Hello my fellow RedKings readers!

Monte Carlo Side Event 1000 € BuyIn

250 players started into this Side Event and the vast majority has been busted in the Main Event before, so this was likely the last chance for them to reduce the losses of the tournament week.

All players started with 5000 Chips (first Level 25/50) and 40 minutes per Blind Level. I hit a pretty good table at the beginning with only 2 players that I knew, Ylon Schwartz that I met last time on November 9th (ex chess player with an incredible ELO!) and Roy,, The Boy“ from Ireland. After a pretty solid start I was able to enlarge my stack to 11.000 Chips, until the following situation happened: Schwartz raised in early position to 1500, Roy reraised to approximately 4400 and I am looking down to Pocket Rockets in the Big Blind (600). Now I got the following 2 reasonable options:
a) just flat calling with the hope, that the original raiser – Schwartz in that case – would have had a big hand and put all his chips in the middle
b) Reraise to isolate the original raiser and get into a Heads Up with Roy., because he was already pot committed due to the size of his reraise

I decided to pick option b) this time and went all in over the top. Schwartz didn’t like that move and folded very quickly and just as I thought, Roy ,, The Boy“ snap called and flipped over Kh Jh. The flop was more than pleasant for me with A – 4 – 5. But it was also clearly visible: If I had just called preflop, it would have been very difficult to get more chips out of Roy other than a complete bluff from him on the flop with Ace high.

I managed to double up and that also gave me a bit more courage to play more hands actively. I find 9 10 on the button, a pretty mediocre hand but still with a lot of chances against the 2 Blinds behind me. All folded to me and I decided to raise it up to 1800, only the Big Blind called. The Flop came down 10-8-2 and he checked to me. With top pair and weak kicker, I wanted to take down the pot right here and the reason was obvious: every overcard on the turn or river would get me in trouble. That’s why I decided to make a bet of 2000 and the player on the Big Blind called. Turn comes the 9! He checked again and I was now very sure that I had the best hand and lead out for 4000. To my surprise, my opponent decided to bring in a bit action and raised to 9000 – Wow! I was totally excited to shove my whole stack in the middle (about 30.000) and my opponent snap called with J8 for a pair of 8s and the open ended straight draw. He was way behind and risked the whole tournament with such a terrible call. The River was a blank and I managed to take the Chiplead with that hand. Unfortunately I played pretty tight until the end of the day and just buolt up the stack to 85.000 Chips. In the last hand of the day, I was holding pocket 7s in the Big Blind when a Shortstack from Brazil went all in with 18.000 Chips in late position – I took a fair bit of time and thought about it carefully. He was a pretty loose and aggressive player and finally I decided to call, obviously giving him a large range of hands that he could raise with here to steal the Blinds. He showed J-Q off suit and I lost the coinflip against him, that’s why I finished day 1 with a stack of approximately 67.000 Chips and just above average.

The downswing from the end of day 1 also continued on day 2, in the very first hand I was on the Small Blind and all folded to me. I was holding Js-9s, a pretty good hand for a HeadsUp situation and I am ahead 56% against a random starting hand. I had 66.000 Chips and my opponent in the Big Blind about 20.000 with Blinds 1000-2000 and an Ante of 300. A fold was no option here and the only question was to whether call or raise. I decided to take the 2nd option and announced a strong raise of 12.000 with the chances being pretty high that the Big Blind will fold. I would also make clear that I am pot committed and won’t fold when he is going all in and that he could just move in with a pretty strong hand. It was a young American that could not take a joke and put hiss tack in the middle. Of course I had to call and he showed Ac-4h, it was just a coinflip and much worse than I would have expected with just a marginal disadvantage of 47,5% to 52,5% preflop, but even though 2 spades showed up on the flop for my flushdraw, I still lost that coinflip like the last hand the day before. Just 2 tables out of the 250 players that started into this Side Event remained and I could not grab a single decent hand – there was always a raise on my table and my stack dropped down continuously to approximately 40.000. The Blinds climbed up pretty fast (3000-6000 and Ante of 500) and I was just not able to raise because it was already announced in front of me on ym table. I just didn’t have enough stack behind to make them fold with medium hands, unless I would have hit a pretty strong hand.

Suddenly I got an opportunity when all folded to me in the Small Blind and I could not believe my eyes: I peeped under my hole cards and finally found an Ace with a stack of about 34.000 Chips. Without looking at the 2nd card, I moved all my chips in the middle, also due to the fact that the Big Blind was a pretty solid player with almost the same stack like me. He started to think and compared his chipstack with mine over and over again and finally decided to call, showing a pair of 4s. I wasn’t too happy about that as I just had a chance of 32% with my As 2s. No help on the community cards and I hit the rail on place 16, pretty frustrated about the run at the end of day 1 and day 2.

In such situations, you just curse at the luck when I started very well into a tournament and was able to build up a decent stack, but losing some coinflips and ending up pretty card dead, unable to recover. And if I look around, I see other players winning several coinflips in a row and even win with going into the hand by holding underdog cards! Well, that’s poker and I guess everybody will have such an experience sooner or later in NL Hold’em tournaments.

Your Ivo ,, The Chess Master“ Donev

Hallo Redkings Leser !

Monte Carlo Side Event 1000 € buy in

Am Start waren 250 hauptsächlich aus dem Main Event ausgeschiedene Poker Spieler. Das war sozusagen für die meisten so etwas wie die letzte Chance, die Verluste dieser Turnier Woche zu reduzieren.
Wir starteten mit 5000 Chips (Erster Level 25/50) bei Levels von 40 Minuten.
Ich erwischte einen relativ guten Tisch, für mich bekannte Namen gab es nur zwei, der vom November 9 – Ylon Schwartz (ex Schachspieler mit elo gegen 2400!) und Roy,, The Boy“ aus Irland. Nach einem vernünftigen Start konnte ich mein Stack auf knapp11 000 aufbauen, als folgende Aktion passierte: Schwartz raiste in früher Position 1500, Roy nach ihm reraiste auf rund 4400 und ich fand im Big Blind (600) A A. Jetzt hatte ich zwei vernünftige Möglichkeiten:
a) Nur callen mit der Hoffnung, dass der ursprüngliche Raiser eine große Hand hatte und alle seine Chips in die Mitte schieben würde.
b) Reraisen um den ursprünglichen Raiser - Schwartz - zu isolieren und im Heads - up mit Roy zu bleiben. Da bei dieser Variante Roy durch sein hohes Raise fast Pot committet war

Ich hatte mich für Variante b) entschieden und reraiste all-in. Diese Entscheidung hatte Schwarz überhaupt nicht gefallen und er verschwand wie in Luft aufgelöst. Erwartungsgemäß hatte Roy sofort gecallt und Kh - Jh umgedreht. Der Flop war mehr als gut für mich mit A – 4 - 5. Jetzt war deutlich zu sehen: Falls ich vor dem Flop nur gecallt hätte, wäre es wahrscheinlich sehr schwer gewesen, von Roy mehr Geld zu holen.
So konnte ich mich verdoppeln und das hatte mir den Mut gegeben, mehr Hände aktiv zu spielen.
Alle foldeten zu mir, ich fand am Button 9-T, also eine überdurchschnittliche Hand, die nur gegen die beiden Blinds in Position gute Chancen auf Erfolg hatten. Ich raiste auf 1800, nur der Big Blind callte. Der Flop brachte T-8
-2, er checkte. Mit einem Top Paar und schwachem Kicker wollte ich den Pot sofort gewinnen. Der Grund dafür: Jede Overcard am Turn und River konnte mich in Gefahr bringen. Ich wettete also um die 2000, mein Gegner war mit dieser Summe auch einverstanden. Am Turn kam die 9! Er checkte wieder, jetzt war ich absolut sicher, dass ich die bessere Hand hatte und wettete 4000. Mein Gegner wollte Action und raiste auf 9000 - Wow! Ich voller Aufregung konnte es kaum erwarten mein gesamtes Stack (um die 30 000) in die Mitte zu schieben. Mein Gegner callte sekundenschnell und dreht J-8 für Button Paar und open end Strassen-draw. In diesem Fall lag er weit hinten und hatte also mit diesem Call das ganze Turnier auf einen Draw riskiert. Der River brachte ein Blank und ich wurde dadurch zum Chipleader. Leider hatte ich dann bis zum Ende des ersten Tages relativ konservativ gespielt und mich somit nur bis 85 000 aufbauen können. In der letzten Hand am Tag eins puschte ein Spieler aus Brasilien mit Short Stack 18000 all-in in spätere Position. Ich fand im Big Blind Pocket 7-7 und überlegte lange. Er war ein ziemlich looser und aggressiver Spieler. Außerdem war das die letzte Hand des Tages und darum gab ich ihm eine breite Palette von raising Händen, gegen die 7-7 meistens gut abschneidet. Schlussendlich callte ich und sah seine J-Q. Den Coin Flip hatte ich verloren und so hatte Tag eins mit 67 000 leicht über Average beendet.

Am zweiten Tag hatte sich meine Talfahrt fortgesetzt. Schon in der ersten Hand war ich im Small Blind und alle foldeten zu mir. Ich hatte ein überdurchschnittliches Blatt für Heads-up bekommen: Js-9s, diese Hand liegt im Heads-up um die 56% gegen ein zufälliges Blatt. Die Blinds waren 1000-2000 und 300 Ante. Ich hatte 66 000, mein Gegner um die 20 000. Folden kam nicht in Frage. Also: Call oder Raise. Ich entschied mich auf ein kräftiges Raise, da gute Chancen bestanden, dass mein Gegner foldete, also 12 000. So würde meinem Gegner klar werden, dass ich Pot committet war, er konnte somit nur mit einem sehr guten Blatt mitgehen. Es war ein ganz junger Amerikaner der keinen Spaß verstand, und ich sah, wie er sein gesamtes Stack mit 20 000 in die Mitte schob. Natürlich callte ich und sah Ac-4h. Es war nun ein Coin Flip, mein Nachteil ist minimal mit 47,5% gegen 52,5%, leider verlor ich trotz der zwei Pik im Flop schlussendlich auch den zweiten coin flip. Es waren noch zwei Tische von den 250 gestarteten Spielern geblieben, ich bekam kein vernünftiges Blatt und an meinem Tisch wurde ständig geraist. Allmählich wurde meine Stack ziemlich schlank, so gegen 40 000. Die Blinds waren hoch (3000-6000, Ante 500), ich kam nicht an die Reihe zu einem Raise, weil ständig jemand vor mir hoch raiste, und ich hatte keine Power zu reraisen außer wenn ich eine starke Hand bekommen hätte.

Plötzlich bekam ich endlich eine Gelegenheit. Ich war im Small Blind, und alle foldeten zu mir. Ich traute meinen Augen nicht: Die erste Karte Ass, mein Stack um die 34 000. Ohne die zweite Karte anzusehen schob ich meine Chips in die Mitte, weil der Big Blind ein solider Spieler mit fast derselben Stackstärke wie ich war. Der Big Blind begann zu grübeln und seine Chips mit meinen zu vergleichen. Schließlich callte er und öffnete 4-4. Er war im Vorteil, weil ich mit meinen Karten As2s nur 32% Gewinnchancen hatte. Im Flop bekam ich keine Hilfe und so wurde ich als frustrierter 16. eliminiert.

In solchen Momenten verfluche ich mein Schicksal, warum ich bei einem Turnier ein gutes Stack aufbaue, einige Coin Flips verliere und keine Karten bekomme, um mich zu erholen. Und wenn ich mich umsehe, sehe ich ständig, wie einige Spieler mehrere Coin Flips hintereinander gewinnen, und das sogar mit Underdog Karten! Aber trotzdem, das ist Poker und so was erlebt jeder bei NL Holdem Turnieren.

Euer Ivo ,, The Chess Master“ Donev
www.ivodonev.com

Hello my fellow RedKings readers,

I am going to tell you more in detail about a very interesting hand that happened during the EPT San Remo:
It took place at Level 5, Blinds 150/300. An unknown loose Italian player limped in UTG (in first position) and all folded to me on the Small Blind where I was looking down on J9 off suit. Not bad enough to fold and not good enough to raise out of position. The pot odds have also been pretty good with 5:1 and I decided to play it tight and just flat call. The BigBlind wanted to see the flop without any more action and quickly checked.
The flop came down J 3 4 blank and I had top pair with a pretty weak kicker. In those kinds of situations I usually decide to mix up my game between 3 different plays:
a. placing a small bet
b. check with the intention to flat call behind if someone is going to bet
c. check with the intention to check/raise if someone is going to bet
In this case, I noticed that the Limper was a pretty loose cannon (he did not only play more than 50% of his hands, but also played em pretty deep after the flop) and made a bet of 500 to find out where I stand.
The Big Blind immediately lost the interest into playing this hand any further and folded, but the italian Limper was a bit sore that I had the nerves to make a bet and don’t check as expected … and decided to make a decent reraise to 1500! Normally you would have to fold if it was against a tight player, because …
1. I got a tough hand out of position against a limper in early position
2. he would represent an overpair with this reraise like AA, KK or QQ or likely a top pair with a better kicker (AJ, KJ, QJ)
3. when I call the reraise to 1500, there will likely follow a strong bet on the turn
But I did not believe the Italian because of his pretty loose image and therefore … just flat called!
The turn was of course my magic card on that blank board when the Jack of hearts showed up. Now I was pretty sure that I had the best hand. Now this time was expected, I checked to him and gave my opponent the chance, to hang himself. The loose fish bite and fired out another bet of 1500 Chips. Now I had 2 options:
c) Raise – many players would have raised in my situation with the hope of the better hand and the possibility that the loose player would invest more into this spot without any hope and put all his chips in the middle
d) Flat call with the intention to signalize weakness on the river and make him bet once again
I thought for a while and decided for myself, that the second option would be more profitable in that case. I just flat called and symbolically backed out to my bunker. The river was a blank 2 and checked again as planned before. On the hand, I saved a bit of money if I was already down and lost (for example against a Jack with a better kicker), on the other hand I would let him bluff until the end into that pot and extract more value out of him. Additionally, if it was really a bluff: A loose player would unlikely realize to check behind on the river and give up this pot!
With those ideas on my mind, I checked graciously on the river. My opponent was unstoppable and fired out another bet, this time 3000. Once again I told to myself that there is no reason to raise on the river because it would have been very obvious that I represented the set of Jacks and also, he would just call if there was a chance that he could beat the set there. And if he was bluffing, he would not have paid anyways and it’s better to pick another read and see his cards in the showdown rather than missing this information in that spot.
Therefore I just called his bet and he announced Ace high and pulled down his panties with A 7 off suit – what a monkey! I quietly showed my J9 and the opponent almost fell off his chair and was obviously more than unhappy that I played my set of Jacks so passively!
I was just asking myself: How many blatant mistakes did that Italian guy make in that situation here?!
1. Limping in UTG on a full table with A7 off suit – huge mistake!
2. Raise on the flop with Ace high – small mistake, but an option to get more information where he stands in this hand
3. Bet on the turn even though the opponent called the raise on the flop out of position – huge mistake!
4. Bet on the river after the opponent called down the bets on flop and turn out of position – once again huge mistake!

That’s how this Italian managed to give away „generously“ more than half of his stack in just one single hand on fairly small Blinds!

Despite this pretty good start, I finished the tournament on day 2 on place 310 out of 1180 participants.

Always wishing you a good hand: Ivo – The Chess Master
www.ivodonev.com

I started the EPT Dortmund at day 1B and finished with only 16.000 Chips after a starting stack of 10.000 Chips. On day 2 I was shirtstacked for a long while (approx. 13.000 Chips) and managed to survive until Level 11 (Blinds 600/1200 and Ante 100) with 140 players remaining out of the 660 that participated.

I waited patiently for a playable hand and the chance to double up and then I finally found the 2 Red Kings on the button. A loose German raised in middle position to 3000 and all folded to me, I shoved with my remaining stack of 13000 as I did not really want to give anyone pot odds to call behind. My young opponent called quickly, as he would still have 40000 Chips left if he had lost the hand, and turned over Pocket 6s. Unfortunately I was already doomed on the flop as one of the remaining two 6s showed up and I was not able to improve my hand any more on turn or river and the EPT was finished for me.

On the next day I took the train back home and played the weekly tournament at the same evening (150€ unlimited rebuys, 51 participants) at the casino Bregenz and won it! Of course, the level at the casino Bregenz is not that high as at the EPT, have a look at the following unbelievable example:
I was at the final table as uncontested Chipleader with 50% of the total chips. After 2 limpers at blinds 500/1000 I decided to limp in as well with AT and 3 further players limped in as well. The flop comes down A A 7 and I got top set, all check to me and I decided to check as well … so did all other players! The turn was a 6 and all checked to me again, this time I decided to make a teaser bet for 4000 and just one loose player behind me called. The river was a 2 blank and there were no flush or straight draws and I decided to make a valuebet of 8000, which was about 50% of the remaining stack from my opponent. After thinking for it for a while, he decided to call and it was time for the showdown: My AT for a set of Aces and he turned over KJ off suit for king high!!! I almost fell off my chair!!

At the end, it was not really that complicated to win the tournament and take home the first prize of 5.790€.

Today I flew for the first time to Copenhagen. The best thing was that I qualified online for the seat and actually could participate for free. But the fact that the buy in was so high (about 7000€) caused an extremely strong field and made it pretty hard for me. It is well known that the Scandinavians are pretty good poker players and therefore it was not surprising, that the tournament was dominated by the Scandinavians.
Just before 2pm, I went to my table 23, seat 7. The selection of this table was very unfortunate for me – only aggressive Scandinavians and there you got no chance to win without really decent hands. The only good thing was that I had position on the 2 most known players on that table, Julian T. (winner of the EPT Baden) on seat 6 and J. Molander on seat 5. After I seen my opponents, I made up my mind and created the following plan:
I will be playing very tight in the first 2-3 blind levels for the following reasons:
a) the table is full with aggressive players and requires good starting hands to play
b) the blinds of the first 2 levels, 25-50 and 50-100, are relatively small compared with the starting stack of 10.000 Chips
c) due to the solid play, I will also get a tight and solid image on the table that I can take advantage later in the more important phases of the tournament
Unfortunately I missed a few opportunities and my stack started to shrink step by step. After level 1, I was down to 9000 and after level 3 down to 8000 … and after level 6 and 7 I was the absolute short stack on the table with approximately 6000 in chips.
Now I am going to talk about an interesting hand from level 3 (blinds 75-150). I was in the Big Blind and all folded to me until the button, the young RedKings Pro Jonas Molander that built up his chipstack to more than 18.000 in chips. He raised to 400. The Small Blind instantly folded and I looked down to 2 very likeable hearts, King Jack. The cards were not bad enough to fold, but in the same time also not that strong preflop to raise against the chipleader on the table. That’s why I decided to call and hoped for a bit of help on the flop. The flop came 2s 4h and 7s.
Alright, what to do now? There is an opportunity to place a small bet because this flop is more likely helping the player on the Big Blind and not the original aggressor from the Button, who is most of the times raising in such spots with 2 high cards. This move might be good against weak players, but not that smart and too risky against a decent player like J. Molander.
Therefore I decided to choose the most logical solution and checked against the raiser, as I missed the Flop.
He bet 400 into a pot of 875 and I got pretty good pot odds for 400 chips into a pot of 1275, which is actually 3 to 1. I did not know if that bet was supposed to be a continuation bet with nothing or a really strong hand. At the moment, I just had 2 Overcards and a backdoor flushdraw. I called reluctantly with a bad feeling, but with 2 hopes in mind:
a) I am improving my hand on the Turn
b) he also missed the flop and is going to check on the turn to give me another free card

The Turn delivered the 5 of spades. Now, that was a very risky card and a perfect spot to bluff him and take down the pot. There are 3 spades on the board and also a possible Straight. Now all I have to do is bet half the potsize and I will get the information, where I actually stand in that hand. But unfortunately I decided to check to him (huge mistake!) with the intention to fold if he is going to fire another bet. To my surprise, he also checked behind! Well, now I could be really sure that he might have a pretty strong hand like the Ace of Spades with a decent kicker. The river brought the 7d and this card is not likely to help my opponent and the time has come, to show some strength. I fired out a bet of 950 into the pot of 1675 to implicate a value bet! Unfortunately he called pretty fast and showed A4, so actually the pot has taken the wrong road and instead to me, the 3575 chips moved over to my opponent. I was impressed by that check on the turn by him, as it led me to the complete wrong interpretation and made me think that he was weak there and caused my Bluff on the River.
Thats how my unfortunate short stack situation started and I was never able to recover until my bust in level 7 (blinds 200/400) with Pocket 6s against AT.
Here are my results of the 5th EPT season so far:
- November 2008 EPT Budapest - 9th place = 33.000 Euro
- December 2008 EPT Prag – out in level 3
- January 2009 EPT Deauville – 28th place = 12.400 Euro
- February 2009 EPT Copenhagen – out in level 7
There are still 3 EPT Events remaining in this season: Dortmund, San Remo and Monte Carlo, which I am going to participate in all of them. I hope that the cards are on my side and I am also going to be in an excellent form.
Your Ivo Donev – The Chess Master