Team Challenge Tallinn

As soon as I get the names of all the players from my tournament, I will then do a full write up of both the tournaments I played in including the big swing hands, followed by what happened to the rest of my team.

The way the team tournament was structured was as follows:
4 players to each team.
4 tournaments at the same time with 1 player from each team in the tournaments.
The omaha tournament is played first.
The nl tournament is played 10-15 minutes after the omaha tournament finished.
The maximum any team can score is 112 points in a tournament and the minimum is 4 points.
The scores are totalled up after the omaha tournament.
During the nl tournament players can check what the maximum score their team can still achieve.
At the end of play in the nl tournament if 2 teams were on level points over the 2 tournaments a count back of the highest finishing positions will come into play.

The scoring system was as follows :
1st = 28 / 2nd = 24 / 3rd = 22 / 4th = 20 / 5th = 18 / 6th = 17 / 7th = 16 / 8th = 15 /
9th = 14 / 10th = 13 / 11th = 12 / 12th = 11 / 13th = 10 / 14th = 9 / 15th = 8 /
16th = 7 / 17th = 6 / 18th = 5 / 19th = 4 / 20th = 3 / 21st = 2 / 22nd = 1

There were 22 teams playing:
My starting table was 7 handed

Seat 1 : Heiti Riisbog / International Playboys
Seat 2 : Henrik Kask / Goalwin
Seat 3 : a nobody freeroll player / Come on 2
Seat 4 : Ain Annus / Regulars
Seat 5 : Kirsi Tschokkinen / Paf 2 (Finland)
Seat 6 : Jarmo Muru / Paf 3 (Estonia)
Seat 7 : Magnus Nilsson / Lepok

OMAHA
shuffle up and deal

Starting Stack 10,000 chips Tournament start time 6pm actual start 6.30pm
(22 players each tournament)

Level 1 SB 25 BB 50 20 Mins Level end 18.50
Level 2 SB 50 BB 100 20 Mins Level end 19.10
Level 3 SB 75 BB 150 20 Mins Level end 19.30
Level 4 SB 100 BB 200 20 Mins Level end 19.50
Level 5 SB 200 BB 400 20 Mins Level end 20.10
Level 6 SB 300 BB 600 20 Mins Level end 20.30
Break 10 mins Chip count 20.40
Level 7 SB 600 BB 1200 20 Mins Level end 21.00 M=122.22
Level 8 SB 1000 BB 2000 20 Mins Level end 21.20 M=73.33
Level 9 SB 1500 BB 3000 20 Mins Level end 21.40 M=48.89
Level 10 SB 3000 BB 6000 20 Mins Level end 22.00 M=24.44
Level 11 SB 4000 BB 8000 20 Mins Level end 22.20 M=18.33
Level 12 SB 8000 BB 16000 20 mins Level end 22.40 M=9.67
Break 10 mins 22.50
Level 13 SB 15000 BB 30000 20 Mins Level end 22.55 M=4.89

Points count up

The omaha started nearly 30 mins late so it finished at 23.00

As soon as I knew the structure I worked out when it was necessary to accumulate chips by blind stealing and when it was worth doing that. I also worked out at what point it would reach push or fold poker, and I also calculated the maximum m* value for the whole tournament after level 6. This then gave me a better idea of my relative stack size to the stacks left in the tournament., it also meant that my team knew by level 8 it was going to be the time to take chances before your stack was too small and that by level 12 it would be win your flips time.

* if anybody wants me to explain the value of m just speak to me and I will do this. In this tournament structure as there were no antes it was straight forward but it alters when antes are part of the structure.

After 5 hands of omaha it was obvious to the 3 more experienced players who could really play omaha and who were the nl players.
The 3 most experienced players were:
seat 2 Henrik Kask
seat 3 some unknown freeroll player
seat 7 Magnus Nillson

seat 1 Heiti Riisbog understood position and the better starting range he looked to be a reasonable player.

Seats 4/5 Ain Annus, Kirsi Tschokkinen looked out of their depth.

Seat 6 Jarmo was a different type his hand selections immeadiately showed him to be a nl player he was also so easy to read it had to be either his first time playing live or no more than his 3rd or 4th time. He was making the normal online players basic mistake of playing too many hands.

Even the dealer could see what was happening whenever either Henrik myself or Magnus raised pre the other 2 of us folded. Jarmo the kid in seat 6 could not understand how the 3 of us won against him in any hand that went to show down or laid when he hit, and the more he tried not to show tells the more he gave. seats 4 and 5 were even easier as they were just seeing nl hands, so we just played double suited and potential wrap hands.

I had played myself up to a stack of around 16k blinds were 300/600 I was in bb when seat 1 made small raise to 1500 i called with Kd 7d 7h 3h double suited 900 chips to call into a 3300 pot, the flop came Kc 7c 3d he bet pot 3300 i min raised to 6600 he shoved i called he had 9c jc 9s 4h he was drawing to clubs turn was 2d river 8c.

so i lost a 17.2k pot which left me with just over 7.5k .

I played on my table image to steal next 3 blinds and moved tables with just over 10k 1 hand before break.

After break the tables broke and i was moved to table with tournament chip leader he had just over 55k from 220k in play 15 players left average was just under 14700.

I had been keeping an eye on the table I was moved too and had seen the chip leader bullying he played and shoved with any double suited hands , I knew his range was therefore weak.
I was now BB (600/1200)
chip leader bet 3k sb folded I bet to 6k
He looked at my chip stack and asked how much I had left I said 4600 he shoved I snap called with Kc 10c Jh 10h (this is looser than I would normally call a shove but having already seen his range It was the right call he showed 10s 2s 9c 2c. flop KQ3 rainbow river A and the hand was mine.
My stack was now 21800.

The chip leader then went on tilt 2 hands later the chip leader did the same again and lost 23,000 chips and 3 hands later he did the same again against the player who won the pot before and he was gone.

The next hand major hand I was involved in was just before FT (blinds were 1500/3000) was against Come On Team 1 player (Richard Persson). I was in SB he was in BB i had K779 with 2 clubs. the flop came K77 rainbow he bet pot I reraised pot he was allin he had K79J he was drawing to the last king to split.

I had 32k just over the average stack of 31143

Final Table 7 seats left were redrawn stacks were I was drawn to seat 4 wedged between the tables 2 biggest stacks.

Blinds were 1500/3000 with 15 mins left on that level. Seat 1 24k /Seat 2 13k /Seat 3 52k /Seat 4 32k /Seat 5 55k /Seat 6 30k /Seat 7 14k.

When the blinds go to 3000/6000 there would be just over 18 full orbits between the whole table. So there was very little space for creative play.

I was card dead and had to surrender my blinds to short stack shoves which were called by the 2 big stacks .
Within 5 mins we were 5 handed.

Stacks were:
Seat 2 33k / Seat 3 60k / Seat 4 21k / Seat 5 95k / Seat 7 11k

Seat 7 was magnus Nilsson from my original table he went out with 3 mins left of the level
I had to lay my bb when magnus shoved. he lost and we were 4 handed.

I was in SB with an m of just under 4. With 3 mins left at that level as soon as level changes i would have an m of under 2.

I shoved on my BB with 7789 2 spades
I was isolated by the bigstack who was in the BB he showed AA 56 2 clubs

The flop came 724 I had a set if the board pairs I cant lose, he is drawing to any 3.
Turn missed both of us River was his 3.

So I finished 4th for 20 points.
Benny the estonian player in our team finished 7th in his tournament
Frederic lost a 40k pot to go out
and Tuce lost an 80k pot more than 35% of the chips in her tournament she was ahead but lost on the turn

Team Come on 2 scored 53 points in the omaha tournament and were 7th on the leaderboard.

I scored 20 points
Benny scored 17 points
Frederic 6 points
Tuce 10 points


If I had not of lost the hand just before the tables broke I would have been moved to the table with the chip leader with just under 25k.

I know I could have not of played the omaha tournament any differently I made no mistakes or bad calls and played as perfect a game as I could.

For this reason although of course I would have loved to win my table I had as good a finish as possible.

If the blind structure had been slightly altered then it would have allowed a little more play, at the end there was no oppurtunity to do so, as such It went down to push or fold poker.

1 80 FaxePoker
2 74 Regulars
3= 71 ee.pokernews.com
3= 71 Goalwin
5 67 EPTF
6 62 All-Linn
7= 53 Come on Team 2
7= 53 PAF Estonia
9 50 Kuldne Voileib
10= 45 Kokkola
10= 45 Team Gusten
12= 44 Lepok
12= 44 Team Kurko
14= 43 Machu Picchu
14= 43 Nasty Duck
16 40 Printers
17= 36 International Playboys
17= 36 Paf Sweden
19 33 Come On Team 1 (Hubaluxers from come on league)
20 30 Triobet
21= 20 Fifth Street
21= 20 Paf Finland

Tournament 1 om




Tournament 2 om





Tournament 3 om



Tournament 4 om

This is what is known about the players in my tournament pool it shows their live winnings courtesy of the hendon mob database.

NL

Shuffle up and deal

Starting stack 7500 chips Tournament start time 22.30 actual start 23.00
(22 players per tournament)

Level 1 SB 25 BB 50 Level end 23.20
Level 2 SB 50 BB 100 Level end 23.40
Level 3 SB 75 BB 150 Level end 00.00
Level 4 SB 100 BB 200 Level end 00.20
Level 5 SB 200 BB 400 Level end 00.40
Level 6 SB 300 BB 600 Level end 01.00
Break / Chip count 10 min break ends 01.10
Level 7 SB 500 BB 1000 Level ends 01.30 m= 110.00
Level 8 SB 700 BB 1400 Level ends 01.50 m= 78.57
Level 9 SB 900 BB 1800 Level ends 02.10 m= 61.11
Level 10 SB 1200 BB 2400 Level ends 02.30 m= 45.83
Level 11 SB 1500 BB 3000 Level ends 02.50 m= 36.67
Level 12 SB 2000 BB 4000 Level ends 03.10 m= 27.50
Break / Chip count 10 min break ends 03.20
Level 13 SB 3000 BB 6000 Level ends 03.40 m= 18.33
Level 14 SB 5000 BB 10000 Level ends 04.10 m= 11.00

All tournaments completed 04.10

In the nl it was much more competitive on my starting table as the weaker omaha players were now playing their preferred game.

Most of the early action was between seat 6 (Jarmo) and seat 7 (Magnus)
Jarmo was playing very aggressively and raising any pot after the flop whether there
was an initial bet or not.

Level 3 blinds 75/150.

I was up to around the 10k mark and my table image was TAG.
when this hand came up. I had AK os there were no calls or raises when the betting reached me, as seat 5 (Kirsi) and seat 6 were in the blinds I decided to slow play and trap, my target being Jarmo(seat 6).

I called seat 4 folded Kirsi completed and seat 6 checked. The flop came AK8 rainbow. I checked as did seats 5 and 6.
I saw the tell I had already noticed from Kirsi So I knew the flop had hit for her.
The turn was 4c, Kirsi bet 350 Seat 6 folded, I raised to 800 Kirsi reraised to 3000 I shoved Kirsi called.
I was confident I was ahead as I had read Kirsi for a pair on the flop, ace with weak kicker and that the 4 turn gave her 2 prs, previously she had raised pre-flop every time she held a pair or any ace with kicker J or higher. (No this was not the tell)
Kirsi showed k8 os.
so she was drawing to the 2 8's.
River was A and Kirsi was out of the game.
I was now up to around the 19k mark.


Level 3 blinds 75/150.

I was in late position with Kh 10h .
3 players before me called as did I .
With the 2 blinds completing and checking we had our first hand with every player in the pot pre.
The flop came Kc Kd 2s Seat 1(Heiti) bet 350 seat 2 (Henrik) laid I called all the other players folded.
The turn came 2h. Heiti bet 1k i reraised to 2k he shoved I called.
He showed Ks 2d. It was a split pot unless: I could spike any 10 or Heiti could hit the final 2. The river was 6s, 22k split pot. I would have called virtually anything but a shove on the flop.


We were down to 2 tables In my tournament just before midnight

Level 4 blinds 100/200

The tables were now up to 9 players.
A newcomer(seat8) to the table called a preflop raise (800) by Jarmo the flop came Ad 7h 9c.
both players checked . Turn was 8s Jarmo bet 1600 it was called. The river was 4h.
Jarmo checked the newcomer bet 3000 Jarmo shoved the newcomer called.

Jarmo held A9, the newcomer 44, he had called a raise on the turn to 4 over cards with just 44.

This then led to my play a few hands later .
I held Jc Jd in mid position I raised to 600 all folded except Seat 8 in the BB.

Flop came 7d 5c 3d we both checked
Turn came Js I bet 600 seat 8 bet 1200 i 3 bet to 2.5k he shoved I called.
He had 5s5h in his hand he could not hit his final 5.
He then said I was going to bet 900 on the flop I knew he was fishing for information so I didn't reply (but if he had bet 900 on the flop I would have called).

After this I won my blinds 3 times and 1 bluff for 1500 chips. Then it was down to the Final Table

The final table had 6 of the players from the omaha final table.

Frederic had come up and told me him and Tuce were both out.
Benny the Estonian player was on the FT of his tournament.

2 hands into the FT I saw Frederic shaking his head and walking back from Benny's table, benny was walking with him.

Benny's table was 7 handed when had shoved preflop after being 3 bet he had QQ his opponent 22.
the flop gave Benny's opponent a back door flush draw which filled in.

This made our score 92 with my points to come and the maximum we could score was 120.
My table still had 9 players, the other tables had 6, 4 and 5 players still in. At that point 5 teams were battling for 3 places

When my table was down to 6 players there were 4 3 and 4 left on the other tables.

At that point
Come on 2 could get 120
Le pok could get 116
Kuldne Voilieb could get 114
Paf Sweden could get 112
Kokkola could get 111

Kuldne Voilieb went out 4th on their table to almost certainly finish their chance of qualifying for the final.

Of the 5 players left in my NL tournament 4 were in the final 5 of the Om tournamnet.
I then made a move from the SB with J7os after everyone else laid pre I had an m of just over 3 and needed to get some more chips.
After 3-4 minutes of thought the BB called he said I shoudn't call and if there was prize money for the table itself I wouldn't call you but my team are already guaranteed to the final.
He showed J9 os flop was Q 8 2 turn 10 filled his gutshot and I needed a 9 to split it didn't come

So come on were at 110 points. We now had to sit and wait.

With 4 players left in my tournament, 5 players left in the 2nd, 3 players in the 3rd and 1 table hu the positions were as follows: 5 Teams could qualify but there were only 2 places left.
I will call tournament I was in tourney A.
the tournamnet with 5 left tourney B
the tournament with 3 left tourney C
and the Heads up tourney D


Kokkola could get a maximum of 111 points their player had to win tournament A 4 players left

Kuldne Voilieb could get 111 points they had to win the tournament B 5 players left

Paf Sweden could get a maximum of 112 points their player had to win the tournament A 4 players left

Lepok needed a 1st and a 3rd to equal our score of 110 and go through on better placings. Lepok also still had 1 player in the tournament A(4 left)
and 1 player in tournament C

The ideal scenario for my team was Lepok winning the tournament I had been in as that would eliminate both Kokkola and Paf Sweden.

The next team out was Kuldne Voilieb player out in 4th they had 103 points.

It was now
3 tournaments Heads up B C D
and 3 left tournament A

Lepok's player went out tournament A in 3rd.

This meant tournament A was between Kokkola and Paf Sweden whomever won took their team through to the final.

Tournament C Lepok needed to win to get the last place.

This meant tournament C would decide our fate if Lepok won they were in the final.

In the end Kokkola won the hu in tournament A
In tournament C Lepok won the hu.

The odds were in our favour for so long. It was unbelievably sickening.

The finishing scores were as follows:
1 Faxe poker total 170 (om 80) (nl 90)
2 Goalwin total 135 (om 71) (nl 64)
3 Regulars total 131 (om 64) (nl 67)
4 ee.pokernews total 125 (om 71) (nl 54)
5 All-Linn total 122 (om 62) (nl 60)
6 EPTF total 121 (om 67) (nl 54)
7 Kokkola total 111 (45 om ) (66 nl)
8 Lepok total 110 (om 44) (nl 66)
9 Come on 2 total 110 (om 53) (nl 57)
10 Paf sweden total 108 (om 36) (nl 72)
11 Kuldne Voilieb total 103 (om 50) (nl 53)
12 Team Kurko total 96 (om 44) (nl 52)
13 Come on 1 total 92 (om 33) (nl 59)
14 PAF estonia total 84 (om 53) (nl 31)
15 Machu Picchu total 76 (om 43) (nl 33)
16 Printers total 73 (om 40) (nl 33)
17 NastyDuck total 73 (om 43) (nl 30)
18 Fifth street total 63 (om 20) (nl 43)
19 International playboys total 62 (om 36) (nl 26)
20 Team Gusten total 60 (om 45) (nl 15)
21 Trio bet total 52 (om 30) (nl 22)
22 Paf Finland total 43 (om 20) (nl 23)

The scoring for the final was as follows

1st = 10
2nd = 8
3rd = 6
4th = 5
5th = 4
6th = 3
7th = 2
8th = 1



maximum a team can score is 40 minimum is 4

1st Faxepoker 27
2nd Kokkola 24
3rd ee.pokernews.com 22
4th Regulars 20
5th Lepok 18
6th Goalwin 17
7th EPTF 15
8th All-Linn 13

The structure in the omaha was fine until level 10 when the jump was too high from 1.5k/3k to 3k/6k. and it then jumped too much again from 8k/16k to 15k/30k

The structure in the nl tournament was very good as it allowed plenty of play even at the final levels

going from level 7 onwards here is the comparison of M between the nl and the om

Level 7 nl 500 / 1500 m=110.00 om 600 / 1200 m=122.22
Level 8 nl 700 / 1400 m= 78.57 om 1000 / 2000 m= 73.33
Level 9 nl 900 / 1800 m= 61.11 om 1500 / 3000 m= 48.89
Level 10 nl 1200 / 2400 m= 45.83 om 3000 / 6000 m= 24.44
Level 11 nl 1500 / 3000 m= 36.67 om 4000 / 8000 m= 18.33
Level 12 nl 2000 / 4000 m= 27.50 om 8000 / 16000 m= 9.17
Level 13 nl 3000 / 6000 m= 18.33 om 15000 / 30000 m= 4.89
Level 14 nl 5000 / 10000 m= 11.00

Some slight changes would make the play more even in both tournaments

Level 8 nl 700 / 1400 m= 78.57 new om 900 / 1800 m= 81.48
Level 9 nl 900 / 1800 m= 61.11 new om 1200 / 2400 m=61.11
Level 10 nl 1200 / 2400 m= 45.83 new om 1600 / 3200 m=45.83
Level 11 nl 1500 / 3000 m= 36.67 new om 2000 / 4000 m= 36.67
Level 12 nl 2000 / 4000 m= 27.50 new om 3000 / 6000 m= 24.44
Level 13 nl 3000 / 6000 m= 18.33 new om 5000 / 10000 m= 14.67
Level 14 nl 5000 / 10000 m= 11.00 new om 7000 / 14000 m= 10.48


Having played at Dusk Till Dawn, a few times, which is at present known as the UK's best cardroom. I feel I can make a fair comparison.

As a wheelchair user Dusk Till Dawn is much more cramped than Reval Park Hotel/Casino,
Although Reval Park does have a downstairs overflow poker area. The access around the tables at Reval Park is much better as there is more room around the tables.
Waitress service at Reval Park was fast, food selection was more than limited but exceptionally good value. I had a large orange juice with a Roast Beef sandwich for €4.18.
Beer was €2 for 0.5 Litre (just under 1 pint)

Cash games were running for most of the night. At DTD the lowest cash table is £0.50/£1 with £25 minimum buyin, up to £5/£5 dealers choice.
At Reval Park it was €2/€2 minimum buyin of €100 which is comparable to most casinos in the UK.

Dealers at the tournament and cash tables took all bets in english.
One slight difference was that you are not allowed to see an opponents hand after the river if they muck whereas in the UK and US you are allowed to see the cards. A useful tool that can put players on tilt when used as a rubdown.

Considering english was not the main spoken language of everybody there, I did not feel out of place at all, the mood at the tables was quite relaxed. The biggest advantage at a poker tournament is that a wheelchair is not a handicap and after a couple of hand is not noticed.

Omaha

In the omaha I had already worked out that level 6 was the first big jump in blinds. I also worked out the relative tournament m for each level. So for levels 1-5 I made strong hand selection and picked on the 3 weaker players on my table playing small ball poker. Why take chances.

Level 8 was going to be the most critical time as that was when blind steals were going to be important for maintaining stack. By level 10 we were going to be playing push or shove poker with an m of just 24.44 for the tournament.

I had played reasonably tightly through out the omaha and had hardly lost a chip but for 1 big pot I lost just before my initial table was broken.
Blinds were 300/600. I held Kd 7d 7h 3h seat 1 raised to 1500 seat 2 folded his sb I called for value 900 into a 2400 pot double suited I had pot odds The flop came Kc 7c 3di was holding a set + 2 prs he bet pot 3300 With that flop he could only be drawing to the flush unless he held KK which with my hand was very unlikely. I min raised to 6600 he called and was drawing to the club flush (Jc 9c 9s 4h), the turn was 2d river 8c. I was never really troubled and knew there was enough play left in the tournament to come back.

I left the table with approx 10k. I had an edge when I moved tables as I was moved to the table to the right of me which I had been watching.

The chip leader was at the table but he was overly aggressive with any double suited hands, he was bullying the rest of the table as he had more than 3 times the chip stack of the next closest player, his stack was around 55k, (25% of the chips in play so although the average stack was just under 14700 when u allowed for the chip leader the average stack was only 11k).

Frederic had been over to say he was out after losing a 40k pot
not long afetr he came to tell me Tuce was out after losing an 80k pot (just over 35% of the chips in play)

I saw the chip leader counting my chips when I first moved to the table. I was seated just in time for the BB. (600/1200)
I then looked at my hand,
The chip leader was on the button he bet 3k the sb folded I bet to 6k
He looked at my chip stack and asked how much I had left I said 4600 he shoved I snap called with Kc 10c Jh 10h (this is looser than I would normally call a shove but having already seen his range It was the right call) he showed 10s 2s 9c 2c. Flop KQ3 rainbow he was drawing to any Jack, the turn was 6d The River As and the hand was mine.
My stack was now 21800. He asked how can you call with that I just smirked.

I could see he was tilted but didn't have a hand to play at him with.

The chip leader then went on tilt 2 hands later the chip leader did the same again against player 2 and lost 23,000 chips and 3 hands later he did the same again against the same player 2 and he was gone.

I stole a couple of blinds and maintained my stack

The next hand major hand I was involved in was just before FT (blinds were 1500/3000) was against Come On Team 1 player (Richard Persson). I was in SB he was in BB i had K779 with 2 clubs. the flop came K77 rainbow he bet pot I reraised pot he was allin he had K79J he was drawing to the last king to split.

Final Table 7 seats left as 1 player went out on each table.
I was redrawn to seat 4 wedged between the tables 2 biggest stacks.
I had 32k just over the average stack of 31143

Subject: Re: Team Challenge Tallinn Thu May 24, 2012 2:16 pm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After 5 hands of omaha it was obvious to the 3 more experienced players who could really play omaha and who were the nl players.
The 3 most experienced players were:
seat 2 Henrik Kask
seat 3 some unknown freeroll player
seat 7 Magnus Nillson

seat 1 Heiti Riisbog understood position and the better starting range he looked to be a reasonable player.

Seats 4/5 Ain Annus, Kirsi Tschokkinen looked out of their depth.

Seat 6 Jarmo was a different type his hand selections immeadiately showed him to be a nl player he was also so easy to read it had to be either his first time playing live or no more than his 3rd or 4th time. He was making the normal online players basic mistake of playing too many hands.

Even the dealer could see what was happening whenever either Henrik myself or Magnus raised pre the other 2 of us folded. Jarmo the kid in seat 6 could not understand how the 3 of us won against him in any hand that went to show down or laid when he hit, and the more he tried not to show tells the more he gave. seats 4 and 5 were even easier as they were just seeing nl hands, so we just played double suited and potential wrap hands.

I had played myself up to a stack of around 16k blinds were 300/600 I was in bb when seat 1 made small raise to 1500 i called with Kd 7d 7h 3h double suited 900 chips to call into a 3300 pot, the flop came Kc 7c 3d he bet pot 3300 i min raised to 6600 he shoved i called he had 9c jc 9s 4h he was drawing to clubs turn was 2d river 8c.

so i lost a 17.2k pot which left me with just over 7.5k .

I played on my table image to steal next 3 blinds and moved tables with just over 10k 1 hand before break.

After break the tables broke and i was moved to table with tournament chip leader he had just over 55k from 220k in play 15 players left average was just under 14700.

I had been keeping an eye on the table I was moved too and had seen the chip leader bullying he played and shoved with any double suited hands , I knew his range was therefore weak.
I was now BB (600/1200)
chip leader bet 3k sb folded I bet to 6k
He looked at my chip stack and asked how much I had left I said 4600 he shoved I snap called with Kc 10c Jh 10h (this is looser than I would normally call a shove but having already seen his range It was the right call he showed 10s 2s 9c 2c. flop KQ3 rainbow river A and the hand was mine.
My stack was now 21800.

The chip leader then went on tilt 2 hands later the chip leader did the same again and lost 23,000 chips and 3 hands later he did the same again against the player who won the pot before and he was gone.

The next hand major hand I was involved in was just before FT (blinds were 1500/3000) was against Come On Team 1 player (Richard Persson). I was in SB he was in BB i had K779 with 2 clubs. the flop came K77 rainbow he bet pot I reraised pot he was allin he had K79J he was drawing to the last king to split.

I had 32k just over the average stack of 31143

Final Table 7 seats left were redrawn stacks were I was drawn to seat 4 wedged between the tables 2 biggest stacks.

Blinds were 1500/3000 with 15 mins left on that level. Seat 1 24k /Seat 2 13k /Seat 3 52k /Seat 4 32k /Seat 5 55k /Seat 6 30k /Seat 7 14k.

When the blinds go to 3000/6000 there would be just over 18 full orbits between the whole table. So there was very little space for creative play.

I was card dead and had to surrender my blinds to short stack shoves which were called by the 2 big stacks .
Within 5 mins we were 5 handed.

Stacks were:
Seat 2 33k / Seat 3 60k / Seat 4 21k / Seat 5 95k / Seat 7 11k

Seat 7 was magnus Nilsson from my original table he went out with 3 mins left of the level
I had to lay my bb when magnus shoved. he lost and we were 4 handed.

I was in SB with an m of just under 4. With 3 mins left at that level as soon as level changes i would have an m of under 2.

I shoved on my BB with 7789 2 spades
I was isolated by the bigstack who was in the BB he showed AA 56 2 clubs

The flop came 724 I had a set if the board pairs I cant lose, he is drawing to any 3.
Turn missed both of us River was his 3.

So I finished 4th for 20 points.
Benny the estonian player in our team finished 7th in his tournament
Frederic lost a 40k pot to go out
and Tuce lost an 80k pot more than 35% of the chips in her tournament she was ahead but lost on the turn

Team Come on 2 scored 53 points in the omaha tournament and were 7th on the leaderboard.

I scored 20 points
Benny scored 17 points
Frederic 6 points
Tuce 10 points


If I had not of lost the hand just before the tables broke I would have been moved to the table with the chip leader with just under 25k.

I know I could have not of played the omaha tournament any differently I made no mistakes or bad calls and played as perfect a game as I could.

For this reason although of course I would have loved to win my table I had as good a finish as possible.

If the blind structure had been slightly altered then it would have allowed a little more play, at the end there was no oppurtunity to do so, as such It went down to push or fold poker.

__________________________________________________________________________

No Limit

In the nl it was much more competitive on my starting table as the weaker omaha players were now playing their preferred game. The structure was better at the higher levels than the omaha as it was a more even rise in the blinds. I had said if we are all in at level 8 we should be in with a good chance of making the final.

Most of the early action was between seat 6 (Jarmo) and seat 7 (Magnus)
Jarmo was playing very aggressively and raising any pot after the flop whether there
was an initial bet or not.

Level 3 blinds 75/150.

I was up to around the 10k mark and my table image was TAG.
when this hand came up. I had AK os there were no calls or raises when the betting reached me, as seat 5 (Kirsi) and seat 6 were in the blinds I decided to slow play and trap, my target being Jarmo(seat 6).

I called seat 4 folded Kirsi completed and seat 6 checked. The flop came AK8 rainbow. I checked as did seats 5 and 6.
I saw the tell I had already noticed from Kirsi So I knew the flop had hit for her.
The turn was 4c, Kirsi bet 350 Seat 6 folded, I raised to 800 Kirsi reraised to 3000 I shoved Kirsi called.
I was confident I was ahead as I had read Kirsi for a pair on the flop, ace with weak kicker and that the 4 turn gave her 2 prs, previously she had raised pre-flop every time she held a pair or any ace with kicker J or higher. (No this was not the tell)
Kirsi showed k8 os.
so she was drawing to the 2 8's.
River was A and Kirsi was out of the game.
I was now up to around the 19k mark.


Level 3 blinds 75/150.

I was in late position with Kh 10h .
3 players before me called as did I .
With the 2 blinds completing and checking we had our first hand with every player in the pot pre.
The flop came Kc Kd 2s Seat 1(Heiti) bet 350 seat 2 (Henrik) laid I called all the other players folded.
The turn came 2h. Heiti bet 1k i reraised to 2k he shoved I called.
He showed Ks 2d. It was a split pot unless: I could spike any 10 or Heiti could hit the final 2. The river was 6s, 22k split pot. I would have called virtually anything but a shove on the flop.


We were down to 2 tables In my tournament just before midnight

Level 4 blinds 100/200

The tables were now up to 9 players.
A newcomer(seat8) to the table called a preflop raise (800) by Jarmo the flop came Ad 7h 9c.
both players checked . Turn was 8s Jarmo bet 1600 it was called. The river was 4h.
Jarmo checked the newcomer bet 3000 Jarmo shoved the newcomer called.

Jarmo held A9, the newcomer 44, he had called a raise on the turn to 4 over cards with just 44.

This then led to my play a few hands later .
I held Jc Jd in mid position I raised to 600 all folded except Seat 8 in the BB.

Flop came 7d 5c 3d we both checked
Turn came Js I bet 600 seat 8 bet 1200 I 3 bet to 2.5k he shoved I called.
He had 5s5h in his hand he could not hit his final 5.
He then said I was going to bet 900 on the flop I knew he was fishing for information so I didn't reply (but if he had bet 900 on the flop I would have called).

After this I won my blinds 3 times and 1 bluff for 1500 chips. Then it was down to the Final Table

Final Table NL


The final table had 6 of the players from the omaha final table.

Frederic had come up and told me him and Tuce were both out.
Benny the Estonian player was on the FT of his tournament.

2 hands into the FT I saw Frederic shaking his head and walking back from Benny's table, Benny was walking with him.

Benny's table was 7 handed when had shoved preflop after being 3 bet he had QQ his opponent 22.
the flop gave Benny's opponent a back door flush draw which filled in.

This made our score 92 with my points to come and the maximum we could score was 120.
My table still had 9 players, the other tables had 6, 4 and 5 players still in. At that point 5 teams were battling for 3 places

When my table was down to 6 players there were 4 3 and 4 left on the other tables.

At that point
Come on 2 could get 120
Le pok could get 116
Kuldne Voilieb could get 114
Paf Sweden could get 112
Kokkola could get 111

Kuldne Voilieb went out 4th on their table to almost certainly finish their chance of qualifying for the final.

Of the 5 players left in my NL tournament 4 were in the final 5 of the Om tournamnet. I had once again been more or less card dead and whenever I had a hand where I could make a move some one moved all in before me. Although my hands were good enough to get my chips in with they were not strong enough to call an AIPF.

I then made a move from the SB with J7os after everyone else laid pre I had an m of just over 3 and needed to get some more chips.
After 3-4 minutes of thought the BB called he said I shoudn't call and if there was prize money for the table itself I wouldn't call you but my team are already guaranteed to the final.

He showed J9 os flop was Q 8 2 turn 10 filled his gutshot and I needed a 9 to split it didn't come No matter what hand I held he would have beaten me

So come on were at 110 points. We now had to sit and wait.

With 4 players left in my tournament, 5 players left in the 2nd, 3 players in the 3rd and 1 table hu the positions were as follows: 5 Teams could qualify but there were only 2 places left.
I will call tournament I was in tourney A.
the tournamnet with 5 left tourney B
the tournament with 3 left tourney C
and the Heads up tourney D


Kokkola could get a maximum of 111 points their player had to win tournament A 4 players left

Kuldne Voilieb could get 111 points they had to win the tournament B 5 players left

Paf Sweden could get a maximum of 112 points their player had to win the tournament A 4 players left

Lepok needed a 1st and a 3rd to equal our score of 110 and go through on better placings. Lepok also still had 1 player in the tournament A(4 left)
and 1 player in tournament C

The ideal scenario for my team was Lepok winning the tournament I had been in as that would eliminate both Kokkola and Paf Sweden.

The next team out was Kuldne Voilieb player out in 4th they had 103 points.

It was now
3 tournaments Heads up B C D
and 3 left tournament A

Lepok's player went out tournament A in 3rd.

This meant tournament A was between Kokkola and Paf Sweden whomever won took their team through to the final.

Tournament C Lepok needed to win to get the last place.

This meant tournament C would decide our fate if Lepok won they were in the final.

In the end Kokkola won the hu in tournament A
In tournament C Lepok won the hu.

The odds were in our favour for so long. It was unbelievably sickening.

I could have done no more than I did.

As always in Poker the edge between getting the result and failure is so small.

The final table had 6 of the players from the omaha final table.

Frederic had come up and told me him and Tuce were both out.
Benny the Estonian player was on the FT of his tournament.

2 hands into the FT I saw Frederic shaking his head and walking back from Benny's table, benny was walking with him.

Benny's table was 7 handed when had shoved preflop after being 3 bet he had QQ his opponent 22.
the flop gave Benny's opponent a back door flush draw which filled in.

This made our score 92 with my points to come and the maximum we could score was 120.
My table still had 9 players, the other tables had 6, 4 and 5 players still in. At that point 5 teams were battling for 3 places

When my table was down to 6 players there were 4 3 and 4 left on the other tables.

At that point
Come on 2 could get 120
Le pok could get 116
Kuldne Voilieb could get 114
Paf Sweden could get 112
Kokkola could get 111

Kuldne Voilieb went out 4th on their table to almost certainly finish their chance of qualifying for the final.

Of the 5 players left in my NL tournament 4 were in the final 5 of the Om tournamnet.
I then made a move from the SB with J7os after everyone else laid pre I had an m of just over 3 and needed to get some more chips.
After 3-4 minutes of thought the BB called he said I shoudn't call and if there was prize money for the table itself I wouldn't call you but my team are already guaranteed to the final.
He showed J9 os flop was Q 8 2 turn 10 filled his gutshot and I needed a 9 to split it didn't come

So come on were at 110 points. We now had to sit and wait.

With 4 players left in my tournament, 5 players left in the 2nd, 3 players in the 3rd and 1 table hu the positions were as follows: 5 Teams could qualify but there were only 2 places left.
I will call tournament I was in tourney A.
the tournamnet with 5 left tourney B
the tournament with 3 left tourney C
and the Heads up tourney D


Kokkola could get a maximum of 111 points their player had to win tournament A 4 players left

Kuldne Voilieb could get 111 points they had to win the tournament B 5 players left

Paf Sweden could get a maximum of 112 points their player had to win the tournament A 4 players left

Lepok needed a 1st and a 3rd to equal our score of 110 and go through on better placings. Lepok also still had 1 player in the tournament A(4 left)
and 1 player in tournament C

The ideal scenario for my team was Lepok winning the tournament I had been in as that would eliminate both Kokkola and Paf Sweden.

The next team out was Kuldne Voilieb player out in 4th they had 103 points.

It was now
3 tournaments Heads up B C D
and 3 left tournament A

Lepok's player went out tournament A in 3rd.

This meant tournament A was between Kokkola and Paf Sweden whomever won took their team through to the final.

Tournament C Lepok needed to win to get the last place.

This meant tournament C would decide our fate if Lepok won they were in the final.

In the end Kokkola won the hu in tournament A
In tournament C Lepok won the hu.

The odds were in our favour for so long. It was unbelievably sickening.



The final table had 6 of the players from the omaha final table.

Frederic had come up and told me him and Tuce were both out.
Benny the Estonian player was on the FT of his tournament.

2 hands into the FT I saw Frederic shaking his head and walking back from Benny's table, benny was walking with him.

Benny's table was 7 handed when had shoved preflop after being 3 bet he had QQ his opponent 22.
the flop gave Benny's opponent a back door flush draw which filled in.

This made our score 92 with my points to come and the maximum we could score was 120.
My table still had 9 players, the other tables had 6, 4 and 5 players still in. At that point 5 teams were battling for 3 places

When my table was down to 6 players there were 4 3 and 4 left on the other tables.

At that point
Come on 2 could get 120
Le pok could get 116
Kuldne Voilieb could get 114
Paf Sweden could get 112
Kokkola could get 111

Kuldne Voilieb went out 4th on their table to almost certainly finish their chance of qualifying for the final.

Of the 5 players left in my NL tournament 4 were in the final 5 of the Om tournamnet.
I then made a move from the SB with J7os after everyone else laid pre I had an m of just over 3 and needed to get some more chips.
After 3-4 minutes of thought the BB called he said I shoudn't call and if there was prize money for the table itself I wouldn't call you but my team are already guaranteed to the final.
He showed J9 os flop was Q 8 2 turn 10 filled his gutshot and I needed a 9 to split it didn't come

So come on were at 110 points. We now had to sit and wait.

With 4 players left in my tournament, 5 players left in the 2nd, 3 players in the 3rd and 1 table hu the positions were as follows: 5 Teams could qualify but there were only 2 places left.
I will call tournament I was in tourney A.
the tournamnet with 5 left tourney B
the tournament with 3 left tourney C
and the Heads up tourney D


Kokkola could get a maximum of 111 points their player had to win tournament A 4 players left

Kuldne Voilieb could get 111 points they had to win the tournament B 5 players left

Paf Sweden could get a maximum of 112 points their player had to win the tournament A 4 players left

Lepok needed a 1st and a 3rd to equal our score of 110 and go through on better placings. Lepok also still had 1 player in the tournament A(4 left)
and 1 player in tournament C

The ideal scenario for my team was Lepok winning the tournament I had been in as that would eliminate both Kokkola and Paf Sweden.

The next team out was Kuldne Voilieb player out in 4th they had 103 points.

It was now
3 tournaments Heads up B C D
and 3 left tournament A

Lepok's player went out tournament A in 3rd.

This meant tournament A was between Kokkola and Paf Sweden whomever won took their team through to the final.

Tournament C Lepok needed to win to get the last place.

This meant tournament C would decide our fate if Lepok won they were in the final.

In the end Kokkola won the hu in tournament A
In tournament C Lepok won the hu.

The odds were in our favour for so long. It was unbelievably sickening.



The scoring for the final was as follows

1st = 10
2nd = 8
3rd = 6
4th = 5
5th = 4
6th = 3
7th = 2
8th = 1



maximum a team can score is 40 minimum is 4

1st Faxepoker 27
2nd Kokkola 24
3rd ee.pokernews.com 22
4th Regulars 20
5th Lepok 18
6th Goalwin 17
7th EPTF 15
8th All-Linn 13

In the final the strongest team throughout won.
Kokkola who had scraped into the final finished 2nd.

The only bad part of the tournament was that teams as soon as they knew they could not qualify were going all in with any hand.

It is hoped that for Nordic aces team challenge 2 a prizepool will be involved for each tournament this will hopefully then keep players wanting to play for personal reward even if their team cannot qualify.

The dealers were excellent and overall It was a great structure in the nl although the om needs adjusting slightly. The fact that so many teams still could get into the final when tournaments were down to 5 players or less shows that the scoring system worked very well.

Many thanks to all the dealers the tournament organisers and the other players.

Roll on Nordic aces team challenge 2.

On a personal note I would also like to thank all who played in the qualifiers for the Nordic Aces Event.

Also while in Tallinn the members of Come On Team 1 (Hubaluxers), and Come on Team 2.

Hubaluxers : Johan, Glenn, Richard, Jimmi. Cheers for making me feel so welcome lads.
Come on Team 2 : Fredric, Tuce, Benny.

For helping me stay sane.

Until we meet up again good luck all and take care.