Dublin Poker

I've been following the Irish Open on Antesup and boards over the weekend, and was lucky enough to be invited to the final last night in the RDS. I arrived at about 7:30, and left my phone in the car, as you weren't allowed have one inside. The security was very tight, as you would expect with €1 million at stake! The final table was being televised live on Sky Sports at 9:30.... oh... and there was free beer! We were greeted at the door by this...


Met up with a few boardies and had a good laugh at the prerecording of the introduction to the programme. I wasn't sure as to how the game would go, as I had never heard of any of the players, although I had watched John Wong play on Sunday, and he seemed to be a decent player. He had netted 4th in the €400 rebuy on Friday, so he was definitely one to watch out for. I also found out the the shortstack Paul Daly, was the uncle of a girl I know...

The game kicked off just after 9pm and there was a good atmosphere in the hall. The free beer helped that along! It's weird watching a televised game when you can't see the cards, and a lot of people became bored pretty easily. The blinds were so small that it left a lot of room for play, and when you can't see the cards it can become boring. However, myself and a few of the other boardies were enjoying discussing hands, which I found a lot more interesting because we wouldn't know the answers until we watched it back!

One major hand which we were discussing was where Melinn and Smyth saw a flop of 52Q (2 diamonds). Melinn bet out 50,000 which Smyth called. The turn brought a Q, and Melinn bet out 100,000. Smyth thought for a while again and flat called. The river brought another 5, and Melinn bet out a finall 100,000. A clear value bet IMO. My thinking was that Melinn had AQ and Smyth had 99 or 10 10. I discussed this with Rob who felt otherwise, based on Melinn's earlier play. However, as it turns out, Melinn had AQ and Smyth had 99! Hit the nail on the head there :). We analysed a few hands like this, but its tough to come to a result when you never see the cards!

There was a break every 10-15 mins, for the ad breaks, or when someone got knocked out. It wasn't too long before Daly was knocked out, after his A2 failed to hold up vs Ruane's QJ. We lost Smyth not long after, after he got a visit from the stupid fairy, pushing with 53o. Unfortunately he ran into Ruane's AK and out he goes in 5th. I think he'll be regreting that today... there was absolutely no need to push, the blinds were small and he had enough chips to wait for a hand. This is me in the white top... Down to 4 and I was waiting for Wong to get involved. He is a very aggressive player and by the looks of things was just card dead. He made a few moves but Melinn kept on going over the top of him, forcing a fold. Unfortunately, when Wong finally did pick up a hand (A10) he discovered that poker can be a cruel game... He went over the top of Melinn's 80,000 raise, trying to force a fold. Unfortunately, Melinn felt that A9 was good enough to throw the extra 500,000 in with! We can all guess what the river was.... I felt truly sick for Wong, who had to give an interview straight after. Terrible play by Melinn IMO. Looks like the best player at the table won'r be the winner...

We had another break after Wong got knocked out, another chunk of the audience made for the exit. I knew I was up early for work the next morning, so I didn't plan on staying much longer. Hopefully there would be some more action soon! Only myself and Rob remained from the boards contingent, as the rest of them had headed down to Jury's to watch the game. I thought about going down, but felt I could learn more if I didn't see the hands!

I bumped into Roy Brindley on the way out tho the toilets, and had a chat with him for a few minutes about the game. Nice bloke. I also spotted John Wong sporting an oversized cheque for €70,000! I congratulated him, and made my way back into the hall. The game dragged on a fair bit, as there was nothing between the last three players. Each had about 1 million in chips, and with the blinds at 15k/30k, there was no need to make any silly decisions.