Breezing Through Monte Carlo
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010After San Remo, a change of scenery was necessary for several reasons before playing the EPT Monte Carlo. Not only did I need to get back to London to check on my lovely cats, who I missed greatly, but I had some business to attend to. Luckily, the volcanic ash problem subsided, and when flights resumed, I was able to book a flight from Nice to London. And though I was only home for a few days, it was wonderful to get my bearings, exercise a bit, and get in the right mindset for the next tournament.
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to let things go in poker and recharge. Bustouts can be disappointing and discouraging, but one has to chalk it up to experience the swings of the game, get that loss out of the brain, and power up for the next one. Luckily, I had the chance to do that before flying back over to Monte Carlo, where I checked into my hotel, relaxed a little more, and prepared to play the EPT Grand Finale.
I chose to play Day 1B, the second starting day of the event. It was a spectacular turnout for the season-ending EPT tournament, and the whole field was 848 players, all putting up the €10K to enter and making for an event that would award €1.7 million to the winner. That is a tough number to get out of your head! And I didn’t want to, as it’s added motivation.
I took my seat at Table 2 and went on to have a very up-and-down day. It was tough to keep my Twitter friends updated as there were internet issues, but take my word that it was a hard to gain any momentum throughout the day. I started with 30K in chips and had only 17K left when Level 8 started. And things got worse from there when I doubled up an opponent with A-K versus A-Q after getting it all-in after an all-small flop. The queen came, and I was down to 4K. But the very next hand, I was able to get it all-in with pocket queens, got called by the big blind, and I doubled up to around 9K. Soon after, I woke up with kings and doubled through Katja Thater with pocket queens, which put me at 16,500. I climbed from there and ended the day with 33,900 chips. Not a bad comeback!

Day 2 started with a few hundred players. I waited for the right moment and doubled up in Level 11 by pushing all-in with pocket kings on a Q(h)7(h)6(d) flop. My opponent had pocket jacks, and I hit a king on the turn to make the set and secure the double-up. But from there on out, I couldn’t get much going. Finally, with a 49k chip stack, I moved all-in with pocket nines preflop, and I was called by A-K. The flop was blank. The turn was blank. But an ace fell on the river!
That was that, and I was out of the tournament with only 253 players remaining and 128 paid. Frustrating!



With a couple days left in Monte Carlo, I’ll take the time to get some work done and maybe enjoy the beachfront hotel and Riviera sights. But I’ll be ready to get back to London soon to attend a couple business meetings, get some rest, get back on my diet and exercise plan, and put things together for my trip back to Las Vegas for the start of the World Series in May.
Cheers!