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I've had a really enjoyable time since returning from London last week. On Thursday, myself and Karen drove to Dublin to meet up with two friends, Michelle and Kevin, who then accompanied us to the beautiful town of Kenmare in County Kerry, stopping off for a night in Kevin's home town of Ballylongford on the way (a small village where the publicans have scant regard for the legal closing time or for the indoor smoking ban). This was my first visit to Kerry and I'm already looking forward to getting back again, although hopefully with better weather.
From Kenmare, it was on to Cork City for the Macau Festival which is running all week. The main event is the €1,500 NL freezeout on Friday but I decided to also play the €300 (with 1 rebuy) PLO tournament yesterday. It was only a small field and I knew it would be a small prize pool, but I wanted to play it anyway, as I was sure it would be good fun and also because I was pretty sure that if I won it, I would be the first player ever to do the WSOP - Macau Festival PLO double - a feat that in all probability will never be repeated (or possibly even attempted) again!
I've played tournaments in the past, some that I've won and some that I haven't, and afterwards felt like I played really well and went through the whole tournament getting my money in good and making the right decision every time. However, this was not one of those occasions. In my defence, I was playing primarily for fun last night and I was trying to play as many pots as I could and gamble in every spot possible early on. My one piece of "bad fortune" was when I got Jeff Duval all-in preflop when I held AAQ7 and he held TJQK, which obviously isn't too far off a coin toss... that really is the best I can come up with in terms of a bad beat, which is ludicrous really for an omaha tournament.
On the flip side I got very lucky in a couple of pots where I was drawing very thin indeed, one of which was against Jeff Duval again, when I called his turn bet with bottom 2 pair v his top 2 pair and then got the last of his money when I made my full house on the river. That hand gave me a huge stack and was enough to see me through to the last 5, when we decided to take a 5 way split on account that it was 4am and with the average stack being about 100 big blinds, it looked like we could have been there until 4pm.
However, there was still the small matter of deciding the trophy. We decided to go all in blind next hand and the winner would get the trophy regardless of what their chip stack had been before the hand... and in keeping with the ridiculous run of form that I've been on of late, they were all drawing dead on the turn and I had another trophy to add to my recent haul.
I often get bored with the game of poker but over the last few months I've never enjoyed it more. This obviously has a lot to do with the recent run of results that I've been having, but I also think that a lot of it is to do with the fact that I've been playing a lot more live and less online. I sometimes enjoy playing online, but generally only when I'm winning.
With live tournaments however, especially small ones, you can have a great time - win or lose - if you're lucky enough to be drawn at a good table with a bit of banter.
There are some great Irish characters around the Cork scene, but on this occasion it was two English lads who provided the laughs at my first table. Ryan Fronda and Ian Woodley were getting completely stuck into each other, playing every pot and bluffing each other hand after hand, and each taking great delight in needling the other as they were counting up chips from the last pot. They're obviously good friends, and it seemed they were both more interested in knocking the other person out and having the last laugh than actually trying to win the tournament. They're both very witty as well and it was great fun watching all of this unfold.
Paul and Ciaran are coming down tomorrow so I'll be going out on the town with them in the evening and then playing the main event. It will be nice if I can pick up another trophy in the main event, but to be honest I'll just be happy if I enjoy the rest of the week as much as I have so far.
Comments (7)
Ill be there alright mart.Look forward 2 having a pint with you in killarney!!
Big Noel