JP masters trip report

I really looked forward to playing this event as it was going to be the best structured game I'd ever played, also the biggest buy in, my previous biggest being the Waterford winter festival 500 event. My Dad won the ticket the previous week in his local club, the loft in Naas. He decided to give me the ticket for which I am eternally gratefull, he didn't even want or suggest a percentage, he just knew I'd really love to play it and that I wasn't flush enough to pay the €750. I suggested a 65/35 to which he just said 'I don't care, just enjoy yourself'. My intention if cashing was to hand him the lions share obv.


There was a fantastic buzz about the place when I arrived at 3.30, I got talking to Paul (Macspower) and we were talking about all sorts, strategy included, then I asked him what table he was at, lol we drew the same. D'oh!!

At 4.o'clock, we took our seats, I lol'd when I saw who was sitting directly opposite me, Michael Muldoon. I have a little history with Mick, he busted me 40mins into the recent Waterford game in a sick cooler situation, we got our 300BB stacks in on the turn, me with AA, him with KK, and he hit one of his two outs. I've met him a couple of times since and he maintains that I outplayed him, I'm not so sure, I did play it well preflop, but it was a pretty straight forward hand tbh.


Michael is great fun at the table, I had brought my ipod with me, but it remained in my pocket as his table talk was too entertaining. I played an interesting hand early on with him, he opened from EP and I called in the cut off with 68o (my strategy going into this was to play as many connectors and one gappers in position as possible, the structure meant these hands were much more valuable than normal), the flop was Jx8r, he lead for about 3/4 pot and I called, the turn bricked and we checked, the river also bricked and he checked into me. I figured my hand was good here, so I vb for 1/2 pot, he called and my hand was good. This gave me a huge boost of confidence, as I could see he was impressed with how I played it. A few orbits later and I've 6s8s in MP, the BB (The Fox from Waterford) had answered his phone mid deal, so his hand was declared dead before he even looked at it. So obv I open for 150, one caller behind me and Muldoon 3-bets to 450, folded to me, I figure it's a golden opportunity for him to sqeez, and I 4-bet to 1100. Folded to him and he fairly quickly 5-bets to 5k, shit! We have a laugh and both show, he shows QQ and the table gasp when they see my rags. LOL. It's all fun at this stage.


The above sounds like I'm going a bit crazy, but it's all over the course of the first level, and with a one hour clock that's not too crazy. My next big hand happens in the second level, I had limped in with 5d6h, and on a 3-way flop of Qh3h5s, Macs leads out for 300, I call as does button. Turn is the 6d, Mac checks and I lead for 1k, button is only caller, I'm pretty sure he has the fd here. River is the most beautiful 5h, I lead for 2200 and he raises to 5k, I almost shit myself with excitement and ship in the tank, he groans and sticks the rest of his chips in with the nut flush. Wahoo, double up.

I am uber confident at this stage and begin to play my best ever poker, I start raising limpers, 3-betting light and am involved in almost every pot. I played a hand against Johnny Weafer that I'm particularly proud of, I need to explain the previous hand first, I'm in the SB, can't remember what I have but the button opens and I 3-bet, he 4-bets and I fold, my image is quite laggy and Johnny knows this. Anyway, I've 23 on the button and I open for a standard raise, SB folds and Johnny 3-bets from the BB, I reckon he's both good enough to be light, and also good enough to lay down a hand, so I 4-bet and he folds after agonising. I met him later outside and he asked me what I had, I said I had QQ and he told me he dumped JJ and I believe him. I grow my stack to 40k. I then dropped 10k when I lost two races against a really bad player, and my momentum dipped a little. I rocked it up and didn't play that many interesting hands for a while (like a couple of levels).
Then a really big hand happened, I was in the SB with Ks4s and 32k. Muldoon opened from MP for 800 (150/300), he was fairly active at this stage, it folded to me and I decided to try a bluff stop n go, I expected the BB to muck but he called. Anyway, the flop is 2s8s6c and I lead for 2200, folded to Mick and he raises to 6k and I shove. He tanks for a minute then makes a great call with 10s10h. I'm pretty sick but happy at the same time to see my King is also live, the turn is a red 3 giving me 14 outs, the 5s on the river ships me the 65k pot. In hindsight it was probably a silly play, I had an above average stack and didn't need to play such a risky hand. But hey, I'm a luckbox so who cares, I've now got a really healthy tank, and have crippled a tough opponent, also, he owed me one since Waterford : )



I build it up to 80k when an interesting hand develops, The_Rigger (Paul) opens from EP for 1200 (200/400), he's playing 26k, ozpoker calls and I 3-bet to 4500 from the cut off with AJo. Paul flat calls and oz folds. Paul's call worried me, I was thinking if I'm in his shoes I'd probably flat call with KK/AA and hope for a shove from oz. Anyway, the flop is J high, and he checks, I check behind for pot control, as I'm still not sure whether I've the best hand. Turn is a 10, and Paul leads for 6k, I call as I've shown weakness on the flop, I think he'll give up on the river. River's another 10 and he insta shoves his last 15k. This is a really tough spot for me, I just can't see him bluffing here, he knows I'm not calling the turn with a draw, he has to have me on a made hand, I really agonise over this and eventually fold. He shows me AQ. Very well played imo. I don't think I can ever call there, and I simply got out-played, but that pot would've put me up with the chip leaders. Sick.



I finished day 1 on 65k and was very confident going into day 2. I went home and took a sleeping pill as my mind was going 100mph replaying hands.



Day 2.

I was happy with my table draw, I had position on the only bigger stack (Bigmickg from boards), the rest were hovering around the average of 25k. I had a disaster of a start though where I dropped 50k in 40mins, the majority in this hand, I open for 3k with AKo from MP (50k)(500/1000/75), Stephen Murphy (35k) 3-bets to 7k from the button. Folded to me and I decide to flat call and stop n go shove, the flop is 8 high all clubs, I've no clubs. I shove and he dwells for a while and eventually calls with QcQx, I think my speech play turned my hand face up and I should've kept my mouth shut, but tbh I doubt he was ever folding. On reflection, I'm not happy with how I played it.

I win a few pots to bring me up to 26k when a funny hand happens. Folded to me on the button and I open 106 for 3k, the BB calls. Flop is 10 A 6, and he leads for 5k, I raise to 15k and he goes into the tank. I start with all the speech play and do my best to get him to stick in the tank, I've only 8k behind lol, and I know he has only one pair, so it's a bit of a struggle. Then JP walks by, I enquire as to the availability of STT sats into his upcoming 300 game, and that clinches the deal, BB sticks the tank in with A7, no help for him and I double up.

Sadly that hand was the last highlight of my tournament, the following level, and we're 6 handed, I open for 4k (46k) with A9o from UTG+1, folded to the BB and he 3-bets to 15k, he had shown two big bluffs a little earlier, one was a b/3bet post flop and another was a 4-bet pre. He was quite laggy, had a big tank and was very confident. Anyway, I felt this was a great opportunity to add 30% to my stack so I shoved. He insta calls with AA. D'oh.

I was so sick, I busted with about 45 left, I should've went deeper. Top place paid 40k which would've been a nice touch obv.

Fair play to JP who imo puts on the most player friendly tournaments in this country.

A fantastic tournament, and a really enjoyable weekend. Next time I'm gonna cash though. : )