Raw Power
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Nicky Power on the Irish poker scene.
Poker for the homeless
Poker for the Homeless (PFTH) weekend returned to the Jackpot Card Club after a three-year absence in April. The Friday night game was a €110 buy-in with €30 of that going to the charity. And it’s not every night you get a chance to knock out greats of Irish poker such as Noel Furlong, Scott Grey, Bomber Nolan, Pat Storan and Ciaran Corbett for €110. I was lucky enough to knock the lot of them out on the way to victory.
Noel’s exit was amusing. It was the last hand of re-entry and Noel went all in from early position. Assuming he was trying to re-enter, I called from the big blind with Q-4 and flopped Q-4-4. Noel duly stood up and announced it was past his bedtime and left.
Saturday’s team event attracted eleven entries with the PokerPlaz team beating Damo’s Donkeys to the title. Bridie Gribbin was the star player of the weekend with third-place finishes in each of the events.
Ambassador for the fundraising festival Padraig Parkinson, said, “What a success! Despite being so close to the Irish Open, and perhaps not as widely promoted as previous events, we beat the 2010 total purely by accident in the middle of the biggest recession we’ve ever seen. That says so much about the Irish poker community.
“Brother Kevin at the Capuchin Day Centre will use the money wisely to make sure those worse off than us don’t go hungry. There are way too many people to thank individually. Everyone who gave of their time and money knows exactly who they are and they know we know”.
A total of €15,000 was raised over the weekend. Poker for the Homeless has raised almost €250,000 in the last seven years for homeless charities across Ireland.
The 40 Guns was the somewhat novelty name given to an innovative tournament run in Tramore recently. With a €1,000 buy in, limited to 40 players and run over one day, I liked the idea a lot and also loved the fact it was on my doorstep.
The field was a mix of players from the region and a few shrewdies who had travelled to the event. There had been a lot of satellites run in Clonmel, Waterford and Dungarvan so for a lot of the field it was a buy-in outside their usual range. Looking at the four starting tables, I’d say I got the short straw but ran well in the seat draw, having direct position on Padraig O’Neill and Liam O’Donoghue. With 30,000 starting stack and 45-minute clock there was heaps of play and I did my usual party piece of spewing half my starting stack over the first two levels. Having knuckled down I picked up a few hands and played a few pots well to be among the chip leaders after level four on 60,000.
After a very nice three-course dinner, it became obvious from the low attrition rate that this was going to be a long grind. First place was €16,000 and ultimate pain was guaranteed for one player, with the bubble being €4,000 for fourth.
The game had become very slow and the blinds definitely caught up with the structure with a 20 BB average at two tables left. I lost a big race, 7-7 versus A-K, with 12 remaining which would have given me 16% of total chips. I shoved a lot to get those chips back and had a little under average when the final table started.
The table draw ran against me this time with a decently-stacked Padraig and big-stacked Liam now having direct position on me. I had a clear strategy in my head at this stage. With such a big bubble, I could under no circumstances be short stacked playing it. Basically, I need to take a punt if possible to get chips. For the first two rounds of the final table I had no spot and we lost two players.
The first time it was folded to me on the cut-off I had 12 BB’s and the blinds were going up in a couple of minutes. I felt it was an ATC shove as the BB seemed tight and was shorter then me. Liam O’Donoghue woke up with a hand, however, and I was lucky to be in a 40/60 but not lucky enough to win it.
Padraig O’Neill was the unfortunate man who received maximum bubble pain while Liam went on to claim the title and €16,000 first prize. I tipped Liam as one to watch in this column last year and I’m sure this will be the first of many victories.