April 2009 Archives

The Poker Show returned to radio this week and didn't disappoint with a wealth of guests, a world exclusive, some fascinating stories and many hilarious moments.

Boylepoker.com go heads up with Noel Hayes.

Music by The Gorgeous Colours.

It's been a decent grind so far this week. I'm up about $5k from playing 2/4, 5/10 and 10/20. I have been playing much better and the games have been half decent. I'm going to stick at this for the next few days.

I felt pretty low after Dublin, but by the time I got to San Remo I was actually feeling pretty confident about things again. Unfortunately this confidence turned out to be misplaced and again I lasted a little over 3 hours. I said after my shambolic efforts over the Irish Open weekend, that I didn't mind if I didn't do so well in San Remo, so long as I played well and didn't do anything stupid. After my exit I wasn't really sure how I should feel about the way I played.

In this post I'm going to review a PLO hand I played recently on Boylepoker.com and if it goes down well, then I'll keep doing them. I might also do some HU PLO hands or NL Tournament hands.

Well Ulster let us down in rugby betting on Friday night. I should have done best of three with the coin flips before I put the tip up, much better chance of getting those 50/50's right when it's best out of 3.

I had a pretty messy weekend, but it's back to business today. I have cut my online role back and I'm going to play 2/4 plo this week. The games are much softer than 5/10 plus, so it's much easier to regain your confidence. I have cut my bank roll back, as it helps focus me. There's really not much else to report. I will be going hard at the potting until next Saturday, when Leinster take on Munster. Let's hope I can have eaten into some of this $40k down-swing before then. Oh, I will be heading down to the opening of the new card club in Celbridge on Wednesday. I know a few of the guys involved in it and it should be a super night!

After a few months of planning the 'Poker Show' is on the airwaves, it debuts tonight at 20.00.

It is based on the TV show Padraig & Jesse hosted a few years ago, undoubtedly one of the best shows ever produced that had poker as its subject matter. Obviously being hosted by these two it didn't take long for all manner of things to be discussed other than poker, which is probably why I was such a fan.

Well San Remo went pretty awfully. Not cashing in 2 tournaments is not the end of the world and is not what annoyed me, rather my performance in them. It made me realise you can't go from one end of the month to the other not playing any nlhe and then attend an EPT or Irish open and expect to crush a field.

Congratulations to rob on winning last week's caption competition with the following entry:

"Bulgarian ladies shot-put rub down merchant, IVA LOTIONBOY, gets a taste of his own treatment from some over enthusiastic apprentices."

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

Boylepoker.com goes heads up with Matt Broughton.

Music by The Gorgeous Colours.

The Irish Open is alive and well. In these tough times, players will travel to the events where they are best looked after and a good time is guaranteed and the fact that seven hundred turned up in Dublin reflects this. Congratulations to Liam Flood, The Jackpot Club and Paddy Power on making this happen.

As usual, there was a shit lot of dead money around. This year, it was the Boylepoker team. Though that wasn't the fault of the online qualifiers who showed us all up. I had breakfast on day three with Andy Ward whose top 400 finish was an example to us all. Ciaran O'Leary had told me that the numbers in the Bellagio were way down this year and Andy explained that The Camel and several others weren't actually in the Bellagio but were in their rooms banging away in the something coop.

We started Sunday off with another round of golf between the three of us but this time Marty, not Nicky, did the handicaps. Marty won on the 16th. Along the way we were joined by Andy Ward, Ian Frazer, Paul Marrow, Ciaran O'Leary and Warren Lush. We really didn't deserve a gallery the way we were playing. The most surprising and most welcome visitor was the sun, in fact we all got sunburned, another 100-1 shot in the winner's enclosure.

I played the 1500 side event but turned up a little late as the hotel had to give me 38 different key cards before admitting defeat and getting a locksmith to let me in. When I did make my table I was genuinely chuffed to find Dan Harrington on my left, I knew I would be outplayed on the blinds but in return I would be getting a close up lesson on things not just poker from one of the most respected voices in our world and I'm glad to say I wasn't wrong.

I'm rarely optimistic about the chances of our players doing well, not because I doubt their talent, but because I tend to plan for the worst and anything better than that is a nice surprise.

This year's Irish Open was an exception. When I listed and priced the runners for the main event it dawned on me that one of our players had a real shot of going deep as we had so many talented players in the event. As it was, we had one man standing on the Sunday, most having been knocked out on day one; it didn't make the event any less enjoyable though.

I am not referring to Peter Murphy's law, that one shall multiply everything. Rather, the one that says if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. I did $30k online last week. Sh1t one mate. Made about $3k on sports bets, but all in all a disaster of a week.

San Remo has been fairly in bits. Our villa isn't a two bed villa, rather a one room box. Not good when you're trying to fit five lads in. It has rained every day since we arrived and the tourney has been a load of horse piss.

By the sounds of it I was pretty close to being Boylepoker's standout performer in the Irish Open... I made Day 2. Only for about an hour mind you, when I re-jammed on a late position raiser with Q6s. He made a good call with A9 and somehow I didn't get there. WTF? I always get there on the internet. Live poker is rigged!

The Irish Open's over for another year, and as usual it was a great weekend with a great atmosphere. Unfortunately, from a personal point of view it was one of the most depressing weekends of my life in terms of poker, not just because of my own performance, but also because no one I know got much of a run either. I swapped percentages with and backed about 10 people in total and as far as I'm aware none of them made the second day.

I had no success grinding my losses back and as it stands I'm doing $13k for the week. I'm not playing great and some of the games aren't great at the mo either. So I'm delighted to be going to San Remo tomorrow.

Congratulations to Charliebucket on winning last week's caption competition with the following entry:

"martys having second taughts about future last longest side bets with Padraig Parkinson as the suppository starts 2 kick in"

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

Boylepoker.com goes heads up with Brucepoker's Nicky Power.

Music by The Gorgeous Colours.

I played the Irish Open at the weekend. Lasted seven hours until my QQ ran into KK. Never got going really. I pulled a move early on and got caught, then nursed a small stack but alas, it wasn't to be.

Played the $500 and $5k PLO SCOOP on Saturday evening and cashed in both. I came 10th in the $5k event, I was second with 10 left but pulled a big move that ran into a set and ended up in 10th. Got $17.5k for my troubles but was very disappointed.

Hey there. Well as we said last year after the Irish Open - there's always next year. It was a disgusting performance from more or less everyone I know. I don't think anyone I know made it even close to day two.

As far as my tournament went, I got a semi-tough table, with Channing to my immediate left of course. He seemed determined to ruin my day by either calling or reraising every time I entered a pot. For this reason, I just decided to rock it up and play honestly. My patience was rewarded at the 200-400 level where I was able to get my 15k in preflop with AA vs. QQ. I was drawing fully dead by the turn, HORSEPISS.

Congratulations to Conor on winning last week's caption competition with the following entry:

Is tha blue tack on the wall in background??? If so, the red bull gave the poster wings!

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

I have never been a religious man. To me, Easter never held any other significance than a couple of weeks off school when I was younger, and then later in life maybe a long weekend on the beer. Now of course easter is about one thing - The Irish Open (although obviously that also entails a long weekend on the beer).

Boylepoker.com goes heads up with Irish poker pro Flipper Walsh.

Music by The Gorgeous Colours.

Firstly I have to congratulate my good friend Eoghan O'Dea for yet another deep run in a big buy-in online tournament. He finished 5th in the SCOOP $3k event for $156k after winning the ECOOP main event and coming 2nd in the Pokermillion (even though this isn't a tournament and it has a worse structure than a $5 Sit 'n' Go).

For the past few days I've just been chilling and trying to sort out a few things. I had a lot of money owed in and owed out, so it was just a matter of balancing the accounts.

We just discovered a brand new concept at Xtranormal.com which allows you to make your own movies by creating the script and characters. So we thought this would a perfect vehicle to allow us recreate all those special poker memories, which can viewed timed and again. We sent Ciaran off to create a movie, which recaptured a wonderful poker memory in his life and here's what he came back with!

When one of the English tabloid newspaper's market share began to fall, they responded aggressively by appointing a new editor to liven things up. He began by ruthlessly firing several of the staff who he thought had gotten a bit stale. He wasn't without a sense of humour though, so when he decided the astrologer had to go he fired him in a letter that began, "As you will already know..."

I'm still down in Galway at the moment. Played the Satty on Friday night and did alright, but eventually ran my KK into Fintan Gavin's AQ and I was out. It wouldn't be like us to head over the Shannon and not come home with something, so Chub scooped a package!

On Thursday, I played the same tourneys again which didn't go to well. I never really got a run in any of them, but on the plus side, I was starting to run good in the cash games so I stuck to the $1-$2 games. I had a very profitable day and was stacking people left, right and centre.

Irish poker and heart have often been mentioned in the same sentence, and rightly so. But heart is about more than shipping the tank in with air. It's about putting your hand in your pocket when it may not be full to help out those for whom a poker bad beat story would be a luxury. It was no surprise then that the Jackpot Club's March Madness weekend, sponsored by Boylepoker.com, got great support and explains why it was so much fun.

Did my driving test yesterday. Obv failed. Things went down hill asap when I parked in a clamping spot. Walked out with the driving instructor. Sticker on window. I am full sure I am clamped but it was only a warning.

Congratulations to marc on winning last week's caption competition with the following entry:

the old how many fingers i holding up trick, proves Jessie had too much of the black stuff

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

What a month March was for the poker team, more on that success story later.

iPoker decided that what the network players needed was a huge tournament with a guarantee of $2.5 million. This must seem like a great idea, especially if you don't have to pay for any overlay, sadly we as one of their cardrooms do.

Boylepoker.com goes heads up with Eddie Hearn.

Music by The Gorgeous Colours.

On Tuesday I played some $1-$2 cash whilst using table selection to find the best tables and again playing between four and six. This was going ok and I managed to find a few guys who were more than happy to donate to my struggle. I decided that I would play three tournaments in the evening and I selected the $25k $10 rebuy, the $50 $7.5k deepstack and the $30 $7.5k deepstack.

I never really got going in the rebuy tournament but the cash games where going ok, even though I had cut my tables down and was only playing in the good value ones. There was near $1k overlay in both the deepstacks and I like these structures as their is lots of play at every stage of the tournament.

I slapped $3k into my Boyles account on Monday and started playing PLO. Reesy had played 2/4 a few weeks ago as he was taking a semi week off and scooped $10k (if he could take $10k - I should be good for $15k).

I started by playing some of the 2/4 names hu. After kicking them around they sat out one by one but not before I had taken about $2k off them. Into the 2/4 ring games I went where I picked up another $5k. I finished the day off playing some 5/10 where I got $3k to give me a $10k winning day. I did feel kind of sorry for the lads at 2/4, really was men against boys stuff. I also put in a live session in the middle where I picked up €600.

...But if they did it, they would have next to no interest in my good self.

How's things degens? As always I shall start this post saying "Ah ye it's been a while and I'm going to try to update more often in the future etc etc". I genuinely am this time, since there's a fair bit going on recently and lots of stuff coming up.