...smash every tooth in your head.

 

Anyone caught the Smiths reference? Awesome band, awesome song. What was not awesome was my recent trip to France. I travelled there to play in the 1300€ Pasino Poker Open, which has an incredible structure and the softest live field in the world. The WSOP ME is tough compared to this tournament, as the field consists entirely of really bad French players. Even better, the tourney starts 1000BB deep, meaning you have a lot of time to wait for the nuts - they will pay you off anyway no matter how tight you play.

 

Hilariously enough I was the first one to bust out. The tournament only lasted one hour for me, which is pretty sick given it was 1000BB deep. Long story short, I raised 33 UTG to 300 on the 50/100 level. This was like the first hand of the second level, leaving us 500BB deep. I got two callers, and the flop came Jc 5c 3d. Bingo! I checked with the intention of check-raising, and a really bad tilting French dude bet on the button asa expected. I had valuetowned 200BB out of him with AA earlier and he looked like he wanted to kill me. This time the pot was just 1050 chips, but for some reason he chose to bet 6350 - over 6 times the pot. He looked genuinely scared, as if he had done it by accident. I raised to 15k or so, leaving just a little over PSB behind. He called quickly. The turn was an off-suit deuce, just the blank I was looking for. Or was it a blank? I jammed, and he insta-called shoving A4o for a straight. I didn't hit a boat and was left with just 7k... so sick. I grinded it up to 15k, then I got it all-in AK vs AK, and my opponent drew a flush. Easy game...

After getting knocked out I headed to 5/5 cash, where I lost a 1k pot in one of the first hands I played. AA vs KK pre-flop all-in, the door card was a K and I didn't hit my two outer. It's just fucking impossible to win in France, the last time I went there I ran insanely bad at the 5300€ EPT Deauville getting knocked out 15 minutes before the end of day 1 when a megafish couldn't fold 66 to my 4bet, and then dropped 11 000 euros at the Aviation Club. I remember villain hitting a genuine 1-outer into a 6k pot back then. Fuck you France, I hate you. I hate the rude people, the shitty food, the bad but ever-so-lucky poker players, the football team, EVERYTHING. I'm now officially boycotting traveling to France for the next ten years.

On a happier tone, online has been good for me this month as well. I think I'm up about 16k this month, playing with an average buy-in of $55. I hit my first sunday major final table in the Bodog 100k GTD a couple of weeks back, but got knocked out 7th QQ<AK. I got just $3500 for that. Yesterday I was so close to winning the Stars Daily 90k, I was running over everybody and came into the final table as a chip leader. The 1st price was 16k, but I lost a 2 million chip pot as an 80% favourite and eventually got knocked out 7th. I still had a smooth +6k day yesterday though, and today I finished 3rd in the Stars $109 quad netting 2,6k.

I also played a live tournament at the local casino a couple of weeks back. I made all the way into the final table, which I entered as second in chips. Then I managed to lose a HUGE pot to the EPT Berlin runner-up Ilari Tahkokallio, who 4bet jammed pre-flop with 96s and I snapped with AA. I guess the dynamics were there for the 4bet bluff jam, although it was a spot where I'd never 3bet bluff. He hit a backdoor straight leaving me crippled, and in the end I finished 4th for 2,3k€ or something. Meh.

Next week I'm going to Italy to play in another EMOP. It's a 1100€ buy-in, and to be honest I don't want to go at all, but I've sold shares so I have no choice. I'm probably going to get the hell out of there the second I get knocked out (with my recent live run probably within 30 minutes) and instantly come back to Finland, as these trips always cost a shit ton to me. Things usually get out of control when everyone gets knocked out, is tilted, gets drunk and wants to blow their rolls online... been there, done that.

I'm aiming to win another 10k by the end of the month so I can safely go to Vegas and have a kick-ass WSOP. Shall I hit a downswing, I'm not sure if I'll even go. We'll see. I'm going to be grinding some Main Event satellites for sure, too.

In other news I'm moving to a new flat next month. It's a little over 300 square feet, two balconies, two storeys, a sauna, three bedrooms and of course a huge grinding corner. What's better, it's located in a part of town named GRINDDAL, which is the main reason why I chose this flat in the first place. In June I'm also playing the 3000€ buy-in Midnight Sun and some side events. It should be fun, and probably very expensive. Last year I bubbled this event finishing 18th (top 17 paid). The first cash was like 6k€ so it hurt pretty bad. Let's hope I run better this time!