My 5 picks v your 5 picks?

So as ever with Vegas within inches of been upon us all again I think its time for my 5 picks of Irish players for a bracelet. If anyone cares to wager v my 5 picks just post comment at the bottom lol don't be shy. Allowed 1 sub aswel seems only fair and you can pick yourself, beats choosing between likes of John o Shea maybe slightly rusty with loosing track of poker with big sportsbetting, or the other side of it an unknown also gifted good Irish poker player. I'll prob still pick John as my sub anyway tho lol.

Unfortunatly for me I have to write this blog whilst been in the great place of Naas hospital. Only couple of days left before I am suppose to leave things have gone belly up, another collapsed lung. That makes it lucky number 4. So after getting all clear only 2 weeks ago my body decides to do a U-turn and of all nights on myself and joys going away party,(I know any excuse for ppl to drink lol, even if it was my 2nd time in prob 6 months) next day or 2 is crucial to see where I stand. If I can't make Vegas this will be biggest soul wrenching thing ever to rob me in quiet sometime. Gotta look at the upside cause if i do get through this boy will I burn up Vegas! I will probably post in my thread on Irishpokerboards to confirm.

On a good note I was in the poker section of racing post, pretty happy to be selected along side those 4 wizzards for top 5 picks for a bracelet in Vegas. I think I was the only 1 not from/based in dublin, dunno if I am happy bout that either as being from Athy doesnt exactly jump off the map as a place to see or go.... Stil I'd rather be a culchie than a jackeen lol sorry guys.

Ok so here is my top 5:
1. Nick heather, 4th last year in a 1k obv knows how to beat those games, brilliant deepstack player. If he gets in same spot as last year definatly see a bracelet for Ireland.
2. Shiner, as most would know him. He has the live game edge too even tho assaming most results over 1mil all online. I just hope he is going.
3. Big Mick G, we all know mick and talk about been in form, totally crushing lately. I hope he is playing more this year than he did for last years wsop.
4. Mark mac Donnell, we all know about his crossbars, i just think he needs a bigger challenge right now and if those big pairs hold for him well then he has huge shot at a bracelet.
5. Sean prenderville, hopefully Sean has cleared time for Vegas, he got there late last year and still topped most with 2 deep runs within his short time there plus making day 3 of main aswell. Monster accumulating chips and monster with a stack, again if he goes deep you would have to fancy him v the field no matter who is left.
Sub. John O Shea, playing all the Plo events and other smaller size fields like so has great shot at a bracelet.

Ok that wraps up my picks for Wsop this year. Should be an epic trip regardless but if I do get the all clear I will be 100% focused on poker especially with Doc saying its a good idea never to drink again. Yikes now that is a statement! Could you imagine me shipping a bracelet and instead of drinking from bottle of don perion I'll be having to settle for carton of Ribena, maybe the tropical one you know spoil myself and all lol.

Now is the time to get a victory!

I think the best way to write blog's is shortish and sweet. After a few long long post's it does turn you off starting from scratch again, this is exactly why my last post was months ago. So I hope to get more post's in with maybe one or two interesting hands instead of chapters lol.

Over the last month or two I have been topping up my Hendon mob with a couple more cashes and final tables. Bit stressed still cannot win a big festival in Ireland but my deep runs have to eventually go right in the last phases sooner or later and by now I think later has become sooner :) so roll on Vegas and the new season of Ept's also. If anything I hope it all comes together in those events. I feel my tourny game has become so sharp I would happily play on any stage, bet sizing in near every situations down to a T, over betting rivers bluffs / v-bets, so I'm in a good place and hope to roll on from here.

Irish Open another decent run and same result just loose pots at worst possible times, brilliantly set up this year hats off to ppp, something I have not said in quiet a while.After been in for so much in online sats I suppose was good to get something back from the open, congrats to Seamus and winner Niall Smyth, Seamus was so so professional throughout the entire Irish Open on and off tv table he took the bad beats in his stride, great player unlucky not to win it all.

Last Ept I played, I owned few guys pretty hard on day1, one hand in particular in which I did get lucky also played out like this, guy who has knocked out 3 players very early opens (not great but ok type of player) ep, i 3bet jd7d, he calls, flop comes 8d5x3x, he checks I c-bet and now he goes into the tank for ages so at this point I hope he calls with his small pair/ace high because I know he is weak and can barrel him off a blank turn hence making more money. Sure enough he eventually calls, turn is 10d, now I have a straight flush draw, he checks and I bet again a nice chunk, weirdly enough he calls after like 5 seconds, instantly I though ok he either hit the 10 or had jj/qq and now is uncomfortable and doesn't know where he is so he makes fast call to try slow me down (rookie mistake but tbh I don't think I would fire the river again as this player wud snap any bet fo sho), river pops off the beautiful Ad to give me back door flush, he checks again I bet pretty big and after 30 seconds he shoves me all in, no brainer gl if he back door a higher one so I snap n he shows A10 off for top 2 pair, he obv says I could not put you on the flush cause you raise preflop...ummm ok, ul and thanks, lol. Shame it all ended in the last level of the night for me, I had 3bet the same young guy 3 times in 2 rounds of new table I had been moved to so when I picked up AQ in sb to his cut off open there was no way I was folding to his antics he was wel capable so after he 4bet it looked a great spot to 5bet shove and I did so, I was very unlucky to walk into ak here as we both new he was tired and was gonna play back at me with any hand there so I guess wasn't too bad just unlucky he picked up ak instead of the old 96 off. San Remo gorgeous place one of nicest I've ever been to in Europe defo will be back.

Jp masters, played some great poker in this event some sick plays were perfectly timed and shifted table dynamics towards myself which is what its all about. One hand I 4bet cold from bb and had original raiser flatted, scary, i had 67 off flop came 7x2x3x and it went check check, turn was 9x check check again, now I know this player has ace high, I has history on this person and believe her calling range is wider than the old AA lol, so river fell king, scary enough I know but I just had feeling she could have AQ also, crazy as it was I went for the v-bet with 3rd pair and she went into the tank for ages and ages, I was quiet happy to see this was defo AQ now and she was quiet able to call from previous hands. Eventually she folded and I showed the 6 to let everyone keep guessing. Played alot of hands like this but unfortunately same old lost big pot on last 2 tables to come to final table with once again a short stack, busted 6th good showing but severely tilting at heart. So that's 9th, 11th and now 6th 3 years in a row for the masters, good record in rest of jp's events too just quiet simply he runs best show in town, brilliantly structures his tournies and I really hope to win one of his events it's certainly been a goal of mine for a long time now!

Ukipt Cork, finally popped cherry and won an online sat to qualify for this very very satisfying ha. I done really well first night chopping the 6-max event with good mate Fergal Nealon, he showed great character coming back from early hands against me and others sucking him out, great character sir wp again. I did get the old 5 bet shove in on start of final table with the stubborn 75 off suit lol was just one of those hands, Fergal 4bet after considerable time and also I had 3bet just the hand previous so I felt he could be a little light here so I pulled a trigger and got it through, had to show it but Fergal classy guy just loved it n gave me kudos. Was fun game especially with all the knock outs :).

Day1a started so slowly for me and with a head cold I just wasn't able to play my A game not even close so I opted for abc strategy. After about 8 level and thanks to nurofen I was getting over the head cold and was feeling better, this also began the rise of my stack that went as low as 7k at one stage, so pretty happy ending the day with 144,200 chips, I know pretty incredible. Played spewy hand I guess v table mad man, very sound chap tho he congratulate with thumbs up to anyone who beat him in a pot which wasn't very often as he had over 120k by level 7. I just won decent size pot, an pick up 33 n open 1600, sb calls and bb thinks goes to call and instead makes it 10k to go, norm i instant much here and wait for better spot but he has been opening 5x pre, showing random bluffs and flatting pre then leading out in to multi way pots betting twice the pot. Here I decided to make a stand, I envisioned 4betting and seeing a snap fold lol not to be after I went for the 4bet to 22.5k, he looks weary but puts chips together and calls. Not good as I'm taking a flop with 1/3 of my stack in the middle with just 33 but I had position going for me but still lol don't try this at home ha. Flop comes kx4x5x he checks, I feel even tho flop whiffs all his range here I still will not shove the loot in as he wasn't type to fold ace high here let alone medium pocket pair so I check back, turn is blank 8x and he checks again, after some starring back and forth I check back once again as have showdown v ace high but that's all going for me, river comes the miracle 3, he checks again and after quick count of my stacks I didn't move all in I decided to bet most of my stack around 29.5k I think I had 37kish because these type players sometimes don't pay off the all ins, anyway he finally calls after thinking for few mins and i flip up the 33 n he nods in approval then sees I have a set n immediately acts like I have given him the worlds worst beat, I'm not so sure but he acted like he had ace high there to me with his reaction. Happy out anyway with huge pot and eventually stacked the same guy when I picked up kings but had to sweat his 60k all in flop bet with nut flush draw after my 3,900 c-bet, held nicely and that's where most of my chips came from.

Triathlon side event, pretty good showing, made it to the hu stage but busted to young chap Gav, can't remember his 2nd name but he is good player imo, we did play weird hand straight away hu, I open 150 with 8d9d he 3bets 450, I flat, flop comes Ah6h7s goes check check, turn is 10h made my straight but puts flush there, he now strangely leads for 1k, I do not want to raise as I fold out his bluffs and aslo prefer to call incase he checked back flop with low flush draw not to get blown off his hand, river comes js a pretty much blank although gave kq a straight now, he now checks so I go for big value bet round 1800 leaving 1500 behind...he thinks for 30 seconds and then puts me all in, soooo weird and were playing effectively same stacks so its his tourny too, we started with just 5k, I'm in the tank going true all possible hands hes going to put me in with and its just 2 either kq or turned flush, I just cant see how he would ever bluff this spot the way the hand went nor did I think he would turn a made hand like top pair into a bluff. I just could not get it out of my head no way a competent player ever bluffs here as looks I'm pot committed. I folded and lost flip then for double and Gav won, after was over he told me he had turned AQ with qh into a bluff on the river to make me fold out all 2 pair hands beating him, was pretty weird to me as my river bet is never that much with 2 pair only a bluff, flush or straight. I guess that hand is one to notch down as two totally different aggressive players thoughts. Hats off to Gav he went on to win the thing so kudos to him, I'll get him back soon also even if it is 2-1 to me ha. I think I finished 6th overall but not certain.

Day2, played my first table pretty well just picking ppl off, after the drama of the bubble bursting I got moved to a better table although it did have shiner on it he passed 1 mil winnings online last week I think so congrats to him sick feat! Won huge pot wi kk straight away after arriving and rest of players seemed scarred money so I picked up countless blinds and antes to boast a monster stacks never had so many chips was serious stuff. In the end was the same old severe card dead and loosing the big pots I got involved through suck outs and all the rest. Hope all these deep runs come to something cause now is the time to be making big moves and wins in the poker world after Pokerstars and other big brands move more into Europe as of Black Friday so roll on all the live tournys I've never been as hungry! Pretty happy with cashing in all 3 tournys tho too. Ok that will do for now, will update when out in Vegas, uncertain if I'm playing Cpt grand final will have to see with dates. Oh and lol at finding 50 euro in the lobby on way out the door with Danny so funny and pair of beats headphones for just 130 quid, a quick hats off to Danny for the blogging the man is a gent and great to see someone who loves the game be driven to be apart of it and to help us all, wd mate.