Raw Power
Saturday, 2 March 2013
Nicky Power reports from the Irish poker scene
D4 DeepStack
The sixth instalment of the European Deepstack Poker Championship took place in Dublin last month. I’ve played the tournament every year bar the first but have to admit I have no love for it. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a great event, run to the highest standards and brings a huge amount of value to these shores; I’ve just always felt that the structure for this one is a bit gimmicky. You get a mass of big blinds on Day 1 to mess around with, but the subsequent days play out like any other tournament. However, you can’t argue with the turnouts over the years, of which, amazingly, 80 per cent travel from overseas.
The majority of overseas visitors to the event were French, with a healthy sprinkling of Danish, Belgians and Germans. I really don't understand the bad press French players get. I always enjoy playing with them as they’re generally funny, cordial and make for a very active table dynamic.
I guess my main problem with the event is a personal one. Give me 500 big blinds at the start of a tournament and I just can’t stop spewing. I sat down to my table on Day 1 and it became obvious early that it was a great table – a couple of capable players and the rest were average at best. Within an hour I had lost half my stack spewing and was by far the worst player at the table.
I knew I was playing terribly but just couldn’t seem to stop. I left the table for an hour to clear the head before I blew the lot. Upon return, the rest of the table must have been confused as I played some super stuff, trebling my stack within an hour and not putting a chip wrong.
I returned for Day 2 with 90k and had this to 110k when I lost the lot in flopped set verses flopped straight debacle in the second level of the day. I wasn’t that disappointed; over half the field was still in at that stage so we were still a long way from the money. Also, for some reason, getting it in bad makes for calmer emotions upon exit these days.
Three Irish players made the final nine. The always-impressive Marc MacDonnell was first out of the final table. Marc had yet again held the chip lead after play on Day 1, something he seems to achieve with abnormal consistency. I can honestly say Marc is the most impressive person I’ve ever seen gather chips, and when this player starts to put his endgame together live, the rest of us might as well not turn up. He’s that good he’ll probably win everything.
Pat Smyth finished in eighth position. I played with Pat on a final table in Tramore last year in a small tournament he won and he is a sound chap with a lot of game. I guess that’s to be expected with him being an uncle of Jason Tompkins.
This left the home hopes on the capable shoulders of Declan Connelly. Declan final-tabled the Irish Open in 2010, where he finished seventh after losing a massive race to Paul Carr, so he wasn’t going to be phased by the task at hand. After a gruelling battle, he would come out on top, taking the €50,000 first prize and title of 2013 European Deep stack Poker Champion.
One of Europe’s most popular poker tournaments, the Boylepoker.com International Poker Open, is expanding, with Aspers Casino, Stratford, London, set to host the event from April 17 to 21, 2013.
The IPO London 2013 buy-in will remain low, at £200 + £25, and the turnout is again expected to be high. The IPO Dublin in October 2012 attracted 1,148 players. The tournament will again have £5,000 added by the sponsor in the form of the easy-to-enter Extra Cash promotion.
Ciaran Corbett, head of poker at Boylesports.com, said, “We’re very proud to be hosting the hugely successful and popular International Poker Open overseas for the first time in April. Not only are we bringing an affordable, big-field, internationally-renowned poker event on tour to the English capital, we will certainly be bringing the famous IPO atmosphere and craic as well. We can also guarantee the usual massive turnout, a juicy prize pool and, above all, a fantastic experience for every player who takes part. We look forward to seeing you in London!”
The IPO London will have three day ones and players can only register online through the Boylepoker software by opening the lobby, selecting “Boylepoker Exclusives”, “IPO London” and then picking their preferred start date of day A (17th), B (18th), or C (19th). If you choose one of the earlier start days, and are unfortunate enough to bust, it will be possible to re-enter on a subsequent starting day. The other option is to qualify online through the two £20 + £2 weekly super satellites at Boylesports.com on Thursday and Sunday at 8pm. Each satellite will have at least one seat guaranteed. Watch out for the online mega satellite closer to the event.
The Norwegians are backIreland will again play host to the Norwegian Masters this year. The tournament festival will take place at Citywest from the Friday 15th of March to the Sunday 24th of March.
JP McCann, the man behind bringing this monumental celebration of poker to our shores stated, “This year we will be going bigger and better. We are expecting over 2,000 players to attend the festival. We will be running cash games 24 hours, with an expected 60-plus tables on the go for most of the event. Our tournament schedule of 56 events will be going into the Guinness book of records with the most tournaments held at one festival in Europe, smashing the current record of WSOPE Cannes 2011 by 20 events.”
The return of this magnificent itinerant poker festival is a massive scoop and boost for Irish poker. Having attended last year, the local cash grinders must be chomping at the bit. The action had to be seen to be believed, but let’s just say these Norwegians come to gamble. With such a selection of tournaments on offer, every poker player in Ireland should at least pick one event to attend. It’s an experience and atmosphere not to be missed.
Tourney Pick Easter falls early this year, which means all eyes will be focused on the Burlington Hotel the last weekend in March. Ireland’s premier poker tournament, the Irish Open, kicks off on Friday the 29th and this year there’s a substantial reduction in the entry fee.
The reduction in entry from the traditional €3,500 to €2,250 has been the topic of major discussion among the Irish poker fraternity over the last few months. There are many differing opinions as to whether this is good or bad for the tournament. Personally, I don’t see the reduction increasing numbers; thus, I see a major reduction in prize pool. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the reduction is a mistake. With numbers and prize pools falling considerably in all Irish events over the past two years, the move was probably inevitable.
The prestige and legacy of the event means it’s still the poker tournament every Irish player wants to win and I, for one, will be trying as hard as ever to win this one, no matter what the buy in. One time!