I am typing this letter in Paris Beauvais airport on the way back from my first EPT in a couple of years. The main event didn't exactly go to plan. It's hard to bust a 300 bb stack in under 4 levels but somehow I managed it. I actually made a good start, up to 35k in the first level, just through chipping up in small pots. Went into reverse then, and was back to starting at end of level 2.
Level 3 was something of a nightmare. I got rivered in one big hand after turning the nuts (a straight) versus top English online pro Matt Frankland but at least minimised my losses by checking behind on the river when the board paired. Then a weird hand where I open QQ to 325 in the kidnap (seat before hijack). Tightest player on table who has only played 2 hands to date (and shown down just one, AK, which he threebet pre) seemed to think about threebetting but instead flatted. English maniac squeezes button for 1225, I flat, and the tight guy instantly makes it 5k. Maniac folds as did I after a tank. My read was he had a monster which he considered threebetting but decided to flat with three maniacs behind likely to squeeze. Once the squeeze came in, he raised enough to make it unprofitable to setmine. He looked supremely confident as I was tanking so I figured kings or aces (I think he threebets AK as he had previously). Felt weird folding queens pre but I ran the hand by a few top players after and they all fold soI am happy with the fold.
The hand that did the real damage started with English maniac (good maniac though: he won a Sunday major recently) opening in MP. Bad French player flats, as do I out of the sb with tens, and the BB comes along. Flop AJTr and I check call a 50% pot cbet. English player had shown (and actually declared to English guy beside him) willingness to triple barrel live so I decided to play the hand passively to extract maximum value from his bluffs. Turn was a 9 and I check call again. River a 2, I checks, and he pots it. I was prepared to call a 50% pot bet quickly but I tanked this one as I'm only beating a bluff. I wasn't able to bring myself to fold against this guy though and unfortunately he had the hand he was repping (KQ). This was the only hand I wasn't happy with. I don't think the river call is horrible but possibly I could have got away at that sizing.
That left me in the 20 big zone a lot earlier than I had hoped. I picked what I thought was a good spot shoving in with sevens over a guy opening any ace any pair anything pretty from any position, and ran into AK behind in the big blind. K high flop, gg me.
As I said, hard to bust a 300 bb stack in under 4 levels, and particularly hard to do it and not feel a bit stupid afterwards. I could possibly have played less hands and nitted it up a bit more but my game plan was to try to accumulate in the early stages (similar to what I do online).
Normally I get over exits pretty quickly unless I made a bad mistake but this one took more out of me than most so I took a few days off rather than relaunch myself into side events. My friend and travelling companion David Lappin was still very much in the mix until day 4 so that gave me another reason to take it easy as I don't like playing side events when you are more interested in how someone else is getting on in the main. David eventually got unlucky with kings against sevens with 40 left, but it was a great performance by David in his maiden EPT. Deauville's not a bad place to spend a lazy week at this time of year either. I did get in a couple of turbo sides at the end of the trip but similar to how they've been going for me of late: make a bit of progress in the early going to get to the stage where the blinds are so big you need to start winning races, only to lose the first one.
I was interviewed by Evening Herald journalist Michael Lavery last week about the live scene in Ireland. These are recessionary times with buyins dropping across the board and it could be said that with a 2k buyin even the Irish Open is no longer a major international event. But on the plus side we have some good new tournaments from Stephen Mclean like the Super Poker event which allows players to play a Vegas sized tournament with a big prize pool for a relatively modest buyin of €300+€50
.
I'm also looking forward to the Legends Cup which offers players the chance to build a day 2 stack by playing up to 4 different day ones (and combining stacks).
And for real value Irish Eyes Poker in partnership with Celtic Poker Tour see the running again this year of the CPT Player's Championship in which €20,000 will be added to a free entry live tournament. To be eligible to enter this great tournament, all you need to do is:
Win any Celtic Poker Tour Live Event OR Accumulate 50 player points from Celtic Poker Tour weekly events AND 10 Doubloons Irish Eyes Poker between now and May 2013 OR Accumulate 1000 Doubloons on Irish Eyes Poker AND play in one live Celtic Poker Tour Event (at which you must Register your online User name ) between now and May 2013.
Before that, next up for me is UKIPT Cork. I am heading down there Wednesday and hoping to reverse my recent live fortunes.
In all there’ll be $1.2 million in guaranteed money offered over the span of 37 poker tournaments. Mark your calender for this Sunday February 17th when there are four different Main Events and $330,000 guaranteed.
The satellites all consist of 6-max Turbo SNG’s, 6-max Regular SNG’s and Full Ring SNG’s.
Buy-ins for these tournaments range from $1.95 to $134, and you can win tournament coupons ranging from $11 to $530. See the full schedule here: http://irisheyespoker.blogspot.ie/2013/02/poker-maximus-iv.html
For other online tournaments check 'Doke's Hot Tournament Picks' page at http://www.irisheyesbet.com/openpage.php?pg=dokespicks where I look at a range of tournaments across the networks on Irish Eyes.
With the announcement of the Irisheyesbet.com Legend's Poker Cup 2013 Irish Eyes have launched a great new promotion where you can get your Day1 Legends Cup entry for FREE.
In additon to VIP Club rewards or rake back, you can get your Day1 entry to the Irisheyesbet.com Legend's Poker Cup just by playing on Irish Eyes Poker. On top of any rake back or rewards you get online, Irish Eyes Bet will give any player 1 x Day1 entry free if you:
(i) Get to 'Count' level in the VIP Club before the 19th May 2013
(ii) If you are already at Count level or higher, earn 500 Doubloons from 1st Feb to the 19th May.
Every poker hand played in any Poker Room of our Multi-Network( excepted ENETPOKER ), every bet in the Casino, every wager on Sports Betting lets you earn " DOUBLOONS", golden coins that let you climb the nobility ranks in our "VIP CLUB". See you at the Legends Cup in May.
The Irisheyesbet.com Legend's Poker Cup 2013 will be Europe's largest ever poker tournament in terms of player numbers. With a entry fee €130 (+ €20 Registration Fee Incl Vat) and an expected prize pool of €250,000, this tournament will have 4 day 1's. Player must register and pay for all buy-ins online through Irish Eyes Bet.
Players have the option to play as many day 1's as they like and can accumulate their total stack from four starting days to progress through to Day 2. It's a unique format that caters for different players, from those who want to take one shot at a big prize pool through those that want more than one chance to make day 2 and players such as myself who think playing all the day 1's gives us a better than ever chance of actually making day 2 with a decent stack. I'm looking forward to the event which takes place in City West Hotel, Dublin, from the 23rd to 26th May. For more information and to buy-in, see http://www.irisheyesbet.com/openpage.php?pg=legendscup
Lastly, there are still accounts on Irish Eyes from the old system with funds in them unclaimed. If you think you have an account but cannot think of your username, email team@irisheyespoker.ie with as much information about the account (the owner's name, possible email address used, when and where set up, address etc) and we will reply and try to sort it out.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
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