carrigeen

2007-02-01T07:38:00.000-08:00

Just an update !!!

No real news since the last post. Have been running bad online , my party poker , paddy power and gjp accounts all taking a hit. Not sure what it really is but I do no my heart isnt really in it at the moment so am going to ease up onnline until I get the buzz back again.

No big live tournys coming up until the paddy power at easter. Really cant wiat for this and its great having won the entry online again. Would be very happy to repeat last years performance but we'll see. The legendry Dave Curtis won the Westwood last night for 2.5k so i'll probably have to buy ear muffs for the next few weeks lisenting to him (in fairness he played really well and as good use of the bigstack as Ive seen in a while.) On the weekly westwood the pub qualifiers are really boosting numbers and the tourny is really good value at the moment.

Plans for the next few months as follows:
Paddy power open , then May has 3 really good tournys Big slick in Waterford , GJP in Drogheda and the Macua at the end of the month. Would really like to play all three but we'll have to see now the brownie points are. The GJP does not have antes which is interesting a lot of lads on boards really seem to like it that way but I dont as they form an important part of my general tourny play but i still really want to play as the starting stack of 15k really appeals.

After that then its off to vegas in july for the annual trip. Not sure what I'll play over there this year but more on that as it gets closer. were going to head around the 5th July so if anyone wants to join up drop me a line.

probably wont post for a while as nothing major coming up but if I luckbox something online will yet u know. Oh and nearly forgot Aussie Millions confirmed as the softest event ever considering Fintan Gavin cashed in it ?!!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

IPC & XMAS

I played a $12 satellite for Irish Open on the 23rd which I qualified for the main satellite on the 24th. I was down home for xmas and none of the family have broadband so I had to play on a dial up connection (took over an hour to download the software!!!!!). Was well worth it though as I won a ticket (package worth $5.k) which is great.Iwon one this way last year and ended up winning the paddy last competition which meant on top of my €6k cash I won a trip to the wsop (worth 12.5k) so fingers crossed for this year.

IPC

The IPC was on this weekend in the citywest.I made the final table last year finishing 7th for €11k so was hoping for a similar result. I was in good form for the event as I hadnt played in over a week as I was away on hols. Tourny started well for me (well the hands I got) In the first 90 minutes I got ak 6 times aces once and a pair of sixes twice on both ocassions I hit a set !!!!!! and yet at the ned of all that I had only 12k!!!!!!!!. After that it was down to proper poker. Made one of my best calls in a while when on a board of A Q 4 A 9 i called a river bet of 3.1k when holding 2 4 (I was BB) Just knew the mad scandie was bluffing and was thankfully right. That got me up to 15k circa and I continued to grind it out to over 20k . It went downhill after that and my stack ended the first day with 10.4k well behind the average.

I had a few drinks (it was 4 in the morning) and then saw a €500 sit n go about to begin , you should have seen the state of most players hammered so I sat in eventually doing a deal with three players remaining Nicky power taking 2k and we getting 1.5k each. It was a mad game with only three players left at the start of level three!!!!!!!!!.

Day 2 started really well for me Doubled up with aces and then got kk to pay offf as well as taking down a few blinds. I then won a big hand again when I had four callers to my utg raise (i had aces) flop of 6 3 2 and sb bets put 18k i rerasie all in and sb calls he has 10 10 and I hold up. Eoin (MR Pillow talk ) was in the hand on the bb (priced in) and would of won a another six came on the river but thankfully sb had bet out.

I peaked at 140k in chips when the average was circa 45k but then began to lose chips but I am happy it wasnt through bad play. Around the money bubble i raised to 16k on the button with A5 bb goes allin fro another 24k which would only leave me with 10k if i call and lose. Not happy calling but am priced in and eventually do. He turns over kq and I hold up despite a K on the turn I spike an ace on the river.Back up to 90k and comfortable again. Even though Im behind average stack I am really feeling this could be a very good tourny for me and then of course my exit hand I had AA and got it all in preflop against QQ but of course a Q comes on the turn and thats it. I'm usually fairly good when Im knocked out but this really pissed me off . In the last year I have played 5 tournys in Ireland with a buy in greater than 1k and cashed in four of them but all for smallish amounts (biggest 11k) I really do feel this was the one for the big pay day if I had doudled up there but cest la vie.

A couple of other points Smurph posted on antes up about a slow rolling twat when she got knocked out. I saw two other examples of this over the weekend and it really is pathetic (one of themn from a player who I thought had a bit more class)

Other thing is the amount of players going into the tank when their bb is raised and you know there not going to call is so sad. Fair enough you may need to do it the odd time but some idiots where doing it the whole time it was so sad.

2006-12-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

carrigeen

Have had a few quite weeks on the poker front. Was going to play the GJP 1k event but it was the girlfriends 30th so I had to give it a miss. One thing I would say is the numbers entered was very dissappointing at circa 140. This was without doubt the best deepstacked tourny held in Ireland and for anyone with aspirations of laying big events in Europe and America this tourny was a must play imho.

Also had to miss the macau this w/e as I had a friend down from the big smoke so I was on entertaining duty. But at least Im back next w/e playing the paddy power xmas cracker in Dublin . I would strongly recommend this tourny as paddy power are covering all players reg fee (€50) and adding 5k to the prizepool well done lads.

Actually as I type this Ricky Cosgrave is on the final table in cork so best of luck ricky.

Have been doing nicely in live cash games in Galway winning a couple of grand in the last three weeks but not going so well online which I know is down to playing too much so going to ease off over the xmas.

After the paddy power I have the pokerevents in jan (1.5k buyin) I got to thge final table on this last year and really looking forward to trying and go deep again. Will post next week after the paddy power.

2006-11-17T08:17:00.000-08:00

Have been neglecting the blog over the last while. Think I'll have one more go at keeping it up to date!!!!!!!!!. Since my last post I played the ME in the wsop unfortunately no luck I got knocked out at the last level on the first day. I was happy with the way I played but couldnt get a stack together that said I was on 18k at the start of last level and under no pressure. Wont bore ye with my bad beat story but this years event confirmed my belief it is the best value tourny in the world there are some really bad players there.

I really wanted to play in the Dublin leg of the EPT after the dissapointment of the ME in the wsop but couldnt qualify. Went close'ish (is that a word)on stars and failed in a qualifier in galway so was going to give it a miss in favour of the gjp and pokerevents in january. Thankfully had a couple of very good cash games before the event and decided to go for it with fatboydims help in that he got the money delivered for me on time.

The standard was far and away higher than the wsop ME and it was without doubt the hardest event i have played in. Very agressive from the off with no let up at any stage of the tourny. Never got above my starting stack from the off and was always struggling, had a4 in BB with 2 limpers flop comes a 4 x all clubs and limper bets i raise and he calls i bet turn and he calls and we both check the river he had trip aces thank god for the flush draw.

With an hour and a half to go on first day im down to circa 3.5k and thinking of heading back to Galway . My table is so agressive I cant physically get my chips in first and when i get a hand like a9 etc i have to fold to an open raise. eventually with the blinds at 300/600 i go all in with 44 (monster!!!) and to my amazement everyone folds very weak fold by bb who had a lot of chips and with the running antes was getting massive pot odds. Two hands later im in the bb and early position (very agressive player) raises to 3k i look down at aj and am happy to push my remaining 1.5k he calls with 55 and I win the race.This was the turnaround for me two hands later a small stack goes allin for his remaing 6k and i again have a j and call and hold up against his a9. Moved table for the final three hands of the night and raise with aq reriase all in to me which im priced in to calling and am happy enough to see jj and i hit a q. I ended the first day with 33k around average stack.

Second day started great for me . A very tough table with johnny lodden and rob yong among the players padraig p was there at start but gone after two hands. I started to get hands which was great at this table as the lads opening ranges was quite wide so was quite confident with many of my reraises. Eventually got one called and was allin with ak v's aq which held up .

I had worked my way up to 70k when this hand occured. UTG i raise with ak folded to bb who calls flop comes 10, 10 7 rainbow and i lead out with half pot size bet (sry cant remember exact levels) bb comes over me for half his stack circa 30k I was going to fold but couldnt put him on a 10 and felt he at best had a small pair or a seven so i reraised all in had him covered . he went into the tank for 10minutes and eventually called with a pair of sixes. Everyone at table was saying great call Im not too sure i had 9 outs on turn a k or 7 and when a j came on the turn i had j and q as outs as well 15 outs. anyway I really thought i could push him off that hand and couldnt but i got my k on the river i was now at circa 150k with average at 90k and 40 players remaining.

From here things started to go downhill lost 30k to johnny lodden qq v's ak and had fold a 20k raise with aq to a reraise from a rock. Moved to the tv table which obviously doesnt suit me as my cards totally dried up.On the money bubble raised in position 2 with 88 lodden has me covered and moves allin and he is called by a small stack in bb i know(sorry think ) lodden is at it and is playing the money bubble i nearly call (but dont ) he has ak bb has aq and bb hits a q if i called i would have Won the large pot and been flying again.from there it was downhill getting blinded away and the cards totally dried up. My final hand was as follows and feel free to criticise. I had i think 42k blinds were 8k/4k and a running ante of 800 meaning each orbit was costing 18.4k giving me an m less than 3. I wanted to move a lot earlier but couldnt get a hand / get into the pot first. got k 10 utg and given that if i folded i would have no fold equity next hand as i was bb and if raised into i would be down to 34k i was happy to play allin with the k 10 on the basis i had some (limited) fold equity and if called it would probably be by an ace x and there was a better chance my k was alive. I was called by aq and that was all she wrote. Finished 20th for 11k overall very happy considering where i was near the end of day 1 but a bit dissapointed the way i leaked chips from a peak of 150k . oh nearly forgot on top of the 11k i got a gjp hoodie!!!!!!!! for wearing it on the tv table not great advertising for the lads considering the two hands i played were a fold to a reriase and my exit hand.

I am very happy with the way I have played deepstack tournys (buy in's >€1k) I have played six this year four in Ireland and cashed in three of the irish ones which is a good enough return . Still seeking the elusive big pay day though.
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2006-07-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

Here we go,

its 6 am vegas time and i play in the main event in 6 hours time , not awake cause im nervous im just after a 19 hour sleep following a mega piss up. feeling very good and looking forward to the main event.

Anyway the trip so far. We were like babies tuesday nght and couldnt sleep so myself derek and john went to the casino at 1.30 am and played cards before we headed to shannon at 5.30. myself and derek won a nice bit if cash and john lost a bit.

met eoghan lyons at shannon and we headed off on our journys. played one game on the flight over 3 handed 1500 in chips each and i was down to a 25 chip and came back and won it with quality suckouts !!!!!!!!!! i'll take that luck all week.

when we got to vegas we played the caesers palace tourny basically a one rebuy but in effect a 22o freeze out . I was knocked out early when my kk couldnt stand up against q 10 but the good news is eoghan went on to split it and win 8k of which i had 5%. well done eoghan and keep it going in the main event.

next night myself derk and john tried the super staellite. No luck there were 520 runners (52 tickets) and I finished about 130th I had aq and was all in for a bout 6k got called by a lad with roughly the same stack who had a 7 and he hit the seven . anyway thats the way it goes. was happy the way i played derek and john were gone a bit earlier john ran his kk into aa and derek with 99 on a flop of 678 went all in and got called by jq!!!!!! he was fairly short stacked but not so much to get called by that shite.

anyway it all begins for me in six hours and really looking forward to it. i will update the blog later when hopefully i will still be in

2006-07-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

Another Galway Runner

Shane Keary has qualified for the main event through Paddy Power. He is travelling out on the 26th and will be playing on the Sunday. I will keep his progress as well as the rest of us updated on the blog nightly once we get there.

Oh and I cashed yipee!!!. Played the westwood on wednesday with 47 runners. Decided after my messing for the last few weeks I would give this one a real bash. Was very happy with the way I played and I made some very good calls and also good plays. Eventually finished 2nd for €800 which wasnt too bad. Only 5 days to go now cant wait.

2006-07-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready for Vegas

Its now only a week and a half before we head of to vegas so beginning to try get the head right so Im in top shape when we arrive. I havent been playing much poker the last few weeks and have had no cahses in live tournys (tbh not even near a cash) Im not too worried though as I know Im not concentrating and this will have changed when we arrive in Vegas.

Travelling with me will be Derek Murray and John Cullinane. I will use the blog to update on how both myself and the other two lads are gtting on. In addition to this I would recommend everyone use antesup.com to track the irish lads.

Derek is definetely playing in the main event. I rate him very highly and feel he is going to go very well in Vegas. He has cashed in a number of the larger Irish Tournys like the 1k boyles in Jan but he has never and I mean never got a stack early on in a tournament. When he does he is going to be very dangereous.

John is going to try a couple of satallites to get into the main event and hopefully these will prove sucessful. If there are any other late qualifiers from Galway I will use the blog to update on their progress.

I am also if anyone is interested going to sell a small portion of myself basically $100 buys 1%. If any one is interested email me.

The blog will become more active once we arrive on the 26th so tune back then

2006-06-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

DAY 2

This wont take long . Going on the piss didnt help but I started the day with 13k average stack 23k ish. The day started bad and I got forced out of a couple of hands and was down to 7k. Our table was then split which was a dissapointment as I was really enjoying the table. I was moved to a table with Julian Gardner and a few other brits who I didnt recognise. I struggled on for an hour and a half hoving between 7k and 4k. I then doubled up with AJ in the BB called by Gardners K 10 and I held up. Now on 15k I had a rush of blood UTG and raised all in with kq suited (blinds were 1500 3k) and ran into pocket rockets got a lot of help and had a lot of outs by the river but didnt hit and that was all she wrote. I finished in roughly 45th of 161 but was never in danger of getting in the money.

Overall I was happy how I played the short stack but it was disappointing having cashed in the Boyles 1k in JAN and the Paddy Power open but to be honest it wasnt quite my A game and I deserved to finish where I did.

$800 buy in

When I was knocked out of the main event the 800 buy in was just due to start so I decided to give it a shot. It was worth it for the table alone Kevin Kileen and ken Corkery from Cork were on the table along with a few funny Dubs so the table was entertaining. $8k starting stacks 30 minute blinds and a 100 runners.

After level two I was up to 9.5k and just ahead of average stack when this hand happened. I have 10 10 on the button 3 callers and I raise to 1200 (bb = 300) and get two callers. Flop comes 10 5 2 rainbow and I bet 500 with both calling next card an ace (still rainbow!!!) when norwegian guy bets 2k happy days he has a 10 at best I raise to 4k when 3rd player goes all in . I know noone has pocket aces from preflop betting and I know am a mile ahead. Norwegian guy folds and I call staight away the other player shows a set of twos and great Im up above 20k and in a great position. Then the case 2 comes on river the and Im out and in not so good a position. The player who put the beat on me was a gent and couldnt apologise enough but as I siad to him it wasnt unlike what I did in the main event so the poker gods were only getting revenge.

After that I decided to hop in the car and head back to Galway with Derek Murray. the plans for the next few weeks is to ease off on the poker before the main event in Vegas we fly out on the 26th July and I play on the second 1st day . Between now and then the regular Wednesday night in the Westwood will be sufficent.

On another note have read a few poker books recently and my opinion of them:

Barry Greensteins Ace on the River - very average not much strategy of any real value (imho)
Man Behind the shades Rise and fall of Stuy Unger - A cracking read about a flawed genius highly recommended
Amerillo Slim in a world of Fat People - just buy this one he would bet on anything a great read

2006-06-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

Irish Poker Championships Day 1

The Irish poker chamionships took place this weekend in the Citywest Hotel. I had won my ticket online through Boylesports and in addition to this had won a second ticket on Wednesday night in the Westwood. Dave curtis was going to use the second ticket but unfortunately couldnt make it so Pokerevents agreed to refund the money so the weekend was off to a good start Im 3k up.

The main event was one long hard struggle for me. With starting stacks of 10k I had nudged up to 12k in the first hour on a tough table including Mick Mcloskey , Don Fagan and a very good Norwegian player. The next hour was a disaster when I lost two two big hands having qq and jj both times on a raggy flop but to run into kk both times , thankfully I managed to fold on each occasion and both players showed the kk so I was happy to be still in but struggling on 3.5k.

First hand after the break I gave away another 2.5k holding AK raising utg to be called by BB with q 9 and getting beaten on a board of x x 9 9 a . Now I have just under 1k and am getting ready to hit the bar. I double through with AJ and then double through again with JJ against 99 and Im up to 7k ish and then this hand happens.

Im BB holding 6 9 five players call and I get to see the flop for free. Flop comes 7 8 10 . Position 2 bets 500 and i raise to 2.5k everyone else folds and he goes all in I think about it for a while and I cant put him on jack 9 from position two I call and what does he have but j9!!!!!! (great read) Im out I think but then the turn and river come two hearts to give me a flush and the biggest suckout Ive had in a long long time .

I work my stack from 14k up to 25k until the last hand of the night. Sylvester Geoghagan has joined our table . Blinds 150/300 UTG SG raises to 1500 and I know he is strong UTG +2 goes all in for 7k I look down and see ak suited not too worried about the allin but SG has been playing very tight I have seen him lay down aq my gut says fold but I dont and end up with the other two players allin and i have 10 k committed to the pot SG has QQ other player has ak as well so no help and SG takes circa 28k . I finish the day on 13k average stack 20k ish. Happy to be still in it but not happy that I played the last hand .

Its 2 in the morning at this stage and Im knackered so rather than head to bed we head to the bar and it is 7 before we hit the cot should be in greta form for tomorrow.