Travelling to a holiday island like the Bahamas to represent PokerStars is like a dream come true. Even when I have been here a few times already I always enjoy being here.

The atmosphere on the Bahamas is great and the fact that you can use the sun, sea and beach is making it easier to deal with the bad beats from the past.

Here is my PCA Main Event experience in a nutshell:

The most important thing of day 1 of a big tournament is to survive. You can’t win a tournament like the PCA in 1 day and your only plan is to make it to day 2. I ended day 1 with a stack of 40,000 chips, although at one point, I was down to just 8,500 chips. I had to fold on the river for my last 8,500 chips in a 70,000 chip pot where my opponent had kings on a board of A-7-5-K-K. I had A-Q and I folded because my opponent could only have aces, kings or A-K. So I folded and my opponent showed kings. Now I was freerolling the rest of the tournament and I ended day 1 with 40,000 chips.

I started day 2 on an aggressive table and I recognized a woman that asked my for an autograph and a picture the day before. She had around 200,000 chips in front of her and I must look liked the amateur to her… LOL.

After 2 rounds of play I played my first hand. I opened with Ts-7s from the cutoff and the bigstack reraised me to 9,200. I paid 5,100 extra to see a flop in position while I had around 30,000 behind. The flop came 8-9-4 rainbow and he made a c-bet of 7,000 chips. I moved all-in with my up-and-down-straight draw and he called with A-Q. I rivered a seven to stay alive and he complained how bad it was to call preflop and he told me that I was an idiot.

Now I was up to 80,000 and I finally had some chips to play with. The next hand I played I sat on the small blind and I see that one of my cards was marked. This wasn’t the first time I noticed it and while I was complaining about it, I missed the UTG raise to 8,800. The action folded around to me and I made it 10,000 with my A-Q. The big blind folded and I showed my hand. Than the dealer pointed out that there was still action going on, oops.

The floor decided that it was just a call and we went on to see the flop. With my hand open!

So the flop comes with 2-J-K rainbow and I check to mister bully.
He bets 8,000 and I called
Turn: 4
I checked, he bets 20,000 and I called again
River: A
I check, he checks behind and I win the hand

Again, he was furious and he pointed out how stupid it was to call all the way…

In the mean while we made it in to the money and I was at my highest point (187,000 chips) with 200 players left in the tournament. I was gauranteed $15,000 and I got moved to another table. The first hand I get jacks in the big blind and my neighbor, sitting on 300K chips, limped in. I raised to 15,000 chips and he shoved all-in. I folded my jacks and he showed aces… Oops!

I made it to the last 25 minutes of the day when I picked up aces in first position. I made it 16,000 at 2,5K/5K and the player on the button called. The flop came Js-Jc-Kc and I check-called at bet of 19,000 and the turn came the 2s. I checked, he bets 40,000 and I moved all-in for 96,500 chips.

He asked for a count and asked me if I had a jack because he was on a draw. He decide to pay with As-8s and hit the 3s on the river… I was busto!

So the show was over. That big pot would have put me in really good shape for day 3 when the real poker begins. But it was all over. I am happy the way I played. I made good laydowns and overall $15,000 is not that bad to be honest.

I hope I can make some nice results this year and I can’t wait for a result that matters.

Here is my advice to you:

It will always be these kind of big hands that knocks me out so please be careful playing those big hands like aces and kings. Enjoy the tournament as long as you are in it!

Take care,

Marcel Luske
Team PokerStars Pro