Ludovic Lacay EPT Prague - Day 2

One aspect of the last few PokerStars-sponsored EPTs has been the rise of the French Winamax team, who have excelled on the tour in recent times. EPT Barcelona saw WSOP bracelet winner Davidi Kitai finish just short of the title, while at EPT Warsaw we saw Winamax teammates Arnaud Mattern and Ludovic Lacay scythe through the field to both reach the last nine.

Lacay looks like he may emulate that Warsaw success here in Prague, having made it through to Day 3 handily placed in second spot on the leaderboard with a chunky $513,000.

We spoke to Ludovic following his successful Day 2 to get his thoughts on how the day went for him.

Ludovic, you came back today well placed, having finished Day 1a as the chip leader. Was your strategy to come in to today and use your chip stack to bully the opposition?

Well, my strategy was to wait and see who was at my table. It wasn't a very good table at first. [Later] I had Christer Johansson and Erich Kollmann both there, and they are very good players.

I decided to play tight, waiting for a good spot or perhaps the table to break, but luckily for me Christer and Erich both lost a lot of chips to bad players, which meant I could play a lot more pots.

Lacay in action in Prague.

So, that meant you could change strategy?

Yes, I could then start to bully the table. I didn't really play as I usually do ... big pre-flop raises and four-bets, things like that. Instead I just called a lot, limped in position, called pre-flop raises and tried to play post-flop, making raises when I felt weakness, and I never lost more than one-third of my stack in a hand so it worked! It was very good.

So it went very well overall today. Were there any particular key hands that were important?

Yes; there was one key hand where I limped on the button with T-9 suited, flopped a flush and ended up winning a $300k pot.

That hand was very important for you. What was your thought process during that hand?

Well, I knew the guy in the big blind knew me, so I didn't want to get reraised with T-9, but I could call a raise, so I just decided to limp the button. Then the small blind made a very quick raise and pretty big so I felt that he really didn't want me to call.

So I called! I felt that in position I could play that pot. So when I flopped the flush, I decided to check behind as the flop came J-8-x of my suit so I also had the straight flush draw. [His opponent held A-J at this point.]

I felt that I don't really need to protect my hand here, it is better in this spot to play for deception, so when the second jack came on the turn, I can never fold my hand and he shoved into my flush. He had to shove, really!

Ludovic "brushed" up his CV with a cash at EPT Budapest.

Now you're here with your Winamax colleague and fellow finalist from EPT Warsaw Arnaud Mattern. [pictured above] It's been mooted that Arnaud had a big last-longer bet with Anthony Lellouche where the loser would have to work a day in a busy French restaurant washing up dishes, and Arnaud lost that bet.

Do you have any words of consolation for your teammate?

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing the video of Arnaud working, I don't think you have ever worked at something in life before have you Arnaud?

Arnaud: I have worked one day before. [laughter]

You didn't have any similar bets during the tournament, did you?

No; just a last-longer bet with Otto Richard, the guy I busted in Day 1.

You had a few battles with Otto didn't you?

Well, I had queens against A-K and aces against kings, so not really battles! But we had a last-longer bet, which was $200 per level plus $500 if I make the money, plus $2,000 if I make the final table.

Wow! So he must be feeling pretty sick right now. I think I saw him outside and he was looking pretty miserable, smoking a cigarette.

He finaled in Warsaw. Can he go one better here in Prague?

Yes, I think the police have found a body in the river right here. That may be him; I don't know!

Ha-ha! Well thank you very much for talking to us and the best of luck tomorrow. You're obviously in good form at the moment having cashed in Budapest, final-tabled in Warsaw and at least cashed again here.

Yes; I just hope I can go better than Warsaw.

You're well-placed, so why not? Good luck tomorrow Ludovic.

Thanks very much. See you then.

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Form's a wonderful thing in poker. When a few key pots go your way, your confidence grows and you feel able to take on the world. That must be how Ludovic Lacay is feeling following his recent glut of results, and whoever wins here at EPT Prague is likely to face a tough challenge from the erudite Frenchman when the players resume arms tomorrow.