EPT Prague - 20th place - €12,650

Another deep, yet disappointing finish. I came into Day 2 with just over $36,000 in chips. I took down a few small and medium pots early on to boost me up to almost $70,000. Then came the first big pot of the day for me:

Blinds $600/$1200. Marcus Golser limps on the button, SB completes, I make it $4000 from the BB. Golser calls, SB folds. Flop K99. I bet $6000, Golser calls. Turn J. I check, Golser bets $8000, I call. River 7. I check, Golser bets $19,000. I tank forever, and call with AA. He shows QT for the turned gutterball.

That brings me back down to $35,000. Very next orbit, I get 44 in the BB. German player makes it $4000 to go, one caller in the cut-off, and I call. Flop comes KJ4 rainbow. I check, German bets $6000, cut-off folds, I call. Turn 5, putting 2 hearts on board. I lead out for $8000, German pushes all in, I insta-call. The player shows K9 offsuit, to leave him drawing dead, which was about the only way I could win an all-in for the rest of the tournament.

I proceeded to lose the next 6 races, AK vs 55, 8c7c vs KK on a T64 with 2 clubs, AQ vs TT, Ah5h vs 85 on a 985 with 2 hearts, and AQ vs QQ blind vs blind. Thankfully, each race was never for more than half of my stack and I always seemed to recover. Then I finally got AA, and I was so sure I was going to double up! I was playing super aggressive, when a player opened to $5500 from UTG. I push out a $20,000 stack from mid-position, and it folds back to him. I had around $120,000 at the time, and my opponent pushed all in. I snap called and flipped over my Aces. He smiles at me... wth, why are you smiling?



AA vs AA, the story of my day continues! I flop a runner-runner flush draw to make things a little interesting, but that's as far as I got. I played pretty well for the rest of the day, winning a few more pots and picking off a couple of bluffs. Then came what is probably the weirdest hand I have ever played in my life. I had only been at the table for a few orbits and hadn't shown down a hand yet.

Blinds are $2000/$4000, and I have around $230,000. UTG limps, I complete from the SB with 7c5c, and the BB checks. Flop comes 943 with two hearts. I flop a gutshot, and I decide I can push the BB off of any hand less than 2 pair. It's also very unlikely that UTG limped with one of those cards. I lead out for $6000, BB folds, UTG quickly calls. I feel like he would have raised with an overpair or a flush draw. Turn is a 2, which I liked, not only because it now gave me an open-ended straight draw, but also because it completes the 65 straight, in case he had me on that. Now I lead out for $18,000 and again he calls me! I say to myself, okay, he MUST have me on the flush draw then. The river is the 2 of hearts, completing the flush on a board of 94322. Now I think for a bit, and I bet $36,000. He insta-calls me. I say "Good call", and I muck my cards. He shows AQ spades. Ace high. I immediately looked over my shoulder to make sure nobody had seen my cards. It was the last hand of the day, and I just sat there for a few minutes wondering what just happened. I later read online that he had been playing like that all day, I wish I had known beforehand!

I went into Day 3 with just over $170,000 in chips and 32 players remaining. I won the first couple of pots with continuations bets on the flop, when the first interesting hand of the day came up.

Blinds $2500/$5000, it folds all the way around the me in the SB. I complete with 9s6s and the BB looks at his cards and raises another $10,000. He has around $200,000 in chips, and I make the call. The flop comes QQ6 with two clubs. I check, he bets $18,000. I really felt like I had the best hand at this point, but he knows I will bluff at this flop, so I don't want him coming back over top of me and forcing me to make a super tough decision. I decide to flat call. Turn is a red 8. I check again, and he checks behind. River is another 6, giving me the bottom boat. Now I try to figure out how much I can make from his Ace high. It also looks like I could have missed my flush. I fire out $50,000. He calls fairly quickly. I show my hand, and he flashes an Ace. This boosts me up to almost $300,000.

I went card-dead for a couple of hours, losing blinds and a few missed flops to drop down to $250,000. Then came the crucial hand. Blinds $3000/$6000, it folds to Marcus Golser in the cut-off, who has been opening a lot of pots. He makes it $18,000 and I look down at A3 in the BB. Normally this is an easy muck, but I decide to make a stand this time, and lead out on almost any flop for around $30,000. We see a flop of AT2 with two hearts, and I just happen to flop top pair. I lead out for $35,000 and Marcus thinks for around 10 seconds, and then moves all in! We count it out, and it's almost $160,000 more to call. With me flat calling his cut-off raise, Marcus knows that I don't have a big Ace, because I would have re-raised preflop (of course it's possible that I just decided to get tricky with a big Ace, but very unlikely). This means I can only have the following hands: a weak Ace, a Ten, a flush draw, or complete air. None of which can call another $160,000, as not even the flush draw has proper odds. Marcus is a hugely successful $200/$400 PL Omaha player, so this guy is definitely capable of thinking at this level on the fly. Also, I felt like Marcus would just flat call my bet if he did have a semi-strong hand like AJ or A9 and down. After a good 5 minutes of working this out in my head, with the cameras all around the table, I make the call. He flips up AK, and I'm in dire straits. I turn a 4 to give me a gut-shot, but I could not hit my 3 or 5 on the river, and that crippled me down to around $40,000.

I pick up QQ the very next hand and move all in, hoping that everyone thinks I'm tilting, but they all fold. Now I have $50,000. I fold a few more hands, when the following hand comes up. It didn't involve me, but it was a very interesting hand, and it's also directly related to the next hand I played. I won't say the player's name out of respect, but it was a pro.

It folds to Marcus Golser in the cut-off, and he raises to $18,000. Pro calls on the button. SB folds, and I fold my BB. Flop comes 654 with two spades. Marcus bets $30,000, Pro tanks for so long that Marcus calls the clock on him. Pro eventually calls. Turn is a red A. Marcus checks, Pro tanks forever again. He bets $50,000 and Golser quickly calls. River is the A of spades. Marcus leads out for $80,000 and Pro quickly moves all-in for over $400,000 having Marcus covered. Now its Marcus' turn to go into the think-tank and he ends up calling all in for around $350,000 with AQ. Pro says "Nice hand" and shows JJ!? In what was by far the biggest hand of the tournament to date, it was basically a gift to Golser.

The very next hand it folds to said player, and he moves all in for his last $50,000. I look down at AT in my SB, which is huge against his range right now. I call all-in for $45,000 and he shows TT. I lose my 8th all-in in a row, and it's good night for me. Eliminated in 20th place for around $18,000 CAD. I have mixed feelings about the tournament. I ran super bad the last 2 days, but that's no excuse because I still had a decent stack to play with. Fold A3 preflop you donkey!!! Looking back, it was actually a 2 outer for me to get stacked on that hand, because if the flop is air, I push him off his hand, and if he hits the King, I just fold to his push. Even so, I'd rather be defending my blinds with 43 than A3.

I think I'm going to make a couple of small adjustments to my game for the next tournament. I am still trying to decided whether to play EPT Bahamas or the Aussie Millions again in Melbourne, which I final tabled this past January. I'm leaning towards the EPT, the decision will have to be made by the end of this week.

I now leave you with my exit interview from EPT Prague that I did with the very chill guys from Siktilt.com for the EPT website: Karam v Golser

EPT Prague - Day 1

After much thought, I decided to come to Prague instead of Vegas. Despite how much I love Vegas, the EPT is what made me. It's also nice to see other parts of the world, and dozens of people have told me that I shouldn't miss out on Prague. Anyways, I'm in Vegas for over 2 months total a year.

We arrived in Prague on Sunday morning, and the tournament was starting on Monday at noon. Soon after we arrived, I went downstairs to register for the tournament. I was told that they weren't accepting registration until 6:00 PM. Fine, so we went back up to our room. We headed back down the tournament area at 6:00, and I waited in a huge line for almost 45 minutes. By the time I got to the front of the line, they say registration is only for the super satellite, main event registration will start at 8:00 PM. Ugh. So we head over to the nearby restaurant and have some dinner while we wait. Finally, 8:00 rolls around and we head downstairs yet again. I can see there's only about 10 people in line, which is some good news. I get to the desk and tell them I want to register for the main event. Now they say they aren't taking any registrations today, because they aren't sure how many online qualifiers there were and they need to get that all sorted out, so I will have to come back tomorrow to register at 10:00 AM.

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My first bad beat of the tournament, and it hasn't even started yet! There was originally a 500 player limit, but because of the mix-up, they promised that nobody would be should out of the tournament. Despite all of that, the EPT is still my favourite circuit to play on. The atmosphere is unmatched, and I don't know what it is, but man these Europeans take their poker seriously. Poker is also 100x more mainstream in Europe than it is in Canada.

I got to my table on Day 1a, and I only recognized one player at my table, a very successful online player named Shaun Deeb. I don't mind having one or two strong players at the table, since we usually stay away from each other and just pick on the weaker players early on. The good thing was that he wasn't directly on my left, he was 4 seats over.

We started with $10,000 and $25/$50 blinds. I got involved in the first 2 hands at the table. The first hand, I was dealt KJs in the SB. It folds to the button, who makes it $150 to go. I call, and the BB folds. Flop comes Q99, giving me a gutshot. I check, he bets $200, I make it $600, he folds. Very next hand, I'm dealt JTs on the button. It folds to me, I make it $150, BB calls. I flop the nuts, KQ9. The BB leads out for $200, and I decide to play a big pot or nothing right away. I make it $800. She quickly calls. Turn is an off suit Ace. Once again she leads out, $500 this time. I quickly raise to $2500, and she calls just as fast. River is a Jack, making the board KQ9AJ. I was originally planning on pushing all in, but this was a very bad river for me. She checks, I look over at her stack, and she has around $6000 left. I decide to bet $4000, so that she could call without being knocked out of the tournament. She calls, I show my straight, and she mucks her hand. Just like that I am up to $18,000.

I grinded my way up to around $22,000 when an interesting hand came up. Blinds $50/$100, cut-off raises to $350. I call on the button with KT, one other caller. Flop comes T93, with 2 clubs. I'm holding the Kc. The original raiser bets $800, I call, other player folds. Turn is the 5c, giving me the K high flush draw to go with my top pair. Now my opponent leads out for $1500. I now had him on QQ or JJ, probably with a club. That gives me 13 or 14 outs, I call. River is an offsuit Ace. I can tell he hates the card, and he leads out for $1500 again. I look at his stack, he has around $4500 more behind. I could easily have been calling with the Ac also, and I move in. He tanks forever, and ends up calling me. I say, "Nice call, Queens?". He replies, "Jacks", and flips them over. I say "It's good", and I toss my cards into the muck. Then the dealer takes my cards out of the muck, and says "You have to show your cards." I'm obviously not in the greatest mood having just lost the big pot, I say "Excuse me? I mucked my hand". He says, "No, when there's an all in, you have to show your cards." I say, "There's no action left, he showed the winning hand and I mucked my cards. No other players asked to see my hand, so muck my cards." He repeats the same thing again, and I ask him to call the floor over. The floor repeats the same thing, that if players are all in, the hands must be shown. I ask him to explain the reasoning behind it, and he says it's a universal rule around the world. LOL. Trust me, I've been all in before in tournaments and mucked my hands, many times. :P One of the players chimes in, "They have to do that to prevent collusion, you could be dumping chips." Common sense, people! I say, "Then why don't you have to show your cards after every bet and call on every river, since the caller could be dumping chips and mucking?" He scratches his head and murmurs something I couldn't make out. Maybe I should let things like that go, but I just don't think a dealer should be getting involved after the hand is clearly over.

Now I was down to around $14,000. I don't think I played that hand badly, but my opponent made a great call. I did play 2 hands badly though. Well, one was a bad play, and one was a live "misclick". With the blinds at $150/$300, it folds to me in late position and I make it $800 with T9s. Shaun Deeb is the only caller, from the BB. Flop is great, 987r. Shaun checks, and I bet $1000. Shaun calls. Turn is a T, giving me two pair, but putting a 4 card straight on the board. Shaun checks, and I check behind. River is a 3. Shaun checks again, and here is where I should have probably checked behind. Against any other player at the table, I would have checked. Then I got to thinking, if Shaun called me on the flop he might have a 9 or 10, and why would he check a straight twice in a row? Also, Shaun is smart enough to call me with one pair here, because if I bet I probably have a straight or nothing. I bet $1000, and after a pause, Shaun makes it $4000. ughhh. I start scolding myself aloud, I just can't see him checking the straight twice, and I call. He says "Nuts", and shows QJ for the turned gutshot straight. He played it really well, but I shouldn't have bet there.

I grind back up to around $13,000. With the blinds at $200/$400, Shaun opens for $1100 in mid position. It folds to me in the BB, and I look down at AK. I re-raise to $3800, and Shaun moves all in. He barely has me covered, maybe $2000 more than me. I call, and he shows 87 of clubs. I was happy to see that, but I would have rather seen AQ or AJ of course. Flop comes AK4, but with 2 clubs, giving him a flush draw. Turn is an offsuit 6, also giving him a gutshot straight draw. River is an offsuit 3, and I double up to around $26,000.

Very next hand, I'm dealt AJs in the SB. It folds to a fairly aggressive young guy on the button, and he makes it $1000. Now, I'm still stacking my chips up, and I make it $3000 to go. He calls after a short while. Flop comes K42. I look over at his stack, and it looks like he has around $7000 left. I figure he would have moved all in preflop with AK, and it looks like I might have AK. So I just say "I'm all in". He insta calls me with AA. And that's not the bad part. He pushes his chips in, and pulls forth a little stack of $1000 chips that were behind his stack of $100 chips. So now he has $15,000 instead of $7000. Damn! If I knew that, I could have bet out $4000-$5000, and then obviously folded to any action, and saved $10,000! Also, it looked clear how many chips he had, and I didn't want to ask for a count, because I feel it gives away some weakness.

And just like that, I'm back down to $10,000. That's the first time I ever misread somebody's chip count, but I'll always pay more attention to that from now on. I don't play any hands for a couple of orbits, giving myself some time to cool off. With the blinds still at $200/$400, I get A9 in my BB. It folds around to the cut-off, who makes it $1500 to go. I flat call. Flop is A93 with 2 hearts. I go for the check-raise, but he checks behind. Turn is the 6h, putting 3 hearts on board. I lead out for $2500, and he pushes all-in for $6000 total. I call, and he shows me AA, which leaves me drawing dead. That leaves me with $2500, on life support.

I fold a couple of hands, and then I find 66 in mid position. I push all in and I get one caller with AT. The board comes KK9K3 to double me up to almost $6000. I proceeded to go all-in for what seemed like 5 or 6 hands in a row (probably folded 1 or 2 hands in between), but nobody called me and I was up to $15,000. I then made a couple of well-timed re-raises in the next orbit, and also picked up the blinds a few more times, and just like I was up to $27,000 from $6000 without seeing a flop! A few hands later I pick up AKs in mid-position, and I just have a good feeling because I know nobody is going to believe me this time. Blinds are $300/$600 and I make it $2000 to go. The button moves all in for around $10,000 total, blinds fold, and I quickly call. He shows KQ. The board bricks out for both of us and I take down the pot to bring my stack up to around $38,000. We only play 5 more hands before the end of the night, and I lost some blinds and antes to end the day at $36,700 in chips, good enough for 21st place going into Day 2.

What a roller-coaster of a day! I should go get some sleep now. Ship the Guinness World Record for longest blog post ever.