Unibet Open: Cannes

I just got back from France where I was playing the Unibet Open event in Cannes. I’ve said before how much I love Unibet Events and this one was no exception.

The package I won online included a great hotel, breakfast and dinner everyday. It also let me bring a guest so I brought one of my closest friends Dr Dave with me. He didn’t play any poker, but took full advantage of the free booze Unibet so generously offer throughout the festival at the welcome party and the players party. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see much of Cannes itself. I spent the whole festival playing poker with the exception of the last day where I was too hungover to leave the hotel, so spent the whole day taking Dr Dave on at Monopoly Deal. If you have never played the card game Monopoly Deal buy it immediately, if you love the deep thinking involved in poker you’ll love it.

The €1100 main event went pretty well for me. I only got a min cash, but like I said in an article not so long ago I’ve been on a mean downswing due to some leaks having appeared in my game. I felt really good about my play throughout the festival, I made a couple of loose mistakes but overall I felt really on my game. I got my money in good with QQ shortly after the bubble burst, but pocket tens spiked a 3rd ten on the river for a rather cruel exit hand.

One of the things I was most happy about, and another improvement I’m consciously always on top of is taking the variance in my stride. The ten landed on the river and I shrugged, shook the guys hand and walked away pleased with how I’d played. I registered the €2,000 high roller which I had sold some action for, unfortunately I couldn’t make my backers any money on this occasion and the Unibet players party called my name.

The players party was brilliant. Jamie Sykes, Alex Haig, David Vanderheyden, Marc Convey and Laura Cornelius had a great time. Alex was a great host, making sure our drinks never ran dry. I’d been looking forward to seeing Jamie for a while once we both realised we would both be at the festival, we have very similar political mindsets and so it was fun chatting with him while inebriated and we managed to set the world to rights.

David Vanderheyden and Jamie were kind enough to let me join them in the commentary booth just before the players party. I loved joining in with these two on the commentary, they’re both good craic, and it was fun comparing strategies with Jamie. He advocates 3betting off suit Broadway hands when he is in position as he feels they are not strong enough to flat call unlike their suited counterparts. However I like 3betting the suited versions of these hands as I like to be able to double barrel bluff when I turn flush draws with them. I’m definitely going to start adding the weaker off suit Broadway hands into my 3betting repertoire as per Jamie’s advice.

I’ve already won my package to Unibet’s next event, Unibet Open: Antwerp. I’m really looking forward to it, I love Unibet Events, they’re some of the best run festivals in the world in my opinion. Lots of satellites, lots of players parties, freebies for the satellite qualifiers, good side events and everyone gets treated like a VIP. I managed to get my first French flag while in Cannes and I hope I can get my first Belgian flag while I’m in Antwerp, although I definitely want more than a min cash, I’ve got my eye on one of those gorgeous trophies that Unibet supply to the winner.