Hi,
Doke here again. Another fairly typical week for me: lots of online grinding during the week, and then some live late in the week. I busted the Unibet Open late on Saturday which left me free to do a Sunday grind, rare enough for me these days. I had one deep run, making the second last table of the Party 200K. There was almost $80k for first so it would have been a good time to run well but instead I lost a huge flip to bust in 17th. I've still been enjoying a fair amount of success in the ten euro rebuys on Irish Eyes: the smaller field sizes and fact you can survive an early bustout suits clearly my game. I started as an online 9 man sit n go specialist, and when I was transitioning to multitable tournaments enjoyed a fair deal of success in the 45 mans on Full Tilt. Live, I cut my teeth playing nightly tournaments with 40-60 runners in the Fitzwilliam Card Club in Dublin.
Speaking of the Fitz, I played their end of month game last Thursday. I was short throughout most of it (watching from a cash table after he busted, I heard my friend Lappin tell someone "Doke spends almost his entire life between a third and half the average") before going on a rush two tables out to move close to the chiplead. I then lost a massive threeway flip on the bubble. Holding AK, I initially outdrew Marc Brody's tens who barely covered me when a king appeared atop the flop. The dealer spread the flop to reveal a ten lurking beneath to more or less kill me. The shortie's AJ pulled ahead when a queen appeared on the turn, and the king of the river did nothing for me but housed up Marc's set of tens. It's always annoying to bubble a tournament but I had no regrets about the manner of my exit as I was more interested in playing for the win and the 11k up top rather than locking up the 400 min cash. My chips went to a good home for once as Marc who was clearly the best player left in my view went on to win.
I also ran into Terry Loughnane, currently top of the Celtic Poker Tour league, in the Fitz. Very nice guy.
My Unibet Open main event was similar in many respects. I hung around well below average for most of it until I was on the right side of a threeway cooler just before the bubble, my kings holding against queens and jacks. Unfortunately, the chipleader (and eventual winner) then got moved to the table. He was hammering us with nobody playing back at him apart from me. Just after the bubble, he raised the button, the small blind reshoved for just over 10 bbs, and I liked my AQ enough in the bb to reshove. It's well ahead of both ranges here and I can't just flat for a third of my stack so the shove is standard in my view. Unfortunately the chip monster on the button had a real hand this time (kings), and an ace which would have saved my day and propelled me into the chiplead never appeared. So all in all a strange mixed feeling of disappointment and pride at another deep run as I was led away to collect my min cash which seemed particularly min given there was over 100 grand for first.
I'd run into Roy the Boy Brindley when I went to dinner in a nearby restaurant with my friend Daragh Davey. Roy was doing the commentary for the live stream and asked me if I'd come on to do some co-commentary if I busted. Since I'd enjoyed a similar gig with Neil Channing at the Irish Open I was only too happy to agree. After my exit the Unibet co-ordinator came scampering over to make sure Ididn't sulk off, so I did some commentary with Roy for a few hours which was good craic.
I am looking forward to EMOP Barcelona on 29th September. Should be a very good turn out. I see on the Irish Eyes Poker lobby there are 125 entrants registered to the event already and there are satellites and qualifiers running right up to at least the 18th September, so many more I expect. Plus Barcelona usually gets a good number of direct buy-ins on the day.
If you want to join me there, as well as sats and qualifiers, Irish Eyes are running VIP-point freerolls starting on the 2nd of September and ending on the 18th September. There is one package to EMOP Barcelona worth €2,000 in each freeroll. Each package consists of tournament buy-in of €1,100, accommodation in a nice hotel for five nights and €350 in travel contribution that is credited to the player's poker account.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
----------
Click on the links in the menu for details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions, including:
Iron Man Barcelona Promotion (€18,000)
September Freerolls (€36,000)
Raked Hands Race (€40,000)
Sit n Go Leaderbaord (€30,000)
Upto 45% rake back
Team Irish Eyes Poker promotions.
Keep up to date on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
The Hive Poker, Instadeal Poker, Casino, Sports Betting, on your PC, Laptop, Smartphone or Tablet.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Letter from Doke (23rd Aug 2011)
Hi
Doke here again. This week, I headed to Cork to play the Macau Classic. I don't recall ever cashing in a tournament in Cork and I didn't break my duck this time either. Highlight on day 1 of the main event was knocking out November Niner Eoghan O'Dea in an interesting hand. It started with Richie Lawlor (one of the best tourney players on the scene at the moment who came within a hair's breath of the remarkable and unprecedented achievement of cashing in 4 UKIPTs on the trot) opening to 750 utg at 150/300. I flatted with ATs two behind, as did Eoghan O'Dea two behind me. The flop came 764 with two of my suit, Richie led for 1050, I called, Eoghan raised to 3800 with 10k behind. Richie tank folded (queens according to his Twitter) and I had to think now too. Folding didn't seem great when you play ATs and hit a two overs and a nut flush draw flop, calling seemed unpalatable too, so I ran through the math quickly to see if shoving was ok. I figured Eoghan's range as 44+ (that is, sets, overpairs and pairs with a straight draw). I have about 42-43% equity against that range so even if he never folds the shove is plus Ev. If he ever does fold it's even better for me. Also, if I widen his range to include worse flush draws like KQs, my equity gets closer to 50%. As it happened, he had a hand I'd never even considered (76o for top two) but even if I include 2 pair hands (I excluded them because Eoghan was playing very tight and didn't think he'd play something like 76o from mid position with less than 50 bigs) I'm basically a 5/4 dog against the range so the shove's ok with the dead money. And there's always Plan B, hit the flush,
which I duly did. Hopefully Eoghan's getting his run bad out of the way before November.
I ran bad on day 2 though, losing a bunch of races to decimate my stack down to 4K (4 big blinds). I did rally back up to 50k but in the end went out about 20 from the money. The side event was one of my shortest journeys ever: I managed to get over 100 big blinds in second hand with aces against AJs, and lost to a flush. That's poker as they say: the job is to get the money in as good as possible, whatever happens happens after that.
My travelling companion Mick Mccloskey cashed in the side event. His continued involvement meant we didn't get back to Dublin in time for me to play the 35K on Irish Eyes or most of the other Sunday majors.
Instead I signed up for later stuff including the €10 rebuy on Eyes which I ended up winning. There's a few of these on every night and I'm enjoying a bit of success in them (I also won again the following night). They're nice fast tournaments (turbos are still my bread and butter online), you can win a decent pot for a €10 outlay, or if you're in a gambling mood you can treat it as a €40 or €50 game and gamble to get a stack early on.
My next live outing is the Fitzwilliam End of Month on Thursday, followed by the Unibet Open in Citywest at the weekend.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
Doke here again. This week, I headed to Cork to play the Macau Classic. I don't recall ever cashing in a tournament in Cork and I didn't break my duck this time either. Highlight on day 1 of the main event was knocking out November Niner Eoghan O'Dea in an interesting hand. It started with Richie Lawlor (one of the best tourney players on the scene at the moment who came within a hair's breath of the remarkable and unprecedented achievement of cashing in 4 UKIPTs on the trot) opening to 750 utg at 150/300. I flatted with ATs two behind, as did Eoghan O'Dea two behind me. The flop came 764 with two of my suit, Richie led for 1050, I called, Eoghan raised to 3800 with 10k behind. Richie tank folded (queens according to his Twitter) and I had to think now too. Folding didn't seem great when you play ATs and hit a two overs and a nut flush draw flop, calling seemed unpalatable too, so I ran through the math quickly to see if shoving was ok. I figured Eoghan's range as 44+ (that is, sets, overpairs and pairs with a straight draw). I have about 42-43% equity against that range so even if he never folds the shove is plus Ev. If he ever does fold it's even better for me. Also, if I widen his range to include worse flush draws like KQs, my equity gets closer to 50%. As it happened, he had a hand I'd never even considered (76o for top two) but even if I include 2 pair hands (I excluded them because Eoghan was playing very tight and didn't think he'd play something like 76o from mid position with less than 50 bigs) I'm basically a 5/4 dog against the range so the shove's ok with the dead money. And there's always Plan B, hit the flush,
which I duly did. Hopefully Eoghan's getting his run bad out of the way before November.
I ran bad on day 2 though, losing a bunch of races to decimate my stack down to 4K (4 big blinds). I did rally back up to 50k but in the end went out about 20 from the money. The side event was one of my shortest journeys ever: I managed to get over 100 big blinds in second hand with aces against AJs, and lost to a flush. That's poker as they say: the job is to get the money in as good as possible, whatever happens happens after that.
My travelling companion Mick Mccloskey cashed in the side event. His continued involvement meant we didn't get back to Dublin in time for me to play the 35K on Irish Eyes or most of the other Sunday majors.
Instead I signed up for later stuff including the €10 rebuy on Eyes which I ended up winning. There's a few of these on every night and I'm enjoying a bit of success in them (I also won again the following night). They're nice fast tournaments (turbos are still my bread and butter online), you can win a decent pot for a €10 outlay, or if you're in a gambling mood you can treat it as a €40 or €50 game and gamble to get a stack early on.
My next live outing is the Fitzwilliam End of Month on Thursday, followed by the Unibet Open in Citywest at the weekend.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
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Once the voucher is input into your new account, the funds are ready immediately for you to use online.
Then deposit to Irish Eyes Poker through your new account. You can also withdraw funds from Irish Eyes Poker to your new account and then take cash from any ATM.
Verify your account and apply for your pre-paid Mastercard. When you receive this you can use it anywhere online or in retail stores that accept Mastercard.
As a pre-paid Mastercard you only spend what is on the card, it is not a credit card and does not link to your bank account.
It is Safe and Secure, and can only be used to the amount you decide to fund it to. Plus there are many ways to fund your account.
We are happy to recommend this service to our players and hope it helps with any issues players may have with depositing or withdrawing from our site.
Best regards
Irish Eyes Poker
For anyone who would like deposit or witdrawal from Irish Eyes Poker, or to shop online, without using a credit or debit card, here is the way to do it.
www.cashoncashoff.com
To use this, simply click on the 'Sign up for your Free account' image on the Cash on Cash Off page, open an account, fund the account with cash vouchers available from 1000's of retail outlets including PayPoint & payzone points, and then enter the voucher number in your new account to fund it.
Once the voucher is input into your new account, the funds are ready immediately for you to use online.
Then deposit to Irish Eyes Poker through your new account. You can also withdraw funds from Irish Eyes Poker to your new account and then take cash from any ATM.
Verify your account and apply for your pre-paid Mastercard. When you receive this you can use it anywhere online or in retail stores that accept Mastercard.
As a pre-paid Mastercard you only spend what is on the card, it is not a credit card and does not link to your bank account.
It is Safe and Secure, and can only be used to the amount you decide to fund it to. Plus there are many ways to fund your account.
We are happy to recommend this service to our players and hope it helps with any issues players may have with depositing or withdrawing from our site.
Best regards
Irish Eyes Poker
Monday, August 15, 2011
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
----------
Click on the links in the menu for details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions, including:
Iron Man Barcelona Promotion (€12,000)
Summer Freerolls (€37,200)
August VIP Matrix Promotion
Sit n Go Leaderbaord (€30,000)
Upto 45% rake back
Team Irish Eyes Poker promotions.
Keep up to date on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
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
----------
Click on the links in the menu for details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions, including:
Iron Man Barcelona Promotion (€12,000)
Summer Freerolls (€37,200)
August VIP Matrix Promotion
Sit n Go Leaderbaord (€30,000)
Upto 45% rake back
Team Irish Eyes Poker promotions.
Keep up to date on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Letter from Doke (9th August 2011)
Doke here again. After the excitement of Clontarf, it was back to the online grind. I had a reasonable week with its fair share of final tables, but nothing to write home about, or at great length here.
On the live front, I had a couple of outings. On Friday, I payed the Bluff monthly game in Swords and had an early bath. The main damage was done when I 4 bet shoved kings from the small blind over a three bet shove from early position. His fives hit a set to leave me crippled, and this time there was no miracle comeback.
The following day I met my friend Lappin for dinner in town. Although not widely known because he rarely played live until recently, Lappin has been one of the top Irish mtt players online for years. He's playing more live these days (and he got off to a pretty good start with a second in his first ever live tournament in Spain for €60K) so we had an interesting chat about the differences he's finding between live and online. He was heading into the Fitzwilliam for their Saturday night game so I tagged along. No joy on the poker front but plenty on the company front. I learned how to play live poker in the Fitz so I'm seen as one of their own, and all the regulars made a point of congratulating me on my run in Clontarf. While I was waiting for my lift home, I sat into the 1/2 cash game for half an hour and managed to recoup my tourney buyin and more. This was the first time I'd played live cash in years: maybe I should do it more often.
I hear a great night was had in Connie's club in Killarney on Friday night last when the Cue Club lads and some of the Irish Eyes Team had a game and went for a few drinks. Side event queen Shella McSweeney was there as was Sandro Taddei who bagged an EMOP Barcelona package last week on Irish Eyes.
For anyone up to join us in Barcelona, the Iron Man EMOP Barcelona freeroll games are running at the moment on Irish Eyes. The next one is on this Saturday at 19.15. 100 vip points to enter with an EMOP Package worth 2,000 euro up for grabs.
And speaking of freerolls, theres a 1,200 euro freeroll every day at 18.15. Registration opens one hour before the game only though so anyone who wants to play needs to get in around 17.15 before the seats are taken.
On Irish Eyes, in addition to my regular nightly schedule, I've started playing a few of the Wild West turbos. No success as yet, but they're certainly great fun. Very unique tournaments.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
-----------------
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in August, including:
Iron Man Barcelona Promotion (€12,000)
Summer Freerolls (€37,200)
August VIP Matrix Promotion
Sit n Go Leaderbaord (€30,000)
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Keep up to date my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
Join Team Irish Eyes Poker and EMOP Ireland on Facebook.
On the live front, I had a couple of outings. On Friday, I payed the Bluff monthly game in Swords and had an early bath. The main damage was done when I 4 bet shoved kings from the small blind over a three bet shove from early position. His fives hit a set to leave me crippled, and this time there was no miracle comeback.
The following day I met my friend Lappin for dinner in town. Although not widely known because he rarely played live until recently, Lappin has been one of the top Irish mtt players online for years. He's playing more live these days (and he got off to a pretty good start with a second in his first ever live tournament in Spain for €60K) so we had an interesting chat about the differences he's finding between live and online. He was heading into the Fitzwilliam for their Saturday night game so I tagged along. No joy on the poker front but plenty on the company front. I learned how to play live poker in the Fitz so I'm seen as one of their own, and all the regulars made a point of congratulating me on my run in Clontarf. While I was waiting for my lift home, I sat into the 1/2 cash game for half an hour and managed to recoup my tourney buyin and more. This was the first time I'd played live cash in years: maybe I should do it more often.
I hear a great night was had in Connie's club in Killarney on Friday night last when the Cue Club lads and some of the Irish Eyes Team had a game and went for a few drinks. Side event queen Shella McSweeney was there as was Sandro Taddei who bagged an EMOP Barcelona package last week on Irish Eyes.
For anyone up to join us in Barcelona, the Iron Man EMOP Barcelona freeroll games are running at the moment on Irish Eyes. The next one is on this Saturday at 19.15. 100 vip points to enter with an EMOP Package worth 2,000 euro up for grabs.
And speaking of freerolls, theres a 1,200 euro freeroll every day at 18.15. Registration opens one hour before the game only though so anyone who wants to play needs to get in around 17.15 before the seats are taken.
On Irish Eyes, in addition to my regular nightly schedule, I've started playing a few of the Wild West turbos. No success as yet, but they're certainly great fun. Very unique tournaments.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
-----------------
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in August, including:
Iron Man Barcelona Promotion (€12,000)
Summer Freerolls (€37,200)
August VIP Matrix Promotion
Sit n Go Leaderbaord (€30,000)
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Keep up to date my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
Join Team Irish Eyes Poker and EMOP Ireland on Facebook.
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Letter from Doke (3rd August 2011)
Hi,
Doke here again. What a weekend! I'd been telling all my friends for ages that the one Irish tournament I wanted to do well in this year was EMOP Dublin at Clontarf Castle. I played day 1B on Friday. I got a pretty tough first table with Jason Tompkins two to my left. I played a lot more cautiously than usual to keep out of trouble and was very happy to get to day 2 with a well above average stack. Day 2 was a bit of a struggle for me. I managed to get through and increase my stack, but it still meant coming back with only 8 big blinds so I needed some run good early on day 3.
It was all going to plan until I shoved nines into fellow team member Michael Muldoon's aces. I thought that might be it as we were close in stack terms but I had just over 2 big blinds left. With eleven players remaining and half my stack in blind next hand, it wasn't looking good for me to make the final table but then I got some much needed run good. It goes without saying that to recover from 45k to 3.6million (my peak three handed) needs more than a bit of luck. Having done so and moved from the short stack three handed to overwhelming chipleader, I really thought it was going to be my day but in the end I fell at the last hurdle.
It was a great weekend overall for Team Irish Eyes. As the tournament got down to the business end, the Team Irish Eyes shirts started to outnumber all others. Four of us made the final table including my great friend and regular travelling companion Mick Mccloskey, Michael Muldoon and JP Whyte. Robert Shaw, Robert Elkin, Chris Pyke, Sandro Taddei, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Kevin Hanley, Tony Harte, and Gerry Kane all cashed in the main event too. There were also some great performances in the side events, notably from Tony Baitson (who was pipped at the post in the PLO event) and my amigo Feargal "MidniteKowby" Nealon (who hacked his way round the golf course to qualify for the freeroll for a Barcelona package which he went on to win). Pride of place though to the side event queen Shella McSweeney who had not one but two third place finishes.
A great deal for the Team players that played in the main event is they all get an invitation to a Freeroll on Irish Eyes Poker on the 14th August for an EMOP Barcelona Package.
A big thank you to Connie, Matt and the rest of the crew for making this a great event. EMOP Ireland is here to stay and will surely go from strength to strength.
After the excitement of a live outing, it's back to the online grind for me. I managed to snag a Barcelona EMOP package in the satellite on Irish Eyes tonight, and I'm looking forward to it already. Hopefully a good contingent of Team Irish Eyes members will qualify and make the trip.
My only live outing in the next week is Friday's monthly game in the Bluff Club in Swords, run by my friends Larry Santo and Peter Barable, and one of my favourite places to play in the Dublin area.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------------
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in August, including:
Iron Man Barcelona Promotion (€12,000)
Summer Freerolls (€37,200)
August VIP Matrix Promotion
Sit n Go Leaderbaord (€30,000)
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Keep up to date my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
Join Team Irish Eyes Poker and EMOP Ireland on Facebook.
Doke here again. What a weekend! I'd been telling all my friends for ages that the one Irish tournament I wanted to do well in this year was EMOP Dublin at Clontarf Castle. I played day 1B on Friday. I got a pretty tough first table with Jason Tompkins two to my left. I played a lot more cautiously than usual to keep out of trouble and was very happy to get to day 2 with a well above average stack. Day 2 was a bit of a struggle for me. I managed to get through and increase my stack, but it still meant coming back with only 8 big blinds so I needed some run good early on day 3.
It was all going to plan until I shoved nines into fellow team member Michael Muldoon's aces. I thought that might be it as we were close in stack terms but I had just over 2 big blinds left. With eleven players remaining and half my stack in blind next hand, it wasn't looking good for me to make the final table but then I got some much needed run good. It goes without saying that to recover from 45k to 3.6million (my peak three handed) needs more than a bit of luck. Having done so and moved from the short stack three handed to overwhelming chipleader, I really thought it was going to be my day but in the end I fell at the last hurdle.
It was a great weekend overall for Team Irish Eyes. As the tournament got down to the business end, the Team Irish Eyes shirts started to outnumber all others. Four of us made the final table including my great friend and regular travelling companion Mick Mccloskey, Michael Muldoon and JP Whyte. Robert Shaw, Robert Elkin, Chris Pyke, Sandro Taddei, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Kevin Hanley, Tony Harte, and Gerry Kane all cashed in the main event too. There were also some great performances in the side events, notably from Tony Baitson (who was pipped at the post in the PLO event) and my amigo Feargal "MidniteKowby" Nealon (who hacked his way round the golf course to qualify for the freeroll for a Barcelona package which he went on to win). Pride of place though to the side event queen Shella McSweeney who had not one but two third place finishes.
A great deal for the Team players that played in the main event is they all get an invitation to a Freeroll on Irish Eyes Poker on the 14th August for an EMOP Barcelona Package.
A big thank you to Connie, Matt and the rest of the crew for making this a great event. EMOP Ireland is here to stay and will surely go from strength to strength.
After the excitement of a live outing, it's back to the online grind for me. I managed to snag a Barcelona EMOP package in the satellite on Irish Eyes tonight, and I'm looking forward to it already. Hopefully a good contingent of Team Irish Eyes members will qualify and make the trip.
My only live outing in the next week is Friday's monthly game in the Bluff Club in Swords, run by my friends Larry Santo and Peter Barable, and one of my favourite places to play in the Dublin area.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------------
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in August, including:
Iron Man Barcelona Promotion (€12,000)
Summer Freerolls (€37,200)
August VIP Matrix Promotion
Sit n Go Leaderbaord (€30,000)
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Keep up to date my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
Join Team Irish Eyes Poker and EMOP Ireland on Facebook.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
EMOP Barcelona Iron Man Freerolls
In August six Iron Man freerolls will be arranged with packages to EMOP Barcelona as prizes.
Irish Eyes Poker will arrange VIP-point freerolls starting on the 2nd of August and ending on the 31st of August.
There is one package to EMOP Barcelona worth €2,000 in each freeroll. Each package consists of tournament buy-in of €1,100, accommodation in a nice hotel for five nights and €350 in travel contribution that is credited to the player's poker account.
The VIP-point buy-in starts at VIP1 on the 2nd of August and then the buy-in increases for each tournament. It starts out being very easy to qualify but it becomes harder and harder very quickly.
Earn as many VIP-points as you can and get up to six tries to win a seat. A maximum of one package each could be won.
The VIP-points are calculated from the 1st of August until the start of each freeroll.
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/EMoP-Events.aspx for more details
Irish Eyes Poker will arrange VIP-point freerolls starting on the 2nd of August and ending on the 31st of August.
There is one package to EMOP Barcelona worth €2,000 in each freeroll. Each package consists of tournament buy-in of €1,100, accommodation in a nice hotel for five nights and €350 in travel contribution that is credited to the player's poker account.
The VIP-point buy-in starts at VIP1 on the 2nd of August and then the buy-in increases for each tournament. It starts out being very easy to qualify but it becomes harder and harder very quickly.
Earn as many VIP-points as you can and get up to six tries to win a seat. A maximum of one package each could be won.
The VIP-points are calculated from the 1st of August until the start of each freeroll.
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/EMoP-Events.aspx for more details
TEAM IRISH EYES POKER AT EMOP DUBLIN
Congratulations to Team Irish Eyes Poker Captain Dara 'Doke' O'Kearney on his second place at EMOP Dublin. Great play. Well done also to team members Mick McCloskey, Michael Muldoon, JP Whyte, Philip Shaw, Robert Elkin, Chris Pyke, Sandro Taddei, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Kevin Hanley, Tony Harte, Gerry Kane, who all cashed in the main event, and all the Team Irish Eyes Players, and a special mention to team member Shella McSweeney who had two third place finishes in side events. Congrats also to Tony Baitson on his cash, and to Fergal Nealon who won the EMOP Barcelona package.
We were delighted to have such a large team at the event and hope everyone had a great time.
We are also delighted with the entire event and thank EMOP, and Cue Club events with special mention to a long list of people including Connie and Matt of course, but also all the TD's and staff who were brilliant.
Role on EMOP Ireland 2012 and other EMOP events around Europe, wishing continued success to all current and future Team Irish Eyes Players.
For pictures of the event see our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Irish-Eyes-Poker/112290065454803?ref=mf
We were delighted to have such a large team at the event and hope everyone had a great time.
We are also delighted with the entire event and thank EMOP, and Cue Club events with special mention to a long list of people including Connie and Matt of course, but also all the TD's and staff who were brilliant.
Role on EMOP Ireland 2012 and other EMOP events around Europe, wishing continued success to all current and future Team Irish Eyes Players.
For pictures of the event see our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Irish-Eyes-Poker/112290065454803?ref=mf
Monday, July 25, 2011
Letter from Doke (25th July)
Hi,
Doke here again. I finally arrived home from Las Vegas on Wednesday, to the news that Eoghan O'Dea had just made the November 9. I had dinner a few times with Eoghan while I was still in the Main event,and railed him for a while on my last day in Vegas. He thoroughly deserves to have made it this far and has the pedigree to go all the way. His making the final table is a tremendous boost for Irish poker.
On Friday I headed to Tramore with Mick Mccloskey for the Waterford Masters. Experience has taught me I tend not to be at my best immediately after Vegas, as it takes a while to readjust to Irish players and playing conditions. So it proved again: although I was happy with how I played on day one which I coasted through with an above average stack, I didn't play well toward the end of day 2 and
ultimately paid the price. I was delighted that my friend Jason Tompkins went on to claim the win. Jason has been telling me for a while now he wanted to actually win a live tournament and get a trophy and after missing Vegas due to illness, he was undoubtedly the hungriest player in the field. Also well done to Connie O'Sullivan who chopped the side event to continue his run of recent form.
I've been getting back into the online grind, and showing signs of rustiness. I found to my horror that initially at least I couldn't handle the number of tables I used to comfortably manage. It seems the slower pace of live poker has slowed down my decision making but I'm sure it's just a matter of getting re-accustomed to online. The 6 week enforced break from online play while in Vegas was my longest ever
since I started playing.
Yesterday I appeared on Dublin City FM's "On The Ball" to talk about Las Vegas, and EMOP Dublin in Clontarf at the end of the week. That's shaping up to be the tournament of the second half of this year. Most of the Irish who played in Vegas indicated they'll be making their return to the live Irish scene in Clontarf, and I also ran into a few Scandis in Vegas who said they were coming too.
With two day ones to choose from, I haven't totally decided which one I'll play, although I'm leaning towards 1b on Friday.
Hopefully there will be a good Team Irish Eyes contingent taking part and Irish Eyes poker are running a special promotion for Team Irish Eyes members where members have access to the Irish Eyes Poker Lounge at the event, have an EMOP Bubble Guarantee (€2,000 EMOP package if going out of Main Event on bubble),and the Last Team Irish Eyes Poker player in EMOP Dublin gets a seat to the next EMOP event for FREE (value €2,000). (Note: to qualify, players must wear provided Irish Eyes Poker polo shirts at the event).
See you in Clontarf.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
--------------------
----------------------------------------------------
Keep up to date my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in July, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€46,500)
July VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Doke here again. I finally arrived home from Las Vegas on Wednesday, to the news that Eoghan O'Dea had just made the November 9. I had dinner a few times with Eoghan while I was still in the Main event,and railed him for a while on my last day in Vegas. He thoroughly deserves to have made it this far and has the pedigree to go all the way. His making the final table is a tremendous boost for Irish poker.
On Friday I headed to Tramore with Mick Mccloskey for the Waterford Masters. Experience has taught me I tend not to be at my best immediately after Vegas, as it takes a while to readjust to Irish players and playing conditions. So it proved again: although I was happy with how I played on day one which I coasted through with an above average stack, I didn't play well toward the end of day 2 and
ultimately paid the price. I was delighted that my friend Jason Tompkins went on to claim the win. Jason has been telling me for a while now he wanted to actually win a live tournament and get a trophy and after missing Vegas due to illness, he was undoubtedly the hungriest player in the field. Also well done to Connie O'Sullivan who chopped the side event to continue his run of recent form.
I've been getting back into the online grind, and showing signs of rustiness. I found to my horror that initially at least I couldn't handle the number of tables I used to comfortably manage. It seems the slower pace of live poker has slowed down my decision making but I'm sure it's just a matter of getting re-accustomed to online. The 6 week enforced break from online play while in Vegas was my longest ever
since I started playing.
Yesterday I appeared on Dublin City FM's "On The Ball" to talk about Las Vegas, and EMOP Dublin in Clontarf at the end of the week. That's shaping up to be the tournament of the second half of this year. Most of the Irish who played in Vegas indicated they'll be making their return to the live Irish scene in Clontarf, and I also ran into a few Scandis in Vegas who said they were coming too.
With two day ones to choose from, I haven't totally decided which one I'll play, although I'm leaning towards 1b on Friday.
Hopefully there will be a good Team Irish Eyes contingent taking part and Irish Eyes poker are running a special promotion for Team Irish Eyes members where members have access to the Irish Eyes Poker Lounge at the event, have an EMOP Bubble Guarantee (€2,000 EMOP package if going out of Main Event on bubble),and the Last Team Irish Eyes Poker player in EMOP Dublin gets a seat to the next EMOP event for FREE (value €2,000). (Note: to qualify, players must wear provided Irish Eyes Poker polo shirts at the event).
See you in Clontarf.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
--------------------
----------------------------------------------------
Keep up to date my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in July, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€46,500)
July VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Monday, July 18, 2011
Letter from Doke (18th July 2011)
Hi,
Doke here again. I'm still in Las Vegas. After making it through to day 3 of the WSOP main event, I had to extend my stay here by a week, so I won't be home now til Wednesday. Unfortunately, I then proceeded to bust 2 hours into day 3 when my aces were cracked by kings. Disappointing end but that's poker: there's no point in getting upset over anything other than your own mistakes. I ran into Padraig
Parkinson shortly afterwards and after remarking to him that I just wished it had happened 2 hours before the end of day 2 instead as it would have saved me the cost of an extra week's hotel and new flight, Parky joked "Basically it's like you made a mini rebuy".
Parky famously said once that the worst day of the year for any serious poker player is the day you get knocked out of the main event. This has been through for me in the past but although I was obviously disappointed, in truth it didn't hurt as much as my exit in the Berlin EPT, maybe because I felt I had a very good chance of at least final tabling that with only 60 players left. With 1800 left in the WSOP ME,
it's way too early to be thinking like that.
It also helped that I still had an interest in the main event in the shapers of Nick Newport and Mark Dalimore. Both went into day 4 (the day the bubble usually bursts) relatively short, but both survived past the bubble into day 5. Mark was still short but Nick had got up to average. Unfortunately, both busted early on day 5. Mark at least had the bonus of being on the TV table (ESPN were showing it on a 30 minute delay), and wound Daniel Negreanu up to the point that he celebrated Mark's demise.
The end of every WSOP is time for honest reflection and preliminary plans for how to get yourself back here in a year in good shape.
Having suffered through 3 WSOP campaigns without a cash, 3 cashes this year to break my duck represents progress. My tentative plans for next year is to play more events with less than 1000 runners, and also to try to get my non-holdem games to where I feel I can compete against the best. Most seasoned experts say that there is much more value in the other games these days than in holdem.
I always find it hard to hang around a poker tournament after I've been knocked out so I checked out of the Rio and headed to the Hilton with Mark for my last few days in Vegas for some decompression. Not too much rest for the wicked though: next Friday I head to Waterford for the Waterford Masters. Hopefully I'll shake off any post-Vegas cobwebs or blues there so I'll hit EMOP Dublin in top shape pokerwise.
If I could pick just one tournament in the rest of 2011 to do really well in, it would be that one.
After 6 weeks away from the online tables, I'm also really looking forward to getting back to the night job.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
----------------------------------------------------
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in July, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€46,500)
July VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Doke here again. I'm still in Las Vegas. After making it through to day 3 of the WSOP main event, I had to extend my stay here by a week, so I won't be home now til Wednesday. Unfortunately, I then proceeded to bust 2 hours into day 3 when my aces were cracked by kings. Disappointing end but that's poker: there's no point in getting upset over anything other than your own mistakes. I ran into Padraig
Parkinson shortly afterwards and after remarking to him that I just wished it had happened 2 hours before the end of day 2 instead as it would have saved me the cost of an extra week's hotel and new flight, Parky joked "Basically it's like you made a mini rebuy".
Parky famously said once that the worst day of the year for any serious poker player is the day you get knocked out of the main event. This has been through for me in the past but although I was obviously disappointed, in truth it didn't hurt as much as my exit in the Berlin EPT, maybe because I felt I had a very good chance of at least final tabling that with only 60 players left. With 1800 left in the WSOP ME,
it's way too early to be thinking like that.
It also helped that I still had an interest in the main event in the shapers of Nick Newport and Mark Dalimore. Both went into day 4 (the day the bubble usually bursts) relatively short, but both survived past the bubble into day 5. Mark was still short but Nick had got up to average. Unfortunately, both busted early on day 5. Mark at least had the bonus of being on the TV table (ESPN were showing it on a 30 minute delay), and wound Daniel Negreanu up to the point that he celebrated Mark's demise.
The end of every WSOP is time for honest reflection and preliminary plans for how to get yourself back here in a year in good shape.
Having suffered through 3 WSOP campaigns without a cash, 3 cashes this year to break my duck represents progress. My tentative plans for next year is to play more events with less than 1000 runners, and also to try to get my non-holdem games to where I feel I can compete against the best. Most seasoned experts say that there is much more value in the other games these days than in holdem.
I always find it hard to hang around a poker tournament after I've been knocked out so I checked out of the Rio and headed to the Hilton with Mark for my last few days in Vegas for some decompression. Not too much rest for the wicked though: next Friday I head to Waterford for the Waterford Masters. Hopefully I'll shake off any post-Vegas cobwebs or blues there so I'll hit EMOP Dublin in top shape pokerwise.
If I could pick just one tournament in the rest of 2011 to do really well in, it would be that one.
After 6 weeks away from the online tables, I'm also really looking forward to getting back to the night job.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
----------------------------------------------------
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in July, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€46,500)
July VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Monday, July 11, 2011
Doke in Las Vegas
Hi,
Doke here again, in Las Vegas at the WSOP.
In the last letter I was hopeful of a genuine deep run in the last 1k event of the series. I came back 13th of the 638 remaining hoping for a genuine deep run. Unfortunately, it was one of those days where nothing goes right and I was knocked out last hand before dinner when I lost a race to get back to where I started the day. A third cash at this year's series but still a big disappointment given how well day 1 had gone.
I played the last 1500 event. Not really too much to be said about it: it was my shortest event, as I ran kings into aces in level 3.
I'd regged for day 1A of the main event which was Thursday. Traditionally the day that gets the lowest numbers, I chose it partially so I could have a few days off before day 2 as I had planned a trip to the Grand Canyon with my friends Mark Dalimore and Mick McCloskey, and my oldest son Paddy.
I was hoping to build a decent stack during the day. It was all going to plan, I was up to 35k (from 30k starting) when a crazy Italian arrived at the table. He started opening for 10 big blinds regularly and betting 3 times pot on the flop. It was clear this strategy wasn't likely to see him last very long and I was just hoping to be the one to catch him. Unfortunately I lost about 10k trying to catch him without ever actually catching him, before he donated his stack to Scott Montgomery, 4 bet shoving almost 200 big blinds with AK into Scott's aces after Scott's very first three bet. Most of the rest of the day came down to me rebuilding slowly only to lose a big pot or have to make a big laydown. I was forced to fold an overpair, two pair and a straight: it seemed like every time I actually made a big hand a bigger one was out there. In the end, I was happy to survive the day with over 16k, the only real plus apart from the fact that I could have gone broke any one of the times I made a big hand but managed to stay disciplined and make the necessary folds.
Day 2A is Monday (8 PM Irish time). With almost 30 bbs it's not panic time yet but I'll be hoping to get off to a fast start.
The road trip to the Grand Canyon was a great experience. We stayed overnight in a small town on the iconic Route 66 where we had good craic in an Irish/Mexican joint called Pancho McGillacuddy's before heading to the Grand Canyon National Park. The canyon is indeed one of the natural wonders of the world and the Americans have done a great job with the park. We also went to a wildlife park called Bearizona on the way back. The bears and wolves were very apathetic much to Mick's annoyance, Mick being a man who likes value for his buck. The rest of us suggested he venture forth from the car with a stick to try to poke some energy into them. We also made a stop at the Hoover Dam on the way back. It was very windy and we kinda felt we were taking our lives into our hands walking across it. But we did anyway.
If I don't make it to day 3 here I'll be flying home Tuesday afternoon. I'm booked to play the Waterford Masters after I get home, and then it's all systems go for EMOP Dublin.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------------------
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in July, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€46,500)
July VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Doke here again, in Las Vegas at the WSOP.
In the last letter I was hopeful of a genuine deep run in the last 1k event of the series. I came back 13th of the 638 remaining hoping for a genuine deep run. Unfortunately, it was one of those days where nothing goes right and I was knocked out last hand before dinner when I lost a race to get back to where I started the day. A third cash at this year's series but still a big disappointment given how well day 1 had gone.
I played the last 1500 event. Not really too much to be said about it: it was my shortest event, as I ran kings into aces in level 3.
I'd regged for day 1A of the main event which was Thursday. Traditionally the day that gets the lowest numbers, I chose it partially so I could have a few days off before day 2 as I had planned a trip to the Grand Canyon with my friends Mark Dalimore and Mick McCloskey, and my oldest son Paddy.
I was hoping to build a decent stack during the day. It was all going to plan, I was up to 35k (from 30k starting) when a crazy Italian arrived at the table. He started opening for 10 big blinds regularly and betting 3 times pot on the flop. It was clear this strategy wasn't likely to see him last very long and I was just hoping to be the one to catch him. Unfortunately I lost about 10k trying to catch him without ever actually catching him, before he donated his stack to Scott Montgomery, 4 bet shoving almost 200 big blinds with AK into Scott's aces after Scott's very first three bet. Most of the rest of the day came down to me rebuilding slowly only to lose a big pot or have to make a big laydown. I was forced to fold an overpair, two pair and a straight: it seemed like every time I actually made a big hand a bigger one was out there. In the end, I was happy to survive the day with over 16k, the only real plus apart from the fact that I could have gone broke any one of the times I made a big hand but managed to stay disciplined and make the necessary folds.
Day 2A is Monday (8 PM Irish time). With almost 30 bbs it's not panic time yet but I'll be hoping to get off to a fast start.
The road trip to the Grand Canyon was a great experience. We stayed overnight in a small town on the iconic Route 66 where we had good craic in an Irish/Mexican joint called Pancho McGillacuddy's before heading to the Grand Canyon National Park. The canyon is indeed one of the natural wonders of the world and the Americans have done a great job with the park. We also went to a wildlife park called Bearizona on the way back. The bears and wolves were very apathetic much to Mick's annoyance, Mick being a man who likes value for his buck. The rest of us suggested he venture forth from the car with a stick to try to poke some energy into them. We also made a stop at the Hoover Dam on the way back. It was very windy and we kinda felt we were taking our lives into our hands walking across it. But we did anyway.
If I don't make it to day 3 here I'll be flying home Tuesday afternoon. I'm booked to play the Waterford Masters after I get home, and then it's all systems go for EMOP Dublin.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------------------
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in July, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€46,500)
July VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Monday, July 04, 2011
Letter from Doke 4th July 2011
Hi,
Doke here again. I'm still in Las Vegas at the WSOP.
Since the last letter I played two more bracelet events, a midweek 1500, and a weekend 1k. I ran pretty badly in the 1500 and exited late on day1. By contrast, I ran very well in the 1k, finishing day 1A with three times the average, and 5th in chips overall. We're back tomorrow (Monday, 10.30 PM Irish time) and I'm hoping to kick on and get a deep run. I have problems tweeting from here but will try to keep any of you who are interested updated on Twitter and Facebook.
In between those two events, I headed downtown to Binions (the spiritual home of holdem, where the WSOP was born) for their main event. Once again I put together a stack early on only to see it disappear in level 12 about 30 from the bubble, losing a 70/30. Downtown Las Vegas is quite an experience, more down to earth than the
sanitised tourist trap that is the Strip.
All work and no play makes Doke a pretty crabby person so I've also done quite a bit of socialising this week. The highlight was Neil Channing inviting me along to a barbeque in his Vegas mansion. The guest list read like a who's who of UK and French poker: Neil knows how to look after people.
A quorum is also now forming most nights at the traditional Irish watering hole in the Rio, Shutters bar. Las Vegas is somewhere it's only too easy to overdo the partying and drinking though, so I'm trying not to do that so to be focused for the main event which starts next Friday. I'm playing day 1A.
My son Paddy is arriving here in a few hours to keep me company for my last couple of weeks here. It's his first time in Vegas so hopefully he'll enjoy it, aside from having to listen to the old man complaining about beats.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in July, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€46,500)
July VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Doke here again. I'm still in Las Vegas at the WSOP.
Since the last letter I played two more bracelet events, a midweek 1500, and a weekend 1k. I ran pretty badly in the 1500 and exited late on day1. By contrast, I ran very well in the 1k, finishing day 1A with three times the average, and 5th in chips overall. We're back tomorrow (Monday, 10.30 PM Irish time) and I'm hoping to kick on and get a deep run. I have problems tweeting from here but will try to keep any of you who are interested updated on Twitter and Facebook.
In between those two events, I headed downtown to Binions (the spiritual home of holdem, where the WSOP was born) for their main event. Once again I put together a stack early on only to see it disappear in level 12 about 30 from the bubble, losing a 70/30. Downtown Las Vegas is quite an experience, more down to earth than the
sanitised tourist trap that is the Strip.
All work and no play makes Doke a pretty crabby person so I've also done quite a bit of socialising this week. The highlight was Neil Channing inviting me along to a barbeque in his Vegas mansion. The guest list read like a who's who of UK and French poker: Neil knows how to look after people.
A quorum is also now forming most nights at the traditional Irish watering hole in the Rio, Shutters bar. Las Vegas is somewhere it's only too easy to overdo the partying and drinking though, so I'm trying not to do that so to be focused for the main event which starts next Friday. I'm playing day 1A.
My son Paddy is arriving here in a few hours to keep me company for my last couple of weeks here. It's his first time in Vegas so hopefully he'll enjoy it, aside from having to listen to the old man complaining about beats.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in July, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€46,500)
July VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Monday, June 27, 2011
Letter from Doke (27th June 2011)
Hi,
Doke here again. I'm halfway through my spell in the desert for the WSOP. My day 2 of the 1k event didn't last very long: 30 minutes in to the day I ran queens into kings and aces. A disappointing end but I was happy to at least break my WSOP duck with a first cash.
Since then I played two more bracelet events, both 1500s, cashing in the latest. For the first time I not only made a day 2 but with a decent stack slightly above average) so I was hoping to kick on. It was still going to plan well after the bubble burst: with 200 left I was above average. Then I lost a big flip for half my stack. My exit hand was pretty horrible, and also quite interesting as it illustrates a very common mistake. I opened to 4700 in the hijack (playing 43k) at 1k/2k/300 ante with jacks. My aggro opponent three bet to 14500 on the button. I shoved and he tanked and eventually decided he dad to call getting over 2 to 1 with ace two off. First card out was a 2, next three were all aces! Although it worked out for him on this occasion my opponent made a pretty bad mistake. Not his call: he eventually worked out he was priced in. His mistake was three betting with a hand that's going to be less than 30% nearly every time I shove. You see this mistake a lot: an aggro player finds an ace on the button and when a tight player raises, thinks "I can raise here and take the pot if he folds". The problem with this logic is that with just over 20 big blinds, any decent tight player is not going to raise fold very often. I'm definitely folding less than 10% of the time when I raise with that stack: even if I am light with something like ace ten or pocket threes or a suited ace, I'm going to hope for the best and push my chips in. And even when I am light, I'm more than 70/30 against a2o.
So a2o is a horrible hand to 3 bet here, particularly when it commits you to call. Paul Jackson calls this “poor equity": you're priced in to call the shove (have the correct equity) but a big dog when it happens. In this spot, my opponent is committing himself to put 43k in as a 9/4 dog when he gets shoved on (about 90% of the time). The 10k he picks up the 10% of the time I fold doesn't compensate for this.
This illustrates an important principle in poker: before you put a chip into any pot you should know what you're going to do if you get played back at.
Although I've cashed in two of my five bracelet events to date, the nature of these events is the big money is up top so I'm actually down a bit on bracelet events. But all you can do is keep getting yourself into a position to run good when it really matters. I have two or three more shots at bracelet events before the main event kicks off next week.
Thanks to everyone who's been following my blog and leaving me comments there and on Facebook. Although I'm looking forward to the rest of my Vegas stay and the main event in particular, I'm also looking forward to getting home, and playing EMOP Dublin in Clontarf Castle. I gather satellites are now in full swing so I hope to see as many of you as possible there.
If you are looking for a live venue to satellite into EMOP Dublin there is a list of clubs taking part in the EMOP Dublin live satellite tour on the Irish Eyes Poker Blog.
It’s a good deal if you qualify in the live sats or online as you get Team Irish Eyes bonuses like Last Man Standing, Bubble guarantee and entry to the Team VIP Lounge at the event.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in June, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€36,000)
Daily VIP Tournaments (€36,000)
June VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Doke here again. I'm halfway through my spell in the desert for the WSOP. My day 2 of the 1k event didn't last very long: 30 minutes in to the day I ran queens into kings and aces. A disappointing end but I was happy to at least break my WSOP duck with a first cash.
Since then I played two more bracelet events, both 1500s, cashing in the latest. For the first time I not only made a day 2 but with a decent stack slightly above average) so I was hoping to kick on. It was still going to plan well after the bubble burst: with 200 left I was above average. Then I lost a big flip for half my stack. My exit hand was pretty horrible, and also quite interesting as it illustrates a very common mistake. I opened to 4700 in the hijack (playing 43k) at 1k/2k/300 ante with jacks. My aggro opponent three bet to 14500 on the button. I shoved and he tanked and eventually decided he dad to call getting over 2 to 1 with ace two off. First card out was a 2, next three were all aces! Although it worked out for him on this occasion my opponent made a pretty bad mistake. Not his call: he eventually worked out he was priced in. His mistake was three betting with a hand that's going to be less than 30% nearly every time I shove. You see this mistake a lot: an aggro player finds an ace on the button and when a tight player raises, thinks "I can raise here and take the pot if he folds". The problem with this logic is that with just over 20 big blinds, any decent tight player is not going to raise fold very often. I'm definitely folding less than 10% of the time when I raise with that stack: even if I am light with something like ace ten or pocket threes or a suited ace, I'm going to hope for the best and push my chips in. And even when I am light, I'm more than 70/30 against a2o.
So a2o is a horrible hand to 3 bet here, particularly when it commits you to call. Paul Jackson calls this “poor equity": you're priced in to call the shove (have the correct equity) but a big dog when it happens. In this spot, my opponent is committing himself to put 43k in as a 9/4 dog when he gets shoved on (about 90% of the time). The 10k he picks up the 10% of the time I fold doesn't compensate for this.
This illustrates an important principle in poker: before you put a chip into any pot you should know what you're going to do if you get played back at.
Although I've cashed in two of my five bracelet events to date, the nature of these events is the big money is up top so I'm actually down a bit on bracelet events. But all you can do is keep getting yourself into a position to run good when it really matters. I have two or three more shots at bracelet events before the main event kicks off next week.
Thanks to everyone who's been following my blog and leaving me comments there and on Facebook. Although I'm looking forward to the rest of my Vegas stay and the main event in particular, I'm also looking forward to getting home, and playing EMOP Dublin in Clontarf Castle. I gather satellites are now in full swing so I hope to see as many of you as possible there.
If you are looking for a live venue to satellite into EMOP Dublin there is a list of clubs taking part in the EMOP Dublin live satellite tour on the Irish Eyes Poker Blog.
It’s a good deal if you qualify in the live sats or online as you get Team Irish Eyes bonuses like Last Man Standing, Bubble guarantee and entry to the Team VIP Lounge at the event.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in June, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€36,000)
Daily VIP Tournaments (€36,000)
June VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
EMOP Dublin Live Satellite Tour
Irish Eyes Poker in association with Cue Club Events have arranged LIVE satellites throughout the country for EMOP Dublin.
All of these satellites come with the following player promotion:
EMOP Live Satellite Tour qualifying players receive:
Membership of Team Irish Eyes Poker including access to the Irish Eyes Poker Lounge at the event.
EMOP Bubble Guarantee (€2,000 EMOP package if going out of Main Event on bubble)
Last Team Irish Eyes Poker player in EMOP Dublin gets a seat to the next EMOP event for FREE (value €2,000)
Plus ALL players that take part in any live EMOP satellite on the tour receive entry to an exclusive online EMOP Freeroll for live EMOP club satellite entrants only, with a prize of an EMOP Dublin seat (value €1,100) FREE.
(Players: please ensure you provide your Irish Eyes Poker username to the live satellite event organisers as it will be the organiser that has responsibilty to provide us with that information).
LIVE SATELLITE TOUR
Poker Ireland Satellites: All at 6pm, all €50 with 1 rebuy and 1 add-on
23rd June Hotel Ballina, Ballina, Co. Mayo
3rd July City North Hotel, Dublin
17th July Cork Airport International Hotel
24th July Stillorgan Park Hotel, Dublin
Contact Stephen McLean for more details.
Fitzwilliam Casino, Dublin: €100 buy-in
7th July
14th July
21st July
Ken Doherty's Snooker Academy, Terenure Cross, Dublin 01 5156092: €50 with 1 rebuy and 1 add-on
8th July 8.30pm
Cue Club, Killarney, contact Con 087 2833343 for details
Jupiter Casino, Roscommon Town. Tuesday 12th July. €100 + 50 rebuy x 1. 8,000 starting stack, 8,000 rebuy. Contact Martin 085 143 2229 for more details
The Castle Card Club, Castlebar, Co. Mayo,contact club for more details
Celtic Poker Tour, contact Liam or Fionn for more details
Atlantis Casino, Carlow. Friday 15th July. Reg 8 start 8.30pm sharp €100 + 10 freezeout.
Eddie Walsh, Kildare. Wednesday 6th July 8.30pm at the River Card Club, Newbridge. €120 F/O. 20 min clock. 20 minute clock. Contact Eddie on 087 1300618 for more details
Adelaide Casino, Sligo, contact the poker manager on 071 9150515 for more details
Cotton Club, Portlaw, Co. Waterford, contact Paddy Shorthall on 087 4155536 for more details
Real Deal Poker Room, Cootehill, Co Cavan. Thursday 21st July @ 8:30 sharp. €110 entry + €15 reg. 20k chips with a progressive clock 20/25mins. All participants Qfy for the Team Irish Eyes package. Contact Damian on 087 7855396 for more details.
The Lighthouse Casino, Athlone, contact club for more details
The Poker Lounge, Waterford, contact club for more details
The Gold Club, Letterkenny,7th July, contact Jimmy on 087 9927523
JP Poker, Molloy's Pub, Tallaght. Sunday 24th July. 4pm . Start. €50 & €10 Reg. 1 Rebuy €50. Starting Chips 5k. Rebuy Chips 7k. Contact JP on 087 6448132 for more details.
The Crystal Casino, Waterford, contact Neil Kelly on 087 2828744 for more details
The White Fort Inn, Belfast, contact Sam on 0044 787 1314771 or Jim on 0044 797 7820907 for more details.
The Fortune Rooms, 1a Valentines Road Bangor, Contact Desi on 0044 793 3239140, for the Cookstown or Barney on 0044 771 4684804.
More information on dates and buy-in's for all games will be added when confirmed by the organisers.
Any operator/club that would like to be involved in this tour please contact us on promotions@irisheyespoker.ie
See you in Dublin!
All of these satellites come with the following player promotion:
EMOP Live Satellite Tour qualifying players receive:
Membership of Team Irish Eyes Poker including access to the Irish Eyes Poker Lounge at the event.
EMOP Bubble Guarantee (€2,000 EMOP package if going out of Main Event on bubble)
Last Team Irish Eyes Poker player in EMOP Dublin gets a seat to the next EMOP event for FREE (value €2,000)
Plus ALL players that take part in any live EMOP satellite on the tour receive entry to an exclusive online EMOP Freeroll for live EMOP club satellite entrants only, with a prize of an EMOP Dublin seat (value €1,100) FREE.
(Players: please ensure you provide your Irish Eyes Poker username to the live satellite event organisers as it will be the organiser that has responsibilty to provide us with that information).
LIVE SATELLITE TOUR
Poker Ireland Satellites: All at 6pm, all €50 with 1 rebuy and 1 add-on
23rd June Hotel Ballina, Ballina, Co. Mayo
3rd July City North Hotel, Dublin
17th July Cork Airport International Hotel
24th July Stillorgan Park Hotel, Dublin
Contact Stephen McLean for more details.
Fitzwilliam Casino, Dublin: €100 buy-in
7th July
14th July
21st July
Ken Doherty's Snooker Academy, Terenure Cross, Dublin 01 5156092: €50 with 1 rebuy and 1 add-on
8th July 8.30pm
Cue Club, Killarney, contact Con 087 2833343 for details
Jupiter Casino, Roscommon Town. Tuesday 12th July. €100 + 50 rebuy x 1. 8,000 starting stack, 8,000 rebuy. Contact Martin 085 143 2229 for more details
The Castle Card Club, Castlebar, Co. Mayo,contact club for more details
Celtic Poker Tour, contact Liam or Fionn for more details
Atlantis Casino, Carlow. Friday 15th July. Reg 8 start 8.30pm sharp €100 + 10 freezeout.
Eddie Walsh, Kildare. Wednesday 6th July 8.30pm at the River Card Club, Newbridge. €120 F/O. 20 min clock. 20 minute clock. Contact Eddie on 087 1300618 for more details
Adelaide Casino, Sligo, contact the poker manager on 071 9150515 for more details
Cotton Club, Portlaw, Co. Waterford, contact Paddy Shorthall on 087 4155536 for more details
Real Deal Poker Room, Cootehill, Co Cavan. Thursday 21st July @ 8:30 sharp. €110 entry + €15 reg. 20k chips with a progressive clock 20/25mins. All participants Qfy for the Team Irish Eyes package. Contact Damian on 087 7855396 for more details.
The Lighthouse Casino, Athlone, contact club for more details
The Poker Lounge, Waterford, contact club for more details
The Gold Club, Letterkenny,7th July, contact Jimmy on 087 9927523
JP Poker, Molloy's Pub, Tallaght. Sunday 24th July. 4pm . Start. €50 & €10 Reg. 1 Rebuy €50. Starting Chips 5k. Rebuy Chips 7k. Contact JP on 087 6448132 for more details.
The Crystal Casino, Waterford, contact Neil Kelly on 087 2828744 for more details
The White Fort Inn, Belfast, contact Sam on 0044 787 1314771 or Jim on 0044 797 7820907 for more details.
The Fortune Rooms, 1a Valentines Road Bangor, Contact Desi on 0044 793 3239140, for the Cookstown or Barney on 0044 771 4684804.
More information on dates and buy-in's for all games will be added when confirmed by the organisers.
Any operator/club that would like to be involved in this tour please contact us on promotions@irisheyespoker.ie
See you in Dublin!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Letter from Doke (21st June 2011)
Hi,
Doke here. I'm still in Vegas at the WSOP. Overall it's been a pretty good week for me. I played two more $1500 bracelet events and although I didn't trouble the scorers I was happy with my play. I'm putting together stacks early doors more readily in these this year: I've generally been increasing my stack early on by 100 to 400 per cent. The nature of these events that have to whittle down 3000 runners plus to a winner in three days means you need to win flips from fairly on, and that's where I've been falling down so far.
I did get a number of results in smaller non bracelet invents, including a win in the nightly turbo. While I'd prefer to get my run good in a bracelet event, you can't really choose what tournaments you're going to run well in, and it's always nice to win a tournament whatever it is.
I also played my first 1K event. Actually, played is the wrong tense as I'm still in the event, going back to play day 2 in a few hours. The bubble broke at the end of day 1 so it marks my first cash in a bracelet event. It's good to have broken that particular duck: I ran into Andy Grimasson at the break and he told me he's now played 35 or
36 events without a cash. Andy's a great tournament player: it just shows that no matter how good you are, you need luck on your side, or at least not against you.
I go back a bit below average with just over 20 big blinds hoping to kick on now I have the "never cashed at WSOP" monkey off my back.
This Vegas campaign has a very different feel to it. In the aftermath to the FBI's crackdown on Stars, Tilt and Ultimate Bet, the absence of logos has been very striking. Most of the time my Team Irish Eyes polo is the only logo at the table. The big sites have no lounges here this year, and no lavish parties. People are also approaching the poker much more seriously: less drinking and socialising, more early nights. I did score an invite to one of the few big parties here this year: Bill Chen's pool party next week. Bill wrote one of my favourite books on poker, "The Mathematics of Poker".
I also celebrated my birthday during the week with a couple of drinks with my friend Mark Dalimore and Irish poker legend Padraig Parkinson. Padraig's one of the few Irish players going well in this series, having notched up a few cashes already.
I was following updates from the Irish Eyes Northern Open. Sounds like it was a great event and well done to Stephen Sammon who came 7th and to my good friend Connie O'Sullivan for figuring in the chop. Connie's an example of a great player who just hasn't been getting the breaks lately, so it's great to see him get a decent cash. Another example is my friend and fellow Wexfordman Andrew Dwyer, also a Team Irish Eyes member, who went deep in UKIPT Newcastle. My amigo Feargal "Midnite Kowby" also finished a very creditable fourth in the side event there. Great to see so many Team Irish Eyes players doing well in the runup to EMOP Dublin and I see a good many clubs around the country are signing up to run satellites on the Irish Eyes EMOP Live Satellite tour. (http://www.irishpokerboards.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9599)
While I'm in Vegas I've been updating my blog more frequently than normal, every day or two. I've been overwhelmed by the reaction so far with so many people taking the time to tell me how much they enjoy it, which makes it all worth while. Neil Channing sent me a message earlier inviting me to meet him for a coffee in the Rio and to tell me how much he's enjoying the blog.
I'm still missing playing online and the nightly tournaments on Irish Eyes. As soon as I get home I also intend to get cracking on qualifying for EMOP Dublin.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in June, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€36,000)
Daily VIP Tournaments (€36,000)
June VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Doke here. I'm still in Vegas at the WSOP. Overall it's been a pretty good week for me. I played two more $1500 bracelet events and although I didn't trouble the scorers I was happy with my play. I'm putting together stacks early doors more readily in these this year: I've generally been increasing my stack early on by 100 to 400 per cent. The nature of these events that have to whittle down 3000 runners plus to a winner in three days means you need to win flips from fairly on, and that's where I've been falling down so far.
I did get a number of results in smaller non bracelet invents, including a win in the nightly turbo. While I'd prefer to get my run good in a bracelet event, you can't really choose what tournaments you're going to run well in, and it's always nice to win a tournament whatever it is.
I also played my first 1K event. Actually, played is the wrong tense as I'm still in the event, going back to play day 2 in a few hours. The bubble broke at the end of day 1 so it marks my first cash in a bracelet event. It's good to have broken that particular duck: I ran into Andy Grimasson at the break and he told me he's now played 35 or
36 events without a cash. Andy's a great tournament player: it just shows that no matter how good you are, you need luck on your side, or at least not against you.
I go back a bit below average with just over 20 big blinds hoping to kick on now I have the "never cashed at WSOP" monkey off my back.
This Vegas campaign has a very different feel to it. In the aftermath to the FBI's crackdown on Stars, Tilt and Ultimate Bet, the absence of logos has been very striking. Most of the time my Team Irish Eyes polo is the only logo at the table. The big sites have no lounges here this year, and no lavish parties. People are also approaching the poker much more seriously: less drinking and socialising, more early nights. I did score an invite to one of the few big parties here this year: Bill Chen's pool party next week. Bill wrote one of my favourite books on poker, "The Mathematics of Poker".
I also celebrated my birthday during the week with a couple of drinks with my friend Mark Dalimore and Irish poker legend Padraig Parkinson. Padraig's one of the few Irish players going well in this series, having notched up a few cashes already.
I was following updates from the Irish Eyes Northern Open. Sounds like it was a great event and well done to Stephen Sammon who came 7th and to my good friend Connie O'Sullivan for figuring in the chop. Connie's an example of a great player who just hasn't been getting the breaks lately, so it's great to see him get a decent cash. Another example is my friend and fellow Wexfordman Andrew Dwyer, also a Team Irish Eyes member, who went deep in UKIPT Newcastle. My amigo Feargal "Midnite Kowby" also finished a very creditable fourth in the side event there. Great to see so many Team Irish Eyes players doing well in the runup to EMOP Dublin and I see a good many clubs around the country are signing up to run satellites on the Irish Eyes EMOP Live Satellite tour. (http://www.irishpokerboards.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9599)
While I'm in Vegas I've been updating my blog more frequently than normal, every day or two. I've been overwhelmed by the reaction so far with so many people taking the time to tell me how much they enjoy it, which makes it all worth while. Neil Channing sent me a message earlier inviting me to meet him for a coffee in the Rio and to tell me how much he's enjoying the blog.
I'm still missing playing online and the nightly tournaments on Irish Eyes. As soon as I get home I also intend to get cracking on qualifying for EMOP Dublin.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in June, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€36,000)
Daily VIP Tournaments (€36,000)
June VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Super Poker Event of Europe
Super Poker Event of Europe with €1.4 million prizepool is on in Dublin next February. Win your seat in the new online satellite series from only €2 on Irish Eyes Poker.com. See www.superpokerevent.com for more details.
Letter from Doke (13th June 2011)
Hi,
Doke here. I'm in Vegas at the WSOP. I feel this to be something of an
achievement in itself as late last Tuesday I found myself in Heathrow
wondering why my Virgin Atlantic flight to Vegas wasn't appearing on
screens, only to realise that the reason was fairly simple: the flight
was from Gatwick. A couple of trains later and I was at least in the
right airport, if not quite the right terminal.
After 30 hours of travel, I was wrecked enough to pass out immediately
in my hotel room in the Gold Coast. The rest must have done me good
though as I woke up full of beans (but starving!) and ready to get my
fourth WSOP campaign on the road.
It started in the $1500 event that kicked off last Saturday. I got
through day one but was shortish with just under 12k. A few times I
was getting a stack together only to lose a big one. Day 2 didn't last
very long: I got in with AK against QT and lost not that far off the
bubble. Hopefully things will get better from here.
I'm missing online like a sick addicted man misses whatever it is he's
addicted to. Apart from my favourite nightly mtts on Irish Eyes I
talked about last week, I was also enjoying the superturbo stts. My
first year as a pro was spent grinding stts, mainly on Ipoker, Tilt
and Stars. Like many others, I eventually gave this up as not that
good a way to scratch out a living, bowing to the fact that rising
standards made them beatable by smaller and smaller margins. But I
still love a good sit n go so I decided to investigate the ones on
Irish Eyes. To my delight, I found them as soft as these things used
to be on other sites a few years ago. I did recognise a few
screennames as old regs I used to play with on Ipoker: they obviously
have found this secret corner where stts are still very profitable and
are doing their best to keep quiet about it. But keeping my mouth shut
has never been a strong point of mine, so I'm prepared to be the
whistleblower on this one. In particular, I'd suggest the superturbo 6
mans as a great way to grind up a roll quickly: they're over so fast
you can bang out a lot of them in an evening, and with rakeback they
should be very profitable for anyone who plays push/fold well.
While I'm in Vegas I'm planning to update my blog more frequently than
normal, every day or two. This will probably give the blog more of a
Dear Diary feel than normal, but hopefully it'll be of interest to at
least a few of you.
Best of luck to all the Team playing in the Irish Eyes Poker Northern Open this weekend in Dundalk. And to Team Pro Paul Lucey who coming to Vegas next week.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in June, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€36,000)
Daily VIP Tournaments (€36,000)
June VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Doke here. I'm in Vegas at the WSOP. I feel this to be something of an
achievement in itself as late last Tuesday I found myself in Heathrow
wondering why my Virgin Atlantic flight to Vegas wasn't appearing on
screens, only to realise that the reason was fairly simple: the flight
was from Gatwick. A couple of trains later and I was at least in the
right airport, if not quite the right terminal.
After 30 hours of travel, I was wrecked enough to pass out immediately
in my hotel room in the Gold Coast. The rest must have done me good
though as I woke up full of beans (but starving!) and ready to get my
fourth WSOP campaign on the road.
It started in the $1500 event that kicked off last Saturday. I got
through day one but was shortish with just under 12k. A few times I
was getting a stack together only to lose a big one. Day 2 didn't last
very long: I got in with AK against QT and lost not that far off the
bubble. Hopefully things will get better from here.
I'm missing online like a sick addicted man misses whatever it is he's
addicted to. Apart from my favourite nightly mtts on Irish Eyes I
talked about last week, I was also enjoying the superturbo stts. My
first year as a pro was spent grinding stts, mainly on Ipoker, Tilt
and Stars. Like many others, I eventually gave this up as not that
good a way to scratch out a living, bowing to the fact that rising
standards made them beatable by smaller and smaller margins. But I
still love a good sit n go so I decided to investigate the ones on
Irish Eyes. To my delight, I found them as soft as these things used
to be on other sites a few years ago. I did recognise a few
screennames as old regs I used to play with on Ipoker: they obviously
have found this secret corner where stts are still very profitable and
are doing their best to keep quiet about it. But keeping my mouth shut
has never been a strong point of mine, so I'm prepared to be the
whistleblower on this one. In particular, I'd suggest the superturbo 6
mans as a great way to grind up a roll quickly: they're over so fast
you can bang out a lot of them in an evening, and with rakeback they
should be very profitable for anyone who plays push/fold well.
While I'm in Vegas I'm planning to update my blog more frequently than
normal, every day or two. This will probably give the blog more of a
Dear Diary feel than normal, but hopefully it'll be of interest to at
least a few of you.
Best of luck to all the Team playing in the Irish Eyes Poker Northern Open this weekend in Dundalk. And to Team Pro Paul Lucey who coming to Vegas next week.
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
Keep up to date on how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in June, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€36,000)
Daily VIP Tournaments (€36,000)
June VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Monday, June 06, 2011
Letter from Doke (6th June 2011)
Hi,
Doke here. I'm heading to Vegas for the WSOP this week. Over the next
few weeks, I'll be keeping you all updated as to how I'm getting on
over there and also on Irish Eyes news.
I've settled into a fairly steady nightly routine playing mtts on
Irish Eyes. My favourite is the main €10K game that starts at 8. I've
had a lot of success in this in recent weeks and this week got my
first actual win in it, or to be more precise, 4 way chop. I don't
usually agree to chops online but the other 3 players left at that
stage were all pretty good so I reckoned it was going to come down to
flips and coolers. I also had the disadvantage of being to the
immediate left of the most aggressive player on the table. I wasn't
enjoying the fact that he was reraising me almost every time which
meant I was either going to have to wait for a hand against him, or
make a big risky move without a hand that could come a cropper if my
timing was off and he actually had a hand. The final factor was that
this was the last tournament of my evening session to finish (which
tells you how good the structure is) and Mrs. Doke was getting
impatient about dinner :)
For those of you who like faster tournaments (and I love a good turbo
myself), there are two good €10 rebuys that start at half six and
twenty five past seven that are great craic and very good value. I
also had a go at qualifying for EMOPS Dublin on Irish Eyes during the
week. I made the final table with a decent stack, but then lost two
races in quick succession (the second and fatal one to well known
Irish player Tony Baitson). So I'll have to give that another crack
when I get back from Vegas.
Live, I played the CPT grand final in Carlow. I never really got a
stack going but hung in as long as I could. I eventually busted about
a dozen or so from the bubble, but I enjoyed the weekend. Last year I
lost a flip in this event 4 handed to eventual winner Sean
Prendeville. Sean went on to claim the title and chop the money with
Jason Tompkins. As many of you may know, Jason is in bad health at the
moment and required an operation during the week. Jason's one of my
favourite people in Irish poker and I'm gutted for him that he can't
make Vegas this year but I know he'll be back.
I also ran into my Irish Eyes team mate Paul Lucey in Carlow and we
talked about our plans for Vegas.
The other highlight of the week was claiming a so called Triple Crown.
This means nothing to most people, and you get nothing for winning
one, but means a lot in terms of bragging rights for serious online
mtt players. To win one, you have to win three big tournaments on
three different sites in a 7 day period as verified by online site
Pocket Fives. Someone told me I am the first Irish player to have won
one, but I don't know if this is true.
On Sunday afternoon, I appeared on Dublin City FM's afternoon sports
show to talk about the WSOP. This was my second appearance on the show
and I look forward to making more when I get back from Vegas.
In addition to this weekly letter to Irish Eyes players, you can keep
up to date how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in June, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€36,000)
Daily VIP Tournaments (€36,000)
June VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Doke here. I'm heading to Vegas for the WSOP this week. Over the next
few weeks, I'll be keeping you all updated as to how I'm getting on
over there and also on Irish Eyes news.
I've settled into a fairly steady nightly routine playing mtts on
Irish Eyes. My favourite is the main €10K game that starts at 8. I've
had a lot of success in this in recent weeks and this week got my
first actual win in it, or to be more precise, 4 way chop. I don't
usually agree to chops online but the other 3 players left at that
stage were all pretty good so I reckoned it was going to come down to
flips and coolers. I also had the disadvantage of being to the
immediate left of the most aggressive player on the table. I wasn't
enjoying the fact that he was reraising me almost every time which
meant I was either going to have to wait for a hand against him, or
make a big risky move without a hand that could come a cropper if my
timing was off and he actually had a hand. The final factor was that
this was the last tournament of my evening session to finish (which
tells you how good the structure is) and Mrs. Doke was getting
impatient about dinner :)
For those of you who like faster tournaments (and I love a good turbo
myself), there are two good €10 rebuys that start at half six and
twenty five past seven that are great craic and very good value. I
also had a go at qualifying for EMOPS Dublin on Irish Eyes during the
week. I made the final table with a decent stack, but then lost two
races in quick succession (the second and fatal one to well known
Irish player Tony Baitson). So I'll have to give that another crack
when I get back from Vegas.
Live, I played the CPT grand final in Carlow. I never really got a
stack going but hung in as long as I could. I eventually busted about
a dozen or so from the bubble, but I enjoyed the weekend. Last year I
lost a flip in this event 4 handed to eventual winner Sean
Prendeville. Sean went on to claim the title and chop the money with
Jason Tompkins. As many of you may know, Jason is in bad health at the
moment and required an operation during the week. Jason's one of my
favourite people in Irish poker and I'm gutted for him that he can't
make Vegas this year but I know he'll be back.
I also ran into my Irish Eyes team mate Paul Lucey in Carlow and we
talked about our plans for Vegas.
The other highlight of the week was claiming a so called Triple Crown.
This means nothing to most people, and you get nothing for winning
one, but means a lot in terms of bragging rights for serious online
mtt players. To win one, you have to win three big tournaments on
three different sites in a 7 day period as verified by online site
Pocket Fives. Someone told me I am the first Irish player to have won
one, but I don't know if this is true.
On Sunday afternoon, I appeared on Dublin City FM's afternoon sports
show to talk about the WSOP. This was my second appearance on the show
and I look forward to making more when I get back from Vegas.
In addition to this weekly letter to Irish Eyes players, you can keep
up to date how I'm getting on in Vegas on my blog
(http://dokearney.blogspot.com/) and on Twitter (daraokearney).
Good luck at the tables - unless I'm at the same table :)
Doke
------------
For details on all Irish Eyes Poker promotions in June, including:
Iron Man Dublin Promotion (€20,000)
Summer Freerolls (€36,000)
Daily VIP Tournaments (€36,000)
June VIP Matrix Promotion
See http://www.irisheyespoker.com/en/Poker/Promotions/monthly-promotions.aspx
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Dara 'Doke' O'Kearney New Team Captain
Irish Eyes Poker are delighted to annouce Dublin card shark Dara 'Doke' O'Kearney is the new captain of our growing poker team.
Since winning the European Deepstack Championship in 2008, Doke has established himself as one of Ireland's top tournament players and one of the more consistent Irish performers on the European circuit.
Despite learning the game less than four years ago, and despite never depositing a cent online, he has already notched up more than $1 million in lifetime tournament cashes on the internet, and more than $300,000 live.
O'Kearney, 45, is a former international elite distance athlete -- he won the prestigious 60-kilometre New York Road Runners ultra marathon in 2007 -- and he now hopes to run good representing Irish Eyes Poker.
The father-of-three commented: "I look forward to meeting all Team Irish Eyes Poker representatives at the European Masters of Poker event in Dublin in July.
"I'll be there to help our crew with coaching and advice in the run-up to the EMOP, so as to give local players the best possible chance to get a good result."
Doke will also be personally emailing all Irish Eyes Poker players with updates, news and strategy tips.
Irish Eyes Poker chief Steven Merrick last night welcomed O'Kearney to the team.
He said: "We're delighted to have Dara on board, we've been monitoring his performances online for some time and we feel certain he's the best man to captain our crew.
"His online results are nothing short of phenomenal and he's also hugely respected on the live baize all around Europe."
Players can keep up to date on Team Irish Eyes Poker promotions and EMOP events by reading Doke's blog at http://dokearney.blogspot.com/.
You can find Doke playing the many guaranteed tournaments each night on Irish Eyes Poker.
Welcome on board Captain.
Since winning the European Deepstack Championship in 2008, Doke has established himself as one of Ireland's top tournament players and one of the more consistent Irish performers on the European circuit.
Despite learning the game less than four years ago, and despite never depositing a cent online, he has already notched up more than $1 million in lifetime tournament cashes on the internet, and more than $300,000 live.
O'Kearney, 45, is a former international elite distance athlete -- he won the prestigious 60-kilometre New York Road Runners ultra marathon in 2007 -- and he now hopes to run good representing Irish Eyes Poker.
The father-of-three commented: "I look forward to meeting all Team Irish Eyes Poker representatives at the European Masters of Poker event in Dublin in July.
"I'll be there to help our crew with coaching and advice in the run-up to the EMOP, so as to give local players the best possible chance to get a good result."
Doke will also be personally emailing all Irish Eyes Poker players with updates, news and strategy tips.
Irish Eyes Poker chief Steven Merrick last night welcomed O'Kearney to the team.
He said: "We're delighted to have Dara on board, we've been monitoring his performances online for some time and we feel certain he's the best man to captain our crew.
"His online results are nothing short of phenomenal and he's also hugely respected on the live baize all around Europe."
Players can keep up to date on Team Irish Eyes Poker promotions and EMOP events by reading Doke's blog at http://dokearney.blogspot.com/.
You can find Doke playing the many guaranteed tournaments each night on Irish Eyes Poker.
Welcome on board Captain.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
News from Irish Eyes Poker
There's lots going on at Irish Eyes Poker these days what with D-Day Poker, EMOP Lisbon this month and EMOP Ireland coming in July. Plus we have some great new promotions for March including Raked Hand Races, EMOP Iron Man freerolls, Triple Aces & Pairs and Quads added money, and our new Fantasy Football Betting.
Plus we welcome our new UK Partners Team Blue Blood Poker, and new casino and card club partners - the Bank Casinos Cork and Tipperary, and Duff's Card Rooms Bournemouth, Southamption and Basingstoke.
March Madness
Big money to be won in March on these promotions:
€10,000 RAKED HANDS RACE
€15,000 TEXAS TRIPLE ACES
TEXAS TRIPLE SAME PAIR
OMAHA QUAD ACES / OMAHA HIGH QUADS
€12,000 EMOP LISBON IRON MAN
EMOP Lisbon 23rd to 26th March The second stop for EMOP season III will bring us to the Casino Estoril in Lisbon, Portugal, and takes place between the 23rd and the 26th of March 2011.
Satellites online now for €2, €5, €10, €100, €200. Win your package worth €2000 including buy-in, 4 nights hotel accomadation, €350 travel expenses, and Irish Eyes Poker hospitality at the event.
D-Day Poker April 1st: Where will you be playing?
D-Day Poker is an exciting new poker tournament on the Irish Poker calendar. D-Day starts on April 1st 2011 and will see over 100 venues jointly host D-Day 1 Live. For an entry fee of only €60 you can compete in a local game for a prizepool of €100,000est.
See where your local game is on or register your club, pub or home game today and play in what could be Europe's largest event poker tournament in you local game.
EMOP Ireland July 2011
Irish Eyes Poker and Cue Club Events are delighted to announce that The European Masters of Poker will take place in the luxurious setting of Clontarf Castle Hotel Dublin on July 28th-31st 2011.
The main event is €1000+€100 and will be supported by a full programme of side events. A more detailed programme will be announced later. Online sats will be on Irish Eyes Poker and there will be live satellites in selected clubs and casinos around Ireland.
Weekly Fantasty Football betting. Win €100's for as little as €2.
Football fans....check out the new betting site for fantasty football. Weekly guaranteed prizepools starting at €1,000.
Join up, choose your dream Premiership team, place your stake and compete against other fantasy football team managers each week for big money prizes.
Visit www.irisheyesfootball.com for more.
Team Blue Blood joins up with Irish Eyes Poker
Irish Eyes Poker welcome our new partners in the UK, Team Blue Blood Poker.
Team Blue Blood are a team formed of players to promote the great game and to learn from each other and teach. Founder members of the team are: Peter Wigglesworth AKA semtex, Graham Pound AKA the wizzard, Karl Lorenzo AKA the cod father, Craig Mariner AKA the wiltshire warrior. Newest players to join the team are Tim Timotheou and Carloine Cove. Read their new Blue Blood Team blog at http://teamblueblood.blogspot.com
Plus we offer a 100% first deposit bonus up to €1000 and up to 45% rake back.
See you at the tables.
Plus we welcome our new UK Partners Team Blue Blood Poker, and new casino and card club partners - the Bank Casinos Cork and Tipperary, and Duff's Card Rooms Bournemouth, Southamption and Basingstoke.
March Madness
Big money to be won in March on these promotions:
€10,000 RAKED HANDS RACE
€15,000 TEXAS TRIPLE ACES
TEXAS TRIPLE SAME PAIR
OMAHA QUAD ACES / OMAHA HIGH QUADS
€12,000 EMOP LISBON IRON MAN
EMOP Lisbon 23rd to 26th March The second stop for EMOP season III will bring us to the Casino Estoril in Lisbon, Portugal, and takes place between the 23rd and the 26th of March 2011.
Satellites online now for €2, €5, €10, €100, €200. Win your package worth €2000 including buy-in, 4 nights hotel accomadation, €350 travel expenses, and Irish Eyes Poker hospitality at the event.
D-Day Poker April 1st: Where will you be playing?
D-Day Poker is an exciting new poker tournament on the Irish Poker calendar. D-Day starts on April 1st 2011 and will see over 100 venues jointly host D-Day 1 Live. For an entry fee of only €60 you can compete in a local game for a prizepool of €100,000est.
See where your local game is on or register your club, pub or home game today and play in what could be Europe's largest event poker tournament in you local game.
EMOP Ireland July 2011
Irish Eyes Poker and Cue Club Events are delighted to announce that The European Masters of Poker will take place in the luxurious setting of Clontarf Castle Hotel Dublin on July 28th-31st 2011.
The main event is €1000+€100 and will be supported by a full programme of side events. A more detailed programme will be announced later. Online sats will be on Irish Eyes Poker and there will be live satellites in selected clubs and casinos around Ireland.
Weekly Fantasty Football betting. Win €100's for as little as €2.
Football fans....check out the new betting site for fantasty football. Weekly guaranteed prizepools starting at €1,000.
Join up, choose your dream Premiership team, place your stake and compete against other fantasy football team managers each week for big money prizes.
Visit www.irisheyesfootball.com for more.
Team Blue Blood joins up with Irish Eyes Poker
Irish Eyes Poker welcome our new partners in the UK, Team Blue Blood Poker.
Team Blue Blood are a team formed of players to promote the great game and to learn from each other and teach. Founder members of the team are: Peter Wigglesworth AKA semtex, Graham Pound AKA the wizzard, Karl Lorenzo AKA the cod father, Craig Mariner AKA the wiltshire warrior. Newest players to join the team are Tim Timotheou and Carloine Cove. Read their new Blue Blood Team blog at http://teamblueblood.blogspot.com
Plus we offer a 100% first deposit bonus up to €1000 and up to 45% rake back.
See you at the tables.
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