A Final Table in Bregenz [PF=11.27]

My day started not very good as I woke up with a headache. But after a good breakfast I felt better and started my trip to Bregenz for the €500 Event of the Christmas Poker Championship. I checked into the Mercure which is convieniently located directly next to the Casino. They also offer a special rate including a late breakfast for poker players.

The tournament had a total of 143 players, including Katja Thater, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Jan Heitman, George Danzer, Andreas Krause, Horst Koch, Siggi Stockinger and many others. But on my starting table I found only people I've never seen before. The table was quite aggressive. Especially a swiss player to my left who raised a lot of hands and hit some lucky flops. Unfortunately I was more than card dead during the first levels and could only pick up some blinds and small pots. During the third level Jan Heitmann came to our table but was severly shortstacked and unfortunately was eliminated soon after.

With blinds 400/800 I was severly shortstacked too with only 3,600 chips left (of a 5,000 starting stack). With the blinds two rounds ahead I found 6c7c and decided to go all-in regardless of the action in front of me. One player in front made just a minimum raise, I pushed and the aggressive swiss player to my left called my all-in. All other folded and the original raiser called too. I hit a 7 on the flop, the other two checked it to the turn were the swiss player made a bet and caused the other one to fold. He showed AQ for a straight draw but didn't hit on the river. With 12,000 chips I was back in the game.

A little later Sebastian Ruthenberg came to our table and unpacked the luckbox when he was all-in with suited facecards in a three way all-in. He was behind the other two but managed to hit his flush bringing him up to over 30,000 chips. Too bad that this table was broken a few minutes later.

I got my new place at a table with Horst Koch and Andreas Krause sitting next to each other. Sebastian got a place next to Katja on another Table. After some time I found 66 in middle position and raised it to 2,500. This was a dangerous play as I had only 9,000 left at this time but decided to take one shot at the big pot. Andreas called from the big blind and I found a dream flop: 2-6-A with two hearts. Andreas checked and I decided for another bet (no all-in). Andreas went all-in (with a bigger stack) and I called in a second. His AJ of hearts wasn't good enough and I raked in a huge pot. Unfortunately a little later he got his revenge when my QQ lost against his AA. Again shortstacked I was able to double up two times shortly after (99 becoming a set and a pair of KK vs. AQ) and was back to an average stack. From there I was able to maintain my stack at about average with some "good" moves. Unfortunately Katja and Sebastian didn't made it into the money but Katja's seat was a lucky seat for me. I took her place next to Sebastian after our table broke ... and made it down to the final table from there.

I was second to last in chips (31,500 with 3000/6000 blinds and 500 ante) at the start of the final table. The ultra-shortstack went out on 10th place and I decided just to wait for a good hand to push. I found this good hand when I was in the big blind for the first time (JJ) and had an all-in of a medium stack in front of me. Well, what else should I wait for? I called he showed AKo and hit a King on the flop. Out on 9th place after almost 9 hours for €1,360 and still happy (well somewhat). In addition to the prize money I will most probably get a second entry into the Hendon-Mob Database in a few days and I was featured in a nice article at IntelliPoker (german only).