I really wish they were, but it doesn't seem to be. I am now officially a losing PLO cash player, and while I haven't kept detailed stats over the years on my NLHE cash play I suspect I am a marginally losing player in that too. I'm not really sure what the problem(s) is/are.
Tournament play still sucks balls as well, although I still have faith in my game in that format. I thought I was going to cash for the first time in a week last night when I lasted ok in an Omaha Hi donkament, but then I bubbled when I flopped middle set on an A93 rainbow board only to find some knobhead had open-limped an AAxx hand and flopped the only hand that I was behind.
Someone please make it be over.
Showing posts with label pot limit omaha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pot limit omaha. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Monday, 16 June 2008
PLOrly?
What with having to play an impromptu round of my club's tennis tournament, attending a family get-together in honor of Father's Day and the rare occasion (since Nick Faldo's peak) of an English golfer being in a genuine position to win a Major going into the final round, I didn't get to play much poker yesterday. But once Lee Westwood's final putt on the 18th faded agonisingly across the green at around 2am my time, I fired up the .10/.25 PLO tables again and had another winning session of around 1/2 a buy-in. Most of the profit came courtesy of the ironically named "Shipithere"; firstly he banged all his chips in on the flop with what he thought was a massive draw (two small clubs for a flush draw and KQ for an open-ended straight), but the 15 outs he thought he had were actually only 5 outs because along with my overpair I had a better flush draw and was holding two of the aces that made outs for his straight. Pwned. He left the table and returned 30 minutes later in a different seat, and promptly slowplayed a flopped set allowing me to hit a gutshot draw on the turn for the nut broadway straight. I think I love him.
Session ended when I got check/minraise on the river making a very thin value bet that may have been a bad idea (I had flopped the nut flush but the board paired on the turn, and he ultimately showed down a boat). I'm still undecided whether my value bet was spewy or ok, I think I get paid off by smaller flushes... but maybe checking behind would have been better. And his min-raise was so little relative to the pot that I felt it was worth calling (people had been going broke with weak flushes at this table with regularity), but again, maybe it was wrong. After this hand I looked at the clock and realised it was just beginning to get light again and perhaps this was a sign to get to bed.
So, that makes 3 PLO sessions and 3 winning sessions. Which is utterly, utterly irrelevant, I know, because a $50 win followed by a $25 loss is better than two $10 wins. But when you are feeling your way in the game like I am, it is nice to have some sort of consistency to your success; it breeds more confidence that I am actually doing a few things right.
Session ended when I got check/minraise on the river making a very thin value bet that may have been a bad idea (I had flopped the nut flush but the board paired on the turn, and he ultimately showed down a boat). I'm still undecided whether my value bet was spewy or ok, I think I get paid off by smaller flushes... but maybe checking behind would have been better. And his min-raise was so little relative to the pot that I felt it was worth calling (people had been going broke with weak flushes at this table with regularity), but again, maybe it was wrong. After this hand I looked at the clock and realised it was just beginning to get light again and perhaps this was a sign to get to bed.
So, that makes 3 PLO sessions and 3 winning sessions. Which is utterly, utterly irrelevant, I know, because a $50 win followed by a $25 loss is better than two $10 wins. But when you are feeling your way in the game like I am, it is nice to have some sort of consistency to your success; it breeds more confidence that I am actually doing a few things right.
Sunday, 15 June 2008
Another day, another profit...
... of 20 cents. When I titled this blog "small stakes", I wasn't kidding!
I fired up a PLO table, because I have heard from others and also found for myself that the play there is very soft, softer even than low-stakes Hold'em tables. Unfortunately I didn't really hit many flops, but despite losing some money early I ended up ahead 14 big blinds over a short ~100 hand session (sounds better to say it that way instead of "$3.50", doesn't it?). The hand that made the difference was a blind on blind battle (what, a PLO table had everyone fold to the blinds?!?) where I raised with Ad Qd 9d 7s and got called, and hit a monster combo-draw on a Kc 10d 8d flop... 8 diamonds, 3 jacks, 3 sixes are all draws to the nuts for me, so I decide to get all the chips in and my opponent obliges. They show down a flopped two pair, and I am actually about 45:55 underdog when I thought I was a slight favorite, but I rivered a Jack to take the pot; my opponent gets the Sklansky dollars, I get the actual dollars. That was the only hand of any note that I even took to showdown.
I then fired up a $3+.30 turbo donkament, and the play was the worst I have ever seen. Mind you, I think that every time I play donkstakes on the weekends... the shock and disbelief at how horrible most of the play is hits me afresh every time. How does a line of "limp/call a raise of 100 UTG with 4-6sooooted, check/call for half the pot after flopping the bottom end of a gutshot draw, check/call a quarter pot bet on the turn unimproved, and check/muck the river" look to you? Is there a game lurking amidst his/her leaks?!?
Anyway, obviously I bomb out early... have AQ and AK within the first 10 hands, but get too many donks seeing a flop for me to consider c-betting when I whiff both times. Then I get QQ all-in pre-flop against AJo and (wait for it) K7suited (pot committed after their min-raise was re-raised and shoved over, obv *eyeroll*), and I'm out and really quite glad to be away from it. I know I should be happy to play against players like this, but srsly... it's just no fun. It's just not "proper" poker. In a cash game, it's a wet dream and bring them on by the dozen, but in tournaments, which are my bread and butter, you can't reload and stack them after they luck out against you; moreover, while they are guaranteed to give their chips away fairly swiftly, they only have one stack to give away and the odds are it will go to someone else, which not only doesn't benefit you but actively hurts you. Shouldn't grumble though, I'd rather they logged on and donated, I mean played, than not.
I fired up a PLO table, because I have heard from others and also found for myself that the play there is very soft, softer even than low-stakes Hold'em tables. Unfortunately I didn't really hit many flops, but despite losing some money early I ended up ahead 14 big blinds over a short ~100 hand session (sounds better to say it that way instead of "$3.50", doesn't it?). The hand that made the difference was a blind on blind battle (what, a PLO table had everyone fold to the blinds?!?) where I raised with Ad Qd 9d 7s and got called, and hit a monster combo-draw on a Kc 10d 8d flop... 8 diamonds, 3 jacks, 3 sixes are all draws to the nuts for me, so I decide to get all the chips in and my opponent obliges. They show down a flopped two pair, and I am actually about 45:55 underdog when I thought I was a slight favorite, but I rivered a Jack to take the pot; my opponent gets the Sklansky dollars, I get the actual dollars. That was the only hand of any note that I even took to showdown.
I then fired up a $3+.30 turbo donkament, and the play was the worst I have ever seen. Mind you, I think that every time I play donkstakes on the weekends... the shock and disbelief at how horrible most of the play is hits me afresh every time. How does a line of "limp/call a raise of 100 UTG with 4-6sooooted, check/call for half the pot after flopping the bottom end of a gutshot draw, check/call a quarter pot bet on the turn unimproved, and check/muck the river" look to you? Is there a game lurking amidst his/her leaks?!?
Anyway, obviously I bomb out early... have AQ and AK within the first 10 hands, but get too many donks seeing a flop for me to consider c-betting when I whiff both times. Then I get QQ all-in pre-flop against AJo and (wait for it) K7suited (pot committed after their min-raise was re-raised and shoved over, obv *eyeroll*), and I'm out and really quite glad to be away from it. I know I should be happy to play against players like this, but srsly... it's just no fun. It's just not "proper" poker. In a cash game, it's a wet dream and bring them on by the dozen, but in tournaments, which are my bread and butter, you can't reload and stack them after they luck out against you; moreover, while they are guaranteed to give their chips away fairly swiftly, they only have one stack to give away and the odds are it will go to someone else, which not only doesn't benefit you but actively hurts you. Shouldn't grumble though, I'd rather they logged on and donated, I mean played, than not.
Friday, 13 June 2008
Yeah, really don't play when you're annoyed
At least it was only one $3 donk buy-in I wasted by firing up a PLO tourny. Early stages were a roller-coaster; on hand 3 I made a stupid semi-bluff raise with Jd Jh 8h 9s on a Qc 8c 5s flop... it was about as weak a draw as there is, and at these stakes nobody who likes their hand enough to bet it is ever folding to a raise, EVER. So 3 hands in and I've made probably my worst play of the past month, and I just know I should have gone to bed.
2 hands later, I flop a big draw out of the big blind with Ad 3d Qh 2h on a board of 4d Qs 5h... I bet it and 4 of the 5 people call, obv. I whiff, check the turn for a free river and whiff again. That's 1/3 of the chips gone.
2 hands later (this is the still only the 7th hand of the tournament lolz) I catch a break. I see a family flop with Ah 7h 7s 5c and hit middle set. All the chips go in with a villain who shows Ac 4c 8s 9d for a nut flush draw and open-ended straight draw and has me very worried. I dodge good and double through, and my chip stack grows enough to take me into the top 20 of the 105 man field.
Then hand 10 is my doom. After a lot of limpers pre-flop, I pot it with As Ac 8c Jd and thin the field... to four callers! Flop comes 8s 8d 3d, and I'm only behind a 33xx hand. I get all the chips in against a guy who shows the case 8 with a King kicker, but he also has two diamonds which make him a flush on the turn and I fail to suck out on the river.
My last 600 chips last me a couple more orbits while I wait for a hand to take a stand with... eventually I bomb out in 58th when I flop top pair with a weak flush draw and get called by a higher flush draw. Obv when I don't want to catch my flush, I do.
So, some bad luck, some bad play, and as predicted I am pretty annoyed at myself for playing and playing badly when I knew I should just go to bad. The part of me that knew I shouldn't have played is feeling pretty smug though, so I guess it's time to let that part of my schizophrenia dominate. It's called learning from our mistakes I think.
2 hands later, I flop a big draw out of the big blind with Ad 3d Qh 2h on a board of 4d Qs 5h... I bet it and 4 of the 5 people call, obv. I whiff, check the turn for a free river and whiff again. That's 1/3 of the chips gone.
2 hands later (this is the still only the 7th hand of the tournament lolz) I catch a break. I see a family flop with Ah 7h 7s 5c and hit middle set. All the chips go in with a villain who shows Ac 4c 8s 9d for a nut flush draw and open-ended straight draw and has me very worried. I dodge good and double through, and my chip stack grows enough to take me into the top 20 of the 105 man field.
Then hand 10 is my doom. After a lot of limpers pre-flop, I pot it with As Ac 8c Jd and thin the field... to four callers! Flop comes 8s 8d 3d, and I'm only behind a 33xx hand. I get all the chips in against a guy who shows the case 8 with a King kicker, but he also has two diamonds which make him a flush on the turn and I fail to suck out on the river.
My last 600 chips last me a couple more orbits while I wait for a hand to take a stand with... eventually I bomb out in 58th when I flop top pair with a weak flush draw and get called by a higher flush draw. Obv when I don't want to catch my flush, I do.
So, some bad luck, some bad play, and as predicted I am pretty annoyed at myself for playing and playing badly when I knew I should just go to bad. The part of me that knew I shouldn't have played is feeling pretty smug though, so I guess it's time to let that part of my schizophrenia dominate. It's called learning from our mistakes I think.
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