I had to get past Tom “Durr” Dwan in a late session in Heat #2 to get a seat into the final. I beat him with J-10 against his pocket eights.
The final was an incredibly tough table, Peter Eastgate, JC Tran, Roland de Wolfe, Juha Helppi, and Tom Dwan. Early on I raised before the flop with the 10S-9C and got reraised by Dwan for another 21K. I called and we saw the flop of 4D-JC-10C. Dwan led out for 43K and I just went all-in. Dwan held the QC-4C. The board didn’t help him, bringing the 3H and the KH on the river and I doubled up to 434K. I was ready to play.
Peter Eastgate was the first to go and JC Tran took him out. The next out was Roland de Wolfe when he lost with K-K against Juha Helppi’s A-Q. Then Dwan was gone when he played 8-6 against my J-8. I flopped top pair and the board held an open ended straight draw for Dwan but it bricked out. I became the chip leader and the new table captain, a role I love to play. I had 1,145,000 in chips to JC Tran’s 430,000 and Juha Helppi’s 365,000.
I was very happy. This is a tournament I want to win and look forward to playing in. I was singing. I put Juha on his bike when I picked up A-Q to his A-10 and he moved all-in pre-flop. I caught a Queen on the flop and he couldn’t catch up.
I had 1,150,000 in chips to JC’s 780,000 and then ran into a hand that really hurt me. I raised pre-flop to 75K with 8S-6S and JC called with 10H-8C. The flop was 10D-QH-6D and I led out for 95K. JC Called. The turn brought the QS and I bet out for 110K. JC raised it to 260K and I folded. JC had 1,140,000 and I was left with 790,000.
The blinds were 20-40K and I checked with KS-8D. After the flop came 5D-7H-6H, I checked and JC bet 60K, I bet all-in and got called by JC’s 9C-7D. The turn was a JC and the river was the 2S.
This is one tournament I want so badly to win and look forward to playing in and I managed to make the final table again, the second year in a row ,and played my heart out to take second place to JC Tran. It just wasn’t meant to be this time, JC played too good and the cards weren’t there for me. I was hoping to send JC out looking for his bike, but I had to pedal slowly back to my hotel.
It was really a tough final table and Phil Hellmuth ended up being in the commentator’s box.
Winning second place gave me $202,000. I will look forward to playing the Party Poker Premiere League again and try my best to win it the next time out.
For now I go back to Lithuania and relax until Ladbroke’s Milllions starts the 11th of December.
