Apr 5th - Reporting from the Irish Open

Four Hundred and One runners & €178,000 in the prize pool meant that 50 seats + €3000 were up for grabs in tonights super satellite into the main €3500 Irish Open event itself due to start on Friday at 4pm.

Well that was the theory...in practice the main event had SOLD OUT by 4pm today, Thursday, so the organisers could only offer 20 seats with the next 30 getting €3500 cash. Well I wasn't going to complain!!

The buy in for the super satellite was €200 and I had a budget of €800 (£570 approx) for this event. It was all spent!

First rebuy came with a bit of a gamble holding Jc-6c on the BB. A Russian guy, across the table, was gambling it up big time and, with blinds at 50-100, he'd raised to 400 from the off. I called as did one other. The flop was 3-4-5. I checked...he moved all-in and I decided to gamble. He flipped K-7 so I needed help. None came. REBUY!

Second rebuy came again when gambling with the Russian. Holding A-5 I called his all-in move from the off. He flipped K-Q but after a nice looking 10-10-8-6 flop the river brought a Queen! Pooey!

So I rebuy again and manage to make it upto 4500 before the break. My top up of another 3k gives me 7500 to start the 'serious' side of the game but its a long way off the prize money.

After the break I received NO big starting hands at all. I got a break when my 7-7 turned into a set on the turn card of one flop and again when it was a blind v blind battle. I held 6-5 in the BB. Player UTG flat calls and everyone else passed with antes at 300-600. At this point in time I held around 7k. Flop is 6-7-Q. I bet 500. UTG raises to 2k and I decide he's at it and push all-in. He joyfully calls and flips K-Q. Oops! The turn is an 8 giving me a few more outs but a lovely 5 arrives on the river and I double through to 14k. Table breaks.

We're at about 170 runners now and they're dropping fast. I scrape my way upto 19k on the next table when this happens...

I'm on the BB and blinds are 1500-3000. I haven't looked at my cards but its passed around to the SB who's chipped up. He decides to put in a chunky bet and so its pretty much all my chips to play. I look down to see K-10 and decide to go all-in. The SB looks well perplexed but calls the additional 4k. He flips 7-4! The flop is A-10-9-Q-J and I make the staight and, more importantly for me move to circa 40k. At this stage I just figure to cruise into the money with around 120 left!

Another 2 levels go by. I'm getting no cards and blinds are 3000-6000 with a running ante of 500. Because I'm blinding away I've got 26k left when I'm on the BB. There are 9 minutes to go on the level when blinds will be 4000-8000 ante 500 and with 9 players at our table it'll mean 16500 a round. In other words I have about one round left. There are 72 runners showing on the board.

I look down and see Ks-Js. There's a raise from the player UTG to 18k. Its passed back around to me and I decide that its worth the risk as after this hand I'm down to 20k with a 3K ante to come. I go all-in.

My opponent calls and flips A-J. The flop is a decent looking Q-9-8 meaning any 10 or K will give me the win. Another 9 drops on the turn followed by .......another 8!! I'm out in 70th spot just 19 shy of the money.

Maybe there would have been a better spot to come but you pays your money and makes your choice. No regrets...no seat and no €3500!!

So no Irish Open main event for me but I've registerd for the €1000 event on Sunday and I'm now looking forward to that.

The Irish Open event is always well attendedand well run. If ever you get the chance to come over to Dublin of an Easter and play I heartily recommend it but remember....book early!!