Letter from Doke (29th March 2012)

Hi

This letter comes to you from the JP Masters in Citywest. I've been here since Friday when the main event started. My main event was nothing to write home about, much less write to you all. Day 1 was basic misery as I withered down to 4k, which meant coming back to day 2 with just over ten big blinds. They went in with an ace but never came back after they ran into Emmet "Mully85" Mullin's bigger ace. Mully went on to another deep run finishing fifth in the end, so well done to him. Well done to the other Irish final tableists too, especially eventual winner Knuckles who was left to fly the Irish flag against two Norwegian invaders.

I was starting to think it wasn't going to be my week when I lost half my stack almost straight away on in the 300 side event in one of the funniest hands I've been involved in in a while. Having raised with pocket fives and only the big blind electing to give me a spin, we saw a Qc5c3x flop. The big blind led, I raised, he reraised, I fourbet and he flatted. The turn was a rather ugly ace of clubs, so when he bet small (about 20% of pot) I just flat called. The river four of clubs put 4 to a flush and a straight out there so when he checked I checked behind remarking "I really hope you have a set of threes". He actually had Qx7c for a rivered 7 high flush.

I managed to nurse a fairly small stack to the final table by picking my spots well. I ran well on the final table getting respect when I needed to and luck when the respect dried up. My roommate for this week Daragh Davey got very unlucky not to move into a commanding chip lead five handed, and then again when he lost a race against me to be left short. I ended headsup with English pro Mark Segal and managed to fight back to level pegging after a marathon headsup that I started with a 6:1 chip deficit. I then got lucky winning a 70/30 when we got it in with an ace against a pair to effectively wrap up the win. This was my first live tournament win in a while so it was particularly sweet.

The following day I did some live stream commentary on the final table with Big Iain and played the rebuy side event. No personal joy in this one, but young Master Davey played brilliantly to achieve his second final table and cash in two nights. He mowed through the final table to claim his first ever tournament win outside the Fitz. It's not exactly a secret how big a fan I am of Daragh, and I expect this to be just the start of great things to come.

On Wednesday I head to Lisbon for the EMOP there with David Lappin. April's going to be a very busy month for me on the live front, starting with the Irish Open, then Nottingham UKIPT, the inter county event, and ending with a new monthly tournament in the Joker's Casino in Mullingar on the 29th. The inaugural running of this has a 5k estimated prize pool with a 150+10 buyin. Irish Eyes are running satellites to this starting with a freeroll this Sunday at 8pm where the winner will pick up entry to the event and overnight accomodation in the Austin Friar Hotel. And with Mullingar being central to both Galway and Dubin, this monthly tournament is a welcome addition to the calendar.

The most interesting hand I saw in Citywest featured me as a pure spectator. After I'd folded under the gun, the Norwegian livewire (who was raising hands like 52 from early position) raised to 2100 (at 400/800 with a 100 ante). Young Master Davey threebet small to 4800, and it was then folded to the big blind. He announced raise and threw in the same amount as Daragh's bet. The rest of the table waited to see how much he was raising, and he kept us waiting. Eventually the dealer realised he thought he had already raised, not having seen that Daragh had already done so and intending to raise only to the same amount. When he was told he now had to raise since he had announced raise, he thought for a long time. He had the option of raising to a minimum of 7500, but after some thought he went for a much bigger raise, 13k, effectively pot committing himself with a third of his stack. If he was hoping this would scare Daragh off, he was disappointed as Daragh quickly shoved. Given that he was pot committed, he now had to call it off with the one hand you hate calling a five bet shove with, ace queen.

The point I'd like to make about this hand is not related to his initial mistake (trying to 3 bet not realising Daragh had already done so) but the fact that having made one mistake, he compounded it with another, pot committing himself with a hand that plays terribly against the range of hands his opponents would 5 bet shove. The first mistake could have cost him almost 20% of his stack, significant enough, but it was the second mistake which cost him his tournament life after he had accumulated an enormous stack. While you should always try to avoid making big mistakes in a tournament, if you do find yourself having made one, it's important not to dwell on it or try to retrieve the situation, but to deal with the reality of the new situation you find yourself in, and make the best decision in the changed circumstances. Don't make things worse by making an even bigger mistake.

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

Doke