Jon Kalmar says...

Skalie's Irish Open

Tuesday 8 Apr 2008

Wednesday 29th of March

Awaking at the unearthly hour of about 7am it was time for the short flight to Dublin. I can’t remember ever seeing 7am unless I was still up from the night before! I was travelling with my wife Kila for this event; she doesn’t travel to all tournaments but if we expect a good social gathering I struggle to talk her out it!

Luckily a plane station is situated just a few miles away in Blackpool. This is simply the greatest airport on the planet. Not because its has the best pre-flight food or entertainment - far from it - or even because Blackpool is where I grew up. No, it's because check-in in takes about 5 minutes, and security even less. The sooner this place does flights to Vegas the better...fat chance!

We bumped into the World of Poker guys, and shared a taxi to the Citywest hotel and golf club. Now golf is something I’m poor at best but the odd thing about the game is no matter how bad you are, you feel compelled to play and also to pass on your opinion on what to do to fellow players - A lot like poker.

The first person I called was Jeff Kimber to see what time he would frequent the bar. He told me he and the others were playing in the Satellite for the main event: a €300 re-buy. Damn! I wasn’t expecting to play poker this early, but as I wasn’t set to play the main event till Friday I thought why not, I won’t bother re-buying, just see how it goes. Luckily I did as I won a seat which I could exchange for cash. Good start... I think this could be my weekend...

Thursday 30th

Day 1A of the main event and, as I don’t play until tomorrow, we could stay in bed till the much more reasonable time of about 2pm (look some of us work nights you know!) Ordered room service and ventured from the room about 4-ish looking for the bar.

All the Ladbrokes qualifiers were playing Friday too and all started to arrive that afternoon. I was privileged to meet "Toppo", "HarryPaint", and "Ticky-Trev" amongst others. Nigel Blower arrived with his family and along with Kevin "TioKeven" O’Connell, "BigTr" and "T8MML" and their better halves, and he treated us all to dinner on Ladbrokes.

Later that evening we were join by Nick Gibson and along with Kevin O’Connell we had a game of Chinese poker. Marc Goodwin came over and asked what stakes we were playing for, upon which we replied "Two fifty a point". "Count me in" he said, only to be disappointed to find out we meant €2.50! He refused to play in case he WON. He and I have a little history at Chinese Poker, and he said it would pain him too much to only win a 100 or so euros off me.

Play finished in the main event at around midnight, and the surviving players made their way into the drinking emporium.

On the telly we noticed some golf was on. It's not that we're all sick gamblers...just most of us! But we were able to create a new game. We created a variation on the game "Shoot" for watching the golf. Players each put in an equal amount of money into the pot. They than take it in turn to guess whether the next putt on the screen will go in. They can bet anywhere up to the amount of the pot. If they lose they put the money in, if they win they take it out. Obviously if it’s a 60-foot putt you would only bet the minimum €5, and a 2 foot sitter and you shoot the pot. I was next up and - fantastic! - a 2 foot putt was there for the taking. Unfortunately, I hadn’t realised it was Justin Rose taking aim when I shouted "SHOOOOOOOT!!!!!!"

Friday 31st

Up bright and early at 1pm (! - ed) I left my good lady wife in bed (she’d had a tough day) and had just enough time to grab something to eat before I played. I got off to a good start and managed to get paid off by Surinder Sunar, leaving him virtually out until I generously doubled him up a few hands later.

Soon after I moved to a new table, the wheels came spectacularly off. Every move I made ran into a brick wall, and what hands I had were either behind or outdrawn. Needless to say the bar was not far away. Luckily I was out just in time to join Nigel for another meal along with Kila and the rest of the unfortunate qualifiers who were sharing my fate.

Now this was Good Friday and all the bars in Ireland are closed, bar the ones in hotels. However with the exception of the bar next to card room which was yards away, the main hotel bars was shut also. What made this Friday 'Good' I don’t know...! Luckily they were able to open at 00.15 on Great Saturday so the evening was not set for an abrupt end.

"Tricky-Trev" had exited somewhat earlier in the day, and in good poker player tradition he threw his toys from the pram and headed straight to the airport with his wife in tow to head back to Manchester early. As it was GOOD Friday, flights were not as available as he had hoped, and he was forced to return to the hotel.

To cover his costs he started the "Tricky-Trev the honest bookmaker's horse racing game". Although it is very simple I can’t be bothered to explain the full details of how to play here. Basically, you bet on which suit in a deck of 52 cards will win a 7 furlong race. I wandered over to watch the game, and saw some frantic betting. I said everyone was sick and couldn’t believe who would be foolish enough to bet on such a game. Four hundred euros later and I was looking for a game of Chinese poker again.

Saturday 1st of April

Day2 of the main event had started and by this time all my savers in the main event had gone except Tim "T8MML" Blake and he only had 17,000 chips.

Today was also the €1500 event. I wasn’t sure whether to play or not, but having not lost all my money to Tricky-Trev the previous night I still had enough to play. I wish I hadn’t.

On my table was anther member of the Ladbrokes poker team Andreas "_Theah_" Hoivold. I was in one hand which I was sure I’d won with queen high on a 9-9-8-8-6 board. The whole table assured me Andreas had the full house but I could not see it. (I hadn’t even been drinking) I realised I must be wrong and decided I needed a walk to try and find where I left my brain (I don’t remember betting it last night). I still wasn’t convinced I was wrong. Not long after my return I was deservedly knocked out by slow playing my pocket aces and I had another long walk back to the bar.

Several pints of Guinness later I was arranging a game of golf with "Toppo" and a few of the other guys. I warned them that I was bad, and one of the guys assured me he had once shot 115. "Thank god for that," I thought "'cos I often have holes like that".

Tricky-Trev horse racing was off again, and what little money I had left from Wednesday was now heading back to Manchester. Although I was having a great time and the trip started well financially it looked like another trip home with empty pockets was on the cards. That was until my new best mate Tim Blake appeared. Not only was he through to Day 3 and in the money, he was among the chip leaders and my 5% was looking pretty damn good...

Sunday 2nd

Main event Day 3, and many of my mates are left, including Tim "T8MML" Blake, Tommy "Toolbox" Dunwoodie, Conor "Sealey" Tate and John "punk Floyd" Conroy. Also still hanging around was Surinder Sunar despite having had no chips early on Day 1. It just goes to show that you should never give up, as long as you're still in you still have a chance. Unfortunately nobody arranged the golf (phew it looked a bit chilly anyway) so, barring the odd drink or 12, we could watch the poker.

Also running today is the Omaha re-buy. An event where the bookies had badly overpriced much of the field with an excited Marc Goodwin running around telling us all how he’s had bets on many of them.

I bumped into Ciaran O'Leary in the bar who was doing the TV commentary along with Jessie May. This guy is not only an exceptional player in his own right, but has a personality second-to-none and I’m sure people will be hearing a lot from him over the not too distant future. The coverage of this event is amazing, although not live it is edited and goes out on Ireland's national TV the same night .

Whilst in the bar having a drink I bumped into Marty Smith who had exited the Omaha event just shy of the money. Never someone to complain he did tell me about an old guy sat to his left. Martin had just re-raised someone for all his chips, and the old guy dwelled up for several minutes before passing. Marty received a call from the original raiser and was on his way to the rail when the board failed to help. Whilst getting up from his seat the old feller said "I had ace 2 2 2, that’s no good is it, right?". "No" Marty replied, "good fold".

Despite the hope of seeing a final table made up entirely of my friends 3 did make it: Tommy, Timmy and Neil Channing. We were all set for a good Easter Monday, and HarryPaint decided to miss his flight to watch his friend Tommy play the final.

Back in the main bar the spirits couldn’t have been higher, and what better way to have fun than a game of TrickyTrev’s Horse racing. Luckily Kila had a deck of cards in her handbag and before handing them to Trev I decided to have a quick go as bookmaker myself. Trev complained about how I had cut him out and was refusing to play before having €50 on spades. It was not a good night for the punters.

Monday

The final didn’t disappoint. Neil was on incredible form with relentless pressure ensuring him a well-deserved victory in what must be one of the best performances I have ever seen. Tommy Dunwoodie came in a good 3rd, despite never been in a dominate chip position anytime during the event. And Tim Blake managed a very respectable 4th place. A great result and something I would not be surprised to see him repeat in the none-too-distant future. And the 5% gives me a little more to take to vegas next week - get iiiiiiinnnnnnnnnn!

After the final almost everyone was in the Oriental restaurant eating either Japanese or Thai. The food was great and had the company to match.

All in all, this must rank amongst my favourite events along with the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise and Galway. The hotel was good, and due to its isolated location meant many people staying around the bar and mingling. I certainly will be going again next year. What makes this event good it that so many people are there to enjoy themselves making poker almost secondary. Unless of course you make the final table!

Anyone coming to Vegas with Ladbrokes this July for the World Series will enjoy a similar experience in their lounge where they will be able to play ‘Honest Skalies Lucky Horse Racing game’!

Jonathan "Skalie" Kalmar, 5th placed finisher, WSOP 2007 Main Event.