I can't hear or read the word Vienna without thinking about Ultravox's 1980 single that reached number two in the UK charts (and amusingly kept off the number 1 spot by Joe Dolce's Shaddap You Face).

Anyway, the reason I mention Vienna is because that's where the European Amateur Poker Championship is being held this year, and last night I won a seat and expenses package to play in it. 

When I say it's in Vienna, it's not.  It's at the Poker Royale Casino, which is in Wiener Neustadt (the new Viennese city) which apparently is the second largest city in Lower Austria and is situated 25 miles south of Vienna.  So it's close enough I guess.

The tournament is on the 22-23 March, and I'll give you a report of how I get on. 

♠ 

Edit:  Decided not to play in the end, and instead stuck the money into my bankroll and I'll play over here (at DTD) instead.

Starting the day with a stack just short of 16,000 I knew I'd be getting busy early on.  Just quite how early though was a bit of surprise.

This was the table, which coincidently enough was Table 13 again, and although I was in seat 3 this time (not 4), it was actually the same chair.  Variety being the spice of life and all that. 

1. Pernille Ravn
2. Simon Mycock
3. Daniel Phillips
4. Steven Heard
5. Atle Walgren
6. Peter Jepsen
7. Anders Berg
8. Donny Morris

Anyway, first hand, I had and my raise took a call and the blinds down uncontested.   Nice start.

Next hand, the UTG player shoves his remaining 9,000 in.  All fold round to me on the button, and I look at my cards - .  I re-raise all-in, and everyone else folds.  The other player shows , and the on the flop meant that I was back down to about 10,000.

So, two hands in and I've had the hole cards I wanted, but not the results to go with them.

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Day 2 is about to begin in half an hour or so (2pm Danish time).

About 160 players left, and I've got 15,700 chips with the blinds starting at 400-800 (with antes of 100).  So there's going to be over 2,000 chips in every pot before any bets are made.  I'm not completely desperate, so I can wait a short while to make my moves.  Can't wait too long though, as I don't want to get blinded away so much that my stack is so small that doubling up won't do me any real good.

Wish me luck…

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My first experience of a major tournament like this, and it didn't go too badly (although it was harder for Michelle watching than it was for me playing, especially when I pushed all-in, but more about that later).

Play was scheduled to start at 2pm, and  this was preceeded by a mad scramble of players trying to see the table they had been drawn.  I was drawn on Table 13, a table (like most of them here) full of professional players, the ones I knew I'd seen play on TV.

Here was the lineup on Table 13:

1. Clint Brotherton
2. Frode Fagerli
3. Martin Cedercrantz
4. Daniel Phillips
5. John Persson
6. Christian Togsverd
7. Christian Grundtvig
8. Emile Petit
9. Tuncay Ozel
10. Uffe Holm

Soon after 2pm, it got underway, and I was hoping for a decent hand early on to settle me in and relax me a bit.  Didn't have to wait long, as the second hand I was dealt was .  I raised, and got one caller in the Big Blind.

The flop was an interesting one:

I thought I was almost certainly ahead, and checked the flop, which he then bet into and I raised him and he folded quickly.

That made me feel relaxed, and I settled back during the early stages and tried to work out how everyone else at the table had come to play.

I didn't have to wait long.  The Scandanavians are mad!  Hardly any pots weren't raised pre-flop, often by a player in early position.  Raises and re-raises were the order of the day - and often with not a great deal in terms of starting hands.  This wasn't going to be a game for the weak-hearted. (more…)

For those that are interested, here's the structure for the first day of the EPT Copenhagen:

So nine hours of play will determine who goes on to Day 2.  Starting stacks will be 10,000 chips.  So plenty of time to play it carefully early doors and not have to worry about folding lots of hands, and I can wait for decent hands, or opportunities to play fairly decent hands from good position.

It all kicks off at 2pm Danish time, so that'll be an hour earlier over in Blighty. 

We'll see how it goes…

Starts on Wednesday, with the 400-strong field being split into Day 1a and Day 1b.

Fortunately, I'm playing on the first of these on the Wednesday - so I won't have to sit around on the Wednesday anxiously waiting to get going.  If (when) I get through the first day, I'll be able to relax and watch Day 1b without having to worry about playing in my first major event.  If the worst happens, and I crash out on Day 1, at least I'll be able to chill out and enjoy the rest of the week in Copenhagen.

Just seen that I've been listed with odds against me; 300/1 to win it, and 40/1 to reach the final table.  Nice to be amongst the names listed, rather than being anonymous with the rest of the field.

You can see my odds here

Here are some of the odds for some of the 'more' well-known players:

Marcel Luske is the bookie's favourite at 66/1. TJ Cloutier, Dave Colclough, Tony G, Marc Goodwin, and Gus Hansen are all at 100/1, whilst Andrew Black, Juha Helppi, Johnny Lodden, Tom McEvoy and Micky Wernick are at 150/1.

Further down the list are the likes of Noah Boaken, Roy 'The Boy' Brindley and Isabelle Mercier at 200/1.  

It's gonna be fun! 

Part of a discussion on a thread on the Blonde Poker Forum about how to play small poket pairs in a NL cash game brought some excellent advice from professional Rob Yong - who is also the founder of the Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club.  When Rob offers his advice, I tend to listen.  He knows his stuff.  Incidentally, there are quite a few other very good players on the Blonde forum and I'm certainly learning a lot on there.  By the way, Rob finished 6th in the EPT Dublin event winning €88,690 - and was probably disappointed with that.

Anyway, back to Rob's advice.  I was going to reword it, but as Bertrand Russell put so well:

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.

Here's Rob's thoughts on those troublesome hands:

"The other reason limping is preferable is so you can disguise your hand when you have AA and KK. If players know you limp in early position with small pairs and suit connectors you may pick up a raise or even re-raise with AA and KK pre - flop (if you have initially limped).

I never raise in seat 1 or 2 (this is asking to get busted by a speculative late poistion caller), but limping in early position is a strong play as long as you never pass if raised, that is weak.  Basically, you can limp in any position as long as you limp with big hands aswell.  I also pass small pairs in SB or BB in a heads-up pot v late position raiser, call versus a big hand (UTG / seat 2 raise) for implied odds.

There are not usually any implied odds calling with 66 v a button raise. Small pairs are drawing hands, keep the pot small as poss until you hit. plus you want SB and BB in pot so they can hit 2 pair v your set.

Also would consider any pair less than QQ a SMALL PAIR in cash games, unless you hit a set with JJ you are going to lose some big pots committing your chips on low flops v sets and 2 pair etc. "

It's certainly made me reassess the way I play them.  It's always worth bearing in mind the level Rob plays at though.  A raise UTG at the levels he plays will probably indicate a very strong hand.  That's not always the case with the fish at the levels I play at!

I've promised to buy Rob a beer in Copenhagen for giving me permission to use his advice on here.  But thinking about it, maybe he should be paying…