PL Omaha hi deepstack mtt on Fulltilt… September 28, 2008

Last night while railing Janice, I decided to hop into a plo ds mtt.  It was $5, you started with 3k in chips, and after late registration ended there were 215 entrants.  I started out well, doubling up almost right away when someone called my all in raise when they had 2 pair and I had a flush.

I doubled up again with a straight, and then doubled up again with a full house.  Life was cruising along and by the time the break came around over 1/2 the field was gone.  When it got down to about 40 to the money, I was about 15th in chips and one of the chip leaders at my table…until this happens.  I was in the big blind with a random hand and was able to check my option.  I had 77 in my hand and the flop came TT7 so I flopped a fullhouse.  Since it was beatable I decided not to play it slow.  I came out firing 3/4’s of the pot and everyone folded except the chip leader of the table (by about 2k in chips) who called.  Turn came with a 4 and I fired the rest of my chips out minus 245 of them and he calls.  The river comes with a 3 and I put those 245 chips in the middle.  He calls and knocks me out with his T3A5 hand…a wonderful omaha hi hand, really.   Can you sense my bitter sarcasm there?  I’m oozing it like there is no tomorrow. 

So I did everything right in that tournament but unfortunately luck was not smiling down on me and instead of cashing or winning, I went out 10 before the money.

Stud tournament… September 28, 2008

So true to my word I went back to Seabrook Poker room the next night to play in their $100 stud tournament.  Hubby ended up coming along with me and playing as well (and he doesn’t like stud lol).  We started with 6k in chips, 74 players entered, and again 20 min rounds so another fast structure.  I didn’t realize how fast a structure it really was until we started playing.

Level 1…$25 ante, $50/100 limits, $25 bring in, $50 to complete…nothing much exciting happened except me paying lots of antes and bring ins and ended the level just under 5k in chips.

Level 2…$25 ante, $100/200 limits, $25 bring in,  $100 to complete…nothing much exciting happened, I won a hand and ended the level at about 5600 in chips.  By this time I’ve heard from about everyone at the table that they aren’t stud players, they have no interest in stud, they are just there looking to win more points.  The guy to my left had come in 2nd the night before and was trying to cement his points win for the weekend.

Level 3…$50 ante, $150/300 limits, $50 bring in, $150 to complete…this round was good to me.  There was a drunk woman two to my left who was just there playing because her husband was playing and was in every hand.  I had a King high flush draw in the first four cards, caught a pair on the next street, and ended up calling this woman to the river where I caught my flush.  She was disgusted I chased her but she was in every hand and I had a better hand than what was showing on her board.  I ended this level with just under 10K in chips.

Level 4…$50 ante, $200/400 limits, $50 bring in, $200 to complete…no good hands, no good action for me and I ended the level with just under 9k in chips.

Level 5…$75 ante, $300/600 limits, $100 bring in, $300 to complete…I lost quite a few chips in this level to the drunk lady who decided that even though I was showing a better hand and she thought I had a straight or a boat that she’d chase me to the river and she caught a boat on the river.  I lost 1/2 my chips in this level and ended with about 4k or so in chips.

Level 6…$100 ante, $400/800 limits,  $100 bring in, $400 to complete…I won a few chips back and ended the round with about 6k in chips.

Level 7…$100 ante, $600/1200 limits, $200 bring in, $600 to complete…not many hands but lost quite a few chips to antes and bring ins/completions and ended the round with just under 4k in chips.

Level 8…$200 ante, $800/1600 limits, $200 bring in, $800 to complete…I got moved to hubby’s table in this round just to the right of him (I was in the 1 seat and he was in the 2 seat) and both of us were short stacked.  He decided to make a move as the bring in (he did this blind) and completed the bring in for $800, the chip leader of whole tournament raised him (with an 8 showing up), and the bully next to him re-raised (he had a 6 showing), and I look down and I have 99 in the pocket and a Jack showing up which was the highest card on board.  I decide this is time to make a move.  I re-raise all in and Jason calls all in and the other two call as well.  They check us down and when the cards were turned up it was shown that I had the best hand until the river where the bully caught a 2nd pair for 88’s and 22’s to beat my 99.

I decided to forget playing any other tournament there this weekend.  I wasn’t running well, wasn’t catching cards, and when I did they weren’t holding up.  The highest pair I saw in the pocket in this stud tournament was 99 which was the hand I went out on.

PL Omaha hi tournament… September 26, 2008

Last night I played in a pl omaha tournament at Seabrook Poker room, part of their New Hampshire poker championship that is going on for the next 4 days.  I’d been looking forward to this because the regular plo tournaments there don’t get many players and I knew this one would draw a bigger crowd.  I geared up by playing only plo sngs online all week and did pretty well at them too.

There were a total of 85 players, $100 buy-in, 5k in starting chips, and 20 min levels so a very fast structure.  The first level I got lots of great starting LO hands but nothing great for hi and ended the level with 4400 chips.  The second level I limped from the small blind and flopped two pair and turned a full house and slow played it to get some value from the hand and won a sizeable pot and ended the level with over 7k in chips. 

3rd level, I lost 1/2 my chips right before the break but made a good laydown.  Small blind again, limped in after 4 other limpers with 4488 double suited.  Flop came 643 rainbow…not the greatest flop for my hand but not the worst either.  BB checks and guy who had limped utg bet pot.  I had a hard time placing him on a straight as why would he have 52 or 57 utg and be playing it.  One guy called and I decided to call as well to see the turn.  The turn came with a nine and the utg guy placed the rest of his chips in the middle and the other caller pushed his chips in.  After an agonizing minute I decided to lay down realizing one had a better set than me and one had the straight.  Guy to my right told me I’d regret my decision and when the river paired the board, he said SEE!  Luckily I was right in my laydown and he was wrong as utg did flop the straight (wtf, playing 57A9 rainbow utg lol) but the caller had the bigger set like I guessed and I would have lost and instead I lived to play another hand.  I ended the level with around 4k chips.

4th level, still not seeing any hands but am dealt 89TJ double suited and limp after a few limpers…guy on the button pops it to pot and two call so I call…guy right after me re-raises pot, the ol limp re-raise move.  The pot guy moves in so I have to fold and lose a few chips ending the level with about 2500 in chips.  5th level, my go out level…still no big hands and was dealt 89TJ double suited again…I raise pot with it, an early limper calls as did another.  Flop comes 8A8 so two hands beat me, AA or A8…I’m thinking the AA isn’t out there because everyone had been raising pot preflop when dealt AA, it’s checked to me and I put the rest of my chips in and am insta called by the guy with AA, sigh.  The case 8 doesn’t come and I’m outa there in about 40th place.

Not the result I wanted but I honestly felt I played well, made some tough laydowns and did the best I could with the crap hands I was dealt.  I’m going back tonight for the $100 stud tournament, wish me luck!

Playing when you aren’t 100% September 4, 2008

So I’ve been dealing with some sort of sinus issue for the past couple weeks and I notice it is affecting my temper.  It’s hard to be positive and happy when it feels like your face is about to cave in.  I’ve been trying to get back into the swing of poker but find myself overreacting at each bad beat received or each bad move I make.  Each loss is like a dagger that sets my temper flaring.

I’m going to stick to very low stakes and only stts and work on adding up the months I am behind in my old journal until I’m feeling better.  My doctor hyped me up on a bunch of meds today so hopefully whatever is going on will go away.  I’m also working on catching up on everyone’s blogs…I’ve worked my way down almost 3/4’s of the list.