Irish Legends

It wasn't hard to think of subject matter for my blog this month because my most recent tournament outing at the Irish Winter Festival in Dublin had me playing with some bona fide legends of the Irish poker world. I've often heard people saying that it is a bad idea to register late for tournaments as there is a tendency for those coming in at the last minute to get bunched together, and as pros tend to be a bit more casual about arriving at the scheduled start time, you can end up with a tougher than average table draw. On this occasion I was waiting for the Boss to buy me in at the cash desk, and unsurprisingly Neil sauntered down a few minutes after the TD had ordered the 'shuffle up and deal'. He made a point of mentioning to the floor staff that he was aware of the late reg grouping phenomenon, in an effort to make sure that our seat draw was truly random and that we weren't just sat next to each other on the nearest table. We got our tickets, we wished each other good luck and sat down at adjacent tables. I sat down and saw Declan Connolly, Andy Black, Padraig Parkinson, and Eoghan O'Dea all staring back at me. FML. I glanced across at Neil's table and he was surrounded by a table of green and orange hoodies distinguishing his opponents as internet satellite qualifiers. 'Random me arse', I thought.
It wasn't a surprise when they moved us over to the feature table to be covered by the live stream provided by Big Iain Cheyne and Irish Poker TV. Being on the live stream isn't exactly televising us, and they don't have access to our hole cards so it isn't really any different other than you get a comfier chair. In terms of the line up though, in Irish poker terms, it doesn't get much better.
Declan Connolly won't be known by many but made the final table of 2010 Irish Open and was one of the victim's of James Mitchell's run good. I've played with Declan a couple of times at tournaments in Ireland, usually at the latter stages, and I would say he is pretty tight and solid but definitely a good tournament player. I've also played some cash games with him in casinos around Dublin and I know that he is friends with the eventual winner of this tournament, Nicholas Newport, a mutual acquaintance that happens to be from my home town. Clearly Declan knew what he was doing.
Andy Black is easily one of the most recognisable faces in Irish and indeed European poker. With over $4 million in tournament earnings, he is the all time Irish tournament money winner. Most famously, he made the 2005 WSOP Main Event Final Table, eventually finishing 5th as Joe Hachem went on to win. He has also made final tables on the EPT and at the Aussie Millions, and was recently voted Best Cash Game Player at the Irish Poker Awards. He liked to play more or less every hand and didn't really like folding much and I could definitely see why his style is so conducive to building a big stack in tournaments and how dangerous he could be once he did accumulate chips. The disadvantages of his style were also evident as his stack fluctuated throughout the day and I can understand why he has embraced Buddhist ideas and practices meditation, it would certainly help to cope with such a rollercoaster style. He was a great presence on the table and entertained me with his frequent banter and joking.
Arguably, Padraig Parkinson is an even bigger legend of Irish Poker and also made the WSOP Main Event Final Table in 1999, the year that Irishman Noel Furlong won the big one. Padraig was also a star of the original Late Night Poker which tends to cement you as a legend in many people's eyes no matter what else you have or indeed haven't achieved since. Of course, Padraig is one of those that has achieved plenty since, most recently winning the UKIPT Galway last December. We had great craic talking about his gambling exploits with his good friend Jesse May and, like Andy, Padraig is affable, witty, pleasant company and a great story teller. When you are playing poker for 12 hours a day it helps to have good company to help pass the time and it added to my enjoyment level no end and probably helped my game too. Padraig isn't as passive as Andy but is still quite loose and for much of the day I was happy to sit back and allow them to splash around a lot. I was able to credibly run a couple of bluffs and picked up pots where I could, seeing as I wasn't involved in as many hands as I might normally be.
Perhaps the best player at the table was Eoghan O'Dea, son of Donnacha O'Dea (another legend), but a man that has very much established himself in the poker world in his own right. 'Intruder123' was a name I used to look for whenever the ECOOP series came around as Eoghan previously won the ECOOP Main Event under that moniker. I have never really been one for railing other players but he is the exception and I have always been impressed with his game, particularly in his Poker Million runner up finish to Marty Smyth which was shown live on Sky Sports. Along with John O'Shea, Eoghan is definitely one of the best young poker players in the country so again it was a pleasure to get to play with him. He is a bit quieter than Andy or Padraig, and certainly doesn't hold court at the table in the manner that they do but he is good company too. He played a much more solid game; tighter, more aggressive, a good hand reader and I would see more in his game that I would like to emulate than the two veterans. I was glad when he departed after he clashed with Andy Black in a very big pot quite early on.
Blinds at 150/300, the three principal players have 35k (Andy), 25k (Padraig), and 33k (Eoghan). All are well above average, and all have been quite active. Andy is in nearly every pot, limping, raising, calling, seemingly at random. Eoghan has been tighter than the other two but far more aggressive.
Andy Black open limps the c/o to 300. Padraig Parkinson on the button calls, and Eoghan goes to complete in the small blind but inadvertently throws in 3x1k chips, audibly blurts 'oh shit', and has obviously made a mistake. BB folds, back around to Andy who now makes it 8k to go, and Padraig is clearly now itching to ship in over the top but folds. Eoghan thinks for 2 or 3 minutes before eventually shipping, and Andy absolutely instacalls. Ah8h for Andy, Kc9c for Eoghan and the Ace high holds up. I quite admire Eoghan's play here and I think if he could have made the move quicker it might have worked. It's pretty hard to put Andy on a hand when he open limps the cut off. It didn't work out this time but the thought process from both was good.
I made Day 2 in this one with above average chips but never really ran well all tournament, I lost a number of large pots where I was dominating, and didn't win my fair share of races either. That's just the way it goes but I was really happy with my play. It helps when you can enjoy your day playing poker, and I am definitely opposed to people wearing shades and ipods at the table. It's fair that people want to use them to help their game but I think if you're going to be around poker for the long haul then you need to develop your personality at the table and be able to relax and be at ease without props as aids. We don't all have to be chatterboxes but you're missing out on the experience if you don't get involved in the conversation.