I have only final tabled one EPT Main Event. I write that as if I should have final tabled more, but I should not have. It’s more accurate to say that I am lucky to have final tabled one than I am unlucky to not have final tabled two, which is unfortunate because a deep Main Event run is thrilling and unlike anything else in poker. It’s called “The Main Event” for a reason, and even when you’re playing Super High Rollers in a private room, it’s understood that you’re the side show to the marquee tournament, the reason almost everyone travelled from all around the world to play cards. It’s hard to do in the moment, but whenever I do go on deep runs, I try to remind myself to not take it for granted; you’ll never know when your next deep run will be. Ideally, it will lead to hoisting a trophy and a big cash prize, but even if it doesn’t, it will usually be one of the more memorable weeks of your life in poker.
The one FT I did make was in EPT Malta in the fall of 2015, the second EPT Malta of the 2015 calendar. They scheduled one as the penultimate stop of EPT Season 11 and another as the second stop of EPT Season 12. I entered the FT as one of the short stacks and was hoping to ladder, or spin, but at least spend some time at the final table. It’s a rare place to get to. I didn’t want to be kicked out as soon as I arrived. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get anything going and ended up busting in 6th. For years, I felt that I couldn’t have done much; I just got the wrong cards at the wrong time. But one hand had always stuck with me, so for this Final Table Friday, I’ll be analyzing this hand using modern tools to determine what I could have done differently.
€5,300 2015 EPT Season 12. Malta Main Event
(30k/60k/10k) (SB/BB/Ante) 6 Left. Average is 3.25M
1st: €602k, 2nd: €371k, 3rd: €266k, 4th: €203k, 5th: €161k, 6th: €125k
Giulio Spampinato (1.26M/21BBs) folds, Alen Bilic (7.6M/126bbs) folds, Jaroslaw Sikora (2.32M/39bbs) makes it 130k, Niall Farrell (5.6M/93BBs), Rainer Kempe (1.45M/24bbs) folds, I (1.175M/20bbs) call Q♣️3♣️.
Flop (340k) A♣️K♣️6♠️: I check, Jaroslaw bets 110k, I call.
Turn (560k) K♥️: I check, Jaroslaw checks.
River (560k) 5♥️ I check, Jaroslaw bets 325k, I tank for a very long time and fold. He has Q♦️9♦️.
