Arrived in Dublin

Well, we’ve arrived at the CityWest outside of Dublin. It’s a huge mansion out in the hills and is a great venue, a big improvement on the Burlington, where the Irish Open was held last year. As usual, the event attracts numerous young Scandanavians and Americans, who are not yet of sufficient vintage to be allowed to play in Nevada. As I write this in the conservatory, there are 3 young american internet geeks playing 2/5 on Stars. I assume they have had considerable success to have justified funding this trip out of their bankrolls.

The poker room itself is huge, with huge gaps between the tables, allowing the players to compete in comfort. To get a better feel for the room myself and Shazbo are going to play in the super satellite starting tomorrow. It’s a 300 Euro rebuy, but I am only planning on one buy-in to get a quick feel of the room. I imagine I’ll be out pretty quickly, especially as there is only 2k in starting chips and I won’t be taking the 3k add-on. Goodness knows what will happen if I actually win another seat from this disadvantaged position, as I am not sure if there is a cash alternative or if the seats are transferrable. I’ll blog again on Thursday morning to let you know how that went.

Anyhow, last night I went to the Gutshot to get a final multitable tournament under my belt. It went well - I placed 5th out of 45 runners, although I came to the final table with a significant chips lead and then blew it. Some hands below:

Hand1
Early position raises to 600 (blinds 100-200). I flat call with JJ.
Flop J, A, 2
Initial raiser bets 1000, I push for 1500 more and he passes KK face up. I had him on AK or AQ hence the push, but I guess not a bad result.

Hand2
Mid position short stack pushes for 1200, and I call in the BB with AQ and bust his A10.

Hand3
Early position min raises to 400, one other caller and I call with 9♠4♠ Flop As, 10h, 2s
I check, raiser bets 400 again, I am the only caller
Turn is 9h
I check, opponent pushes for 1000. I think he probably has the Ace, but with my pair and flush draw I probably have just the odds to justify a call. It’s marginal, but sometimes in this spot he only has a 4 flush and no pair. I hit the 4 on the river (he has Ace rag) to take the pot. I am awaiting vilification from the table, but in fact 2 people actually say “good call” :) Lesson of this one, is don’t min-raise a big stacks BB with arag when you are short stacked.

Hand4

A limp in mid position for 400 from a loose player. I flat call with AJ to disguise the strength of my hand in the SB and the BB checks.
Flop J, 8, 2
Checked all around
Turn 4
I bet 1000
BB folds, but loose player raises to 4000. Now, if this was at Loose Cannon I would give serious thought to passing here depending on the player, but it’s the Gutshot so I push for 8000 total and he calls with 8 10. I dodge the river, and am now monster stack after busting him.

Hand5
I am moved to the other remaining table, which houses all the big stacks. I limp with 9♠2♠ in the small blind. BB checks
Flop K Q 2
I check, BB bets 1200 and I check raise to 3600.
BB instapushes for 10k and I instafold. This is an exact replica of the hand I lost to Tom at Loose Cannon last week. Gonna cross that one of the play list ;)

Hand6
Button with big stack raises my BB to 5000. (blinds are 800/1600). I have 20k behind and he has 24k behind. The stack sizes are perfect for a re-steal, as it hurts him so much to lose this hand so he can only call with a monster - I push with 3♦6♦. He passes immediately and I show my hand. This gets a few “wow”s, a few pats of the table and earns me a significant number of Gutshot stylee points ;)

Hand7
I win a huge race 5 handed with my TT holding on against 99 against the guy from the 9♠2♠ hand, which busts him and sends me to final table as chips leader on 32k.

I am totally card dead on the final table - I maintain my chip stack with steals here and there but the blinds are now 2k/4k, and with 30k left and 5 of us remaining, I am feeling a little short stacked.

Hand7
I raise in mid position with 4c10c to 12k and the guy next to act pushes for 19k total. This is a disaster. I pretty much have the odds to call against a lot of his range here as I am putting in 7k to win 37k. However, the downside is he might have pocket 10s or A10, but against AK I am in decent shape. Even against an overpair I have the odds to call just (although marginal). I call and he unfortunately has JJ and I don’t get the suckout. Down to 11k.

Hand8
It’s my big blind and the small blind pushes and I am calling with any cards here. I had J4 and his AK holds up and I am bust in 5th spot. With my bounties I win £220 which is ok I guess for a £50 tournament. Clearly my performance at the final table left something to be desired, but my play in the early and mid stages of the tournament was very strong, and bodes well for Dublin.