Apr 29th - €50+€10 Pot Limit Omaha/Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

After a weeks hiatus I take part in an event as part of Fitzwilliam clubs poker festival the €50 Pot Limit Hold'Em / Omaha and for some reason I can't quite fathom I managed to finish in 8th spot for a €300 payout. I say I can't fathom it cos apart from ONE hand where my chip stack doubled from 7.5k to 15k in the OMAHA I had absolutely NO cards. In the Hold'Em the best hand I got was As Js and in the OMAHA the best hand I had was the NUT FLUSH that got busted on the river by a full house and thats what knocked me out of the tournament. Once I had my 15k in chips I sat there and sat there. Round after round I couldn't find ANY cards to play with. Round after round I would ante away and then sit for another 7 or 8 hands until it was time to ante again. With 11 left, and 10 spots paid, I had 4000 left. I went all-in on my BB and for some reason the only other player in the hand passed 22. Whilst in 10th spot I get upto 10k with a split pot in OMAHA. Two players get busted and I'm looking at Ah 10h Jc 2c in the OMAHA round and with blinds at 1.5k - 3k I go all-in andget called by monster chip stack Norman Walsh. He has A-Q-5-5. The flop is Kh 9h 6d. The 5h falls on the turn giving me nut flush in hears but Norman 3 5's. The 9d falls on the river giving Norman more chips and me €300. Wow...that puts me back in profit for the month...I think I'll turn pro!!

73 Entries - 8th - Win $390 - Nett win - $182 after 2 rebuys - Acc Total +$83.50

Apr 22nd - €50+€5 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

Blah blah blah and more blah than you can shake a stick at! Its been a depressing old week for me at cards (since last Friday) and there's really not a lot you can do about the times youu're not hitting cards or that nomatter how far ahead you are with 1 card to come you always seem to end up on your backside once the river card appears. Its been one of those weeks. Tonight I played approx 10 hands. Some highlights were 7-7 (won), K-J beaten by A-J when a Jack appeared on the flop, A-K beaten by 7-7 on a flop of 2-4-6-7-9, 3-3 beaten by 9-9 etc etc. No...when things aren't going well they tend to stay that way for a while. Time for a break from all this depression methinks!!

81 Entries - 65th - Win $0 - Lose $143 (1 rebuy) - Acc Total -$98.50

Apr 21st - €50+€5 NL Hold'Em - Red Cow Hotel (Dublin)

Almost 200 runners and a great prize pool. What more could you ask for? Well a bit of luck for a start. After getting my first chunk of chips up from 4k to almost 8k the wheels fell off and within the space of 20 mins it was all over for me rebuy and all. It all started when I held the Ad 7d and saw a flop of As 7s 5h. Weeee...I thought lucky me! Two pair. I bet out 1000 and was called by one player. The Jc fell next and it was checked to me. I launch an all-iner and was immediatley called by player holding A-Q no flush draw. The river brought another Jack and I lost half my chips as A-A-J-J-Q beats A-A-J-J-7!! A few hands later I get AQ and raise to 1000. I get two callers. Flop comes A-9-6. No problem...I'm all-in and get the two callers. No further betting took place as the turn brought an EIGHT then a TEN. One player flips A-Q (same as me) but some fruit has 9-9 in hand for a set! Booooooo!! Ok...rebuy time! Three hands into that I get Ad 8d. I call the 200 ante's and the player to my immediate left goes all-in for 900 points. Three more players call before it gets back to me so I decide to make it more interesting by going all-in for 3900. I get one caller who flips J-10. The initial raiser has A-A but the side pot looks good to win. The flop comes 4-7-8-J-J and the player who called my all-in bet with J-T ends up with around 10K and I'm on my way out of the door. Stupid game!!

180+ Entries - ??? - Win $0 - Lose $136.50 (1 rebuy) - Acc Total +$44.50

Apr 18th - €100+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

Pairs & more pairs. Infact I've never seen so many in such a short amount of time. Trouble was that all, bar one, got smacked up on the flop by the appearence of an Ace (when my pair was small & fragile) so once the betting started then that was that. The evening had started so well as well. Three hands in I get a pair of 4's which turns into a set which wins me 1000 points. From then on though it was all downhill and rapidly so. My next pair was 8's. I CALL a 500 bet but give it up once the flop comes A-J-6 and the betting starts. Next pair is 4's again. Nada on the flop and another 500 points light. I make a full house but is no good against a BIGGER full house. Another 1200 points gone. I get Ac-5c. Raise to 500...get three callers and the flop comes 8h-Jh-Qs. Another loss. Fours AGAIN!! Another call for 400 and AGAIN an Ace on the flop and betting...doh!! So I'm down to 1075 in no time at all which I lash into the pot and get two callers. Flop is 9h-6h-3h-7c-Jd. Someone flips K-K and its goodnight Vienna! So frustrating!! So home I go and play in the 4000 runner FREEROLL on Paradise Poker for a seat in the GRAND FINAL on May 1st. Top 50 runners get a seat! I finish 50th and with 407 points left I squeak in! Its a funny old world!

70 Entries - 59th - Win $0 - Lose $143 (0 rebuys) - Acc Total +$181

Apr 17th - €20+€5 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

A decent turnout of 50+ players for tonights €20 NL game. At the break, and after the top-up, I had about 7k in chips which wasn't so bad but within 4 hands of that I was gone. Two hands after the break I get Qc-Th in the BB. Antes are 100/200 and there's no raise. The flop comes 8h-Qh-2h giving me top pair and a decent high flush draw. I immediatelty bet 300 but Shaun, one of my ex-pupils from Pokerschool, raised it back to 600! I called. The 10d fell on the turn. So here was my thinking...I now have top two pair and I'm pretty much committed to the pot as, with a decent flush draw as well, I'm feeling in good about my chances. I go all-in. Well of course Shaun calls for all his chips leaving me around 1400. He flips Jh-9h leaving me with only 4 outs (2 Q's & 2 T's). The 2d falls on the river and I ship over my chips...booo hiss!! Two hands later and, in late position, I get Qc 7c. I call the 200. Flop comes 4c-5d-6h. I bet 300 and Shaun re-raises me all-in. Oh well! I call and he has 7-3 offsuit in the BB!! Argh! No 8 comes to my rescue and I'm gone. Ho hum!!

53 Entries - 44th - Win $0 - Lose $110.50 (3 rebuys) - Acc Total +$324

Apr 16th - €15+€5 Pot Limit Hold'Em/Omaha - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

Saturday night is the fun night. As each OMAHA round comes along the idea, during the rebuy period anyway, is to stick all your chips in with any old shite and pray. Tonight was no different! I attempted to accumulate chips via this method but for some unknown reason the hands that had stood up last night seemed to NOT stand up tonight and hands like Q-J-2-4 were squashed with hands like A-A-T-3 etc etc. I mean...whats all that about? At the start of the 'play proper' session I had 5K in chips but made no headway as the pots continued to obscure the middle of the table but were pulled in a direction not consistant with my own position and so it was my €80 went west as did I just before midnight!!

42 Entries - 17th - Win $0 - Lose $104 (4 rebuys) - Acc Total -$434.50

Apr 15th - €50+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

At last...a night when most things went my way. I bet when I had the best hand (and everyone would pass) and I would get out of the way when I thought I was behind. (Passed A-Q TWICE!!) Made two full houses against good other hands and got paid off and generally the cards co-operated and I gouged out 3rd place. At the break I had around 10K in chips (from a start of 2.9k) and with my top-up (extra 3k) I played good, solid poker and got to the final table without to much of a fuss. Having said that I did go card dead for a good 90 mins and was the short stack with only 14k versus the chip leader with almost 200K. Having said that I did get good cards at the final table. My first 'all-in' was with 10-10 and the chip leader called with A-6. I hit a set. All-In again with A-A. Got a caller with Qh-7h. No bother there! Having said that though with the blinds rising and upto 4000-8000 I wasn't getting much play as the field got shorter I found myself having to make plays that were being best avoided earlier in the evening. With 3 players left I get J-9 and with 32K left I went all-in. With two massive stacks against me I was hoping to steal the 10k in blinds but I ran into K-K and that was that. Not bad though and it makes it all worthwhile. First prize tonight was €2.6K but I was happy with my €820 and am looking to seeing that winners circle one day again soon!

67 Entries - 3rd - Win $1066 ($923 nett after 1 rebuy) - Acc Total +$538.50

Apr 9th - €15+€5 Pot Limit Hold'Em/Omaha - Fitzwilliam (Dublin)

Saturday night is a fun night. Pot Limit Hold'Em & Omaha provides for some great action. Players tend to save all their betting for the Omaha where you can be guaranteed of at least 3 all-in's on evey hand. Hence the need for all the rebuys! No luck for me...story of my year so far...with the maximum number of rebuys being used up and with 9K in chips after the top up I was hoping to hit some cards but no luck as everything I tried went pair shaped. In the Omaha round with 3K left I went all-in with K-T-8-9 and got THREE callers. The flop of 8-9-Q brought about two more all-ins and as always with a game like Omaha someone had the nuts with J-T and the other player had three pairs in 8-9-J-Q. No help for me then and I was out. The night was paid for courtesy of the roulette table downstairs but I'd have prefered a final table!

33 Entries - 23rd - Win $0 - Lose $104 (4 rebuys) - Acc Total -$384.50

April 7th - €50+€5 No Limit Hold'Em - Red Cow Hotel (Dublin)

There is definately SOMETHING going on in this town. 204 entries for tonights event held in a hotel ballroom on the outskirts of Dublin. It would appear that the locals just can't get enough of Hold'Em. Of course advertising on radio and in the Irish Daily Star helps. Word has it that a similar event held at a pub not to far from me last week had to turn away 100 people as the place couldn't cope!! Ok...so a €50 / 1 rebuy tournament and a prize pool of €13000 is not to be sniffed at. Blinds start off meagre enough at 25/50 but by 1am there were only 14 left so you can see the ferocity of the game and blind levels. I got knocked out early on. Making a bet for 800, with A-Q, I got called in 3 spots. The flop came 3-4-8 and the player on the SB went all-in for 3k. All passed to me and I called. He flipped 3-3 and it was rebuy time. An hour goes by and I get 4-4. The same player as the last time bet out to 1K. All pass to me again and I thought I'd put him to the test so went all-in. He called and flipped 6-6. Not my day obviously. Mind you I can't complain too much as I won over €200 in three sit-and go satellite games later. Its not all bad then!!

204 Entries - 174th - Win $0 - Lose $136.50 (1 rebuy) - Acc Total -$279.50

April 4th 2005 - €100+€10 NL Hold'Em - Fitzwilliam Club (Dublin)

A new year, a new diary, same old luck!! Despite the fact I finished in 14th position tonight I really never got out of the basement as far as my chip count was concerned. From a 4K starting stack I think my highest chip count was 6500 and that was only because I doubled up from 3250 when I went all-in on a flush draw and got there. Times are hard in live play. It gets really frustrating seeing the guy across the table from yourself hitting everything that drops and you're left to play with hands like 9-3, 7-4 etc etc. I got AA on the very first hand of the night. So surprised was I that I had to look about 4 times to check. I was on the BB as well but despite there being 3 callers for the 50 when I put in a raise to 400 they all passed...pussies!! So there you have it. The last hand of the night was with 4.8K in chips but with antes at 500/1000 and 2 hands away from me I was looking for a reason to play and found it with A-5. All-in then! I get TWO callers which would have been great if I'd have won it. The flop came 5-7-8. Both of my opponents decided to check it out and so we then saw a TEN-JACK to complete the flop. What did my opponents have?? One had A-7 and another A-8. Would you BELIEVE IT!!

68 Entries - 14th - Win $0 - Lose $143 - Acc Total -$143.00