June 2009 Archives

Last month I won a percentage of John O'Shea in the ECOOP PLO Hi-Lo. John won the tournament and I was given a handy $1,250. With that I bought into an ECOOP and came 5th!

I was in two minds about what to do with the 12k dollars after I won it. Should I leave it on and begin to build a very healthy account at a much faster rate than if I had a small account? Or should I cancel the risk of losing such a large amount of money that could considerably benefit my life?

My interview with Jesse and Matt on the Poker Show is now online, go to The Poker Show Archives, Show 20 Part 4, starting around 19:20. It was a fun interview to do because it was live and unedited so I could say some stuff that would usually be edited out in for example a TV format, so I was able to say that 10-handed live NL tournaments suck, and so on.

Meanwhile massive congrats to JP Kelly who scooped a bracelet in the $1500 PL. I remember JP turning up at Luton aged 18 and just tearing the tournaments up from Day 1, really pleased to see him take this one down!

Mike Sexton was at a table near mine in the PLO Hi-Lo the other day, so I dropped over to say hello. I asked him if he could really believe that there were nearly 800 runners in this event. He said that people have been playing for a month now and nearly everyone is broke, so it's not the game that matters anymore, it's the size of the buy-in. If it's 1500, everyone is in, if it's more than that, they're not.

Well it has obviously been a long time since my last blog, which was just after I completed my multiplier challenge. Since then I can honestly say I haven't been playing too much for a variety of reasons.

As the World Series of Poker main event approaches and John Kabbaj lifts the pot-limit hold'em world championship, The Poker Show talks to some of the UK's hottest prospects in 'The Big One'.

This week The Poker Show gears up for 'The Big One' -- the World Series of Poker main event. Presenters Jesse May and Matt Broughton will catch up with a host of British hopefuls including recent pot-limit hold'em bracelet winner John Kabbaj, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Ian Frazer, serial staker Neil Channing, and comedian and 'triple crown' victor Roland De Wolfe.

Well, I played the $2.5k limit Hi-Lo. I made five hands of day 2 before exiting after another 9 hour slog and no pay day. God I hate limit and will not be playing another limit tournament.

A guy just out of dealer's school in Las Vegas a few years ago sent his resume to Binion's. It went something like:

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

"Introducing Boylepoker's latest sponsored pro, the world-famous Bubbles"

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

Well, I busted from the $10k PLO in level 8. I played really well and lost a series of flips after working hard to pick up chips. I had a few big names at my table including Tom McEvoy and Chris Ferguson, aka Jesus, whose PLO games were weak. There were 2 useful English players, Nick Persaud and a young kid called David, but both were to my right so my table was ideal. After working hard to get my stack up from 30k to 50k twice I lost flips to get me up to 70kish. Then I lost 2 more and I was gone.

Boylepoker.com go heads up with Ian Frazer.

Music by The Gorgeous Colours.

Not only has it been a decent start to the trip for me personally, but the Boylepoker team as a whole appear to be firing on all cylinders, especially on the PLO front.

I thought I was doing well by cashing in my first tournament of the series, the 5k PLO, but obviously John O'Shea had to out-do me by finishing a few spots higher, although to be honest I think I might have to get used to being upstaged by John with the form that he's in this year. Anyway, neither of us had much time to enjoy it, before Padraig came along and upstaged both of us.

Well I said we need some deep runs from the Boylepoker boys and myself and Marty didn't quite go deep, but we both cashed.

I played so well on day two, it was a pity I just couldn't find one or 2 hands at the crucial time. I got up to 210k at the height of my powers, 500k would have been average at the final table, so a double up would have had me sorted, as I was chipping nice and slowly.

A big Congrats to Boylepoker sponsored pro Padraig Parkinson who cashed in the WOSP $10k PLO event. Padraig just missed the final table, cashing for $42,226. Padraig was eventually knocked out by Russian player Vitaly Lunkin.

Well done Padraig and best of luck in the main event!

It's been an eventful enough first weeks in Vegas and overall I'm fairly happy with the way things have started. Before Vegas, I'd played about 10 tournaments this year with pretty much no success whatsoever.

I know that isn't really a cause for panic, but I have to admit it was quite a big relief when the bubble burst in the 5k PLO event and I recorded my first tournament cash of 2009.

With the World Series of Poker in full swing The Poker Show lines-up bracelet winners and world champions including Chris Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, Issac Haxton, Marty Smyth and the Devilfish.

This week on poker's leading live radio show, The Poker Show, presenters Jesse May and Matt Broughton will be talking to a selection of the world's leading players in Las Vegas. Among those expected to drop in between taking pot shots at bracelets are Chris Ferguson, John Duthie, Daniel Negreanu, Issac Haxton, Marty Smyth, Dan Goldman from the Poker Players Alliance, and Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott.

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

"becareful counterfit €1500 notes in circulation."

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

Congratulations to Marty Smyth and John O'Shea who both cashed in the WSOP $5,000 PLO event. John came 24th in a field of 363 taking away $14,433. Marty came 29th for a repectable $11,433.

Well I arrived in Vegas on Monday 15th late at night. I'm staying at Extended Stay America Apartments, which are a barely a five minute walk from The Rio. For anyone coming to Vegas for the WSOP I'd really recommend this hotel.

They're pretty cheap ($50 a night I think) and I'm really liking the fact that I don't have to walk through a depressing casino floor to get to/from my room. At the moment I'm on my own - which I'm kind of liking, but I think John might be crashing in with me indefinitely tomorrow because Big Mick G got here yesterday and I think he's going to take John's bed. To be fair with a name like 'Big Mick G', you can't be expected to be going around sleeping on couches for too long now can you!

Boylepoker.com go heads up with Roland De Wolfe.

Music by The Gorgeous Colours.

Dan Quale was always good for a laugh. "I have made good judgements in the past. I have made good judgements in the future," is one of my favourites. He did get it right when he said that one lawyer for every 250 Americans was a bit over the top.

It's a couple of years since the lawyers won the main event here, but they are back in action in the side show this year. When you look at the walls in the Amazon room in the Rio, the winners of the main event look right back at you. Not all of them though. Bill Smith is missing. Allegedly the lawyers looking after the 1985 champion's estate don't want his picture there. Not for free anyway. It is said that Mr Smith was drunk when he won his title. He must have been pissed out of his fucking mind when he picked his lawyers.

The last 2 days have been really good for me. Logged in about 15 hours online and won about $20k. In the evenings I put in a short and a medium session live, winning about $2k.

I played the 25/50/100 PLO game in the Rio, it's the 2nd biggest game they have there. While there were some spots of value, I was also going to be pitting my game against some of the top PLO players in the world.

We've just arrived in Vegas for the WSOP. Again we've rented a house for the duration of our stay, which is a little bit away the Strip. Last year was the first time I'd rented a house and I much preferred it to being in a hotel.

Any time I've stayed in a hotel in Vegas there's always one or two nights when I come back ridiculously drunk and end up getting stuck into one of the table games. I suppose with staying in the house there's the problem of coming back ridiculously drunk and having an accident around the swimming pool, but overall I think the dangers of drunken blackjack are much more serious than the dangers of drunken swimming.

I gave Irish Robbie a spin in the tennis on Saturday and lost in the decider, enough said. Headed over to the Bellagio, where I chilled with the O'Deas by the pool before I gave a 25/50 10 Ante NLH game a spin.

With the World Series of Poker in full swing, Roland De Wolfe, Annette Obrestad, and recent bracelet winner Steve Sung drop into The Poker Show while six-time world snooker champion Steve Davis is guest presenting on Monday night

Just busted from the PLO hi lo wsop $5k event literally 20 minutes ago. Lasted into level 6 and exited after roughly 50% of the field. Had just under the starting stack and lost a pot where I was a marginal favourite.

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

"The wait for the WSOP final table is starting to get a bit ridiculous."

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

I rose pretty early, around 6 am, which isn't too bad given the jet lag etc. Paul headed off to grind the game in Rio for a few hours, while I potted online. I won a few k, but Paul did a buy-in at 2/5, despite the game having a few drunks.

His verdict was that he had run badly in a juicy game. We headed to the gym and put in a decent session. I had a bit of shopping to be done and Paul headed back to the Rio for a 2nd very successful session.

The unemployment figures over here look pretty depressing but I think they may be way worse than even the experts think. During the first break of the $2500 Holdem/Omaha tournament, I mentioned to Neil Channing that I strongly suspected that none of the players at my table had a job.

Channing told me that he'd be amazed if any one at his table had worked a day in their lives. There may be a little light at the end of the tunnel and I would strongly suggest that Ben Grundy should be put in charge.

Boylepoker.com go heads up with Donnacha O'Dea.

Music by The Gorgeous Colours.

Well myself and Paul Coyle arrived on time in Las Vegas with no delayed flights or any of that carry on. The first thing that struck me was that the weather in Vegas was unusually mild. I didn't find myself dripping in sweat waiting for a taxi. The taxi driver informed us that it's been like this for the past few days.

In case anyone is on tenterhooks waiting to find out whether I cashed in on the ECOOP $400 PLO, you can relax - I didn't. I had another good run, but fell short in 37th.

The overall standard was a lot less strong than in the $1000 event; I saw more than one player ship the lot in with unimproved AA in the first level or two. I doubled up with two and bottom pair, nut flush draw and an over card vs top two pair - standard Omaha 55-45, I have to mention the over card because that's what got there on the river! I also hit a 12-outer on the river, after getting it in against a disguised set on the turn and reached a high point of 42K chips.

Sorry it has been so long since my last PLO Hand Analysis. I gave a few reasons in my last post as to why I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I should be, but doing blogs on PLO Hand Analysis is harder than the average post.

I've found it hard to find hands that I think are well suited to being broken down; since it is the decision-making process (in both my head and that of my opponent), which I am interested in explaining to you guys. Also Andy Ward's PLO quest has been going on, so I didn't want to intrude since it seems to be a really excellent project for him and any aspiring PLO players.

Last night the Poker Show interviewed three time ECOOP bracelet winner and Boylepoker pro John O'Shea, who has been leaving the poker world dumbfounded with some amazing results over the last week!

To listen to Jesse May and John O'Shea dissect his recent performances CLICK HERE

So it's been about a month since my last post, which ironically was about being professional in poker.

I'm not saying I have taken a month off or anything, but for a variety of reasons I probably haven't played as much as I think I should and I certainly haven't been doing enough blogging.

Well, last time I posted I was off to play the GJP 6 handed tournament in Jury's. Didn't play great and it didn't go great for me: I exited about 5 hours in. I picked up a pretty nasty cold which was threatening to turn into swine flu so I spent most of Saturday in bed. It was my last weekend in Dublin before Vegas so had a night planned out with the lads. I saw that the Omaha ECOOP Event 13 was getting a serious overlay ($40k) so I decided to register for it. If I went deep it would be a good excuse not to go out as I really wanted to get rid of the cold before Vegas.

John "doesalrite" O'Shea takes down $40,500 for winning in his second European Championship of Online Poker IV event; Boylepoker.com hosts bounty tournament this Thursday with 10% of O'Shea's winnings in the upcoming WSOP Omaha event up for grabs.

Last night John O'Shea took down yet another European Championship of Online Poker tournament. John picked up €40,500 and his third ECOOP title when he came first in the $430 PLO tournament last night. In December John won the PLO Hi/Lo event in ECOOP III and last week he successfully defended his title.

Read John's blog about winning last week's PLO Hi/LO here. Check back tomorrow to read his blog detailing last night's win. 

The Poker Show continues to bring you the big names from Vegas as Jesse and Matt catch up with 2008 World Series of Poker main event winner Peter Eastgate, Steve Sung, and Greg Raymer.

Twenty-three-year-old Dane Peter Eastgate became the youngest winner of the WSOP main event last year and this week he'll be talking to The Poker Show's Jesse May about the pressure of defending his title, playing in the Premier League and beating Phil Hellmuth's record.

Another month of giveaways with the best of the bunch being our Champion's League promotion. Basically the promo was a $1 freezeout with the winner receiving an all expenses paid trip for two - including flights, accommodation and two category 1 tickets - to the Champion's League final in Rome.

Emmet O'Leary won the prize and as a Man Utd fan he was very chuffed. I spoke to him upon his return and even though we couldn't fix the result for him, he said he had a fantastic time and even (like our Ciaran) managed to find places to get some booze in a dry city; you'll never beat the Irish!

Watch out for Andy Ward in tomorrow's ECOOP PLO event #13. He'll be playing under the nickname AndrewWard, feel free to cheer him on!

I've been mainly chilling out since I won the ECOOP. Went out on a mad one on Wednesday, which involved a bit of Jackpot Olympics, folded by a good old drunken wrestle with Ross Johnson in preparation for his up coming title challenge with RRB (Rory Rees Brennan).

It's hard to fully judge Ross on this outing, as he got disqualified mid-fight for fish hooking. Pretty hanging yesterday, so I just played the 100 PLO RB ECOOP and unfortunately didn't win it. FML.

I'm off to play the 6 handed tournament which is on in Ballsbridge this weekend and I'm looking forward to it, as I enjoy shorted handed play. I had two decent seized winning rugger bets as well this week. Life is good!

Have ECOOP main event on Sunday, but other than that will be chilling and planning for Vegas.

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

"The ventriliquist at the Boylepoker staff game went down a storm."

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

Okay, so I logged into Boylepoker on Monday to play a quick tourney. I checked to see what was on and spotted a John O'Shea tourny that was starting in 2 mins with roughly 20 people registered. I noticed Chub was in it also, so I thought 'ah sure, I may as well hop in for the laugh', as it was only a $2 Omaha re-buy.

The tourney started and within minutes I was getting my stack in. Hit, hit, hit and I was on roughly 9k chips before I knew it. From chatting to Chub I saw that at his table everyone was pretty much even, so I asked what way he was playing. At that time we exchanged valuable information, he didn't realise it was a re-buy and I didn't realise it was actually Hi-Lo (hahaha).

Boylepoker.com go heads up with Neil Channing.

My WSOP trip got off to a great start, in the airport anyway. The immigration guy was Irish. His mother's family is from Co. Mayo, which coincidentally is where Phil's mother's family comes from, so if he runs bad this year and needs a job, at least he's got some connections.

The guy suggested I should approach Guinness about a sponsorship deal. It would probably be the biggest rakeback deal in history. We headed downtown and as usual, I went to Binion's in search of inspiration, but had to settle for chicken noodle soup instead.

Last week ended pretty poorly and I think I lost about $8k for the week. I played the ECOOP on Friday, performed fairly bad and still felt like I needed some rest so I took the remainder of the weekend off.

Boylepoker.com pro John "doesalrite" O'Shea completed a remarkable double last night, successfully defending his European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP) pot-limit Omaha hi-lo title.

O'Shea's achievement mirrors that of Thang Luu who has just won the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha hi-lo event at the World Series of Poker for the second year in a row.

As you can probably guess by the fact that this post didn't appear first thing on Monday morning, sadly I didn't win the $1000 PLO at the weekend. I had a good crack at it, but busted out in standard PLO 52-48 fashion.

The tournament was incredibly deep to start with, 10k stacks and 10-20 blinds, so moving up to 12k within the first couple of levels was a decent effort. Unfortunately, from there it was a steady drain of death by missed flops and I have to admit, a few loose pre-flop calls when the blinds kicked up to around 75-150.