I decided to play the Fitz end of month despite being undecided for most of the day, but the fact that I wanted to play even though I knew I probably shouldn't, decided it.
I was seated in Seat 1, Table 6 for the first few hours and the table was grand, a few familiar faces, a few decent Northern lads and a few random types. I won the first 2 pots for very small amounts, flopping a set of 4's in the first hand and raising and picking up the blinds only in the second hand with AQo. I wasn't doing an awful lot at this stage and the biggest pot I won before the break was when I raised with AQo to 425 at the 50-100 level with 2 limpers. All folded to the second limper who called. Flop comes Q54 with 2 diamonds, and there is a bet of 500 into me. The other guy in this pot is one of my favourite players to take chips off as he talks a good game - regularly - but doesn't play one. I raised him to 1750 and he called. Turn comes T, no flush on board and he checks. I duly go all in for about 2700, and he thinks and folds after a bit saying that he had a queen. That was a perfect example of how to leak away over 2k with a poor holding out of position.
Anyhow, I pick up a few more small pots before the break, mostly due to a lot of the tight play at the table, so at the break I have 7700. Not bad but not great. I have still not shown down a hand at this point. After the break I start of steady enough, winning a couple more small pots and I am around the 7.5k mark still when I decide to get creative with a call (100/200) with Q6d in the cutoff. BB checks his option (despite looking like raising at one point). Flop comes AdQs3d. Perfect thinks I. Obviously so did other players!!!! The BB bet 450, an EP limper raised to 1550 and it comes back to me. I have a few options here -
1. Fold - Not something I was considering really. Why else did I call if not to see a flop like that?
2. Call - The cautious me wanted to do this. The old me would have.
3. Raise - This is a better option in a more deepstacked situation. Raising here would pot commit anyhow.
4. Push - This is really the obvious one, and of course the one I went for.
So I pushed for a total of about 7.5k and the BB got out of the way quickly enough. The first raiser though had a good think and after a couple of minutes got the clock called on him (not by me I must add). He got the 30 second warning, the 15 second warning, the 10 second warning, the countdown from 5, and in true McGyver fashion he waited unti l second before making the fold. He showed what he folded and it was AJh. Didn't seem like the hand to go into the tank over to be honest, but there you go. He had about 9k back after his bet so it would have been for 2/3 of his remaining stack.
So I toddled along winning small pots and get to peak of 13k when I was moved table, and there were a few more faces on this table I was familiar with. The crucial hand on this table came when I had 88 UTG and decided to raise. This was after a couple of rounds of the table when I think I had played precisely 1 hand, and that was a battle of the blinds, which was split between myself and Reggie. Blinds 400-800 I raise to 2300 UTG. Kevin Fitzpatrick goes all in for 4500 and then another guy who was at my table all night before it broke, went all in for 5800. Folded back to me and I make the call after a small deliberation. I was happy when the showed AJ for Kevin, and AK for the other guy. Happy that was until the turn brought an A, and no help on the river meant I was back to around 6.5k. I worked my way back to around 10k with a few pushes and then t the 800-1500 level with the blinds approaching fast, UTG minraised and it came to me with KQs. Now I know this is a poor hand in a raised pot, but this guy was the type of player who minraises with a middling Ace because he 'thinks he should'.
I pushed anyhow, happy to either push him off it (calling was over 60% of his stack) or take an uneven race against Ax. I had less than 7BB and it was my BB in about 3 hands. He called with AT anyhow, ad neither of us connected so I was gone in around 24th.
Ah well. I thought I played well and considering I only got 3 pp's (44 twice, 88) and didn't see AK at all all night, I thought I did ok. I was disappointed though not to get further. Another night I would have folded the KQ and tried to pick a better spot, but there were a few shortish stacks so the chances of getting into a pot under favourable circumstances weren't great. I am going to miss the scalps tonight anyhow, and it will only be the 7th time this year I have not played on a Friday night. Maybe I should look for a life. I have only played on Saturday night 8 times though, so that isn't as damning a statistic.
Adios 'til next time.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
At least I am consistent
In my last 7 tournaments (5 of them since my last post) I have finished in the top 20 - but only once made the FT and even then didn't make the money. The upshot of this of course is that while I am generally not going out early it is not good to me since I am making no money from it. I am however turning a small profit at the cash tables so overall June is a profitable month so far, if not one to have me rolling in the cash. After the disaster that was May though it is good to steady the ship.
I think part of the problem is that a lot of the tournies around dublin are way too shallow stacked so one mistake, bad timing, or one bad beat and you are dead, and usually one or the other seems to happen to me at some stage of the tournament.
I am probably going to play the Fitz EOM tournament tonight so we'll see how I do then. I am feeling that I am playing ok lately while not hitting the heights or getting the big breaks I need at the right time in big pots.
This is only a fairly short post so not much more to say, except I don't know how frequently I will be playing poker for the next while as sometime next week I am moving apartment and since I don't have a car (soon to be rectified hopefully) and this place is not near as centrally located I may be less conveniently placed to play as much. When you couple this with the fact that I don't know how long it will take to sort out broadband and tv access in this new place either I am possibly in for a frustrating while. Then again I do work in town (well nearly) so I may just stay in town after work and get a taxi home after the Fitz, but this approach could be expensive after a while. Just as well my SSIA is maturing (Cheers Charlie) in a months time and I will probably buy a wagon then and I can get back to normal.
Anyways, bye for now, sorry for wasting 49 seconds of your life by writing this tripe that you just wrote. I promise that my next one will be filled with hands where I ballsed things up and also lots of complaining that I never got got cards and when I did I never got action.
I think part of the problem is that a lot of the tournies around dublin are way too shallow stacked so one mistake, bad timing, or one bad beat and you are dead, and usually one or the other seems to happen to me at some stage of the tournament.
I am probably going to play the Fitz EOM tournament tonight so we'll see how I do then. I am feeling that I am playing ok lately while not hitting the heights or getting the big breaks I need at the right time in big pots.
This is only a fairly short post so not much more to say, except I don't know how frequently I will be playing poker for the next while as sometime next week I am moving apartment and since I don't have a car (soon to be rectified hopefully) and this place is not near as centrally located I may be less conveniently placed to play as much. When you couple this with the fact that I don't know how long it will take to sort out broadband and tv access in this new place either I am possibly in for a frustrating while. Then again I do work in town (well nearly) so I may just stay in town after work and get a taxi home after the Fitz, but this approach could be expensive after a while. Just as well my SSIA is maturing (Cheers Charlie) in a months time and I will probably buy a wagon then and I can get back to normal.
Anyways, bye for now, sorry for wasting 49 seconds of your life by writing this tripe that you just wrote. I promise that my next one will be filled with hands where I ballsed things up and also lots of complaining that I never got got cards and when I did I never got action.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Quiet Time
I haven't played much poker in the last while so not an awful lot to report. Since the last update I have played twice only. The first time was in the first run of the Fitz 150 game. This got 49 runners which isn't bad for the first time. Hopefully it will get a consistent 50-60 runners as it is a good structure, and there isn't an awful lot elase on a Thursday apart from the SE double chance which I am not that fond of to be honest.
Anyways, starting stack of 5k, 3x20 minute levels and then 30 min levels. There were one or two teething problme swith the clock but aside from this I enjoyed the tournament in general. Before the break I barely made a move, only playing 2 hands and barely picking up much in either of these pots. I have a tad over starting stack at the break.
After the break I got moved table and first hand I lost around 1500 when playing QTs from the button. A couple of hands later though I got dealt 88 in late position and raised to 700 (100/200). button called, and he was the guy who had taken the 1500 off me. He is an aggressive (usually) tricky and good player. Flop comes 78Ar so perfect flop. I check into him, he checks back. Turn is 7 filling me up. I bet 1200, calls quickly. River is T I think, I bet 2100 into him and he quickly calls. I flip my house over, he taps the table and shows an A and mucks. I got lucky then a couple of times once when raising in the cutoff with KQ in an unopened pot, and BB goes allin for less than double my raise so naturally I called. He showed AK and a Q on the flop meant I increase again. Sorry Jason.
At this point I lost a few more chips in 2 hands against a newcomer to the table who smacked of bullying with his chips but I never quite had the conviction to go over the top against him. Yet.
Then came another hand. I got dealt 66 in MP. Ronan then raised to 1500 (200/400) from EP and I pushed for 4100 hoping he would respect my raise and let me steal there cause I knew I wasn't in great shape. Ronan knows my game as well as anyone in the Fitz, as I play a lot of tournaments as well as cash games with him. It gets backto Ronan and he thinks about it for a bit and says 'I think we are in a race' and calls showing 88. Bugger. A 6 on the flop though gets me out of it though, the case 6 as it turns out as one lad afterwards says he had one.
Then I played 99 (nearly 9.5k now), raising to 1500 from lp on 200/400 with a limper. The button (bullying guy from above) called. Flop comes QT4r. I bet 1700 into the pot and he thinks for a bit and calls. Oh-Oh. I resolve now to push any blank (I have him on KQ at the worst(for me), probably a decent T though) and the turn duly obliges as it is a rainbow completing 7. I push for 6200 instantly into a pot of around 6500 so not an overbet at all. He thinks for ages which I think is a bit of bluster really as I don't think he was strong enough to call as I hadn't played it weakly. I think he was planning to push on any weakness from me, but there is a good chance I was behind so I didn't want this. He folded anyhow after a think.
Then came 'the hand' and just as I was starting to really enjoy the game. I was SB and Macker was BB (300/600). Folded to me and I complete with K7o. Flop comes a tasty KT7 with 2 hearts. I lead for 1000 which is promptly raised to 5k. He has me covered. There are 3 possibilites here I reckon. Flush draw and a pair. I have seen Macker do this a few times on this type of draw. T7 which was what I really wanted, or KT which I didn't. I pushed for 13k which was quickly called and the horrible KT was turned over. Turn was a K so I was dying here anyhow if we saw this.
My mistakes in this hand:
Not raising preflop. May not have worked against KT but it may have.
Not respecting Mackers reraise. I knew he had a decent hand, I just vainly hoped it was worse than mine. Macker doesn't raise with shit.
Not folding preflop.
Ah well. Out in 14th I think.
Not an awful lot to report from the Monday 100+10 game either. Only 36 runners, I lost a good few chips early on to mad Tom, and got them back a while later when I doubled up with KK then won a decent pot on a board of KK97 with 77 vs KQ. Thanks for checking the flop :)
I didn't really get going in this game and went out in 12th. I didn't play last weekend as I was in Hamburg getting very drunk on a mates stag party, and I won't be playing this weekend as I will be at home for my bimonthly visit. Assuming I don't go on Sunday evening either this will be 2 visits in 13 days, my most barren run for quite a while. No harm though with the World Cup and all. I haven't played online either really in the last 2-3 weeks. I will be moving apartment though in a few weeks so both online and offline will be more difficult for me so I may just go mad.
Bye now.
Anyways, starting stack of 5k, 3x20 minute levels and then 30 min levels. There were one or two teething problme swith the clock but aside from this I enjoyed the tournament in general. Before the break I barely made a move, only playing 2 hands and barely picking up much in either of these pots. I have a tad over starting stack at the break.
After the break I got moved table and first hand I lost around 1500 when playing QTs from the button. A couple of hands later though I got dealt 88 in late position and raised to 700 (100/200). button called, and he was the guy who had taken the 1500 off me. He is an aggressive (usually) tricky and good player. Flop comes 78Ar so perfect flop. I check into him, he checks back. Turn is 7 filling me up. I bet 1200, calls quickly. River is T I think, I bet 2100 into him and he quickly calls. I flip my house over, he taps the table and shows an A and mucks. I got lucky then a couple of times once when raising in the cutoff with KQ in an unopened pot, and BB goes allin for less than double my raise so naturally I called. He showed AK and a Q on the flop meant I increase again. Sorry Jason.
At this point I lost a few more chips in 2 hands against a newcomer to the table who smacked of bullying with his chips but I never quite had the conviction to go over the top against him. Yet.
Then came another hand. I got dealt 66 in MP. Ronan then raised to 1500 (200/400) from EP and I pushed for 4100 hoping he would respect my raise and let me steal there cause I knew I wasn't in great shape. Ronan knows my game as well as anyone in the Fitz, as I play a lot of tournaments as well as cash games with him. It gets backto Ronan and he thinks about it for a bit and says 'I think we are in a race' and calls showing 88. Bugger. A 6 on the flop though gets me out of it though, the case 6 as it turns out as one lad afterwards says he had one.
Then I played 99 (nearly 9.5k now), raising to 1500 from lp on 200/400 with a limper. The button (bullying guy from above) called. Flop comes QT4r. I bet 1700 into the pot and he thinks for a bit and calls. Oh-Oh. I resolve now to push any blank (I have him on KQ at the worst(for me), probably a decent T though) and the turn duly obliges as it is a rainbow completing 7. I push for 6200 instantly into a pot of around 6500 so not an overbet at all. He thinks for ages which I think is a bit of bluster really as I don't think he was strong enough to call as I hadn't played it weakly. I think he was planning to push on any weakness from me, but there is a good chance I was behind so I didn't want this. He folded anyhow after a think.
Then came 'the hand' and just as I was starting to really enjoy the game. I was SB and Macker was BB (300/600). Folded to me and I complete with K7o. Flop comes a tasty KT7 with 2 hearts. I lead for 1000 which is promptly raised to 5k. He has me covered. There are 3 possibilites here I reckon. Flush draw and a pair. I have seen Macker do this a few times on this type of draw. T7 which was what I really wanted, or KT which I didn't. I pushed for 13k which was quickly called and the horrible KT was turned over. Turn was a K so I was dying here anyhow if we saw this.
My mistakes in this hand:
Not raising preflop. May not have worked against KT but it may have.
Not respecting Mackers reraise. I knew he had a decent hand, I just vainly hoped it was worse than mine. Macker doesn't raise with shit.
Not folding preflop.
Ah well. Out in 14th I think.
Not an awful lot to report from the Monday 100+10 game either. Only 36 runners, I lost a good few chips early on to mad Tom, and got them back a while later when I doubled up with KK then won a decent pot on a board of KK97 with 77 vs KQ. Thanks for checking the flop :)
I didn't really get going in this game and went out in 12th. I didn't play last weekend as I was in Hamburg getting very drunk on a mates stag party, and I won't be playing this weekend as I will be at home for my bimonthly visit. Assuming I don't go on Sunday evening either this will be 2 visits in 13 days, my most barren run for quite a while. No harm though with the World Cup and all. I haven't played online either really in the last 2-3 weeks. I will be moving apartment though in a few weeks so both online and offline will be more difficult for me so I may just go mad.
Bye now.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Couldn't think of a title
The bank holiday weekend proved too much for me to resist and I got back into playing cash games I must report. Sunday started off with me going to the rebuy tournie in the Fitz. This was the oddest tournament I have played in a while. I had to rebuy after the first hand when I had AA, went all in again on the 3rd hand and won a race vs AK. Overall I had AA twice, KK, QQ twice, JJ, AK twice and I was still knocked out at 11.10 when my QQ got beaten by AJ. Ah well.
Onto the Omaha cash games and it started off reasonably slowly, My first decent hand of the night was when I flopped the nut flush from the BB and took a chance and checked it. One player bets 25, 1 caller and I call also. Turn is inconsequential. SB bets 50, I go all in for ~150 and take it there without a caller.
The biggest pot of the night is as follows. I have taken this as pretty much a cut and paste from a thread I started on boards.ie but I have filled in the gap at the bottom.
I make it €4 on the blind UTG, 5 callers, I have no live option. My hand AsTsKdTh.
Flop 9TJr (25)
I check (~400), next player (~375) bets pot, 1 caller (~150), I call to see turn.
Turn 5s (100).
This card gives me nut spade draw as well as the inside straight draw to the nuts and trips. This is the situation I am thinking about here. I have a huge draw (20 outs). Potentially the flop bet caller has a set of jacks but I dont think so (his call of the pony didn't look to confident). Even if he does, I still have 12 outs to the nuts (straight and flush).
Should I lead the betting into this pot in this big draw situation knowing that the player to my left almost certainly has KQ? He is normally a Hold'em only player. He knows enough about Omaha to know not to lead the betting with crap, but he is not a regular or tricky player. If I lead here there is a good chance all the money goes in now. If I check/call and hit there is a good likelyhood that I will not get paid, against most players anyhow.
Anyhow, I check, other guy bets pot (100), third player folds and I call.River J (300)Board now: JsTd9h5sJd
I lead with the underfull for 200, and after a think get called somehow and scoop the pot. I won a couple of other decent pots as well as missing a couple of draws and getting outdrawn a couiplf of times, but I leave at the bright and early time of 6.45 with a healthy profit.
Monday night I was going to give a miss, but have a trademark last minute change of heart and decide to play the 100 freezeout. There was a disappointing turnout of only around 45, and I was on a tough table featuring Vivian, Paddy, Niall O'Callaghan and Cecil, with Kevin Farrelly getting moved there too before the break.
There were 2 big hands that I was involved in before the break. Hand 1 (75-150) I get JTd in the BB and call a raise from Paddy (SB) to 650, and 3 of us see a flop of JcQdKd, so I have a pair and an open ended straight flush draw. Monster!
Paddy goes all in and I call for less than his bet (I had about 1800) and Cecil folds (had JT spades he says). I hit a 9 on the turn for my straight and Paddy's AQ is no good when the river is a blank.
Two hands later (100-200) I am on the button. It is folded around to Stewart (Loose, aggressive, shortstacked) and he goes in for 1025. Folded to me and I instantly call with AQo. SB goes all in for 550 citing value and then BB (Niall) thinks and calls. I wasn't too comfortable with this situation now to be honest as I felt that the size of the initial all in was big enough for me not to risk a raise to keep out marginal hands from the only 2 players still to act. Now I wish I had raised.
Anyhow, flop comes out A94r. Perfect thinks I, especially when Niall checks to me. I bet 2k into the pot and Niall reluctantly goes all in for 2475 which I call. Cards turned over and Stewart had KJo, I had AQo and Niall had AJo. SB had some other cards I can't recall, but irrelevant. Lovely thinks I, until the J on the turn cripples me and leaves me with only 2k to play with. Ouch.
I was thinking that I should perhaps have raised to isolate, but if I ran into a monster I would at least have had the opportunity to get away from it preflop which a flat call would allow. Ah well.
Things do not improve and I go out 3 hands after the break when my 44 run into KK. Stick my name on the Omaha there Denise, cheers.
Anyhoo, onto the Omaha cash game and it was a very uneventful game for me. The high point: 180 in profit. The low point: 90 down. I left at roughly the midpoint with 50 profit in this game and a small loss for the night.
Next up for me will probably be the new 150 game in the Fitz on Thursday night. I am away in Hamburg for a stag this weekend so won't be playing (poker at least).
Bye for now.
Onto the Omaha cash games and it started off reasonably slowly, My first decent hand of the night was when I flopped the nut flush from the BB and took a chance and checked it. One player bets 25, 1 caller and I call also. Turn is inconsequential. SB bets 50, I go all in for ~150 and take it there without a caller.
The biggest pot of the night is as follows. I have taken this as pretty much a cut and paste from a thread I started on boards.ie but I have filled in the gap at the bottom.
I make it €4 on the blind UTG, 5 callers, I have no live option. My hand AsTsKdTh.
Flop 9TJr (25)
I check (~400), next player (~375) bets pot, 1 caller (~150), I call to see turn.
Turn 5s (100).
This card gives me nut spade draw as well as the inside straight draw to the nuts and trips. This is the situation I am thinking about here. I have a huge draw (20 outs). Potentially the flop bet caller has a set of jacks but I dont think so (his call of the pony didn't look to confident). Even if he does, I still have 12 outs to the nuts (straight and flush).
Should I lead the betting into this pot in this big draw situation knowing that the player to my left almost certainly has KQ? He is normally a Hold'em only player. He knows enough about Omaha to know not to lead the betting with crap, but he is not a regular or tricky player. If I lead here there is a good chance all the money goes in now. If I check/call and hit there is a good likelyhood that I will not get paid, against most players anyhow.
Anyhow, I check, other guy bets pot (100), third player folds and I call.River J (300)Board now: JsTd9h5sJd
I lead with the underfull for 200, and after a think get called somehow and scoop the pot. I won a couple of other decent pots as well as missing a couple of draws and getting outdrawn a couiplf of times, but I leave at the bright and early time of 6.45 with a healthy profit.
Monday night I was going to give a miss, but have a trademark last minute change of heart and decide to play the 100 freezeout. There was a disappointing turnout of only around 45, and I was on a tough table featuring Vivian, Paddy, Niall O'Callaghan and Cecil, with Kevin Farrelly getting moved there too before the break.
There were 2 big hands that I was involved in before the break. Hand 1 (75-150) I get JTd in the BB and call a raise from Paddy (SB) to 650, and 3 of us see a flop of JcQdKd, so I have a pair and an open ended straight flush draw. Monster!
Paddy goes all in and I call for less than his bet (I had about 1800) and Cecil folds (had JT spades he says). I hit a 9 on the turn for my straight and Paddy's AQ is no good when the river is a blank.
Two hands later (100-200) I am on the button. It is folded around to Stewart (Loose, aggressive, shortstacked) and he goes in for 1025. Folded to me and I instantly call with AQo. SB goes all in for 550 citing value and then BB (Niall) thinks and calls. I wasn't too comfortable with this situation now to be honest as I felt that the size of the initial all in was big enough for me not to risk a raise to keep out marginal hands from the only 2 players still to act. Now I wish I had raised.
Anyhow, flop comes out A94r. Perfect thinks I, especially when Niall checks to me. I bet 2k into the pot and Niall reluctantly goes all in for 2475 which I call. Cards turned over and Stewart had KJo, I had AQo and Niall had AJo. SB had some other cards I can't recall, but irrelevant. Lovely thinks I, until the J on the turn cripples me and leaves me with only 2k to play with. Ouch.
I was thinking that I should perhaps have raised to isolate, but if I ran into a monster I would at least have had the opportunity to get away from it preflop which a flat call would allow. Ah well.
Things do not improve and I go out 3 hands after the break when my 44 run into KK. Stick my name on the Omaha there Denise, cheers.
Anyhoo, onto the Omaha cash game and it was a very uneventful game for me. The high point: 180 in profit. The low point: 90 down. I left at roughly the midpoint with 50 profit in this game and a small loss for the night.
Next up for me will probably be the new 150 game in the Fitz on Thursday night. I am away in Hamburg for a stag this weekend so won't be playing (poker at least).
Bye for now.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Ignore, Ignore
Firstly thanks to those brave few that read and post encouraging comments. Yes I know I probably should take a complete break for a couple of weeks, take deep breaths etc but even when things are running poorly I still enjoy it all in a perverted sense.
Since I last posted here I have played 3 nights on the trot. Thursday in the SE saw me doing ok for the first while. The main decent pot I won I kinda plumbed a bit for. I limped from MP with 9Th. Flop comes 7TA, 2 diamonds and 1 heart, 5 players 50-100. SB bets 200, BB calls, I think and call leaving 900 behind. 1 more caller so pot on the turn is 1300. My thinking here is that if the turn comes 9,T,8 or a heart I am going to push, if not I will get away from the pot. Turn comes 6h. Checked to me and I push. CO calls instantly and SB calls (all in for less than me) too. Oh oh I think. I would have been happy to take the pot ther. CO shows A5 for 2 pair (no flop raise???) and SB has J5d for the other flush draw. River come a nice Qh so I take the flush.
Maybe it was just me though but I thought the standard seemed better than normal for a Thursday in the SE. Not great still, but better, so I was hopeful of a decent run. I got moved table and the cards duly obliged my optimism by drying up completely. I barely played a hand before the table broke about an hour later and after the break which I had around 5k at, so ok.
At my new table I think I raised the first 2 hands with not much and took the blinds. Then I got involved in another pot when I hit top 2 on the flop with KJs so won that with a flop bet. I lost a significant pot when I was trying to semi-steal from the button with KQo with 2 limpers. BB went all in for about 40% of my stack, and almost twice my raise. I called anyways and wasn't too disappointed to see ATo. I hit my Q on the flop but an A on the river did for me. Next time in the BB I checked to see a battle of the blind flops with Q6o (I should prob have raised here irrespective of my holding tbh). Flop comes 999 and it is checked which I am happy to agree to. Turn is a Q giving me the house. SB bets out for 600 (blinds 200-400). I call. River is J, and SB bets 1100. To be honest I don't know why but I went all in, he called instantly with his 9 surprisingly. I don't know why I went all in there really, as the likelhood was that I would be splitting it at best as he showed interest only when the Q came and still bet the river. He had to have either a Q or a 9, but then again this being Thursday in the SE who knows. Ah well.
Scalps on Friday started off brilliantly and got up to over 6k early with TT vs 88 all in preflop and QQ vs J9 on the J high flop. After this though every time I made a bet or raise (even a reraise once) I got played back at strongly. I always had some of it but never enough to justify playing with this action. I was at less than starting stack at the break and the topup brought me to around 5k so a bit if work to do. Things restarted slowly but got better with me dogging people twice in quick succession when I had to make a move once with KQ vs AK and once when I misread the situation but got lucky. A reraise from the BB of a SB bet (loose, bad player) with K2 on a board of KQ64r won me another pot to take me to 25k with blinds at 400/800 so I was in good shape. I missed a couple of flops after raises preflop and had to lay down to action and this shortstacked me soon. I lasted a while longer but exited in 15th. Better but not good enough.
Onto the round of each game on Saturday night. For a while this was my non serious favourite game, but then I got pissed off with the standard of play in the Omaha and stopped going. Recently I have started playing it again and it has paid off with this being my only recent successes with a 1st and a 3rd in recent weeks. Not great money but a start. Tonight there was a massive 36 runners, and I played it properly from start to finish as opposed to my usualy manic style before then break. There were the usual dodgy players among the decent ones.
I got off to a quiet start but by the break had over 6k including topup with only 1 rebuy so in for €50. After the break I was moved table immediately and got blinded down to 2500 (with 1 played and lost raised pot too). With the blinds at 300-600 and Omaha starting I got my chips in with a fairly crap hand but flopped a flush in a 3 way pot so I tripled up (and a bit for the BB). Next hand I had KK88 and flopped another flush in a 4 way pot to nearly quadruple up, so from 2500 to 30k in 2 hands!!! Omaha is great. Things kept going ok and I made it to the FT with 40k, 4 places paid. 900, 480, 270 and 130 were the prizes. Things were still going ok when I raised with KKJJds and got reraised by Austin for around 33k (his whole stack). I called and he hit a heart flush even though his AA were good anyhow. This put me back to 14k and there were 8 left.
A couple of blind steals and one double up put me back to over 30k. I yoyoed between this and about 18k for a while until I got doubled up again. I was playing good, pressure poker, and really enjoying the game. When 4 handed we were going to freeze the blinds at 2k-4k with myself, Dave Whelan, Austin and Paul Fox left in it, but Austin objected (I would love to know why really, it turned into a crap shoot then). Paul got taken out by Dave and my aggressive play, sometimes with cards, sometimes not, got me into a decent position again. After a while of tooing and froing the stacks were fairly even with me on 61k, Austin on 67k and Dave on 70k. The blinds at this stage were 400-8000 and a raise committed nearly half a stack so crap shoot city it was. Due to this a deal was agreed and we took over 500 each with a few shekels for the dealers.
This is a welcome boost to the coffers but doesn't change my recent stance on cash games. I would need a bigger win than that for it.
I must say though that I did enjoy that game, and thinking back, about 80% of the pots I won were at Omaha, mostly just bets taking it down uncontested. I enjoy the feeling that I know I am one of the better Omaha players that play the game, although with Dave Whelan, Oscar, Austin, Paul Fox and Mark (kinaldo from boards) on the FT it was never going to be a cakewalk. I am not saying that I am a great Omaha player as I know I have loads to learn about at game, as at NL holdem, but considering most of the other players in the game I am always confident about my play in it in this tournament.
Anyways, post over, and hopefully I can get back to better results in general. I will need to if I am to make a 5th consecutive league final appearance at the Fitz as I am currently in 12th and even the legend that is Bob Battersby is ahead of me in it.
Plans for the week ahead? Who knows. Probably play Sunday night and either Monday or Tuesday. Next weekend I will be on a different mission when I jet to Hamburg for a workmates stag. Considering the World Cup is starting that weekend and Argentina play Ivory Coast (with their reverse Irish flag) on the Saturday in Hamburg it should be a good weekend.
Auf Weidersehn (I didn't check spelling, so apologies if it is incorrect) for now.
Since I last posted here I have played 3 nights on the trot. Thursday in the SE saw me doing ok for the first while. The main decent pot I won I kinda plumbed a bit for. I limped from MP with 9Th. Flop comes 7TA, 2 diamonds and 1 heart, 5 players 50-100. SB bets 200, BB calls, I think and call leaving 900 behind. 1 more caller so pot on the turn is 1300. My thinking here is that if the turn comes 9,T,8 or a heart I am going to push, if not I will get away from the pot. Turn comes 6h. Checked to me and I push. CO calls instantly and SB calls (all in for less than me) too. Oh oh I think. I would have been happy to take the pot ther. CO shows A5 for 2 pair (no flop raise???) and SB has J5d for the other flush draw. River come a nice Qh so I take the flush.
Maybe it was just me though but I thought the standard seemed better than normal for a Thursday in the SE. Not great still, but better, so I was hopeful of a decent run. I got moved table and the cards duly obliged my optimism by drying up completely. I barely played a hand before the table broke about an hour later and after the break which I had around 5k at, so ok.
At my new table I think I raised the first 2 hands with not much and took the blinds. Then I got involved in another pot when I hit top 2 on the flop with KJs so won that with a flop bet. I lost a significant pot when I was trying to semi-steal from the button with KQo with 2 limpers. BB went all in for about 40% of my stack, and almost twice my raise. I called anyways and wasn't too disappointed to see ATo. I hit my Q on the flop but an A on the river did for me. Next time in the BB I checked to see a battle of the blind flops with Q6o (I should prob have raised here irrespective of my holding tbh). Flop comes 999 and it is checked which I am happy to agree to. Turn is a Q giving me the house. SB bets out for 600 (blinds 200-400). I call. River is J, and SB bets 1100. To be honest I don't know why but I went all in, he called instantly with his 9 surprisingly. I don't know why I went all in there really, as the likelhood was that I would be splitting it at best as he showed interest only when the Q came and still bet the river. He had to have either a Q or a 9, but then again this being Thursday in the SE who knows. Ah well.
Scalps on Friday started off brilliantly and got up to over 6k early with TT vs 88 all in preflop and QQ vs J9 on the J high flop. After this though every time I made a bet or raise (even a reraise once) I got played back at strongly. I always had some of it but never enough to justify playing with this action. I was at less than starting stack at the break and the topup brought me to around 5k so a bit if work to do. Things restarted slowly but got better with me dogging people twice in quick succession when I had to make a move once with KQ vs AK and once when I misread the situation but got lucky. A reraise from the BB of a SB bet (loose, bad player) with K2 on a board of KQ64r won me another pot to take me to 25k with blinds at 400/800 so I was in good shape. I missed a couple of flops after raises preflop and had to lay down to action and this shortstacked me soon. I lasted a while longer but exited in 15th. Better but not good enough.
Onto the round of each game on Saturday night. For a while this was my non serious favourite game, but then I got pissed off with the standard of play in the Omaha and stopped going. Recently I have started playing it again and it has paid off with this being my only recent successes with a 1st and a 3rd in recent weeks. Not great money but a start. Tonight there was a massive 36 runners, and I played it properly from start to finish as opposed to my usualy manic style before then break. There were the usual dodgy players among the decent ones.
I got off to a quiet start but by the break had over 6k including topup with only 1 rebuy so in for €50. After the break I was moved table immediately and got blinded down to 2500 (with 1 played and lost raised pot too). With the blinds at 300-600 and Omaha starting I got my chips in with a fairly crap hand but flopped a flush in a 3 way pot so I tripled up (and a bit for the BB). Next hand I had KK88 and flopped another flush in a 4 way pot to nearly quadruple up, so from 2500 to 30k in 2 hands!!! Omaha is great. Things kept going ok and I made it to the FT with 40k, 4 places paid. 900, 480, 270 and 130 were the prizes. Things were still going ok when I raised with KKJJds and got reraised by Austin for around 33k (his whole stack). I called and he hit a heart flush even though his AA were good anyhow. This put me back to 14k and there were 8 left.
A couple of blind steals and one double up put me back to over 30k. I yoyoed between this and about 18k for a while until I got doubled up again. I was playing good, pressure poker, and really enjoying the game. When 4 handed we were going to freeze the blinds at 2k-4k with myself, Dave Whelan, Austin and Paul Fox left in it, but Austin objected (I would love to know why really, it turned into a crap shoot then). Paul got taken out by Dave and my aggressive play, sometimes with cards, sometimes not, got me into a decent position again. After a while of tooing and froing the stacks were fairly even with me on 61k, Austin on 67k and Dave on 70k. The blinds at this stage were 400-8000 and a raise committed nearly half a stack so crap shoot city it was. Due to this a deal was agreed and we took over 500 each with a few shekels for the dealers.
This is a welcome boost to the coffers but doesn't change my recent stance on cash games. I would need a bigger win than that for it.
I must say though that I did enjoy that game, and thinking back, about 80% of the pots I won were at Omaha, mostly just bets taking it down uncontested. I enjoy the feeling that I know I am one of the better Omaha players that play the game, although with Dave Whelan, Oscar, Austin, Paul Fox and Mark (kinaldo from boards) on the FT it was never going to be a cakewalk. I am not saying that I am a great Omaha player as I know I have loads to learn about at game, as at NL holdem, but considering most of the other players in the game I am always confident about my play in it in this tournament.
Anyways, post over, and hopefully I can get back to better results in general. I will need to if I am to make a 5th consecutive league final appearance at the Fitz as I am currently in 12th and even the legend that is Bob Battersby is ahead of me in it.
Plans for the week ahead? Who knows. Probably play Sunday night and either Monday or Tuesday. Next weekend I will be on a different mission when I jet to Hamburg for a workmates stag. Considering the World Cup is starting that weekend and Argentina play Ivory Coast (with their reverse Irish flag) on the Saturday in Hamburg it should be a good weekend.
Auf Weidersehn (I didn't check spelling, so apologies if it is incorrect) for now.
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