NLO8 Hand

Sample hand from an NLO8 STT with bounties. I shoved pre with AA thinking I was going to see maybe 1 caller, not 2. Great to run good for 2 bounties.

Poker Stars $10.00+$2.50+$1.00 No Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds - 6 players - View hand 983118

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter



Hero (CO): t1920 19.20 BBs

BTN: t2167 21.67 BBs

SB: t1905 19.05 BBs

BB: t1838 18.38 BBs

UTG: t1470 14.70 BBs

MP: t4200 42 BBs



Pre Flop: (t150) Hero is CO with A 7 8 A

UTG calls t100, 1 fold, Hero raises to t1920 all in, 1 fold, SB calls t1855 all in, 1 fold, UTG calls t1370 all in



Flop: (t5380) J 6 9 (3 players - 3 are all in)



Turn: (t5380) T (3 players - 3 are all in)



River: (t5380) 3 (3 players - 3 are all in)



Final Pot: t5380

Hero shows As 7c 8d Ad (HI: a straight, Seven to Jack)

SB shows 5h Ah Js 9c (HI: two pair, Jacks and Nines)

UTG shows Qd 6s 3h Qs (HI: two pair, Sixes and Threes)

Hero wins t870

Hero wins t4510

NLO8 and WBCOOP

So, WBCOOP time is coming round again, first up is the end of October, then should be another in January.

Have also been playing a few of the NLO8 STTs on Stars. Starting at the $6 level with the NLO8, regular speed with knockouts, I have and ROI of about 47%. Have now played 6 of the $13s and have cashed in 5, winning 2 and with an unfeasible ROI of 127%. Not sure why this is, other than running like god, I don't think the other players are that terribad, even at the $6 level.

Profit in September was $183 overall, currently up $455 in October, having managed 5th place in another $109 O8 tourney on Stars. Out after I had AALL busted 3 times on the final table, having been 7/7 and 1/5 at various stages.

[edited out logo, screwed up the layout of the menus]

Thank god for MTTs

So I eventually managed to arrest the slide in my online bankrolls in August, where I made a total profit of about $73. That brought to an end the 4 month run of red end of month numbers. September was heading for another small down month, until yesterday. I had briefly watched a couple of the daily $109 O8 MTTs on PokerStars and to be honest, did not think the standard was very high. I got home too late to even consider the WCOOP O8, but the 2+2 thread about it inspired me to have a look and see if it was running. I registered with 4 minutes to spare and soon found myself on the chip leaders table with my 20BB. 15 minute blinds are quite different to the turbo STTs I normally play and I was able to wait for a semi decent opportunity with AKKT to limp from the button. A K on the flop with 2 hi cards and I was 3 way, the turn 8 was just about the best card in the pack for me as both my opponents had an 8 each for 2 pair, and I went on to treble up to about 9th spot.

After that I played solid, but aggressively and stayed in the the top 10 until about 20 left, when I slipped back into the pack after raising too much out of position pre and having to fold a missed flop. Not to worry, getting all in preflop with A3xx vs AA2x meant I doubled up with a scoop flush and back into contention. Approaching the bubble I was bouncing around on 10-15BBs for ages in the bottom 3 chip stacks. But, I sneaked through the final table bubble and with a full ring I was able to pick my spots to race carefully. Eventually I managed to get up to 3rd with 6 left and with A235 on a 34JQ board decided to race against the 2nd place stack for the chip lead. The river Q gave him his Q4 full house and I was out pocketing $520 for my 6th place. Against the same opponent I would probably make the call again, since I read him correctly for hi only draw and I still had a 35% chance of taking the hi as well as 50% of getting the lo.

Overall thought that the standard improved towards the FT, but I was more aggressive than anyone else on the final table. I guess that was what did for me in the end, but if I had won that race I would have been CL by a good margin and would have been confident of making it to heads up quite easily.

If I could, I suppose I should play MTTs full time, but they just take too long to fit in around work and family. Anyway, back in a few months for another update.

September results: +$374 so far.

Vegas WSOP Trip 2010

Brief summary of my trip.

Flew BA from Heathrow where I eventually recognised John Tabatabai in the queue for the extra security checks at the gate, but only when the security guard tried to pronounce his name. Checked in to the Rio and went to bed, but slept quite bad, like I did for the whole week. No fault of the Rio, room was fine, clean, bed was great, just on the wrong timezone.

Got up next day and registered for the $1500 PLO8 along with 850 or so other players. My first table was quitean interesting, mixture of players, all of whom seemed to know at least the basics of the split pot game. I was in seat 2, Brandon Cantu was 2 to my right in seat 10, guy on my immediate right was a $2-4 PLO8 cash grinder who plays on Stars.

Early action saw a lag in seat 6 get felted a couple of times, he tilted quite bad when Stars grinder rivered quad 9s to scoop a pot. This led to my first competitive hand, when I called his ep raise with A26K and got all in on a Q8x flop. He had A29K, which was exactly the kind of hand I was expecting to see. I had better lo draw and a backdoor flush, which duly came in on the river for my first 1k+ pot. Got some more chips from seat 3 on my button when I turned a set of 9s and no lo came in. Eventually worked my stack up to about 4k or so and felt comfortable.

Critical hand for my whole tournament happened about 1/2 hour from end of Level 4, I raised pot pre from cut off with AA56, small blind called with 9TJQ. Flop was 38J rainbow and we got all in with my expectation about .61. Turn 3 improved this to .68 but the river 10 gave him his straight and the scoop. Hit that and I would have been approaching a 10k stack. As it was I was down to 3k having not used any of my rebuy chips at all.

Table dynamic immediately changed, previously I had raised UTG and seen the whole table fold to me. Tried it was A246 later and got called 5 times. This was lucky as I got quartered for the lo and still only saw my stack go from 3.5k to 3k. Took out the Stars grinder just before the table broke with another rivered flush and moved with about 7k stack. This was not enough on 150-300 blinds, especially when you are card dead and moved to 2 tables with player who had mega stacks and raised every hand.

Looking back at the second table, I can't think of a better hand than A48J , but to stay in with it would have meant calling 20% of my stack. Third table I was dealt and raised A234 from the button, but the flop was 2 hi and that was the last hand that would have potentially given me any returns. Of the better players, there were no hands that stood out that I thought I would have played differently to the way they did.

Also played a couple of $200 hold em tournaments, less said about these the better. I have completely forgotten how to play hold em tournaments and might as well have tried some $1-3 or $5-5 cash with the buy-ins I dropped.

Anyway, back in the UK for 24 hours before I fly out to New York on business on Tuesday. Then I will start focusing on building up my bankroll so I can go back next year.

The Devilfish Wears Prada

Well, actually maybe he doesn't but he did make me laugh when I was railing the $5k PLO8 on my last day in Vegas. Check out the photo to the right, he has removed a curtain from one of the trolleys and wrapped himself up in it like a toga. At the time my initial thoughts were, "wtf, he is wearing curtains, what a c**t". However, it was only me being a bit of a twat and I soon warmed to the funny side of it, especially when he tried to wave it around like a matador's cape as he moved tables. Not long after I took the picture he left early for the break and returned sporting a shiny new hoodie. He was also more than happy to pose for photos with anyone who asked with a smile and some banter.

Have Macbook will travel

All packed apart from my toothbrush, will be on my way to Vegas tomorrow.

Managed to turn round my form a lot, balance on Full Tilt is now in the $300 region, with my Pokerstars account almost at the same level (from under $100). As ever, the problems started with a move to cash - this time Rush Poker - which unbalanced my tournament game and as a result played bad until I remembered how to play SNGs.

Hopefully will be able to post some updates, either here or on Twitter as electricchair99.

May Wrap Up

As the regular reader will know, I hate posting during a downswing. As I had second my most losing month ever in May ($450 down), I guess posting the end of month round up means I think it has turned. My worst ever month was May 2009 ($465), which was followed by going on a massive heater in June. I suppose I can hope the same happens in 2010. The thought has occurred to me that it is because the pros who inhabit the O8 games I played might have gone to the WSOP. I expect I will know pretty soon anyway.

Speaking of WSOP, I have everything crossed hoping that the BA strikes don't impact my flights. If I had been flying this week or last I would have been OK and I think the timing means that the union would have to run a new ballot (and get it past the BA lawyers) before they announce any more strikes. All I need now is for the $ to weaken a couple of points in the next week before I buy some.

Unlucky for Some

It's all gone a bit pear shaped in the last week. I can almost track it to a single hand during the O8 FTOPS, when I tilted a lot after playing well for about 2 1/2 hours, and losing a pot against a short stack for about 4k, out of a 14k stack. Since that time I have not cashed in 13 STTs, as well as dropping $150+ on O8 rush tables. Bit frustrating all round really, including my out hand in the last STT.

In the BB with 1700 chips and A356, button has 475, chip leader is SB with 6k+. Folds round to SB who bets 1k, so I push He turns over KKJ10 and the board gives me no help at all and I am gone. I could have tried foldingd into the money, but that would have meant I had less chance of winning overall.

Ah well, time for bed and will be back again tomorrow.

End of March Round-up

Not much to report since the last update, apart from a welcome continued upward trend in my gross rake and profit for the month. Overall profit about $380, despite a complete failure yesterday when I dumped $80 in pretty short order. Now in profit on the Rush O8, but it has changed my game so that I can no longer hit a barn door on the STTs. Managed to earn a total of $115 rake back for the month, which is like 4 months of normal payments. This cash game could become addictive.

Hotel booked for my Vegas WSOP trip, decided to stay in the Rio so I can fall out of bed and roll down the stairs to the games.

Alan Green is a Dickhead

I know why of course, just not sure why I feel compelled to this as the heading on my blog update. Actually, if anything I think that is a bit light and I could have used any of the extra strong swearwords instead. What triggered it was Radio 5, probably commentary on the Man Utd- Liverpool game on Sunday. Such an apologist for Liverpool, so much so that he makes Lord Haw Haw look like Mary, Mungo and Midge. He's also the most negative commentator, "like ever". Even if the referee is having a bad day, or the game is not the greatest show on earth, there's no need to moan about it so much you forget to describe the action.

Anyway, back on topic, the pokerrrzz.

February turned out to be a complete washout, at one stage I was $500 down for the month, almost exclusively playing SNGs but with some PLO Rush poker losses too. As usual, not sure what was driving it, but if I could have won what felt like a share of my races against pimpdaddydolla and pena82 the position would have been very different, final score $245 loss.

March started with what was supposed to be a week's poker break, with a trip to Boston for work. Flew in on the Saturday as the flight cost was £400 instead of £1200. This meant I had the whole of Sunday evening to myself, and as the devil makes work for idle hands, I was soon installing Full Tilt on my work laptop and taking on the US time zone players. I noticed a difference in quality straight away and over the course of a couple of evenings bumped my balance on Full Tilt up from $850 to $1,100, just playing a few $11/22 hilo turbo STTs.

I continued reasonably well when I got back to the UK and Full Tilt opened up O8 Rush poker. My first few attempts were a bit hit or miss, which I eventually worked out was because I was getting too wrapped up in the "rush" effect. Am down $40 overall, which is one buy-in at the only O8 stakes in play, entirely the result of a tilted bust yesterday. But, I feel comfortable enough to play more than one buy-in at a time and it certainly turbo-charges the rakeback. Currently I am on target to easily have my biggest ever month of rake generated, approaching $200, which means over $50 back already, compared to my normal average of $30. Am also starting to recognize the regular players, just need to work out the best way to deal with the aggressive ones that raise out of position pre-flop and then bet flop turn and river - I know they don't have it every single hand.

Also, slight strategy change, I have decided not to play Rush and STTs concurrently. They each require a different approach, which I am OK with individually, but just tilts me stupid when I try and play them at the same time.

March profit to date $310.
2010 running total $1213.
Sharkscope SNG lifetime Profit $2,499 - looks like a generally consistently upwards slope on the graph too.



Silver Star disappeared yesterday, have not played many PLO STTs this month as was focusing on the lower variance game to get back on track. Here's what it looked like back at the beginning on February.

Against the Grain

Quick round up for January.

Given how poor my results were in January 2008 and 2009, I was prepared for a downswing in 2010. I will be honest, I did my best to allow history to repeat itself. Rush Poker on Full Tilt is just that, a faster way to lose at cash. Down about $250 and I won't likely be back again in the near future.

Looking at my Sharkscope stats, I managed to add a total of $19 profit on SNGs in the month, up on the PLO super turbos, down on the HILO games. So much up on the PLO games that I managed to make the $5-15 leaderboard and picked up a star. Might not last long so will have to remember to take a screenshot while it is still there.

Where I did make a lot of profit and was not able to play enough games was in the Sunday night HILO MTTs. One first place (see earlier post) was followed up by a 4th place (which could have been higher but I lost a flip to cripple myself). Total MTT profit for the month about $1300.

Net overall profit $1,150, which makes it my best month since I started keeping records. All I need to do now is keep it up in February and find the time to play a few more of the Sunday night rebuys.

Only remembered to play in two of the WBCOOP tourneys, managed to get 36th place in the 8 Game for a $33 SCOOP ticket. Never played 8 Game before, but I did find that I was much better at most of the players on the Omaha, O8 and Stud Hilo (even though the number of times I have played Stud Hilo I can count on the fingers of one hand). Did struggle a bit with Razz and 2-7 triple draw, but all in all, did not feel I was out of my depth. The other game was NLH. Lot's of sit outs and there were effectively only 4 players active including me at the table I finished on. One of the players was particularly loose, raising, jamming and generally splashing his chips all over. Managed a nice pot when I raised 64 and flopped 2 pr, maybe a value bet on the river would have cleaned him out but the board was 4567K and he had the K. This tilted him a lot and a few hands later I raised pre with Ks9s and checked a KJ9 flop. One re-raise later and he shoved, so I called to see him flip over K10. Turn J, river blank, GG me.

Vegas Baby

Finally. Flights now booked for Vegas in June, leaving Heathrow on 21st, coming back from Vegas on 26th. Flying BA because it is only costing me £220 using my airmiles. Aim is to play the $1500 Omaha Hilo Pot Limit and win a fortune. As I have not been so good at hitting my targets recently, I guess just this one time will do. :)

No hotels yet, waiting to see if my mate can come out as well. He will know in 3 weeks when the local planning committee will let him know if he can start rebuilding his house.

WBCOOP

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 103327

A Couple of Firsts!

Just won my first MTT of the 2010, $5 O8 rebuy on Full Tilt, 281 runners.
First time I can remember having more than 1m chips during any Omaha game.
First time I have won over $1k for 1st place.
First time someone has asked for more than the chip stacks said we should get when we discussed a deal.
First time I turned down a deal.

I did make it difficult for myself after that by doubling him with KK vs AA, but I rode my luck and took him out with flopped 2 pair Q10 when he had A10 straight draw that missed.