dublin EPT and boards players

sprocket1

would it be possible for any of the boards players who played in the EPT to discuss the hand(s) they went out on ?( stack size ,were they pushing etc,their general read on the table )

general style of play (other players)during the tournament, etc to give a feel
l for this level of tournament, comparing standard of play to another local tournament ie, end of month in the fitz?

having never played at an ept etc just curious before i spend the entry money /or would i be out of my depth?

Norwich Fan Rob

standard in general was very high, better than at the wsop, my first table was 7 scandies, me , a brit and an american.
after about 1 lap it was apparent there was 1 bad player and the others were all good, we all had our eyes on his chips.
(eventually he did a 10k stack in level 2 by completely overplaying KK, it was patently obvious he had a big pair, he made his first raise, to about 400, and got about 5 callers as most knew he was never putting it down, flop came 259 or something (i had 9T), first to act lead for 2k, other guy made it 6k, totally pot committing himself, others folded and first guy stacked him with a set).
I had a topsy turvy day, up to 14k , down to 4k, back up, down again, then up again !.
I took a chance with QQ at one stage, most agg player raised one off the cut off, so i just flat called with QQ (he would almost defo fold to a reraise, but i thought id risk going for a big pot), flop comes T high and he fires pot at it, i call , again a raise would see him off, im pretty sure he has AT, KT or AK or similar. Turn is a blank, he fires 4k, i call again, certain im ahead and he may actual think hes good, (im thinking no A or K or the river), damn K comes down, he moves in (now im wishing he i had a set, as i play it the same way), i cant call, i know ive been rivered and he shows KT.
I get back into contention and survive the first day, but below average, i start day 2 with a rush, doubling up with QQ vs JJ, then check raising a guy off overs with 22 on a raggy flop and take a few blinds, so i have a reasonably active image on this table, i have 70k with avg around 60k and about 20 places off the money, i pick up 99 utg, and make a standard raise, george mckeever calls, playing about 30k. (now george will flat call to see a flop here with a tight range, any pp, even a big one, or AK, AQ, he prefers to just call and hit with these types of hands also. Flop comes 98x, sweet, he checks and i fire pot at it , when he calls, im pretty sure he has JJ or QQ (or hopefully 88), turn comes a T and he moves in, i call and he had JJ, so i need to avoid a 7, J or Q to eliminate him, and move to about 105k, with avg about 65k, 7 on the river and a big blow (he goes on to win €100k with my chips).
After that i made a move on an american rock with Q9, he had become frustrated and made a tilty call, with QT !!, argggg.
I battled away trying to pinch blinds once a round to stay afloat and eventually folded around i jammed with QJs only for the BB to wake up with KK, and thats it, out in 50th place , and nothing to show for about 16 hours battling away at the tables.

Daithio

The standard was high in general, as Rob said, much better than the WSOP. My starting table was horrible, Seat 1 Steve Vladar, 2 Willie Tann, 3 Me, 4 Padraig Parkinson, 5 Markus Golser (a very good Austrian player), then a couple of random decent skandis and Brain McFadden from Westlife. I was completely card dead early on, and McFadden donated all his chips to Gosler in the first level who proceeded to raise and reraise almost every pot. With him having position there was pretty much nothing that I could do. I think I raised one hand in the first three levels, the cards were that bad. Then down to about 6k I get AK utg, get it all in against Stevel Vladar, he has AK too and it's a chop. A few hands later Steve button raises my BB for about the 5th time in a row (blinds 100 200, he makes it 800) Willie Tann flat calls from the SB and I look down at 4h5h and push for 6k expecting both to fold which they both did. Apparently Steve had AQ and Willie showed AJ. So that gave me a bit of confidence and I was starting to think maybe things would turn around.

Then by some miracle I got moved table, but the next wasn't much easier, and I was pretty card dead here too. I played two hands here, 99 both times. The first time on 6k I made it 1k to go in mid to late position. An ABSOLUTE rock made it 3k to go, I folded the 99 and he showed QQ. Then I got 99 again in mid to late position on 5k. An aggro enough skandi raises utg to 1000, and his range is quite big so I decide to see a flop and probably get a continuation bet out of him too. Then a rocky enough guy (philly off betfair) calls from the BB, and leads at an AQx flop. I have to fold and I'm a bit pissed off that I didn't just push preflop. Then the table gets broken again.

The new table was really really soft, a couple of decent players (pab from blonde, and Karen Lundgren) but overall very soft. I pushed in a couple of times in late position for my 4k or so (blinds now 200 400 with an ante) and managed to get up to about 8k. Then this hand happened. I'd only been at the table for about 15 mins, and didn't really know many of the players by that stage. An old American guy, really nervous looking, limps in the cutoff, and a serial limper limps from the button. I look down at KJ in the BB and check. The flop comes Jxx with two spades. I checked, Old American guy checked and serial limper bet 800. I made it 2500, and the American guy flat called leaving 1200 behind????WTF? It was weird, but I thought he must just be really inexperienced and have a flush draw or something. Maybe a weaker Jack or TT or something. The limper folds. Turn is a non spade queen, and I set him in for his remaining 1200 in an 8k pot. He has AA!!! So short again and fairly sick, really thought I was good there. Down to below 4k now.

I can't really remember too many hands from then on in the 1st day, I managed to get back to about 10k with late position pushes and AK about 5 times in one level. I never got called and there was often a raise into me when I pushed so I accumulated quite well. Avg stack about 23k, I'm on 10k, blinds 300-600, utg makes it 3k to go on about the same stack as me. I look down at KK on the button, I shove and he instacalls with 66 lmao!!! He picks up a flush draw on the turn but misses.

Then I lost a few races with AK, 99 and TT to shortish stacks and suddenly I was back to 10k again and starting to feel VERY frustrated. Then they announce last 5 hands of the night and I push in uncalled the first three of them, getting back to 15k going back the next day.

I come in late and miss my BB, dumb I know. I was in the jacks and just assumed it would be starting late. The table is horrible, Dave Murray, Andy Black, Eoin Olin and Willie Tann all there plus a couple of random skani players. I push in a couple of hands without getting called, get up to about 17k, and then wake up with 99 when an 11k stack had pushed. I call, he has 78, flop 56x, turn and river blanks. Up to nearly 30k, I raise about 5 hands in a row and I'm on 37k when this hand happens. I get AT and raise Dave Murray's BB. He flat calls. Flop comes 832 I think, and he checks to me, I bet 6k (pot around 8k). He makes it 15k and I reluctantly fold. I really considered that I might be ahead, as I knew my flop bet looked weak and knew that Dave knew this, but I chickened out of sticking my chips in. He later told me he had A6 :mad: . Anyway I ante down slightly to 19k and get 55 one off the cutoff. It's costing 4k and some change per round, so I push, the button wakes up with JJ and I'm out in around 70th, 32 paid.

sikes

I have only played ~20 live tournaments. So going to the EPT was a pretty nervous thing. Got drawn on a tough enough table with 3 scandies, a german pro and a couple of yanks. It was difficult to see where my chips were going to come from at the start, however a little asain fella came along to double me up after i laid down QQ and AA for half my stack.

After a couple of levels i got into it, and was playing well, however i made a move at the wrong time, when a shortie pushed after i raised from the cutoff with 35s, had to call the push. woops, very emabarrasing.

then lost a 20k~ pot when some fella chased the non nut flush draw on a paired board.

Then 20mins to go til end of day1 and short, i tried a squeeze. Raise from scandie call by a brit and i push with 56 or 45. Scandie folds brit calls after long hestitation with 99.

Was good fun, i think i would prepare better next time, 9 hours of play took it out of me.

peeko

nice posts lads, hard luck

carrigeen

I really wanted to play in this after the dissapointment of the ME in the wsop (out on day 1 at last level) but couldnt qualify went close'ish (is that a word)on stars and failed in qualifier in galway so was going to give it a miss in favour of the gjp and pokerevents in january. Thankfully had a couple of very good cash games before the event and decided to go for it with fatboydims help in that he got the money delivered for me on time.

Agree with the lads the standard was far and away higher than the ME and it was without doubt the hardest event i have played in. Very agressive from the off with no let up at any stage of the tourny. Never got above my starting stack from the off and was always struggling,

had a4 in BB with 2 limpers flop comes a 4 x all clubs and limper bets i raise and he calls i bet turn and he calls and we both check the river he had trip aces thank god for the flush draw.

with an hour and a half to go on first day im down to circa 3.5k and thinking of heading back to galway . my table is so agressive I cant physically get my chips in first and when i get a hand like a9 etc i have to fold to an open raise. eventually with the blinds at 300/600 i go all in with 44 (monster!!!) and to my amazement everyone folds very weak fold by bb who had a lot of chips and with the running antes was getting massive pot odds.

two hands later im in the bb and early position (very agressive player) raises to 3k i look down at aj and am happy to push my remaining 1.5k he calls with 55 and I win the race.

This was the turnaround for me two hands later a small stack goes allin for his remaing 6k and i again have a j and call and hold up against his a9.

moved table for the final three hands of the night and raise with aq reriase all in to me which im priced in to calling and am happy enough to see jj and i hit a q. I ended the first day with 33k around average stack.


second day started great for me . A very tough table with johnny lodden and rob yong among the players padraig p was there at start but gone after two hands. I started to get hands which wa great at this table as the lads opening ranges was quite wide so was quite confident with many of my reraises. Eventually got one called and was allin with ak v's aq which helde up .

I had worked my way up to 70k when this hand occured. UTG i raise with ak folded to bb who calls flop comes 10, 10 7 rainbow and i lead out with half pot size bet (sry cant remember exact levels) bb comes over me for half his stack circa 30k I was going to fold but couldnt put him on a 10 and felt he at best had a small pair or a seven so i reraised all in had him covered . he went into the tank for 10minutes and eventually called with a pair of sixes. Everyone at table was saying great call Im not too sure i had 9 outs on turn a k or 7 and when a j came on the turn i had j and q as outs as well 15 outs. anyway I really thought i could push him off that hand and couldnt but i got my k on the river

i was now at circa 150k with average at 90k and 40 players remaining. From here things started to go downhill lost 30k to johnny lodden qq v's ak and had fold a 20k raise with aq to a reraise from a rock. Moved to the tv table which obviously doesnt suit me as my cards totally dried up.On the money bubble raised in position 2 with 88 lodden has me covered and moves allin and he is called by a small stack in bb i know(sorry think ) lodden is at it and is playing the money bubble i nearly call (but dont ) he has ak bb has aq and bb hits a q if i called i would have Won the large pot and been flying again.

from there it was downhill getting blinded away and the cards totally dried up. My final hand was as follows and feel free to criticise. I had i think 42k blinds were 8k/4k and a running ante of 800 meaning each orbit was costing 18.4k giving me an m less than 3. I wanted to move a lot earlier but couldnt get a hand / get into the pot first. got k 10 utg and given that if i folded i would have no fold equity next hand as i was bb and if raised into i would be down to 34k i was happy to play allin with the k 10 on the basis i had some (limited) fold equity and if called it would probably be by an ace x and there was a better chance my k was alive. I was called by aq and that was all she wrote. Finished 20th for 11k overall very happy considering where i was near the end of day 1 but a bit dissapointed the way i leaked chips from a peak of 150k .

oh nearly forgot on top of the 11k i got a gjp hoodie!!!!!!!!:) for wearing it on the tv table not great advertising for the lads considering the two hands i played were a fold to a reriase and my exit hand

MrPillowTalk

EPT Dublin 2006

I wasn’t sure if I was going to play this or not, I have been running bad in cash games and didn’t particularly feel I could write off a €5k buyin on a whim. I gave a satellite a go in the jackpot a couple of days before the main event started it was a €150 + one rebuy or topup 50 runners generated 2 tickets and some cash for third, by the time we were down to the final table the line up was as follows Andy Black, Tom Hanlon, Conor Doyle, Eoin Mullins, Scott Gray, Goran, Johnny and yours truly. LOL not exactly a soft line-up 3 guys who have made the final 12 of the world series, Tom and Conor who are both smashing players, and Goran and Johnny aren’t any value either. It turned out they were all in to pay for the Main Event and as the sat was on decided to give it a whirl. As the final table formed Andy and I were chip leaders but not by much and it was anyone’s game, Scott commented that the final table of the main event would be an easier ask lol. A chop was offered 5 handed that would see Andy get the lion share, Andy had as usual amassed a massive tank, Conor and I refused and as luck would have it I went out next when I played back at Andy with 55 only to find him with a real hand KK oh well. That rightly pissed me off and in the end I decided Id regret it if I didn’t play so I walked across the lane and paid up at the colossus.

Day 1

I was playing Day 1A and as I took my seat I surveyed my opponents and didn’t recognise anyone, always a good sign.

First hand in I get dealt KK in the cut-off, nice way to start the day I think to myself.
Utg raises to 300 straight off and gets one MP caller.
I repop to 1000 in the cut-off and Utg player does a whole lot of Hollywood and asks me if “I want to go broke on the first hand?” before flat calling my bet, hmmm that’s unusual me thinks. MP folds and we take a flop.

Flop comes 2 4 4 rainbow, and Utg immediately leads for 3000, well he can’t have a four so it’s obviously an overpair or an extremely poorly played AK. I count out the 3k and put it aside and take a moment before, as I fully intend to do, raising. At this point I have a look at my opponent, he was a qualifier I earwiged on a conversation he had with the player beside him before we started and he was saying how this was the biggest game he had ever played, the more I looked at him the more I knew he wasn’t one bit nervous. This disturbed me I just didn’t think this guy came all the way from Europe to play one hand of poker, I decided that he had to have one of four hands AA KK QQ JJ maybe tens or nines, but his demeanour and the speechplay just was too accomplished for a newbie to do with nothing and then show zero nerves on the flop. I folded thinking that if he had anything other than AA I would pick up on some tension, as I mucked he threw his cards face up proudly displaying his black aces. I tap the table and say nice hand whilst mentally I’m giving myself a big pat on the back, if he doesn’t show there then I am probably going to head **** myself over the hand for the next hour or so.

As expected the table was very easy to play against and I was confident that short of getting unlucky I would finish the day with good chips. I didn’t get over the starting stack until the last couple of levels but despite no cards I was playing a good few pots maintaining my stack and setting up the two most aggressive guys at the table, by the time we had played 3 levels I had both of them exactly where I wanted and knew I’d get paid off by either of them if I caught a hand. Recently I’ve been putting a lot of thought in to my deep stack tourney strategy seeking to change my game a bit, I used to be of the opinion that I should be playing as many pots as possible for small raises in the early levels looking to stack someone with a heavy flop for me, although I still believe this to be a good strategy I’ve eased off on it slightly in favour of a new one. I still play pots in position in the early levels but I now think that the time to really accumulate is when the blinds get a bit bigger around the 150/300 level, I now try and come in for the reraise with the same range as I would open raise for, in position obviously, this seems to be a more effective way to build than set mining in the early levels as it doesn’t depend on having to hit a hand however it does depend on better and more marginal decisions having to be made.

So I built steadily and eventually got one of my aggressive friends to pay me off with middle pair when I flopped a flush then got the other to move all in on me when I was holding QQ he had K10 and didn’t improve, this was a bit of a gift from him actually when he just got annoyed with me constantly reraising him. These two hands were the only two hands I showed down in the whole of day 1, and I finished on about 48k with the average stack at 30k. I could have finished on 70k except for the last half hour of the day Johnny Lodden was moved in to my immediate left and he got the better of me in an interesting pot where I nearly pushed all in for the fourth raise with A9 feeling I was being bullied slightly, I decided to just fold and wait for the seat redraw for day 2 which was only 3 minutes away. If we were keeping the same tables on day 2 I think I would have asked him a question in this spot.

Day 2

I had a look at my seat draw for day 2 in the morning on Mikes laptop and it was lovely I was raising into Neill Channing and Luca Pagano both very good players but not very likely to get way out of line, and I also had position on William Thorsen who had the chip lead with 200k, this really looked a good spot to accumulate a lot of chips. Unfortunately this table was broken after about a half hour and my next seat was emm less appealing. At my new table were Dave Murray and Andy Black both on my right, with Willie Tann and Dave O’Callaghan on to my left. Not exactly a lucky table draw with so many aggressive players I had a feeling we were going to see some big pots played out. I threaded water for a while just maintaining my position then Dave O’C was knocked out with 55 against QQ, and William Thorsen was put in his place, so now I had two very aggressive players one with the chip lead sitting on my left not exactly the perfect spot.

I won a biggish pot then when a 25k stack opened for 5k blinds 800/1500 and I moved all in with AJ he took an age to call with AK but I got my piece of luck in the tournament when I hit not one but two jacks on the flop lol. Shortly after that I made it 7k in the cut-off with AQ, the BB a player I played with the whole of day 1 called and we saw a Ah 10d 2d flop, he led for 20k with 20k back, the bet doesn’t look like a set so it’s a flush draw AQ AJ AT or maybe A9 he would have played back at me with AK pre flop, I move all in and he calls with 7d8d and misses his outs that put me up to over 100k with the average at 60k so I’m flying but unfortunately Andy also has 150k Willie has 90k and Thorsen has about 250k so it isn’t really a big stack relative to the table.

We then get made the TV table. Dave Murray gets unlucky in a pot with Thorsen were Thorsen makes a house of sixes and exits shortly afterwards when he loses a race with 88. I to and fro a fair bit and am playing a few pots without really having any hands, I call Thorsen down with ace high for a 40k pot then again with a weak king on a straightened flushing board for another small pot, and all of a sudden I think I can play him pretty well and have a fair idea where I am against him in pots. Then it happens Willie Tann makes it 7700 utg and everyone folds to me in the bb (blinds 1500/3000) I call with 4d5d and we take a Qd 2h 3h flop.

I check and Willie bets 17k, we engage in some table chat and I am sure he is strong a queen or a pp higher than nines, he asks me if I’m going to go all in with a flush draw, I tell him no and then move it all in, he calls with AQ and I hit a five on the turn but miss the river. I really thought I could get him to fold this one I knew he was strong and I was sure he knew I knew he was strong so I assumed he would put me on a set the way it plays with me flat calling his utg raise pre flop. He came over to me later on in the day to talk to me about the hand he told me that me having a set was in his mind but he felt that I have a worse Queen too often in that spot for it to be a fold for him. The play of the hand is ok and if I win the pot I have 240k in chips with the average at 90k and I am in a great spot to go really really deep. However this is another tournament where I managed to get myself knocked out on a marginal aggressive play close to the bubble. I exited in 40th spot with 32 getting paid, it was unnecessary though there was no need to play such a big pot there when I was in fine shape anyway, if I only had 50k it would be a no brainer but with a 100k stack it was a bit of a reckless move.

So I’m very annoyed at myself but that was one of the best standard tables I’ve ever played at and I think I played well the whole tournament and more than held my own against quality opposition. I have played five of these big buyin deepstack tourneys this year and I have only cashed in one, but I have built chips in most of them and gone quite deep in them all ( except Deauville where I went out with set over set in a cooler hand ). I really feel that I am knocking on the door and I am close to really having a breakthrough result.

BigCityBanker

MrPillowTalk

A great read there. I have to say that was an amazing lay down with your KK. Thats whats seperates players like you from the rest of us. Id av went broke on that hand. ul and wp. Ul strike oil shortly.

Can I ask why you didnt take the deal in the satellite in the Jackpot? Was it a poor one? I read last week a comment after the 75rebuy in the fitz that when a player refuses a deal its normally because he thinks he can outplay you - this leads to a more aggressive style and unless the cards are falling for you generally means you are going home first. Im sure this wasnt the motivating factor and you just wanted to win the ticket but were beasts of nature after all and this, albeit sub-conciously, probably does kick in somewhere in us. I seem to recall that the same happened to Ghollimoli in a satellite a few weeks before also. Just an observation.

Gl in your next big one,

BCB.

Goodluck2me

BigCityBanker wrote:

MrPillowTalk

A great read there. I have to say that was an amazing lay down with your KK. Thats whats seperates players like you from the rest of us. Id av went broke on that hand. ul and wp. Ul strike oil shortly.

Can I ask why you didnt take the deal in the satellite in the Jackpot? Was it a poor one? I read last week a comment after the 75rebuy in the fitz that when a player refuses a deal its normally because he thinks he can outplay you - this leads to a more aggressive style and unless the cards are falling for you generally means you are going home first. Im sure this wasnt the motivating factor and you just wanted to win the ticket but were beasts of nature after all and this, albeit sub-conciously, probably does kick in somewhere in us. I seem to recall that the same happened to Ghollimoli in a satellite a few weeks before also. Just an observation.

Gl in your next big one,

BCB.

i offered a deal in the 75 rebuy and it was refused was next out.... althoguht tbf i was a fav...

ianmc38

Eoin just drop those 45s and 79o hands from your range and you'll start cleaning up!

Gholimoli

BigCityBanker wrote:

MrPillowTalk


Can I ask why you didnt take the deal in the satellite in the Jackpot? Was it a poor one? I read last week a comment after the 75rebuy in the fitz that when a player refuses a deal its normally because he thinks he can outplay you - this leads to a more aggressive style and unless the cards are falling for you generally means you are going home first. I seem to recall that the same happened to Ghollimoli in a satellite a few weeks before also. Just an observation.

Gl in your next big one,

BCB.

the same did happen to me in the same game the week before this infact.
it was totally different though.
my opposition was no where near as hard at this and i was(in my own head) the best player left on the table and i deffo fancy my self getting 2nd.
also i wasnt short stack even though i wasnt well stacked either.
the deal which was suggested was a ****ty one which meant second place gets 900 from the 2600 that was allocated to 2nd.
there were also two short stacks that didnt really have much of a chance.
the fact that i went out next is irrelevent.
when i refused the deal i fully knew that there is a good chance of getting knocked out and getting nothing but the amount that was offered in the deal wasnt really that much better than nothing.
in Eion's case he had chips and im sure he felt he can play as good as any of them there so an offer which is giving him less than he thinks is capable of is not really acceptable.

carrigeen

Eoin,

great laydown with the KK , (I have only layed that hand down once and that was the wrong decision) On top of your read on the player the lay down is even better when you consider he didnt repop your raise preflop.

mewso

Great write ups from everyone involved. Really is a help to read about peoples thoughts and experiences in these big tourneys. Thanks again to all.