Another long post.. 100% poker!

Report 3rd May-I' m happy to report that the Irish Open Deaf Poker Championship was a great success!!! But the preparation and the aftermath of the Irish Open Deaf Poker Championship was stressful, sometimes I felt like banging my head off the wall especially when it came to arranging the return of equipment to Paddy Power. I felt it would be a better idea to have it in a casino the next time. Save more money that way anyways. The tournament itself was great fun, I was busy playing/worrying about everything but it was great to see everyone enjoy themselves. I wasn’t really looking forward to playing in the tournament itself but the usual bad standard was even worse because our players didn’t wanna get knocked out of the biggest tournament we have hosted to date. But I wasn’t complaining as I went into super-aggro style and hovered up the chips. I always wished I could understand the general banter in casinos/pubs as most of the time they seem to be having a good craic, so this time it was great having no communication issues with the table on this occasion and I made the most of it by trash talking most of the time which was pretty funny. Key hand for me was when I was chip leader at a table when I wake up and find KK, make a huge raise cos there were 4 limpers in the pot. Only one of them folds and the pot is now worth more than what I had behind. Flop comes down pretty shitty 599rainbow, gets checked to me and I push and get called by Nick O’Halloran with A9. I lose the head and tell him what a bad and risky pre-flop call it was to make when he had a comfortable chip count (he was 2^nd chip leader) and he rubs it in my face smirking “But I won the pot” without any concept for overall expected value. With 5 BB left, I push with k8 suited and get a call from Stuart who dominates me with k10 and I’m out of the championship that I organised when the I get no help from the board. But thankfully some donkey didn’t win the whole thing. While the final table consisted of some really dodgy players, thankfully the title was contested between two good players in Julianne and Keenan, with Keenan coming out on top to win €920.

Report-10th May &17th May:: The following Saturday I played in the €55 DC in CHL. Even though I got off to a great start when I flopped a full house and was stacked by someone holding trips, I spewed it all over the place like some donkey calling in bad spots and being too overly aggro. I had been meaning to go back to reading strats and theory but didn’t and after that night feeling disappointed in myself, I decided to go on an undefined break and spent every night of the week reading strats online. The break was going well until last Friday when after working late at work, I was walking to my bus-stop and went by CHL but found the temptation to play in the €20 satellite far too tempting and went inside and only found 5 players playing with three tickets guaranteed!! It was great value and I got off to a brilliant start when I managed to get it in with quads against a full house! Lol!! We got down to four players and then all of a sudden a heated exchange of words breaks out between Mick and Declan who were sitting shoulder to shoulder with each other. I dunno what exactly was said but Mick was obviously annoyed cos he invited Declan to step outside and sort it out lol. Eventually the others calmed them both down and Mick had the satisfaction of busting Declan when his AK was too good over A8. I was really pleased to get a ticket worth €115 for the handsome sum of €20!

The €115 freezeout was really enjoyable. I had two really good players at my table, Mick and Conor (Lazare on boards). Mick kept using the stop & go tactic against me while Conor had a good read on me, often 3betting my pre-flop raises. So I tried to stay out of their way and pick up the small pots but my stack wasn’t increasing fast enough in proportion with the blinds so I had to get into pots with these two. I had to counter-act them so I started 4-betting Conor and calling Mick’s flop bets and pushing him off on the turn, a lot of the time with air which was a bit hairy for me. There were two major hands in the tournament that were significant to me. I had about 9k with blinds at 300-600, folded around to me on the button, I find KQo and raise to 1.4k, happy to take down the pot there and then. But Conor on the small blind, re-raises to 3k-I don’t like this but then the BB pushes his short stack of 5k in. It’s obvious what the BB is at but I’m glad he pushed as it makes my hand looks stronger than it does and I go all in myself. Conor dwells up as calling would take a massive chunk out of his stack but eventually he does and tables 66 whilst the BB tables 55. I got a beautiful king on the flop and the turn and river is a blank for the boys and my chip lead is boosted to 23k. Three hands later I tangle with Mick who I have just about covered. I limp in from CO with K10 suited. Mick raises on the BB and I call. The flop brings AK5 rainbow. Mick insta-bets. I know instantly from the bet size that he doesn’t have the Ace but I cannot afford to raise with ten as my kicker so I flat call. Turn comes 5. This is a great card for me. Mick puts out a small bet, he doesn’t exactly look that confident so I ask how much he has behind “About 10k”. I figure if I come over the top, he’ll fold. I want him to go all in so I flat call again. River gives a harmless looking 2 but Mick pauses before going all in. I don’t like his body language now, he looks very assured and instead of insta-calling, I stopped to ask myself if he would be mad enough to raise with X5 preflop? Or would he really play Ace rag this way? I wrack my brains as to why his body language changed on the river, it takes me about 4 minutes to decide. The only two things that swayed my original plan was Mick’s body language and my gut instinct. I folded showing my king and said “if you’re bluffing, by god it’s an excellent bluff”. He tabled 43 offsuit, the cheeky bollix was betting with air and got lucky on the river to give him the straight. I never entertained the idea that he had 43. Folding on the river on a pot of that size is generally a mistake but trusting my instinct turned out to be the right move although I did feel tilted that the play didn’t turn out how I wanted it to. Just as well for him the river gave him the gutshot straight. I was immediately back to where I was three hands ago and with the blinds going up and the final table being formed, I was pretty much amongst shorties. I didn’t wanna play tight until the bubble burst so I just went into aggro mode and got busted when a steal went wrong and ran into a pair of aces. Win some, lose some I guess!!

23rd May: A week later I played in the €30 FO in the Fitzwilliam on the Sunday after watching Leeds lose their playoff final 1-0 to Doncaster which was sickening. The prospect of League one football next season is depressing! Anyway The Fitzwilliam really impressed me, the place is big and feels like a proper card club. There were over 60 runners there but the standard was woeful and I quickly amassed a very healthy chip lead and got to the final table with Tim. Long story cut short, I pushed with KK and got called by some fool with A10 who of course spiked an ace on the flop to leave me gasping for breath with 4BB, which I push on the next hand with KQo and get called with JJ. No help from the board and I’m out in 8^th place for €50. Lol donkaments!

3rd June: Am writing a report about Sweden-will post it up within the next few days.