This is Part I in a three-part series on my performance in the $6,500 main event at the
Master Classics of Poker in November.
Even though I have always been strictly a cash-game player, in recent times I have been broadening my horizons more and more. Despite the fact that I had been playing tournaments only occasionally and recreationally, and never in one with a buy-in of more than $530, I decided to pony up $6,500 for the no-limit hold'em main event at the
Master Classics of Poker, staged in my hometown of Amsterdam. I judged that it was time for me to finally start playing tournaments at the highest level. And the fact that it was a televised event with many entrants and not a particularly strong field enticed me to go and get my feet wet in a major tournament. Please note, though, that I didn't enter just to compete. My goal was clear: I would be trying to win it.
Day One
With a total of 347 entrants, just three short of the maximum 350, this was a massive event, by all accounts. After all, this tournament would be played over four days, and the winner would take home a whopping $897,000.
As readers of this column may know, in the past I have been successful in the relatively few tournaments I have played. However, almost all of my results came in tournaments in which the money was relatively shallow. This was one of the first tournaments I ever played that had a structure that is perceived by many as "good," meaning that at almost all stages of the event, there was more than enough room for play.
While in previous tournaments all of my successes came from a somewhat overaggressive, bully-type strategy, I knew that with the 90-minute levels, the $10,000 in chips, and the blinds starting at just $25-$50, any overaggressiveness too early in the event could lead to my standing on the rail. So, I played extremely tight throughout the day. Knowing that on the second day there would be no redraw for seats, I decided to use this first day to try to build a very solid, even somewhat weak-tight image, hoping that I could profit from that image later in the event - once the blinds became much higher.
This didn't mean that I wasn't trying to build my stack, though, and it also didn't mean that I would walk away from risky situations. For instance, after about four hours of play, I made an extremely risky play that easily could have gone wrong. Having flat-called a minimum raise to $300 total from a weak under-the-gun player, I got one caller behind me, and then the button, Martin Wendt, made it $1,600 to go. When both blinds and the initial raiser all folded, it was up to me. Holding pocket queens, I was in a tough spot, knowing that Martin almost certainly would have a decent or very good hand here. However, knowing his fairly liberal raising and reraising standards when in position, I knew that this didn't necessarily mean he had specifically aces or kings. So, I decided to try to bet him off his hand, representing slow-played aces. I reraised to $5,000 - exactly the bet that someone would make when holding bullets. After the other player folded, Martin went into the tank and had to think for at least three or four minutes. Finally, he folded what he claimed were queens - the hand that I actually held. I had made a very risky play, but by doing so, I had picked up $2,425 in chips without even needing to see a flop. And, very importantly, my image of being an extremely solid, somewhat weak-tight player was still intact, as almost everyone at my table gave me credit for having aces.
I also won a $12,000 pot early, when my A-K held up on a K-5-4 flop against a loose-aggressive player who had been pushing an open-end straight draw. I also won a pot with A-J when I called an all-in raise from the short-stacked Gunnar Ostebrod and flopped a jack to beat his small pocket pair. Additionally, I was able to steal three or four pots with absolutely nothing, making good use of my image, my reading abilities, and my position. At the end of the day, half the field had been eliminated - meaning that my $23,825 was a slightly above-average stack.
Day Two
On day two, it didn't take me long to screw up. I reraised a late-position raise from J.J. Hazan with A-Q offsuit (a move that on day one I had pulled off successfully two times, both with absolute garbage), J.J. now quickly reraised all in, and I was forced to fold, having invested $4,300 or so. Suddenly, I was down to $16,000, but I recovered by making two uncontested reraises against fairly loose opening raisers. After I had eliminated Simon Galloway with 10-10 versus his 9-8, having correctly analyzed his $6,000 all-in raise as being weak, I was above the $30,000 level for the first time in the event. I didn't have much time to enjoy this feat, though, as right after Simon's elimination, our table broke.
My new table didn't have many familiar faces, other than Norwegian Jan Sjavik, a strong player. But it did have a lot of action men! Before I had even put my chips on the table, the $800 big blind, seated to my immediate left, had succeeded in getting his entire $45,000 stack in the middle with just the K
J
! With a few limpers in the pot, he had made it $7,000 to go in order to win the pot right there and then. But when the first limper reraised to $23,000, signaling at least a decent hand, my neighbor didn't fold his problem hand. Instead, he reraised all in! After he beat his opponent's J-J by flopping a king, I analyzed the table as follows: I was surrounded by some good or aggressive big stacks, a few unknowns, and, last but not least, an absolute wild man to my left with almost $100,000. To put it mildly, I was not in the best of positions.
On my fifth hand, with the blinds at $400-$800 and an ante of $100, I raised to $3,100 from early position as the first one in, holding pocket queens. Everyone folded to a young player in the small blind, who hesitated for three seconds and then confidently moved all in for $48,000 total. The big blind folded, and it was up to me. I stared down this unknown player for about a minute or so. I didn't like what I felt, as my opponent seemed to be acting a little weak now, and oftentimes this is a sign of considerable strength. However, on the previous hand, this player had made the exact same move from the big blind, reraising an early-position raiser to win the pot uncontested. So, in just five hands of play, this was the second time he had moved in! I decided to go with the percentages (including that some players would have made a smaller reraise if they really had aces or kings) and called all in with my remaining $30,000. So much for my read, though, as my opponent tabled K-K for a bigger pair, making me about a 4-to-1 dog.
The first card off the deck was a king! I was as dead as one could be. But in a miracle turnaround, a jack and a 10 also came on the flop, giving me an open-end straight draw. I shouted loudly, "Dealer, you can do it! An ace or a 9 - you can do it!" A blank came on the turn, but then after some more shouts on my part, the lovely Loeki listened - and turned up the almighty ace for me. I was alive! I had gotten lucky when it mattered most.
I then stupidly gave away $4,100 on an obvious steal, when I had to fold against a reraise from the big blind, and ended the day with $65,000. With 54 of the initial 347 players left, this meant that I had an average stack. More importantly, I had made it to the third day, and was still alive. And after my incredible luck with Q-Q versus K-K, I knew I had a shot at reaching my ultimate goal: winning my first-ever major tournament. Read all about whether or not I was able to pull it off in my next two columns.
