Irish Open 2011

After recent events surrounding the online game it was a relief to get out of the internet domain temporarily and enjoy a live environment once more. Thanks to the Royal wedding and Easter bank holidays falling in line so conveniently, I was able to enjoy 11 days off work for the mere price of 3 days of annual leave and naturally that coincides with the Irish Open!

Last year's Irish Open was a good experience for me, first time playing Poker in Ireland, I played one side event which generally was good although lacked a cash-finish and did very on the side games, I even sampled my first Guinness, which is now a staple drink for me!

So another year comes and I was back again. Initially things seemed to be going somewhat badly before even getting there. As I had to stay in a neighbouring hotel the previous year I was sure to book my room at the venue (Burlington Hotel) well in advance... I actually booked it the day the event was announced! So as I often do, I call the hotel the day before just to be certain all is well with my reservation... to my surprise I was told there was a problem. The gentleman at the reservation desk told me that the Hotel was overbooked with Paddy Power qualifiers and that I would need to be moved to the same hotel I stayed in last year.

Considering that last year I was wounded in the calf by an exposed bed-spring at that very hotel they had proposed to me I made it quite clear it was not acceptable. I arrived on the day expecting to go to war with Hotel management, thankfully one of my party who had arrived 24 hours earlier had spoken with the hotel and it seems the situation was resolved prior to my arrival... with that I went into the Poker Room in good spirits!

Day 1 was a throw back if there ever was one. I generally feel I never get my fair of premium/playable hands in Live play... boy o'boy did this day make up for it. Every pair made a set, every set made a boat and every time I got money in behind the turn/river saved me. It goes without saying that I was having fun and winning, I was up ¢600 at one point but eventually did get nailed when I flopped yet another set to get my money in versus a made straight without recovery. No bother, day finished ¢350 up and look good.

Day 2/3 however were different stories indeed, I was repeatedly getting outdrawn, getting very few hands and bemoaned my own play as overly weak-tight at times. The thing I struggled with was the game was playing much bigger than I wanted, most players were sitting with ¢400/¢500 in the ¢1/¢2 game and straddling to essentially make t ¢2/¢5 but with lower rake.. makes sense but it meant I was not seeing flops with the less than premium hands that make full-ring live cash games so profitable.

So I was up and down constantly and from rake/tipping I was making a small loss over these 2 days. It also ended in an unsavory moment with a local player. In a mutli-limp pot I pick up KQ in the SB, I theorise that as now has put a raise in that I can play this like AK/AQ without fear of domination and raise it to ¢20, I get 2 calls. The flop is Q, 4, X and I lead for ¢25 and get one call from said local player, I immediately assign him to Q10 or QJ as suitable limp/calling hands here and prepared to get my stack in providing a J/10 doesn't materialise on later streets. Turn is a 4, I bet ¢40 and he flats. River is an Ace so I know we're chopping at this point which I'm pretty disappointed about, but I make a reasonable sized bet to not appear as this card has harmed my hand and bet ¢65 and after swift deliberation he calls.

I table my hand instantly as I'm supposed to do being the aggressor, he looks miffed and slides his cards face down towards the muck, the dealer takes them and begins sliding the pot to me. As I'm raking it in he has an epiffany and says "hey, we chop that!" and attempts to retrieve his now long-gone hand. This results in some argy-bargy at the table and him asking for the floor for a decision as he states and someone else verifies that he showed just the Q and the other card remained down (I never saw either). Thankfully the floor agreed with me that must table both cards to contest the pot and awards me the hand. This resulted in some cold words and him blaming me for his mistake.. "you'd say different if it were you, kid!" to which my response was "do you think that's never happened to me before?", don't blame me I did nothing wrong.

Tempers were flared and an orbit or 2 later I left the table as I was too angry to concentrate. By the end of this evening I was truly miffed. I wasn't enjoying myself at all due to the lack of action I was finding myself in and this particular episode was upsetting me a little. I attempted to redeem myself later that night (even though I was certain I did not need to) . I limp utg with QQ with the intention to re-raise of course, I get a raise from early mid-position and another raise from late position. Whilst I'm busy re-assessing how to play my QQ the guy who originally raised behind me acts out of turn and calls for ¢35. I now decide that as this guy has called his hand is not particularly strong and it's more than likely that the other raiser is raising because he knows the other is weak. I decide to shove for ¢150 as a best option and take a reasonable pot there and then, however the guy who called for ¢35 has his investment in limbo as he wasn't allowed to take it back.

They both fold and I ask the table if they mind me returning the guy's call as I knew it was made in error and I didn't want to appear as I was angle shooting a cheap pot by shoving after his error. They agreed, he was grateful and I felt better for going out of my way to right a wrong even though it wasn't my wrong following the earlier episode. Day 4 I woke not feeling like playing. It was the last day of the event and action didn't get going til late. I was glad I stuck around.

I had an early afternoon session that made me ¢200+ and then took a dinner break, when I return I found myself a very interesting new table. A bunch of inexperienced looking Irish players, 2 clearly handy internet kids thankfully on my right) and a mad chinese older lady (you know the type!) on my immediate left. Before I'd had much chance to get involved there had been multiple reloads on the table, including the Chinese lady stacking 2 guys in a multi-way all-in as her JJ's made a set against AA and AKfor a ¢1000+ pot which she tipped the dealer a cool ¢100 for! It was serious yum yum time!

I soon played a hand with an Irish lad who'd reloaded for ¢200 three times already. I'd grinded out a little profit so was on ¢250 approx at this point and again find myself in a straddled pot with multiple callers and I get KQs on the button. Much like the previous hand I described, I decided to play my KQ as AK for lack of fear of being dominated and raise to ¢35 and get 2 callers. The flop is Q, 8, 9 with 2 spades giving me top pair and a flush draw, they check to me and I fire for ¢50, to my relative surprise I get a shove from the original straddler and I insta call, he has AQ which was even more surprising. The turn/river thankfully comes 10/J and I make a straight and take down a nice pot.

In the same orbit I get my other big hand of the session, this time against the crazy Chinese lady. I get AK utg and I limp expecting at least her or someone to raise for me, she obliges and makes it ¢15, a couple of callers and it comes around to me, I make it ¢75 (sitting on ¢500 at this point) and her ¢1000+ has whittled down to ¢300 after getting overly involved. She decides to shove me and I deliberate only momentarily before calling. Not tabling her hand she mucks after seeing the A on the flop, saying she had KK but I don't believe her as I had caught her lying about her hand a couple of times before as she didn't realise she was showing me her cards with them up in the air in her hand alot of the time!

So as the sharks were moving in and the fishes monies being distributed already amongst the stronger players at the table there was little purpose to remain seated. I cashed out for ¢700 profit and decide a couple of points of Guinness are in order before hitting an early night for my morning flight back to the island. All in all my Irish Open was a success, although I had set higher goals for myself they were probably unrealistic given my lack of live play in almost a year so to emerge from a serious festival as a winner was a good outcome.

Next up is Vegas in just over 6 weeks, I'm slightly better tuned for bigger action and my roll is intact! Bring on 2 weeks of Pokers, Sun, smut and free drinking! :-)