Chop chop chop

Played the Malahide monthly tournament as planned tonight and the rush continued: ended up chopping it with Rob for 2 grand each. This one was a mirror image of our chop in the Fitz last week in that I started the FT as the short stack with just 8 BBs, while Rob was very comfortable. I waited as patiently as I could for a spot and it arrived in the form of a multiway limped pot. I had A3 in the BB, flopped two pairs, and managed to get it all in with two others to more than triple up. Game of skill really. After that I was comfortable the whole way.

Rob was finding it tougher and found himself short on the bubble, but he was showing patience and discipline too and picking his spots carefully. Then when we were 4 handed he suddenly got a surge that saw him knock out the other two players, Jay (Jayminator from Boards - first time I'd played with him extensively and very impressive he was) and a local regular called Skinny who seems to be one of the more consistent performers there. That left Rob with 3:2 chiplead headsup, and although we agreed to chop most of the remaining prize pool decided to play on for some, plus bragging rights. Good practise if nothing else.

As you'd expect, Rob's a very tricky customer headsup. Although we know each other's games pretty well, he certainly pulled a few surprises. We see sawed back and forth. I took a 3:1 chiplead when I got it all in on the flop with the nut flush draw and 2 overs against a worse flush draw and held, but Rob clawed it back to level pegging, by which time we decided we'd had enough practise and prolonged the dealer's night enough and agreed to chop completely.

As ever, was a very enjoyable tournament, this time with quite a strong field. The final table included Jayminator and Derek (The Clamper), while Joe O Donaill was unlucky to go out just before the FT.

Rob dropped myself and Jay home. Near my place, we were stopped by some plainclothes cops in an unmarked car. My first impression was they seemed more like criminals than coppers and I feared for the safety of our chopped loot, but after convincing themselves we weren't drunk, they let us continue on our way.

The only problem with 3 results in 8 days is that Mireille is now back to thinking it's pretty standard for me to win every tournament I enter like she did when I started playing in the Fitz with an amazing rush, and anything less is a disappointment that can only be explained by me not trying hard enough or doing something wrong.

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