Things are just starting to get back to normal after all the excitement of the Poker Million final. I’ve had a great couple of weeks since I last posted, taking it as easy as possible. I’ve probably spent more time at home over the last couple of weeks than I did during the last 3 months, although I still found time to play a couple of small charity tournaments in the jackpot club in Dublin and in Rose’s bar in Creeslough, Donegal.
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Poker Million winner - Marty Smyth

After the semi final was over the main feeling I had was not one of excitement for the final, but of relief that I hadn’t busted out in the semi final. I know even making the semi final of an event such as the Poker Million is an achievement in itself, but that still wouldn’t have made me feel any better about things if I hadn’t got through, and I feel very fortunate indeed that I haven’t had to deal with the feeling of busting in a semi final yet.

As you can imagine, there was plenty of celebration after the semi final. A few more friends had arrived from home and when I got back from the studios they were already four or five pints ahead of me. I did my best to catch up. We just hung around the hotel bar for the rest of the night and it was a great night’s craic.
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I think people might believe that I was lying, or maybe just trying to be modest when I said before my semi that I really didn’t expect to get through to the final, but that honestly was the case. It’s not that I felt out of my depth or anything, but I knew that it was a tough heat, and with only the top three players qualifying out of eight, I reckoned my chances of progressing were only about 40% or so.
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Since Marty Smyth seems to be running away with quite a lot of the poker honours this year, we decided to treat you to some video clips of his recent W.S.O.P 10k Pot Limit Omaha World Championship Win! Enjoy!

I’ve had quite an uneventful couple of weeks since Poland. I’ve been playing a lot of cash and some sit and go tournaments online. I’m ahead a little bit for the month after having about nine small winning sessions and wiping most of it out in one large losing one (a pattern which is becoming a bit too familiar for my liking).
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Over the last few weeks it feels like my luck is starting to change a bit. Nothing terrible, but I’ve lost some big hands at key moments and have been pretty card dead for prolonged periods in recent tournaments.
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I’ve played 2 tournaments since the last time of writing. I wish to god I had played three. I managed to turn a total freeroll into a 13k loss when I decided to skip the EPT 2k side event in favour of playing online for the day. I promptly lost 13k. I’d had a couple of small wins before that and I’ve been doing ok since, so I’m around level again for the last couple of weeks. Read more

I have a bad feeling that my luck is starting to change. In fairness, it’s probably about time. On Friday before I left for Dublin I went to my local betting office to lift a bet and somewhere between there and my bank, I managed to lose £500 - and when I say lose I don’t mean I lost it on a horse or something - I mean I must have dropped one of the £500 bundles that they’d paid me, while I was putting them into my pocket. Then, just to rub salt in my wounds I came out of the bank to find a parking ticket stuck to my windscreen for the second time this week.
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The Killarney tournament that I went to a couple of weeks ago was one of the best events I’ve ever been to and as I said in my last blog, I really hoped we could reproduce that atmosphere at the IPO. I knew that we had a hard act to follow, but I actually think we managed it. Read more