DUBLIN BELLYBUSTERS

Everyone who knows me knows that I love bacon. My penchant for bacon sandwiches during a long late-night poker session is well-documented. I don't know what it is but the smell of bacon just turns me on. I think it's my body's way of expressing anticipation. Very sad, I know.

Well, as the new Great Dane Peter Eastgate was dispatching Ivan Demidov over in the Penn and Teller Theatre tonight, I was battling my ass off in the 50/50. I went deep but frustratingly finished in 13th for a miserable $550 cash (still my best MTT finish for about 3 weeks). First got $11,500. Having maintained the chip average (no more, no less) throughout the tournament, I was sitting comfortably in 9th of 18 remaining. Starved of any real hands, I made do with small steals from late position and a couple of re-steals from late position raisers. This tournament has a good structure so I never felt the need to go bananas. For that reason, I refused a squeeze play with 82 that my friend Stephen O'Connor was goading me to make. It was a button raise - small blind call into my big blind. I was on the same page as him as we typed its potential into the chatbox simultaneously but I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger.

My stack drifted to half the chip average as others doubled up and the blinds passed through me. The blinds were 4k-8k and I had 85K (last of 13) when my big blind was raised by the Cut-Off. I re-raised all-in with A9 and he mucked. The next hand, it got round to me Blind v Blind. I had 100k and Kojac. I shoved. He insta-called with 10-10 and I didn't improve. It was a disappointing end. If I had won that coinflip, I would have been up to 5th place and all but guaranteed a handsome final table cash.

With all the success of my friends in recent weeks, I am particularly craving a big MTT score. I'm not greedy. I don't want 9.1 million. $5K would make me happy. $5K would be a taste. You see, when I go deep it's like I'm smelling bacon. I get turned on. I anticipate. The sweet smell of bacon in my nostrils. But just one time, it would be nice to taste it too.

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