PPP Irish Open the standard of play.

sunzz

Well quite frankly I was hugely dissapointed in the standard of play last night. I don't think anyone there bar wong new how to bet properly or even had a clue what in gods name they were doing.

If the lad didn't get rivered by the 9 then i feel he would have went on to win it.

ruane not calling top pair with good kicker 3 way when melinn had pushed all in about 4 times before was just a bad play, then for him to call off all his chips when he couldn't even beat a Ace high.

Melinn was a horrible player and quite frankly he raised with any ace rag and re raised a raise with A 10 or higher how people don't pick up on these things is beyond me.

I went to bed at 3am when it was head up and still even I was just cringing.

The only 2 good plays was the J4 reraise by ruane and the AK bluff all in, then again melinn had nothing either to call.

All in all horrible night of poker.

Btw conor pld allright for what he gotm, lad was hand dead all night

PiperT

sunzz wrote:

Well quite frankly I was hugely dissapointed in the standard of play last night. I don't think anyone there bar wong new how to bet properly or even had a clue what in gods name they were doing.

If the lad didn't get rivered by the 9 then i feel he would have went on to win it.

ruane not calling top pair with good kicker 3 way when melinn had pushed all in about 4 times before was just a bad play, then for him to call off all his chips when he couldn't even beat a Ace high.

Melinn was a horrible player and quite frankly he raised with any ace rag and re raised a raise with A 10 or higher how people don't pick up on these things is beyond me.

I went to bed at 3am when it was head up and still even I was just cringing.

The only 2 good plays was the J4 reraise by ruane and the AK bluff all in, then again melinn had nothing either to call.

All in all horrible night of poker.

Btw conor pld allright for what he gotm, lad was hand dead all night

I have to agree with you. What got me was the unending procrastination in no brainer situations. The standard of play I'd expect at a local pub tourney. I mean acting out of turn at this level is just not on and some of the bets were a joke. Felt sorry for Wong with the A10, he knew he had melinn but of course we all know the rest.

Iceman78

Having watched most of the FT last night, i believe that Wong was the best player there and would have won it if he had not got rivered by Melinn when he was way ahead after all the chips went in.

I had backed him at 9/1 on PP when him and Conor were both short stacked. Some of Ruane's bets were terrible and it was only a matter of time before he blew up. I cant believe Melinn made it that far with some of his all in calls, he was just lucky that he did not run into a monster anytime he moved in last night.

I am hoping that these guys played a lot better to get to final table as the standard of players in the tournament looked very high but the final table play was horrible.

Melinn's massive reraise when he got aces looked bad too. I would have preferred a smaller raise as you want a caller with them when 3 handed.

patmac

I went to bed who won? How many boardsters entered and how did they get on?

sunzz

I know raise to 500k WITH ACES was just laughable I mean raising to 250/300 would have perhaps got a caller, maybe he thought an overbet would look like he was stealing but quite honestly I don't think he knew what he was doing.

And woodley taking 5+ mins to decide whether he would limp with 2-6 off and fold to a raise. :rolleyes:

Then look at when wong RAISED with 2-6 and followed up with a bet. He really really was the only decent player at the table.

Sad to say I was rooting for a english man

I hope melinn won just for the sake of the irish

BUT MY GOD HORRIBLE POKER, I don't see how those players got to the final table without some serious luck. I.E melinn's 99 holding up twice V AK pre final table.

5starpool

I would have liked to see Peter Heslin who got so close up against these guys. He would have destroyed them given an even break of the cards (which unfotunately Wong never got - I was rooting for him too).

sunzz

I would say that if any high profile boardster got to that final table it would also have been a walk over.

ditpoker

to be fair to the six lads at the final table... they were at the final table of the irish poker open... beating 350+ players to get there... they must be doing something right, its not fair to say they were rubbish... although completely agree Wang is a quality player who would have won it if it werent for that river... also he played the 20 FO in the merrion on Thursday and made some huge lay downs before getting outdrawn...

jem

also bear in mind it was their first time on tv, for the bigest amount of money they will ever play for and they didn't want to seem stupit, although unfortunatly some of the plays were very very poor.

smurph

I think that maybe its a bit harsh to critisise the play. Usually when you are looking at poker on telly it is edited, with all the nice snazzy plays only being shown. This was live, warts and all. The guys were playing for serious money, with only one player on final table that had played cards in front of cameras before. The chinese guy was an exceptional player, and did some major lay downs, but he also had a hugh slice of luck to get to final table. He got runner runner J J to take a huge chunk of peter heslins money. I was in the audience for first 15 - 20 minutes but did an exit stage right as soon as I could. We could not see the cards the players had so It was hard to understand what was going on. Went home and watched it on Sky Sports 2. You have to factor in nerves, and exhaustion for some of the play.

mewso

Yes it was great to be invited to be in the audience and thanks to PP for that but unfortunately it was impossible to tell what was going on.
I did find alot of the play was questionable but I think we all know by now that you don't have to be a great player to win these things just a certain amount of competence and luck.

Doctor Fell

smurph wrote:

The chinese guy was an exceptional player, and did some major lay downs, but he also had a hugh slice of luck to get to final table. He got runner runner J J to take a huge chunk of peter heslins money.

There was no Chinese guy at the final table. Mr Wong is English, and according to Antesup it was Paul Roper he hit with the running J's.
He was unlucky to be gone in 4rth!

5starpool

Doctor Fell wrote:

There was no Chinese guy at the final table.

Pedantic of you...

Doctor Fell

5starpool wrote:

Pedantic of you...

You really think so? If someone called you French or German or whatever, I'm sure you wouldn't mind someone pointing out that you are in fact Irish.
Not pedantic at all, just saying he's not Chinese, he's English.

Culchie

Definitely has an English Surname, and has the look of someone from the London area.

fade2black

Culchie wrote:

Definitely has an English Surname, and has the look of someone from the London area.

Anyone else feel sorry for Brendan? He looked like a genuine lad and was probably a bit embarrassed about how he went out. Fair play to them I say.

Norwich Fan Rob

wong was excellent all the way through, with about 5 tables left, i heard a couple of dealers saying he was at their tables and he was just unreal, practically naming his opponents cards several times, and making some brilliant calls as well as lay downs.

Conor Smyth can play, he had no cards whatsoever.

Daly gave up any chance he had the night before by laying down AK on an A high flop, after putting about 70% of his chips in the pot !!

The others are just shocking. They have no idea of how to bet. The amount of over betting going on was scary, if they flop a monster, they hugely over bet it, and pre flop, ace rag - huge raise, just lucky none of the decent players got any cards.

For example, a guy raises , u call with Ace 2 off (questionable perhaps, but it was shorthanded), then it flops AA7, so u move in, lovely play !!!

Ruanes call with KQ has to be just about the worst call i have ever seen in my life. (and his justification was that he thought his opponent had a small pair, giving him 6 outs at best!!)
(i know in a pub tourney, if i move in and get called by some clown with K high, it goes straight in my notes, total donkey)

smurph

Doctor Fell wrote:

There was no Chinese guy at the final table. Mr Wong is English, and according to Antesup it was Paul Roper he hit with the running J's.
He was unlucky to be gone in 4rth!

Sorry, the Oriental looking young english gentleman. I didn't mean anything bad by it. I stand corrected with the running J's aswell, but the point I was making is that you need a good bit of luck to get to a final table of a big tournament. The young englishman certainly was unlucky with the A 10 and I do feel he would have been hard to beat if he had stayed in.

Norwich Fan Rob

he seemed absolutely gutted when leaving the table (understandably so), but unlike most of the others, he will be back.

phantom_lord

Doctor Fell wrote:

There was no Chinese guy at the final table. Mr Wong is English

Off-topic, but I think I might have played with this guy in the Merrion in the free-roll, in my first and only visit so far. I outlasted him too :rolleyes:


Or maybe it wasn't, any final table pics?

Culchie

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck .... it's a duck

5starpool

Doctor Fell wrote:

You really think so? If someone called you French or German or whatever, I'm sure you wouldn't mind someone pointing out that you are in fact Irish.
Not pedantic at all, just saying he's not Chinese, he's English.

Yes I do. You know who she meant. Kind of irrelevant to the thread anyhow. Whether English or not he was the best player there anyhow it seemed.

Hawk Eye

Norwich Fan Rob wrote:

Ruanes call with KQ has to be just about the worst call i have ever seen in my life.

Was a strange one alright. Melinn had come over the top just previous to that where Ruane folded top pair and I'm sure this was in the back of his mind throughout the KQ call, he seemed to look disinterested and wanted out of there this is the only reason I can come up with for this moment of madness.

Nobody has mentioned the hand where Melinn bet on the bb out of turn the camera never showed what he had but it would have been funny if someone raised, now that would have shown real strength.

On a serious note though how fit was that model on the right holding the cheque.

Ollieboy

Hawk Eye wrote:

Was a strange one alright. Melinn had come over the top just previous to that where Ruane folded top pair and I'm sure this was in the back of his mind throughout the KQ call, he seemed to look disinterested and wanted out of there this is the only reason I can come up with for this moment of madness.

Nobody has mentioned the hand where Melinn bet on the bb out of turn the camera never showed what he had but it would have been funny if someone raised, now that would have shown real strength.

On a serious note though how fit was that model on the right holding the cheque.

Model very fit.

I was thinking the same, I think he did it on purpose also and it is a move a lot of pro's use, not just muppets. But if I had been sitting there, I would have announce all in, there's not a chance he can call you after that move, you would be more or less telling him you have KK or AA.

I also think the last 3 did a deal and maybe thats why the play was a bit funny, there was 630k up for grabs and they were even on chips, so I've a feeling they must have done a 200k deal each and 30k and the title for the winner.

Ollieboy

its the only thing that explains some of the play when they got to the last 3, even the quick call with AJ was so unlike him.lol

ntlbell

Hawk Eye wrote:

Was a strange one alright. Melinn had come over the top just previous to that where Ruane folded top pair and I'm sure this was in the back of his mind throughout the KQ call, he seemed to look disinterested and wanted out of there this is the only reason I can come up with for this moment of madness.

Nobody has mentioned the hand where Melinn bet on the bb out of turn the camera never showed what he had but it would have been funny if someone raised, now that would have shown real strength.

On a serious note though how fit was that model on the right holding the cheque.

Yeah, If I was in with a chance of taken down 350k I'd have no intrest at all

I'm not sure if I could of made the call with Q9, it's very easy to call in the armchair.

But then to call it all off with K high was as rob said one of the worst calls I've ever seen, so what if vinny was at it? fold and move on.

Can't take much away from Brendan tho, to get that far in the first place.

Hawk Eye

5starpool wrote:

Whether English or not he was the best player there anyhow it seemed.

Its hard to judge whether he was the best on the 60 or so hands he played but from the result he got in the rebuy event theres no question he was playing well over the weekend.

BTW can anyone explain the Q8 call by the english bloke, at the time me and my friends where nearly 100% that a deal was struck during the break he was only 3-1outchipped but he called in an instant and caught a full house. After playing it out its obvious that a deal didn't happen as your man look devastated losing.

Ollieboy

Hawk Eye wrote:

Its hard to judge whether he was the best on the 60 or so hands he played but from the result he got in the rebuy event theres no question he was playing well over the weekend.

BTW can anyone explain the Q8 call by the english bloke, at the time me and my friends where nearly 100% that a deal was struck during the break he was only 3-1outchipped but he called in an instant and caught a full house. After playing it out its obvious that a deal didn't happen as your man look devastated losing.

I think a deal had been done, but they were still playing for the title and the extra 30k, read my other post above.

I've fairly sure a deal was done 3 ways and I think Vincent want a deal, so it would open the way for him to take the title been the chip leader, I think he was less bother about the money.

HookOrCrook

Hi Ollie

There's a summary of the final on your website that you write for, I expect you know that. The gist is that the standard of play was a bit indifferent, which it was! I think Sky could do with a better anchorman too. The guy sounded like he'd been schooled in poker the day before...

http://uk.pokernews.com/news/2006/4/irish-poker-open-vincent-melinn.htm

Ollieboy

HookOrCrook wrote:

Hi Ollie

There's a summary of the final on your website that you write for, I expect you know that. The gist is that the standard of play was a bit indifferent, which it was! I think Sky could do with a better anchorman too. The guy sounded like he'd been schooled in poker the day before...

http://uk.pokernews.com/news/2006/4/irish-poker-open-vincent-melinn.htm

Both Jessie and Roy were brilliant as usual, but this guy look like he was in Dublin for the weekend and was an actor more than a poker fan.

Read the summary and like the way it was described as "indifferent".lol

I dont think live poker is really for telly, there's to much non-playing hands involve at this level to make it exciting.

ntlbell

Ollieboy wrote:

I dont think live poker is really for telly, there's to much non-playing hands involve at this level to make it exciting.

I've a funny feeling it'll be the last live tourny on sky for a looooong time.

The Ace Face

I was v. disappointed with final last night, not sure how some of the players got there. Personally after seeing the v.good standard of play within the tournie I felt it reflected badly on the overall standard of play. Enough has been said about standard of play/hands etc.

Conor is a nice guy, glad he got a good cheque, played with him for 2/3 hrs and he was steady. GL to him.

Now Mr Wong...what can I say, I had the pleasure of playing with him for 12/13 hours Sat into Sunday. He was brilliant, his ability to read people and laydown or call all ins was as if he could see the cards.:eek: Thats no BS, he made 6 world class decisions that were correct, his non stop battle with Rob Young ( of Dusk till Dawn - Trumpers gang ) was great to watch. one call at 4 a.m. on a 40k pot which took 10 mins to decide was worth the entry fee alone ( $10 for me! );)

I am sick the guy didn't win it, as he was by far the best guy at FT.:mad: I read comment about him getting lucky? Do you think Woodley,Ruane and Melinn got their without luck...please. He called Roper with KJ, he had a read on player, unfortunately he had cards but got out of jail.

Overall I have to say the tournie was so well run and organised, play in most part was high and in a good atmosphere. PPP, Antes Up, Liam Flood need to take a bow for efforts put in to weekend.

Next year should be great!


Ray:D

The Ace Face

Norwich Fan Rob wrote:

he seemed absolutely gutted when leaving the table (understandably so), but unlike most of the others, he will be back.

Agree. 100%

Norwich Fan Rob

well said ray, and well done yourself on a good effort.

Ollie, i agree with you about the deal, at one stage 3 handed they were literally almost dead level, and a lot of chat was going on during a break.
Will 100k for 3rd and anyone of them liable to get that, surely a 200k x 3 and play for a few bob and the title would make a hell of a lot of sense.
Might well explain the light hearted nature and strange calls after that break.

PiperT

fade2black wrote:

Anyone else feel sorry for Brendan? He looked like a genuine lad and was probably a bit embarrassed about how he went out. Fair play to them I say.

Thought he could/should have moved earlier with I think it was Qc10c against Mellins average raise (with rags). Given his stack size at that point I was surprised with his fold. Unfortunately he allowed himself to be blinded away. Well done to him for making it that far though !

Doctor Fell

5starpool wrote:

Yes I do. You know who she meant. Kind of irrelevant to the thread anyhow. Whether English or not he was the best player there anyhow it seemed.

I didn't know Smurph was a "she" until you said it actually.
But anyway you can stop being chivalrous and sticking up for her now, it's OK.
I wasn't having a go at her, just pointed out his nationality and that it was Roper. I think your response has been irrelevant to the thread to be honest, not mine.

So how about we forget all about it, eh?? good stuff


Oh, and if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it must be a ....

ntlbell

Doctor Fell wrote:

I didn't know Smurph was a "she" until you said it actually.
But anyway you can stop being chivalrous and sticking up for her now, it's OK.
I wasn't having a go at her, just pointed out his nationality and that it was Roper. I think your response has been irrelevant to the thread to be honest, not mine.

So how about we forget all about it, eh?? good stuff


Oh, and if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it must be a ....

Guy from Tallaght?

roryc

I stayed late enough, pretty shocking standard alright. I have a full report on my blog

fade2black

Good blog rory, interesting reading. I was wondering about the mobile phone thing alright. First time I've ever seen live poker on TV.

MrPillowTalk

sunzz wrote:

Melinn was a horrible player and quite frankly he raised with any ace rag and re raised a raise with A 10 or higher how people don't pick up on these things is beyond me.

Because they dont have a tv to see the cards maybe?

DeVore

I played on the second last table (and a few before it) with Mr Wong during the 400 rebuy and he was certainly a very good player. We sparred a little and then it seemed we both decided there were easier chips on the table! He was in 7 and I was in 3 and we kept looking at each other funny when someone made a weird call or move!

Brenndan just blew up, it happens to all of us. He's a good guy though and a good player.

Sky were extremely inexperienced in showing poker. That much was clear. Regularly we didnt get to see hole cards for players and if we did it was a 2 second flash and then never again!
Everyone in Jurys was asking "whats he got? what was the flop?". They have a lot to learn but in general I thought it was an absolutely fantastic tournament. Paddys did it in the manner we'd expect and learned from the criticisms of last one. I wish every tournie we covered around europe was as well run!!

Peter Heslin was very unlucky but he said himself , he played to win the thing!

DeV.

DeVore

MrPillowTalk wrote:

Because they dont have a tv to see the cards maybe?

Lol.... exactly what I thought Eoin!!

DeV.