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Wow - so that was my first Irish Open - what an experience!!
The first guy I bump into walking out of the hotel when the Air Coach drops me off is Brian Townsend - so the rumours that there would be some half decent players knocking about were true then.
Anyway, on the first day I had a torrid time. I took 75 minutes to win my first pot and then called a river bet with two pair, after my tricky young Scandi opponent checked his full house on the turn. So at the first break I had lost over half my stack.
I double up next session when my 
improves past 
and I get almost back to my starting stack, until my gets beaten by a short stack's . At the third break, I am finally above 10K after a 
v double up.
I then get hardly any spots at all for the rest of the day - I even resort to stealing on the button with 23 (hey they were suited - I aint that mad - oh and the blinds are rocks with not that many chips) to end up with 
7450 at the end of Day 1. There are only 9 shorter stacks than me.
Saturday morning I check online for the table re-draw and find that I am at a table with a 14k stack, two monster stacks, then the rest average stacks of 20-30k. I don't think this is too bad as I can hurt the average stacks so I pledge to attack those with a few well-timed all ins.
When I get to the tournament room I then discover that there has been another re-draw and I am on Table 27 with lots of small stacks and only two or three average stacks.
I can't seem to find Table 27 and then I discover two things - I am at the TV table and Neil Channing is at my table (obviously those two facts are not coincidental). Channing is one of my two poker heroes (the other being Negreanu) and Marty Smyth had already promised to introduce me at some point over the weekend (I know - very, very sad).
So - first time on a TV table and I have no chips!! Actually, that was not so bad because it is pretty hard to look foolish when you are in "Push or Fold" territory. I get "miked up" (a TV term for those of you not "in the know") and away we go.
I am looking for either decent cards or an unraised pot in late position with any two cards and small stacks to act so the table isn't that bad for me. The large stacks are to my right and Channing - with not many more chips than me - a couple of positions to my left. Still, I find no spots for a while and I dwindle down to 4k - Life Support time.
I finally wake up with both a "hand" and an unraised pot in late position. I put all my chips over the line with the mighty 
. Channing is left in the BB and starts his chat - "I think you have been waiting for an Ace". Anyway, he says "the Maths" says he must call and he shows 
. Nothing on the flop then the on the turn!! But wait - here comes the on the river for the re-draw and I double up to 8k.
A few hands later and I push with 
, which doubles up against . 16k and finally out of "Push and Fold" mode. I then make probably my first mistake in my TV career (Padraig was commentating and confirmed this afterwards). A geeky sole survivor type was to my right and had quite a few chips but leaking. He raises my BB from the button and I look down at 
.
He didn't look too confident but I had not seen him show any kind of bluff or steal attempt previously. He hadn't known who Neil Channing was so perhaps mistakenly I took him for an inexperienced player. Re-raising makes me pot committed so it is all in or fold.
I could just imagine him easily having or and calling my all in. I decided I hadn't been this patient to go out on and chose the conservative route - I folded and "waited for a better spot". Padraig told me later he had nothing. I don't mind the decision looking back though.
Next time I am in BB there has been a raise and a call from the "geeky stealer". A squeeze opportunity!! I have and that is plenty good enough - I like to think I would have done this with a wide range but I throw in a decent raise and take it down.
Back on the button, no action till me and I steal with 68 off. So in my two-hour TV table appearance session I started with 7450, went down to 4k and ended up with 33k. Not bad seeing as I was a nervous wreck!! Channing went out about half way through the session.
At the break, our table got moved then immediately broke up. That's when it reality hit me - I was still really short stacked with 33k. I lost about 10k in the next few hours finding only two spots to raise with and take down uncontested pots with 
and . Maybe in hindsight I should have been more active during this time.
Table broke up again and I move to a table with a mixture of short stacks and monster stacks (including Pete Murphy) that seems to be seeing very few flops. seems to be the recognised "All In" hand on the table, and is shown a couple of times. I am now back to "Push or Fold" mode but with patience too - I feel like I can still wait for a hand.
I don't have to wait long as I look down at AK suited. An UTG raise, then an all in before me from a 30k stack doesn't affect my decision too much as I push my chips over the line. UTG goes in the tank as he obviously has a small to medium pocket pair. He passes then I am delighted to see my AK suited is against AQ offsuit for a 50K plus pot. The dealer kindly puts not one but two Queens on the board and my first Irish Open is over.
Well done to Pete Murphy for going on to FT and unlucky for not going on to win it.
Comments (1)
WP Darren, you fought like a tiger when short and were very unlucky not to get right back into it m8.