Monte Carlo EPT

This was it, the big one, the time to put a very poor Season 5 behind me & find that groove, that path through to the biggest final table going in Europe.

I’d played eight legs, just missing two, Prague & the PCA due to our third baby boy arriving just before Christmas: of those eight I made just three Day2’s but no Day 3’s & no cashes.

Well my lack of form stuck to me like glue through the week in Monaco & I kid you not, it took 3 hours & 5 minutes for me to even win a pot (a pre-flop re-raise with Q-9). Whilst I try to fight it, sometimes you can just sense that the day ahead won’t be easy.

With 30k starting stacks the first pot I played was from the BB in a 5 way limped pot. The flop came 3, 8,10 & holding 10-5 I check called a 300 bet from a very fishy gentleman who had shown that he liked to bet every street. I turned a 5 & check called a 700 bet & when a king hit on the river I paid of a flopped set of 3’s for another 1600.

Things didn’t improve & I spent six  one hour levels fluctuating between 10 & 20k.

There was some good news; the standard of play on my table was amazingly poor. Of the ten players three were good to excellent, the other six, well, you’d happily play with them every day.

The final blow came when I was sat with 11k & having been re-raised of my opening raises twice in this level, I opened to 1100 in the cut-off with A-10s & the 120k stack to my left made it 3000. Now this can be a relatively straightforward fold, but there comes a point when a line in the sand needs to be drawn & for me, this was that point. I pushed, but unfortunately he had easy call with kings & I missed by a mile.

I played two side events, a 5k & a 2k. I got off to horrible start in the 5k, running kings into aces which knocked me don to 1500. I hung around though & eventually built back up to 10k. At this point the average was double that, but the structure was pretty good & I was happy just hanging around. I got moved to a new table & after a couple of revolutions I found a spot.

Moody Young American #1 raised UTG to 2500, Always Dwells For 1 Minute Young American #2 called & I shoved my 11k from the SB with A-J. They both (eventually) called & the board ran out J,8,6,9,Q & I lost to #1’s A-10s.

I didn’t fair much better in the 2k, finally getting it in in Level 8, blind vs. blind with Q-7 on a 7,5,4 flop & losing to Q-6.

It’s all variance of course: staying positive, keeping up with my homework & keeping myself out there will eventually see me turning a corner. The next report will be from the Newcastle leg of the UKPT, but along with most other players now, my heart is set on getting out to Vegas. Watch this space.