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From Dortmund to Denmark + a few nice awards

A quick recap of the last few weeks...I played EPT Dortmund not long ago... didn't go as I hoped.

I made day two with a top 20 stack, but I had an extremely tough table on day two and just couldn't get anything going, so I went out 30 from the money or so. Did good in the 2k side event where I got 8th, but still not good enough for my liking cuz I have extremely high expectations, and I'm never happy unless I win. Won couple of sng's there so I got a nice profit on the trip overall. Germany was kinda boring.

I said last time that I was gonna work on not bluffing my way out of tournaments, and I have definitely gotten better at it lately. I've been laying down more hands and not being so stubborn... but I hate going against my gut, and I feel like I have couple of times just because I've been thinking too much about not making the same mistake everything. Oh well.. I'm definitely not afraid to pull the trigger, I just need to think things through better before I do.

I also played in the PartyPoker Millions. I don't wanna spoil anything cuz I went very deep in it, and it's televised. I'll let u guys watch it first before I make any comments about how I played, but I'm very proud of that tourney, and I def played my A-game even tho i got lucky couple of times. Please leave a comment or something here when it airs, because i wont know, and I'd love to see it :).

I'm just done playing EPT Copenhagen. I made a really big mistake on my bustout hand. Some background. I have a really tough table.. three strong Norwegians at my table. And most of the other players are solid TAG players for the most part. I had made a lot of big laydowns and even showed them a couple of times making them think they can run over me. I had also been keeping pots very small, checking behind tons of flops after raising pre-flop, and just check calling with top pair on scary boards, folding As post-flop, got away cheap with Js vs Qs on low board the third hand of the tournament etc. So I'm thinking my image is very solid at this point because I've only showed down good hands, but I also have a reputation of being crazy, so ppl know I'm capable of running bluffs.

I pick up KdQd in the CO at 100-200 with 15k stack. I make a standard raise to 525. Folds around to the BB who I had been raising every time its been folded to me or so. I can tell hes getting a little pissed off. Hes been defending a lot vs me, trying to outplay me post-flop i think and seeing lotta flops in his BB and just being very stubborn. But he was also pretty tight and didn't play big pots without a good hand except for a bluff he showed down where fired two barrels with a draw and got called down by top pair. He rather quickly re-raises to 1500. It was such a small re-raise, and would only be 10% of my stack to see a flop in position thinking his rr raise here would be like 88+AT+. Maybe even a little tighter, but I thought I would get a good feel for where I was at in the hand against him, so I decide to call and see a flop. The flop is Kx2s4s. He bets 1750 which is a really small bet compared to the size of the pot and I flop top pair so I cant really fold yet. I think hes betting his entire range here except for Ks, but I'm not sure about the bet sizes he would make with the different hands he has. I call. Turn comes a 4. Which seems to be a really good card for my hand, but in reality it kills three of my two pair outs in case hes got As, but I'm really not too worried about that. He bets 2750. Again, a very small bet. It kinda seems to me like he doesn't wanna build the pot too big so that I wont be committed to calling a shove on the river if I call again here, or that hes milking me with As or AK. But if he really has a good hand, wouldn't he want me to be committed to calling on the river and hence bet bigger? I call again hoping that he would give away something on the river. A meaningless 6 rolls off the deck and I now have a realllllly tough decision to make if he shoves. Lets think about it from his point of view. I called the re-raise pre-flop, so I must have some kind of hand. I called the flop and the turn, so Its very possible I have a K, but hes seen me make huge laydowns earlier so I think he would think I'm folding weaker kings than KQ by now. I'm pretty sure he doesn't think I have a boat at this point because hes representing a strong hand, so I would probably not have to trap and would raise him at some point. The fact that my hand looks so weak to him, really makes me think that theres a bigger chance that hes bluffing if he shoves the river because theres in reality no hands that I'm calling with the third time with the line that I've taken. I woulda never called the turn bet if i was drawing, but he doesn't know that, so I'm assuming he thinks flush draws are in my range as well as maybe 4s.

He does end up shoving, and I just sit there and stare at him for 5 minutes. I was so confused. He even tanked for 3 minutes before shoving and seemed sincerely insecure about what to do. He was also breathing extremely fast all the time, moving a lot in his seat and just didn't seem comfortable at all. Usually when ppl have a good hand they get excited and their pulse raises, btu then it quickly slows down again because they realize what they're doing and they try to hide it, btu he just kept going. Its always harder to control when ur bluffing because u cant control the adrenaline rush as fast as u can control the excitement of having a good hand, So I end up calling his bet for the last 10k i had or so. Ppl at my table starts saying 'nice call' even before the player flips his hand, so I'm feeling confident, and he hesitates and rolls over AK like he thinks hes beat after I tank for 5 minutes before calling WTF.

If he doesn't think AK is good if he gets called, then what is he doing shoving the river??? I really don't get it. Does he think hes bluffing? Why doesn't he check call if he doesn't think I have a good hand and at least let me bluff if i did missed what he thought coulda been a flush draw? Am I really just over-thinking this and assuming hes thinking on a higher level than he really is? Was he just value betting his AK the entire way without thinking about what I could have and what range of hands I'm calling/folding on each street with? Has he paid attention to any of the table dynamics so far? I dunno. All I know is that I got completely leveled, outplayed and owned that hand, and I'm not proud of it lol.

I'm really working on improving my live reads, and I cant be afraid to pull the trigger if I think I'm right. I'm one step closer to getting into their minds by making that call I think, and I'm definitely not afraid to be wrong as long as I trust my gut. It might look stupid, but there's always a reason to the madness and u have to be wrong at first to eventually be able to turn things around and get it right. I'm still a live n00b, but I'm getting better every day :).

I also would like to mention that I won two awards at the Scandinavian Poker Player Awards here in Denmark before the EPT started, I won for 'Best Female', and 'Best Performance of the Year'. I'm extremely happy to get those prizes, and I've never really had a chance to thank anyone. I really wanna say that I love all my fans to death... seriously. I would never have gotten to the level I'm at today without all the ppl supporting me through good and bad times, and always saying positive things to me on the rail or where ever it may be. The same goes for all my friends (u know who u are). Also big TY to Betfair for giving me this opportunity to show what I'm good for, and making life a lot easier for me :D.

I hope u all have a great week, and we'll write/read again soon. Take care everyone!

Annette

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