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