The International Poker Open in Dublin was my destination courtesy of Boylepoker.com, who invited me to play as a guest and a bounty. Little did I know that this would involve wearing a Sunderland shirt for the duration of the day! This pained me a little bit being a lifelong Liverpool fan but we all have to suffer for our art sometimes.

I was really looking forward to this tournament as I had heard great reports from some friends who had played in the 1,100 strong field last year. This was my 4th visit to Dublin for poker business and if I had learned anything from my previous trips it’s that no matter what happens on the felt, I will not be bored pre or post match. I was not to be disappointed.

The venue grandly fitted in the 650 hopefuls per day that had entered, and the Day 1A that I had drawn was buzzing not only with the (loud) sounds of Andy Black doing his pre game seminar, but also with many different nationalities. I had no idea there would be so many French and Dutch entrants for the 10k starting stack and 40 minute clock extravaganza!

I just love that feeling pre comp, be it a £50 tourney or a £1,000 one, they all have that excitement for me. The day that feeling goes away is the day to put the chips back in the case and play cribbage or some such dull event.

My Main Event

We were told that any person wearing a Sunderland shirt was to be a bounty and that there was a prize to be won for knocking them out. Initially the prize was not announced so naturally my table asked me what they got. I told them it was the shirt off my back which was a little silly to say seeing as I didn’t want to draw attention to myself and just wanted to settle in quietly and accumulate chips, but at least it raised some eyebrows amongst our French visitors – think I was blessed with five at my table.

It was generally agreed that the standard of play was much better than most of us anticipated, which suits me much better as making moves against novices very often leads to disaster.

I love to play good players who can lay down hands when needs be. I managed to get myself a decent stack by the dinner break but after dinner was another story. I kind of died a death, done a ton of chips calling a couple of reraises, seeing very toxic flops and getting pushed off. Then about 6 hours into the comp came a button on big blind situation that you just don’t believe your opponent can have!

With blinds at 400/800 and an 11k stack, I raised standard from the button with AQ hearts, walked into a reraise from aforementioned big blind putting me all in, maybe for a split second I could have passed but 99.9% of the time I lean on the side of the non-believer, I pushed the remainder of my chips further away from me and was pained to see a crushed AK. A lovely Q was the first card I saw but closely joining it in flop town was a J and a 10.

That was me, the lucky chap got a NEW Sunderland shirt, not my smelly one and I was freed against my will to join any other losers at the bar for a swift few.

Marty Smyth

Two of my friends were out already so we started putting the world and poker players to rights over a bevvie or two. Slowly the group grew in strength and numbers and we ended up over the other end of the hotel in another bar.

As we proceeded to drink more I noticed Marty Smyth a couple of tables over and realised that I had never met the man before. So in the early hours and a little worse for wear, I marched over to Neil Channing (who I do know) and demanded that he introduce me to Marty immediately. SIGH SIGH SIGH.

All I remember saying are the words “I am such a geek and suck a dork!!” Which is true but that’s beside the point. Marty was great of course and then came over to our little table and was introduced to my other friends, who in the same vain as myself, proceeded to embarrass themselves by all going “OMG, It’s Marty Smyth!” repeatedly and loudly.

I would have loved to have watched all these shenanigans with a sober head but it was not to be and I joined the ranks of the other poker dorks out there. The pictures were worth the embarrassment though.

So Saturday for me was very much spent in slow motion, although I did manage to get out a little and see some of Dublin’s finest buildings with some friends before playing more poker of course, in the form of Pot Limit Omaha cash. The less said about that the better, maybe I should have actually spoke to Marty about PLO instead!

I also managed to fit in the Ladies only comp that was on offer on Sunday. They are not my usual favourites but it was starting and with three hours to spare before the PLO comp I couldn’t resist. By the time it was PLO time, I had over double the average in chips so thought it best wise to actually try and win this baby. With 4 left and a rather fortunate “trap” I had made with AK and having the small blind call me with K9 I thought I was going to cruise to victory. The river had other ideas and the dealer produced a 9 and I was sent spinning to my room after picking up €400. Pah! Good effort but cruel.

So that was my weekend, with Boylepoker at the IPO. They were absolutely awesome, everything was brilliantly organised, and the atmosphere was top notch. I was so well looked after it was unreal and even felt kind of “special” lol. Here’s to 2009 and 1,500 runners?

Maria Demetriou