Into Day two at EPT Barcelona

So, I’ve crept into the second day here at the first leg of the EPT in Barcelona. I only have 14,500 in chips, but am excited to be returning with some kind of shot today. Not too much time to write unfortuantely, as I felt straight asleep yesterday after eight hours tough play! Here are some of the key and most interesting hands of the day

2 Hours in, blinds 75/150.

I started at a tough, and fairly suspicious table, and had already been caught in a couple of tiny bluffs. As I looked down at pocket tens in the small blind, I found four players had limped in ahead of me. I had the best hand for sure, but it would be tricky to play in a spot where it looked very much that I was simply taking advantage of the limped action. I made a fairly big raise to 1,200. The second limper called.

This caller was a young Swedish player, who had played fairly well and very dangerously. As I had been trying a few sneaky things in pots, I got the feeling he was ready to tangle with me. It would not be an wasy spot out of position, as I knew the pot was likely to get overinflated given my marginal hand and the weak hand I presumed he had.

The flop rolled out 842 rainbow, which of course was good news. I led out for 2,400, and the Swede wasted little time in moving all in. It is not often you expect to get all your chips in with tens after two hours of play, but this situation dictated a change of values. I had a good look at him, saw the colour drained out of his face, and jhad to make the call. The Swede flipped KQ offsuit, not a terrible move, but defintiely an incredibly risky one. I had 6 outs to dodge, and did so to my elation. I was up to 21k.

4.5 hours in, blinds 150/300.

I was playing about the same stack, and raised to 800 with AdJs. A weak player on my left called, almost comically leaving himself just 2,400 behind (really he should be either pushing or folding here), and a strong Danish player, Rene Ulriksen, called from the big blind. The flop came Qd8d4h, with just a runner runner flush draw for me. The Dane checked, and I decided to bet 1,200, willing to call if the short stack put the rest of his chips in.

The short stack passed, but now Rene Ulriksen raised to 3,800. It should be a pretty standard pass, but the texture of the board dictated otherwise. With not too many strong hands avaliable on the board, it is a great one for a cunning player to check raise. With Q8 or pocket fours the only two hands Ulriksen could realistically represent, I feared that he was being that cunning player. I thought for a long time about either re-re-raising or calling to try to take it away later, but eventually let my hand go. It could have been a missed opportunity for sure, and goes down as my one regret of the day.

6 hours in, Blinds 300/600

I was now playing a stack of 16,000, and looked down at 63 offuit in the small blind. I of course did not imagine playing it, until I was obliged to by two weak playing limping in early position. The flop came 732, and I judged I probably had the best hand. I led out for 1,300, and just the first limper called me. The turn came a 6, giving me two pair.

It was not the best two pair to hit, as top of the likely hands list for my Italian foe were 76 (now a higher two pair), and 45 (now a straight). I decided to check, and call his 2,200 bet, before we saw a 9 on the river. The Italian seemed a fairly unspectacular player, and so I made the unusual decision on the river to make a stopper bet of 2,400. The masssive risk when you do this is that a cunning player could read your insecurity and turn a one pair hand into a bluff, knowing that it will be tough for you to call. I had very little worry about this player having that kind of ability, but there were two nagging worries. Could he have called with nothing (or maybe an A5 or A4 guthsot) on the flop, and be willing to fire one more bluff? Could he have limped with aces, and still think it is worth a re-raise.

To my dismay, the Italian raised to 6,500. The logic of my stopper bet dictated that I should now pass, and this I did. It could just have been a horrible horrible play, but I feel almost entirely confident in my read.

So, I’m really excited about the second day’s play. I will of course need to get lucky early on, but I can feel a little something in the warm sea air….