Online Omaha Sessions
Date: Sun, Aug 17, 2008 Professional
I played a couple of interesting Omaha 1/2 sessions 6 handed over the weekend, on Friday night and Sunday morning, ending up $380 across the pair of 2 hour sittings. Some observations:
1) Friday night was nasty. Every time I had a set, my opponent would hit his draws. In one hand someone called my set repot with top pair no draws, and hit a runner runner flush for about $250. When I had a big straight draw, or a made straight, my opponent would hit his house. Very frustrating, although to be fair I did one outer someone hitting quad kings on a cold decked AK3 rainbow board against his set of Aces for $200.
2) Sunday morning seems to be a good time to play Omaha on Stars, because you play a lot of eastern time Americans who are tired/drunk.
3) A German player called a Canadian an "arschloch" in the chatbox, which tickled me. Mental note to incorporate this fine word into my online poker vocabulary.
4) I tried out a new button strategy in the second session. Generally people will only bet when they have it in Omaha (or a very good draw). When on the button, I began potting it on the turn if it was checked round to me (after all players check on the flop), even when I had nothing. People rarely slowplay in Omaha, and if you pot the turn after all have checked, they rarely have the odds for any draw they may have, and will always pass top pair. If you get re-raised you can just pass, but due to the lack of action previously in the hand, the pot bets don't cost you much. I estimate this strategy generated $150 of profit over the session, as you take down a succession of $12/$18 pots.
5) Players from Buenos Aries are insane. One guy repotted me twice for his whole $90 stack, with 455A against my AAJT. He immediately reloaded, so it's not as if he was having a last gamble of the evening.
6) I was less gung-ho with my flopped sets in the second session. Normally I repot agressively, but I'm starting to think people will call their big draws on the flop nearly always. I experimented with slow-playing, and if the turn is a blank, going to war at that point because they have much poorer odds to call, and will likely pass. If the turn is a danger card, you can simply call to try and house up, depending on the action. I guess I give up a lot of all-in pots where they don't hit doing this, but I also save all the ones I would lose as well. I'm undecided whether this is a +ev strategy yet or not.
I'm still a relative novice at Omaha, but I definitely feel I am improving pretty quickly now. Omaha is by far my favourite cash game to play now, as you can be in a ton of pots pre-flop without it being -ev, on the six handed tables in any case.
Deep stack tournaments take centre stage this week, with four tournaments on consecutive nights with starting stacks of 7k, 4k, 8k and 20k. Time to patiently pick spots I guess.
PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,805
Live Holdem Cash (1485)
Live Omaha (290)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (6,316)
Home Games 320
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,678
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 1410
Sundry 930
Rake (4,347)
65,330
The Butterfly Effect
Date: Fri, Aug 15, 2008 Professional
Blutterfly Effect definitions:
1) Phenomenon whereby a small change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. (Chaos Theory)
2) Hartnett, Josh. Wooden.
It's the £50 League Freezeout at the Loose Cannon. What started as a long day at the office for Shazbo ended with Britney eyeballing me with fury, as if I had just spat on her shoe.
Hand1
I limp for 50 UTG with AsKs. 2 other callers, and then Tom repops it on the button to 200. I flat call as does Britney.
Flop Ad, 10s, 2c
I check, as does Britney and Tom as expected fires 350. I make is 1000 to go and all fold.
Hand2
I raise a limper in mid position with AdAc to 400. Maltese Mike calls as does one other.
Flop is 10h 9c 5s
I bet 1000 and Mike calls.
Turn 6h (I think) - remember board getting very drawy.
I shove and Mike folds. Lucky I shoved as Mike lays down both straight and flush draws, and would have called most other bets I think.
Up to about 8k after this pot.
2 HOURS EARLIER
Shazbo is having a bad day at work, with meetings over-running which leads to......
........getting caught in the heavy traffic which leads to...............
........fatigue and stress which leads to...........
Hand3
Shazbo raises to 300 in mid position and Britney calls.
Flop is As, Qd, Jc
Shazbo bets 600 and Britney calls.
Turn Ad
Shazbo checks and Britney bets 1k. Shazbo calls
River is a blank
Check Check
Britney states "2 pair" and tables QT. Shazbo in her state of tiredness mucks, before suddenly realising that she has just given away a 3.5k pot with the best hand (QK).
This gives Britney a decent stack which she shouldn't have, which leads to..........
Hand4
I raise to 600 with AQ. Britney calls
Flop is K, Q, 10
I lead for 1000 and Britney shoves for 3475 more. Hmm - well I know I am behind, but it's a question of how far, because I am getting pot odds of close to 2-1. Britney normally plays premium pairs strong pre-flop, so I don't put her on AA, KK or QQ. Could be a set of tens, but I fancy KQ for top 2 pair, which is now being protected. That gives me 3 Aces and 4 Jacks for the win, so about 28% chance of outdrawing KQ with the last 2 cards. I can add a few percent for the chance that she has KT and the Queens are outs. If I am right, I might just about have the odds.
I call and due to the chip bonus from the previous hand, Britney has trapped me with Aces! Great - only 2 clean outs or the Jacks for the split.
I miss and am now short stacked on 1.5k.........which leads to
........a double up in the next level from an Ace rag shove which puts me up 4k which leads to............
Hand5
Blinds now 300-600 so I have to get busy ahead of the final table. Folded round to me and I decide I'm going to shove anything so pop it in with Q5 off. Britney snap calls in the Big Blind with AQ and I am somewhat in trouble. However, like Mr Hartnett at a Hollywood casting session, somehow it goes in my favour and I am up to 8k for the final table. Britney is furious - giving me the silent eyeball treatment much reminiscent of my married years.
Onto the final table we go - I am still below average in chips, but at least we are now playing 9 handed, so the blinds take longer to come around. I get a couple of raises through but then raise Britney's big blind with 7h8h for 2200. Since I am still in the doghouse I get shoved on by Britney, and decide I have already made one bad call in this tournament so I pass.
This leads to me being short stacked and I shove into an unopened pot with Ks4s. I get called by Al who has a big stack in the big blind who has QJ. It's looking good with a King and a Jack on the flop, but unfortunately another Jack on the turn ends my hopes, and I exit in 6th spot.
No points for me, and I imagine that Sir Mike has now opened up a substantial lead at the top following a string of good results. Still, it's still early days and, as we saw, anything can happen at the freeroll at the end. I'm still well placed, probably in 2nd or 3rd place.
I made £80 during 2 hours at the cash table to generate a small profit for the night. It was a pretty action packed table - the highlight being McDee hitting a straight flush and getting paid by The Baron holding top 2. Mcdee had the vanilla straight when the money went in.
Next week is a very busy tournament schedule with games 4 days on the bounce, including the Gutshot Open Main Event and the reinvented Deep Stack City 100. I'm looking forward to getting back in the tournament swing after a quiet couple of weeks.
PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,805
Live Holdem Cash (1485)
Live Omaha (290)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (6,316)
Home Games 320
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,678
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 930
Sundry 930
Rake (4,347)
64,950
Home Game - Jet Lagged
Date: Mon, Aug 11, 2008 Professional
I currently feel totally spaced out, after the mammoth home game I hosted this weekend, which has completely messed up my body clock. The tournaments started at 12pm on Saturday lunchtime, and the cash game ended at 3pm on Sunday afternoon - a 27 hour session. Some way short of some of the records set by Gus Hansen, but draining nonetheless.
I won the Main Event, bubbled the Omaha and had a small win in the cash game. Debbie beat McDee in the final of the heads up (which cost Baron Bookmakers £320), Rhys and Mark S chopped the turbo, and Sir Mike beat out Jalfont and Mark S in the Omaha. Shazbo appeared to be the big winner in the cash game, finishing up about £500 for the night/morning.
I bided my time in the 15k stack Main Event. I was crippled down to 4k at the first break after a squeeze play gone wrong, trebled up with a monster hand where my set morphed into a house on the turn, and arrived at the final table pretty short stacked with 25k (I think McDee and Jalfont were playing about 80k stacks at this point). Honest Dave was absolutely hammered, and shoved for 30k with K4off UTG and managed to knock out Sir Mike and Mark S, before quickly committing poker suicide.
I slowly built my stack up to average, before knocking out Shazbo (AK v AQ) and McDee (A10 v 33) which left me heads up with Jalfont with about a 2-1 chip defecit. Our heads up went on for about 90 minutes and 6 levels, before I finally got the chips after the professor had slow played TT and I hit an Ace on the turn.
A great weekend of poker, but I am pretty exhausted now, so won't be playing for the next few days as I need a rest.
The next game will be Thursday at LC for the League, before a busy week of tournaments the following week:
Weds: City 100 Deepstack (£100)
Thurs: LC League (£50)
Fri: Gutshot Omaha (£150)
Sat: Gutshot Open Main Event (£500)
PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,905
Live Holdem Cash (1,645)
Live Omaha (290)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (6,316)
Home Games 320
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,678
Online Holdem Cash 17,027
Online Omaha 930
Sundry 930
Rake (4,337)
64,900
Home Game Preview
Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2008 Professional
It's the next instalment of my home game on Saturday, and things are being run a little different from before. This time we have a festival of poker with four tournament events and 23 runners total, and even have full odds lists on two of the events. I'm going to preview the events below, and will see how I do on the prediction front.
Before that, I should report I also played at LC on Wednesday and didn't do well at all. I never got going in the tournament and ended up giving my £20 bounty away when AT couldn't beat out 45 (although I was admittedly short stacked).
I also continue to run bad on the cash game, and I've been outdrawn now in two big pots in the last seven days. I got a double up to £300 when getting into an Omaha set over set confrontation with The Volcano, but then lost about £150 bluffing to Tom who made a great call with 77 with two overcards on the board. I was playing pretty well but was down to playing my original £150 stack (after lending out £80) when this hand rears it's head. Deven and Dave limp (Holdem) and I decide to check AA in the big blind for super deception (although laden with risk).
Flop comes Q, 9, 2
Memory is a bit hazy as to the betting, but it all ends up in for a £300 pot. Dave has Q5 and hits another Queen on the river :( It looks like this will be my first losing quarter since this time last year unless I get a good result in the upcoming Gutshot Main Event. Perhaps I should stop playing in the late summer :)
Anyhow - Home Game events preview:
Event 1 - NLHE - £30 turbo - 3k stack with 15 minute levels.
I imagine this event will only have about 12 runners as several people will arrive late. The turbo structure will suit the looser more agressive players. I'll go for Uncle Paulie or Honest Dave to win this one.
Event 2 - £20 Omaha rebuy - 2k stacks/3k add-on - 20 minute levels
The number of potential winners and the field are probably narrower on this one. Hard to pick a winner - I guess I'll plump for the Baron, but wide open of the players who do play. I'm probably looking forward to this tournament the most.
Event 3 - £30 Heads Up - 3k stack per match
The draw for this has already been made. I have found myself vying for joint favouritism with Honest Dave in the Baron's odds book, but I doubt I'll get many takers in my current form. I've also got a tough opener against Jody (although his form has also tailed off). I've put a tenner on Wiggly for this one - as he tells me he has a strong heads-up game. Although my Uncle also told me it would be a hung parliament when Tony Blair swept into power in a landslide in 1997, which cost me £1000 on a spread bet (and since I was unemployed at the time wasn't the most helpful tip I have been given). I hope Wiggly isn't also talking out of his backside.
Event 4 - £80 Main Event - 15k starting stack
Ah-ha - the real tournament - deep stacked with lots of room for play. This should have the biggest field at 23 and will be a tough tournament. If any tournament can get me out of my shallow form it will be this one, because I have lots of time to play my way in, and am more used to deep stacks than some of the other players. The Baron will either win or spend his chips quicker than Paris Hilton. I've gone for an each way bet on Briony, because she is a pretty tight player and is in a good run of form.
Who knows what will happen in the cash game, although it is a certainty I will be outdrawn for £200 at some point in the evening ;) Looking forward to this very much (the festival, not the outdraw).
PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,905
Live Holdem Cash (1645)
Live Omaha (290)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (6,316)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,678
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 930
Sundry 930
Rake (4,337)
64,120
Japanese Roadworks
Date: Tue, Aug 5, 2008 Professional
My Japanese friend used to often confess his amazement at how the UK road system was constantly riddled with roadworks in the rush hour, bringing the traffic to a standstill. Whilst in England night and weekend work is often deemed too expensive, our oriental brothers commence work at 8pm, and often have it finished by 6am the next morning.
Last night's £50 freezeout at the Gutshot became trappy quite quickly, and thus favoured Japanese workman tactics. Shovel the chips into the pot at every opportunity, pick up blinds as quickly as possible, and hopefully leave with the job done at the end of the night.
The tournament had plenty of play in the first 3 levels - 5k starting stack and 20 minute blind levels. I played 3 hands in the opening hour before changing into Japanese workman mode.
Hand1
I raise a couple of limpers to 500 with 88, and the BB shoves for 3k. I pass and he shows Aces.
Hand2
I limp on the button with A4 and take the pot down on the turn when no-one shows interest.
Hand3
I limp in with J9 and see a Jack high flop. However I have to let the hand go without betting, after heavy action before me - winner has a set.
As you can see - not much to get excited about in the first hour - no premium hands and my stack is down to 3.6k. Blinds are 200-400 next so it's time to get busy.
It's clear this is going to turn into a crapshoot so I go into uber agressive mode.
Hand4
I shove with 78 offsuit and the big blind scratches his chin and says "I put you on Jacks" and folds. I tell him he has made a good read, but I wonder how long it will take for me to totally trash my rock solid table image.
Hand5
3 hands later I shove an unopened pot with 5d7d and someone comments that I am getting a good run of cards. Up to 4.5k.
Hand6
There is a shove and a call in front of me, and I look down at my one premium hand of the night AhKh. I call and win against JJ and A5 and triple up to 13k. The Japanese roadworks are progressing well.
Hand7
I raise to 2k with A7 and get shoved on for 7k total. I pass. Down to 10k.
25 players remain from the 40 - blinds are 400-800 and my stack, which is about average, only has about 12 big blinds in it. I decide to change gears up to maniac agresssive.
Hand8
Button raises on my big blind to 2k and I shove for 12k total with Qh9h. He surprisingly snap calls with 88 (I guess this is evidence of my table image being now shot) and he wins. He only has 8k total though so I am left with 4k.
Hand9
I am UTG and shove with Q10 and get called in mid position by 77 - I win the race and bust him to move up to 7k.
Hand10
One orbit later I shove in mid position with 82offsuit and get called by short stacked AQ and big stack AK. AQ wins, but a 2 on the flop gives me the side pot. Not wanting a repeat of the Empire side pot debacle, I start fiddling with the pot,which earns me a rebuke from the tournament director. Side pot is calculated successfully and I am left on 6k.
15 players left - 6 get paid.
Hand11
Folded to me in mid position and I shovel the chips in with 9Tsuited. Big blind umms and arrs and eventually calls with KQ to bust me and I am out. 2 bounties won, which I tip to the dealers.
Much chip shovelling, and pretty good fun.
I also registered for the Gutshot Festival Main Event last night, which takes place at the end of August. With a 20k starting stack and 90 minute clock, I would like the think that the Japanese shovel will stay firmly in the work tent for that one.
PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 3,945
Live Holdem Cash (1345)
Live Omaha (290)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (6,316)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,678
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 930
Sundry 934
Rake (4,337)
64,500
Simultaneous Poker Equations
Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2008 Professional
Hands from last night - solve for "X"
Tournament hand: KK v JJ = "X"
£600 cash pot: KhQh v 6c8c on a board of Jc8h10d9c = "X"
Solution: "X" = :(
Not a good few days. £190 down in cash for two sessions. No placing in the only tournament played this week. Next week should see 2 or 3 tournaments, so hopefully things will pick up.
PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 4,025
Live Holdem Cash (1345)
Live Omaha (290)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (6,316)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,678
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 930
Sundry 934
Rake (4,327)
64,590
Getting Distracted
Date: Mon, Jul 28, 2008 Professional
Using my basic knowledge of military history, together with the historical documentaries that were the Indiana Jones films, it seems that key Nazi goals during the war were: (in no particular order)
Invasion of Poland
Genocide
Opening Ark of the Covenant
Occupation of France
Blitzkreig of the Netherlands
Recovery of Holy Grail
Now call me a conservative war stategist, but I imagine Hitler's WWII plans would have stood a greater chance of succeeding if he was not continually redeploying troops from outside Paris to a distant arabic desert to search for the cup of life. I also note from the films that these were not rank and file soldiers either, but in fact some of the top SS brass. No wonder the German war effort fell short.
Distraction can undermine everyone's best efforts, and so it proved on Saturday night, while I was playing a raft of online tournaments for the first time in several months.
At about 11pm I was playing the pokerstars $50 event, alongside two Full Tilt tournaments. Things had not been going well throughout the evening. I had not flopped a single set, which ruined my standard strategy of "flop set/bust overpair". I had got the money all in twice in previous tournaments with flopped open-ended straight flush draws, but missed all the outs when called by the top pair. My mid tournament resteals had been called in numerous spots by people raising with AT and AJ, and my 40% chances were not saving me.
It was fair to say I was in a pretty dark mood, so it was the perfect time to run into my favourite opponent - the young, niggly, online US/Canadian player.
I am playing 8k from a 3k starting stack in the Stars tournament, and am above average. I re-raise a raiser with AdKd on the button and get called by the big blind as well as the original raiser (standard).
Flop comes King high but all clubs.
I check, to avoid being flush bluffed. Turn is a blank
Checked to me so I lead for 2/3 of the pot. The big blind sticks around.
River is a blank so I call down his 1/2 pot bet on the river and am shown the flopped 8 high flush.
"Good call - thank you" he types in the chatbox.
Clearly, this lights the blue touchpaper and I waste about 5 minutes lauching a tirade against the perpetrator, and am playing scant attention to the other two games.
He is giving it the big one, about his tournament wins/cash prowess when the next hand occurs.
I value bet TPTK on the river against someone else, and get called by top two pair to move down to average stack.
"Lol - you should come and watch me play live and take notes donk" types the villain from the flush hand.
I am now INCANDESCENT with rage. I decide enough is enough.
I put myself in "Sit out" mode from all tournaments, and actually go to the effort of subsribing to two online rankings websites and pull up the stats on this player. It turns out this guy has a return on investment of negative 49% and has a list of tournament non-cashes as long as the River Nile.
I am just about to use my new found knowledge to give him a keyboard beating, when I get moved to a new table. INFURIATING. At this point I decide, I better re-focus on the tournaments in hand, only to discover I only have 4 big blinds on one of the FT tournaments while this virtual warfare has been going on. In the pokerstars tournament, I hover over my avatar to see that I have just auto-folded pocket Queens. Marvellous.
I didn't cash in a single tournament this Saturday - my worst online performance for a long time. A $700 loss registered for the night, and perhaps a lesson learned to switch off the chat box in future.
So, distraction was fatal for me in these tournaments as it was for the Nazis in the 1940s. Imagine if, back in WWII, the Allies had combined their war efforts with searching for the Lost City of Atlantis. Perhaps all of us European players would be listening to oom-pah bands on our iPods........... ;)
PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 4,125
Live Holdem Cash (965)
Live Omaha (290)
Live "Professional" Tournaments (6,316)
Home Games (460)
Online Holdem Tournaments 55,678
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 930
Sundry 934
Rake (4,317)
65,080