POTD #33 Triton Vietnam GGMillions vs Chris Brewer

The most tired I've ever been at a poker table

I’ve written a lot about fatigue and how to manage it when playing live poker. If you have the time and discipline, there are surefire ways to prepare yourself: showing up early for a stop to combat jet lag, good caffeine management, actually going to sleep instead of dicking around on your phone in bed. Triton Vietnam presented an interesting challenge for players and dealers alike. The final tournament in Paris was February 26th; the first tournament in Vietnam was March 1st. There were no direct Paris to Da Nang flights and everyone flew on the 27th, landed on the 28th, and played on the 1st.

Triton Tournaments start late, which I appreciate in Europe as it allows you to sleep in, but is brutal in Asia when my biological clock wants me to wake up at 6 AM local time. On Day 1, we started late, played a 12 hour day, and all the players and dealers were jet-lagged. I’ve seen players fall asleep at the table plenty of times in my day; I’ve never seen so many dealers falling asleep at the table.

When you are rested, you can enter a flow state where you’re thinking clearly and all your decisions feel right, even if they are not. Conversely, if you are tired, you can enter a manic state where every hand feels like the hardest hand in the world and every decision you make is a punt. Today’s hand involves a river call, which, as I made it, felt like the biggest punt in the world. Well-rested and years later, we will determine how big a punt it actually was.

2023 Triton Vietnam Event #1 GG MIllions

Level 16 15k/30k/30k 35 Left, 23 Cash Average stack is 1.18M

It folds to Chris Brewer in the HJ who makes it 60k, I have 770k on the button and call A♦️T♦️, Roman Hrabec calls the BB off 590k.

Flop (225k) 7♣️3♦️2♣️: Roman checks, Brewer checks, I check.

Turn (225k) A♠️: Roman checks, Brewer bets 110k, I call, Roman folds.

River (445k) 3♥️: Brewer puts me all-in for my final 600k, I call. He shows me 7♦️7♥️ for a full house.