Too Much TV

I sat down to play the deepstack tournament in the Red Cow and noticed that six guys at my table had headphones on, so I went for a walk, figuring not much was going to be happening for a while. I met Brendan Murray who was talking to 'Roy the Boy' about his book (Life's a Gamble), which is hitting the shelves around now. I was a bit surprised that Roy knew enough about anything to write a whole book on the topic, but Enid Blyton probably hadn't even met Noddy or Big Ears and that didn't stop her writing about them.To be fair, Jesse says it's a good read and that's good enough for me.

When I rejoined the tournament, Scott and I had a great laugh with Flipper. We were asking Flipper if it was a coincidence that after an 18 months gap he'd started updating his blog again right after he'd won a tournament but it didn't bother him in the least.

Day two started well. The broken windows in the exhibition center, which looked like a barn to me, had been cleverly repaired by the astute use of black bin liners, though the gent's toilets still looked remarkably like a bush just outside the door. It was just like old times, except the tournament was exceptionally well organised and run. They even fixed it for Ireland to beat France at the rugby, which was a good idea as the place was swarming with French poker players.

I was sitting beside Ken from the Macau club in Cork for most of the day, which is a very good draw indeed. He was telling me that a few years ago he was drinking with Flipper in Flannery's when a girl came up to Flipper and said "I'm sure I know you from somewhere." He said that perhaps she'd seen him on television, but apparently this wasn't the case because she immediately said "I remember now, I was in school with you." You can't beat playing poker in Ireland!

Shortly afterwards, I moved all-in with a pair of sevens from the big blind after the button had raised and Ken had called. The button had AJ of hearts and had me dead on the turn. He then told me he only called me because he'd seen me play on TV. I don't blame him. Ken also had AJ, but he folded, which probably proves that they don't have as many televisions in Cork as you might think.

The next day, I made my first final table of the year in my 5th tournament, the charity event for the homeless, which was generously added to the program by Mike Lacey and JP. Samantha, the intouchpokermassage.com girl worked all afternoon for the charity. As United were playing West Ham on the box, I was doing my best to get knocked out, which went horribly wrong. When I realised I was going to miss the match, I changed tactics, which probably explains why I didn't win. Food for thought!