Letter from Doke (25th July)

Hi,

Doke here again. I finally arrived home from Las Vegas on Wednesday, to the news that Eoghan O'Dea had just made the November 9. I had dinner a few times with Eoghan while I was still in the Main event,and railed him for a while on my last day in Vegas. He thoroughly deserves to have made it this far and has the pedigree to go all the way. His making the final table is a tremendous boost for Irish poker.

On Friday I headed to Tramore with Mick Mccloskey for the Waterford Masters. Experience has taught me I tend not to be at my best immediately after Vegas, as it takes a while to readjust to Irish players and playing conditions. So it proved again: although I was happy with how I played on day one which I coasted through with an above average stack, I didn't play well toward the end of day 2 and
ultimately paid the price. I was delighted that my friend Jason Tompkins went on to claim the win. Jason has been telling me for a while now he wanted to actually win a live tournament and get a trophy and after missing Vegas due to illness, he was undoubtedly the hungriest player in the field. Also well done to Connie O'Sullivan who chopped the side event to continue his run of recent form.

I've been getting back into the online grind, and showing signs of rustiness. I found to my horror that initially at least I couldn't handle the number of tables I used to comfortably manage. It seems the slower pace of live poker has slowed down my decision making but I'm sure it's just a matter of getting re-accustomed to online. The 6 week enforced break from online play while in Vegas was my longest ever
since I started playing.

Yesterday I appeared on Dublin City FM's "On The Ball" to talk about Las Vegas, and EMOP Dublin in Clontarf at the end of the week. That's shaping up to be the tournament of the second half of this year. Most of the Irish who played in Vegas indicated they'll be making their return to the live Irish scene in Clontarf, and I also ran into a few Scandis in Vegas who said they were coming too.

With two day ones to choose from, I haven't totally decided which one I'll play, although I'm leaning towards 1b on Friday.

Hopefully there will be a good Team Irish Eyes contingent taking part and Irish Eyes poker are running a special promotion for Team Irish Eyes members where members have access to the Irish Eyes Poker Lounge at the event, have an EMOP Bubble Guarantee (€2,000 EMOP package if going out of Main Event on bubble),and the Last Team Irish Eyes Poker player in EMOP Dublin gets a seat to the next EMOP event for FREE (value €2,000). (Note: to qualify, players must wear provided Irish Eyes Poker polo shirts at the event).

See you in Clontarf.

Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)

Doke
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Keep up to date my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).

For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in July, including:

Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€46,500)
July VIP Matrix Promotion

See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx