Time of the month

Played a slew of monthlies in the last 4 days.

Thursday: Fitz EOM. Absolute nothing unusual to see folks here, move on please: kings cracked by JTo on steroids early did for about 20% of my stack. Blinds did for some more before it became a shipping stack and AK was duly shipped into the BB's AA. Did I suck out? Do I ever?

Friday: Atlantis EOM. New premises, really nice atmosphere. Carlow is rapidly becoming one of my favourite places to play because
(a) Paul Lucey is a legend
(b) the locals are all dead on, really welcoming and sound
(c) I keep getting results there.
For the second consecutive month, I was officially second, although this one was actually a chop. High quality field that included Frances McCormack, Chris Dowling, Roy Brindley, Mike Foley, Fionn Sherry and a couple of extremely capable young Internet lads. Totally card dead early on but the structure is so sick it didn't really matter. Ended up headsup with one of the local whizkids, he knew what he was doing so I felt we were just gonna be flipping for 800, and disliking pure gambles where I have no edge happily agreed to the chop. Played as well as I have in a long time, not so much that I played any one hand particularly brilliant (mostly they were pretty standard) but the patience and ability to pick good spots that used to be my main strength was back, and my reads were sharper than they've been in a while. Usually I knew exactly what everyone had before the cards were flipped over.

Saturday: Newbridge, the new club run by Dennis Reyes. Lovely spot and the monthly is a good addition to the Irish tournament schedule. Structure is a lot faster than Carlow though, so patience is less of a virtue. My exit was (in my opinion at least, though not everyone would agree) a total standard 25 big blind reship with AKs over a raise, a call, and a reraise by three very loose opponents. One of them had aces, and did I suck out? See above.

Sunday: the new Westbury Sunday 100. Great structure again, hit the FT with twice average chips, which I managed to shrink to half average in just two hands. First I opened AQs from the cutoff and called a shortie ship getting 3 to 1. He had KJ and hit the turn. Next hand, I opened again, same dude called, I flopped a pair, he called my lead, I turned 2 pair which brought a possible diamond flush to the board. He shipped over my lead and getting almost 5 to 1 I had to call if there was any prospect my hand was good, which there clearly was as I was ahead of all one pair hands and one diamond hands. The presence of the ace of diamonds meant any made flush out there was of the non-nut variety, and I figured any half decent player wasn't flatting for 20% of their stack pre with suited connectors and flatting the flop for another 25% when they hit the flush draw. As it happened, he had the made nut flush (K9s). Did I suck out? See above.

Plan for this week is to grind away online and probably not play again live until my PokerStars RTE heat on Friday. Then it's down to Killarney, probably on Saturday, to take up Neill Kelly's kind offer to buy me in to the side event (after last year's missing chip kerfuffle).

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Paddy the Pantheist

Not even vaguely poker related, but my oldest son Paddy was on TV again last night, on The Byrne Ultimatum. Basically he was plucked from the audience to "co-present", which boiled down to being the straight man that Jason Byrne took the piss out of.

Jason commented at one point on Paddy's inner calm and that is indeed one of Paddy's many fine qualities. He's just about the calmest person you could ever meet, taking everything in his stride. Considering he's not a trained TV presenter and had to react on the spot to everything that was thrown at him, I thought he did really well and was very proud of him.

Anyway, RTE put the programme up at http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1055897

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Bling blang blaouw

Bit of a slow news week. Had my first good online week in a while, plus just over 2K or so including rakeback and bonuses. I'd take that every week obviously so happy enough. I'm currently spreading myself fairly equally across Green Joker, Stars and Tilt.

I'm toying with the idea of going to Marrakech, will decide in the next week or so. Very generous offer from a friend to kip in his hotel room. It would mean missing the IPO and the Westbury (my favourite monthly tournament) so will have to see.

Also getting excited about the RTE Late Night of Poker thing. Watched the first episode last night and thought it was so so. The plusses were the commentators: Padraig was very good and very funny as ever, managing to get the balance right between the viewing public who would know a bit about poker, those who wouldn't but would like to learn a little, and those who don't. Emmet was very good as the straight man. He avoided the pitfall that a lot of commentators paired with Padraig fall into: try to out-pisstake the pisstakemeister, resulting into the whole thing descending into 2 schoolboys giggling at each other's jokes while some poker happens in the background. The set also looked reasonable, although I could do without the "loser's bar". The minuses were mainly that it was hard to follow the game: chip stacks seem to swing wildly up and down from one moment to the next. I get that it's aimed at the casual punter but I'm not sure it hit that market even. I watched it with a few of that demographic and none of them seemed very impressed, or inspired to take up the game. Marty was suave as ever (the three females I watched it with all reckoned he was by far the sexiest thing about the show), and Andy was borderline insane as ever. The two Internet qualifiers gave very good accounts of themselves, as indeed did the celebs.

It's been suggested on Boards that I should try to get that online celebratory phrase "bling blang blaouw" onto the small screen. I like the idea and some people have pledged money to charity if I do, so I'll be trying my best to do so. The nominated charity is Irish Autism Action.

Big Mick has been giving me terrible abuse on MSN in recent nights about what he's going to do to me at the table, and how. He's obviously and understandably very confident but all I can do is give it my best shot. Who knows, he might freeze up under the glare of the cameras.

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Multitabling in the multimedia

I constantly go backwards and forwards on the question of whether I see myself as a predominantly live player who also plays online, or an online player who also plays live. I played online before I ventured out live, and my good pal John O'Shea once told me he saw me as an Internet kid disguised as an old guy live player. John was extremely drunk at the time, but unlike most people severe inebriation doesn't seem to inhibit his insight or capacity for
straight talking.

I've undoubtedly had a bigger impact as a live player, even if I've actually made more money online. But I haven't had the kind of major eye-catching score that John or Eoghan O'Dea or Jude Ainsworth have had online: most of my profit has been ground out in low key sit n gos and unglamourous cashes in minor online MTTs. Maybe it comes down to whether I'm running better live or online at any given moment. When live is going bad, it's always reassuring to be grinding away successfully online, and conversely when going bad online a live score is a major consolation. However, when Liam Flood asked me in Nottingham recently how I was going and I said well live bad online but I'd prefer the other way around, so maybe it's really online deep down. Then again, it probably doesn't have to be one or the other: I find that if I don't play 2 days (or rather nights) live in a week I feel a little antsy and want to get out of the house, but if I play more than that I start wondering why I ever leave the house.

Last night saw the dichotomy between the two reach a surreal conclusion in the Eglinton as I played both live and online at the same time bringing a new dimension to multitabling. Never need much of an excuse to visit Galway in general and the Eglinton in particular and with nothing major on in Dublin this week I decided instead of spending the night grinding online, I'd grind on the train to Galway, play the tourney for however long I lasted, then grind on the 5 am train that would get me home around the time I'd normally be going to bed.

As it happened, it was a pretty good night's work: I chopped the IPR ranking tournament in the Eglinton while simultaneously winning the online tournament on Bruce. Some funny looks early on as I played live with my laptop literally on my lap. Played even tighter than normal in the online game so I wouldn't have to give it too much attention. At the start of the headsup, I had a slight chiplead which rapidly became a 3:1 deficit before I decided it was time to stop playing automatically and give it more attention, so I withdrew from the live game until I'd won the headsup online. Came back to a short stack but a few double ups later was in a commanding situation and hit the final table second in chips behind Derek Murray. Highlight hand was sucking out on Siobhan Blaney much to her disgust (she hung around for the rest of the tournament glaring at me and telling anyone in earshot what a fecking eejit I was). It started with her raising utg to 2K at 400/800 with a 100 ante. I had Q9s in the BB and decided that if someone else called it would give me the implied odds, or at least an excuse, to do likewise. Flop came a rather lovely 998 and I check raised all in after she overbet the flop with her obvious overpair (QQ as it happened). Obviously I was running very well for once: throughout the night any time it got to the stage where it looked like I might have to force a move I picked up or flopped a monster in the nick of time.

Derek played brilliantly as ever and had a real rollercoaster. As ever the blinds got so big the hands played themselves and when he shoved from the button for 5 bigs and I looked down at KJ it was an autocall. He had Q9s and I held. Lost a massive first pot of the headsup after which I agreed to a deal which gave me second officially (but more money than second obviously). Kevin McCarthy, fresh from his final table in a Barcelona side event, was a most deserving winner.

Obviously happy to notch up another result and feel I'm really in the groove live at the moment. Great night as ever in the Eglinton where Manus, Dave and Fintan always make me feel most welcome. A great room, a great crowd and wifi: what more could you want in a casino?

On the train home I listened to Mick McCool on Boyle's Poker show. I must admit I find the poker show hard going at times, like finding yourself trapped in a bedsit with two guys you don't really know who are very close friends sharing all sorts of in joke hilarity that you don't really get, but Mick is always quality entertainment and insight and once again did not disappoint. Mick has that rare quality of being able to talk sensibly and with principle but be entertaining and not totally up himself at the same time.

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Supporting act to the Gentleman and the Bling

My Stars/RTE heat has been confirmed as the first one being recorded on October 2nd. Apparently BigMickG and Liam Flood are also in the heat. Bit of a bad beat to be in with the best STT player in the land and the Legend that is Liam, but will be fun if nothing else. Nothing to lose etc. The other bad beat is we start recording at 9 in the morning, an hour that usually passes uneventfully in my life filed under "Comatose".

After my exit from WCOOP, I railed Nicky for a while as he delivered another brilliant performance without cards. One of these days, he's going to actually get cards and win one of these big yokes. Great show by Mark Reilly too obviously: brilliant score for one of the funniest and nicest guys around. Barney Boatman will be gutted.

Otherwise, it's been back to the grind. I've made a tactical retreat from the 45 mans on Tilt. I think my recent downswing there is mostly down to running horribly, but it's also undeniable that the standard has improved dramatically. I avail of Tilt's colour coded Notes schemes to code the good winning players as Red, the bad losing ones as Yellow, and everyone else a shade of blue or green. When I started playing the 45 mans, it tended to be one or two reds at a table and the rest all yellow: now it's at least half reds. Once that happens, it means the pros are just flipping for the dead money and hoping to stay ahead of the reg. You do have to prepared to move around in search of the value, so this week I've been concentrating on 6 and 9 mans on Ipoker, 9 and 45 mans on Poker Stars, and 9 mans on Tilt. Having busted all three accounts almost simultaneously last week, I've ground my way back into my comfort zone.

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Night of nearlies

Played three big MTTs.

WCOOP 27: Bought in late, lost half my stack almost straight away, got back up to double starting stack, crippled by AA v KK all in pre (K on turn), finished off by QT v Q6 all in pre. Grrrr.

Ipoker 1 million: Good steady start to 1.5 times starting stack, crippled by KK v AK (a on turn). Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

WCOOP 28: Got off to absolute flyer, up from 15K starting stack to 90K. Was chipleader for over half an hour until I lost 3 big hands in an orbit. First one, 99 v 77 (7 on turn, tonight's bogey street). Second one, against same guy, AK v AA on a K high flop. Third one, top 2 v bottom 2, he housed up on the river. That threw me back down to 25K around 3 AM. Real struggle after that treading water with a very awkward stack, card death and getting raises snapped off didn't help, but managed to nurse it home and into the money before exitting in 351st for $1700. Mixed feelings obviously: disappointed after being chipleader with 2000 left, but would have settled for it when short on the bubble. 6 Irish in top 100 as I write this, Nicky Power, Reilly, Derek Murray, and dudes from Celbridge, Omagh and Wicklow unknown to me. Gl to all coming back tomorrow, or rather today.

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Finally an IPR win, with thanks to the Deise Lama

Played Phil Baker's charity game in the Jackpot last night. I can't play the main event tomorrow because I've qualified for a couple of online biggies (the Ipoker $1 million gtd and the $1K WCOOP) so this would have to be it. Disappointing turnout, only 30 runners I think, but some very high quality players in attendance including to my immediate left Frances (Wally) McCormack (doing his damnedest to knock me out for the umpteenth time this year), Mick Stevens, Gary Clarke, Willow and Eamon, Moneymaker (from Boards, not Chris), Ciaran Corbett, Phil (fish!) and Lorraine (much better than Phil) Baker and a few other of the better players on the Dublin scene. Got off to a flyer with a doubleup thanks to an early set over set cooler, then doubled down by degrees against Wally who was stomping all over me until I got them all back in one big hand where I used his own hyper aggression against him. Interesting chat with Wally about a possible project involving both running and poker which I'd be well up for. More on that when it's more definite, but anything to add a bit of focus to my running is good. It's been a bit messy and unfocused since my international retirement. I was toying with the idea of returning to the New York ultra this year but the reality is I'm not where I'd need to be to have any hope of hitting the starting line in peak shape, and I've never really been one to do things half assed.

Anyway, once Wally had been sent packing it was much smoother sailing and I was never really in difficulty, maintaining a comfortable chip lead for most of the final table. I managed to get all the big marginal decisions right as far as I know (certainly the calls) and generally was much more focused and picking up on things and in the zone than of late, something I attribute in large part to a chat with Personal Hero and Occasional Guru Nicky Power. In fairness, the man's the spitting image if not the reincarnation of the Buddha himself.

A deal was done 6 handed to flatten the payout structure, and we agreed an equity chop 3 handed with me getting the win officially and the biggest slice of loot thanks to having over half the chips in play. Happy enough to deal as chiplead or no chiplead, it comes down to running mainly at that point, I got a little bit more than ICM would dictate, and got the monkey of being the only player near the top of the rankings without a "win" this year off my back.

Online, it's been an up and down week, or rather down and up, starting in similar vein to recent weeks with a continuing downswing. I took a little too much money off various accounts for the life/family rake meaning I managed to pretty much bust my Green Joker, Stars and Full Tilt accounts more or less simultaneously, which takes a bit of doing. Obviously I could just lob some more money on and continue as normal, but hey, that'd be too sensibly boring. It's a matter of pride that I've never actually lodged a cent online, everything I've won, spun up and taken off to feed the family or blow on bank shares has come from the acorn of my first freeroll cash over 2 years ago. So I decided instead to try to spin some more up using FPPs and I'm glad to report that I did a Murphy multiplier up to about $1500 in a couple of days.

Tomorrow I have the aforementioned big online tourneys and will probably take it easy otherwise so as to be fresh for them. Nothing more live planned, though I'm tempted by the Wednesday game in Galway. Mmmmm, added money. You know what they say: if you add it, they will come.

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Notts to be

Bah, English poker rigged imo.

Met Liam Flood in the airport on Friday evening and shared a cab into town. The Gentleman is someone I've always enjoyed the banter with since I first appeared on the Irish poker scene and we had a good natter/gossip.

Mick was waiting for me at the hotel and we headed out for something to eat and some lowkey cash. I nursed my stack through a few hours of card death to end down a whopping 20 quid. In my view, it's more important to lose the minimum when running bad than to win the maximum when running good.

Tourney next day ultimately came to nothing. I had immediate position on my occasional nemesis Ben Vinson. We've had a few interesting tussles in the past made all the more interesting by the fact that I'm a bit hazy on what my image is with him or whether he even knows who I am or remembers me from previous encounters. He's almost as silent as I am at the table and doesn't give much away at all so I've never been fully certain whether he buys into the "rocky randomer in a suit and tie" most of the young English whizkids do. I tried three betting him light early on and it didn't really work out for me: he min four betted and forced me to give up with a large bet on the ace high flop that missed me by a country mile. Was I just unlucky to run into a hand? I guess I'll never know. He also had the better of a few minor skirmishes before the highlight of my weekend, a pot that left him crippled.

A loose player made it 400 utg, Vinson called, as did I (JTs in the CO), the button and both blinds. Flop came TcTh4h, it's checked to me, I fired out a half pot bet (1200), folded back to Vinson who raises to 3K. What makes guys like Vinson difficult to play is he could be doing this with total air, a draw or a made hand. I can't fold obviously (my bet sizing was chosen partially to induce a move from him) and after some thought elected to call and await turn developments. The turn was an apparent blank (8c) and now Vinson unexpectedly made a large pot-sized bet that represented over three quarters of his remaining stack. I hate it now and my first instinct is that I have to fold as I'm really only beating a bluff now and he has apparently committed himself. However, the hand didn't add up in my mind: I felt he'd have raised a small or medium pocket pair pre, and the only 2 other occasions I'd seen him flop trips, he'd played it check call on the flop, check raise on the turn, so I didn't think he had the case T either. An over pair was a possibility as he plays his big pairs trappily, and total air was another definite possibility. While I was in the tank I studied him and he seemed very uncomfortable. Vinson's style is quite similar to Paul Coyle's, and I've seen Coyle put in 80%+ of his stack only to fold to a ship and this influenced my decision too. All this plus our history of him betting me off pots eventually convinced me my hand was more than likely to be good and at best he was on a draw so I shipped. He folded instantly.

Unfortunately I then went card dead before I picked up KK in the big blind. The tightest player at the table raised to 3.5x, which screams of TT-QQ or AK from that type of player. I had KK in the BB so I reraised, he shipped after some thought not looking too happy about developments, I call, he has QQ. The board ran out all diamonds and he had one and I didn't so that was that.

Mick had no luck either so we played some more cash sessions and I potted a bit online. Live cash tilts me like nobody's business, I always feel like I've died and gone to poker Hell, but it's good for the character and discipline to grind through it and I put in two small winning sessions. Last one should have been a big winning session but I got done twice by the table fish.

First hand, he limped, I flatted A2s behind (was desperately trying to play as many pots as possible with him). Flop came AK8 and he unexpectedly shipped for 20 times pot or something ridic. An obvious fold most of the time, but I was convinced he didn't have an ace, a king or a pocket pair as they were all 10x opening hands in his little book of retarded poker strategy, so I made the call convinced my ace was well good here. The board ran out a safe looking 66. Well, it looked safe anyway until he turned over a rather disgusting but hilarious 63o.

Shortly afterwards, the guy 10xed a couple of limpers on the button and I shipped AK from the SB. Not the kind of play I'd normally recommend but his range included almost any ace or king (he'd already done it with K4o) and he had no fold button so I was hoping for a dominated call and fearing a race at worst. As it happened, it was a race (55) and he held.

Thankfully I extracted most of it back by degrees and ended very marginally in profit. Funniest hand was when I isolated him with K7s on the button, the flop came K82 and he called my cbet, the turn was a J and he now bet 5 times pot leaving almost nothing behind, I shipped convinced my K was still good, and he elected to fold rather than put his last few quid in. I guess even he could see that you can't hit runner runner with only one card to come.

Good craic with Mick over the weekend. You have to respect a guy who has made a solid living from the game for almost 3 decades and I've learned a fair bit from Mick. You get a very different perspective from one of Ireland's equivalents of the old style road gamblers but it should be noted that these guys invented most of the moves now associated with the Internet generation, they just never got around to giving them fancy titles like four betting and repopping, or discussing them ad infinitum on blogs or forums. He taught me the secrets of a stud variant of his own invention that he plays in Dealers Choice game that I must try to do my best to popularise (Mick McCloskey's 8 or a Straight) while I taught him a couple of variants of Chinese poker that kept us amused for a few hours while we waited for a cash game to kick off. I'm also happy to report that he is getting the chainsaw/Exorcist snoring problem under control thanks to some nose clips.

I have to admit though that every time I come to England I become a little less enamoured with it as a live poker destination. I dislike the rather abrasive table manners of many English players. If you're going to be a knob at the table, at least be amusing as there are few things worse than enforced company with unfunny obnoxiousness. Anyone who listened to me on the pilot of the new Irish poker radio panel discussion programme on Sunday will know my views of reg fees and rake but those who feel ripped off in Ireland should look at some of the foreign alternatives. DTD has effectively 12% reg on their tournaments, and for that, you get no food and no drink. You pay for everything, a glass of Coke will set you back 2 quid, and a small plate of chili 7. Since it's stuck in the middle of nowhere (an industrial estate), your only alternatives are hunger and thirst. By the time you've factored in the costs of feeding and watering yourself, you're looking at an effective reg of well over 20%. The cash game rake goes beyond exorbitant, and all in all, it's a very expensive place to play poker that leaves you feeling more than a little ripped off by the time you leave.

Plan for this week is to take a break from this live poker mullarkey and get back to some serious grindage online.

Sounds like the first few heats of the Poker Stars RTE thing were good craic and very eventful. Obviously disappointed that my Personal Hero Nicky "No Pair No Draw No Cards Even" Power came a cropper at the hands of a slowrolling bollix. It sounds like RTE lubricated everyone to the point where high jinks were an AA v AK certainty, so I may decide to bring along someone to keep me focused on the job in hand when my heat rolls around. Apparently we're allowed to bring along entourage (I hear Johnny L won the biggest entourage award) so anyone who wants to come along give me a shout.

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Bottoms and heads up and scary stalkers

Not a lot to report. Still running like a pig online, looks pretty clear a second successive losing week will be banked. Playing WCOOP event 1 yesterday and despite John O'Shea sweating me like his very life depended on it and despite getting off to a great start that saw me motor or rather hoover up to 13K, it all went bottoms up very quickly. I lingered with the short stack for an age to the point where an improbable min cash looked on, but was not to be.

Also played the Bruce IPR tournament and got dogged something horrid by Rob Taylor. My flush versus his trips, all in on the turn, and he housed the river. Sorely tempted to post the hand in the Theory section of Boards :)

Only live outing this week was the Westbury monthly game. I exitted on the second last table. Essentially a period of prolonged card death scuppered me at a very active table and when it was final folded to me with a pushable hand (JTs), I ran into KK behind.

I'm heading to airport in a few minutes to play the DTD Monthly. Staying with Mick McCloskey.

Finally, my Headsup interview with Boyle's is now up at www.boylepoker.com.

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Now and zen

In my late teens and early 20s, I was fascinated by Zen Buddhism, and even now if I had to be pinned down on religion and didn't want to give the standard "atheist" answer, I'd go with Zen. One of the things that most fascinated me was the so-called Zen mind. I don't think I ever achieved anything close to that state through meditation, but I do think I have achieved it at crucial moments in my sporting life. In the middle of the first major race I ever won, the Tresco marathon, I remember a moment where the world seemed to disappear and the only thing that existed was the certainty that I would win this race. The normal pains and discomforts associated with operating at the peak of my athletic abilities seemed to just melt away. I remember feeling an intense concentration and hyper awareness of everything that mattered and an imperviousness to everything that didn't at other moments: when I broke clear in the 2006 New York ultra marathon and ran for over 2 hours alone, when I ran further than seemed physiologically possible in heat and humidity in Canada to become national 24 hour running champion, during the last two tables of the 2008 European Deepstack championship.

When I won the European Deepstack championship in 2008, I was virtually a novice. My game was still a work in progress, and far from the finished article technically, but I made crucial plays and decisions at the time for reasons I didn't understand that now, looking back, I realise were correct (and I now understand the reasons why). Was it luck that my intuition coincided with technical accuracy, or did it spring from the intense concentration I seemed to achieve so effortlessly at that point in my poker career? Zen masters talk a lot about "beginner's mind", how the truth can be clearer to a total beginner than to a knowledge-laden expert. Sometimes these days when I'm playing live, I find myself bored and distracted. I now know more about the game in general, but less about the specific game I'm in than when I was an absolute beginner and everything was vital information. Another professional who is renowned for being distracted at the table told me once about a tournament he won where he uncharacteristically clicked into a mental zone on the final table where he seemed to see everything: other players cards, their tells, their moods, their uncertainties, and it seemed inevitable that he would win.

Recently I've been trying to think how to go about recreating that state of mind on a regular basis.

The last week has been a mixed bag. The summary is live good, online bad. I cashed in the Carlow Deepstack (€1400 for second) on Friday night, losing headsup to Frances McCormack. I think I played better in that tournament as I have in ages. I overturned a 5:1 deficit headsup to take the chiplead, but it swung away from me in two big hands where I went with what I felt was "technically correct" rather than my instinct. Also played the Midlands Open, and played as badly as I have in a long time.

Online, I had my worst week in a long time, dropping 2K. This week has started better, so fingers crossed.

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