Letter from Doke and Irish Eyes Gaming News 23rd Oct 2012

It's been a while since my last confession, mainly because there hasn't been much to say other than "Grinding online". Anyone who reads my personal blog will know I've been a little disillusioned lately with live poker. It's always been my view that if I'm not enjoying something any more I should stop doing it. Faced with these two options I would prefer to start enjoying it again rather than stop playing. With this in mind I decided to enter the IPO for the first time in 3 years as it has a reputation for being a fun tournament. It certainly lived up to this as although it didn't quite go to plan for me it was the most fun I've had live in a long time. I ran into a lot of great characters and people at the tables and the breaks. Hats off to Stephen McLean and the rest of the crew involved.

My main event started badly. I dropped to 6k in a very unclear spot where I decided I had to fold an overpair on the turn. I had to make a number of other big folds to stay alive. The other advantage to making big folds is that it makes it easier to get paid when you do hit a big hand. Once your opponents realise you're capable of making big folds they become more inclined to bluff you. As a result of hitting some hands and running into people willing to try to bluff me off them I climbed up to 40k. I'd drifted back a bit from that high point when two comedies of errors ended my campaign.

First I opened queens in early position. After it was folded to Benjamin Reeves-Smyth in the small blind, not realising it had already been raised he put in just enough to call the big blind. When the dealer pointed out that it had been raised he elected to call my raise. The big blind came along too. Benjamin check raised me all in on the 765 flop with two diamonds. Given the preflop action I ruled out sets and while it was possible he had two pair, I thought it was more likely on balance he had one pair, a pair/draw combo or a flush or straight draw all of which I was ahead of so I called.

Unfortunately he had flopped a straight with 43s. Benjamin is a very good player and wouldn't have been in the hand if he'd seen my raise as he had less than 20 big blinds, and apologised to me afterwards. No apology needed since it's one just one of those things in poker where someone makes a minor mistake but profits from it in the short term.

My exit came a few hands and a break later on the feature table. After it was folded around to a gentleman from Newcastle who seemed to be opening every hand folded to him in late position, KQ looked like a good enough hand to reship all in from the small blind. He asked for a count, the dealer miscounted my stack (he said 6500: it was actually 12500). My opponent said "OK, I have to call" and turned over his hand at the same time as I was telling the dealer he'd miscounted. When my opponent heard the correct total, he was less than pleased and asked what his options were. He was told he could fold to my raise or call. He took a while to think about it and I assumed my KQ was in reasonable shape (even though he had already exposed his hand, I resisted the temptation to look at it for fear of giving away any indication of the strength of my hand by comparison when I saw it).

After he eventually called, I finally looked and was pretty surprised to see AK. I went from bad shape to great shape as the flop came queen high, but an ace on the turn sent me packing. I played a few fast structured side events without troubling the scorers.

On Sunday night, I attended the Irish Poker awards. I'd been nominated in 4 categories and took home two awards for Best Blog and Best (use of) Social Media. It's always nice to win something and since the awards were voted for by the public, it was very nice to win and I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me. A big well done to the winners in all the other categories, including my friends Jason Tompkins (Best Tourney player), Niall Smyth (Breakout Year), Phil Baker (Personality), JP McCann (TD) and Padraig Parkinson (Hall of Fame).

Stephen McLean always puts on a great show so you can be assured that the second running of the Super Poker Event will be another great occasion. I played in the first one and it was a lot of fun.

The Super Poker Event of Europe 2013 will take place in the International Conference and Events Centre at Citywest Hotel, Saggart, Co. Dublin on Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th February with play beginning at 12pm sharp each day.

Last year 877 players attended this amazing two day no limit hold'em poker event, with a prize-pool of over €260,000 (for just a €300 entry fee per player). The deserved winner was Vincent Buis from the Netherlands, who took home the first prize of just over €43,000 (the top 90 players made the money).

This year we are aiming for a field of 1,000 players and so an estimated prize-pool of €300,000 (winner will take home approx €50,000 for a €300 entry fee +€50 registration).

As well as the partnership of Irish Eyes Poker and the Super Poker Event of Europe 2013, this poker festival is also being backed strongly by Gathering Dublin, a government tourism initiative aimed at promoting events that bring tourists into Ireland.

With the good will of players that participated in the event's first year (2012) and with the exposure that will be gained through the Gathering initiative, the organisers believe they will smash the 1,000 player field so a €300,000 prize-pool is a conservative estimate for the last weekend in February 2013.

Entry costs €300 (+€50 Registration Fee)

The blind level duration will be 30 minutes on Day 1 and 45 minutes on Day 2.

A winner will be declared around midnight on Sunday 24th February 2013.

Irish Eyes Guaranteed Online Satellites:

We are delighted to announce that we are running a twice daily schedule of satallite tournaments with guaranteed tokens into main event qualifiers, each qualifier having two guaranteed seats to the main event.

Every two weeks, each main event qualifer will have a guaranteed prize-pool of €910, so two tickets are guarnateed, plus cash for players that just miss out.

Irish Eyes are running two daily €5 re-buy feeders with one €35 token guaranteed in each. One feeder will run at 1pm and the other at 8pm daily (Monday through to Sunday).

First €35 qualifier will take place on Sunday 4th November at 6pm.

Qualifiers will then run once every fortnight on a Sunday at 6pm.

In order to guarantee player comfort and security the event organisers cover every aspect from player transport to and from Dublin Airport, to helping with accommodation bookings. For more information please contact stephen@pokerireland.ie

Other partners of the event include Main Event Travel, Bluff Europe & Plus Ev Media.

EMOP Dublin is just around the corner and is on from 15 - 18 November 2012 in Clontarf Castle Hotel, Dublin, Ireland. Satellites from only €2 are online now on www.irisheyespoker.com.

Qualifiers from €75 every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday with guaranteed packages. All qualifiers who win a €2,000 package will receive 4 nights at hotel, €350 for travel contribution into their account and entry to EMOP Dublin main event. See you in Dublin.

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.

Best of luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table.

Doke