So I've come to the PLO game after my sick exit in the £50 freezeout, but still sitting on a good cash gain in the NLH earlier. Quite a few familiar faces in the game - Ostrich, Charlie T, Miriam, Minh, JoeJoe and others well known to the club.
I sit with £500 and almost immediately get dealt Aces (AA67hh). I raise to £22 and get two callers (Minh and Miriam). Minh only has £75 left so I figure he will bet the flop when Miriam and I both check the Qh8h2d flop. So it is and when Miriam just calls, I push with mu overpair and nut flush draw. She calls with JT98hh. A 9 on the flop is good for her straight and I lose half my stack after just 5 minutes in the game !
I lose half the rest when I get Charlie all in preflop - his AKJ2 out flops my QQJ9hh. He flops 2s full of Kings.
The rollercoaster starts to swing upwards however when I get the rest of my chips in with AK42 on an AJhh flop. Miriam has a beautiful looking KTT9hh hand but one pair is good (actually I make the wheel with running 3-5, but the pair was good anyway !)
Now I get all in on the K86dd flop with ATJ9dd facing K6xx in JoeJoe's hand. Ah on the turn gives me more outs, and the Td on the river is good.
Back up to ~ £400 and on my way up to a first highpoint of £1,200 or so - via Aces filling up and nut-flushing, for example.
I lay some pretty hands down facing strong action and my stack falls back to £800 then £550. eg in one hand I hold 8864 and make a raise on a 744 board. Charlie puts me all-in and I fold - he had 5678 so he had me locked up !
After losing some key hands, I'm down to less than £200 when I get all in pre-flop with my Aces against KQQJds of JoeJoe. My Aces hold and in the next hand, I pick up the very unpromising J532 ! Thing is, I am closing the action pre flop facing a raise to £14 and 5 callers already. I can hardly fold - I might flop quads !
I don't but as flops for my hand go, AJ4 rainbow is about as good as it gets !
Tim bets the pot £84. Round to me. With a wheel-wrap and a blocker to him holding a set of Jacks (I do not think he has a set of Aces) I make the only logical move imo: all-in (well - a pot sized raise to £336 and we put the rest in). We don't see Tim's hand but a deuce on the turn and a blank on the river get the job done for me !
The momentum is with me. The game is lively - even without me there are some huge pots and some interesting plays.
Baka and Joel get in a big pot. On the river the board is TsAd8d9s3h and Baka checks to Joel who bets all in for £360 (approx the pot size). Baka make a great call with AA - Joel has JJJx and was betting the blockers of course - one of those great Omaha plays that can work so well, or other times fall so, so flat !
I'm struggling to hold onto my stack but I do resist to temptation to get it all in when I don;t know exactly where I am. A good example:
There has been a small raise pre-flop by Mike Tse and all called - about £80 in preflop. I have KK97cc and have decided not to re-raise pre flop for fear of getting all in vs AAxx.
The flop is interesting: QcTh7c. I have a pair, an overpair, a gutshot and the 2nd nut flush draw. Mike bets £65. I make it £175 trying to get it heads up with him, but Andy (I don;t know him - but is clearly tight) now check-raises to £675 !
Ouch. My draws may be good. The check-raise says QQQ and maybe vs a bare set I have the odds particularly with Mike's £150 all in. On the other hand, I could be drawing to a second best hand in any case.
If I do call it's really a £750 call as there is no way I could not put the rest of my chips with only £175 behind.
I fold and we see that Andy indeed has QQA3. Mike has J987. Neither of them has any clubs. The board completes AA so the set becomes a house and is good. I would have gone broke there.
Simon Hennessey is in the game. He's sat down with £82 and after losing the first hand, had not much more than £60 which he managed to spin up in record time to over £1k - a fair amount of it coming from my stack.
It's getting into the late early hours now and it's a great game. I am not sure I have ever played in a game with Simon. He's known to be a very strong player, but he's not short of gamble either so it's always interesting ! He has now moved to my left - so he has position on me which doesn't seem great !
I've managed to bring my stack up - another leg of the rollercoaster. I particularly liked this hand: I have QT55cc. The flop is helpful: Jc9c8s. I check the nuts, and we see a turn. 3d. I bet £50. Simon immediately makes it £200.
I move all in for £561. Simon is not happy ! "Do you have the Ten of clubs he says?" I didn't immediately see why this was so crucial until he folded TTTJ face up !
I got into quite a few pots with Simon and things fell my way. Meanwhile, I think Simon tried quite a few moves that were just slightly off in their timing. I was even able to call on the river with one pair and win - something I have had on my "to do" list for a long time !
Having Simon on my left had its problems but also its advantages - I could rely on him to pump it up pre-flop so enabling me to get in a good amount pre-flop with a monster. Other times I tried to represent the monster. On one particular occasion I "reluctantly" made up the straddle - my had was the under-rated J732 rainbow. Simon of course raised to £20 which was called in 4 spots before I now made it £120 - looking to take it down.
Simon had other ideas and called. Heads up to the flop: an interesting one: 234 all red.
Problem .... I don't really want to lead at the flop and face a £900 raise. I also don't want to check-raise to £1,000 and get snapped off my 56xx so the way it goes down is that I check-fold a £300 bet. I show my 2pair and Simon shows 2389 !!
Quality Omaha.
I was able to end the session - we were 5handed and we had all agreed it was the last hand - winning a 4-way pot (with 2 stacks all in preflop) with a straight flush !
Bottom line - a solid win which contrasts markedly with my online cash performances.
Monday 26 January 2009
Friday 23 January 2009
Five Alive
After my satisfying-yet-annoying 2nd place in the £50 freezeout the previous week, I was keen to try again. As things stood, I had a record of 3 final tables from 4 appearances in this particular tournament - too good to last really, but I was of course looking to make it 4 out of 5.
Things started well in a short session of cash hold'em before the off. After making a little headway in a £1/1 game, I had a nice win in the £1/2 game that kicked off. Firstly, with AK in the straddle, I bumped it up to get a caller from the small blind only, who had raised pre flop.
The flop was no particular help (9 high rainbow) but when it was checked to me I pushed. Since I was called, I guess I was losing then, but a King on the river sorted things out.
After that, I was dealt pocket Kings twice and on the first occasion got all in vs AT. On the second occasion, I flopped top set after re-raising to £40 pre-flop and picked up the pot on the turn.
So, with a healthy profit banked, it was time for the £50 freezeout. There was a record turnout (there was a considerable queue at the registration desk as 8pm came around). 81 runners is a high watermark for The International so far, although I suspect the record will only last a few weeks (quite possibly only one week).
I resolved to keep out of trouble. Not necessarily easy as my first table was absolutely stuffed with Gutshot/International "faces". I advanced my 5,000 chips to 7,000 with a slow-played pair of Aces. I had limped (50/100) pre flop expecting a raise but, when that didn't come, the 944 flop wasn't too bad. I called 300 on the turn and then raised the 650 river bet (944-K-T) to 1,500 which was paid off. I am slowly getting better at value betting I think. The player making the action was in the blinds so he could have a 4, of course, but it didn't look like he did.
On the whole I was observing the action rather than participating. I was somewhat awed by a hand that played out between Lee Boys and Joel. On a flop of T63, Lee bet 600, to face a raise to 1,900 from Joel. After a long dwell, Lee shoved and then EVENTUALLY Joel called with 77. Lee showed JT which was good.
Our table, after losing a couple of players, now contained 4 players from the top10 money list at The International. Time to be careful, especially since I had a last-longer with Barry. My new-found conservatism caused a bit of a stir when I folded AJ-suited UTG accidentally flipping up my hand. The table couldn't believe it !
I fold KT on a 77T flop - I had made up the small blind and could well have been winning, but I didn't want to go bust out of position with one pair.
So it was that at the 200/400 level, with about 2/3rd of the filed remaining, I had average chips of 7,700. I paid my blinds then with 7,100 left was on the button.
Rob Lee limped under the gun. A new player to the table was next to act - he had over 20k. He raised to 1,600. Not quite sure what to put him on, I peek at my cards. Pocket Kings !
OK. A few options, but I opt to push for 7,100. Sven behind me says "pocket Kings again?" referring to the cash action earlier I think.
"I can't comment". Sven is short-stacked on 2,400 so he puts his life on the line with Ace-Jack.
Back to the EP raiser. He asks for a count. 5,500 more. After a short debate with himself, he calls. Obviously I am winning but I am surprised to see him show 89-diamonds. That's not a bad hand to hold against a big overpair I guess but he's still got a lot of catching up to do. An 8 on the flop and a 9 on the river does the job.
I am not happy ! The only good thing is that clearly I did nothing wrong here. I did wonder whether my quick shove led the raiser to conclude I had AK in which case his 89 is in better shape. However, even if that is what happened, the fact is I managed to get all my chips in as a big favourite and that is what you hope for.
Well 3 out of 5 still isn't bad but if my hand holds up there, then on 17k or so I would have hloped to make another good run at the money.
Next live tournament will probably be the £300 on 31st January - hopefully I am due some luck for that one.
Things started well in a short session of cash hold'em before the off. After making a little headway in a £1/1 game, I had a nice win in the £1/2 game that kicked off. Firstly, with AK in the straddle, I bumped it up to get a caller from the small blind only, who had raised pre flop.
The flop was no particular help (9 high rainbow) but when it was checked to me I pushed. Since I was called, I guess I was losing then, but a King on the river sorted things out.
After that, I was dealt pocket Kings twice and on the first occasion got all in vs AT. On the second occasion, I flopped top set after re-raising to £40 pre-flop and picked up the pot on the turn.
So, with a healthy profit banked, it was time for the £50 freezeout. There was a record turnout (there was a considerable queue at the registration desk as 8pm came around). 81 runners is a high watermark for The International so far, although I suspect the record will only last a few weeks (quite possibly only one week).
I resolved to keep out of trouble. Not necessarily easy as my first table was absolutely stuffed with Gutshot/International "faces". I advanced my 5,000 chips to 7,000 with a slow-played pair of Aces. I had limped (50/100) pre flop expecting a raise but, when that didn't come, the 944 flop wasn't too bad. I called 300 on the turn and then raised the 650 river bet (944-K-T) to 1,500 which was paid off. I am slowly getting better at value betting I think. The player making the action was in the blinds so he could have a 4, of course, but it didn't look like he did.
On the whole I was observing the action rather than participating. I was somewhat awed by a hand that played out between Lee Boys and Joel. On a flop of T63, Lee bet 600, to face a raise to 1,900 from Joel. After a long dwell, Lee shoved and then EVENTUALLY Joel called with 77. Lee showed JT which was good.
Our table, after losing a couple of players, now contained 4 players from the top10 money list at The International. Time to be careful, especially since I had a last-longer with Barry. My new-found conservatism caused a bit of a stir when I folded AJ-suited UTG accidentally flipping up my hand. The table couldn't believe it !
I fold KT on a 77T flop - I had made up the small blind and could well have been winning, but I didn't want to go bust out of position with one pair.
So it was that at the 200/400 level, with about 2/3rd of the filed remaining, I had average chips of 7,700. I paid my blinds then with 7,100 left was on the button.
Rob Lee limped under the gun. A new player to the table was next to act - he had over 20k. He raised to 1,600. Not quite sure what to put him on, I peek at my cards. Pocket Kings !
OK. A few options, but I opt to push for 7,100. Sven behind me says "pocket Kings again?" referring to the cash action earlier I think.
"I can't comment". Sven is short-stacked on 2,400 so he puts his life on the line with Ace-Jack.
Back to the EP raiser. He asks for a count. 5,500 more. After a short debate with himself, he calls. Obviously I am winning but I am surprised to see him show 89-diamonds. That's not a bad hand to hold against a big overpair I guess but he's still got a lot of catching up to do. An 8 on the flop and a 9 on the river does the job.
I am not happy ! The only good thing is that clearly I did nothing wrong here. I did wonder whether my quick shove led the raiser to conclude I had AK in which case his 89 is in better shape. However, even if that is what happened, the fact is I managed to get all my chips in as a big favourite and that is what you hope for.
Well 3 out of 5 still isn't bad but if my hand holds up there, then on 17k or so I would have hloped to make another good run at the money.
Next live tournament will probably be the £300 on 31st January - hopefully I am due some luck for that one.
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Getting The Cake
I was satisfied with my play in the Sunday tournaments. On pokerstars I concentrated only on the low buy-in events and cashed in one, although only at the bottom end of the money scale.
Meanwhile, I decided at the last moment to play the $100K guarantee on gutshot - that's a $162 buyin which somewhat conflicts with my recent policy of playing the ~ $10-20 level events.
However, there has been much discussion lately on the gutshot forum about the very low standard of play, so I thought I'd give it a spin especially as I had enjoyed a couple of much better days at the cash PLO online (gutshot).
I cashed in the event and I also cashed in a $10+bounties that was running there at the same time. I was happy with as some evidence that I am becoming more disciplined in tournaments.
Last night (Monday), there was a satellite to the London Poker Masters running. This was pretty much like a forum game, so I elected to play. I certainly intend to play the main event (March 7th/8th) so if I can win my seat then so much the better.
It didn't seem to be my night when - in the first 2 rounds - I flopped a set of only to get it on on the flop against a played with T3o who rivered a straight and also got it all in with KQ vs TJ, flopped top pair and then lost to runner-runner straight !
To be fair, it was an $8 rebuy and in the first case the flop was 245, so the T3 had an open-ender plus an overcard. In the second case, I was only a 2-1 favourite pre-flop. Still, it didn't look good !
Likewise when I decided to have a crack at the nightly $20k guarantee ($30 rebuy) it seemed that it was destined to just be a money-sink. However, with a couple of double ups (finally) just before the start of the freezeout, I was in the running.
Back in the satellite, there turned out to be 4 tickets to the monthly final - I bagged one of those with a couple of well-timed "booms" - the turning point was probably when I raised with K5 and was called by AQ. I hit 2 pair on the flop and bet small, hoping to get check-raised. Mike Khan shoved on the turn which put a third high spade on board. I decided he most likely had a pair and a flush draw, and so it was. Unlucky for him as I would have to fold most hands here.
In the rebuy event, we moved towards the bubble at 40th place and I was starting to get lowish in chips when a key turning point saw me pick up Aces. A rather poor player in early position limped (600/1200 with 100 ante) and as I contemplated how to play the hand, a short stack moved all in for about 3,000. I opted for a raise to 7,000 which was called by the limper.
The flop was Q88 with 2 diamonds. The limp/caller opened for 3,600 and I shoved for about 9,000 more which we called with AQ. The all in player had JJ. Suddenly, I am top10 in chips and almost guaranteed to at least make the money.
It turned out to be better than that as I stuck to my game plan and made it to the final table. My approach was to open a lot of pots with a wide range of holdings, but fold to aggression. Meanwhile, when I had a big hand, I made the same kind of opening bet (a little over 2BB) and was ready to seize on the re-raise.
As the game wore on, my main tactic shifted to the re-raise all in pre flop: with decent holding like 77, 99, AQ etc. I knew most of the remaining players were good players, so I knew they would not be able to call me with all but the very best hands.
When I won a race with KT vs 88 in the last 5 (got caught slightly pushing with KT from the cutoff) and then had AA and snapped off a resteal from JT, I was in a near-tie for the chip lead.
Perhaps I could have made some adjustments at this stage but as it was I got involved in some pots with the chip leader and lost ground without getting to showdown.
3-handed, I now had a shove-or-fold stack and was fairly quickly caught out when shoving Q5 into TT - another ten on the flop pretty much ended it !
Still, 3rd/240 for $2,320 was a good result - my personal best in this tournament.
It brings me into positive territory in 3 of my 4 categories - I am tracking live & online cash & mtts separately and my goal is to be breakeven+ in all of them.
The problem child is of course online cash ! Having said that, I have gone a long way to repairing the damage caused by a couple of big tilt-sessions so as things stand at the moment, I remain in positive territory for the year. Fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, I decided at the last moment to play the $100K guarantee on gutshot - that's a $162 buyin which somewhat conflicts with my recent policy of playing the ~ $10-20 level events.
However, there has been much discussion lately on the gutshot forum about the very low standard of play, so I thought I'd give it a spin especially as I had enjoyed a couple of much better days at the cash PLO online (gutshot).
I cashed in the event and I also cashed in a $10+bounties that was running there at the same time. I was happy with as some evidence that I am becoming more disciplined in tournaments.
Last night (Monday), there was a satellite to the London Poker Masters running. This was pretty much like a forum game, so I elected to play. I certainly intend to play the main event (March 7th/8th) so if I can win my seat then so much the better.
It didn't seem to be my night when - in the first 2 rounds - I flopped a set of only to get it on on the flop against a played with T3o who rivered a straight and also got it all in with KQ vs TJ, flopped top pair and then lost to runner-runner straight !
To be fair, it was an $8 rebuy and in the first case the flop was 245, so the T3 had an open-ender plus an overcard. In the second case, I was only a 2-1 favourite pre-flop. Still, it didn't look good !
Likewise when I decided to have a crack at the nightly $20k guarantee ($30 rebuy) it seemed that it was destined to just be a money-sink. However, with a couple of double ups (finally) just before the start of the freezeout, I was in the running.
Back in the satellite, there turned out to be 4 tickets to the monthly final - I bagged one of those with a couple of well-timed "booms" - the turning point was probably when I raised with K5 and was called by AQ. I hit 2 pair on the flop and bet small, hoping to get check-raised. Mike Khan shoved on the turn which put a third high spade on board. I decided he most likely had a pair and a flush draw, and so it was. Unlucky for him as I would have to fold most hands here.
In the rebuy event, we moved towards the bubble at 40th place and I was starting to get lowish in chips when a key turning point saw me pick up Aces. A rather poor player in early position limped (600/1200 with 100 ante) and as I contemplated how to play the hand, a short stack moved all in for about 3,000. I opted for a raise to 7,000 which was called by the limper.
The flop was Q88 with 2 diamonds. The limp/caller opened for 3,600 and I shoved for about 9,000 more which we called with AQ. The all in player had JJ. Suddenly, I am top10 in chips and almost guaranteed to at least make the money.
It turned out to be better than that as I stuck to my game plan and made it to the final table. My approach was to open a lot of pots with a wide range of holdings, but fold to aggression. Meanwhile, when I had a big hand, I made the same kind of opening bet (a little over 2BB) and was ready to seize on the re-raise.
As the game wore on, my main tactic shifted to the re-raise all in pre flop: with decent holding like 77, 99, AQ etc. I knew most of the remaining players were good players, so I knew they would not be able to call me with all but the very best hands.
When I won a race with KT vs 88 in the last 5 (got caught slightly pushing with KT from the cutoff) and then had AA and snapped off a resteal from JT, I was in a near-tie for the chip lead.
Perhaps I could have made some adjustments at this stage but as it was I got involved in some pots with the chip leader and lost ground without getting to showdown.
3-handed, I now had a shove-or-fold stack and was fairly quickly caught out when shoving Q5 into TT - another ten on the flop pretty much ended it !
Still, 3rd/240 for $2,320 was a good result - my personal best in this tournament.
It brings me into positive territory in 3 of my 4 categories - I am tracking live & online cash & mtts separately and my goal is to be breakeven+ in all of them.
The problem child is of course online cash ! Having said that, I have gone a long way to repairing the damage caused by a couple of big tilt-sessions so as things stand at the moment, I remain in positive territory for the year. Fingers crossed.
Saturday 17 January 2009
Omaha
I've established a routine when going to The International. I will go for a particular tournament but whether I last one hand, or win the thing, my plan is to stay and play the PLO game until the next morning.
"Morning" is a variable concept. The lower bound is about 6am when the trains start running again but if the game continues, then it threatens to become early afternoon.
By the time the game breaks up, I will have been playing in it for between 10 and 18 hours. However, this does not necessarily make me the longest-lasting player ! I'm not sure what the record is but it's certainly not going to be less than 36 hours.
As it turned out, I had a good long run in the tournament so I didn't come back to the PLO until 2am.
I had played for 30mins prior to the start - it wasn't great ..... In the first hand, I saw a cheap flop with AT67 (2 holdem hands ... ) and the flop was nice: 345rainbow. I checked, first to speak, and the action went: bet £10, raise to £30. Rather than re-raise straight away, I decided to call and hopefully see a safe turn. However, the original better now made it £100, clearing out the other raiser.
I again decided I'd like to see a turn with effective stacks left of £200+
The turn paired the three. I checked, and folded when my opponent moved all in. I folded my straight face up and he showed me the same hand 67xx with no redraw at all. grrrrr...
I now doubled Chris H up when I potted my straddle and Chris decided to limp-repot all in for ~ £100. With another caller in between (also all in for <£100), I felt I had better call with AJT9dd. Chris's Kings made a set on the flop and were never in trouble. grrr.....
Next order of business was to get involved in a bottom set vs nut flush debacle also with Chris. grrr.....
And then, to compound things, flop regret: I passed my T933hh hand pre-flop to stiff action (fair enough) but the flop came 993 and THEN the turn came a Ten as well .... action on the flop was brisk as well. grrrr......
So, when I came back into the game, I had already made a start on digging a hole. I sat down, and Gandi informed me he was on tilt.
w.o.w. do I still take any notice of anything he says ! Gandi tilt is a special kind which means he raises with the current nuts rather than waiting till he has the uncounterfeitable stone-cold river nuts.
I re-opened the betting for him to £30, and then when he made it £104, I thought I'd better call his "tilt-raise" with K223ds (only £70 more...). There was another caller in between which seemed to help my odds.
But, it kind of escalated. The in-between guy had £168, so that put up the price of poker. And after Gandi made up this underraise it turned out he had another £61 behind that which he put in blind for the flop and which I really had to call when I hit a King.
So, £250 gone on that hand when Gandi showed (ldo ...) Aces double suited ... grrr....
I tried to get my stack moving - I raised my last £120 all-in with Top pair on a JT2dd board - I had KJ74dd and was facing AKQ2dd -- 22 outs apparently for Barry (not that Barry). None came. Ship it.
That got me back in the hunt, but more regret when with T864dd on a turn of 3-Jd-T-4d, I didn't call £25 with Gandi and Pat already calling and the lead better being a tight player as well. I figured my 2pair was probably already losing to JT, my 8high diamonds were too low and that a 7 would make someone else the higher straight.
So even though I had a bit of everything I convinced myself all of it would be a loser.
In fact, when it came a 4, I would have cleaned up AND it turned out that ALL my outs were live ! QQxx took the pot. grrrr...
OK... let's get it in good.
I've seen a flop 9s7h3s with my hand KcJcTs8s. Looks good but let's see a turn (I am in the SB).
Turn: bingo ! 6h. I have the NUTS with the higher straight draw AND the spade draw.
I bet 10, called twice. Nick makes it 62. I make it £218. Yogi who finds some reason not to call any bet ever, eventually agonisingly calls all in for £85. Now Nick calls as well.
Yogi has a set of 7s. Nick apparently had T8 without a redraw.
River is 6s - not all bad news as I ship the side pot, but Yogi takes the main.
grrr .... wanted the lot.
Now. Ruling anyone? We are playing in the feeder PLO game, but the main game has gone on a communal fag break for 10 minutes. Rob H, not wanting to sit idly by, comes and takes a spare seat in the feeder game. It's not completely clear what chips he brought with him - some say it was half what he was sitting with at the other table. Some controversy over whether the feeder is the same game as the main game and so on.
Rob does not trouble himself with these idiosyncracies, but proceeds to play one hand in which he has Ah5hXX. He leads the flop (Th7hX). I have 6h3h89 so with a small wrap and a flush draw, I decide to call £30.
Yogi makes it £150 and Rob, with the bare nut hearts, instant calls. I don't see how I can call now, so I pass.
The turn is Jh and (I would say unwisely) Rob's check is met by a push for £170 by Yogi and of course a snap call by Rob. No pair up sees Yogi felted and Rob completes a very special kind of hit-n-run by retaking his main game seat as the smokers return ...
Meanwhile I have had to pull up another £500 and concentrate on getting it in good. How much better can I get involved than this:
I have QJ98ss and see a cheap flop: J84. I flat call a bet with my top two pair. Other-Barry and Gary-the-cab are in. Turn: Ten (rainbow board).
OK: I have the nuts, and two pair for a house redraw and as blockers to a set housing up. Check/Check/Gary bets £45. Barry calls. NOW I pot it. Gary calls his last £55 and I get the fold from Barry.
Gary has JT4x. River Ten. grrr......
It's not too easy getting chips, in fact. I check-raise all in with my KQQ9ds on a board of JT78r, and this gets Gary to fold his JT this time !
I manage to keep at around the £500 mark until we go to one main game around 7:30am.
It's a pretty tight game, to be honest, although reasonably deep - Gandi, Disco, Nick, Tom, Erik, Baka, me, Gary, Mo.
A key pot for me came up when I called a raise pre with QQxx (6way at least). The flop ....
JJ ....... Q ! (2 diamonds).
Mo led for £30, I called (headsup now).
Turn King (board all red ...). Mo bets £100. I put him all in for £180 more. He doesn't like it much but calls .... he likes it even less when I show him the QQ. He said "KJ" but we never saw. Blank on the river.
Moving on up now .... and now a lesson on getting it in with Aces ....
I am on the button and blip the £5 straddle to £10. Couple of callers then Tom makes it £55.
I make it £200 and we get it all in for about £500 total. The key is the backhands as we know.
I have AAJ3. Tom has AKKh2h.
Flop: Jd9h3h. Heart draw is now live (I have the bare Ah as it happens - maybe if 4 hearts come I can try to blag it).
Heart on the turn: Jh unfortunately for Tom ! Good old J3 backup .....
I was almost out of it (slightly in profit with the tourney cash). Couple of hands from later on ... no fireworks I'm afraid but a couple that caught my interest:
i) I've called a 3-bet preflop with 77xx. Flop comes 973rainbow and Gary and I check to Nick (who presumably has Aces). He bets £40 and Gary calls.
I check-raise to £200. Nick has about £500, Gary only about £250. Is this the right play ? It "worked" insofar as Nick now folded AAJJ and Gary supposedly folded 97xx.
Should I flat call and if so why ? Should i have led the flop ? If I am re-raised by Nick can I fold ?
ii) Then, one hand that I am really unhappy with.
I have seen a relatively cheap flop with KJ24. Barry has raised pre and is pretty much marked with Aces.
When the flop is Q42hh, I check raise his £30 bet on the button to £100. I think I am beating his Aces and I want it over with.
He thinks FOREVER. Eventually I call the clock (which I hardly ever do). tbh, I am more concerned about the breakfast that has just arrived and wanting to make sure no one nabs mine !
He calls. The turn was Td giving me an up-down and a Jack high flush draw in diamonds.
Obviously I had wanted the hand over on the flop but this now gives me a great place to bang it again - Barry has about £300 back but for some reason (yearning for bacon & eggs?) I check and so does Barry.
The river pairs the Ten and I decide to rep the set on the flop again - I bet £100 and Barry actually calls quite quickly with AA counterfeiting me on the river.
Apparently the dwell had been because he had the bare Ah and was trying to think through the set-up of the bare-Ace bluff.
I am really kicking myself here - he really cannot have a set to think for so long. On the turn I can just rep the set again AND I have picked up a load of outs. Huge error turned a £100 gain into a £200 loss.
Still, I am now in profit for live tournies and live cash for the year - early days, but welcome news nonetheless !
"Morning" is a variable concept. The lower bound is about 6am when the trains start running again but if the game continues, then it threatens to become early afternoon.
By the time the game breaks up, I will have been playing in it for between 10 and 18 hours. However, this does not necessarily make me the longest-lasting player ! I'm not sure what the record is but it's certainly not going to be less than 36 hours.
As it turned out, I had a good long run in the tournament so I didn't come back to the PLO until 2am.
I had played for 30mins prior to the start - it wasn't great ..... In the first hand, I saw a cheap flop with AT67 (2 holdem hands ... ) and the flop was nice: 345rainbow. I checked, first to speak, and the action went: bet £10, raise to £30. Rather than re-raise straight away, I decided to call and hopefully see a safe turn. However, the original better now made it £100, clearing out the other raiser.
I again decided I'd like to see a turn with effective stacks left of £200+
The turn paired the three. I checked, and folded when my opponent moved all in. I folded my straight face up and he showed me the same hand 67xx with no redraw at all. grrrrr...
I now doubled Chris H up when I potted my straddle and Chris decided to limp-repot all in for ~ £100. With another caller in between (also all in for <£100), I felt I had better call with AJT9dd. Chris's Kings made a set on the flop and were never in trouble. grrr.....
Next order of business was to get involved in a bottom set vs nut flush debacle also with Chris. grrr.....
And then, to compound things, flop regret: I passed my T933hh hand pre-flop to stiff action (fair enough) but the flop came 993 and THEN the turn came a Ten as well .... action on the flop was brisk as well. grrrr......
So, when I came back into the game, I had already made a start on digging a hole. I sat down, and Gandi informed me he was on tilt.
w.o.w. do I still take any notice of anything he says ! Gandi tilt is a special kind which means he raises with the current nuts rather than waiting till he has the uncounterfeitable stone-cold river nuts.
I re-opened the betting for him to £30, and then when he made it £104, I thought I'd better call his "tilt-raise" with K223ds (only £70 more...). There was another caller in between which seemed to help my odds.
But, it kind of escalated. The in-between guy had £168, so that put up the price of poker. And after Gandi made up this underraise it turned out he had another £61 behind that which he put in blind for the flop and which I really had to call when I hit a King.
So, £250 gone on that hand when Gandi showed (ldo ...) Aces double suited ... grrr....
I tried to get my stack moving - I raised my last £120 all-in with Top pair on a JT2dd board - I had KJ74dd and was facing AKQ2dd -- 22 outs apparently for Barry (not that Barry). None came. Ship it.
That got me back in the hunt, but more regret when with T864dd on a turn of 3-Jd-T-4d, I didn't call £25 with Gandi and Pat already calling and the lead better being a tight player as well. I figured my 2pair was probably already losing to JT, my 8high diamonds were too low and that a 7 would make someone else the higher straight.
So even though I had a bit of everything I convinced myself all of it would be a loser.
In fact, when it came a 4, I would have cleaned up AND it turned out that ALL my outs were live ! QQxx took the pot. grrrr...
OK... let's get it in good.
I've seen a flop 9s7h3s with my hand KcJcTs8s. Looks good but let's see a turn (I am in the SB).
Turn: bingo ! 6h. I have the NUTS with the higher straight draw AND the spade draw.
I bet 10, called twice. Nick makes it 62. I make it £218. Yogi who finds some reason not to call any bet ever, eventually agonisingly calls all in for £85. Now Nick calls as well.
Yogi has a set of 7s. Nick apparently had T8 without a redraw.
River is 6s - not all bad news as I ship the side pot, but Yogi takes the main.
grrr .... wanted the lot.
Now. Ruling anyone? We are playing in the feeder PLO game, but the main game has gone on a communal fag break for 10 minutes. Rob H, not wanting to sit idly by, comes and takes a spare seat in the feeder game. It's not completely clear what chips he brought with him - some say it was half what he was sitting with at the other table. Some controversy over whether the feeder is the same game as the main game and so on.
Rob does not trouble himself with these idiosyncracies, but proceeds to play one hand in which he has Ah5hXX. He leads the flop (Th7hX). I have 6h3h89 so with a small wrap and a flush draw, I decide to call £30.
Yogi makes it £150 and Rob, with the bare nut hearts, instant calls. I don't see how I can call now, so I pass.
The turn is Jh and (I would say unwisely) Rob's check is met by a push for £170 by Yogi and of course a snap call by Rob. No pair up sees Yogi felted and Rob completes a very special kind of hit-n-run by retaking his main game seat as the smokers return ...
Meanwhile I have had to pull up another £500 and concentrate on getting it in good. How much better can I get involved than this:
I have QJ98ss and see a cheap flop: J84. I flat call a bet with my top two pair. Other-Barry and Gary-the-cab are in. Turn: Ten (rainbow board).
OK: I have the nuts, and two pair for a house redraw and as blockers to a set housing up. Check/Check/Gary bets £45. Barry calls. NOW I pot it. Gary calls his last £55 and I get the fold from Barry.
Gary has JT4x. River Ten. grrr......
It's not too easy getting chips, in fact. I check-raise all in with my KQQ9ds on a board of JT78r, and this gets Gary to fold his JT this time !
I manage to keep at around the £500 mark until we go to one main game around 7:30am.
It's a pretty tight game, to be honest, although reasonably deep - Gandi, Disco, Nick, Tom, Erik, Baka, me, Gary, Mo.
A key pot for me came up when I called a raise pre with QQxx (6way at least). The flop ....
JJ ....... Q ! (2 diamonds).
Mo led for £30, I called (headsup now).
Turn King (board all red ...). Mo bets £100. I put him all in for £180 more. He doesn't like it much but calls .... he likes it even less when I show him the QQ. He said "KJ" but we never saw. Blank on the river.
Moving on up now .... and now a lesson on getting it in with Aces ....
I am on the button and blip the £5 straddle to £10. Couple of callers then Tom makes it £55.
I make it £200 and we get it all in for about £500 total. The key is the backhands as we know.
I have AAJ3. Tom has AKKh2h.
Flop: Jd9h3h. Heart draw is now live (I have the bare Ah as it happens - maybe if 4 hearts come I can try to blag it).
Heart on the turn: Jh unfortunately for Tom ! Good old J3 backup .....
I was almost out of it (slightly in profit with the tourney cash). Couple of hands from later on ... no fireworks I'm afraid but a couple that caught my interest:
i) I've called a 3-bet preflop with 77xx. Flop comes 973rainbow and Gary and I check to Nick (who presumably has Aces). He bets £40 and Gary calls.
I check-raise to £200. Nick has about £500, Gary only about £250. Is this the right play ? It "worked" insofar as Nick now folded AAJJ and Gary supposedly folded 97xx.
Should I flat call and if so why ? Should i have led the flop ? If I am re-raised by Nick can I fold ?
ii) Then, one hand that I am really unhappy with.
I have seen a relatively cheap flop with KJ24. Barry has raised pre and is pretty much marked with Aces.
When the flop is Q42hh, I check raise his £30 bet on the button to £100. I think I am beating his Aces and I want it over with.
He thinks FOREVER. Eventually I call the clock (which I hardly ever do). tbh, I am more concerned about the breakfast that has just arrived and wanting to make sure no one nabs mine !
He calls. The turn was Td giving me an up-down and a Jack high flush draw in diamonds.
Obviously I had wanted the hand over on the flop but this now gives me a great place to bang it again - Barry has about £300 back but for some reason (yearning for bacon & eggs?) I check and so does Barry.
The river pairs the Ten and I decide to rep the set on the flop again - I bet £100 and Barry actually calls quite quickly with AA counterfeiting me on the river.
Apparently the dwell had been because he had the bare Ah and was trying to think through the set-up of the bare-Ace bluff.
I am really kicking myself here - he really cannot have a set to think for so long. On the turn I can just rep the set again AND I have picked up a load of outs. Huge error turned a £100 gain into a £200 loss.
Still, I am now in profit for live tournies and live cash for the year - early days, but welcome news nonetheless !
Friday 16 January 2009
If It Wasn't For Luck
I decided it was time for a second run at a live tournament. The Thursday £50 freezeout at The International is the obvious alternative to their £100 Saturday event, and harks back to the similar Wednesday event at The Gutshot. Thursday is also one of the main nights for PLO action (although there tends to be a game most nights now).
So, off we go. Arriving a little early, I have time to make a few quid at the PLH game and then lose £200+ in a short stint at the PLO before it's time to make a run at the freezeout.
Obviously my Plan B is to be out early to play cash. However, Plan A is certainly to make a deep run in the tournament. Previously, in fact, I have cashed 2 times out of 3 appearances - not bad (although a very small sample).
It's 5,000 chips on a 20 minute clock - so it's pretty deep at the start. However, I nearly don't make it to hand 2, let alone level 2. The action is folded to the button who makes it 3xBB. I decide that he looks like a light raiser and re-raise to 625 with Tc9c. On the AA9 flop, I reckon he probably didn't have an Ace so I check-raise only to be faced with a 3-bet that would see me putting 2/3rd of my chips in (probably drawing nearly dead). I beat a hasty retreat.
I continue to yo-yo around as I am involved in nearly every hand - with AJ I make top two pair on the flop and pick up a pot. Then, after raising with 5-2o in mid-position, I bet the deuce on the turn and then when another deuce comes on the river I get paid off on a value bet as well !
Apparently the other player didn't put me on a deuce ....
Almost back where I started, when I pick up AJ-suited. I don't really want to play it o.o.p. but after UTG opens for 275, there are three callers already by time it comes to me in the small blind. I feel I have to put in 250 more getting > 4:1.
Flop is JT6 (2 diamonds). UTG bets 200 (?) and this is raised to 600 before it comes to me. I decide to proceed with my check-raise plan (despite the intermediate raiser) and make it 2,100. UTG calls and the other raiser now folds.
Hmm.... an 8 on the turn also puts 2 clubs on board. I don't really want to put any more chips in so I check, and it is checked behind. On the 7c river, I face an 800 bet into a 6,000 pot ! Massive calling odds but I eventually make what I think it is an important and disciplined fold at this stage - I am now losing to any 9, as well as AA KK QQ and a club flush, and 2prs like JT etc. etc.
It is hard to put UTG on a really big hand here but I MUST be losing so I decide it is better to save 25% of my re-halved chips. I really can't be sure he will fold to a shove, so fold it is and he shows me QQ.
I continue to be pretty active, though. I play another hand with 5-2o against the same non-believer. After raising pre I come out betting on the turn where we are looking at 864-3. He folds and I show the 5-2 except when I turn it over it turns out to be 7-4o. Oh well, probably winning anyway.
After recovering (again) to an acceptable stack, I do rock up as we lose players and get very much into one-move territory as my stack is around 4 - 6k with blinds now 200-400. It seems to be push-o'clock when I find AhKh on the button, facing an UTG raise to 1,100. I push for 4,200 more, and get a call from 33. A near perfect 50-50 and one of my crucial races today.
The flop is helpful ... Jh ... then Queen and Ten ! The pair is dead to running cards, which don't come.
Another moment of ( I think ) good tournament discipline comes up soon. I have raised to 1,100 in the cut-off with AQ. Button and the BB call (200/400 blinds). Flop is Queen high but nasty: QJJ (two hearts; I have the heart Ace in fact). Checked to me, and I check - I don't want to get too busy on a paired board (playing PLO will do that to you).
Button bets 2,000 and now the aggressive BB player moves in for a similar stack to me - a bit over 10k - in fact all the stacks in the hands are around this size.
I really have to think one of them has a Jack, so I fold to live another day. After a bit of a dwell the button calls as well with KK ! BB has KQ !!! Maybe if I call the flop all-in, the button would actually fold and I would be MASSIVE.
Kings hold up. Good discipline, or wrong decision but right result ?
After making a raise with AT-suited in the cut-off and folding to a push, I am drifting back into one-move land again and decided to push with KQ utg (that is the new button, I hear). Mo really has to call with JJ - I have him covered by just 2 or 3k and the river finally brings my King.
He continues to remind me about this hand for the next 12 hours !
Up to about 12k now but with blinds 500/1k it is not great. On the other hands, even average chips is barely 15 big blinds.
Now, Aces in mid-position. UTG very tight player limps, and I take a chance by limping also in mid-position - the player on my left has a lot of chips, and he is the one I think may take a stab.
However, not to be. We see the flop 3-way with the BB and the UTG. AK3 with 2 diamonds. That'll do ! Checked around, but I bet 2k on the turn (offsuit 7). BB calls leaving himself < 2k behind, which he puts in on the river (Jack). I call, and top set is good vs Qd8d (nut flush draw).
17 left now and it took 40mins to lose another player. That could very well have been me. At 800/1,600 Lee Boys makes it 3,600 (I thought it was 3,600. He said afterwards that he made it 3,600 MORE).
Well, I have QcJc and I thought at the time that he was raising some hands he can fold to a shove even though the shove is only 7,200 more. If he calls I am only really in troble vs AA KK QQ JJ AQ AJ KQ KJ (hmm... actually that is quite a lot of hands ! )
He calls with AK. Oops. After a paired flop, though, a Queen on the turn - BOOM !
It's my night. I can feel it.
I now make some good progress making an uncalled rrai with AQ, then limping with AQ to face an all-in shove by the BB which I snapped to see A3. I flopped a straight to get it over with !
All of a sudden after a deal for 10th, we are down to the final 9 with me sitting just above average on 41,500. Jay Luck the clear leader on 71k.
These final tables can seem to go on forever even though the average stack is barely more than 10BB. However in this case, it was instant action:
First hand I am in the BB with Lee in the Small. He completes and I check with 54o. The flop comes 876dd. Lee checks and I think it will look right for me to take a small stab - I push out 6k. Lee insta-shoves for about 22k, and I burn call.
He's not dead, with Jd2d, but there's no help. You, sir, have been H-bombed. I think we will hear from Lee again about the 2 hands.
I add a useful 25k or so.
Next hand (that's hand #2 of 2 - count'em) I am obviously in the SB and when no one calls, I think A8s is plenty to shove on the shortish stack in the BB. He calls almost immediately, so I am surprised to see him table A5. Another one gone, and suddenly I am in the chip lead !
All good news for Sven who started the final table with only 2 BB and has gone 2 places up the money !
I fold a hand, then on hand #4 I think it is going to be victim #3. I make it 7,500 with JsTs and get a call from the BB. The flop is unbelievable - QsTd9s. I have the middle pair with the open-ended straight flush draw. Check-bet 12k-call. Turn: 6s. Well, check-push-call (19k).
He has the As8s - always going in. I'm running well, but not well enough to hit my one out.
That's a slug gone and 4 hands later, I shove when the button raises (I have AT). He calls with AJ. All of a sudden I am in 7th place !
w.o.w. !
Wondering if I can lose less chips on the JTs and ATs hands, I find myself in push city to stay afloat until the following hand occurs:
Steve (a very tight player) opens for 12k (blinds 3k/6k) under the gun and I find AhTh on the button. I raise all in to 29k - not much choice about it. I hope to race and win and I think there is SOME chance he folds. But then Jay moves all in over the top - not good news !
I expect now to play the pot heads up with Jay,but Steve calls as well after checking that he will be placed higher than me if we both go out this hand.
I am expecting to be in very bad shape, but it's as good as I could possibly hope for - 88 for Jay and 66 for Steve (strange call I think). When a Ten comes, I triple up to take the chip lead back again on 87k.
I am raising most hands now and I have enough chips that I can call the pushes - this way I take out Adam in 5th when he pushes back with JT and my Q9 stands up. After Jay took out Mo Rashid, I then re-shoved on Dan when he raised my blind; he decided to take a stand with K5 - in bad shape to my K8.
Down to the last two. Luck by Name vs. Luck by Nature.
I wish in hindsight that I had taken a couple of minutes now to get an accurate count and have a think about how to play the heads up with Jay. It's absolutely ages since I have been at this stage, and it was an interesting situation with the blinds now 4,000/8,000 and with our average stack of 135k. We start the heads up too close to call in chips.
I think I was not aggressive enough, either in raising or perhaps even in calling Jay's shoves. In the end after only about a dozen hands or so, Jay limped on the button and I shoved with A3 only to walk into her trap: pocket Jacks were plenty good enough (I did hit a 3 !)
So, 2nd. My best performance for a while, and 3 final tables out of 4 (obviously that can't last !) but as always in tournaments I'm never happy short of winning the thing !
So, off we go. Arriving a little early, I have time to make a few quid at the PLH game and then lose £200+ in a short stint at the PLO before it's time to make a run at the freezeout.
Obviously my Plan B is to be out early to play cash. However, Plan A is certainly to make a deep run in the tournament. Previously, in fact, I have cashed 2 times out of 3 appearances - not bad (although a very small sample).
It's 5,000 chips on a 20 minute clock - so it's pretty deep at the start. However, I nearly don't make it to hand 2, let alone level 2. The action is folded to the button who makes it 3xBB. I decide that he looks like a light raiser and re-raise to 625 with Tc9c. On the AA9 flop, I reckon he probably didn't have an Ace so I check-raise only to be faced with a 3-bet that would see me putting 2/3rd of my chips in (probably drawing nearly dead). I beat a hasty retreat.
I continue to yo-yo around as I am involved in nearly every hand - with AJ I make top two pair on the flop and pick up a pot. Then, after raising with 5-2o in mid-position, I bet the deuce on the turn and then when another deuce comes on the river I get paid off on a value bet as well !
Apparently the other player didn't put me on a deuce ....
Almost back where I started, when I pick up AJ-suited. I don't really want to play it o.o.p. but after UTG opens for 275, there are three callers already by time it comes to me in the small blind. I feel I have to put in 250 more getting > 4:1.
Flop is JT6 (2 diamonds). UTG bets 200 (?) and this is raised to 600 before it comes to me. I decide to proceed with my check-raise plan (despite the intermediate raiser) and make it 2,100. UTG calls and the other raiser now folds.
Hmm.... an 8 on the turn also puts 2 clubs on board. I don't really want to put any more chips in so I check, and it is checked behind. On the 7c river, I face an 800 bet into a 6,000 pot ! Massive calling odds but I eventually make what I think it is an important and disciplined fold at this stage - I am now losing to any 9, as well as AA KK QQ and a club flush, and 2prs like JT etc. etc.
It is hard to put UTG on a really big hand here but I MUST be losing so I decide it is better to save 25% of my re-halved chips. I really can't be sure he will fold to a shove, so fold it is and he shows me QQ.
I continue to be pretty active, though. I play another hand with 5-2o against the same non-believer. After raising pre I come out betting on the turn where we are looking at 864-3. He folds and I show the 5-2 except when I turn it over it turns out to be 7-4o. Oh well, probably winning anyway.
After recovering (again) to an acceptable stack, I do rock up as we lose players and get very much into one-move territory as my stack is around 4 - 6k with blinds now 200-400. It seems to be push-o'clock when I find AhKh on the button, facing an UTG raise to 1,100. I push for 4,200 more, and get a call from 33. A near perfect 50-50 and one of my crucial races today.
The flop is helpful ... Jh ... then Queen and Ten ! The pair is dead to running cards, which don't come.
Another moment of ( I think ) good tournament discipline comes up soon. I have raised to 1,100 in the cut-off with AQ. Button and the BB call (200/400 blinds). Flop is Queen high but nasty: QJJ (two hearts; I have the heart Ace in fact). Checked to me, and I check - I don't want to get too busy on a paired board (playing PLO will do that to you).
Button bets 2,000 and now the aggressive BB player moves in for a similar stack to me - a bit over 10k - in fact all the stacks in the hands are around this size.
I really have to think one of them has a Jack, so I fold to live another day. After a bit of a dwell the button calls as well with KK ! BB has KQ !!! Maybe if I call the flop all-in, the button would actually fold and I would be MASSIVE.
Kings hold up. Good discipline, or wrong decision but right result ?
After making a raise with AT-suited in the cut-off and folding to a push, I am drifting back into one-move land again and decided to push with KQ utg (that is the new button, I hear). Mo really has to call with JJ - I have him covered by just 2 or 3k and the river finally brings my King.
He continues to remind me about this hand for the next 12 hours !
Up to about 12k now but with blinds 500/1k it is not great. On the other hands, even average chips is barely 15 big blinds.
Now, Aces in mid-position. UTG very tight player limps, and I take a chance by limping also in mid-position - the player on my left has a lot of chips, and he is the one I think may take a stab.
However, not to be. We see the flop 3-way with the BB and the UTG. AK3 with 2 diamonds. That'll do ! Checked around, but I bet 2k on the turn (offsuit 7). BB calls leaving himself < 2k behind, which he puts in on the river (Jack). I call, and top set is good vs Qd8d (nut flush draw).
17 left now and it took 40mins to lose another player. That could very well have been me. At 800/1,600 Lee Boys makes it 3,600 (I thought it was 3,600. He said afterwards that he made it 3,600 MORE).
Well, I have QcJc and I thought at the time that he was raising some hands he can fold to a shove even though the shove is only 7,200 more. If he calls I am only really in troble vs AA KK QQ JJ AQ AJ KQ KJ (hmm... actually that is quite a lot of hands ! )
He calls with AK. Oops. After a paired flop, though, a Queen on the turn - BOOM !
It's my night. I can feel it.
I now make some good progress making an uncalled rrai with AQ, then limping with AQ to face an all-in shove by the BB which I snapped to see A3. I flopped a straight to get it over with !
All of a sudden after a deal for 10th, we are down to the final 9 with me sitting just above average on 41,500. Jay Luck the clear leader on 71k.
These final tables can seem to go on forever even though the average stack is barely more than 10BB. However in this case, it was instant action:
First hand I am in the BB with Lee in the Small. He completes and I check with 54o. The flop comes 876dd. Lee checks and I think it will look right for me to take a small stab - I push out 6k. Lee insta-shoves for about 22k, and I burn call.
He's not dead, with Jd2d, but there's no help. You, sir, have been H-bombed. I think we will hear from Lee again about the 2 hands.
I add a useful 25k or so.
Next hand (that's hand #2 of 2 - count'em) I am obviously in the SB and when no one calls, I think A8s is plenty to shove on the shortish stack in the BB. He calls almost immediately, so I am surprised to see him table A5. Another one gone, and suddenly I am in the chip lead !
All good news for Sven who started the final table with only 2 BB and has gone 2 places up the money !
I fold a hand, then on hand #4 I think it is going to be victim #3. I make it 7,500 with JsTs and get a call from the BB. The flop is unbelievable - QsTd9s. I have the middle pair with the open-ended straight flush draw. Check-bet 12k-call. Turn: 6s. Well, check-push-call (19k).
He has the As8s - always going in. I'm running well, but not well enough to hit my one out.
That's a slug gone and 4 hands later, I shove when the button raises (I have AT). He calls with AJ. All of a sudden I am in 7th place !
w.o.w. !
Wondering if I can lose less chips on the JTs and ATs hands, I find myself in push city to stay afloat until the following hand occurs:
Steve (a very tight player) opens for 12k (blinds 3k/6k) under the gun and I find AhTh on the button. I raise all in to 29k - not much choice about it. I hope to race and win and I think there is SOME chance he folds. But then Jay moves all in over the top - not good news !
I expect now to play the pot heads up with Jay,but Steve calls as well after checking that he will be placed higher than me if we both go out this hand.
I am expecting to be in very bad shape, but it's as good as I could possibly hope for - 88 for Jay and 66 for Steve (strange call I think). When a Ten comes, I triple up to take the chip lead back again on 87k.
I am raising most hands now and I have enough chips that I can call the pushes - this way I take out Adam in 5th when he pushes back with JT and my Q9 stands up. After Jay took out Mo Rashid, I then re-shoved on Dan when he raised my blind; he decided to take a stand with K5 - in bad shape to my K8.
Down to the last two. Luck by Name vs. Luck by Nature.
I wish in hindsight that I had taken a couple of minutes now to get an accurate count and have a think about how to play the heads up with Jay. It's absolutely ages since I have been at this stage, and it was an interesting situation with the blinds now 4,000/8,000 and with our average stack of 135k. We start the heads up too close to call in chips.
I think I was not aggressive enough, either in raising or perhaps even in calling Jay's shoves. In the end after only about a dozen hands or so, Jay limped on the button and I shoved with A3 only to walk into her trap: pocket Jacks were plenty good enough (I did hit a 3 !)
So, 2nd. My best performance for a while, and 3 final tables out of 4 (obviously that can't last !) but as always in tournaments I'm never happy short of winning the thing !
Tuesday 13 January 2009
WOW, Tournament Style
Despite my satisfactory display in the Sunday tournaments, WOW (why oh why) is alive and well in my tournament game a lot of the time.
On Friday night, I had kicked off a couple of cheap ($11 and $9) MTTs. I didn't necessarily expect to get too far but I was trying to play properly.
The first WOW moment came very early in the $11. I often can't resist the urge to squeeze if there is a classic raise followed by several calls. Having made it $850 (blinds are only $25/50 at this point, with 3,000 starting chips !) with KQo in the small blind, I received one caller. The flop was all rags, so I felt the urge to move all in (his remaining stack was approximately the pot size of ~ $2,000 and was called by JJ.
I nearly received an unjust reward as a King fell on the turn, but a flush on the river restored the order of things. Mind you, he "should" fold JJ pre-flop surely !
I took this as a bit of a wake-up call, and I actually recovered from that position to finish just a few places out of the money in the end when I raced unsuccessfully with AQ vs. 55.
Meanwhile, I was playing quite solidly in the$9, which had a standard rather than turbo clock. Because I usually play turbos, this actually felt very slow and steady !
I perhaps had a few "almost wow" moments - that's where I re-shove with 45s and they fold !
The first key moment in this one came right on the bubble - 198 places pay, 200 of us left. I had made up the SB with K8s (huge odds with the antes and my feeling that the BB would not raise) (200/400/50ante. The flop was checked, and then I called just 400 on the turn. The river made me the 2nd nut flush. The BB now bet out (I am calling him for sure). Then, another shortish stack moved in and I was a little concerned that I had rivered a second best hand, but my hand was good against 2 straights.
I had KK busted by A8, and QQ busted by A9. My Aces get no action.
However, a double up comes along when I push all in on a button raise with KhJh. He dwell-calls with 44 and I hit. Now I get Aces against Jacks and move up into 3rd place overall.
I start to really concentrate - even closing down my PLO game !
Key hand: 2,000/4,000/500. I have 170k about 18 players left (avg chips ~ 106k). Players with 110k or so limps UTG+1. I have AhKh on the button.
This players has NEVER limped before as far as I can remember. I have a hunch he may be limping Aces. However, I need to find out so I raise to 18,000 and only he calls. I still think he may have them as heads-up it is not unreasonable for him to flat call here sometimes.
The flop is pretty friendly: K54 with 2 spades. I've hit is pretty well (although missing the flush completely). He moves all in for 91k !
I decide to back my hunch and fold here. So many times this has turned into a "WOW" moment where I get shown 555, or the AA that I first feared. Interested in any thoughts on this laydown. On reflection I think maybe I just have to pay him off if he has it - can he really have 44, 55, KK or AA ?
I also lay down AQ after my re-raise is re-re-raised by the chip-leader. Next hand, I get AK. A poor player UTG raises, another poor player re-raises. I put in a 3rd raise hoping to get heads up with the first bettor who I have covered 3-1. I do, and it's a race with 55 which I win.
Up into 2nd with 16 left.
It's setting up to a WOW ....
I can't remember the last time I made a final table on Stars. I fully expect to now, though.
We are playing 5-handed when the bad player on the button (OPR 15% !) limps for 5000. Chip-leader is in the BB. I decide to see a flop with KQo.
Flop is QJ5. Surely I am good here ? I bet, get raised by the button, and then shove.
He thinks for a moment then calls. He shows Aces !! Nooooooo! I have fallen for the limped Aces again. In hindsight, he can have QJ here, or maybe 55. Or, he could have had a pair and a flush draw or whatever. I should have followed my first instinct and raised pre. He probably raises then, and I can fold. If not, I may get away from it easier on the flop.
In any case, I am kicking myself for going broke with 1pr at this point. At least I put my chips in first but, still, this is a full WOW. 6 hours to get to that stage. 11th paid $97 vs $1,800 for 1st ! Or, anyway, $300 for 5th say.
I was influenced in this hand by the fact he was a bad player. I thought he might put all his chips in with less than my TP2K. Maybe I was right about this and just unlucky. Any thoughts ? In any case, with 25BB I should not have gone broke this this, I think. Better to fold to the reraise and move on (as I had been doing, doh !)
Why Oh Why can't I go on to finish the job and win a tournament once in a while !
And Why Oh Why did I fall for the limp Aces trick again ...
On Friday night, I had kicked off a couple of cheap ($11 and $9) MTTs. I didn't necessarily expect to get too far but I was trying to play properly.
The first WOW moment came very early in the $11. I often can't resist the urge to squeeze if there is a classic raise followed by several calls. Having made it $850 (blinds are only $25/50 at this point, with 3,000 starting chips !) with KQo in the small blind, I received one caller. The flop was all rags, so I felt the urge to move all in (his remaining stack was approximately the pot size of ~ $2,000 and was called by JJ.
I nearly received an unjust reward as a King fell on the turn, but a flush on the river restored the order of things. Mind you, he "should" fold JJ pre-flop surely !
I took this as a bit of a wake-up call, and I actually recovered from that position to finish just a few places out of the money in the end when I raced unsuccessfully with AQ vs. 55.
Meanwhile, I was playing quite solidly in the$9, which had a standard rather than turbo clock. Because I usually play turbos, this actually felt very slow and steady !
I perhaps had a few "almost wow" moments - that's where I re-shove with 45s and they fold !
The first key moment in this one came right on the bubble - 198 places pay, 200 of us left. I had made up the SB with K8s (huge odds with the antes and my feeling that the BB would not raise) (200/400/50ante. The flop was checked, and then I called just 400 on the turn. The river made me the 2nd nut flush. The BB now bet out (I am calling him for sure). Then, another shortish stack moved in and I was a little concerned that I had rivered a second best hand, but my hand was good against 2 straights.
I had KK busted by A8, and QQ busted by A9. My Aces get no action.
However, a double up comes along when I push all in on a button raise with KhJh. He dwell-calls with 44 and I hit. Now I get Aces against Jacks and move up into 3rd place overall.
I start to really concentrate - even closing down my PLO game !
Key hand: 2,000/4,000/500. I have 170k about 18 players left (avg chips ~ 106k). Players with 110k or so limps UTG+1. I have AhKh on the button.
This players has NEVER limped before as far as I can remember. I have a hunch he may be limping Aces. However, I need to find out so I raise to 18,000 and only he calls. I still think he may have them as heads-up it is not unreasonable for him to flat call here sometimes.
The flop is pretty friendly: K54 with 2 spades. I've hit is pretty well (although missing the flush completely). He moves all in for 91k !
I decide to back my hunch and fold here. So many times this has turned into a "WOW" moment where I get shown 555, or the AA that I first feared. Interested in any thoughts on this laydown. On reflection I think maybe I just have to pay him off if he has it - can he really have 44, 55, KK or AA ?
I also lay down AQ after my re-raise is re-re-raised by the chip-leader. Next hand, I get AK. A poor player UTG raises, another poor player re-raises. I put in a 3rd raise hoping to get heads up with the first bettor who I have covered 3-1. I do, and it's a race with 55 which I win.
Up into 2nd with 16 left.
It's setting up to a WOW ....
I can't remember the last time I made a final table on Stars. I fully expect to now, though.
We are playing 5-handed when the bad player on the button (OPR 15% !) limps for 5000. Chip-leader is in the BB. I decide to see a flop with KQo.
Flop is QJ5. Surely I am good here ? I bet, get raised by the button, and then shove.
He thinks for a moment then calls. He shows Aces !! Nooooooo! I have fallen for the limped Aces again. In hindsight, he can have QJ here, or maybe 55. Or, he could have had a pair and a flush draw or whatever. I should have followed my first instinct and raised pre. He probably raises then, and I can fold. If not, I may get away from it easier on the flop.
In any case, I am kicking myself for going broke with 1pr at this point. At least I put my chips in first but, still, this is a full WOW. 6 hours to get to that stage. 11th paid $97 vs $1,800 for 1st ! Or, anyway, $300 for 5th say.
I was influenced in this hand by the fact he was a bad player. I thought he might put all his chips in with less than my TP2K. Maybe I was right about this and just unlucky. Any thoughts ? In any case, with 25BB I should not have gone broke this this, I think. Better to fold to the reraise and move on (as I had been doing, doh !)
Why Oh Why can't I go on to finish the job and win a tournament once in a while !
And Why Oh Why did I fall for the limp Aces trick again ...
Monday 12 January 2009
Sunday Tournaments
I am never sure if I will feel like playing in the Sunday MTTs, but when it comes around I always do feel I should give it a spin!
I haven't played the Sunday Million itself for quite a while (and I probably won't until I feel that I am playing a solid game). I did try a satellite for it this time just for no particular reason - I bubbled (there were 2 places and some cash for 3rd - I came 4th. doh.) but I was essentially concentrating on the low-priced large-field events.
In fact I even entered a $1 and a $3 rebuy - lower than would normally play - to get some practice. So altogether I played 5, being the $1, the $3 rebuy, the $200K guarantee ($11), another $11 freezeout and also a non-turbo 180man SnG for $11.
I have to say it went pretty well. I made very good starts in both the $11 MTTs - in the $200K I doubled up early with QQ vs TT. In the other $11, I actually quadrupled up on the very first hand. Blinds 15/30. Stacks 3,000. I called a raise to 120 on the button with QJs and when the BB raised to 360 and everyone called, I called as well. 4way to the flop with was AT3 with two spades. So I have the flush and straight draw. The BB bet 360 and everyone called to me, so I raised all-in. They all called !
One had AK, another had 33, and one had AT ! A spade hit the turn and I scooped to catapult to the top and take out 3 players. I would do this again - I like the idea of getting some chips early on.
In the $3 rebuy, I had a hard time getting anywhere before the freezeout, but I played very solid poker afterwards and hung in there.
Ironically, I fared less well in the two big $11 tournies despite those great starts. It may have been because I got involved a bit too much with my chips. By contrast, in the others, I realised I had to wait for really good spots and those worked out. Or it may simply have been the law or large numbers - one big double up (or even quadruple up) does not see you deep into these tournaments.
So, not in the money in the $200k or the other $11, but I cashed in the $1 event (even though I sat out for an hour when we were in the money!) and also in the $3 rebuy and the $11 180.
Very little in the way of "WOW" on the night. For example, in the 180man, a short stack had pushed in and I over-shoved with 66 from the cut-off to get it heads-up (s/s had KQ). But the BB had Aces, so that's the end of that.
Nothing big has happened for me in MTTs this year but I am happy with how I'm playing so I hope I can get at least one big cash soon.
I haven't played the Sunday Million itself for quite a while (and I probably won't until I feel that I am playing a solid game). I did try a satellite for it this time just for no particular reason - I bubbled (there were 2 places and some cash for 3rd - I came 4th. doh.) but I was essentially concentrating on the low-priced large-field events.
In fact I even entered a $1 and a $3 rebuy - lower than would normally play - to get some practice. So altogether I played 5, being the $1, the $3 rebuy, the $200K guarantee ($11), another $11 freezeout and also a non-turbo 180man SnG for $11.
I have to say it went pretty well. I made very good starts in both the $11 MTTs - in the $200K I doubled up early with QQ vs TT. In the other $11, I actually quadrupled up on the very first hand. Blinds 15/30. Stacks 3,000. I called a raise to 120 on the button with QJs and when the BB raised to 360 and everyone called, I called as well. 4way to the flop with was AT3 with two spades. So I have the flush and straight draw. The BB bet 360 and everyone called to me, so I raised all-in. They all called !
One had AK, another had 33, and one had AT ! A spade hit the turn and I scooped to catapult to the top and take out 3 players. I would do this again - I like the idea of getting some chips early on.
In the $3 rebuy, I had a hard time getting anywhere before the freezeout, but I played very solid poker afterwards and hung in there.
Ironically, I fared less well in the two big $11 tournies despite those great starts. It may have been because I got involved a bit too much with my chips. By contrast, in the others, I realised I had to wait for really good spots and those worked out. Or it may simply have been the law or large numbers - one big double up (or even quadruple up) does not see you deep into these tournaments.
So, not in the money in the $200k or the other $11, but I cashed in the $1 event (even though I sat out for an hour when we were in the money!) and also in the $3 rebuy and the $11 180.
Very little in the way of "WOW" on the night. For example, in the 180man, a short stack had pushed in and I over-shoved with 66 from the cut-off to get it heads-up (s/s had KQ). But the BB had Aces, so that's the end of that.
Nothing big has happened for me in MTTs this year but I am happy with how I'm playing so I hope I can get at least one big cash soon.
Sunday 11 January 2009
The WOW Factor in Practice
WOW comes in many forms.
For me, most often it has been putting in large stacks at cash games when drawing dead "why, oh why, did I do that !" or failing to get to the later stages of a tournament through lack of patience. One of my specialities in that category is picking up a hand that merits pushing all-in but when there is action ahead of me I still push, forgetting that (a) you need a much stronger hand once someone has opened the betting and (b) some of these people just can't fold !
In cash, a brilliant example of "WOW" came up at $.5/1 PLO recently. I had built up a stack of $350 - the max buy in at this stake is $100 so I am sitting on $250 profit - a great return.
WOW1: why didn't I leave the table ? When to bank gains and sit down at a different table for $100 is not an exact science, but I hardly ever do it which can't be right.
WOW2: why did I lose it all in one hand, drawing dead ! I had a reasonable rundown hand- something like QT9h7h. We were playing 5-handed I think. I am on the button. The cutoff raises, I call. The BB raises and with his style and his shortish stack (~$100) I think it is very likely he has Aces. The raiser calls $28 and so do I - looking to hit and stack the Aces.
The flop is all hearts - so I guess I hit ! The "Aces" opens for $40 with only $60 left. I am prepared to put him all in but the initial pf raiser now calls.
Why didn't he raise (or fold). He has me covered. I wonder if he has a set and wants to hit ? A smaller flush ? Of course he could have a higher flush - even the nut flush.
I decide to raise to $99. The "Aces" now fold but the other stack (who has me covered) calls.
I should be very suspicious now, I guess. The turn is another low heart - in particular it did not pair the board. He checks, and I push for $200+ trying to get a set out of the way and/or repping the nut flush. He calls with the King high flush.
I have no outs !
Why, oh why, did I do this ! I suppose I was right that he didn't have the nut flush, but that's about the best I can say.
It is always frustrating to flop the flush in PLO and lose. I still have a hold'em mentality "what is the chance we both flopped a flush and his is higher?" Well, in PLO, if there is any action on an all-flush board, then the non-nuts is usually toast.
I think the right approach for me at my level is just to shut down when these flops come, and move on to the next hand. Of course the nut flush isn't easy to play either - it usually gets no action unless it is overtaken by a full house !
For me, most often it has been putting in large stacks at cash games when drawing dead "why, oh why, did I do that !" or failing to get to the later stages of a tournament through lack of patience. One of my specialities in that category is picking up a hand that merits pushing all-in but when there is action ahead of me I still push, forgetting that (a) you need a much stronger hand once someone has opened the betting and (b) some of these people just can't fold !
In cash, a brilliant example of "WOW" came up at $.5/1 PLO recently. I had built up a stack of $350 - the max buy in at this stake is $100 so I am sitting on $250 profit - a great return.
WOW1: why didn't I leave the table ? When to bank gains and sit down at a different table for $100 is not an exact science, but I hardly ever do it which can't be right.
WOW2: why did I lose it all in one hand, drawing dead ! I had a reasonable rundown hand- something like QT9h7h. We were playing 5-handed I think. I am on the button. The cutoff raises, I call. The BB raises and with his style and his shortish stack (~$100) I think it is very likely he has Aces. The raiser calls $28 and so do I - looking to hit and stack the Aces.
The flop is all hearts - so I guess I hit ! The "Aces" opens for $40 with only $60 left. I am prepared to put him all in but the initial pf raiser now calls.
Why didn't he raise (or fold). He has me covered. I wonder if he has a set and wants to hit ? A smaller flush ? Of course he could have a higher flush - even the nut flush.
I decide to raise to $99. The "Aces" now fold but the other stack (who has me covered) calls.
I should be very suspicious now, I guess. The turn is another low heart - in particular it did not pair the board. He checks, and I push for $200+ trying to get a set out of the way and/or repping the nut flush. He calls with the King high flush.
I have no outs !
Why, oh why, did I do this ! I suppose I was right that he didn't have the nut flush, but that's about the best I can say.
It is always frustrating to flop the flush in PLO and lose. I still have a hold'em mentality "what is the chance we both flopped a flush and his is higher?" Well, in PLO, if there is any action on an all-flush board, then the non-nuts is usually toast.
I think the right approach for me at my level is just to shut down when these flops come, and move on to the next hand. Of course the nut flush isn't easy to play either - it usually gets no action unless it is overtaken by a full house !
Friday 9 January 2009
The WOW Factor
WOW !
That's what I have been thinking a lot lately after looking at my online play in cash and tournaments.
What this means is "why, oh why !"
Sometimes it is "why does he have to hit his flush" or "why does my Ace-King never hit". But mainly I am kicking myself for various forms of self-destruct. In tournaments, this usually comes from failing to be tight enough in the early and mid stages.
In cash, I often seem to be able to make good starts, but then it seems I throw this away far too regularly and my win turns into a loss. Sometimes, this will just be session variance of course but it has more to do with session discipline, really.
WOW occurs in live play as well, obviously, but I do find it is more of a problem online for me - I suspect it is related to the fast pace of internet poker.
That's what I have been thinking a lot lately after looking at my online play in cash and tournaments.
What this means is "why, oh why !"
Sometimes it is "why does he have to hit his flush" or "why does my Ace-King never hit". But mainly I am kicking myself for various forms of self-destruct. In tournaments, this usually comes from failing to be tight enough in the early and mid stages.
In cash, I often seem to be able to make good starts, but then it seems I throw this away far too regularly and my win turns into a loss. Sometimes, this will just be session variance of course but it has more to do with session discipline, really.
WOW occurs in live play as well, obviously, but I do find it is more of a problem online for me - I suspect it is related to the fast pace of internet poker.
Tuesday 6 January 2009
Omaha Part 3 - the good bit
They say good things come in threes. As you remember from parts 1 and 2, I have now sunk £1,200 into the game (I like to think the chips were on loan ...)
The fact is, being up or down £1,000 is pretty easy in this game. It's Omaha for a start, and the £1/2 blinds don't really tell the size of the game. Most pots are straddled for £5 and quite a few are super-straddled (£18). Those that are not are rarely unraised.
Most of the players are action-type players and some are in need of some momentum.
Where we left off, I have reduced myself to £300 by unwisely bluffing into the 2nd nuts. This cunning strategy leaves me with just the right stack size to get it all-in preflop :)
I manage this in the following manner - I limp with KK63dd. After a few calls, "Mr Bond" raises, and Jude re-raises. Three people call this re-raise and so do I. Siddiq now moves all-in for £116 which is called in 2 spots. As far as I am concerned, this action means no one except Siddiq (short stack) can have Aces so I now move in for £300 and THIS is called by Jude and Chinese Tim.
Now that's what I call a pot !
I quite like the flop - Q66. Of course I am concerned someone started with QQxx but there's nothing I can do about it anyway. There are also two hearts out. An offsuit Jack on the turn is followed by a 3 on the river, making me 6s full. I scoop, although the house-up was undoubtedly unnecessary. The reactions at the table make me think trip 6s or even Kings-up was good.
Now we're off. I have a grand to work with.
Things start to go right ... On a board of 7Tx9 with 2 hearts, I bet out £150 with QQ87hh and get called. The river blanks, but one pair of Queens is good.
Then when I flop a set of 7s on a 7-8-3-2-5 board, I check-call flop, turn and river for a total of about £300, and my set is good.
Then, I particularly enjoyed this one: I see a flop for one re-raise with Ac2cJ8 (3 runners).
The flop is 9high all-clubs ! Tony & I check to the raiser who bets £60. Before I can decide whether I will flat call or push, Tony moves all in for £150 or so. NOW I move all-in as well and Jude calls all-in.
The turn and river blanked - Tony had 3clubs Queen high. Jude had a set. Nice.
The action wasn't all with me. There was a fascinating pot where after some early pre-flop action, Maq moved all-in for £120, which was called once and then with 2 active players behind "Mr Bond" folded Aces instead of re-potting to £700 or so because he didn't think anyone would fold for "only" a few hundred and he didn't want to play a £2,000+pot with just Aces.
Not the right action imo, but as it happens, after the flop was seen 4way with 1 player all-in, a further £800 went in on the 833 board, with KJT3 making 3s full on the turn.
By now, I am sitting on about £1,600 so I'm up overall. It's also a lot of fun (it does tend to be more enjoyable when you're winning obviously !)
Now, remember, we said good things come in threes.
Well, not all things-in-threes are good. In Omaha, one of the worst features of a starting hand is to have three of a kind in your hole cards. Because at showdown you can only use two cards, one of your hole cards is redundant and what's more it is much harder to hit a set now.
So, when I picked up KKK5, my normal course is to fold pre-flop even for £2.
I was on the button, and indeed it was still just £2 when it came to me. Because of some table talk at the time, I decide to make a bit of a joke-raise to £6. My plan is basically to fold to the likely re-raise and otherwise almost certainly fold on the flop. I doubt I am putting any more money in and in fact I see the bet as basically a donation of £6.
What actually happens is that 3 or 4 people call this £6 before it was raised to only £12.
By the time it came back to me I was getting an enormous price to call so I had to call with any 4 cards (even trips).
£86 in pre-flop. And what a flop ! K86 with 2 diamonds. I have hit a miracle top-set.
Well, I'll take that. It is checked all the way to me and I bet the full pot. I expect that to end matters, but Siddiq now check-raises to £344. OK, ideally he has a set of 8s.
I contemplate flat-calling but I don't fancy calling £250 more and not knowing how to deal with a diamond or a straight card on the turn. Nothing for it but to re-raise all-in (it will put Siddiq all-in, not me). He calls without hesitation and it turns out that we have each put in £1,089 on this flop.
I always like to turn up my cards in these all-in situations, and he does the same: we can see why he likes the flop ... Ad9d7dJh for the nut flush draw and open-ended straight draw.
Both those draws are live although I can still counterfeit them. So, after all my work at getting out of a big deficit, I now have nearly £1,100 invested with one of the worst starting hands going ! It does make me feel a little bit uneasy !
Still, I am in front, and I am a clear favourite (about 60/40). When the turn is a brick (2h) I am 3/1 favourite and just need to dodge the remaining 5s, Ts and diamonds.
The river is a diamond ! Siddiq thinks for a moment he has won, but it is the TWO of diamonds giving me Kings-full.
BOOM! This is the biggest pot I have ever won in poker - about £2,250. I have a new favourite hand !
The game carried on and on until it broke up around 10am and I held onto a big gain (it would have been tough for me to go broke at this stage, easily covering the whole table, but never say never ...)
The fact is, being up or down £1,000 is pretty easy in this game. It's Omaha for a start, and the £1/2 blinds don't really tell the size of the game. Most pots are straddled for £5 and quite a few are super-straddled (£18). Those that are not are rarely unraised.
Most of the players are action-type players and some are in need of some momentum.
Where we left off, I have reduced myself to £300 by unwisely bluffing into the 2nd nuts. This cunning strategy leaves me with just the right stack size to get it all-in preflop :)
I manage this in the following manner - I limp with KK63dd. After a few calls, "Mr Bond" raises, and Jude re-raises. Three people call this re-raise and so do I. Siddiq now moves all-in for £116 which is called in 2 spots. As far as I am concerned, this action means no one except Siddiq (short stack) can have Aces so I now move in for £300 and THIS is called by Jude and Chinese Tim.
Now that's what I call a pot !
I quite like the flop - Q66. Of course I am concerned someone started with QQxx but there's nothing I can do about it anyway. There are also two hearts out. An offsuit Jack on the turn is followed by a 3 on the river, making me 6s full. I scoop, although the house-up was undoubtedly unnecessary. The reactions at the table make me think trip 6s or even Kings-up was good.
Now we're off. I have a grand to work with.
Things start to go right ... On a board of 7Tx9 with 2 hearts, I bet out £150 with QQ87hh and get called. The river blanks, but one pair of Queens is good.
Then when I flop a set of 7s on a 7-8-3-2-5 board, I check-call flop, turn and river for a total of about £300, and my set is good.
Then, I particularly enjoyed this one: I see a flop for one re-raise with Ac2cJ8 (3 runners).
The flop is 9high all-clubs ! Tony & I check to the raiser who bets £60. Before I can decide whether I will flat call or push, Tony moves all in for £150 or so. NOW I move all-in as well and Jude calls all-in.
The turn and river blanked - Tony had 3clubs Queen high. Jude had a set. Nice.
The action wasn't all with me. There was a fascinating pot where after some early pre-flop action, Maq moved all-in for £120, which was called once and then with 2 active players behind "Mr Bond" folded Aces instead of re-potting to £700 or so because he didn't think anyone would fold for "only" a few hundred and he didn't want to play a £2,000+pot with just Aces.
Not the right action imo, but as it happens, after the flop was seen 4way with 1 player all-in, a further £800 went in on the 833 board, with KJT3 making 3s full on the turn.
By now, I am sitting on about £1,600 so I'm up overall. It's also a lot of fun (it does tend to be more enjoyable when you're winning obviously !)
Now, remember, we said good things come in threes.
Well, not all things-in-threes are good. In Omaha, one of the worst features of a starting hand is to have three of a kind in your hole cards. Because at showdown you can only use two cards, one of your hole cards is redundant and what's more it is much harder to hit a set now.
So, when I picked up KKK5, my normal course is to fold pre-flop even for £2.
I was on the button, and indeed it was still just £2 when it came to me. Because of some table talk at the time, I decide to make a bit of a joke-raise to £6. My plan is basically to fold to the likely re-raise and otherwise almost certainly fold on the flop. I doubt I am putting any more money in and in fact I see the bet as basically a donation of £6.
What actually happens is that 3 or 4 people call this £6 before it was raised to only £12.
By the time it came back to me I was getting an enormous price to call so I had to call with any 4 cards (even trips).
£86 in pre-flop. And what a flop ! K86 with 2 diamonds. I have hit a miracle top-set.
Well, I'll take that. It is checked all the way to me and I bet the full pot. I expect that to end matters, but Siddiq now check-raises to £344. OK, ideally he has a set of 8s.
I contemplate flat-calling but I don't fancy calling £250 more and not knowing how to deal with a diamond or a straight card on the turn. Nothing for it but to re-raise all-in (it will put Siddiq all-in, not me). He calls without hesitation and it turns out that we have each put in £1,089 on this flop.
I always like to turn up my cards in these all-in situations, and he does the same: we can see why he likes the flop ... Ad9d7dJh for the nut flush draw and open-ended straight draw.
Both those draws are live although I can still counterfeit them. So, after all my work at getting out of a big deficit, I now have nearly £1,100 invested with one of the worst starting hands going ! It does make me feel a little bit uneasy !
Still, I am in front, and I am a clear favourite (about 60/40). When the turn is a brick (2h) I am 3/1 favourite and just need to dodge the remaining 5s, Ts and diamonds.
The river is a diamond ! Siddiq thinks for a moment he has won, but it is the TWO of diamonds giving me Kings-full.
BOOM! This is the biggest pot I have ever won in poker - about £2,250. I have a new favourite hand !
The game carried on and on until it broke up around 10am and I held onto a big gain (it would have been tough for me to go broke at this stage, easily covering the whole table, but never say never ...)
Monday 5 January 2009
Omaha Part 2 of 3
In part one, we saw how a £1,000 pot can appear from nowhere in PLO. It is a truism in "big bet poker" (a term used to describe No Limit and Pot Limit games) that as soon as you put a single chip in a pot, your whole stack is potentially in jeopardy.
Another monster pot came along shortly after I pulled up a second £300. I'd seen a free flop with J875. The flop comes 874rainbow. Not too bad, although someone may have flopped a straight.
Lee bets out £12 from the BB. Lee is an excellent NLH player, but new to PLO. So I don't think he has to have the straight, even leading into 4 players. Jude calls, which might mean many things.
I have top 2 pair, which may be good. I bet "to find out". In this case, I bump it to £45. Betting "to find out where you are" is over-rated, I think, as a poker concept. It is particularly flawed in NLH tournaments I feel. However, in a multi-way cash PLO pot I believe it can work.
Bekkar called £45 so he definitely has something. Mike Khan now check-raises to £200 and after Lee passes in disgust, Jude moves in for £510.
OK. I found out, and then some.
6 months ago I would have put in my whole stack now (I would reason: I have top two, I have outs even if by some miracle one has a straight, they're probably at it anyway ...).
Now, I see that at least one of them has the straight, probably more than one of them, plus redraws, and another one has a set at least. I am probably drawing dead !
So, I let my hand go instantly. Probably I should fold for £12, but I do play quite aggressively and I think it doesn't do to play totally out of character with one's normal style.
Bekkar now also calls all-in for £400 or so, and Mike makes up the £510.
Mike has 88J6 for top set. Jude has 56A3 for the nuts on the flop. Bekkar has TT93 for an open-ended draw to the higher straight. I passed top 2, and Lee passed 74xx.
I don't like Mike's check-raise tbh, and I think he probably could pass the re-raise as he is obviously facing a made straight and it seems likely quite a few of his outs are gone.
Bekkar's call, meanwhile, is "bold". He is drawing to the nuts, though, which is important. Of course, 2 of the fives and 2 of the Jacks are gone. Still, that didn't stop a Jack falling on the turn, making Bekkar the new nuts which holds to the river for another massive pot.
I'm happy because I take some pleasure in knowing I would have lost £400 in that pot last year. It almost felt like making money !
Fast forward via my KKds hitting everything but getting no action, to all-action with every draw and hitting nothing, till we arrive at another pre-flop monster:
AA76 double-suited on the straddle. I make it £30 more to go and get 4 callers.
I only have £130 left, so it's likely to go in on most flops. It's a 988flop so I'm losing to any eight. However, I have an oesd and a backdoor flush draw as well as the overpair, so I can hardly fail to jam it. Jude check-calls all-in. He shows an 8. I need to hit something.
I hit the 5 on the turn giving me the straight and the nut flush draw. Unfortunately, that card gives Jude a full house. I still have some outs to Aces full, but that doesn't come and we're looking for "third time lucky".
3rd bullet: I hold QJ88 on a JJ5 flop (in a re-raised pot). I like it, and check-raise all-in only to be facing AAJx. That was possibly a very bad play. In any case, it was a bad result !
OK. Pull up or push off ? The good news was that the table was pretty deep, and the money was definitely there to be won back. I could give you 10 more valid reasons for staying, not the least of which was the fact that the last train had gone!
Big holes call for big shovels, so I put £500 to work and advanced that to £700 before unwisely 3-barrelling £300+ into Jude on an A99XX board. If I review my mental notes, I think I'm going to find that Jude never folds and especially so when he's holding A9 in this coup .... it is a potentially interesting comment on my image that he didn't raise any street when he is only losing to specifically the case Aces.
So, I started with £300. I still have £300. £1,200 down doesn't sound so bad put like that ....
Another monster pot came along shortly after I pulled up a second £300. I'd seen a free flop with J875. The flop comes 874rainbow. Not too bad, although someone may have flopped a straight.
Lee bets out £12 from the BB. Lee is an excellent NLH player, but new to PLO. So I don't think he has to have the straight, even leading into 4 players. Jude calls, which might mean many things.
I have top 2 pair, which may be good. I bet "to find out". In this case, I bump it to £45. Betting "to find out where you are" is over-rated, I think, as a poker concept. It is particularly flawed in NLH tournaments I feel. However, in a multi-way cash PLO pot I believe it can work.
Bekkar called £45 so he definitely has something. Mike Khan now check-raises to £200 and after Lee passes in disgust, Jude moves in for £510.
OK. I found out, and then some.
6 months ago I would have put in my whole stack now (I would reason: I have top two, I have outs even if by some miracle one has a straight, they're probably at it anyway ...).
Now, I see that at least one of them has the straight, probably more than one of them, plus redraws, and another one has a set at least. I am probably drawing dead !
So, I let my hand go instantly. Probably I should fold for £12, but I do play quite aggressively and I think it doesn't do to play totally out of character with one's normal style.
Bekkar now also calls all-in for £400 or so, and Mike makes up the £510.
Mike has 88J6 for top set. Jude has 56A3 for the nuts on the flop. Bekkar has TT93 for an open-ended draw to the higher straight. I passed top 2, and Lee passed 74xx.
I don't like Mike's check-raise tbh, and I think he probably could pass the re-raise as he is obviously facing a made straight and it seems likely quite a few of his outs are gone.
Bekkar's call, meanwhile, is "bold". He is drawing to the nuts, though, which is important. Of course, 2 of the fives and 2 of the Jacks are gone. Still, that didn't stop a Jack falling on the turn, making Bekkar the new nuts which holds to the river for another massive pot.
I'm happy because I take some pleasure in knowing I would have lost £400 in that pot last year. It almost felt like making money !
Fast forward via my KKds hitting everything but getting no action, to all-action with every draw and hitting nothing, till we arrive at another pre-flop monster:
AA76 double-suited on the straddle. I make it £30 more to go and get 4 callers.
I only have £130 left, so it's likely to go in on most flops. It's a 988flop so I'm losing to any eight. However, I have an oesd and a backdoor flush draw as well as the overpair, so I can hardly fail to jam it. Jude check-calls all-in. He shows an 8. I need to hit something.
I hit the 5 on the turn giving me the straight and the nut flush draw. Unfortunately, that card gives Jude a full house. I still have some outs to Aces full, but that doesn't come and we're looking for "third time lucky".
3rd bullet: I hold QJ88 on a JJ5 flop (in a re-raised pot). I like it, and check-raise all-in only to be facing AAJx. That was possibly a very bad play. In any case, it was a bad result !
OK. Pull up or push off ? The good news was that the table was pretty deep, and the money was definitely there to be won back. I could give you 10 more valid reasons for staying, not the least of which was the fact that the last train had gone!
Big holes call for big shovels, so I put £500 to work and advanced that to £700 before unwisely 3-barrelling £300+ into Jude on an A99XX board. If I review my mental notes, I think I'm going to find that Jude never folds and especially so when he's holding A9 in this coup .... it is a potentially interesting comment on my image that he didn't raise any street when he is only losing to specifically the case Aces.
So, I started with £300. I still have £300. £1,200 down doesn't sound so bad put like that ....
Sunday 4 January 2009
H-bomb exPLOdes - part1
I was out so early from the tournament on Saturday night that I actually could have travelled back to Bedford on the same night. An unusual predicament.
I did what I had to do, and ordered the excellent sausage and mash whilst I waited for a seat to open up at the PLO £1-2 game. Allegedly it had been in continuous action for 4 days. This was plainly impossible since the club was not open on 1st January, but I didn't like to point out this obvious falsehood because those who had been playing it probably earnestly believed it HAD been 4 days. Poker and time operate in a very strange way at the best of times.
It's funny to think that this time last year, or even 6 months ago, it would have taken some arm-twisting to get me in a PLO game. I was always open to a bit of cajoling, but PLO was solidly my second choice.
Now, my conversion to the 4-card madness is pretty much total. I scarcely play Hold'em online or live (except in tournaments of course - I doubt PLO will make much inroads there).
The improvement in my PLO game in the last 3 months far exceeds my total improvement in NLH since I started playing in 2004. I would not say I was a good player, but I am dramatically less horrendous than I was !
I now expect to win when I sit down. This doesn't mean I will, of course, and I am certainly still a net loser since I started (albeit my recent live record is not bad). But whereas when I used to play I knew it was a matter of time before I lost the lot, now I see a big loss as an interim position to an ultimate positive score. Again, I don't claim this perception is matched by reality !
I had a quick look at the table whilst I was waiting. Some of the stacks very pretty deep - £1,000+ in chips. Scottish Rob's stack was deep AND wide - he had it laid out in a very long line from his extreme left to his extreme right. Obviously this meant something.
As is often the case, no one professed to be winning (but all hoped to be on the way back). There does seem to be some inverse correlation between the amount won and the amount of time spent in the game.
I pulled up £300 - I started the night with an even £1k so after the FO, I had about £900 in mind as my ammo. I am never sure what the best approach is - £50 is the minimum buy in (theoretically) but that is plainly too little. To bring the full £900 into play would not have been crazy given some of the other stacks, but the possibility of disappearing the whole lot in one monster pot did not appeal.
£300 seemed about right. I agreed with myself to play pretty tight to be begin with, and so it began as I got a feel for the game. I was laying down for only £20 pre-flop for goodness sake !
So, I laid down 552K preflop to only a £23 re-pot of the straddle, only to see the flop come 522 and action kick off. Then I laid down 9963ss to the same pre-flop action. The flop was 977 and JJ Hazan came out firing. Two double-ups passed me by right there...
So, when I picked up a pretty pocket Queens hand (KQQ8 with diamonds), I had a plan. There were like 4 limpers to me. I made it £6. This was called everywhere until it came back to Jude on my immediate right. He now made it £54.
Well, limp-repot almost announces Aces you may say. I agree, but (i) I have a nice hand (ii) I don't have an Ace in my hand and (iii) it was Jude fgs. Only one move imo. Upstairs. £200 to go. This should shake'em out and get my KQQ8 headsup against his obvious 7653.
Nope. Siddiq moved all in behind me (for £268 total). JJ and Anton (both £500 deep behind) called and so did Jude (all in). I put in the extra chips (it's an under-raise by Siddiq so I have £38 left).
So - £6 becomes like £1,300+
I put in my last £38 blind, and on the KT7 board, JJ raises Anton out.
I have top pair with a backdoor straight and flush. However, I am in bad shape as JJ has the other two Kings for top set. Siddiq also has a set (of Tens). Jude had Aces (after all). So, just a small matter of Aces vs kings vs Queens and the rest ...
JJ scoops (I made a four flush, but no further). Then, he picked up his stack and called it a night ! I would never do that, but guess who is actually a profitable player !?
Hmm .... well, you never expect the first buy-in to do the trick do you ?
I did what I had to do, and ordered the excellent sausage and mash whilst I waited for a seat to open up at the PLO £1-2 game. Allegedly it had been in continuous action for 4 days. This was plainly impossible since the club was not open on 1st January, but I didn't like to point out this obvious falsehood because those who had been playing it probably earnestly believed it HAD been 4 days. Poker and time operate in a very strange way at the best of times.
It's funny to think that this time last year, or even 6 months ago, it would have taken some arm-twisting to get me in a PLO game. I was always open to a bit of cajoling, but PLO was solidly my second choice.
Now, my conversion to the 4-card madness is pretty much total. I scarcely play Hold'em online or live (except in tournaments of course - I doubt PLO will make much inroads there).
The improvement in my PLO game in the last 3 months far exceeds my total improvement in NLH since I started playing in 2004. I would not say I was a good player, but I am dramatically less horrendous than I was !
I now expect to win when I sit down. This doesn't mean I will, of course, and I am certainly still a net loser since I started (albeit my recent live record is not bad). But whereas when I used to play I knew it was a matter of time before I lost the lot, now I see a big loss as an interim position to an ultimate positive score. Again, I don't claim this perception is matched by reality !
I had a quick look at the table whilst I was waiting. Some of the stacks very pretty deep - £1,000+ in chips. Scottish Rob's stack was deep AND wide - he had it laid out in a very long line from his extreme left to his extreme right. Obviously this meant something.
As is often the case, no one professed to be winning (but all hoped to be on the way back). There does seem to be some inverse correlation between the amount won and the amount of time spent in the game.
I pulled up £300 - I started the night with an even £1k so after the FO, I had about £900 in mind as my ammo. I am never sure what the best approach is - £50 is the minimum buy in (theoretically) but that is plainly too little. To bring the full £900 into play would not have been crazy given some of the other stacks, but the possibility of disappearing the whole lot in one monster pot did not appeal.
£300 seemed about right. I agreed with myself to play pretty tight to be begin with, and so it began as I got a feel for the game. I was laying down for only £20 pre-flop for goodness sake !
So, I laid down 552K preflop to only a £23 re-pot of the straddle, only to see the flop come 522 and action kick off. Then I laid down 9963ss to the same pre-flop action. The flop was 977 and JJ Hazan came out firing. Two double-ups passed me by right there...
So, when I picked up a pretty pocket Queens hand (KQQ8 with diamonds), I had a plan. There were like 4 limpers to me. I made it £6. This was called everywhere until it came back to Jude on my immediate right. He now made it £54.
Well, limp-repot almost announces Aces you may say. I agree, but (i) I have a nice hand (ii) I don't have an Ace in my hand and (iii) it was Jude fgs. Only one move imo. Upstairs. £200 to go. This should shake'em out and get my KQQ8 headsup against his obvious 7653.
Nope. Siddiq moved all in behind me (for £268 total). JJ and Anton (both £500 deep behind) called and so did Jude (all in). I put in the extra chips (it's an under-raise by Siddiq so I have £38 left).
So - £6 becomes like £1,300+
I put in my last £38 blind, and on the KT7 board, JJ raises Anton out.
I have top pair with a backdoor straight and flush. However, I am in bad shape as JJ has the other two Kings for top set. Siddiq also has a set (of Tens). Jude had Aces (after all). So, just a small matter of Aces vs kings vs Queens and the rest ...
JJ scoops (I made a four flush, but no further). Then, he picked up his stack and called it a night ! I would never do that, but guess who is actually a profitable player !?
Hmm .... well, you never expect the first buy-in to do the trick do you ?
Saturday 3 January 2009
H-bomb Misfires - Collateral Damage
Despite not being tied into the working week for most of last year, I still avoided regular live poker at weekends. I did play weekend poker in the case of special events like the GSOP, WSOPE and GUKPT, but I did not make a single trip into London just to play cash or tournaments at the Gutshot/International.
However, I had heard that the action was good; understandable if you consider many people are unable or unwilling to pull all-nighters during the week.
Especially, the "best " tournaments were apparently the weekly £100 Freezeout (and the occasional £300 version thereof).
So, I thought what better way to kick off the New Year of live poker, than by breaking my duck? The prospect of some weekend PLO cash afterwards was also appealing.
The field of 59 runners was choc-a-bloc with successful tournament players. The structure - 8,000 chips with a 25minute clock and antes from level 4 - was suited to a disciplined approach. Not really my strong suit, but I played really tight for the first level - hardly putting a chip in the pot.
So it was that I finished level 1 on 8,025 chips - just a single yellow away from where I started.
In level 2, my usual higher-volatility style started to emerge. I decided to see a flop with K9-suited and was rewarded with top 2pair on the flop. I housed up on the river but wasn't paid much.
I lost a bunch of chips with an overpair running into a 7high straight that I certainly didn't see coming. I totally misread the situation. Against the same player, though, I made back half what I donked off previously - my Q9 vs AJ made Tens fulls of 9s by the river where I successfully checked to induce a bluff - something I only recently included in my armoury.
Things started to go wrong though. I had 77 vs JJ, losing the minimum (but still losing). I laid down QQ to AA pre-flop after re-raising in the SB and getting an emphatic re-raise in reply. Dave Lightning showed the obvious AA. AQ cost me chips as well eithout getting to showdown.
So, all in all I sat on a little less than 5k at the end of Level 3 - obviously still highly playable, but half the average.
Next level 100/200 with a 25 ante. Obviously I have to look at raising more unopened pots. I don't mind this phase of the tourney but I didn't get much chance to enjoy it.
First hand back (literally) I am in the cutoff with 74o when it is folded to me. The SB is away, so with only 2 players to get through I obviously raise it - to 575. Both the button ( a liberal preflop caller) and the Big Blind (very tight) call. OK.
Flop - 844 !
Well, bingo. The BB checks and I decide it is pointless checking, so I fire out 1,050 (this was only half the pot - I often underestimate the pot and bet "too little"). Anyway, the button folds, but the BB moves all in for just a handful of chips more than me (about 4,100 more to call - only a pot sized raise).
I instacall. What else can I do ? He flips over A9-clubs. I hadn't even noticed the 2-suitedness of the flop. Oh well. I only needed to dodge the flush. I didn't . Instant service on the turn, and no pairup on the river.
Played itself, although if I bet the pot on the flop perhaps the BB finds a reluctant pass knowing he has no fold equity ?
Overall, I actually wasn't unhappy with my tournament. I hope I can play it again this year and I'm targeting a final table although that will be no mean achievement - it will be a 7 hour slog to get that far and another 2/3 hours if I wanted to make the heads-up stage. We'll see.
Silver linings ? An early opportunity to get into the PLO game - apparently running continuously for several days so far and looking deep and potentially "good" (but with "good" comes "bad-assed and dangerous"). Tired, tilting players in a deep hole can land some nasty blows (of the financial kind ...)
It was to be an exPLOsive session ....
However, I had heard that the action was good; understandable if you consider many people are unable or unwilling to pull all-nighters during the week.
Especially, the "best " tournaments were apparently the weekly £100 Freezeout (and the occasional £300 version thereof).
So, I thought what better way to kick off the New Year of live poker, than by breaking my duck? The prospect of some weekend PLO cash afterwards was also appealing.
The field of 59 runners was choc-a-bloc with successful tournament players. The structure - 8,000 chips with a 25minute clock and antes from level 4 - was suited to a disciplined approach. Not really my strong suit, but I played really tight for the first level - hardly putting a chip in the pot.
So it was that I finished level 1 on 8,025 chips - just a single yellow away from where I started.
In level 2, my usual higher-volatility style started to emerge. I decided to see a flop with K9-suited and was rewarded with top 2pair on the flop. I housed up on the river but wasn't paid much.
I lost a bunch of chips with an overpair running into a 7high straight that I certainly didn't see coming. I totally misread the situation. Against the same player, though, I made back half what I donked off previously - my Q9 vs AJ made Tens fulls of 9s by the river where I successfully checked to induce a bluff - something I only recently included in my armoury.
Things started to go wrong though. I had 77 vs JJ, losing the minimum (but still losing). I laid down QQ to AA pre-flop after re-raising in the SB and getting an emphatic re-raise in reply. Dave Lightning showed the obvious AA. AQ cost me chips as well eithout getting to showdown.
So, all in all I sat on a little less than 5k at the end of Level 3 - obviously still highly playable, but half the average.
Next level 100/200 with a 25 ante. Obviously I have to look at raising more unopened pots. I don't mind this phase of the tourney but I didn't get much chance to enjoy it.
First hand back (literally) I am in the cutoff with 74o when it is folded to me. The SB is away, so with only 2 players to get through I obviously raise it - to 575. Both the button ( a liberal preflop caller) and the Big Blind (very tight) call. OK.
Flop - 844 !
Well, bingo. The BB checks and I decide it is pointless checking, so I fire out 1,050 (this was only half the pot - I often underestimate the pot and bet "too little"). Anyway, the button folds, but the BB moves all in for just a handful of chips more than me (about 4,100 more to call - only a pot sized raise).
I instacall. What else can I do ? He flips over A9-clubs. I hadn't even noticed the 2-suitedness of the flop. Oh well. I only needed to dodge the flush. I didn't . Instant service on the turn, and no pairup on the river.
Played itself, although if I bet the pot on the flop perhaps the BB finds a reluctant pass knowing he has no fold equity ?
Overall, I actually wasn't unhappy with my tournament. I hope I can play it again this year and I'm targeting a final table although that will be no mean achievement - it will be a 7 hour slog to get that far and another 2/3 hours if I wanted to make the heads-up stage. We'll see.
Silver linings ? An early opportunity to get into the PLO game - apparently running continuously for several days so far and looking deep and potentially "good" (but with "good" comes "bad-assed and dangerous"). Tired, tilting players in a deep hole can land some nasty blows (of the financial kind ...)
It was to be an exPLOsive session ....
Friday 2 January 2009
The Day After The Day Before
I didn't think it was too much to ask to have 2 winning days in a row. It might have been so, if I had played just a short session on 2nd Jan.
I had registered a small gain after just a few minutes of play, then I put in another short burst where I trebled my small win. However, those were just snatches of play. When I played a "proper" session in the late evening, I quickly knocked a big hole in my bankroll. I need to look at the hands to see if there was any pattern, but the result was I lost several all-in pots.
According to the rule of "not chasing losses" I perhaps should have called an end to proceedings then, but I persevered and held my ground for a long period without making any upwards progress.
The big winning pots never really came, and I reached the "time stop" where I didn't want to play on any further. I won a pot with what I thought might be my last hand. Then I was dealt Aces. I had been flat-calling with most hands (including Aces), but in this case I re-raised the pot hoping to finish on a highlight.
Oh dear. The flop wasn't great -- KT4 (all hearts) -- but we were heads-up .... I bet the pot and was called.
The turn was a complete blank and I decided his flop call was a sign of weakness and moved all-in. He called and I was rather surprised to see he had raised and called a pre-flop re-raise with KT54 and then called two large bets with 2 pair on a mono-suit flop. I guess he's not as tight as I had him labelled.
I had outs if the board paired. The board paired. Unfortunately it paired the King and gave him a house.
It was definitely time to call an end to hostilities. That was a VERY bad session.
Silver linings ? Not many. Perhaps it is good to get a reminder of how treacherous the swings can be, especially when combined with a bit of tilt .... Well, I knew that already so I didn't really need to pay to find out.
Still, 363 days left to fix it.
I had registered a small gain after just a few minutes of play, then I put in another short burst where I trebled my small win. However, those were just snatches of play. When I played a "proper" session in the late evening, I quickly knocked a big hole in my bankroll. I need to look at the hands to see if there was any pattern, but the result was I lost several all-in pots.
According to the rule of "not chasing losses" I perhaps should have called an end to proceedings then, but I persevered and held my ground for a long period without making any upwards progress.
The big winning pots never really came, and I reached the "time stop" where I didn't want to play on any further. I won a pot with what I thought might be my last hand. Then I was dealt Aces. I had been flat-calling with most hands (including Aces), but in this case I re-raised the pot hoping to finish on a highlight.
Oh dear. The flop wasn't great -- KT4 (all hearts) -- but we were heads-up .... I bet the pot and was called.
The turn was a complete blank and I decided his flop call was a sign of weakness and moved all-in. He called and I was rather surprised to see he had raised and called a pre-flop re-raise with KT54 and then called two large bets with 2 pair on a mono-suit flop. I guess he's not as tight as I had him labelled.
I had outs if the board paired. The board paired. Unfortunately it paired the King and gave him a house.
It was definitely time to call an end to hostilities. That was a VERY bad session.
Silver linings ? Not many. Perhaps it is good to get a reminder of how treacherous the swings can be, especially when combined with a bit of tilt .... Well, I knew that already so I didn't really need to pay to find out.
Still, 363 days left to fix it.
Thursday 1 January 2009
Day 1 of 365
I wasn't sure I would play on the 1st of January. I haven't yet finalised my poker resolutions for 2009, but these are sure to feature good discipline. I would think that being selective about when and where to play is an important part of that.
So, playing a random session of PLO was probably not recommended. On the other hand, it seemed wrong not to take a little dip in the fishpond. I thought it quite likely that the game would be even looser and madder than usual (because of the time of year).
It seems that being too loose pre flop is my single biggest leak, so I played (for me) very tight, and really tried to stay out of any marginal situations at all. I made some good progress. Often times, you can be paid off in huge pots with the "obvious" nuts.
Then, I lost a big pot from miles in front. And another one. And another one. This was disappointing/frustrating/infuriating but some of the players were just begging to give their money away so I felt it was right to stay. And I wanted my money back !
Normally (I say this only partly in jest) my style is to keep playing till I'm bust. I can be up plenty in the meantime, but I want to go for the big score, so I carry on until I eventually find a way to lose it all. On the other hand, I actually don't normally chase losses to any great extent.
However, I was really determined not to start out 2009 with a losing session. And it was so obvious that the money was there to be won. It did get worse before it got better, but in fact the standard of play was so bad that I genuinely felt it was a matter of time.
Eventually, after about 3 hours, I was able to notch up a 100% winning session record for 2009!
So, playing a random session of PLO was probably not recommended. On the other hand, it seemed wrong not to take a little dip in the fishpond. I thought it quite likely that the game would be even looser and madder than usual (because of the time of year).
It seems that being too loose pre flop is my single biggest leak, so I played (for me) very tight, and really tried to stay out of any marginal situations at all. I made some good progress. Often times, you can be paid off in huge pots with the "obvious" nuts.
Then, I lost a big pot from miles in front. And another one. And another one. This was disappointing/frustrating/infuriating but some of the players were just begging to give their money away so I felt it was right to stay. And I wanted my money back !
Normally (I say this only partly in jest) my style is to keep playing till I'm bust. I can be up plenty in the meantime, but I want to go for the big score, so I carry on until I eventually find a way to lose it all. On the other hand, I actually don't normally chase losses to any great extent.
However, I was really determined not to start out 2009 with a losing session. And it was so obvious that the money was there to be won. It did get worse before it got better, but in fact the standard of play was so bad that I genuinely felt it was a matter of time.
Eventually, after about 3 hours, I was able to notch up a 100% winning session record for 2009!
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