I have trouble sleeping the night before day one, like I often do for some reason. It's not really stress or excitement, but more an odd seeping of adrenaline in my veins that seems to make me restless. When I finally come to, I feel a little shaken from an extremely vivid and weird dream I had, populated by people in my past. I curse myself for drinking before I took a sleep aid the night before.

I steal my German friend’s swimsuit because I can't find mine (and because I'm an asshole) and go for a swim, then I go for a long jog on the waterfront.

My friends and I grab a good Italian meal and make our way to the poker room. The usual buzz that surrounds the starting of a tournament whirs about the room. Pros catch up with each other, younger guys stare at some of the bigger name players, and a few hopefuls are still trying to win a seat. Since the event was capped here, many players came and did not get a seat to buy, and are desperately offering huge amounts to buy anyone else's. Antonio Esfandiari bear hugs his girlfriend out of nowhere as I walk by.

I get to my table and see Ryan Daut and Brandon Schaeffer. Wonderful! All week I have been playing with novice Italians who do not even know hand rankings and my starting table is populated with a WPT winner and an EPT winner. The few others that sit down do not seem to be there for fun. They seem ready to play. I turn my iPod on to my chill trance mix. It's going to be a long day for sure.

Early on, play is very tentative as usual, but with a little less limping than you usually see in live events. Both Schaeffer and Daut mimic Buddha; patiently awaiting their time to strike. I see some flops with more speculative hands, raise small pairs and such to get it folded around, but nothing of note happens. I find it peculiar that despite having two big names at my table, there is zero press coverage for us. Probably because both of them are such professionals – quiet yet confident – not drawing attention.

Ryan Daut soon busts one of the only weak players that was at our table when the weaker player got it in with an overpair of K-K on a J-10-9-7 board, Daut holding the 8-8. Schaeffer manages to chip up too. I continue to just bide my time as the two of them begin opening more pots.

Both really impressed me as far as their play. I really did not know much about Schaeffer other than his results and the few satellites I had played with him on Stars, but he really picked his spots well and controlled pot size effectively. Daut of course did the Daut thing, being very quiet and appearing to be like a librarian but really taking more pots down than anyone at the table.

An interesting dynamic starts to come into play as the blinds go up. The re-stealing between the three of us starts going in a clockwise motion. Though I do not do it as much as I should, I begin re-raising Daut's frequent opens. Schaeffer begins re-raising my opens with position on me. Daut continues to apply pressure on Schaeffer…and round and round we go.

My chips do not come from them though, but more from the weaker players to my right. One is a shorter Italian man and another is German, and both appear to be inexperienced. The German man limps too much from the small blind when I am in the big blind, and I continue the harassment in position like I do all day in cash games online. I raise in position a bit… chip up a little, but not much.

Despite the fact I am getting little for cards I am feeling comfortable. I am experienced enough to know how to handle myself. As long as I remain patient I am confident things will be okay.

The German to my right seems to be getting testy with my constantly raising him. He starts staring me down in every single pot, which really gets on my nerves for some reason. Perhaps its just because of my lack of sleep, but the idea that giving me the death stare is going to change anything is pretty stupid to me. If anything he is only telling me that he is ready to rumble, and that if I want to play with him I should be prepared – which only helps me and hurts him. I will know to call him lighter now in certain spots.

This has been something that has always interested me about live poker. For whatever reason, be it my personality, my age, or whatever, I feel like people go out of their way to bluff me more. Maybe it is because too many poker broadcasters have worn out the idea that young internet players are so crazy, but it does feel like I get less respect than many players.

I think back to my Irish Poker Open Day Two. Though I came into the day fifth in chips, I quickly lost half of them because seemingly every time I opened somebody who hadn't touched a chip otherwise was jamming on me, and then giving me that stupid stare-down like it was going to intimidate me.

In every event I have ever played live, be it in Manila or Dublin or Seoul or a home game when I was in high school, people have constantly made comments as to how loose I am, when I never really feel like I am getting too out of line. I have folded after I 3-bet someone and someone behind me 4-bet, and constantly the comment I get is "I would've called you…I knew you didn't have shit." In Seoul Joe Hachem actually stood up and yelled at me, "we're going to war kid!" Every time though I am just listening to my music and playing what I find to be a sound game.

Sure enough, a spot develops that puzzles me, and might have something to do with my image. Two people limp in on my big blind and I check my option with J-3o. The flop comes J-4-4 and I check behind the small blind. The two limpers check. The turn comes an off-suit 7, and I lead out for 300, approximately 3/4th of the pot. The first limper folds and then a balder gentleman announces CALL… loudly and proudly. Right away I feel like he doesn't have shit. If he has a 4 here, why is he calling me so quickly? Why would he not raise for value, or hollywood a bit hoping for me to bet the river? If he has a jack why would he not bet the flop?

The small blind folds and the river is a queen. I check and have absolutely zero intention of folding. I check quickly hoping to look weak because I am positive I am ahead here. Sure enough, my opponent quickly calls out "400". I call. He raps the table and nods his head, but doesn't turn over his hand. I show J-3, because I don't really feel like being a dick and making him show his hand when he's obviously admitting defeat. I would normally just show my bluff here in his spot, but I don't feel like rubbing the guy's nose in it.

The thing I found interesting about this pot was, even though I couldn't see his hand, what in the world could this guy have had? What draw could he have with a rainbow board of J-4-4-7, really, other than 5-6? Could this guy just not accept a young guy taking down a pot, or did he really have something like a small pair with some showdown value? If he did have something like 5-5 or 6-6 though, why wouldn't he check it on the river? What hands of mine is he really getting value from that he has beat? Furthermore, why wouldn't he bet the flop with one of those hands if it was checked around to him on the flop? If he has a seven, perhaps A-7, the same thing applies. Why would he beat the river there with two overs when his hand has showdown value?

* This is Part 2 of Assassinato's San Remo Trip Report. Part 1Part 3Part 4 The next part will provide more hand analysis from the San Remo event.

Alex assassinato Fitzgerald is a professional poker player who specializes in multi-table tournaments. You can read more about Assassinato's adventures in the poker world by visiting his blog, www.assassinatopoker.blogspot.com. His online accomplishments include a win in thePokerStars $200 rebuy for $50k, along with a victory in theFull Tilt Poker $100 rebuy for another $22k. For more poker-related content from today's top online players, readers are encouraged to visit ourPoker Articles section here at PocketFives.