2008-12-11 • Gugster • Views:672
Christian Öman's adventure in EPT Prague wasn't long lived, when Öman busted out on day 1b. And of the 570 starting poker players at Hilton Hotel Prague, there where 177 player who made it through day 1A and 1B. Of the player that went out on their first day we could find players like world champion Peter Eastgate, Gus Hansen, Micke Norinder, Michaela Johansson and Christian Öman. We had the chance to ask a few questions to Öman about is game in EPT Prague and about his future plans.
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G: How was the competition on the table you sat on? How did the player quality look like?
Ö: I almost immediately recognized a couple of Italians on my table, and it turned out that I had 5 Italians, one unknown and two Russians on the table, so I wasn't dissatisfied about the drawing, hehe. When I noticed pretty quickly that no one of the opponents seemed any good, the plan was to play as many small pots as possible and hopefully build a huge stack immediately.
G: Did you get good / bad cards? Bad cards on the table? Any badbeats?
Ö: I had awesome flow of good cards in the beginning. When there is a lot of passive plays like on my table, I like to play suited connectors and even other medium good hands that I would normally pass on more aggressive tables. But after 3 missed straight-flush-draw I was down on half the starting stack already after two orbits (starting with 10k in chips). Tried to bluff now and then, but it was check-call that was applied for the opponents, so it didn't turn out like I thought it would be. I really didn't have any good hands ( I won two minor pots with AK, but that was all) pending the whole time between 5-6k and starting stack during the first four periods. After a miss-timed semi-bluff in the end of period four, I had about 7k in my stack when period 5 started with blinds 150-300.
G: Any key pot you played, that you can tell us about?
Ö: Two pots could have changed my tournament you could say. One was when a really tight Russian raised after that UTG had limped. The Russian had limped a lot, but NEVER raised a limper until now. I looked down on my AQs on the button and actually wanted to go all in with my 7k. But the feeling was that the Russian had a monster, so I choose to fold. Indeed the Russian had KK and won a large pot against SB with 99. A little annoying that a Ace came on the river....
And then came the hand that ruined the whole tournament for me. I had been blinded down another orbit and had barely 6k left in the stack. When everyone had folded to my small blind I had AQ and choose to go all-in because BB had even less, about 4200. He instant called with AJ (nothing strange with that) and of course there was a J on the turn.
G: How was the last hand you played?
Ö: After that hand I had only 1400 left (barely 5 Big Blind) and choose to pass on the three first hands that was junk. When I then got A9 there was no doubt, but of course the same guy found AK in the position after and the fun ended when it didn't even started yet...
At first I was of course disappointed, but afterwards I don't regret how I played, and had I won the pot with AQ, I would probably had a good chance of running over the table with a reasonably a little better card average and bigger stack.
G: Did you play any of the cashgame tables that opened up during the tournament?
Ö: I haven't had time for any cashgames yet. However we will be staying here until Sunday, so I will surely find my way over there and play some of the side events. Amongst other a €500 with rebuy/addon that is played tonight. So I'm expecting a re-match soon!
G: What did you think about the tournament? About the Casino?
Ö: I have been playing a bunch of EPT´s now, about 8, and I find the arrangement just gets better and better. Everything usually starts at a reasonably time, dealers are good and fast, and everything flows on as it should. The Casino here in Prague is large and airy, so I enjoy it. Even if I need a warm jacket to match my colds cards, hehe. The only minus would be that they are smoking both in corridors and in the bathrooms(!). But as said, the actual casino room is fresh.
G: What happens now? Where will the next tournament be?
Ö: As I said, I'm staying a week so there will hopefully be both poker and of course some going out. You have to check out Prague's night life when you are here and what I have heard about Czech girls, I think I will probably thrive in the “water” as the fish I am, haha.
Next tournament is not determined yet, but I'm eager on both the Bahamas EPT (PCAn) and Aussie millions in January. Its not going to be both I think, but we have to see. I'm going somewhere warm anyway.
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Read the originally interview with Christian Öman in Swedish.
