City West €250+25 Freezeout May27/28

willis

To be honest lads unless someone else starts taking the initiative to organise tourneys like these and provide pokerevents with some competiton, then i cant see them changing the way they run their events. I was hugely impressed with the layout, however the structure was awful. Also the dealer at my table couldnt even shuffle the cards and one player, i think it was ivan donaghy asked the tourny director to replace him, i couldnt believe that he wasnt even once shuffling the cards.

Shocked to hear ken doherty still in there, he was at my table and was down to 600chips with blinds of 75/150 and we were all rubbing our hands t the thought of winning the bounty when he was suddenly moved tables. Fair play to him, amazing comeback imo.

Benglian

QuentinHapsburg wrote:

Joe O'Neill was chip leader when I left, won his big stack when he went all in with a flush draw, called by players with top pair on the flop and pocket bullets, he drew his flush tripled up and took command of his table.QUOTE]

Please don't credit Joe O,Neill with this, I was sat next to him, and on a flop of JT6, the AA moved in for 10k, was Raised by the KJ to 15k all in, and the Joe CALLED with the suited A7 on the flush draw.... rivered it of course. His only logic was the blinds were going up so fast he HAD to at least double up soon....and he had 12K...

And yes the blinds were crazy after the break, I just about held starting chips and was comfotable, then all of a sudden I am in trouble. Especially as the blind structure was posted here, and there was no mention of antes, and they missed a couple of levels....

Boo Hiss!

Dr_Colossus

Great review Mike. Very well writen and spot on about the blind structure, it totally killed the game and destroyed what was expected to be and what could have been a great tournament.
In relation to Dub13's question about playing it again, I would have to say that I probably would. My reasoning being that there are very little opportunites to play a tournament of this buy-in that attacts so many players. But when the choice comes between the Fitz end of month game and this again I know where I'll be going if they don't change that blind structure.
Maybe as poker tournaments becomes more organised and frequent players will have the choice to choose between the different tournaments on offer with their feet thereby forcing the organisers to provide better structure.

Doc Farrell

Shortstack wrote:

Full review is on my blog . Parts of this event were good, but there was an opportunity here to run a 'Poker' tournament. Whatever the facilitys and cosmetics the poker should be the most important.

Excellent report Mike. Did u bring a secretary? 'Make a note of that hand please, Miss Jones'.

Looking forward to your 25 rebuy game. Start it on time and keep the clock on a twenty minute for the full night. Give bonus chips if necessary to get it started on time. If you do that then the Europa/Rossnaree tournament could become the best regular one outside of Dublin. But if there's problems with the clock and blinds....well you experienced the more expensive version last night.

You can buy cheap washable felt in bulk from cloth suppliers. Does Noel Furlong make the stuff or is that carpet backing?

cheers, d.

ionapaul

Great report Mike. I was out within 2 levels after the break, my top two pair beaten by a straight. As I mentioned to a few during the break, the standard of play at my table was about that found in the Thursday freeroll in the Fitz - no joke. For four of the 11 players, Ax is a monster that is worth calling any raise with. If you have a drawing hand, no matter what is being asked of you, call call call until the river. Our dealer didn't have a clue. A player two to my left would look at his cards and promptly deposit them in his lap - the players across the table had no way of seeing them! The dealer didn't say anything for the first two levels, but even though I could see whether he was still in the hand or not, I finally had to insist he kept the feckin' cards on the table for everyone to see! Followed by 20 minutes of smoldering quiet anger from the agrieved gentleman!

At the same time, nice to see such a huge crowd out to play poker, right?

MadsL

I'd like to thank Pokerevents for organising this for one reason only;
The reduced field at the Friday game meant that I did't have to deal last night and after a 'feck it, why not' moment, grabbed 3rd in the tournie..

biteme

Mikes report sums up what i thought of the tourny. I got knocked out about 50th having played crap for the guts of an hour and throwing away too many chips. I truely thought the blind + ante structure was a total joke. When I pulled up Richard Neilson on why it had suddenly jumped from 300/600 with 75 ante to 500/1000 with 100 ante I was told we need to get it finished early and sure don't you have 40 minute blinds. The blinds really turned it into a crap shoot. The introduction of antes pretty much cut the 40 minute blinds in half with the dealers taking there time getting all the antes before each hand.

On the poker side of things I had two strange hands from the night. The first I blinds were 200-400 , I limped with TT after one limper. BB makes it 1000 to go , limper and me call. Flop is 893 , two hearts. BB bets 1000 , other guy folds and I make it 3500 pretty sure I'm ahead and he's missed his flop with such a weak bet. He thinks about it for ages and lays down QQ face up. I couldn't believe it. He was sure he'd done the right thing too.

The second hand occured later when the blinds were 500-1000. I limped with 9Ts after one limper. Chip leader limps in and late position player makes it 4k. Me and chip leader call. Flop is T87. I've and up and downer with top pair. I bet 10k putting the original raiser all in. The chip leader dies and the raiser calls pretty quickly with AKo. no flush draw , just too over cards and of course hits his king on the river

I don't know if I'd play the tourny again unless the blind structure was changed and it was possible to make fintin be quite for more than 5 mins, declaring "we have action" and proceeding to comment on the progress of the hand for everyone around the room. I just found it a little irritating. I only care about these 9 player why should I care about people on other tables..

BigDragon

lenny_leonard wrote:

...... But that just lasted for three levels...

Like me then. :eek:

Again, Mike said it all really.

Doc Farrell

MadsL wrote:

I'd like to thank Pokerevents for organising this for one reason only;
The reduced field at the Friday game meant that I did't have to deal last night and after a 'feck it, why not' moment, grabbed 3rd in the tournie..

oh thats gotta sting for our readers in empty wallet land!
sweet

Daithio

Just got knocked out in 22nd after making it throught the mayhem that was last night. I completely agree with Mike's post, the structure was madness. I don't see the point in having a tournament scheduled over two days with a forty minute clock when you are just going to skip so many blind levels like that.
In the end I went out holding AJ against K3. Costing 14k a round, I went all in with AJ for around 40k, only for the button to call me for half of his chips with K3!!!! "They were suited though." Needless to say a three came on the flop and I was out 3 places from the money.
Despite that most of the complete muppets had actually been whittled off by that stage and it had turned into a decent tournament with a bit of room for play (they chopped the blinds when we returned this morning).
I'll definitely be playing in the next one. You'll hear alot of people (including me) complaining about terrible calls and bad beats but there were also alot of good players there too, and in the long run you want to have a few of those idiots around.

Marq

did they reduce the blinds when you came back today?

If so it only makes the structure more unfair than it was before.

Daithio

Yeah they did. The average stack was 50k and a round was going to cost 20k so they had to do something about it. I know it's a bit unfair on the people who got knocked out last night when the blinds were bigger, but they were gone and I don't think it would have been fair not to reduce the blinds merely on principle.

ZZR1100

any1 got the results .. must be over by now

Fatboydim

My experience was much the same as everyone else’s. I lasted until 2.40 with the blinds at 2000 / 4000. By then I was down to 18000 in chips but had never risen above 26k. I found myself on a pretty good table with three female players who were all very good, including Andy Black’s girlfriend, and Lauren Szidak who finished second in the Fitz the night before and 5th in Cork, Billy one of the Belfast crew who was very tight and solid, and another gent to my right who got some great cards and knew how to play, The loosest player initially was “Crazy Dave” who I’ve played against before and could have almost anything, not afraid to bet or pack the pints in. I think so much in these Supersats depends not only on what cards you get and how you play them, but also who’s at your table and how the table plays as a whole… as such this was a reasonably tight table and nobody was really running away with chips the two chip leader’s being Andy Black’s other half [Sorry I don’t know her name] and the guy two seats to my right who kept getting pocket kings, and as a result built a nice stack and was able to take my blinds uncontested far more than I would have liked. So it seems to me you need enough loose players so that stacks can be built up, but not so many that the table becomes unstable. No wonder lights were crashing down.

One very early hand I was on the button with AJ – a player in mid pos raises to 400 blinds were 25 /50 this was folded around to the guy on my right and he re-raises to 800 – AJ is a great button hand but faced with a mid pos raise and reraise I decided to fold. Flop comes with an ace. First to act bets another 800, and gets called. Turn comes an ace. Both check… Now I’m beginning to wonder if either guy has an ace – I suspected AA, AK, AQ at least, but it doesn’t seem like a check raise to me… it seems like caution. River comes J and inside I’m cursing… I know now I would have won this hand –. First to act pushes all in. After a lot of thought he is called. First to act has Q8 I think it was… But it might have been Q 10 --- I was so stunned I nearly fell off my chair WTF? I don’t even think he had a pair. To be fair to the player he had probably guessed that there wasn’t an ace out and decided to bluff – but what he was doing raising with that crap in the first place is beyond me. The guy two seats to my right had kings and took the pot down.

After that it settled into a pattern of pretty tight play. I found AA once in early position when the blinds were 150 /300 and made the smallest raise… everyone folded. I found QQ when it was obvious that a double through would be needed as blind levels were being missed, and pushed all in but never got called… And that was the story of my night… I never once got to double up. I only made significant gains when I got to call. Such as playing pocket fives against a shortstack’s all in, I put him on any ace and he had A4os he didn’t hit his ace. My luck ran out when Joe from Galway joined our table… I know Joe and how he plays – he plays loose aggressive. Mostly either flat calling or raising all in, hardly ever an in-between. He was two seats to my left and I knew it was going to spell trouble for me. On my BB he pushes all in… we were at 2000 / 4000 It comes around to Mr Two Kings – He is thinking of calling I look at my cards and see AQs I’ve already decided to fold if Two Kings calls. I’m thinking of folding if he doesn’t… Eventually Two kings folds. But I’ve picked up that Joe isn’t that happy with his hand and as I know he could push with almost anything I reason that maybe it’s worth calling after all. I’ve got chips in already and I’ll still have over 6k left if I lose. I want to get to the final table of this tournament so it’s time to throw caution to the wind so I call him. He has AQos. Two spades on the flop and I’m drawing to a flush – but it’s a split pot. A little while later Lauren is all in and there’s three of us in a pot… none of us hit and the 35k pot is taken down by Ace high [The guy had A8 – ] Lauren goes out. The very next hand I’m on small blind and Joe is BB it’s folded around to me and I find pocket 7s I go all in. Without thinking almost Joe calls me. I have 19k he has 17k it’s all his chips. I’m surprised to see K9os… and he hits the king. The very next hand I’m on the button and once again I’ve got 77 all in for my 2100. Joe calls for the 4k blind. This time he has king ten and once again hits – I’m gone.

Overall I would play again – I keep reminding myself that if you play correctly eventually you’ll win out. I played in all three Supersats and only once was I knocked out by a better starting hand when my AQ in Galway ran into KK. My criticisms of the events would be that it rewards the bad / loose players when the rules are changed part way through. Had I known that blind levels would be skipped I would have started a little more aggressively – maybe playing that AJ – I thought this was a marathon and not a sprint, so at the break I thought 12k was fine. After the dinner break the game play changed. In some respects IPT are victims of their own success – the event was very well subscribed – and money is made running side games – costs are high because it is a touring event and dealers venues etc cost - so if we want more of these events they need to make money – and if players aren’t being knocked out quick enough … it’s a catch 22. But I think Fintan, Donal and Richard are good listeners and I’m sure they’ll read this and other comments… So get those suggestions in. Personally I’d rather pay a little more in buy ins and registration fees and have a published adhered to structure that each player gets when he registers – so everyone knows what the blinds are and how they have to play. I think we will get it one day – The EPT events come close and I wouldn’t be surprised if Poker Events deliver a serious tournament one day too.

Shortstack

Pokerevents wrote:

This is a €45k guaranteed satellite event that feeds the 16 player only €100,000 Irish Poker tour final.
It is fully I.P.F (international poker federation) compliant
1. Who is running the event (organisation, society etc.)
Irish Poker Events(see pokerevents.ie)

15. Blind levels
25-50/50-100/75-150/100-200/150-300/200-400/300-600/400-800/500-1000/800-1500/1000-2000/2000-4000/3000-6000/4000-8000etc
16. Blind timeframes
40 mins levels


More info see www.pokerevents.ie

Here we go, I was too tired to notice this today. No mention of antes. There were enough people around with the confidence to use a microphone and announce they were skipping advertised levels and adding in antes from as early as level 4. Bad form Fintan & co yet again.

Another minor irritation I forgot about was the chip colours of the 25's & 1000's, with all the colours of the rainbow available why make them so similar ?

It may sound like I am a whinging MF but these are important issues for a lot of players and need to be addressed. As usual it is the fact that Fintan is not up front about anything whether it be capped prizepools, structure changes or the difference between a double chance & a rebuy event.



Congratulations Madsl for getting 3rd.

SavageBeat

I must say that I enjoyed the event. It was very well run, the dealers I had knew what they were doing. The standard of play was average, sure arn't we all human Even though right towards the end of Friday night, Roy the Boy doubled up nicely on my table when this idiot called Roy's all in even though they knew they were behind?? (Roy consquently went out early saturday when he went all in with pocket 6's with most of the table to act and he walk into a monster, K's. Needless to say he didn't hang around)
I must admit the blinds did put me under pressure a few times during the tourney, I don't think I got great cards at all, but must have had something as I ended up going out in 10th place just missing the final table. Taking home 800 euro. Not bad considering I qualified on vc for $3.
I will play again as I won a ticket to the connaught cup.

Fatboydim

Well done Savage - good for you. 10th place is a great result. Maybe see you in Galway.

SavageBeat

Fatboydim wrote:

Well done Savage - good for you. 10th place is a great result. Maybe see you in Galway.

Thanks. Cool, If you make it there, track me down. I would like to put a face to any of the boards players. BTW Real name: Jim Neary. Later.

NickyOD

Nice one Savage. I'll most likely be playing the Connaught Cup. Anyone got the full results and the breakdown of the payouts?

Hitman Actual

SavageBeat wrote:

Thanks. Cool, If you make it there, track me down. I would like to put a face to any of the boards players. BTW Real name: Jim Neary. Later.

Good result, Savagebeat. I was acting the railbird 'til about 4oc yesterday; which table were you on: Joe O'Neills', or Pat Crowes'?

There were 12 players left when I headed off. Pat Crowe got knocked in 13th when he went all-in with Q5s, and met AQs. Adrian Walshe was knocked out in about 17/18th, and Joe was the only Dublin regular left that I knew, but he was fairly short-stacked with about 100K and blinds at 10K/20K/2K.

Edit: Hard luck Daithio, I heard about the crazy call from yer man!

Pokerevents

Immediate results,
1. Gerry Sinnot (Dublin) €22,000
2. Walter"uncle joe" mc donagh (Galway) €12,500
3. Will Fitzpatrick (Dublin) € 8,250
4. Darren Blaine (Belfast) € 4,250
5. Paul Sheehan (dublin) € 2,500
6. Fergal Finn (Cork) € 2,000
7. Keith "hi-lo" (east wall) € 1,500
8. Vinny"long lad" O'Toole (Galway) €1,250
9. Joe "show" O'neill (Dublin €1,000

There was a deal done between the top three. Second day play was a mixture of top class play and sheer luck playing a major part even down to the final card on the final hand.
I was hoping Darren Blaine would win a ticket as there are no northern players in the final yet, and not only is He a decent guy I rate him as a top class player you will most definitely see in bigger events with results. His kk ran into gerry's AA 4 handed.
I thought Gerry was extremly lucky to win it, however I'm delighted for the guy as he is a total gentleman and this was a experience of a lifetime for him.
Young O'Callaghan was unfortunate to be knocked out by gerry when Gerry mad a bad call with K3 to Dave's AJ. Joe was also robbed a few times and was fancied to finish higher than his 9th place.
All in all I found this to be a excellent tournament with the second day full of play with not as much pressure on players as the blinds were a lot more friendly. Second day started at 13.15 and reached final table at 16.15 with last hand finishing at 20.45. All comments are appreciated and points about structure on day1 completely right, however, the reality of producing a final table from 240runners is quite daunting in a two day period. Again thanks for the comments even though I find shortstacks comments very harsh and sinister in parts, but this is the "perks" of running events nationwide, your always in someones line of fire, with different people having different agenda s and motive s. Will post full report if anyone interested.

Hyzepher

Pokerevents wrote:

Again thanks for the comments even though I find shortstacks comments very harsh and sinister in parts, but this is the "perks" of running events nationwide, your always in someones line of fire, with different people having different agenda s and motive s. Will post full report if anyone interested.

umm.... I'll think you'll find that shortstack's comments were echoed by a number of people and to say that there are 'other agendas' is a platent snub at your own customers. Take the criticism as a blessing as ignoring it, or laughing it off, may cause a much bigger impact than a few observations.

Hyzepher

ZZR1100

9 players from the 3 SATS for the final.Are the other 7 online qualifiers or was there a pub challange for a few seats..have you the full list and details yet of the final.

Pokerevents

Not only is it the tone of the comments from shortstack that I would have to put a question mark over but the substance of them. It takes a lot more than a ante structure (that you think is right) and that is adhered too to run a good event.
This tournament provided some fantastic play from host of different players from different backgrounds. Total hours of tournament play was almost 16. Final table had almost 5hours of play which included loads of pre and post flop action. Can you tell me where you can play a tournament in Ireland or the u.k that lasts that long? It might be a good idea for you shortstack to actually attend the event in total to write a valid account.L.O.L. Besides if you are serious about contributing proper analysis that will be taken on board e-mail or phone me.




The 16 player only final will award the final tickets on-line @vc. These start this week.

biteme

Pokerevents wrote:

Not only is it the tone of the comments from shortstack that I would have to put a question mark over but the substance of them. It takes a lot more than a ante structure (that you think is right) and that is adhered too to run a good event.
This tournament provided some fantastic play from host of different players from different backgrounds. Total hours of tournament play was almost 16. Final table had almost 5hours of play which included loads of pre and post flop action. Can you tell me where you can play a tournament in Ireland or the u.k that lasts that long? It might be a good idea for you shortstack to actually attend the event in total to write a valid account.L.O.L. Besides if you are serious about contributing proper analysis that will be taken on board e-mail or phone me.

So Fintin you don't want to comment on the fact that you lied about the ante structure?

Your structure was so bad that on the second day of play you had to cut back the blinds to allow any kind of play because your ante structure had changed the game into a crap shoot early on in the first day...

Instead of dismissing peoples comments on your event as being underhanded why can't you address the comments on the ante structure and explain yourselfs.

Shortstack

Pokerevents wrote:

Not only is it the tone of the comments from shortstack that I would have to put a question mark over but the substance of them. It takes a lot more than a ante structure (that you think is right) and that is adhered too to run a good event.
This tournament provided some fantastic play from host of different players from different backgrounds. Total hours of tournament play was almost 16. Final table had almost 5hours of play which included loads of pre and post flop action. Can you tell me where you can play a tournament in Ireland or the u.k that lasts that long? It might be a good idea for you shortstack to actually attend the event in total to write a valid account.L.O.L. Besides if you are serious about contributing proper analysis that will be taken on board e-mail or phone me.




The 16 player only final will award the final tickets on-line @vc. These start this week.

Fintan, I just wrote what I saw. I tried to be objective and if you read it properly you would notice that I did compliment a lot of what was done. However, I have seen no-one other than yourself defend the decision to change the advertised structure in such a way that you did, and then not bother to tell anyone it was changed. The fact that you had to pull back the blinds on the second day is a good enough indicator that you got it wrong (and the only reason you got 16 hours of play). Bingo in the Ritz hotel is still Bingo nevermind how it is presented. Had you announced the structure change at the beginning then maybe those who had played to the original advertised structure would not minded as much. Perhaps you could explain what was sinister and what the alternative agenda's you speak of are? As I said in my report I think it was a wasted opportunity and I stand by those comments.
You may have had more players back on day two had you stuck to your original structure but it probably would not have finished much later.
Also since friday I have mentioned that you had a prize for the last women standing to a lot of people. 100% of them were offended whether male or female.

MadsL

Not only is it the tone of the comments from shortstack that I would have to put a question mark over but the substance of them. It takes a lot more than a ante structure (that you think is right) and that is adhered too to run a good event.

First line of defence is attack? Typical of your response that I have seen to date to your customers.

This tournament provided some fantastic play from host of different players from different backgrounds. Total hours of tournament play was almost 16. Final table had almost 5hours of play which included loads of pre and post flop action. Can you tell me where you can play a tournament in Ireland or the u.k that lasts that long?

The Fitz festival, the Merrion Irish Open, The Cavendish Club in Belfast all run similiar events. I don't need to go to the UK to find further examples, but I can also suggest Blackpool. What is your point exactly?

It might be a good idea for you shortstack to actually attend the event in total to write a valid account.L.O.L.

So far below the belt. :mad:

Besides if you are serious about contributing proper analysis that will be taken on board e-mail or phone me.

So despite endlessly pimping your events here, you will not entertain feedback from this forum. Nice attitude.

I have heard many comments around the poker table from serious players along the lines of "I won't be back". I suggest that you take these comments on board without the snide hostility, unless your ambitions are simply short-term profit, rather than serving the poker commmunity as you set out your stand to (supposedly) do. Poor show.

Pokerevents

The facts are this tournament was rated as the best in Ireland for many very experienced players. It was a national affair with runners from Cork to Belfast with a tremendous athmosphere. It had in the opinion of many of the top players in Ireland a freshness and originality that is much welcomed.
Andy Black described the event as the most athmospheric tournament he ever attended, and described the structure as very good.
Ivan Donaghey expressed the same saying He was impressed with the organisation and said he would attend any event run by pokerevents.
Gavin Stevens said it was the best value tournament in Ireland with very desent blinds.
Daragh Hanlon congradulated Donal on a fantastic event.
These people have all gone on record with the above.
Of course for a event this size you will always have negative element from a fraction of people. Most of these genuinely believe thier opinion is corect and find it hard to see the overall picture. It is very easy to nitpick, I find myself doing this at many of the big events I attend and I try to avoid their mistakes for my own tournaments(easier said than done) however from my limited experience on the tournament circuit(U.K,Holland,Slovenia,Italy) from what I see I believe pokerevents tournaments have the potential to be among the best in the Europe.
Regarding the blinds advertised these were based on a 180runner €45k tournament. Obviously with the numbers and the 2 day time constraints the blinds were altered. This was not a lie Biteme, if you went to the trouble of reading the tournament rules it clearly states director has the option to adjust the blinds as he/she sees fit. This was done and it was done with the idea of reaching 30 runners for day2, which was achieved at 03.30.
Again it takes alot more than a ante structure to run a event of this size and I'm astounded that it could be critisized to extent it was by shortstack.
However I will relay all comments to donal and richard. But for the future a report should be only be posted on the full event to give proper analysis this is a basis requirement for anything worth it's salt.

mewso

I'm sure were Mike to report on both days the criticism of day one would be the same. I didn't attend the event but I don't think you can invalidate criticism of an event just because it was only covering the first day. As Mike said he mentioned the good things too so even if he had been there on day 2 and reported on some great poker the problems with day 1 as he saw them would remain.

NickyOD

I will make one suggestion Fintan and that is not to bring in the antes until the 500/1000 level and adjust the blinds accordingly. Level 4 is way too early. In most tournaments they are not brought in until level 7/8. It would speed up the play signficantly. I understand many of the croupiers are trainees but many are very poor indeed and kept making mistakes with the antes, missing them and then having to double check. It happened several times at my table. I seriously needed chips at the time and it got very frustrating getting to see so few hands over long periods.

With less chips in the pot, less for an inexperienced croupier to do and less waiting for muppets to be reminded to post the ante every bloody hand, I think I could probably have seen ariound 20-25% more hands. I think antes are an important part of tournaments but certainly not at such an early stage. I don't know any other tournament that brings in antes that early.

I think you should do your best not to allow these tournaments to descend into 2 card poker so early. There might have been 16 hours of poker but it was 2 card poker for most of the field after just 5 hours of play.

Aside from the structure I think this is a great event. But in an event where the who's who of Irish poker are playing I think we should be seeing a lot more postflop poker.

regards

Nicky.