The most beautiful view

This time last year I squeaked into the money and bust shortly thereafter losing a flip with AJ against sixes in the inaugural Westport Irish Poker Tour (IPT) Main Event. So there was a decided sense of deja vu this year when I bust shortly after the bubble again (in 38th) with the exact same holdings featuring in my bust out. For once I had bagged up well above average (the previous day, one of my table mates Tomas Flanagan asked me “do you ever have a stack or is it always six big blinds high?”) but Day 2 was a slow death as I barely won a pot.

Were such beauties lying on English shores it would be a world’s wonder”

As is now a recurring theme in these IPT trip reports, the ladies shone again in Westport – a town so beautiful that visiting English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray,? wrote in 1842:

“The most beautiful view I ever saw in the world. It forms an event in one’s life to have seen that place so beautiful that it is, and so unlike other beauties that I know of. Were such beauties lying on English shores it would be a world’s wonder perhaps, if it were on the Mediterranean or Baltic, English travellers would flock to it by hundreds, why not come and see it in Ireland!”

Sia Browne takes the win

There was no Ladies event this time but that didn’t stop them from winning trophies. Most notable of all was the victory of Sia Browne in the Main Event. Sia has been a friendly, formidable and feisty presence at the felt since she announced herself on the Irish scene with a third place in Moneymaker’s Road to PSPC back in 2019. A quick glance at her Hendon Mob since reveals her to be a player who knows how to close out a tournament: she has more firsts than any other finishing position.

She’s also had a phenomenal start to the year, winning two side events and chopping a third in Galway. I caught up with her after her win and asked what did it mean to take down a Main Event? She said:

“It’s a fantastic achievement to come out on top of a bigger field but the side events needed time, perseverance and good play to win as well. Certainly a harder achievement to do it with the bigger fields so the only way is up for now.”

I followed up by observing that while she has got results five years, this year she really seems to have kicked on, asking what’s different? She explained:

“Yes these last six months I decided to step up my game by getting coaching with Jamie Nixon, he’s a great guy to work with and talks about situations and hands in a way I understand. I guess I decided if I’m going to spend weekends away from my family to do this I better make it profitable and take ownership of how I play, so I started studying, started reading books like yours to get in the right way of thinking, and stopped considering hands as two cards but rather as ranges that could be either represented by boards or not.

you should never underestimate an opponent that doesn’t give up.”

I’ve stopped feeling entitled to winning a hand just because I have a mega hand preflop and in general my mental game is much stronger. My biggest weakness was always sub 20 bb but I now realise they have quite a lot of firing power and you should never underestimate an opponent that doesn’t give up.”

Sia is a shining example of what I usually call the “serious recreational”: players who even if they play primarily for fun also put in a fair amount of work and study away from the tables to be able to compete with the best, even going so far as to engage a coach (the excellent Jamie Nixon, an ex student of mine who I often recommend as a coach these days).

Not the only one

Sia wasn’t the only lady to shine in Westport. Claire Hopkins won the 7 max PLO, and popular legend Colette “Kathy Bates” Murphy and Karen Muir both notched up second place finishes.

The men did manage to get a look in: other side events winners included Hugh Smyth (Monsterstack), Fintan Gavin (Mayo Cup), Kenneth Greaney (Saturday Freezeout), Aidan Brady (PLO), Sean Murtagh (Friday Freezeout), and Ian O’Flynn (Mystery bounty).

Live poker continues to boom and the events come thick and fast. This trip report was written on a plane to London for this week’s London Poker Festival in Aspers. There’s a full schedule including a Ladies event hosted by my friends Tanya Masters and Alex O’Brien (whose first book “The Truth Detective,” which I have previously reviewed here, has just been nominated for a GPI award) on Sunday. Speaking of books, Barry and I were hoping to do a formal launch of our latest one “Beyond GTO: Poker Exploits Simplified” at the festival, but couldn’t get the books there in time. However, I will be here all week so if you have a book you want signed (or just want to say hi), hit me up. See you at the tables!