JP's Mini WSOP

This was always going to be a great festival for many reasons but in particular it was inevitable to run like clockwork, have plenty of sat winners & a decent prize pool. The venue turned out to be pretty good, handy parking, fair sized room & the food was also better than average. My first table was a bit of a mixture, some good players mixed with complete dunkeys. Needless to say everytime I got a run going I would suffer an equally sized set-back. I survived the first day albeit short, but a new day, new table & hopefully a new run of cards.

Paddypowerpoker.com Irish Winter Festival 2009

I'd never actually played the IWF before, last year I was working the Saturday morning so never even bothered trying to qualify. With recent success and a 10% swap with Jaye in the IPO, it seemed like fate I should play it, with the 10% swap working out within €50 of the main event buy-in. Definitely a sign!

Boylepoker.com IPO 2009

I had never actually got to play the IPO before. Last year we were in England as Rob was playing a GUKPT event & we called in to play some cash. My brief taste of the atmosphere last year was enough to make me want to play it this year, so I arranged the time off work & made sure I registered in advance as recommended by the tourney organisers. Well was I glad I made the effort in advance, as predicted it sold out & my preferred day was snapped up pretty quickly!

IPT Nova Gorica

Rob & I both satted into this €2k main event in Nova Gorica which is in Slovenia but barely across the Italian border. What does a poker tournament on the Italian border mean? Oh yes, loads of Italians! 

Our hotel was a fair trip away from the casino but with a hire car this didn't present a major problem. The hotel itself was quite quaint, old fashioned but clean & comfortable. The drive down from the hotel to the casino was glorious, with the sun splitting the trees, this winding road which ran along side the 'Emerald Trail' offered spectacular views & proved to be an enjoyable & relaxing start to each day.

 I had a tough table including a few pros & truth be told I never actually got going. It was a 20k starting stack so I had plenty of time to wait for a hand, however the problem was I got hands, they just didn't hold up. I lost reasonably large pots with pretty much all of them. My hate affair with JJ continues as I lost 2 large pots with them & I ran A9 soooted into 88 on a A98 flop. Even after a few potential disasters I still had about 70% of starting stack. That was until I got KK which I had to fold on the river when the board double-paired. So I round things off by shipping AK from the blinds over the top of a standard raise & yet again lose. It was at least a quick death in that I was up against JJ & he flopped a set. JJ always ends in disaster whether I have them or am up against them!
/rant

Venezia

En route to Nova Gorica for the IPT event, we had time for a couple of days in Venice! Always wanted to see Venice, the sort of place I'd heard loads about but never actually got the chance to go to myself.

Irish Poker Festival Killarney 2009

Enjoyed my time in Killarney last year so was looking forward to another weekend away & hopefully some profit to go along with the nice scenery. The venue same as last year was something else, fantastic room for a poker tourney with the added benefit for a large balcony for food and drinks as well as spectating.
Got off to a decent start in the main event, which pleased me as I didn't have the easiest of tables which was made worse when Oz got moved to it also. I didn't get many cards & found myself lying low, allowing the active players to go at it & kill each other. Only played one large pot where I got into a tricky spot with AK vs Oz's JT, needless to say he got runner runner straight & with hindsight I probably should have folded the river. Guess I slow played my hand more than I should have & allowed him to catch up, my bad.

CSI: The Experience

Headed down to this with a friend after seeing the ad on tv. We expected a lot from this, raving reviews on tv and online, no idea how much it cost but happy to pay whatever based on the assumption we would not be disappointed.

SE September Weekender

After attending a way busier than expected wedding fair in Belfast we headed home to play the SE's 'September Weekender'. This looked like a super tourney and promised a good few numbers with the numbers going slowly back to the old haunt. Such a disappointment . . . 19 turned up meaning there was actually a €250 overlay.

This tourney went on for several hours with the structure being so good, the food was lovely the dealing standard was second to none, nothing less than I would expect. I went out in 10th, only made one bad decision the whole tourney and that was calling Declan's shove with JsJx on an all spade Q high flop when getting just over 3:1. He of course had AsAx and I missed my 2 outer.

Fitz EOM

Got the opportunity to play this with being off work and due to the numbers it never disappoints. Feel like I played ok, won a few small pots and got a decent stack together after the break. Had a tough table, the average standard at my table was certainly tougher than average but I was coping. When the antes were introduced I was conscious of not blinding away and tried to steal a few pots. This worked initially then I ran into a couple of big hands and had to pick my spots better. Unfortunately with the typical Fitz player liking to call you need to keep your shoves a lil bigger than usual to get them through and with an active table I failed. I finished in midfield in around 50, with 120 runners. Hopefully I'll get to play it again soon, consistently great prizepool, it's a great tourney to get a run in.

Teamcop 2009

This whole weekend turned into a bit of a disaster, mainly in terms of numbers. At the beginning it was billed as one of the largest poker festivals of the year . . . in the end it was a mediocre one at best. Now don't get me wrong, the dealing standard and professionalism was as expected, second to none . . . well it was TD'd by JP after all. The atmosphere, the buzz, the craic, well let's just say there was something lacking.

I guess it always had a huge act to follow following the Eglinton's version of the same event. The atmosphere being electric back in March, the room, high ceilings, only half filled didn't quite cut it. That said, the objective of poker is always to make a profit, regardless of how enjoyable or not enjoyable that money-making process may be.