http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/lapt/2009/lapt-punta-del-este-season-2-interview-w-3-037704.html
full trip report:
ok,
so as you all know, i really concentrated on getting my mind and body in peak condition for this event. this one fact will give you an idea of my level of focus during this tournament:
you saw my goofy, soccer jersey-and-cowboy hat ensenble... what you DIDN'T see, was: the ENTIRE time i sat at the table, i sat there, with perfect posture; i had my chips in my perfect stacks in perfect position, in the exact place that allow me to check my hole cards with just my left hand without having to move my body at all. so picture me, expressionless except when i'm talking to someone; perfect posture, both hands flat on the table on either side of my stack. every time there's a deal, i collect the cards with my left hand, arrange them next to my stack and imperceptibly check the cards (i do this so ppl can hardly tell whether i've looked at them.) my hands go back to their starting position. when it's my action, i always check the cards again with my left hand (double check everything imo), put my hand back for about 'one-onethousand' ... and then muck with my left hand, or start measuring out my raise amount with my right hand. if i'm raising, i already know i'm raising, and to what amount... so i just stack that amount using the biggest denominations, and push them out to the middle; and then i go back to my starting position. once every hour or so i'd get up and move around and do a couple stretches cuz that helps keep the blood flowing and my concentration level up... and ppl seriously look at me wide-eyed like 'omg wtf is up with this guy... '
i had a rough start, but i had enough BBs that i just kept playing my game, and made sure i got max value everywhere, and before i knew it, i had bluffed the other tough player of the table out of a giant pot, and i had established myself as THE player on the table.
at dinner break, i had 40k, second stack on the table had like 22k... but that kind of dominance leads to desperation, which led to me losing A9cc<34dd AIPF, and TT<44 AIPF, and suddenly i'm down to 30k... then 28, then 26, then 24k, as new players join the table with decent stacks and have the audacity to 3bet me! this was a really tough 1 hour.
but of course, i had enough chips, that i never panicked... small pot, small pot, small pot, small pot, and a couple hours later, i've worked up to 40k again, when... Assassinato sits down to my left... GREAAAAAT..... he has like, 85k, top5 stack.... yuck! so... how to pwn him.... 'hey, you assassinato? you look like him' '...ya' 'whaddup, i'm buki' ...a few hands later, he opens button, sb folds, i ship big, he snaps with TT and turns white when i flip over KK
so now i have like 80k, everyone's just SCARED, and everyone's just stalling to get to break, and i'm opening like 80% of pots, and we're in heaven, and we end the night at 106k... top5 stack!
turns out assassinato and this 18yo german kid named max (insanely lag, archetypal online player) are staying at the same hotel as me, so we hop on the shuttle, and get to talking, and he's a really cool guy (like, we'll prolly be friends for life). we're excited for day2. we're joking, how i'm wishing the tables wouldn't break, and how he can't wait for the new table draw, and i'm like, well, i'll be one to your left instead of two to your left....
and then omg the next day i AM directly on his left.... hahahahahaha!! ...but of course 4 of the top players left, are all sitting next to each other lol.... with the other side of the table full of S.A. donks.... :/
i'm playin well, opening and 3betting correct frequencies that ppl just can't play back at me at those stacks, and we cruise to the bubble, at which point the scared money starts stalling, like, literally every hand.
99
so we're stuck at 39 players (36 pay) with ppl taking 2,3,4 minutes to fold UTG (on the other side of the table from me and assassinato) the same 4 guys, every hand. so i started calling time, and then literally the 4 pros on the table started calling time on those players as soon as they saw their cards... and they would just sit there, and take the full minute each time, no matter what the action... raise, allin, and dude has 46o (norwegian kid on my left saw and told the table, cuz he was yet to act and he'd seen another player's hole cards) and he hollywood's for 2 minutes... it really was not cool... because of this, we played so much fewer hands...
after the bubble, i'm short, and then they skip the 2.5k/5k level, going from 2k/4k to 3k/6k.... i was lucky to get it in as good as AQ vs A9 and 22, but they both hit and i whiff... that pot, i had 38k; sb was allin for like 16k; bb called 2/3 his stack with 22; there was 13k in the middle before any action; so i woulda had 15bbs if i win o well.
we are now 2/5 in cashing 2k+ live events... and we really had a shot to take this down
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