Sorry for skipping the RedBet Main Event report. You sure have guessed that I am not playing the final table today ;) As a matter of fact, I've been on a Prague club raid since I busted and slept the rest of the time to get rid of the frustration due to a surreal run in this event.
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Yesterday was the RedBet Open PLO Side Event at King's Prague and I came in hyper motivated for what happened to be my favourite event to play during this challenge. I spent the day in Prague downtown walking around in the cold from bar to restaurant to hot wine stand and got back to the hotel for the start of the tourney at 8pm. The structure was not great but I was lucky to draw an easy first table composed of recreational players and of the friends and wifes of players in the 10k High Roller PLO Event taking place virtually meters from there in another area of the room. A managed to build a sweet stack in this event. I dominated my table of generally weak players but didn't win the important all-in pots in the later stages of the turbo structure. I busted finally before reaching the money and joined the PokerBelgique buddies to celebrate their double ITM in the Eureka Prague Cup. It's been a long night again in the streets and bars of Prague and I've been sleeping most of the day today. I am joining José downstairs who's in a RedBet Open Main Event satellite right now and I am going to register myself for the ME Day 1B starting in 90 minutes. RedBet Open Main Event Day 1B from 6pm with a potentially insane field from what I've seen in Day 1A already... #xmas1time As we were in different casinos yesterday (me at King's and the others at Hilton for the Prague Cup), we set up a chat conversation to keep information and motivation flowing between us during the tournaments. I picked a selection of my messages to offer you a recap of the tourney in chat mode. The starting stack was 15k.
>> Chris I'm in for the PLO tonight. Are the registrations open now? (15 minutes before the start of the tournament, a computer crash took down the whole cassa system of the casino. Cashiers were on tilt...) >> 28k AAK3 double suited > 6778 >> 38k. They play bad and I'm hitting boards >> 50k!! They are really bad and I'm really in the zone >> Break. Down to 37k. My flopped set has met a rivered flush. Hello, nice to meet you! NOT! >> 30bb. Sick structure for a PLO...It's gonna swing!! >> 7.5k :( Set over set on a 4AT flop. I had ATT5. Vilain: AAJ8 >> Sabri... Get the vodka chilled... 6bb in PLO is not THAT great I guess. (Sabri is a friend from Belgium who qualified for the Prague EPT Main Event (€5.300) for €50. >> 26k lol 5678 > AAKT > AAT6. Come ooonn!! 7 flop, 7 river... >> down 1.1k :'( Nut flush draw < flopped set >> All-in in the dark UTG. paid 5 times! Make two pairs but bust against two flushes. Almost believed in a sextuple up :p >> Having drinkSS with Ingo Hackbarth who just busted from the ME Day 1A. >> Grabing a cab with Ingo and joining the rail at Hilton. Yesterday I registered for a €35 re-entry satellite for the RedBet Open Main Event. The tournament had a 10 seat guarantee and 53 entries were put together by the players for an overlay alert the King's Casinos are so famous for. From the start I noticed the skill level had dramatically dropped in comparaison with the Eureka Prague Cup from the day before. I had the table much more under control and I must admit that I ran much better too. Most of the players on my first table were tight and passive. Only one Czech guy was difficult to put on ranges as he was playing many hands and acting very nervously all the time splashing chips and bouncing on his chair. My read: cocaine (likely), toilet emergency (not very likely as he behaved that way the whole night) or genuine beginner nervousness. Not a very dangerous player either way but I never like not being able to narrow a player to, at least, some sort of a range. During the first levels, I hit two straights: one with AJ on Q5K 6T (:p I bet all the way and get a magic river) & another beautiful coup where I raise 95off in the SB in a blind battle. Bet-call on a 6h7hT flop, bet-call on a K turn and bet-call on a sweet 8 river. With a starting stack of 5k, I am up to over 8k in a coule of levels and a little later, I open 700 on 100/200 and the nervous Czech moves in for 3.5k... call with KsQs. He has AT and wins on a baby board. Later in the tourney I decide for myself that I can fold to his shove but don't have the impression that it is a mandatory fold. What makes me tend to think that I can fold is the fact that we are playing a €35 re-entry satellite with quite a big overlay for a €225 event. It's not like it's life changing if I bust but I always put in a lot of thought to take decisions that I will be happy with when reviewing and analysing hands and dynamics. By the time we reach 150/300/25, I have dropped to 6k... #comfortzone ... The structure is wild with levels lasting only for 15'. I get back to 9.5k on blinds 200/400/50Time to open again on a table that is still passive after a couple of redraws. I raise Ad6s in the CO and I get a call from an oldschool 50-60 year old guy in the BB leaving himself 3k behind. The flop comes Qd8d6d and he shoves almost insantly before I insta-call. He flips over... a black QToff. Turn: 8c, river: Th. Down to 6k... Shortly after, I open 1.4k on 300/600/75 with the intention to call any all-in with my 9s in early position. I guess I could have push-or-folded this hand after thinking about it. The button takes care of it for 4k. I call, he has AQ and does not hit. Back up to 10k! Many players are getting super short with the bubble approaching and 5 players are below 8bb at 25 left. One of them pushes UTG with A7off for 3k in the same level. I push JsTs in late position with no stack covering me behind me expecting a fold from everybody. Fold it is and the board comes 8d6h2d 8c 6d >> up to 13k. Another 5k stack shoves in late position on my SB at 400/800/100. I call with 4s and get a favourable board again with 227 3 3 as my opponent shows Q7off. At 20 left (for 10 tickets), it's time to sum up the situation and to think about to manage this bubble approach. A few things have to be considered: - some of the players still in are not necessarily very good at all. I have seen string bets, a guy wanted to check after his opponent had shoved in front of him... It is a bizarre mixture of beginners that don't know how to handle some of the most elementary situations in tournament Poker and well rolled sharks busted from the €1k Open Face Chinese event still running at that point. To confirm my run good of the day, I bust another player with AA in the BB who had pushed in middle position with KToff and we are 17 left. The actual bubble lasted for almost 3 levels as short stacks kept doubling up in sick confrontations amongst which the most spectacular were Q3>AK and J9>KK>A9. I finally shipped a ticket for the RedBet Main Event in Prague during this re-entry satellite that I managed to play with one single entry of €35. With this result, those who backed me already get 1/3 of their investment back. It's a good start... Return on Investment potentially looking good.
I also played an All-in or Fold Side Event that was not scheduled with my own bankroll for an awesome load of fun while drinking plenty of vodka on the rocks with Polish sickos who were delighted to shove every hand they played. Busted 23rd before the money and railed Christophe Chris on his way to ITM in the €110 turbo deepstack event in which he finished 15th for 18 paid. All in all it was a good night! Today is Pot Limit Omaha day, my favourite event of the series! I will try to keep you guys updated but I'm still struggling to get my mobile device to pick up the Corinthia Hotel's WiFi so it is possible I won't be able to post results live for the next events here. I am taking notes during the events and I will compile recaps after the tournaments if the WiFi gives me a bad beat. Big up to Super SGO, Jose and Leandro still in the Eureka Prague Cup and going back to war in 2 hours (8pm) for the battle for Day 2. +/-380 players still in for 231 ITMs. #xmas1time also for them !! :p I left Namur after the end of the PokerStars Belgian Poker Challenge yesterday morning after staying up until 5am, sleeping 3 hours and getting up early again to be sure to reach Charleroi Airport in time with the strikes announced in Belgium. I passed this flip amazingly well and I land in Prague around 3pm with my PokerBelgique buddies José and Leandro. We go to the Corinthian Hotel where we're staying and where the Prague King's is in order to drop off our bags and I insist to rush to the Hilton where the EPT/EUREKA festival takes place to be sure to register in time for the Prague Cup. Good move as there turned out to be a waiting list of +150 players for this tournament. Mission accomplished! We are registered by 5pm (the tourney starts at 8pm). We are well in time an leave for diner in a typical small Czech restaurant. Good times ahead... and beer! We come back at 8pm to find out that our tourney has been delayed to 9pm because of the insane numbers of participants in the Prague Eureka events this year. By 9 we are finally good to go for 10 levels to be played in order to qualify for Day 2 on wednesday. Sunday's Day 1A had +/- 300 runners and 377 showed up yesterday promising another 1k player field in this tournament with a Day 1C today which many bustos from the Eureka Main Event that might be tempted to enter the tourney in late reg. Unfortunately, I had a crappy tournament :( I was really looking forward to play cards since I had been working a lot lately not really getting the chance to play much Poker myself. Nevermind. I start the tournament by checking who's at my table and what the player profiles might be: German TAG, German TAG, German TAG, ohhh... an Austrian TAG and his friend the Austrian nit... It's a tough table with players I don't know. Apart from the 'you-will-never-get-value-from-me-except-when-I-bluff' Germans and Austrian, I have a French/Algerian 'N'importe-quoi' on my right and a Russian total maniac on my left who kept limp re-raising all night. From the start I have a feeling that it's not gonna be the best Poker game of my life but I try to deliver some quality Poker. We start with 10k and 30 minutes levels. The structure is not deep at all and I try to play hands from the start opening KQoff for instance from MP. The Russian guy re-raises me x5 and I opt for the fold in this very first hand I play for the night. A little bit later, I find AA in front of me with two limpers to 100. I raise it up to 450 in position. Everyone folds. Nice value... :/ Not seing much for almost two levels, I re-raise 89off on the button after a limp and a small raise from my French/Algerian friend on my right. I get 3 callers in total as someone comes along in the blinds. It's checked to me on a AK8 flop that I c-bet 1/2 pot in position. 2 calls. Turn: T. Check-check- I bet and only my French speaking colleague on the right calls. The river shows a Q on a rainbow board and I am ready to abandon the hand but he checks. After reflecting a little bit, I decide that he is probably not gonna fold anything he hit on this board and I opt for the weak but stack protecting check behind. As I am the last aggressor, I am asked to show my 89off first and my opponents mucks... ?! I keep battling through this Day 1B with no good starting hands and bizarre setups of hands. An hour later, I open Ah2h UTG (the nuts considering all the T6, 93, 82, J7... I am getting) on 75/150. There's a call on the button from a new Asian guy who already re-entried and who doesn't look like he has come to play tight and wait for a good spot. My intuition tells me that he is rather there to play all the hands. My French neighbour also calls in the BB. I c-bet on a Qh2sTh board and I hear two calls. 5c on the turn and I bet again. 2 calls again. A heart would be nice now... heart, heart, heart, heart... it's a Jc :/ The board really doesn't look were nice now with four cards to a straight and two opponents who have called in position all the way. I decide to abandon my hand and hear two checks behind that muck when I show my 5th pair. I suspect they both had a flush draw. If that's the case, what a river a heart card would have been!! These were more or less the only playable hands I got in 8 levels of play. Card and spot dead with my other T4s, Q3s, 82s and 94s I dwindle down to 5.2k to go back up to 7.5k with a re-shove with AJoff than back down to 6.1k with blinds and antes rising quickly. I finally decide to get it all in for the second time by re-shoving 9bbs with AToff in MP after a standard open UTG. It's a stupid flip against 66 and the board sends me home on 234 8 2. Quite a frustrating first tourney for this challenge in Prague. It's sad as this is the most expensive and prestigious event I was planning to play during my stay here... The good news is that my buddies both qualified for Day 2. PokerBelgique PowerrrRRR!!! I have regrets regarding two hands: -> I flod Ah7h with 16bbs in MP after one of the German TAGs opened in EP. Don't know whether I can push against his range... -> I also folded AToff with 18bbs on the button after an open UTP and a 3bet in MP. Probably too tight but really not THE good spot in my opinion. All in all, I think I played ok but probably lacked a little bit of COME ON!! :) I will try to do better in my next event, the RedBet Open PLO event that I am planning to play... not so tight...
I might also be playing a turbo satellite for the RedBet Open Main Event tonight at Corinthians... Right now, the PokerBelgique PoweeerrrRRR is not powered up and is rather chilling in the pool area on the 24th floor after a looooong night out in Prague :) #xmas1time |
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