Thursday, 28th March 2024 22:51
Home / Uncategorized / EPT8 Madrid: Donkey skin is not transparent
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“Donkey skin is not transparent,” said a Mexican member of the floor staff who happened to be in the press room (ransacking our refreshments).

One 42″ monitor sits in the corner of the room piping in the feature table direct from EPT Live Lite but is so positioned that there’s multiple places where you can stand to block someone’s view of the action (although we argue that these slackers should be out covering the other two tables). I was the donkey in question, blocking the view as Ilan Boujenah put in a three-bet over the top of a Ricardo Ibanez Rodriguez open.

“It’s a direct translation, does it work?” he asked.

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Ilan Boujenah

Well, yes, I suppose it does in real life, but does it in terms of poker? On the off-chance that you don’t know what a ‘donkey’ is, we’ll explain. It’s a bad poker player, a really bad poker player. One who calls with any two cards, who over values some hands, doesn’t appreciate position, texture or nuance. Their hands are far from transparent. Any flop could contain two-pair, any turn card could provide a straight draw. They range from the mercurial to the downright terrible but the best thing of all is that it’s entirely subjective.

At the moment, and let me make this clear that it is my subjective take on what I think Boujenah might be thinking about Ibanez Rodriguez, I believe that Boujenah reckons that Ibanez Rodiguez played one the last hands of level 21 like a donk (I failed to catch him at the break to confirm).

Bounjenah is a fantastic character, one of those that can leave you unsettled upon which side of the fence you stand. Smiley and chatty by the rail, Boujenah seems to transform into a fidgeting snarling monster at the table, he’s had more run-ins with the floor staff than the rest of the field combined here in Madrid. That is a literal statement, but the tournament is certainly richer for having him in it.

In the lead up to the break Ibanez Rodriguez opened and called a three-bet from Boujenah with 4♦ 5♥ . He flopped a pair and turned trips on a 5♣ 7♣ 9♣ 5♥ K♦ board, getting value on the turn and river from Boujenah, who looked far from happy about the call pre-flop. One man’s donkey is another man’s hero; Ibanez Rodriguez is now up to 1,432,000, Boujenah drops to around 800,000. We have 18 players remaining and you can follow all the action through our live tournament coverage and by watching the EPT Live Lite feed.

Tournament snapshot
Level 22: blinds 8,000-16,000, ante 2,000
Players: 18 of 477
Average stack: 795,000
Click here for live coverage and more features.

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