Played about 2 levels before I got knocked out. I opened from early position with 55. A stereotypical Asian, who was making shapes all night long 3 bet me. I was waiting for him to make his move. He was splashing pots and ruffling chips and all that nonsense. Tom Hanlon flatted on the button. Now, Tom needs no introduction he has been one of Ireland's biggest online winners over the last 5 years. I figured he had a big hand here. I decided to call as my hand would be well disguised if I hit and I was almost certain to get a bet out of if not one but both the Asian and Tom. The flop peeled of 5 7 9. Bingo Bango for Roro!!! I checked and the Orient Express wastes no time in firing an over pot sized bet. Tom quickly moves all in. I dwelled for a while. I wanted to just go over the spot in my head. I figured had Tom got a higher set he would of flatted the nutcase again, but with the draws out there, maybe he didnt want me coming along for the ride. My hand is too strong to fold and I called. The Asian thought long and hard and eventually folded 66. Tom was indeed trapping and had KK. A butcher on the river and it was good night for me.
Tom felt really bad to be fair and since he had 3 times the average went for a pint with me. It was worth giving him the chips as I tried my best to absorb all the knowledge he was dishing out about the game.
Was feeling pretty good about my game and really wanted to play the €500 main event. One problem though.....I was cash broke. I was owed money and owe money. I had spent the previous couple of weeks grinding online so had no cash flow. Thats a good and bad thing about playing online, you dont seem to spend as much cause you have no cash. Its all online! I was doing ok online, I won a 4.5k package to the UKIPT in Galway in a few weeks and had some decent cashes. Anyway I managed to sell some % to Halibut and felt good about giving him a good run. Im sure he would of been nervous if he wasnt occupied with other things, mainly taking on Isildur HU or bubbling the final table of the 1k PLO ECOOP. Speaking of that ECOOP, Chubs came second in it and scooped a nice 31k for his efforts, but unlucky agin to him. He's hit the crossbar alot more than I have.
Anyway, I started out crushing a few worms in some spots and had a decent stack. James McManus was the only notable at my starting table and I noted very quickly that he was the only one who could play poker. The rest seemed to play it like snap, betting when they matched a card in their hand and folding when they didn't. I was lucky enough to play and win a big pot against James early on. This left him crippled and meant that I had free reign of the table. I was playing quite well, but then made a huge mistake and managed to double James back up! The table broke so we didn't clash again. I ended the day with below average on 41k. Lost a massive pot to some guy who donked with 55 into a KQJ board when I had AK. I flat called, I was 100% sure I was ahead. 5 on the turn and we both check, an Ace on the river. He checked and I value bet 1/2 the pot. He hummed and hawwed and called with the set of 5's. Needless to say myself and the other people at the table with any sort of brain couldn't believe what sort of monkey business this guy was at! I played very well over the day and was happy enough going into the Day 2.
Well, I played so bad for the first 5 hours of Day 2. Was calling when I should be raising and raising when I should folding. It was just horrible, my reads were off and my stack was up and down. Managed to get very lucky on Marc McDonnell with 2 tables out. I raised on the button with A8 and Marc asked how much I had and then moved in. I know its an easy fold as I had about 20 bb's at the time, but there were other factors that entered my thought process. 20bb's was still half the average. Marc knew that I had the perfect stack for me to fold most hands, as we were near the bubble. Marc is very agro and I was tired, frustrated and made the call. I hated making that call and just wanted to go home to bed. He had 10 10 obv and I got lucky on the river. Having gotten so lucky for my monkey play, I decided to really concentrate and make an effort. I then played very well I think and went to the final table as one of the chip leaders.
A guy who had played quite solidly all day long opened, I woke up with KK on the button and flat called. We were so deep and 3 bets were getting through very easily. I wanted to trap this guy and win a big pot. The flop came 2 3 5. He bet and I raised and he moved in. Snappage from me and he tabled 33. I wasn't too unhappy to be honest, I made the play. I know I could of won the pot pre but I wanted to trap and it would of worked most of the time. Its certainly not horrendous, just unlucky that he hit his set. If he has 66-QQ there I win a massive pot and have 65% of chips in play with 8 left. So I had 6bb's and with some re ships I was back to 11 BB's. It was folded around to me on the button and I shoved with J6 of spades. Pretty bad when I think about it, there was so much play left. Guess I was more disheartened with my chip stack being so low and just panicked, thought I needed to push the action when I didn't really. So gone in 9th for yet another crossbar. Getting closer and closer and fixing leaks along the way.
I have a good sneaky feeling for Galway. Hopefully, It won't be another crossbar this time.

