Spend, Spend, Spend!

Bloody hell, I thought there was a credit crunch on. Savacentre was absolutely mobbed, it took me 5 minutes to get out of the petrol station because there were so many cars going into the main shop, and that was 7:00pm at night. Luckily, once we had pushed the booze into the trolley, we were walking past a till as it was opened up so only had 5 minutes to queue. For a change, everyone was being nice, reasonable and pleasant, none of the usual tension you get when the place is heaving.

Personally, I am doing my best to help spend our way out of recession, or rather, my wife is. Fortunately this month I have been able to withdraw £900 from my various poker accounts, with the £ so weak it would be a little bit stupid not to average out a bit at a very nice rate. What was £320 back in September is now coming out at £402 :)

Latest result was my biggest single payout since I started keeping records, with a 1st place in a $2.5k GTD O8 gtd on Blue Square. This was a $10 rebuy, but I only bought in once and did not add-on because I was 5th at the break. Ended up HU about 3:1 down, but the player I was up against had no clue about post-flop play, as the 3rd place finisher kept reminding him while we were playing out. Eventually, this hand gave me the win for $980, an 88/1 result for the $11 buy-in. Once I had more chips than he did the result was never in doubt.

GAME #1935680483: Omaha Hi-Lo PL Tournament 2008-12-21 00:27:53
Table 239203165 (Tournament: $2,500 GP Omaha PL Hi/Lo Buy-In: $10+$1)
Seat 4: brevity ($463888 in chips) DEALER
Seat 10: paskl ($108611 in chips)
brevity: Post SB $8,000
paskl: Post BB $16,000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to brevity [4 As 5h Ac]
Dealt to paskl [4h 9h 10d Jh]
brevity: Raise (NF) $32,000
paskl: Call $16,000
*** FLOP *** [3h 9c 8d]
paskl: Check
brevity: Bet $32,000
paskl: Call $32,000
*** TURN *** [2c]
paskl: Check
brevity: Bet $64,000
paskl: Allin $44,611
*** RIVER *** [2h]
*** SUMMARY ***
brevity: wins $236,611

I cashed in the same tourney the night after in 13th, but only for the minimum, while at the same time finishing 14th in a $5 PLO rebuy on the same site. This is handy, because my results on Full Tilt have gone absolutely toilet. I think maybe 3-tabling the MTTs is reducing my feel for the players, so I am not making the moves I should be at the right time. Case in point in the 2nd BSq rebuy, I dithered about making a call UTG with a semi-decent starting hand, against a short stack BB. I would have upped my stack by 50% with that call, which would have meant a 2nd final table running, and it was a call I knew I should have made.

Alternative theory is that since the beginning of November, the games on FT have become much harder. Maybe the casual US players are starting to hold off playing because of the combined effect of the UIGEA and credit crunch hitting at the same time?

On Betfair I have not played that much, managed to qualify for the $3k GTD via the 5-seat gtd satellite (8 runners!) again. My out hand in the tournament itself is as follows.

***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 458788694 *****
PL Omaha $100 Buy-in + $5 Entry Fee, Level:4 Blinds(75/150-(no ante)) - Sunday, December 21, 22:40:18 GMT 2008
Sunday Special PL Omaha $3,000 GTD #188108
Table 2 9-max (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of active players : 6
Seat 1: harayir ( 3,699 )
Seat 2: il freddo ( 3,875 )
Seat 3: lesleybeard ( 5,775 )
Seat 4: bmcg_2005 ( 4,837.50 )
Seat 8: danko02538 ( 6,655 )
Seat 9: bazza90 ( 2,005 )
Tourney Level:4 Blinds(75/150-(no ante))
bmcg_2005 posts small blind [75]
danko02538 posts big blind [150]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to harayir [ Ah, Ts, 3h, Ad ]
bazza90 folds
harayir raises to [525]
il freddo folds
lesleybeard folds
bmcg_2005 folds
danko02538 calls [375]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Th, Kd, 3c ]
danko02538 bets [1,125]
harayir goes all-in
harayir raises to [3,174]
danko02538 calls [2,049]
** Showdown **
harayir shows [ Ah, Ts, 3h, Ad ]
danko02538 shows [ 9h, Jd, Qs, 3s ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5c ]
** Dealing River ** [ 9d ]
** Hand Conclusion **
danko02538 wins 7,473 from main pot with a straight, King to Nine
************ Game 458788694 ends ************

I did think I was ahead on the flop at the time, which is why I re-raised him. Turns out I was 65% to win, which reinforces my read. Even on the turn I was still 58%. Anyone have comments on how I played this?

Will do an end of year round up and 2009 aims some time, but unless I take all my outstanding balances to the tables at the same time, I am not likely to be on a losing month in December, which makes 6 straight months of profit, from $100 up to $900, and a total of $2.9k for the year as whole.