Letter from Doke (8th Feb 2012)

Hi all

This letter is being written on the plane back from EMOP Prague. A very good Irish contingent travelled including Connie O'Sullivan, Kieran Walsh, Jason Arthur, Richie Lawlor, Daragh Davey, brother Noel and Duncan Keane, Rebecca McAdam and her boyfriend Niall, Francis "Wally" McCormack, Kevin Spillane, Gary Clarke, and Mick Rossiter.

With such a strong turnout there were sound reasons to be optimistic that at least one of us would make the final table. In the event, we got two on, my Irish Eyes teammate Connie O'Sullivan, and Kevin Spillane. Connie, one of the most popular figures in Irish poker, played brilliant disciplined poker with a short stack for most of the tournament and was unlucky not to go further than 8th. Kevin, who went deep last year in EMOP Lisbon, also got unlucky on the final table after making a brilliant call with sixes on a 98x flop against two overcards. Unfortunately, one of the overcards hit the river, but it was a great performance by the very likeable Kevin to finish fourth.

I never got going in the main event but did at least have the consolation of cashing twice (11th in the Leaderboard final, and third in a turbo side event) to come home with more money than I left with,which is always nice.

This week's main focus is the European Deepstack in D4 hotel. This tournament will always have a special place in my heart given that it's where it essentially all started for me. I was a novice who had only been playing a few months when I won the first running of it in 2008, and that and a few other results around the time convinced me to take a chance and see if I could make a go of playing professionally.

I have a very good overall record in this tournament, finishing 15th the year after my victory and final tabling it for a second time the following year, so I'm hopeful of another deep run. This year's programme also includes a High Roller event starting tomorrow which I'll probably play too if I'm not too tired.

For this week's strategy section, I want to talk about a hand I wasn't involved in (I wasn't even in the game) but witnessed in Prague. I was chatting to Team Irish Eyes member Gerry Kane from Scotland, a very good solid player who has cashed in a number of WSOP events and qualified for TV tournaments through small feeder satellites (a great way for recreational players to take shots at the big stage without straining their finances). Gerry was playing in a cash game which was playing very looe, with a mix of players between those who were happy enough to gamble it up with a very wide range of hands, and some (like Gerry) who were sitting tight waiting for good spots to exploit the gamblers. The action started with a raise in mid position, which Gerry flat called on the button. The big blind was a gambly type player and true to type he now stuck in a big raise. After the initial opener had folded, Gerry quickly shoved. After some speechplay which indicated that the big blind was far from happy calling Gerry's shove with whatever spanners he had, he did anyway. Gerry had pocket eights and flopped the nurs (top sets) which became quads on the river.

There's a general belief in poker that aggression is good and that raising is always better than calling. Aggression is good but there are spots where if you have a hand strong enough to call you should raise, but like all general rules it has many exceptions. The key to how Gerry played this hand is his hand is a mile ahead of the range of hands the loose player lurking in the blinds will make a move with, it's unclear whether he's ahead of the opener. He's almost certainly behind the opener's four bet shoving range and I'm pretty sure Gerry would have folded if the opener had four bet. So by flat calling, he gets a clearer view of the opener's hand strength before committing many chips to the pot, and he has set up a very profitable situation where he can often get it in against a worse hand, but can get away cheaply if he's behind the opener.

On the Irish Eyes front, some very interesting news is that a new software update is due to take place next week on the 14th. The new update brings the awaited 'Preferred Seat' function to the poker client. This feature gives a player the option to choose a favorite seat on the tables. All tables will virtually be adjusted so the player is shown to sit at the same seat at all tables regardless of game, limit or number of seats. Great addition for multi-table play.

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

Doke