This No Limit Hold'em Freezeout tourney will take place on March 25th at 8pm.
For more details, check out our Cheltenham €2,500 Freeroll page.
]]>I've already lined up a good few sessions, as well as a few nice tourneys. I won a ticket to the ECPT in Barcelona on the March 19th. There's a good crowd going over, so hopefully we can get the tournament out of the way asap and get partyin' in Barca.
The Irish Open is just around the corner too, I really can't wait for it. Such a great tournament and they've added a much better PLO event as well, so it should be a great weekend of poker. I had a deep run in this the year before last, when I finished agonisingly close to a big score in 13th, so hopefully I can get another run at her. After the WSOP main event, it really is the one I and every other Irishman wants!!!
Not much else to report, the Boylepoker Irish Poker Boards Heads Up league started this week. Took on the irrepressible Nicky Power in my first round and he won out in a good battle I must say.
I then went on to tackle Nelius Foley (Line Us), we were chatting before and saying that all I play is PLO really and that he's only learning, the genius then suggested that we make one of 'em PLO. I of course agreed as he was giving up his nice edge in the hold'em. But sure it's mostly for a bit of craic, but I'm still not gonna turn down edges!!
Planned on taking it handy on the beer last weekend, because I've got a lot of drinking planned for when I go home. I have my graduation on Thursday and my class are basically a group of alcos, so should be a good night. Anyway, I managed to not go out on the Friday, wp you might think I've avoided the doubler. But oh no, someone suggests we'll have a few on the Sunday. The first round in the pub was shots of Jameson and double vodka and red bull, gg quiet weekend.
]]>What I need to do is find it in myself to say, "Thanks for letting me know you have a monster when you get all the money if you play it normally - fold". If someone really is making these plays without the goods, then it doesn't take long for this to become obvious - often before you've even got involved with them yourself. It's definitely best to give them credit the first time and make a note. I think it was Goldfinger who said, "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action". Not a bad metric to use.
Anyway, until I can master the tilt-tasticness I'm going to cut down to 6 tables. Pruning out the three tables, I know I have lowest expectation in anyway doesn't cost much. I'm also going to try to avoid the type of game that I know tilts me more, including heads up tournaments and super satellites. I don't play a lot of supers but I did try an Irish Open satellite on Boylepoker last night which I managed to bubble. I still picked up E2100, so it wasn't all bad but I was really kicking myself afterwards because at least twice I had a big enough stack to switch off, go to bed and still win the seat for sure.
Once again I found myself railing at the other players (at the time), when I only had myself to blame really. Still, maybe if I kicked myself as hard all the times that I donk out of a regular tournament when someone is shouting, "big hand! I have a big hand here!" at the top of their voice - I might stop doing that too.
Despite all that I'm $10K up this month ($40K in $50K out). $40K is great volume in basically three weeks, as it happens that's about it for February as I'm very busy this week and then off on holiday for a week from Saturday, but it's all good.
]]>All was not lost, as I swapped 10% with Noel Hayes, who has been on a good run in PLO tourneys of late. He won a ticket in the super sat and then went on to finish 2nd in the main for just under €7k, so I got a little chicken.
Came home for a night out in Dublin on Saturday and woke up to loads of missed calls from Noel, who was wondering where his car keys were. They were in my golf uuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Just before I was about to embark on a long drive to Galway, my Mum suggested that I send the keys back with somebody on the train. Headed in to the train station, did a quick profile of the passengers and decided to give them to a pregnant women - with the threat that if the keys didn't arrive safely, then neither would her unborn! It seem to do the trick, as Noel got his keys.
I'm planning on getting back to the grind this week, after 10 days of messing about.
]]>"Well Paul did say he was only having one more beer..."
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]]>So, I've basically been nipping in and out of 25/50 and 50/100 PLO games for the last five days or so - to get the fix. This involves playing about one hour and winning or losing 2/3 buy-ins.
I was going grand and was ahead about $30k till last night when I dropped $35k. Lost a $20k and $40k flip (I was slightly handicapped being 42.5% and 40% in the "flips"), ran them twice and lost all four pots.
The $40k one was well sick, as I hit the front on the turn both times and had him drawing slim. Anyway, not to worry, was due a little run like that.
Off to Galway tomorrow for the Irish Omaha Championship, really looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll play the super sat and the main. The super sat should generate a lot of tickets as a result of the structure. Always a bit of an unknown when its the first time out for any event and they expect about 50 runners, which will make for a decent prize pool.
Been easing myself back into the gym as the last 10 days in America saw very little gym work.
]]>Speaking of which, I've booked my flight back to Dublin on the 9th of March and I'm going to stay until the Irish Open in early April. There's a tournament in Barcelona on the 19th which I think I'm going to head over to. I've never been to Barca, so it would be a nice excuse to go.
Unbelievable scenes hear in Vancouver this weekend. It was the end of the Winter Olympics and Canada scooped gold in the hockey. They're hockey mad over here, so the whole of downtown basically turned into a street party. Walking down the main street was nuts, constantly high-fiving people and just random group sing-alongs everywhere. It was crazy stuff altogether. I also had a nice bet on Canada, so that covered the expenses for the weekend.
It was my mate Eoghan's b-day a couple of days back and we were having a few jars to celebrate. I gave him a 20 quid free roulette spin for a present. He was like sweet, I'll put it on red but sure there's no fun in that, obv you have to put it on your birthday. So he put it in on number 1, the first of March.
BOOM!! No messing about, straight on number one and ship the 720 yoyos. So it turned out to be probably the soundest present I've ever given!
]]>Over dinner he told me the story of how the week before he laid his mate 50/1 on Marty to win an arm-wrestle. The mind boggles that he actually went on to win it, the arm-wrestle, not the bet.
I woke last Sunday refreshed after the two days at the K Club and mad to play poker. I was very happy about this, as it's a zest I've always had, but has been sadly lacking a bit lately.
I had a good look at Irishpokerboards.com to see what was on live. My choice was a €50 game in Tramore, or a €100 game in Dundalk. Instead, I decided to give the bigger online Sundays a spin.
Played about $1,200 worth of buy-ins and got a decent sweat in the warm up for a while, but ultimately died in 72nd for $1,600.
I travelled to Cork Friday night for the €275 Macau monthly tournament. Played well enough and hit the final table with the chip lead. With nine left and six paid, a few of the lads wanted to pay an extra three places for their buy-in.
I refused, as it just gave the three short stacks free reign to launch their chips. Within twenty minutes, I had doubled all three up, dropping from 
180k to a shortish 60k. Over the next two hours I managed to chip it back to 220k and at 6 AM with six players remaining, I agreed to a chop based on chip counts.
This is always in favour of the big stack and I picked up €3,000, which was the second place money. Not going to retire on it, but always nice to hit any type of result when you haven't been making the first break for two months.
I had hoped to get to Dublin on Saturday but the late finish killed that plan. JP was running a tournament with a new innovative structure that by all accounts, was a great success. Hopefully I make the next one.
Not much on the calendar over the coming weeks. I won't go to Galway for the PLO, as I don't play the game and can't see the point of throwing grands away.
Friday the 12th sees the Simon charity game in the Jackpot and everyone should really try to get along to support this worthy cause.
]]>I ran pretty terribly for the first week or so when I got back, but things have picked up over the last week and a bit, and I'm slightly in front now for the month. I'm playing fairly well and have even been enjoying it, which hasn't been the case online in quite some time.
I'd quite like to be playing a few live tournaments at the minute while I'm feeling good about things, but I'm a bit busy with other stuff and to be honest, there just isn't that much on at this time of the year that I fancy playing. There's no end of good tournaments towards the end of the year and I always seem to be really busy from September onwards, but really, the Irish Open is the only must-play tournament for me in the first half of the year before the WSOP.
I did manage to get out of the house for a bit of live poker on one occasion last month, when Barney and Bridie Gribbin invited me to come up and play in their weekly game in Toome. I met up with a guy there who I used to work with called Frank Kearns. Frank almost ruined my life 12 years ago when he warned me as I left my civil service job, "remember... you'll never make any money gambling". Luckily I didn't listen to him.
The tournament was a £12 freezeout and good craic, but to be honest, it was also a bit sickening. After having a pretty bad time of things online for the previous couple of days, I had the best run of cards that I've probably ever had in a tournament in the first hour and half. If I went through all the premium hands that I was dealt you'd think I was exaggerating, but to give you an idea, I ran my 2k starting stack up to 45k at the first break, and it's not like everyone was playing crazy.
My most important piece of good fortune last month probably came at the K Club, where I played with Nicky, Paul and a friend of mine Kevin, who probably won't be invited back after turning up with a 20 handicap and almost breaking the course record. In fairness to him, I think a bit of handicap-fiddling is understandable given what the loser was going to have to go through that night.
We played golf on the first day to see who had the misfortune of having to share a room with Nicky Power. I mentioned Nicky's snoring in my last blog and anyone else who's ever shared a room with him will know that the stakes were pretty high here. So high in fact, that my nerves got the better of me and I ended up shooting a seven at the last when I was 20 yards from the green after two, and I only needed a six to win. Fortunately, that made it a draw between me and Paul Spillane and I managed to win the tie-break in the bar.
I'm gonna be putting in another 50 hour week on the internet, then maybe going to the Eglington in Galway for their 1k PLO tournament on Saturday, if it looks like they're gonna get a half-decent turn out. Fintan assures me they will and even if they don't, I'll probably go anyway for a bit of a break if I can post another decent week online.
]]>I hadn't, but did cut a finger very badly which is going septic. After that we switched drivers. Chub took control of our buggy, Annabel took over from Dave and Big Mick from Eoin. If I was too loose behind the wheel, then Mick took it to a new level.
He stopped following the guide and I shit you not, drove off a 6 ft cliff for the laugh. We followed and so did Annabel. Although, Annabel and Dave didn't see the funny side, as they both hurt there backs quite badly and I'm still feeling the affects myself. A crazy night on the town followed, which was a great ending to a great trip.
Looking at the figures now, ended up scooping $120k for the trip - which is a nice start to the year, considering I was $50k behind at one point. Having a good lol at people congratulating me on some nice live touches.
Actually, I had about $55k of live buy-ins and $45k of live cashes, it was a pyrrhic victory. Check it out - it's a great one to have in arsenal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory. Going to chill out and have a few punts on the rugger this weekend. Fancy France -6 @ evens, more than 2.5 tries in the Wales v France game at 1/2 and Ireland straight @ evens. Like the 1/2 shot the best.
]]>"Due to Mr Tayto retiring we were looking for a replacement. I was next in line for the job however as i`ll be taoiseach for another few weeks at least i decided that if we can teach paudi to smile hes the man for the job."To see last week's image click here. For your chance to win €25 and have it deposited in your Boylepoker.com account*, just leave a comment.
]]>
care@boylepoker.com and they will assist you with registration.
The winner will be announced on Friday March 5th.]]>
They feature Jesse May's full review of the prestigious event with interviews from Luke "Full Flush" Schwartz on his incredible run there and David Benyamine on his victory in the tournament and playing nosebleed high-stakes cash games.
The first week will also feature part one of Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu heatedly debating on players' ability and prop betting at this year's World Series of Poker.
Tony G drops by to discuss his new sponsorship deal while high-stakes online specialists Issac Haxton and Phil Galfond discuss the recent much-talked-about Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge.
Guests on previous season of The Poker Show Live read like a who's who of the modern game and include legends such as Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Phil Hellmuth, Huck Seed, Erik Seidel, Vicky Coren, Phil Laak, Dan Harrington, Peter Eastgate, Tom Dwan, Greg Raymer, Annette Obrestad, Mike Sexton, Barry and Jeff Shulman, Neil Channing, Jim McManus, Ian Frazer, Roland de Wolfe, J.C. Tran. Daniel Negreanu, Luke Schwartz, John Duthie, The Hendon Mob, Donnacha O"Dea and Doyle Brunson.
All interviews are archived in full at www.boylepoker.com and are available for download as podcasts and via iTunes.
The online radio show, produced by Matchroom Sport, sees the experienced broadcast team on air each week at www.thepokershowlive.com, where guests and presenters discuss, debate, and decipher the technicolour world of live and online poker with a series of special guests, contributors, and phone-in questions and commentary from members of the poker playing public.
Poker players are actively encouraged to get involved in each show and can call the show directly on +44(0)208-123-7820, add ThePokerShow to Skype or, for MSN users: thepokershow@live.co.uk thepokershow@live.co.uk. The presenters can then chat to participants before or during the show, live on air.
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]]>I decided to approach it in the same manner as I did the PCA, as it was the same structure. Pretty much played out the exact same for me. Was card dead enough throughout but won my all-in hands when I had to. Got into the money and hope the rush of cards would arrive. Eventually went out in 41st getting it all in pre for a 550k chip pot with 
v 
. A cruel six fell on the river. I can't really complain though, as I've been running really well over the past two weeks.
I have decided to cut the trip short, as I feel shattered and going to fly home on Thursday. I said I was going to be more responsible about taking breaks this year, so it's time for a week off. I've been on the road for two months solid, going from hotel to hotel and the thought of going on to LA for another week's grinding, is not appealing in the slightest.
Think I have been on the piss twice since I went away, which equals zero banter. Despite the very bad run at the start of the trip, I still ended up making a healthy six figure profit. I think my tournament and cash game has improved no end, as a result of the trip. I lasted 3 days in two of the toughest fields that will be assembled this year.
I think I have a very solid game for what seems to be the standard structure for big buy-in events (30k stack/ 50-100 blinds/ long clock). I've logged 10's of thousands of hands in PLO cash and played a lot higher than I was used to, both in live and online tourneys. I was the winner and loser of some sick $30/40k pots which was a lot of fun. All in all, I'm delighted with how the trip went and back really enjoying playing my poker. So time for a week out; then I'll be back tackling all the foes on Boylepoker next week!