This is a long post!
I have just returned from Dublin after five days spent covering the Irish Open for Poker News. I have a full time job but write about poker which is my true passion in life for a number of websites as a hobby. This is the first major poker event I have attended and the chance to spend five days watching some of the best players in the world was just too great an opportunity to pass up. I thought some of you might like to share in my experience.
I had arranged to meet my writing partner for the trip the hugely talented Poker Europa and WPT magazine writer Barry Carter at the Burlington Hotel the venue for the Irish open on the day before the main event was due to start. I had an early flight booked from Birmingham airport so had to be at the airport for 6am. I have not flown in the last six months and was surprised to be asked to take my shoes of and empty the contents of my bag for scanning so was a bit disorientated when I walked through to the departure lounge and the first person I saw was Dave Colclough.
I have to admit to being pretty poor at approaching people I admire who are also in the public eye so I did not have the wontons to go up and introduce myself to Dave! I always feel like I’m imposing upon people and worry they must get a lot of this type of unwanted attention and could do without the hassle. It’s silly really and I realise this after a weekend spent in the company of some of the worlds best poker players who to a man (or woman) where all very approachable.
Its worth remembering that the poker world although booming is still quite insular and the most famous player in the room was probable still not as recognisable to the general public than say Jade Goodies mum (analogy copyrighted by Barry Carter). I imagine if the poker world continues to grow at this rate then this is something we will lose which would be a shame, it will be a sad day when the stars of our game become unapproachable because that’s one of the many great things poker has going for it.
I had an hour to kill before my flight so decided to purchase something to read, it’s a quick flight so I thought I would grab a magazine rather than a book to read. As I’m getting older every decision seems to get more complicated, although there was a vast array of choice there where no poker magazines on display. So my first thought was Golf, but as I have not played for a few years due to a shot out knee the interest had waned. There were lots of football magazines but reading about Ryan Giggs latest Ferrari or Ashley Coles new luxury villa would probable just upset me (yes I know its petty and jealous).
The only choices remaining where the ‘lads magazines’, first obstacle to get over is the embarrassment of purchasing one; they all have half naked models on the front which makes me fell like a pervert and a tad ridiculous, then there’s the content which will most likely be about taking drugs and snowboarding. So I walk out empty handed and spend the remainder of my time at the departure gate deep in thought planning the launch of my new magazine. Middle-aged man Monthly, first edition we will be testing TV remote control’s for response and handling, a pullout on the latest slippers and comfort fit trousers and be taking the new Rowenta kettle for a test cuppa. I think its going to be big.
When I arrived in Dublin I was quickly through the airport formalities and set off to find a cab to the Hotel, I find my cabbie and we agree a price and are pulling out when this conversation takes place,
Cabbie: The Burlington then sir, so you over from England for the poker then?
Me: Yes it’s my first trip to Ireland I’m looking forward to seeing Dublin I hear it’s a great city
Cabbie: Yes it’s much livelier than when I first moved here many years ago
Me: Where did you move from?
Cabbie: Belfast, after the English shot my father.
I remained silent for the rest of the trip, I was debating whether to put this in because it was completely at odds with everything that happened to me on what was a fantastic trip, but it’s the truth so I left it in. I was discussing the incident with Barry and we both agreed it was probable just a twisted sense of humour but it still unsettled me.
Anyway, I check in and plan to spend the afternoon walking around Dublin as Barry was interviewing Andy Black at his house and I had 3 or 4 hours to kill. I try to leave the room and notice the door won’t lock, so I spend the afternoon in my room whilst most of the Burlington maintenance staff visit my room one at a time in vain attempts to fix the lock. I play online and I do my brains! Literally cannot win a hand 3-1, 4.5-1, 11-1 so don’t even talk to be about the flips I lost!
The Hotel staff eventually manages to fix my door and five minutes later Barry calls me and we arrange to meet in the bar. I get my first pint of Guinness and its unbelievable! Just so smooth, I don’t know if its something psychosomatic that makes the black stuff taste better when your in Ireland or there’s something more too it, but that was the best pint of Guinness I have ever tasted!
We head off to the media centre and Brendan of Paddy power the hardest working man in the building arranges Media accreditation and gets us entry into the Media event starting in ten minutes, first prize is entry to the main event which is a remarkable gesture. I am sat at Jesse May’s table and he his such a nice fellow, Jesse is a delight to talk with and is incredibly friendly to everyone at the table, an all round top chap.
I have a 50-50 saver with Barry which looks none to promising when he is first out and I dump most of my stack of to Jesse May early on. I grind back up and make the final table and get to play against a fellow Blondeite Snoopy who play’s a good game but is eliminated in 4th . I get heads-up for the seat but the other guy has a 3-1 chip advantage. First hand he limps and I check my hand and find A-7 off so raise about half my stack (blinds where very big) and my opponent moves all-in. I know I have been outplayed but am committed and call my opponent flips over aces! The board try’s to help by putting both a seven and a straight draw out there by the turn but the river bricks and I lose. I wish my opponent luck for tomorrow and thank the paddy power guys for putting the tournament together; I’m pretty pleased with the €500 I earn for second but would have loved the seat. There was so much demand that the €3,300 + €200 tickets where exchanging hands for as much as €6,000 outside the venue! I’m not sure what my opponent did with his ticket but I know I would have played; a family man on an average wage like me does not get many shots at something like this.
Before I go to bed I spend an hour wandering around the cash tables where huge crowds have gathered to watch the action, one table in particular sees Andy Black, Donnacha O’Dea, Phil Laak and Anotnio Esfandiara battling it out. It’s like a version of popular TV show High Stakes Poker but live.
The next day the tournament begins and there some are really big names in the field Esfandiara, Laak, Sexton, Harrington from the US and all the cream of European poker is in attendance. I make myself as comfortable as possible in the green room and am lucky enough to get both a chair and a desk, not like poor snoopy who ends up spending the day working from two cardboard boxes! I suggest he ask’s Carlos Mortensen for his after poor Carlos is our first player eliminated when his AA are cracked by KK, which hits a flush on the river.
With 708 players and an area about the size of four football pitches to cover the first day is really exhausting. At times I’m a little lost and some of the other updaters are a great help. It was a really long day and extremely hard work, I have the utmost respect for those that do this regularly especially Jen and Snoopy who attempt to locate counts and updates for everyone on blonde who request them, this is a colossal undertaking in some of the fields we see these days and they are tremendous servants of the blonde community, I’m sure most of you have seen them at work at one event or another so you don’t need me to tell you how hard they work and the hours they put in.
Day two we are down to about 200 players and it gets a little easier as the field condenses because so does the playing area. It still works out to be a very long day and as I return to my room in the wee small hours something happens to me that’s never happened before. I switch on the TV in my room and I swear to God the very first face I see is my own staring back at me from RTE’s coverage, most unsettling!
Day three and we are down to 45 players and I have most of the players names locked into memory now, this was a really big problem on day two with two hundred players it’s a lot of faces to try to remember. We are due to play down to six players for the ‘TV final table’ but common sense prevails about 3am as the action slows to a crawl on the ‘TV bubble’ and we will start the final day with seven players rather than the planned six.
I position myself and my laptop outside and do my best to report on events, there was not a lot of play as blinds where massive and there was a tenth of the average stacks when we started so we did not see a flop without someone being all in for hours. When we did I missed the action because I was talking to Dan Harrington about the action so far! Yes the Dan Harrington, I was so excited to meet him I nearly wet myself!
Eventually we entered heads-up play and I thought it was an interesting tussle Roland De Wolfe pokers current superstar versus the canny rounder Marty Smyth. I know there was a probable a deal done but considering the heads-up lasted two hours I would think that winning the of the title is probable worth a lot more to both of them in terms of profile and sponsor deals and thought they both played very hard.
Some Hands
These are my favourite hands I witnessed,
The Mcgoona Hand
Already You-tubed to death there’s a lot more to this than meets the eye, heres the link again in case you missed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-OgL9T5oSQHere’s how we reported it.
A Battle of the blinds sees bystanders dodging chips in the Irish Open!
Tournament director Liam Flood is called into action as tempers flare and chips fly! Terry Mcdaid, in the Small Blind, raises 5,000 and Trevor Mcgoona, in the big blind, re-raises him to 20,000. Mcgoona asks Mcdaid, "What you have?" and he replies "I have them". Mcgoona stares him down for an age and spectators can tell there’s real genuine animosity between the two.
Mcgonna eventually and very reluctantly folds and Mcdaid shows pocket Jacks. Mcgoona looses all control and slams down into his chip stack stating he "had kings" and sending them flying all over the Burlington ballroom with more than a few becoming ensconced in other player’s stacks. The tournament staff quickly restores order and manages to re-appropriate the chips as best they can. Mcgoona is dispatched outside for a twenty minute cooling off penalty.
After thoughts
I was speaking to Nicky O’Donnell who was working for Paddy power and did a magnificent blog on there site. He told me that Mcgoona and Mcdaid have some history as they play together in a regular competition and they live near to each other. Mcdaid had been needling Mcgoona for a couple of hours and we where approaching the bubble so when this hand happened Mcgoona seems to think that Mcdaid was trying to let him know as fellow local that he should fold his kings and they could both make the money. Mcgoona was mortified by the way he behaved and was very regretful when he returned to the table, he didn’t look the same player when he came back and bust quite tamely in the end. I am not trying to excuse his actions, I’m just trying to better explain the situation.
Finneran Stops the Charge
Eastgate had just won some big pots and had taken the chip lead at this table (two tables left) and was really starting to push the table around. How we reported it,
What a hand!
Finneran minimum raises 40,000
Eastgate raises to 160,000
Fineneran Moves all in for 350,000
Eastgate goes deep into the tank and you can tell his not show boating he has a hand but his not sure. Reluctantly Eastgate folds and Finneran shows A3 for the bluff and then screams at the top of this voice 'Cmmmon! Now we're playing poker'. Some expletives deleted which earns him a slapped wrist from the floor.
After thoughts
Eastgate was really shaken after this hand, he never seemed to recover his composure or confidence and was soon out.
Power Play
Local player Nicky Power was really well supported and was big character who brought a lot to the table’s he played at. How we reported it,
Nicky power makes an amazing play! Roland De Wolfe raises from the small blind, Nicky in the big blind re-raises all in and the dealer mucks his cards by accident! Nicky quick as a flash cups his hands over his imaginary cards and then De Wolfe mucks!
After thoughts
You tube link of Nicky Power talking about the hand,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzgGVwOFpqoKing high for a monster!
O’Keefe had a really tight table image, he had only shown down big hands and the pot was significant to both there stacks representing about half there chips. Which made this hand really impressive, this is how we reported it,
Finneran really is playing some poker now!
O'Keefe raises 50,000 out of the small blind
Finneran in the big blind calls
Flop comes 2C 9S 6D
O'Keefe bets 40,000
Finneran calls
Turn comes 2H
Check Check
River comes A
O'Keefe fires 80,000
Finneran asks 'That the ace then fox?'
O'Keefe replys 'Maybe'
Finneran calls and shows K 10 for King high and wins the pot when O'keefe mucks his hand. Finneran asks to see the hand and O'keefe shows 8S 4H for a stone cold bluff.
After thoughts
O’Keefe took a savage beat from Roland De Wolfe at the final table when he flopped a top set to be outdrawn by runner runner flush (all-in preflop though). I spoke to Finneran after the final table and he was really disappointed that he didn’t get to really play as the structure was very pushy, his play had really impressed me.
A few thoughts about the structure
I don’t think there was anything wrong with it to be honest; the situation at the final table was caused by two hours of folding on the TV bubble making the blinds too significant. An eight handed TV table might have solved this but we probable only have had the same problem of ‘TV bubbling at 9th place’.
Barry caught Liam telling them off
A telling off
I've just been watching Liam Flood telling everyone off at the table, it seems Roland De Wolfe complained to him in the break about how this was becoming a crapshoot, it seemed to work and Liam Flood approached the table and told them:
"There are two players playing poker at this table, nobody else is, everybody is just going all in".
I'm not sure who the 2nd person he was referring to, the 1st one being De Wolfe of course.
"The blinds are going to go up soon, don't blame me if this becomes a crapshoot"
Sorry to break away from a neutral point of view, but what a silly thing to do. These guys have at least 10% of the average stack in the pot whenever they play a hand and what on earth can they do? It’s the blind structure that is forcing this pace, not the players.
Lets see if Mr Floods comments make a difference
Final Thoughts
Well I had a ball and would like to thank everyone who helped me on my first reporting trip, Jen, Snoppy, Benjamin and all the other updaters who helped me with counts and names, Barry Carter who made the work a real pleasure and a special thanks to Paul Sandells for trusting me with the assignment.
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