Mario Linno had previously bet-folded against the shove of Andy Black and now bet again, making it 25,000 to go on the flop when Black in the big blind had checked to him. Black check-raised all in for 116,000 and Linno reluctantly called with the slightly superior stack.
Andy Black:
Mario Linno:
Neither the turn nor the river provided any help and Linno was already on his way out, but Black called him back as he had some chips left over. Not far away from the money bubble, Linno has a mountain to climb with some four big blinds.
Over on the feature table, Tuomo Niskanen was spotted leaving his seat, the cards still tabled with . Unibet Poker ambassador David Lappin had flopped a full house with on the board and Niskanen then walked over to the table of Kasper Mellanen and Dara O'Kearney.
"We talked about it before, I was sure I'd bluff my chips off with a triple barrel bluff," the Finn joked.
Hendrik Mertens just flat-called a raise out of the big blind and check-shoved the flop for 69,000. Periklis Charmpilas on the button reluctantly called and sighed when he was shown the by the Dutchman. Charmpilas only had and the turn locked up the double for Mertens, which made the river a formality.
Charmpilas ran out of chips shortly after, while another short stack found a double. Benny Glaser got it in from the small blind with and Henri Koivisto on the button called with . The board ran out to give the three-time WSOP bracelet winner new hope for a second cash in Dublin on his first trip to Ireland.
Alan "hotted89" Widmann defended his big blind and went with his flush draw on the flop. Emil Brunnberg snap-called with and Widmann tabled . Neither the turn nor the river were of any help for the esports gamer and he busted shortly before the money.
Fellow German Bjorn Kadgien and 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Jack Sinclair suffered the same fate, which reduced the field to the last 50 hopefuls.
Jonathan Lowe ended up all in and at risk for 92,000 with the and had little to fear against Emil Brunnberg and his , locking up the double on the turn of a board .
With the board showing , Kasper Mellanen checked to John Farrell in the cutoff and called a bet of 65,000. Farrell showed for a set on the river and Mellanen mucked in disgust, he was left with a mere 10,000.
Mellanen jammed first to act in the next hand and was called by Andrew Whitehouse in the small blind and Patrick Clarke in the big blind. The remaining two active players checked the flop and Whitehouse check-folded the turn to a bet of 10,000.
Mellanen revealed his and needed a queen, as Clarke had flopped trips with . Indeed, the came on the river and the Finn remained in with 50 left. The table will move over to the live stream feature table after a 15-minute break.
There is an interesting saying that is often (ab)used to explain how we as humans are creatures of habit. For most of us, those habits remain the same throughout our life and it may be very difficult to learn new skills and change habits, patterns and our character.
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
I’d love to be a dog, especially one with a caring family that gets treats regularly, has a nice garden to fool around and an interesting neighborhood to explore. The life of a dog is much less complicated than the one of a human.
Some 12 years ago, an “old Irish dog” decided to learn how to play poker and has since earned more than $1 million on the live circuit. Online he is an even bigger beast with more close to $2 million in cashes, well-known as one of the undisputed masters of satellite tournaments.
Who am I talking about? Former Irish international ultra runner Dara O’Kearney, known to most players in Ireland and the UK as “Doke” only. Now in his fifties, the Irishman can easily take on the younger generation when it comes to running and playing cards.
O'Kearney started playing poker in 2007 when he was already 43 years old. “I played a little bit of draw poker in my childhood, but then didn't play for another 25 years and really only took it up late on. I was a recreational marathon runner for years, originally I just took up running to gain a bit of fitness and lose a bit of weight. I got more into it over time.”
Dara O'Kearney
In his thirties he was a “pretty serious recreational runner”, O'Kearney then ran an ultra marathon when he turned 40 as an experiment and ended up winning that race in New York.
“For the next two years, I was a top class ultra runner, representing Ireland in several races, setting Irish records. But actually, my professional running career only lasted two years.”
What followed was a different kind of endurance challenge for the Irishman, who has since become well-known not just on the live poker tables but also the virtual felt. O'Kearney has become a satellite crusher, giving lessons to poker enthusiasts with regards to the perfect strategy, and his Pocket Fives profile boasts several Triple Crowns.
O'Kearney admitted that he became very good very quickly in the first few years of the current decade, mostly in satellites with a new format.
“I think there was one year on Stars where I played 500 tournaments and they were all satellites. My profit for the year was six figures and I had an insane hourly and ROI. In the middle part of the decade things started drying up and got tougher, I moved away from satellites and concentrated on regular MTT's.”
With new softwares developing, giving far more players access to a lot of information, it wasn't as easy to crush the online tables. However, O'Kearney worked very hard on his game and has since racked up more than $2 million in cashes at the virtual felt.
Apart from the online tables, his success at the live tables kick-started in the year 2015 after he made a deep run during the World Series of Poker and finished runner-up to Upeshka De Silva in Event #45 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em for $262,502. Back then, the unique opportunity may not have hit O'Kearney entirely, but he received a ton of messages with encouragement while it unfolded.
“No, I didn't, I really didn't. It was very bizarre to me. In Vegas you are in your own bubble, I knew it was a big deal just from the number of people that sent me messages and so on. But it was only until I got home until people told me that in poker clubs all over Ireland it was shown on the screens and people stopped to watch it.”
It took almost a full year for O'Kearney to realize how big of a deal it really was, as the Irishman recalled in the interview. For almost a decade, no Irishman had won a bracelet and O'Kearney came so close, not any of the new rising stars or big names.
“I think it was a month before the following trip to Vegas, I was on one of my weekly long runs. I was just running around the park and then it suddenly kind of hit me. Oh my god, I could have won a bracelet there. If I had won the last flip, I would have been right back in it.”
De Silva even went as far to haunt O'Kearney on his home soil in the current year, after he randomly appeared at the Irish Poker Masters in September 2018. The festival took place at the Gleneagle Hotel and you can guess three times who battled in heads-up for the title in the €2,200 High Roller. Sadly, there was no happy end this time either and De Silva grabbed the top prize of €30,000 to further build his status of nemesis.
On Day 2 of the 2018 Unibet Open Dublin €1,100 Main Event, O'Kearney has once again proven his ability to grind with a below-average stack and remains in contention with 50 players remaining and 47 spots paid. After the second break, he will move to the feature table and you can watch “the master in action,” as fellow countryman and Unibet Poker ambassador David Lappin added.
Kasper Mellanen busted over on the feature table and when Barry McMahon ran with into the of Thomas Fitzgerald, finding no help on a board of , the dealers were instructed to stop after their current hand.
There was one further showdown and Raiko Vannas failed to improve with ace-queen against the of Robert Franks, reducing the field from 50 to 47 hopefuls and letting the bubble burst without the need to play hand-for-hand.
The first player to bust in the money was Dara O'Kearney over on the feature table. He ran his short stack with into the of John Farrel and found no help on the board.
Soon after, Pavao Veza followed after losing a flip for the last 36,000 with against Robert Franks and his . The board came to give Franks top two pair.
Last but not least, Kevin Fitzpatrick was spotted all in after a flop and he tabled . Jakub Groblewski turned over and proceeded to further improve to a full house on the turn and river run out.
flop when Black in the big blind had checked to him. Black check-raised all in for 116,000 and Linno reluctantly called with the slightly superior stack.
turn nor the 
river provided any help and Linno was already on his way out, but Black called him back as he had some chips left over. Not far away from the money bubble, Linno has a mountain to climb with some four big blinds.
. Unibet Poker ambassador David Lappin had flopped a full house with 
and Niskanen then walked over to the table of Kasper Mellanen and Dara O'Kearney.
flop for 69,000. Periklis Charmpilas on the button reluctantly called and sighed when he was shown the 
and the 
river a formality.
and Henri Koivisto on the button called with 
. The board ran out 
to give the three-time WSOP bracelet winner new hope for a second cash in Dublin on his first trip to Ireland.
. Neither the 
river were of any help for the esports gamer and he busted shortly before the money.
.
for a set on the river and Mellanen mucked in disgust, he was left with a mere 10,000.
and needed a queen, as Clarke had flopped trips with 
. Indeed, the 
against Robert Franks and his 
to give Franks top two pair.
. Jakub Groblewski turned over 
