Well i certainly couldn't complain about my starting line up , the only other pro at the table was on my button Juha Helppi , with the usual 10,000 chips and 45 minute levels , it was follow the basics , learn how your opponents play and look for good starting hands .

Yet again apart from an occasional button steal i saw very few hands , in the first level i had JJ with which i called a bet on a Q 9 5 flop all spades ( i held the J of spades ) but when on the turn an off suit 8 came and my opponent made a huge oversized bet i laid it down.

In the second level i again saw only one pair , Juha made a standard raise and i flat called with 55 as did one other player , flop was Q 5 6 , Juha bet out 600 , now i could see the other player was passing , there was a flush draw and i knew if i flat called Juha would put me on a draw and also i had the advantage of knowing i wouldn't get a call to a draw behind me .

On the turn it came an 8 , Juha bet out 1200 , now if you read my Baden diary you will remember i was in the same situation against Greig Raymer and when he bet 2000 i raised to 7000 which was too much , this time i raised Juha to 3000 , he is a world class player and before he laid down his hand he said " i think you have a set " , i didn't show but we know he made a great read and possibly a great laydown.

There were 2 more memorable hands in level 2 , one i called a raise of 250 on the BB with KJs , flop was J 6 7 rainbow , now i know i said before one of the recent leaks in my game is not betting the flop when i hit it , bit in this case the raiser was a loose aggressive player who usually bet out after a preflop raise and also Juha had called on the button so i expected him to bet if we both checked , therefore i checked , so did the raiser and Juha , turn was a 2 , ok , no more free cards , i bet 600 into the 800 pot , the raiser called and Juha passed , river was a 9 , i checked and he bet 1000 , i think the only way i am losing is if he has checked the flop having hit the J and he has raised preflop with J9 and made two pair . I eventually toss the 1000 in saying " I am only losing if you hit the 9 , he turned up J9 , work that one out ? Bare in mind he raised from 2nd position and checked the flop mmm .

The second hand was in the BB again , i called a raise with JQs this time , flop was A Q J , i now hoped he had AK and check called , turn was another Q , again i check called for 2000 this time , river was a 9 , i bet out 1200 , he started counting his chips putting the 1200 to one side , i was wondering if maybe i was looking at AQ here but i figured he would have checked the turn , anyway he raised to 2600 , i decided to just call in case of the cold deck occurence ( where two players hit a great flop and can't escape ) i showed my JQ , he had raised my BB with Q9 and rivered a smaller full house , i wouldn't have considered that , i ended the level with a healthy 14,925 the best start to an EPT event this year .

During level 3 again i only played a couple of hands , the first was AQs in hearts , flop was 7 T J with two hearts , i check call 300 , usually i would raise here with two overs , the nut flush draw and a gutshot straight draw but i decided to call , turn was a 9 , we both checked , river a 3 , now i decide to represent the straight as if i called the flop with KQ , i bet 600 and he called with AJ , this was worth making this bet for two reasons , one he may pass , but more importantly i found out he will pay me when i do have the hand .

The last hand i had AA in the BB , there was a raise to 450 and i reraised to 1250 but no call .

The player who earlier caught me with his J9 made a double raise , Juha flat called on the button ( as this hand unfolds you will understand why he did this , he had seen what the player raised with before and wanted to trap in position ) getting 5 to 1 in the BB i called with J5s , flop was J 2 4 , i felt Juha would bet this time so checked as did the raiser , Juha bet 1000 , i called and the raiser passed , turn was a 3 , now i had top pair with a straight draw , i bet Juhas last 1800 and he called and turned up AA , i knew he had played them slow to try to trap the raiser , anyway i could still hit a A or a 6 for a straight or a J or a 5 but none came .

After a few rounds i was blinding away and decided to make a play after calling with 89s , flop was A A 6 , all checked and last to act bet 300 , after looking as if i was intending to raise i called , i want him to think i have an A with a weak kicker , turn was a K , i checked , once he checked i knew he had no A probably a 6 or an overpair , river was a Q and i now bet 1200 , he passed his 77 face up .

I moved to another table watched the action for a while then this occurred , i raised two off the button with ATs to 825 , the next player flat called , the button who had just lost with KK reraised all in for 3250 , i was certain he was making a move , maybe steaming a llittle , so reraised to get it heads up ,this worked , i showed my AT of diamonds , he had K9 of diamonds and an A on the flop sealed the deal , this was the end of level 5 and i had 11,875 .

The player who knocked me out with his KQo now came to the table , i picked up the same hand and limped , he raised from the BB to 2000 , this was a big bet which normally represents AK or AQ or a small pair , i decided that fate could take a hand and called , flop was K 8 9 , he bet 3000 and i moved in for 8,800 total , he passed and i now had 15,500 .

After two more levels with no real hands and just the occasional blind steal i was down to 13,675 , blinds were now 300 600 with an ante of 75 so each round was costing 1575 , a short stack went all in for 475 and i called on the button with K7s certain the blinds would call and check it down unless they hit big , flop was Q 4 3 , all checked , turn was a 7 , checked to me i bet 400 to pick up the side pot , i turned up my K7 , the all in had AK so could only win with an A , river was an A !

I played two more hands here before yet again getting moved , with two limpers i flat called with 56s , flop was 2 4 6 , i have top pair and a gutshot , with 3675 in the pot when it is cheked to me i bet 3000 and win , then in FP i had AK , i raised to 2500 , the next player reraised to 7500 , all passed and i decided to call , flop was K 7 7 , if he has AA or KK he is going to get paid , i hope he has QQ but will bet if i check , so i check and he moves all in , i call and it is a split pot , we both have AK .

I now get moved to a new table , two to my right is Isabell Mercier , on my left Noah Boaken and als Padraig Parkinson , first hand i pick up the blinds uncontested with AQ , the next hand i limp with A9 , this i think now was a mistake i should have raised again or passed but Noah who was chip leader on my left had said to me the blinds aren't easy to steal here so i thought instead of raising twice in a row i would limp , Noah called as did the blinds , flop was A T 4 , now i made my second mistake , checked to me i should have bet but i could see Noah had a lot of small chips which meant he was playing and winning a lot of pots and as he was last to act i was sure he would bet , he didn't , turn was a 7 , now i bet 2500 , Noah reraised to 7500 , i was sure he didn't have an A so as there was now a flush draw i put him on a pair with a flush draw , i didn't have enough left to reraise him off the pot but was sure i was winning so called , river was a 6 , i checked , Noah bet 4000 into approx a 20,000 pot , there was no flush , if he had made 2 pair he wouldbe happy to check in case i have made a straight , therefore the only hand beating me is 89 and he would have had to have been semi bluffing with his raise on the turn , i said to him " if you reraised on the turn with 89 you deserve to win i call " , i showed my A and Noah said " wow i never put you on an A " , however he did in fact have 89o , now there's one to analyse .

Level 9 and i was still in , blinds were 400 800 with a 100 ante , so with 2100 in the middle i was happy to pick up JJ and move all in for my last 3650 , Noah asked for a count and then called saying he felt lucky , all passed , i showed my JJ and he turned over KQo , the same hand my TT lost to in the last EPT in Baden , this time we didn't have to wait for the river , Noah flopped two pair .

The key hand was the A9 and i think i should have passed , how would you have played it on the flop ?