UKIPT Here We Go Again

Tomorrow I’m flying over to Newcastle for the 5^th leg of the UKIPT tour with Phil Baker. Obviously the number one thing in the bag when travelling with Phil is the headphones and to be on the safe side I’ll probably bring a second pair. If it was somebody my own age I would just be able to tell them to shut up for a while but I was brought up to have  respect for the elderly so Phil gets a pass.

They are expecting big numbers again, the cap on the website says 500 but they have exceeded the cap in all the English legs so far so hopefully it will be another large prize fund. I have been running quite well in these so far getting to 2 final tables but have not managed to get to the big money in the first 3 finishing places. Another deep run would be nice and give me a shot at winning the leader board which has a nice top prize of entry into every event next year + hotels.

Played my usual Wednesday night live cash session again last night and for the first time in a long time I came away from the game really going over some hands and they way I played them. Like a lot of sessions the whole night comes down to one or two key hands and the trick is to get them right. I never worry when I lose after getting in a few big flips and losing more than I win or when some guy out draws me a few time in a session its more when I lose because I played bad or as in the case of last night I won but should have won more.

Anyway I have come to the conclusion that one of my biggest leaks is playing poorly when winning, what I mean by that is if I’m up a good few quid in a session I will see more flops than I should and maybe try more bluffs/hero calls than I should. I have noticed this in tournaments too and I have found that sometimes I cross the line between playing a big stack aggressively and spewing chips away where as when I’m short stacked I can manage my chips a lot better and waste very few of them.

With this new found wisdom I will surly take down Newcastle......time will tell.

Pub Games

Played a game on Friday night in Tallaght for http://www.cheeverstown.ie/ which was great crack. It was a €25 buyin with €10 rebuys until the break. Half the field had very little poker experience like my wife who was making only her second appearance at a poker table. She did quite well getting a large stack together early, she was doing so well that at one stage she asked me “if I win this, do I give the prize money back to the charity?” I just politely said “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it”.

I managed to get the nut seat as I had George McMahon on my immediate right and he more or less shoved every hand and for once he did not get there every time. I play with George every Wednesday in Naas and he has what you would call an unconventional style. After an hour of play we had about twice as many chips on our table as any other, with George clearly looking to get a wing of Cheeverstown named after him .

It was great to play a game for once where people actually seemed to enjoy themselves and nobody was giving out about some donkey calling with rubbish or players telling others how terrible their play was. Anyway the night finished with a clean sweep for one family with Barry (son), Noeleen (mother) and Martin (father) finishing first second and third. Barry even got the bottle of whisky that was put up for knocking me out.

Between the poker and raffle they managed to raise just under €1k for the charity which is no mean feat in this current economic climate.

The Gaa football markets have adjusted and Dublin are now 8/15 for Leinster which is probably about right, the line in the Dublin Kildare match will only be 2 or 3 points so not a lot of value there. I’ll probably just be going to the match as a supporter with no major money on the line, hopefully Kildare can cause an upset.

Charity Poker in Tallaght

Going to play in a pub tournament tonight for the first time is a long time. Its being organisied by a lady who does a lot of work for the http://www.cheeverstown.ie/ charity. Its a €25 with €10 rebuys so hopefully they will raise a good few bob. There is also a bottle of whiskey to who ever knock me out.
If your in the Tallaght area tonight and fancy a relaxed game for a very good cause its in Kiltipper Houseat  7 30pm.

Well Played Tom Kitt

I have not been up to much lately because I’ve been unwell and was trying to get to the bottom of it. Turns out I have poisoned my liver and it needs a well earned break. Kinda feel unlucky with this as anybody that knows me will tell you that I don’t drink much (depends on who you pick for the comparison I suppose) but the long and the short of it is I’m off the booze for 2 months minimum for tests.

With all this going on and after been so sick on Thursday I did not get out of bed I headed to Carlow for the CPT grand final. Not the best preparation but I felt ok on Friday and we were only due to play 5 levels plus I had a ticket bought on the cheap from months back. Should not have bothered because I played bad then ran bad which is a pretty unbeatable combination and got knocked out in level 4. Very well played to Tom Kitt for taking this down and one of my regular sparing partners Tommy Walsh for chopping second place. Tom is one of the good guys in this game and is a very popular winner.

I was not able to pass the omaha table that was running and again I ran pretty bad getting in 2 big pots with the nuts & a redraw against the bare nuts twice but bricking out both times then loosing 3 big pots in a row getting it in marginally ahead twice and marginally behind once. Decided to take the rest of the long weekend off then and concentrate on the Gaa & Ireland match.

There was a “lock in “ special in one of the firms of 13/8 on an Ireland win and with Robbie Keane fit enough to start that was a huge price. Also backed Kildare against Meath and although they got the breaks they were very comfortable winners. The Dubs v Kildare should be a good match, the Dubs should have too much for Kildare but there is not as much in it as the bookies prices suggest and I will probably be backing Kildare with the handicap.