Since my last post not much has changed. Anthony hasn’t seen any action but has been giving poker advice to pro Ben Roberts who is now sitting to the right of him.

Sean on the other hand is back up to 13k after making an amazing call on a king high board with a pair of pocket fives. He has his table rattled I tell ya. Daniel Negreanu along with his 50 million onlookers is sitting on 20k-23k.

In other news from the Craic Commandos - Andrew, Francis and Rory all decided to tear up the cash games like the way Ireland triumphed against France in the rugby. Hold on Ireland didn’t win in fact they got slaughtered and the same goes for the lads.

I am now charging £5 for every bad beat story and I could be a rich man before the end of the night.

I nip out to the shop for two minutes and the action goes wild!

When I came back I couldn’t see Anthony at his table and I was sure he was gone - but then he showed up to tell me of all the drama i had missed.

He lost a huge pot with Jacks and was crippled down to 3k.  A couple of hands later however he got involved in a multiway pot with KQ.  A King on the flop kept him in the hand and when the Q hit on the turn he pushed all-in.  He got a caller and is now back up to 12.5k!  What a rollercoaster - I should go to the shops more often!!

Sean has taken a little bit of a hit but is not in danger yet.  He is now on 9.5k.

The players are having dinner now and are eating their Main Course at their tables!  For crying out loud, with a buy-in of over £5k sterling you’d think the EPT would be able to stretch to a dining hall at least!!

Sean Jethi looks down at pair of German virgins and gets excited (well who wouldn’t!).  With the blinds at 100/200 he raises to 600.

*German Virgins is the name for 99 (”nein nein” - geddit?)

Some poor sucker calls and and the flop comes Q99!  (The Craic Commandos like the Quads!)

There is no better feeling in the poker world than having four of a kind and having another player bet in to you, and that is exactly what happend to Sean.

His opponent bets 1500.  Cool as you like Sean just calls.

The turn is an 8 and his opponent checks.  Hoping that he his opponent holds a Q Sean bets out 1,500 but after some thought he folds.  Sean is up to 13k and looking comfortable at his table.

Just before the end of Level 4 Anthony Donohoe is sitting with KJ in the small blind.  He raises to 600 and the big blind calls.

Flop comes Jxx and Anthony bets another 600. The BB calls.

Anthony bets 2k when a blank hits on the turn and the BB folds.

He is now sitting on 10.3k which is about average for his table.  The big stack at the table has about 17k.

Alan Smurfit is still in the running and while I can’t see Andy Black from where I’m standing I can certainly hear him so he is obviously still in the mix!

More later…

Francis McCormack has just been eliminated.  He found himself in as tough a spot as you can get and couldn’t get away from it.

With the blinds at 75/150 McCormack raises to 600 preflop and the bad guy calls.  The flop comes T8x and Francis loads up and fires 3k in to the pot. Baddie pushes all-in over the top.  Francis had only 4k left and was compelled to call despite a bad feeling that he was behind.  He was right, the bad guy turned over KK and with blanks on the turn and river Francis was out.

Like our other brave warriors Rory Curtis and Andrew Dwyer, the may be gone, but they are not forgotten.  The blood still runs strong in Sean Jethi, 11k, and Anthony Donohoe, 9k, and they will fight for their slain brothers til the bitter end!

Player wil be on break in 30 mins and i will update again then…

The first hand of a major tournament. You look down at pocket Kings. What do you do?

Well, if you are Anthony Donohue you flop quads and take nearly 1,000 chips off your opponent.  Keith Hawkins was the donator and will know not to mess with this Craic Commando again!

The other two commandos, Francis McCormack and Sean Jethi, have only played a few hands so far and have yet to make four of a kind, but I’m sure they are just biding their time.

Other notable Irish faces in the crowd are Andy Black and Alan Smurfit, fresh from his bracelet win at the WSOP.

I’ll keep you posted on all these and more as the action unfolds…

Last night saw the end of Rory Curtis, his AJ on a J high flop was good enough for an allin however his opponent turned over pocket kings. Liam Flood was still standing tall last night with 26k while Marty Smyth is still hanging in there with 11k.

Today we have 3 commandos in action - Anthony Donohoe, Francis McCormack and Sean Jethi. All three have played in major tournaments before and i quote from Anthony “I’m running sh*t hot at the moment”, so our chances of a craic commando winning are looking good! 

Stay tuned for there progress throughout the day…

Ok the hotel is not as close to the casino as I first thought, I decided to try running it but failed miserably, after two minutes I was close to a heart attack so I got a cab the rest of the way.

There was 143 players when I left, the Irish have had mixed fortunes so far - Donnacha O’Dea busted out early on and went back to the hotel for an early bath (his words not mine), Irish Open winner Marty Smyth is sitting on 12k, Liam Flood is motoring alone after his double up early on - at a glance he must have 20k-25k.

Craic Commandos

Andrew Dwyer is out after fours hours of dead cards, his best hand was KQ suited but folded after 2 all ins, Nic filled you in on his exit hand and that sumed up his luck all day. On the other hand Rory Curtis is of to a flyer after a nice double up he is now sitting on 19k, to be honest he looks like a pro at the table - he is looks comfortable and is not afraid to get stuck in a play some hands. Let’s hope it continues!

My first thoughts of the EPT are mixed you would not know it was the EPT bar a few posters on the wall which I thought was strange but on the other hand the number of big name players here is great - Daniel Negreanu is floating around, Chris Moneymaker is falling asleep at his table, The Devilfish is sipping a whiskey like the Mac Daddy and Liam Floods tie is colourful to say the least.

Hopefully by the time I get back Rory will have trebled up.