Suddenly from out of the starlit sky comes a sparkling object that seems to move in a most mysterious way. Moving from side to side it gets bigger and bigger. What could it be? The donks had never seen anything like this before. Then it seems to blink and dance before heading straight towards Donny, Dave, and Deirdre. CLUNK. “Could you open up the fu–ing window please?”

Sure enough it’s Donka Claus, and after he picks himself up from the floor, the donks do indeed open up the window. What an amazing sight. They have waited for this moment all their lives. “Why are you crying?” asks Donka Claus. “We lost all our money playing poker,” says Donny. “We kept calling with great hands like A3, and every suited connector you could think of, including 3-8o and T-2, but nothing seemed to work. I don’t know how we could have lost playing like that. Must have been a crooked game.”

The grizzled old donk replied “I am Donka Claus, your magical representative here on earth and I have remarkable powers. I can make it so that you can call huge raises with A3 against AK and hit your hand 70 per cent of the time. I can make sure that every time you call an all in raise with A4 off against KK you will win 70 per cent of those too. Not only that, I can enable any two rag cards to be no worse than 50-50 against even a hand as strong as aces. I can make it so that your opponents collapse on the floor in tears as you hit runner runner, or call a massive all in bet with one card to come and hit your 2 outer or flush draw on the river. I shall call this miracle “Internet Poker.” But there is one thing I cannot do as there is a limit to even my remarkable powers. I cannot make you average poker players. I am sorry.

The stunned donks sat there for a few seconds. Then Donka Claus continued, “but I can help you some more. There are 3 of you, so I can grant you 2 more wishes. I have almost limitless power. So choose wisely. “I would like a beer,” said Dave Donk. “And the remote control is bust, could you please change the tv channel?” asked Deirdre. “Both wishes granted,” said Donka, and with that he was away in a flash of light never to be seen by them again. But his legacy remains.

Before dipping their toes into the shark infested waters we are so accustomed to, most beginners will watch some sort of poker on television. Be it the World Series, the World Poker Tour, Poker after Dark, or what have you. Except for High Stakes Poker which can be seen on the Game Show Network (not sure about outside of the United States), they will be watching tournament play. Since the only way to win a tournament is to collect every chip in play, one needs to take a plethera of chances to be successful. More times than not, a newbie will see this style of play work on television and think that this is the way the game should always be played. However, most do not understand that tournament play and cash game play are two completely different animals. This leads me to a question I hear quite often from many players. Can this style of constant aggression be successful in the long run in a cash game setting?

In my opinion, constant aggression CAN be a very successful style of play. The reason the word “can” is in caps is because you have to know when and how to use this style in order for it to be successful. At a very tight table, constant aggression can play big dividends if used properly. If nobody is going to get involved unless they have a monster, constant agression will pick up uncontested blinds and usually get you into a heads-up situation preflop where, even the biggest piece of garbage you can find, can be as little as a 3 to 2 underdog given the right circumstances. If the table is this tight, you will also pick up many pots by leading out on “orphan flops” (an orphan flop is a ragged flop such as 9-5-2 where no decent hand could possibly hit it. This act is called “adopting an orphan”).

Now from what I have seen, the main problem is this. Most players can’t seem to find the line where CONSTANT aggression turns into RECKLESS aggression. If there’s no rhyme or reason to your agressiveness and you simple do it because you heard someone say you need to be agressive to win, you are being reckless. If you raised with J-8s in early position because you saw Johnny Chan do it on GSN the night before, you are being reckless. Now if you are good enough to set a gameplan to exploit a tight image you set for yourself and raise with J-8s, that’s a whole different story. You have a reasonable explanation for your action (it still may or may not be the best move in the world but you have an explanation.)

Even for those who do keep their agression under control, they have a hard time stopping. Any good player knows that if you don’t mix up your play style you are a dead duck. It’s simply human nature to keep doing something if it works. Don’t fix what don’t need fixing right? Think about it….. If you walked up to a money machine and put a $100 bill in, hit the return button, and got back $105, how many times would you repeat the process? Until the maching stopped giving you the extra 5 spot right? Who wouldn’t? But what happens if this works 5 or 6 times and then the machine takes your $100 and gives you nothing? How did you make out? Not very well right? Same with poker. If you don’t quit while your ahead, someone is going to pick you off and leave you with nothing.

Now I am not going to go into the money aspect. I am going to assume we are all smart enough to undererstand that, although it may be more difficult for some to play constantly aggressive when the stakes are higher, aggression at higher limits, in my opinion, seems to work a lot more efficiently.

FINAL THOUGHT….. When it comes to agression in the game of poker, it’s a necessary tool to be successful. In the words of the Roman poet Virgil— audentes fortunas juvat (fortune favors the bold). In my personal opinion, constant agression isn’t about sheer agression, anyone can play any two cards. It’s about knowing when to change gears properly before constant agression becomes reckless. As far as it being profitable, in the right hands, yes, a smart player would more than likely profit more from being more agressive than to just wait for cards and increase the luck factor.

MY TIP…. If you are a tighter player experimenting with a looser style of gameplay I would suggest 2 things. First, and probably most obvious, drop in stakes a little bit. This will be unfamiliar waters for a tighter player. You can do what I did… I went to the 1/2 cent No-Limit tables on Pokerstars and just went balls-to-the-wall with a couple of $1 buy-ins. Just try to get used to the feeling of being a maniac. Second, you need to remember not to tip off your monster hands in the process. If you are raising like a madman and all of the sudden limp in, you might as well staple the aces to your forehead. Remember, raises and re-raises won’t show as much strength when you constantly use them. Keep the amount of your raise the same, trust me, your opponents will only remember the 8-6 you re-raised with, not the aces.

I have always believed in being honest. I don’t lie to other people. For me, even worse than lying to other people, is lying to yourself. In poker you have to be realistic about your own ability. Sure at the table you can lie. It’s all part of the game. Maybe one of the reasons I love the game is because I can lie at the table and not feel bad about it.  But I don’t lie to myself about my ability. If you are not realistic about your ablilty you are a danger to yourself and your bankroll.

I don’t know how many times I have heard someone say “you gotta be confident, if you’re not confident you’re going to lose. Look at Phil Hellmuth. He’s confident. So are all the top players. You’ve got no chance if you’re not confident.”  Let’s look at this from a different angle. How many truly awful players have you seen who are convinced they’re tremendous players and are bursting with confidence? How many losers have you seen who are convinced that they’re just having a run of bad luck? How many DAG (dumb and aggressive) players have you seen at the table convinced they’re the new Gus Hansen? They go through hundreds, even thousands, in just one night. They have a pile of chips which is roughly worth about a tenth of what they paid to get them. They then proceed to tell people how to play. In fact how many poker players have you met who are convinced they are great, or at least very good? The answer is, just about all of them. Some of them are average, some of them are good or very good, a few of them are great, but most of them are awful.

So you have a handful of great players who are super confident, and hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of truly godawful players who are equally as confident. I think you can see the difference. The reason the great players are confident is simply because they have every right to be. Their confidence is based on results. You also have a ton of players who have absolutely no right to be confident at all. In fact they should be just the opposite. What they need is to be honest with themselves. They need to realise how much they need to improve to win. The more realistic people are about their ability, the more chance they have to improve. Confidence should be based on results, not self delusion.

I have seen really young players at the table with a ton of chips. They seem to know a lot about the game, and play with a freedom, that only players who haven’t experienced the downside of the game, can play. They talk to one another about all their finals tables. They love the game. They live and breathe it. Everything they do seems to earn them chips. They make it look so easy, but six months later they are gone. One ot two may move up in level. but I have rarely seen any of them on tv. Most just disappear, never to return. Why?

First of all, the game is never easy, even for the very best players. Some of the rookie players start with a lot of money or make a lot of money very quickly. For some, the game may seem easy, or be easy for a time. But after this, the cold reality of the game will hit home. Once the luck starts to even out, and these players experience the sort of run you and I know is inevitable, then you will see how good these new players really are. Some will make it. Some learn very quickly about the nature of the game. They will be able to play through the despair and desperation that continually going in with the best of it, but losing will bring. If they can get through that the first time it happens, they are in with a real chance. It is one of the biggest hurdles in any poker player’s career. Anyone who can’t play through this is unlikely to make it big.

I can’t. I just can’t take it. I know I can’t, and I have been honest with myself, and I shall be honest with you in saying I can’t. But I can handle it, and that is something different. What I mean by this is, that once things start going bad, I drop down to the lowest levels possible, and start to play very infrequently. This way I protect my bankroll and my sanity. It also means I continue to play poker. Everyone has to deal with it in their own way. I have adapted my poker game to my character, and this is the way I deal with the down side of the game. It means I keep playing because even in the worst years and worst luck, I don’t do enough damage to myself psychologically or to my bankroll,  that I can no longer play the game. It also means I am a winner in the long run. It means I will not be a big winner in the long run, but I will, at least, be a winner. It is my way of dealing with the downside. You have to find some way of dealing with it. My advice, for what it’s worth, is know that running bad is coming, and prepare yourself enough to know how you’re going to deal with it, when it hits. I also know enough about the game, to know how much better the top players are. I am realistic about my ability, so I play at a level where I can win a little rather than lose a lot.

One of the most annoying and gut wrenching things when you’re running bad, is to see some idiot at the table doing everything wrong and making a boat load of chips. They seem to go in behind on every hand, and yet still win. You start to say to yourself, “well maybe if I played like that…” But this can be very deceptive. This is losing poker. It is so tempting, but don’t forget we’re talking in the long term. Players do get very lucky in the short term. It is part of the game. That’s why good players make money. That’s why you see old and very experienced players still making money at the game. They make money out of people who have this get rich quick attitude. Because for every young hopeful who makes it to a finals table playing like he or she can never fold a hand, or never need to, there are a thousand others who have lost their money very quickly playing like this.

I don’t blame anyone who knows they are a really crap player, but wants to make it big, for playing like this. Be honest with yourself here too. If you can’t play well, it seems your best hope is to realise this, and play the game like bingo. Throw it all in when behind in a big tourney, suck out a few times, and you’re at a finals table. The great thing about the game as it is now is, you may never need to win at the game again. There are sponsors out there who are willing to pay high profile players according to how silly their hat is. Don’t forget the sponsors don’t care whether you win or not in the long term, they just care about how much tv time you get. This means you could be a truly average, or even very bad, losing player, but still win at poker, because of the money you are picking up from sponsors. As long as you have a gimmick, or wear silly clothes you have a real chance of being an overall winner in a game you’re lousy at. Yes, it’s an expensive long shot. You’ll probably lose, but the main thing is to know what you are trying to do and why.

But if you see players continually going in behind and sucking out, try and work out how much they have to spend on playing this way. Think about how many times you have gone in with all your chips as hot favourite. Now think of the times you have lost. Now think of the times you will lose as a big underdog. Frightening isn’t it? If it isn’t, it should be. Fear is in our psychological makeup for a very good reason. It protects us. It tries to curb our more adventurous and dangerous inclinations. This is present to protect the human race. Just as you need some adventurous spirit, you need some fear and respect for certain situations too. This is an inherent way of protecting you. It doesn’t mean you have to play frightened, but you have to use common sense. Use all your skills as a player to try and win. You do this by outplaying your opponent. This really doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need to think at the 3rd or 4th level here. Sometimes it can just be as simple as going in as 70 per cent favourite against your opponent’s 30 per cent. If you have done this, you have outplayed them.

If you’re not very good at the game and know it, but still want to enjoy playing then that’s fine too. Just accept that you’re not very good and you’re playing poker as a hobby. Hobbies cost money. But I think if you accept this, it will cost you less money and heartbreak in the long run. In fact, be realistic at whatever level you play. Most of the class players are always talking about how difficult the game is to master. There’s always something to learn. Accept this, be realistic about your ability, and you may end up learning a lot about the game, and be a better player for it.

Valery Ilikyan woofs it all in with Ac Qc in early position for 396,000. He runs straight into Michael Martin with Ad Kd. I make no apologies for quoting Vicki Coren a number of times in this post. She comes across as a female Gabe Kaplan. She has been around long enough to have been one of the first to play poker on tv, and her comments are usually spot on. “Ilikyan moving all in with 25 big blinds as he did there, the only thing wrong with that is that you’re guaranteed a call from a hand that beats you and you’re not going to get one from a hand that is losing to you.” Ilikyan is out in 7th.

Blinds are now 20,000/40,000 with antes of 4,000. Luca Pagano finds Jd Jh and raises to 130,000. Maxime Villemure has Ad Kc and reraises to 400,000. Pagano moves all in, Villemure calls, and there’s a dice roll for a pot of 3,454,000. An ace hits and Pagano goes from being a major contender to short stack. Vicki Coren says this in her summing up – “controlling the pot size is such an important skill in no limit holdem. Both of those players had a kind of a vulnerable hand. I’m not sure they needed to get 100 big blinds into the pot before the flop was even dealt. You know, the casino’s not closing. They haven’t got a train to catch” and “this is a very well structured tournament. There’s room, there’s space to breath, see cards, make decisions. It’s not all about shoving it all in with fingers crossed.”

Blinds 25,000/50,000 with 5000 ante. Denes Kalo who hasn’t played a hand seriously for the whole of the final day so far raises to 175,000. Pagano who has Ah Js moves all in for 1,190,000. Kalo calls, and it isn’t exactly a major revelation when he reveals a far superior hand. His Qs Qh holds up and Pagano is out in 6th. This was his 9th cash on the EPT.

Glen Chorny raises to 125,000 with Jd Jh. Michael Martin calls with Qc Td and the flop comes 6h 7c Th. Chorny bets 225,000. Vicki Coren : “Martin doesn’t have to go broke here, but he’s got to lose some chips….just don’t make it all that’s all I would say…he looks a member of the all in generation though.” Not surprisingly Martin moves virtually all of his chips in – 675,000. There’s no way he’s folding. Chorny puts him all in for the rest, Martin calls and is out.

Vicki Coren : “You know a well structured tournament like this, if you’re not in bad shape, feel your way with a little bet…the 600,000 was too much…if he makes it 2 or 300,000 more he’s asking a question, and then he’s got to listen to the answer.”

Chip count.
1. Glen Chorny 4,550,000
2. Maxime Villemure 3,735,000
3. Denes Kalo 2, 435, 000
4. Isaac Baron 2,110,000

Glen Chorny raises to 125,000 with As 3s. Denes Kalo has a dominating hand of Ac Qc but just calls. The flop is 8s 4s Ad. Kalo checks his AQ from the blind. Chorny bets 175,000 and Kalo was clearly setting a trap rather than just being cautious. He raises to 500,000. Chorny asks Kalo “how much do you have behind you?” then after receiving the answer immediately announces “all in.” Kalo calls in an instant. There is no suckout and he wins a huge 4,575,000 pot to become the new chip leader.

Vicki Coren : “Why does Chorny ask how many chips he’s got, get the reply “two million,” and move in?… If the guy says 600,000, move in… If he answers two million, I mean don’t bother asking if you’re moving in anyway…they’re not using the chips correctly…you ask the question how many chips have you got, to find out if it’s a good idea to move in – and then you shovel in two and a half million and gamble over two cards.”

Blinds are 40,000/80,000 with antes of 10,000. Villemure raises to 220,000 with Qc Qh. Baron reraises to 650,000 with 8d 8c. Villemure moves all in. Baron calls. Once again there is no suckout and Villemure wins a 3,970,000 pot.

With As Qd Baron raises to 220,000. Chorny just calls with As Ad. The flop comes 6s 2c 7s. Chorny bets 335,000. Vicky Coren says she wouldn’t blame Baron for reraising here but “he doesn’t need to shovel in two million.” Baron takes a while to consider. Chorny calls for time. Baron had been at the table a short time before when Chorny had a massive hand and then called for the clock. So he should remember this. But no, Baron reraises the best part of 2 million. He goes all in for 1,825,000. The aces hold up and Baron finishes 4th.

Vicky Coren : “I wanna bang these these kids’ heads together. Everything about that is wrong. He’s missed the tell of the clock, and the raise is too big.” Card Player’s Online Card Player Of The Year is out, making a typical online play.

Probably the three tightest players at the table are now left with Kalo being the tightest of the three. This next hand is one of the best of the tourney. Maxime Villemure calls on the button with Tc 8h. Denes Kalo checks in the BB with 6s 2s. The flop comes 7h 7c Js. Kalo checks, Villemure bets 250,000 and Kalo reraises to 580,000. Wow, talk about a gear change. Brilliantly Villemure reraises the tightest guy all in, and Kalo has to fold

Blinds 60,000/120,000 with antes of 10,000. After that brilliant play Villemure deserves a little luck. He calls in the SB with Qh 8h. Chorny checks in the BB with Kc Qs. The flop comes Th Ad 4s. They both check. Js comes on 4th. This gives the straight to Chorny, but it’s Villemure who bets 200,000. Chorny calls, and a disastrous 9d hits on the river giving Villemure the wrong end of the straight. Villemure Bets and Chorny moves all in. Villemure can’t possibly put his opponent on a higher straight. Villemure calls and is out in 3rd.

It’s all over bar the shouting. Chorny now has a massive 11,200,000 chips against Kalo’s 1,400,000. First hand heads up Chorny is in the SB with 2h 4d. He folds and passes the chips over to Kalo. Next hand Kalo raises with Kh Qd and gets reraised all in by Chorny with Ah 5h. An ace and a queen hit on the flop, but the best pre flop hand holds up and Chorny is the champion.

Probably the three tightest players out of the final 3 tables finished in the top 3. I am not a big Antonio Esfandiari fan, at least I didn’t use to be. I just thought he played some tremendous poker. Glen Chorny either raised with big pairs and big aces, or slow played big pairs and big aces. He did play very tight. It’s just he kept getting great hands. I was delighted to see the big overbet players getting caught and knocked out. That’s the beauty of slow blinds. A lot of very good players make it to the final stages of these EPT events, and that can only be good for the game.

Prize money for the top players was as follows. The amount is in euros.
1. Glen Chorny (Canada)  2,020,000
2. Denes Kalo (Hungary)  1,179,000
3. Maxime Villemure (Canada)  715,000
4. Isaac Baron (USA)  589,000
5. Michael Martin (USA)  421,000
6. Luca Pagano (Italy)  337,000
7. Valery Ilikyan  (Armenia)  253,000
8. Antonio Esfandiari (USA)  168,000

Let me start this blog by introducing myself. My name is John (although most people call me “bigdaddy”) and I have been playing poker for almost 10 years. I started playing the 1-3 stud games in the casinos in Atlantic City. I spent a lot of money learning the ins and outs of stud poker but after a while, the investment was well worth it. The inception of the “poker boom” sent me looking for the greener pastures they label “The Cadillac of Poker”. By this time poker had surfaced online and I wasn’t exactly confident with online poker for my own reasons, so it was another investment learning the ins and outs of Texas Hold-Em in Atlantic City. Luckily, I was able to catch on much quicker than I did playing stud, so after turning a decent profit in the first 12 months, I decided to try it for a living. That lasted for a little over a year. What happened? Two words…. Bankroll Management. I knew how to play, but didn’t have separate funds put aside to pay the bills, everything came from one place. Needless to say, every losing session hurts that much more when you put yourself in this type of position. I didn’t handle the downswing very well and eventually called a quits before I completely destroyed myself. Since then, I have been playing semi-professionally (been about 4 years now). I don’t play for extremely big money (usually no higher than 3-6NL) and I don’t play much online (maybe 8-10 hours a week).

So why do I think my advice will help you? Because I have done a little bit of everything. I have played Hold-Em, Stud, Omaha, Draw,and many split games proficiently. I have played as a hobby, professionally, and semi-professionally. I have succeeded, and I have failed. No matter what game I have played for whatever reason, I have learned something every step of the way. Am I the best player in the world? No. But after 10 years I am still here with a pretty decent profit to show for my efforts. I am a little old-fashioned and on the conservative side, still living by the “penny saved is a penny earned” motto. So I think I can help you out if you have a question or two you need help with. You may agree with me or disagree with me, there are always more than one way to skin a cat, but give me a chance. I can promise you won’t be sorry.

Blinds are 8000/16000 with a 2000 ante. Glen Chorny with Kh Qh raises to 42,000. Robin Keston (who is so poker mad he gave his daughter the middle name of “Omaha”) raises on the button to 135,000 with Ah 7c. The flop comes 3h 4s 8h. Keston bets 150,000 and Chorny moves all in. Keston folds.

Oyvind Riisem finishes in 15th after pushing all in holding As Ts with a flop of 8s 3s Qd, against Chorny who is holding top pair with Kh Qs. The flush draw plus overcard misses and Chorny takes a pot of 1,676,000.

Thomas Boekhoff is short stacked in the BB and moves all in with 7c 7h against Antonio Esfandiari with Ad Js. Antonio hits his ace and Boekhoff is out in 14th.

Joe Hachem gets unlucky on this one. Maxime Villemure raises to 52,000 with 7h 5h and Joe calls with Tc 9c in the BB. The flop is 3c Ts 5c, giving Villemure middle pair, but Hachem has top pair plus the outside straight draw. They both check. (I am surprised Hachem didn’t bet here.) 3h comes on 4th and Hachem does bet here. He bets 60,000 which Villemure calls. 5d comes on the river and Hachem checks. He knows his opponent called with something and this might just have hit  trips. Villemure bets 190,000 into a 235,000 pot. Hachem thinks for a while, then reluctantly calls. “Nice hand buddy,” says the slightly miffed Australian.

Stig Top Rasmussen with 77 fails to donk out Michael Martin’s aces. Martin doubles up.

With blinds of 10,000/20,000 and 2000 ante, Maxime Villemure raises to 52,000 with Jh Th. Glen Chorny just calls with Qc Qh, and so does Antonio Esfandiari with 9c 9d. The flop comes Jc 2h 7h giving Villemure top pair plus a flush draw. Antonio is first to act and bets 110,000 into a 178,000 pot. Villemure calls and Chorny moves all in. Antonio folds, and Villemure goes into contemplation. It’s one of those moments when the ones who don’t care about the money and just want the glory tend to be separated from the rest. Villemure folds after giving it much consideration.

Another strange hand this one – Isaac Baron just calls with Ah Qs in early position. Antonio Esfandiari raises to 65,000 with Kh 6h. Baron just calls. The flop is Ts 4h 4s and it’s Antonio who bets – 156,000. Baron rubs his head and folds.

This is the second hand that decimates Antonio Esfandiari. He has fought his way back after the suckout by Rasmussen earlier on but I would suggest, once again, he really has bad luck here. Antonio Esfandiari raises with Ks Jc to 60,000. Glen Chorny once again just calls with queens. He has Qh Qc. (Just a little side note. Now if only I could slowplay big pairs as effectively as this. Me, I usually get sucked out on when both the ace and the king hit.) The flop comes Ts Jh Qs. This gives Antonio an outside straight plus middle pair. Chorny has trips. Chorny bets 75,000 which Esfandiari calls. Jd comes on 4th giving trips to Antonio plus the outside straight draw, but Chorny has the full house. Antonio is drawing dead to a jack. Chorny bets 180,000 into a 312,000 pot and Antonio calls. 5s hits on the river and Chorny bets 450,000. Antonio tells Chorny that he’s either bluffing or has the house. He calls and Chorny takes down a massive pot. Interesting note on this one – just before this hand was played, Gus Hansen had walked up to Esfandiari to put his arm around him, and tell him that he was the best player at the table. (Also, probably because it was the only way he could get on camera.)

Robin Keston has gone from chip leader to short stack because he has barely seen a hand all day. He moves all in with pocket 6’s but finds Isaac Baron with pocket jacks, and Keston is out in 12th.

Joe Hachem is the last casualty of the penultimate day when he finishes 11th. He has 550,000 left and raises to 60,000 with Td 6s. Isaac Baron calls with Jd Ts. When the flop comes 4c Tc 3s there’s no way out for Joe. Hachem bets 120,000, Baron reraises all in and Joe calls. They should be down to a final table of 8 but it has taken so long to get down to 10 that they have to start the next day with that number. The two casualties before the finals table are Stig Top Rasmussen, who finishes 10th, and Henrik gwinner, who finishes 9th. They both take home 126,000 euros as compensation.

Starting the final day Antonio Esfandiari is the short stack with 501,000. He is soon all in with A8 against Luca Pagano’s AJ and is out. “I looked down at an A8 and forgot about the fact that I had just realised that he did have a hand, and still decided to move in like a donkey.”

Blinds are now 15,000/30,000 with a 3000 ante. Maxime Villemure raises to 80,000 with 5c 5d and gets called by Glen Chorny with 8h 8d. The flop comes 3c Th Ts. Villemure checks and so does Chorny. 9c hits on 4th and after Villemure’s check, Chorny bets 81,000. Villemure calls. 2s hits on the river and Chorny bets 225,000. Villemure goes through agonies in trying to decide whether to call. It is Valery Ilikyan who calls “time” on Villemure, not his opponent. “Hey it’s the first time I take time,” says a clearly irritated Villemure. He calls.

After this the leaderboard is as follows.
1. Glen Chorny 3,599,000
2. Isaac Baron 2,770,000
3. Luca Pagano 2,079,000
4. Valery Ilikyan 1,225,000
5. Denes Kalo 1,063,000
6. Michael Martin 936,000
7. Maxime Villemure 729,000

Instant Karma maybe? Valery Ilikyan raises to 87,000 with 9d 9h, and surprise surprise, Maxime Villemure looks down at Ad Kd. Villemure moves all in for 731,000. Ilikyan doesn’t take too long to call the extra 644,0000. An ace hits on the flop, which means Villemure doubles through and becomes a strong contender once again, while Ilikyan is now short stacked.

There were some strange things happening at this year’s EPT finals in Monte Carlo. The event took place between April 12th to April 17th. Given the time players have to get to the later stages, with a slow blind structure, one or two seemed to be more than happy to risk it all on a 50-50. Those that got too pushy too soon ended up on the rail, with possibly the two tightest players ending up as the winners.

842 players entered, each paying 10,000 euros, with the winner receiving 2.02 million euros. Down to the last 39 players, there were some very familiar names still involved. Antonio Esfandiari was chip leader with 1,198,000 chips. Also still in the tournament were Freddie Deeb, Raymond Rahme (who finished 3rd in the WSOP Main Event 2007), Luca Pagano (who has cashed more times (9) than anyone else in the short history of the EPT), Robin Keston (second chip leader at this stage),  Isaac Baron (Card Player’s Online Card Player Of The Year – which meant he would have no problem going in behind and sucking out), and Joe Hachem. Quite a field for the final stages. Here are a few of the hands.

With blinds of 3000/6000 and a 500 ante, Thomas Boekhoff raises to 16,000 with As Ts. John Dwek calls in the BB with Jc 9c and the flop comes Ks 5c Ac. Dwek checks and Boekhoff bets 22,000. Dwek moves all in for another 121,000 and Boekhoff makes a great call, presumably putting Dwek on exactly what he had. 4th and river come 2d 9s, so Boekhoff is rewarded for his judgement. Dwek finishes 34th.

Freddie Deeb finds himself short stacked and moves in for his last 70,000. He is unlucky enough to run into Michael Martin with Jd Jh and Deeb finishes 30th. Deeb comments afterwards that he just didn’t find any cards.

Soon after that comes a very strange one. It’s folded around to Luca Pagano who calls in the SB with Jh 9h, and Pablo Ubierna checks with 7d 2s. The flop is Jd Tc Jc. Ubierna bets 15,000 and gets raised to 34,000 by Pagano. So Pagano just lost his customer who’s now going to fold rather than bluff again on 4th. Except….Ubierna raises all in for 128,000. As far as bright ideas go this ranks alongside invading Russia in wintertime. Pagano calls and Ubierna is out. One of the commentators quips “surely there’s someone playing in this tournament that actually wants to win the prize money rather than get to the buffet.”

Down to the last 24 the chip leaders are
1. Antonio esfandiari 1,626,000
2. Robin Keston 970,000
3. Isaac Baron 850,000
4. Maxime Villemure 760,000
5. Denes Kalo 709,000
6. Stig Top Rasmussen 655,000
7. Henrik Gwinner 628,000
8. Joe Hachem 625,000
8. David Miara 625,000

Antonio Esfandiari then plays a number of pots with Stig Top Rasmussen that has a large bearing on the tournament. With blinds of 5000/10000 and a 1000 ante Antonio raises to 31,000 with Kd Js. Rasmussen calls with 5s 5d and they see a flop of Ah 7s 7d. They both check. 6s comes on 4th. They both check. 5h comes on the river and Rasmussen bets 65,000. Esfandiari calls and Rasmussen takes down a nice pot of 205,000.

Rasmussen with Ad Jh raises to 30,000. Esfandiari with Ac 9d reraises to 115,000. Rasmussen folds.

Esfandiari has Qh Qs in early position. He fingers his chips. Rasmussen in the BB says “don’t even think about it.” Esfandiari just calls, clearly to trap. Ilikyan limps in with Ac 9s. Habib in the SB calls with 3d 2h. Rasmussen thinks for a minute. The pot is 47,000. “All in” announces Rasmussen. He has just reraised another 704,000. Hang on, is this an online freeroll or some $1 online MTT?! Esfandiari clearly has called to trap, but I don’t think anyone would have expected this. I have to say if I were in Esfandiari’s position I might well fold here, but he is made of stronger stuff. He thinks for a bit then calls, as he knows he is well ahead. The ace of spades hits on 4th and Esfandiari’s stack is decimated. He does actually make it to the finals table but is the shortest stack there with a little over 500,000. Rasmussen, thankfully doesn’t get to the finals table. He goes out in 10th. Going, going, donk!

Vicki Coren, who was commentating added her own insight – ” Stig played the hand really moronically. It was as though Antonio was walking along and Laurel and Hardy were trying to get a piano up a building and it fell on an innocent passer by. Esfandiari’s not at fault. He’s limped. Rasmussen has moved in for an INEXPLICABLE amount of chips. He could try and nick it for 150,000. He’s moved in 700,000, which is an amount that is going to get called by a hand that’s got him completely dominated. You know I think the man must be drunk.”

I know some people hate Antonio, but I find it sad that this sort of play gets rewarded so richly in the short run. He played really well for several days only to have this happen. He did nothing wrong but sometimes the game rewards the wrong people. I kind of like him and think his game is tightening up and improving. He didn’t deserve that.

Here’s another. Blinds are now 6000/12000 Ante 1000. It’s folded all the way round to the SB. In the SB Rasmussen calls with Ac 3d. Esfandiari is in the BB and raises 40,000 more playing 5c 4h. Rasmusson doesn’t look too comfortable. He thinks for a while then reraises 110,000 more to 162,000. Antonio thinks for even longer. He then reraises to 392,000. Rasmussen folds. I thought this was a great reply by Antonio, especially so soon after what had happened to him against the same player. Please note, Antonio haters, that out of 4 major hands played, Rasmussen folded the best hand twice. The one time the chips all went in Antonio was big favourite, and on the other one Rasmussen made the call when his small pair was ahead. But I have a strong suspicion Antonio would have made a bet on the river which may have got through if trips hadn’t hit. But even if you give that one to Rasmussen, Antonio played those four hands pretty well, outplaying his opponent on three of them.

Down to the last 16 the stacks are as follows.
1. Robin Keston 1,470,000
2. Isaac Baron 1,370,000
3. Stig Top Rasmussen 1,340,000
4. Antonio Esfandiari 1,080,000
5. Glen Chorny 1,015,000
6. Oyvind Riisem 920,000
7. Joe Hachem 900,000
8. Denes Kalo 820,000

Don’t be shy, give it a try!

Just remember, all new members and posted comments require admin approval first, so please don’t feel denied if you don’t see your commment/post right away.