I went back to day two of the Berlin Summer Cup (€220 buy in, 250 runners) with just 22BBs, lying around 50/62, with 27 paid. I commented to my buddy that at least it would get me out of the flat for the afternoon, but I expected to be available to watch the Uruguay v Portugal match later that evening. About 15 people bought in for 8bbs at the beginning of day two to swell the prizepool and we were off. Early on average stacks were very shallow, due in part to the number of day two re-entries, so there were a lot of all ins. I didn't do very much and dwindled down to 10bbs where a had my first (and I think only) suckout, doubling with A8 vs AQ. Shortly afterwards I went on a tear, busting three players in an orbit and vaulting into one of the top positions.
On the bubble I was able to steal a lot of pots but lost most of my chips with in a flip for the chiplead just after the bubble broke. I managed to hang around, grind my shortstack and steal pots here and there to go into the final table 9/10. Already there were murmurs of a deal but we started to play and two players busted relatively quickly. A young Austrian guy that I'll call Falco Jnr in an Austrian National Team shellsuit with a bumfluff moustache and slicked back hair and big shades was a monster chipleader with almost half the chips in play. I'd played with him the previous day where he coolered five or six different people to finish as Day One chip leader. I had a feeling that he could punt his stack off at any moment and was very happy with my seat on his direct left.
The deal was discussed and I acquiesced to looking at ICM numbers out of politeness. Fortunately the Austrian asked for a ridiculous amount of extra money so he was the one to nix the deal and we played on. A little while later, now 7-handed, the Austrian had spewed off a few chips and was now in the market to deal and I now had to be the one to put the kibosh on it, drawing the ire of the rest of the table. I was the shortstack with 10bbs (therefore no ICM pressure) and to the direct left of the spewy chipleader. Plus of course I've played hundreds of final tables and felt totally comfortable and was having lots of fun. The table seemed to believe that as the shortstack I should be most incentivised to deal and didn't understand my rejection. Of course, the most keen on a deal should have been the guy second in chips who was to the right of the chipleader and thus totally handcuffed. At this point one of the casino regs who I had played with before (and had opened and folded to a 5bb shove earlier at the final) told me that he knew I played online for 'Millions' and it was a big deal for me and how could they play in this turbo structure. I replied in my bad German that I was here to gamble, I was a kid with a dream and chopping wasn't for real men.
We talked for about fifteen minutes and then the first hand after the failed deal discussions I doubled up via a flip for ultimate DEAL REJECTION JUSTICE. I managed to bob and weave until we got five handed, rejecting several more deal offers along the way. I made a crucial double up with AQ vs the A8 and shortly afterwards I picked up kings in a fortuitous spot to cripple one of the two good players. Soon we were four handed with three evenish stacks and a shorty.
The crucial hand was a ridiculous one. The good young quiet player limped off 25bb from the cut off (which is an interesting adjustment off that stack depth), the spewy Austrian completed in the sb and I checked in the BB with 28o. The flop was T82 with two spades and Falco Jnr open shipped for around 5x pot. He'd shown a propensity for random spews, so I looked down at my cards, shrugged and called. I managed to hold vs his KT and was monster chipleader. I was now in a great position and shoved almost any two cards several hands in a row with second in chips totally in an ICM coffin, enjoying his wry looks in my direction each time. In the break I indicated to the young player in second place that I'd be open to chopping with him heads up but he seemed noncommittal. I resisted making my usual comment in such circumstances - something along the lines of - 'Why? Do you think you are better at poker than me?' - it later emerged that he knew my screen name and we'd played a bunch of mixed games together previously on Stars - but he wouldn't tell me his screen name even after the tournament.
Anyhow, I managed to finish things off quickly by busting the shorty in a flip and then grinding it out heads up. With lots of flops favouring my ranges, I was able to barrel a lot of flops and turns. Finishing it off with 88 holding vs K7 for a €13.1k pay day and my second ever live tournament win.
It was all very low key with no trophy and the results won't even be officially recorded due to new EU data regulations. I felt great and thought I'd played excellently, trying to avoid marginal +ev spots and high variance situations to preserve my stack and of course running very well.
Ein Mann gewann ein Pokerturnierhttps://www.pokerfirma.com/news/full-house-beim-berliner-summer-cup/570504| Click to see full-size image. |
Falco Jnr's face upon seeing my 28o looked something like this.
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