He Talks the Talk , But can he Walk the Walk !!!!!!

You better belive he can , Damo ( The best playerin Swords ) is crushing the Orchard Pub poker leauge . We are in week 4 of the 10 week leauge and Damo's results are week 1 1st , week 2 1st ,week 3 3rd and week 4 joint 1st in a 3way chop. Congrats to Eddie and Pat on the chop 👍🏻

SwordsPokerDamo AKA " The Best Player inSwords "

The hand of the night is from the first level with the blinds at 25 / 50 I have Q♠️J♠️ in the big blind .

We have the normal 6 limpers in the pot so I decide to thin out the field with this very pretty hand.

I raise it to 600 , a 12x raise and I get 4 callers 😱 .

The flop is K♣️4♣️10♦️ , I flop an open ender so I'm happy to c bet to 1600 and I get 1 caller  , my nemesis " Sit N Go " Joe .

Boom 💣 !!!! I turn the nuts , A❤️ and I'm thinking is Joe chasing a flush ????

So I bet big 4600 a near pot size bet to chase him away , but it doesnt work Joe calls , so now I'm thinking Joe has a big hand so I want a blank on the river please dealer .

The dealer obliges with an 8♥️ and I think Joe has at least 2 pair and I belive he will call so again I bet a pot size bet of 10,000 and Joe calls ??? he has pocket Kings 😱😱😱 the trapper got trapped .

Joe should change the name to " Slow Play Joe ".

That was a nice big pair Joe

Its very fustrating in the Orchard that again we have a good pool of players with 2 tables of 15 players and again there are some faces that show up the odd time and I'm sure one of these nights all the regs will show up and it will be a full house of 3 to 4 tables .

Its early days back with the blog so leave a comment below if you have any comments or ideas I can use .

I hope to do some player profiles and interdouce to you some of of the characters that play in the game.

Time to bring back the Blog !!!!!!

Ok Guys guess whos back ??? Yes Damos back .
Well I never went away lol , I dropped the blog when the Poker night in the Manor Inn finished up and I switched from running games to just playing and educating some of the local fishies in the Orchard Pubs Monday night game .
Monday night Poker in the Orchard is very well run by Robert Mate and Paul Clemenson .

   I

There is a new league kicked off in the Orchard and we are into week 3 and of course the  " Best Player in Swords " ( yes that is still SwordsPoker Damo ) is smashing it with a 1st in week 1 , a 1st in week 2 and a 3rd in week 3 to top the league. 

So watch this space and and look out for some more bad beats and best hands and the general mad plays that pub poker at its best trows up .

Come along and meet our players and join in the fun and fustrations that the best of grass roots Poker has to offer.

Oh remember everyone is welcome at the Orchard pub , Applewood in Swords every Monday at 8pm . 

I'll see you at the table 

♥️♣️Swords Poker Damo ♦️♠️( AKA The Best Player in Swords )

Vegas Here we come

Were back , the Manor Inn is under new management and we are launching a new league for the Poker Night on every Thursday at 8:30pm sharp. We are going to play a new freeze out game that will be 30 euro for 10,000 chips but you can boost your stack with a 2,000 early bird if you are in your seat for the first hand.
If you cant make the first hand due to running late we will give you a 1,000 bonus chip if you register by text or phone.
There will be full stack reentry up to the break also 30 euro.

We hope to offer trips to Vegas as part of the prise for the league.
We also hope to run a club for anyone that would like to join us on a trip to Vegas , so if your interested let myself or Kevin know.

This is Bobby's Room in the Bellagio

 I had the pleasure of having my first trip to Las Vegas in April and it lived up to all that I expected and more . the good wife and myself had a ball.
I went to see the famous Bobby's Room in the Bellagio hotel poker room , there wasn't much going on but I did see Scott Seciver in there hanging out and the I had to play in the Bellagio 1-3 cash game just to say I played in there and i went on to record my worst loss in Vegas , so I wont be back there , full of Donkeys. (Me being the biggest one ).

get out of jail chips

 I got out of jail with a nice win on the last night in Planet Hollywood where the game was much more fun with plenty of banter and the odd beer or two.




Antonio Esfandiari came out to meet the best player in Swords and we exchanged the odd strategy so watch out for some funky moves at the tables.

Planet Hollywood Pleasure pit

OK so the Blog will be back with all of the news the results the bad beats the good plays and the donkey plays the league standings so please get involved and comment even better come along to the Manor Inn Swords every Thursday for cards in the air at 8:30pm sharp.
Everyone is welcome its a great time to get involved at the start of the league and you never know you could be on the way to Las Vegas on us.

Police Vegas style

It's IPO time again

I'm playing the IPO in the Regency Hotel this week and I'm really looking forward to it. I had a nice deep run in the Summer Deepstack but the IPO is a different story with up to 1000 players.
The IPO is great , it gives the pub player that chance to play a big tournament for a buy in of €230 .

The game in the Manor Inn is going well and the dealers are a great improvement and the no limit cash game is played in great sprit and the rake of 5% capped at €5 is the best around . It's a bit disappointing that the numbers have not improved to what I would like but we will keep plugging away.
One reason the numbers are not growing is the amount of poker that can be played in the Swords area , there is poker in the Orchard bluff card club the penthouse casino and in the Westbury in Malahide, the great thing is that there is a wide choice for the players in Swords.

Now onto the Poker and the standard of play !!! OMG & LMFAO ( as my 13 year old says)
I'm so good I can get players to put there chips in the middle & calling me down with NOTHING!!.
Two recent hands come to mind , I was in the big blind of 400 when I call a min raise from the hijack , knowing this guy like his Ace with anything that's what I put him on so when the flop is 10 2 6 rainbow I'm holding 8♦️ 10♦️ I feel I'm way ahead of his range.
He bets out 1000 and I re-raise  to 3000 he calls the turn brings the Ace he checks I check the river brings another A he checks and I turn over my hand and he turns over A 7 os and asks why I didn't bet after the re-raise that he thought he would trap me??? He couldn't understand why I got thick asking how he could call the re-raise after the flop with nothing and the gets lucky and thinks he made a great play on the flop !!!
The best is still to come, after dumping a couple of premium hands after the flop I decided to punish the limpers with the blinds at 100/200 and 5 limpers I have A♥️9♥️ In the big blind so I raise to 1000 to take the blinds with what I feel is the best hand out there  but I get two callers the flop is 9♣️5♣️7♦️ The small blind leads out 2000 so I think he has a flush draw or he hit top pair and he has me on a big Ace so I decide the worst case is he has a draw so I shove all in ( not the best play but I feel I'm ahead) to put maximum pressure to call all his chips on a flush draw, he thinks a little and the says to the dealer " call give me a 6 " HE HAS 8♥️4♣️ , OMG!!! He doesn't get his 6 no, he hits ♣️♣️ For a flush 🙀 . That's the worst call I have ever seen in all the years I have played poker.
"But all you had was a 9 he says ! " but you called 90% of you stack with a 8 high gut shot DONKEY. Forgetting he called the original 1000 raise with his 8 4 os, another DONKEY play gets rewarded . Ok rant over I'm off to the Orchard tonight to win the cash to pay for my IPO ticket and hopefully we will see a few more players in the Manor inn on Wednesday.

The Summer turns good

Poker this summer hasn't been great for me , it's been a bit of a flatline but things can change so quick in this sick game that we all hate and love at the same time .
The last week has turned it all around , the first game back in the Manor Inn since it reopened was a great night .
The new Dealers were a great hit and the €1/€1 no limit cash game went down very well and was great fun.
The structure of the game was perfect for a pub game and the result was even better , YES the best player in Swords took it down (that's me ).
Karl O Shea had a great run after the break after busting in the first half he played very well to make the final table and got lucky when he needed to , when three handed Karl was all in v Jana his 10 10 v QQ of Jana.
The flop brought a 10 to double up Karl and cripple Jana who went out to Karl soon after.
Golly on the other hand ha a big stack on the final table but went out in two quick hands, first he pushed all in with a big Ace and got a donkey call from*#@&$ with J 9 , he hits his A but the board runs out with 4 spades for our friend to hit the flush with his 9. (ouch).
The hes all in and amo calls with AQ v is 9 10 ,the flop gives Golly his 10 to take the lead , but no not again its runner runner club club and Damo has the nut flush. Its a cruel game.
Karl was a  big chip leader going into heads up against Damo there was no talk of a deal. Damo went on the attack and had just taken a slight chip lead when Karl called Damo's all in with A 5 v K 10 of Karl , an Ace on the turn and its all over.

Karl O Shea 2nd

Jana in 3rd place

On Saturday there was a great show from the Swords faithful in the Carlton hotel for The Summer Deepstack  run by Larry Santos. There was a great turnout of 231 entries creating a prise pool of €23,000 with 25 making it into the money.

9c2c Suited me B*l****x

Mark " Gibbo " Gibson just about getting in there in 25th and Damo " The Best Player in Swords " aka Damien Mc Dermott ( that's me ) making the Final table finishing in 7th place.
I was disappointed how the final table played out as I was hit by a cold deck with the blinds growing.
When I did get it all in against the chip leaders opening raise he was priced in to call with any two cards , so when he said " sorry about this " I asked " you have Aces ? " he turns over 9c 2c , and you know when you feel it in the pit of your stomach " oh oh please NO " .
The flop 10 2 2  xx on the board and I'm out.
Looking back I had a great time , I played really well making good decisions all day and met some great people.

So the last couple of results have turned around the summer for myself turning August what was going to be the first month of the year at a lost into another winning month.
Don't forget be in the Manor Inn on Wednesday for the first hand bonus at 8:00pm for the €25 game with 1 rebuy or top up for €25.
There are lots of people looking at the blog but there are not many comments , let me know what you think good and bad all suggestions are welcomed.
If your playing this Wednesday put up a comment and ill give you a 500 chip bonus.

The Boys are back in town

Its great to see the Manor Inn back open and even better news that Swords Poker are BACK!
We will be playing every Wednesday at 8pm.
The game will be changing a little , we are going back to our roots with the game that Started over 6 years ago that was very popular,
€25 for 5000 chips with 1 re buy 5000 chips or 1 top up at the break 7000 chips
There will be a bonus 1000 chip but you must be in your seat for the first hand dealt.
If you are there for the 2nd hand sorry but you miss out.
The whole idea is to have the game starting at 8pm sharp as there will be a lot of chips in play and the game must end for 12:30am , so we WILL start at 8pm with dead stacks out until the break.
The biggest change is we are going to provide dealers in the Manor for the first time which we hope will attract some new players .
We feel the €25/€25 game is probably the best value game that offers a cheap buy in with a starting stack of 6000chips (if you are seated for the first hand) giving the player plenty of play to build their stack and go on with a chance of cashing without  having to re buy or top up and on the other hand you have that option to get back in the game if you bust out or top up if your short and get back in the game.
Is it fair to the player who just wants to invest €25 only ????? OF COURSE it is he is getting the pot built up with a chance of winning a nice juicy prise pool where the re buys and top up have to pay double for that same prise pool.
We will also have a dealer controled €1/€1 NLHM cash game from the break onwards
Guys let me know what you think or reply with any ideas to help improve the game.
I cant wait to get going on Wednesday and I hope to see everyone so come out and support us and remember you have the chance to play with "THE BEST POKER PLAYER IN SWORDS"
See you in the Manor at 8pm sharp.
Damo.
PS post a reply here and ill give you a 500 chip
Follow us on Twitter @SwordsPoker

The Manor inn has fallen victim to the recession and the doors have closed.
Firstly I would like to thank all of the staff and management for their hospitality over the last 6 or more years that we have been running our poker game.
Hopefully there will be a buyer soon and we can get things going again.
But Swords poker moves on and on Thursday 21st of February we will be running a game in Colm Cilles Gaa club starting at 8:00pm sharp , €30 + €5 , 8000 chips + 1000 bonus if you are in your seat for the first hand.