Rapid leukemia, or maybe worse

Having more or less given up on topping the Irish Poker Rankings this year, my win in Galway last week in conjunction with Wally not getting a result brought me back within striking distance. Having come this far and still be this close, I figure I might as well give it my best shot now so I committed to playing the last 4 ranking events as Wally intends to play them all.

Friday saw me back in Galway, in the 4 Aces this time, to record a show there (and play the tournament). Show's a cracker I think with a great interview with Keith McFadden. Tournament was a lot less cracking for me: I lost a huge 35K race which left me short, then another which left me out. New Year's Resolution: must flip better.

Saturday was Carlow for the headsup. Wally somehow managed to do a 25K starting stack in ten minutes which takes a bit of doing at 50/100. My match was last to finish and went all the way to the last level, 1k/2K. It toed and froed with a very good local opponent called Tommy. Don't know his second name so I'll call him Smiley Tommy as he always has an infectious smile on his face. Lovely guy, great player, and I hope he went on to win it. I did have him down to 12K at that level but again, I flipped very badly in the end.

More or less passed out from exhaustion in the car on the drive home. Woke up feeling so bad I told Mireille I was pretty sure it was rapid leukemia, or maybe worse. Her reaction was classic: "Right, I'll stop off for a bottle of wine so".

Cork tomorrow for the second last ranking event, in the Bank. Haven't been there so looking forward to it.

Given that there's only 800 points between us, no matter what happens in Cork, this is going all the way to the last event in the Voodoo on Wednesday, which for some (silly) reason has double points. I don't really agree with the idea of having a double points event, and I hope that whichever way it ends up, the double points don't decide the matter.

I've been overwhelmed by the number of people who have taken the time to tell me they hope I top the rankings. To a total egomaniac like myself, this kind of validation and support is a Godsend. I know Wally has his fair share of supporters and well wishers too (one less though: Liz Mullally made my day by telling me she was jumping ship from Camp Wally to Camp Doke today), and I'd probably be one of them if I wasn't the other guy. I'm a really lousy loser at the best of times, but I'll be trying really hard to be gracious in defeat if Wally finishes on top in the Voodoo on Wednesday.

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