| Game Type: | Limit |
Following an invitation from Johan Storakers, I decided to visit Stockholm for the first time in August, & play in the Scandinavian Poker Championship. The buy-in was 20,500 Swedish Kronor, (about £1,700), but payment could be made via PokerStars, & with my online account healthy, I could almost treat it as a freeroll. The venue was Martin de Knijff's new card club, & I was curious whether the winner of almost 3 million dollars in the WPT Classic would actually be there.
I had arranged to go directly to the venue, & someone was going to meet me there & drive me across to my hotel. As promised, waiting outside the club was a big guy wearing a thick wooly hat, leaning on a BMW X5. "Tony Kendall?", he said, & I nodded. "OK Tony, I will drive you to your hotel, jump in". Guessed he was the club "driver" or car jock. He chatted away, but I was tired & not in the mood to respond. "Good flight from England Tony?". Yup. "You like our city so far"? Lovely. "First visit to Sweden?". Sigh, yup. Thinking I was being a bit rude, I thought I had better engage in the conversation properly, so I said, rather matter of fact, "Do you play poker mate?" And - I swear - at that very moment he peeled off his wooly hat to reveal a shiny, bald head - and I realised who he was..... Martin De Knijff. Oops...Yup, he does plays poker.
What attracted me to the comp was the structure. 20,000 starting chips, 90 minute levels, & a three day job. What could be better for a grinder like me? Game plan was to sit quiet for a couple of levels - that's 3 hours - and then, having sussed out the table, try & open up a bit. Johan Storakers exited in the first 10 minutes, chasing a big draw. My table was just fine, nice & solid, and I was cruising along nicely after 2 levels, up to 28,000, & chip leader on my table. Curiously, seat 1 had remained empty all this time, but even now the blinds were only 150-300, so there was not much of a dent in his 20,000 starting stack.
And then, the occupant of seat 1 strolled in. Not a word to a soul, he plonked himself down, put his i-Pod on, closed his eyes & jigged to his music, & immediately started raising. And raising. And re-raising. Every hand. "Muppet", I think, irritated that the calmness of my table had been disturbed by this damn maniac. OK, lets ride out the storm, keep out of this fellas way, he wont be around long. After half an hour, Mr Bloody Maniac was clear chip leader on my table, he was up to 35k. WTF? So I say to the guy next to me, who the hell is this fella? "Oh, that's Daniel Larsson". Daniel Larsson - he who netted $300,000+ by finishing runner-up in the WPT Ultimate Bet Classic......Oh boy, I sure had him in the wrong box! His tactic was to R every hand, & RR all-in anyone who had the temerity to get in first, & he often RR'd blind. But he eventually came a cropper in the most unlucky way, getting all in with AK against KQ & losing on a Q high flop. It was the first half-decent hand he had showed, & it turned out to be his last. So he was only at the table 2 hours, but while he was there, he played the socks off the lot of us. Amazing stuff, and a great experience to sit at a table with guys like that.
And tikay? Well, I just continued to sit quietly, but when I got a hand, I was prepared to play it strongly. When we were down to 2 short-handed tables, well into day 2 by now, I was 3 off the money, and nicely above average.
But this was no-limit, where death always lurks around the corner, and suddenly, I found myself in a monster hand. I had R'd on the button with K-J hearts, into a BB who just did not like his blinds messed with. He RR'd, & I decided, having position & plenty of chips - though not enough to cover him, I would call & take a flop. If he checked the flop, I would move in. Flop was a dream for me, K high, with 2 hearts. So I have top pair, J kicker, & four to the second nut flush. Wow, I think, how shall I play this little beauty? BUT Mister Tetchy BB narrowed my options before I could decide - he moved all-in. Ayya! Well, to hell with it. I had not until this point been all-in even once, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I called pretty quickly. On their backs, he turns over the last hand I wanted to see - A-2 hearts. So he's nut flushing, & that's most of my outs down the pan. But I don't need outs, I am ahead, I suddenly realize. Until a black A rivered. And that was that. Clearly I played it wrong, with hindsight. If I had RRR'd the guy pre-flop, he would have had to put down his A-2 suited without a shadow of doubt - but that's easy to say after the event.
So, another wasted opportunity to nail a decent payday. But great fun, a tremendous venue for Poker, and a beautiful city. I just gotta get a bit better at recognizing these top class players.....
I had arranged to go directly to the venue, & someone was going to meet me there & drive me across to my hotel. As promised, waiting outside the club was a big guy wearing a thick wooly hat, leaning on a BMW X5. "Tony Kendall?", he said, & I nodded. "OK Tony, I will drive you to your hotel, jump in". Guessed he was the club "driver" or car jock. He chatted away, but I was tired & not in the mood to respond. "Good flight from England Tony?". Yup. "You like our city so far"? Lovely. "First visit to Sweden?". Sigh, yup. Thinking I was being a bit rude, I thought I had better engage in the conversation properly, so I said, rather matter of fact, "Do you play poker mate?" And - I swear - at that very moment he peeled off his wooly hat to reveal a shiny, bald head - and I realised who he was..... Martin De Knijff. Oops...Yup, he does plays poker.
What attracted me to the comp was the structure. 20,000 starting chips, 90 minute levels, & a three day job. What could be better for a grinder like me? Game plan was to sit quiet for a couple of levels - that's 3 hours - and then, having sussed out the table, try & open up a bit. Johan Storakers exited in the first 10 minutes, chasing a big draw. My table was just fine, nice & solid, and I was cruising along nicely after 2 levels, up to 28,000, & chip leader on my table. Curiously, seat 1 had remained empty all this time, but even now the blinds were only 150-300, so there was not much of a dent in his 20,000 starting stack.
And then, the occupant of seat 1 strolled in. Not a word to a soul, he plonked himself down, put his i-Pod on, closed his eyes & jigged to his music, & immediately started raising. And raising. And re-raising. Every hand. "Muppet", I think, irritated that the calmness of my table had been disturbed by this damn maniac. OK, lets ride out the storm, keep out of this fellas way, he wont be around long. After half an hour, Mr Bloody Maniac was clear chip leader on my table, he was up to 35k. WTF? So I say to the guy next to me, who the hell is this fella? "Oh, that's Daniel Larsson". Daniel Larsson - he who netted $300,000+ by finishing runner-up in the WPT Ultimate Bet Classic......Oh boy, I sure had him in the wrong box! His tactic was to R every hand, & RR all-in anyone who had the temerity to get in first, & he often RR'd blind. But he eventually came a cropper in the most unlucky way, getting all in with AK against KQ & losing on a Q high flop. It was the first half-decent hand he had showed, & it turned out to be his last. So he was only at the table 2 hours, but while he was there, he played the socks off the lot of us. Amazing stuff, and a great experience to sit at a table with guys like that.
And tikay? Well, I just continued to sit quietly, but when I got a hand, I was prepared to play it strongly. When we were down to 2 short-handed tables, well into day 2 by now, I was 3 off the money, and nicely above average.
But this was no-limit, where death always lurks around the corner, and suddenly, I found myself in a monster hand. I had R'd on the button with K-J hearts, into a BB who just did not like his blinds messed with. He RR'd, & I decided, having position & plenty of chips - though not enough to cover him, I would call & take a flop. If he checked the flop, I would move in. Flop was a dream for me, K high, with 2 hearts. So I have top pair, J kicker, & four to the second nut flush. Wow, I think, how shall I play this little beauty? BUT Mister Tetchy BB narrowed my options before I could decide - he moved all-in. Ayya! Well, to hell with it. I had not until this point been all-in even once, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I called pretty quickly. On their backs, he turns over the last hand I wanted to see - A-2 hearts. So he's nut flushing, & that's most of my outs down the pan. But I don't need outs, I am ahead, I suddenly realize. Until a black A rivered. And that was that. Clearly I played it wrong, with hindsight. If I had RRR'd the guy pre-flop, he would have had to put down his A-2 suited without a shadow of doubt - but that's easy to say after the event.
So, another wasted opportunity to nail a decent payday. But great fun, a tremendous venue for Poker, and a beautiful city. I just gotta get a bit better at recognizing these top class players.....