It has recently come to our attention that some of our Irish and British players are interested in ticket-only satellites to the Irish Masters at the Irish Winter Festival; this is the €1500 + €150 tournament with an estimated prizepool of €1m scheduled for October 25th - 27th.  The $4,500 packages currently available in our online super satellite qualifiers include accommodation, a welcome party in the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and of course cash to cover travel expenses and spending money; but maybe players based closer to Citywest don’t want all these bells and whistles and are happy to play for more tickets rather than fewer packages?

We’re thinking about running a few ticket-only MTTs and Sit’n'Gos (maybe one- and two-table ones) in the run up to the festival and it will be interesting to see what response we will get.  Would any of you readers who have not snagged IWF packages think about going for a ticket-only prize, or is the $4,500 package where it’s at?

Another poker quote for you:

“I never go looking for a sucker. I look for a Champion and make a sucker of of him” - ‘Amarillo Slim’ Preston

Have a good lot to cover in today’s blog post!  Firstly, a quick trip report (and excuse to brag); I played in a €55 double stack tournament in the Sporting Emporium club last night, my 1st live tournament in a month since chopping a €125 tournament in Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Card Club in early July.  There were only 34 runners, but I gained the chip leader with about 20 left and held onto it until there were 6 players left.  Top 5 were being paid, and once we got into the money I kept doubling up the two short stacks, my no good versus , my no good versus and so on.  After losing the chip lead as a result, I started to move from being one of the three big stacks to joining the other two small stacks, but got lucky after the new chip leader made a brave call with on the button against my re-raise all-in on the big blind with …of course I hit a flush with my 4!  Never lost the chip lead after that and took it down, making a good deal heads-up where I only had to give up €40 to 2nd place and ended up taking home €630 to his €480.  I played very well to be fair, really upping my standard of play compared to a year ago and victory was not undeserved in my unbiased opinion!   Haven’t been playing a huge amount of live poker over the last few months as online is where it’s at, but it is nice to remind the live community that I haven’t gone away quite yet…

OK, down to business!  The PPP Olympics kick off tonight, and with 14 money-added tournaments scheduled between August 8th and 14th, there is no excuse not to get in there, mix it up with the other Poker Olympians and grab some of the free money we’re throwing into the prizepools!  All of the tournaments are named after real Olympic sports (such as Women’s Beach Volleyball, the most watched sport of all), and with $250 added to each prizepool and $1,000 added to the PPP Marathon tournament on August 14th, you’ve no excuse for not getting stuck in.  And of course we leave the best ’till last: play at least three of The PPP Olympics tournaments and you’ll be eligible to play in the finale, the Gold Medal Freeroll, which has over $15,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs!

Next up: we’re running the very first Deep Impact PPP Deep Stack $1k Guaranteed tournament tonight (Friday) at 8pm.  Players will get a 4,000 starting stack and with 20 minute blinds, we’ll expect everyone to go balls deep into the early hours of Saturday morning!  If it proves a hit, we’ll run it again next week, so get to registering people…

Another caption competition using photos from this year’s Irish Open final table - this time it is Neil Channing and Tim Blake in the spotlight.  Enter as many times as you like; the 5 best captions will win a prize (only one prize per person).  Remember to leave your Paddy Power Poker nickname so we can credit your account with the Irish Winter Festival $6.50 feeder token if you win.

Good luck and have a great weekend!

Back with Part 2 of what it’s like behind the scenes of a televised poker tournament!

Now a lot of people have never played at a featured TV table before so I’m going to give you a few insights as to what goes on regarding the taping of the show.

For a start, as is the case with many TV final tables, we play short handed.  What I mean is there are only six players at the table, as opposed to nine or ten.  This really changes the nature of the game, as the strength of hands that a player may consider entering a pot with or maybe calling another player’s bet with can change dramatically, as there will only ever be five players to act after you.

In this format, the blinds also have a tendency to go up that bit faster, which normally results in play being a bit more aggressive, helping to ensure that each heat doesn’t go on for too long.  As you can imagine, it is very expensive for a studio to film these things, so it wouldn’t do if it were to run too long!

Something else that you might not know about TV tables is the length of time that it takes between the Flop and the Turn and the Turn and the River.  As you watch it on TV it happens in the normal speed; however, when we’re actually shooting it, it takes much longer.  The reason for this is that they need to get a shot from each camera and from every angle, side / front / back / over-head, anything that’s going to help make for good TV.

They also need to make sure that they have seen everyone’s hole cards, because believe me there are many times when the Tournament Director (in the Poker Million’s case Mighty Marty Wilson) has to come out between hands and say: “Make sure you show your cards properly to the camera.”  The dealer also has a microphone in their ear and is in constant contact with the people in the studio who tell them when to turn the card and so on.

So you’d be really surprised as to how long it actually takes and what goes in to a one-hour show.  Not only that but they have hundreds of hands that won’t even make the cut.  Believe it or not, some great plays never make the show.  It comes down to what they consider to be better TV!

Something else to note is that whenever you are watching a show and it looks like the player who actually went on and won the event seemed to have a lot of good cards – well, that’s not necessarily always the truth, or at least no more so than anybody else.  The thing is that the TV people have to show you who won and how that person got all the chips.  No point in showing you Billy winning the first three or four hands if he’s the first person to be knocked out.  More than likely they will just show you the hand in which he gets knocked out on!

Anyway, I hope this helps you understand a little bit more as to what goes on behind the scenes.  Feel free to ask me a question if there’s something else you might want to know.

I promise more hand stories next time so check back in a few days.

Play well,

Ciaran

Here’s the scoop, my friends!

Sky Studios in London is a tasty place to visit!  Not to mention, an absolutely huge spot.  Yet surprisingly enough this TV giant seems to work like a perfectly timed clock!

That’s right – when we arrived at the security gate for the Poker Million we were all processed and given our clearance badges in a matter of minutes, which enabled us all to gain entrance to the Media Monster.

Walking in to the big complex made me feel like one of the kids going into visit Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory…..Oompa-loompa dumpidee da!    Keep in mind that some of the greatest sporting moments in history have been brought to us as a result of this company.

Anyway, for those who have arrived from another planet and don’t know, Sky is one of the biggest media outlets in the world so it’s not everyday that you get to peek inside, or in our case, take part in one of its productions, so as expected we were all very excited.  And after being buzzed in and a “this way please”, off we went!

The walls are adorned with football legends such as Gary Linker and Alan Shearer; boxing giants such as Frank Bruno and Lennox Lewis; snooker greats like Steve Davis and Jimmy White.  They, along with an array of other great sporting personalities’ faces, are plastered over every corridor in which we walked.

Indeed, it was quite the sight my friends!

After being led into an area referred to as “the Green Room” – we were left to mingle.  The green room is where a select group of people get to go and watch the heats as they take place, and at the same time they get to hear the commentary and see each player’s cards.  It is also where the other players go to mingle and discuss the previous heats.

As for food, well there was plenty of grub there for us.  It was service with a smile – “one lump or two Mr. O’Leary?” – “biscuits or a sandwich, Sir?”  Wow - slurp!  “I’ll try both,” says I.    Splendid altogether!  It was far from this I was raised, I can tell ya that!

I noticed too that Paddy Power Poker’s own Noel Hayes was filling his pockets with all kinds of goodies, and I thought I’d seen everything when he removed his laptop from its case only to start filling the bag with cake and smarties!  It was kinda like a squirrel gathering for the winter.  Fair play Noel! 

With the bellies full, each player was then called for make-up and what magic was done in there!    Then to top it all off, they hooked us up with these heart monitors, kinda like wearing a belt - but imagine putting the belt on against your skin and then having it up under your rib-cage.

It was c-c-cold, not to mention felt very weird.  I found it hard to breathe for about ten minutes until I got used to it.  This is one of the things they do to give the viewer at home some sort of feeling as to what the player is going through – is the player nervous? - how fast is their heart beating?  Ahhh, you gotta love it!

Anyway, after some player interviews and a few head shots for the cameras, we were brought through security to be patted down before we could get into the featured table area in order for the games to begin.

Check back tomorrow for more on filming the Poker Million!

Play well,

Ciaran

Poker Million!  Raised on songs and stories, Heroes of renown…the passing tales and glories, that once was Dublin town!  Go-won ya good thing!

Though the appropriate song should be: Oh Mary this London’s a wonderful sight… That’s right my friends – the goal here is to the show the world that Paddy Power Poker players mean business!   And that’s what we did last Thursday.

I was delighted to have the mighty Noel Hayes in attendance and in full voice to enjoy this great (first step) victory for the Paddy Power green!  After promising the Sky Sports team and assuring me that he would not STREAK across the set, Noel was indeed allowed into the treasured green room.   Well done Noel - I know that was a big step for you!

With a line-up that included some of the best in the world – yours truly managed to get the job done.  When nobody was looking I was able to pinch a few chips here and there and managed to end up with ‘em all.   LOL - but I didn’t try to pinch Ms. Tillys’ bum.

That’s right - the wonderful Jennifer Tilly was a delight as always and was ever so entertaining, but unfortunately as it is with poker, someone has to go out first and Jennifer happened to be that person.  She moved in for her last 40k-ish with 88 and I was fortunate enough to wake up with QQ in the big blind and with no help from the board, Jennifer was eliminated.

Thanks again Jen for being sooooo nice to everyone at the table, you are such a lady – and to Phil Laak – (Jen’s boyfriend) “you’re a lucky rascal – ya did well kid, fair play!” 

So the good start and having the chip lead enabled me to get in and play a few pots.  I had Sligo’s own Paddy O’Connor to my right, who I believe to be one of Ireland’s best players.  He has a great presence at the table and understands the game so well!

The big hand between Paddy and I was in the first level.  It was folded around to the button, the internet qualifier from Norway, and he made it 7K to go; Paddy (who was in the small blind) raised it to about 21K.  I was in the big blind and look down to see AA – yippee.  Ok, now what to do?

Well the way I see it here is, if I just call, that more than likely I’m only going to see the flop with one person, and not two.  I’m sure that if the button (Norway Kid) has one of the top four hands like AA (unlikely, as I have that), KK, QQ, JJ or possible even AK – he might shove in if I just call!  He either has a hand or else he’s on the hustle and he can’t possible afford to gamble here risking another 14k in hopes of hitting a miracle flop if he’s got nothing.

So if he does have a big hand and he does shove in Paddy would surely fold and of course then I’d call.  Or if the Norway Kid folds, it will be only Paddy and I.  So here’s what happened – the button did fold and it was indeed Paddy and I to the flop.

It was a 3-4-5 flop, an absolute gem for my hand and there’s no way really that I see it changes anything.  Paddy was first to act and only after about two minutes he decided to check it to me.  The hand that I thought Paddy had, (given the fact that it was early in the first level and people were playing tight) is one of four hands TT, JJ, QQ or AK.  I did not think he had KK!  Basically when someone has AA or KK and given that flop with only two players going to it – well…those hands just seem to play themselves and more than likely he would have led out at it.  Remember now, that there is the guts of fifty thousand in the pot at this stage and we only started with a 100K so if he had KK he would not want to let me see a free card and possibly catch up if I had one of the those four hands that I mentioned.

So for all the same reasons mentioned above I wasn’t going to give him a free card because if a Q, J or a 10 arrives on the turn and he moves in?  I would not like it!!  So I bet and Paddy makes a world class fold – well done indeed!

I’m going to give you a further update in a couple of days with some more hands revealed so be sure to check back.

Back to Seattle for me my friends.

Until next time; play well.

Ciaran

Wow, I don’t know was anyone following Ciaran’s progress in the Poker Million heat yesterday, but it was nail-biting stuff for us back in the office!  He was chip leader for the entire heat, knocking Jennifer Tilly out early on, but there were still some scary moments and cards to hit and miss aplenty!  He’ll have to wait until December for the semi-finals (and hopefully final), but is now guaranteed a payday and another day under the Sky studio lights over in London.  Hopefully a bunch of us can be there to cheer him on in person - everyone deserves a loud band of supporters chanting their name

On to this week’s caption competition, where we go all the way back to the Irish Open final table in Spring 2006:

Jon Wong (left) and Ian Woodley came 4th and 2nd respectively in the €3,000 Irish Open Main Event in 2006; it was a remarkable result for Wong, as he had come 4th in one of the Irish Open side events a few days previously for a €11k score!  Anyhow, there a few $6 Irish Winter Festival satellite tokens up for grabs as usual, the best few captions will take ‘em.   Enter as many times as you like and I’ll choose the winners next week.

Remember, the Irish Winter Festival feeders are running every day and the $215 Super Satellite is on Sunday evening - last Sunday three more players booked their seats at the Irish Masters in October.  The cash table action should be thick and fast from today onwards - you might even see Big C sitting at green PPP tables over the weekend, keep an eye out!

Good luck on the tables, folks

Ciaran ‘Big C’ O’Leary is currently (as in, right this moment!) playing in his heat at the Poker Million over in London, doing his best for paddypowerpoker.com.  GO ON BIG C!

Anyhow, he will be online tomorrow (Friday, July 25th) afternoon to play in the Big C Bounty tournament at 12.30pm.  We’re adding $300 to the prize pool and throwing $200 on Big C’s head, even if he’s up half the night playing in his heat, I bet he’ll be more than ready to meet the challenge of his fellow PPP players tomorrow afternoon!  The buy-in is $10 + $1, register now, get ready to take a shot at the big time and make a name for yourself taking our out big gun!

EDIT: Just heard on the grapevine, he’s knocked out Jennifer Tilly over in London. Get in there my son…well, you know what I mean!

How’s she cutting folks!  After a messed up booking; a late flight, then a missed flight, hours of waiting… and then - a lost bag! – I eventually made it (phew) to London.  You know, I remember when I used to love going to the airport, having a couple of pints, reading the ‘ol paper – those were the days

Ahh – yes!!!  The phone just rang and I’m told that they have found my bad and will drop it off later.  Nice!  I won’t have to go commando at the Poker Million!

Yes, nobody said it was going to be easy

Update time:

I went to the Vic card room last night and I had a blast.  What a card room it is!  The staff, the set up - the whole shebang.  I played some NL for about 6 hours with Neil Channing and a few others.  I was able to get out of there about £2,000 sterling in front, which is always good.  Then I came back to the hotel but unfortunately didn’t get much sleep.

I played on paddypowerpoker.com today for a few hours, a Sit’n’Go, some Limit and No-Limit and I really enjoyed it, playing and speaking with some of the players – great bunch of people.  I enjoyed answering the questions and thanks again for the very kind words from all who I played against.  There’s no doubt about it, Paddy Power Poker definitely has the friendliest players out there, and that’s why I love this site!  The play is good and craic is great!!

With that my friends - I play in my heat today in the Poker Million so fingers crossed!  It is being filmed for Sky Sports so I’ll be giving it hell – you know that!  He-he   It has some of finest players in the world attending so it is sure to be top class.

Play well all and remember, if you think you’re beat – you probably are!

Ciaran

There is no denying that November is a month that often brings the heavy rain…however, I doubt that any dark clouds will be accompanying the nine players that are fortunate enough to be returning to Vegas for the WSOP final table.

That’s right - all are now assured a minimum of almost a million dollars each… not to mention a chance at poker immortality!  Yes folks, I get chills just thinking about it.  It’s true; I’m happy for all – though I can’t say that I’m familiar with any.

Brandon Cantu and Tiffany Michelle were probably the last two that I had any dealings with in the past - Brandon and I had played against each other at least twice before and Tiffany of course is the lass that does most of the interviewing for Pokernews.com, and I had the pleasure of doing a few with her in the last year or so.

So it’s to be someone else.  But who?  I don’t know – we’ll just have to wait and see.

I, for one, will tune in to watch it – not necessarily to root for one for over the other, but more to show my support for the game in general.  Because it is our game… and we owe it those chosen individuals who some how managed to do the impossible and make it to the end.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “The November Nine”; well done indeed!!

Anyway, turning away from the WSOP for a while – I’m fully recovered from my exit from the “you know what” and I’m already looking forward to my next event, which just happens to be next week in London – the Poker Million.  Now this really is a great tournament. There are a total of 72 players (I believe it is about 36 invited Pros and 36 online qualifiers) broken into 12 heats (with 6 players per heat) and you have one player advancing from each heat.

Each of the 12 second place finishers will play in one of two second chance heats where the winner of each heat will advance.  Two other players will get direct entry to the last 16 (something to do with how they qualified).  So, you are left with a total of 16 players.

There will then be two semifinal heats, with 8 players in each heat, and the good thing here is that the top three from each semifinal will advance into the six player final (yeah, it is fairly complicated!)  Basically, the tough part is getting through the first round; if you can do that you give yourself a great opportunity to make the final.

It’s sure to be a blast as each heat is being recorded for Sky Sports TV and the final I believe is going to be on live!

Anyway my friends, I look forward to playing some tourneys on paddypowerpoker.com next week while I’m in Europe, so look out for me at the tables (be gentle)

Ciaran

Wow!  After 7 long days of poker, the massive WSOP $10,000 Main Event field of 6,844 has been reduced to just 9 - all guaranteed at least $900k, with the winner scoring $9.1m….  In a break from tradition, play has now been suspended until November 9th, when the final 9 will return and play out the final table in front of the world’s media and under the scrutiny of every poker player on the planet…we’ll all be glued to the reports!  Imagine the pressure they’ll be under between now and then, to land the best endorsement deal, get as much poker coaching as possible, try to handle the pressure….still, for the payday they’ll all expect would any of us turn down a chance to swap places with them!

As usual, Paddy Power is quickest out of the traps and we already have the Outright Winner betting market sorted!  With the chip leaders at 4/1 and the table short stack at 50/1, you have a range of odds available to you, whether you like to back the favourite or shout for the underdogs!

Who do you fancy for the big one?  I’ve never heard of any of them before, I have to admit, but I’ve just been told by Noel that Peter Eastgate is his pick of the bunch…