Estonia Trip Report - long.

[1tripz1]

Here is the trip report from a poker holiday me and my buddy took in August to Estonia in Eastern Europe. Hope some will find it entertaining! Part 1 of 3...

August 7th, 2007


First night in Estonia
Glad i bought my laptop as the hotel has free wireless internet!

Came 8th out of about 45 runners at the Western which i was supprised with as i was so excited about going away i couldnt really concentrate! After a couple of big hands though (sorry Glen) and building up a nice stack i made myself concentrate and played pretty good to give myself another strong tournament finish.

Pretty much the first thing we did after a few hours kip was go check out the Olymic Grand Casino in Tallinn, where we would be playing the tournament on Wednesday. On the way, we noticed another 3 casinos of the same name and 3 other casinos, but they are all slots only! We found another Casino in the 'Old Town' which is where all the resteraunts and clubs are and they had some blackjack and a hidden away poker table which they said they rarely use. the Grand Casino had all the regular games but was abit smaller than i expected. 2 roulette tables, 3 blackjack and 2 5 card poker tables and then lots of slots, its pretty much the same size as the upstairs of the Grosvenor in Reading, but with lots of decoration getting in the way.

The card room is a small with 5 tables crammed into a corner. When we arrived they had just closed entry to a mixed holdem and omaha event which would of been resonable enough for us to play in but sadly we were too late. We were told the cash games started at about 22 00 so we went to see the city before returning.

I sat down from the beginning of the game. The limits were 10/20 Kroon which is roughly 50p/£1, a nice level. Minimum buyin was 2k which is about £100. The game was dealers choice but with only 3 games to choose from, NL Holdem, PLO, PLO/8. This was quite exciting for me as i have never played either of the Omaha games properally live. Apparently Soko, 7 Stud and Crazy Pinapple are sometimes thrown into the mix, but not tonight.

The game was pretty loose with lots of people limping and cold calling raises to see the flop. This meant that it was essential to come in with a good starting hand and really play position well and in doing so there would be oppoortunities to bluff on later streets. Id say that we played %50 Omaha/8 and %50 Holdem/PLO which was abit of a shame for me as Omaha/8 is my weakest game of the 3 as its the one ive put almost no time into playing.

Id won about 400Kr (£20) when i got involed in a big pot with AA. I raised and had two callers pre flop, the flop came 3s4sJd and i bet out (was in SB) and first player moved in follwed by the second. I thought about laying it down but decided that i was getting such a good price and i was likely up against a jack and a draw i would game. Turns out i was right and the flush draw came on the river, putting me down to about 1000Kr(£50). Was abit annoyed but am happy with how i played it, i gambled and knew i had a good chance to lose even though i was a slight favourate on the flop.

I then grinded my way back and got myself back to even and decided to quit. We had had a few beers which doesnt make me play my best and i was also still groggy from the flight so i decided to wait for the next night to go in fresh and hopefully do some damage.

A real fun experience and a free day for me (i won £50 playing roullette) and am really looking foward to putting in a long session tomorrow night.

[1tripz1]

some notes...
- Sorry about my bad English.
- The Western is a poker club in London. Our flight was 4am so we decided to stay there for the evening as apposed to sleeping and getting up early.

[StevieG]

Cool. Keep it coming.

Any pictures? Are you writing up Tallinn in general anywhere?

[ivo]

Can u tell what is the rake in the cash games?

[1tripz1]

Cheers for reading. Sorry i do not recall what the rake was, its not something im used to noticing (no rake in the uk).

Steve, i did not write up a review on the city itself but in short Estonia is similar to most countries in that area, poor on the outside and rich on the inside. Due to the recent increase in tourism Tallinn is becoming a very modern city. Everything is dirt cheap (although that might change) with a pint costing you no more than £1. The women are the most attractive i have ever seen in the world and there are so many. We went to a club and the hot girls outnumbered the guys by about 3/1, it was like christmas.

Very nice place to go on a drinking holiday but i wouldn't recommend going there for poker unless a big tourney is running. Even when we were there there was never more than 3 games running. They spread NL Holdem from ~$1/$2 upto ~$3/$6 and Dealers choice (see first post for games) with the same blinds. When i saw the most games running it was $1/$2 Nl and $2/$4, $3/$6 DC. They love O/8 there.

Let me know if you want any other info.

[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.

[Reko Savinen]

[ QUOTE ]
The women are the most attractive i have ever seen in the world and there are so many. We went to a club and the hot girls outnumbered the guys by about 3/1, it was like christmas.


[/ QUOTE ]

Confirmed. The other thing you may have noticed is the absolute ridiculous amount of hot women with very, very ugly guys. It's exactly like Christmas (you put it perfectly) when you go in as a good looking foreigner.