ECPokerTour Malta 2009 Blog

Read Fabien's January 2010 Deauville European Poker Tour Blog

Read Fabien's February 2010 Les A London Blog

Read Fabien's March 2010 ECPokerTour Barcelona Blog

November 2009

Fabien Carliez tells us about his poker experience at the ECPokerTour in Malta.

I arrived in Malta with the honor of representing Titan Poker. Upon my arrival, I was welcomed warmly in a splendid hotel by the personnel of Titan Poker. From a poker player’s perspective, I joined the table with confidence; 10,000 starting chips with a desire for accomplishment in a big tournament. I started by taking a nice pot by re-raising under the gun 400 with blinds of 50/100 with a pair of 6’s. The rainbow flop gave 4 5 7, I bet 550, the player called and the turn revealed a K. I decided to check and my opponent checked too. The river gave me a straight with an 8. I bet 1,200, the player called and the nice pile of chips came into my hands.

Then,just before dinner break, I raised to 700 from the middle position. The blinds were 150/300 and again I had a pair of sixes. A player called. The flop revealed K 6 10 with two Clubs. I checked, my opponent bet 1,200 and I called; a 7 of clubs came on the turn. This time, I bet 1700. My opponent went all in. I hesitated for a minute and then I called. He revealed a K J with a club. The river didn’t help him and by the time we broke for dinner I had 21,000 chips.

After the break, I lost a few pots and went down to 17,000. On the next hand, I was the big blind, and an aggressive player raised to 800 on blinds of 150/300, I re-raised him to 2,500 with A K and he called. The flop revealed A 2 2. I bet 2,500, he called and the turn showed a 6. I decided to bet a bit over 8,000 and when he saw this, he hesitated for a long time and then called. The river gave us a 10. I decided to go all in with more than 4,000, as the pot was huge and I felt I was in a leading position. The player called immediately, turned over A 10 and I found myself knocked out of the main event, hugely disappointed

After spending the night recalling the hand that had gotten me out of the main event, I decided to subscribe to the 150€+20€ side event. I bought in with 4,000 starting chips, playing with 30 minutes rounds. I doubled rapidly with Q Q vs. A Q. From this moment, I started to play more and more aggressively. Just before the first break, I raised with A A, the small blind player re-raised me and I declared: "I'm all in". He called with 2 2 but the board didn’t help him. By the time we broke for diner, I already had 16,000.

After dinner, I continued playing aggressively by raising frequently. I moved upwards until the final table. I was one of the 9 final players with 25,000 in my hand and blinds of 2,000/4,000, I applied push or fold. I was eliminated in the 6th position with 6 6 vs. QQ. I went home with 430€ and somewhat disappointed. Everyone wants to reach first place.

I would like to thank the Titan Poker Team for this amazing tournament in Malta.

Read Fabien's January 2010 Deauville European Poker Tour Blog

Read Fabien's February 2010 Les A London Blog

Read Fabien's March 2010 ECPokerTour Barcelona Blog