Well, the WSOP is finally over…and Peter Eastgate, who final tabled the Irish Open in 2007, went on to take 1st place and over $9,000,000 - wow, that’s a lot of zeros!  It seems the two most accomplished poker players on the final table made it to the heads-up stage, as 2nd place finisher was Ivan Demidov, who came 3rd in the WSOPE main event just a few weeks ago and today added almost $6m to his tournament winnings.

But bigger news, as far as we’re concerned, is that this result confirms Noel ‘Big City Banker’ Hayes‘ position as a poker prophet; he called this result months ago!  If you don’t believe me, just follow check out the post where I mention that:

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… 

This was back in July just after play in the Main Event was suspended until November - pretty impressive!   Maybe he’ll be able to predict the winners of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, the Sole Survivor promo and the next Grand National too - what else should he tell us next?

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…

Hey folks,

Well I am back in Dublin now having returned from Vegas safely and in one piece. I did have an incident with my phone though which to cut a long story short involves me not having one anymore!

At the time of writing a number of the Irish guys have made it back to Day 3 of the main event at the WSOP. Unfortunately BigC isn’t among them but he will have other days for sure. As a rough list we have Donal Norton, Dave Murray, Gary Clarke, Reggie Lyons, Pat O’Callaghan and James McManus. Im sure others are there also but my eyes are weary at this time and I am about to get a few hours kip to recharge the batteries.

Stay tuned here for further updates, I will also get around to writing my Vegas round up about my experiences on the trip over the coming week.

Be good,

Noel.

It seems that Paul Young may have been on to something!

My friends, there’s only one way to spell the word “out” and unfortunately for me, it’s now tattooed onto my brain!

Not even Cork’s great GAA Football comeback against Kerry last Sunday can soften the blow of how I feel at this moment! Still though, “greater men have suffered more than I” - never let it be said that I went down with out a fight!  It just wasn’t to be, that’s all.

I never saw Aces, I had Kings once (and had them beaten), I never had Queens, I had Jacks Once.  I had AK about four times and AQ twice and that’s all she wrote!  If it weren’t for picking my spots and making a few moves here and there, I probably would have been out on Day 1.  It was cold deck after cold deck.

The big hand of Day 2A that went against me was as follows…I had AK in middle position and with  no action around to me I bet 3xBB – it was folded over to the small blind who called.  The flop comes K-8-2 (a huge flop for my hand), he checked, I bet and he called.  The turn brought a Queen, he checked again and I bet 10,000, which was almost all his chips.  He instantly shoves in for his last few thousand.  I mutter sh*ite under my breath because I know now that I’m beat but for only 2,000 more I can’t fold.  He turns over 88 for a set of eights and I was drawing dead!  To really rub it in I hit the Ace on the river to give me top two pair – how cruel this game can be!

I went out just before the dinner break, when a late position player made what looked like standard raise and I called in the big blind with J-10.  The flop was 10 high with no draws so I shoved about 14,000 into a 9,000 pot (so I’m forcing him to have a hand here or else I take it down), of course he has QQ so it is an easy call for him and I don’t improve –nasty!

Thank you again for all the good wishes – there are still a good few Irish lads that are still in it so we must hope for the best.

I’ll give you my overview of the WSOP in about a week – until then my friends, play well!

Ciaran

Hi folks,

Just stopping in for another quick update. Well the numbers are in for the main event in the WSOP and it is officially the 2nd largest field in history with c.6,800 players taking their shot at glory. There were 4 day 1’s and today is a rest day before breaking into 2 day 2’s and proceeding then to the final 9 players. Of those who have taken their chance 666 of them will win money for their endeavours and the winners prizepool is approx $9.1m. That does sound appetizing doesn’t it?

Of the Irish players returning to day 2 we have some mighty strong contenders for glory. Our very own BigC is part of the assault group which also includes Donal Norton, Gary Clarke, Marty Smyth, Andrew Grimasson, Eoin O’Dea, Dave Murray, Donnacha O’Dea and other besides. Watch closely folks, id have a hefty wager on one of these guys making the money.

Otherwise life in Vegas has been good, myself and Ciaran have been out for dinner with guests a few nights and as those who know me might have guessed, I havnt found a steak in Vegas that I havnt liked.

I bumped into Jesse May down the Rio the other day and he told me of a cunning plan he had for yesterday. “I’m getting a bus Noel, doing a pub tour around Vegas starting at midnight and then heading for Red Rock Canyon with a cooler full of champagne to watch the sun rise at 6am, now all I need to do is find 20 people who are willing to drink through the night with me”, knowing Jesse and the calibre of people out here in Vegas I’d wager that he hadn’t too much hassle in sourcing 20 people of such disposition.

So I finally bit the bullet and played my first poker tournament out here in Vegas. I have a preference for cash games and really feel that tournaments are a soul destroying exercise. Sitting for 10 hours with minimal or no return just doesn’t appear to me, but every now and again I like to punish myself and play one.

My poison on this occasion was the Bellagio nightly $1,080 tournament with 142 runners and $50,000 for first. With 12 players left I got involved in a massive pot when the table loon pushed over my raise and I snapped it off with AJ, he tables A10 and I’ve to dodge 3 outs to become the massive chip leader and assume a killer position approaching the final table. The flop bricks but the turn is the ugliest 10 in the deck to cripple me and put me down to 4 big blinds. I’m sickened, dejected and reminded once again of why I hate tournaments!!

Never mind I battle on and push bot my way back into the game and before I know it I’m gathering a small few chips – enough to make others fold at least. I make the final table which was one of the softest I had been on, I’m rueing the demise of my AJ because I really feel if I had chips to work with that I would walk across the table. There was one exception to this though in the shape of Eric Larcheveque, an excellent player whom I had played with before and who held the chip lead in this years Irish Open for a considerable time before eventually finishing in 8th place. With blinds of 4k/8k and a running ante of 1k I have pushed my stack from 60k up to maybe 110k as there is 19k in the middle every time I steal but then I push my AQ in Erics KK and despite turning a Q I fade my remaining outs on the river and I’m el busto in 7th spot for $3,500. A return not to be sniffed at but I would rather the $50k for first. Eric was a commanding chip leader when I exited at 6am and as he is such an experienced player I will be shocked if he hasn’t won it by now.

That’s all folks, the tournament is played in the Bellagios Fontana lounge which looks out on the famous Bellagio fountain, here is a nice shot of the fountain with Paris in the background. They have it all in Vegas folks, including the Eiffel Tower.

Be good,

Noel.

Just let me say how proud I am of Marty and Tom for making the final table in the $10k Pot Limit Omaha World Championship – it was amazing.  And for Marty to go on and take it down was INCREDIBLE – you’ll never beat the Irish!  I intend to write a nice piece on that great day in a few days time but until then, congrats to you both, you did us proud lads!!!!!

Poker update - I’m happy to report that I made it through Day 1A, along with many of the other Irish and English lads.

The funny thing was that for some reason I had a feeling that I was going to be at one of the two featured tables – and sure enough when I got to the area where my table was supposed to be, I was told that I was to report over to the TV area.  Ok says I, and over I went!  How weird is that?!

Bill Gazes was about the only player I knew at the table.  He is a great player and a really sound bloke!  He and I have played against each other before and have a lot of respect for each others’ game so we tried not to bang heads and instead go after the other lads.

Now one very interesting thing about playing at the TV table is that it always seems to change the way a lot of people play, nobody really wants to look like a plonker in front of ‘seventy nine million people’ (the amount that reportedly watched the WSOP last year).  For many it’s their first time.

They know that their family and all their friends and maybe even the doctor that brought them into the world are going to tune in to watch them on this big occasion, so as a result it changes the way they play.  They might not want to fold a pair if they believe you’re making a move on them, or sometimes they themselves feel like they must get in there and make a Hero move to impress their friends at home.

Anyway I chipped away and got my stack up to 25k (we started with 20k) and then came this hand.  With no action around to the player in the cut-off (one to the right of the button), he raised 3xBB.  The button and small blind fold and I was in the big blind and look down to see KK, YUMMY!  Now I want to try and get as many chips here as I can - so I just flat call.

I check dark wanting him to make a continuation bet.  The flop came Q99.  He bet 300 and I just called.  Then the turn brings a 10- hmm, I check, he bets another 300 so I raise it to 900 and he calls (I don’t like it but I still might be ahead).  Here comes the river – it’s an Ace (Nasty) but there is about 3k in the pot and I know I can’t check call him here because he might make it 3k or 4k (which I can’t call) so I bet out at it but only a 1000k (a blocking bet).  He puts on this face and tilts his head from one side to another (I find this is usually a strong tell) and then raises it to a total of 3k (sh*te) so I announce to the table that this hand has got worse and worse for me and I muck my KK face up and he very graciously shows me a huge hand - A9 for a full house!  Yuck - still though, not too much damage done.

Now an important note here friends is that even if raise him pre-flop, it wouldn’t have in anyway changed the outcome here as he definitely would have called and seen a flop with A9 in that spot, and of course when the flop comes Q99 – just like it did – he’s married to it!  So no matter what happened I was destined to lose that particular hand.

Then this crazy hand comes after about another hour.

A lad opened to 3xBB in early position and is called by the player two from the button (the same lad that had A9 earlier), I’m in the small blind with pocket eights (88), so rather than trying to flop a set here (it’s about 8/1 to flop a set / three of a kind) I decided to raise it and try and win the pot right there.  So now it’s back over to the original opener and he thought about it for 3 minutes before he folding and then it’s back to our friend again, (A9 guy) and guess what he did?  Well he moved in for about 13k… WOW – Interesting!

What is this guy trying to represent here?  Remember he only called the original bet from the early position lad (who has now folded) so that rules out 99-TT-JJ-QQ because there’s no way he can afford to take any of those hands up against two or three players, besides, he would have to find out how strong the early position raiser was.  Hmm, but what could he have?

He’s already shown me that he plays his big hands slow (remember when he flopped the three nines against me), so he wouldn’t shove here if he had KK or AA with only he and I left in the hand.  It just doesn’t make sense to me - So with the ESPN cameras in my face and a huge crowd of spectators on the rail looking on, I started talking out loud and I go back through the hand and again…the hand that he’s trying to represent…well - he just can’t have!

I have always trusted my instincts a lot and even though I didn’t have a big hand myself, I believe based on what I had seen from him up until this point, I felt I was good!

So I said to him “Sir, I really don’t have that strong a hand here but I believe I’m good as your hand isn’t that strong either” I counted my chips down and it was only going to leave me with about 9K if I’m wrong.

So I trust me read and I call……………….Great call he says and he turns over A6 and turn over my 88.  Wow, everyone goes nuts; “wow” “what a call” rains from the rail.

I bolt, I’m gone, I can’t look!  I’m about fifty feet from the table!  And here comes the poor ESPN cameraman flying after me (they love it, they’re always laughing; it’s a wonder they can keep the camera steady! )

Of course, he flopped a flush draw but my hand holds up.   Phewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww – nobody says it was going to be easy!

After eight hours of TV they broke our table and sent us off to different tables.  It took a while for me to get a read on the new table and I ended up dropping about 12K in that last couple of levels.

I finished out the night with just under 40K.  I feel good my friends and “I do believe!”  I have to!  Keep the fingers crossed all.

Talk soon and God Bless

Your poker pro,

Ciaran

Hey folks,

Just a quick update from Vegas. The good news as you have read already is that Ciaran has sailed through to day 2. I can let you in on a little secret folks, Ciaran is feeling good about his game, he is well relaxed and looking forward to getting back into playing on day 2. Keep the fingers crossed and hopefully I will be back here with more positive updates soon.

On Thursday night I was lucky enough to be invited to a monster party in the Voodoo lounge where guests included such beautiful women as Leilani and Abi Titmuss. I brought Paddy Point with me for a bit of fun also and below is a photo of himself from the rooftop of the Rio hotel.

Donal Norton, 2008 Irish Open runner up has 80,000 whilst the victor on that occasion, Neil Channing has 27,000 in chips. It appears that playing the Irish Open is a pre requisite for further success. If you’re a top player and your not playing the Irish Open then you aint gonna be getting the good karma.

I played a sit and go the other night with the world famous poker player Marcel Luske, he has a persona of being one of the real gentlemen of poker and having spent a couple of hours in his company I am happy to confirm as much.

That’s it folks, im off now for some lunch.

Be good,

Noel.

Our man with the plan (of taking home another bracelet!) has fought his way through Day 1A over in Las Vegas and survived as approximately half the field were knocked out!  Ciaran’s almost doubled his stack to just shy of 40,000 and is in good standing for Day 2A in a few days.  Hopefully there will be a load of Irish, British and other European players to join him and we’ll all have our favourites to cheer for as the epic tournament continues!  Tipperary’s own Donal Norton, the home-town hero during the Irish Open when he took 2nd place for about €400,000, is also in great shape with almost 80,000 chips.  I can’t wait to read the reports from both Big C and Noel ‘BCB’ Hayes when they post on the blog.

If you want to feel the thrill of taking part in a major live poker tournament, be sure to try to qualify for our Irish Winter Festival, we’re bringing in a new schedule of qualifiers on Monday so remember to come back to us to check them out!

Alright, caption competition time!  This time I’ve got three Irish Winter Festival feeder tokens worth $6 each (for our new qualifiers) to give to the three best entries: what is Big C thinking about at the table there in Las Vegas?  I’ll pick the winners on Monday or Tuesday - remember to include your paddypowerpoker.com nickname and you can enter as many times as you like.  Good luck at the tables over the weekend!

Today is the big day folks – The first day of the 2008 WSOP $10,000 main event. Thousands of people are stumping up their readies in the hope of capturing the title and with it the fame and envy of the world.

With such a large field of players there are 4 starting days and todays Day 1a sees a number of the Irish contingent start their hopeful journey towards glory. Among them is paddypowerpoker.com’ very own BigC – Ciaran O’Leary. He has started play on table 2 which means that he is on one of the two TV tables so this should ensure some TV time for our man. Level two has just ended, that’s 4 hours of play and Ciaran now sits on a little over 30,000 in chips from a starting stack of 20,000. This is healthy progress which he will hopefully maintain over the coming week.

Other Irish players I spotted just now include Marty Smyth who is on 28,000, John O’Shea who has 11,000 chips and 2008 Irish Open runner up Donal Norton has amassed a massive stack of 60,000 chips so far.

Below is a photo of Ciaran from todays play, unfortunately flash p[hotography is not allowed so the pic is a little blurry. But you get my drift.

Be good,

Noel.