Winters in Dublin
One of the most memorable Irish pop rock songs is Bagatelle’s “Summer in Dublin,” written by the late Liam Reilly. Although it was never a hit outside Ireland, it’s a perfect encapsulation of the often repeated view in Ireland that we’d be a truly great country if only we could put a roof over it. This is obviously tongue in cheek, as the lush countryside with its 40 shades of green depends very heavily on the constant supply of water that falls from the sky here. But there’s no denying that when we do get a proper summer, it’s truly glorious and memorable, in part because it often lasts only a few days.
Our winters do have one thing going for them though: they’re mild
Winters by contrast are a lot less memorable: a blur of grey and wet. A visiting rugby player once famously wrote home that it didn’t rain as much as he thought: “only twice in the first week” before adding “once for four days and then for three days.” Our winters do have one thing going for them though: they’re mild, so while you usually want to be indoors, it’s easy enough to get from our house to some other indoors, which suits us as arguably the most social people in the world. I’ve been in places like Edmonton and Stuttgart that get so cold in winter I lost not only the will to leave the house, but the will to live.
This is reflected in our poker calendar, which is heavily weighted towards the grey dreary sky months rather than the occasionally blue sky ones.
Itching for live poker
The Irish Poker Tour set up camp in the Green Isle hotel at the end of November. I’d enjoyed my last few weeks at home concentrating on coaching, writing, content creation, playing cards online, and fitness, but I was also itching for a bit of live poker.
First up was the Opener. For once I made the final table with an above average stack, for all the good it did me. I lost most of it quickly in instalments to Duane McDermott, who was one of three shorties. First I raised in late position into his big blind with Ace Jack, called off for seven and a half blinds total when he shoved, and failed to get there against his Ace-Queen. Then I raised Aces in early position and almost doubled him up again when he flopped top set with pocket Eights.
I’m pretty sure he’s knocked me out of more tournaments than any other player in the world
I ended up busting in a three way all in where I was all in blind in the big blind. The winner of the three way all in was Michael Graydon, or Big Mick G as he is better known. I’m pretty sure he’s knocked me out of more tournaments than any other player in the world. I literally can’t remember the last all in I won against him, but can recall a dozen I lost (many with the best hand).
Big Mick went on to take down the event, a remarkable comeback given he was down to two big blinds and petitioning for a saver deal on the bubble. When someone on my table rejected the deal with a black card (it wasn’t me, honest!) Big Mick joked “I’m coming for yous now,” and he is a man of his word.
A much debated hand
It was actually the hand just before my bustout that ended up being the most talked about and debated hand of the festival. With just over two big blinds, I limp folded under the gun, to the surprise and consternation of apparently everyone at the table. Dealer Liam Neville told me the next day that there was considerable discussion of the hand after I busted, and nobody at the table was able to come up with an explanation for why I limp folded almost half my stack. This was borne out by several people who had been at the table asking me about it in the following days (including Big Mick), and even people like Andy Black who weren’t at the table or even in the room at the time. I’ll give a full explanation of the play in a future article, but for now I’ll give you a clue: before making the play, I confirmed with the floor that the tournament rule was “big blind first” rather than ante first.
While the debate over the play was raging unknown to me at the time, I was on my way to late reg the nightly side event. As I walked to my table, local wit Sean Foley (the anti Big Mick G in the sense that I’ve knocked him out of more tournaments than anyone else) quipped “another min cash eh?” referring to my result in the Opener. I might be the Irish player with the most live cashes on the Hendon Mob, but there is a widespread misconception that it’s all or mostly in cashes. In actual fact, I don’t have that many pure min cashes on my record (most of the smaller ones involved a ladder or two) and I do have more live final tables and more top three finishes on my record than any other Irish player live.
preserved my tournament life on the final table bubble when I folded 87
The nightly was a very different experience for me than the Opener in that I never really got a stack going. I did knock Sean out yet again on the second last table, then preserved my tournament life on the final table bubble when I folded 87 on the river in the big blind to the second bet from Paul Carr (who had opened under the gun) on a board of KK762. Normally 87 would be strong enough to call Paul down there who isn’t shy about pulling the trigger.
The nightly was a very different experience for me than the Opener in that I never really got a stack going. I did knock Sean out yet again on the second last table, then preserved my tournament life on the final table bubble when I folded 87 on the river in the big blind to the second bet from Paul Carr (who had opened under the gun) on a board of KK762. Normally 87 would be strong enough to call Paul down there who isn’t shy about pulling the trigger if he thinks he can get the fold. Normally I’m not one to tank, and this was probably my longest tank of the year on the river. Paul is pretty much unreadable at the table so I wasn’t expecting to get a read off him (and didn’t), and I thought I was calling for most of the tank but landed on fold in the end, as my gut instinct was he had it this time (which he confirmed by showing the king after I folded).
Recent history
There was a hand I played against Paul from the Opener earlier in the day that heavily influenced decision. That hand started with me opening 89s in early position, the button calling and Paul coming along in the big blind. The 883 rainbow flop checked through, and when I boated up on the 9 turn I decided I needed to start getting chips into the pot. The button calls my quarter pot bet, then Paul 4xed it. I call hoping to keep the button in and/or to encourage Paul to keep bluffing. The button folds but Paul does quickly shove the river and I call without looking at the board.
I figured that hand had some significance as it was fresh in both our minds and showed I was capable of slow playing a monster and therefore not as capped on the river as most live players, making it less likely Paul would try to bluff me.
The Main Event
I bagged up well above average (albeit at the fourth attempt) in the Main. I had a good start to Day 2 more than doubling my stack in installments, but ended up fizzling out in 60th.
The tournament was taken down by Tom Gallagher, a popular regular on the tour. Tom is pretty fearless isn’t afraid to mix it with the young bucks so it came as no surprise he ran rampant on the final table.
Paul closed the gap by taking the points for the win
Finally, a shoutout to Paul Carr, Shane Keary, and Killian Farrell who have made the leaderboard a year long cliffhanger. Going into the festival, Shane led Killian by the narrowest of margins, ten points, with Paul several hundred points behind in third. Killian pulled ahead with a 5th place finish in the nightly, and Paul closed the gap by taking the points for the win after chopping (as chipleader) headsup with me. Paul got another result the following day in the PLO to draw level with Killian, and pulled several hundred points ahead when he won another side event on the final day. With just two stops to go, it would take a brave man to bet against Paul closing it out yet again, but perhaps there is yet another twist in the tale.
