Last night was the final of the Jackpot cash league. With 66 qualified, the numbers were down slightly on last time. I'm just glad there wasn't 666 runners as it was worrying enough with the clocks going back, the monsoon rain and the "cursed" trophy. (Rest assured the latter would come into play later on in the night.)
All the regular faces were there for a night's sickness including a very notable appearance by a certain Lucky Lloyd. Although not playing in the tournament, Lloyd made his presence felt with an entrance even Stone Cold Steve Austin would be proud of. Knocking a glass or two en route to the registration desk, O' Farrell was in the house. It was nice to catch him in good spirits and I for one would like to see him on the tables more regularly.
The show last night was however all about the jackpot sickos of the last 3 months. I was one of the earliest casualties as I tried a four man squeeze with pocket fours in the hold'em round. (hey I taught it was fate!). It got through three players but Dermot made a good call with 55 on the end. I should have sensed something was up as I was the third man employed to mind the trophy and it was only level three after all! The previous victim of the post was a certain Big City Banker. An untimely bluff into a temporary card-rack did the damage. The table did get a classic Hayes one-liner though as he was asked if he "had any outs". Noel replied that his only out was "the door" at this point. Well said sir!
Emporium regular but jackpot visitor for the evening Mick Stephens was another early casualty much to my delight as I got to play cash with him! He's so pleasant and funny to have at a table I just wish he'd play with us sickos (I'm aware it's the third time I've used this word to describe the jackpot regulars but I just think its so apt) more. He gave the "ah jaysus are you all in too-I call-cause I've got the nuts" merchant some funny looks that had me in stitches! In fairness to Mick, he seems to get little luck in running in Montague Street. He had some horrid luck last night while I was there but I'm sure he's had worse days, hopefully it improved after I left.
Gordon, Sammy and Keith Rooney were towards the front of the chip-counts going into the final, but as so often can happen, none of them brought home the trophy. I often pity players in that scenario. Being a chip leader going into the events brings a lot of undue pressure and expectations. Gordon I felt was a victim of this. He stated in his blog that a final table finish was compulsory, this I believe was a mistake. He is however not the first man to hit this wall I hasten to add. Marc suffered a similar faith last time around, as did Alan Sexton in the JP final. He should have just played the tournament with no expectations and just concentrated on playing quality poker. Speaking of Marc McDonnell, he certainly had his head in gear and his mind on the game. In stark contrast to the previous cash league final, he came through the field rather than slipped behind them. He's in scintillating form at present having came a cruel 3rd in the Emporium EPT qualifier, he followed it up with a 7th place finish last night for his second €1,000 plus payday this week. The other big winners on the night were Conor Broomfield, Sam Ali, Dermot, Mick and Paddy O Neill who won it.
That's your lot for today, my online poker screen is getting fed up beeping at me!
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