So , i arrived in Dublin to find the hotel had a burst water main , i waited 7 hours to check in , there were 5 of the DTD crew playing , Michael Greco , Dave Colclough , Simon Nowab , myself and Rob Yong the owner .

My table had Jan Boubli , runner up in Paris WPT 3 years ago and several top 3 finishes and on my left Marcel .

I only played one hand in level 1 , Q8s catching a gutshot for a straight on the river .

In the second level one player went out , he had raised on the button with A7s , BB called , flop was A 7 5 and all the chips went in , the BB had 55 . I then got the same hand A7s in the same position and was called by the same player , flop was 5 7 Q , i check raised and he called , turn was the J giving me the nut flush draw to go with my pair , he now bet 2500 and i called , river a blank and my 2500 bet picked up the pot with just a pair of 7's .

I still had had no hands so when i had the opportunity to limp on the button with 47s i took it , four of us saw a flop of 5 6 T all spades giving me a flush , checked to me i bet 200 into the 400 pot and was called by the BB , putting him on the A or K bare i didnt want to see another spade unless of course it was the 3 or 8 for a straight flush , the 8 came on the turn ! He checked and i bet 300 hoping for a raise , he flat called , river was the Q of spades , now i hoped he didnt have the J9 for an unlikely higher straight flush , he checked , pot was now 1400 , i threw in a huge overbet of 4000 as i now knew he didn't have the A and if he had the K he may pay me off , he seperated the 4000 and smiled as if he thought i was bluffing , after a while i said " if it helps your decision i haven't got the A " he now called and Marcel said " show him the straight flush " he had the K and i was up to 15,500.

Now i had chips i decided to change gear and played a lot of pots with suited connectors and small pairs , all missed and i misplayed a flopped K against Jan who caught his A on the river , i dropped back to 11,500 still above average.

In the 3rd level 75 150 , Marcel and i were both below 10,000 and waiting for a real hand , i finally got mine in the BB . The player i had the straight flush against earlier raised from 2nd position to 450 , he had rebuilt his stack with fast play and had 20,000 , all passed to me , i had AA and decided to see if he had a hand strong enough to reraise me , i made it 1650 to go and he instantly called , possibly looking for payback ? Flop was 5 5 8 with two hearts , i bet 2500 , he called , turn was 9 hearts , i had the A and moved all in for 3600 , he called saying he had got lucky , his hand 67 of diamonds , no 5 A or heart came and i was out .

Several players thought i should have moved in on the flop but i didnt want him to pass a small pair like 66 or 77 which he could have had , i wanted to maximise my AA .

Michael and Dave also went out but Simon and Rob made it to day 2 , in fact Rob went on to make the final , a superb achievement as at one point he only had 3 BB . In the final he had 3 key hands AK v QQ , he turned a K , then he had QQ v AK and his opponent flopped a K and finally on the last hand before dinner in a pot that could have been the one that helped him win the event , he raised to 70,000 and chip leader Roland De Wolfe reraised all in , Rob instantly called for his 600,000 with AK and was right Roland had AJ , this would have given Rob nearly a third of the chips with 6 left , flop was A 6 2 7 ......... J , i think i felt sicker than Rob who took it really well , Roland went on to win the Irish EPT to his Paris WPT win of last year an amazing achievement .

Sunday i will arrive in Amsterdam , on Monday i play the PLO event that i have had so much success in over the last 2 years , finishing 1st and 2nd out of 225/243 , my goal is to be the first player to make 3 consecutive finals at the Master Classics , i intend to play my A game , let's see if i get pass the third level this time !

All the best