SPT Marbella - Day 1: RobbieV Still in

Held in Marbellla, the main event of the SPT boasts an extremely good blind structure and a very slow pace. While RobbieV is still in contention, Tikkari had to hit the rails at 87th.

Report by SoyCD

Although we nearly arrived late, Tikkari, RobbieV and I managed to get to the cashier of the Marbella Casino just in time to pay the $1000 + $100 buy-in and get our play passes.  Well, they did, that is, I was just there to take pictures, bring good luck, and enjoy the drinks that the bar offered. Since it was going to be a long night, with 7 levels of 45 minutes each to be played, I decided to stick to Coke, at least for the moment.

The Casino itself was nicely decorated, but nothing all too special, with a gated-off area for the tournament. Although there were only 96 entrants, the casino was bustling with Everest Poker qualifiers from all around Europe, people in Unibet T-shirts, and the occasional local pro.  Considering the excellent blind structure, it was the optimal starting point for some serious poker.  What do I mean by good blind structure?  15,000 starting chips, 25/50 starting blinds, 45 minute levels and three days to determine a winner.  A tournament any cashgame player would know how to appreciate. 

Half an hour behind schedule, the players finally took their seats and the first hand was dealt. I was still taking the first pictures when the first big hand took place on RobbieV's table.  With the blinds still at 25/50, a loose player had limped from UTG, RobbieV made it 250 to go with QQ, and was re-raised to 1100 by the button.  The loose UTG player thought for a moment and then pushed all-in for his entire 15k starting stack. With no reason to risk his entire tournament with QQ here, RobbieV laid down the ladies, and the button snap called with KK.  The UTG played turned over the expected Aces, with no help from the board the button became the second player to hit the rails (on another table a lady had managed to 5-bet push Q8o against Aces in the first hand, in what seems like a probable attempt to join the rail as soon as possible).

The action continued at a moderate pace with many players on the flops but everyone playing it cautiously.  After all, there is no reason to rush it when you are 200-300 big blinds deep. Unlike RobbieV, whose table and position were quite favorable,  Tikkari was seemingly sandwiched between a rock and a hard place.  With two very tight players on his right, and two calling stations on his left, he could neither steal nor re-steal and was doomed to wait for cards.  As these didn't come, he spent most of his time folding, while I spent most of my time drinking more coke and taking pictures. 

The first interesting hand came during the 3rd level in a min-raised pot in which he was the big blind. The SB had also called and the flop showed a board.  Both SB and BB checked to the pre-flop min-raiser who bet out 300.  The fishy SB called and Tikkari made it 1,100 to go.  The initial raiser called the re-raise and the SB suddenly re-raised to 3000.  It was a strange line to take, and Tikkari went into the tank.  Putting him on a weak top pair or mid pair that he wouldn't fold, he called with and 15 outs to the better hand (and good implied odds). The pre-flop aggressor folded, and the SB bet 2,500 more on the turn.  Given the correct odds to call, Tikkari did, only to see a blank river. The SB bet once more and Tikkari folded.

Although the two calling stations on his left were eliminated soon after, Tikkari also had to join the rails as 87th after being involved in two unfortunate pots in which he made the right moves at the wrong time. Ultimately he ran into the trip 6s of his opponent who held on a board while he himself had .

RobbieV, on the other hand, managed to maintain his stack and even triple up shortly before play ended at 4:00 in the morning.  Holding AK, he was faced with a shortstack push in front him, and he pushed over the top. He knew it was trouble that a big stack called him from the blinds, but was in decent shape when the BB turned over QQ.  Up against 99 and QQ he hit his Ace on the turn, and propelled his chipstack into the 30k range.  He is going into day 2 today with around 70 big blinds and an above average chip stack. With 61 of 96 players left, we hope to report more on his final table appearance, should he make it that far.

Pablo Martinez from the Everest Poker Team	Santi Torres

The Casino	The two admins

You called me with that?	Between a rock and a hard place