Jacques Kieft qualified to play in the EPT Dortmund as APAT Irish Amateur Champion. His report follows:-
Monday I arrived in the hotel with no problems. No problems with the travel and I was even in the hotel"s computer system. For who know what happened a few months ago to me, this was a big relieve.
The hotel room is surprisingly simple for all those stars this hotel has, but maybe those stars are for something else. I wouldn"t know, since I usually opt for a cheap youth hostel. There is a small fridge in the room with equally small bottles in it. Finding the price list made this "feature" less nice, much less. The prices are extremely steep, for example 2.50 for a small (25g) packet of crisps and 3.00 for a small (200ml) bottle of cola. Watching a film on TV costs 12.90 a day, Internet costs 13.00 a day. I lost all interests to inquire after the "real features" of this hotel like their swimming pool and such. LOL
That evening was the PokerStars EPT opening party. Nothing else to do so on the way to a nightclub that was rented out exclusively for PokerStars players. The food there was absolutely excellent and to top it off they even had a chocolate fountain with fresh fruits. There was also an open bar. But since I would be playing the very next day I felt that that might not be a good idea. There were also two performers that did tricks of which I don"t know where to start to explain. Suffice to say that one of them can do those tricks while standing on his head that I couldn"t do standing upright; or just in one word "amazing". Then the disco started and that"s where I got the feeling that it was time to go. The free bus back would take another hour and I didn"t want to stick around that long. So I took the subway back to the hotel and went to bed.
Tuesday was day 1A of the EPT, which is my starting day. So on the bus onwards to the casino. Man, that casino sure is setup big. The staff to customer ratio seems very high in my opinion. Registration was confusing. Apparently (I"m still not sure) there were two different registrations. One for the buy-in and one for a drink- and food package. Once in the poker room I felt like cattle with two hospital-like tags on my wrists. The play was scheduled to start at 3pm but because of the big queue for registration it got delayed to 4pm. The structure is excellent, 200 BB starting stack, a 60 minute clock and all tables are 9-max (8-max even from day 2 onwards). My table was filled with PokerStars qualifiers and quite active. Hardly ever would a flop show unraised. In the first 110 minutes I only played two hands. Both were Q J suited and both times I missed to flop so folded to bets. For the rest I was pretty much card dead. I was simply being blinded out and down to 8.5K from the 10K starting stack.
Late second level (50/100) I limp from MP with Q J off-suit. Not a good hand but the best I seen all day (not counting the two times I got Q J suited) and only my third attempt to limp that day. On the previous two attempts I folded to too much action. A miracle happens; no raise! Just me and the two blinds are in it. SB who I have no read on. I didn"t see showdowns and only knows that he loves to min-raise from EP. BB is a solid ABC player that wasn"t very active. Flop comes 8 8 Q. SB leads with 400 and BB quickly folds. 400 in a 300 pot?!? Without a read on this player I had no clue as to what that meant. The bet was so high that I felt he had a Q, although being the SB he could easily have an 8. I call to see what happens next, since I have position. Turn is a J and he bets 1200. Now there are two possibilities, as I could safely rule out him having T 9 or a high pocket pair: 1) he has an 8 or 2) he doesn"t have an 8. In case of 2) I win since his kicker doesn"t come into play. I decide its 2) because of the overbetting and call. River is 6 and he bets 3000. I call and he shows 8 6 off-suit; a house. Then he asks me "A 8?" Only the third flop I see in two hours and he puts me on A 8? LOL
Just after the break I"m down to 4K and get A J suited in MP. A monster when you"re card dead and short stacked.
The blinds are 75/150 and I raise to 575. My left neighbour calls and all other fold, even the EP who limped. The flop brings
Jx 4
s and I have As
. I bet out 800 and this guy raises. I don"t remember how much but I had a good read on him for stealing this pot. I go all-in and he reluctantly throws his chips in the middle saying "oh buy, I must be in trouble". Yup, the standard at this table isn"t all that great. Must be because of all those PokerStars qualifiers. Oh wait, I"m one myself.
In any case, he shows K T for an open-ended straight draw. Turn is 3x and river is Kx. He hit his 25% and I"m out.
So after lunch I strole towards the side games. To my shock and horror the only tournaments were 800 euro sit & go"s. Cash then? Nope, the cheapest they had was 5/5 NL. The rake was 5 euro once the pot hits 75 euro and then 10 at 250 euro etc, capped only at 30 euro. Whoa! Steep!! I tried again on Thursday, but it only went from bad to worse. 1000 euro 9-man sit & go"s were the cheapest tournaments. Oh and with 50 starting BBs on a 20 minute clock and with a 80% / 20% payout. Not a chance! Looking at the cash tables didn"t make me happy either. The average stack on the 5/5 table was well over 1000 euro. So no more poker for me in this casino. Give me the Fitz in Dublin or the Grosvenor in Luton any day!
