Perspective.

I wanted to write a quick reply blog to Neil Channing's blog in which he raises some interesting issues about attitude, respect and humility in the poker world. The blog centres around some instances of rude, disrespectful, exclusionary, and arrogant behaviour encountered during this year's WSOP, clearly written with an air of despair at an all too commonly witnessed attitude. I can't help but feel that the cliquey players mentioned talking over and excluding some of the recreational players would likely be the first to cry foul at someone slowrolling as a sign of bad etiquette without feeling for one second any sense of hypocrisy. I agree with a lot of what Neil says and anyone that has played poker for any length of time will have witnessed this kind of behaviour many times. I agree that it is bad for the game for players to act this way, and that these players are biting the hand that feeds them but I really see that as only a tertiary factor in why it is wrong. People should want to be nice, and engaging, and respectful for it's own sake, and certainly not for some sake of improving their poker EV. It does make it all the more mystifying.
Personally, I don't tend to chat a whole lot at the table and would generally prefer to sit there quietly taking things in than making small talk. I do see the importance of engaging with people, I believe in being polite, and I would probably stupidly trade a slightly tougher table with good company and occasional stimulating conversation for one that is softer and full of inane chatter or arrogant self congratulatory behavior. That's probably not true, I'd choose the softer table but in reality the truly good players are probably more likely to be good company and offer stimulating conversation while the boastful, demeaning bluster is surely a sign of someone with more ego than is helpful and a lack of awareness to see the fault in their own behaviour.
The players that I personally admire are people like Chip Reese, Erik Seidel, Allen Cunningham, Daniel Alaei, younger players like Andrew Lichtenberger and Phil Galfond, or closer to home, people like JP Kelly and Eoghan O'Dea. Most of these people I don't know personally but I perceive them to be models of consistency, humility, respect, and perhaps crucially, I view them to have outside lives to some degree and a perspective outside of purely the poker world, while still of course being dedicated to the game and being great players. They are what I aspire to be as a poker player.
Some people seek an edge through their demeanor at the poker table by having a brash attitude, tilting people in the chat box or table talk, by intimidating, or making themselves a target at the table. If there is an edge to be gained there then I don't want it, it just isn't congruent with how I see myself as a person, which is ultimately far more important to me than how I fare playing poker. The funny thing is that the people that Neil describes probably aren't even doing this, they simply lack the awareness to see that their behaviour is distasteful and disrespectful. As it happens, nice guys don't finish last as the aforementioned players illustrate. Julian Thew, Sam Holden, Nick Abou Risk are all people that I admire and consider friends, and are great players in their own right that have deservedly had success in poker. I have been very lucky to make a lot of good friends in poker, and have met some of the most interesting, funny, intelligent people that I could ever hope to meet, and that I likely wouldn't have had the chance to meet in other walks of life.
I'd also like to send my best wishes to Kevin 'Phwap' Boudreau, and to all of his friends and family. I don't know Kevin, and have never met him but have been really saddened by his health problems and moved by the very genuine love and affection displayed by his friends in the poker community. I spent some time yesterday watching Kevin's youtube channel and I was struck by his positivity, determination and good humour. If anyone can afford to contribute to the fund that his family have set up to help cover his medical expenses then I think it is a worthy cause. There are clearly a lot of good, caring, generous and respectful people in poker and I wouldn't want that to be forgotten.

UKIPT and the expansion of Team BBP

UKIPT Nottingham has been and gone, and what a wonderful event it was. The 'Dusk till Dawn' cardroom really is one the best places to play poker anywhere, the Stars staff were friendly as always, and the UKIPT dealers and staff do a great job every time. I'm not going to talk about my Main Event too much as it didn't build to a deep enough run but I was happy with my play and know that I wouldn't do anything differently in my exit hand, it was perfectly standard, and sometimes doing the right thing still means you go out. To win or go deep in a 1000 player field you need luck on your side. I look forward to reading the reports from the members of Team Black Belt that did make it deep.
I was happy with my preparation, and attitude for the event as I got an early night before the tournament, and felt fresh. I again took it easy on Friday night which meant that on Saturday I was able to put in a few hours grinding online while the football results came in, and virtually railing my friends in the event from my hotel room. While this might not sound terribly exciting, I'm pleased that I was disciplined about things because if you have one too many beers early in the weekend, it can have repercussions later on. These events are great social occasions and I love meeting the circuit regulars for a beer at the end of the day, there are so many great people on the tour and we can relate to each other and our unconventional lives in ways that we can't with our regular non-poker friends. It's just important to strike the right balance so that you're winding down at the end of the day, you have to be professional.
I did allow myself the night off on Saturday to have leaving drinks for Raz from Pokerstars, and some of our other friends including new Black Belt Poker members were there too. Raz, and all of the Stars staff look after us, and are friends to us, at each leg we attend so we were all happy to give her a send off, and I'm sure we'll see her at a stop again soon.
Sunday, I played the 'High Roller' tournament, a £1500+120 buy in, (eat your heart out, Sam Trickett). With a monkey buy in Main Event, it makes sense to a have a larger buy in side event over the weekend to help justify the travel costs for the established pros such as Channing, Zimbler, Devilfish, and the host of younger EPT regulars. While there were a number of top pros in the 80 runner field, I feel like there was plenty of value from the locals and satellite qualifiers, especially given that we play 8handed from the beginning and with a really great structure. I am not 'rolled for tournaments this size but did sell some pieces on IrishPokerBoards. This was the first time I'd done this and was very pleased with the response so sincere thanks to those that invested.
My first table had Chris Brammer and James Keys, but Chris busted in the first couple of levels, playing a bit faster than is necessary I would say. He was replaced by Jake Cody. I think both Jake and James are top notch players, and they've both had a great year. They both play pretty solid early on, but do take advantage of good squeeze spots when they arise. Jake in particular has a reputation as being crazy aggressive but it simply isn't the case at this stage of a tournament. I have played with him deep in a tournament in Edinburgh and at that stage he moves his preflop aggression up a notch and will 3bet and 4bet light and is constantly put pressure on. Both players play extremely well down the streets, and are as it happens two of the nicest guys in poker. I managed to chip up to 45k after the first 4 levels, no big double up, but I did get max value from my big hands. Tim Blake tried to run two big bluffs against me and I had a hand on both occasions and picked them off. James Keys had position on me but had gotten shortish early and so wasn't as much of a thorn as he might have been. I was really happy with my play early on, and I was quite active especially once my stack was big.
After dinner I lost two keys hands. I opened QQ on the button and was flat called by the small blind, an older guy that was a bit of a station. He check/called a bet on a low flop, and check/raised a J turn. I flatted and also called his bet on the K river, and was shown KJ. I then doubled up a short stack that had check raised all in on a KQx board my KJ under AK. Down to about 25k and our table broke.
Myself and James Keys were moved to probably the worst table in the room with James Dempsey (Flushy), Vicky Coren, Jeff Kimber and Neil Channing. I hate playing Neil; he knows me really well, I somehow feel under greater scrutiny when I play him because he backs me, and I kinda find his style difficult to play against. He does things that a lot of the younger guys don't; unusual lines, he will sometimes open limp, and flat call in spots where others might 3bet. I think he is a great player and his unconventional style makes him tough to play against. As it proved, he was my biggest pain to deal with.
I opened KK from late position and Neil flats out of the blinds. Flop comes J97 , and Neil check raises me. I contemplate 4betting here for value but I felt that I would be turning my hand face up, and would be folding out worse hands and only getting action from better. I flat. Turn comes a J, I feel almost certain I am now dead, and the turn goes check check. Neil lids a brick on turn, a dwell for a few minutes, I know I need to fold but just took my time going through it. Neil isn't bluffing in this spot, and I really can't beat much that has checkraised the flop at this stage. I fold, and Neil told me later that he had JT so check raised the flop with top pair and a gutshot, slowed down on the turn in case I have AJ/KJ, and naturally value bets the river. I am down to 15k.
Doubled to 30k with AA over QQ where I was pleased that I got three streets of value on a pretty scary board.
I open ATo/s from mid position, Neil flat calls on the button, and Vicky calls out of the blinds. Board comes AA9, and I am certain I have the best hand at this point, I figure Neil would 3bet a bigger Ace on the button. Check, I check, and Neil checks back. This is a clear mistake from me, I should be betting this flop close to 100% when I have missed, if I have an underpair or if I do indeed have a Ace. I got too tricky, and if anything telegraphed that I have an Ace because it is such a good board to cbet that I only really check an Ace. Turn 5, and having made an error on the flop, I'm happy enough to check here to at least keep a consistent story about supposedly being weak, and hope that Neil will fire with his air having been checked to twice. Leading is possibly better here but it is less clear cut than on the flop in my opinion. Neil does bet, but asks me how much I have before doing so. I'm not sure if that's significant but I took it to mean that he was strong. Vicky gets out of the way, and I call. The river is a T, and I have the nuts. Again, I think that leading is maybe better but I do get the sense he is strong and decide that I will go for a river checkraise, he bets 3.3k, and make it 10k. At this point Neil starts talking and I obviously stare into space, shuffling my chips. He says there is only one hand he can put me on that beats him. He obviously knows me well, and would know that I am basically never bluffing here, on this type of board particularly, people in general rarely check raise the river as a bluff. The decision takes an age, and runs in to the break. Eventually he folds A5 face up, for the 3rd nuts. I was stunned. This is a fold that an internet kid will never make, even if I am never bluffing, I could be value owning myself with a worse house, specifically TT. However, Neil has quite simply read me perfectly, and made a fold that only a live pro could make, and I just have to take my hat off and say I got owned. My line isn't right in the hand anyway, and it plays out the way it does because of my mistake in not leading the flop and simply bet, bet, betting. Anyway, I win the pot but have 40k instead of what should really be 60k.
I open with 77 from mid, and Flushy shoves a short stack on the button with AJ. I call it off but lose the flip. I lose a couple of other small pots, I'm back to 25k.
The table breaks again, and I now have Stuart Rutter, Ollie Schaffmann, Channing, and Jamie Burland. I haven't played with Stuart but I am aware that he is a good, thinking player. Ollie I know well, and is a loose, aggressive player that puts a lot of pressure on preflop. Neil, I know obviously. Jamie, I know best of all, we talk poker all of the time over skype and is most similar to me, tight aggressive, but capable of switching gears.
300/600 75a, I open AKss UTG to 1500 out of my 25k stack. Folds to Neil who 3bets to 4.1k in the small blind. Neil is simply never, ever doing this light. I'm not saying that he doesn't 3bet light, he does, but it would more likely be while in position and versus a loose opener, which in this situation, I am not. I really put him on JJ+, and AK. I'm about 42% versus that range, 43% if you include TT, and if I have any fold equity whatsoever then it can't be too bad to get it in here. I make it 9.5k, Neil ships and I call it off, hoping to see QQ but unsurprised when I see KK, and I brick out. GG me, out in 39th.
Well done to all of the guys that made runs in the Main, to Joe Roberts for binking a side event and to David Docherty and Ollie for cashing the HR. It's a really great team that we have now at Black Belt and I just want to put it out there to all of them that we make an effort to work together to improve, to support each other, to travel together, and at the end of the day to have a relaxed bloody beer.

The Winter Break

Last month I mentioned how much I was looking forward to Christmas and being a little bit more sociable, spending time with friends and family, because playing so much poker throughout the year can sometimes mean that you neglect the people you care about and like to hang out with. There are a lot of people that I really only get to see once a year so it was great to catch up with them and in particular it was nice that my cousins on my mother's side were around for a few days, some having come from America and New Zealand, and my sister home from Kenya. Even though I live with my girlfriend we still don't get to spend as much relaxed time together as I'd like so the break did us good and we also spent New Year's Eve in Dublin with a lot of my closest friends and the whole festive period was a much needed boost.

As far as poker goes, the three weeks leading up to Christmas were probably the best that I've had online all year, playing mostly Heads Up Pot Limit Omaha (HUPLO). I had a blip in a couple of days between Christmas and New Year's as I was playing while half asleep and mildly hungover, which is a shame as it had been such a strong month until then, and I have been so disciplined for the most part about avoiding playing while tired or not fully focussed. Ah well, lesson learned once again. January has been break even so far but I have plenty of cause for optimism for 2011, with tackling PLO in a real way top of the list. My PLO experience is limited at best, and I have really been getting by with my experience of Heads Up poker alone so far. It always feel good to be pushing yourself, learning new variants of poker and expanding your repertoire, and the general standard of play in PLO is so far behind No Limit Holdem that you can be profitable while you learn. I hope to have a review of Phil Galfond and whitelime's Deucescracked HUPLO video series done for Black Belt by the end of the month, so watch this space.

I haven't been playing live over the last month so I am itching to get back playing at both the European Deepstacks Championships in Dublin, followed by UKIPT Nottingham in February. That is not to say that there hasn't been lots going on in the poker world with the PCA in the Bahamas, Aussie Millions in Melbourne, and the upcoming EPT Deauville all in January. Best of luck to everyone I know playing at the EPT and in Oz, particularly Sam Razavi, Adam Stoneham, Chufty and Neil.

Max Silver's lucky run continued at the PCA as he had a piece of eventual winner Galen Hall, turning a couple of hundred dollars into $50k for the umpteenth time this year. I'd like Max to know that he owes me €1 as I have decided to sign away 2.5% of my soul to him for a nominal fee in the hope of a better life and eternal salvation.

As we are recently in to the new year and self improvement and resolutions are common themes, I'm happy to report that I have been able to do a weekly skype conference call with Kevin and Jamie so far which as been informative as well as entertaining. We've been talking about making more of an effort to work together to improve our game for a little while now so I'm pleased that we've actually followed through on it for once. We're just doing some hand history review and keeping up to date with how we're each faring, but it's definitely a worthwhile exercise. Three is a good number to do these, I think, it would be too easy to get lazy about it if there were only two of you, and if you have too many then it can be difficult to avoid talking over one another. I'd like to keep that going, and to be fair to the two boys, they're not as thick as they look.

UKIPT Galway

Pretty much everyone has suffered some travel woes over the last few weeks and the heavy snow looked in danger of having a serious detrimental effect on the recent UKIPT Galway, also known as the Irish Poker Championship. Black Belt Poker run good however, meant that Jamie and Kevin had their flight diverted to Shannon airport, easily shaving a couple of hours off their journey time and avoiding Dublin which suffered the worst of the traffic and weather chaos. My own trip took a little longer than scheduled but opting to travel by rail meant I was warm, supplied with tea and sandwiches, and got to watch a movie and a couple of Deucescracked videos. The tournament organisers took the sensible decision of postponing the event by a day to make sure that everyone had ample time to arrive safely and even put on a €10k freeroll on the original start day to occupy those already at the hotel. There was enough evidence from the quality of play at my freeroll table (which featured just players registered for the Main) and from my profitable cash game session the previous night, that we had reason to be optimistic about our chances in the Main Event.
It was more than a little disappointing then to see a starting table that featured; Luke Marsh, Sam Grafton, Mick Hill, Chris Brammer and David Vamplew. In the first two hours I managed to chip up a little, renegotiate a bet of 5/4 on Season 2 leaderboard points with Chris Brammer in favour of evens (I’ve too much ego), but on the whole had an enjoyable time as I like the aforementioned players as people and I had a relatively good seat on an undoubtedly tough table. No one was too surprised when the tournament was entirely redrawn after 2 levels when it transpired that the seat draw was not random and we were all seated in the order we were bought in. It’s a human error and I don’t blame the tournament director who handled it as best he could. My redraw should have been softer then, right? Wrong. Jason Herbert, Peter Murphy, Tom Finneran, Big Mick G, Jason Tompkins and James Browning were the names at my table over the rest of the day. I thought the standard throughout the day was particularly high, each of us nipping away at each other, putting pressure on, stealing pots, and the only times both parties got their money in tended to be in cooler situations. I feel like I played well, eventually shipping AK to isolate an all in shortstack only to find ‘theMultiplier’ wake up with QQ in the blinds. I just want to say that I was particularly impressed with Big Mick Graydon who despite not seeming to win a pot all day made it through to day 2 with a stack for yet another deep run.
By Saturday night, we’d all had a successful weekend to varying degrees and felt like we’d earned a drink to celebrate. As we were railing Nick Abou Risk who was still in the Main we decided that rather than head in to Galway city we’d have a relaxed sit ‘n go; Max Silver, Andrew Ferguson, Vamplew, Jamie, Kev, Paul McGovern, and Marc Convey, with the short stack at each blind level getting a round of shots in while the big stack drank double. Things only got better when Jesse May ambled over and offered to be dealer/commentator for the evening. Plenty of additional forfeits, impromptu stud hands, running the river two or three time, sick bluffs, rubdowns and needles ensued, while Nick Wealthall and Liv Boeree looked on, envious that they weren’t in the game. Good silly fun. Congrats to Nick, who went on to win his second UKIPT title, I was happy to have a small % but it really couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, and obviously an absolute tournament beast to boot.
Online I have been struggling of late in all honesty, and it’s really starting to get me down. One way or another, that needs to change, as I can’t rely on %s of Burland and Nick to pay the rent every month. I’m looking to add Pot Limit Omaha to my repertoire: lets face it, Heads Up No Limit Holdem just isn’t swingy enough for me! I’ve been watching more PLO videos recently and playing HU, so far it’s been going well, and I think that will probably be my most regular game in 2011 with a bit of work. Hopefully, I can tap in to the mind of some of the more accomplished PLO players on the site and get a few skype sweat sessions going. Is it wise to get inside the head of Mr J Bradpiece? Doubtful; but I’m sure it will be enlightening stuff.
This weekend I played a tourney at my local casino, The Quay in Wexford. The field looked pretty soft on the whole and I decided to stump up the monkey (Triona reckons I should let civilians know that means €500) buy in myself. I think I was possibly the second person out, and I have posted my trouble hands on the Black Belt boards if anyone wants to offer an opinion. I did stay on til the wee hours playing cash games every night as there was a bit of extra action due to the tournament, and that managed to get me out of it. Breaking even seems to be the trend for me currently.
To end things on a happy note, this will be my last blog this year so I want to wish all of the Black Belt Poker community, and everyone else who reads my blog, a very happy Christmas, and a prosperous new year. I’ve just put up and decorated my little tree in our flat, it looks great and I’m feeling positive about Christmas and beyond despite my struggles to make significant strides pokerwise lately. Some things are more important, so enjoy the time with friends, family, and loved ones over the holidays.

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.

A Good First Year

The Irish Poker Awards at this weekend’s IPO in Dublin was a good way to book end my first year in poker as a full time player. Of course the calendar year end is still a couple of months away but for me this does feel like a nice way to mark this chapter in my poker career and hopefully to look forward to a more successful year in 2011. The new WSOP main event champion will be crowned in November and season 2 of the UKIPT kicks off in December. A major goal for me in the next 12 months is to have a real crack at doing well in both (see if you can guess which I’d most prefer to do well in?). Pretty soon we’ll have some new Brown Belt members of Black Belt Poker team following Grading III, and another goal for me for the next year is to move up from Blue Belt so that I can play some bigger events throughout the year. While I have some goals and aspirations for the next year, the only things that I can really control is my own play and I aim to be as consistent, and disciplined as I possibly can be and also to work even harder on my game so that I improve technically as a player.
I have recently moved in to a new flat and I’m very happy with it. One of the nice things about it is that I have a spare room which I have somewhat converted into an office. One of the walls is all window and so my father and girlfriend worked together to make a kind of Japanese screen; wooden frames covered in fabric that I can fold in or out like a concertina. I’ve bought a desk for my computer, I have a comfortable office chair and am planning to pick up an extra monitor so that I can multitable and multitask more easily. I’m pretty comfortable playing four HU tables at this stage, and I usually go for the turbo tables but at the moment I have a bit of an overlap on the screen which I’d like to eliminate. All of these extra things should facilitate a more conducive environment for playing poker but of course my own attitude and frame of mind will be the most important factor in getting where I want to be in poker. Moving up the levels and building a bigger bankroll are the primary goal; tournament success is nice and it is what gets you most attention but being a consistently winning cash player at significant levels has and always will be my number one goal in poker.
If goal number one can be achieved then, goal number two ought to follow. Once I can establish myself as a Brown Belt then the door opens up to the possibility of playing more EPTs. Having played my first EPT in London, seen several friends have deep runs, you really get the sense that actually having that big win is not as fanciful a thought as I would have 6 months ago. The buy ins for these are significant by any measure, and the money up top is life changing. This doesn’t necessarily mean that every player in the tournament is a great player, though undoubtedly there are many. I felt comfortable at my table, I thought there were at least a couple of soft spots and if I was to rank myself at the table I would have put myself at number 3, behind Scott Fischman and Andrew ‘luckychewy’ Lichtenberger, with luckychewy being a strong first. Of course this is only my assessment over the course of a couple of hours play, and ultimately I had an early exit on my first hand moved to a new table. I know I can compete at that level, and that is where I would like to be playing as far as tournaments go.
The third goal which I mentioned was the UKIPT. Having come second on the UKIPT leaderboard this year, I am determined to go one better this year. Having been awarded 4 tournament buy ins from Stars plus my hotels, I have already booked my flights to Manchester and Nottingham. While EPTs are the aspiration, I already know that the UKIPT is within my budget and I have had enough success so far to feel like I can improve on last year and actually win one. I believe that these are due to be televised in one form or another this year which will hopefully mean lots of face time for members of Team Black Belt. I can’t tell you how pleased I am when other members of the team do well, its wonderful and really feels like we’ve achieved something collectively. It’s like it, but its not, and I think it’s important to be competing with each other to try to push the bar higher and higher so none of us can rest on our laurels. I plan to play as close to 100% of UKIPTs this year as possible, I want to win the leaderboard, and I want to win an event.
The World Series of Poker is the main focus of the poker calendar every year, and that will probably never change. This year I played a $1k side event and the main event, I had deepish runs in both but fell short of the money in both. I learned from the experience and when I was heading home my strongest feeling was that I didn’t want to let this be a one off; again, I wanted to be back again next year and this time I wanted to be coming home having made a mark. I don’t think that I would like to spend much more than two weeks or so in Vegas and I don’t expect to have that much fuller a schedule this coming year. I would like to give a better account of myself and I would like to make a decent profit this year, it is not a poker holiday.
I want to thank everyone for supporting me at these Irish Poker Awards; I think I had a strong case for ‘Best Break Out Year’, as did the other nominees, and thanks to the votes of my friends and the Black Belt Poker community I was lucky enough to win it. Just to be nominated in the ‘Player of the Year’ category was more than I could have hoped, and again thanks to my support base I managed to win that too. Would an independent industry panel have given me the award? Probably not, lets be fair, but I’m sure the other nominees will console themselves with all of the money they have won and we all know it was an internet vote. I want my results in 2011 to show that I was worthy of consideration, and prove to myself and to others that I can compete at a high level. I’ve had a good ‘break out year’, but I want to show that I’m not a flash in the pan.

A week at the Wynn

My journey to Vegas got off to an inauspicious start as I struggled to make my way from Mile End to Heathrow in time for my early morning flight to Las Vegas. I was up by 5 o'clock, but the simple fact was that I hadn't allowed enough time to get from one side of London to the other. In particular, Acton Town to Heathrow seemed a lot shorter (an inch between thumb and forefinger) than it actually was. Note to self, notches on the Piccadilly line are not to scale. Punctuality has never been my strong suit, it's not in my genes to be reliable. My mother bumped in to my father on the main street the night before their wedding at 5.25pm. 'Did you get your suit sorted?', she inquired anxiously. 'Of course', he grinned confidently.'What kind of man do you think I am?', he bluffed as he scarpered off before the shops shut. Though my flight hadn't left, it was too late to board by the time I arrived but perhaps my father's smile came in handy as the clerk put me on the stand by list for other transatlantics at no extra cost. When my name was called at the departure lounge it was for a business class seat to Denver with a short connect to Las Vegas. As I relaxed in my massaging chair, sipped champagne, and savoured course after course of gourmet food, my early morning tube scramble seemed a world away.
My room at the Wynn was pretty sweet, and the hotel is quite spectacular, undoubtedly one of the most luxurious on the strip. As this was my first trip to Las Vegas, I spent much of the first couple of days wandering around slack jawed and gawping at the plastic world around me. In an effort to familiarise myself with my surroundings, I decided that despite the baking desert sun I would walk to the Rio. While my depth perception and inner compass worked fine and I was correct in thinking that it really wasn't all that far, I entirely underestimated the heat, and sweat so much that I was soaked through, the protective factor 30 washed away. Of course, I wasn't actually soaked through, rather I would have been, had the hellish sun not evaporated any liquid in seconds.
I familiarised myself with the Rio and its layout and later that day I played the first of two $500 WSOP mega satellites that I would play on the trip. I was unsuccessful in both attempts, and these are short stack, fast structured events. Having said that, I think there is tremendous value in playing them as I saw some pretty horrible play and a fast structure is really just something to adapt to rather than something to complain about. You know what it is before you play it. Many seasoned pros play these regularly leading up to the Main Event and sell the 'lammers' or tournament chips as they win them. If a decent player was to play 20 of these and end up with less than $10k in his balance, he would have to consider himself pretty unlucky. Over the rest of the week, I met up with Rob regularly for a beer, a burger, etc and Neil was kind enough to treat us to dinner one night at the Wynn in the company of Jesse May, Barny Boatman, and Anne Laymond. Rob and I sat back and let the storytellers get on with it (not that we had much choice) and it was one my personal highlights of the trip.
My first WSOP bracelet event was event #54 $1000 No Limit Holdem. The event is a bit of a blur to me but I was happy with how I played, and proud to make day 2 in my first ever event. My day two table was really soft but featured two familiar faces, Paul Mulvihill (Leedutd22 online) from Dublin and Antonio Salorio (famous for losing $100k playing deuce seven on season 4 of High Stakes Poker). I had chatted with Paul a bit the previous day as I was familiar with him from grinding the same games online, and as a fellow Irishman. Antonio, I had played with a lot the previous day though we had barely tangled and I respected his game. Though I started well and built my stack up a bit by being quite aggressive, I ultimately played a weak ace too fast on an A high board and Antonio snapped me off with a deceptively played AK. I was happy with my play over all but should probably have taken my foot off the gas against Antonio in this spot, there were plenty of cheap chips to pick up uncontested if I had concentrated on that. 520/3844 wasn't quite good enough to cash and though I was disappointed to bust out, I had definitely gained some confidence with the big one still to come.