EPT Deauville Report: Day 1

[nolanfan34]

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Chill out ya nit.

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Yeah, I have no comeback for that.

I'll look forward to day 3, and reading your response to HiatusOver's question. I think the aggression level you show is something I'm not capable of yet. I mean, the EPT players can't be as weak-tight as the Muck tourney players, can they?

[burningyen]

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The flop comes out 632, rainbow. I bet 1000 into the 3000 pot and he calls fairly quickly. OK, he has something. I’m done with the hand when a Q pops off on the turn.

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What were your hole cards?

[Demana]

Good times so far!

When will day 3 get posted?

[Schaefer]

DAY 3:

Down to 18, the final 2 tables! I started on table 1 in seat 4. Carl was nursing a short stack and seated on my right in seat 3. I had 200,000 chips, good for 4th overall. The chipleader was Bob, a British guy directly on my right. His stack was very intimidating but I knew he was pretty tight and wasn’t too worried about it. The cool dynamic about my table is that the top 5 chipleaders were all here. If I was going to make a move, this was the place to be. The biggest hand I’d had so far in the tournament was JJ and I had to fold it preflop. I figured I was due for some big hands.

The second hand of the tourney I pick up AA UTG+1 and steal the blinds. Well, that’s cool I guess. On my SB, Keith “The Camel” Hawkins opens the pot for 25,000 (5000/10000 1000a) from the CO-1. I think he’s stealing so I’m going to play back with any semblance of a hand. I look down at AJo and re-raise to 70,000 chips. He thinks for a while and folds. Round 1, Schaefer! The Camel always waited until it was his turn before he looked at his cards. I noticed that he jerked his head up really fast when he was going for a steal and was a little more deliberate when he had a legitimate opening hand. It was nice to take down a pot and gain some comfort at the table.

An orbit later I open-raise to 25K in the SB with AsTx. Bob calls and we see a flop. I hate raising from the SB because it looks so weak and you’re out of position for the entire hand. Anyway, the flop comes down 883 with 2 spades and I bet 30K. Bob, quickly raises to 85K and I have some thinking to do. I’m fairly certain he doesn’t have an 8 and he may not have much of anything. I’m chatting a little, saying “I don’t see how I can fold Bob….you don’t really have the 8 do you?” and he’s chuckling nervously. It’s 55K to me and I have a little less than 200K left. I consider pushing but it would be too easy for Bob to call with a hand like 55 or 66. I decide to just call and make my final decision on the turn. The turn is the 7s, a perfect card. Well, the best card would be the Ts but the 7 will do. I hesitate for half a second and push all-in. Now Bob’s in a bit of a quandary. He shakes his head and folds. Man, it’s scary pushing into the giant stack. But it feels good. Bob stays out of my way for the rest of the day.

About an orbit later it folds to Carl in the CO and he pushes for about 80K. I have AKo and consider overpushing but I’m afraid of Bob waking up with a hand in the SB. I just call and the blinds fold. The flop is no help and I double Carl up. The number of chips is not insignificant. I’m back down to 250K or so but I still feel fine.

I steal for a bit until we finally get down to 10 handed. The Camel loses a big hand to Carl and is left with 2500. After posting the 1500 ante, he only has 1000 left and the blinds are 7500/15000. I have KTo early and raise to 40K. Everyone folds and I take the side pot. The Camel has A6o but the flop is QJx and the river 9 sends him home. Man was I glad to see him go. He’s a very good big stack player and is as aggressive and tricky as anyone I’ve ever come across.

Now we’re 9-handed. Everyone is playing uber-tight because they want to make the final table. I’m on the right of Justin and Carl and have the FROStealing. Justin gets pissed after a while and plays the infamous 9d4d hand. The outcome was perfect for me. Luca Pagano is one of the tightest players I’ve ever played against and he had a huge stack that wasn’t going to get involved. The eventual 3rd place finisher, Mark had a big stack as well but he’s almost as tight as Luca. So it was the 3 of us and 6 average-shortish stacks. I was the only big stack with initiative and I raised at will for the next hour or two. Every time a shortstack went all in they held up and I had more time to steal chips. Finally Justin busts some dude in 9th place and my day of fun is over.

I’m stunned as I count my chips. 691,000 is the final total, almost twice 2nd place. I played almost no poker today and gained a massive chiplead. I was really fortunate that things panned out the way they did and I feel really good about my chances in the tournament.

OK, I know this day was pretty boring. I seriously opened like 3 or 4 pots and orbit. And with blinds of 10K/20K, 2K ante, there was 48K for the taking every time. Too much fun. The final installation will come a little later in the day. Sorry I’m doing it like this but I’m tired and this is the best I can do.

I’m not looking forward to writing about Day 4. It was arguably the worst poker I’ve ever played. I got no sleep the night before and I was really nervous. Anyway, I’ll save the excuses for part 4.

[Schaefer]

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How many times a round did you open-raise? Were there times when your cards didnt matter? Did you come over the top of a bunch of standard open raises on day 1 and 2?

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I'd say I averaged about 2 or 3 steals an orbit. The overriding factor was the player that I was stealing from. I had a really weak-tight player's BB during my CO-1 and I raised his blind every single time. I only avoided one player, Keith "The Camel" Hawkins because he was capable of putting me to a decision with any 2 cards. I tried not to steal too much from Justin either because I know he has the same ability if I pissed him off.

So weak-tights I stole from every single orbit. Normal players I stole from with any decent hand. Tx suited or better, and any 2 connected cards.

I used this a ton during the end of days 1 and 2. Toward the end of day 1 I had a incredibly rockish image at my table and was able to use that to my advantage. The end of day 2 we were approaching the bubble and I was able to gain a lot of chips during that stretch. I'd say that the most profitable periods of blind stealing were from 50 players down to 27 and then from 10 down to 8. God I got so many chips. It was nice during that 50-27 stretch that the Camel got a little gunshy and let me have my way with the table.

I didn't really resteal much until day 3. No one was really stealing at all so I was respecting raises.

[Schaefer]

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Are you picking your spots based on who is in the blind or are you just picking the top x% of your hands?

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I think the player in the blind played a bigger factor in my steal attempts. It's just so easy when they defend like 1 out of 10 times then check-fold the flop. So much fun.

I don't know how to quantify the range of hands that I was stealing with. If it had any sort of potentioal, I'd open with it. People were uber tight for most of the tourney, from the end of Day 1 on.

[Schaefer]

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that girl in ur avatar is hot!

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Uh, Alizee? Yeah, she's alright. The worst part of the trip was not meeting her. But I guess she's all fat and pregs now. Maybe I'll meet her next year.

[Schaefer]

[ QUOTE ]

Quote:
The flop comes out 632, rainbow. I bet 1000 into the 3000 pot and he calls fairly quickly. OK, he has something. I’m done with the hand when a Q pops off on the turn.



What were your hole cards?

[/ QUOTE ]

Q9o. What a crappy hand. I think I left the hole cards out on purpose.

[DemonDeac]

awesome man. mental note: stealing becomes huge at this stage of tourneys
looking forward to day 4.....THE FINAL TABLE

[Schaefer]

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I think the aggression level you show is something I'm not capable of yet. I mean, the EPT players can't be as weak-tight as the Muck tourney players, can they?

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh, yes they can be. Really, the Muck tourneys helped me get comfortable with stealing for a living. And these players had just about the same amount of weak-tightness. All you need to do is try it. It gets really easy after a while. Much easier than actually playing poker.