The Return to Vegas II

I flew in on the 21st and met up with Theos, was great to catch up, even though i wasnt sure it was the same man as he'd shed some serious pounds over the past year. Played my 1st event on the 23rd, a 1.5k no limit tournie. After a shakey start i managed to get myself up to 16k when a crazy italian shoved his 13k allin into a pot of 3k out of turn on a 358 rainbow board, i got a ruling just to be sure and checked snap called with my kks, he turned over 77s and i was rockin around 30k. Still great value in these 1.5k sides out here, very important to get off to a good start though.

Carter Phillips, a very impressive 21 yr old, with an ept and a wsop braclet already to his name came and sat down to my immediate right. He played fantastic small ball poker, and created such a maniac image that he actually induced a young internet player to 6 bet shove a 60bb stack with no fold equity with 55s, Phillips snapped with qqs. I noticed that everytime a new player came to the table, he would 3bet there open without fail, just to put them to the test and also let them know that if they were opening they have to get by him. Its not often i can say i learned a lot from a 21yr old, but playing with Carter Phillips certainly has helped improve my mtt game.

Hey Jude

Well when the next man to sit to Philipps right was none other then our own Jude Ainsworth bringing with him a well above average 50k stack, i knew there would be fireworks. We had a bit of a laugh about the fact that even though we were both west of Ireland men, this was the 1st time we played against each other and it was at the wsop!!

Sure enough the two lads went at it, blow for blow and it was setting itself up for a major confrontation before Jude got coolered bvb for most of his stack. He's certainly not a man who'll hang around for the bubble to burst and ended up shoving his 10bbs into my aq to bust late in the day. You gotta respect the way Jude doesnt shy away from the big pots, he plays every hand to win the tournament, which is right way to play these things, he might not get as many cashes as alot of players but guarenteed when he does make the money he's got a monster stack and up their with the leaders.

So even though i had great position on Philipps, i literally had very few spots to abuse this, the cards were telling me not to play back at him. Which didnt bother me too much as the rest of the table were gifting chips. I had a great image and at one point, Phillips had me pegged for a nit saying "man i dont get it, you never play a pot and your somehow on 40k?" So since the last level of these things is closing in on the bubble, i decided to exploit my image and position and managed to rock up to 50k by days end.

Day 2, we started 7 off the bubble, I leaked a little pre bubble and then lost when my a10 got rivered by a8s allin pre for a big pot, couple of hands later i shoved my 10bbs from the c/o with aj and lost a race v 66s. Was nice to cash in my first event and keep my 100% wsop record intact, but i just made 1 pay jump over the min payout and i certainly ain't out here for those kinda scores.

The Party

That night i indulged in my one blow out of the series, The Irish Party...Paul Lucey of the Atlantis casino in Carlow laid on a serious bash in a villa of the Mirage hotel. Major commercial online sites would do well to match what this man laid out of his own pocket, hats off to Paul, only met him the night i landed here and he couldnt have been more welcoming.

Was great to meet guys from round the country, that you hear off and follow online; the Carlow lads Jason Tomkins + Aidan Coonan, the Dublin crew of Rory brown, Dave Callaghan, Donal o Conner, Nick Heather, John O Shea, Albert Kenny, Rob Taylor. Marty Smith, Nicky Power, Mick Mc Closkey,Paddy O Conner,the Mighty Doke, Tom Finneran, Wally Mc Cormack, Paul Carr, Mick Foley, Jude + Derek, Dermot Blaine..the list goes on, thats some crew of top quality players and alround great folk around this year, between all of us we gotta get Amhrán na bhFiann belted out from the bracelet ceremony by the end of this thing. Funnily enough, Doke told me whilst we were standing up after a level 2 break to the usual airing of the star spangled banner that it was his grandfathers cousin, Peader Kearney,who composed our own anthem.

Play Resumes

Needless to say a couple of days off were needed after the party before serious action was resumed. Lost a flip early in a 1k, to shatter my perfect vegas record, bound to happen this year, as it was the first year i played more then one event!! Came back that night to ship a $325 sng, clean with no deal, really is great value in these sng sats, but as ever a bit of run good is always needed when down to the final 4.

The next day, i played a 1.5k, the Irish contignent is growing as a Dublin lad called James who just landed in town ended up moving to my table early in the day, and Sean Prendiville was busy amassing a monster stack a couple of tables away, I got myself up to over 13k before i got moved tables. Found myself 2 to the right of the most ridiculously hyper spewy sometimes passive/sometimes aggro in wrong spots scandi i come across yet. Taking a leaf outta Judes book, the very first time he 3bet, i 4 bet him and he put it down. He had over 20k when i sat down, and the rest of the table were of typical 1.5k standard, so i knew id have to go to war with the scandi before i could accumalate pre bubble.

So I chipped myself up to 21k and got the scandi chipped down to 12k as since the 3bet didnt work he kept trying to flat me in position and take it off me post. which wasnt happening, through either my stubborness or my having showdown value. I could see he was getting very frustrated and ready to crack, i flatted a mp raise with 77s at the 150/300 lvl and he shoved 12k, 40bbs from the button, the opener folded and i seriously considered making a call i normally would instantly fold, i really felt he was full of it but in the end decided to wait for a better spot as he was destined to spew again. I reluctantly laid it down and he showed 85o!!!

He spewed down to 6k and in the hand b4 the break he doubled when he called a 6k utg shove blind with a6 v ak and binked an ace. After the break @ 200/400, he told the guy b4 the cards were dealt "come on lets gamble, this hand...blind lets do it" i look down at kjs in the hj, i told myself that if i open here i cannot fold to the scnadis inevitable shove, or else i may aswell have 72o, same thing. so i opened 2.5x and sure enough scandi shoved 30bbs, i snapped and he turned over the top of his range in this spot 77s, he binked quads and i was crippled. lost aqs v kks to bust soon after. My only regret is not following my gut and making the call with the 77s earlier, i place a huge importance on being the table captain pre bubble and you can mulitply the benifits of this massivly in a live wsop event.

Irish Bracelet?

Theos had a great day, bagging over 60k in chips and just off the plane Sean Prendiville found himself on 110k, just met Sean for the first time that night, seems a real decent lad and obviously a seriously talented player of the game. Theos got a horrible beat post bubble day2 but as i write this Sean is 6th in chips going into the final day with 23 left, heres hoping the Kearney family will be getting a royalty cheque from Harrahs tommorrow!!

I played the 3k triple chance yesterday, raised ajs, got called from bb, flop came j6x, two of my suit, he had 66s, so it goes...

So my 100% record is shot, am 1/4 so far this year, but feeling and playing well; hitting the gym/spa in the mornings, eating my porridge and salads, saying my prayers and taking my vitamins!! Am taking days off in between events, I tend to leave a lot out on the tables and get really drained after a days play so its important for me to remove myself from the poker in between events. Been to the palms cinema, the past couple of nights with Paddy and Theos and gonna hit the gun store later and get back in time to rail Sean to the bracelet.

Getting Started

Well, i suppose i'll start from the start. I first played no limit hold em, online for play money on Party Poker in March '07 after a pal had introduced me to the game in Sydneys Star City casino the previous January. My parents had become unwell and i had returned home from Dublin to help with the homestead and take on the role of a full time carer.

Poker came at the perfect time for me; In my late twenties, stuck in a position where i was unable to commit to a 9-5 job and limited to our Sligo home, throwing myself into online poker satisfied the hunger for a challenge, for some form of career purpose to my life whilst also being able to set my own hours and do my bit around the home.

Learning the basics with play money i soon graduated to grinding the $3rebuys to their big sunday game. With help from Harringtons books, i was able to grind out a profit and enough confidence to hit the local casino, The Adelaide in Sligo town, which was at the time the only business situated on Ted Nealon Rd, so named after my father!!

The Adelaide was a great place to learn live play, having a great mix of the older characters who had moved over from the draw/dealers choice pub games and younger savvy online players, both the table banter and the action was great.

Around this time i joined the now defunct stoxpoker and learned the power of optimum sng strategy; push/calling ranges, icm and other such theories which both solved and also in my opionion destroyed the sng game. This revelation greatly increased profits online and caused great bemusment locally when id shove my 10bb sb for the umpteenth time, eventually getting called and putting my tournament life on the line with whatever garbage happened to be in my hand at time.

Viva Las Vegas

In the summer of '08, i took a trip to the States, the climax of which was driving down the west coast from San Fran to hit Vegas and playing a $1,500 wsop event. I remember approaching Andy Black at the dinner break, asking him for some advice for a fellow Irish man in the same tournament, i had only 8k at this stage and he had over 30k. He gave me some good advice and told me to play my cards and position and wished me luck.

After dinner i cracked an Aussie guys AAs with my 88s and pushed on from there to survive the bubble at the days end. Myself and the Aussie were on the same table the whole day and after i gave him a lift back to his hotel in my rental car, Theos was his name,a former chess player and alround decent guy, well he did take the beat fairly well anyways!

The next time i saw Andy was on day2, long after the bubble had burst, i came to his table with a monster stax and position on him, he laughed and said "remember everything i told you yesterday....well forget it, i was only messing with ya!"

I ended up going out in 65th losing a race for the chiplead. After experienceing this buzz of the wsop; the adrenalin rush of playing live for such life changing sums of money i decided to devote even more time to studying the game and fixing my leaks. I cut down on the formulaic sngs and focussed on the quest for the big score in mtts.

I joined PokerXfactor (where i learned the true power of the 3bet) and Cardrunners, lurked on the poker forums and kept expanding my poker book library. In early '09 i shipped the stars 5rebuy twice in a month for 10k scores, played my first Ept in Deauville, disastorusly blew a big stax pre bubble in the Lapt grand final in Argentina and binked two wsop main events packages in 4 days the week b4 the big one was due to start in July. And so, a year later i found myself back in Vegas with a ticket for the big one, the main event.

The Return to Vegas

Once again, in the full tilt poker lounge i bumped into Andy Black, i asked him which day1 would be best to play and in his Gandalf like manner, he told me to play whenever i felt ready, the morning i woke up and felt on form.

Aside from meeting Andy, another good omen was bumping into Theos again, having done the usual and swapped emails but never used them, it was genuinly great to bump into him, he was busy grinding the sng rooms in the rio but when the main event started he literally railed me right throughout my run, acting as he described it as a 2^nd in chess. He was brilliant on the mental side of staying focussed and in the game, it was like having a top sports psychologist in my corner.

I also had a pal at home who was doing C.I.A like research on my table draws, waking in the morning i'd pop open my lappy to get detailed analyisis of each seat, he'd have photos pasted in, records of any cashes and if he couldnt find this even get their facebook page up. Along with the legendary Shauny Craig these were great guys to have in your corner.

Early Nerves

Taking Andys advice i waited as long as possible to get over the jetlag and played the last of the day1s, a day where many of the higher rolled pros eventually decide to sit down. I had the high stakes sng pro the Keith the Camel Hawkins directly to my right, Derek8 Lerner, a Stars mtt grinder to his right and most worringly of all an empty seat to my left for a full hour.

Any man that strolls into a 10k buyin an hour late is a man i felt i didnt want having direct position on me. David Oppenheim,a Full Tilt pro and a highly respected stakes cash game player sits himself down, gets a two hour long massage and devours the table of mttrs, being so ridiculously deep stacked we were firmly on his turf and drowning.

In one particular pot, i limped in from the button after 3 to 4 limpers with 88s, he completes the small, and flop comes all low cards to my 88s. Its checked round to me and i fired a cbet, he instantly repops me. It gets folded round and not feeling good about things at all, i look at him and say “i tell you if you tell me”. He stares right back into me with these big blue scarily intense pupils and says in his Californian drawl “You dont have to tell me....you had pocket 88s”. Ok.... Shit.

Man up Kid

Eventually i knew i'd have to man up to David, if i was to get anywhere in this tournament. So after inflating a pot pre with 89s, i shoved the whole frickin pile in on a board of j9x rainbow and watched in shock horror, sweat dripping, “what the fuck am i after doing” adrenalin. My 10k buyin out in the middle of the table waiting to be gobbled up by the superhero soulreader with the Full Tilt badge....He folded, thanks be to God, he folded, i was up to 50k, the fear was gone, the rush was great, now i was playing poker.

I finished day1 on 90k, doubled up first level of day2 with a hand thats affectionatly known round my parts as the donegal nuts, the 47s. Mid way through the day i was up over 200k and in one disastor of a hand dropped to 40k, within 20 minutes i was back up to over 300k!!! Despite playing real seat of the pants poker, i somehow managed to bag a mountain of chips and finish the day in the top 10.

Day 3, saw a gradual steady increase to my stack with Blair Hinkle and myself having a great battle for role of table captain. The bubble burst early on day4 and i found myself on a great table to exploit this, with the knowledge from my investigative spreadsheets, i knew over half the table didnt have any significant cashes to their name. One particular guy had even posted “omg im sooo close to cashing the main event” as his facebook status, this same guy folded qqs in an unopened pot in late positon pre!

The Cooler

I doubled my stack during this time to get up over 700k, which wouldve been right up there near the chipleaders and well above average at the time. Then this happened....Soon after the bubble burst, i looked down at AKs on the button, the c/o raised, i repopped, he flatted. Flop came aa9 two tone, he checks, i bet, he reraises and next thing i know my 700k is in the middle covering his 550k. He turns over 99s and holds.

I somehow managed to grind my measly 150k stack back up to 330k by days end but went out early day5, gifting half my stack to eventual final tablist Antoin Saout and donking off the rest with a needless 3bet reshove. I Finished in 380^th for 27k.

The Epilogue

The dream was over and i was absolutley drained, shattered right through and about 1/100^th of the man that sat down on day1. Still when the dust settled and i regained some form of clear thought, it sunk in that I had cashed in the W.S.O.P main event and had a hell of a time doing it.

I gained massive confidence in my game from my run in the big one and had a great year of it pokerwise some highlights being a 3^rd in the ecoop for 45k, a 2^nd in the ipoker montly million for 110k and the holy grail of all Irish poker players, the crystal vase from Celtic Poker Tour Longford!

Its kinda daft that its taken me nearly a full year to write this down, so starting this blog before i head back again to the promised land makes alot of sense. Ill try to update it after every event i play. Im going out with enough to play 5/6 1.5k side events, starting with event#42 on the 23^rd.

Am flying out Monday and having followed the reports online for past few weeks am itching to get back out and have another shot at the big one, hopefully going 379 better this time.

Follow my world series updates @ http://twitter.com/midnitekowby