Team Irish Eyes Poker at EMOP Lisbon.

TR from EMOP Lisbon.

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Well, after the last EMOP in Gran Canaria, I said I'd do another TR from the next one in Lisbon, so here we are. I'll try to keep it a bit short though as its 4.45am out here, and I could do with some sleep!!
Flew out yesterday with some of the family, my wife Patricia, and daughter Ciara and her boyfriend Jamie, as well as Lplate and his wife Sheila. They're all playing in the tourney(all qualified online at irish eyes poker.com) except for Sheila who doesnt play, so theres a bit of pride in the last longest. Theres a good gang from Ireland here this time, with 12 qualifiers in total from Irish Eyes Poker.
We're staying in the beautiful Palacio hotel in Estoril (just outside Lisbon). Its a 5 star, but it was part of the package, so 4 nights of granduer guaranteed. The casino itself is the biggest I've ever seen outside of Vegas. Its a really classy joint, with 4 large restaurants, live music and as much gaming as a man could want. (1,000 slots!!).

There are 2 starting days, 1a (Thursday)and 1b (Friday)with a cap of 250 each day. I decided to go with 1a, for no particular reason except that they are having a €300 2 day event as a side event and that is starting Friday night, and I reasoned that if I didnt make it through day 1a, I would be free to play the side event. That doesn't mean I don't expect to make it through day 1, but it was enough reason to make me decide which start day to play. Spotted a good few lads I know quite well by now from playing these EMOPs, and also had some Irish playing 1a as well, LPlate, Paul Lucey from the Atlantis casino in Carlow, a guy called Finn O' Sullivan from Dublin and a friend of Paul's from Carlow called Connor. I met with Finn in the queue to register. Finn doesn't play live much but plays quite a bit online. He was really looking forward to the experience.
20,000 starting stack, the 1st 4 levels are 45 mins, and then its an hour clock for the rest of the tourney. The only difference in this tourney from our well structured ones in Ireland is that they dont have a 75/150, and when they introduce antes, they dont replay a blind level. Other than that, the structures are pretty much identical.

I started really slowly, failing to get any hands of note, and failing to hit when I got in there with the speculative hands. I was playing basically ABC poker and would have a tight image to the rest of the table. The standard at my table was surprisingly good, as I had been told that the Portuguese were very poor players, but I had 4 of them at my table and I thought they player quite well. I didn't see any of them making any big mistakes. One thing I was happy about is that I was drawn on table 13 of 25, so I knew I'd have plenty time to create an image for myself as they break tables out here from the highest number down. (Is there anything worse than creating a tight image for yourself but finding your table breaking before the blinds go high enough and you have to change gear)?

We went to the dinner dreak after 5 levels, and I had only 6 pots of note played in that time. And I was only down 400 from my starting stack, which was an achievement of its own!! I had 1 pair in that time (QQ) which I won with, and A-9 was the biggest ace I saw, so timely 3 bets were keeping me in the game. We were schedueled to play 10 levels, with the last level being 800-1600, so I knew I'd have to get chips from somewhere if I wanted to stay in the game.
I dropped as low as 13k on this table, and got it back again without showing hands (which was as well!!), and when my table finally broke, I still only had my starting stack, and this was the middle of level 9. I was down to 15k with blinds at 500-1000 when I won a race with AQs against 99, and suddenly I had 30k, my high of the day!! Then, a very tight Portuguese player got moved onto my table, 4 to my left. (he had been on my 1st table all day so I knew how tight he was). Of course when it was folded to me when he was in the bb, I was raising as he knew I was tight and with the blinds now 500-1000 and 100 antes, it was worth stealing. But when raising from the HJ, I kept being repopped from the button or sb, and I done 10k there over a few laps. So we moved into the last blind level of the night, and I was in trouble again. I kept looking for a spot to get them in with as I needed a double up, but all of a sudden I had only 12bb, and thats not enough to get raisers off pots (especially scandies), so I was tring to pick my spots carefully and now open shove instead of reraising.(Thats all you can do with 17k-18k, blinds 800-1500, 100 ante).

I got a little unlucky when I got em all in with my AQ againgst scandies A-10, with the board running out K-9-3-9-9 for a split pot when I could have done with the chips. But not long later, the same guy raised my blind and I found QQ. He had 10-10 and mhig and I'm up to 33k. Still not great, but I have some power back. 2nd last hand of the night saw a Portuguese player raise to 4,000, scanie flats otb and I ship in the sb for 35k. Both fold quickly, and I finish the night and bag my chips with 45,000.

I suppose its not great when the average is 65k. (210 players started 1a, and 65 left I think). Day 1b is on Friday, with day 2 on Saturday. We go back to 1,000-2,000blinds. I have enough chips to work with though. I had QQ twice today, and had 3 small pairs dealt to me as well, 1 x AK and 3 x AQ's, so if I can hang in there long enough, the tide might turn and I might hit a few hands. Thats the plan anyway, but sure isn't it everybodys!!!

Other team member news, Matt Dobbins didn't make it through day 1, he had a lunatic of a Portuguese player on his immediate right who trebled up early and just had to play every hand. Lplate managed to trick him into getting all his chips in on the flop with Matt holding top set, but the Portugues man-o-war called him with 2nd pair and managed to runner-runner a straight. Last I saw of Matt he was propping up a bar counter (or it was propping him up, I'm not sure which way it was!!). Paul Lucey from the Atlantis casino in Carlow has 100k and is in prime position. Connor got coolered when he he's KK in a raised pot. Flop is K-10-10. Bet, reraise call. 10 on the turn, bet call. Ace on the river. Opponnent bets 10k out of a 15k stack and Connor folds.
Finn had no luck either, losing a couple of big races before finally getting his chips in with AQ only to lose the race.
Day 1b sees Patricia and Ciara o Sullivan in action, along with Jamie Lowe, Thomas Collins, William Browne and Janus Jeszek. Hope a couple of them will join Paul and I in day 2 in our assault on the title.
I must say that the new Irish Eyes Poker uniforms look stunning. I'm just about to head down to the casino and lend my support to the lads and lassies.

Thats it for now,

Connie