blondepoker.com waterford open

since my last update on the fitz game, i didnt really play, didnt bother with the 500 game the next day, and just chilled out most of the week.
Spent a lot of time data mining 3/6 on ipoker, and just doing other stuff, didnt start the challenge yet, preferring to play live when i do play at the moment.
On thursday around lunchtime, i collect KP and we headed off down to waterford, for the blondepoker/big slick 15k, 1 hour clock game, €500 buy in. Its a superb event, one of the best of the calender in terms of being well run, a great structure, and just a thoroughly enjoyable weekend is always had. I was 9th in the last one, for 3k, so hoped to go better this time. An added bonus was that the final table is to be shown on sky sports, so really wanted to get on that.
Anyway, we arrived about 4, and met Irish open champ Marty Smyth. Headed to the pub, and a few pints were had, then we decided may as well play the €150 super sat for the main event, to try and get a €550 (inc 50 reg) ticket for cheap. I was a bit locked at the start of this, but sobered up then, and managed to nab one of the 39 tickets on offer. A good nights poker, with some rather bizarre play by some of the locals, which i suppose was encouraging for the weekend ahead.
Got up mid afternoon on the friday, and joined Marty, Kp, Nicky O Donnell and Paul Higgins for some pool in a nearby place with bowling, pool etc. Then went in to get my seat in the main event. Tough enough looking table, with Gavin Kelly, (Valor from boards, top cash player), Danny Guiney (solid local), Dave Compton (sky poker and at the races presenter from the UK) and a couple of others, only 2 of which were absolutely dreadful. I played steady all the first day, without many huge hands, and was very patient, had an average stack of 37k overnight, and was happy enough to still be in contention. KP had a decent stack, over 50k, so all was well in our camp, as we found an all night tesco for a 5am snack on the way back to the hotel.
The 2nd day was key, blinds were still small, so i still employed an extremely patient approach. I hung on, then i hung on some more, then i battled away, without my stack ever going below 35k or above 55k for about 6 hours on day 2. By this stage average had creeped up to 100k, and i was going to have to make a move soon. I was very proud and pleased with how i hung in there for so long, totally card dead, picking stops to steal and maintain my stack. I was just hoping that eventually, i would get a chance to double up, up to this point, i was trying to play small pots, and avoid races, and getting all in if at all possible, which i had achieved thus far. Then, i decided to gamble, Ken Corkery made a standard raise, at the time, he had a big stack, and i felt he could have a reasonably wide range, so i pushed with 77, he called with AK, and i won that race, that got me going and back in the game. Then, i got KK under the gun, i made a 23k raise, blinds were 4k/8k, i never mess around with big pairs, and always play them strong pre flop. Also, my range for raising under the gun is quite tight, especially on a full 9 handed table. Albert Kenny, who had me covered, was under the gun +1, he immediately moves all in. Now, i consider Albert to be a tight solid player, and i was concerned, that he may actually have aces here, as he should know im not raising for 1/4 of my stack utg with a hand i would like to fold, after battling for so long to get a 100k stack, but i obviously have to call, he has TT, and i stand up to double through. About 2 hands later, i get AA, and re raise Michael Trimbly, a very tricky and good northern player, who had a final table in a WSOP side event this year. I made a huge reraise to take it down pre flop, he claims to have folded 55, and i showed the aces. The very next hand, unbelievably, i get aces again, obv this was the rush i was waiting for, Colin Quarry, a local man, who is a good solid player, jams on the cut off with 99, and i stand up again. All of a sudden i have a stack over 300k and im motoring. The table got a bit weird towards the end of the night, we were playing down to 20 players, and it was late, i was very tired after a long day, and had mentally shut up shop, just trying to nurse my stack home. Bomber Nolan was ermm, were playing an extreme brand of DAG poker (drunk aggressive). Hes aggro enough when sober, after 20 Guiness', he a total maniac, but, he was steamrollering the table, and no one knew where they stood, and he ended up the overnight leader, on 545k, Michael Trimby in 2nd on 463k, then me on 409k. 20 players remained, and the average stack was 200k, i was in great shape.
There were 278 runners , and 1st prize was 37k, 20th paid €950, so a lot to play for.
Other players remaining included Tony Baitson, a very aggressive player from dublin, whos had several decent finishes in big games, and a player i rate as very dangerous, Nicky Power who is a top tourney pro, with a final table in this years Irish open, Pat Storan, another Waterford man who is notoriously hard to knock out of tournies, and has a string of great results this year, Collette Murphy (Smurf), probably the best female player tourney player in Ireland, Jen Mason, an English girl, who has had several great results, including winning the big 1500 game in drogheda, last time she was over here. I rate Jen extremely higher, in fact, pre tourney, i considered having one bet, and one bet only, and that was Jen at her price of 100/1.
I didnt sleep much on Saturday night, a combination of adrenelin and excitement kept me awake, dreaming of a big score. I arrived on sunday to see the room set up really well by the big slick boys , with the final table all ringed off and lit up for the tv cameras. I really wanted to get there, and decided i would continue to be patient on the 2nd last table.
I was on about 300k after one of 2 slight mishaps, when i got dealt ace 9 on the big blind, Bomber limped from middle position. Now Bomber never limps big pairs, he plays them very strong, so im sure he has something like suited connectors, 9T, or a small to medium suited ace, he would always raise a big ace. Tony Baitson is on the small blind, Bomber asks him to go easy, lets see a flop, Tony tends to raise a lot from the blinds, and never gives the people to his immediate left or right an easy time of it. I also said, yeah lets see a flop Tony, i wont raise if u limp, so the 3 of us did, and it came AJ9. Im absolutely certain im ahead, and more than likely bomber has missed, but he would usually bet, so i check it to him, he fires out 30k, i decide to make it 80k, he could have a hand like QT or some type of draw, and i also think he wont put me on an ace, cause i didnt raise, so he might call with Ax. Well, he doesnt call, he tanks it all in in typical bomber fashion, i insta call, and he has A2 of diamonds and is almost drawing dead. This double up puts me into the chip lead !!!. Now i am motoring towards a possible win, and its a real buzz. Soon after Tony loses a huge pot, where he makes a brilliant fold on the turn, as Ian Whitty, a tight player, has middle set. Tony told me he folded bottom set, most people go broke here, but i knew he was frustrated at being down to 100k. The next hand its my BB, and Tonys SB, im kinda expecting him to jam here with a lot of hands, and said to myself, i will call with any pair or A8 or better. He does jam, i look down at A9, and call, he has A6 and i win, ul Tony, just one of those days mate.
We finally get to the final table, Jen has been killing the other 2nd last table and has 1.07 million chips, i have 761k, 3rd in chips is the extremely dangerous Michael Trimbly with 499k. There are about 4 or 5 shorties, im fully expecting a top 4 finish, and have a tremendous shot at the win. I must now say i had a tremendous amount of support from my friends down down, and also a lot of locals, who remembered me from the last time. One or 2 locals even came up to me and said they had backed me, and i was to "take it down".
Before the FT started, all the finalists were interviewed for Sky by the lovely Rhowena. I just said, i was delighted to be there, it was a great event, i thought Jen was the main danger and i was looking forward to the battle, and confident of a good result.
There was 80k total being the 1st 4 places, so im thinking if i can get to the last 4 with average chips, i should be looking at a deal in the region of about 20k.........mmm, ept in Prague, aussie millions in Melbourne, lots of nice ventures i would like to take on soon could be manageable if i can avoid a blow up.
The first thing i really didnt like was my seat draw, in between the now hammered, and fearless Bomber Nolan, and Trimbly, who was very capable of re raising me light, had a lot of chips, and i didnt feel comfortable in pots with him all weekend.
I really felt like Jen, Trimbly or me would take it down. Most of the short stacks were very tight, and probably would need to run extremely hot to actually win it. I also think most of them were looking to move as far up the money as they could.
Well, as soon as the FT started, it was just one disaster after another. Early on i raised my button to 50k, Trimbly, made it 200k to go, i had ATs, i cant call. On 3 occasions i raised a rocks blind, from my cut off, this guy wont move without a hand, i know this from playing with him for a long time on day2. On every occassion he jams, i have to fold, AQ once, 44 other time, and JT another time, on all 3 occassions, he shows me AK !!, such timing.
We lose 2 players, but then, the same cycle keeps repeating, Jen, Bomber or Trimbly are winning most pots, Bombers taking huge risks, but hes not been caught, hes all in about once every 4 hands. Thats the way Thomas plays, and whilst it doesnt always work, on his day, its extremely dangerous. Everytime a shorty gets in trouble, and is down to less than 200k, he seems to wake up with a hand, and gets doubled up by Nolan or Trimbly.
We are 8 handed for almost 3 hours, just cant seem to lose anyone, im totally and utterly card dead, cant catch anything half playable, i still havent won a pot, and im down to just under 500k, still average, but becoming increasingly frustrated.
Bomber limps the button, i make up the SB with 78 of diamonds, Trimbly checks. The flop comes J56 with 2 clubs, i have an up and down straight draw, and i dont think either of the other lads are strong. I check it to bomber he bets 35k, now , i decide i could raise here and probably take it down, but if i just call and hit, bomber is extremely likely to tank the turn or river and double me up to over 1 million, and be crippled himself, so i call. I pray for a 4 or 9, but i hit the 7. Now i know bomber will bet if i check, ive no idea where i am, and theres a fair chance he wont have anything, i also know he will respect my bets, so now i decide its best to fire 70k at it, and try and win it here , on the turn. He flat calls, so now, i have to put him on some sort of hand. I miss on the river, the final board is J567k with 3 clubs, i check, he immediately goes all in. Ive still got about 370k behind, which is a lot of chips. I should have interogated him here, he was very drunk after all, i might of picked up a tell, my brain was a bit scrambled, i felt from the start he had some type of suited connected hand, or maybe just junk. I just cant make a hero call here with 3rd pair, poor kicker, i fold and he shows 64 off, for a pair of 6s........uggggggggg.
He continued in reckless fashion, calling a raise from Jen, and taking a K84 flop, she only had 35k in , and still had control of the game and a big lead, she folded a K face up, no idea where she was and not needing to call in this spot, and possibly lose control of the game and make bomber big chip leader, again he shows 64 off.
At this stage hes really in my head, he limps the SB, i have KQ, and just call, trying to hit a flop, and hopefully go for a big pot. I love the flop KT7, we both check, the turn is a 5, he bets i call.
Now, im absolutely sure im ahead, he can have any T, 7, 5, weaker K or nothing. I fully expect him to tank the river, and i fully intend to call. The river is a red 2, which looks like a blank, so i still expect to be ahead. Strangely he checks to me, im certain im ahead, and he has a T or something, i also think he will call, so i bet 50k, a huge mistake, i really couldnt know where i was in the hand, and hes so dangerous, i shoulda just checked behind, well, now he jams it all in.
He hasnt taken this line before, but my head was totally fried from almost 4 hours of not winning a pot on the final table, id just over 200k behind, and eyed a double up to get me right back in the game. I never stopped to think it through, i just called, he had T2 for a rivered 2 pair, and i was gone, out in 8th, and feeling kinda numb and shocked.
I collected €4500 for my troubles, a nice result, dont get my wrong, but i felt like id just lost a bundle, and the chance to further my career and finally take down the big prize ive been knocking on the door for since the WSOP 06.
Jen ended up making a miss read on Trimbly, and losing most of here stack, she went in 5th, they then did a deal 4 handed, with 2 shorties taking 12k and 16k, Bomber taking 25k and Trimbly taking 30k and the title.
I did my exit interview with Rhowena, my question was, well Rob, what went wrong, my answer, pretty much everything..........
Now that im home, i look back, and i thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, its a brilliant tourney, Neill Kelly has done wonders for Irish Poker, and with the coverage this event has got, both on TV and with the excellent online reporting of the blonde team, it made the whole thing very special.
Heres a link to blondes final table coverage, its very extensive, brilliantly done as ever, and includes a lot of pictures of everyone involved, which u can see if u sign up and get a username, which is free to do, and then log in.....
http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=29021.0

We got back to dublin at about 5pm on monday, with no plans, we decided to play the Sporting Emporiums Monday night €100 game. This is full of fish, gets about 40 runners, and is a nice relaxing way to spend a monday night. To kill time, me and KP went to play pool in the palace for a while, then to Fitzers for dinner, and hit the SE at 9. 38 runners, and i had 18k with average 10k (7k starting) when the following hand happens. A fish playing 9k limps under the gun, the Chief makes it 1k to go (blinds 150/300), i look down at aces on the button, i make it 2500, knowing there is a good chance the chief will push his 10k stack if i do this. Then, despite all the action, the fish pushes, chief then also goes all in, i obv call, my AA vs Chiefs QQ and fishs AJ !!! Well obv AJ is the nuts as we all know, and i never really covered and went out about 15th.
KP played his usual good solid game, but had no luck on the FT and went out 8th.
I still had the cash i won in Waterford on me, so i jumped into the 1/2 pl holdem game, and bought in for €500, which more or less had the table covered. I ran well, and in this game, as long as u play tight, u will win, a lot of the play is bizarre, and u will continaully get paid off if u nut peddle every night of the week. Patience is the key. I sat there drinking OJ and Cappacinnos til almost 5am, at which point i had 2k in front of me, so i left. KP had joined the game after he got knocked out of the tourney, and was up about 800 himself when i decided it was about time i actually went home to bed.
So i successful night out on my return, and a overall profit of €5700 thurs - mon, might go back in there and play some more tonight, will see later on.

Just to mention, coverage from Waterford is on Sky Sports 2 this Thursday 22th at 11.30, so that should make interesting viewing !