World Heads Up Championships in Barcelona - by londonpokergirl (Mel Lofthouse)
Won my seat online for this event which is a €2500 + €250 registration fee so a big event and had been reduced to 64 maximum players.
Flew over there and stayed with my partner in the H10 Marina hotel, which have to say is a fantastic 4 star hotel. They upgraded my room to deluxe due to some mix up in rooms so even better. From hotel to casino is about 5-10 mins walk, it’s only really about 5 blocks away but they have such nice shops on the way takes a bit longer J
Dave Colclough on final table of the €300 Omaha potlimit rebuy which was €67000 to 1st place. Monster pay out!!
Draw was taking place at 4pm on the day we landed, however by the time they’d checked all names entered and reserve lists and all that malarkey it was 6.30pm by the time the draw took place.
I said to Eugene hope I’m in the first lot to play as was an A group and a B group playing in 2 different parts of the day. My name was drawn out last … typical lol and was playing against a Scandinavian nutter called Max Muller.
1st round start playing at about 7.30pm and nerves are now kicking in. Wish I’d been in the first lot. I really love the heads up challenge and have won the Slough Palace Heads Up tournament with 32 players so thought this would suit me down to the ground.
At 9pm I get called to play and got seated at the worst table possible. Tables are in rows of 4 x 4 but my table is one on the ropes so that people can more or less peer over my shoulder and see my cards and smoking right over me, which doesn’t help.
We started with 10000 chips and blinds 25/50 on an hour clock which is a very slow structure but as its heads up full on concentration is needed.
Memorable hands I got 2nd hand AK v?? I raise to 150 opponent calls
Flop is A 2 J, I bet he raises, I call. Turn is another J. I check he bets the pot I fold, he shows me J10 lucky *****
Then I get 88 and raise. Flop comes A 10 K, not a good flop for 8’s he bets the pot I fold again , he didn’t show but pretty sure he had KQ or A5 or something similar, although he’s very aggressive betting
After about 20mins I get 10 8 he flat calls and I check, flop comes down 10 8 2, merry Christmas I’m thinking, but 2 clubs on the flop. He checks I bet the pot, he raises all in, and I call. He shows A9 clubs. Thinking to dealer, red card , red card , turn is 9 hearts river a club grrrrrrrrrrr but I can say I got my money in ahead and got outdrawn in the best of it.
My whole match lasted a total of 54 minutes which is nothing compared to the matches I was watching. One great semi final match lasted 7.5 hours
Couple of things about Gran Casino, Barcelona is:-
Cash games the smallest game they play is €5/10€ Pot limit Holdem or pot limit Omaha
Or €10/20 limit Holdem and rising so take a huge bankroll with you as minimum sit down is €250 for the smallest game
Smoking is very much permitted and cigar smoking aswell so if you’re a non smoker its very much like walking into a blue haze when you enter and red eyes at the end of the night.
Barcelona is a very rich city so be prepared for bad beats because the locals love gambling with terrible cards J but in saying that they are good fun
Holdem is now dealt clockwise like our games, which is so much better but last year was dealt anticlockwise and straddle from anywhere which is a bit crazy.
Other than that, wish I’d got further in the tournament because I know heads up I’m a strong player
Hopefully will be playing in EPT London if I can get backed for it. It’s a fantastic event and the EPT Deauville I finished 18 out of 247 and got paid and also ranking points so I know I can do it. Wish I had a huge bankroll to buy into these events but it seems that big tournaments are now almost every week and not once or twice a year like it used to be
Found out last week that I’m going to be working on a cruise ship as Assistant Tournament Director for the cash games in the Bahamas for a week in December so can’t wait. Never been to Bahamas before, but also never worked on board a ship so will be great fun.
I’m basically being taken on for a week as they’ve been asked for Pot limit games and their current dealers are all American and its either no limit cash games or limit cash games for Americans. Pot limit is really a European game so I can help them out and also doing a bit of tournament directing at the same time, and as I’m registered with Tournament Directors Association will give me even more experience so I can work more on the European circuit alongside Thomas Kremser.
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