A Visit from 'The Stupid Fairy'
As Gerry Adams once said (sorta) .... "She hasn't gone away you know."
Well I had a visit from an old friend last night at the Drogheda tournament, shortstacked as usual until the freezeout begun, I built my stack through some quite nice poker based on solid hands, nothing amazing, but just played quite strongly, to build my stack up to about 30000, and we were down to 21 or 22 people.
My stack is in the top 6 or 7 left, and there's plenty of shortstacks around, so I'm feeling quietly confident of another final table appearance.
Then the wheels come off, and I'm disappointed in myself really, I though I had left this poor play behind.
Firstly, I got AJ spades, in CO position, so definitely a blind robbing opportunity (800/1500), so I put in a raise of 5000 into the BB who has only about 12000 left, so he was going to have to have a good hand to defend his blind. Anyway he called flop came 7 4 10 (2 spades), so I had overcards and nut flush draw, so put him all-in for his last 7000. He himmed and hawwed and called with his A 4, so my stack is reduced to 18000, as no help came for my flush.
I wasn't too bothered about this play, I tried to put pressure on the shortstack from the off, I think he made a very questionable call of the raise, and spiked a 4, shit happens. You have to make moves like this in a tournament of these amount of runners, it was a power play semi-bluff, and all the conditions were right for the move, it just didn't pay off.
Then I get my visit from Stupid Fairy a couple of hands later, I'm embarrassed writing this but heh, it's a blog, so there has to be Bad and Ugly as well as the Good ...right?
UTG, stack of 18000, blinds about to go up to 1500/3000 next hand, I get 88. My instinct said fold, a raise would require 8000 at least to get around this table, and if called I'd be in limbo land, and after my recent flush draw episode, there was a good chance I would be called. So fold is the decision, next thing I hear is 'All-In' (who said that?) ...lol.... it was the 'Stupid Fairy' and my stack is in the middle of the table, a very quick call from a large stack to my immediate left, and I knew that I'll be home an hour earlier than the last couple of weeks.
So my 8d8h is up against KsKc .....goodnight Irene, and thanks Stupid Fairy, I've missed you, I thought you had found some other sucker to play with.
Flop 6d 9d 5d .... oooohhhhh, any diamond, any 7, and 8 .... the lad with KK is shitting himself
Turn 8 ! ... damn, it's a 9, I thought it was an 8 for a second ..... pant pant
River ... K
I fairness, it was nearly worth it, to see the sweat running off yerman with the KK.
Cherrio Cheerio Cheerio
Myself and the Stupid Fairy had quite a discussion going home in the car !
Pubs are for Drinking In ....Sigh !
So after my incredible recent run, I go to Drogheda on the Thursday night. I wasn't going to play it, but as I was going to miss the AUL game on the Friday, as I was going to Mayo, I decided to go up to the wee county again. I had come 3rd the previous week.
I meet a fellah I know for the second week in a row (I hadn't met him for 18 years previous to that!) and I tell him of my recent good run, and he's genuinely pleased for me. It's great to meet up with old pals, and he's a good player as well.
We register early for the bonus chips, and head in to the bar for a pint.
When I collect my chips to play, one of the organisers tells me that 'a chap' was looking for me, I guessed it would be Rounders123, but it was Shuffle Up and Deal time, so I siad to the organiser to point him out to me at the break.
Drogheda is a tourney you need to accumulate chips quickly, and had my 10 10 out on the table against JJ, when I get a tap on the shoulder from a sullen looking fellahs who just had his Aces cracked....Rounders123 !!
We agree to meet at the break for a chat, but he is back over in 10 minutes, not a happy bunny, and is heading home after another bad beat ... I know the feeling Rounders, next time we'll chat !
So after my 2nd rebuy and on the last hand before the break 1600 chips, (blinds 100/200 I think) which is nothing at this point, I have K7 hearts, UTG limps, I limp, folded around to BB who goes All-In for his last 300, UTG raises to 700, so I have a little think.
UTG and me had locked heads a couple of times, and there was a little edge between us. BB was throwing his chips in regardless, and I know UTG has a reasonable hand, but not a monster, so I decide this is an good opportunity to make a move. I go over the top for an extra 900, and UTG does not like it one little bit. I know I'm behind, but not far. I need chips for the freezeout.
BB has A4, UTG has QK, and I have K7 hearts. I flip my cards over and say "Come on the hearts" .... and they did, my opponent was seriously sick, and not one wee bit impressed and went out to the break bitching and moaning to the lads outside having a smoke.
An aggressive play I know, I didn't like seeing his King, I'll admit, but sometimes you get a gut feeling that this is the time to make a move, and it was. So my 1600 lowstack, now becomes a very workable 6800 with my top up.
I never looked back from there really, just played solid poker, and got to the final table about 4th in Chips. An awful lot of All-Ins preflop, but with the blind structure, it's understandable. I think they can relax them a little.
Lost a big pot early on final table when in SB, my A 10 met AA in the BB, so really put a big dent in my stack and I done well to survive until 5th and 4th place were put out by the chip leader. 4th had one more chip than me, so he got €650 and I got €400.
So in a week my winnings from live poker came to €2050 ....better than a kick in the ass ! Paid off a couple of bills and myself and Sherwin spent a few quid on some clothes etc...at the weekend ... feels good!
Only other game was last night, when against all my better judgement played a VegasNights pub game.....bad idea, Pubs are for drinking in only, I got shite cards, all around me were muppets, and I just didn't want to be there, so I was home by 10.30pm, happy to throw my 88 in against AK and lose ...no more pub games.
Forest have strung two, yes two, back to back victories together against mighty Rotherham and Bristol City, I got the text updates from my brother who was at the matches, so it looks like they may have turned the corner at last. I stress the word may.
I think it's more to do with Jack lester coming back from injury, at least he gives 100%, and is a good bloody player. We'll see soon enough, up to lofty heights of 13th now anyway.
Brian Kerr under pressure as Irish Boss now, and with Keano out, looks very dodgy for World Cup qualification now, when we should have been looking at hotel accommodation by now, we've thrown it away I'm afraid.
Putting in for planning permission for house in Sligo, more on that in later blogs.
Will travel again to Drogheda tomorrow again, hoping to complete a final table hat trick up there.
Reading Harrington's second book still, great stuff, payed for itself already.
Booked in two weeks radio and street activity for public launch of
http://www.magazines365.com ..... don't be shy now readers ...buy a magazine !!
Downloaded Full Tilt and Paradise Poker late last night to have a look at them. Just played a $5 STT to get used to software on Full Tilt and it is 'sweet'. Hard to tell from a $5 game but the opposition doesn't look too tough either, so might be a profitable exercise to give it a lash some night Sherwin is out.
I need a holiday, but too much going on. Should be getting the keys to our place in Croatia this week as well
http://www.villa-bili.com/eng.asp?lang=eng, so I think next year will take a month off work or whatever and enjoy travelling around Croatia which is probably the most beautiful country in Europe.
I'm going to do up another blog/website for the apartment once I get around to it as well.
Next week should be some craic, the old BMW my brother bought for me at an auction in the UK is due for it's NCT (MOT in UK) .... lol, can't wait for that report !!
All Ireland Final at the weekend,Kerry V Tyrone, I think Kerry are going to win by 5 or 6 points at least, a bold prediction I know, but hey, this is a blog !
Hope to see Mayo win the minor final, will be at home shouting them on in the pub anyway.
I think that's it ..... Keep going Trickies, 3 in a row sounds good.
H...H...H...HOT !
I'm long overdue a new post on the blog, but the run has been so good lately I didn't want to disturb the Karma !
An early exit in the Crapshoot that is the Merrion freeroll last night, has given the licence to publish blog again!
In my last post, I mentioned that I won at The Mayfair Freeroll which was worth €100 to me, well anyways two days later, the place went out of business ! .. Ha Ha, trust me ! I had shares with a stockbroker in Cork that went out of business a few years ago as well, and got caught there as well, when once of the partners was involved in serious fraud of theft of clients monies (including mine and our share club !) ... so a Casino and a Stockbrokers go bust owing me money .... lucky or what !!
I believe they will send out a cheque for my €100 .... we'll see !
However, that final table in the mayfair was the first of 5 final Multi Table Tourneys tables in a row !
A couple of days later, made the final table in the Merrion freeroll, missed the prizes when going out on the bubble, but another good performance. Then won $412 on an on-line tourney on betfair finishing 3rd of 400 runners.
Then last week, the highlight of my shortish poker career, finishing 3rd of 90 runners in Drogheda for €650 last Thursday, and then the following night winning the tournament of 39 runners in the AUL for €1000 ....:) Happy Days !
Met Big Dragon before, met Dub 13 and Corben Dallas for the 1st time at the AUL, so 4 'boardies' on the final table I think speaks for itself.
Both Drogheda and the AUL tourneys are run by Shortstack and the quality of the tournament and of the players is very good, better than the casinos at this buy-in level of €25
I changed my game ever so slightly, getting involved in more pots, however the main reason for success is that I didn't receive any bad beats, I was putting the chips in when ahead, and the hands had stood up. I took some unbelieveable bad beats a few weeks ago that were unreal, and I would have cashed in a few tourneys if it wasn't for that, so overall I'm delighted with my game, and feel I now have the game to compete for the money in any tourney I enter.
That's not to say there's alot more to learn, I'm reading Harringtons 2nd book at the moment, and I'm just coming to parts of the book where there are some totally new concepts I'm trying to get my head around (Inflection Points ....(wtf!) )
I think my 'freeroll' days are behind me now, I'm going to make the AUL game on a Friday my 'home tourney', it's a 20 minute spin down the M50, and if I feel like a few beers as well, it's fine to get a taxi from there if needed. The game in Drogheda on Thursday is only 30 mins away, and that is a cracking tournament, so when I'm going home to Mayo at the weekend, when I miss the Friday game, I will play the Thursday one instead .... great to have a choice !
I think I'll also play the Fitz on a Wednesday anymore, so they will be my two live tourneys a week from now on. I'm getting bored of playing on-line, while it is profitable in the main, it is just not worth the effort and unsociable aspect of it.
It's OK if Sherwin is out, or gone shopping for a while, but not when she's in the house, it's not fair. Will log on for an hour or so, when 'Off the Rails' is on etc.... as she will be glad to be rid of me then :)
In other news
www.magazines365.com is up and running, so hopefully that will go well. Got alot of nice comments and feedback from the 'boardies' so that's positive. Will commence a marketing campaign in October, booked some time on Newstalk 106 and working on some other promotions as well, including on-street activity.
Any of you guys who play poker can get Cardplayer (America and Europe versions)
http://www.magazines365.com/searchresult.php?cid=2 (pimping I know), but our slogan is "Magazines For All Sorts!", so hopefully after a few weeks, we'll have a massive range of magazines that can live up to that slogan.
Will be going home this weekend for a visit, it's a month today since my pal Bernard was killed, I still can't believe he is gone. I was very upset when I didn't think I had a really good photo of us together (you don't think (do you?) of bringing a camera out for a few pints), but my wife Sherwin assured me she had a good one...and boy was she right. If I had to choose any night to have a photo of us together it was the night of the Millenium, and that is the one I have, you can see all the decorations up in the background, it's a brilliant photo, and now one of my most treasured possessions, especially poignant as Bernard's Birthday was January 1st as well.
Qualified for Grand Final of European Tour qualifier on PPP through a satelitte, so will play that tonight, and see if my good run can continue.
I'm enjoying playing good poker now, and I'm getting most of Hectorjelly's conundrums and scientific formulas right as well, so I must be making progress :)
Forest relegation zone Division 2 (3!) ... no more words necessary, they are only wasted :(
Keep Lucky Folks !
