IO Trip report. - WARNING Contains Name dropping

newbie2

Thought I'd write this up. I know it's a little bit late but I've been drunk!!:eek:
After winning an IO package on Boylepoker -was really looking forward to playing it and meeting all the players who I've idolised for a number of years. Asked all my mates -what's the best way I should play this? 'Play tight' they said, ' just play AA, KK and QQ', 'shove with them!!'
Left Bray at about 5pm on Thursday in a taxi to get to Citywest (normally about a 25-30min journey) and it took me over an hour to get there. Traffic sucks to the max. Eventually got to the hotel on the assurance from Ciaran Corbett (WP man) that ipoker had booked me a room from the Thursday to the Monday - Here's hoping! There was. 'Great stuff' I thought
Checked in and made my way to my room. The first 4 people I passed in the lobby were. Padraig Parkinson, Rory Liffey, Dan Harrington and David Colclough. 'Bollix' I thought. 'This is going to be tough'.

Got to my room and was immediately convinced that I had been here before. The bathroom looked very familiar. 'I'm sure I've puked into that before' I commented. Unpacked, with the full intention that I wasn't going to see my wife for at least 5 days, and set up my laptop. Free broadband! If by broadband you mean 20mbps! Got my krap together and then got a text from Lisa from Boyles (wp gg) "Hi, I'm at the bar with Padraig Parkinson, having a drink if you would like to join us?"
'Having a drink' I thought
'Absolutly!'
]Got changed and legged it down to the bar. Stealing Jamie Gold's lift as I ent. Called Lisa, found her and was introduced to Padraig, his better half - the lovely Véronique, Rory Liffey, Brendan Murray from Cardplayer magazine, Walter (another Boyle poker qualifier) and his wife, Sinead. Lisa bought me a couple of drinks and all of a sudden I was in my element. If you've heard it before it's true. PP is a fcukin' nice guy. Next thing I know, ex-champ Neil Channing comes over and has a drink with us. Some of you know where I work and know that I don't get star struck - but I was close to falling over my lower jaw at this point.

I was getting hungry and so was Rory and PP. (note: I'm on 1st name terms now) so we decided to go and get something to eat. Surprisingly only I, Lisa, PP, Veronique and Rory went for food. I don't know if I was pushing my luck here - acting like a groupie! But in fairness I was hungry and IMO there's no food like food with pro poker players.
I felt the dinner went well for me. Got to know the lads a little better and as I suspected they were very much salt of the earth - nice people. Had a bit of crack over a bottle of wine and a nice Asian. (No, no, no, not that sort of Asian!) Funnily enough, It was only myself, Veronique ad Lisa drinking. A point that would come crashing home at about 4p.m. the next day.
After dinner got back to the bar and met up with another Boyle qualifier. Nice guy seemed very interested in what Scott Gray had to say. Rory went to bed and so did PP+V. 'Jees, they're going to bed early' I thought.
Surinder Sunar then came over to chat. 'FFS' I exclaimed, 'He's here too'. After about an hour (could have been 5 - was pretty well gone by now), Marty Smyth and his fiancée, Karen join us. ''Fcuk me''. Had a few words with Marty (Very nice guy BTW) but spoke a lot to Karen. (Another very nice person) Congrats BTW to the both of you if you bother reading this! Thing are a little hazy from this point on, but my overwhelming memory was the one question that I asked every pro I met. "Any advice for me?" Funnily enough it was the same answer. “Just play your own game; if you've qualified online then you're obviously a player who understands how to play poker

Great I thought. -Now whose advice to follow.?..?....?...?..
Got up on Good Friday (nothing good about it IMO) at about 1.30pm. Kick off was at 2pm. Couldn't eat as I had the mother of all hangovers. Walked into the poker room and grabbed a bottle of water. 'WOW', 'Look at the size of it'. Then I looked at the room. The room was huge, and all the tables laid out with plenty of room between them. The draw was done and I was at a table in the mid 40's.

Sat down and off we went. The only other player on my table I recognised was Nik Persaud. Although there was an American young guy, a sweed, a Russian, an English online pro and a couple of older Irish guys, I figured I could make it to the next day. 16 minutes in and I picked up my first hand, AJ spades on the button. Folded around to me and I raise it up to 3 times the BB. SB and BB call. Flop comes TQA all clubs. 'FFS' I thought. SB checks and BB pots it. I call. I know I'm doing the exact opposite to what I should, but I have really no idea at this stage as nerves and a hangover take its toll. Turn comes a Kd. BB leads for pot again. OK I've hit my straight but I'm really not happy about it. I don't want to be in this position this early in the tourney. 'WTF' I panic. I call. - I don't want my HH torn apart here BTW. I'm just trying to illustrate how the tourney affected my (no existent) thought process. River comes another K. Well that really is sh1t for me. BB leads for pot again. The sweat at this stage is dripping off me and I must be tattooing my hand on my forehead. I can't put the BB on AK/TT and I have a small disbelief that he flopped a flush. I feel his river bet is a busted flush bet, but I don't want to shove here as there are a lot of hands that beat me. I elect to call and he shows KJ of clubs for a flopped RF. 'Poxy donkaments'I think and decide to play uber tight for the rest of the day.
What a mistake that was going to be

For the rest of the day I played mega tight. Hoping for AA/KK/QQ. Any of these I was comfortable shoving. Suffice to say that I got none of these all day. Dinner came along and I was on 5.1k (starting 10k). Rang a mate of mine (Lurker1977) and was pretty distressed. ''I was not playing my game. I was playing way too tight''. ''OK'' he said. ''You know what to do''.

Back after dinner, and 3 hands in I looked down at QQ. Shove. No callers. 2 hands later - QQ again - shove. No callers. Did this about once every 7/8 hands (in position) and never got a caller. Nik commented ''WTF happened to you at dinner, you're a different player''.

About 10.30pm the table is broken and I'm moved to a table with Andrew Pantling. He has about 90,000 to my 12,000. ''Ah well It could be worse''. Again I chose to shove any good hand and got no callers until the end of the evening. By then though blinds were 400/800 50ante and I had **** all. Every shove was folded to me so picking up the blinds and antes was ok but not what I wanted. At 15 mins until the end of day 1 I was shoving nearly every hand I could but nobody was calling. It all ended and I had 5200 chips at the end of day 1. ''Fcuk''

Went straight to bed but was awake pretty much most of the night as I was trying to figure out exactly how wide my shoving range was. I concluded that it was pretty wide

Day 2 and I felt a little better. I didn't have a hangover, but I was tired. I logged onto the IrishOpenBlog and found my new table. What I was surprised at is that I wasn't the short stack of the Tourney. I was third off the bottom! I also found out that I was at a table with a player that I play a pub tourney with every Tuesday - Robert Nolan. I felt good about this as I would be a little, more relaxed at the table.

Went down to the bar and met up with Robert and his wife, Geraldine. Who was still in too. Also met up with another payer who I play with on Tuesdays - he was still in too. Great showing form the Wicklow crowd. Spoke to Rory and PP and found that they were both out. LOL - I outlasted the pros!!

Ordered a toasted special from the bar but didn't get it for about 30 mins - I think it was amateur night for teh bar staff. Ate that, and went into to poker room. At this stage the cash games are rocking. Loads of players who IMO hadn't even stopped since last night. Sat down at the table and immediately felt comfortable. First hand I'm UTG+1 and Robert is UTG. I look down at AJ sooted. The BB is the other short stack. He started the day with 5600 - 400 more than me. But with the BB and antes, he's now on 4750. I shove and it gets around. Robert comments - 'a sign of things to come?' And I reply 'Yep'. I shove the next 4 hands and pick up a few chips. Before you know it I'm on 12k!! Card dead or a few other moves before me over the next couple of hours and I’m way down. The blinds go up to 1000/2000 50ante and I know I'm bollixed. With 3k left Robert raises to 4k. I look down at K9spades and elect to call. I'm sure I'm behind, but it's the first picture card I've seen in 4 hands and I'm the BB in 2. Another player calls and I stand up - I know I need a lot of help here. Flop comes A25 with 1 spade. Robert shoves and the other caller folds. I know I'm way behind but let everyone know that I've runner runner flush. No help on turn and river, but I'm happy that the chips go to Robert and not some Brit

I'm out and decide rather than play the cash games, I'll go home and have a G&T and see my wife. Taxi please.

All in all I had a great time at the IO. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Boylepoker for all their help. Esp. Lisa and Ciaran. I know now that you can't wait for cards to come at you at these things. You have to play your own game. FFS, The amount of times I folded 77/88/99 that I would normally 3-bet was unbelievable. Next year will be different.

Hectorjelly

I'm not reading that

cuterob

if paragraphs could have aids....it wouldnt look like that

coillcam

Hectorjelly wrote: »

I'm not reading that

QFT.

Flushdraw

Preview your post ftw

newbie2

Fixed. FFS Didn't realise doing sh1te in word then Copying and pasting would be soooo much hassle. I even added hyperlinks for those of you who didn't know who Dan Harrington was.....:rolleyes:

Me=Gimp

Requiem4adream

Ask Rob to delete that quote before he blinds us all!

Lurker1977

newbie2 wrote: »

Things are a little hazy from this point on, but my overwhelming memory was the one question that I asked every pro I met. "Any advice for me?" Funnily enough it was the same answer. “Just play your own game; if you've qualified online then you're obviously a player who understands how to play poker


16 minutes in and I picked up my first hand, AJ spades on the button. Folded around to me and I raise it up to 3 times the BB. SB and BB call. Flop comes TQA all clubs. ...some betting occurs... I elect to call and he shows KJ of clubs for a flopped FH. 'Poxy donkaments'I think and decide to play uber tight for the rest of the day.

Something doesnt quite add up here..........:pac:

SpencerJames

Don't mean to offend but this is perhaps the most uninteresting, self indulgent drival of a thread Ive ever read.

Its just a poker tournament.

Wasted 8 minutes of my life reading this. Do I know you?

You're UNREAL!

Hectorjelly

I enjoyed reading it (once the formatting was fixed), it was a nice story of someone playing in a big tournament for the first time. I had a similar experience where I won a satellite into the IO years ago. I think it was 2004 and was held in the Merrion. I was just starting to play poker and I can only imagine how bad I was!

5starpool

SpencerJames wrote: »

Don't mean to offend but this is perhaps the most uninteresting, self indulgent drival of a thread Ive ever read.

Its just a poker tournament.

Wasted 8 minutes of my life reading this. Do I know you?

You're UNREAL!

What did you expect it to be, a hand for hand chronicle including thought processes all the way? It was fairly obvious early on in reading it that it was a 'my view of my first big event' type post, and I thought it worked pretty well at doing that. Also, you should learn to read without moving your lips and using your finger if it took you 8 minutes to read that.

Chill Winston, every thread does not have to be serious and outline how players try to angle shoot in order to gain an advantage.

careca

Hectorjelly wrote: »

I enjoyed reading it (once the formatting was fixed), it was a nice story of someone playing in a big tournament for the first time. I had a similar experience where I won a satellite into the IO years ago. I think it was 2004 and was held in the Merrion. I was just starting to play poker and I can only imagine how bad I was!

Exactly. I have never played one that big (or anywhere near it) and I shudder to think how far out of my depth I would be. But I'd still love the experience.

SpencerJames

SpencerJames wrote: »

Don't mean to offend but this is perhaps the most uninteresting, self indulgent drival of a thread Ive ever read.

Its just a poker tournament.

Wasted 8 minutes of my life reading this. Do I know you?

You're UNREAL!

Jeez Rory that's a bit harsh.

It's an interesting read of how a big tourney atmosphere can really affect a player unused to it. I, for one, enjoyed it and I am obviously not the only one. To be honest Rory your post having a go at him is more self-indulgent than his post.

eoghan104

SpencerJames wrote: »

Don't mean to offend but this is perhaps the most uninteresting, self indulgent drival of a thread Ive ever read.

Its just a poker tournament.

Wasted 8 minutes of my life reading this. Do I know you?

You're UNREAL!

Have you read your blog?

You and your poker buddies represent everything thats wrong with poker IMO.

If you dont like it GTFO.

pok3rplaya

I enjoyed it.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

maloney333

SpencerJames wrote: »

Don't mean to offend but this is perhaps the most uninteresting, self indulgent drival of a thread Ive ever read.

Its just a poker tournament.

Wasted 8 minutes of my life reading this. Do I know you?

You're UNREAL!

I read this forum alot and post the odd time here and there, but i find myself reading alot posts along these lines!
This is a public internet forum for poker player with the love and passion for the game, this is obviously a report from a guy who won a ticket to the Irish open and was excited at playing with the ''big players'' and giving his view on his experience, which I found a good read.

what are you achieving writing a stuck up self indulgent reply like this??
DO I KNOW U?? or better question ''SHOULD I NO YOU''??

El Stuntman

I'd like to see a few more non-pro Boardies throw up their impressions\experience of playing the IO.

good read except I had no clue who most of the 'dropped' names are

and Rory is probably just suffering from exam tilt imo

SpencerJames

eoghan104 wrote: »

Have you read your blog?

You and your poker buddies represent everything thats wrong with poker IMO.

If you dont like it GTFO.

Firstly, apologies to the opening post. I was more having a go in jest than actually having a go.

However, Eoghan. Do I know you? I don't believe I have had the pleasure yet? To say that I represent everything wrong with poker is a but lewd. A sweeping statement like that surely needs to be backed up.

smurph

Chri*st Rory, you really need to relax... the guy is telling a story about his first major event, and to be fair to him, I thought it made for a great read. You really need to chill a bit

Between this post, and slowrolling in the S.E. at the Irish Open Satellite, you are certainly picking up some distasteful traits.

Using the excuse that "I don't mind being slowrolled so It's okay to slowroll other people"..was stupid

the guy you slowrolled "Paul Daly" actually turned around to the guy beside him and said "that's why I don't bother playing live much, because of arrogant young pr*cks like him"


My highlight of the weekend, was Jessy May walking by and going "How's it going smurph":rolleyes::rolleyes:

Anyway Newbie2, great trip report, sounds like you had a great weekend. See you at the tables soon

Ollieboy

A nice post and wp. I'm glad you enjoyed it and thats what the day is all about. Next time stay away from the beer and play your own game.

I remember playing my first big event (which I won) and it was the highlight of my poker life for years.

Ollieboy

smurph wrote: »

Chri*st Rory, you really need to relax... the guy is telling a story about his first major event, and to be fair to him, I thought it made for a great read. You really need to chill a bit

Between this post, and slowrolling in the S.E. at the Irish Open Satellite, you are certainly picking up some distasteful traits.

Using the excuse that "I don't mind being slowrolled so It's okay to slowroll other people"..was stupid

the guy you slowrolled "Paul Daly" actually turned around to the guy beside him and said "that's why I don't bother playing live much, because of arrogant young pr*cks like him"


My highlight of the weekend, was Jessy May walking by and going "How's it going smurph":rolleyes::rolleyes:

Anyway Newbie2, great trip report, sounds like you had a great weekend. See you at the tables soon

You slowroll Paul Daly!! one of the nicest guys in poker...hmmm

thedini

SpencerJames wrote: »

Don't mean to offend but this is perhaps the most uninteresting, self indulgent drival of a thread Ive ever read.


You're UNREAL!

SpencerJames wrote: »

Firstly, apologies to the opening post. I was more having a go in jest than actually having a go.

LOL!!!!!!

newbie2

SpencerJames wrote: »

Firstly, apologies to the opening post. I.

Apology accepted.
Jeez, I didn't realise that a trip report from an amature player on his first exploits in a big tourney would cause soooo much crap. Anywho, glad some of you liked it. See you at the tables.....

SpencerJames

Agh here, I best nip this in the bud.

Apologies to op and to everyone else offended. I am a bit tilty. Down a few buy ins and have essays to be handed in. I felt like a bit of controversy and a laugh really.

I am indifferent to the post and shouldn't of wrote anything like that. I do hate the medium of the internet forum because you can never tell the mood or tone of the poster.

Smurph, I do apologise for the slowroll. I was bored and I did apologise to him after, which he accepted.

I don't feel like I have to defend myself here. I have a wide range of friends across the poker scene. Those that know me, know I'm quite a modest and respectful player.

Apologies once again and hope they are accepted.

Rory

smurph

SpencerJames wrote: »

Agh here, I best nip this in the bud.

Apologies to op and to everyone else offended. I am a bit tilty. Down a few buy ins and have essays to be handed in. I felt like a bit of controversy and a laugh really.

I am indifferent to the post and shouldn't of wrote anything like that. I do hate the medium of the internet forum because you can never tell the mood or tone of the poster.

Smurph, I do apologise for the slowroll. I was bored and I did apologise to him after, which he accepted.

I don't feel like I have to defend myself here. I have a wide range of friends across the poker scene. Those that know me, know I'm quite a modest and respectful player.

Apologies once again and hope they are accepted.

Rory

No problem Rory, im sorry for posting up the Slowrolling story, probably the wrong place, im having one of those weeks myself..... New goverment cunning plans are causing major pressure work wise, if indeed im going to have any work at all soon....

Anyway we'll all go out and hug a tree (I feel a bit like the slowroll prevention police here, lol :o

destroyer

I enjoyed it too, having never played in anything that big, I can empathise with OP and in fairness he gets his sense of being awestruck/overwhelmed a bit across quite well.
Maybe it wasn't aimed at "greats" like SJ

El Stuntman

SpencerJames wrote: »

I don't feel like I have to defend myself here. I have a wide range of friends across the poker scene. Those that know me, know I'm quite a modest and respectful player.

"so Herr Hitler, how do you respond to the charge of being a genocidal maniac?"

"well those who know me best say that I am a thoughtful, quiet chap who likes nothing better than helping old ladies across the road and pruning my rose bushes"

"fair enough so"

YULETIRED

Rory ya bolllx,
Nice trip report Newbie. Your 1st day of boozing was typical Irishness, why do we do it? Twice I've nearly passed out sitting down and both were the 1st day of a big poker event. I hope you enjoyed it anyway, here's to next year and your A game.

BigCityBanker

SpencerJames wrote: »

Agh here, I best nip this in the bud.

Apologies to op and to everyone else offended. I am a bit tilty. Down a few buy ins and have essays to be handed in. I felt like a bit of controversy and a laugh really.

I am indifferent to the post and shouldn't of wrote anything like that. I do hate the medium of the internet forum because you can never tell the mood or tone of the poster.

Smurph, I do apologise for the slowroll. I was bored and I did apologise to him after, which he accepted.

I don't feel like I have to defend myself here. I have a wide range of friends across the poker scene. Those that know me, know I'm quite a modest and respectful player.

Apologies once again and hope they are accepted.

Rory

this may be true but your first post made you come across as the nut dickhead

El Stuntman

BigCityBanker wrote: »

this may be true but your first post made you come across as the nut dickhead

warning to kids: too much exposure to poker can make you come out with phrases like the above :rolleyes:

eoghan104

SpencerJames wrote: »

Firstly, apologies to the opening post. I was more having a go in jest than actually having a go.

However, Eoghan. Do I know you? I don't believe I have had the pleasure yet? To say that I represent everything wrong with poker is a but lewd. A sweeping statement like that surely needs to be backed up.

Ok Im sorry for the sweeping statement, ive never been introduced to you just seen you and some of your mates at a table once and wasnt impressed with the attitude and behaviour on view.

Maybe it was just a once off, my apologies.

tylerdurden94

Nice little read, wouldnt even bring the wife with you? Im sure she was real happy As you say always next year, well done again.

Was gonna say something about Rorys post but alot has been said already so i will leave it at that.

destroyer

SpencerJames wrote: »

Down a few buy ins and have essays to be handed in. I felt like a bit of controversy and a laugh really.

I am indifferent to the post and shouldn't of wrote anything like that.
Apologies once again and hope they are accepted.

Rory

Hope this appears as shouldn't have in those essays!
Maybe that is a bit pedantic and certainly OT, but seeing as it is "bash spencerjames day" I'll post it anyway:D .

max_power

Fair play, good honest fun post. I think i actually did my work experience where you work. If i remember correctly you spent a lot of time asleep on the couch.

Whyno

Good report...Typical first timer in a big tourney...Next year ya`ll be more the wiser and less booze and your own game will see ya get on better...
Anyone else care ta post their own trip reports?
If i put mine up the suicide rate of boards may go up

smurph

Whyno wrote: »

Good report...Typical first timer in a big tourney...Next year ya`ll be more the wiser and less booze and your own game will see ya get on better...
Anyone else care ta post their own trip reports?
If i put mine up the suicide rate of boards may go up

MY TRIP REPORT- FROM MY BLOG

Thursday 9th April, Super Satellite-
As part of the package we were booked in from Thursday until Tuesday so I decided to play the bingo game that is the super satellite rather than go to the pub... I spent €600 total and got my stack up to 75K and then folded practically every hand until the ticket (left it a bit scary with only 1.5 Big blinds left), but hey, what the hell.. €3,500 in the back pocket. Martin didn't want to play the main event as he has been on painkillers, with dodgy ribs. We had a few beers at the bar and went to bed

Main Event - Friday 10th April 2009
What a dissapointment it ended up being. My table was very tough.. Neil Channing, last years winner, Rory Rees Brennan (although he looked unwell), and Paul (Pabloh) from Boards to my right, Jason Tompkins ( young guy who came 2nd in the Deepstack GJP tournament earlier in the year)I had gone up and signed up for the Paddy Power Sole Survivor and got my sweatshirt and teeshirt. I was extremely nervous for some reason, don't know why, but I just needed to relax a bit more. first hand of note is the 50 100 level and Paul raises utg to 350, I call with AcJc, flop comes down Ad 4c 7h, he bets out 800 I call, Kc comes on the turn, he bets out 1.5k, at this point I have top pair and drawing to the nut flush, I call, river is a brick, he bets out 2.5K, I called. The river call is pretty pathetic, im not beating anything, he is not going to be trying a 3barrell bluff so early in the tournament. Im down to 6,200. The next level is pretty ****ty, any of my raises are getting snapped off, and already i feel like it's going to be a ****ty day.

at the The 75 150 I have raised twice with AK and got check raised on a small flop..... aaarrrghhhh...next hand there are 2 limpers to my sb and I look down at 2 black Aces and raise to 700, everyone folds, tits..... at least I pick up a pot, and im at 3,800 at this stage, and it's the last hand before the break.. Rory Reese Breenan opens utg for 350 and gets 3 callers, Im on the button and look down at pocket jacks and make it 1200, Rory makes it 2,800, and I ship my reamining stack over the line and im up against KK and no donkey miracle for me. gone before the first break... Gutted. After getting my early setback I never settled, no excuses just poor
play, Paddy Power sole Survivor, lol I didn't make the first break

Headed to the bar and myself and Martin were having a few beers with Damien Kent and Steven and Denis (they were soooteed, ex dealer from the Fitz). He was talking about a game on in a hotel in the Curragh, run by WAD Events it was a €115 freezeout with a 15K stack and 30 Minute clock, sounded great, and it certainly beat venting out on the Cash tables (the rake was a bit scary too), so we made the road trip to the Strand house Hotel on the Curragh. There were 156 runners for this...

My strategy for this game, was to relax and enjoy the game and drink plenty of Vodka, then I realised it was self deal, ****. I never play self deal games, they usually put me on monkey tilt.. But if in Rome, as the saying goes, and to be honest my table was pretty good at dealing so there was not a problem, and in fact we had very few misdeals.

The only bit of advice I would give the organisers, get dealers in and even more people will come. The room was spacious enough and had a good buzz about the place, and people were there just enjoying themselves, having a few beers and playing cards, what more would you be doing on a Good Friday. Anyway played my big cards strong and got a few jammy pots, one where I flopped a flush and a guy shipped his 18K over the line drawing dead with Qh9h on an all spade board. I made the last 20 and was above average in chips when a deal was suggested to take 100 of top 5 prizes to pay 16-20 people, it was 3.30 am in the morning, and I usually wouldn't agree to this, but kept the mouth quiet, as I would have been the only objector, martyr im not.. The prize structure was as follows:
1. €4900
2. €2500
3. €1300
4. €1000
5. €800
6. €720
7. €650
8. €600
9. €500
10. €450
11. €430
12. €300
13. €300
14. €250
15. €200
16. - 20th €100

I got really good run of cards and made it to the final table 3rd in chips, I managed to knock out all the players up to heads up play and felt invisible, A deal was offered heads up but I wanted to go for the win, ended up 2nd for €2,500 which was brillant. Definitely if they can get this dealer dealt, it would be one to look out for. Eddie Walshes better half Jemma, came 2nd in the Ladies event in the Irish open, so well done her, so we headed back to citywest with Damien still trying to figure out how I luckboxed my way to 2nd place lol, while himself and Martin were getting slapped around the Cash tables. We had breakfast and went to bed (kind of reminded me of Vegas).

Saturday 11th april - Omaha game -
I sat down, I watched 2 scandi maniacs potting blind for all the re-buy levels, I had 1 re-buy, I left, I drank loads of beer and played the cash.

Sunday 12th april - Ladies Event 99 runners + €1,500 event - 209 runners
Decided to play the Ladies event, as I had never played in one of these before, I didn't last to the end of level 2, lol.... blinds are 50 100 and few limpers, lady on Button makes it 200, I call in the SB with pocket 2's.
flop comes down 2 8 9 rainbow, I check and its checked around to her, she bets out 200 (into a 1K pot), I re-raise to 850, meanwhile 2 other players in the hand didn't see my re-raise and had already put out their 200 (confused yet???) I sure was.
One of the other players folds, but one calls, original raiser folds.
Turns is Jd, I ship as there is enough in the middle at this stage to take, but nope she calls and turns over Q 10 for the nuts, mmmmm nice catch, and im at the bar in double quick time, 2 vodkas later and im in the cash game, and work up enough to play in the €1,500 event.

My starting table has Paul Smallwood, Paul Spillane, a good lag english pro to my right, and Dan Harrington on my table aswell. To be honest I was a little bit star struck, I mean he is the reason im playing cards.. I move my stack up nicely, picking my spots well and am on about 9K, when this hand happens.
Blinds are 100 200, and I make it 600 utg with pocket 10's
Dan Harrington calls in lp
flop comes down 10h 8h 2d, I bet out a weak looking continuation bet, he stares me down for about a minute and folds... soul reading for the win, Dan Harrington gets knocked out shortly after this, and a lula scandi gets moved to the table, with a Paddy power bag tied on his head, sort of like a hat kinda thing, and he has a laptop on his legs, and is multi-tabling, online while playing this game.. what next.... Anyway Donal the TD spots it and he is told to turn the laptop off... could you imagin if it was allowed, there would be 3 hands played a level...

Our table gets broken and im moved to another tough table. there is a tighty mctight player to my right, Charlie Harvey from the fitz in seat one, zeik tuite from Cork at the table and 2 french players.....

My stack is hovering around the 12-14k mark, and then this hand happens.... tight player to my right raises to 1,200 utg (blinds are 200, 400) I look down at QcQh and re-raise to 3,600 its, folded around to charlie Harvey who ships for 15K..... original raiser folds... I fold my Queens face up after a long think.

Maybe folding was too nitty, but showing my fold, was atrocious play... and I became a marked player for it, I got a few raises snapped off, so I had to change my thinking big time, and I started snapping off a few myself.

So I struggle and strugge with 12-15 big blinds all night, and then we get down to the last hand... blinds are 500 1k with a 100 ante, I look down at pocket 6's utg, and raised to 3.5K leaving approximately 12K behind. folded to the button who pushes.... sb bb fold..... do I take my chance or fold and come back tomorrow with 10 Big Blinds.... took my chance and called, was up against AK, Ace on the flop and im toast. Aaaaaarrrgh, I went out in 54th. There would have been a table draw and maybe a small chance to get a bit of momentum going. If's and but's...

Really enjoyed the game, but folding the Queens face up was the worst thing I did the whole weekend....

Went to the bar and had a chat with Paul "bling bling" Marrow, I have never seen a man to wear so much bling in all my life, he had a lavender suit, shirt with real diamonds on them, and 2 different coloured shoes, as you do. He is one of the funniest guys to talk to, the place was buzzing.

Monday 13th April - Charity Event- 150 runners
Played this game really badly, got my chips in the middle so bad it wasn't even funny, I cracked KK with AJ, my KQ split a pot with KK (I got runner runner straight) so when I eventually did get my chips in the middle ahead, I knew I was doomed, and My top 2 pair were never going to hold up against a flush draw. Phil Baker (who finished 9th in the main event) did the charity auction at the break and he was absolutely amazing, a natural.. Everyone seemed to enjoy the weekend, and im delighted that there 150 runners for the charity event,

Once again Paddy power put on a great event, fair play to them. I would just love it if they made the Main event 15K starting Stack and the side event 10K starting stack next year, it would just be the icing on the cake.... Roll on next year, hopefully I'll qualify again and not be so nervous.

cuterob

was a good trip report, was funny, nice to have something different than the usual boring, ego massaging, crap theory based, bad beat story laiden trifle, that is usually written, good stuff newbie

zuroph

Holy crap thats amazing...
You survived a drinking session with Lisa!!! :pac:

YULETIRED

El Stuntman wrote: »

warning to kids: too much exposure to poker can make you come out with phrases like the above :rolleyes:

BCB out shopping for some nuts .
I want a bag of nuts, but not yer average nuts, I want The NUT Nuts. Ya know like, WALLnuts, they are my favs
NUT nuts? I've no idea what you mean sir however we only sell Cashew nuts here.
Cashew? Just cashew, I've no other outs? Feck it. I'll laayve it so
Ok have some Walnuts here after all sorry about that.
Ah feck ya, I knew you had the nuts, you slowrolling fecker, trying to pawn me off with those bag of spanners,
I didn't fall for it, did I? Ya country hick ya. Ya donk, ya ..
Excuse me strange man , please leave the shop, not only are you annoyig but your jumper is upsetting me parrot.
My trip report 88th in the Sat so no cigar. Made 150 Euros profit in the cash and went to see The boat the rocks and despite the critics hammering it, I loved every minute of it, super movie.

Whyno

YULETIRED wrote: »

BCB out shopping for some nuts .
I want a bag of nuts, but not yer average nuts, I want The NUT Nuts. Ya know like, WALLnuts, they are my favs
NUT nuts? I've no idea what you mean sir however we only sell Cashew nuts here.
Cashew? Just cashew, I've no other outs? Feck it. I'll laayve it so
Ok have some Walnuts here after all sorry about that.
Ah feck ya, I knew you had the nuts, you slowrolling fecker, trying to pawn me off with those bag of spanners,
I didn't fall for it, did I? Ya country hick ya. Ya donk, ya ..
Excuse me strange man , please leave the shop, not only are you annoyig but your jumper is upsetting me parrot.
My trip reort 88th in the Sat so no cigar. Made 150 Euros profit in the cash and went to see The boat the rocks and despite the critics hammering it, I loved every minute of it, super movie.

Your not well Willie are ya

newbie2

max_power wrote: »

Fair play, good honest fun post. I think i actually did my work experience where you work. If i remember correctly you spent a lot of time asleep on the couch.

TY,
That would be me allright........

max_power

Ha yeah, Danny and the lads still around playing hearts and chuckling?

newbie2

Nice post smurph. WP in the sat.

max_power wrote: »

Ha yeah, Danny and the lads still around playing hearts and chuckling?

Still pissing away lunch hours playing cards alright.;)

nicnicnic

the history of these type of threads seems to have died a bit on boards, I've always enjoyed them seeing an event from a load of different perspectives always appealed to me.

my weekend from my blog

What a great way to spend Easter weekend the Irish Open poker festival has become. I've always been fond of the city west as a venue and you have to hand it to Paddypowers they put on a great show. Luckily enough theres enough entertainment on offer to keep you occupied if you exit the tournament early as my 2009 IO appearance was rather brief.

We canceled the golf due to bad weather Thursday so six of us went to the Asian restaurant for dinner. Keith McFadden drew the short straw for the €300 bill and immediately proceeded to do a grand playing pitch n toss to Flipper trying to win the dinner money back.

I stuck to my no hangover plan and was in bed by 1.30 having drunk one pint. I woke at three, my body under attack by some virus or reacting badly to the oysters I had at dinner. I put in a horrible night of sickness and got back to sleep about eleven the following morning for two hours. Bops who I was rooming also put in a different type of sick night doing his total konkers in the supersatt and later the cash games. He was heading down home to reload when I was finally getting some kip.

I dragged myself down to the poker area about 1.50 and thought very strongly about unregistering. If theres one thing experience of playing these multi day events has thought me its that you cant win them on day one. With that thought in mind I decided to try and just get through the day. I get to my seat and know two players at the table, Mick Muldoon and Jamie from Limerick. I'm not exaggerating here when I say if I was asked before the game to pick a player that I would least like to have direct position on me, the player I'd pick without hesitation would be Muldoon, but that was where I got him.

My Open consisted of two hands. About 30 minutes into level one six players see a raised pot, I hold 3h5h on the button. The initial raiser bets 575 on a 4d 6h 9h flop and I raise to 1825 quiet happy to go to war with an over pair. Muldoon throws a spanner in the works by shoving from the small blind. As much as I like a gamble I'm not calling them off in this spot, I was thinking 7h8h which was murdering my hand, he told me a couple of days later he had AhJh which was just killing it.

My exit hand was 60 minutes later, I'm playing 7k and pick up my first starting hand of the tournament in QQ. I smooth a 300 open and the 500 raise from the BB, flop of 2c3x4c goes C/C, I call 1500 on the turn and a river shove to be shown AA. I don't mind how I played the hand as I didnt think my opponent had a small range pre and I was happy to get them with the Queens at any stage in the hand.

By 6 O C the bar was littered with most of the top poker players in the country. I'f I had to do a list of 20 Irish players I gave a chance to in the tournament about 17 of them were out by level four. Maybe the novelty of having the bar open on good Friday was just to enticing.

Saturday consisted of a hugely enjoyably game of golf with Marty Smyth and Paul Spillane from Boyles. Bruces came out well on top in this one with me winning 14 skins. I spent the rest of the day having a few beers and watching the Masters.

Played golf again Sunday with the same three ball. I asked Jude Ainsworth if he wanted to join us but he said that he was going to spend the evening trying to qualify for the SCOOP $10K that night. As he went on to win $963,000 and the title of SCOOP main event champion over the next two days he probably made the correct decision re the golf. I'm friends with Jude by default through his best mate Derek and its Derek that has for a couple of years now been telling me just how good Jude is. I think the whole world knows now, what a performance it was after watching the hole cards on stars tv.

In the golf we played for percentages in the €1500 event. Marty, not a man that will be kept down for long owned myself and Paul in this round. It wasn't all bad though as although Marty got 10% of us we still got 5% of him which is never a bad thing.

The €1500 game started at five and I intended to start aggressively and try get a big stack together. We had the novelty Jamie Gold on the table in full wsop waffle mode. He was good craic actually and played well enough except one retarded over shove over Cairan Burkes Queens open with A5os. Two aces later Ciaran was out and I was eyeing up Jamies stack. After three levels I had over twice my starting stack, felt on top of my game and was really getting into the tournament.

Ten minutes into level four I was out. Andy Black whom I hadn't played with before had joined the table. I raise AKos under the gun and get two callers, Andy shoves for circa 7k from the sb. I insta shove as I'm very happy to take on his range here with th AK, his tens hold. A couple of hands later I'm playing 8k and 3-bet to 2500 with JJ from the button and call a shove. This time I lose to AK. I'm not 100% about the call with the jacks as this guys range was narrow enough tbh but I had set out to play aggro so I'll chalk it down to an aggro call.

I was dissapointed not to go deeper in that game as I felt good about my game but these are the joys of tournament poker. As myself and Paul settled down in the bar to watch the last round of the masters we comforted ourselves with irony that although Marty won the golf he was the one that could end up handing over money. I also had 10% of my Brucepoker boss Paul Smallwood who was accumulating a nice stack.

I hadn't had much to drink up to that point of the weekend but put that right Sunday night. The last thing I remember was about 5.30 A M telling the TV production people that every poker tournament has a story running through it and it was up to them to capture it. I hope I went to bed shortly after this as I can only imagine the level of bull**** to follow that.

Monday was spent hungover railing Paul and heckling ( in a nice way ) Jamie Gold. Every time Jamie took down a pot he got a rendition of the chorus of the above Spandau Ballet song. Paul played a stormer in the €1500 finishing 5th for just shy of €20,000. He can be very proud of the finish is a brilliant field, he even managed to win two races against Jamie, WP m8 great result.

Although the tournaments were very disappointing for me the IO is such a great social weekend you cant not have a good time. It was great to catch up with friends over the weekend esp my good bud Gavin 'Valor' Kelly who was home from Argentina. Bops won back the money he lost Thursday and had a miraculous cash in the PLO tourney for €1600, he had one bigblind when the bubble broke. Flipper did his stones but returned to Mallow confident in the knowledge that he is still the best poker and pitch n toss player in the country. All in all a great weekend but alas I'm going to have to wait at least another year before I become the IO champion.

Jayminator

SpencerJames wrote: »

Don't mean to offend but this is perhaps the most uninteresting, self indulgent drival of a thread Ive ever read.

Its just a poker tournament.

Wasted 8 minutes of my life reading this. Do I know you?

You're UNREAL!

I enjoyed the read.

Although unlike above poster, it did not take me 8 minutes to read. But I have spent the last 10 minutes laffing me hole off at the above post.
And I laffed even harder @ BCB's term the ''nut dickhead'' I think it was. That was ubber funny. Ah seriously though we obviously caught Rory on a bad day. The post does come across somewhat arrogant but underneath all that Rory is pretty cool and a nice lad. Cannot say arrogance would be a word I would use to describe SJ in the flesh. I would use words like pretty and cute TBH.

Always next year newbie by which time the likes of O'Shea, Reesy etc may be your new heros. ( They are SJ's mates).

Flushdraw

Why not....

Arrive down Thursday night with Gill. Decide against playing the satellite and opt for a few beers and a bit of grub instead. Manage to play a bit online back in the room. Internet connection was the worst ive seen. IE and Firefox just kept crashing but despite that, not once did ipoker or pokerstars crash…very strange!

Friday comes and this sucked…starting table has Phil Baker, Bomber Nolan, Tim Blake, Michael Greco, Liam Flood and a few foreigners at it. I never got above 10k at this table. Liam was on my right and usually got the raise in before me. I also had Greco down as being a target to 3bet but Liam 3bet him quite a few times before I got the chance. I took Liam on a couple of times but I never picked up a decent hand here all game so I couldn’t play a hand with any confidence. Few good bluffs and a few bad bluffs sees me hover around 5k-9k for about 5 hours.

The biggest pot I won was Liam Flood raised to 300 from button. I called from SB with KQ..BB makes it 1425. Liam folds saying this smells fishy and he’ll let Tony deal with it. I oblige by making a backraise to 4k. BB thinks forever and folds. That was the biggest pot I won. All of 2k!

The biggest pot I lost was I raised EP to 800 with 98s. Phil Baker calls on the button with AQ. Flop is Q 8 7. I lead for 1400 and he ships. I fold obv.

Jamie Gold gets moved 2 to my left for the last 90 mins or so before I get moved. I’m not involved in another pot because I’m too short to raise fold and don’t want to ship with rubbish to pick up the blinds. 6.5 hours of poker and I didn’t play 1 hand to showdown. Most sickening tournament ever.

Get moved to a new table with Paul Zimbler and Jeff Kimber at it. I only have 5k chips starting off but get a double up early on when I ship AKs UTG and get called by the BB holding JJ. Also manage to get another double up when player minraises UTG..2 callers and I call from BB with 8d6d

Flops comes Kx 7d 4d. I lead for a pot sized bet of 4700 and Kimber ships. Its 4k back to me so I call and hit a 5d on turn to beat his 77.

I manage to play a bit here and get quite involved. Still no AA, KK, QQ, JJ or 1010 but I have chips to make a few moves and re-moves. Was here about 45 mins and got moved again. Was enjoying the table and sick to get moved

Played 8 hands at the next table and American Pantling won 7 of the hands with raises preflop. I get moved again 15 mins from end of the day. The only player I recognise is Ashley Hames, and I only know him from Sin City and his crazy assed antics!

I finish Day 1 on 19,975 chips….146th in chips coming back.

Day 2 and I get a good table draw. Pascal Peroit in seat 1, Anto O Callaghan in seat 2, me in seat 3…shorties in seats 4,5,6….Brooke-Pearce in seat 7..Patricia from Fitz in 8 and I don’t know the other.

First hand of the day, I raise QQ Utg to 2200..folded to Patrica and she ships for 16k…I maybe make a dodgy fold here. At the time I was thinking this is always AA,KK maybe AK. First hand, nobody gone and she’s shipping over an UTG raise, meh… I get a couple of raises through and 3bets against Pascal Peroit. Tony Cascarino gets moved to my left. He plays a hand horribly against Anto and has a decent stack. Brooke-Pearce is also well stacked and I didn’t rate him at all. He got a big double up when Anto raises to 2800 UTG…Brooke called…LP makes it 8100..Anto folds and Brooke chips for 55k. LP has about 40k and calls but his AK cant outdraw the 44 of Brooke and he breaks the 100k mark.

My exit hand….folded around to Pascal Peroit on the button who makes it 3k….i think for a bit and ship fro 23k from BB with Ad7d..He instacalls..so I flip over saying Oops..he frowns and shows A6o

Board runs out A 10 6 A 8…..c’est la vie

Chilled back in the room for a bit and then went for a wander and a couple of drinks. Went back about 8 and decided on a night of drinking and playing the Nintendo Wii that we brought along. Great craic and cheered me up!

Didn’t play any more poker for the weekend and just had dinner and drinks the Sunday and left on the Monday. Was still a good weekend and thanks to Ciaran and Boylepoker, and thanks to Noel and PP for putting on a great show.

Switched on my o2 phone on Tuesday and had a text from Lisa from Boyles asking to join the crew for a drink…..I guess the same drinks newbie had before the event!!

bobbyg

I am getting f**k all work done today with all these trip reports, keep them coming!

connie147

Well done all of ye on the trip reports. Very enjoyable reading!

Connie

smurph

did anyone else think that Jamie Gold came across as a really nice bloke.... Railing his speech play and watching him playing cash was one of many highlights of the weekend. He came across as a really nice guy, not at all pretentious

Jayminator

smurph wrote: »

did anyone else think that Jamie Gold came across as a really nice bloke.... Railing his speech play and watching him playing cash was one of many highlights of the weekend. He came across as a really nice guy, not at all pretentious

Unlike spencer james smurph eh. The arrogant prikly