Coolers coolers coolers!

I've had a few days recovery from the JP Masters, I'm feeling much better about what happened over the weekend,It always takes a few days to get over been knocked out of tournys especially when you go so deep. Oh well Vegas soon :)!! I'll be writing all about JP Masters from my pick of hand histories to JP's exceptional TD skills.

I arrived at the Masters on the weekend really relaxed from my week off from poker, the CPT grand final the other week took quiet a bit out of me, I was for sure brain dead for a couple of days after that long weekend lol.

I proceeded to reg up and go to my first table where I found Nicky Power sitting to my right, (thank god he was to my right) just as soon as I was happy with my table draw Silky sits down to my left where the dead stack was ha so much for my great table draw ay.

I must say two great characters, they both had me laughing throughtout most of the first day especially Nicky with his hilarious comment about Silky 'Silky the best player in England playing in Ireland' It was just hilarious you probably had to be there lol.

I had a slow start but after the first break I started to pick up the pace and chips were going in the right direction. Big hand occurred, blinds 100-200, Nicky raised to 550 I flatted with Ad4d, two other ppl came along for the spin also, flop jd 7d 2s, checked round, turn 5d, It's checked to Nicky who fires outs 1,100, I quickly flat behind just to make it look like I've something but not much, back to the small blind and he makes it 4,300 to go,Nicky folds saying 'I'll leave it up to you j'. I go into tank for min or two then call, river is a blank 4h, my opponent checks which I thought was quiet strange as he was not a person to put someone on a hand and go with his read, so I dwelled up for few seconds before launching a bet of 8,650, my opponent then says 'oh well I have to call but there is only one hand beating me' so I was quiet amazed when he showed me the 2nd nuts KdQd...wow I kept saying to myself for quiet some time after, plus it made me think was I giving off a huge tell? Do I look so strong when having the nuts? Hmmmm it's a thinker maybe I should work more on that part of my game because a better player would have folded the KdQd if my tell was that strong.

That pot did bring me up to quiet a big stack early and for the rest of the day I was everyone's banker giving them change, such a horrible feeling lol! Near the end of the first day our table broke, I finished out the last hour on Nick Heathers table (super aggressive player and knows how to pull it off, scary!) I know Nick from playing in the Fitz on Wednesday night, great cash game by the way! I was walking across to my new table and had just sat down when Nick bluffed a guy with total air. Great bluff, all I was thinking was ok here we go crazy scando poker now.. but not to be I still continued to play aggressively, Nick and I bearly clashed apart from me flatting few of his raises in position. Finished the night on 61,250, good days work without much trouble!!! Also congrats to Nick for taking down an FTOP few days ago winning 150k wp sir!!

Day 2 began with a good table draw even doh I had really good player to my left and Roy Brindley also on my table, even so there were still allot of spots to pick up chips. I started as good as it gets picking up loads of small pots without showing a hand, sitting on around 90k a hand came up. I raised in co with AhQh to 1,950, blinds 400-800, the button flatted behind (45k) and the two of us went to the flop, 9d 3h 2s, I checked, villain bets 4,100, I raised to 11,400 and villain called so at this point I was thinking it is possible villain has a flopped set here but as he is a good player his range is much wider for calling me, hands like 77, 88 and A9 so I was hoping for a paint card to continue my bluff or else give up unless I hit a pair of course, turn comes Kh, great I've picked up a flush draw plus its a paint card a great card to bluff at, stack sizes are awkward now where villain has only just over a pot size bet left so the best option is to move all in myself and put maximum pressure back on the villain, that's exactly what I did, villain goes into the tank, that's good news for me I no now he does not have a set and there is a high possibility villain will fold his hand now after all it is a strong line I have taken in this hand, alas villain folds after quiet sometime in the tank. I really like my move here as if I still get called I almost certainly have 15 outs to hit also good players never like to call off their chips!!! Remember that next time if your afraid to pull the trigger! This hand increased me to over 100k.

Few hands later I called a huge all in for 3 times the pot on a flop of QxJx4x holding only Jx5x, what had happened here was an older gentleman raised preflop and I flatted in position, the flop came down and as soon as it did he just open shoved his whole stack into the middle and sat back into his chair with his arms folded, this is a strong sign of weakness also he had done this when making an outrageous bluff only few mins earlier, this is what lead to my call, my opponent flips over 7x7x for pair of 7s, nice one I had made a great read and it paid off as turn and river were blanks. A pretty sick call I know as it was for 1/3 of my stack at the time!

My table broke soon after :(. Really bad news as my new table consisted of great players like Nick, Donal O Connor, the fox and other really good players! Played a hand with Donal where hand previous he had just received a double up to 100k I believe, I raised to 2,900 utg with 8c9c, blinds 600-1,200, Donal flatted next to me and bb came along for the spin, flop Jc 8s 5s, bb checked, I checked and Donal bet 5,400, bb passed so it's back to me, I do not like folding so I decided to use my utg position to my advantage and raise here hoping Donal respects I'm not messing around from this position, I decided to reraise to 13,700, Donal tanked for about one min before making the call, now I no he has a strong hand like big draw or AJ maybe even QQ but also I no he is not mega strong because of the board been so draw heavy if he had a set he would most certainly have 4bet the flop so if I find a blank on the turn I was going to fire large to make him think I was real strong and also with the board he can only beat a bluff with his own holdings. Turn comes 6d just the card I was talking about, I fired 26,300, immediately Donal shook his head slightly, obviously did not like my bet at all here which was great for my bluff to get through, after few more seconds in the tank Donal folded, great increased my stack again with another well thought out bluff. My main reason for bluffing Donal here is not just because I pinned down his range really well but also because he had just doubled up the hand previous and knew he would be reluctant enough not to get involved in big pot for all his chips with a medium strong hand. Donal said he had QQ after which was surprising to me but does seem about right considering my strong play here. Sometimes you just got to go for the big bluff!!

The table broke after this hand, I got moved to a better table I must say but Albert Kenny was at this new table, thankfully he was short stacked. Within a few hands I had called Albert's all in holding KcJc against his monster 9x5x, he was in shove mode obviously, the board ran out to fill Albert a straight on the river lol nice hit sir! All good Albert is a friend was glad to see him back in the mix of things, unfortunately for him few hands later he held AQ and shoved the lot in only to be unlucky enough to walk into KK, game over for Alberto.

I was on this table for pretty much the rest of the night, I had load of good spots which allowed me to build my chip stack up to 170k mark practically never showing a hand unless I called an all in. One of the better Belgium players was moved to my immediate left which spells trouble as he likes to 3bet(he was on the last table with Donal etc). I was gonna take none of his light 3betting of course! It wasn't long before I opened the cut off to 3,800 with 7d8d, Belgium player 3bets to 9,500, this was always coming and seen as he had the button also I said to myself there is no way he has a hand here, I went for the 4bet to 25,800, this 4bet seem to do little to make him fold as only few seconds later he made the call, quiet strange really calling the 4bet still I thought at best he has like a QJ sooted or along those lines, flop comes Kx 8x 7x gin for me with bottom 2 pair...woooow I know, seen as this Belgium player is full of moves I lead into the pot for 31,500, he thinks for few seconds and raises up to 90,500 pot committing himself or so I thought, I moved all in for something like 45,000 more, he begins to laugh saying 'well I have to call right' ha well daaw I was thinking, A few more mins thinking about it and he convinces himself to fold, wow I no like 2 billion in the pot and he folds for 45k but I'm happy because with bottom 2 pair there is always the risk of been counterfitted to something horrible like 9s or along those lines!

I was thinking about that hand for further few mins and I came to the conclusion he had total air like the QJ which I said earlier, if he has A high he has to call, any pair he has to call because odds are so high he is getting the right price to call. Having me covered in the hand too probably allowed him to fold the river as if he folds he has 60k and still has a chance to get back into the tourny but if he calls he only has 15k pretty much sealing his fate being eliminated from the tourny.. Still I was all smiles sitting on close to 350k and the average been 90k :)!!!

A few more hours of play I ended up on about 375k for the night. It was a good days work but could of been better few all ins did not hold up.. oh well I can't complain was well in the hunt for the victory.

Day 3 began with 2 tables left, my strategy right now which might come as a shock is to sit tight, not play my usual preflop aggressive way and make sure I have a real hand when entering a pot. My reasons for this are normally on last 2 tables there is strong aggressive players who do raise loads of pots when short handed as they are trying to steal as much as they can for the final table, this strategy I feel is outdated these days cause all the players are thinking alike but only when there are allot of strong players left, the way I think is if I sit tight now, make the final table and continue to play tight till its 6 or 7 handed I feel I have giving myself a huge edge here as everyone of the good players have no choice but to respect me when I'm entering pots, I get to exploit my tight table image to extreme lengths where by the time they figure out what I've done its hopefully too late or at least put myself in a strong position to win the tourny! This is just one of my 3 strategy's I use and only use when I have an above average stack going into day 3. Just post comments if you want to no my other 2 strategy's :)!

I didn't play a hand for the first level of day 3 but at start of the next level I was comfortable enough to make a steal after all I don't want to let my stack dwindle too much. I raised 9s7s and found a caller from the button, flop came 8s 8d 3s, I lead out for 35k and button instant shoves in for 100k, I make the call obviously and delighted to see my opponent only holds 55 (madness was he not watching me play??? lol) anyway so I have 2 overs and a flush draw pretty good spot especially as the turn card fell a 9x to put me in the lead, river was a blank and I took down a nice pot! It was probably previous history with this guy why he shoved on me with 55 but still his overall play is pretty poor.

Two hands later its folded to me on the button and I look down to see AK, I raised to 28k, blinds 6k-12k, folds to bb who makes it 80k to go, I know my opponent in bb he is pretty protective of it and is fond of 3betting all A rags here and pairs of course, I took my time on deciding what to do here nearly even talked myself into flat calling on the button just incase he would be crazy enough to call my all in shove with the likes of 7s or worse pairs, so obviously you see I don't give my opponent allot of credit here for having a really big hand especially as he just showed aces few hands ago, I think my hands were tied on this one it was an automatic shove all in taking everything into consideration plus after taking down the last pot I had him covered roughly 475k to his 425k, I shoved and got snap called, my opponent tables AxAx... wow I did not expect that, such a sick hand to walk into at this stage, flop came all blanks, K came on the turn to give me all but no hope, river is a blank and my opponent doubles true also meanwhile giving me the old needle in saying 'Jesus that K on the turn was pretty scary' and I replied 'ye turn gave me huge outs almost 2 outs even, scary stuff' lol what a comment to make, Dermot Blain who over the last year of poker I've become good friends with was sitting to my right, he says 'come on sir, what more do you want you just ran your aces into AK 5 handed for a million quid pot' It was good to hear someone agreed with me lol.

I've roughly 50k left and shove the next hand with Q6 sooted, obvious push with the huge blinds coming at me next hand. The same guy who just won the big pot against me snap calls, two blinds fold and what do you reckon he flips over??? Yup you got it right aces again!!! The board ran out blanks, I was out, oh well I guess just wasn't meant to be this time. I wished everyone good luck and left, later when I got home I was really sick to find out the very same guy managed to blow the million stack and finished 8th. I believe that hurt more to see my chips blown I wish he had of gone onto win the tournament, I would of felt allot better about things lol.

I have to say I love JPs tournys he does everything right for tournys, he sets the bar at the very top for the rest of tournaments in Ireland to follow, outstanding structure with top notch professional dealers what more can I say just perfect tournys to play, all designed for the players needs, congrats on that JP by bar the best in the country! It helps I run good in your tournys too:).

Congrats to Sean penderville aswell back to back is such a brilliant achievement in poker these days as the quality of players is so much higher!!!

I believe that's it for now, I will have new post very soon about Irish eyes online site and the great value there is in the low to medium stakes in NLH, also I will be writing about cash games I do play live in the Fitz and Carlow, some great swings I do have in the Fitz will be told too and last nights game which ended up playing 4 handed(myself, Marc MacDonnell, and Kamikaze Jeffery) 5-10 with 20 straddle, pretty sick hands where calling €400 bets on river with K high to claim a pot and 4k pots been rivered for a split while holding higher straight on the turn. These are just some of the sick hands I will be talking about, I wont spoil the hands, I will go into detail very soon in my next update of my blog.

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