I was very motivated for this event, and willing to play my A-game to make a final table.The table was a bit tight, but after an hour, all characters were clearly discovered:
- seat 1 was a sick nit, tight passive
- seat 2 was an average player
- seat 3 didn't have a clue, he was calling reraises with marginal holdings out of position
- seat 4 was tight passive
- seat 5 was a strong tight aggressive player, capable of big folds, and probably the strongest of my opponents
- seat 6 was an internet qulaifyer who probably knew just enough to get into trouble (check raising 90% of your stack with AK on AQJ7, getting raised all in and wondering about calling the last 10% is not exactly a genius play...)
- seat 7 was tight aggressive but scared money, 2 unknowns qualifyer, a scandi loose aggressive (oh really???)
- and me in the wonderful 10 seat.
Table was playing tight, no 3 bets preflop, weak lines post flop, so I decided to loosen up and raise 45 sooted UTG+1 to 600, and I got called by the big blind , a fairly passive player.Flop came 236 with one diamond, giving me only the nut straight (!) and a backdoor diamond draw. BB checked, I did bet 1100, and he raised to 2400 (sort of min raise), he had like 6400 left behind. I could obvioulsy have called, but any straightening card would probably kill my action if he had a set, so I decided to tank 25 seconds and then shoved all in.He tought for like 2 minutes, mumbled something like "Ok, I hope you have kings" and made the all in call with 44. I still don't figure out why he wanted me to have kings, and even less why he called, but that's probably why I play those tournaments, right?
A bit later I raised 78 sooted UTG to 800 (blinds 150/300, I have 14K), got a loose call in mid position by a loose passive player, and the BB (scandinavian player) called. Flop comes T92, no clubs.BB checks, I bet 2200 , mid position player lets it go, BB waits for a while then calls. He's likely on a bad top paire, or maybe A9O, or 98o.
Turn is a 7, he checks, I shove for pot size, and I cover him by 2500.He thinks for what seems eternity, then makes a crying call with JTo!!!!!
I still have the Jacks and 6s for the straight outs, and the sevens too.No help on the river, and I get crippled. I then double up twice, and build my way back to 12000, where I will finish day 1.
Day 2 starts, I double up early pushing my KTO and get called by AKO , and I spike a ten.(what can I do , I had 8 BB....), then I found JJ in the BB, a young scandinavian player is in the SB (yes , he is loose aggressive, not very good postflop, how did you guess???) decides to raise to 3500 (blinds 500/1000), I have a stack of 20K(him too), i think for a bit and just decide to shove it in, looking like weak.The scandi calls with A5 offsuit , and I double up to 40K.
30 minutes and a massage later (I know I know... :) ) I find AA in the BIG BLIND !!! yummy yummy.
One guy shoves for 9K, everybody folds, I insta call. He shows QQ. That's a roughly 20K pot in the middle, that probably is gonna boost my stack to 50K+ and allow me to bully the table, play a few pots in position against Antony lellouche who is deep too and sits on my right, and get into "sticky mode" poker. Well, too bad but a fat queen brutally puts an end to my dream, and now I' m back to around 30K, and I still have to play cautious poker....
One of the most close hands then happened : A very loose young player shoved all in 8900 (Blinds 500/1000) from the cutoff, I have KQ off suit in the small blind, I have 25K, BB is a tight strong scandinavian player, he has around 60K.I took my time , and decided to flat call, saving 17 BB in case the BB moves all in.
Well, he just did that with AQo, I folded, and the shorstack had 65o, so I lost a third of my stack without seeing a showdown. Sigh.
After that, I got moved to another table, I picked up KJ of spades UTG+1. I had 23k, I raised to 3600 (blinds 600/1200), got called by the button, and by the BB. Flop came KQT (2 hearts), BB checked, I decided to bet 11K to commit with my top paire + open ended straight draw, and the button asked how much I had left, I said "about 8", he thought for 3 minutes, and believe it or not he raised to 22K, BB mucked, I insta called, and he had AQo !!!
I guess he tried to give me all his chips, but a T (gutshot for him) ended up the show for me and I was sent back to the rail. Well, I like this player, I really hope I'll play him again lol.
I really feel I played the best as I could in this event, but losing twice an 80% proposition when being all in in decisive pots doesn't help in getting deep, so I hope I' ll do better in Barcelona....
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