The chip leader Jean Bernard Bot limped in , as usual at the start of a final players tend to be conservative unless very short stacked , passed to me i have AA JTss and raise pot , no calls and i pick up a handy 10,000 , blinds are 2000 4000 .

This is starting to look like a repeat of last year after i limp 3 handed with A7s 88 and flop the nut flush .

After this next hand in the SB where i called after Rob had limped on the button i was up to second chip leader , flop was J 8 3 , i checked to let Rob bet but he also checked , turn was a 2 , i bet and won , my hand JJ 67 .

Then an interesting hand came up , to my surprise Noah was playing very tight , he was second shortest stack with only 10 times the BB but i had expected him to go for an early double up , i had AK 44 and decided to flat call on the button , Noah called and the BB checked , flop was A K T , Noah checked , the BB bet 12,000 , i felt if he had flopped the nuts here he would have risked a free card so called with top two , Noah also called , i now thought it likely he had the straight and would bet out on the turn , turn was an 8 making a flush draw , Noah checked and so did the BB, now i knew for certain neither had the straight but i suspected a set was out so checked , river was a 4 improving my hand to a set , Noah now bet 20,000 leaving him 15,000 , the BB quickly passed and i had a decision for a 68,000 pot , i went through the hand in my head , if Noah had flopped the nuts i would expect him to check as he did and maybe risk just calling as there was no flush draw , however on the turn he must now move in for 35,000 to pick up the 48,000 but didn't , therefore on the flop he must have a made hand such as two pair , if he had a set of Tens i am sure he would move in on the turn to give him two chances to win as he would be prepared to call a bet , therefore i decided at best he had flopped AK like me or AT with a gutshot J or Q to the nuts , he must feel the 4 is a blank and is trying to pick up the pot with what maybe the best hand , i decided my set was good and called , Noah showed AK for top two , i showed the set but also that i had his hand as well , he then showed his other two cards QQ , i was very surprised he didn't move in on the turn , he had top two but more importantly he could have represented the straight as he had two of the blockers .

With his hand after i had limped on the button i would have raised the pot , he obviously thought a bigger pot could be won by slow playing it , however when things worked out perfect he didn't move . The flop he checked hoping one of us would bet , by the time it got back to him there was 36,000 in the middle , i would probably have moved in there but he just called , now the turn is the 8 making a flush draw i would have moved in representing the straight , he is only likely to be called if one of us has a set or two pair with a flush draw , instead he checked allowing a free card and i got lucky , now he makes another mistake by trying to indicate strength making a small bet that looks like he is pot committed .

I am still second chip leader and able to take on the short stacks , i limp on the button with AK 73ss a hand i would normally raise with in this position and with my chips or pass but i have been hitting flops , Noah raises all in , passed to me i call , he has me in bad shape with AK Q5 but i flop the nut flush draw and make it on the turn , each level is 75 minutes , we end level 1 with 7 players left , i have 182,500 of the 830,000 chips in play and i am second chip leader .

The new chip leader is Toni on 190,000 and Rob Hollink has built up from 74,000 to 100,000 , Andreas Krause who started with only 35,000 has 65,000 .

I then lose a pot making a bad call , i had KK QQds and limped in FP , flop was A 9 T , all check , turn was another A , 6000 bet i call but should have passed , river is a J giving me a straight , i call 10,000 , annoyed at myself i then call a raise of 14,000 in the BB with 56 78ds , i miss the flop and have to pass .

We lose another player and with 6 left the chip positions are approx

Anders Berg in seat 2 110K

Jean Bernard Bot seat 3 185K

Professor Toni seat 4 185K

Andreas Krause seat 5 145K

Rob Hollink seat 7 80K

Me seat 8 125K

Blinds are now 3000 6000

Play has stepped up a gear with every pot being raised , Jean makes it 14,000 ( a full pot raise would have been 21,000 ) , Rob in the SB flat calls , i have QT 62ds , not a premium hand but as i suspect Jean has AA or KK and Rob medium cards and it is only 8,000 to call into a pot of 34,000 i call .

Flop is 3 4 6 with two diamonds , i have one pair , a gutshot 5 for the second nuts and a Q high flush draw , i can see Jean has missed so when Rob bets pot 42,000 i have a decison to make , Rob has only 24,000 left , i suspect he has hit a pair with a straight wrap , something like 56 89 , i am certain my flush draw is good and even if he has flopped two pair i can improve with a 6 T or Q , i look over at Jean to make sure my feel is right that if i just flat call he is done with the hand otherwise if i think he has an overpair and higher flush draw i would reraise pot to get it heads up , he is ordering a drink , i just call , Jean passes and before the turn card Rob says i am going all in whatever comes and puts in his last 24,000 , now with 160,000 in the pot it is unlikely i will pass on the turn , the turn is what looks like a great card for me , it's a T giving me top two , i call and Rob turns over 33 55 , he had flopped bottom set with a straight draw , guess i need a diamond 6 or T , river is a 6 and with 5 left i am now joint chip leader with 210,000.

By the way in my ?800 diary i said i thought Rob Hollink was for me easily player of the year , today he proved it . The Omaha final started at 5pm , Rob had been playing the ?300 Limit since 2pm and had a good stack , every time the button passed he would run to the next table , play a couple of hands then come back , after i knocked him out he went on to make his second final of the day and proceeded to win it !

I get KK 72ds in FP , after limping with KK QQ in FP last time this time i raise , the BB calls , flop is A high and i pass to his bet , blinds are now 4000 8000 .

Then i lost the biggest pot of the day just when it looked like a top 3 finish was nailed on , Jean raised to 28,000 , Toni called on the button , Andreas SB passed , pot was 68,000 and 20,000 to me , i had AT 33ss , i called , flop was 5 6 7 with my nut flush draw , i bet 88,000 , Jean quickly mucked but Toni started counting his chips , eventually he went all in for 20,000 more , i called obviously , he had 56 78 , turn was a 9 to give him the straight , i needed to hit my flush but the river was a 6 , we had a new chip leader and yours truly was now looking at a 5th place finish potentially with only 67,000 left , average 166,000.

Only one way to play now and that's aggressive , it helps if you find AA , Tony raised to 28,000 , i reraised all in with AA Q9 and he passed , i am still short stack but up to 103,000.

I find AA again , talk about good timing , this time they are rag AA with 84 but i'd be happy to win the 12,000 blinds , i make it 28,000 and Jean calls , flop is J 8 4 , who needs AA ? I bet 68,000 and Jean sets me all in , he has KK 89 , i double up when he misses the K or 9 required and have over average chips again .

This time Anders bets the pot 28,000 and i pick up AA Q9 again and reraise , he passes and this mini rush of hands has propelled me up to 241,500 .

In the meantime Andreas who started short stack with 35,000 is now chip leader , he slow played AA QJds , flop was A high with two clubs , he flopped top set and the nut flush draw against Jean and Toni , all checked , turn was another club ! Jean bet 20,000 , Toni raised to 50,000 , it just doesn't get any better than this when you're sitting there with the nuts , Andreas flat called , Jean passed , river was a blank and Toni moved in with the Q high flush , christmas had come early for Andreas and he now had over 400,000 .

I win another pot in the SB when i limp with Q6 88 , flop is A Q 8 , i check once then bet the turn when a 2 comes but no callers , i am second chip leader again with 265,500 .

We lose 2 players and with three left i bet pot from the SB with yet again AA 55 , the BB moves in , i call and win , i am now heads up with Andreas , he has approx 535,000 to my 295,000 , you don't know how much i would like to win this again , blinds have risen to 5000 10,000.

Being heads up i now had to stop taking notes and concentrate , at one stage Andreas had me 3 to 1 then i doubled up , i called in the SB with 98 33 , flop is 3 9 K , i call 20,000 , turn is a 7 , Andreas bets 60,000 , i reraise all in , he calls with K7 , an A on the river and we are virtually level .

I then take the chip lead , Andreas raises to 45,000 , i reraise with AA 35ds and win ,the chip lead goes back and forth , then i flop another set with Q8 77 on a flop of 3 4 7 , we both check , turn is a J and i now also have a flush draw , Andreas bets 60,000 and after a think i raise to 200,000 but he passes , i wonder now if he had anything and if i had just raised to 120,000 this may have been the last hand , finally while i still hold a 35,000 chip lead comes the hand that determines the winner .

First i must explain we were heads up for at least an hour , during that time i only passed one hand when first to act whereas Andreas passed maybe 5 times , he bluffed me in one pot on the river and i of course occasionally did the same , my strategy once chip leader was to play him from the flop onwards .

The blinds were nox 5000 15000 , on the SB i called with J7 55ds , Andreas raised 30,000 , this i took to be a big pair or something like AK QJ , i called in position , flop was K 5 3 with two diamonds , Andreas bet pot 90,000 , my gut reaction was he had either top pair with a flush draw or maybe AA with the flush draw , i of course had flopped second set , as before i just flat called mainly as i had no diamonds and if one came on the turn i was hoping to get a free card , the turn was an off suit Q , now Andreas moved in for 262,500 , i was chip leader by 35,000 , would you have called ?

I now had to reasses his hand , i was sure he hadn't hit a set of QQ , unless he held KQ Qx preflop and had bet the flop with top pair and a flush draw improving to a lucky set on the turn , he could have AA with the nut flush draw or maybe the Q gave him top two with a flush draw , or he could have AK TJ and now had a wrap , then something happened , Andreas got out of his seat and started walking around , i put this down to nerves as he knew if i called and outdrew him , he couldn't know i had flopped a set , he would be out , however in the back of my mind came a memory from 6 years ago , i ignored it and called , Andreas declared " 3 Kings " i turned over my set of 5's needing a one outer to win the tournament , of course these rarely come do they ?

The last card was the one outer required for quads but not for me , Andreas made quad kings , the next hand it was all over , i can't even remember it .

On the one hand considering recent form i was delighted to make the final , then to end up second to go with my first from last year against 220 and 246 players respectively is an achievement to be proud of especially when you include my 5th in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha at the WSOP in July .

However my initial thoughts were i should have passed the set , i often explain tells and the one i got today i chose to ignore , as usual i will tell you what it was .

6 years ago i was in the final if the Poker Million when this happened , Tony Bloom who i had never played with before was making a lot of preflop raises , i decided to call in position with an unreadable hand 64s , flop gave me a flush draw , we both checked , turn i made the flush and Tony bet , i flat called , river was a blank , Tony now grabbed 80,000 slammed them on the table and jumped out of his chair and went to the window , i didn't know if he was good enough to bet the nuts on the turn or if he was bluffing on the river with the bare A , 9th was getting £6000 1st was £1,000,000 , eventually i decided this call if correct could win me the tournament , i called and he turned over A7s for the nuts so when Andreas got up i remembered Tony doing the same 6 years before but that meant he had to have flopped the set of Kings and i decided if he had he would have bet 50 to 60,000 not pot , so the fact he bet the pot on the flop changed my mind and i made the call , even though i've only seen this happen twice and both times in a final i hope i don't have to go through it again as i could have made a great laydown heads up .

Anyway i am back in form at last and hopefully can expect to do well in the last few events of this year , i have gone from 46th to 3rd in the Omaha rankings and have a theoretical chance of winning but to finish top 3 after 1st last year would be a success , now all i have to do is get back to winning in No Limit as well .

All the best