Wiiiiiiiien

So it's 7am and I'm not tired enough to sleep yet, so I figured why not blog? I arrived in Vienna on Monday afternoon and my first stop was my hotel. I must say, I was plesantly surprised. It's an apartment hotel, which means that I have my own kitchen and living room/bedroom, making for a very spacious stay. The place has 4 stars and is relatively new, breakfast is served 24h/day, I could definitely get used to this kind of life :)

Once I got settled in headed over to CCC, where I didn't do much other than play a couple rounds of €5/10NL. I netted around +€1000 after making a nice call on the river with 2nd pair against an overconfident opponent. I went back to the hotel pretty early to get enough sleep for the Main Event on Tuesday.

The €3150 Main Event had a starting stack of 15k with blinds of 25/50, a structure significantly better than EPT and most WSOP tournaments. With 90 minute levels, the skill factor is definitely increased and I couldn't help but smile when a few players at my table complained about the "long blind levels" because it seemed to them like no action was happening. Apparently they were spoiled with 10BB average stack, push-or-fold poker, so they had no idea how to play something this deep. My table was great and it didn't take me long to build up to 19k after I made a straight with 88 on a 457Q6 board and my opponent tried to make a move.

Then came a hand that was really strange: Blinds 100/200, effective stacks 16k. UTG2 limps (he was new to the table and had limped a couple hands during his first orbit), I make an isolation raise to 800 in the hijack with ATo, which he calls. The flop is T62 rainbow and he check/calls my 1200 continuation bet instantly. The turn is a 4 completing the rainbow. Once again, he checks and then snapcalls my 2500 bet. The river was a 7 and he checks again. At this point I'm wondering what hands I can get three streets of value from, but since he usually has a random T in this spot, I elect to make a small value bet of 3500. Before I even let go of my chips, I get the insta-check-minraise to 7000 in my face. At this point I have just under 9k left, so calling would leave me with 5k+ chips. So I tanked it pretty long trying to put him on a hand. I finally decided that his line is just too strong to justify a call and mucked my hand, I guess I'll never know.

Now I was pretty short and got moved to a new table, where I busted with KhQh on a QcJs6c flop. My opponent check/raised the flop and I came over the top for my last 7k+ chips, which he snapped with QJ. Turn and river brick off. Whoops, that went faster than I would have liked it to.

Next stop: NL €20/40 table. 8 people were on the list, but only 3 show up to the table. Am I that intimidating? We (a Russian, a German from Wiesbaden and myself) start the game 3-handed and the first pot of significance was me raising 6d9d from the button to €120, both blinds call. The flop is KdTd5s, giving me a 9-high flush draw. It's checked to me and I fire €240, which is raised by the SB to €560. He only has €2k total since he lost a pot to the Russian earlier, so I shove another 1500 over his raise, which he snapcalls with KT. The turn is a T and that seals the deal for him. Whatever, I reloaded 2k and was ready for business again.

Then I have Q2o in the BB and the Russian limps in the SB. I check and we see a flop of 2c2h5h. He checks, I bet 60, he calls. Turn is the 7s. He checks, I bet €180, he calls. River is the As. He checks I bet 400, he check-raises to 1100. I make the call and he shows me 43o for the straight. NH sir.

An interesting hand happened when Davo (?) sat down with 2k and posted his BB. I raised K9o to 140 and was called by the button and from Davo in the BB. The flop came down 9c4c2s and I contibet 300. The button folded and Davo immediately pushed for 1860. I thought for a couple moments and made the call, the turn and river left me unimproved and I just hoped that it was the same could be said for him. I was kind of surprised when he showed down 33, but I'll take whatever presents I can get :) He stood up, patted me on the back and left right after the hand.

Then came the key hand of the night: I raise KsTs to 140, the Wiesbadener reraises to 340 (eff. stack 3k, he had JUST reloaded after losing his stack to the Russian the hand before) on the button. Beacuse it's almost a minraise I elect to call and we see a flop of 7s9s3h, giving me two overcards and the 2nd nut flush draw. Taking the stack sizes into consideration, I choose to donk/3bet. I make it 300, he makes it 700, I make it 2000, he shoves, I call. Turn comes down 6d and river is some blank. He immediately starts whining about how he always misses and shows AsQs. I inform him that I missed, too. His reaction is that of a man who is 6k richer and his mood changes noticeably for the better.

I quit about an hour later, the total damage was -€5k. Bleh. Tomorrow's a new day.