Glowed up Manchester

 Last Friday, I travelled to Manchester for the latest stop of the Party poker tour. In truth, I was probably looking forward to it significantly less than previous stops. I have been to Manchester several times for poker, but not since the pandemic, and while I have made some fond memories there, it hasn't really been at the poker table for the most part, and my impressions of Manchester as a city weren't great.

Mystery man

My first ever visit to the venue, the Manch235ter casino, was back in 2014. Coincidentally, my current sponsors Paddy Power were flirting with signing me back then and paid for me to appear at their Winter Open there, which was an attempt to raise the profile of the then struggling Irish Poker Open in the UK.

My biggest memory from the tables involve an aggressive American to my immediate right who late regged. From the table chat, I gathered that he was known to most of the English players at my table, and had played all the bigger events at the recent WPT Nottingham. He was playing almost every hand, so I couldn’t just wait for a big hand before getting involved. I lost chips after he check-raised me in two pots on the turn. But then I finally found a hand, [As-Ks] under the gun. It was the American’s big blind and I was not anticipating a fold, so I raised bigger than I would normally, to 525 at 100/200. A loose-passive player called on the button, and the American pumped it up to 1,900. I elected to call, and after the button folded, the flop came down Q-6-6 with two spades.

To my surprise, he checked, setting off alarm bells in my brain. Queens, really? I postponed my aggression until the turn and checked behind. Next came the four of spades and my opponent checked again. With the nut flush now made, it seemed like high time to bet, but I was still a bit suspicious, so I bet less than a third of pot. My opponent now clicked it back, and the alarm bells grew louder. However, getting odds of five to one on the call, against an opponent who had already pulled this move twice successfully, I couldn’t really just fold, so I called again to re-evaluate on the river.

That river was a fourth spade, and I wasn’t sure what I was doing if my opponent bombed into me. Thankfully, he checked, and after rejecting a value bet on the grounds that the best hand he could have that might call was jacks with the jack of spades, I checked behind. He rolled over queens for the flopped house and I was relieved to have escaped so lightly. 

“I guess you have too much information on me!” The American chimed, smiling ruefully. I assumed he meant from the fact he had played almost every hand to date.

“You do like your check raises!” I said, but at the break I found out that my neighbour was none other than Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi, who I had not recognized, probably due to jet lag, possibly senility.

My main memory away from the tables as I wrote in my Bluff Europe report at the time was the Aseefo Night Tour of Manchester given to me by my friend Asif Warris. He busted just before me, and gave me his personally guided tour of Manchester at night, taking in a wonderful Pakistani restaurant and shisha bar. Asif was such good company that the night flew by and before I knew it, I was heading to the airport for my flight home.

Plus ca change

I fired two bullets at the main this time, and would have bagged up well above average if my AK had held versus the AJ of Platinum Pass beast Matt Harniman (who it was lovely to finally meet in person). The other highlights were the other great people I met and had chats with, including Barry's friend wonkyJim, Marta, and recent Chip Race guest Andrew "BowieEffect" Wilson. Local hero Andrew who lives within a stone's throw of the casino got headsup in the main event against Simplify Poker student Michael Breen. It was a breakthrough win for the Irishman, who I believe was the first Irish winner of a main on the relaunched tour. Michael travelled over with Liam McVeigh, and it's great to see more Irish players travelling as word gets around what a great atmosphere and structure the tour provides.

I particularly enjoyed a long chat with Andrew outside the casino after the main. He told me he hasn't been playing much this year, instead focusing on coaching and fitness. He's dropped ten kilograms and is looking great these days. I always love seeing guys his age put focus into their physical well being: as I said to him, the older you get the harder it gets to correct course, and the older you get, the greater the difference it makes to your quality of life. Andy's a deep thinker across the board, and I enjoyed hearing his thoughts on a bunch of topics outside poker.

Manchester has significantly improved since last I was there (it'll be interesting to see if the mayor most credit that improvement to, Andy Burnham, can repeat the feat for Britain when he becomes Prime Minister, as seems almost inevitable now) and is now a buzzing vibrant city that is totally different from the rather grim depressed Manchester I remember. Once again, a highlight of this trip was getting the Aseefo tour, which included walking the Curry Mile (four times!), and he was kind enough to drop me to the airport at 3 in the morning.

Next up for me is a week in Malaga, then a week at home before I fly to Vegas for the WSOP main event. If I don't go deep in that, I'll be heading straight from Vegas to London for the next leg of the Party tour.

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