As I mentioned in my last blog I started the Irish Poker Championships at the featured table with some of the finest players that the game has to offer - the man himself Mr. Mike Sexton, Dutch poker pro Steve Wong, World Series of Poker bracelet winner Bruno Fitoussi, a Dutch singer/poker player Maud Mulder, (who was as sweet as pie and very easy on the eyes) and a poker pro from Dublin named Peter. The remainder of the players (whose names I don't know) were also fairly solid.
Then they throw (yours truly) WSOP bracelet winner Ciaran O'Leary into the mix and all is a recipe for good TV, as it's to be televised on Ireland's leading network station (RTÉ) in February.
The Ambassador himself Mike Sexton was seated to my right. He had a fresh shirt on and a crisp smile… and looked like a man on a mission. He told me that he'd been coming to Ireland for a long time and mentioned that this was an event he'd one day like to capture. The funny thing is… I was kinda rooting for him… well, if it wasn't to be me, then why not him, as he is a perfect gentleman.
Wish full thinking I know but one has to set the bar high and keep in mind that I did spend a lot of time up at the bar and got a good look at the height of it!!
Anyway, Mike played the first hour like he had a flight to catch; he was in almost every pot and was accumulating chips at a fierce rate. I twice requested a urine sample from
Mr. Sexton, but was denied, due to the fact, that, as the Ambassador to poker, he had diplomatic immunity. I also requested a loan and was denied that too!
The cards were fairly miserable for me up until this point in the Tourney but with a couple of moves, that even Michael Flatley himself would have been proud of, enabled my stack to head north, though at a terrible slow pace. Lucky for me I had a nice cold Bulmer's cider to insure that I had at least something decent in my hand, at all times.
However, I was soon to be involved in one of the key hands at this featured table (and is the hand that will dominate the remainder of this week's blog) which it saw the end of one of the stars (Bruno Fittousi) tournament chances.
I hadn't played a hand in a while and when I picked up K-J suited in early position it looked like a monster (keep in mind the featured tables in Europe are mostly eight handed) so with my K-J suited I decided to raise and was smooth called by Peter, to my immediate left. Bruno also elected to call from the BB.
Already alarm bells are starting to go off in my head - I didn't have a good feeling.
Here comes the flop…J92. Now this is good flop for me but, by no means do I feel comfortable with the hand.
Bruno decides to lead out and bet it, but for only half the pot, Hmm, the absolute worst hand I can put him on here is J-10. It's a hand that almost every player like's to see a flop with and his lead out feeler bet would also be the correct play in this situation. However, with this hand, Bruno would be in really bad shape, as I have the K-J.
Note I did say that's the 'worst' hand he could have! There's also a chance that he even has a hand like J 9 … which would give him two pair, (remember he was in the BB and was getting to see the flop at a discount). There's also a chance he could have flopped a set …I know…I know…it's complicated, but in order to play this game at the highest level, you need to be able to see everything, and I mean everything.
A mistake a lot of new players make is that they only focus on the hand in which they hold, as oppose to trying to put their opponents on a hand. So, now what do I do?
Well, I don't really like my hand enough to raise here, and I don't want to invest too much of my stack if I have to get away from the hand at a later stage… but what to do? Well, just on the off-chance he has a hand like J-10 or Q-J he'd surely have to check the turn after I smooth call his bet on the flop.
Not to forget also that Peter still has to act after me and I'm sure he's strong as well and if he were to raise, well…that wouldn't be good. So the correct play I believe, against these players in this particular situation, is to just to call.
Now an important thing to note here folks is that every scenario is different and no two players are the same. Sometimes a raise here would indeed be the correct play with a hand like K-J, but would I really raise here after his bet with another player still to act after me if I had flopped top set?
No of course not. Why push out the guy that's doing the betting? Especially when I'm trying to coax Peter in as well. I'm playing the players here as much as I am the hand, understanding that Bruno and Peter are very clever players.
Now granted I didn't have that hand but they don't know that. Remember I did have a good feel as to where I was in the hand, which was probably behind. But if I'm able to see the turn on the cheap maybe I can spike something. It also prevents me from being out played if he has a weaker hand. Damn… I haven't even gotten to the turn yet!!
Ok I'll speed it up. After I just called Bruno's bet on the flop. Sure enough Peter announces "raise". And then Bruno says reraises, then it's back to me …FOLD!!!!
I'm gone. With top pair I'm actually in 3rd place! For God sake get me some water!
All the money goes in here, Bruno has a set of deuces and Peter has trip jacks.
What a cooler. The case jack had hit the flop and Bruno is heading for an early flight.
I'll leave you with this a final note. I'm tired
Ciarán Big 'C'
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