So after coming down off the 4/8 8-game high I played a little 2/4 8-game with mixed results, killing limit games and getting run over in big bet games. I also checked out a Triple Draw tracker that’s in beta that revealed that I was getting my ass handed to me at TD. But none of that is really relevant, I’m just wishy washy as all hell.

Watching two poker buddies online, one of them was coaching the other in a 6-max PLO session, playing a hyper-LAG style and getting a decent look at how reads and decisions were being made. I’ve always been a TAG player, bordering on weak tight, hell, crossing over into that vein often enough. Any attempts to widen my view on how to play has resulted in crash and burn, but I have always truly envied the smart, successful LAG.

So after watching these guys and figuring that this isn’t just a one night thing, I decide that I want to get in on the action and see if I can learn something myself. I watch these two guys play another session, ask some questions, and off I go. I give away stack after stack, trying to win every pot I play, bluffing like crazy, rarely slowing down. I lose in 14 of my first 16 sessions and am down an awesome $350 at .10/.25 PLO.

I describe a few hands along the way, and get a coaching session of my own. I realize that I was haphazardly trying to win every hand, trying to represent the nuts every pot I played and was just getting very out of sync. After that coaching session I run good, get it in mostly good, generally pick up pots at the right times and run over my tables with impunity. I won in 8 of my next 10 sessions. I’ve run bad but played well the last couple days, winning sklansky bucks all over, down $100 but up $150 in all in EV, etc.

I’m still down given that horrible -$350 start, but am recovering and playing really well most of the time I think. According to HEM right now, I’m down $175, but adjust for all-in EV I should actually be up $5. So with a little rungood hopefully I’ll be ok.

And I’m getting rakeback again. Is there a chance I’ll be back playing 8-game again tomorrow? sure, there’s always a chance. But I’m loving this so far, even down a couple hundos.

A Hand (though not one necessarily indictive of any sort of super-LAG play):

Party Poker $25.00 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 4 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $8.00
BTN: $30.09
SB: $114.73
Hero (BB): $55.56

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with 6 7 5 7
1 fold, BTN raises to $0.85, SB raises to $2.80, Hero calls $2.55, BTN calls $1.95

Over 200 BB Deep, SB hasn’t 3-bet often at all, I can’t put him in just AAxx but I think its by *far* his most likely holding, and I like these middling cards to try to flop a disguised hand to pick off aces with huge implied odds.

Flop: ($8.40) 3 A 4 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $5.00, BTN folds, SB raises to $10, Hero calls $5

WTF? He flops what I would assume is top set on a rainbow board and checks. Maybe he has KKxx or a rundown that whiffed totally, so sure I’ll try to pick up the pot. With the min-raise I’ve got him back on AA again, he doesn’t want me to fold, or maybe he’s afraid of 25? Whatever, I have a very solid drawing hand, I’m certainly calling $5 (any 2, 5, 6, or 7 gives me the nuts). I’m a 60/40 dog against a set though so 200+ BB deep I don’t want to dance for all the money yet.

Turn: ($28.40) T (2 players)
SB bets $8.00, Hero calls $8

Total Blank. If he pots it I have to fold. I’m a 30/70 dog against AA. But he bets $8 into a $28 pot. I’m getting 4.5:1 to call, with a lot of money behind. It only helps that all of my outs are nut outs, so I’ve got a super easy river decision.

River: ($44.40) 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $21.50, SB calls $21.50

Final Pot: $87.40
Hero wins $85.40
(Rake: $2.00)

Turns out I screwed up the “super easy river decision.”

Note to self: BET THE FULL POT DUMBASS. Seriously, I’m afraid he folds for full pot but maybe calls less. But I’ve got him squarely on aces, he’s seen me bluff rivers and get called before, this is the whole point of this style I’m playing (I’m 50/30 VP$P/PFR at this table btw), maximize your winnings please!

And this converter still struggles with PLO hands at showdown it seems:

Hero shows [6d, 7c 5c 7h ]
Hero wins $85.40 USD from main pot
Villain doesn’t show [Ah, 4s As 9h ]

PLO is fun!

For now, my time at 4/8 8-game is over. But that’s not a bad thing. I had some hope that I could run my roll up to $3k or more and actually play that game consistently, but that’s a lot to ask.

I got my Stars roll up to $2000, barely,and very briefly. I hit $2006, commented to my buddy Dave “ABOVE $2k!!!! Not for long i’m sure just barley above it but new milestone!”

I then went 2 hours without winning a hand. I lost 2 buyins in a slow drain, nothing interesting to report, just a steady, obnoxious $300 downswing. I recovered a bit, with a nice $200 session, getting back up to $1900, but that was the last 4/8 winning session I had. Over my next 4 sessions I lost $500. I stopped winning every 50/50 or better flip in PLO, losing a 55/45 all in. Flush draws started coming in when I had a set, and of course, I continue to suck like you wouldn’t believe in NLHE.

I bottomed out at $1400, but remember that’s still a profit of $900, not bad for playing on a whim after weeks of not opening up a poker site for more than 20 minutes.

I had loaned some money to a buddy that got returned on FTP, so some of that $1400 was in the ether and/or on FTP. I took a couple days off to hammer out the rest of my college hoops 2k8 season on the XBOX that I had been neglecting, and to re-adjust to the idea that I’m not logging on to play 4-8 anymore, did a FTP for Stars money swap w/ a friend, and am now actively playing 2/4 8-game as the game I intend to stick with for the time being, and intend to build up with.

After the loans/money swaps settled, I now have $1750 on Pokerstars. I have $650 on Full Tilt as well, but since its not fun moving money I tend to treat them as two separate bankrolls, just out of convienance.

And bankroll management in 8-game is a little interesting. $1750 is about 440 BB for the limit games, a solid amount, maybe even enough to shot-take higher up. But I buyin for $75, so I’ve got about 23 buyins as far as NL/PL goes. that’s closer to the minimum I’d want to stick it out at a level. In THEORY I try to stay snug in NL/PL so the limit requirements mean a lot more to me. In practice I cannot resist raising that suited connector and getting my ass in trouble in NLHE regularly.

So anyway, that’s where things are now. Running $500 up to $2000 in a week and a half playing over my roll was a hell of a lot of fun, and there’s a lot in this 8-game rotation to take advantage of, hopefully this is one of those “re-energizing” moments that gets me playing online more often and more consistently, and writing more. As soon as I post this I’m firing up a 2/4 game to play for awhile.

If you were once a regular reader here and are starting to read again, yell at me on FOBL/FOFC if you don’t see a post in a week, I really want to keep this going and build up some steam!

I’d mentioned that over the weekend I had gotten my stars roll up over $1900 multiple times but every day dropped back down a good bit.

TUESDAY

I don’t have the hand history handy, but the biggiest pot I was involved in was an O8 pot with KJJT in a raised pot. Someone early raised, 3 callers, and I call w/ KJJT in the big blind, which I assume is ok w/ a high only hand for one bet.

FLOP QJx, middle set and OESD. I forget the action, whether I c/r or led out but the flop went for 3 bets heads up with me and one other opponent.

TURN ace, putting a heart draw out there and giving me the nut straight to go with my set of jacks. The turn is cappped.

RIVER: low heart. I bet and crying call when i’m raised.

My opponent had QQxx with two hearts, so he had the nuts on the flop,I had the nuts on the turn, and he had the best hand on the river, not the nut flush but I had no hearts so yeah.

Anyway, that was the most memorable hand of the day for me. I never gotup more than $100 or down more than $100.

Tuesday Final Tally: $1610, down $25 on the day

WEDNESDAY

We start out in Bad Beat City, a 3 outer in a $100 O8 pot where I’ve got a set of aces and the nut flush draw and my opponent hits a gutshot on the river sets the tone. I decide that if i hit $1400 that I’ll take a break and drop back to 2/4, as that would represent a $500 downswing at a game I’m still not rolled for. I get down to $1440, I’ve got $40 on the table just trying to get it in good, and I manage to flop the nuts with JT 3 way in limit holdem. I end up tripling up to $120 and am back in business. I build up to $1680 and take a break, actually up on the day after almost “busting” down to a low point.

In a late night session I run good. I’m winning in every game, can’t seem to miss.

Poker Stars $1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $89.25
UTG: $169.50
MP: $121.90
Hero (CO): $281.75
BTN: $185.20
SB: $315.50

Pre Flop: ($4.00) Hero is CO with K A 8 A
1 fold, MP raises to $6, Hero raises to $20, 3 folds, MP calls $14

Flop: ($43.00) 4 9 4 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $41.80, MP calls $41.80

Turn: ($126.60) J (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $124.60, MP calls $59.10 all in

River: ($244.80) 4 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $244.80
MP shows 7 8 5 2 (three of a kind, Fours)
Hero shows K A 8 A (a full house, Fours full of Aces)
Hero wins $242.80
(Rake: $2.00)

Not a lot to say here. It seems obvious I’ve got AA. Its a pretty good flop for my hand in a 3-bet pot, and my opponent had been playing… erratically, to put it mildly, before this. In this hand I just hope he didn’t hurt himself in his rush to shove all his chips over my way, WOW. Tilt beneficiary I suppose.

WEDNESDAY FINAL TALLY: In about 90 minutes in a late session I clear $280 , and quit for the day with $1960, my new high!

I’m still not rolled for 4/8, but it seems a little less impossible that I could actually get there. Stay tuned, etc!

I don’t think I’ve ever been so surprised to drag a pot:

Poker Stars $4/$8 Limit Stud Hi/Lo $0.80 Ante - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

3rd Street:
Seat 1: xx xx 4
Seat 2: xx xx Q
Seat 3: xx xx A
Hero: 4 3 2
Seat 5: xx xx 2
Seat 6: xx xx 2

Hero brings in for $1.20, Seat 5 folds, Seat 6 folds, Seat 1 folds, Seat 2 calls, Seat 3 raises, Hero 3-bets, Seat 2 calls, Seat 3 caps!, Hero caps!, Seat 2 calls, Seat 3 calls

4th Street: (13.2 SB) (3 players)
Seat 2: xx xx Q J
Seat 3: xx xx A Q
Hero: 4 3 2 Q

Seat 3 checks, Hero bets, Seat 2 calls, Seat 3 calls

5th Street: (8.1 BB) (3 players)
Seat 2: xx xx Q J 6
Seat 3: xx xx A Q 3
Hero: 4 3 2 Q T

Seat 3 bets, Hero calls, Seat 2 calls

6th Street: (11.1 BB) (3 players)
Seat 2: xx xx Q J 6 5
Seat 3: xx xx A Q 3 K
Hero: 4 3 2 Q T 4

Seat 3 checks, Hero checks, Seat 2 checks

7th Street: (11.1 BB) (3 players)
Seat 2: xx xx Q J 6 5 xx
Seat 3: xx xx A Q 3 K xx
Hero: 4 3 2 Q T 4 5

Seat 3 checks, Hero checks, Seat 2 checks

Final Pot: 11.1 BB
Seat 2 mucks T K Q J 6 5 7
Seat 3 shows 4 8 A Q 3 K J (HI: high card Ace)
Hero shows 4 3 2 Q T 4 5 (HI: a pair of Fours)
Hero wins 10.725 BB
(Rake: $3.00)

Seat 2 is a big part of why I love 8-game heh. 4 bets on 3rd with random high cards against an ace and a low card who are clearly in love with their hands, just horrible. On 5th I’ve got a flush draw but I’m bricking out the low horribly so I think want to just call and keep the clear high hand in the pot, I’m not 100% sure on that decision. Everywhere else I think is standard.

That stud hand I referred to below is indecipherable by description. I got sucked out on, there, now don’t read that paragraph where I try to discuss a stud hand

This is a different one from early play today, mainly just checking out the DC Stud converter.

Poker Stars $4/$8 Limit Stud Hi/Lo $0.80 Ante - 5 players - View hand 149255
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

3rd Street:
Seat 1: xx xx J
Seat 2: xx xx 5
Hero: 8 A 4
Seat 5: xx xx 9
Seat 6: xx xx T

Hero brings in for $1.20, Seat 5 folds, Seat 6 folds, Seat 1 raises, Seat 2 folds, Hero calls

4th Street: (3 SB) (2 players)
Seat 1: xx xx J 6
Hero: 8 A 4 8

Seat 1 bets, Hero calls

5th Street: (2.5 BB) (2 players)
Seat 1: xx xx J 6 T
Hero: 8 A 4 8 A

Hero bets, Seat 1 calls

6th Street: (4.5 BB) (2 players)
Seat 1: xx xx J 6 T K
Hero: 8 A 4 8 A 3

Hero bets, Seat 1 raises, Hero calls

7th Street: (8.5 BB) (2 players)
Seat 1: xx xx J 6 T K xx
Hero: 8 A 4 8 A 3 3

Hero checks, Seat 1 bets, Hero calls

Final Pot: 10.5 BB
Seat 1 shows Q 4 J 6 T K 4 (HI: a pair of Fours)
Hero shows 8 A 4 8 A 3 3 (HI: two pair, Aces and Eights)
Hero wins 10.25 BB
(Rake: $2.00)

FWIW I should have 3-bet 6th with aces up and the low draw, total puss-out. The river I think I’m ok. I obviously cap if I can if I make a low since I have half locked up and a non-zero shot at a scoop.

Well, I have no truly bad news, but just a little good news on the “playing way above my roll” front.

I put in good, long sessions Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Each day I saw my bankroll rise briefly above the 1900 mark(remember that 1540 was my stopping point on Friday), and then come crashing back down below.

SATURDAY:

Our hand from Saturday reinforces the idea that I suck at NLHE

Party Poker $200.00 No Limit Hold’em - 5 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $200.00
BTN: $230.30
SB: $349.95
Hero (BB): $422.80
UTG: $540.30

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with 7 7
1 fold, CO raises to $6, 1 fold, SB raises to $16, Hero calls $14, CO calls $10

Flop: ($48.00) 7 4 4 (3 players)
SB bets $32.00, Hero raises to $64, CO folds, SB raises to $146, Hero calls $82

Turn: ($340.00) T (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $120.00, SB folds

Final Pot: $340.00
Hero wins $338.00
(Rake: $2.00)

I don’t think the cold call with 77 there is defensible in any way. And post flop, I’m just trying to get as much money out of my opponent as possible, without really knowing the right way to do that. I assume I needed to push all in on the flop at some point.

Anyway, Saturday I reached a high point of $1975 with the help of the hand above, before crashing back down to finish the evening at $1680. Still, a profit of $140 on the day.

SUNDAY

Party Poker $200.00 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $237.25
SB: $226.10
BB: $284.70
UTG: $227.35
MP: $516.15
Hero (CO): $170.50

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is CO with 2 K K Q
UTG raises to $6, MP calls $6, Hero calls $6, BTN raises to $33, 4 folds, Hero raises to $114, BTN raises to $237.25, Hero calls $56.50 all in

Final Pot: $356.00
Hero wins $353.00
(Rake: $3.00)

errm, the converter isn’t handling PLO all-in properly:

** Dealing Flop ** [ 9s, Jh, 8s ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3d ]
radii shows [2c, Kd Kc Qs ]
radii wins $353.00 USD from main pot
Villain doesn’t show [9d, Tc 8c 2s ]

Today we have a 100% Metagame play. The Villain in this hand raised any hand he played, and he played a lot. This counted for both NLHE and PLO. He played about 45% of his hands, and raised every single one. If someone else had raised, that meant he 3-bet. The dude did not have a call button on his window, I am convinced. Not that that is such a terrible thing, mind you, but after calling with my marginal hand to try to flop big and seeing my opponent 3-bet again, I decided that KK single suited was enough of a hand to call bullshit on this guy. That’s really all this hand was. If he had Aces, then he gets to go into the pot as a giant favorite. Kings play fairly well heads up for all the money, as long as not up against aces. Against popular rundowns such as JT98 double suited, my KKQ2 is a 55/45 favorite.

So anyway, I call bullshit on him, he pushes but I obviously have to call in a pot this big, and I see a hand about 2x worse than I imagined he could have possibly 5-bet me with. I’m a 66/33 favorite over his actual holding. He hits two pair but the river saves me and I scoop a giant pot.

And with that hand I get up to a high of $1920, but again fall back down to a low of $1745. A profit of $65 on the day.

MONDAY

I got ahead early on Monday and spent almost the entire evening between $1800 and $1900. I won a couple small PLO pots, my high point was $1905 or so, but I couldn’t really get anything going. The tilt monster rears its ugly head today for the first time. Um, I can’t find the full hand history since I don’t have PT Stud… I have a hand like (7c 8c) Kc in 7-stud and play for a full bet against a jack and a 6. I catch the 2c on 4th and have a flush draw, no other clubs are out. Jack catches a ten, I forget what the 6 catches. I take the lead in the hand and play it strongly. I catch Kx on 5th, 2x on 6th, and my hand is (7c 8c) Kc 2c Kx 2x, a ridiculously strong looking kings up + flush draw. My only opponent left has JTQK however, and I am worried about a straight. But still, I have to bet out with my board no matter what. And when my opponent just calls I have to bet again on the river, which I of course brick. My opponent calls again and I see that his hand was (Jx Rag) Jx Tx Qx Kq (Ax), he had a pair of jacks the entire way but played along, and runner runner runnerrererered the winning hand. pokenum tells me I was an 80% favorite.

With the 3rd player in for multiple bets on early streets this ended up being a $150 pot and I tilted away a solid $75 more after this loss.

I finish Monday at $1635, up $95 over the last 3 days of play. “only $55″ because with proper tilt control and a better quit I probably have $1900 plus, but $95 up! because hell I’m still winning.

WHEEeeeeeeeeee! Three days of increased volatility has reminded me that I am playing well above my level still and the bottom end of this run keeps creeping upward. At this point if I dropped down to $1300 or so I would certainly move back down to a game that I am rolled for. But for now, ONWARD.

The next 2 posts are in order starting with this one, this ended up extraordinarily long and I’m breaking it down into parts. So make sure you read the post below this one too.

So here’s the story. I play off and on these days(where these days is this entire year tbh). I have two buddies that I chat with daily/almost daily that play online and most of my play has been specifically with them. One of these buddies likes the 8-game rotation I’ve been mentioning on Stars, and i’ve played some 1/2 and 2/4 8-game and enjoy it quite a bit.

I only have $500 on stars, but I still have 700 points to earn towards a bonus from back in February. I always deposit for Stars bonuses and almost always regret it, so I decide this $500 is just for fun and whatever happens happens.. Screw bankroll, I follow bankroll reqs real well on FTP, my primary site.

TUESDAY: I sit down wtih $150 in 4/8 8-game and a few hours later have run it up to $350. Well that was neat. And holy crap this game generates FPP’s like you wouldn’t believe.

WEDNESDAY: I figure I’ll give it another shot with my found money, I buyin for $150, 5 or 6 hours later I log off with about $450, I’ve doubled my stars bankroll in 2 nights, with almost exactly $1000 in my account. I play a late night session with my other good online poker buddy and win another $60 or so, and finish with $1060 in my account, $560 profit.

I notice that I’ll clear the stars deposit bonus from February in about 45 minute the next night, and I also notice that Stars is doing a June only promotion where if you get Silverstar you can buy a $160 cash award for 10,000 FPP’s. Its a one time only thing, can only buy one of them. Cash award as in it goes straight into your account, not a bonus to work off. Also smaller $16 and $8 bonuses, so $184 in total bonuses. I hoarde my FPP’s and have 20,000 saved up, so sure, I’m all over that too!

THURSDAY: I buyin for $150 and lose $50 in my first two hands of 2-7 Triple Draw. A LHE suckout and a couple A2 hands of Omaha 8 and I’m down to $50. I buy in for another $100 to get back to $150 on the table. A memorable hand has me calling $82 on the river in NLHE with top two pair on a board with 3 spades and straight possibilities. The guy was crazy aggressive and I honestly thought could have air a good deal of the time, though a little discussion with a friend afterwards seems to indicate a pretty clear fold regardless. He had the nut flush, I lose $120 on this pot alone and curse NLHE. I lose about $275 playing poker on this day, but do finish clearing the bonus, which is worth $150. I am down a net of $125 on the day and have $925 in my stars account.

FRIDAY PART 1: I play an afternoon session and lose a little, $50 or so, but was distracted by a work related call and should not have played at all after the first few rounds, my fault. An evening session starts out poorly, I get down $50 quickly and rebuy up to $150 again. I reach silverstar, and buy the $184 in free cash that I have available to me, hooray! I lose another $50 or so and am essentially breakeven on the day, down $150ish in play, but up $180 in free moneys. Then, it all turns around. I win a couple pots in stud to get back to $150, then I creep up to $200 with a few steals and I’m now breakeven in my session. I win a nice stud pot and get up to $250, even on the day in poker, with the profit from the $184 points for cash thing.

FRIDAY PART 2: I win my first truly large pot of the day, in PLO, A $300+ pot(I’m waiting for stars to mail me the HH) with top set vs the nut flush draw + gutshot on the flop. I’m a 63/37 favorite, I had QQxx on a QJx board, a great wrap+flush draw could be ahead of my set, and getting the money in this deep is almost always 55/45 or closer, I’m stunned and thrilled to be 60/40 or better, and even more thrilled when it holds up. With some other play around this time my stack hits $500, a profit of $300 at that time.

Keep Reading Below…

FRIDAY PART THREE: My 8-game buddy is playing with me. We chat in IRC while we play, but two things. We NEVER discuss hands when we’re both in them, we never advise during hands/decisions, and we never, ever softplay each other. He and I are destroying the game. At this moment, I have $538, he has $534, no one else has more than $300 at the time(remember $200 max buyin). We’ve both been running real hot. Here’s the hand history, with comments:

Poker Stars $1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $92.60
Hero (MP): $538.65
CO: $534.75
BTN: $207.00
SB: $315.90
BB: $279.65

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is MP with J K J Q
1 fold, Hero raises to $6, CO calls $6, 1 fold, SB calls $5, 1 fold

Standard I think.

Flop: ($20.00) 9 7 3 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $14, CO calls $14, SB calls $14

Standard too I think. I might get blown off the hand here but this isn’t exactly a great flop so that’s fine. Straight draws are out there, but no flush draws. C-betting happens less in PLO than NLHE, but this is a place I C-Bet almost always.

Turn: ($62.00) J (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, CO checks

So two people call the flop, I hit top set on the turn. Here’s my problem. If I bet and someone re-raises pot, I have to fold. Straight Draws in PLO run HUGE. A hand that would crush a 973 rainbow flop for example would be QJT8, a strong PLO hand. And that draw might just call on the flop. It probably raises, hoping to get called by a dominated draw, but the board isn’t scary at all. Sucker wraps like T86 (a hand like T986 maybe), which are dangerous because so few draws are nut draws, scare me here. Any hand with T98 in it, AT98 for example, has top pair and an open ended draw.

Point being, there are a lot of reasonable ways T8 shows up here, and if I bet my top set and get raised pot, I don’t have the odds to try to hit my (at best) 10 outer to a boat/quads. So I check, fully prepared to call a pot sized bet, there’s enough money behind for that, even if I wouldn’t be getting proper pot odds on a call I think. But the player in position checks so we get to the river for free. I’m pleased with this too.

River: ($62.00) 9 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $50, CO raises to $209 SB folds:

Outstanding river for me. I have the 2nd nuts, only losing to 99. So I throw out a bet. Hopefully I get called by a lot of hands the way it played out, Maybe the early position player wanted to check-raise with T8 and failed when we checked, he might call. Trips *maybe* calls here… Just that the way the hand played out to this point it doesn’t seem so likely that anyone has this board crushed.

Then my opponent raises. My opponent is my good friend. The fact that he’s my good friend doesn’t matter for any decision making here, but we play together a lot and I know a good bit about his play. After his raise, its $159 for me to call, he has $305 left behind and I have him covered by all of $4. There’s some meta-game here. He makes his money playing limit. He’s profitable in PLO but he’s not risking this much, this deep without a hand. He also knows a lot about how I play. I think he knows I would almost never come over top without something *very* close to the nuts. Neither of us are often making big moves in PLO, and we both know it. So I’m 100% calling at least, the question is whether to raise all in or not. This isn’t NLHE. The nuts happen, and they happen a lot. I would definitely be a little surprised if he just called the flop with a set of 9s and didn’t fast play right there. But I’m not sure I’m willing to risk 250 BB over it.

And the most important consideration… will my opponent put the rest of his 250 BB stack in with 9J or 97? There’s a very real chance IMO that if I go all in this deep stacked, that I’m ONLY getting called by 99.

Which leads us to the resolution of the hand.

Hero calls $159

Final Pot: $480.00
Hero shows J K J Q (a full house, Jacks full of Nines)
CO shows 9 7 Q T (a full house, Nines full of Sevens)
Hero wins $477.00
(Rake: $3.00)

At this point my stack is $700. I don’t like playing this pot against my friend but we are both good about it and chat afterwards, and if we’re going to play 6-max together with the way that we both play, this kind of thing will happen. This is just the biggest pot that it has happened in so far. At least Stars should never accuse us of colluding

After this I lose a $220 pot with a horribly played PLO hand and drop as low as $540, but I play well after that one bad mistake and end up leaving with $685, a profit of $485 on the session.

Over the last four days, my stars account has risen from $500 to $1540($334 of this from bonus clearing/bonus buying, the rest from 8-game). And don’t feel too bad for my good friend, either, he is up about $500 over the same time period.

This is no longer fake money on stars that I’m willing to totally blow, and I feel like I should set a threshold where if I drop below it, I go back to a game I’m rolled for. I have not set such a threshold yet, though $1000 seems good. For now, lets hope the run continues though!

The biggest pot I’ve won online in quite some time. the “4/8″ in 4/8 8-game refers to the limit rounds, all limit games are $4/$8. the NL and PL rounds are $1/$2, and the buyin for the game is based on standard $1/$2 NL/PL games, with a max buyin of $200. I prefer to buy in for $150, if I learned anything from the 2+2 professional NL, its that 100 BB stacks create awful SPR situations.

Poker Stars $1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $384.10
SB: $201.70
BB: $216.35
Hero (UTG): $393.95
MP: $192.60
CO: $550.00

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with K T A J
Hero raises to $6, 1 fold, CO calls $6, BTN calls $6, 1 fold, BB calls $4

Flop: ($25.00) T 2 5 (4 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, CO checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($25.00) A (4 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $16, CO raises to $71.75, BTN folds, BB folds, Hero calls $55.75

River: ($168.50) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $110, CO calls $110

Final Pot: $388.50
Hero shows K T A J (a straight, Ten to Ace)
CO mucks 5 4 3 7
Hero wins $385.50
(Rake: $3.00)

I believe this is mostly standard. With so many opponents I don’t think betting top pair on the flop when there’s a flush draw does much for me. The turn was a near perfect card for me, maybe Qd is better for the wrap + flush draw but the boat outs and the gutshot are nice. And of course, any river that gives me the nuts is espicially nice, espicially the runner-runner broadway that is way more disguised than the flush might have been.

Against what he actually had I’m only a 60/40 dog on the turn and I think the only way I’m in truly terrible shape is if he has a set of aces, so calling the raise is automatic. We’d been playing together for awhile, I thought there was almost no chance top two was best. I should have bet full pot on the river, though.

http://holdemmanager.net/omaha.html

Holdem Manager, my personal Holdem tracking software of choice, has added Omaha support. They’ve got a 15 day free trial for it, and if you already own Holdem Manager, adding Omaha support is $65, a discount from the full version.

I’ll be trying it out over the next 15 days but unless there are major problems with it consider this to be a near automatic purchase.

This is also yet another return to posting, which I won’t make any promises about doing consistently or anything. I want to, I really do, but when I’m losing posting about it is no fun, and when I’m winning I often don’t think about posting and just want to play. But there is this blog thing here so we’ll see what can be done

My poker play continues to be fairly casual and all over the map. I made another trip up to Atlantic City in April, and spent some time learning Stud/8 so that i could play in the Borgata’s 10/20 OE (that’s Omaha/8 + Stud/8) mixed game. Most of the action was in Omaha, but I already feel very comfortable with basic, tight, draw to the nuts play in loose Omaha games. Stud/8 needed a lot of work.

I’m not an expert in any of these games by any stretch, but I have found it a lot more intriguing to work on becoming competant at least at low stakes in many games and being able to just play whatever I feel like when I go into a poker room or open up Stars or Full Tilt.

Of course, in that vein, I’m on a huge rush over the past couple days in 8-game, an awesome mixed game on Stars. Its 6-max, each game is played for only 6 hands in rotation. HORSE, then NLHE, PLO, and limit 2-7 TD. I love it. I feel weakest in Razz and vulnerable in NLHE based on my past history of sucking horribly at the game. In all the other games I feel like I can at least hold my own, and feel like I have an edge over the average player in limit holdem, Stud/8, and PLO.

Anyway, I’m up about $600 playing 4/8 8-game over the past two days, which probably spurred on the motivation to post something