Late in day one I had worked my way up to 22,500 chips, which was slightly below average at that time. My 10-handed table consisted of 9 Scandinavians and as my mother is Swedish, I guess this was the first all Scandinavian table ever at an EPT event ?

4-6 Scandinavians per table seems to be the norm nowadays but a whole table was quite something else. It was also no big surprise that it was action-packed. Raises and re-raises all over the place. So I decided to tighten up, which is easy if your best hand in an hour is J7s. At blinds of 500/1,000 with an ante of 200, Daniel Larsson (holding approx. 50,000 chips) made it 3,000 from UTG and Kjersti Grini (holding approx. 80,000 chips made it 3,000 + 6,500 from UTG+1. I found QQ in mid-position and took all my time for this decision. Was I big enough to make them pass? What could they be holding? Well Daniel could hold just about anything, but how much respect did I have to give Kjersti for her early position play. I had played several hours with her on my immediate left in the Barcelona EPT Main Event and remembered her as very aggressive. That finally tipped the balance and I decided to play to win and moved all-in. Rest of the table folded quickly, as did Daniel Larsson. Now it was up to Kjersti who “only” had to pay 13.000 more. I surely expected a call, but she took all her time, and the longer it took her, the more I wanted her to call. It become obvious she could not hold AA or KK if she had to think about it that long. Maybe JJ or AK? After an eternity she finally called and turned over A9s. WOW, what a stunning move she had made on Daniel and the rest of the table. But would she get punished for it? The flop + turn gave her a straight draw but my QQ held up and propelled me to a nice stack. I cruised into day two, where I eventually finished 17th for €5,500.

Good spot for a re-steal

In the Amsterdam Main Event, at blinds of 50/100 I multi-limped 77 and 5 players saw a flop of A,9,2 (2 spades). Both blinds and UTG checked as did I. Now Eirik Johansen, whom I knew from having played in the same World Speed Poker Open Heat in London, bet 400 into the 500 pot. This looked like the typical steal or semi-steal attempt of a player who is last to act. When the other 3 players folded, I decided to go for a re-steal and made it 400+1.000 and Eirik folded. At that time we both had pretty much our starting stack of 10.000 chips. I can really represent a lot of big hands here (99+9, 22+2, A9+A+9, A2+A+2), making it pretty tough for Eirik to continue. Also my bet of 1,400 to win 900 stands in solid relation, and in case I have to pass to a possible all-in by Eirik then my stack is still big enough so that I can continue without worries.

Good play at the wrong time

I like to limp all kind of pairs from UTG, especially on aggressive tables, and then re-raise a raiser behind me. This has worked very well for me in the past online as well as in live events. I tried the same move in an Amsterdam Side Event and it backfired as I chose the wrong spot. After 5 hours of play and at blinds of 150/300 I found my best hand of the day TT UTG and limped. The Swedish player to my left made it 1,200 and the rest folded. We both had approximately 6,000 chips and after some thought I re-raised to 3,000 representing a monster hand. He moved all-in immediately and I surely felt behind now. The bad part of my move was that I now had half my stack in the middle and would have been way below average if I would have folded. Of course I would also have to pay 300+150 blinds the next two hands. So basically I had committed myself and called. Of course he had AA and as no help arrived I was out. This was the only hand I regret the way I played in Amsterdam. The other two options are far from attractive as well. You really don’t want to fold the best hand you see all day for 900 chips more. And flat calling the raise means you now have 20% of your chips in the hand and if you fail to hit a set you have to play out of position. As the flop came 963 rainbow it also would have been tough to then lay down. But committing myself pre-flop with TT was definitely the worst of the three options.

Three players overplaying their hands

My mate Hans-Martin “Matchbet” Vogl had qualified through his sole attempt in an STT on the “morning” of the Main Event in Amsterdam. Well actually it was 2pm which for us poker players is morning. He had played good, tight poker in what was only his 3rd live event, despite having Marcel Luske to his immediate left all tournament long. Down to the last 50 in the Amsterdam Main Event at blinds of 1,000 / 2,000 with a 400 ante, “Matchbet” had become quite short-stacked with only 14,400 chips left and from UTG+1 the blinds loomed large. So he decided to make a move and raised half his stack, 7,200. Marcel Luske, holding a below average 30,000 himself, flat called, and the very next player moved all-in for 40,000 chips. The rest of the table folded and “Matchbet” was committed and called. Marcel Luske then folded 77 face up. Marcel surely is an outstanding player, but I find his play here quite stunning. He must give “Matchbet” credit for at least two overcards, and with 7 players left behind Marcel to act, the risk of getting raised out of his hand was pretty big on this active table. Losing that 7.200 chips really made him short-stacked. In my opinion he should have folded his small pair and wait for a better spot. Then again it might have been an outstanding read as “Matchbet” turned over a surprising K4c. The faces at and around the table became even more surprised when the all-in player turned over AQo. Amazing, what a risk he took, despite cruising at around average and with 6 players still to act behind him, “Matchbet” obviously committed, and Marcel as the “dark horse”, who could have had anything. But he duly got rewarded when his hand, which only is a 60/40 favourite, held up.

Strange house rules in Amsterdam

To start with, their chip race rule that the high card takes all the little chips as a “jackpot” is unheard of in the rest of the poker world. Just about as strange is their rule that you can “jump” into your seat when it is your turn. At most venues you have to seated a lot earlier. It is also a bit disturbing that every dealer seems to interpret this rule a bit different. The dealer at my table of a side event surely took it to the extreme. At blinds of 25/25 the button open-limped, the SB was not present and the BB checked. Despite quite furious claims by the table, the dealer still did not kill the SB’s hand and dealt the flop. This surely must be the first time in poker history that an “empty seat” saw a flop holding live cards. The dealer’s reasoning was that “he had paid 25 chips so his cards are still live”. Very funny. But after the “empty seat” checked, BB checked, the button finally bet and took down the pot.

The final example was in the Omaha Event (1 re-buy max), when a player busted, left his re-buy ticket on the table and left without saying a word. The dealer called the floorman “seat open” gave him the rebuy card as well as the seat card and this made them actually break another table. Three or four minutes later the player returned to our table and wanted to make a re-buy and continue. Apparently he had been at the ATM to get some cash. The table couldn’t believe the floorman’s decision to let him continue despite having missed a couple of hands. Again, very strange.

But make no mistake, overall Amsterdam is a very nice, friendly and classy festival and their add-ons to the prize pool is a welcome change.

Bad Beat of the month in London Omaha Event

Close to the end of level 2 in the £1,000 Omaha Event in the Vic it was passed to an “action player” on the button who duly raised the pot. A “fish” flat called from the SB and I happily looked at AA44ss (ss = single-suited). While I rarely raise with AA in Omaha I like to re-raise and so I did making it a massive pot. The original raiser re-re-raised all-in and the fish called immediately as did I. The action player held the “expected” KKxx, but what the fish turned over was quite staggering AQJ7ss. WOW. Well you surely can guess already who took that pot. A board of K8777 made me say my favourite statement “I guess I should have paid more attention in school and got myself a proper job” ☺ Quite frustrated I returned to the Hilton and entered my room, which was number 777. Yes it is a true story, I mean you just could not make up stuff like this I guess.

Quote of the month

Harry Casagrande to Christoph Haller, who had made a flat bet of €5,000 on black on every spin of the roulette wheel for 2 straight hours “Well, Christoph, you are not mixing up your game a lot today, are you?” :-) Christoph then bet €10.000, on black on the next spin “for a bit of change”.

Looking forward to meeting my fellow Betfairians in St.Kitts and Melbourne.

Good luck at the tables,

Buzzer