#196: “1000 Days of Black & Red”
Thanks to the Sharkscope account of my flatmate and Firm member voted most likely to call changing a simple light-bulb ‘the landlord’s responsibility’, Daragh Davey, I found out that last week, while everyone else was off bricking WSOP events, I had just booked my 1000th winning day in online poker. I thought it was a pretty cool statistic but then again I think Berkenstocks, Wikileaks, ironic belt buckles and chip-tricks are cool. I also think saying ‘cool’ is cool.
With just a few WSOP side events remaining, it seems as though the Irish and British contingent are in need of a lift. Reports from Vegas suggest that the mood in some camps is a bit negative with several heavyweight poker posses suffering after a June of early exits and crossbars. Although the Series has thus far produced paddy-less final tables, (though John O’Shea and Mark MacDonnell both came agonisingly close), it has certainly not been all doom and gloom as the VDs have had plenty of Irish interest (Venetian Deepstacks, not venereal diseases – although word is Liam O’Donoghue has been grinding both), the highlights being binks for both Dan Wilson and Tom Kitt.
There was also some great news last Friday as mobster Barny Boatman won his first bracelet in Event #49, a hugely popular winner and a victory for a school so old that it used to have an exchange-programme with Plato’s Academy. At the other end of the popularity stakes (if the twitter anti-rail was anything to go by), David Vamplew (he’s Scottish, not British!) took 2nd in Event #53 on Monday, a result which will have further inVIGorated (Oh, c’mon everyone was doing it!) the Brits going into the final fortnight.
In other news, I have received a large number of coaching requests recently from players looking to improve or refresh their games. I have tried to respond to all of these applicants but between the different methods of communication (twitter, twitter DMs, facebook, skype and e-mail), some may have slipped through the cracks. With the Firm no longer staking up-and-coming online phenom James Noonan (He’ll be staking all of us before long), my coaching schedule has opened up a little but not so much that I can take on all-comers.
I have always maintained a policy whereby I do a maximum of 6 hours coaching per week. The reason for this is that the game of poker is constantly evolving, in particular, the meta-game aspects, and failure to be up-to-speed with these via the direct contact of playing a full 40 hour week is not only short-sighted but potentially catastrophic to your long-term viability and reputation as a relevant coach. Testifying to this, several of the players who have solicited me recently have expressed the belief that their coaches have slipped behind the curve and unsurprisingly they are guys from the US who have been coaching full-time since Black Friday curtailed their playing careers. I hope therefore that players understand the reasons for my policy and that no offence is taken if I don’t take them on at present.
The most common motif seems to be players seeking advice on satellite strategy. It doesn’t surprise me that myself and The Firm lads have gotten attention for our success in this format – admittedly a very unglamorous form of poker but one which can be very lucrative if approached correctly. Dara O’Kearney obliterated the competition last year in the UKIPT satellite competition and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if his toughest competition this season comes in-house with Nick Newport having already banked 15 seats/packages. (I would also expect to see big numbers posted by last year’s runner-up Fergal ‘midnitekowby’ Nealon, Neil ‘heffs976′ Raine, Tom ‘Jabracada’ Hall and Tim ‘Timmy182′ Davie – lads who are not just good poker players but specialists in the adjustments required for satellite success.) Without going into specifics, what I will say is that the endgame of satellites is very different from the endgame of regular tournaments, presenting ICM conundrums that are uniquely extreme in poker. Proficiency in this phase of the game is the most vital aspect of a satellite and it is the phase that is most divergent from normal poker conditions.
Finally, I want to give a shout out to the good people over at PokerPalz.com who are doing a great job covering the WSOP action. As I stick to my rather boring summer routine of grinding long hours online, it’s great to be able to read some proper articles to go with the twitterbits emanating from the Rio. My aim, as it has been for the last few years, is to make $20-25K while everyone is away in Vegas and with a few weeks still to go, I am hovering around the $18K mark, which has included a personal best 9 consecutive days ‘in the black’ streak. It’s a good job too as a second Sharkscope search informed me that I am fast approaching my 1000th losing day too!