December 2008 Archives

Roy Wood may have made a few quid pretending he wished it was Christmas every day, but even thirty years ago that looked like a bluff to me! Celebrating Christmas once every five years would be more than enough for me, New Year's Eve on the other hand is a totally different story, I've come to love it since we began spending the celebrations in Galway.

Things are just starting to get back to normal after all the excitement of the Poker Million final. I've had a great couple of weeks since I last posted, taking it as easy as possible. I've probably spent more time at home over the last couple of weeks than I did during the last 3 months, although I still found time to play a couple of small charity tournaments in the jackpot club in Dublin and in Rose's bar in Creeslough, Donegal.

Congratulations to stowjon on winning last week's caption competition.

For your chance to win €25 and have it deposited into your Boylepoker.com account*, just leave a comment.

After the semi final was over the main feeling I had was not one of excitement for the final, but of relief that I hadn't busted out in the semi final. I know even making the semi final of an event such as the Poker Million is an achievement in itself, but that still wouldn't have made me feel any better about things if I hadn't got through, and I feel very fortunate indeed that I haven't had to deal with the feeling of busting in a semi final yet.

As you can imagine, there was plenty of celebration after the semi final. A few more friends had arrived from home and when I got back from the studios they were already four or five pints ahead of me. I did my best to catch up. We just hung around the hotel bar for the rest of the night and it was a great night's craic.

Congratulations to Thedestroyer on winning last week's caption competition.

For your chance to win €25 and have it deposited into your Boylepoker.com account*, just leave a comment.

I was awake earlier than expected on Friday, I wasn't sure at first why I couldn't sleep and then it dawned on me why I had so much adrenaline pumping through my veins, the Poker Million final. It's not difficult to explain, every Marty victory catapults both his name and ours into the poker player's consciousness, and that's a good thing.

A veritable lifetime ago young Ciaran and I were in London on a business trip, which also allowed us to attend Marty's heat in the 2008 Poker Million. Neither of us had attended a Matchroom televised event before so we were excited; the fact that our star man was in action as well just added to the magic.

I think people might believe that I was lying, or maybe just trying to be modest when I said before my semi that I really didn't expect to get through to the final, but that honestly was the case. It's not that I felt out of my depth or anything, but I knew that it was a tough heat, and with only the top three players qualifying out of eight, I reckoned my chances of progressing were only about 40% or so.

Several eyebrows were raised when I was asked to captain and select an Irish team to take part in this year's Poker Nation's Cup. I think the reason I was chosen as captain was so that the captain wouldn't have to worry about me! Several more eyebrows were raised when I named my team.

We've all been there. It's time to make a move. Unfortunately, we're dealing with a bunch of customers about whom we know somewhere between very little and nothing. But before we pile in there are a few clues as to who we should select as our victim. Nationality, age, sex, choice of clothing, body language, and bits and pieces of chat may sometimes be misleading. But in a crisis it may be all you've got, so you've just got to go with it for better or for worse.

Congratulations to stowjon on winning last week's caption competition.

For your chance to win €25 and have it deposited into your Boylepoker.com account*, just leave a comment.

You'll all be pleased to hear that Boylepoker.com sponsored player Marty Smyth has reached the final of the Poker Million VII. After a gruelling semi-final yesterday Marty booked his place in the final of the Poker Million for the third year running. The tournament will be shown on Sky Sports 3 at 7pm tonight, Friday December 12th.

This is the third year that Marty has made it this far, with a sixth place finish in 2006 and a second place finish in 2007. This year Marty hopes to top that and take down the title along with the $1,000,000 first prize.

Click here for a detailed view of Marty's results history.

Boylepoker and Boylesports would like to wish Marty and all the Irish players the best of luck at the Poker Million VII final.

Congratulations to Marty Smyth on his two nominations for European Poker Awards. Marty has been nominated under both the "Player of the Year" and "Tournament Performance of the Year" categories. Winners will be announced on January 15^th, 2009.

Good luck Marty!

Congratulations to 80smcb on winning last week's caption competition.

For your chance to win €25 and have it deposited into your Boylepoker.com account*, just leave a comment.

I've had quite an uneventful couple of weeks since Poland. I've been playing a lot of cash and some sit and go tournaments online. I'm ahead a little bit for the month after having about nine small winning sessions and wiping most of it out in one large losing one (a pattern which is becoming a bit too familiar for my liking).

Boylepoker.com sponsored pro Padraig Parkinson is a regular contributor to www.cardplayer.com. You can now read his Card Player articles on our poker blog as well.

I met Frank Cruess Callaghan in Gare du Nord early on Friday morning on my way to London to play the GUKPT main event. I wasn't surprised he was going to London but I thought he'd fly as he has more air miles than Biggles. Luckily, we were in carriages at opposites end of the train, because much as I like Frank, poker stories where the flop, the turn, the positioning of the button and the size of chip stacks are liable to change several times are best listened to much later in the day or preferably not at all.