ECPokerTour Salzburg 2009 BLOG
After the Dortmund disaster, I arrive in Salzburg with the firm intention to shine, even more so due to the fact that Titan is the official sponsor and that this tournament has already been bad to my budget.
First, I must say, that I am proud to have met wonderful people who have provided me with the best reception one could expect from a sponsor; a big thanks again to the whole team and particularly to my manager David and to Audrey from the Quality Service.
Day 1
The first three levels pass and there was not a lot of action. I raise again with AK and have two callers. A player who has been playing well bets into me on the Queen high flop and I fold.Then AA and no action, the same for a pair of QQ. At the table there is a French player with a streak of good luck that I have rarely ever seen. At the last hour of stage 3, he has just gotten 3 pairs of Aces and a pair of Kings. The last hand of the hour arrives and the dealer gives me a pair of Queens that I call back. The French player re-raises me. I normally would have re-raised him but with all his recent good hands I preferred to fold. I showed him my pair and he calmly showed me his AA in return. I ended the level with 8000 in chips.
Jerome Bessout takes a well deserved break outside.
End of the 5th level
The situation is critical. One hand hurts me badly. I have a KQ suited to clubs and I attack a flop with 2 clubs. The pot is being eyed by an Italian player who checks call on my bets. A non club Ten arrives on the river and the Italian puts me All-In. I folded and he showed me a club, we were both chasing the flush but he hit a pair on the river. My Stack is now at 4000.
Levels 6 and 7
I now found myself at the table with my two chips of 1000 when the average is 28000! I am truly thinking of leaving the tournament and that I do not have good days ahead of me. I am in a Big Blind. Everybody folds. The small Blind puts in my two chips of 1000. I return AJ and I have only one call to get out and survive. He returns QQ and I lay my aces on the river. Thus the situation is very tense and I immediately get the chance to assess the table. I went All-In 3 times in a row with everyone folding. I win several stacks within 1 hour. I win with JJ against AK, then QQ against AQ and 99 again AT and within one hour, I found myself with 22000 chips! Unbelievable, this was the first time in my life that I've had such a comeback. When the director of the tournament announced the last 5 hands of the day, I was already satisfied just too still be present. My last hand was AQ at the button and I call again and the Big Blind puts in her stack that amounts to 3 times the size of mine. I call and I'm a big favorite against her A 2 and I move to 45000 chips!
Day 2
Everything starts off very well. I double my stack with AK against AQ and I tell myself that I have something to do today. Nothing much happens for two hours. I now have 65000 chips and there are 17 players left and the first 15 ones are paid. I get KK UTG2. The blinds are very high and UTG raises 15000. I decide to put the 65000 chips so that everyone will fold, but the button calls and finally UTG too since he was getting really good odds. The button returns AA and UTG T9s. On the flop one T and UTG with its double pair gets AA and my KK. I finish 16th out of 150 and leave with a mixed feeling of both pleasure to have been able to survive such a crazy series of events along with deep disappointment at where I ended up.
The next day I decided to register for the side event of the 50 € Freezout and I finished 9th out of 80 with 180 €.
Titan Poker congratulates you on an excellent performance and thanks you for a great tournament. See you at the next one!
Read Jerome's January EPT Tour of Deauville 2009 Blog
