GJP review thread

AKQJ10

OK so here's the story on how i got and blew the chip lead in drogheda on day 1.

To start the day i was fairly comfortable with my table. I had macspower to my left being the main threat. Others were John Ward(waterford winner) and Niall Murphy. I found myself down to 12.5k untill my first big hand. John Ward raises it up in EP to 325 and theres four calls around to me in the BB with 82o. I naturally call the extra 225. The flop comes 4 8 4, i check he bets out 750, everyone else folds i call, turn comes a 7, i check he bets 2500 i call. River comes a 10 i check and he bets 7000 i call and its good. Some other guy actually turned over his hand he had Q2o. So i was up to 21k. By the time i moved to my next table i had 30k without showing down another hand. The very first hand i got myself up to 35k with 4s2s raising it up utg and then continuing on flop and turn to take down a small pot. Then next hand was a big one I'm in the BB for 150 there's maybe 4 limpers to the button who has 40k makes it 650 to go i call in the BB with 9c10c, the pot is 2k after another caller. Flop comes 5c6c7c, i check, Mp check button bets 1500 i raise to 4500 he calls. Turn comes 8s i lead for 7000 he calls. River comes Qh i bet 14k he calls with Ac9x for the straight. Im up to like 65k. Then i hit a set and a flush against smurph in quick successsion and im up to 75k. Then that same guy who had the A9 raised it up to 1200 in MP blinds are 200/400. I call with JJ and Smurph calls in BB. Thers a few more callers in there somewhere and the pot is like 6k Flop comes Ad Jh 10d. Smurph checks Mp bets 3k i make it 13k to cover him smurph gets it in as does MP. Smurph flopped the nuts with KQ and the other guy has 1010. Turn is blank and river an A. Now ive a huge chip lead 100k with 4.5 times avg. My question is what to do now???
Keep playing aggressive?
Rock it up?
See as many flops as possible?

The first big hand i lost was to ciaran burke when hre raised it up in EP i had 99 in the BB and called flopped a set. I check called the flop, Kh 9s 4s, Led the turn for 5k he called . Here's my big mistake a spade comes on the river and i bet 10k into a pot of 15k he shoves for like 4k more. I had him specifically on AA/ AK before this. He had AQs i was really annoyed with my river play, i really should save my self 15k there. Im down to 75k still huge.
I the get some nice hands like AK, AQ and raise in position only to be check raised when i miss. Then a new english guy in the visor arrives in and limps utg for his first hand. I raise it to 2200 on the button with KQh. Flop comes down Q 6 2 rainbow. He checks i bet 3500 he calls. turn is a K. It goes check check, River he bets 7k and i really feel im not beating much other than a bluff but call. This is the worst part of my game. I wasnt trapping on the turn i checked to keep pot small incase i was behind. Then im on the move straight away with 50k to a new table with the only notable being MrPT. First hand i sit down I raise it up when folded to me in the cut off with K10, button calls, flop comes k 10 and all the money goes in he has KK. im drawing to runner runner tens or spades.down to like 20 k. Next 4 hands in a row are AK, JJ, 99, 55 didnt hit once and move to my final table with 10k. It all goes pete tong eventually when i push with a flush draw into bombers top set.:mad:

BrokenArrows

after gaining such a massive chiplead i would rock up.
There is no need for you to keep playing like that. Your miles ahead of the table. Time to start picking your spots.

mdwexford

obviously you could have toned down the aggression a bit but if you're a really active player its hard to do i suppose. the first hand with the 8-2 looks crazy to me, hell of a call with your tourney on the line, secret tell perhaps..lol

what did the blonde poker guy in the visor have??

a bit of patience, seeing as many cheap flops as possible with your massive stack and hope to flop monsters to break people would seem the optimal strategy i think.

i played on your table in the Waterford main event, i didnt know who you were at the time though but i was impressed by your play, apart from halibut you were the one player i didnt want to get too involved against.you were putting a decent stack together there too so i guess you just need a bit of work on playing the big stack once you have it

ditpoker

roland de wolfe it baby! you got the stack by playing a wide range. why give the others a chance to catch you... keep building! on another day you'd have been up to 150+ when everyone is battling around 15-20.

i'd be super aggro and then tighten up once my stack is back to average if it drops that far, otherwise raise raise raise... put the pressure on the otehrs at the table!

ditpoker

mdwexford wrote:

a bit of patience, seeing as many cheap flops as possible with your massive stack and hope to flop monsters to break people would seem the optimal strategy i think.

.

what he said!

BigCityBanker

Hopefully this thread will turn into a GJP player review thread? Any chance you might change the title?

My story...............

Since the Irish Open I had been playing red hot - since last weekend i have been playing sh!te - too much poker methinks.....

Anyway my starting table

Seat 1 - Marty Smyth (never heard of him - apparently pretty good)
Seat 2 - Lloyd Farrell (self proclaimed tourney donk - won something last year)
Seat 3 - Oscar Fred (anybody see a pattern? yes all tourney donks)
Seat 4 - Rob Taylor (insert appropriate comment here)
Seat 5 - Me
Seat 6 - Ross Johnson
Seat 7 - Random
Seat 8 - Eoin Olin........ (apparently crushes the micro limits online)
Seat 9 - Random

Yess what a table draw - I was the value, there were no soft chips to be had... anywhere..

played terrible - I knew what players had........ and paid to see them - so at least my hand reading was spot on - but i was a station... QQ v Robs AK on an A high board... I did lay down QQ on a J high board to Ross I believe he had KK.... I was becoming increasingly frustrated - if im being honest I probably had a little bit of stage fright with the standard of players around me - I would not wish to be seated at the same table as any of them - a collection of top class solid tournament players each one of which would buy me and sell me at the poker table.

One interesting hand - folded to Lloyd in the CO who makes it 300 to play (blinds 100/200), I look down at AJ and decide Lloyd is making a standard opening raise, I make it 900 to go..... Lloyd makes it 2400, when i dont insta muck i sense Lloyd is getting a bit uneasy so I push all in and Lloyd folds - I know he can only call with 2 hands and i know he is good enough to lay down everything other than AA and KK and i feel with a look of unease he dont have either of them... Alot of the other guys at the table say they call me but im not so sure. Its all well and good to say it was a call but when your in Lloyds seat its not straight forward. Irrespective of what i had - I think Lloyds fold is a good one - I should only ever have AA in that spot.

I get moved table shortly and finally get rid of my chips (almost all of them) with JJ V AA - when i know 100% he has me beat preflop I call for set value - but on a 5 high board i push them in (me = donkey)

One interesting hand from this table - Its playing pretty tight, so i decide to open up a bit and open from MP with QJs, Ian Woodley reraises me from the blinds, i take a look and 4 bet him and he folds JJ after a good long think.. I chatted him at dinner yesterday and he still reckons i was a rock and only had AA or KK in that spot. Jen Mason was at the table also and she didnt believe either.

Busto shortly afterwards - absolutely disgusted with my play... Play cash games win €800 so that softens everything. Travel back up yesterday and play 500 event - play very very good poker all day to reach final table, return today tired and without focus and donkey myself out in 8th - really disappointed with myself! Hopefully Rob takes this one down.

Id like to play any any live poker this week and will restrict myself to a couple of short sessions online. That said the EOM game is on in the Fizt so i might play that Thursday night :rolleyes:

Im off to Cork on Friday then for the Macau festival - If im not happy with my game im not gonna play the ME and will restrict myself to cash games (which continue to run absolutely fine - 2 losing nights since the IO weekend and as some of the SE regulars/more recently the Fitz regs will tell you thats alot of nights). I thought I had reached a good blend/balance between my cash and tourney play but maybe not! Something I need to re-examine perhaps.

One question - you raise from the CO with 97o standard i hear ppl say), shorty goes all in and your getting exactly 2/1 on your money to call but it is c.35% of your stack on the FT... You are pretty happy that he has overcards and not a big pair (ive chatted him for 2/3mins and im as happy/as confident as i can be that he dont have a pair - as in id have bet a monkey with anybody that he didnt have a pair. v v confident)... do you call or fold? I called and was happy with my call, he turned over AK - he hit his K and i hit a 7 :mad: . Some ppl were probably watching me thinking i was some raving lunatic.. (maybe I am ).. Now the call was fine imo - but the fact that I got myself into that situation was the problem!!

Finally well done to the GJP team - great tourney structures as usual. I always look forward to playing their events.. The club was rushed to be open and a few extra days would have went a long way. Best of luck to Joe with it.

Also well done to those who got a result.

AKQJ10

the blonde guy had 66. so he flopped a set. which seat were you in waterford

mdwexford

AKQJ10 wrote:

the blonde guy had 66. so he flopped a set. which seat were you in waterford

ouch.

you knocked me out at the end of level 4 when a made a horrible call preflop with Q-Q against your K-K, 25k pot. seat 4-5 cant remember

AKQJ10

i remember that actually now you were unlucky to run into that. good to put another face to a name. ul noel in the ME and i hope you do play in the ME in cork as your playing top quality poker at the moment.

Macspower

V unlucky Mark. The call with the 8's was a world class call..... he could have had anything... but it wasn't the kind of call where you thought you might have been behind... you knew exactly what you were doing....

Well Played and Unlucky in the end.....

Mac

BTW lol at me being a threat....

bohsman

BigCityBanker wrote:

Hopefully this thread will turn into a GJP player review thread? Any chance you might change the title?

My story...............

Since the Irish Open I had been playing red hot - since last weekend i have been playing sh!te - too much poker methinks.....

Anyway my starting table

Seat 1 - Marty Smyth (never heard of him - apparently pretty good) http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=1685
Seat 2 - Lloyd Farrell (self proclaimed tourney donk - won something last year) http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=76499
Seat 3 - Oscar Fred (anybody see a pattern? yes all tourney donks) http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=54609
Seat 4 - Rob Taylor (insert appropriate comment here) http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=57394
Seat 5 - Me
Seat 6 - Ross Johnson http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=73301
Seat 7 - Random
Seat 8 - Eoin Olin........ (apparently crushes the micro limits online) http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=65722
Seat 9 - Hardly Random - Patrick Dusty McFadden. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=51423

Yess what a table draw - I was the value, there were no soft chips to be had... anywhere..


Also well done to those who got a result.

Thats some amount of prizemoney, I was delighted with the table draw, I had been burned out for the last few weeks but once I sat down at the table I got a bit hyper, itd be harder to get chips but I didnt need to try to figure anyone out, was also a good atmosphere with most people knowing each other, I had decided on a simple gameplan pretournament and stuck with it - start stealing blinds once the antes come in. On the aforementioned first table I got a few big hands in early position and played them differently every time, I limped utg with QQ, I slowplayed QQ to a raise on my bb, I reraised with AA on the sb, but it was all very cagey and I had 18k when I got moved to Mark AKQJTs table, he had built most of his stack and I got to see part of his trainwreck, getting a few chips off him in the process. Got moved again not having played any notable hands bar a half decent pot to keep me on 20k hitting a house with J2 on the bb, stayed around that all day eventually finishing the day with 37k after a short stack pushed with 45o into my AA. I probably played 15 hands outside of the blinds the whole day.
Came back on day2 and didnt play a single hand for 50minutes when a hand develops on my button, I start the hand with app 30k, blinds at 400-800 or so, utg raises to 3500, utg+1 calls as do the next 2 players, I call with JTs and the bb calls, flop is KQJr the original raiser checks, +1 bets 9k into a 21k pot, its folded around to me, I push for 27k, the bettor eventually folds KQ, the original raiser claims he folded AA, I dont show but tell them what I had, bizzarely someone claimed to have seen my hand and told everyone that I actually had AT. Didnt play another hand for 2 hours, get moved to a new table, flat call an ep raise with 99, flop is J87, check check, turn is a T, he bets I raise, he thinks about it and flat calls, river is a blank, he pushes with AT I call and double up to 100k. I dont play another hand for a few hours till we get near the bubble, I hit 180k when my JJ cracks KK, KK being the bubble as we took 1500 off the top for 14th. HJ then pushes utg with atc for 40k - blinds at 2k-4k or so, I call with JJ, button wakes up with AA and I have to call an extra 20k so back down to 120k, Kevin O Leary got very aggressive on my right when it got shorthanded and I couldnt find many spots to resteal, ended the day shortish with 137k
Final table - Got 2 hands in 90 minutes, took blinds with both, eventually got it all in with KsQs against Toms AhTs, flop of Js9sx was just the dealer teasing me, two red rags and I was out in last. Gutted. Probably gonna play Cork next week though.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

aodea

LuckyLloyd wrote:

Blinds were 50 / 100. I had QQ. After I made it 2400 you practically insta shoved for 10475 more to me. I deliberated for five minutes before folding. You really should only have AA there.

smells like a move but your correct to fold there lloyd think ur behind to often and you only had qq not a monster like kj. i will be making my return soon so be warned.

bops

LuckyLloyd wrote:

Blinds were 50 / 100. I had QQ. After I made it 2400 you practically insta shoved for 10475 more to me. I deliberated for five minutes before folding. You really should only have AA there.

are you two girls gonna start handbagging again??

...excellent play Noel (you donkey), bad fold Lloyd (you big sissy)

(are they still handing out those bans willy-nilly? )

HalfBaked

BigCityBanker wrote:

One interesting hand - folded to Lloyd in the CO who makes it 300 to play (blinds 100/200), I look down at AJ and decide Lloyd is making a standard opening raise, I make it 900 to go..... Lloyd makes it 2400, when i dont insta muck i sense Lloyd is getting a bit uneasy so I push all in and Lloyd folds - I know he can only call with 2 hands and i know he is good enough to lay down everything other than AA and KK and i feel with a look of unease he dont have either of them... Alot of the other guys at the table say they call me but im not so sure. Its all well and good to say it was a call but when your in Lloyds seat its not straight forward. Irrespective of what i had - I think Lloyds fold is a good one - I should only ever have AA in that spot..

Lol, my guess of AQ wasn't far off!

ianmc38

Bizarre way to play AJ. I still think its AA.

BigCityBanker

HalfBaked wrote:

Lol, my guess of AQ wasn't far off!

You think too highly of me - you should know AQ wasnt in my range!!

Marq

you had the boots yeah?

Russh

BigCityBanker wrote:

Hopefully this thread will turn into a GJP player review thread? Any chance you might change the title?

My story...............

Since the Irish Open I had been playing red hot - since last weekend i have been playing sh!te - too much poker methinks.....

Anyway my starting table

Seat 1 - Marty Smyth (never heard of him - apparently pretty good)
Seat 2 - Lloyd Farrell (self proclaimed tourney donk - won something last year)
Seat 3 - Oscar Fred (anybody see a pattern? yes all tourney donks)
Seat 4 - Rob Taylor (insert appropriate comment here)
Seat 5 - Me
Seat 6 - Ross Johnson
Seat 7 - Random
Seat 8 - Eoin Olin........ (apparently crushes the micro limits online)
Seat 9 - Random

Yess what a table draw - I was the value, there were no soft chips to be had... anywhere..

played terrible - I knew what players had........ and paid to see them - so at least my hand reading was spot on - but i was a station... QQ v Robs AK on an A high board... I did lay down QQ on a J high board to Ross I believe he had KK.... I was becoming increasingly frustrated - if im being honest I probably had a little bit of stage fright with the standard of players around me - I would not wish to be seated at the same table as any of them - a collection of top class solid tournament players each one of which would buy me and sell me at the poker table.

One interesting hand - folded to Lloyd in the CO who makes it 300 to play (blinds 100/200), I look down at AJ and decide Lloyd is making a standard opening raise, I make it 900 to go..... Lloyd makes it 2400, when i dont insta muck i sense Lloyd is getting a bit uneasy so I push all in and Lloyd folds - I know he can only call with 2 hands and i know he is good enough to lay down everything other than AA and KK and i feel with a look of unease he dont have either of them... Alot of the other guys at the table say they call me but im not so sure. Its all well and good to say it was a call but when your in Lloyds seat its not straight forward. Irrespective of what i had - I think Lloyds fold is a good one - I should only ever have AA in that spot.

I get moved table shortly and finally get rid of my chips (almost all of them) with JJ V AA - when i know 100% he has me beat preflop I call for set value - but on a 5 high board i push them in (me = donkey)
One interesting hand from this table - Its playing pretty tight, so i decide to open up a bit and open from MP with QJs, Ian Woodley reraises me from the blinds, i take a look and 4 bet him and he folds JJ after a good long think.. I chatted him at dinner yesterday and he still reckons i was a rock and only had AA or KK in that spot. Jen Mason was at the table also and she didnt believe either.

Busto shortly afterwards - absolutely disgusted with my play... Play cash games win €800 so that softens everything. Travel back up yesterday and play 500 event - play very very good poker all day to reach final table, return today tired and without focus and donkey myself out in 8th - really disappointed with myself! Hopefully Rob takes this one down.

Id like to play any any live poker this week and will restrict myself to a couple of short sessions online. That said the EOM game is on in the Fizt so i might play that Thursday night :rolleyes:

Im off to Cork on Friday then for the Macau festival - If im not happy with my game im not gonna play the ME and will restrict myself to cash games (which continue to run absolutely fine - 2 losing nights since the IO weekend and as some of the SE regulars/more recently the Fitz regs will tell you thats alot of nights). I thought I had reached a good blend/balance between my cash and tourney play but maybe not! Something I need to re-examine perhaps.

One question - you raise from the CO with 97o standard i hear ppl say), shorty goes all in and your getting exactly 2/1 on your money to call but it is c.35% of your stack on the FT... You are pretty happy that he has overcards and not a big pair (ive chatted him for 2/3mins and im as happy/as confident as i can be that he dont have a pair - as in id have bet a monkey with anybody that he didnt have a pair. v v confident)... do you call or fold? I called and was happy with my call, he turned over AK - he hit his K and i hit a 7 :mad: . Some ppl were probably watching me thinking i was some raving lunatic.. (maybe I am ).. Now the call was fine imo - but the fact that I got myself into that situation was the problem!!

Finally well done to the GJP team - great tourney structures as usual. I always look forward to playing their events.. The club was rushed to be open and a few extra days would have went a long way. Best of luck to Joe with it.

Also well done to those who got a result.

That was me Noel..with the AA..I think deep down you knew i had a big pair..but it would have been a big lay down on that board...Can't believe you had QJ there against Woodley...He took ages on that one..and to me you didn't show any weakness...Well played! (although i couldn't see you face with the cap)

BigCityBanker

ianmc38 wrote:

Bizarre way to play AJ. I still think its AA.

It would be an even more bizzare way to play AA

BigCityBanker

Russh wrote:

Can't believe you had QJ there against Woodley...He took ages on that one..and to me you didn't show any weakness...Well played! (although i couldn't see you face with the cap)

He dumps almost everything here - he has no interest in playing an inflated pot OOP with anything that even looks like a marginal hand. He could push or fold in this spot - calling wasnt really an option for him.

I knew deep down that you had AA or KK in that hand, It should have been an easy fold - my brain was fried and I was playing awful!!

Hectorjelly

LuckyLloyd wrote:

Blinds were 50 / 100. I had QQ. After I made it 2400 you practically insta shoved for 10475 more to me. I deliberated for five minutes before folding. You really should only have AA there.

Sorry lloyd, This is totally wrong. Against someone who will fold QQ (and who knows, maybe KK) you should never have AA there.

CelticPhantom

bohsman wrote:

....not having played any notable hands bar a half decent pot to keep me on 20k
.... I probably played 15 hands outside of the blinds the whole day.

Came back on day2 and didnt play a single hand for 50minutes
.... Didnt play another hand for 2 hours
.... I dont play another hand for a few hours till we get near the bubble

Gotta admire your discipline man:cool:

MrPillowTalk

Hectorjelly wrote:

Sorry lloyd, This is totally wrong. Against someone who will fold QQ (and who knows, maybe KK) you should never have AA there.

I agree with Hector, I think its terrible play if Noel shows up AA KK here, saying that Im not mad on shoving a 10k stack in praying for a fold with AJ against a tight player who just four bet me.

I think Lloyds range here is AA KK QQ AK and sometimes JJ, Now your right in thinking you can probably get him to fold out QQ AK and JJ however you win 2400 when he does but lose 10k when he shows up with AA and KK, Im no master of the equity calc but I would have thought its a losing spot in the long run.

BigCityBanker

MrPillowTalk wrote:

I think Lloyds range here is AA KK QQ AK and sometimes JJ, Now your right in thinking you can probably get him to fold out QQ AK and JJ however you win 2400 when he does but lose 10k when he shows up with AA and KK, Im no master of the equity calc but I would have thought its a losing spot in the long run.

I would have to agree with you Eoin.

Alot of why I made the play was also down to the fact that less than 10mins earlier Lloyd had stated that he had no interest in playing a hand until level level 3 at the earliest.

Marq

Yet then he awakes from his self imposed slumber and 4-bets you before that level, you tank it in over the top with your mystery holding regardless.

btw who were we referring to in your sig?

BigCityBanker

Marq wrote:

Yet then he awakes from his self imposed slumber and 4-bets you before that level, you tank it in over the top with your mystery holding regardless.

btw who were we referring to in your sig?

My holding is not a mystery - i had AJo

Sig refers to player X

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

MrPillowTalk

LuckyLloyd wrote:

Who says I fold QQ always there? My range is so tight, and given the context of the situation - shoving with KK or AA would be great as I am liable to make a bad call with AK; JJ; QQ at that very moment. I reckon 40% + of the starting field calls Noel down there if they were in my position.

Asking people to lay down QQ pre - flop is a risky business. Trying it when I must call with AA and KK (and they make up half my range - I'm not ****ing 4 - betting JJ in that spot) just seems mad. But what do I know.

flat calling AA KK here is far superior to shoving imo.

BigCityBanker

LuckyLloyd wrote:

AK; JJ; QQ

I never in a million years expected that you would call with any of these holdings at that stage of the tourney.

TBH I did think you were pretty close to calling.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

Hectorjelly

If you folded QQ I hardly think you are going to call with JJ or AK. I think the problem is that you backed yourself into a corner with your image and play, you represented a very strong hand but actually didnt have one. BCB isnt going to try the same move against anyone else because they might well call him! Also, if you talk about how tight you are going to play you are inviting people to take shots at you!

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

ollyk1

LuckyLloyd wrote:

There is no point denying that I am going to be ultra tight playing a 175bb tank (I had 17400 at the start of the hand). Anyone who knows me will understand that. There are obvious benefits to my image as well which I did use on occassion on Friday - so it balances on the whole.

Meh, I don't think you are playing a 200BB+ pot with QQ AIPF in this spot either Darragh if you are being honest. Brendan McKenna would though...god bless him!!

Against Noel "tellbox" Hayes he might!! lol

MrPillowTalk

LuckyLloyd wrote:

If we had no prior history yes, it would be better.

There is merit in shoving given the history between the two of you but I think I still prefer calling AA KK as youve shown so much strength pre flop that I would expect to stack you on most flops if you have QQ JJ which was what myself and Rob agreed was your most likely holding given the action.

Marq

BigCityBanker wrote:

Sig refers to player X

I thought so. funny man Player X.

Katooey

I think Noel would have called the 4 bet with AA or KK. Lloyd, a great opportunity to bust him, stand up and do the Backstreet Boys dance to "Everybody Yeah Yeah, rock your body Yeah Yeah"

Noel, you really should have mucked the A and shown the J. Being able to show KJ would have been quite errotic

ditpoker

Katooey wrote:

Being able to show KJ would have been quite errotic

i think we might aswell close the poll for post of the year!!!

BigCityBanker

Katooey wrote:

I think Noel would have called the 4 bet with AA or KK. Lloyd, a great opportunity to bust him, stand up and do the Backstreet Boys dance to "Everybody Yeah Yeah, rock your body Yeah Yeah"

Noel, you really should have mucked the A and shown the J. Being able to show KJ would have been quite errotic

lmfao!! :eek:

ianmc38

I had a great table draw. The Rigger, Wes and Martin (Smurf) to my right and 2 tight players on my left. My tournament got off to a slow start. Raised and missed. Limped and missed. Wash rinse repeat. Hit 2 pair ad had to fold againt the uber rock who had a set. so down to 13k early on.

Then 75/150 I make it 450 with QQ. BB who is a bit of a donk athough tightish makes it 1300. He's already made some horrific plays including one particularly horrible call against the rigger. I decide to call. He has bout 5k behind. Flop i QT9. He leads for 2k. I shove. He's commited and calls with JJ. River is a sweet 8 togive him a straight. Still have 6k, so not worried. yet.

Mdwexford is the BB for my button and has been playing quite tight, so i raise 47o to 500. He calls. Flop is 682 all spades. He checks I bet. He calls. Turn i a blank. He crai. I muck. Down to 4k.

Play some ninja stuff and make a good call for most of my stack against an unknown guy (Nick from boards) with A9 on a JA44x board with 3 diamonds.

On a side note I dont think ive ever been overly impressed by anyone i've played with live, but Nick played one of the best LAGGish games i've ever seen in a live tournament. Really fantastic stuff to watch. One or 2 tweaks to his game and he could undoubtedly tear up any tournament. If hes ever looking for backing again it's definitely +EV to do so.

Anyhoo, back to the donkament. My shortstack hadcrippled my entire gameplan as I culdnt relly 3 bet or sueeze ithout commiting myself so endd up plaiying pretty tight and choosing my spots well. AT 300/600, I had bout 6k and had to sart open pushing any 2. Shoved T8o uncontested. Then shoved A9s next hand. Called by MDWexfords AK and i hit a 9 to double up.

I then flat called an UTG raise from him with AK when i should have shoved.

SO down to 10k. Then I absoluely butcher a pair of 7s. Raise preflop and somehow dont c-bet a KQx flop. I bet a K turn and check the river. Should have shoved river but got MUTBS when I had put him on an exact range which was correct (he had 99).

So that leaves me crippeld again. Then an old loose idiot raises to 1800. I ship it in for 6.5k with JQs (only my 2nd resteal all tournament). He shrugs his shoulders and says go on ill try to get lucky and calls with A7o and thats me gone.

I would definitely echo the sentiments of others regarding the great structure. The service and food were also excellent. However, I do have some constructive criticisms:

1. The event didn't feel in any way important. It felt more like a €100 fo then a 1k event. I was expecting alot more from it and spoke to lot of others who felt the same.

2. The venue didn't do it for me in any way. I thought it was too small and didnt really suit an event of this magnitude. It felt like I was playing in my local GAA club.

3. Lack of live updates was strange as usually the coverage is second to none.

I had something else to say as well but cant remember.

bops

ffs ian back on topic plz

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

ditpoker

I think ian makes a very good point. The tournament just seemed to start out of nowhere... at 4.55 we hear "the tournament will start in 5 minutes" and then at 5pm it "shuffle up and deal"... no build up and on at least 5 tables people were playing 5-6 handed. Last time out was the GJP slide show (as cheesy as it was) it added something to the proceedings.

At the Irish open all players (or the VAST majority of players) were seated, then Liam Flood welcomed all the players to their big event, went through the rules and introduced the TD's, announced how many rounds would be played that day and that players would be playing for 635000 euro etc etc... and then paddy power got the game going with the "shuffle up and deal" ... it creates an atmosphere and players feel as if they are participating in a big event, this was missing at the weekend.

MrPillowTalk

Thats a load of pants lads, the tournament is as important as you want it to be, personally I cant stand the schoolteacher routine at the start of the open, when I sit down at a poker table I want to play cards not get a lecture.

bohsman

Exactly, a tournaments a tournament, I wouldve probably left the room if Liam Flood had started talking rubbish followed by sponsors etc

Blip

http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/10041

Nice review of the fesival on blondes.