undoing in the tournament. Flop come Ks 10s 4x and I lead for 12k and im called by Lloyd and Roy, turn brings the flush and its checked, river brings a Q and ive top 2 and check call a bet of 35k from Roy who has J9 and called the flop with a double belly buster. I played the hand bad and paid the price.

2 hands later im all in with QJ and Roy calls me with 78, I flop trips and double up. 2 hands later I raise utg with 77 and get called by Roy and Declan, on a flop of 8 4 2 with 2 spades Declan checks and I push for c. 45k into the pot of 38,500. Declan has checked his set and im toast. Gone for €4,660.

Roy busts in 4th and Rob, Declan and Lloyd chop it 3 ways for 16k each. Well done to the lads, they all played superb stuff. I regret my KQ hand as it should have been avoided.

A big thanks to the lads in the Sporting Emporium. John and Alex know how to run a really really good show. The structure was awesome and allowed real poker to be played. It’s a pity about the excuse they served up to us for food, it was awful. Bangers and mash in the Friday night was the highlight and that’s not much to say, Fish and Chips on Saturday was disgusting – I ate the batter and left the fish, then to cap it all off on the Sunday night for the final table they arrive with cocktail sausages, goujons and sambos. FFS The Sporting Emporium should hang their head in shame at the fact that players in a 1k game who have paid 100 reg, make it to the final table to play out for considerable sums of money and then they are forced to retreat to Eddie Rockets at the break for some food. John and Alex were visibly embarrassed by what food had been served up to us, its not the lads fault, they try there best but appear to be getting shafted by management.

So that’s it folks, Im gonna play the IPC in Galway in the new year and may well sell some % to keep my costs down. Rob is thinking of playing Prague EPT and I reckon he should but not before he takes in Cork this weekend.

Good luck all and heres a little something to sing us out, I went to see Jack L in the national concert hall a few weeks back and it was simply one of the best shows ive seen in a long long time, its not the first time ive seen him live and it wont be my last. He had a 17piece with him. Absolutely brilliant, i really couldnt say enough of good things about the show. I know I linked this song in the last post, but here it is from a different angle.

Come on now, who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are

2007-11-12T12:29:00.000-08:00

Yeah so how do you like them apples?

I spin into town Thursday evening to meet somebody at about 9ish, on the way back out again I was driving across Merrion Square so I decided to call into the Fitz to play cash for an hour or so. When I arrive a Festival satellite has just started, after walking around for a few minutes ita appears that there is going to be an overlay (which ultimately doesn’t materialise) so I throw in the 50, hoover up chips and top up at the break sitting comfortable all the way through until maybe 12 players left when I lose a few pots. We get to the final table and im in need of a double up which I get courtesy of Paddy Hicks with 99 aipf v 77.

So im sitting on 55k or so, the blinds have just gone to 1500/3000/200 and im in decent shape. Were 7 handed and playing for 3 x 1500 tickets and 2 x 500 tickets. Im in the SB with KK, Paddy Hicks limps utg, Bob Battersby limps, some dude called im limps. I figure that Paddy is gone tired and he is going to push/call with anything he has limped with. I make it 19k to go, Paddy insta goes all in and then the action is on Bob. He has c.80k in chips, no need to put another shilling in the pot unless he has AA. He hums, he haws, shuffles chips and then announces that he is all in. I call.

Bob has 77, Paddy A9, the window card is the most disgusting 7 of all times. BUSTO, absolutely horrible

Im kicking around the idea of playing the 1500 main event and decide to give it a lash. Ive got 600 in satellite credit and somebody took 10% of my action so why not. I start off by winning my first pot and take off from there. Shortly afterwards I play an interesting hand with Mick McCloskey.

Its folded to Mick in the CO who makes it 300 to go, I call from the BB with QsJs. The flop comes Ks10c6c and I check raise Mick on the flop, he calls. The turn comes 2c and I lead for 1600, Mick looks perplexed and after he checks his cards I figure him for AK with the Ac. He raises me to 3,400 and I call quickly with the intention of betting any non club river. The river comes 10d and I lead for 5k and Mick folds. The river wasn’t a great bluff card and any other player but Mick and I would just have given up, I reckon he can fold though and follow through with my plan. I sho him my bluff and he steams up a little!!

In the very next hand I pick up 55 in the SB its folded to the button who opens for 400, I call as does the BB. The flop comes A65, I flop bottom set! BOOM! I check to the preflop raiser who bet 1k, I make it 3k to go and he calls. Im delighted with this call as I know he is pretty much never folding now. The turn is a 7 which brings a back door heart draw and he pushes over the top of my 4.5k flop lead and he is drawing dead with AK. Player gone..

Im on maybe 35k now and in great shape. I don’t pick up much for the next hour or so and then pay off a guy to the tune of 12k on the river like an absolute donkey! Im raging inside over this play and now looking to get chips back. Its folded to Eoin Olin (MrPillowTalk) in the CO who opens for 700 at the 100/200/25 level, the button who im confident is calling with 80% of hands calls, then Nic Ryan makes it 2,700 from the SB. Im confident that Nic is squeezing here with a pretty wide range and I decide to resqueeze with 84o not that that really matters. Whilst im thinking how much to make it Eoin folds out of turn by accident. I make it 8,200 and the button agonises over folding 88, Nic cold calls leaving 4,100 behind. The pot is 17k odd so he has to know im calling every flop push.

The flop comes 10h 10d 4h and Nic insta pushes, I call and he tables KhQh and turns his Q. What a paint loving fish? Play like his shouldn’t be rewarded but it was, there is no rational for making the call unless I turn my cards face up. I put the hands on boards and the resounding response was that Nic doesn’t fold, I didn’t realise this! A lot of people said my play was too risky or too early to do it. Personally I don’t agree, when the opportunity to accumulate chips arises then its bad play not to take it. But then, that’s just my style! I suppose if you don’t get caught doing something it just means your not doing it often enough…

I double up a few hands later when my 10 10 aipf v AQ flops top set and turns into a house. I steady the ship and im back up again to about 20k when I gift them to Nic with a really horribly played AQ. Cest las vie and home to bed!

I played cash for about 90 minutes last night in the fitz and won €505 in that space of time. It was like finding money on the ground the standard was so bad.

The Big Slick Waterford 500 is on this weekend and the Sporting Emporium 1000 is on the following week. Both have really good structures but I prefer the SE game and im gonna play that while this weekend will be dedicated to watching the racing from Cheltenham.

So thats it, below is one of my favourite Top Of The Pops performances ever and probably a very apt song for the way some people viewed my play with the 84o. It’s a specially arranged version of Gnarls Barkleys Crazy…

Good luck.

I just can't listen to the words of fools

2007-11-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

So we knew already that November was not a month in which to run bad. With so many domestic tournaments and the EPT rolling into town action in November is jam packed. I hadn’t played much in the last month with starting a new job and all but that all changed this week.

Sunday

I was in Enniskerry for the day and timed my departure from there to arrive in JP’s game in the Red Cow. I got knocked out of the tournament pretty early but I hopped into the 1/2 nl cash game which was on the go. Things started great when in the first hand I picked up JJ in the co and made it 25 to go and got called in 4 spots. On a flop of K J 6 I had a lead into me and when we finally got it all in he happily threw K10 in front of me like it was the nuts. Lol, I was liking what I was seeing already.

I flopped bottom set on a Kd10d6c board and got paid by some fish (ahem) with AK. I hit a straight on the river in another big pot and finally cashed out for c.1,700 or so profit.

Monday

Super Satellite night in the Jackpot and I decide to head in for some cash action. The game gets going when a 1/2 pl starts but we move to a 2/5 nl before long. Im not catching many hands and just playing tight whilst chaos descends around the table. It’s a juicy game to say the least.

Im playing c.565 at the start of the hand and I have KsQs in the sb, Fergal McKeever makes it 25 to go from UTG+1 after a limp from UTG, Called in a few spots so I decide to peel off a flop of 4d 6s 7s, I check, Anna Colley (C4Queen from boards) bets 175, the preflop raiser calls, Nick Slade calls, some random italian guy named Mariano calls (anybody playing the cash games during the EPT was quickly to become a big fan of his), after a small dwell I feel I should push for 540. Anna calls with the made straight, Fergal calls with JJ, Nick Slade calls with some straight draw as does Mariano. The board comes running black Aces and I river the nut flush on a paired board that doesn’t count against me. Monster pot!!

Theres some big Italian guy who is absolutely awful. He id in 8k in the Jackpot on Monday and didn’t seem to know how to play cards. He had plenty of money and I look forward to welcoming him back to Dublin again. I pick up QhQd on the button and after a number of limpers I make it 60 otb, the big Italian guy and somebody else calls. The board comes Jh 7h 3h, its checked to me and I make it 150, the big Italian guy c/r me to 450. He is awful and figure my QQ is good here enough of times and we get it in for about 200 more. He has Ac 4h or similar and is drawing to two outs. Buddy list material if ever it existed.

In another hand I pick up JJ in mp and on a 10c9s2s boards BA Kildeaden c/r me. Ive played enough with him to know that he does this with all draws so I call the additional 200 or so, he has Ks10s and misses.

It was funny table which included recogniseable players Nick Slade, Paul Gourley and Robert Binelli. Anyway I wrap up the session with a profit of 3,520. Pretty nice.

Tuesday

I played the 200 rebuy in the EPT and was in for 420 total before I knocked myself out. Paddy O’Neill won by calling an all in HU against Paul Gourley with 83o. I also dropped 140 in the 2/2 omaha.

Wednesday

I arrive and there is a 10/20 game going, I case it out and fancy taking a shot. John Duthie is in seat 7 and Barney Boatman in Seat 8, Valor is also in 5. I decide il take a seat if I can the 9 trap with position on Duthie. I buy in for 1,200 and sit tight, very tight, very very tight!!! Im sickly card dead, its like somebody is taking the piss out of me. 62o, 83o, J2 repeatedly, any hand like KJs or QJs which I might peel off a flop with on the button or CO I was getting utg or similar. I win a pot where I call a raise from Valor in position with AJ and take it down on a J high flop against Valors 88.

Im playing 1,085 in the SB with Ad8d. Martin Wendt makes it 75 to go utg, Donnacha calls, Duthie calls, Boatman calls so I decide to see a flop as I feel that Mariano will also peel from the BB. The board comes 7d 4d 2c – This is the sort of flop im after so I know I want to get it in on the flop. I check as I feel that Wendt may have or may rep an overpair, Mariano and Wendt check and Donnacha bets 300, Boatman calls, and I push, then Mariano pushes, Donnacha folds after a few moments and Barney calls. Mariano has 4 2 for bottom two, Barney has 5 3o for a oesd, I hit an 8 on the turn to pick up 2 extra outs and river my flush!!! Ship it!!

I get AA a orbit or so later and 3 bet Duthie otb but he folds saying he has kicker troubles. I finally leave the game with 2,500 profit. Nice.

Thursday

I get into a 5/5 game and one significant hand makes the night. I make it 20 or so from mp with QcJs, Ghollimolli calls from the blinds as does Phil Harris from the button. The flop comes Qd 5d 4d, I bet 50, I cant remember if Phil calls or not and then Gholli C/R me to 250. I fell he canc/r semibluff me with the lone Ad far too often so I decide to call and do so pretty quickly. The turn is an offsuit J giving me top two piar. Gholli open pushes c.800 and I insta call. Gholli has AdQx and misses the river and I scoop a big pot. I was in such bad shape on that flop and luckily hit one of my 2 outs.

I cant think of a whole lot else that happens but I leave for profit of 2,025.

Friday

I decide to get into the 10/20 game with not many players of note other than Donnacha O’Dea. I buy in for 1300 and im up to 1900 after my first hand when I flop the nuts but admittedly miss a bet on the turn. I should have got a complete double up here but didn’t when the nuts changed on the river.

I play an interesting hand a bit later. The table is playing 6 handed as a few guys are gone for smokes or whatever. Im playing about 1,800 and Donnacha (unsurprisingly) covers. The table has bneen playing a bit passive preflop for the last few orbits and ive just told myself that i need to use my position better preflop to take down a few pots.

Anyway, Donnachea limps utg for 20, It comes to me and I make it 90 or 100 I cant remember which with Ad8h (what i have doesnt really matter here), the BB calls. Then Donnacha makes it 375 to go. He has limp raised me to 375? wtf. Im getting ready to insta fold when I stop to think about it. Donnacha is a vastly experienced player, if he has a genuine hand at a 6 handed somewhat passive table then he will open raise rather than oipen limnp utg. I feel I have a super tight image with Donnacha from a session we played together earlier in the week. There is c. 500 in the middle for the taking. I think about it for a few more moments and decide to make it 1,200 to play.

The BB folds and Donnacha folds while giving me a smile. Donnacha spoke to Halibut2 about the hand and told Hali that he had 10 10? I don’t like his open limp here and when he limp raises he is effectively turning his hand into a bluff.

I get out of the game with 850 profit, I lose about 450 of it back in the 5/5 game before going on the beer. I later play some drunk poker in the Emporium where I spin 200 into 775. Profit on the day of 975.

Saturday

I play the Simon charity event and after some sickness I finally give my stack to Steve Davis. I play some cash and win 145 after initially throwing away a few hundred quid. Down 185 for the day.

So that’s it for the week. I ran really really hot and had more than my fair share of luck. It was my first time to play 10/20 and I enjoyed the experience and showed a nice profit on the week.

Ive a video below of Razorlight on Parkinson from a few years back. Really is a very good performance.

Who's gonna throw the very first stone?

2007-10-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

Not since Emmett Stagg was found with his trousers around his ankles has such a fine erection been seen in the Phoenix Park, and that only from the outside, delve inside and you can see one hell of an organ on display, and to see up to 10 different people take their turn in playing it was surely a sight to behold.

So in case you’re wondering, I went to see Arcade Fire in the Big Top in the Phoenix Park during the week. Very enjoyable all around, I’m into my instrumental music, the bigger the better really and they do it on a grand scale. Now I must confess that I was contacted on Monday about going to the concert and I had to search you tube to figure out exactly who Arcade Fire were! Ah hold on, now I know! Yeah il go. Im off to see Jack L in the National Concert Hall in a few weeks time – I love his singing and as he is going to be accompanied by a complete orchestra its sure to be a cracking night – bring on the band I say!

Anyway, on the poker front, ive not really played much lately and by that I mean I had a quick yet profitable live session in the Fitz late last week. This was my first time to play live cash in 3 or 4 weeks so it was nice to settle in with a winning session. No poker at the weekend and then fast forward to Tuesday night in the Jackpot 2/5 game. So starting off I pay off Dukes top two as I felt he was weak. Then I run KK into AA, Then I raise A4o in the CO and im called in the BB by Darius. Flop 632 and darius c/c my continuation bet, I check behind on a J turn and when the 5 arrives on the river I confidently value bet for 100e.. Darius finally calls and I happily flip over my A4. It must have been my demeanour on the river but when I insta turned over my straight Reggie tapped the table “nice hand”, then he lookes at my cards and the board, then I look at my cards and the board, SHIT, wait! My A4 appears to have turned in A3 – D’oh! Costly error as Darius 88 scoops.

Anyway move on to my final hand of the night, Hussey limps in MP, Reggie makes it 25, I look down at AJ otb and make it 95 as I feel im comfortable against Reggies range here, folded back to Hussey who ships for 130, Reggie calls and desp[ite thinking im toast I make the obligatory call. Then as the dealer gathers the chips the following little convo takes place between me and Hussey

H – “Do you have a pair”
Me – “No”
H – “Well then you are behind”
Me – “ok, do you have a pair?”
H – “Yeah”

At this stage im trying to ascertain what sort of shape im in

Me – “How big”
H – “Biggest, assses”

WTF? Drift back to the above

H – “Do you have a pair”
Me – “No”
H – “Well then you are behind”

WTF? Of course im behind, you have AA you twat! What did he think I was gonna say…

Me – “Wow cooler! Ive been dealt the one eyed joker and the rules of bridge! Pretty sick running your AA into that, better luck next time but I suppose, that’s poker!”

Anyway to make things worse I actually hit top two pair against Husseys top set, just to kick a lad in the bollix when he is down!!! I grab my remaining 200 and make for the door.

So the November live poker scene is packed. Fitzwilliam 1500 + accompanying 500 + 300 games, Big Slick Waterford 500, Macau 1000, and the Sporting Emporium 1000 game, of course there is the Dublin EPT at the cost of 8,000 not to mention accompanying side events. November is not the month to run bad or one could find themselves insolvent.

I wandered into the Fitz last night and played their 50e rebuy for a guaranteed 2*1500 tickets and 4*500 tickets. To cut a long story short I finished 3rd. Whatever about getting to the final table, as en route I won more than my fair share of races, I feel that my play at the FT was some of the best ive had in a while (with the exception of a bad bluff/questionable call be villain – tis up for debate but im not getting into it here). In the second hand at the final table I get dealt 88 in the hijack, I put in a standard raise and the blinds call, the flop comes 10c 6c 3d, its checked to me and I bet c.3/4 pot expecting to take it there and then. Then whammo – General Zito crai. I’ve never seen a man turn to stone as quick as the General when he insta pushed. I studied him for a moment and decided that I was good and made the call. General showed 5d6d for middle pair and my 88 was good.

After the above hand I never got a hand all night, I survived by bluffing, rebluffing, stealing and restealing my way though the table. I maintained my chips as others bit the dust. I raped and pillaged my blinds who were playing pretty tight. I had a couple of resteals with 103o and the likes and found myself 3 handed in ok shape. Anyway a guy hit his FD against my tp/oesd and the money went in on the flop – the guy that knocked me out was a terrible player who knocked out 3 players in a row by getting the majority of his money in bad, his A2>AK aipf, his favourite hand J10>A8 aipf, and then we got out money in on a 10JQ flop with me holding KQ against his flush draw which hit on the turn. Bah, the other player to get the ticket was also pretty shite but was deffo the better of the 2 to get his ticket. He continuosly open raised and open pushed for 10x the BB etc and showing AK/AQ etc. He hit sick cards and was gifted a huge double up when his AK > A7 aipf – this hand ensured he could more or less coast his way to the ticket interspersed with some open pushing a monster tank with AK 6 handed!!

So the result of this is that I will be playing at least one event in the Fitz Festival – wether that’s the 1,500 event or the 500 event remains to be seen. I also intend on playing the 1000 SE

You dont see the strings cos your the puppet, your the toy

2007-10-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

Sporting Emporium monthly €100 Double Chance

So I played the Monthly 100DC in the SE on Thursday night. This is one of the best value games around. The regular is a 50DC and it attracts generally the worst standard field of the week so when the 100DC comes around once a month the field remains generally poor except for some people who come out of the long grass in an effort to grab the value.

Anyway, was pretty card dead early on and there was nothing much happening until I check my option in the big blind with 83o after a number of limpers. The flop comes a favourable 8 7 3 and I lead at the pot, 1 caller before one of the EP limpers puts in a massive reraise? Anyway, when it gets back to me I stick him in for his last and he calls me with QQ. Nice start.

I flop a set of 3’s and get no customers, then its folded to me on the button and I look down at AK. I put in a standard raise and the BB who really was a bad player fumbled and reraised so again I stick them in. He has JJ but the magic happens on the river for me when a beautiful K falls and now im in a comfortable position. I can relax and pick my spots whilst chaos descends around me.

I had Lazare and BigMickG to my immediate right. Laz was hitting monster hands, quite sick really. Match with this his constant aggression and it made it somewhat tricky for me. He had only shown down big hands so my appetite for playing back at him was limited. Partly because I had enough of chips to weather his assault. I played a few pots and dwindled slightly when BigMickG open raises, I decide he is good enough to lay down most hands to me so I 3bet and he folds. This is a nice addition to the stack without much work.

Mick gets knocked out and Oberon gets moved to my right, he has a nice few chips so immediately im rubbing my hands at the prospect of getting them. An interesting hand pops up where Lazare opens to 2500 (I think? Maybe it was 2,200). Theres a bit of banter at the table and Oberon discretely askes me “whats your man like? Is he tight?”… Oberon raises to 7,500… I think for a moment, Lazare had been using his stack really well, opening loads of pots, his range is very big here. Oberon clearly has a marginal hand, otherwise he wouldn’t be wondering how tight Lazare has. I push for 17,900 and they fold 44 and AJ in turn. 10k + blinds added to my stack for a nice move. I had Jd10d which is largely insignificant cos if I got called I was likely toast.

Oberon with a dwindling stack starts to push a bit. He pushes, I wake up with QQ on the button and call. I flop a set but he gets runner runner straight with his 93o. Now im on 18k ish instead of being on 35k or so. Oberon loses back some of his stack and after Lazare opens in LP Oberon insta announces that he is all in. Im behind in the BB with 66. Again Lazares range is wide, Oberons insta push and demeanor told me his range was huge also. I figure unless he has 77 or 88 then im never 4/1 behind as he would seek to extract more value from 99+. Likewise he doesn’t have A10+. On that basis I figure im likely racing, sometimes 4/1 ahead, sometimes 70/30, and almost never 4/1 behind. He showed up with 93o in a similar spot earlier. I cant be worried about Lazare so I call cos I figure im solid against his range. Bang bang I double up, and Oberon, none too impressed with my call, is left with 300 in chips.

We are now playing the last hand before the break and its folded to me in the CO so I open 74o. Full Tilt Charlie calls from the BB, his calling range here is huge. Flop comes 10 5 4 with two clubs. He checks, I cbet and he calls. As soon as he calls im almost 100% sure he is calling to push almost every turn so im getting ready to make a sick call with bottom pair!! Ive seen him make this play so often that he does it as routine now. I see guys laying down hads to him that id never lay down in a million years. Luckily the turn brought a 6. He pushes, my call is somewhat easier now and sure enough he flips over A high with no draw. He misses his 6 outs on the river and im good.

2 tables out, about 14 players left and I complete the SB with Q8o, Mick The Lip raises the BB and I call. The flop comes 10 8 3, I check call his flop bet, check a turn 5 hoping he bets again but he doesn’t oblige. I take the pot at showdown against his KJ.

Final table and nothing happens for me. I got a terrible table draw with John Swarbrigg and Lazare to my immediate left. I couldn’t have got a worse draw if I tried. I took 90k to the final table of the 490k in play. As a rule when I join a final table in this shape Im deffo in the final 3. Not this time around tho. No cards, unable to make moves due to the guys on my right. The blinds get massive, finally they have just gone 5k/10k with 6 players left. 49bb’s in play, ugh! I push KJ in the CO and when John calls pretty quickly im reaching for my coat cos I know im gonna be in bad shape against his calling range in that spot. He turns over AQ so at least my cards are live. Despite hitting a K he gets two Q’s and im gone.

Obviously im well disappointed to have gone in 6th. With a better table draw and maybe some better cards I could have gone a bit deeper. I got AA once during the evening and took the blinds, I flopped one set in an unraised pot and got no customers. I really survived on mediocre hands. Like my 83o, Q8, 47 and by making good reads and plays at crucial points. All in all it was as happy as ive been for a good while with my play.

International Poker Open

Poker Ireland organised a 1,072 runner €150 entry game held in the RDS. 10k stack and 40 minute clock. Whilst it is a commendable feat to organise such a number of poker players to play in your tournament having had more than 6 months to prepare for it the manner in which it was run on the day fell a long long way short of the mark.

Now you can subscribe to the “ah give them a break” camp and say they did there best but with 6 months to organise their organisational skills left a lot to be desired. They were short c.26 dealers, I along with another chap took it in turns to deal at my table. They maintained they couldn’t get dealers and that some let them down. This is poor organising – in business you must be aware and savvy enough to allow for such eventualities. It was mentioned on boards that they considered flying in dealers from Sweden or some similar place but decided against it due to the cost. So it holds true they could have alleviated the dealer situation but choose not to accrue the cost – instead they took advantage of the good nature of people like me and many more besides to deal their tables for their own financial gain.

Having paid €€€ to hire the RDS they then pretty much placed all the tables on top of each other. No comfort, no access. This lead to disastrous table breaking. This was despite having a large area of the hall unutilised where the tables could have been placed and well spread out. I don’t know whos idea it was to place the tables as they were – it was a bad mistake. But this is not as big a mistake as the choice of the organisers to ignore this issue upon having laid out the tables the night before.

Surely they could see the issue that would lay ahead with the lack of space? If they failed to see this then I truly wonder how they managed to pull such a crowd together on the day? The same brainpower required to attract 1,072 runners was surely capable of laying tables out correctly? Or was it a case of not caring at that point because all players had paid up, no refunds would be available and all affiliate payments could be expected irrespective of how comfortable/uncomfortable players were to be on the day.

Also they had assigned 20 players to 1 table – yep, they drew the table twice. So that meant that 10 players had to sit at the top of the hall waiting for the cry of “player gone” before they could take their seats? Top stuff all around.

Anyway – I finished around 350th when I bluffed off a 3X average chip stack. LOL donlaments. Ha ha…

Challenge

Im still above my 300$ but im after hitting a bad run so ive excluded myself from playing for a few days.

BSOOP

This has done nothing but to prove that im a donkey..

I just want you, to know that you are really special

2007-10-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

Me, I hail from Offaly. Hence this heightens my curiousness. Check out the instrumental (drum beating) late into this video of Snoop Dog and Pharrell singing Beautiful - do you spot the guy in the Offaly Jeresy beating hard on the drums? I think Im gonna have to pitch this at Ray Darcys fix it Friday, "Well Ray?", or maybe I should hit Loiveline and talk to Joe. Who is this guy?

Doors Lift Up I'm Like Go-Go Gadget

2007-10-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Funny 2+2 Thread

I browse 2+2 a bit and to be fair there are some gems of threads on there. The best one ive seen recently is this guy who posted a brag on BBV of how he “Won Huge HU Donkament for 410k”.

Mighty impressive wouldn’t you agree? On closer inspection it transpired that this dude had actually spent 8 and a half hours battling his way through a PLAY money HU donkamanet on stars. FFS!!

Anyway, I told him I was gonna ship him $1 on stars cos I felt sorry for him, then others joined in, various $1, $2 and $5 and then 1 guy shipped him 170$.. Now he is back grinding 10nl on stars en route to robusto!! Go go go….

Challenge Update

As per my last post I started a new micro low limit Omaha challenge. Anyway I turned the 300 into 500 and then due to some sick beats and TILT I successfully turned the 500 into 40$.. Nice work… not to worry I started a new challenge with my $40. Im now playing Turbo 6Pacs and this is my new challenge.. Win a few K playing these yokes. I will update once there is something worth updating – but at this point im past my initial $300.

My first experience of online poker was the 6Pacs on Crypto, mainly up to the £30 level with the occasional foray into the £50 ones. Back then I was ignorant to the land of online but my mate constantly reminded me that sharkscope told him I was a winning player, albeit not any level worthy of further note. Anyway this time Im back playing the turbo variety. Now you need the intestinal fortitude of a horse to withstand multitabling these yokes. The sickness of some of the beats you give and receive is unnatural.

BSOOP update

Ive played 2 events so far in the BSOOP. Pater Maughan (Halfbaked) is currently in the lead and im a few points behind having finished 9^th in the PLO and 10^th in the LHE. Im looking forward to playing the rest of the events and hopefully remaining in contention for the Poker Table.

Live poker update

Ugh. Nothing to report, Im playing bad lately. I played the Drogheda monthly 250+20. A disappointing turnout with only 18 runners. I was chip leader with 8 to go and finished 8^th. Lol… It was my first time to play with 2002 WSOP 12^th place finisher Owen Mullan. He was to my immediate left on the first table and was a pain in my side. Anyway I was very very impressed with his play even if the deck was hitting him a bit in the face.

The International Poker Open is on this weekend. So im playing that. If things are going bad il find myself in the SE monthly 200 game.

Hates

I hate when your involved in a race situation in a live tourney, cards are turned over, you have AK he has 55, and some gimp says “I folded K10”. Jesus that boils me.

Get yourself to the Butterfly Lounge

2007-09-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

D’Grudge Match

Was held in Cool Hand Lukes on Saturday last. A good day/evening/night was had by all. I started off with Mark, Ollie, Mick, Flipper, Reggie and Jay on my table. Nothing much to report of my play at all. Well done to BigD on his success and also fair play to Gholli for organising. I look forward to the next one.

Heads Up

BoogeyMan has defeated OllyK in the boards.ie heads up battle. Reigning champ rag2gar relinquished his title earlier in the campaign. I ran a book on this and despite some good looking positions the final had the potential to be a whitewash for me. However, im glad to report that my efforts reaped me the sum of €2 profit.

Boards.ie Online Championship of Poker

LuckyLlyod has taken control of it this year and he has put together a cracking programme of events on stars. Boards poster McCaul from www.casinoshop.ie has generously donated a poker table to the prizepool. WP all around I say – armed with a slightly better understanding of the games im hoping for a respectable showing by me this time around.

Challenge

Prior to Vegas this year I lodged $300 to FTP and set myself a challenge – spin like a mofo at small stakes Omaha and pay for Vegas. Well it was successful. So again ive just lodged $300 and ive set myself a target to turn it into something meaningful – by that im looking towards $6k – i.e. half the price of a car upgrade. I will keep you updated on my progress and post suitable poker tracker lark on occasion. Hopefully I will get myself a nice FTP bathrobe in the process. I have to say – I really like their software.

Thats the craic says she with one leg on the table.

2007-09-20T11:45:00.001-07:00

Nothing goin on really of late - i was down d'country for the weekend so it meant poker was limited enough, and by limited enough i mean that......

Live...

Had a torturous session of cash last Wednesday night, i was stuck 125 at the end of the night and it felt like id won a monkey or more. I played like a donkey.

I played the monthly 100dc in the SE, started off well before hte break and picked up some nice pots when i flopped the nuts and got paid twice. Once when my Q10 turned into broadway and once when my pocket 3's turned into quads. After the break i continued along my merry was and was in a fairly comfortable position once we got down to 3 tables. Then I lost a significant race when my 88 was no match for 22 aipf in a very big pot that would have seen me coast along for quite a while more.

I plyed live cash last night - for about 6 hands when i ran KK into AA for €300 i decided to call it a night there and then rather than find myself in a hole like the previous week.

Online

So ive been playing some of the $8 turbos to the $109 sats to the $1,050 sats for the EPT. Anyway Ive played 2 of the $109 sats - first one there was 6 tickets and i finished 7th after quite a grueling final table when the shortstacks just couldnt lose. The next one I sat in and Nicky O'D was to my immediate left. I double up early with KK v 1010 and was in cruise control, never slipping from the top 4 in chips. That was until I pick up KK and get it aipf against the guy who is 2nd in chips. He is holding AQ and of course the A hits on the flop. Damn if I win that pot im a monster chip leader and would fancy my chances to lock up a $1,050 ticket.

Not long after making my last entry on this blog I took a few hundred to a 2/4 omaha table, spun it, and then took $1k to the 5/10 holdem. Table seemed to be nice enough, I had a good handle on them, and then this happened....

GAME #653521618: Texas Hold'em NL $5.00/$10.00 2007-09-12 01:07:00
Table Istres
Seat 1: gross ($2,181.25 in chips)
Seat 3: NoelHayes ($1,130.75 in chips)
Seat 5: helgul ($930.00 in chips) DEALER
Seat 6: Saurozon ($722.58 in chips)
Seat 8: BeautifulLiar ($912.00 in chips)
Seat 10: DaNizzles ($1,069.00 in chips)
Saurozon: Post SB $5.00
DaNizzles: Post BB $10.00
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gross [DK D4]
Dealt to NoelHayes [C2 S2]
BeautifulLiar: Sitout
gross: Raise $40.00
NoelHayes: Call $40.00
helgul: Fold
Saurozon: Call $35.00
DaNizzles: Fold
*** FLOP *** [D6 D2 H7]
Saurozon: Check
gross: Bet $100.00
NoelHayes: Raise $240.00
Saurozon: Fold
gross: Raise $760.00
NoelHayes: Allin $850.75
gross: Call $230.75
*** TURN *** [HK]
*** RIVER *** [DA]
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2,308.50 Rake $3.00
gross: wins $2,308.50

What is it about diamond flushes hitting against me at 5/10... Why does the board never pair when you want it to?

Work

Somebody pointed out a job opportunity to me last week. So I applied for it Monday and in a pretty quick process I accepted the role today. I'm pretty excited about it and I'm really looking forward to it. I hadn't intended in returning to gainful employment so quickly but I guess the right opportunity just happened to come around to change my mind.

Grudges

Grudge Match Part 2 takes place this Saturday in Lukes. If its as much fun as the last one then a great day is guaranteed. Im looking forwad to this also.

Beer

Thats where im going now....

See you at the tables..

Not much to read really......

2007-09-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

Despite numerous attempts it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to write something so here goes…

Well done to Dave Callaghan.

Dublins very own “fish” has just recently finished 4^th in the WSOPE £5k Omaha event. One of the nicest and most down to earth guys your likely to meet this result comes on the back of a deep run in the $10k Omaha in Vegas. Bigger score on the horizon hopefully. Well done.

LOLDonkaments

I played a few live donkyments recently. Ran bad in Lukes 100fo, I split the Monday night SE100fo, split the Wednesday night 40+40+10scalp, played two others and went out of both when I lost “races” with AA v 55 and JJ v 77.

I also played the SE 500 game. Nothing to report other than I played one hand poorly and then shoved the rest in on a bluff. I was very disappointed after this tourney. Up to this point I was happy with my play. I didn’t get involved in any pots needlessly and was very selective with my starting hands. Had I maintained my chip stack or increased it slightly for another 2 levels then id have been able to open up what I classify as the better part of my game and accumulate chips.

The SE are running a €1k game in November so im sure il play that. Plenty of poker on the horizon with EPT season on the go. Im gonna try and qualify for one of these on stars.

LOLOnlineDonkaments

I made y Debut in the PokerStars Sunday Million last weekend. I don’t know how ive managed it but thus far I had avoided playing this game, principally due to work on a Monday morning. I satellited in for $16 in the $8turbo and finished a respectable 313^th in the main event for a score of c.$780 from a starting field of c.6,400. I think there is massive value in the game and I think it suits my play a lot so Im looking forward to playing this on a more regular basis. Rob Taylor finished 49^th when his KK was no match for AK in a monster pot. Last Feb Rob finished 11^th in this when KK was no match for KJ aipf in a pot that would have given him a monster chip advantage.

Live Cash

Runing (maybe I should start putting in playing rather than running?) really well in live cash recently. Long may it continue. I recently played the SE cash league final. I split it last time around but this time I was card dead and exited pretty early.

Online Cash

Not much to say really other than this sums it up nicely. I think im 94% on the flop.

GAME #639506064: Texas Hold'em NL $5.00/$10.00 2007-08-28 18:05:07

Table Cholet

Seat 1: NoelHayes ($1,112.25 in chips)

Seat 3: SickBoy ($1,292.00 in chips)

Seat 5: IbluffedUagain ($1,048.00 in chips)

Seat 8: peroelperro2 ($925.00 in chips) DEALER

Seat 10: DruSSeMhoR ($1,005.00 in chips)

DruSSeMhoR: Post SB $5.00

NoelHayes: Post BB $10.00

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to IbluffedUagain [D8 DA]

Dealt to NoelHayes [H6 D6]

SickBoy: Fold

IbluffedUagain: Raise $35.00

peroelperro2: Fold

DruSSeMhoR: Fold

NoelHayes: Call $25.00

*** FLOP *** [S8 DJ C6]

NoelHayes: Check

IbluffedUagain: Bet $55.00

NoelHayes: Raise $145.00

IbluffedUagain: Call $90.00

*** TURN *** [D2]

NoelHayes: Bet $220.00

IbluffedUagain: Raise $868.00

NoelHayes: Call $648.00

*** RIVER *** [DQ]

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $2,098.00 Rake $3.00

IbluffedUagain: wins $2,098.00

To make it worse i get dealt AA in the SB on the next hand with a stack of 74$ ish and i get nothing but the BB's tenner.

Il think of something more creative to write over the next week or so.

Blind squirrel finds nuts...

2007-08-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

There are a number of recogniseable faces/ characters on the Dublin Poker scene. They have gained noteriety for various reasons. Some have a creditors listing worse than a recently dissolved haulage company and others are known for their kindness and charm. Vera Duffy falls into the latter category. Im pretty sure I have encountered Vera right from the first time I started off on the Dublin Poker scene - always a broad smile, always genuinely courteous, always a "hello dear". As Philip Baker put it to me yesterday in the Red Cow - "sure Vera is everybodys mammy".

Vera gains considerable pleasure from a game of cards and it was fitting that she chose to mark her birthday with a celebratory tournament in her favourite spot - The Sporting Emporium (in a somewhat Freudian slip i actually typed Acquarium). Her husband generously added €4k to the prizepool and this ensured a monster turnout of 105 starters for a €20 unlimited rebuys for the first 60mins and freezeout thereafter. There were bountys for knocking out specific players and in all the game was played in great spirits with everybody having great fun in the early levels before settling down to some serious poker.

I pushed all in blind for the first round of the table and this ensured plenty of chips in play as gamble descended all around. The cry of "chips" rang out around the room with serious frequency. I wasnt the only one to employ these tactics and was in for €120. It ultimately made for a better game late on with plenty of play.. In the first orbit of the table i craked KK with QJ when i flopped broadway and I won a 4 way all in and cracked QQ with J2 courtesy of runner runner. Normal play for me from then on - I played exceptionally tight for the remainder of the gambol period and got my top up at the break to give me c.10k going to the start of the freezeout period with blinds at 100/200.

Freezeout period and i yo yo for a while, I bluffed Eddie the Eagle off a pot when he says he folded 2 pair on the turn against my Q high on a flushing/straightening board. I dont believe Eddie has the capability to fold that hand in that spot so the jury is out? I drop a few k in bad spots and then after serial limpage i jam for 9k from the CO with 92o - at this stage Eddie is short stacked in the BB and calls with 66 (c1/3rd of my stack so not the end of the world). I look at Eddie and tell him he is in trouble as "I have them". I hit trip 2's and scoop.

I chip my way up slowly after that. Win a bigish pot with KK against AK, steal here and there and then im playing 24k ish when I raise from MP with AQo to 3,400 (I cant rem the blinds), some guy in LP (Frank I think his name is pops me to 9k). I think about it and call, my reasoning behind a call is that im pretty much shoving any flop. K 7 4, I push for a little under psb, he dwells for ages, cuts out his stack and finally folds.. phew... I show him the bluff whilst telling him he had the best of it. I can see him begining to steam up - he leaves the table, goes for a walk comes back and I can see a target on my head!! I win another couple of pots, one with AQ against AJ when I pushed the flop again agasint a bad player.

I race with JJ against AQ for a decent chunk of my stack and win and then im playing c.60k which at this stage of the tourney is a considerable stack. Im in EP and raise with QQ, Frank pushes for 45k and by the time it comes back to me ive already told myself that its an easy call as he is out to get me. He has 10 10, my hand was good and ive got a monster tank and im in the drive position.

I cant recall anything significant after that other than getting a chop against Veras daughter, Olga with A9 v AK. Its pretty obvious that im only playing premium hands as ive no need to be involved especially considering that BuChan, Halfbaked and Ollyk are the 3 players to my immediate left at this point. My actions are getting respect in most quarters. We make our way to the final table which includes Peter (halfbaked), Paddy O'Neill, James (dont know him but nice guy), a few randomers that I dont know. I draw the perfect seat, 4. I have position on Peter in 3, Paddy in 2 and some guy called Adam who was a monster chip leader coming to the FT in seat 1. The final table also included Veras daughter, Olga who exited in 9th.

Nothing really happens for me early, my chip stack is the same for a long time. I come over the top of some raises and my open raises get through also. Pay my blinds again etc and Im pretty stagnant chipswise. We lose a few shorties and 6 handed play lasts forever as some random guy in seat 9 literally blinds away his stack over the course of a few hours. Adam exited in 5th which considering the chipstack he brought to the final table would have to be considered somewhat disappointing.

Down to the final 4 of myself, Peter, Paddy and James and im under pressure, I seem to be the only player from whom Paddy isnt respecting opening raises, I shut down in a couple of hands when he called and I missed the flop as I didnt want to go out on a bluff. I was in an uncomfortable zone with the blinds at 5k/10k ) we played this level for 60mins). I hovered betwen 100k and 180k. I went over the top of some open raises and couldnt get anybody to commit when i would of had them wrapped up. AK and Paddy reluctantly folds AJ a couple of times, KK and Paddy folds AJ again. 10 10 and I take the blinds. I hadnt enough to put in a standard opening raise and my shoves over the top were a bit pricey.

The blinds go to 6k/12k and Paddy puts in a standard 35k raise from UTG/CO (same thing at this stage) - he has a big tank and his range here is pretty huge, Ax, Kx,QJ, and almost any PP. Im in the sb with A7 and 10 bb's so I ship it in. Paddy semi slowrolls me with AK but I orderd a 7 on the turn to ensure a double up!! I think at this point in the game my move with A7 is pretty standard so i wouldnt have been overly concerned had it been my exit.

Now im in control along with Peter. We play another 12 or so uneventuful hands when Paddy suggests an even 4 way split. I hold the chip lead and I am not very forthcoming, James is short stacked of the 4, I outchip Peter by about 3bb's. James suggest that he would take 2k, Im half dozing (its 5am) and I hear Peter say hows 2,800? I perk up? Wha? Didnt hear ya? Run that by me again - deal done. It was agreed that I take the title and the trophy as I had the chip lead, we left c.500 for the staff for a job well done and we all go home happy.

I was very happy with my performance throughout the night, I felt I played good (im conscious of a few mistakes mid way that i need to correct) - I was gifted some chips in spots (QQ v 10 10), I dont know what it is about me in these type of tourneys but when there is something worth fighting for I seem to bring my best. With 105 runners this was the biggest tourney (numbers wise) that ive gone this deep in. Im happy to have done it. I find it noteworthy that Peter was also involved in the chop. Earlier in the year we chopped the Emporium cash league and prior to that we both went considerably deep in the Irish open finishing at 35th and 17th respectively. At this rate were gonna have to follow each other around in tourneys as we seem to be a decent omen for each other.

Once I gathered chips my concern for the night was that I might be the one to knock Vera from the tournament - I didnt want to be the one to spoil the party. Vera finally exited at the hands of her daughter which was kinda funny tbh. Another point to note on the night was that after the break Vera was low in chips, Ken (the doorman in the SE) went around with a bucket collecting chips from people to give to Vera to keep her in the tournament for a tad longer. Of course everybody donated a 100 in chips - one player at my table gave 20k as he wanted to play cash and only played the tourney to support Vera - this donation was later redistributed amongst the tables as Vera felt it too much. One player that I saw refused to donate any chips which I felt was bad form. The game was played in good spirts, everybody was having fun, Veras husband had donated generously to the prizepool - I didnt think it was out of order to have a collection and throw 100 in the bucket.

So thats it - good night all around I suppose. Id like to express genuine thanks to Vera and her family for instigating what was an excellent night. Thanks also to the lads in the SE - id say their head was wrecked with the cry of "chips" on the early rounds.

The Art of Bookmaking

2007-08-09T06:10:00.001-07:00

This is an article ive written for Card Player Europe Magazine on the topic of bookmaking.

If something seems too good to be true – then it probably is! If your first reaction to the thought of being a bookmaker is that it’s an easy old game then I suggest you pay close attention to this article. If you take a look at the odds offered and see that for any given market they are betting to a book percentage of say 150% and think to yourself that it’s money for old rope then the likelihood is that you misunderstand the fundamentals behind the profession.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves it is important to set out some of the basics. The book percentage or book as it is colloquially known is defined by the Racing Post as the “sum of the quoted probabilities across all horses in a race”. The bookmakers assign each horse in the race a probability of winning, which is represented by the odds. To translate these odds into the book percentage you add 1 to the odds and divide it into 100, i.e. 3/1 contributes 25% to the book, 100/(3+1) = 25%, 4/1 contributes 20% to the book and so on.

In its simplest form the book percentage is designed to serve as an indicator of the level of bookmaker profitability on a given race. If a book is 125% then the bookmaker can expect to make a profit of 20% (25/125) on that race. However, the principle upon which this rests is that the bookmaker can lay each horse in the race for an amount proportional to the amount which they contribute to the overall book. Furthermore, the favourite-longshot bias also dramatically distorts the book percentage.

I will discuss the concepts mentioned above in more detail below but first let us consider the hypothetical situation where the bookmakers aim is not to make profit but rather to provide a service. Consider a five horse race where each horse is deemed to have an equal (20%) chance of winning. In a fair market each horse would be priced at 4/1. If the bookmaker were to accept a bet on the horses’ equal in value to their book percentage, in this case 20% so a bet of €20 per horse, at 4/1 he would have an evenly matched book. He would know that regardless of the outcome of the race he must pay €100 to the holder of the ticket on the winning horse. In this case the bookmaker made zero profit and the betting public as a group also made zero profit.

However, the situation outlined above is unfortunately a hypothetical one. In the real betting world one would expect that one of the horses would be 6/4, maybe another one of them 2/1 and the remaining three horses at 4/1. In this instance the book would be 133%. Again if the bookmaker accepted a bet equal in value to the respective horse’s contribution to the book percentage he would accept a bet of €40 on the 6/4 shot, €33.33 on the 2/1 shot and €20 on each of the 4/1 shots. The bookmaker has a maximum liability of €100 but has generated turnover of €133.33. Irrespective of the result of the race the bookmaker has generated profit of €33.33 on his turnover.

It’s easy right? I’m afraid not! As you will see from above the concept of book percentage is dependent on having an evenly matched book. The bookmaker is at the mercy of laying each horse for the amount which they respectively contribute to the overall book. This evenness of match i.e. the ability to lay horses equal to their respective book percentage is in truth never achieved. This results in a bookmaker having an uneven book and in this instance the reported book percentage is no longer a true reflection of the market and reliance upon it as an indicator of the market is ill advised.

Many people, not armed with an understanding of the fundamentals behind the concept of book percentage are too quick to jump to assumptions that a bookmaker is offering poor or even no value in a given market. They look at the reported book percentage and are very quick to use this as a stick with which they beat the bookmakers for offering punters no edge. From the above example it is easy to see that the book percentage is a weak measure. It is balanced upon the concept of evenness of match and it should be easy to understand that this is almost impossible to achieve.

Another reason why the book is not a true reflection of the market is due to the “favourite-longshot bias”. Bookmakers will tell you that they are unable to lay certain horses irrespective of their price – whether that be 20/1 or 100/1. With that in mind, when pricing a horse they err on the side of caution in case a shrewd stable decides to go for a gamble! As people who want to back an outsider are as likely to back it at 14/1 as they are 40/1 the bookmaker will serve to limit his potential liabilities on outsiders without unduly compromising his perspective turnover on a race and offer outsiders at odds shorter than what they perceive to be their true price. In this instance it is important to consider that the punter, armed with more information than the bookmaker, considers the price available to be fair and accepts the available price.

Let us again revisit the earlier example of the 5 horse race and see how the favourite-longshot bias affected the reported book percentage. We saw how the book was 133%; this included the three horses priced at 4/1. Let’s suggest that the real price of these horses should in fact be bigger, say 5/1, 7/1 and 12/1. This would generate a book of 110%.

With the above in mind a punter should be aware that the value prices are often to be found at the front end of the market as these horses odds are not unduly biased. This is why you will see the outsider’s trade much higher on Betfair than on-course. In general Betfair layers price horses and not a book so in order to get a taker at the offered price they need to offer odds which reflect more closely the true odds of the horse, in other words they need to offer unbiased odds.

Hopefully you are beginning to understand that there is far more to bookmaking than setting odds which appear unfavorable to the punter and sitting back to reap the rewards. Successful bookmaking requires skill and judgment. As mentioned above evenness of match is crucial to the use of book percentage as an indicator of bookmaker profitability. Not only will bookmakers fail to have an even book, they will very often have markets in which they have been unable to lay some of the horses.

We will again look at the rather closed example of the five horse race. Lets say that the bookmaker was only successful in finding customers to back three of the five horses. The 6/4, 2/1 and one of the 4/1 shots. Now if the bookmaker lays each horse evenly he has a liability of €100 on turnover of €93 – hardly an ideal situation and in practice more extreme situations are regularly found.

This market behavior is often displayed in large field non handicap races. Take a 25 runner maiden hurdle or a 20 runner flat maiden. If you examine the market in these races you will often see that only the front two or three horses in the market are “wanted” by the punters. This leaves the book in a sorry state and whether or not bookmaker profits on the race is as a result of their judgment call on which one they want to get in the race. Despite a huge reported book percentage of sometimes close to 200% in these races the bookmaker is often running a judgment book and fighting a hard battle against the punters.

To look at a recent example of book percentages lets examine the Nassau Stakes run at Goodwood in which Peeping Fawn defeated Mandesha and Light Shift. This race had eight runners and a reported book percentage of 113%. Market activity centered around the market principles and Oaks first and second of Peeping Fawn and Light Shift, and also on the excellent French filly Mandesha priced at 2/1, 3/1 and 7/2 respectively. Others in the race ranged from 6/1 to 80/1. The book of the first 3 was 76% and all were well supported. This looks like a lose-lose situation for the bookmakers before you even take account of the sneaky each way wagers on the placed runners. As mentioned above this is a real example of where bookmaker judgment is crucial to profit.

Hopefully this article will have served to whet your appetite for an understanding of the bookmaking profession. If nothing else it would pay in general for people to be less hasty in jumping towards conclusions of a lack of value in betting markets. Remember there are two sides to every story and to be able to tell the story properly you need to understand them both!

Fold Equity

2007-08-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

So off I headed to Galway for my annual raceweek pilgrimage, whilst there I decided id sample some of the local poker fare. Now Galway raceweek is like non other. You are guaranteed an influx of gamblers, drinkers, gamblers and some women.

Now you would think that with the collection of people who descend on Galway for this week you would get some heavy poker action! Not so! I visited Galways newest casino The Eglington and within 5 mins of being at the table 2 different blokes had kindly offered to “break my head in” and having asked another if he had a problem I could help him with he asked me if “I knew who he was or who I was dealing with” – I pleasantly told him it wasn’t my business to keep track of his identity and he should seek help for his forgetfulness! I suggested that his mother might have wrote his name on the inside of his boxers and he might be best to check there? Ha ha!! Anyway some people were relocated to other tables and poker playing was resumed.

The casino is a fine spot. There is the usual scattering of hot waitresses from Eastern Europe and drunks alike! The dealers were some familiar faces from Pokerevents events (ç doesn’t that just read lovely?) and whilst they were competent dealers they lacked the assertiveness to control the table when required. At one stage late in the night I was pretty sure we were gonna have some serious fisticuffs between players. One of the offenders mentioned above sparked off again and thought it was acceptable to slap another player on the head and repeatedly tug and pull at his glasses when the player was facing a bet on the river in a decent pot. Having been told he better stop or get a smack the offender again peddled the “do you know who I am line”, “are you having a laugh threatening me?” Now at this point I would expect the dealer/floor staff to take control. Floor staff were not to be found, the dealer burst out laughing as he seemingly found something funny about this assholes actions? This is not good example for a dealer to be setting. Floor staff need to be more visible and dealers need to take more control especially if the casino is to provide drink to already drunk poker players..

Anyway down to the poker, the action is dead. 1/3 with guys buying in for 100. You would think during Galway raceweek that there would be some good action, student night in the Jackpot would serve up better action.

We were down to the last hands of the night and im playing c.500 on the button. Limped around to me and I make it 30 on the button with QQ. I get called in 4 spots.. The flop comes Jd8d3s. The BB who is the only player to cover me open shoves for c.500 into a pot of 150, after a couple of people agonise over folding top pair no kicker it gets to me and I instacall telling him he cant have a hand that beats me that he open shoves for! Sure enough he turns over 9d10d for a monster draw and he hits.

So the guy next to me turns to me as the pot is getting shipped to the other bloke and tells me I read the hand very well and made a brave call! I tell him it’s a simple call given the action. So then he decides to talk strategy to me. “Would you not just fold? You only have 30 invested, so what if your ahead let him have the money in case he hits his draw and wins the pot”, so after telling him I thought that was a weak line he tells me “but you have so much fold equity! You do understand what im saying to you here? Your fold equity is massive, you’ve only 30 in the middle!”…. ah so that’s it I think to myself, I smile and ask him if there are any good books which explain this concept…. nh, wp, gg..

In other news I hear that Liam Flood and Marty Smyth have made the final of the Ladbrokes Poker Million. I look forward to supporting them both in the final later this year and really hope one of them scoop the title.

A little tinkling of Timberlake to remind me of my annual trip to the Galway races…

“She looks like a model, except she got a little more ass”

What a nice elastic band you have!

2007-07-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

I noted on my trip to the WSOP that past winners armed themselves with the precious breacelets when they are playing events. Im not fully sure of the purpose of this? Is it in the style of past captains of a golf club wearing their old captains jacket on the captains prize day? Was it to boast of past glories? Was it to draw attention to themselves? Was it for respect?

On my way home from the Jackpot last Monday night I started recounting to myself of how I witnessed these past winners wearing the bracelets. How could I adapt this to the local scene? Surely there must be some way in which the champions of the modern Dublin game should be set apart and recognised as the greats that they are! What could I do?

I was of course driving home after securing a victory in the most prestigious of events on the Dublin circut and now I was looking for my respect! Victory in the €5 rebuy gamblefest in the Jackpot is restricted for those with the constitution to outwit, outbattle and most importantly outgamble their rivals. I was one of the chosen few.

Curiously I now believe that victory on this chosen night was more significant due to it being the last ever gamblefest in the Jackpot club as we know it! The following night hosted the Jackpot cash league final and this was immediately proceeded with the closeure of the Jackpot club. It is to be rennovated and they are to better utilise the currently wasted space. Ive heard rumours, and let it be stressed now that they are just unconfirmed rumours at this point, that Dukebox is to place a specially engraved brass plate in the new club stating quite clearly that I was the last victor in the Gamblefest pre rennovation. Il have to wait and see.

Rumours are just that! Brass plates are unlikely. I considered wearing an elastic band on my wrist to signify my victory. Of course this would cause problems further down the line. It would take great lengths to explain to folk that it was no ordinary elastic band and in years to come when you talk of a gamblefest the new young'folk will be ignorant and oblivious to the fact that it ever existed. Having arrived home I decided the best way to mark my victory was to post it in the Bad Beat thread on boards - this would ensure that the whole world would understand and hear of my immortality!

On a more serious note my poker post Vegas has continued in the same vein as it did pre vegas and in vegas itself. Friday and Saturday nights in the Sporting Acquarium netted some very tidy proift from the cash games and victory in the above mentioned gamblefest netted €580 for a €25 outlay. This weekend will hopefully lead to more of the same. Im working on building my hours for the Cash Leage in the emporium. Last time around I had close to 100 and ended up doing a 5 way chop for the small end at €2k. Frustratingly on my visit to the Jackpot on Monday night I was to learn that I had 42 hours and was within reaching distance of the required 60! If only I had bothered to check before that. I still dont understand how I had 42 but it appears that I had! I did play there over a couple of weekends as I was making a conscious effort to play there when sober. Im sure Duke and Sarah dont appreciate only seeing me when Im locked so i felt the need to build the brownie points when sober. I await the new club and I am excited about the new tournament structure particularly the monthly €300 game and the 2/5 cash games on a Tuesday night which I will be making an effort to attend.

El Stuntman has been busy attending to the Boards.ie Heads Up Championship. Having defeated Bandanna Boy and Shortstack I fell on the sword of Primewise so good luck to him. I started a book on the outcome of this event. Rather than get into it now I will save it until the comp has been finished to write a comprehensive report on my efforts as a bookmaker.

On a personal note I quit my job today. I was sick of it and rather than sit moaning i decided to just quit! Im probably gonna do a bit of travelling around Eastern Europe, and then source a new job once i get home. Thankfully due to a good years poker im in a position that I could quit and not have to worry.

see you at the tables...

Vegas Nights

2007-07-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

If you are an individual who is positively disposed towards enjoying a drink or two then Vegas provides no shortage of watering holes. During my time there I sampled some pretty nice restaurants and bars alike.

The trip started as it was set to continue. I arrived in Vegas on Monday evening local time and the Tilted Kilt was the destination. Whilst hanging around I get a text from Rob Taylor telling me to "come upstairs to Voodoo" (Remember this folks - Rob text me to meet him in Voodoo, this is relevant to later in this report). Me being new to Vegas and somewhat short in the understanding of what a trip to Voodoo entailed I enlisted the help of a scantily clad cocktail waitress who kindly informed me that Voodoo was "up those stairs". Grand I thought! Slip up to meet Rob and I can pop back down in a while then to meet with DeV and 5StarPool.

Having parted with $20 and been ushered toward an elevator for Voodoo - a fricking Elevator? wtf do i need to take an elevator to this spot for!! Ha ha! How little I knew! At this stage I wasn't armed with the knowledge that Voodoo was a rooftop nightclub in the Rio Hotel. Now this wasnt a rooftop nightclub of the Dicey Rielys variety - oh no! This was on the 51st floor of the Rio and offered a panoramic view across the Vegas Skyline, the elevator ride is excellent and is in a glass fronted elevator that runs at great speed up the side of the Rio. What an introduction to Vegas? A fabulous sight to behold. I recommend that everybody who visits Vegas take in this spot. Anyway having arrived in Voodoo I met with a collection of poker players. Loosecannon, having introduced himself to me, felt it apt that he propose marriage. I declined and armed with a more sober mind than those around me I retreated to the confines of the Kilt after about an hour in Voodoo.

The next event of note was the birthday celebrations of Shortstack. Make my way to the kilt and the first soul I meet is Rob Taylor! "jaysus howya, I didnt know you had arrived, when did you get here?".. I refer readers to the second paragraph above in relation to my Monday night frolics. Ha Ha!! Voodoo was the spot again and a great collection of Poker Players partied the night away. Podium Dancers and copious amounts of Black and White Russians ensured merriness all around. Myself and Niall O'Callaghan decided that "we want one of those things"!! Those things being an awful concoction of drink in a grossly oversized cocktail glass and labeled with the name "witches brew". They seemed like a great idea at the time but I have my doubts!!

I met a Sean Connery lookalike and had my photo taken with him as proof (proof of what you ask? to be honest im not quite sure!). Myself and Nicky Power and others collared Andy Bloch and retreated to the "Room Service" Bar in the Rio. Photos complete with Hat swapping were had by all. I cut no ice in my negotiations for a permanent swap of hats with Andy so I settled for taking his Full Tilt Poker stick on logo thingy. As Nicky Power said the following day "I tell ya boy, that chap have no friends! theres just no way he could stick listening to us talk shite for so long if he had anything better to do"..... How true, on reflection i seem to recall being fully laced with alcohol and telling Andy how important it was to value bet the river in the Sporting Emporium with marginal hands cos "they'll look you up with all sorts"... oh jaysus the things you do when drunk!!

Now progressing nicely in the drinking steaks I got to the stage where i needed no encouragement to go for a gargle. Railing late on Day 1 with others when one of the travelling party gets knocked out. A simple question/statement (you make up your own mind on this one) from him of "sure we'll go to the bar" was enough to lead to an all night session which yet again included Voodoo and late night bonus holdem with a well known poker player taking his tilt stright from the Amazon room in the Rio and applying it directly to the bonus holdem table!! Nights like this were repeated over and over again and some of them included a trip tot he Bowling Bar in the Rio which served as a break from the norm on a couple occasions.

Big C O'Leary was a regular at the bar also and I can tell you he isn't new to poker and his win would not appear to have been of the luckbox variety. He spoke of railing Noel Furlong in 1999 so Holdem isn't a particularly new game to him. I have to say he is a good export from Cork. Full of chat and loved the craic. I ran into him the following day in the Amazon Room and we sat back and chatted for a half hour or so whilst the bubble was being burst in the Main Event. He promises to make his way to Dublin next year for the Irish Open so I would look forward to seeing him then. He seems to be a genuinely nice chap and certainly a guy to whom I would not begrudge further success.

A number of us went for dinner in a place by the name of 9 in the Palms. Plush interior, good steak - good food all around really and an informative sommelier who politely educated us as to the correct serving temperature of Red Wine - for the avoidance of doubt ensure that your Red Wine successfully chills the bollocks out of your wine glass and makes your hands cold!! Fine spot - pity about that frosty tipped jumped up little fucker though. China Grill in Mandalay Bay was another beautiful spot for d'grub (I might be in Vegas but i cant forget how to properly pronounce it). However, my favorite steak in Vegas was in Fix in the Bellagio. It was fabulous! Really good fries, pepper sauce and others sides. Curiously they don't serve onions on the side - no they serve onions and peas in a cheesey/creamy sauce. You will struggle to find a better side order for a steak anywhere!! Trust me - if you go to Vegas get yourself to this joint. As an added bonus the place was littered with cocktail waitresses with added silicone for good measure. The most enjoyable sight for anybody to behold when munching down a quality steak is one of these birds!

I'm looking forward to next year already!!

Vegas 07 - Poker Review

2007-07-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

Financially my poker sessions in Vegas were rewarding. However, I dont want a $ gain to mask some of the many mistakes I made at the tables over there and believe me there were many. I put the limped 10 10 hand i mentioned in another entry on boards and I got a huge response pointing out my errors. A number of people mentioned the hand to me at the bar in the Rio also and told me I played it poorly. As I said to them and as I said at the time - I didnt think I played the hand well. If I did I wouldnt have put it on boards for advice. Im gonna try and string together some more hands from Vegas for analysis over the coming week, similarly I hope to learn from these.

My objective for Vegas this year was to make money and improve my poker game and for it to act as a time of self reflection on my game. I understand that I am a player of limited ability but with that I also feel I am improving at a rate of knots. Two milestones in my poker life thus far have been the IPO in Jan 2007 and the Irish Open in April 2007. After both these event I felt they had improved my game considerably and I had hoped I would continue to improve. I hope that my trip to Vegas will prove to be my third milestone and that my game will continue to improve in a similar fashion after this trip.

My decision to go to Vegas this year was a rather late one. I think it was mid May before I comitted to going and this was sparked by a number of things. Principally my mate John who suggested we go and have the craic and enjoy ourselves for a couple of weeks. The deal was sealed shortly after. Antoher stimulus for me to head to Vegas this year was a conversation I had with Mark Davis in the Sporting Emporium one night at the start of May. He was playing at my table when I felt I was playing considerably well. At the break he came to me and asked if I was going to Vegas and he told me that he was very impressed with my game and he felt Vegas was a place that I could do well for myself. He told me about how his first trip to Vegas was one of the things that improved his game considerably and that I could learn and develop in a similar fashion. Now Id be the first to acknowledge that Mark might not be everybodys idea of a poker genius but you still have to respect his game. At this years World Series he final tabled the $1,500 Omaha and bubbled the $10k Omaha as well as some monster touches in the big Omaha Cash games over there. Hopefully in a few years time I can find myself going deep in a world series event also.

I spent alot of time in Vegas reflecting on my play and after sessions I would discuss hands with others. Talking about tough spots is crucial for anybodys development as a poker palyer and im gonna make a better effort to record hand histories for discussion from future sessions. I noted that Gus Hansen was using a dictaphone to record key hands after they occured. Im not sure if this was for some sort of blog or if it was for the purpose of self reflection. I also noted other players using notebooks to record hands. Im gonna work harder on my game and this will have to involve the discussion of tricky spots.

Participation in the Main Event - this should be Non-Participation in the main event. I never even played 1 satellite for this years main event. Not online and not live when I arrived. This was my first trip to vegas and I didnt want anything to take from my game if I was to play the main event and I felt there would be just too many distractions for me. I didnt want to be in awe of the place and be more concerned with looking around than looking at my cards... Its a $10k event and unless I knew that I was 100% comitted I wasnt gonna give it a go. Drinking, partying, late nights and a general feeling of being overwhelmed by the whole spectacle would have all meant that my AAA game would not be with me going to the table of the main event. With that in mind I made a conscious decision that I wast gonna try to qualify and I would enjoy myself instead. I did take 3% of both Pat O'Callaghan and Rob Taylor and 1% of Andrew Leonard but my horses all fell at the first ditch. When Rob had near 50k in chips at his first dinner break I though I was gonna be in for a right old time on the rail. Unfortunately not!

I fully intend to play the main event next year. I will be going there well prepared and well rested. My trip pre main event will not involve all night beering sessions and im gonna be going there to do as well as I possibly can and give it a real shot. By the time next year comes around hopefully I will have improved enough as a player to sell %'s in myself. Id much rather stump up $5k and get 50% backing than blow $2k trying to qualify and be in a frustrated state of mind going there if I hadnt already qualified. Im sure some people will read this and laugh at the thought of me being able to get 50% backing in the world series!! Dont worry im laughing at it myself but hey! I need a plan right? There is one born everyday - hopefully I can get a clatter of them around mid May next year and get the required backing.

Looking forward from here I dont know what the rest of 2007 will hold on the poker front, the first half of the year has been a good one so I hope I continue in a similar fashion. I want to give one of the £1k stg Grosvenor events a crack in the UK and I also want to give the Dublin EPM a crack (if it goes ahead). Unless I luckbox my way to a ticket for the Dublin EPT I would expect that I have zero chance of playing it. I also want to continue to develop and work on my game. I also want to continue to work on my Omaha game and hopefully Im gonna get a bit of help from an established player of the game to help me along my way.

I will update my blog over the coming week with further stories from Vegas. I wanted to get the poker one out of the way first!!

"they were sooted"

2007-07-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

"Listen son, I gamble for a living, don't talk to me about stuff you don't understand"

I burst into laughter and told him that he was lucky he doesn't play poker for a living or he would be broke long ago. I continued to laugh for some time as did another guy on the table who also understood. The scenario? $2/$5 in the Rio and after some fucktard raises from LP his "buddy" in the SB folds AQ face up saying you probably have me. LP guy shows AcJc - and the SB tells him "wow you were actually a 2/1 dog".... Anyway after a series of of I know everything lines the LP fucktard told the table that he was actually a 46% shot to win the hand and the AQ was 54%... Oh yes!! Wait for it!!! He said the golden line "they were sooted"..... I asked him if he would like to get a dealer and a deck of cards and run it 20 times at those odds for a few thousand dollars? Unfortunately for me he didn't want to take my money. Bad beat...

Anyway back to the poker - I literally blinded my way through $300 yesterday evening. A couple of other short session and i won $100 in those on aggregate. Poker is off the agenda now I dont expect il play again until the charity tournament in the Sporting Emporium for Handbags and Gladrags.

Ive spent a lot of time over the last few days railing the main event. As I write Sylvie is the last Irishman standing. Fingers crossed he goes further. I have to say Donnacha O'Dea is an absolute professional. I don't think he say the upside of 200k in chips since the start of the tournament and yet cashed impressively deep. It didn't matter how short he was, he picked his spots well, grinded away and finally when his A5 was no match for 77 he was most graceful in defeat. He has seen it all before, he has been here, bought the T-Shirt and even took home some jewelry one year. He is a model card player and younger players (myself included) should take note of the way he conducts himself in victory and defeat. Ive never watched him play up close before but I can only say I have nothing but great respect for the man having watched him over the previous days.

over and out from Vegas - I will write a comprehensive report next week when I get a chance.

Closing Vegas Poker Total +$6,726.

Set over set makes Baby Jesus cry

2007-07-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

Played a 2/5 session last night for about 90 mins as the table was dry and I was tired so i decided on an early night. Won $225 after a bad start when my KK was no good against QQ.

Down this afternoon and dropped $1,400 in a 2/5 game. The bulk of it going in a hand where a flopped set of 8's was no good against a flopped set of A's....... JJ was no good against QQ on a7 high board for a few hundred more and then AK failed to hit on QQ for the remainder.

Minor setback - il have it back before I hit the bed tonight....

Running total +$6,926

Amarillo Slim

2007-07-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

"Son, you, your a good one, well played"

Since my earlier post i did go for d'grub (yet another bacon cheese burger and fries in that place in the Rio). Anyway hit the poker room and there is one seat available in the $5/$10 game so in a sit. I take a look around and there is Amarillo Slim big blind to my button. Here I am playing poker with one of the genuine legends of the game. The table is a good bit of craic as Slim regales the table with yarns and stories from the days when poker was played in the saddle across the outposts and small towns across the desert. He is getting on in years but that hasn't taken anything from his coherence. He was a wily old fox and from what i can remember never lost a hand at showdown and ultimately left the game a big winner. He knew where he was in all his hands and was definitely one of the more interesting players ive ben seated at a table with. Too my immediate right is a yee haw texan who is definitely good for the game, also on the table is a very nice guy from Glasgow who later introduces himself as Willie Haughey a director of Celtic FC. An interesting table all around.

Anyway down to business - had a killer session reaping $2,625 clean profit thanks in no small part to a few key hands that went as follows.

#1 I pick up 22 on the button and after a number of limpers I check my option. The flop comes a beautiful Q 3 2 rainbow. If ever there appears to be a flop where you can relax and slow play your set a little then this is it. Guy in first position bets out 35 and is called in every spot including by myself. Turn is a 9 and brings with it the back door flush draw. Its check to MP who bets 100, to my delight the Texan announces in his best accent "I gotta raise it this time around" and he makes it 600. Im playing c.1,100 from the start of the hand and declare that im all in. I get called by the initial MP bettor who is playing c400, and then by the Texan who has me covered. River is a blank and i scoop a monster pot.

#2 One orbit later I pick up 10 10 on the button and after a couple of limpers I limp also. Im not sure about the limp here with my holding but i felt making it 60/70 or so was futile as they were calling extremely light pre flop. By calling I disguise the strength of my hand and leave myslef with the opportunity to scoop a big one if I get the right flop. 6 people see a flop of Jd10d2c. Bingo!! Its checked to me and I make it 60. I get called in 3 spots! The turn is the 9h which completes the straight draws if they are out there. Its checked to me again and I check behind also. I need to trade off the need to keep the pot manageable with the possibility of allowing anybody on Diamonds to get there without charging them. Im not sure if the check behind here is the best line or not. River is a brick and again its checked to me. Ive been talking a little in the hand and before the hand and tell them that I think I might be ahead and need to put in a little value bet of $125. I want to make it cheap enough that people will pay me off. Immediately the SB goes all in for $700 or so? WTF? Its folded to me and i figure im good here more than im not as a turned straight would not or should not play the turn or river so passively. I call and he instantly mucks. I scoop another juicy pot!!

Not long afterwards Slim tells us he has to leave for a dinner appointment. He shook all our hands and wished us well. His parting line to me "Son, you, your a good one, well played".

All in all I continue to be happy with my play. Ive a couple of spots in the 10 10 hand that im not sure about and il put the hand on boards.ie for some opinions.

Poker running total...... +$8,131.

Blah blah, hungover sick quick update....

2007-07-10T15:01:00.001-07:00

Ive been without Internet access for the past few days so updating this thing had to be put on the back burner. Im connected to d'interweb again so il post a quick few lines.

Plenty going on since the last post over here. Shortstacks birthday ranking among one of many great nights out. Photos to come as soon as im arsed to bluetooth them from my phone to d'laptop.

Anyway onto the important thing.. Poker.. Played a good few sessions over the last week as follows...

#1 Two and a half hour session of 2/5he resulted a net profit of $285 - nothing interesting to report.

#2 A two hour 2/5 PLO session resulted in a loss of $500 the final hand of AAxxds was no good against Js10s9d7s for $300 preflop - yes $300 preflop. The As on the river gives him the flush...

#3 A really tough 5/10 session which lasted about 5 hours. I was in a considerable amount of prfit until a little incident with AA (ahem). One key hand involved me flopping bottom set on an ugly board but mhwg. Despite the setback with AA i logged a $200 profit for the session. Disappointing really considering the size of the AA pot (7 high board).

#4 A two hour long 2/5he session logged a $1,000 profit. Nothing major to report other than a table of poor players which I feel i destroyed. I felt I adapted to the table very well and pwned the mofos - really happy with my session.

#5 Another 2/5 session with a profit of $1,008 to be exact - cant remember anything about the session really - Good starting hands winning unspectacular pots.

#6 Set over Set and firing two barrels at a player lead to a loss of $800 in this 2/5 session. I was winning $800 in this session at one stage when i got involved in a massive pot with top and bottom against a guy with an up and down straight draw and a flush draw. If I win that pot i bank a major session, not to mention the set over set hand.

#7 A breakfast session of $5/10 in the Bellagio nets $1,080 followed by an evening session in the Rio netting $965.

Thats it up to this morning.. Im ready to get food and hit the tables again for two more sessions today. Overall im pretty happy with my play. I feel i am adapting to table conditions very well and playing good agressive poker overall. Hopefully it will continue.

Runnig total..... + $5,506.

"Oh your from Maryland?"

2007-07-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

Having first been asked if i was from California (?) i retorted that I was from Ireland. Apparently im a ringer for a Yank and she thought i was from Maryland. It must be my dark complection and sallow skin (",). When your staying in the Bellagio its best not to let the experience pass you by. $165 and 1hour later im after being on the receiving end of of an executive mens facial in the Bellagio Spa. The above snippet was the intro from my "technician" - you got to love the yanks!! Meh i dont know was the $165 worth it - a good hot sink of water and a bar of soap would do the same.

Anyway back to the poker. After yesterdays early morning session i hit for the Poker Room again yesterday evening @ c.6pm. $2/5 was the order of the day and i had another winning session of +$435. I couldn't catch any hands and my wins came from firing 3 barrels against a terrible player (more on her later - she cracked my AA) - I was semibluffing the first 2 streets figured her for a missed draw at the end and I fired again, thankfully she folded and a bit of heavy preflop poker when i got some cute bird to lay down QQ and i picked up c.$200 without seeing a flop. I had AsKs and was willing to go to war - she didnt oblige. I finished up this session after c.3hours.

Now if some people thought my early morning performance from yesterday had all the hallmarks of absolute degeneracy then this morning session will go down a treat! I wake at c.4.40am when John, my roommate, returned back from his long poker session - I decide that now would be a good time to play poker! Shower, shave and im sitting at the poker table at c.5.45am. Play straight through until midday and it was a very tough session. It was $2/5 again and i dropped my first $500 buyin when my flopped top set was no match for another guy who hit his middle pin on the turn after the majority of the cash went in on the flop. Reload and after an incident with JJ v QQ im down another couple of hundred dollars. Pick my spots well and i get back up to the 1k mark after a few hours. Moved between 800 and 1200 for a number of hours and just couldnt catch any momentum. Flopped nut flush no good against runner runner full house after plenty of action on all streets. It seemed like i was destined to chop out on this session and finally finished down $192. Not bad considering some of the setbacks i had.

The afternoon included a trip to the spa and a trip to the Bellagio Buffet - all you can eat for $30. Absolute shit so it was. Terrible food, bad value - id much rather McDonalds. Anyone hitting this way then avoid this buffet.

Back to the cardroom for an evening session which ive just recently finished. $5/10 was the game this time and after 3 hours i finished up $885. One very interesting hand involved me flopping bottom set on a seriously coordinated board which got much worse for me on the turn. Il stick it up on boards for opinions and link it to here at some stage.

Back to the terrible player i mentioned above - lets just say she would be well at home in the Sporting Acquarium. She wont fold preflop. If she catches any of the flop she calls you until the river at which point she will re evaluate the strength of her hand and decide on a plan of action. One hand from this morning she called big barrels from me on two streets on a Q high board - her with Q3 me with KQ and she rivers a 3 - top pair is da nutz. Herself and the Chief would have some interesting offspring. She dropped $4k yesterday on the 2/5 table and this was after she won a multiway pot of c. 2700 during the session. I couldn't catch a break against her - she cracked my AA (well i folded but im all but certain i was goosed). Jeez if i could just hit id have got the sweep from her!

On to other sites around here. The Bellagio reception and Casino is like walking down Grafton St on the busiest Saturday afternoon of the year - packed. The women out here are either 25stone or absolutely beautiful. Generally speaking there are more hotties per square yard out here than anywhere ive been before - and I do include Coppers in this statement!

The poker room in the Bellagio is sectioned into 3 - Plebs, High Limits and Bobbys Room. Ivey, Hansen, Townsend, and a host of other players whose names escape me have been sitting just the other side of the sliding doors from me. Next year I tell ya!! (thinking of bringing a proposal to Dermot Desmond or someone similar for backing - it would make an interesting alternative hedge fund investment! Who would like to write the prospectus?) Lots of limit games and mixed games going on out here. TJ Cloutier was playing 300/600 limit stud. Plenty of good players on the tables ive been playing but also plenty of donks. Waiting lists are not bad in the Bellagio - maybe 30mins at the absolute outside depending on what game your after. I think il be playing the majority of my poker here over the coming week.

Anyway thats it for now. Il report again shortly. Running poker total => + $2,268. Long may it continue!!

Vegas Baby!!

2007-07-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

Vegas what a spot? The heat, the scenes, the craic!

Arrived yesterday evening after nearly 24 hours on the go. Missed the connection from LAX to LV so when myself, my mate John who is with me on the trip and DeVore arrived at the check in desk at 4.25 for the 4.45 connection the girl behind the desk and smiled. "Sir you are too late" - Damn i thought - this is the first bad beat of the trip. "I will put you on the 6pm flight" she tells me, thats great i think and im waiting for her to finish a sentence which to my surprise she still hasnt started! I waiting for her to tell me it will cost me the price of a kidney on the black market to get on the next flight - she stays silent and gives me my ticket... No surcharge? Damn - have these guys heard of Ryanair? They dont know what there missing out on...

Anyway my first port of call was the Bellagio - what a spot! Beautiful hotel, great rooms, so many facilities. Quick change and its destination Tilted Kilt to meet DeV and 5Starpool. Change of plan for myself and John as when we arrive I get a txt from Rob Taylor telling me to head for Voodoo. Now if youve never been to Voodoo it brings a whole new meaning to a rooftop party! $20 and an elevator ride to the 51st floor in the Rio and you see some absolutely magnificent scenes. A panoramic view of Vegas - for somebody whos never been to Vegas before im kinda in awe. Meet with a few other Irish guys up there aswell, swig back a few beers, retire to the Tilted Kilt momentarily before hitting the leaba c.1am.. Absolutely shattered...

Breakfast time!! Wake at 8am and as im feeling kinda fresh i decide the best option available to me for breakfast is the Bellagio Poker room!! Ha ha im a sick degen!! 8am and im thinking of poker!! Anyway make my way into a 2/5$ game with a couple of drunks hanging on from the night before and a few people of the more sober variety. "you lucky irish" becomes a common sound at the table as i scoop a few massive pots and 4 or so hours later im finishing my first poker session in Vegas +$1,140. A few notable pots which included busting AA with AK, and getting a guy to lay down QQ face up on a 10 high board when he was ahead - i think i played the hand well though? Not a bad first morings work i feel - hopefully i can keep it up.

Hit for the Rio and walk around for a while. Take a look at the final table of the $10kplo, watch some of the $1k (with rebuys) nlhe, watch some limit shootout. Bah not a lot to see really. Decide a trip to the Venetian sounds like a plan and i take in the sights there - the place is surreal! The sights around the canal are class. The decor is amazing.

Back to the Bellagio now for a kip before attacking the tables again later. Il throw a few photos up here when i get a chance. Il also do something about the layout of this blog! Its clearly a work in progress!!