Letter from Doke 15th Aug

Hi,

Doke here again. Not much to report this week, I didn't play live so I've been just grinding away online. I final tabled my favourite nightly tournament, the €10K guaranteed on Irish Eyes one night. I was so short on the bubble that I basically had to try to fold into the money. Having done so and staged one of my trademark recoveries from one big blind, I was optimistic of going all the way but it wasn't to be. A few people have asked me how I keep staging these recoveries and all I can say is that no matter how low you are you should never give up, and it's important to know your preflop equities. A lot of people just shove the next hand after they're crippled or the next one folded round to them, but that's not the best approach. When you find yourself that short, you have no fold equity, you will get called, so it's important to assess what is the likelihood you'll win when called.

For example, if it's folded to you on the button with 3 big blinds and you find 32, just let it go. You're getting called if you shove and no matter what the random hand you're called by is, you're a 2 to 1 dog at best (and 4 to 1 against any pair other than 22). On the other hand, any picture card is good enough in that spot, as you'll generally be no worse than a 6 to 4 underdog and you might even be ahead.

I've also been trying to sort out my live schedule for the next 6 months. There's so much on both at home and abroad that I can't play everything I want. I've decided to skip the Barcelona EPT because it clashes with the Unibet Open in Dublin. It seems a bit silly traipsing off to Spain for an EPT when there's a 1500 event on my doorstep. I'll also miss London as it clashes with the Barcelona EMOP, although I'll go to London straight from Barcelona which should allow me to play some side events as well as the Country of the Year freeroll (Ireland won EPT Country of the Year and as a result the 13 Irish players who cashed in an EPT last year have been invited to a 10K freeroll on the last day of London).

Speaking of the Barcelona EMOP, I was speaking to my friend Matt who played it last year. He was telling me there is a festival on there at the time called La Merce. La Merce is Barcelona's patron saint and according to Matt the city is rocking, for 5 days every square has music, concerts, dancing, fireworks etc. Mrs. Doke has decided to come with me on this trip: usually these poker trips are not her thing but she's never been to Barcelona and is looking forward to it. Satellites for Barcelona are in full swing at the moment on Irish Eyes and I hope to see a good few of you there.

On Friday I'm heading down to Cork to play the Macau Classic with Mick Mccloskey.

Finally, well done to Fintan Gavin who won the Edinburgh UKIPT. I decided to skip Edinburgh but will be playing the Dublin UKIPT (qualification secured tonight).

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

Doke
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