Day 3 Irish Open 2009

A race to the final table.

With 187,500 in Chips and a new day ahead I somehow managed to put the hand from last night behind me and move on fresh with a clear head.
1 thing was for sure I wanted to win this and knew I was able to I just needed a little bit of luck with my 50/50s.

My table draw was good in regards to players and chip stacks but I managed to get involved a few to many times min races or 60/40 shots normally being the 40% end of it to try to take out the smaller stacks.
I played a pocket pair of sixes bad too where I had to call and all in for quite a few chips and he had QQ.
I decided to go outside for a min as I needed a break what was happening to me and my chips?????
With the blinds 4000 8000 with a 500 anti the action got to me in the small blind. I made a speech to the BB like we should play a big pot now and I called with QJ AQJ was the flop as I checked it to him, it was checked back and the turn was a J. again it is checked round and the river is a 4. I bet out 8K looking week and he thinks for 2 minutes which Will does every time the action was on him and folded.
I find AA and raise to 40K which looks crazy and probably is but if you want to crack my AA then you have to pay. Of course no one has a hand this time and it is folded round to me.
Now comes and interesting hand. I have ordered some food and it arrives as I raise to 28K with AcJc, the German guy in seat 9 who is wearing a paddy power shirt so is in the last few for the sole survivor which is worth 100K to them pushes all in. Everyone folds to me and I think for a while.
I have seen him do this with A8, JT, 99 and 3 other times but didn’t get to see his cards. What hand can I put him on here and do I want to gamble?
Ok, a weak ace would be a nice thought but probably not! AA KK didn’t think so. QQ, JJ TT could be possible. The truth was he knew I was capable of passing a big hand and he had seen me raise and pass a few times. Did I think I was 40% or better in the hand? YES so I called since I wanted to win the comp and this was set to be a pot worth over 225,000. It was 81,500 more into a pot of just over 140K. It did leave me with 17K if I didn’t win the hand but I don’t worry about that till I’m in that situation.
OK I said I call. Knowing deep down that this is not the best call of all but a chance to get back into the tournament and have a good run at making the final then going for the win.
I turned over my AJ and he looked sad and make a comment like Oh No! Now I thought I had him crushed as why else make a reaction like that. He turned his cards over and I saw the Q of hearts first then the Q spades????? WTF??? Never mind doesn’t bother me really I had already made the call so in truth no difference just bad etiquette.
The flop was ok K T 4 and with no aces passed there were still 3 in the deck for me to hit and now with 2 Queens’. 5 outs was about 20%. I thought it was my turn to hit as I was running pretty bad on day 3 and if the maths were right I was due this one. The turn was another T which was not so good and the river bought me one of my outs from the flop but unfortunately not good enough. It was a Q. SO SICK…………
Ok compose! So a hand later there were 2 players all in B4 me and the blinds with a chance to quadruple up I looked down to see 7d8d and knew this was the hand to take on that challenge.
It was a funny hand as the guy in the 9 seat the same German went to make a raise and was not finished before the dealer moved on. He was counting his chips so close to the line the bet stood. Ok I knew for some reason he had AA as he was about to make a scene and didn’t was happy for the action to go on. So when they were on their backs it was his AA v AQ v my 78. Come on I thought this would get me right back in it and now there were only 39 left. The flop was no help to anyone but as number of turn cards could give me chances. I paired up on the turn and got no love on the river and I was gone in 39th place.
It is not a bad result but I was bitterly disappointed. I always expect to win when I play and especially when I have chips. I had a lot to think about but first I wanted to get the hell out of there and let the emotions go. I meet my girlfriend went for a walk and let it all out. I enjoy to shout/scream and of course there were a few tears. I went back in to collect my 6700 Euro OK I was bought into the event THANK YOU BETFRED and I worked 3 days for 6700 euro this is the positive way to look at it but not the easy way. I knew I also could have waited 5 min to climb up the money ladder to 9700 Euro but quadrupling up was far more important to me as I was in it to win it.

I did something this trip I was proud of. I did not go crazy on tilt in the cash games. I didn’t rush to play the next event I just relaxed and had some fun with the friends I had over their.
This year Ireland was a great experience I learned a lot and had another good run at the title.
I WILL BE BACK NEXT YEAR AND I WILL WIN THE IRISH OPEN SOON J