EPT Barcelona, Day One

I promise I’ll soon provide some interesting, insightful material for this blog and not these inane hand histories that most people don’t care about. I won’t be playing too many big tournaments for a while, and I feel this is one of the best ways to improve my game, so here’s another:

I recognized no one at the table to start, though Katja Thater soon showed up. The 1 and 2 seats were gigantic LAGs, the 3 and 7 seats were ridiculous fish, and the others were fairly tight. I was in the 5 seat.

EP = early position
LP = late position
UTG = first position
HJ = hijack
CO = cutoff
R = raise

We started with 10k chips, blinds at 25-50, and me in the CO.
Throughout the day, I raised between 2.7x and 3x the BB.

Two players limp I fold K7s CO, I don’t like playing the first hand.

R A9o CO both blinds missing. 7 calls on the button. Flop KQ7 it goes check-check. Turn 8 I check-fold to a 100 bet. Obviously a weak line by me. Obvious play was to fire the turn but this guy had already shown some fishy signs and I wanted to build respect for later.

2 limps, SB limps, I check QTss in the BB. Flop 872 checked around turn T SB checks I bet 125 and take it down.

Two guys limp I find my old favorite J2 of diamonds in the SB and complete. Flop 962 all spades checked around, turn Jh I bet 150, 2 is the only caller. River Ah I think and then bet 250, 2 makes it 850, I call, he mucks, but they make me show down the hand.

Tight guy raises I call with AQ. Flop Tc7c3 check-check turn J he fires 300 and I fold.

UTG raises and gets three callers I fold T9o on button.

Fold A9o and A7o EP.

1 makes a large raise to 250, 2 calls (2 calls everything), I make it 1025 in SB with KK and they both fold.

Fold KJo 2^nd pos.

UTG limps 1 limps I limp AJ in SB even though I’m pretty sure these guys are weak, BB checks. Flop T83 I check-fold.

11,350

50-100

Raise AQ on the button take the blinds.

Raise JJ MP 7 calls. Flop Td9h7d I bet 400 he calls. Turn Ah I bet 650 he folds.

Raise AK UTG amazingly everyone folds.

2 limps I limp 76o on button BB checks. Flop 953 checked to me I bet 200 they fold.

2 limps UTG I limp AcQs MP. Reason being I know he is calling any sized raise and I will have to make a hand to win the pot. 6 raises to 400 all fold to me I call. Flop KsJs8s I check-call 600. Turn 2h I check-fold to a 1k bet. Outstanding aggressive line by me there.

In the BB with 92ss. Katja and the SB limps, I show no interest whatsoever in a QxxxJ board and fold to a river bet.

1 and 2 limp I limp K5s on button the BB raises 600 more everyone folds.

Raise A2s CO and win blinds.

2 raises to 400 UTG 3 calls I fold A6s, then the guy to my left throws in 4 1k chips and acts like it was a huge accident, of course there is suspicion that it was an angle-shoot. 2 decides to cold-call the 4k, and then 3 goes all in for 300 chips more, the guys call and check down a ragged board and 3 triples up with 88 which made a boat on the end. 2 shows AJs and the other guy mucks, later telling me he had kings which doesn’t really make sense for him to never bet.

11,350

75-150

2 limps LP I limp T8o in SB, BB checks. Flop AT3 rainbow we check to 2 he bets 150 I call. Turn 6 I check-call another 150. River 5 I check he bets 600. Not really a bluff line at all, he probably hit some weird two pair, I fold.

Raise AK on button, 7 calls in BB. Flop Qs8d6d check-check. Turn Js he bets 3k (lol) I instafold.

Fold T8s EP.

R AKs UTG 2 calls. Flop 763 check-check. Turn 5 check-check again now he must have me drawing dead to check it there, river 3 I check-fold to a 600 bet.

A new guy raises to 450 in LP, I call in BB with A3ss. Flop Qh8h3 I check-call a 500 bet. Turn K check-check. River 8 check-check he has AJ I win. Terrible line by him there.

10,550 at dinner, with 18 minutes left in the level.

With the blinds gone, 2 limps, 3 limps, I make it 700 on the button with AsQs, 2 calls, 3 folds. Flop J63 with two spades, 2 checks I bet 1100 he calls. Turn 5 he checks I have 8600 left and an interesting decision. I hate that turn card and don’t want to get checkraised here so I check. River offsuit K, he checks, I bet 2k, he thinks and decides to call with Q6s. Then he slams his cards on the table like he’s Stu Ungar after I show my AQ (literally the only hand I could have that he can beat) when in reality he’s just a terrible calling station. Argh.

Moved to new table with 6750 and right away I know I will not be moving above gear 2 here anytime soon. Johnny Lodden (half-Swedish, half-Japanese 21-year old ultra high stakes wunderkind) is to my right with lots of chips. Mark Vos is to my left, and Elky is two to his left with tons of chips. There are also a couple Swedes who look like they know what they’re doing, and a couple other guys with big stacks.

From here on out I didn’t even bother to report the hands I was folding. Just assume I was folding anything less than a top-tier hand unless I mention otherwise.

100-200

Walk Vos with T4o.

Elky raises UTG 3 calls I fold 55 on button.

Guy limps I limp A5dd CO. Vos limps BB checks flop AKQ one diamond the limper bets 600 I call others fold. I probably should have just dumped this crap on the flop but figured he might have just a worse pair and gutty and shut down on the turn. Turn 2h he bets 1k with 2400 behind I’m really not putting him on anything better than AT but I don’t think he’s folding an ace to a raise, I just fold, pretty bad siphon there.

Down to 5k.

Lodden limps UTG and I pick up QQ in 2^nd pos. I limped for no other reason than I felt it would just be so obvious I had a huge hand if I raised based on my position and image. Vos limped, a Swede limped, the BB checked. Flop JdT5d checked to me I bet 700. Vos calls, the Swede calls, BB folds, then Lodden makes it 3k. I shove for 1k more, others fold and Lodden calls 1k more with T9o, which I wasn’t expecting and grateful to be up against. I held him off and more than doubled.

Very next hand UTG I pick up QQ again and raise to 600, Vos calls, a Swede shoves for 5.5k and then Lodden kinda casually calls in the BB with 13k behind. I fold and Vos folds AQ. The Swede has TT which is an incredible coup – a pair better than his folded and he’s now racing against AK with an ace folded – but the board comes AKxxx.

11,300.

150-300

Still no antes, I have no interest in moving above gear 2.

Raise 99 2^nd pos all fold.

Button limps, Lodden limps SB, I check KJo in BB. Flop 98x checked around turn A check-fold to a bet and a call.

Vos moved.

I raise AJ of spades on the button. Elky calls in BB. Flop Ts8c4c he leads 1100 I let him have it.

Raise 88 hijack win the blinds.

Fold KJo 2^nd pos.

A big stack raises and Lodden calls in the BB. The flop comes KQ9 and Lodden just tosses his cards in the muck. The preflop raiser shows JT for the flopped nut straight.

I administer a walk with T4s.

9,300

150-300-25

Fold T7s MP maybe should have gone after this one.

Swede raises EP I smoothcall with QQ, again because I just think reraising would only isolate to AK and better hands with my image and also commit me to the pot preflop. SB calls as well. Flop comes 8c6c2 and they check to me. I assume they are just going to fold to my 2k bet but the Scandinavian raises to 7k after the SB folds. I’m all in for 500 more and then a humongous dealing fiasco ensues. I believe the exact order of events went:

1. I moved all in for 500 more
2. The Swede said “call”
3. We turned the hands up, the Swede had nothing but AJ of hearts
4. The dealer turned our hands over and started pushing them to the center of the table
5. The dealer collected the pot and pushed it in my direction

I might be way off here as I was trying to process the hand and what the Swede had. Anyways, we were able to undo all the damage, get the pot right, get the flop right, get our hands back, and deal the final two cards, which were a jack and some rag. So I doubled up.

I realized later if the Swede had been a prick, he might have been able to get the hand declared a misdeal. I thanked him later and he pointed out that I might have been able to get his hand declared dead, since it was mucked before he called my all-in bet. Fortunately neither of us answers to the name Joel “Angle-Shooter” Patchell, so we were able to sort everything out and the hand finished correctly.

Raise the next hand with AJ and win the blinds.

Fold QJ and KT EP next two hands.

EP raises to 1k and Lodden calls. I have 33 in the cutoff. The raiser has about 10k. I decide to just fold. I’m curious to see what people think to do here. Flop came AQ3 but the raiser looked like he might have aces or queens the way he checked the flop and then bet the turn.

A guy limps I limp with QcTc from the hijack. Blinds check and we see a flop of Qh5h3c. The limper bets 800 and I call. The blinds get out of the way. The turn comes Qs and the limper shoves for 2800. I call, he has QJ, river comes x and he wins.

Raise AK UTG. Lodden calls in BB. Flop K97 he checks I bet 1300 he calls. Turn T check-check. River 5 he checks I decide the best way to get value here is to bet huge, so I bet 4k and he folds instantly.

15,800

200-400-50

Fold 74o on button though I will not get many chances to open pots at this table.

UTG raises I call in BB with AsKc. Flop K73 two spades I check-call 1500. Turn 9 I check-call 3k. River is a gross Q it goes check-check he has Ac5c (nothing) I win.

The very next hand: A guy raises UTG to 1200 and everyone folds to the A5 guy in the BB and he makes a small reraise to 2500. UTG calls. The flop comes AT4 rainbow and the BB checks. UTG bets 2k and BB thinks for thirty seconds then goes all-in for 8k more. UTG goes into a little tank. He has about as many chips as the BB. Finally he decides to call…with KJo. The BB has AA. A queen on the river fills UTG’s gutshot and the BB is sent packing. Quite possibly the most gruesome exit I have ever seen in a big tournament, and the BB appeared to be a local satellite winner.

The next hand it folds to me on the button. There is only a single big blind, the KJo guy who is clearly embarrassed so I pretend to look and then raise and he folds quickly.

I limp KTo behind a limper. The blinds check, we see a flop of 753 the BB leads out and we all fold.

Folds to my SB I raise to 1300 the BB (KJo guy) reluctantly folds and I show my KK. He shows Q7s.

A guy who seemed kinda LAG raises to 1500 in EP with 5500 behind. I kinda felt he was strong and maybe should have just folded my pocket tens or perhaps called to take a look at the flop and his reaction but instead I reraised to 4500, he decided to go with his AQ, the board came AKxxT so basically I played it perfectly.

Fold 86s 2^nd position though I am now prepared to bump it to gear 3 or maybe even 4 depending on what I see from the table.

LP (a new Scandinavian) raises to 1100 and Lodden calls on the button. I looked at the As and thought about pulling the trigger with a reraise right there, but I did look at the other one which was the Ts which was good enough to make it 4200. The preflop raiser folded but Lodden called which turned my blood to Jell-O. The flop came 9s7s3s (I flopped the nut flush) and I had visions of stacking a 60k pot but Lodden just folded to my 6700 bet and I felt pretty sheepish. Lodden asked if I had kings and said he folded tens and I told him I flopped a flush.

Next hand I raise J8o on the button which maybe was a mistake. The BB (KJo guy) made a tiny reraise and I called, then folded to his bet on the Q73 flop.

A few hands later I pick up my first AA of the day and raise it from the hijack. Elky makes it 3400 in the SB with 20k behind and I decide to just call which is a little dangerous because I’m guaranteed to lose a monster if he outflops me. I had no read on him whatsoever, I felt like he could have a monster but also could have nothing and would have to fold most hands maybe even QQ if I reraised so I just called. The flop came K85 rainbow and he bet 4500. I made it 10k and he folded “tens.”

39,000

300-600-75

Raise AT EP win the blinds.

Moved to new table where I recognize no one but there are a lot of chips here.

Folds to the SB (a big stack) who raises 4x. I’m in the BB with T9o and fold after a bit of a staredown. Probably not proper big stack protocol but I don’t know how these guys are playing and I’m looking for a little respect.

Next hand I give a walk with Q5o, again probably not proper big stack protocol.

Vos sits down at this table to my direct left with a giant stack, after winning a 50k pot all in preflop with AJ against J9 (long story).

Fold A8s UTG.

EP raises to 1800 I find AA in BB during a conversation with Vos. I reraise to 4400 and he folds. I show it.

A couple hands later a guy raises early-middle and I look down at AKs from the hijack. I take a glance at his stack to see if he has too much for AK all in preflop (he doesn’t) and I make it 5k. He shoves for 14.7k which was more than I thought he had but still an easy call, he has QQ and wins the race.

Raise QTo MP and Vos reraises, I fold.

Fold QJo EP.

Last two hands are my blinds, both of which are folded.

Finished the day with 24,950, won the chip race so 25k on the dot for Thursday.

As you can see I played “corn on the cob” poker all day with no butter, salt, or pepper.