Call Me The Bricklayer

My hand here is actually a 61% favorite over top set on the flop and still 52% on the turn but I brick hard. My call on the end is kind of silly but I hate folding for one more bet in a huge pot. This is the type of hand that has been ruining my short sessions lately.

PokerStars Game #7672777823: Omaha Hi/Lo Limit ($3/$6) - 2006/12/30 - 00:32:29 (ET)
Table 'Joensuu II' 10-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: alwaysburied ($120 in chips)
Seat 2: Jesusfreak ($218.50 in chips)
Seat 3: cokecat ($360 in chips)
Seat 4: No_Limpin1 ($169 in chips)
Seat 5: grapsfan ($73 in chips)
Seat 6: Roofer100 ($67 in chips)
Seat 7: mysu ($164 in chips)
Seat 8: LAngelito ($51.50 in chips)
Seat 9: PWC333 ($23 in chips)
Seat 10: NAGEL ($124 in chips)
cokecat: posts small blind $1
No_Limpin1: posts big blind $3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to No_Limpin1 [Ad Ks 3s 5d]
grapsfan: folds
Roofer100: calls $3
mysu: calls $3
LAngelito: folds
PWC333: folds
NAGEL: folds
alwaysburied: folds
Jesusfreak: folds
cokecat: calls $2
No_Limpin1: raises $3 to $6
Roofer100: calls $3
mysu: calls $3
cokecat: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kh 4h 2s]
No_Limpin1: bets $3
Roofer100: calls $3
mysu: raises $3 to $6
No_Limpin1: raises $3 to $9
Roofer100: calls $6
mysu: calls $3
*** TURN *** [Kh 4h 2s] [Ts]
No_Limpin1: bets $6
Roofer100: calls $6
mysu: raises $6 to $12
No_Limpin1: calls $6
Roofer100: calls $6
*** RIVER *** [Kh 4h 2s Ts] [2h]
No_Limpin1: checks
Roofer100: checks
mysu: bets $6
No_Limpin1: calls $6
Roofer100: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mysu: shows [Kd Jc Kc 9d] (HI: a full house, Kings full of Deuces)
No_Limpin1: mucks hand
mysu collected $93 from pot
No low hand qualified
mysu is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $96 | Rake $3
Board [Kh 4h 2s Ts 2h]
Seat 1: alwaysburied folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Jesusfreak (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: cokecat (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: No_Limpin1 (big blind) mucked [Ad Ks 3s 5d]
Seat 5: grapsfan folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Roofer100 folded on the River
Seat 7: mysu showed [Kd Jc Kc 9d] and won ($93) with HI: a full house, Kings full of Deuces
Seat 8: LAngelito folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: PWC333 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 10: NAGEL folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Another Final Table

I made the final table of the $6K Guaranteed PLO rebuy on UB last night. If my records are correct, I've played this tourney 8 times with 4 final table appearances, not bad.

It's kind of funny, I had just lost a big pot with the nut flush vs a straight flush right before the first break and almost didn't rebuy/add-on despite the nice overlay. That mistake would have cost me over $200 since I ended up taking 8th.

One of my key hands was on the bubble, 20 paid with 21 left. Blinds were 750/1500 and I had about 38K. It folds to me in SB with AKKT and I pot raise. BB thinks a bit and calls with slightly less than me. The flop comes A22, I pot, he insta-raises all-in with A335 and I call. The turn was a 2 and the river was a 4. Since you HAVE TO PLAY EXACTLY 2 CARDS FROM YOUR HAND AND 3 FROM THE BOARD, I have 2's full of K's and my opponent has 2's full of 3's. That put me up to about 74K, good for 4th at the time.

Sadly, I was pretty card dead the rest of the way and ended up going out with KKxx against the chip leader who called my preflop raise with KQJ6 and hit two pair (J6) on the turn. If I win that pot I'm 3rd in chips with a good shot to win. How many times have you heard THAT before?!

Fickle Poker

I haven’t had much time for poker lately but I did get the chance to play 3 donkaments on Wednesday night. I sat down and decided to play whatever donkaments were starting next on Stars and Tilt. They were NLHE and HORSE.

In the first NLHE tourney I got a good stack of chips all-in preflop with KK and was called by two donks with AQo and A6s - ace on the flop of course. In the second, it was nearing the bubble and I pushed with AK. The big stack called with 33 and I flopped a K, but my opponent hit running spades for crappy flush. In the HORSE, I played great, winning some big pots in LO8 (A46Jds made nut flush and 2nd nut low) and Razz (65 vs 75). But then I lost a big pot in Stud Hi/Lo with a pair of 5’s and a 6 low to a rivered wheel. Shortly after that I raised a limper with AJo and the flop came AKJ. My opponent led out, I raised and he 3-bet. I only had a couple more bets left and of course he had QT.

I’ve never felt better about my game so hopefully I’ll make some decent scores soon.

AAxx Loathes Me!

I've had AAxx over 200 times in PLO and PL/NL/L08 and it has been a net looser for me, even after this recent hand. Frustrating for sure, given that my preflop equity is usually around 60% when I get it heads up.

What tends to happen in PLO is you either win a smallish pot or lose a pretty big one (if you don't respect raises) because you get out-flopped by 2 pair or better. Unimproved AAxx is not a hand you want to risk a big stack with postflop, especially on a coordinated board.

In PLO8, the same thing tends to happen unless you have flush and low draws to go with the hand. Even if you hit a set your hand is often still very vulnerable to flush, straight and low draws, especially in multi-way pots. Here is one example of this in a limit game:

PokerStars Game #7054479213: Omaha Hi/Lo Limit ($2/$4) - 2006/11/16 - 21:54:16 (ET)
Table 'Delvaux' 10-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: asspony ($51.50 in chips)
Seat 2: THE PISTOL ($143.50 in chips)
Seat 3: bohunk46 ($61 in chips)
Seat 4: WAYNEP ($67.50 in chips)
Seat 5: Greek34 ($60 in chips)
Seat 6: WhiteDwarf ($65 in chips)
Seat 7: DoYouChop ($66.50 in chips)
Seat 8: onepercent ($53 in chips)
Seat 9: tafossi007 ($99 in chips)
Seat 10: No_Limpin1 ($70 in chips)
tafossi007: posts small blind $1
No_Limpin1: posts big blind $2
DoYouChop: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to No_Limpin1 [Ad Ah 6s 3d]
asspony: folds
THE PISTOL: calls $2
bohunk46: calls $2
WAYNEP: folds
Greek34: folds
WhiteDwarf: folds
DoYouChop: checks
onepercent: folds
tafossi007: calls $1
No_Limpin1: raises $2 to $4
THE PISTOL: raises $2 to $6
bohunk46: folds
DoYouChop: calls $4
tafossi007: calls $4
No_Limpin1: raises $2 to $8
Betting is capped
THE PISTOL: calls $2
DoYouChop: calls $2
tafossi007: calls $2
*** FLOP *** [8s Ks Ac]
tafossi007: checks
No_Limpin1: bets $2
THE PISTOL: raises $2 to $4
DoYouChop: calls $4
tafossi007: calls $4
No_Limpin1: calls $2
*** TURN *** [8s Ks Ac] [Tc]
tafossi007: checks
No_Limpin1: bets $4
THE PISTOL: calls $4
DoYouChop: raises $4 to $8
tafossi007: calls $8
No_Limpin1: calls $4
THE PISTOL: raises $4 to $12
DoYouChop: raises $4 to $16
Betting is capped
tafossi007: calls $8
No_Limpin1: calls $8
THE PISTOL: calls $4
*** RIVER *** [8s Ks Ac Tc] [5s]
tafossi007: checks
No_Limpin1: checks
THE PISTOL: bets $4
DoYouChop: raises $4 to $8
tafossi007: calls $8
No_Limpin1 said, "fuc me"
No_Limpin1: folds
THE PISTOL: raises $4 to $12
DoYouChop: raises $4 to $16
Betting is capped
tafossi007: calls $8
THE PISTOL: calls $4
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DoYouChop: shows [8c 2h 8d 3h] (HI: three of a kind, Eights; LO: 8,5,3,2,A)
tafossi007: shows [9s 7s Kd Jd] (HI: a flush, King high)
THE PISTOL: shows [6d As 2c 3s] (HI: a flush, Ace high; LO: 8,5,3,2,A)
THE PISTOL collected $79.50 from pot
THE PISTOL collected $40 from pot
DoYouChop collected $39.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $162 | Rake $3
Board [8s Ks Ac Tc 5s]
Seat 1: asspony folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: THE PISTOL showed [6d As 2c 3s] and won ($119.50) with HI: a flush, Ace high; LO: 8,5,3,2,A
Seat 3: bohunk46 folded before Flop
Seat 4: WAYNEP folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Greek34 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: WhiteDwarf folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: DoYouChop showed [8c 2h 8d 3h] and won ($39.50) with HI: three of a kind, Eights; LO: 8,5,3,2,A
Seat 8: onepercent (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: tafossi007 (small blind) showed [9s 7s Kd Jd] and lost with HI: a flush, King high
Seat 10: No_Limpin1 (big blind) folded on the River

I should have gone ahead and capped the flop on the above hand, but when I'm running bad I tend to fear the suckout and lose some of my aggression as a result. Not good, although my pussiness actually saved me some money on the hand.

In general, I'm still jamming the hell out of AAxx in PLO and PL/NLO8, but it's good to mix it up from time to time. I'll limp re-raise with it in EP sometimes to keep my opponents off balance and guessing. Here is a good example of when to do it IMO. If everbody folds I pick up a nice pot, otherwise, I have an equity advantage which is just fine too.

Hopefully I'll start running better with AAxx over the next 10,000 hands.