Responding to Comments

A couple of posts this week have asked me about my final hand in Dortmund and also about preparation.

Firstly my final hand.
I started level 9 with just over 5000 chips. Blinds 400/800 antes 100. So I am looking to put my chips in at the first opportunity. My best hand from the first seven hands I received was 7 high and every pot had a substantial raise ahead of me. The hand where I was under the gun I had 5 high and did not fancy my chances. I decided that the best move was to go all in with the big blind. Here however two short stacks had already gone all in and a big stack had called them both. My 7 high was not going to have much hope here.

In the small blind with 76 and 500 chips already committed to the middle. It folds around to the button. He puts a small raise in. This was clearly an attempt to steal and my belief was that 76 is not going to be too much of an underdog. I had a small amount of fold equity but not much. The decision was I could put in 3700 to get back 9500. Against any random hand I had the odds and it was unlikely my hand would be dominated.

He called with J9, I also know he expected to be behind, so there was no fold equity.
The flop came 235, two diamonds. Fours, sixes and sevens are all working for me. The turn bought the 8 diamonds, so now diamonds and nines are also good. 22 outs I make that, that’s about as many as you can get. Unfortunately it was the King of Clubs. I was left to take the walk of shame!

Preparation.

By time I played my final hand, I had been at the casino for over 13 hours. You have to be mentally and physically prepared to play this game.

An example is Ram Vashwani. After about an hour, he said to a friend of his, my minds not on this today and started talking about what to do that evening. He had been reraised a few times and clearly he was going to have to work hard and put in some hours, this he was not prepared to do and bluffed himself out of the competition in level 2.

To do well in a big event, you need to watch your opponents, how they act, what they do, how they bet and this takes a lot of concentration. This you will need to do for 3 consecutive days, all at least 12 hours long.

You need rest and slow release energy from the appropriate food sources. (Try Jordans Frusli bars!)

ClintonO