“So sit yourself… beside me love, and put your wee hand in mine
And I’ll tell you of…someone I loved …long-long before your time!”

Ahh, sure sweeter words were never sung my friends!

That song “Long Before Your Time” has to be one of my favorite ballads. Ya know, truth be told my friends, anytime you get a few pints into me, it doesn’t at all take too much prying to get me up to sing an oul song after than. It’s even possible that if you happened to hear me sing you might think to yourself…”you know, there were rumors of a fifth Beatle” NOT!

It’s like a buddy of mine once said, “Ciaran, you should be on the radio…then at least I could turn you on and off thenwhen ever I wanted.” Ahh lads if we can’t have a laugh – then we’re destined to cry! And Paddy Power Poker players don’t cry.

It’s true though, it is tough to beat an ‘auld sing-song – that’s for sure!

The reason I bring this up is because I was at a trad night not so long ago and as you can imagine the craic was good, the ceol was great and the drink was flowing nicely!

Anyway, they managed to pry me away from whatever I was doing and get me up to sing (be careful what you ask for) and by the time I was done there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

No, not because my singing was that good, it was because there was this old boy sitting at the stage next to me (who happened to be ‘well-oiled’ himself) who got into the song so much and was singing so loud that when bellowing out the chorus, he jarred his false teeth out of his mouth and they landed down on the floor in front of everyone… and with that, the whole place erupted! Laugh – I tell ya – they had tears running down their faces! The funny thing was that he just bent down in the middle of song and with one swoop picked up the teeth and plonked ‘em back in his mouth!

And that my friends, was Ciaran’s last experience with the old sing-song!   I’m still giggling here to myself remembering it!

Have a good weekend all and happy hunting at the tables!

Ciaran

So after spending a few RELAXING days with me mam in Cork, it was off to Dublin for the Irish Winter Festival and the flight of my life!

Now as it turns out on Thur the 23rd the weather was very bad. The wind was howling like crazy and the rain was absolutely hopping off the pavement. Just to make matters worst, it so happened that yours truly was en route for Cork airport to catch a flight up to Dublin with Aer Arann. Now we weren’t really sure if the flight would be able to take off or not with all the bad weather. We’re talking some brutal conditions here, it was really bad!

Anyway, the announcement came out over the intercom that the fight was boarding; “Grand job” says I and off we went.  After showing our boarding pass, we began the long walk down the stairs and outside to the plane. Everyone at this stage was bent over shielding themselves as best they could from the wind and rain while at the same time we were starting to get a bit wary about flying on such a bad day!

Just as we were going up the steps of the plane we heard this huge, huge roar of engines off to the side and looked up to see an Aer Lingus plane hit the brakes at the last minute, opting not to take off! Obviously the pilot had decided that the conditions were just too bad and would ‘air’ on the side of safety!

Hmm… now at this time we were half way up the steps of our plane; this propeller-driven ‘sixty-year old yoke’.  Ah no…that’s just great. I’m going to need a double vodka here the minute I get on board for sure! Breathe Ciaran, will ya; relax lad! The crew is well used this kinda weather…we’ll be grand…right? However, it didn’t do much to settle my nerves either when I looked into the cockpit to see a set of jump leads on the seat! For crying out loud! You can’t be serious; I mean this plane was like something they’d use long ago to spray the crops with.

We noticed another Aer Lingus flight refusing to push back any further due to the relentless winds and brought back to the gate!

That’s it now, I’m thinking…there’s no way we can go in this small plane if the other boys in the bigger planes are refusing to take off! On comes the pilot…”good afternoon ladies and gentleman, our flight time to Dublin will be approximately forty minutes, we’ll be flying at an altitude of 27,000 feet…..”  Oh for the love of God, this boy can’t be serious, he must be nuts!

With that he starts up the propellers and before we knew it we were dancing down the run way …ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

“Get up ya bastard…get up,” I’m thinking! The whole plane now is shaking and I swear I can hear the pilot singing Danny Boy in the cockpit Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Scary times, I’ll tell ya - you could have heard a fart from five rows back!  If you pictured a Native American rain-dance, well that was us on that bloody plane! How we made it I’ll never know.

When we landed in Dublin we came down sideways…no joking – sideways – with one wing up in the air and with my cheeks puckered tighter than a camels nostrils in a sand storm.

Now you tell me…who loves poker more than Big C?

Why is it that good times go by so fast?  Sometimes I wish I could hit the pause button to ensure that I take in all the fun and excitement of an event. As times like we had at the paddypowerpoker.com Irish Winter Festival were absolutely amazing!

There was song, music, plenty of laughter and poker talent galore; along with a wealth of personality to go with it! Indeed, it was one of those times that I was looking for the pause button

With almost every European country represented, it was no wonder people came from far and wide to take part in the festivities; so congrats to all who made it the success that it was.

I would also like to extend a congratulatory note to the PPP staff for keeping the ship afloat – ya did well – fair play! To Eric, Noel, Paul, Ross, Mike, Evan, Margot and many others who played their part away from the felt, take a bow my friends – you deserve it!

Anyway, a lot to catch up on over the last ten days or so… so what I’m going to do is update you with three different postings here on the blog over the next couple of weeks. How does that sound? Good!

By the way, did I mention that I played in four different bounty tournaments on the site last week? I’ll tell ya now that they were an absolute blast, I was really surprised too with the level of play – it was very solid! Also the questions and in particular the comments cracked me up very amusing indeed are some of the PPP players! I’ll be looking forward to the next one, that’s for sure! Remember too, if any of you have questions, feel free to post them in the comments section of each one of my updates.

So be sure to check back later on in the week for the next update – I’ll be letting you know how Day 1 at the IWF went and how my Day 2 ended very abruptly

Talk soon!

Ciaran

‘IWF’ - it kinda has the ring of a title fight to it, wouldn’t you say? As a matter of fact, the very sound of it takes me back to those two classic battles between Ireland’s boxing great, Steve Collins and the British boxing legend, Chris Eubank.

And what memories they are! You see, those of you who didn’t see either of these two fights were definitely deprived of the ‘high voltage and electric emotion’ that was stirred up during both of these amazing title bouts, in particular, that night in Cork!

Don’t take my word for it - I dare you to look ‘em up online and witness them for yourself!

You see, I was there my friends, along with about fifty thousand others to cheer on and take part in that history-making event! Likened to a real life Rocky movie; it was indeed a huge night for Irish boxing!

I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but ‘for those of you who aren’t old enough to remember’ (there, I said it) Chris Eubank was arguably the most exciting and talented fighter of his time! He was unbeaten for what seemed like forever.

Now this man could put on a breathtaking performance before the first bell even sounded! With the sound of Tina Turner’s catchy rock anthem ‘Simply The Best”,  Eubank would appear out on a Harley Davidson! Along with a shroud of smoke and flashing lights he would ride up along the catwalk to the edge of the ring. Then he’d climb up on the edge of the ring,  just outside the ropes and would stare for ages out over the screaming band of people before jumping into the ring. It was incredible!

I think it’s fair to say that he was as much liked and appreciated by the Irish fans as he was by his own; there’s was no doubt about it - he was great for the sport.

Then of course, I thought that stadium was about going collapse with all the banging and screaming when Steve Collins came out to ‘Oro Se Do Bheatha Abhaile’! The man was draped in the tri-colour as his right fist pumped the air! Yeah, it brings chills!  Anyway, Collins, though the underdog, went on to win the fight! Such pride I tell ya.

Then we all got buckled and were hungover for a week – fun times!

That’s what the Irish Winter Festival has in store for us folks!

It’s here!

Ciaran

This is a question that I always seem to get asked. Whether it’s in Omaha or in Holdem, it still seems to be the same old pain in the arse however you look at it!

The latest person to ask me this heartfelt question is one of our own. a Paddy Power Poker enthusiast who goes by the screen name of ‘Aspiringpro’. He and many of the other poker crusaders who stop by ‘the Big C section’ at PPP.com to read what I have been up to and see what I have going on are often kind enough to leave me a question.

I always answer every question that I am asked on my blog, but as I said, this one seems to come up a lot. So, on behalf of ‘Aspiringpro’ and many of the other poker allies, I’ve decided that Short Stack Poker is a topic that we need to take a closer look at.

Indeed, it might be time for Big C to go on record and give you my take; my two cents on it… or forever hold my tongue.

Ya right – I can’t even keep my mouth shut when I’m under water – let alone when I eat!    That’s right; I am opinionated, especially when it comes to poker.  So here we go!

For a start; why is being short stacked such a pain in the arse you ask?  Hmm?  Well, it’s obvious that you would much rather be the one with the heap of chips in front of you, than the bloke who has only a handful. At least by having a bunch of chips you have the luxury of being able to stare down at those helpless short stacks, in some way feeling sorry for them even though at the same time you’re trying to knock them out!

Me? I hate being a short stack in a tournament! Granted it can keep you out of trouble for awhile as it prevents you from getting involved with marginal hands as you can’t afford it! But for the most part… being short staked is miserable – ‘it’s like having someone kick ya in the balls just before they ask you for some spare change’. It’s like having your best friend go on a farting spree during a road trip to Vegas, when it’s 120 degrees outside preventing you from rolling down the windows to dilute the stinky air! Yeah…it’s that bad.

I know what you’re thinking – ‘don’t become short stacked then!’ Yeah? Tell that to the bloke that made a move with his ten-seven off, only to have him back into a runner-runner situation and outdraw my top set, leaving me with only a handful of chips…meet Mr. Short Stack. You see, it’s not always your fault! Judge not, lest ye be judged I say!

Anyway, I suppose the first thing we need to look at is what actually constitutes being a short stack? Well, most believe that when you are down at ten times (or less) the amount of the big blind you are considered a short stack.

I know; it’s not a title that you hold dearly - yet you bear it!

One of the many problems with being short stacked is that you no longer have a lot of fold equity with your hand based on the amount of chips you have left.

For example; if you make a move while trying to represent a big hand - your opponent may not have to hold a big hand in order to look you up, even if the end result is either, that they’re wrong (and they lose but you can’t hurt them because you don’t have many chips) or they’re right (in which of course, you can’t hurt them).

Another problem with being the one in charge of the short stack is that it’s much harder for you to get away with your standard raise / steal from late position, as your opponents typically suspect you to be on the hustle and you run the risk of being reraised and pushed off the hand from someone who is left to act. But the problem now is that you put yourself in a spot where you are almost pot-committed, even though you most likely hold the inferior hand. Oh…and how we hate to go out with the worst of it!

I’ll leave you with this, a final note; whatever way you look at it my friends, it’s much harder for you to get the job done when you only have a short stack! Granted, it’s never a situation that we set out to get ourselves into, however it happens to the best of us. An important note my friends – if you do happen to find yourself in such a scenario and you feel that panic is close at hand as every picture card is starting to look like a big hand, then make sure at least that you are the one that moves in with the marginal hand first, as opposed to the one who is doing the calling with the marginal hand.

The reason; if both you and your opponent hold the same hand like an A 9 or K J  - whomever gets to act first with the hand might win due to moving in before the other. Are you with me? The point is that the hand is strong enough to go all-in with yet NOT strong enough to call an all-in with! You see, by acting first you at least apply some pressure on the people yet to act behind you, as they now have been put to the decision forcing them to call you if they want to play

Ciaran

How are we doing, my fellow fanatics!? I hope the tables have been nice to you lately and that you are running well!  I know - it’s a tough old game that we play, but sure that’s what makes it so great!

Anyway, if you’re like me, you are almost certainly looking forward to the upcoming Paddy Power Poker Irish Winter Festival.  It is being held at the splendid Citywest Hotel in Dublin and begins on Friday the 24th of this month – and with an estimated prize pool of a staggering €1,000,000 to be won, well it’s no wonder I’m licking my chops   Go-won ya good thing!

The entrants are expected to come from near and far to take a shot at this giant prize pool and not to mention - the great title.

So if you fancy your chances, I’ll tell ya this – ‘take a ticket and get in line my friends’ because you’re going to have to go through the mighty Big C to get to it!

That’s right, I’m feeling good and I’ve been in bed every night by 8 o’ clock, sleeping with my socks off and have been taking my vitamins. OK maybe not the vitamins but as Meatloaf said; two out of three ain’t bad! Yep, rest assured though that everyone else is will be ready also!  I wouldn’t expect anything less at such a major event.  So bring your A-game to Citywest and sit and play against some of the best in the business!

If it’s anything like the Irish Open then it’s going to be a great craic altogether!

By the way, thank you for all the great questions over the last six months! Please keep them coming as I really enjoy answering them and hearing from you all! And to anyone who doesn’t know how to ask, well at the end of this piece you will see a comment section, click on it and fire away with the questions!

So my friends, with that I bid you good night.

Ciaran

Some of the more heartfelt questions I get asked a lot include; what does a person need to do in order to break through and win a big tourney, like a WPT or WSOP event?  What is that final missing ingredient and where can they get it?  Ahh… if it were only that simple!  Just imagine.

“Excuse me Ma’m….can I get a double whopper, large fish & chips …oh…and throw in some of that extra secret ingredient too please”

“Is that to go, Sir?”

“Yes please! Thanks a million!”

Not likely.

Keep in mind also, that the people who are asking me these questions are players whose games I respect a lot and people I’ve been in the trenches with and have played against for a long, long time.  So what is the secret?  And why ask me you say?

Well, the thing is I also used to ask these same questions.  You see, I had won close to thirty tourneys over the years.  Most in the 100 to 200 player range and felt good about my game.  Though I was proud of all, none of these events were major wins.  I really felt that I needed to break through and win one of the big ones and prove it to myself that I could do it.

That day came for me last year at the WSOP when I won the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event with a field of 2,998 players.  It also meant I captured the biggest treasure of all, a WSOP bracelet.

Sure, even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and again!

Anyway, in capturing this title many people thought that I’d in someway done a ‘Da Vinci Code’ on it.  Solved the mystery, so to speak, or cracked the code or found the hidden chalice.

Nope….I am sorry to say that it’s none of the above.  There is no Holy Grail my friends, at least not in the poker world.  There is no Magic Formula.  The fact is that I’d always believed I was good enough to win but more than anything, it was just my time.  And anyone who asks me, well I tell them their time will come too…providing they continue to play well and compete in enough events.

I’ll leave you with this, a final note; I think that at least 20 percent of any field is good enough to win that event.  You have to be running really good and playing at your best.  And if the poker Gods are with you; it shall be your time.

Play well,

Ciaran

The pros do it – the amateurs do it - even the beginners do it.  So I suppose it’s fair to say…that we all do it!  But do what you ask?  Slow play, my dear Watson – that’s what!

But be warned, my fellow rounders, because slow playing and trapping can often come back to bite you on your arse!

Indeed, there is many a time that I was doing jig under the table; believing that I was on the verge of taking down a monster pot; knowing that I had played the hand well and was in deserving of the prize that was almost certain to be bestowed upon me!

After all, I’d crafted an almost perfect scenario by tricking my victim in to thinking – no, not thinking, believing – that they had the better hand and got them to commit a heap of their chips, even though I knew they were drawing so slim that they could fit into a size two ( ) only to see that dagger card arrive on the end!  You know, the one that is about as welcome as fart in a space suit.  It just shows up uninvited to deliver that awful blow!

Ouch – nasty – sick and what the feck!  All these come to mind, but what can I say other than – it’s my own fault!  I mean, I was the one that had let him get there by slow playing my big hand – it’s just a bad break, that’s all, so what-cha gonna do?  Nothing, nothing but dust it off and tell myself that I would do all again if I had the chance, because in the long run the maths and the clever play will surely prevail.

You see, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind, and I’m almost certain that you won’t have to go too deep in to any poker book before you find a the line that says, one of the main objects in the game of poker is to extract as many chips from your opponent as you possibly can when you have the better hand!  I think we can all agree on that.  I mean, why put in a huge raise or even move all-in if your opponent can’t or won’t call you!

What needs to be done is to find the perfect amount that you can bet or raise, without losing your opponent.  Agh – but that’s easier said than done.

You see, one has to be very careful when applying this strategy as there’s a fine line between playing crafty when you have a big hand and simply playing the hand badly!

For example, most people are aware that if you have the big pair like Aces or Kings in the hole, it wouldn’t be wise for you to allow five or six other callers in the hand, as you are likely to get outdrawn.  Ideally what you would like is to have no more than about two other players going to the flop with you.  At least that way you stand a far better chance of taking down the pot.

Important note; knowing your players and what they’re capable of doing helps you dictate by the amount you bet, which determining the number of callers you are going to get in the hand with you.  And believe me, this in itself is a form of slow playing!  But the clever way!

So…don’t limp in early position with a big hand unless you are sure that an aggressive player in late position is going to raise if he sees a bunch of limpers, that way you’ll have the option to reraise or just call (disguising the strength of your hand) when it comes back to you, then perhaps you can check raise on the flop.  However, if you don’t have an aggressive player then you should probably put in a raise and narrow down the field.  Always try and pick out the best spot when you’re going to slow play.  And in a perfect world your opponent might be drawing dead when you are trapping - ya right!

This is a topic that we will be looking at again soon.

I’ll leave you with this, a final note; poker is by design a lonely game, it’s just you against the field.  But whenever you can set a trap, outplay or out-think your opponent, then you’re doing ok in my book!  Happy hunting!

Ciaran

Halloween may indeed be around the corner my friends, but so is the Paddy Power Poker Irish Winter Festival!

That’s right!  This great event begins on Friday the 24th of October and it runs through the weekend, finishing on Monday the 27th.  It’s going to be a HOWL!

Now imagine how scary it would be (with Halloween only a week later) for any poker player to pass up on the opportunity at possibly adding such a great title to their résumé, not to mention miss out on the chance at capturing their piece of the estimated €1,000,000 prize pool!  It makes the mighty Big C drool all over his lap top! Slurp!

This really should be without doubt the ultimate haunt for any blood-thirsty card shark or back-alley gambler who fancies themselves as a bit of a punter!  It’s also a great opportunity for the young guns and any unknowns to come out to the Citywest Hotel in Dublin to rub shoulders and compete with some of the best players in the business!

One of the good things is that there are so many great ways to qualify online at Paddypowerpoker.com.  You can qualify for the main event for as little as a couple of Euro and give yourself a chance in cementing your name into Irish poker history!  Don’t take my word for it - come and see for yourself.

And if you don’t make your fortune, well, it should at least be great craic!  Ya know that’s really one thing that always separates the Irish poker tournaments from all the others - the craic - the amount of fun that’s had!  So hopefully we’ll see ya there!

Other than that, here’s a quick update.  I played in a small tourney last week with only about twenty players or so and was able to win that.  Though it was small, you still have to make good decisions!  I find that just tipping away seems to help keep my game sharp.

I’ve been playing a bit of cash games lately and have been doing quite well.  I sometimes find that there is greater value in middle limit games than in the bigger ones.  For example, I’ve been playing the last month in a $5/$10NL game and though there is often a bigger game going on at the same time, I might not sit down in it if I think there is better value in the $5/$10 game.  It’s all about turning a profit!

Remember, some of the better decisions that are made in poker my friends, are often made before you even sit down at the table!  In choosing what game to play in – so choose wisely!

Play well,

Ciaran