THEIRISHMOB life of poker

Slow start to 2010

2010-01-21T01:53:00.000-08:00

I really need to update this much more. Since the last post I took two weeks off over Christmas and started back on the 7th of January. I played live cash games most nights until the 13th and was in profit each of the 6 nights so playing well without actually running well. On the 13th I played a €75 sat for a Killarney main event ticket and ended up doing a deal 3 handed to take the cash. The reason I wanted to take the cash is that I thought that this event would get low numbers for a few reasons. Firstly it’s too far to travel and with accommodation and expenses it works unprofitable unless you go very deep as even if you just limp into the money you probably still have a loosing weekend. Secondly it’s too soon after Christmas where money is tight for people. It was the correct decision as it only got 106 runners when they expected 150+.

From the 14th to the 17th I put in 17hrs of live cash over 3 nights and just ran so bad each night but even though I had 3 losing nights I managed to keep it to a minimum by not tilting which for me is a great achievement. I also played some online the following 3 days but again I run so bad online and again put in a losing few days. So back to live poker again I decided to play some more events before the Green joker poker European deepstack event as I bought in to it getting one of the much wanted golden tickets. It’s a €500 freezeout event with a 50,000 starting stack so it really suits my tight game. Tonight I played the €50+5 freezeout in the Olympus club in Waterford and again managed to get heads up in this event and cash for €400. That is now 2 firsts, 2 seconds and a 7th from my last 6 live tournaments. I think I will play more tournaments before the Deepstack event and maybe play the tournament in Clonmel at the Big slick event. That’s all my news for now but I will try to update this at least weekly just to keep myself more in touch with my results and might even start to do some hand history’s which will give you all an insight into the mind of a genius lol.

Crazy Omaha

2009-12-26T05:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas is More or less over and the New Year is drawing closer. Usually I make some resolutions and by the first week of the New Year is over I have given up on most of them. This year needs to be different as I plan on building my new house this year and its kind of hard getting a mortgage when you play poker for a living. I think I play equally well in both live cash and tournaments but 99% of my poker is cash as it is a regular income. For 2010 I am going to play more tournaments to see if I can get decent cash and pay for the walls and roof. I also need to seal up the leaks in my game of which I have 3. I tilt like CRAZY in live and online cash, I play way to many hands online and I tilt like CRAZY. So 2010 means play more tournaments and Stop tilting while playing cash.

Since my last post I travelled to Galway for the IPC weekend and I was quite profitable but how it could have and should have been so different. I played the (€300+30) Super sat for the main event and played perfect poker but as usual got sucked out on 3 hands in a row when getting my chips all-in while ahead each time but that’s tournament poker. I then played cash for the rest of the weekend which was always my plan if I didn’t get a main event ticket. So Thursday night I made a €30profit after 8hrs of 1-2-5 PLO and that at least paid for my sat entry. Friday I played some NLH and PLO and was up €550 for the night, again after a 10hour session but happy with the profit. Then on to Saturday.... eventful to say the least. I had a good sleep and bath before returning to the Radisson to play cash again for the night and when I arrived there was a good €2-2-5 PLO game going so I sat in with €500 and built it up to €950 but by this time the game had evolved into a €2-2-5-10-20 PLO game and everyone on the table had between €1-3k so it was very deep. So anyway I get AAJ10 double suited and I’m in the big blind. By the time it gets to me its €300 to go with 2 players so I shove for €950 and get 1 caller. I hate AA but what do I do? Call and see a flop or fold or push. Anyway I get to the river ahead and he hits a straight so shit happens.

I reload for €700 and get it up to €1000 when the next hand happens.... And I have to say the most amazing hand I’ve ever played. I get A 5 2 6 double suited in the big blind and I haven’t played a hand for over an hour at this stage and it is now costing €75+ to see any flop. So I decide to play this hand (I know I shouldn’t but I do as everyone is turning over total muck to claim €1-2k pots) Anyway its €40 to see a flop and the flop comes K 4 3 rainbow and there is 4 of us in the pot so I check utg bets €150, other guy calls third guy calls and its back to me.. I got any A 2 5 6 for a straight so I Raise to €900 leaving me €57 left. First 2 guys fold and it’s back to the last guy which is gambling like hell but I think he puts me on slow playing Top set as I have played super tight all night. Anyway he calls the €900 so there is like €2,500 in the pot and I have €57 left. Turn comes a J which is no help to me so I check and he checks and the river comes a Q (and I mutter “YES”), I then instant Shove the €57 into the €2.5k pot and he Instant folds................ what the F**k, he folded for €57 and everyone on the table is in total shock. I turn over my Ace high hand to pull in the €2,500 pot and I am genuinely in total shock. He then pulls his hand from the much and turns over Q 2 5 6 for a pair of Queens. I stack my chips and put my jacket on and I have to go for a long walk to calm myself..how can he fold? How?. Anyway After another hour I decide that My head is just not with the game any more and by this stage it was costing €150+ to see a flop it was way out of my league so I cash out for a profit of €1300 and head to bed. My plan was to play Sunday also but I really was drained after the 3 x 12hr sessions and was happy with my profit for the weekend as I should have been down €1k if that guy called the €57 river bet. So I had a nice breakfast and headed back to Waterford up €1,600 after hotels and food etc.

Since then I have played 2 other live games in Waterford the first night up €500 and the second night down €400 so Happy with the weeks work before Christmas. Tomorrow in Waterford we have a €150 NLH F/O in the Olympus club and there should be 60+ runners for this so I am going to give this 100% and see what happens. If I don’t get any luck in the tournament then there is sure to be some very good cash action after it so either way it will be a long night but I’m looking forward to it.

I'm Back

2009-11-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

After 4 months away from playing poker for a living I'm back and enjoying it more than ever. I moved to Thailand in September and arrived back last week after a really nice break from poker. I was still playing poker 4-5 days a week but without the presure of having to make money from it. I feel in this time I have Improved my game by at least 30% by adding some new gears to a car that really only had 2 previously. I've only realised that poker is about playing people and that was something foreign to me. I relied on playing cards and anyone can do it when you get good cards. Friday was my first live game in Waterford for months and I ended up finishing 2nd in the €75 freezeout for €350 odd profit and then made another €170 in the cash game afterwards. Played online Sunday and no cards or luck in any of the three tournaments I played but thats poker. Went back into the Olympus in Waterford again on Monday and Won the €45 freezeout for €320 + a ticket to the December Monthly €150 game. Also played some cash afterwards for a small profit. So my first tournaments back I got a 1st and 2nd so Happy enough and helps the confidence. Tonight I'm going to play THE HENDON MOB league game on Full tilt, bubbled it last week. This week it is Pot limit Hold'em which I love in tournaments. Plan to head into The Olympus for some cash after this tournament. Hopefully Iwill have more positive results to post in my next entry.

My Last Game

2009-07-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

At 1am on Monday morning I'm playing my last game online.
Decided that I've had enough of the stress of poker. And I really can't take any more
of the beats I've been getting now for the last 6 months.
I've been playing now for nearly 4 years and have had a good life from poker but
its just not for me and I can't spend any more time sitting in front of a computer for days on
end with life flying past.
The bad beats have finally got to me and I don't have the will to continue with it.
Life is for living and I need to live it a bit more.
So out with the old and in with the new.

MTT are doing my head in

2009-07-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Just finished the $35,000gtd on Full tilt and I just can't get across the finishing line.
1433 runners... chip leader with 90 to go and crash out again in 52nd.
This is totally doing my head in as I really don't know how I can't win.
Don't know if I'm too agressive or what I'm doing wrong but $7,500 for first and bullshit $72 for 50th, I just don't know how much longer I can deal with this.
I'd do anything to give up this game but it pays the bills, and I also know that I'm just a hand or two away from winning something decent. I really take my hat of to all you guys that play these for a living because its either all or nothing in them. I've done about 16hrs today and I'm sitting here at 5.30am looking at another tourny starting in 30min..This is one sick life.

Results

2009-06-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

Played 3 tournys online: in the last 2 days
$24+2 Full tilt 1334 players-376th AQ v Q10---Flop J89 $0
$24+2 Full tilt 430players-269th K8 v 86---Flop K79-5 $0
$10-1 Full tilt 332players-3rd K8 v 96---Flop K65-9 $318.72
So I got my chips in ahead in all 3 tournys and lost...whats new.

Played about 6-7hrs of Heads-up Pot limit Omaha too, up a few hundred dollars.
I love sundays as I try to play a lot of sats and then cash the tournament dollars for cash or at least thats the plan. Will play 3 or 4 tournaments and some cash too.

FREE CASH & loads of plo

2009-06-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

You can still use the link to get your free cash,No deposit required.
Just follow the instructions on the last post.

I never gave the 2 tournys a day a go yet...broke my rules and played about 20hrs of HU plo.
Up and down like a yo-yo and only on 27% rakback on full tilt so I need to start playing Ipoker again soon. Gonna play the $35,000gtd in a hour on Full Tilt. Wish me luck.

Ohh found this cool video on youtube "life of a poker player in thailand" its funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcYoPbKmWyc

FREE CASH No catch & Bangkok Poker

2009-06-23T05:19:00.000-07:00

Theres a famous saying "theres no such thing as a free lunch" and it was always true......
Until now. Follow my link and get FREE CASH in a poker account with NO Deposit required.
Make sure you enter " bangpok " bonuscode when you sign up.
So now you have a bankroll for free.

Apart from that I'm getting fed up of grinding at online poker so I need to limit my time I play or Iwill get totally bored. I'm only gonna play 2 tournaments a day for the next week, both on Full Tilt.
First one is 7pm (Irish time) $24 entry with $34,000 Gtd
Second one is 1am (Irish time) $24 entry with $35,000 Gtd
And I'll update my results in both every night for those of you with nothing else to do but read this lol.
I also have a business in Thailand and I need to put much more time and effort into this so I will be traveling over to Bangkok much more and I'm really looking forward to it.
www.thailandpokernights.com I'm gonna get a bigger house so I have a good size card room and hopefully a pool for people to chill out before,during or after the live cash games. Would also be nice to have a "chill out room" for eating,drinking and watching T.V.
Will also post pic's etc when I sort it out.
Thats all for now, will update later tonight after my tournys on Full Tilt.

Full Tilt FTOPS and poker while driving

2009-05-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

The Full tilt online series started last night and While I was playing a live cash game in my local club entered the first event ($250gtd event NLH). The mistake I made was when the club closed at 5am I got to drive home while playing. It had 14,000 runners and were down to 2,500 players when I leave in the car. I'm well above average all night and playing well. Anyway it happens....miss click all my stack while driving home at 5am. The moral of the story is Don't click and drive.

The $240 PLO event starts in less than 3 hours and I'm really looking forward to this as it is $250k gtd and a top 4 finish would pay my WSOP expences. So all I got to do is finish in the top 4.....easy lol.
Wish me luck

2 Royal flushes in 1 week

2009-05-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

Up to this week I had 20 royal flushes to my name.
8 of them were in live play and 12 online.
On monday on Full tilt I got my 21st in a tournament and today Sunday
I got number 22 in a cash game, again on Full tilt.

I don't know anyone else with anything close to this. The live ones have come in
4yrs. Most people know have 1 or maybe 2 but its just nuts that I keep getting
them.

Aside from this I've played 2 nights live cash in The Olympus club in Waterford
and both nights were profitable. The cash games seem to be getting very
popular again which is great as its what I prefer.
I'm planning to hit Las Vegas again in 4 to 6 weeks for the WSOP and hope to
play 2 events and loads of cash. I LOVE VEGAS xx

FULL TILT is the business

2009-04-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

I get back from Las Vegas on Thursday and decide to play a tourny on Full Tilt before I go to bed. What is strange about that is I never play tourny's there and I very rarely play NLH tourny's any more as it is usually only PLO cash I play.
Anyway I play a small buy-in tourny and 5hrs later and 180 runners I win it.
Then tonight I play the same tournament and Win it again, both times with 180 runners.
Two posts ago I said I was giving up on playing Pokerstars as I can never win a race or a tournament and in two nights on full tilt I win the same one twice. Very strange.
At least thats my flights back to Vegas paid for and a meal in Lavo.

The KILLERS in Las Vegas & Poker

2009-04-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

I went to see THE KILLERS in Paris last month and they were so good that when we saw that they were playing in their home town "Las Vegas" we just had to go.
They were opening the Hard Rock hotel's rock venue "The Joint" as it had undergone a massive upgrade so we checked in for 5 nights and wow what a show.
For anyone going to Vegas the Hard Rock is a bit out of the way but it is just one big party venue. The poker room their is small with about 15 tables but very good action after 10pm and max $4 rake "Irish clubs listen".

The WPT $25k tourny was on in the Bellagio and it was amazing to walk into a room with the world's top players all in one room at one time...mind blowing.

My better half know's Daniel Negreanu through something totally unrelated to poker and we got to meet him and have a chat (none of which was about poker) which was very cool. He is such a nice down to earth guy.

The weather is getting very hot there and I can't wait to go back in June.
I played about 16hrs of cash and payed for the trip which was great, I've never seen such bad poker tourists in my life....I wanna live there.

Ohhh food...go to Lavo in the Venetian. Amazing garlic bread and seafood pasta and calamari.

Thats it for now. Gonna grind some cash and tournys to get a bankroll for my June trip.

"Pokerstars" The End

2009-04-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

I've been playing Pokerstars now for about 5 years and in all that time I just can't seem to ever
win anything worthwhile. Along with this I lose 85% of races when I'm ahead. So enough is enough. Tonights $250 gtd. tourny will be my last on this site.(unless I win it).
I've played about 20 online sites in my life but nothing ever like what happens on Stars.

Both my tip's for the poker never played as far as I can make out.

Weekends betting tips

2009-04-09T02:59:00.000-07:00

I'm going to have a few bets this weekend and I usually do ok so I'll share them with you.

U.S. Masters Golf: Sergio Garcia - 40/1 & Lee Westwood 60/1 both e/w
Irish Open Poker: Mike Mc donald 125/1 (if he plays it) Sorel Mizzi 80/1 both e/w

Garcia & Mc donald €5 e/w double would be nice (pays about €25,000)

My Charity Irish open Idea was a bad idea. No more bad ideas.

Irish Open 100% for Charity

2009-04-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

Ok.
Heres the plan.

I'm going to play the Irish Open main event and whatever I win I will give 100% to charity.
I want anyone thats interested in buying a % to register there interest here or on boards poker fourm.

1% = €40
3% = $120
etc.
I am taking only my accommodation out of this, nothing else. The balance goes into the pot.

Please put your Name/% wanted/your choosen charity/contact detail

If/when I cash your charity gets the % of the prize money you invested.

Email me your interest to: thailandpokernights@hotmail.com

Why am doing this...because it would be amazing to get to a final table and give all
the money to charity.
I also want any online poker site to get involved and I'll stick there logo on my clothing.
So let everyone know about this and lets get the 100% sold.

Ian Whitty

Nothing new really.

2009-03-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

Its been so long since I've updated my blog.
I'm not playing much as I am starting up a new business and putting a lot of time into it.
Playing A bit of cash on Ipoker and up and down for the last 6 weeks.
Also playing Omaha tournaments on Ipoker and doing ok.

The Irish Open is coming up in the next few weeks and I have no plan to play the main event.
I will play the PLO rebuy event and looking forward to it as its my first good Omaha event.

My main aim is to go to the PLO event in Monte Carlo at the EPT finals in the first week in May.
Will play a few sats on Pokerstars to se if I cant get a ticket.

So thats it...oooh I fancy Sorel Mizzi as a nice bet for the Irish Open.
Hes going well in all live events without winning and I fancy him to get over the line soon.
ACTUALLY gonna change this bet: 2 players...Dario Minieri 125/1 and Dara O kearney 225/1

Life's best lesson "TILT"

2009-01-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have it again..the worlds worst disease.......Tilt.

On Saturday night I sat down for my usual 4-6 tables of $1-2 pot limit Omaha.
After 2 hours and a few bad beats I'm playing $5-10 and tilting like crazy.
I end the night down a LOT, and go to bed feeling like this is the end of my poker.
After 2 or 3 hours of feeling so bad I finally fall asleep and when I wake up the following morning I don't get up. Last night I've lost thousands that it took me weeks to make. So what do I do?
Feel bad all day Sunday and think to myself is this all really worth it?. People look at poker players and think Ohhh he made $2k yesterday while sitting at home or on a beach and I wish I had his job. Yea its great...until you have a BAD day. I've had a number of businesses over 14yrs and I've never had an experience like Saturday night. So anyone that thinks poker is a great career path, think again. Anyway Monday I get up and open my account to see the real damage on my account and my god it hurt. But I either give up or get better...!!! So by Monday night I have most of my losses back I really need to make sure I never tilt like that again.
No plans for any tournaments live or online.

Cinema: Go and see " Seven pounds" wow what a film 10/10.
"Valkyrie" with tom cruise is ok 4/10.
This is my new afternoon hobby. Coffee in Tatlers coffee shop (best coffee in Ireland" followed by Cinema. The perfect day lol
Betting: Golf, Paul Casey this week in Dubai dessert classic 28-1 e/w.

On my holiday trip..deffo stopping in Bangkok and also gonna do a beach for 5-7 days.
I'm gonna stay here in Bangkok http://bangkok.lebua.com/facilities-en.html my brother was the construction manager when they built this in the 1990's. Bring on the Sun.

First 09 update.

2009-01-19T01:14:00.001-08:00

Ok. I need to start updating this but I don't have much to update.
Playing 4-6hrs a day cash only on Ipoker and doin ok.
Playing mostly $1-2 Plo & Nlh and up $3700 for the first 2 weeks of Jan.
I'm ment to be starting my "7 level" challenge at the start of February but I've decided to have a break from this weather and I'm gonna hit Asia for a few weeks in Feb "kindly paid for by Mr Rakeback". Up to now I've been playing Carlospoker but there leaving Ipoker next week so I'm gonna move to a new Ipoker skin. I'm dying for a live game of poker but have no real plans for any live event until maybe the Irish Open, Ideally Id like an Omaha tournament so I'll have to wait and see. Big Slick events have their coursing festival coming up soon and I'm deffo planning a few days of live Plo cash there.
On the personal front there has been No golf due to the horrible weather but as soon as we get some dry weather I'm gonna hit the course, if not then I'll bring the clubs on holiday as I love playing night time golf in Asia.
That's it.....wish I had some exciting news but I don't.

Live / Online / Life

2008-12-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

This week Blazin-Aces had there Christmas festival and every night got a great turn out with the €250 & €100 events both selling out. I played four of the events and came 2nd in the Tuesday night event (€30+10 scalps event) and Won the Friday night game (round of NLH & PLO). For some reason almost every player in the tournament bitched about the round of Omaha but yet when they double or treble up they love it. When we got down to the final 3 players we were the only 3 that actually enjoyed the tournament, not because we got in the money but because we enjoy all forms of poker. God help us if it was a H.O.R.S.E event..!!!

On the online front I played a few small Ipoker tournaments and cashed in most of them and Played a bit of PLO cash on a few accounts I had balances in. I plan to clear them all out over the next few weeks and just play the one Ipoker account as I don't see the point in playing an account with inferior rake especially with cash games. Its just throwing money away.

Regarding my 2009 PLO cash challenge I'm not sure if I should just Play Ipoker or also play Fulltilt as I find that on Ipoker every day its the same players and there is very little new names popping up. Maybe I should play both..!!! I just don't know. If I play both I can't see myself moving up levels on both sites as quickly as I would only be putting in half the hours on each.
I was also a bit mad thinking of moving up levels with 35 buy In's, so this will now be 55 with the 5 used for taking shots upwards..maybe still a bit mad but hey, God loves a try'er.

On a personal note 2009 is only a few weeks away and this means starting back playing golf and trying to get fit. Not overly looking forward to playing golf in the middle of the winter but I used to enjoy it years ago so I'm gonna try and get back into it. The getting fit bit scares the hell out of me as I haven't done any exercise in 10yrs and I'm so lazy, but I know it has to be done so maybe that part of the blog will be more fun to read than the poker side. 2009 is a big year for me also because I have a planning application in to build a new house on an amazing site I own overlooking the river and its set in a forest. The only problem is that its costing a fortune due to some idiot in the local planning department that thinks I need to put in a new road that is 1.3km and will cost €60k. The main road is only 100m away (and would cost €5k) from another entrance but it "techinally dosent fit into there regulations". People wonder why this country is in such a mess....idiots like that is why.

Anyway that's all for now, got to do do some Christmas shopping.

A new beginning

2008-12-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

Ok. I’ve been thinking about doing a blog for a long time for a number of different reasons.

Firstly I suppose to give me some focus and take poker more seriously. My thinking behind this is if I have a blog and am truthful about it then I don’t want to embarrass myself so I would take things more serious.
Secondly I’ve have been playing poker for3 yrs now and for the first 2 and a half quite profitable live cash 28/30 winning months. I always seemed to have a good bankroll management and focus for live cash games, but as the economy started on a downward spiral the live cash games dried up in Waterford and I decided to try online. Also I much prefer Pot limit Omaha to Hold’em and could never seem to find a regular live Omaha game. Anyway I made a few deposits on a few different sites and was up and down like a yo-yo until I blew my online bankroll with total tilt, moving up levels that I just cant afford to play and the more I lost the higher I would go until I go BUST. I then decided to play PLO with the intention of grinding for 8hrs a day, 6 days a week to get a good income from rakeback along with any profits I made. I done this for 12 weeks sometimes playing up to 16hrs a day and never getting bored as I find the game addictive, as you get so involved in every hand you play unlike NLH. Anyway to cut a long story short I got a 2k deposit up to 50k in the 12 weeks. Again I moved up levels and tilted after a few bad beats donking off most of my profits from pure tilt. I would play 4hrs in the morning and then 4-8hrs in the evening just to get my hours in for my rakeback, my problem being I never once had any aims or goals when I sit down, I just wanted to put in the hours and make as much profit as I could without knowing where I wanted to go with this. So after dumping too much cash with tilt I have decided to take a break and set out a plan for the coming 12 months and treat it the same as I would treat any business I ever had.

I recognise that I want to play poker for a living.

I “think” that I can.

But I also understand that I need to have a life aside from poker and that It can’t take up your life, as I found myself eating, breathing and sleeping poker for too long. So I need to structure poker around my life and not my life around poker. I also need to understand what I want from poker. .......
I want to set a goal for 2009 and reach that goal while also having time to enjoy life.

So the PLAN: From February 09 (holidays and few tournaments in Jan)

-To play PLO cash online starting off at level 1 and reaching level 6 or 7 by the end of 2009
-Level 1 $.50-1 / level 2 $1-2 / level 3 $2-4 / level 4 $3-6 / level 5 $5-10 / level 6 $10-20 / level 7 $ 25-50

-Buy-in rules (which many will disagree with) Minimum of 35 to move to next level and if I drop below 30 I move back a level (so I use 5 buy-ins to take a shot at next level).

-Less is more. Less hours and more effort and focus into the time I do play.

-STOP TILTING.

-Withdraw only if ahead of my monthly goal and also use rakeback for living expenses.

-Play some golf and also get some exercise (healthy body= healthy mind etc,).

-Update blog at least once a week.