Bad Day for the Planet

After four weeks without alcohol or tobacco, I decided to push the WSOP preparations a little further by playing a bunch of events in the Aviation Club. I'm not sure if it's working good or bad because on the plus side I was going deep with chips and on the negative side I wasted a lot of time. On the very negative side, Veronique cashed in one of the events I bubbled in, so I had to listen to it all the way home and pay the cab fare.

While putting the hours in, I was sitting for a good while exactly where I'd been sitting when I witnessed one of the most bizarre incidents I've ever seen in a poker room. A few years ago, we were playing a pretty big game in the wee small hours. Just to my left, there was a giant pot plant, and to the left of that, sat players A and B. Quite often, in Paris in those days the pot plant would have been the best player at the table but on this occasion, it definitely was a dog as players A and B have bracelets.

I probably should have moved seats and sorted out my positional disadvantage but I can't help being Irish and didn't want to show weakness and anyway I had a nice little table for my drink right where I was. Player C wasn't playing at all, which was a pity but was sitting behind the other two in a position where he could see both hands and was chatting to the boys. This certainly wasn't in line with the rules of the game so I politely asked the dealer to ask player C to move back a bit from the table. As far as Madrid or Oslo would have been fine. He didn't but I asked him again and this time, he asked player C to piss off, or at least move back. Player A was some kind of a big shot, which along with being French, led him to believe that the rules were for other people and lost the plot completely. He told the dealer to just deal me out.

The dealer said he couldn't. He asked the dealer: "Why the xxxx not?" (the translation might not be perfect, but you get the general idea). The dealer replied that not alone could he not deal me out, he couldn't deal anybody in because I had put the button into my pocket. This must be a big insult in France though I don't understand it myself because player A jumped out of his chair and attacked the pot plant in very impressive style. He kicked the pot to pieces and attacked the clay and the plant, kicking it all over the lovely carpet. This is very bad news for the planet but I figured I was getting the best of it as the frenzy of the attack was tiring him out, which was great news for me if I was next in line.

The floor man arrived and I assumed he was going to sort things out but apparently he saw his role as an observer and a recorder rather than a more hands-on type. Maybe they both had bad experiences with pot plants in the past. Especially big ones. Player A used the last of his energy to storm out of the building. I consider this a very bad play as he was on the button next and plays the button pretty well in my opinion. I asked the floor man if this was going to be my fault. He said it was. No surprises there. At least I still have the button.

I only wasted five hours in the main event, which was certainly an improvement. Just before I got knocked out, French star Anthony Lellouche congratulated me on my recent win. One thing I fucking hate is when you congratulate someone and he or she looks all confused and then finally pretends to remember "Oh, yeah that!", which drives me nuts. But this time it was genuine. I told him I hadn't won anything and to stop taking the piss but he insisted he'd read somewhere I had. I told him that if I had won something, I'd probably remember. And finally, he said "Oh, yeah, it was that charity thing I read about."

Thanks to the generosity of the Jackpot Club in Dublin and BoylePoker, the March Madness weekend, the 27th to the 29th of March, will include an individual event (€110 NLH) on the Friday and a needle filled four-person team event (€440 per team NLH), which will raise a few quid for Dublin's homeless. Worldbeaters Rosanna Davison, Ken Doherty, Noel Furlong and Marty Smyth will be there to be shot at. By the way, congratulations to Karen and Marty on their engagement and I sincerely hope the BoylePoker team were taking the piss when they told me that the wedding will be streamed live exclusively on the blog section of BoylePoker.