When my brother first taught me the basics of tournament poker almost 20 years ago, he said something in the first lesson that always stuck with me.
"About thirty seconds before you bust most tournaments, you'll be feeling absolutely brilliant".
What he meant by that was that usually you'll be looking down at a great hand and getting all-in, but sometimes you'll be up against a better hand, if not immediately then by the river, and you'll be out in a spot where you thought you were doubling or better.
I was reminded of this when I got in Ace king threeway with just under a left in the Monster main event in the Green Isle for double the average. I was up against Ace jack and queens so not great but not terrible, almost 35% to triple so a profitable spot.
When the flop came KJx my 35% surged to 80% and now I was feeling great, but my 80% shrivelled to less than 5% on Queen turn. No miracle ten on the river, so quite the rollercoaster 30 seconds.
Loser. So who did win?
Robbie Bryant was a very popular official winner, taking the lion's share of an 8 way chop that saw 7 other players take home between €14k and 27k. The incredibly consistent and popular Helio Netto got €1k. Robbie's win propels him to the top of the IPT leaderboard ahead of the always stylish and impressive Davide Raschella.
Robbie's twin brother Ray was busy taking down the Monsterstack side event on the last day for €7540, so it was quite a day for the popular Tullamore twins. And yes, I'll be the first to admit I'm one of those who never knows which twin I'm talking to.
Other non losers
Daniel Gilmartin took down the Opener on Thursday for €3605. JJ Hazan chopped the Omaha 300 on the same day and bought, I mean, won the trophy, a feat he repeated the following day in the Omaha Progressive Bounty (chopping on this occasion with Doke student Patrick Eagers and friend of Doke Jason Tompkins), a double we are unlikely to hear the end of as long as JJ draws breath. The former Dragons Den star has been begging to get on the Chip Race for a while now, and will finally get his wish in the coming months before an event he's organising in Nairobi.
Speaking of doubles and trebles
Speaking of doubles and trebles, Jason Tompkins had quite the festival, chopping the first three events he entered. He followed his chop in the Omaha PKO with a headsup chop on the NLH PKO the following day (the trophy on this occasion went to the charismatic Pavlo Havrylyshen), and then chopping the high roller headsup with Richard Halabi. He also cashed the Monsterstack on the final day.
Other non losers included the always impressive Veaceslav Jumir who took down the Holigames side event, and Micheál O'Neill who won the Omaha 4/5 card event (after a 5 way chop). I first played with Micheál in the Irish Open this year, and can't remember the last time I was as impressed with an Irish player I hadn't played with before (actually I can: it was when I played with Stephen Kehoe at the European Deepstack back in 2020). Micheál also featured in the 8 way chop in the main event so he had quite the festival.
Dan Lewis took down the Sunday €10k, after giving me some stick for not picking him as one of my "three to watch" ahead of the festival. Actually he should be thanking me as I think the three I did pick got one min cash between them, so I might be renaming that to "three to jinx" in future. Joking aside, and despite the fact he's a Spurs fan, I was thrilled for Dan, one of the nicest gents you'll ever meet at a poker table.
Someone called Daryl McAleenan took down the final Omaha 4/5 event. If like me you have no idea who he is, I encourage you to check out the most recent where he gave a great account of himself in his best telephone voice. The final side of the festival was won by the popular Jorrit "Dutchy" Baars.
What's next?
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