Letter from Doke and Irish Eyes Gaming News (17th July 2012)

Hi
Welcome to this week's letter. The last letter was written after my day 1 in this year's WSOP main event where I complained about getting very little to play with. I went back to day 2 to find Daragh Davey to my immediate right and Pete "Multiplier" Murphy across the table. The rest of the table seemed pretty soft and I won a few early pots to move up to 55K.

Then I lost a few to Daragh and Pete (jacks v Daragh's kings blind on blind, straight v Pete's worse straight/flush draw). Most of these hands were essentially setups and against other opponents I could very well have gone bust, but the dynamic dicated that we were treading warily around each other.

Things seemed to be finally turning when I picked up aces two hands running. First time around, I flatted a raise from Daragh as I felt a 3 bet was in danger of getting too much respect given how tight I appeared to be playing. There was a reshove stack behind and a guy who overrated hands, two other reasons to flat I felt. I bet a ten high flop when checked to me and took it down.

Next hand I pick up aces again! This time I open when to 1275 it gets to me, my standard open at 300/600. Button calls and the guy who overrates hands threebet huge from the small blind, to 6900. There hadn't been a lot of 3 betting at the table, so feeling he had a hand I clicked it back to 12925, trying to induce a 5 bet. He obliged, making it 26k at which point I shove for 40k. After a little thought he called. I was expecting to see kings but hoping to see AK. He actually had queens. We both missed the flop, but the queen arrived on the turn to the exuberant cheers of his friends on the rail.

I left the scene in a daze, trying to come to terms with the fact that for the second year running, I'd hung tough through a day of card death only to been done in a massive pot with aces versus an underpair. Obviously I'm aware of variance and that you're supposed to lose at least 18% of those: it just hurts a lot more when it's in the biggest tournament of the year for about $30k in equity. But that's poker as they say, and there's no point in complaining. My "job" as a professional player is to get themoney in good. After that, it's out of my hands.

A few of the Irish lads got a bit of a run in the main event including Pete who cashed. Special well dones to Feargal "MidniteKowby" Nealon who busted late on day 4, and honorary Irishman Nick Abou Risk. Feargal started on an adjacent table to me and it was clear from the start and every time I ran into him after that he was focussed and in the zone. Feargal's been itching for a big live score for a while now and this will give him confidence for the future. Nick really is one of the good guys in poker and as he was listed on Poker News as Irish, was officially the last Irishman standing this year. No surprises there: if I'd been asked to nominate someone most likely to last the longest, I'd have gone for Nick.

This week's strategy section looks at some bet size considerations in my main event exit hand. I opened for my standard min raise. When opening a wide range of hands, it's crucial not to open different amounts depending on your hand strength, as perceptive opponents will pick up on this and be able to narrow your range when you do open based on your sizing. After the button flatted, my opponent with the queens 3 bet very large. I believe this is an example of a bet sizing tell: he did this because he felt he had a very strong but vulnerable hand which he needed to protect. The other disadvantages of this large sizing are it bloats the pot, reduces the possibility of getting action from weaker hands, and leaving less wiggle room to get away ifwe run into a stronger hand.

My 4 bet sizing required a little consideration on my part, which I'll look at in the next letter.

A reminder about the Kerry September Summer Sizzler, a €200 buy-in tournament with €15,000 guaranteed in Darby O'Gills Country House Hotel Killarney on the 8th September. This is a 2 day event and will no doubt be a great tournament if history of CueClub Events tournaments are anything to go by. Online satellites for buy-in and hotel B&B in Darby O'Gills are on Irish Eyes Poker starting this Sunday evening at 8pm. These €20 buy-in satellites will run each Sunday upto the event.

This letter is being written on the plane home from Vegas to the heckling of Daragh Davey (he does have a nasty habit of turning up in seats to my right) in the next seat. We're both looking forward to
getting back to the online grind after a month devoted almost exclusively to live poker.
Irish Eyes are also launching the new Hand Replayer in July.
To celebrate the launch of the new software which allows players to reply their hands, Irish Eyes Poker is offering prizes for special hands. (The following promotions are valid only in cash games and only when a minimum of three players have received cards.)

Texas Triple AA Special - Win a MacBook Air!

Get AA as your starting hand three times in a row at the same cash game table, regardless of the stakes you're playing, and win an Apple MacBook Air notebook (11" Core i5 1.6 GHz 64 GB SSD)!

This promotion is available on all real money Texas Hold'em tables. To claim a prize, players must send an email to promo@igt.com no later than Tuesday, 31 July. The e-mail should contain the following information:
Subject: "Triple AA MacBook claim"
- Hand History number of the first AA hand
- Poker nickname
- Full home address

Texas Triple Same Pair Special

Get the same pair, deuces to kings, as starting hand three times in a row at the same cash game table and win €200.

This promotion is available on all real money Texas Hold'em tables. To claim a prize, players must send an email to promo@igt.com no later than Tuesday, 31 July. The e-mail should contain the following information:
- Subject: "Triple Same Pair claim"
- Hand History number of the first pair hand
- Poker nickname

Omaha Quad Aces Special

Get Four-of-a-Kind aces as your starting hand in 4-card Omaha and win €100.

This promotion is only available on real money 4-Card Omaha and 4-Card Omaha H/L. To claim a prize, players must send an email to promo@igt.com no later than Tuesday, 31 July. The e-mail should contain the following information:
- Subject: "Omaha Quad Aces claim"
- Hand History number of the quad aces hand
- Poker nickname

Omaha High Quads Special

Get Four of a Kind kings, queens, or jacks as your starting hand in 4-card Omaha and win €50.

This promotion is only available on real money 4-Card Omaha and 4-Card Omaha H/L. To claim a prize, players must send an email to promo@igt.com no later than Tuesday, 31 July. The e-mail should contain the following information:
- Subject: "Omaha High Quads claim"
- Hand History number of the quad hand
- Poker nickname

Four the Win! - Sit & Go Promotion

Win four Super Turbo Sit &Go tournaments in a row on the same level and win a cash prize!
Sit & Go's qualifying for this promotion are marked (PROMO) in the lobby.
Super Turbo SitGo (PROMO) Holdem NL €2 + €0.2 Prize = €200
Super Turbo Sit&Go (PROMO) Holdem NL €10 + €1 Prize = 700

(Please note that the collation of tournaments is determined by time of registration.)To claim a prize, send an e-mail with the following information to promo@igt.com no later than Tuesday, 31 July.
- Subject "Four the Win claim"
- Tournament ID of the first Sit & Go in the series (in the poker lobby under Account Information/Last Transactions)
- Poker nickname

MacBook Air VIP SPECIAL

On Sunday, 8 July at 20:30, three players will have a chance to win a MacBook Air in a special tournament. The buy-in is 50 VIP points that must be earned starting from 1 July.

Prizes:
Three (3) Apple MacBook Air notebooks (11" Core i5 1.6 GHz 64 GB SSD). The maximum number of participants is 1000, 3000 in starting chips, and 12 minutes levels. To claim a prize, send an e-mail with the following information to promo@igt.com no later than Tuesday, 10 July.
- Subject "MacBook Tournament claim"
- Poker nickname
- Full home address

Freerolls:
Don't forget to 'Like' our Team Irish Eyes Poker page on Facebook and you can get the password to the Weekly Facebook €100 Freeroll every Wednesday night. Here is the link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Irish-Eyes-Poker/112290065454803

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

Doke

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