El Tren RIP?

No day 2 for me this time as my campaign ground to a halt late on day 1. I got off to a great start, moving from the 4500 starting stack up to 14k with no major incident (and not too many showdowns) a few hands before the dinner break. However, I made it to dinner with Nick (Newport) and my Aussie mate Theos (Rippis) with only 5500 of that left. First major incident: I raise AK in the hijack, button calls, a 15 big blind stack shoved from the BB, I reshoved, and was up against AJ. I relax when first card out is a king, but there's a jack behind it and another on the turn. Last hand before the break, I made a slightly loose raise with A8 in early position hoping nobody would want to get involved since it was the last hand. The button called and when the flop came T85, I decided to go the pot control/bluff induce line and check called. I stuck to the plan when another ten hit the turn and a low blank the river. Unfortunately he had the ten.

Nick was flying at that stage, playing very well. Theos was still in too (he was the only one of us to make the money: Nick getting done shortly after me after making a great gutsy call). Daragh Davey (who I insist on referring to as Other Dara) was early chipleader in the 2-7 Triple Draw, a source of considerable amusement given Ireland's status (not) as a hotbed of that game.

As we were walking back from dinner Nick joked if I notched up a third cash I'd be Irish player of the series (it hasn't been a great series for Team Ireland to date) unless Other Dara shipped the bracelet. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. Despite recovering to 12k, I was crippled when an Italian shipped in early position for 14 bbs, I reshipped my 20 bbs with AKs, and wasn't that surprised to see the Italian turn over QTo. After all, Italians are known more for the courage than their brains. And they're not particularly well known for their courage.

The board ran out J9x28 to cripple me. A few hands later I got the rest in with J9 in the small blind against the big blind's 87. Flop was T96 which my opponent remarked was a good flop for him.

No point in complaining though, that's the nature of these tournaments. The good thing is I feel I'm playing the early stages very well and building stacks so it hopefully augurs well for the main event, where you're deeper for much longer and the racing section starts later. I have a couple more shots at the side events before that. I feel like I'm back to my A game or close after a bit of a mid series dip.

After my latest exit, it was time for some ice cream therapy for tilt. I never get tilted after lost races or doggings where my opponent made a good play and was unlucky to run into a good hand, but one thing that does tilt me is to see bad play rewarded. But that's part of the game too and if it wasn't it would be obvious to bad players more quickly that the good players get the money in the end. I was also cheered up to find a message from Neil Channing inviting me to a barbeque. Neil's a funny guy and said while he hoped I wouldn't be able to make it because I was still chasing a bracelet in the 1500, if not, I should come round: "Hopefully you'll be busy winning a bracelet but if you don't come and be miserable with us."

On Monday evening I met former Sporting Emporium stalwart and all round good guy Mike "Oz" Osbourne for dinner. Oz lives here now and like most of us has been through a few career changes recently but he's always a fascinating guy to talk poker strategy with, and about the industry in general. He has fond memories of his time in Ireland and told me he hopes we won't see the kind of violence we're seeing in the streets of Greece now our economy has taken a nosedive. It was my first time eating Ethiopian food (it involves spongey bread).

My son Paddy gets here next Monday which should help me keep my spirits up as we get down to the most important part of all this: the main event. It'll be his first Vegas so hopefully he'll had a good time in between listening to the old man whining about beats.

Finally, some news which I'm afraid will be devastating to a lot of Irish Poker Boardsies. Cult favourite Spanish pro is here at the series. I almost didn't recognise him, because the mustache is gone and the hair has been sheared to a crew cut.

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