Best festival of the year!

 When I published my last blog, I got a message from my friend, former student and occasional chauffeur Ray Wheatley:

"What, no Killarney blog? Best festival of the year!"

That's as good a summary as ever for the very special place Killarney occupies in the Irish poker calendar. The natural beauty of the surroundings and the impressive venue and abundance of great restaurants and pubs never fails to engender a fairly special atmosphere.

Chauffeur Ray

It was Ray who drove me down to Killarney. On the way he was dealing with queries and quibbles about the team competition he'd organised: people rarely realise how much work and hassle something like that is until they organise one themselves. We both jumped into the mystery bounty straight away: I never got going but Ray did, all the way to the FT.

Anyone for seconds?

I managed to keep my good form going with another profitable trip, thanks entirely to side events. I've long espoused the view that live poker is a volume game, and you have to jump into as many events as possible at these festivals. I chopped a nightly for €5500 five way (officially I was second), and turbo freezeout  for almost the same amount headsup (again, officially I was second).

Both final tables were very shallow, particularly the freezeout, and I was working with 2-8 big blinds for most of it. The final hand was an interesting spot to say the least: 

Mark Johnson raised 4x on button off 11 or 12 bbs (it was hard to keep track of the stacks because lots of small chips in play). I fold 93o in the small blind leaving 2 bbs behind. To my delight, chipleader Charlie O'Neill called in the big blind. I'm not praying for them to clash with an SPR already less than one.

Flop is 633r, and Charlie  shoves. Mark is in agony and calls A8o after an eternity, and Charlie's 44 holds and somehow I'm headsup.

Charlie offered a favourable chop saying "You look like you've played a lot more poker than me and I really want the trophy so what do you want to give me the win?" I'm always happy to chop in those circumstances given the asymmetry that exists by how much the trophy means to my opponent compared to me (whereas I wouldn't agree a chop in a main event that didn't give me the trophy). And to be honest, Charlie pretty much ran over the final table and made several very ballsy calls so he totally deserved the win.

The main event

I got through the hyper leg to day 2 a bit below average, but barely won a pot in day 2 to bust in a flip about twenty from the money. One of my students (and an ex-student) made it all the way to the final table. Before that started, several people tipped Tadhg Ryan to me for the win, and so it proved. He beat Irish legend Padraig Parkinson, who was cheered as if he had won. Parky has had a few runs in recent years including a deep one at the Irish Open to prove there's life in the old dog yet. 

The team event

The team event proved very exciting and went down to the wire. My "three to watch" for the festival were Darren Harbinson, and the twins Ray and Robbie Bryant. With Darren otherwise occupied, Ray Wheatley graciously suggested I be subbed in so the twins wouldn't be at a disadvantage. We started poorly, but then wrestled the lead on the penultimate day with Ray also getting second place points in a PLO event. With 12 left in the 400 event, it was looking really good for us with myself and Ray still in....but so were the members of our 3 nearest challengers (Ray Wheatley, Killian Farrell, Liam McVeigh). I lost a flip to exit in 12th, but Ray Bryant had the most chips of the contenders left and given we just had to match what the others achieved to stay ahead, it was looking good.

Unfortunately for us Ray ran horrifically on the final table, and when he bust in 6th our chances were slim. They disappeared when a 4 way chop was agreed, clinching the €6500 that was up top for the winning team. The fact that 4 teams could still technically win before the chop tells you how close it was.

All in all, the inaugural team event was a massive success, and really added something to the festival as a whole. Special props to Ray Wheatley for running it, and giving players something that was not only rake free but had money added (by the IPT, Paddy Power and Ray himself). It's fair to say he had to put up with more aggravation than he should: people should remind themselves when someone is doing something on a volunteer basis, they really shouldn't be subjected to this. Hopefully that won't dissuade Ray from organising something similar in future.

Away from the tables

Although I kept myself occupied at the tables, I did get out for some soul soothing runs in the National Park, a lakeside walk with my friend Katie Swift and several great meals. I also shot some content in the Edgecore booth for Brian, the AI coach I'm involved in developing. I'll be writing more on that soon.

Next up on the tour is the Glasgow stop in the beautiful Alea Casino, from where this blog is being posted. I wasn't planning on travelling for this, but after my results in Killarney I hurtled up the IPT leaderboard from the depths of Hell to 15th, so I want to give myself every chance of cementing my place in the top 16 to qualify for the grand final. Two years ago, I just missed out. I also have very happy memories from my last trip to the Alea.

I’ll end with a shoutout to the always wonderful staff. People who only play the IPT may not realise it but they’re pretty much the best in the business. It alternately amuses and frustrates me when I sometimes see how bad the staff at other events like the WSOP are, and pretty much the best staff from floor through dealers and reg staff are the ones who work for the lowest buyins I play. Special shoutout to Damo who I believe made his debut on the floor in Drogheda, and took to it like a duck to water. All the biscuits!

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