Looking back, looking forward, looking stunned

Dublin, Day two

It had been just as much fun as the first day, and always such an important bonus to play in the friendly Irish atmosphere. Things were going well too, and my stack had steadily increased to 190k. Of course there had been a couple of mistakes, and probably a ton of things that I could have done better, but the tournament seemed to be coming along well.

I was moved to a new table at the start of the 3k-6k blind level, and happened to notice that this amazing and fun tournament had already been going for 17 hours. It is on the 17th hour that this story starts:

17:00 I don’t recognise anyone at the new table. I think to myself, ”I’ll play things standard for a while to give myself some licence to open up later on.”

17:01 It’s passed round to me on the button, and I look down at KcJc. The big blind only has 36k, so I make it 16k, and know I have to snap-call a push. He does push, and bizarrely shows 34 offsuit!

17:02 The A76 flop has offered a bit of hope that the seemingly inevitable won’t happen, but that hope is quickly extinguished when the turned 5 gives him an inside straight.

17:03 “It’s not a big hit to the stack, don’t worry,” I tell myself. The very next hand, however, I find AQ and raise to 17k. The same Irish guy pushes again, and gives me a decision. This time it is for 76k, things have got serious.However, ace-queen is a tough hand to lay down given decent pot odds, and I make the call. I know it makes no sense at all, but it is almost in horror that I see he has king-eight offsuit!

17:04 My head is a firm believer in the numbers, but in my heart there seemed to be only question. Flop, turn or river? His eight came on the flop.

17:20 I now have 95k, and find AcKc, and the cut-off raising to 18k. “Oh no, how is it going to happen this time?” I feel a sense of impending doom, but I know superstition has no place in the game. I make the push, and hear the dreaded quick “call.” He has pocket queens.

17:21 No miracles.The board managed no higher than a seven.

17:22 I’m sitting down on the other side of the room, feeling and  looking stunned with disappointment. The French guy who knocked me out comes across to say “unlucky” and shake my hand. This meant alot to me, especially in hindsight, as it’s so nice when the game brings out the best in people.

It’s really important to me  not let disappointment bring a downside to a really enjoyable game. However, I thought these moments were worth sharing, as at the time this wonderful marathon tournament made them feel like the most brutal fifteen minutes that I had ever had in poker.

I always promise myself that I’ll forget about the emotions quickly after, but I am so passionate about the game that I allow myself a few minutes to feel gutted. For a few moments I just felt shattered with disappointment. There is so much great about the game, but the one unavoidably tough aspect is the disappointments it brings, and the suddeness of them.

But what can you do? I try to channel my energy into thinking over the hands, so hopefully the Dublin addition to “my fifty worst mistakes,” will make interesting reading. The Deep Stack tournament was definitely a wonderful venture, and I really hope it will be repeated.

TV European Open Heat- third time lucky?

If a poker tournament can be measured by its structure, then this week will see me jump from one end of the spectrum to the other. I have my heat of the Party Poker European Open on Wednesday, and my opposition reads as Christoph Haller, Jan Peter Jachtmann, Annette Obrestad, Richard Wheatley and Liam Flood.

It will be great fun to play against Annette, but of course daunting as well; there is probably nobody in Europe whose name I would be less thrilled to have seen on that list. However, the news is watered down by the fact that the structure in this high buy-in events is so bad, with a starting stack of 50 big blinds.

The standard excuse seems to be that these tournaments are “made for TV,” but I just can’t understand it myself. Highlights are edited for the TV anyway, and so allowing the players the favour of a much better structure would also allow the production team a much richer selection of hands to show.

The structure means that I take the events with a slight pinch of salt, but of course the opposition and the TV setup make it tremendously exciting. All those emotions are crammed into a much shorter space of time, and I’ll be as excited as I am nervous on Wednesday.

On the two previous occasions, I’ve had weaker players in a couple of the seats, and so it seemed right to control the pot as much as possible to take the sting out of the structure. On Wednesday, the right tactic will be to look to re-re-raise  against Annette very light, which makes the low starting stack even more sickly.

It’s going to be very interesting to see what her approach is. The line that she is ultra-aggressive is one I often hear used to slightly undervalue her. She is also a fantastic reader of the game, and all the situations it brings up. In another of the TV crapshoots, she  passed a set of threes against De Wolfe, and was correct! This kind of laydown is only made harder by the disbelief resulting from her aggressive style, and the lack of chips in play; a player who can operate at the right end of the aggressive and discipline spectrums is a rare breed, and deserves massive respect. Fingers crossed she is at the wrong end of the luck spectrum on Wednesday!