Schaefer
03-23-2005, 02:00 PM
This won't be too long, but I'd like to post something. There will probably be minimal poker content. Thanks to everyone who was rooting me on.
After the win in Deauville, the EPT gave me a trip for two to the championship in Monte Carlo. Being single at the time, I figured I'd end up taking one of my friends. Then I talked to my mom about it and she couldn't believe I wan't planning on taking her. She's a 5'2" Japanese lady but swears she was French in a past life. She took me to France for 3 weeks in 2002 and I guess this was a good way to repay her for everything she has done for me. My friends were pretty pissed but I was happy with the decision...OK, now that's out of the way. No giving me crap!
We flew into Nice 2 days before the tourney started. I wanted to give myself a chance to get over the jet lag because in Deauville I felt like crap. The weather was fantastic and we sepnt 2 days walking around on the beach and checking out the old castle ruins. It was real nice and I felt pretty good on Saturday morning.
I caught the bus back to the Nice airport where I was going to meet Carl. He came in 2nd in Deauville and also won a free trip and entry into the tournament. His flight was delayed so I just hopped on the helicopter to Monte Carlo by myself. It was a quick flight, less than 10 minutes but it pretty cool. The view from the sea was awesome and the descent on Monte Carlo was breathtaking. Once we landed, a shuttle took us up the the Hotel Hermitage where I'd be staying for the next 5 nights. My mom was catching the train and would show up later in the evening. The Hermitage is the nicest hotel I've ever seen in my life. I used to work at the best hotel in Seattle and it can't hold a candle to this place. Beautiful rooms, every amenity you can imagine, great service. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
Carl arrived a little later as did out friend Justin, who Carl had brought along to hang out. They were pretty wiped out and took a little nap while I walked around the city a bit. It's pretty surreal, you can just smell the wealth in the air. There are about 3 or 4 banks on every block and sick cars parked everywhere. The first day there was an old Rolls Royce convertible parkied in front of the Hermitage that made me want to hump its tailpipe. Anyway...
That night was the welcoming party sponsored by PokerStars. Free drinks and appetizers are a good way to get my attention. I drank a few gin and tonics and was feeling pretty good. My mom was having a great time. Put some wine in her and she's a social machine. It was a little weird, having young Canadians coming up and shaking my hand...taking pictures with people who wanted to know what it was like to be famous. I guess word travels pretty fast in poker circles. I had no clue that people would recognize me from the win in Deauville but I found myself getting a lot of attention. I guess it was pretty cool and I love meeting people but I don't think I could handle it on a Fossilman or Moneymaker scale. I think it's pretty amazing that they keep such a good attitude with all the attention they receive.
Anyway, the appetizers weren't fantastic and after drinking we were pretty hungry. My mom asked the concierge for a recommendation and he directed us to a nice little Italian place. We were with ZeeJustin at the time and he brought along a bunch of others...I think the final dinner party was 12 deep. ZJ, two Mizrachi brothers, Carl, my mom, Justin, me, and of course, the one and only Danny "The Bruise" Ashman. Dinner was decent but nothing special. At least it was cheap.
Afterward my mom went to sleep and we went to the casino to play in some sit and gos. The structure sucked and they took 15% vig so I only played in one. My SnG results for the trip: -100 Euros. I stayed up and watched some of the others play before hitting the hay around 1AM. The next day was the start of the main event.
Wednesday morning I had a slight headache from the cheap wine at dinner but other than that I felt good and strong. I had found a supermarket the night before so I ate mueslix with soymilk out of a wine goblet in my room. That became my routine for the next 5 days. I also bought some grapefruit and had that for dessert. I love grapefruit.
The tourney started at 3 that day but we showed up at 2 to draw seats. I had Juha Helppi 2 to my right ans Isabelle Mercier across the table. I didn't recognize anyone else and I didn't think it was too tough. Juha and Isabelle were mixing it up and I stayed out of their way. About an hour in I got moved to a much tougher table and wasn't very pleased with it. I was in the 1 seat with Alan Betson(very tough Irish pro) in seat 2, Simon Nowab(excellent player, 8th in Vienna) in seat 3, Noah Boeken(very good young player, winner of Copenhagen) in seat 4, Jacques Durand(4th place in WPT Season 1 at the Aviation Club) in seat 5, unkonown in seat 6, Ross Boatman(part of the Hendon mob) in seat 7, and Tony Bloom(well respected British pro) in seat 8. WTF! Can you find me a soft spot here? I picked up some hands and built my chips up a bit before an ill-timed bluff sent a good number of my chips to Durand. I was at 7900 when the following hand came up. Finally some poker content!
Blinds 50/100, I have TT UTG and open to 300. Jacques Durand re-raises to 900 and we see a flop heads up. The flop is T64, not bad for TT, huh? I check, he bets 1000 and I raise to 2200. He looks at me like I'm a big fish and calls. The turn is an A and I check. He puts me all in and I beat him in the pot. He has 99 and is drawing dead. Fun! I'm the chip leader at the table but for the most part, getting money from these guys is like pulling teeth.
Ross Boatman knocks out Tony Bloom so we both have about 17K in chips when this hand comes up. He opens to 500 on the button and I re-raise to 1500 with AA in the BB. He thinks for a bit and calls. The flop comes down K72 with 2 of a suit, the ace of shich I don't have. I bet 2500 and Ross calls after a moments thought. The turn bricks off, a non-suited 8 and I bet 3500. He thinks for quite a while before moving all in for about 10K more. I have him covered by about 300 chips and I start to study the situation. I really don't think he'd speak like this with a set. With position he'd probably wait until the river. Folding never really entered my mind but I was trying to look for a way to fold. I decided that the 3 most likely hands were KJ, KQ, or 87. I also decided that I'd get eaten alive by this table if I let Ross run me over so I had to call. I said, "I'm not good enough to fold" and pushed my chips into the middle. He said I guess you have me beat and flipped over K4o. I really couldn't put him on K-rag and I'm glad his rag wasn't an 8,7, or 2. The turn bricks off and he's out of the tourney. I end the day with 28,750...in the top 20 overall with 130 or so left. I feel pretty good and I'm glad that we're redrawing on day 2.
Day 2 I get another tough table. Julian Gardner on my right with a monster stack, Andreas Harenmo on my left with a huge stack and Barny Boatman in his left with an average stack. Alan Betson is again at my table and life is difficult. I manage to flop the nuts against Harenmo and nearly double up then win a substantial pot with TT vs his AK. He tilts like mad and is out of the tournament about 1 hour after being the massive chipleader. I have about 90K now, near the top of the leaderboard and I'm moved to the TV table.
Before I go on they interview me and I say that I'm excited for the chance to show the public that I can play good poker, not the crap I displayed in Deauville. I then proceed to lose 20K chips with 3d5d and 6500 more with 45o. If anyone wants more details about these hands I'll fill you in. Anyway, I probably look like the worst player in the world now. They move us off of TV and I have about 65K, not bad but not as good as before.
I continue my slide, down to about 56K with 40 or so left. I get moved to a table with Martin De Kniff and Julian Gardner. They are fantastic players. On the last hand of the night, Julian raises my 1200 Big Blind to 3500 and I defend. The flop is KJ4 with 2 spades and I check and call a 5000 bet. The turn is a J, I check and he checks behind. the river is a nasty K, I check and he bets 13K. I think for a second and call. He has AK and I'm down to 36K. I'm so dejected I don't know what to do. Damn lucky fish, got 21K in with way the best of it and put nothing in when I was ahead. I hate Julian Gardner.
We come back for day 3 and I'm determined not to go quietly. I'm in 27th chip position with 38 left. 27 make money but I'm not looking to squeak in. Isabelle Mercier is in seat 1, Marcel Luske is in Seat 2, John Fanning, a loud and boisterous player is in seat 4 and I'm in Seat 5. I like having these guys on my right because I can enter pots once they've passed and try to play with the less experienced players on my left.
Early on, with blinds at 800/1600, Fanning raises to 5K in the SB. I look down and see A4o in the BB, more than enough hand to come back at him. I have 35K left and he has about 45K. I think for about 10 seconds then move in. He can't call me without heat here. He thinks for a quick second then folds. I ask if he wants to see a card and he says yes so I flip the 4 and muck the A. Marcel goes, "Ace-4, huh, nice hand". Fanning says, "no way he had an A there, probably 54 or 64. He's just making a statement." Marcel goes, "careful, careful...this is going to be on TV and you're going to look really stupid when you're wrong. Definitely Ace-4." Fanning is really rattled and trys to joke nervously but gets owned by Marcel. He's a very controlling guy and likes to be the table bully. It was great having Marcel there to calm him down and make things easier.
I make a few more plays and built my stack up to around 50K. An active Russian dude raises to 6K and Fanning just calls the bet. I look down and see KK and raise to 24K. I hope Fanning comes over the top of such an obvious squeeze play. The Rusasian mucks and Fanning slams AJo on the table face up, saying, "I know I'm folding the best hand! Are you allowed to say PRICK on TV?" while staring me down. I start to laugh as he shakes his head and I rake in the pot. A few seconds later he turns to me and under his breath seethes, "you f**king prick!" with fire in his eyes. I can't stop laughing. I love it when I can get an opponent rattled like that. It's definitely one of my favorite things in the poker world. Anyway, a few orbits later the hand of the tourney comes up:
29 left, 27 get money so we're on the bubble. Blinds are 1K/2K and I'm in the BB. Isabelle Mercier opens on the button to 6500 and I defend with KcQc. The flop comes down 642 with 2 clubs and I check. Isabelle counts out 16,500 and tosses it into the pot. It's a bit of an overbet and I think she's just trying to take it down. I put her on a big ace or a medium pocket pair. I count my chips and I only have about 44K left. I think my fold equity is high at this stage and I move in. She has about 100K behind but slowly counts out the money necessary for a call then counts how much she'll have left if she loses. Then, with a flourish she calls my raise. I'm surprised she called but hopefully I have 15 outs. She flips over AcAs...Whoops! I need a club now or I'm out in 29th. The turn is a red Q, giving me some more outs and the river....the most beautiful Q I've ever seen in my life. That's the best way to get there...running queens baby! I had people come up to me all day with weird concotions of this hand....one said that I called all in on a ragged flop with AQo and my only outs were running Queens. Yeah right! I call this the defining moment because I proved to myself that I wasn't afaid of going out in 29th. I was in it to win it and had no fear baby. The win in Deauville really helped me adopt this attitude and I think it's crucial in these tourneys. Sure, I got it in as a 2-1 dog but that's not the point. I'll usually take it down there witout a fight and you need that fighter's edge to do well in these things. There was only one way to play that hand and if I was worried about 27th I probably would have misplayed it. Anyway, I'm healthy again and I cruise into the money. Isabelle is really pissed but that's poker.
I cruise through and when I get moved off the TV table I'm siting in good shape at about 120K. Instantly I lose a a pot at my new table and have 2 steals go awry and I'm down to 55K. WTF! I fold for a while and find 88 with 39K left and blinds 2K/4K. UTG opens but he's aggressive so I move in. He calls with AK but I win the race. Now I'm doing OK but the table is actually pretty aggressive. I need to lay low and wait for a hand. I get AKo early and raise to 11K. Mega-stack who has been playing very aggreessive raises to 30K. This stops me in my tracks because he's been coming over the top of people for about 4x their initial raise. This one is very small for him. I've gone broke with AK too many times so I just call, leaving myself with about 90K. THe flop comes QJx and I check-fold to a 35K bet. Man that felt weak-tight but my sensors were going off. I hope I made the right play.
The hand leaves me with 90Kish and I start to dwindle a bit. With 15 left I have about 75K and get a hand that Carl thinks I misplayed....I'll try to explain my reasoning. Blinds are 4K/8K and Anthony Lelouche, an agressive young French kid raises to 20K in EP. I look down and find JJ. With 75K total, I should push here but I just called. Here's my reasoning: He had been opening quite a few pots so there was no guarantee he had a hand that would call my all in. That's cool if I want 20K chips risk free but I really want to double up. I'm almost positive that he will move all-in on the flop no matter what so I'm not folding unless the flop comes AKQ or maybe AKx. I think that the difference between 100K in chips and 160K is huge at this point. With 100K, if one steal goes awry, I'm back to short stacked. With 160K, I can dance around a lot more and bulid my stack as the short stacks stay out of my way. Anyway, the flop comes 234 and he moves in. I call and he ahs A2s for 9 outs. The turn and rive miss and I'm up to about 160K. This was pretty risky but having those extra chips really helped me control the table as we moved down to the final 8. I got JJ once and flopped a few hands in blind defense but stealing really started building my stack. All the players started xommenting that I "was getting all the good hands" and many played around with their chips like they wanted to come over the top of me but it never happened.
With 9 left, they really tighten up because everyone wants to be on TV. I lower the gas pedal and take advantage. One hand, I open to 20K with A7s UTG. Alex Stevic, a good player, re-raises to 60K on the button leaving himself with 59K. It's possible that he's trapping but I don't think so. He told me with about 20 left that he really wants to make the TV table and whatnot. So I think for a bit and move in. He's only calling me here with AA or KK and he folds rather quickly. I looooove bubble time. I like these tournies because of the 2 bubbles, money and TV. Anyway, we finally lose #9 and are done for the day. I have 488K, good for the chip lead. The chips are pretty evenly distributed between the top 4 and the bottom 4 are all pretty short stacked. Barring a disaster I should make quite a bit of money.
At the final table, I was calmer than I had been all tournament. I really think that the experience in Deauville helped a lot. I play solid poker and don't really have any tough decisions to post. I was really sad to see Romain go because (a) he liked bluffing a lot and (b) I had a tell on how he put his chips out whether or not he had a hand. That worked out well but when he left in 4th all that was left were very good players. Once Rob knocked out Alex I knew I had a tough road. I think I played really well until the final 2 hands.
I dont regret the 2nd to last hand at all. I had been playing based on my reads all tourney and made one bad read. I can't go back and hammer myself for that. I have to listen to myself or I'll never do anything great. The only hand I regret is the very last hand. I don't want to go into it but let's just say it sucks when you analyze a hand and should have played it differently on all 3 streets. I really need to learn how to deal with adversity better. I lose aone big hand and get too down on myself. Oh well, you live and you learn, right?
All told I was very pleased with the wway that I played. This was the 6th live tourney of my life and I can see myself getting better and better. I haven't played that many tournaments online either but I'd like to start them and try to gain more experience that way. I can't wait for my next final table and I hope it's just around the corner.
This tournament was the experience of a lifetime. I sat at insanely tough tables and scrapped my way through. I got to meet Greg Raymer, who taught me how to play tourneys...via the 2+2 archives. The reality lived up to the legend of Greg and he's a great friend to have in this game. I got to hug Caroline Flack, the hottest little biscuit I've ever seen. Least of all, I took 2nd in the EPT Championship. WOW.
Schaefer
After the win in Deauville, the EPT gave me a trip for two to the championship in Monte Carlo. Being single at the time, I figured I'd end up taking one of my friends. Then I talked to my mom about it and she couldn't believe I wan't planning on taking her. She's a 5'2" Japanese lady but swears she was French in a past life. She took me to France for 3 weeks in 2002 and I guess this was a good way to repay her for everything she has done for me. My friends were pretty pissed but I was happy with the decision...OK, now that's out of the way. No giving me crap!
We flew into Nice 2 days before the tourney started. I wanted to give myself a chance to get over the jet lag because in Deauville I felt like crap. The weather was fantastic and we sepnt 2 days walking around on the beach and checking out the old castle ruins. It was real nice and I felt pretty good on Saturday morning.
I caught the bus back to the Nice airport where I was going to meet Carl. He came in 2nd in Deauville and also won a free trip and entry into the tournament. His flight was delayed so I just hopped on the helicopter to Monte Carlo by myself. It was a quick flight, less than 10 minutes but it pretty cool. The view from the sea was awesome and the descent on Monte Carlo was breathtaking. Once we landed, a shuttle took us up the the Hotel Hermitage where I'd be staying for the next 5 nights. My mom was catching the train and would show up later in the evening. The Hermitage is the nicest hotel I've ever seen in my life. I used to work at the best hotel in Seattle and it can't hold a candle to this place. Beautiful rooms, every amenity you can imagine, great service. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
Carl arrived a little later as did out friend Justin, who Carl had brought along to hang out. They were pretty wiped out and took a little nap while I walked around the city a bit. It's pretty surreal, you can just smell the wealth in the air. There are about 3 or 4 banks on every block and sick cars parked everywhere. The first day there was an old Rolls Royce convertible parkied in front of the Hermitage that made me want to hump its tailpipe. Anyway...
That night was the welcoming party sponsored by PokerStars. Free drinks and appetizers are a good way to get my attention. I drank a few gin and tonics and was feeling pretty good. My mom was having a great time. Put some wine in her and she's a social machine. It was a little weird, having young Canadians coming up and shaking my hand...taking pictures with people who wanted to know what it was like to be famous. I guess word travels pretty fast in poker circles. I had no clue that people would recognize me from the win in Deauville but I found myself getting a lot of attention. I guess it was pretty cool and I love meeting people but I don't think I could handle it on a Fossilman or Moneymaker scale. I think it's pretty amazing that they keep such a good attitude with all the attention they receive.
Anyway, the appetizers weren't fantastic and after drinking we were pretty hungry. My mom asked the concierge for a recommendation and he directed us to a nice little Italian place. We were with ZeeJustin at the time and he brought along a bunch of others...I think the final dinner party was 12 deep. ZJ, two Mizrachi brothers, Carl, my mom, Justin, me, and of course, the one and only Danny "The Bruise" Ashman. Dinner was decent but nothing special. At least it was cheap.
Afterward my mom went to sleep and we went to the casino to play in some sit and gos. The structure sucked and they took 15% vig so I only played in one. My SnG results for the trip: -100 Euros. I stayed up and watched some of the others play before hitting the hay around 1AM. The next day was the start of the main event.
Wednesday morning I had a slight headache from the cheap wine at dinner but other than that I felt good and strong. I had found a supermarket the night before so I ate mueslix with soymilk out of a wine goblet in my room. That became my routine for the next 5 days. I also bought some grapefruit and had that for dessert. I love grapefruit.
The tourney started at 3 that day but we showed up at 2 to draw seats. I had Juha Helppi 2 to my right ans Isabelle Mercier across the table. I didn't recognize anyone else and I didn't think it was too tough. Juha and Isabelle were mixing it up and I stayed out of their way. About an hour in I got moved to a much tougher table and wasn't very pleased with it. I was in the 1 seat with Alan Betson(very tough Irish pro) in seat 2, Simon Nowab(excellent player, 8th in Vienna) in seat 3, Noah Boeken(very good young player, winner of Copenhagen) in seat 4, Jacques Durand(4th place in WPT Season 1 at the Aviation Club) in seat 5, unkonown in seat 6, Ross Boatman(part of the Hendon mob) in seat 7, and Tony Bloom(well respected British pro) in seat 8. WTF! Can you find me a soft spot here? I picked up some hands and built my chips up a bit before an ill-timed bluff sent a good number of my chips to Durand. I was at 7900 when the following hand came up. Finally some poker content!
Blinds 50/100, I have TT UTG and open to 300. Jacques Durand re-raises to 900 and we see a flop heads up. The flop is T64, not bad for TT, huh? I check, he bets 1000 and I raise to 2200. He looks at me like I'm a big fish and calls. The turn is an A and I check. He puts me all in and I beat him in the pot. He has 99 and is drawing dead. Fun! I'm the chip leader at the table but for the most part, getting money from these guys is like pulling teeth.
Ross Boatman knocks out Tony Bloom so we both have about 17K in chips when this hand comes up. He opens to 500 on the button and I re-raise to 1500 with AA in the BB. He thinks for a bit and calls. The flop comes down K72 with 2 of a suit, the ace of shich I don't have. I bet 2500 and Ross calls after a moments thought. The turn bricks off, a non-suited 8 and I bet 3500. He thinks for quite a while before moving all in for about 10K more. I have him covered by about 300 chips and I start to study the situation. I really don't think he'd speak like this with a set. With position he'd probably wait until the river. Folding never really entered my mind but I was trying to look for a way to fold. I decided that the 3 most likely hands were KJ, KQ, or 87. I also decided that I'd get eaten alive by this table if I let Ross run me over so I had to call. I said, "I'm not good enough to fold" and pushed my chips into the middle. He said I guess you have me beat and flipped over K4o. I really couldn't put him on K-rag and I'm glad his rag wasn't an 8,7, or 2. The turn bricks off and he's out of the tourney. I end the day with 28,750...in the top 20 overall with 130 or so left. I feel pretty good and I'm glad that we're redrawing on day 2.
Day 2 I get another tough table. Julian Gardner on my right with a monster stack, Andreas Harenmo on my left with a huge stack and Barny Boatman in his left with an average stack. Alan Betson is again at my table and life is difficult. I manage to flop the nuts against Harenmo and nearly double up then win a substantial pot with TT vs his AK. He tilts like mad and is out of the tournament about 1 hour after being the massive chipleader. I have about 90K now, near the top of the leaderboard and I'm moved to the TV table.
Before I go on they interview me and I say that I'm excited for the chance to show the public that I can play good poker, not the crap I displayed in Deauville. I then proceed to lose 20K chips with 3d5d and 6500 more with 45o. If anyone wants more details about these hands I'll fill you in. Anyway, I probably look like the worst player in the world now. They move us off of TV and I have about 65K, not bad but not as good as before.
I continue my slide, down to about 56K with 40 or so left. I get moved to a table with Martin De Kniff and Julian Gardner. They are fantastic players. On the last hand of the night, Julian raises my 1200 Big Blind to 3500 and I defend. The flop is KJ4 with 2 spades and I check and call a 5000 bet. The turn is a J, I check and he checks behind. the river is a nasty K, I check and he bets 13K. I think for a second and call. He has AK and I'm down to 36K. I'm so dejected I don't know what to do. Damn lucky fish, got 21K in with way the best of it and put nothing in when I was ahead. I hate Julian Gardner.
We come back for day 3 and I'm determined not to go quietly. I'm in 27th chip position with 38 left. 27 make money but I'm not looking to squeak in. Isabelle Mercier is in seat 1, Marcel Luske is in Seat 2, John Fanning, a loud and boisterous player is in seat 4 and I'm in Seat 5. I like having these guys on my right because I can enter pots once they've passed and try to play with the less experienced players on my left.
Early on, with blinds at 800/1600, Fanning raises to 5K in the SB. I look down and see A4o in the BB, more than enough hand to come back at him. I have 35K left and he has about 45K. I think for about 10 seconds then move in. He can't call me without heat here. He thinks for a quick second then folds. I ask if he wants to see a card and he says yes so I flip the 4 and muck the A. Marcel goes, "Ace-4, huh, nice hand". Fanning says, "no way he had an A there, probably 54 or 64. He's just making a statement." Marcel goes, "careful, careful...this is going to be on TV and you're going to look really stupid when you're wrong. Definitely Ace-4." Fanning is really rattled and trys to joke nervously but gets owned by Marcel. He's a very controlling guy and likes to be the table bully. It was great having Marcel there to calm him down and make things easier.
I make a few more plays and built my stack up to around 50K. An active Russian dude raises to 6K and Fanning just calls the bet. I look down and see KK and raise to 24K. I hope Fanning comes over the top of such an obvious squeeze play. The Rusasian mucks and Fanning slams AJo on the table face up, saying, "I know I'm folding the best hand! Are you allowed to say PRICK on TV?" while staring me down. I start to laugh as he shakes his head and I rake in the pot. A few seconds later he turns to me and under his breath seethes, "you f**king prick!" with fire in his eyes. I can't stop laughing. I love it when I can get an opponent rattled like that. It's definitely one of my favorite things in the poker world. Anyway, a few orbits later the hand of the tourney comes up:
29 left, 27 get money so we're on the bubble. Blinds are 1K/2K and I'm in the BB. Isabelle Mercier opens on the button to 6500 and I defend with KcQc. The flop comes down 642 with 2 clubs and I check. Isabelle counts out 16,500 and tosses it into the pot. It's a bit of an overbet and I think she's just trying to take it down. I put her on a big ace or a medium pocket pair. I count my chips and I only have about 44K left. I think my fold equity is high at this stage and I move in. She has about 100K behind but slowly counts out the money necessary for a call then counts how much she'll have left if she loses. Then, with a flourish she calls my raise. I'm surprised she called but hopefully I have 15 outs. She flips over AcAs...Whoops! I need a club now or I'm out in 29th. The turn is a red Q, giving me some more outs and the river....the most beautiful Q I've ever seen in my life. That's the best way to get there...running queens baby! I had people come up to me all day with weird concotions of this hand....one said that I called all in on a ragged flop with AQo and my only outs were running Queens. Yeah right! I call this the defining moment because I proved to myself that I wasn't afaid of going out in 29th. I was in it to win it and had no fear baby. The win in Deauville really helped me adopt this attitude and I think it's crucial in these tourneys. Sure, I got it in as a 2-1 dog but that's not the point. I'll usually take it down there witout a fight and you need that fighter's edge to do well in these things. There was only one way to play that hand and if I was worried about 27th I probably would have misplayed it. Anyway, I'm healthy again and I cruise into the money. Isabelle is really pissed but that's poker.
I cruise through and when I get moved off the TV table I'm siting in good shape at about 120K. Instantly I lose a a pot at my new table and have 2 steals go awry and I'm down to 55K. WTF! I fold for a while and find 88 with 39K left and blinds 2K/4K. UTG opens but he's aggressive so I move in. He calls with AK but I win the race. Now I'm doing OK but the table is actually pretty aggressive. I need to lay low and wait for a hand. I get AKo early and raise to 11K. Mega-stack who has been playing very aggreessive raises to 30K. This stops me in my tracks because he's been coming over the top of people for about 4x their initial raise. This one is very small for him. I've gone broke with AK too many times so I just call, leaving myself with about 90K. THe flop comes QJx and I check-fold to a 35K bet. Man that felt weak-tight but my sensors were going off. I hope I made the right play.
The hand leaves me with 90Kish and I start to dwindle a bit. With 15 left I have about 75K and get a hand that Carl thinks I misplayed....I'll try to explain my reasoning. Blinds are 4K/8K and Anthony Lelouche, an agressive young French kid raises to 20K in EP. I look down and find JJ. With 75K total, I should push here but I just called. Here's my reasoning: He had been opening quite a few pots so there was no guarantee he had a hand that would call my all in. That's cool if I want 20K chips risk free but I really want to double up. I'm almost positive that he will move all-in on the flop no matter what so I'm not folding unless the flop comes AKQ or maybe AKx. I think that the difference between 100K in chips and 160K is huge at this point. With 100K, if one steal goes awry, I'm back to short stacked. With 160K, I can dance around a lot more and bulid my stack as the short stacks stay out of my way. Anyway, the flop comes 234 and he moves in. I call and he ahs A2s for 9 outs. The turn and rive miss and I'm up to about 160K. This was pretty risky but having those extra chips really helped me control the table as we moved down to the final 8. I got JJ once and flopped a few hands in blind defense but stealing really started building my stack. All the players started xommenting that I "was getting all the good hands" and many played around with their chips like they wanted to come over the top of me but it never happened.
With 9 left, they really tighten up because everyone wants to be on TV. I lower the gas pedal and take advantage. One hand, I open to 20K with A7s UTG. Alex Stevic, a good player, re-raises to 60K on the button leaving himself with 59K. It's possible that he's trapping but I don't think so. He told me with about 20 left that he really wants to make the TV table and whatnot. So I think for a bit and move in. He's only calling me here with AA or KK and he folds rather quickly. I looooove bubble time. I like these tournies because of the 2 bubbles, money and TV. Anyway, we finally lose #9 and are done for the day. I have 488K, good for the chip lead. The chips are pretty evenly distributed between the top 4 and the bottom 4 are all pretty short stacked. Barring a disaster I should make quite a bit of money.
At the final table, I was calmer than I had been all tournament. I really think that the experience in Deauville helped a lot. I play solid poker and don't really have any tough decisions to post. I was really sad to see Romain go because (a) he liked bluffing a lot and (b) I had a tell on how he put his chips out whether or not he had a hand. That worked out well but when he left in 4th all that was left were very good players. Once Rob knocked out Alex I knew I had a tough road. I think I played really well until the final 2 hands.
I dont regret the 2nd to last hand at all. I had been playing based on my reads all tourney and made one bad read. I can't go back and hammer myself for that. I have to listen to myself or I'll never do anything great. The only hand I regret is the very last hand. I don't want to go into it but let's just say it sucks when you analyze a hand and should have played it differently on all 3 streets. I really need to learn how to deal with adversity better. I lose aone big hand and get too down on myself. Oh well, you live and you learn, right?
All told I was very pleased with the wway that I played. This was the 6th live tourney of my life and I can see myself getting better and better. I haven't played that many tournaments online either but I'd like to start them and try to gain more experience that way. I can't wait for my next final table and I hope it's just around the corner.
This tournament was the experience of a lifetime. I sat at insanely tough tables and scrapped my way through. I got to meet Greg Raymer, who taught me how to play tourneys...via the 2+2 archives. The reality lived up to the legend of Greg and he's a great friend to have in this game. I got to hug Caroline Flack, the hottest little biscuit I've ever seen. Least of all, I took 2nd in the EPT Championship. WOW.
Schaefer