Laying the Omaha Smack Down!

I have been playing some great Omaha!...I think. While I've played a reasonable amount of limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split, today might mark the first time that I've ever played pot limit Omaha 6 handed. I feel pretty comfortable which is a sign that I know what I'm doing, but there is some chance that I've just been running crazy hot.

The first key hand came with blinds of 40/80. I got dealt AJT3 with the JT of clubs and I raised to 240 from the button. The big blind called and the flop came down 5 8 9 with two clubs. I had an open ended straight draw and a flush draw. The big blind had flopped top set and had a smaller flush draw, and a worse straight draw with 9966 (crazy how much you can have going on when you have 4 cards huh?). He checked and I bet the pot which was 520, and he raised the pot making it a little over 2,000 to go. I moved all in for about 3,500 and he called. The turn was a 7 the river was a 3 and I was in business.

The next big hand came when I got dealt. AJT7 with the A7 of clubs and the JT of spades. The blinds were 50/100, I raised to 300 from the cutoff and got called by the button. The flop came down K J 8 with two spades and one club giving me all kinds of marginal shit, but no real monster draws. I checked and my opponent bet the pot which was 750. On the turn I made my flush when the 7 of spades dropped, but I wasn't sure it was the best hand and I didn't want to get all of my chips in the pot if I could avoid it. We both checked the turn which I thought meant my hand was good for sure. But the river paired the king which was about the worst card in the world. Now if my opponent had a set or kings up he just made a full house and if I did have him beat I couldn't bet and get paid off. I checked and my opponent immediately bet the pot. The bullshit alarm starting ringing at maximum volume in my head. I thought there was no way he'd bet the whole pot (which was now over 2,000) with a full house so I instantly called. He turned over A993 (a real garbage hand) and showed that he's also made a flush on the turn but his was with the 93 of spades.

After that hand I was up to over 15,000 (I'd won a few mid sized pots between the hands I mentioned. but I faded back down to about 11,000 by the time the next big hand came up. With blinds at 100/200 I raised with AKT3 with the AK of spades to 600. I got called by the button and the big blind and got one of the best possible flops QJ9 with three different suits (one being a spade)! I had the nuts and barring a board pair or two running cards of the same suit I'd have the nuts on the turn and the river. I bet out 2/3 of the pot and got called by the big blind. The turn was another beauty - the 2 of spades! Now I had a flush draw too. Again I bet 2/3 of the pot and got called. The river was the ace of clubs and and I bet all of my remaining chips (about 6,700) into the 16,000 chip pot. My opponent thought for a long time and finally called me with T874 for a lower straight! BOOM!

I've dropped back 1,000 chips, but I'm at 21,700 and in 114th place with 459 players left. 360 is the money and pays $343. I'll post more about the prizes when I make the money.

2008 Event #7 ($215 6-Max PLO) Underway

We started today's $215 buy in 6 handed pot limit Omaha tournament with 2,457 players (a few more than I expected). I played a $55 satellite to this tournament earlier with no luck, but it was still a good warm up.

After an hour of play we're down to 1,535 players! That is a ton of bust outs for the first hour of a tournament where everyone starts with such deep stacks. I guess it's the nature of 6 handed play that you have many more major confrontations than you do at a full table. I also suspect it has something to do with most of these players having no clue what they're doing.

I'm doing OK. I had my starting stack of 3,000 chips up to about 4,000 then I dropped down to 2,000 when I made the second nuts against the nuts (something that happens much more in Omaha than in hold'em). But I've wiggled back up to about 2,700.

For those of you who know nothing about Omaha I'll give you a brief description. It works just like hold'em except instead of 2 cards everyone is dealt 4 cards. You then use EXACTLY 2 of those four cards along with the 5 community board cards to make your best 5 card poker hand. So for example if your hand is AAAK and the flop is A K 2, you don't have four of a kind or even a full house. The best hand you can make is three of a kind using two aces from your hand and one on the board. Also if your hand is the ace of hearts and 3 small clubs and the board comes with four hearts on it, you don't have a flush. You have to use exatly two cards from your hand and three from the board.

I'll post again in a few hours.

2008 WCOOP Event #7 & Event #8 Preview

After a good 24 hours of angry sulking I've moved passed my collapse in Event #3 and now feel pretty good about finishing 33rd in a field of 2,200+ players.

I'm going pretty far off the beaten path with events 7 and 8. Event 7 is $215 6 handed Pot Limit Omaha. Those of you who are regular blog readers (thanks for the recent comment Davis) will know that I haven't mentioned anything about pot limit Omaha since the 2006 WCOOP (I think).

This isn't exactly my bread and butter, but in either 2005 or 2006 I did have a cash is a pot limit Omaha event in the WCOOP so this isn't just a waste of $215. Also when it comes down to it a lot of tournament poker is making moves based on your stack and your opponents stacks not what cards you have. Many skills that I have from my vast tournament experience are going to transfer here.

Also there are going to be 1,000-2,000 people in this tournament and only about 200 of them are going to know a damn thing about pot limit Omaha. If you put out a $215 WCOOP tournament everyone is going to want to play no matter what it is and I should be way better than those slugs.

I'll be playing a $55 satellite in the morning to get warmed up and with some luck I'll be able to make some noise.

Event #8 is one where I will be much more at home...at least compared to the other players. Event $8 is $320 8-game mixed (I guess that's the best name they could come up with). As you might have guessed it's a mix of 8 different forms of poker.

Specifically it is a rotation of these 8 games: Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Low Ball (a game I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned on the blog and maybe the form of poker at which I am worst...period), Limit Hold 'em, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, Limit Razz, Limit 7 Card Stud, Limit Stud Hi-Lo, No Limit Hold 'em and Pot Limit Omaha. Pretty nuts huh?

This is essentially HORSE with three more games added and I expect that the same reasons that I've been killing the HORSE tournaments are going to lead to a good showing here.

For those of you who are wondering what in the hell "Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Low Ball" is I will try to explain. There are blinds just like in hold 'em, but instead of getting two cards, each player gets five cards all of which are concealed. There is a round of betting and then players get to throw away some of their cards and draw news ones just like in the classic poker variation five card draw. The BIG difference between this game and five card draw is players draw new cards THREE times with a round of betting between each draw - hence the name "Triple Draw." Of course you can fold before the first draw, or after, or after the second or third draw if there's a bet and you don't like your hand.

The "Low Ball" part of the name means that instead of trying to make the best hand you can, you're trying to make the WORST hand you can. Lastly the "2-7" part of the name means that straights and flushes count against you and aces are the highest rank. In regular Low Ball (and other games played for low like Razz) the best hand is A2345, but in 2-7 Low Ball the best possible hand is 2 3 4 5 7 with at least two suits represented. Anyway it might sound like some wacky shit, but it's a game that's been part of the WSOP for years and is one of those games that's either played for very low stakes or supercrazyhighthousandsofdollarsflyingaroundlikenickels (a very technical term) stakes.

I'll be playing a $55 satellite to this one too and there will be a second chance tournament for each event as well (probably with buy ins of $162 and $215) although I might skip the Omaha second chance. I'll keep you posted on all of my results.

One in a Hundred?

I finished 33rd...How the hell did that happen? I blew through all of my chips in about a half an hour. In the span of 34 hands I lost with A8s, A7s, AQ THREE TIMES, pocket queens, KQ suited, and AJ twice. In 34 f-ing hands I got dealt all of those hands and lost them all!!!

I was in third place with 36 players left and finished 33rd. I can hardly believe it. If you put me in that spot with 36 players left I would finish 33rd or worse AT MOST 1 time in 100. It might be more like 1 in 1,000. In order to lose all those hands not only do I have to miss, but my opponents have to hit something! Late in a tournament like this there are so many times when you raise, get called, bet and your opponent folds. But these slugs managed to hit time after time. And I couldn't make a damn thing.

33rd place paid $858. It just so happens that this was almost exactly enough to get me even for the WCOOP. My starting bankroll of $10,000 is all the way up to $10,007.

I hate wasted opportunities. I know after 5 years of doing this that these situations don't come along that often and to totally blow this one is crushing. To play 12 hours and be knocking on the door of a solid five figure pay day and end up with bullshit $858 just sucks.

I'm going to a wedding tomorrow so no WCOOP until Monday. I'll put up a preview sometime soon.

More Progress

Down to 36 players after 11 hours and 20 minutes of play. I dropped down to about 125,000 (about average) after a few tough hands, but then just like in previous sections of this tournament I came back!

I'm up to over 350,000 which has me in 3rd. The big money jumps start at 18 and that's when I'm going to start getting excited.

A GREAT Hour!

In the last hour I've won a ton of pots. I made two more sets - one against top pair and one against another set!

I also had a great hand a moment ago where I snapped off a bluff. I raised with AQ and got called by the small blind. The flop came down 789, my opponent check raised me and I called. The turn was another 9, he bet and I called. The river was a 4 and he bet again. If he had anything but a bluff I was dead, but I figured that if he had a pocket pair above 9 he would have three bet before the flop and it just didn't make sense for him to call a raise with a mid range cards. I thought maybe he had AT so I called. It turned out he had QJ and I took down a 30,000 chip pot.

I forgot to post the above and took a quick shower on my 5 minute break. After my shower I made two more sets! I have NEVER made so many sets in one tournament. The first came with TT in a 3 way preflop capped pot. The flop came down KJ5 which pretty much meant I was dead, but since there was 28,000 in the pot and it only cost me 2,000 to see another card, I decided to gamble. The turn was a ten! BOOM! My opponent had AK and paid me off after I check raised him on the turn and bet the river.

I'm up to 240,000 and in 1st place with 81 players left!! The player in second has 40,000 less than me and average is about 84,000. This could be some good shit!

A turbulent few rounds

After my last post I immediately ran my stack up to 75,000 was in 5th place. Then I had an equally quick melt down. I started making a bunch of second best hands. If it was no limit I would have gone broke three times at least in the past two hours. One hand in particular that was interesting was with the limits at 1,200/2,400 I open raised with QQ and got three bet. I capped the betting at 4,800 and the flop came down KJT all spades. I had the queen of spades so we capped it again on the flop. The turn was a jack which given the fact that I thought my opponent had either AA, KK, JJ or TT meant I was probably in bad shape. The river brought no help and my opponent dragged the pot with KK.

A few hands later I lost another big pot with AK vs QQ. I flopped a flush draw and bet it hard. But I missed it and lost another big one.

Just after that I had KQ vs AJ. There was heavy raising preflop, one bet on the flop and when I turned a king I figured I had the best hand. But the river game my opponent a flush.

I lost a few more pots and all of a sudden I was down to about 15,000 wondering what the hell happened.

But then I had a big turn around. I raised under the gun with 88 ended up flopping a set and got so much action from top pair that I was actually all in. Happily I won and had myself back up to 30,000.

I chopped out a few small ones and got back to 40,000. Then I made another set and got up to 50,000. Two marginal hands that I raised hit top pair and after getting some action on both I now find myself with 75,000 chips. Right was I was before.

We're down to 124 and I'm in 21st.

Also I made the money in the $162 second chance and then quickly went broke. My finish in 26th of 144 paid $216 which is only a profit of $54. Not too exciting, but cashes are always good for morale!

In the Money in Event #3!

We dropped under 324 players a little more than 6 hours into play in today's limit hold'em event. I am still doing really well. Right now average is just over 20,000. I was up to 40,000 and then fell back to about 17,000. But after snapping off a major bluff, and hitting more than one very favorable turn card I turboed all the way up to 50,000 chips which has me in 19th place.

I'm also doing well in the $162 WCOOP second chance tournament. We started that one with 144 players (WAY fewer than I would have expected - I would have guessed we'd get about 500) and are down to 34. I'm in 14th and it pays 27 spots. In that one I need to make it to 5th to net $1,000 and 1st is $4,644.

I'll put up another post in a few hours or if I go broke in either tournament.

If you want to watch the action live you can go to www.pokerstars.com and download the software. Once you do that you can click on "Requests" at the top center of the software, and then select "Find a player" and then type in acesedai. It will give you a list of the tables I'm on and if you double click on them it will take you to the table or the tournament lobby. If it takes you to the tournament lobby you can look for acesedai in the list of players on the right and double click on my name and it will tell you my table number. If you want to watch more than one table at once I think you need to create and account and log in (a fairly easy task). PLEASE let me know if you want to watch, but are having trouble getting set up. I'm happy to help.

Event #3 further update

We're about 3 hours and 40 minutes into Event #3. We've played about 225 hands and I'm still doing very well. We're down to 840 players and the average stack is just about 8,000 chips. I have 20,300 and right now I'm in 12th place.

I've been playing well, but I have to say that I've been getting great cards. I've had AA three times and KK twice. More importantly I've been making all of my draws. I've made at least three straights and two flushes and have gotten paid off to the river on all of them.

I've taken 3 or 4 hits along the way where I had a very strong hand and lost. But it seems like as soon as I drop some chips I make a big hand right afterwards and get them all back.

Also forgot to mention that earlier I won a $55 satellite to today's $215 event. I did drop $22.50, and $25 on two other satellites, but between the three I put a little $112.50 dent in the WCOOP losses so far.

If I don't make the money in this limit tournament with all the chips I have I'm going to be super pissed! I'll put up a post when I make the money.

Event #3 Underway!

We started today's $215 Limit Hold'em event with 2,258 entrants. The tournament pays 324 spots with 324th paying $361 gross. To net $500 I need to make it to 72nd, 18th pays $1,806, 9th is 5,012 and 1st place is $73,385.

After an hour of play I've been dealt 63 hands and I've won 11 pots. I've got my starting stack of 3,000 up to 5,150 and I'm feeling good about my chances. I'll put up a brief update after the third break 2 hours from now.