It’s been a couple of days now since the Drogheda ME yet I am still a little bit dazed by it all. It hasn't really sunk in I suppose. There are a lot of little things that I keep getting flash-backs of which make me smile. The weekend was packed with happy memories and ones which I'll look back on with joy for some time.
In response to the comments I received on my last post (a record nine for me!!) I'd like to thank Fran, Smurph, Lloyd, Glynn, Graham Clarkson, Nicky Power, Noel Hayes, Paul Mac and Dara for their congrats. I will pay you back your tenner Paul, don't worry but surely EW ftw (or is that a contradiction!)?? In relations to Dara's point, I agree my final table play was uber-tight and not one which I had planned. I was quite card-dead for the duration and needed to play my good hands ultra aggressive as a result. You pulled quite a nasty move on me when I had 66 and you may not believe it but I seriously considered pushing. I knew you were aware I couldn't play with you but I am never afraid to risk my chips if I think I'm ahead. On another day I think I would have but with your tight image and my increasingly delayed hesitation it became tougher and tougher to pull the trigger.
So, I've been thinking about what I'll do with the money. Winning that kind of money is obviously important but not as ground breaking as it may appear. I've been chatting with luckylloyd on boards about what he done after GJP1 and he seemed to make some good decisions. My decisions depend on my circumstances I believe. For instance, my online bankroll has never been better and I've pretty much been playing 2/4 exclusively for the last month leading up to Drogheda. It's a tough level but it’s one which I'm conservatively bankrolled for. I certainly will not be subbing my account in order to move up as I am yet to establish myself in what is a vital, transitional level in online cash. My live bankroll prior to Drogheda I would also consider perfect for what I do. That is, pottering around the 1/2 tables one or two nights a week with the odd €200 monthly tourney thrown in for good measure. I will bolster that a little with my win, but again I will not be going too crazy.
So what will I spend my money on? I could buy a new car perhaps. I could live out one of my dreams and play the WSOP Main Event. I could play in the Irish Open this Easter. Hell I could even try marry Jen Mason as Marc and Lloyd suggested! Quite boringly however I've decided to take the unexciting option. That is put most of it away in a savings account for the time being. It just seems like the sensible option to me. After all I'm still in college for the next two years at least and I don't want poker to turn me into a drop out. I still want to write article after article in the hope of getting my name in poker magazines and I still REALLY wanna be a top poker blogger (Jen Mason stylie-LOL). Its so mcuh fun giving some colour commentary. I will be putting money aside for a couple more blow-out tourneys with a leg of the GUKPT being top of the list. Other than that I don’t think I'll be doing anything out of the norm.
In a way nothing has changed. I'm still the same person despite a very tidy win. I'm still learning in all areas of poker and I still haven’t achieved anything substantial yet. I see this win more as foundation for the future. It cements my position for the time being and that to me is what is important.
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8 comments:
Well done Gary. Enjoy the dough
Gary,
Myself and Baz are more than likely going to head over to the GUKPT in the Vic London at the start of March so as good a place if any should you plan to play
Fran
If you say you considered pushing, I believe you as I don't see why you'd lie about it. I might lie during a game, but afterwards I think it's poor form.
Considering pushing is one matter though, doing it another ;) At best you had to think you were in a race and it would have made no sense in the overall context of the tournament for you to race me at that point. If it's any consolation, the only other person I pulled a nasty move on on the final table was Joe Beevers, for reasons I'm sure I don't need to explain.
That you knew I knew you couldn't really tangle with me says a lot for your reading skills. As a fresh face, I was pretty sure many people were going to underestimate me, and I did what I did to play up to the image of the novice card rack nit. You'd be surprised how many people seemed to fall for it (the table talk all the way to the final table pretty much confirmed this): I raced into the early chip lead mainly because a lot of good TAGs assumed I couldn't be bluffing at them, and a lot of good LAGs assumed they could push me off a pot.
You were the only player I hadn't seen before the final table, so I wasn't sure whether your natural game was very tight, or you were card dead. You did well to keep your patience and composure.
I was completely card dead before the break (that last UTG raise was a blind steal), then walked back to Aces in the big blind. No point in having a deep stack tournament if you're going to play it like a normal one and start forcing it prematurely, I say, and you seemed to understand that. I'm not surprised to subsequently learn you're a very skilled cash game player.
As for the future, you should seriously consider the IO. At the very least you should try to satellite in. Based on my limited experience (one super satellite, one satellite, bingo, in for 10 Euro), the online ones seem quite ridiculously soft.
I know the traditional way is to conservatively accrete adequate bankroll but I'm not convinced that's always the best way. I guess I've been lucky/running good since Day 1 (I was second in my first online freeroll, and second in my first live tournament in the Fitz, where incidentally Smurph beat me heads up by skilfully runner runnering a flush) so I've never had to consider how to react to a situation where I'm behind, but I do see a lot of really good players hanging around at lower levels than their talents. They might be building bankroll gradually, but they might also be just wasting time and getting lazy. If you've got the talent to play at the highest level, and you clearly have, then that's where you should be.
If it's purely a matter of inadequate bankroll or not feeling comfortable with sinking that big a chunk into one tournament, then I'm sure you could find people willing to stake you for a percentage. Myself included.
Well done Gary, nice touch, See you in the jackpot soon I'd say.
dont forget lloyd sent mummy lloyd and daddy lloyd on a holiday with his first win!
Jeff is right. But I don't refer to them as "mummy" and "daddy"!
Also, I'm not paying 4.5k to buyin directly for the full whack to the IO. You should have a 450k roll to be doing that sort of thing. Eventhough I know that all of us live players play massively underolled as it is. Dara is probably right in that you should be able to ship off 50% of yourself.
So, I take a break from poker to try shake a downswing and I miss this. I stopped blogging and stayed away from the updats for the ME, basically because I was not happy to be not there.
Congrats gary. I feel bad I missed the action semi-live on the update thread
well done son
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