Master Classics of Poker Report
Master Classics of Poker Report
Day 2: Euro King Strikes Again
November 4: $180 (440 guilders) limit hold’em, 1 rebuy
Today’s tournament was the official opening of the 2001 Master Classics of Poker. By now we know that there won’t be as many Americans as in recent years. Still, almost all top European players are here and two of the very best needed only one day to prove how good they really are. The 2001 European Player of the Year Marcel Luske (he tops all tournament rankings on every possible game, and has won more tournaments in one year than most of us will in our entire life) gave a stunning performance on the final table today. Another big name player, Simon “Aces” Trumper, winner of the European WSOP Trial in Vienna and one of the biggest stars in European poker, showed today how good he really was, despite being low on chips and playing a game he hardly ever plays (he is accustomed to pot- and no-limit poker). The tournament was sold out long before the event started; buy-in $180 with one optional $160 (400 guilder) rebuy.
Final table (players / country / chip count):
Herbert Coppen, The Netherlands, 62,000
Mr. Malek, England, 42,000
Ed Trion, The Netherlands, 8,000
Joseph Noujeim, Germany, 18,000
Maria Pryjola, The Netherlands, 100,000
Marcel Luske, The Netherlands, 102,000
S ascha Huyers, The Netherlands, 59,000
Simon “Aces” Trumper, England, 10,000
Early stage: Short stacks on the attack
Just like in the Freeroll tournament yesterday, the hometown players were dominating the action. Yesterday, four out of ten made it to the Big One, and today five out of the eight final players were Dutch. Maria Pryjola and Marcel Luske, the “Dutch Flying Fox”, seemed to be in the lead rather comfortable, each having about 25 percent of the chips in play. The short stacks couldn’t afford to wait, so they had to make a move. Simon had a lucky draw (he was on the button so he had the chance to see a couple of hands for free), but hometown hero Ed Trion wasn’t that lucky. His big blind was attacked right away on the first hand, he decided to defend but without success: Exit Ed. During the first half hour, Marcel and Maria waited for the small stacks to eat themselves up and it was Englishman Mr. Malek who tried to get control over the table. First he crippled Sascha Huyers by re-raising him in hand # 3, and then on hand # 6 he attacked Marcel on his blind. The Euro King rhetorically asked him: “We’re all nice people here in Holland. Why are you so aggressive?” While I’m not so sure about this “nice people”-stuff, I am sure Marcel liked the flop. Not only did he flop top set (TT, flop T52), his opponent also held a hand he couldn’t possibly get away from in a heads up situation (AT, top pair / top kicker).
The very capable (and soft-spoken) German player Joseph Noujeim then made his move, raising with QTs and staying alive by snatching a queen on the river (against Herbert Coppen,
another hometown player). Herbert got another blow when the other short stack, Simon “Aces” Trumper, raised all-in with 88, only to beat Herbert’s 99 by flopping a set. Mr. Malek continued to attack Marcel’s blind but once again, Marcel defended successfully (“you never learn, huh”). Marcel acted like he was running the show now, like he was in total control, even though a potentially dangerous situation had come up. His most dangerous opponent, who also had position on him (Simon) had succeeded in building his stack by slowplaying KK against Maria, who on her turn recouped some chips by knocking Joseph out in one the few multiway pot of the evening. Simon was playing a very creative and deceptive game and builded his stack gradually by making his moves after, rather than before the flop, and in a few situations where a blind steal might have been possible, he simply folded. Maria, the only woman player in the final, got a lot of respect from her male opponents and won most pots uncontested. Maybe they were right in giving her so much respect, because when called she always showed the winning hand. She also finished off Sascha with a quality hand (JJ vs. 75). Simon got some valuable chips when Herbert couldn’t lay down his QQ on a K66 flop, and Simon’s KQ made him a lot more money than could normally be expected. On hand # 21, Simon knocked him out for good, and we were down to four-handed. He also showed he was capable of running a bluff, when he bet Marcel out of a small pot with the worst possible hand (32 against a K8765 board). When the blinds went up to 5,000-10,000, I estimated the chip counts as follows:
Maria 180,000
Marcel 110,000
Simon 70,000
Malek 40,000
Euro King starts taking over.
Marcel had been rather on the defense during the first hour, but he seemed ready to take over. He avoided getting involved with Simon –obviously he didn’t want to give his most dangerous opponent a chance to double up-, but he started attacking Maria on every possible occasion. Maria, in her first ever Master Classics final table appearance, surprised me by being creative and aggressive, and was seemingly unimpressed by the reputation of the players to her left, but Marcel on the other hand didn’t seem that impressed by her either and took a lot of chips from her by simply playing his position in hand # 28. Mr. Malek, who had been very aggressive in the beginning, surprised me by folding A7 preflop, playing only four-handed (he didn’t show his hand, but I saw his cards when he mucked them). Then, on the next hand, he successfully defended his blind with T9 against Simon’s K7, only to make a straight and severely cripple his famous opponent. Maria once again showed she had no fear by first calling a raise and then simply betting out on the flop, this time against Simon. She seemed to take advantage of the general wisdom held by men that women don’t bluff very often. But when she had to show her hand, she always held a good one, and she finished off Mr. Malek on hand # 35 with top pair / no kicker.
Although Marcel is known as an ultra-aggressive player, he also knows how to change gears and when they were down to three-handed, he let go on a few occasions to give Simon and Maria the chance to knock each other out. He wasn’t too pleased when Simon’s all-in move with AK against Maria’s QJ kept him alive (because it gave his opponent some ammunition), but now both Simon and Maria were in acute danger. Still, when he picked up A6s against Simon’s preflop raise, he decided this might be the chance to knock out the dangerous Simon- and so he did, as an ace flopped.
Heads up: The Euro King shows why he’s the King
Even though Maria had quite a few chips left when heads up play started (100,000 vs. Marcel’s 300,000), the tournament was over in just a couple of hands. She was bluffed out by her experienced opponent in two consecutive pots (Marcel showing a four- and a nine-high) and then, when she finally decided to take a stand, he had the goods (top pair on a AK8 flop against her QJ). After just six more hands and a total of only 48 hands, the final table was over. The first Master Classics 2001 tournament got the winner it deserved: Marcel Luske, the Dutch Flying Fox, the Euro King, you name it- but definitely the best player on this particular night. Final results:
1. Marcel Luske, The Netherlands, $24,000 (58,924 guilders)
2. Maria Pryjola, The Netherlands, $12,000 (29,462 guilders)
3. Simon “Aces” Trumper, England, $6,000 (14,731 guilders)
Tomorrow I’ll take you to my favorite game, pot-limit Omaha, as the $400 (1000 guilder) buy-in tournament will then take place. Take care, and good luck,
Rolf “Ace” Slotboom.
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