Poker Million final

At one point I won a £20 bet from 'Mad' Marty Wilson, by eating four Ferrero Roches in a minute - a feat which he insists is only one short of the world record. I do find it hard to believe that there is an official world record for this, but whether or not there is, I'm pretty sure that six would be impossible. It goes to show you how drunk everyone was that night that a challenge such as this even found its way into the conversation, never mind the fact that it actually took place.

I said that before the semi final that I'd been very nervous about playing. After I got through that though, I was pretty confident that all my nerves would disappear for the final. And I was right - I was completely relaxed the whole way through the final. This was probably helped by the fact that I knew I'd be very happy for anyone who went on to win it and also that I'd had small savers with the other Irish guys, so I knew that even if I was first out my total payday still wouldn't have been too shabby.

It's not the most original idea in the world, but as usual my game plan for the final was to play a pretty tight game and look for good spots while we still had a lot of chips, and then step it up a bit once it got to crap-shoot time if I was still in. The blinds were much higher this year than before, but then, we had more chips this year because of the extra two players in the semi final, so there was still a little bit of play.

I started the final with 282k, which I thought should have been enough to stay out of trouble, and I would have been pretty confident that if I busted in the first level it would have been because of a bad beat or a cooler situation. I'm not sure if this hand can really be described as a cooler, because I actually think some people may have gotten away from it, but it was certainly pretty close.

Some people said afterwards that I had to call because it was Liam and he could have been making a move or even been holding AQ or something, and while I understand why they said that, it really wasn't true in this situation. Obviously I know that Liam is capable of big moves, but I also knew that this wasn't one of them. I was absolutely certain that Liam had JJ through to AA or else AK, and to be honest, if I had to guess his hand I would have guessed KK.

Bearing this in mind, it might have seemed like a strange decision to make the call holding just AK but by the time I found out he had a genuinely big hand, I was in a situation where I had to call 167k more into a pot of 352k, so I was actually getting the correct price to call even if he had KK. Factor in as well, that I am definitely getting a good price if he has JJ/QQ/AK, and definitely getting a terrible price if he has AA, and I think it is a pretty marginal situation where you could go either way.

Some people like to err on the side of caution when faced with a marginal decision like this, but I always go the other way. I fully understand the value of survival in a tournament, and I know that I could have passed and still had a playable stack, but I think there are long term benefits to making the call as well. If people see that I am prepared to pass AK in that sort of situation then I leave myself open to a lot of four-bet bluffs (or re-re-raise bluffs, as they used to be called in the days before internet training sites). I don't play many hands in a tournament, and I want people to know that if I come into a pot, then there is a very good chance that I'm prepared to stick all of my chips in. It also helps when I'm stealing a pot, if people know that if they try to re-steal then I am prepared to gamble in marginal situations.

Normally what would happen after the money goes in and the cards are on their back, is that I would sit quietly and calmly watching the dealer burn and turn the cards, but inside I would be screaming for an ace.

Strangely, this wasn't the case in this situation. Even after the flop brought a flush draw for me, I honestly didn't feel overly bothered what came. I don't really know why this was, and I don't remember exactly what was going on in my head at the time, but I imagine it's because I didn't feel like I had made a mistake in the hand, and also because I'd have been absolutely delighted if Liam flood had won the tournament (or Eoghan, or Ciaran, but especially Liam as he's almost 100 years old, and I know that Ciaran and Eoghan will go on to enjoy a huge amount of success in the future).

After I lost that hand, I was just going through the motions. With 15k left and 1.6 million in play it was a lost cause. I knew I had to win the next three hands that I played to have any chance at all. I was fortunate to pick up a couple of hands that were actually favourite when I got it in - as realistically I'd have been sticking it in with any sort of nonsense. Even when I won the first two hands and got back to 110k I still didn't have much hope, and I was just thinking that if I could pick on the two internet qualifiers who were both a bit on the short side, then I might be able to survive long enough to finish a place or two higher.

It's amazing how quickly things can change though, and what happened should be a lesson to everyone who just gives up and gives away the last of their chips when they're short-stacked (which I've been guilty of in the past too). I think it took about three laps of the table to move from 15k back up to what I had started the day with, and about an hour after that I was chip leader with four left.

A lot of people are asking whether or not there were deals done. We've been told not to talk about it by Sky, so I won't mention the amounts, but obviously with 1,000,000 for first and 260k for second there was always going to be some sort of deal. I don't even know why Sky mind it being made public - anyone who watches poker knows that deals are part of the game, and I think it would be great TV to show the players talking about the deals on camera. We did a four-way deal which guaranteed us all a decent payday, and still left a very sizeable amount to play for.

I had been thinking that we would probably do another deal with the money that we had left over for first place when it got to the heads-up stage, but Sky refused to give us a break as we were getting near the scheduled finish time and we weren't allowed to mention it on TV. I feel pretty bad for Eoghan because I know when we were close to level in chips heads-up, we both wanted to chop it up a bit more, but at the same time it was the same for both of us, and anyway - with his great result in the ECOOP days before, he'd actually had a better week than me!

I've watched the show back now on TV. I rode my luck after being down low, and picked up a couple of big hands at just the right time and also had to get a bit lucky in the key big pot we got into heads-up (Q9 v JK), I'm very happy indeed with the way I played - I certainly feel like I played as well as I'm capable of anyway. Having said that I think if the Poker Million trophy was decided by a judge's vote then Eoghan would have been the unanimous winner. He was the best player in the semi final and the whole way through the final. He also had to qualify for the tournament online, and then get through one of the toughest first round heats I've ever seen; however this is no surprise to anyone who knew Eoghan before.

Despite coming so close to victory, Eoghan didn't seem to be overly disappointed and nor did Liam or Ciaran, and it was one big celebration party when we got back to the hotel. I'd like to thank everyone who wished me well before, and Karen and all my friends and family who made the trip over to watch it, and those who were cheering me on, back home in front of the TV. I'd also like to apologise for scaring the life out of everyone when I went down to 15k, but I hope that just made it even better in the end - it certainly did for me.