DUBLIN BELLYBUSTERS

Tournament Poker is a fickle swine. In the fifteen weeks between December 1st and March 14th, I played 309 tournaments on Full Tilt, winning $21568, boasting an ROI of 247% at an average stake of $34. I had 57 cashes, 22 final tables and 9 victories. During this period, I also came 3rd in a Pokerstars tourney for over 2K.

In the 6 weeks since then, I have lost $6334 with an ROI of -23% at an average stake of $42. In 228 tournaments, I have had 28 cashes, 5 final tables and 0 victories.

A closer inspection of the stats is required:

During my successful period, I was only playing 3 tournaments per day versus the 5 tournament per day average of the last 6 weeks.
During my successful period, I won $21226 playing 248 tournaments of buy-in $50 or less versus the $342 in 61 tournaments of higher buy-in.
During the past 6 weeks, I have lost $744 playing in 155 tournaments of buy-in $50 or less versus the $5590 lost playing 73 tournaments of higher buy-in.

It would appear that I am very much struggling in the tournaments with a buy-in over $50. In fact, my overall ROI for any tournament from $60+ is -39% as opposed to the 183% that I enjoy in tournaments that are less than this amount. This would suggest that I have been playing more often and at a higher average stake level of late in the hope of hitting that elusive big score when perhaps my time would be better served bacon-hunting in the $24-$50 tournaments. Hopefully, this bit of analysis will help me get back a bit of bankroll discipline that has been missing from my game of late.

Okay, before I begin, this is not intended as a brag-post in any way, shape or form. The ISOP was great fun - a series of events which aimed to generate interest in The Dublin Bellybusters and BadBeatsPoker.net, give members from both camps something they could all call their own, provide a gang of talented poker players with the bragging-rights-athon that they so craved and of course, supply the ammunition for the inevitable slag-athon that would follow in its aftermath! The fact that I won the Player Of The Series Crown and the substantial wager that accompanied it was, of course, a nice sweetener, but first or last, my opinion would be the same - The ISOP was a huge success and it is 100% coming back for a 2nd outing before the end of 2009!


The results for each tourney were as follows:

Event 1 - $100 6-Handed NLHE - 21 entrants
1st: The Lab Rat - $840
2nd: LAPPIN - $483
3rd: Evo_Boy134 - $336
4th: pegboy1 - $252
5th: FucPhilliesFans - $189

Event 2 - $24 9-Handed NLHE - 42 entrants
1st: Wonderfulsmellz - $292
2nd: DisCobraBites - $181
3rd: UNCGPoker - $131
4th: Evo_Boy134 - $101
5th: break_evan - $81
6th: Stinky Budz - $71
7th: DaDragonLaydee - $60
8th: Chipless Wonder - $50
9th: otbdave - $40

Event 3 - $20 9-Handed NLHE Rebuy - 19 entrants
1st: Miguel Santiago - $1024
2nd: Quirmbach - $589
3rd: CHK-Raise - $410
4th: WhySoCereus - $307
5th: Galactus X - $230

Event 4 - $50 9-Handed PLO - 17 entrants
1st: UNCGPoker - $340
2nd: pegboy1 - $255
3rd: WhySoCereus - $170
4th: Adam Noone - $85

Event 5 - $100 9-Handed NLHE Turbo - 21 entrants
1st: ManchVegasPwn - $840
2nd: Blck Jck - $483
3rd: Evo_Boy134 - $336
4th: Michael Craig - $252
5th: LAPPIN - $189

Event 6 - $100 Heads-up NLHE - 10 entrants
1st: Galactus X - $650
2nd: GoMukYaSelf - $350

Event 7 - $50 HORSE - 23 entrants
1st: J4bberW0cky - $460
2nd: Stinky Budz - $265
3rd: grindtherail - $184
4th: Michael Craig - $138
5th: Chipless Wonder - $104

Event 8 - $120 9-Handed NLHE KO - 13 entrants
1st: Hennerz1 - $494
2nd: AlexHoops - $371
3rd: Evo_Boy134 - $247
4th: break_evan - $124

Event 9 - $50 Heads-Up PLO - 11 entrants
1st: Miguel Santiago - $358
2nd: WhySoCereus - $193

Event 10 - $100 6-Handed NLHE Shootout - 12 entrants
1st: LAPPIN - $600
2nd: Vestvik7 - $400
3rd: Evo_Boy134 - $200

Event 11 - $200 9-Handed NLHE (MAIN EVENT) - 16 entrants
1st: Dr Fill Good - $1280
2nd: LAPPIN - $960
3rd: Petie_BigStacks - $640
4th: Miguel Santiago - $320

Event 12 - $24 9-Handed NLHE Double Chance - 29 entrants
1st: socrates555 - $301
2nd: I Eat Dope - $182
3rd: rryu87 - $137
4th: Evo_Boy134 - $100
5th: break_evan - $73
6th: pegboy1 - $64
7th: Galactus X - $55


Some statistics of note were:
Total Participants: 76
Most Games Played: LAPPIN, Evo_Boy134 and Galactus X (12)
Most Wins: Miguel Santiago (2)
Most Cashes: Evo_Boy134 (5)
Most Prize-money: LAPPIN ($2232)


Player of The Series
In the week before the Series, seven players put their money where their mouth is and entered the Player Of The Series Wager. Details of this competition can be found at:

http://www.badbeatspoker.net/forum/challenges/3416-isop-player-series.html

Needless to say, there was more on the line than just money. Professional pride was at stake for Evo_Boy134, Quirmbach, Dr Fill Good, Hennerz1, WhySoCereus, Galactus X and myself as we did battle each day for 8 days. Going into the final day, all the focus was on Irish players as Sligo-man Arran 'Evo_Boy134' Brennan held a small but significant cushion over me with the chasing pack a long way behind. With Evo_Boy making an early exit in the Main event, I needed a top 4 finish to take the lead. 2nd spot put me in poll position but after bowing out in 12th in Event 12, Evo_Boy had his destiny in his own hands. He needed 2nd place to overtake me and take the title but was unfortunate to get outdrawn 4-handed. A valiant effort and the close finish that the Competition deserved.

1st: LAPPIN
2nd: Evo_Boy134
3rd: Miguel Santiago*
4th: pegboy1*
5th: Dr Fill Good
6th: ManchVegasPwn*
7th: WhySoCereus
8th: The Lab Rat*
9th: Hennerz1
10th Galactus X
13th: Quirmbach

*Not involved in the wager

Comments On The Series
The turnouts were excellent with the exception of events 6, 8, 9 and 10. The Heads-up tournaments and 6-Handed Shootout should have come with a lower price-tag and the KO should have been scheduled for a different day. For the next Series, we shall extend the schedule to 15 or 16 events as efforts will be made to have a few more lower buy-in events. Also, as per the feedback, we will be better prepared with satellites and probably schedule a day off somewhere in the middle.

Congratulations to all the winners and a big thank-you to everyone who participated. I hope you will all join us for ISOP #2 which we are tentatively penciling in for November of this year.

I have been very busy of late. I realise that anybody who knows me will scoff at this comment but it's true. I have been working on a number of projects recently, some writing projects and some poker-related. I organised (with the help of the Badbeats gang) the hugely successful ISOP - International Series of Online Poker. I went on a fabulous holiday to Seattle - I know, I know, poor me! Since getting back to Connecticut, Michelle and myself have been back and forth to the wholesalers, buying enough bottled water to drown a sounder of flu-carrying swine, stocking every square inch of storage space we have with hand-sanitisers, flu medication and canned food products in preparation of the impending pandemic.

Not having had the time to post my thoughts on various subjects over the past month forced me to get retro with some pen and paper so as to keep track of the different blog topics I wish to discuss. Those topics include my recent daliance into the world of cash game poker, the swings to which I have had to adjust since moving up a stake level, my MTT drought since FTing the Double Deuce last month, a report on the ISOP, a poker-coaching product/system I am looking to launch in the near future, the sickest 25c/50c Omaha Game on Full Tilt and the pilot episode of a blog series entitled 'I Don't Hate Live Poker?'. Of course (much like the TV industry), whether a second episode will be commissioned is very much dependent on the existence of quality content.

It is my intention to bash out a blog each day for the next week in an effort to catch up. Tall order I know but perhaps the flu epidemic will come to my rescue and we will all be quarantined in our homes, thus giving me ample time to achieve my goal.

I'm So Happy Coz Today I Found My Friends, They're In My Computer
Lying in the jacuzzi of the Warwick Hotel in Downtown Seattle on Monday, I indulged one of those Beckettian streams of consciousness. The bubbles did their work and my mind wandered. I got to thinking how I would be absolutely lost without my computer. Now, I realise that, in this post-Facebook era, this is neither profound or unique but it did seem worthy of note. Thanks to my beloved Mac (and Skype), I met my girlfriend Michelle. I have become friends with Rounder63 from California, Dr Fill from Nova Scotia, WhySoCereus from Connecticut, Dinkydoofus from New York, Chipless Wonder, Galactus X and all the Badbeatspoker.net gang from Ohio, Jacaranda from Oregon, Thang911 from Atlanta, Holdemplayer81 from Raleigh, Break_evan from Germany, Good night baby from Moscow and Stinky Budz from 'De Nort Side'. On top of that, I have made the acquaintance of countless others from every continent (even Antarctica!). Most of these people are in their 20s and for the most part, footloose and fancy-free! It suddenly struck me - there must surely be a way for all these like-minded, free-spirited people to use each other...


The Man Who Sold The World (The Cobain Unplugged Version Obviously)

* 10 online poker players
* 1 year
* 10 destinations worldwide

What if you travel the world, changing cities every 5 weeks but always arriving to a comfortable 2-bedroom apartment, fully kitted out for the needs of a young online poker player. Sounds nice, doesn't it?You could go from Las Vegas to Hawaii and from there to Melbourne. Your next stop could be Bangkok before travelling on to Moscow. Amsterdam next before a short hop to Barcelona and then Dublin. New York beckons before finishing you trip in the beautiful Paradise Island in the Bahamas.If each of the 10 players finds a suitable, well located pad in their respective cities, they can spend the first month there, kitting it out with a Poker War-room (triple-monitor et al). Every 5-weeks for the rest of the year, there is a location switcheroo as each player moves to the next city on their respective lists (always moving counter-clockwise around the globe). The beauty of this would be cost-efficiency - you would have all the mod-cons without paying the hotel rates!


It's Okay For Michelle To Eat Fish Coz They Don't Have Any Feelings
Yesterday, Michelle and I rented a car (Fuck you Avis BTW!) and drove to the stunning Soqualmie Water Falls. It was a nice change of pace as we spent our first three days in Seattle doing city-based touristy stuff. Thanks to our City Pass (good value @ $50), we did the Space Needle, the Science Museum, The Imax, the Mono-Rail, the Sci-Fi Museum, the Aquarium, a boat trip around the bay and my personal fave, the Experience Music Project.

On the way back from Soqualmie, we decided to get in a poker session at the local casino. A $2/$5 game was the only game in town so we pulled up a couple of chairs and bought in for the table maximum - just $300 or 60 BBs. I spent the first two hours, running into cooler after cooler. I lost my first buy-in with KK to AA all-in preflop. I took my second to $500 before losing half of it with the nut flush to a boat. The rest of that buy-in disappeared when my AQ went all-in versus A5 on an Ace-Jack-7 board only for a 5 to come on the turn.

Meanwhile, Michelle was steadily building a stack, eating up the fishes, one small bite at a time. She had over $700 when I decided that I had done enough laps of the casino and was going to go for one more buy-in. Three hours later, I left with almost $600 (for a $300 loss) and Michelle had $800 ($500 gain). Regardless of the bottom line, it was a pleasant evening with a nice bunch of guys, several of whom clearly knew what they were doing.

It was 3AM last Friday and despite having had no sleep for over 41 hours, I found myself unable to close my eyes. Michelle and I had been threatening to take a vacation for several weeks. We oscillated between destinations, arguing the merits and demerits of each in painstaking detail. (Michelle is not known for her decisiveness!) Should we fly to Bermuda for a sun-worshiping vacation by the beach? Should we make it a working-holiday and gamble it up in Vegas? Should we traverse the country and cross the border into Vancouver? No, no and no! Each holiday-spot had something going for it but each came with its own drawback too.

Sunday came and fed up with the indecision, I did the manly thing and put my foot down. "That's it", I said, "We're taking a cruise to the Bahamas!" and two days later, we touched down in Tahoma, Seattle - the home of The Seahawks, Microsoft and Starbucks, Leni Hendrix, Curt Cobain and of course, Frasier Crane!