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EPT Monte Carlo- Part 1

When we arrived at Nice Airport we had the option of taking a cab to Monte Carlo or going in style and taking a helicopter over the French Riviera to MC. The interesting thing is taking the helicopter was only about 10-15 Euros more than taking a cab, so it was a pretty easy decision.

When I arrived in Monte Carlo I decided to play a single table qualifier to the main event . I remember that last year I did exceptionally well in SNG's so I was excited about playing them again. Each player starts with 2500 chips and the first level begins at 25/50 blinds and increases every 20 minutes like so: 50/100, 150/300, 200/400, 400/800, 500/1000 etc etc. I wasn't really thrilled about the super fast structure but when we started playing I instantly remembered why I love these sit and go's and live sit and go's in general SO much! Generally speaking, 6-8 players in any given 10 handed SNG in Monte Carlo literally play exactly the opposite of optimal SNG strategy. It's like in their minds, instead of the goal being to win the SNG, the goal is to see who could lose the quickest in the worst possible way. They play really aggressive and spewwy in the early stages and really tight/weak in the late stages.

During the first 3 levels it's not uncommon to see players play a lot of pots, open raise for 10x the big blind. limp/call weak hands, call massive re raises + check fold missed flops and bluff in obvious spots. In the late stages of the SNG most of the players tighten up significantly and fold in spots where they're suppose to shove any 2, or limp with under 10 bb's fold to a shove and even worse, limp with under 10 bb's, call a raise and check fold a missed flop (this is a pretty standard play in big buy in SNG's in Monte Carlo) I am seriously not surprised at anything I see in poker anymore. The way people play in these sit and go's you'd have to get really unlucky not to come top 3. Best thing is, a lot of these guys are willing to do last longers :)

So in the qualifier I played, I managed to get heads up with a dominating lead against the worst player at the table. We started heads up at 500/1000, I had 20k he had 5k. He managed to crack my Aces with 7-10 and things went downhill from there and I ended up coming 2nd. Surprisingly, even though the stacks were so shallow, there was one interesting hand that I thought I'd talk about.

Blinds: 500/1000
Hero: 9k
Villain: 16k
Hero (6x,6c)
Villain limps in for 500 more.
Hero raises to 4k.
Villain calls
Flop (Ac, Qc, Jc)
Hero goes all in for 5k
Villain tank calls
Villain has (6x,4c)
Turn club
Hero wins!

The point I'm trying to make from this hand is that when you have a short-stack and you're playing against bad to terrible players, you should ALWAYS encourage them to see a flop without going all in preflop if you have enough chips behind to create fold equity on the flop. People love to see flops. As long as you're not all in, bad players will find an excuse to make a mistake by calling your raise preflop to try and outflop you even if half your stack is already in the pot. Mathematically, people miss a lot more flops than they hit. So next time if you're a short stack and plan on shoving, consider re raising (or raising in this case) enough to commit yourself BUT have enough to get them to fold if they elect to see a flop.

There is a lot of value in knowing how to create fold equity. This is one of the more advanced plays I've learned over the years. Let's say you have 9 BB's on the small blind and an aggressive late position raiser opens for 3x the BB with what you deem as a wide opening range. If you shove all in he's likely to call you with any two cards since he's getting the correct odds. If you just call preflop and shove in regardless of the flop, he won't be able to call you unless he hits. You can pretty much justify making this play with any 2 cards. Obviously it will work well against some players better than others, so choose your spots carefully.

I'll be writing Part 2 in a couple of days and talk about some hands from the main event and my overall experience in Monte Carlo... OH, and another prop bet! This time with Antonio Esfandiari......

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