Second Chance Update

We're down to 14 in the PLO second chance. I'm in 7th, but still not in great shape chips wise since there are 3 or 4 guys with TONS of chips. If I'm going to make the final table (which is only 6 players) I'm going to have to made some progress while contending with players who have 5 times as many chips as I do and can apply major pressure.

I've been all in a few time and survived recently so no matter what happens I'll feel good. If I can hang on for a little while 10th-12th pays $715, and 7th-9th pays $1,192.

I'm also still in the 8-game second chance. There are 62 of the original 108 entrants left after 2.5 hours. I'm in 39th which is great because I had one foot in the grave about 10 minutes ago.

2008 WCOOP Event #7 ($215 6-max PLO) Recap

I finished 146th out of 2,457 in the pot limit Omaha today which paid $688. This was a great result for a tournament that I almost didn't play and in which I had fairly low expectations.

Right after we made the money I won a huge pot and foundmyself with 47,000 chips which was about twice average. But then I made a few questionable plays, had a few good bluffs not work out, missed a few draws and before I knew it I was out.

I feel great about this result. It's an odd contrast between the Limit Hold'em where I finished 33rd and felt super pissed.

In other good news I've made the money in the WCOOP $162 PLO 6-max second chance! We're down to 36 from a starting field of 318. I'm in 11th place right now and have guarenteed a gross payout of $334. 9th pays $1,192 and first pays $8,824 so while it's not going to be time to pur champagne over my head if I win, there are still some solid bucks to be had.

I'm also in the $215 8 game second chance, but it's in the early stages.

2008 WCOOP Event #8 (8-game) Recap

I finished 935th in the 8-games event. I can't remember any major hands that did me in. It's was just a gradual erosion. Actually Razz really did me in the second time we played it. I started with 3 cards below 5 three times (about as good as it gets in Razz), got heavy action and didn't make anything. Oh well.

Event #7 update

We're in the money in the Omaha! I'm in 110 0f 342 with 23,700 chips. I need to make it to 96th place which pays $933 to show a sure profit for the day. Of course I'm still in the $320 8 game, the $162 PLO, the $215 PLO and the $215 8 game so really I haven't lost anything and could make the money in other tournaments as well. But if I make it to 96th I'll be guaranteed a profit no matter what.

WCOOP Event #8 Underway!

We started the $320 8 game mix bananas nutso tournament with 1,128 players. I forgot to mention in my preview that this is also a six handed table event which I think adds to my advantage. An hour and a half in we're down to 1,037 and I'm still sitting on my starting stack of 4,000. A long way to go before this one gets interesting. 168th is the money and pays $507, 30th would net me $1,000+ and first is $56,174.

I've also decided to play the $162 WCOOP PLO 6 handed second chance. Hopefully that will go as well as my other Omaha tournament is going!

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.