I'd never played the World Series of Poker Europe before, but with the move from London to Cannes I expected it to be a much better tournament than in years past. Still, I was reluctant to travel for just one tournament. What sealed the deal was when Nico, who I first met earlier this year while playing EPT Madrid, agreed to join me in Cannes. I ended up flying into Madrid so that we could drive together to the south of France. I hadn't spent much time in Europe, so the 12-hour drive with a more seasoned traveler was a great opportunity for me, plus I was eager to solidify a very promising friendship. We had a great drive that I recounted elsewhere; this article focuses on the tournament itself.
Rediscovering Tight-Aggressive
My table draw was OK but my seat was unfortunate, with the only two truly good players at the table both on my left. First came Jamie "TheCronic420" Rosen, then to his left a European whose name I can't recall. Both were playing a lot of hands pre-flop but playing well post-flop and seemed committed to dominating the table.
So, I started out playing a very tight pre-flop game. That isn't ordinarily my style in a deep-stacked setting but with two good, active players on my left it was what I needed to do. My hope was that they would clash and one would eliminate the other. I didn't play a pot at all for the first half hour, then won a few small ones pre-flop or on the flop.
There was also one where I raised QJo two off the button and checked it all the way on a ragged board that gave me no draws. Jamie checked it down and won with A8s, but I think it was good for my image that I showed a willingness to give up without a fight when I had nothing. My hope was that showing that would help me steal in better spots later.
Loose-aggressive play has become so common among the best players that many of them tend to assume that anyone who doesn't open 50% of hands from the CO can't be all that good. No American in the tournament is going to be bad, since we all had to travel quite a ways to play, but I think that playing the way I did gave the impression that I was merely competent and perhaps uncomfortable in deep-stacked spots. That's a fine image to have as long as you know how to exploit it by stealing in spots they don't expect.
My first such opportunity came at the 100-200 level. I raised to 600 with A
J. UTG+1, the good European called in MP, and a French amateur called in the CO. Given my image and his style, I expected that MP would mostly be calling to crack. We were about 150BB deep, so I think he'd call maybe as wide as like 96s just trying to make a hand and/or take a pot away from me.
The flop was 9h 5h 2h, but with my image and their wide ranges, I bet 1,200 anyway. MP called and CO folded. The turn was the 3s. I picked up a gutshot, but my perceived range just didn't hit this board too well. If I bet again it would look much more like a semi-bluff than a value bet, so I checked. He checked behind.
The river was the K
, and after thinking for nearly a minute, I bet 2,400. The long pause was to represent a thin value bet. I'd bet as weak as TT for value here, and hopefully he would give me credit for that. Unless he rivered K9s, I didn't think he'd ever have better than one pair, and the small bluff laid me a great price for a steal.
He tanked and stared me down for a long time but eventually folded. That made me feel good about my poker face. I hadn't played live in months and this guy seemed pretty experienced, so it was good to see that I didn't give anything away when bluffing.
New Arrival
This player, who I thought was the best of my opponents, actually lost his stack to Jamie, whom I considered the second-best. I was happy to see that, until Scott Seiver took the empty seat. I resolved to make the best of it by continuing to play my TAG game (remembering that I wouldn't have the same image with Scott that I did with the rest of the table) and trying to learn something from him. He was actually playing very quietly before the flop as well, despite having a much better seat than mine.
The first large pot that I won came when I got my first premium hand, KK. It was the 150/300 level, and I opened to 900 UTG+1. The action folded around to the BB, a young French guy who seemed decent but hadn't been too out of line. He re-raised to 2,500. We were a little over 30K deep and I didn't think he would get it in too light if I four-bet, so I just called.
The flop came T76 with a flush draw. He bet 3,300, and I called. The turn was an off-suit 9, and we checked it through. The river was another 9, he checked, I bet 4,800, and he called, showing QQ. It was a little disappointing not to win more with KK vs. QQ, but that was really just a function of our positions, our images, and the board texture. I wouldn't change anything about how I played this one.
My next time with KK was a little different. It was the next level, still with 150/300 blinds but now with a 25 ante. I opened to 800 with KK in MP, Seiver called in the CO, and the weak Frenchman in the BB made it 2,550 with about 20K behind. I made it 5,500, which against your average internet kid would be the right play. A recreational player is far more likely to flat call with hands that probably ought to shove or fold, and for that reason I think a slightly larger four-bet would be better.
Seiver folded, the Frenchman did call, and we saw a K84r flop. He checked, and I checked behind. The turn was the T, putting up some straight draws and a flush draw. He checked again, and I bet 4,000 pretty quickly, which if called would leave him about 14,000 in his stack. He agonized for a while and called. Again, I like this sizing more against a better player, but I think I should have gone bigger here since it's probably the only bet he's calling and he isn't going to think as much as he should about pot commitment.
The river was an offsuit 2, he checked, and I quickly shoved, trying to represent that I was pouncing on the weakness he showed on the turn. Now he really went into the tank and started doing stuff like pushing his chips forward a little bit but not crossing the betting line. Even though I was wearing sunglasses, I actually closed my eyes to avoid involuntarily reacting to something I saw him do. I finally opened them when I thought I heard someone say "Fold". Sure enough, the dealer was pushing me the pot.
Of course, it was good to increase my stack by a third, but I do think I left 2,000 or so on the table by not sizing my bets better. Just to rub salt in the wound, Scott announced to the table that he'd folded 88.
On the last hand before break, I picked up AKo UTG+1. The BB had already left the table and several other players were itching to do so, so I knew it would look like I was stealing. I raised to 750, and Jamie three-bet to 1,850. I was prepared to stack off, so I four-bet to 4,850. He folded and told me he would have pealed if it hadn't been the hand before break, but he had to go the bathroom. Works for me.
Scott and I played an interesting one that demonstrates how tough he is to play against even when you position. It was 200/400/50, and I raised to 1,000 with 54o on the button, a questionable decision but I'd been well-behaved for a while. Jamie folded and Scott called. He barely looked at his cards before calling, which made me think that he was defending really wide.
The flop came T77r. He checked, and I bet 1,200. Despite his wide range, I still don't think I should bet a hand as weak as mine, because if he is defending that wide, it's because he plans to play back at me a lot. He called. the turn was a Q, and we checked it through. The river was a K, he checked, I bet 2,400, and he raised to 10K. I really had no idea what his range was here, neither how wide he would value bet (KQ seems very feasible, maybe weaker?) nor what he would turn into a bluff (my bet was intended to get him off of Ax). I briefly considered three-betting but ended up folding and shaking my head at what a different level this guy was on. It felt like he had nothing but I still had no shot at winning the pot.
New Tables
They finally broke our table with about half an hour left in the day. My new one was much softer, but sadly it was next to break and I was only there for about ten minutes.
I did win one kind of interesting pot in a blind battle. It was 250/500/50, and I opened to 1,550 with A
9 in the SB. The BB called, and we saw a 7
4 2 flop. I checked planning to call a bet, but he checked behind. The turn was the K, I bet 1,800, and he folded. Most likely I was good anyway, but I don't think I can call a bet on the turn, so it seemed best to turn my bluff-catcher into a bluff and make him fold hands that could have as many as fifteen live outs.
To my left was a kid who exuded competence and was sitting on more than twice the average. I could tell from the way the table was responding to him and talking about him that he’d been very difficult to play against. Vanessa Rousso sat to his left, and there were a few other tough-looking players at the table as well.
With blinds at 250/500/50, I raised to 1,250 with KJo UTG+2, Vanessa called, and the BB, who did not seem very good, called. The flop came AQ8r, BB checked, I bet 2,600, and they both called.
A 6 on the turn completed the rainbow and it seemed like a good spot to barrel, as I think it’s very tough for anyone to call with less than two pair. I bet 8,800 leaving about pot behind in my stack. Vanessa tanked and called and the BB folded. On a river King, I checked not because I thought I was good but because I thought she'd made her commitment decision on the turn and wasn't folding. She checked behind, saying, ¨Please don't have Ace-King¨ as though I'd check that.
“AQ is good, ¨ I told her.
She shook her head and looked nervous, so even though I was sure I was beat I showed my hand. She flipped 86o and for a second I thought I'd won, and then I realized that she essentially hit a 5-outer to be able to call on the turn.
I picked up KJo again the very next hand and raised to 1,250 again. I think choosing to make a marginal raise immediately after a frustrating loss was probably the biggest mistake I made in this hand. The tough player on my left called, the CO called, and the BB called.
The flop was K Q 6. I checked because if I get action betting into three people on this flop, I can't like my hand too much. The guy on my left bet like 3,300, the other two folded, and I called.
I checked a 4 turn, planning to check-raise all-in. He made a suspicious face and checked behind. I put him on a straight or flush draw that he was planning to barrel until he smelled a rat.
The 9 on the river completed JT and backdoor hearts, which weren't entirely impossible for him. I didn't think he'd bluff much if I checked, so my options were either check-fold or bet. I bet 4,500, which was less than half-pot. I had it in the back of my head that this might be a better way to induce a bluff than checking, but I wish I’d thought more about what I would do if raised before I bet.
Villain thought for a bit and shoved, so it was about 13K more for me to call to win 33K. Obviously JT got there so the question is how often he shoves busted draws. As I said before, I had the impression that the whole table was intimidated by him, which led me to think that he would be very capable of bluff shoving over a blocking bet.
The guy on my right actually called the clock on me, so I didn't get as much time to think about it as I would have liked. This was especially obnoxious because we were playing a fixed number of hands before stopping for the night, so it really didn't affect him at all for me to take my time. He was a pretty weak amateur, though, so I'm willing to cut him a lot of slack. If he wants to contribute thousands of Euros worth of dead money to the prize pool, I suppose he's earned the right to be a little obnoxious.
Having thought more about the hand since, I think I like my decision to call. I didn't expect Villain to play JTo pre-flop, so there were only four combos that would give him a straight. To make a heart flush he'd need to have had a different draw with which he bet the flop, so generously I can give him A J, A T, J 9h and T 9. If he had me beat on the turn, he would have bet, so that's only eight combos of value hands. If I can put four busted club draws into his range, it's a call, and that seems reasonable to me.
Anyway I called and was shown JT, which doesn't tell me much about whether my call was good. It sort of sucked to go out so close to the end of the day, but on the other hand it's a lot better than going out very early on the second day. At least this way I knew I was done and could plan on doing some things around Cannes. It's a really beautiful area with a lot of history, and I had a great time exploring it with my new friend.
