APAT Dublin...

Day 1 : Friday

I wake up at around 12, excited as hell, and speak to my pro railer Linux sorting out what time his mum will be picking us up. We agree on 6:00ish and i have to grind through the next 6 hours to get to the agreed time. It couldnt come soon enough, bag was packed and i was ready to hit the skies.

His mum turned up to complete the hour drive to the airport, we had planned to go this early so we could have a few beers and watch the england game. We arrived at 7:00ish and headed off to the bar before check in as we couldn't check in yet. We had a few pints while playing some £0.05 a point chinese. I ended up +3 pts. Which i then lost in a few hands at NLHE. This is where the gambling begins. We leave the bar and still unable to check in, we start betting on anything and everything. We see people stood around and know that there are 3 flights checking in: Alicante, Ibiza and Dalamar. So we decide to put a wager on where this group of people are flying to. They seem a family type group, so i go for Alicante, and i lay him 3/1 for his pick of Ibiza. They join a queue and we look at the check in sign reading Dalamar, and the wager is voided. So sick, where the hell is Dalamar anyway.

We the see a lolly machine, with 4 colours in, Linux ships in a 20p for the £1 wager of which colour will shoot out. I have red+pink, himself blue+green. A red one comes flying out and i get a victory dance going. We have various other bets before checking in, including a car video game race ( i owned) a coinflip, high card, a variation of high card, and of course plenty of flips. When we finally got through check in, i found myself -£6 already for prop bets. I then spy another lolly machine, and recall my huge edge from the last lolly bet, and dont see how i can lose, so a £1 bet and a pink lolly later, i have narrowed the deficit to -£5.

We manage to get through to the bar in time to see the Terry goal w/ Beckham assist. I was extremely happy to see Beckhams cross put away and hope he will be a permanent fixture once again.

We board the plane and get a 3 seat aisle to ourselves, perfect for using the middle seat for flipping. We also have a bet on the time we land, odd or even minute. I see an old gummy beat on the floor, must've been there weeks, and offer £10 for JP to eat it. He debates and takes the plunge. And nearly throws up, i couldn't stop the laughter. The drinks come round and we indulge in a shot of rum each. We land at 11:26, so i own the bet. I had now narrowed the margin to -£3 after various flips and the landing bet. Ship it Holla

We get in the airport and have a bet on who's bag comes through first, mine appears and the margin in -£2. We head outside and find a bus going near where the Fitzwilliam club is. We get off and walk forever, before asking some Irish piss heads where it is, they enquire why we'r not going to the hotel first, as we had our bags with us, JP replies...no, these bags are full of money. And luckily they dont buy it, and move on. We approach the cardroom and see Ironside and Tikay outside and greet them before registering inside. We see Kinboshi grinding cash and see a Tightend special SNG in progress in a private room high up over looking the bottom floor of the casino. They have been playing a while and it is a 10 euro rebuy, We walk in a Kev shouts out Miners! and Tighty asks if we want in, As its the hand before rebuys stop, I cant resist to value to get in with a 350 Euro prizepool and fish such as RookieITB, Colchester Kev and Tikay. So we both buy in and recieve 3000 chips, and look around and everyone has 5-20K! We both do no good and i am spite called out by Rookie and Kev, Rookie insta calling my shove with his J8o and Kev having a cool 56s. I liked the 66Q flop tbh, but meh Kev had got there harder. Rookie ended up taking it down. With Lee (our other roomie) taking 3rd.

We departed the casino, and got back to the hotel to drop the bags off and find some food, we walked forever to find it, then looking down a side street we see an 'OPEN' sign glowing in pink neon. ''Yessssss'' the group exclaim and begin heading towards it, a few Pizza's, Burgers and Kebabs later we are ready to hit the sack and be fresh for the saturday, Day 1 of the APAT tourney.

Day 2 : Saturday

We get up around 12ish for the 2:30 pm start, i hadnt got to sleep until about 6ish so was pretty creamed. We make the 20 minute walk towards the casino picking up Lucozade and Water on the way. Before registering and finding a breakfast place.

I draw table 2 seat 7. And begin the grind hanging around 10K but playing a decent number of hands. After the first break i have about 14K. And i return for the 200/400 level (was disapointed not to see a 150/300) and begin making a bigger stack, i 3-bet a guy all in with JT on a 78T flop, i thought he was setting me up to r/r me off a pot from hand 1. Turns out he had 78 but an ok turn+river of JJ sealed the deal and i was up to 22K. I moved up to 28K but lost a lot with AK after missing the flop, then got involved in a pot. I limp early with 5s 2s. He raises it to around 1200 and is fairly deep. I decide to call and take off a flop. Which comes QQ2. I check and he stabs 1400 in. I think for a while and will find out if he has AK on the turn. So i make the call. The turn comes a 5. And i check again. This time he fires 2500. And i dwell for quite a while before finally believing it is AA/KK he has and give it up. By the 2nd break i am annoyed and only have 11K and coming back to blinds of 600/1200 i am not happy. Linux reasures me that i am DEFINITELY going to win.

I return and lose 1800 through the blinds and then i am in the cut off with ATo and another shortie pushes infront of me. I have 7500 and decide its gamble time. I call it and see his JJ, but an AXX flop was a welcome sight to move me up to 16K. I blind away a bit before limping on the button with KcTc, blinds call/check and the flop comes Ac Jc Td. It's checked to me, and i bet out 3500. The big blind says, ''I raise you all in'' and i call it. The turn comes the Qs and its there. Up to about 24K. Then i preceded to win 4/5 big hands:

A double up from Eck's TT vs my AcKc up to 60K ish. 66 on a 962r flop vs A9. Up to 120K. A guy pc'ing himself with 7h9h ran into my QQ. Up to 150K and finally a r/r with AK forced the 2nd CL to pass AQ, up to just under 200K before day 2. A real rush of cards helped me build up to be 1/20 for the final day.

After day 2 had finished i caught up with Kin, Lee, Pilf and Linux at the Pub on the corner. And we decided to go down to Temple Bar for some bevvy's. Eck, Kev, Tighty and Ginger got a Taxi, we decided it would be a good idea to walk it. Stupidest idea ever, it hammered it down so hard and we were all drenched. So a few bevvys in Citi Bar where Kev abused my hair, and it was back to the Kebab shop after Lee walked us a mile the opposite direction. The back to the room for a quick sng with Eck. Then bed.

Day 3 : Sunday

I draw table 2, seat 4. And boy did i regret it, 7 ppl on table 2 were big stacks. And the only 3 short stacks were seat 10, 2 and 3. So standard. I got off to a really bad start, and blinded away before trying to make something happen with 9To in the cut off. I made it 15K (3/6K) and got looked up by the sb. He checked the AXX flop, and i bet out 21K. He quickly called, and checked again on the blank turn, i checked behind, and he shoved the river i quickly folded my ten high. The pot was a mistake, and it was against one of the players i rated very highly.

I was getting impatient and when i was in the bb with T4o, it was folded to the short stacked dutch man in the sb, who made it 15K. He had around 50-55K. I flat called and the flop come AQ3. He dwelled and checked, at this point i knew the pot was mine, but checked behind to find out wether he was trapping. When he led out 9K on the turn, i knew he wasnt. And he checked the river over for me to bet out 18K, he quickly folded and i showed the hand to tell them i was here to play poker.

Players began dropping like flies on table 1. And people were shifting around. Then a hand came up, the Dutch man limped for 8K, i looked at Ad2d and flat called, and we were 4 way to the Td3d5c flop. It was checked to me and i bet out 16K. The sb folded and the bb pushed for about 45K. Jaques folded and i decided to gamble with the huge draw + potential overcard. He turned over Tc4c and the turn was the 4h, giving me the straight, i managed to dodge a T or 4 on the river and a Kd peeled off giving me a winning flush. And boosting me to 220K. I made the final 3/9 with 198K and drew seat 1! A seat i dont particularly like. And despite drawing the 2 big stacks on my left, i felt confident after talking some strategy with Kev.

He asked me to wear a blondepoker.com shirt for the final + interviews and i was very happy to get one! I had been dying to get 1 since ChipRich bagged 1 in Luton.

The final started cagily and i began playing small ball limping and betting at flops, which was working well. Then the guy i had marked as my toughest opponent raised in mid-late position, and i looked down at JJ. I decided to flat call rather than r/r as i hate r/r in the sb as there is such a small range you can have. And a tough opponent can expoit that. The flop came Q22. I checked, bb checks and the aggressor bet out 40K. I called it and the bb folded. We checked it down and he mucked.

Then came a big hand. I limped utg with 88 and Laz behind me raised it up to 36K. I flat called and we are HU to the JTT flop. I check and he checks behind, I was now very confident of his holding. And checked again to him on the 5 turn. He bet out 75K and i had 155K back, i had him pinned at AK/AQ so the outs he had were sick. I couldn't flat call. So i pushed. He dwelled for a long time before folding and i showed the 88. Furthering my message that i'll put it all on the line to win this thing, i was playing ftw and nothing less.

I got to see a flop with a LP limper in the sb with AdQd, the flop came QQ3 (2hrts) and it was checked. The turn came Kh, and i bet out and got called. The river was a brick and i bet out 35K. Now the guy i was in the pot with had shoved on a 2 diamond flop with A6dd. And checking in last pos on this flop, i was convinced he couldn't have XhXh. So i was certainly infront. He dwelled for ages, and announced all in. I called and he turned over KT. I would've refered a flat call from him then, but i think he would have only had 40K back, so he wanted to get it over with. At the final break i was T1/5 with around 420K, the guy i'd marked as the tough opponent also had 420K. I doubled brendan up with AsJs vs his KK. And he was on the comeback.

A big hand then arose where he min raised utg to 40K and i called in the sb with 5d7d after it being passed round. The bb folded and the flop came Td 9d Tc. I checked and he bet out 70K and left about 140K back. I decided to c/r all in, and he quickly called with AA and the diamond failed to make it. If i won the pot id go 1/4 with over 50% of the chips in play and in a very good spot to take it down. As it happens i was down to 109K with 5 bb's. And after shoving a few times i got a call from Brendans Ad8d, i turned over a blind Q8o, and he deservedly bust me out in 4th place winning £600.

I was congratulated and Tikay came over to say how i was 1 of 2 ppl playing real fearless poker on that final and he would have loved to have seen us play HU. The other player he was referring to was Paul Townsend (my toughest opponent). He ended up busting 3rd with KT vs the AJ on Brendan. He was playing to win it, and good on him for gambling there.

I got my 15 seconds of fame, and an interview with Rhoweena Colclough and Dave Compton! Will have to see Poker Week next week and see the comedy of it.

On the way out, i was starving so we went into Burger King, Linux spotted some potential comedy. There was a sign saying ''Add cheese to your order for 40c''. So he paid Lee 1 Euro to go up and ask 1 of the foreign cashiers for some cheese.

Lee: ''Hi, can i have cheese please?''

BK person: ''Bacon and cheese burger?''

Lee: ''No no, just cheese please''

BK: ''can you tell me which number''

Lee:''yeah its there (points at sign) just cheese''

Manager comes over

Lee: ''Hi can i have some cheese''

Manager: ''im sorry sir, u have to get a burger to add the cheese to''

Lee: ''Oh ok, nevermind then''.

We were all pissing ourselves so hard, i have no idea how he kept a straight face, but he did! classic comedy from the APAT Wales winner!

After this we found a traditional Irish pub, and it was having a lock in. Great stuff. So we enjoyed a few pints in there, before heading back to the hotel and getting 1 hours sleep before getting up at 6:00 to get a taxi to the airport. Myself Linux and Kin said goodbye to Lee as his flight was checking in. And played chinese for a while before our flight number was called, we said bye to Kin and headed off home...

...before making some more stupid bets of course.