Apologies to regular followers of this blog that I had no update last Monday, my Nan passed away on Sunday morning and it was a really tough for for me to take considering I lived with her all my life.
I was chosen to say a few words about my Nan and her life and it was a real honour. I took two or three hours to finalise everything I was going to say for the funeral on Thursday last. I was ridiculously nervous but I suppose its to be expected. I've done a tonne of public speaking but this had to come from the heart. The general consensus I got from everyone is the speech went really well and I was happy to send her off with something nice to say.
Poker wise obviously everything has been a bit quiet. The Tuesday after my last blog post I shipped the €30 freeze in voodoo, other than that I've played two tourneys. I ran jaw-droppingly horrible in one and played like an absolute ass in the other. The latter worried me because I analyse lots after tournaments and these were just basic errors. I hope it was just a brain fart and not bad habits coming into my game, but the fact I even realise this I guess is good. Keeping my poker player ego in check, very important in my opinion.
Well this was a short post but under the circumstances its nice to stick up a new blog and get some routine back this week. My Nan was always super supportive and always told me if I loved playing poker to go for it, I know the idea of achieving something in poker for a loved one who passed on is alien to people but it will only spur me on to become better and do her proud.
Carl M
Monday, January 24, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Pretty boring week and random thoughts on tilt.
Meh is the only way to explain how this week went poker wise. I played four tournaments with one cash since my last post for a small loss for the week. I think the best way to deal with weeks like these are to start a fresh clear your mind and look at the bigger picture. I know plenty of players who who play good for weeks even months on end and then a bad run mixed in with tilt absolutely decimates their bankroll. I think I've enough experience and bankroll discipline to avoid this.
Another big factor in avoiding tilt is surrounding yourself with the right people, people who give good advice and encouragement rather than horrible advice. Choose your gambling friends carefully, they could make you or break you (literally). Luckily for me at the moment i'm surrounded by a great group of lads and we always have each others back.
I'm not usually one to complain about bad luck/running bad but this week took the piss. Countless 3 outers, flush v flush, top two rivered a couple times. With the stacks/structures of the tourneys I play this is almost impossible to overcome. I still maintain people get the same amount of luck over a lifetime, people who lose every week will just never accept this. This is understandable, poker players by nature are ego-maniacs. Everyone thinks they're the best player around and that their plays are uber genius. The problem with this mentality is that these people generally don't change their game over time and in an ever evolving game these people won't win, it's that simple.
Apart from poker I'm delighted to see Kenny Daglish back at Liverpool. Some people may scoff at the appointment but it will bring some much needed feel good back at the club at I really wish him all the best. With the way the league is at the moment 3 wins on the spin and everything is changed, a true gent in the game. Best of luck Kenny.
I also got my car to actually move which will stop me funding half the fucking taxis in Dublin. At least thats some run-good I guess.
Carl M
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Live tournaments v Cash Games
Hey everyone, Happy 2011!
After a really fun weekend in London celebrating New Years Eve with friends I'm 100% ready to get back to the tournament grind fresher than ever. The last couple of weeks I've taken off have me more hungry than ever for success and hopefully 2011 will be a big year for me, and for all my readers I hope 2011 is a massive year for you too, be it poker or whatever your passion.
I've taken this blog to discuss something I've been considering a long time, cash games or tournaments? I genuinely admire live players who make serious bank from both tournaments and cash games. From my time in the Dublin poker scene theses rare cash game/tournament hybrids are few and far between.
Cash games in Dublin are generally €1-€2-€5 or 50c-€1-€3. These games generally play pretty similar to each other with the average amount at the table being €100-€150 per player when a game is in full flight. The variance in these games is MASSIVE! I started out playing cash and went on a sick rush of multi buy-in gains per session simply by playing tight ABC poker and set mining. I thought it would never end, but I soon realised my big hands had been holding for me and this couldn't last forever. It didn't. After getting it all in numerous times being a massive favorite and losing a few sessions I was mega steamed and I began to question my cash game. I came to the conclusion that to beat variance and a pretty massive rake, a serious amount of volume was needed to make a nice living. This is when I began to play tournaments for fun more so than anything.
Tournaments then became a massive area of interest for me. I quickly learned a winning strategy for these things. I was once a sick sit n go degenerate online so I know how to play shallow average stacks as well as anyone I know. This was massive for me. I began to realise that the RoI for these things were huge. Its so easy to gain a reputation as a good tournament player too. After a period of success I was playing a tournament in a Dublin casino and was seated beside this nice man I had never played before, he asked my name and I replied 'Carl Morrissey' and shook his hand. He replied, 'Carl Morrissey? Someone just told me you're the best player in this place!'. With a rep like that people do not want to mess with you and give you respect for a hand everytime. Its pretty cool. Unlike rake, reg fees for me are easily beatable. Avg reg fee is usually €5-€10 whereas rake is 5% capped at €20 in the cash game at my home club.
The reason i'm so impressed with successful players in both cash and tourneys is all the cash game players think the tournaments are too small and a waste of time and the tournament players think the cash games are just places to get bad beats to blow their bankroll. Its a difficult adjustment.
I know if I was to give cash games an extended run and put in the hours I would be a winning player, I know for a fact I study the game more and have better strategic poker thinking than 90% of the cash game players out there, I just really don't want to.
I love tournaments, everything about them. I love the adjustments as the tournament proceeds, I love the money bubble, I love final tables and I love winning titles/tournaments more than anything. I feel so lucky to be making money at something I have such passion for and long may it continue.
Run Good in 2011 Everyone - Carl.
After a really fun weekend in London celebrating New Years Eve with friends I'm 100% ready to get back to the tournament grind fresher than ever. The last couple of weeks I've taken off have me more hungry than ever for success and hopefully 2011 will be a big year for me, and for all my readers I hope 2011 is a massive year for you too, be it poker or whatever your passion.
I've taken this blog to discuss something I've been considering a long time, cash games or tournaments? I genuinely admire live players who make serious bank from both tournaments and cash games. From my time in the Dublin poker scene theses rare cash game/tournament hybrids are few and far between.
Cash games in Dublin are generally €1-€2-€5 or 50c-€1-€3. These games generally play pretty similar to each other with the average amount at the table being €100-€150 per player when a game is in full flight. The variance in these games is MASSIVE! I started out playing cash and went on a sick rush of multi buy-in gains per session simply by playing tight ABC poker and set mining. I thought it would never end, but I soon realised my big hands had been holding for me and this couldn't last forever. It didn't. After getting it all in numerous times being a massive favorite and losing a few sessions I was mega steamed and I began to question my cash game. I came to the conclusion that to beat variance and a pretty massive rake, a serious amount of volume was needed to make a nice living. This is when I began to play tournaments for fun more so than anything.
Tournaments then became a massive area of interest for me. I quickly learned a winning strategy for these things. I was once a sick sit n go degenerate online so I know how to play shallow average stacks as well as anyone I know. This was massive for me. I began to realise that the RoI for these things were huge. Its so easy to gain a reputation as a good tournament player too. After a period of success I was playing a tournament in a Dublin casino and was seated beside this nice man I had never played before, he asked my name and I replied 'Carl Morrissey' and shook his hand. He replied, 'Carl Morrissey? Someone just told me you're the best player in this place!'. With a rep like that people do not want to mess with you and give you respect for a hand everytime. Its pretty cool. Unlike rake, reg fees for me are easily beatable. Avg reg fee is usually €5-€10 whereas rake is 5% capped at €20 in the cash game at my home club.
The reason i'm so impressed with successful players in both cash and tourneys is all the cash game players think the tournaments are too small and a waste of time and the tournament players think the cash games are just places to get bad beats to blow their bankroll. Its a difficult adjustment.
I know if I was to give cash games an extended run and put in the hours I would be a winning player, I know for a fact I study the game more and have better strategic poker thinking than 90% of the cash game players out there, I just really don't want to.
I love tournaments, everything about them. I love the adjustments as the tournament proceeds, I love the money bubble, I love final tables and I love winning titles/tournaments more than anything. I feel so lucky to be making money at something I have such passion for and long may it continue.
Run Good in 2011 Everyone - Carl.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Christmas etc...
I'm a firm believer in any job Christmas week is a time for relaxation, poker is no exception to this rule. This is why I played very very little this week.
With it now being the day after Stephen's day 95% of Ireland's 18-35 population is nursing a hangover that feels like they got hit by a bus, lucky for me I'm feeling ridiculously fresh. After the sheer amount of gargle I've had over the past few days my liver has got one hell of a workout. Xmas eve gets special mention as one of the shittiest states I've been in before 10pm ever, the Xmas day hangover was not worth it at all. Last night was pretty messy too which makes the lack of hangover all the sweeter, nice to run good for once.
I think I'll play tonight but I'm not sure my hearts in it at the moment, there's too much fun shit happening to be worrying about grinding plus I travel to London on the 30th for New Years Eve so I'm pretty much checked out. I have a really nice feeling about 2011, it could really be a breakout year for me poker wise if I get my head down and get in the volume. There's a few things I'm looking forward to in 2011:
With it now being the day after Stephen's day 95% of Ireland's 18-35 population is nursing a hangover that feels like they got hit by a bus, lucky for me I'm feeling ridiculously fresh. After the sheer amount of gargle I've had over the past few days my liver has got one hell of a workout. Xmas eve gets special mention as one of the shittiest states I've been in before 10pm ever, the Xmas day hangover was not worth it at all. Last night was pretty messy too which makes the lack of hangover all the sweeter, nice to run good for once.
I think I'll play tonight but I'm not sure my hearts in it at the moment, there's too much fun shit happening to be worrying about grinding plus I travel to London on the 30th for New Years Eve so I'm pretty much checked out. I have a really nice feeling about 2011, it could really be a breakout year for me poker wise if I get my head down and get in the volume. There's a few things I'm looking forward to in 2011:
- Vegas trip in the summer
- Hopefully satellite into Irish Open
- Shipping the Paddy Power Student Masters, I won it in 2008.
- Successfully defend my Dublin Poker League title.
- One five-figure score would be nice, two would be epic.
Best of luck for 2011 folks.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Finally some results!
The blog curse has been broken!!
Played four tournaments this week and some that are not in the usual schedule. Monday played the d1 freeze, eliminated in a pretty standard button v bb spot. I shipped 10 bb's AJ called by JJ and missed. Whatever I wasn't too bothered, if you let these sort of situations bother you in tournament poker you will not survive.
Tuesday I played a €30 freeze in voodoo. Decent structure and 52 runners so it was pretty juicy. On the break they had a 1 table PLO SnG which I managed to scoop which easily covered both nights tourneys plus interest so that was sweet. After the break I accumulated a mountain of chips, 18 players left I was 4x average and super cruising. Started FT as chip leader but just had cooler after cooler to finish a very disappointing 5th but two cashes in one night live is a rare feat, nice to get back in the + column.
Thursday was a new tourney for me. €45 Triple Chance Round of each in the Voodoo (4k+4k+4k). I cant even stress how good this tournament is, between the 12k deepstack along with the added fun of NLHE and PLO this tournament is a must for anyone who enjoys PLO and tournament poker around Dublin. The tournament is only in its infancy and had 15 runners but I hope it will only grow and grow because its that good. In the tournament itself I played as good as I have in a tournament as long as I can remember. All my bluffs worked, value bets paid off and reads spot on. I ended up chopping with a guy, we were both deep and even though I was confident I could beat him heads-up the chop seemed like less of a grind so I accepted along with a nice little pay day.
Fair play to the lads at Voodoo for putting such an innovative tournament into their schedule, keep up the good work lads.
I didn't play the MiniFTOPS, mostly due to tiredness and its a super all night grind, I would not have been playing my A-Game and if your going to win a tournament of that size you gotta be playing A++, this wouldn't have been the case so I like my decision overall.
Christmas this week so I'll be playing a bit, finishing on Thursday then on to festivities. I know Christmas dinner this year will be SWEET, plus maybe some sneaky drinks and poker with the uncles, easy monies baby!
Run good everyone (Back by popular demand, there ya go Al and Snips)
Played four tournaments this week and some that are not in the usual schedule. Monday played the d1 freeze, eliminated in a pretty standard button v bb spot. I shipped 10 bb's AJ called by JJ and missed. Whatever I wasn't too bothered, if you let these sort of situations bother you in tournament poker you will not survive.
Tuesday I played a €30 freeze in voodoo. Decent structure and 52 runners so it was pretty juicy. On the break they had a 1 table PLO SnG which I managed to scoop which easily covered both nights tourneys plus interest so that was sweet. After the break I accumulated a mountain of chips, 18 players left I was 4x average and super cruising. Started FT as chip leader but just had cooler after cooler to finish a very disappointing 5th but two cashes in one night live is a rare feat, nice to get back in the + column.
Thursday was a new tourney for me. €45 Triple Chance Round of each in the Voodoo (4k+4k+4k). I cant even stress how good this tournament is, between the 12k deepstack along with the added fun of NLHE and PLO this tournament is a must for anyone who enjoys PLO and tournament poker around Dublin. The tournament is only in its infancy and had 15 runners but I hope it will only grow and grow because its that good. In the tournament itself I played as good as I have in a tournament as long as I can remember. All my bluffs worked, value bets paid off and reads spot on. I ended up chopping with a guy, we were both deep and even though I was confident I could beat him heads-up the chop seemed like less of a grind so I accepted along with a nice little pay day.
Fair play to the lads at Voodoo for putting such an innovative tournament into their schedule, keep up the good work lads.
I didn't play the MiniFTOPS, mostly due to tiredness and its a super all night grind, I would not have been playing my A-Game and if your going to win a tournament of that size you gotta be playing A++, this wouldn't have been the case so I like my decision overall.
Christmas this week so I'll be playing a bit, finishing on Thursday then on to festivities. I know Christmas dinner this year will be SWEET, plus maybe some sneaky drinks and poker with the uncles, easy monies baby!
Run good everyone (Back by popular demand, there ya go Al and Snips)
Monday, December 13, 2010
Too much drinking not enough poker.
As far as tournaments go I played an amazing two tournaments last week, really bad volume wise and considering I just started a blog on this shit, I'm not gonna lie it doesn't look great, oh well.
Last Monday was the €25 Freeze in D1, never got a thing going past level 1 and eventually shipped my 11bb stack into two limpers fully expecting two folds, I had the monstrous 6s3s got called by both. One with 8h8d and the other with 9x9x. I turned a flush draw but alas 6 high was no good for the pot.
Thursday Jackpot was one of them horrible nights where every hand was a horrible spot, bottom two v flush, straight v straight flush, kk v aa I could go on. I eventually bust aj v 22 for an above average stack, quite an achievement considering the bullshit I had to put up with.
This was a week of just doing small amounts of nothing that got in the way of tournaments but the highlight of the week had to be the 12 pubs of Xmas on Saturday night, or in our case 7 pubs, burger king, then head back to one of the lads houses. Fun times altogether and I'm pretty sure we're gonna do it again, hopefully properly this time. Its easy to forget the banter to be had in Dublin pubs as opposed to the usual get sloshed then go to a nightclub. Could be a turning point.
As far as poker is concerned I'll be on the usual grind this week looking to play a lot but with it being Christmas shit just seems to pop up everywhere. I will be playing online on Sunday in the MiniFTOPS Main Event over on FTP. $75 Buy-in with a $1,000,000 gtd prize pool, beyond sickness.
I think thats all for the moment, no big buy ins on the agenda until maybe Clonmel in February but thats about it as far as i know, I'm usually late to the game on these things so never know.
I think it was Phil Galfond who talks about blogging being bad luck so I'm 0/2 so far, this could be a curse. On a completely separate issue I just heard FTP Pros wont be on the next season on High Stakes Poker because its now sponsored by Pokerstars, so we will no longer be able to see Ivey do this to people.
Laters
Last Monday was the €25 Freeze in D1, never got a thing going past level 1 and eventually shipped my 11bb stack into two limpers fully expecting two folds, I had the monstrous 6s3s got called by both. One with 8h8d and the other with 9x9x. I turned a flush draw but alas 6 high was no good for the pot.
Thursday Jackpot was one of them horrible nights where every hand was a horrible spot, bottom two v flush, straight v straight flush, kk v aa I could go on. I eventually bust aj v 22 for an above average stack, quite an achievement considering the bullshit I had to put up with.
This was a week of just doing small amounts of nothing that got in the way of tournaments but the highlight of the week had to be the 12 pubs of Xmas on Saturday night, or in our case 7 pubs, burger king, then head back to one of the lads houses. Fun times altogether and I'm pretty sure we're gonna do it again, hopefully properly this time. Its easy to forget the banter to be had in Dublin pubs as opposed to the usual get sloshed then go to a nightclub. Could be a turning point.
As far as poker is concerned I'll be on the usual grind this week looking to play a lot but with it being Christmas shit just seems to pop up everywhere. I will be playing online on Sunday in the MiniFTOPS Main Event over on FTP. $75 Buy-in with a $1,000,000 gtd prize pool, beyond sickness.
I think thats all for the moment, no big buy ins on the agenda until maybe Clonmel in February but thats about it as far as i know, I'm usually late to the game on these things so never know.
I think it was Phil Galfond who talks about blogging being bad luck so I'm 0/2 so far, this could be a curse. On a completely separate issue I just heard FTP Pros wont be on the next season on High Stakes Poker because its now sponsored by Pokerstars, so we will no longer be able to see Ivey do this to people.
Laters
Monday, December 6, 2010
First post... All you need to know, for now.
Hey I'm Carl Morrissey and I'm a low-mid stakes live tournament grinder around Dublin with the (very) rare online stint thrown in for fun. The main reason I've started this blog (aside from boredom) is because I'm not awfully aware of a low-ish live tournament blog around, I could be wrong but I don't really care.
I play on average 3-5 live tournaments a week ranging from €25 at the low end up to €250 at the high end. In general I am pretty sure I'd be in the top 5% low tourney buy in players around Dublin based on results which to be honest doesn't say much given the softer than belief standards but what the hey, its somethin' like! I'll also be using this blog to keep tabs on results, a few interesting hands that pop up and maybe the odd story or video that may amuse me.
Tonight is the €25 5k freezeout in D1 Club. This is an amazing little tournament for a modest buy in and friendly atmosphere could not recommended it any more highly, its actually what really gave me the kick up the arse I needed to do this. They have a progressive jackpot for winning the tournament two consecutive weeks which i scooped for just under €2,500. I believe the jackpot currently stands at €750, so that coupled with 1st place prize money adds up to a €1,000+ score, none to shabby for a €25 investment.
Tournaments I regularly play (bread and butter tourneys)
I play on average 3-5 live tournaments a week ranging from €25 at the low end up to €250 at the high end. In general I am pretty sure I'd be in the top 5% low tourney buy in players around Dublin based on results which to be honest doesn't say much given the softer than belief standards but what the hey, its somethin' like! I'll also be using this blog to keep tabs on results, a few interesting hands that pop up and maybe the odd story or video that may amuse me.
Tonight is the €25 5k freezeout in D1 Club. This is an amazing little tournament for a modest buy in and friendly atmosphere could not recommended it any more highly, its actually what really gave me the kick up the arse I needed to do this. They have a progressive jackpot for winning the tournament two consecutive weeks which i scooped for just under €2,500. I believe the jackpot currently stands at €750, so that coupled with 1st place prize money adds up to a €1,000+ score, none to shabby for a €25 investment.
Tournaments I regularly play (bread and butter tourneys)
- €25 Monday D1 Freezout, 5k starting stack.
- €45 Wednesday Jackpot, 10k starting stack.
- €20+€20(rebuy/topup) Thursday Jackpot, 4k+4k.
- €45 Friday D1 Friday Freezout, 10k.
I'll list off a few of my less regular tournaments in my next post, and I've a shout out to Ray Roche who scooped €1,300 playing roulette today to which I replied "Amazing, but don't give any money back. Keep it for Christmas and tournament buy in's." 0% chance that happens.
Run good everyone.
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