Started off well , usual 10,000 chips and 75 minute levels , first hand i called a raise with was AK , flop was Q J 4 and i called a 400 bet , turn was the T for the nuts and i won .

During the first level Jani Sonitulla and Michelle Abecassis managed to get it all on the turn , Jani had AA to Michelles KK , exit Michelle , in the meantime i took a flop in the BB with T6 , when the flop came 3 6 8 with two clubs i bet 300 and got one caller , assuming he was on a flush draw i checked the 4 of clubs on the turn as did he , river was the T of clubs to give me two pair , but my caller had T7o with the 7 of clubs ! I can only assume he was trying to hit a 9 on the turn .

One more AK helped me pick up the blinds and i finished slightly up.

In the second level i could have lost a lot of chips to Jani , i limped with AJs , he raised to 400 and i was the only caller , flop looked good for me J 2 3 rainbow , i bet out 700 , Jani flat called , turn was a Q , i bet another 700 , he still just called , river was a 7 , i could have checked here but if he has called twice with AK he may now put in a big bet i can't call , i bet a further 900 , again he just called , for the second time today he had AA .

This was not an ideal start , i decided i was not going to wait for premium hands today but would play drawing hands aggressively , so after calling a raise with A8 of hearts and seeing a flop of 3 4 6 with two hearts i check raised all in , no call and i was back up to 8000 .

Then Marcel Luske joined our table , as we were by the rail a big crowd developed to watch the home town champion and Marcel of course played up to this, at least unlike the WSOP where he knocked me out with 99 v 77 this time i had position on him , so when he raised the first pot i called with JJ , flop was A A K , Marcel bet 300 , i called knowing he had no A , turn was a Q , he bet 300 again , now i thought i was probably behind but called to check raise on the river representing an A , however the river was another A , Marcel bet 300 again and i paid him off to see what he had raised with , he had KQo.

Marcel made some great plays , showed down two big bluffs to the delight of his fans and was generally running the table , i needed to get some chips so when there were 3 limpers and the button raised to 700 i just flat called in the BB with AKs certain one of the limpers would reraise , after the first two called , the third reraised 2500 all in , now the button folded and i reraised all in to get it heads up , this worked and i had a race to win against TT , i flopped an A and finished the third level with 13,925.

I still hadn't had any premium pairs ( QQ KK AA ) but this was to change but not yet , i won a nice 4 way pot after limping with A6s and making the flush and peaked at 14,750 , then after raising to 600 with AQ and getting two callers the flop was A 3 6 , checked to me i bet 1500 , first player passed but the next raised to 3000 this to me was an obvious 2 pair or set and i passed .

The last hand of the level i bluffed a pot , the button raised to 1100 , Marcel in the SB passed , i called with KJs , blinds were only 100 200 , i felt he had a weak A , flop was 6 8 T , both checked , turn another 8 , both checked , river a third 8 , now i bet 3300 and won the pot , had 12,675 at the dinner break .

After dinner i made a correct call but got unlucky , i raised the 150 300 blinds to 625 with TT in mid positon ,the SB called ,the BB now reraised to 5825 leaving 2200 , i am absolutely certain he has AK or AQs , i know if i call i will have to also call his all in on the flop as whatever comes , with 12,275 he will go all in , i call , the SB passes , flop is K 5 3 and as expected the BB moves in for 2200 making the pot 14,475 , i call leaving myself 2800 , he turns over AK and with no T wins the pot .

I change gear now , first i limp with KJs , on a flop of K 8 9 i bet all in , no calls , then when Marcel raises the next pot to 625 , i reraise all in with 22 , no call , the very next hand i pick up KK in FP , i bet as if i am on tilt and raise the 100 200 blinds to 1600 , all pass to the button who reraises me all in , i call , he has AK and i double up to 9000 , i then had a rush getting KK three more times but not getting paid , once i was raised in my BB , i reraised double , no call , then again in my BB after the button and Marcel limped i made a standard raise and both passed then finally i tried a new approach limping in mid position , there were 3 callers but when the flop came T 7 3 and i bet half the pot they all passed .

We then had a sequence of AA , back to back two players raised and when there were no callers showed AA , then on the very next hand i limped with 9Ts and Jani raised , i passed and he showed AA!

Finally i decide to take on the only other short stack while i have the button , he raises to 1000 leaving himself 2875 , i have KQS , pot is 1450 , i call , flop comes 5 T J rainbow to give me two over cards and a straight draw , he checks and i bet the 2875 he has left , he shrugs his shoulders and calls , he has ATo for second pair , turn and river are 2 3 and i have 2725 left .

The BB comes round and after one raise to 600 , Marcel in the SB reraises to 2300 , i find 88 and i go all in for 2725 ,the original bettor passes and Marcel calls and turns over AQs , earlier i won with AK v TT this time i have to survive with the pair , flop is K Q J , turn a T and river a 9 and Marcel wins with the top straight .

I am not unhappy with the way things went although i feel that to get KK four times and only get paid once after playing them differently was unfortunate , also of course after making a great call with TT my whole event could have changed had he not hit the K , Marcel want on to make the final but a special mention goes to Johan Storakkers , he came second in the Lido 4 years ago , the following year he won it and this year he made the final yet again , an amazing achievement , this time he was 8th , Marcel finished 4th and the winner was another young Norwegian Thomas Middleton .

One more event here then i'm off to Paris for the " Hold-em Series " obviously there is no Omaha so i will have a few opportunities to try and make a No Limit final , at least the last one i won was in Paris , maybe that's an omen lol .