IPO

Back at the very start of my career, one of the first live multi-day tournaments I played was the inaugural International Poker Open. It was held not in the nice part of the RDS that hosts the Irish Open these days, but in one of the cow sheds at the back, complete with big sliding doors that took considerable force to open and close. For that reason, the doors remained open all day, exposing the tables nearer the door to the elements.

the IPO broke the mold coming in at a much more affordable price point for grassroots players

At the time, there were no smaller buy-in events of this nature in Ireland. Everything was a 1k or higher, so the IPO broke the mold coming in at a much more affordable price point for grassroots players. It quickly earned the unofficial nickname name of “the people’s Irish Open,” leading to a confusion among international visitors that IPO stands for Irish Poker Open that persists to this day.

The irony, of course, is that nowadays nearly all the higher buy-ins have disappeared from the Irish poker calendar, but there’s any number of events at a similar price point to the IPO.

Chuffty’ opponent not feeling chuffed

The IPO moved to the Bonnington hotel (then called the Regency) in its second year and has stayed there since. Boyle Poker came on board as sponsor and elevated the event to new levels. My main memories from the second year are that then-Boyle sponsored pro Marty Smyth was crippled late on day one right on the bubble, so they stopped the tournament then and there as they wanted to wait for the cameras to arrive so they could film him bubbling the next day. It’s not all fun and sunshine being a sponsored pro!

treating the event with the seriousness most of us reserve for the WSOP Main Event

My other memory is that on Day 2, my neighbor to the left was Richard “Chuffty” Ashby, then and now one of the best mixed cash game players in the world. Chuffty had apparently been up all night grinding high stakes online cash and was continuing to do so at the table.

He was playing a high variance approach designed to either get a stack worth his time or get him out of there, much to the chagrin of his neighbor to the left, a French player in sunglasses treating the event with the seriousness most of us reserve for the WSOP Main Event. He was getting tilted by Chuffty’s aggression and muttering away to himself in French. I was happy to oblige when Chuffty asked for a translator:

“He called you an English fish….now he mentioned something about Dunkirk….Joan of Arc….”

A few years later, the sponsors hosted the short-lived Irish Poker Awards at the event. Much to my delight, I won the popular vote for Best Blogger, and much to my amusement, my close friend and colleague David Lappin wasn’t even nominated, much to his chagrin. I won a second award for Best Social Media, given to me by my good friend Neil Channing with the words: “Isn’t this basically the same thing as your other award?”

Put the past in the past

After BoylePoker, the event bounced around different sponsors, this year passing from Unibet to Stars. It has suffered a decline in numbers in recent years, but this year reversed that trend, and there are plans to go even bigger next year, moving to a €500 buy-in and €500k guarantee.

my focus is always just to show up in as good mental and physical shape as possible

I went into this year’s event on the back of something of a dry spell, having bricked the entire Killarney festival. I told my friend Ray I don’t really track or believe in downswings, as they’re only identifiable if you look back, and you should always look forward in poker. My focus is always just to show up in as good mental and physical shape as possible, make the best decisions that I can, and not worry about outcomes or anything else I can’t control.

That said, it worked out well for me this event. My first bullet was fruitless. I came in the second day to play the Super High Roller, but there was only one person registered, so I decided to late reg the Main Event flight that was running instead, figuring I could hop into the Super High Roller if and when I busted. I was short-stacked almost the whole way, including when I got moved onto the feature table, but some late heat saw me chip up toward the end of the day.

On Day 2, I successfully navigated well into the money, ultimately losing a standard flip to bust in 33rd, just in time to late register the high roller. I also ran up a stack in that late in the day.

A couple deep runs

I came back to Day 2 in fifth place out of 13 players remaining. Only nine were paid, but I told Ray that the goal wasn’t just to get into the money, but to get to the final table with a big stack. An early rush of cards helped to achieve this, and we got to the final table much quicker than expected with me as chip leader. I maintained my chip lead until we got four-handed when I lost a 60/40 against Neil O’Reilly. Neil busted on the next hand semi-bluffing his stack against Paul Carr and not getting there.

That left Paul as the new chip leader with not much more than myself and Paul Leckey, who had expertly navigated from the short stack at the start of the final table. When Leckey proposed a deal, an equal chop was quickly agreed upon, with Paul Carr getting the trophy as the chip leader.

After some dinner with the two Pauls, I left for the last small side event and ended up getting heads-up in that one. I started as a big chip underdog but clawed my way back into the lead. I lost a 70/30 to win, and then a flip to bust.

the Stars live event staff and dealers were impeccable as ever

It was good to see the Main Event reverse the decline in numbers in recent years. Although the venue leaves much to be desired, there is also much to admire about the IPO. It boasts a phenomenal structure for that level of buy-in, and the live stream helmed by the Tower and aided ably by Thomas Murphy and Aidan Quinlan added greatly to the sense of occasion.

The Stars live event staff and dealers were impeccable as ever, but it would have been nice to see a bit more (or even any) attendance from Stars ambassadors at the event. The organizers announced that next year‘s event will feature a bigger buy-in of €500 and a guaranteed prize of half a million.

On a personal level, it was nice to go into the IPF in some sort of form. My next article will cover how I got on at that festival.