Two Plus Two Newer Archives - EPT Monte Carlo Trip Report (3rd and Final Part)

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EPT Monte Carlo Trip Report (3rd and Final Part)

At the conclusion of my latest trip report post I mentioned how I anticipated a “big play” from Patrik in the near future. Ha…little did I know I would soon be involved in “one of the sickest hands/most talked about hands” in recent history.

The tournament finally reached the ante level, although it was fairly small; being 150/300/25. Regardless, it made opening pots more profitable, and most certainly opened our (Patrik and I) pre-flop raising range.

By this time hardly anyone besides Patrik or I was opening pots. It was always humorous when we were in the blinds together. Action would fold to a player in LP. He’d look at his cards, chips, and the players in the blinds. After 10 seconds of hesitation he’d fold. A small percentage of the time they’d open the pot, but with an unusually large (7-10xbb) pre-flop raise.

It reminded me of when I played in the Aussie Millions and Joe Hachem sat to my right near the bubble. Everyone at the table was terrified of us and folded.

This time was different though.

This time there was no bubble pressure.

Just Patrik and I

Patrik’s stack was hovering around 35k, when UTG+1 (very tight player) opened for 1.5k.

Action folded to Patrik and he asked how much UTG+1 had left. It was about 10k. I forget the amount Patrik raise, but it was clear he was putting him in. I believe it was around 7-10k.

UTG+1 tanked and folded

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The only reason I note this hand is because of what took place the following hand….

UTG (player who folded last hand) opens for 2k (with about 8k left). Action folded to Patrik. He raised enough to put the player all-in, AGAIN.

This time UTG called, and showed KK. Patrik showed JJ.

The end result is Patrik ending the hand with 45k, and in the game of poker, four jacks beats a pair of kings.

I felt sick, and seriously wanted to puke. It felt like some prank a friend would pull on me. I was half-waiting for gobbo to jump from under the table and say

“JUST KIDDING”

With the half creepy/half funny grin he occasionally gives me.

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I was happy to see the tournament was nearing the end of the level. Ending the 150/300/25 level meant 2 important things:

1) 200/400/50; a much profitable level was nearing
2) Day one was near conclusion. I could go to sleep soon, knowing Antonius wouldn’t be sitting to my right the next day.

These are the last two thoughts I had as Patrik opened the pot for 1k from the CO. I looked down at AJo. I had been flat calling and playing smaller pots with Patrik, but vs. Patrik’s range I was willing to play a big pot in position.

I contemplated and re-raised to 3.2k

The blinds folded and action was back to Patrik.

As Patrik was thinking, I used basic logic to deduct he would 4-bet here with a wide range and I was likely ahead.

Let me take back that last statement.

It’s not basic logic, just intelligent multiple-level thinking. I know Patrik’s opening any 2 from the CO. The players in the blinds were also very tight.

Patrik is a smart man; he damn well knows that I know this. He also knows that I’m capable of 3-betting here with a wide range.

That being said, Patrik put in another raise, making it 9k total.

What he didn’t know, was that I knew everything he knew.

I contemplated moving in or calling. I thought for about 2 minutes, and during that time folding hardly came into my mind. I thought AJ was far too ahead of his range to fold. I felt as though moving in was exploitable, spewy, and too big of a bet. I also rarely play AA or KK like that, which is what I wanted Patrik to think I had.

I decided to call. Patrik’s pre-flop action put him in a very bad spot (34.5k with about 20k in the pot, going to the flop, out of position), and I expected him to check/fold most flops. My pre-flop action looks incredibly strong. I have AA or KK most of the time here.

By the time I called 5.8k more there was a HUGE crowd gathered around my table. The rest of the tournament was on break; my table was the only one with a hand still in progress.

The flop came Q42 with 2 clubs.

I thought to myself “Well, I still think I have the best hand.”

I pondered of ways to play when/if Patrik checked or bet 10-14k.

Roughly 40 seconds go by, and Patrik says “All-in”

HUH?!??!!

I usually know what I’m going to do before it happens. My actions are based on my intuition/memory/sense/logic and have made me a lot of money.

At the very moment when Patrik moved in, I wasn’t sure what to do. I told myself when the flop came down “I’m still good,” and everything inside of me told me I was still good.

I asked how much the bet was

“34,475” the dealer said.

I looked down at my stack, slid out a stack of 10k, then 20k. Then I tossed 4475 on top and looked at Patrik. If I called and lost I’m left with about 15k. If I won I’d be over 100k. If I folded I’d have about 50k; still a great stack.

My mind was racing.

“What the hell?”

“This can’t possibly be a value bet”

“Holy [censored], look at all these people”

“I’m ahead”

“53, 46, or garbage, right?”

“All my friends are gonna laugh at me”

I didn’t actually say the above quotes, they were thoughts.

I did however mumble

“Everyone’s gonna laugh when I turn over this hand.”

I couldn’t possibly call though, right? That’s suicide. I’d have to be an absolute madman to call. Several minutes passed, during all of which I was torn. It felt like a sick, sick torture chamber. I could’ve gotten out at any time and just folded, but my brain wouldn’t let me.

Somehow, someway, my arms push in the chips to call.

During “calling process” I kept my eyes on Patrik. He kept the same facial expression, and then nodded and said

“Nice call”

Well, “nice call,” doesn’t mean Ace-high is good when you call 35k on the flop of Q42. I flipped over my hand, with my eyes on Patrik the entire time.

Patrik’s expression is something I’m going to remember until the day I die. The look of defeat in his whitened face was beautiful.

He showed 53o

I stood up as the dealer dealt the turn. The crowd was so confused at what was going on. The only other person in the room that had the slightest idea at what just happened was Patrik.

Turn was an 8

The confused crowd was going crazy. It took them 30 seconds to process Antonius was all-in on the turn for 100k with the nut-low, and I had called 35k with Ace high.

River was an Ace, giving Patrik the nuts.

I sighed, sat down and handed Patrik the exact amount I owed him. During the time it took for the dealer to get the change handled, my mind had processed what just happened:

I just made the greatest call of my life, in the biggest tournament of my life, vs. the greatest player in the world and got unlucky.

I felt fantastic

My reads were dead-on. I had been outplaying Patrik all day, and this hand put it over the top. I made the right decisions and didn’t care about the results, because I had no control over them. There’s no reason to get upset over something you don’t have control over.

I said “nice hand sir,” clearly, to a very bashful Patrik Antonius.

He responded:

“That hand….was one of the sickest hands I’ve ever seen.”

“You….you play amazing….”

Patrik’s voice was very shaken. After Patrik said “you play amazing” he sort of hesitated and stopped. It sounded as if he’d never said anything like that to anybody in his life.

I never wanted to leave the table. We were on break, but I sat there the entire time it took Patrik to stack my chips. Eventually I got up, and walked across the stage area, where there weren’t too many people. I relaxed on the stairs and some friends approached me. Some had heard about the hand, and some hadn’t. I retold, what I would eventually retell seemingly thousands of times.

When I arrived back to the table from break, the reporters were still going crazy. They looked at me as if I were allowed to do anything. When a player takes a bad beat you usually give them space and don’t bother them.

I’m different.

I sat back down with about 3 minutes left in the break. I saw the reporters were talking about the hand, trying to make some logic out of it. I smiled and looked over at them. I told them “ha, it’s ok. You can ask me about it, I don’t mind.”

I explained “it’s just a tournament. Make good decisions, and try not to let luck bother you. Patrik and I are playing on a very high level, and I got unlucky. I’ve played a lot of tournaments in my life, and will play a lot more. I think it’d be stupid for me to get overly upset over this hand.”

“Patrik’s bet was designed to create as much fold equity as possible. I think he should have re-raised more pre-flop, but besides that I think he played it fine.”

When the tournament started back up again, Patrik didn’t show up. It took him a few minutes but he finally did show up. We talked about the hand, and started talking about other hands. I would later find out Patrik said he intended to check/fold the flop, as my pre-flop line was incredibly strong. He said he thought I had KK after I called his pf raise. He was "comfortable after 5 seconds had past and I hadn't called," because I obviously would've called by then with AA or KK.

I ended up busting with about 30min left in the day (just like the PCA). I thought I played very well the entire tournament, and am satisfied with my decisions. I learned a lot from Patrik, and had a lot of fun on the trip.

I sincerely hope everyone enjoyed reading this. I’m somewhat hesitant to post all of it, but I enjoy writing too much to pass up on it. I was also likely going to write it out for myself anyways. I could probably talk about "the" hand for another 5 pages, but am leaving you here.

-Adam Junglen