DUBLIN BELLYBUSTERS

Sunday, October 4th, 2009: The Full Tilt Espana Series - Barcelona Event, Day 3 (Evening)
My plan for the final table was to lay low until the two low-stacks were eliminated. Cesar Ordonez and Felipe Fernandez were both sitting with less than 150K in chips and would have to make their moves soon. My image was super-tight and I wanted to keep it that way for two reasons. If I wait until 5-handed before I loosen up, I should get more credit for having legitimate hands at a crucial time and by then, the blinds and antes will be worth a whole lot more.

We took our seats and unwilling to go with the script, both Cesar and Felipe doubled up within an orbit. As expected, the German lads lead the charge, opening any pot that got to them for intelligent 2.5x or less raises. The first big clash took place between Norwegian online pro Kristian Lokken and Sebastian Berres. Berres made a standard raise to 40K from the Cut-Off and Lokken defended his Big Blind. The flop came A-10-8 and Lokken donklead for 60K. Berres called. The turn came a King and again Lokken lead, this time for 120K. Berres took a moment before going all-in, Lokken snap-called and Berres showed pocket Aces. Lokken’s face dropped as he tabled 88. Set over set is about as gross a cooler as you can get. Lokken had been a genuine threat but he exited in 8th place.

Despite becoming the new chipleader, Berres would be the next to the rail as he lost three consecutive pots. Firstly, he doubled up the short-stacked Ordonez, overplaying his 910 offsuit against the Spaniards KK on a K-10-8 board. Then, he lost a sizeable chunk of chips to Julian who with that, became the new chipleader. The worst blow, however, would be the last as he shipped his remaining stack to the revitalized Ordonez with AK on an A-4-2 board. Ordonez showed pocket 4s and he was out in 7th place.

Meanwhile, I was sticking to my plan, steering clear of trouble, taking down the blinds once an orbit, maintaining my stack at slightly above the half-million mark. That was, until the following pair of hands when I found myself clashing with Julian’s big stack.

Hand 9 - Day 3, Blinds 10000/20000/2000, 535K
On the Button, I looked down at Jacks and having raised my previous two buttons, I decided to put in a slightly larger raise. I wanted Julian to choose this moment to fight back and I wanted the amount needed to re-raise to commit him to my shove. I threw out 56K but annoyingly, Julian chose to fight back in the form of a call. The flop came 10-9-8 rainbow and he checked. Happy to get it in on this board but hating 23 possible turn cards, I fired big with 90K in chips. Again, Julian didn’t co-operate and just called. The turn came the 6 of diamonds, putting two diamonds onboard. He checked and I checked behind. The Ace of Diamonds came on the turn and he insta-shoved. I laughed and looked at him. “You have what… like 78 suited?”, I said, “You’re hoping I hit that Ace, huh?” He said nothing and I mucked my hand. He later told me that he had the 78 of diamonds.

Hand 10 - Day 3, Blinds 10000/20000/2000, 360K
I was left with around 390K after the JJ debacle and an orbit later that was 360K. I looked down at KK in the Hijack and made it 47K to go. Julian repopped it to 140k from the button and I did a little Hollywood routine before shipping. He called and tabled AK. One frickin’ time, por favor! I must admit that I have no recollection of the cards that came out apart from the fact that an Ace was not one of them. What I do remember was showing my first piece of emotion of the tournament as I punched the table in celebration as the river card was dealt.