[1tripz1]

Part 2...

August 8th, 2007


Second night in Estonia
So after last nights win i was looking foward to playing without drinking, this time however i was very tired due to not sleeping much and walking around town all day!

The cash game started at around 11pm again and this time was just NL Holdem. Bit of a shame as i did enjoy playing the other games, however its probably a good thing as this is my strongest game at the moment. We started 4 handed which is no good and there was a really tricky player in the 4. He was willing to check it all the way but would also call with marginal hands, so it was hard to bluff him. I wish i could of picked up a hand against him to value bet it but sadly couldnt.

Lost about 1/2 a buyin playing 4 handed but very quickly the game filled up, so i rebought back to my original 2000Kr (£100). Things were going alright for me and i was feeling confident untill a new player entered the game. I had watched him in the tournament (it was a high stakes one this evening) and i was very very impressed by his play, so when he sat to play with me it made me nervous! I havent been nervous in a long time as ive made sure i only play games where im the highest level player, giving me an edge, however playing against him changed this as i was sure he was better than me. He played much differently than the tournament though, playing very very loose and aggressive and i realised he was just being super cocky. The difference now since the last time i was nervous is im a much better player, and i started to realise he was just pushing me around, wanting to raise him twice but folded. I told myself, why be nervous, he is too confident and you can apply an effective stratagey to beat him.

Someone raised to 60Kr and he made it 300Kr to go. I looked down at A8d on the button and usually i would throw this away but decided i would take a stand, call, and hopefully do some damage to him on the flop. I think he realised this as he moved all in before the flop was dealt saying 'i dont need to see the flop'. That is a super strong move and i felt that he must be super weak this time, this is why.

1.There is no point doing that on a decent hand, he is not going to get payed off as his bet was twice the pot.
2. He would do this if he wanted to try and keep control of the table.
3. Mike Caro's number one tell 'Weak means strong and strong means weak'. This was the greatest example i had ever seen.

The flop came down with two diamonds, not great, but i called as i thought my Ace might be good, and i had outs if i was wrong. He said 'Good call' and flipped over K5o. I hit an eight on the turn and I took down a meaty 4000kr (£200) pot. After this he stopped bullying, went quiet and basically knew he had been put in his place. I then went on to win another 1000kr when i hit a set and quit soon after, leaving myself £150 up for the session.

I am so happy with myself tonight, i rose up against a challenge and instead of letting it overcome me. Im really looking foward to the tournament tomorrow, ive never been so confident about my poker.