The 285,000 Euro Glance

When poker is played at the very highest level, it is the little things that make the difference between success and failure.



Take the inaugural €10,000 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, earlier this year. We were hoping that the event – Europe's biggest-ever poker tournament – would provide something special, a high-quality poker game, deservedly won with excellent play. Rob Hollink did not disappoint; the Dutchman demonstrated the level of skill that separates first place (€635,000) from second place (€350,000).



To tell the story of a remarkable play, I sought out Hollink's reluctant victim, American student Brandon Schaefer. Schaefer, 24, who has postponed his MBA course in San Diego to concentrate on poker, was on a roll going into the EPT Grand Final last March, having won the French EPT event in Deauville the previous month. He then blitzed the 211-player field in Monte Carlo to arrive at the final table with the chip lead.



In conversation with Brandon at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas last summer, you couldn't help but notice the contrast between his modest and affable manner and his aggressive playing style. Looking back on his head-to-head battle with Hollink, Brandon was generous in his praise of Hollink as he recalled every detail of the hand that brought his own personal juggernaut to a grinding halt.



"Rob, in my opinion, was the best player at the table by far," he said. "He's been a professional for 20-odd years, and it was always going to be tough when it got down to just the two of us. I couldn't afford to be scared, however, and I decided my best strategy was to play very aggressively. To begin with, we were about even in chips at around 1.1 million each. He won a few pots, and then I got superaggressive, winning six out of seven pots to gain a chip lead approaching 2-to-1. I should have been content where I was.



"I thought I had a read on Rob. If he had a strong hand, he kind of looked away, off into the distance, but when he was weak or nervous, he looked at me for a second, just a glance, and then looked in the other direction. When we both saw a flop of Q-J-6, I spotted Rob's nervous glance, and raised with 9 high. Sure enough, Rob folded.



"Next came the crucial hand. I raised with 4-3 on the button – I was raising everything on the button – and Rob called. The flop came 10-10-3. He checked, I bet 80,000 with my two pair, and he made the minimum reraise to 160,000.



"Now I was sitting there trying to figure out what to do. It was the first time he had played back at me, and I was threatening to run him over at this stage. I figured he didn't believe I had a 10, and was just trying to slow me down.



Then Rob gave me a nervous glance – that tell again – which convinced me to go with my read. Of course, Rob was nervous, as it turned out that he was nervous I was going to fold! Instead, I reraised him all in. Rob called instantly and flipped over a 10, and I was virtually drawing dead, a painful feeling."



Hollink won the pot and used his now substantial chip lead to take the EPT Grand Final title with minimum fuss.



If Brandon had read Rolf Slotboom's excellent profile of Hollink in Card Player Europe (August 2005), he would have discovered that Rob's crafty little glance – the one that cost Brandon €285,000 – was no accident. Rob explained, "I tried to mimic the exact same things that players do when they are about to fold … to let my body language say, 'Hey, I was actually about to fold, but I have convinced myself to give things one final shot.'"



Brandon fell for it hook, line, and sinker. "My decision-making after his check-raise was not great," said the American, "but a poker player has to go with his read, even if it sometimes proves to be dead wrong."



The next EPT Grand Final will take place March 8-11, 2006, at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort in Monaco. Anyone can enter, but to win will require something a bit special. Full details are at http://www.ept.com/.

Conrad Brunner is the European marketing manager for PokerStars.com.