Tag Archives: flush

Home Stretch

Posted on by

Schedules are tightening up. Prague’s going to require some really lucky hits in the next couple of weeks. This week’s tournament action didn’t get off to such a fine start.

Portland Players Club $250 Guarantee (2,000 chips)

Managed to double up with a Mutant Jack (spades) flush early on, but made a mistake with [kx 3x]. I had top pair and drawing possibilities to a low straight, but two other kings were in play, both with better kickers (surprise!) and they called by 4200 chip all-in, with the best of them hitting her queen on the turn.

One hour. -100% ROI. 29th of 32 players.

Only 28 winning days before EPT Prague.

Go, Bob! Go!

Posted on by

Dedicating today’s post to Badih “Bob” Bounahra, my sentimental favorite for taking down the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event during next week’s November Nine Final Table.

Portland Players Club Noon $250 Guarantee (2,000 chips)

Got the 2,000 pre-add-on. Won the first hand with [5s 7s], hitting the straight on the flop and a straight flush draw on the turn. Pulled in over 1,500 chips from the pot and was still up over 5,000 chips after 15 minutes.

Went all-in with [kh jd] with top pair and three diamonds on the flop and got called by a hand holding the [ad]. Caught a third king on the turn and no more diamonds showed up. Then I won a couple smaller pots with just a pair of kings on one hand and sixes on the other. By forty-five minutes in I was up to 12,000 chips.

Got involved in a three-way all-in with just [7x 7x] against [tx tx] and [ax 9x]. The tens made a full house and I lost 2,400 chips. Lost some more drawing to a flush with just [4s 2s] and was down to 8,000 at fifty minutes.

Bet hard post-flop with [qx qx] from SB and again with [ax tx] that made a wheel on the river and took two pots down without showdown, which put me back up to 12,300 ten minutes later.

One of the players hit three full houses in the time I was at the table and I got caught by one of them, losing 1,600 on [tx 4x] with just top pair against his [3x 3x]. At break 1 I was down to 9,200 and added 4,000.

Slowly crept back up to 10,300 chips by the middle of the second hour, but got knocked out when I went all-in with [5d 6d] and middle pair when I was called by the big stack who had jacks for top pair. I think I almost managed to bluff him off, he would have taken a big hit if I’d managed to make a set or two pair, and he said he was expecting to see kings when he called me. But he did call me and he won.

115 minutes. -100% ROI. Finished 21st of 26 players. Pot was $615, including 16 re-buys, and over 50 addons (both pre- and post-).

Portland Players Club $200 Guarantee Freeroll (2,000 chips)

Got the 2,000 chip pre-add-on. Twenty minutes into the game I’d won a few and lost a few but I’d lost more quantity than I’d won, so I was down to 3,825. Then I picked up [jd 9d] and made two pair on the flop, with the third card being a diamond. My push got called and two more diamonds hit the turn and river, improving me to a flush and putting me up to 7,700 at the 45-minute mark.

Made a stupid mistake after calling 200 with [kx tx]. The ace-high flop didn’t have much on it for me, and I folded to a post-flop all-in bet of 500, but there were three callers and no more bets as a queen and jack ran out to make what could have been Broadway (and the nuts) for me.

Raised pre-flop at 100/200 to 500 with [ax 6x] and got two callers. Bet 2,000 on a flop of [ax kx jx] and took it down, then made a flush draw on the next flop with [jh 2h] and bet 600 for another win. At break 1 I had 9,100 before getting the 4,000 chip add-on.

I raised to 1,000 from 200/400 with [ax tx] and got a caller, hit the ace on the flop and bet 1,500 to take another pot, then things started to fall apart.

UTG with an up-and-down straight draw, I lost more than 3,000 with [kx qx] against [ax tx]. Dropped another 4,000 stupidly betting on [kx 5x] with a flop of [tx 5x 2x] against the big stack of one of the better players in the house. I had to fold after the turn when he bet enough to put me all-in. He said he had [ax tx] and I have no reason to disbelieve him; he knows my fondness for [jx tx].

[js td] cost me 1,200 after the flop whiffed past me. At 1:25 into the game, I was down to 4,400. Dropped another 1,200 on a weak ace.

Final hand was [9x 7x]. Blinds were 300/600, I was in BB and there were two all-ins ahead of me. If I was lucky, I could triple up to 8,000 or so. The big stack had [tx tx], the other all-in had [ax qx], and nothing came close to saving me.

Ninety minutes. -100% ROI. 12th of 21 players.

Only 32 winning days before EPT Prague.

Up For the Day

Posted on by

Portland Players Club Noon $250 Guarantee Freeroll (2,000 chips)

The PPC is where I first played poker in a non-home game setting, and it’s where I started off my post-Black Friday concentration on live games with a couple of nice wins back in May. Since they went to their fall schedule—opening up with an 11am more-or-less-freeroll at a more convenient time than their 1pm summer start—I’ve been playing it on days when I can fit it in. It’s just so close to home.

PPC charges half their usual door for the early game, but if you pay the full door charge you get double the chips. Unlimited re-buys until the first break for twice the door, but you get 6,000 chips, and there’s a 2,000 add-on at break 1 for an amount equivalent to the door. It can make for some drastic play in the first hour, because an all-in with a regular starting stack can double you up to 4,000 but if you don’t catch your cards then you re-buy for 6,000 and you might be the largest stack at the table in the early stages.

I got my start in this game with a pre-flop re-raise holding [kh 2h]. I paired the king on an uncoordinated flop, re-raised a bet of 300 to 1,300 and took it down.

Holding [jc tc] in UTG2, I re-raised pre-flop to 300 and got three callers. The [kx qx 7x] board had two diamonds. Two players checked to me and I bet 1,800 to win.

[jd 9d] made another straight draw on the flop and I pushed all-in after a 1,200 bet, winning another decent pot. By about 45 minutes into the game I had 9,350 chips.

There was 3,000 in the pot and I was in the hand with [4h 8h]. The [6x 4x 2x] flop paired me and I went all-in again. Nobody called. By break 1 I had 10,700 and I got the 4,000 chip add-on.

[ax jx] in a hand soon after the break and I raised to 1,100 pre-flop getting one call. The flop was jack-high and an all-in won. By 1:55 into the game, progress had slowed, but I was up to 14,600.

Getting too cocky with [th 8h] cost me big with only middle pair on the board, and twenty minutes later I was down to 6,200.

My stack had been further cut to just 3,000 when I went all-in with [kx 5x]. I got one caller, with [qx 4x]. The king paired and I doubled up.

Heads-up in BB with [2x 5x] with one caller and I got an open-ended straight draw on the flop. I pushed all-in and gained a little more back.

My [ax 7x] held up in an all-in against [kx jx] and I doubled again, putting me at 11,500 at break 2 with just five players left. I’d been the shortest stack at the table not long before, even shorter than the guy who’d had to go back to the office and left half-an-hour before.

In BB with [qc 9c] I raised pre-flop, making straight and flush draws on the flop. A big bet pushed everyone out.

A risky call of an all-in of 10.500 with my current favorite hand—[jx tx]—knocked out [ax kx] and almost doubled me. Then I shoved from SB with [4x 4x] and took in blinds and antes.

I was re-raised to 6,000 (at 1,000/2,000), then went all-in with something I didn’t record and won. By this time I was the top stack at the table, somehow.

I took out the larger of the two remaining stacks calling an all-in. He had [4x 4x] and my hand was [8x 8x]. The other guy helpfully mentioned that he’d folded [4x 4x], which really skewed the odds in my favor. I knocked out the remaining player on the next hand with [ax 9x].

Three hours. +460% ROI. 1st of 13 players.

Portland Players Club Tuesday Deepstack (7,000 chips)

I hadn’t noticed that PPC was changing it’s schedule this week and came in expecting a freezeout. Got a smaller buy-in with two re-buys instead. Ah, well.

I got a 1,000 chip bonus for something-or-other, so I actually started with 8,000 like everyone else.

I raised to 150 with [5c 8c] for some reason, then got a flop of [as ks qs]. I bet again and got callers, but folded to a bet after checking a [2x] on the turn.

Won with [qx qx] and a 1,200 pre-flop bet. By ten minutes into the game I was up to 10,500.

My [ax jx] paired on the turn and I called an all-in with [ax kx]. His king showed up on the river and I was down to 350 chips.

Picked up [5x 5x] and went all-in. I was good until the river, when my pair was counterfeited by queens and nines on the board. I re-bought (I shudder at the word) for 7,000 chips.

Played [jx 7x] from BB and made a set on the flop. There was a bet and call of 250 ahead of me, I raised to 1,000 and took the pot.

Raised to 325 with [ax 9x], getting four callers. I bet 1,500 on a gutshot straight draw on the flop, was re-raised to 3,500, then three-bet all-in by one of the two big stacks at the table. I folded, and as the cards played out I would have lost.

Forty minutes into the game I was back down to 5,400, having lost a total of nearly 10,000 chips from my two buy-ins.

Got lucky with [ax ax] in SB and managed to double up; I was holding 7,800 at break 1, then added on 5,000 chips.

On the first hand after the break—with blinds at 150/300— I raised to 1,000 with [ax qx] after a single call. I was re-raised to 4,000 by CO, then I went all-in. He called with [kx jx], I caught my queen on the turn. Five minutes into round 4, I was up to 28,200.

Bet out 1,200 on [qc 9c] then folded after the flop left me disconnected. UTG with [js 7s] and I min-raised, then called an all-in of 2,675 and lost.

Blew away another 16,000 in two consecutive hands with ace-high calling all-ins, then pushed with just about 5,000 left and [jx jx]. Got called by [ax ax] who connected in a big way with quads on the flop, getting him on the high hand board for the night.

Two hours. -100% ROI. 14th of 21 players.

Portland Players Club $200 Guarantee Freeroll (2,000 chips)

The structure for this game is similar to the early freeroll: you can start with a double-sized stack for a price, the re-buys are three times the regular starting stack, etc.

Nothing notable happened in this game, except for the last hand. I was the third player all-in, with [kd qd]. The first all-in had a smaller stack, the second was larger. First all-in shoed [jx jx], so I had two overs, but second all-in had [ax ax], and just like half-an-hour earlier, I was knocked out by quad aces, when an even higher high hand came out on the flop.

20 minutes. -100% ROI. 9th of 10 players.

Only 34 winning days before EPT Prague.

They Play H.O.R.S.E, Don’t They?

Posted on by

Carbon Poker $200 Guarantee H.O.R.S.E Freeroll

I’ve been playing the four daily Carbon Poker freerolls whenever I can, and one of the tournaments that fits into my schedule better than others is their H.O.R.S.E. game. which is great, because I have been getting increasingly interested in other forms of poker.

The games are relatively hard to beat, because while they tend to get 2,500 to 3,000 entrants, they only pay a couple dozen spots, so you really have to battle and get lucky to get even a small piece of the $200 guarantee. I started off placing in the mid-range, but in my most recent outing, I got up to the top 10%, where I’d be getting paid if it wasn’t a freeroll.

These particular tournaments cycle through Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, 7-Card Stud, and 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo, with the game changing every six hands. Everything’s played as Limit, which makes committing to draws a bit easier, and there are eight players to the table.

I sat out a few hands of Hold’em at the opening level of 20/40, then woke up with [ac ad] in SB. Two limpers; I raised, BB and the limpers called. The flop gave me the nut full house: [as 6d 6h] with only pocket [6c 6s] beating me, and I opened, BB called, UTG1 called, CO raised, I reraised, BB and UTG1 dropped out, CO made the final raise to 80, and I called. The [9h] turn opened a very small possibility for another hand that could beat me (and the pocket sixes), a backdoor straight flush, but it seemed unlikely something like [7h 8h] or [8h th] would have stayed through the previous betting. This time we ran it up to 120. Ditto for betting after a [4d] on the river. As it turns out, with [kc 6s] he didn’t have better than a set, and he only had a 4% chance to beat me. Another 120 went into the pot after the river’s [4d] sealed the win for me, and I took in 840 chips.

I went out on a limb during the first round of Omaha Hi-Lo with [9h 6h 3c 5d], hoping that if [ax 2x] showed up I might snag the low, but I dropped 210 in a four-way race to the river.

A couple hands later, though, an inauspicious [qd 4s 8h ks] did me some good. Pre-flop action raised the bet to 60 and five players saw the flop of [jc kd 2c]. BB checked to me and I bet 30, with one fold and 0ne call after me, a raise from CO, calls fromBB and me, and a call from HJ. The turn was [3s] and it got checked around to CO who bet, but everyone called. The river [td] ruled out a low hand, which wasn’t my intention anyway, although I only had king high. Checks went around to CO again, who bet 60. BB folded but me and HJ stayed on. CO had a busted low hand with [jc kd 2c 3c td]; HJ had a pair of kings like me, but with kicker problems and believe it or not, a single pair took the entire pot of nearly 1,000 chips in an Omaha game.

My next hand was [k5 2c qd kc] and I made it through betting rounds of 90, 90, and 60 to the river with nothing better than a pair of threes on the board and a five paired from my hand for the high, but because I held on, I caught the low hand and 382 chips.

The second hand of Razz won me 120 chips on the first round of betting. There was only one call after the bring-in and both other players folded after my completion with [9c 3d 7d].

I won an actual hand the next hand. Antes were 5, bring-in was 15, Completion/Small Limit was 50, and Large Limit was 100. I was third to act, with [ts 4c 8c], and called the bring-in after UTG1. Four of us made it to fourth street. Bring-In (BI) was showing [kh 7c], UTG1 showed [5d 2h], I added [ah], and UTG4 showed [kd 3h]. UTG1 led off with a bet of 50 and only BI folded. On fifth street, UTG1 showed [5d 2h th], I had [ts 4c 8c ah 5h], and UTG4 was showing [kd 3h 9h]. I was first to act, betting 100, with a call from UTG4 and a fold from UTG1. A [jh] for me and [3s] for UTG4 slowed us both down on sixth street—my “low” went to ten—but with [6d] down on seventh, I bet 100 and got called but UTG4 wasn’t even close, with two pairs in his hand and his best low a king-high.

I sat out the las two hands of the Razz round, getting high cards both times, then we were into 7-Card Stud. The first was a throw-away, but I had pocket [4d 4c] with [6s] showing at 10/25/100/200. Only UTG ([qs] showing) and I called BI ([2s] showing). Fourth street gave both BI and UTG aces ([ah] and [ac], respectively) but I picked up [4h]. One of the folded players had [as] showing. UTG bet, I raised, BI folded, and we went to the max for 400 chips. I’d started the hand with 2,350 chips but UTG had only 630 to begin with, and after fifth street he was all-in. My hand ran out [4d 4c 6s 4h 3s 8c 5s], missing the straight and full house possibilities (as well as the four-of-a-kind). UTG had a respectable [7d qc qs qc js 6c ad] two pair by seventh street, but he fell and I took him out.

The next hand went almost as well. [ac 7d 7s] with me as UTG and just three of us to fourth street, with my disguised pair against a showing [4c] and [jh]. BI got [kc] and UTG1 got [qd], but I picked up [7c] for a set and opened with a 100 bet. UTG1 called but BI dropped. Fifth street only gave me [ts] and UTG1 [6s], when I bet 200 he folded.

I started the next hand with 3,284 chips, which must have made my head fuzzy, because I got all the way to seventh street with [7s 9h ks jc ac 2c 8c]. No pair, no straight draw after sixth street, no flush after fifth, just calls of two 200 chip bets. I only lost 435 (including ante) but what was I thinking?

By the next hand, things were clear again. My cards as UTG2 were a draw-heavy [6h 7c 5c]. There were three nines and four diamonds showing among the eight players, with only one higher than a ten. Five saw fourth street (BI with [3d], UTG with [4d], UTG1 with [td], me with [7h], and CO with [qc]). Action folded to me and naturally, I bet 100 on my two pair. Everyone folded, except for UTG1. [6s] hit me on fifth street; UTG1 got [8s]. I had most of the cards he needed for a straight between the [5h] and [8s]; three of the [9x]s he needed above the [8s] were showing on the board; he needed runner-runner for a flush. I bet 200 and he just called. Seventh street made me a full house: [7d]. Meanwhile, UTG1 got another [8d]. He led the betting, I raised to 400, and he didn’t re-raise. The only card that could have improved my hand was the [7s] but I got [3h] instead. UTG checked, I bet 200 and got a call. His hand was [8d ad td 5h 8s 8h 2h], and he’d been behind at every street, although he’d done as much as he could to keep the losses to a minimum. I was fortunate he hadn’t hit [ax], [tx], or [5x] on seventh street. The pot was 2005 chips.

I was on a roll with Stud. On the next hand, two of us went to showdown without any bets after fourth street. My hand was [9h js 9s tc 6s kc 8h] for just a pair of nines, but the other guy went all the way with [5c 2c 5d 3c 7s ks ad], or a pair of fives.

Not to say that I couldn’t lose. My chip balance was up to 4,250 and I went to showdown with a player starting with just 570. He was half-in after fourth street, with [8s 9h] showing. There wasn’t any more betting until after seventh street. My hand had run out with [7s kh th 5h ac ts 8c]. He was showing [8s 9h 9c 6c] and I though I might be able to get away with another pair-over-pair win. He called, though, because his seventh street card improved his hand and gave him [as 3s 8s 9h 9c 6c 3d]. It was about here that one of the players started complaining that the site was giving me cards I couldn’t expect in live play.

So I was rather glad a couple hands later to pick up [8d 8c td]. The bigmouth was BI with [3h] showing and completed for 150. UTG1 (with my [8s]) and I called. BI got [ks] and checked. UTG1 got [9c] and checked. I made a set with [8h] and bet 150. Both of the other players came along. Fifth street made things tricky. While bigmouth BI got [2s], UTG1 got a showing pair with [9s]. I got [ad]. Potentially, there was a bigger set out there, but I bet 300 and got calls from both players. Sixth street complicated things even more, with [kd] for BI, and just [4d] and [4s] for UTG1 and me. I was last to act after two checks and just let it lie. Seventh street’s [qc] didn’t improve me and surprisingly, everyone checked again. When the cards came out, BI had [ac tc 3h ks 2s kd 7c] for not much from the beginning, UTG1 had just missed flush and straight draws with [qs ts 8s 9c 9s 4d 6c], and my set of eights won a pot of 1,920. The next hand was 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo.

I won the second hand with a bet on fifth street, with a strong [2h kc ah 6h as]. I had almost 5,000 chips and nobody else at the table had more than 1,500.

The Hold’em round didn’t do me much good, and I folded the few hands I did play for the most part, dropping to 3,450. Meanwhile, another player with a stack the same size had been moved to the table, another had climbed up to 3,500, and a big stack with more than 9,000 was sat immediately behind me in the action. Then I picked up [ks 9s] as SB. One of the other similarly-sized stacksin CO limped in for 200, I raised to 400, and only CO called. The [6h 8h 9h] flop gave me a troublesome top pair, but I bet 200 and CO called. Same thing only for 400 chips after the [jd] turn card. The river [kc] gave me two pair and I bet another 400, getting a call and seeing I was up against [8d jh]. The pot was 3,000 chips. This sent the bigmouth into a paroxysm, claiming I’d sucked out. When I pointed out that I had top pair on the flop, one of the other dumbos chimed in to claim I hadn’t. Apparently, some people just aren’t paying attention.

I folded the rest of my Hold’em hands and we were back to Omaha Hi-Lo. On the first hand, I went too far down the road to revenge, trying to knock out the bigmouth (who had only 612 chips v. my 5,100) only to double him up. I had [jh as ac 9h], which seemed as if it might be promising, but the board ran out [jd 7c kc jc 8c], giving his [3c 4c 9s qd] the best hand by the turn when he was all-in. Other contributions to the pot actually nearly quadded the little sucker.

The next hand got rid of him, though. It was a complicated five-way hand with four players all-in. Short stack in SB was in for just the ante of 25. UTG called the 250 BB, I called from UTG1 with [8h jc kd 7h], bigmouth in BTN called, BB raised to 500, and everyone who could called. The flop was [5h 8d js], giving me top two pair. BB bet 250, UTG called, I raised, BTN called, BB and UTG called. [6d] on the turn gave me an open-ended straight draw. This time, BB bet first for 500. UTG and I called, BTN raised, BB re-raised all-in for a total of 1,096. UTG called the re-raise, then I added another 500. BTN stuck in his last 149 chips and UTG called. [8c] on the river gave me the second nut full house. UTG checked to me with just 379 chips left, and I bet 500, which he called. There were four pots to settle. The first was split between me and UTG. My full house won the high pot, he had the nut low with [4d 2c ah 5s] and we each took 826. There was a very small side pot including the bigmouth who had [6h 3d as jh] and had just blown the couple thousand chips he’d won on two pair and an iffy low. UTG and I split about 80 chips each from there. The first side pot had nearly 8,000 chips in it and included BB, who had a great low hand with good pre-flop possibilities: [2s 5c ac 3c]. BB and UTG quartered the low pot of 1,981 each and I took 3,982. We did the same with the 800 chip primary pot. All that work for a couple thousand chips profit, most of which went to the big stack when I folded my next hand.

A little ground was made up on the next hand. I was BB and there were four callers who saw the flop of [9s 6d jd]. Everyone checked through to the [4h] turn and everyone checked again. [tc] on the river gave me the nuts with a king-high straight, and I opened with a bet of 500, which was only called by one player, who showed a set of tens at showdown. He had me outchipped, so it didn’t cost him that much.

He got it back in spades on the next hand. Or, rather, he got it back in a six-high straight. I ventured out with [9s 5d ah 3h]: a decent if not perfect low hand. but the board ran [ac 5s 3d 2d kc], counterfeiting all of my low cards. My three pair was no match for [4d 6c 7s td], which scooped more than 6,200 chips and knocked out two players.

An all-in call of 479 pre-flop was as far as I went with the next hand, which I folded after a bet on the river. I was down to 3,269 by the end of the Razz round before I managed to pick up another pot. I was dealt [ac jd 2c], ante was 30, bring-in was 75, and limits were 300/600. Two players ahead of me called the bring-in (S1), then I completed the bet to 300. I got one caller (S8: [5h]), BI dropped out and the two limpers (S3: [js] and S5: [jh]) called. The limpers got [5d] and [5c] on fourth street, I got [4s], and S8 picked up [3h]. With the lowest hand, I opened for 300 and only S5 folded. On fifth street, S3 got [7d], I picked up a pair with [as], and S8 was hit with [kc]. I figured nobody needed to know I was still short of a good low, so I bet 600. S8 folded and S2 called. Sixth street improved things a bit, putting a [9s] out for S3 and [6h] for me, but I checked. I was still jack-high. Our down seventh street didn’t help me any, with another pair (even if it was a low pair): [2s]. Fortunately, when I bet another 600, S3 folded and I took a 4,215 chip pot.

Seven hands went by in 7-Card Stud before I went any further than fourth street. I was heads-up on sixth at 40/100/400/800 with [5h 4d ah kc 9c kd] against [js 7s 6d tc] showing when my opening bet of 800 and visible pair of kings induced a fold.

I lost a massive pot just a couple hands later in 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo. I ran down to the river calling bets at 40/125/500/1,000 with [5c qh qc 4h 7s 5d 6d] and no better than pair until sixth street, when I was up against a visible [2d 7d kd jh]. I had three outs on seventh street (one of the fives was showing for S8) that could beat the likely flush, which is what S5 had. Lost 4,040 chips on that one.

Tried to make by own flush on the next hand. It ran out [js ad 8d 2s 9d kd ah] and my pair of aces chopped the pot with the only other player for the low. No gain there.

Finally, the next hand, I managed to pull out of the dive. By fifth street, I was heads-up with a pair and a straight flush draw: [9s 8d 7d td 9d]. My opponent looked like he was headed low and straight with [2h 4c 5c] showing. He had me outchipped and was just calling my bets; after fifth street, I had only 412 behind. When I picked up a straight with [jc] on sixth street, I was all-in and he called, even though he only had a [5h]. When his cards flipped, he was showing [qh 3h 2h 4c 5c 5h]. He needed the flush to win, but seventh street gave him [tc]. I improved with [5d] to a flush. The pot was over 7,600 chips.

Back into Hold’em at 600/1,200/60 and I had [as 8s]. I started the hand fifth in chips as UTG2 and was the first to call BB. SB raised, BB folded, and SB and I went up to the limit of 2,400, with him only having another 1,100 behind. The flop came out [8c 3c 7c], we went to the limit with SB all-in, and he flipped over [ac ah]. [jc] on the turn sealed my loss.

A couple of hands later with [4h jh] as BB, I managed to outbid the only caller with a post-flop bet on a [7s 7d 7c] board, but I was down to about 1,000 chips. Lost some chips with a weak king on the next hand, but right after that picked up another bad [kd 8h] as BTN. I was all-in for 1,617 (and my 60 ante) pre-flop with two other players fighting over a side pot as well. The board rolled out [7s 6s ah 3d kc]. BB had just [9h 7c] and lost both pots to the [9s 9c] of UTG2. I tripled up with a pot of 5,631 because of the river king.

Omaha Hi-Lo at 80/800/1,600. UTG and [ah as tc 8c]. Three limpers and BB saw the [qc 7s 7d] flop. I lead out with a bet, only BB followed. Turn: [jd]. River [2d]. We both checked it through and my aces were good against [kc kd 3h 5s]. I’d made a bit of a comeback, up over 8,000.

I had straight and flush draw possibilities on BB with [8s 5c td jc]. Four players limped in and we got a flop of [6d qc ac]. I lead into my flush and Broadway draws with a bet of 800. Nobody raised and only one player folded. The turn of [2h] wasn’t helpful to my cause, as I didn’t have anything decent for a low, and I had to call a bet of 1,600 to see the river. The [5s] river busted me and I folded. The winner paired queens and sixes and scooped the low hand, the loser paired queens and twos.

My last hand was [2h 6h jh 4h] and I was all-in after the turn on wing and a prayer on the [3s 2d 4d 6d kc] board. It was the wrong color red for me, though, with flushes winning high hands in four pots where everyone but me took something out.

3.5 hours, 103 hands. Freeroll. Finished 178th of 2717 entries.

The Cost of Inattentiveness

Posted on by

It’s bad enough to lose a hand when you’re not paying close enough attention, but losing one because the sealer is joshing with the table about sports is really galling.

I was in seat two for a noon tournament yesterday and we were still on the first round of the button. I limped in with [9h 7h] and the flop made me top pair, but it also had three cards to a mid-level straight. The turn brought another [9d], making me top set, but adding a flush draw to the board. There were five or six players still in the hand, I was next-to-last to act after a raise, and called, but before the final player could act, the dealer–who’d been chatting away the whole time–flipped the river [8x], which paired the board, making me a full house. The player to my left spoke up, frustrated, the card was shuffled back into the deck as it should have been, he raised, I re-raised when it got back to me, and by the time the new river came out there were only three of us in the hand. The new river made the flush without pairing the board or either of the kickers in my hand or the guy on my left, who would have chopped it with me if the dealer had been paying attention.

A few hands later, when the same player was all-in, he flipped his hand over when he was called and the dealer began to pull them into the muck until the player protested and the board was run out. The calling player’s hand had already touched the muck, the dealer pulled the cards out and asked the player if they were his, then ran out the board, and the all-in player ended up re-buying, but I think I might have waited for a different table and a different dealer.

Return of the Mutant Jack

Posted on by

Encore Club $10K Guarantee (10,000 chips)

The club email announced this as the last of the monthly $10Ks. Once you got there you found out it was because they’re changing up their schedule after the summer and running it every week. We’ll have to see if the prize pools stay the same size; this one ran to $23,500, with a top prize of $5,675.

I got to the game halfway through the first hour, with the blinds already in the second (50/100) level, although the dead stack I bought into didn’t seem affected. Supposedly, I got one of the last two seats of the night, back in the “Batcave” among the employee bikes and personal items.

My first play was a rather tricky [kd 2d], calling 350 pre-flop.  I made bottom pair on the non-diamond flop and folded to a bet of 700. Following [ah 7h] to four hearts on the turn, I folded again to an 800 bet.

More speculation with [kc qs] cost me 500 to see the flop along with four others, three of whom folded along with me to a 400 post-flop bet. [as 6h] (was I getting frustrated?) and 200 more chips were gone once there was a 525 bet after the flop. My stack was down to 8,050 at one hour into the game.

Blinds were 150/300/25 (level 4) when I got my first premium hand—or at least [jx jx]—in CO position. I re-raised pre-flop to 2,000 and pushed all-in after the flop, inducing a fold from the one caller. That put me back up just over the starting stack, with 10,500 chips at ninety minutes (or an hour after I’d arrived).

I didn’t even have to think about tossing [kx 3x] pre-flop on the last hand before the first break, but it would have made Broadway and taken down a nice pot if I hadn’t. With the 7,000 chip add-on, I started round 2 with 16,825.

Had to give up 1,600 on [ax tx] after seeing the flop. Likewise, [jh 2h] was a loser of 1,200 when the flop showed no heart (although I did make bottom pair). Another [ax tx] on BTN paired my [ax] on the flop, with [qx] and [kx] showing up by the turn. I bet hard and fast and got a fold before the river to take the hand. Still, at 2:30 into the game I was down to 14,975.

Suited JT has become a sort of favorite lately, and in the last hand before the Batcave table broke, I won a decent pot from S—the manager of the Encore—with [jc tc].

My first win at the new table was one step down: [9h th]. I’d made a straight by the turn and hit the flush on the river. With a couple of wins I’d doubled up to 30,100 before the third hour of the game.

Payed an unsuited [jx tx] and hit top pair on the flop, with a bet taking the pot. Then I hit a set on a flop with [3x 3x] in my hand and pushed to take it down, bringing me up to 36,500 by 3:15.

There was a post-flop bet of 3,500 ahead of me with [ad qx] on BTN. I had top pair and pushed all-in. BB called with [kd qd], hitting the flush by the river. One more diamond…. That cut me in half, to 17,275.

I was saved by the Mutant Jack. I called a smaller stack’s all-in with [ad jd] and was up against [ax tx], getting a knockout and a chip infusion. Then a couple of big rounds of betting with the guy who’d hit the flush against me led to my [jd td] making Broadway. In twenty minutes I’d made up my ground and then some, with 48,225 chips.

Blinds were up to 600/1,200/200. and I speculated 6,000 to see the flop with [ks 8s]. I missed entirely. Two of the other callers went all-in and it was [6x 6x] v. [ax jx], with the pair winning with a six-high straight.

At break 2 there were 77 of the original 141 players left.

I lost big drawing to s ten-high spade straight flush from the bottom end and was down to 20,500 at 4:05.

Called with [ad td] in UTG (at 800/1,600/200) with three more in the hand behind me. I bet just 2,000 after pairing the [ax] on the flop and took the pot. Then I lost 4,800 in SB to see the flop with [kx qx].

Seriously short-stacked, I called a larger all-in from BTN with [ac 4c] hoping to have my [ax] live, at least.  Instead, I was up against [ax qx]. I managed to get a [4x] on the flop, though, and doubled up.

I had the [as qx] on the next hand and re-raised all-in from CO. The original raiser had a slightly smaller stack than me. He called and flipped [ax kx]. There were four black cards on the deck by the turn and I held my breath for a minute but only three of them were spades. That cut me down to 2,000 chips.

Back to [ax 4x]. All-in with four limps ahead of me, got called by [tx tx] and I was out.

Four-and-a-half hours. -100% ROI. 61st of 141 players.

The Waiting Game

Posted on by

Portland Players Club Road to Pendleton $1,500 Guarantee (7,000 chips)

Both my regular Monday night games were off this week, so I took the hint from the SMS messages I kept getting and headed over to PPC for an 11am game. I’d started my tally of live games with a couple of wins in early May at PPC, but their summer schedule wasn’t in sync with my habits and I hadn’t been in for a bit. Somehow, I managed to hit the final table with a big chip lead, and while I was probably 2:1 over the guy who made it to heads-up with me I suggested an even chop since the amount of money was only $200 total. After a re-buy, add-on, and tip, that left me more than enough to enter the evening’s guarantee tournament. On top of the prize money, PPC was adding a $200 buy-in to the Wildhorse Fall Poker Round-Up for the first-place winner and a $100

I picked up a 1,000 early-registration bonus chip then played absolutely no hands through level 1. On my first turn as BB in level 2, I was dealt [4x 4x]. A raise was made to 475 pre-flop with several callers and a [4x] hit on the flop. I checked and by the time action got around to me again there were two all-ins, I called, and both of them were on draws. [qh th] won the hand with a flush on the turn. I re-bought.

Small blind with my new stack and I had [kx kx], a considerably better pair. I bet it on the flop heads-up and took a small pot.

Played [ax qx] and cautiously walked to the river against another hand who showed just [kx]-high when we got there. At the end of the second level, I was holding 9,450 chips. Above the starting stack but not the sum total of chips I’d received during the tournament by a piece.

Controversy ensued when I called an all-in with [jh th] and knocked out a player with [ax kx]. I gave my opinion on the relative strengths of JTs, but there was a some snorting and hooting.

My luck with flushes proved itself again when I dropped 4,000 chips on [kc 4c] with two more clubs on the flop and I didn’t get there. My stack was up to 10,925 at the 55-minute mark.

The last hand before the second break, I had [jx 9x] and the flop was [kx tx tx]. All I needed was a [qx] but I got better. Thankfully, I stuck to the hand, because both the turn and river were [9x 9x]. I called a big raise and the guy asked me if I’d had the [tx]. I said: “No, but I have the [9x].” That didn’t set well. The win and a 5,000 chip add-on gave me 22.600 with 47 of the 49 original players left.

Raised with [ax jx] to 625 but whiffed the [9x tx 3x] flop. I bet another 1,600 but two callers followed me down and with a [3x] on the turn I check-folded to a bet. Then I blew more than 3,000 chips trying to play the [tx 2x] “Brunson” hand. I made top pair on the flop [7s ts 9c] but [jc] on the turn killed the action for me.

Another [5x 5x] from CO took the blinds and the single caller ahead of me. I was at 18,100 with twenty minutes left in the second hour.

I nearly made the wheel with [ax 4x] on a board of [qx 2x 3x 6x 2x], but the [3s 5s] of J—one of the dealers at PPC—made his pair. My own spades shortly thereafter ([4s 8s]) had to fold to a re-raise of 1,600 from 400. I pushed 5,000 after a raise to 1,000 with blinds at 200/400; I did not record the hand I did not play. Even that got me only to 16,100 at the two-hour mark.

Took the blinds again with a 2,300 raise and [ad 9d], then I just about doubled by knocking out a player. I held [kh 2h] and made bottom pair on the flop. He shoved post-flop with [ah th]. I took a little time to call and he never made a pair. It was kind of fun, because he’d been one of the whiniest about my [jx tx] call.

Didn’t even get to count my chips before a hand came up with [jx jx]. I shoved all-in from late position, the guy on my left called immediately and flipped over [kx kx]. What else was he going to do? That cost me 5,475, and even with the knockout, I’d only made it to 17,775 by 2:15 into the tournament.

There were 34 players left when the second break started.

Missed a Broadway draw for 4,500 and 5,000 on a miserable misguided attempt to do something with [6x 2x]. Half-an-hour later another 11,000 had been whittled off.

I went out in style with [jc tc] I pushed pre-flop and got called by [qs js].

Three hours. -100% ROI. Placed 30th of 49.

No Cigar

Posted on by

Final Table Sunday $5,000 Guarantee (10,000 chips)

Started off the tournament with a 1,000 chip early registration bonus. I was in seat 7 at the sixth table; seat 2 had a woman who started pushing from the first hand. Within the first orbit, she’d already lost most of her stack to one player, then busted on the hand before the button got to me. After a rebuy, she made a big raise from UTG1, action folded to me, and I called with [ad kd]. The flop was [ax 3x 4x], she shoved even before all her new chips got to the table, I called, and she flipped [qx qx] against my aces. The turn and river were low and with only one rebuy, she was out.

I promptly set about sharing the wealth with my tablemates, losing over 3,000 with [jx jx] against [8x 8x] when my opponent hit a ten-high straight. I’d have had the better straight if an [8x] had shown up, but the chances were restricted. [8x]s were my downfall on the next hand as well, with a couple thousand following [ks 8s] v [2s 3s] down the hole on a flop of [2x 2x 8x]. Although I’d had more than 20,000 after the knockout, I was back down to 14,350 at fifty minutes.

The slide continued with speculation on a [qx tx] hand and a [ax kx 8x 7x 6x] board. [jx] or [9x] would have made me a happy man. 12,600 chips at eighty minutes. I coasted into the first break, bought the 8,000 chip add-on, and started the second segment of the tournament with 20,100 chips.

I folded [kx tx] after a pre-flop call of 1,100 in the SB. [kx kx] was the winner of the hand, so that was probably a good idea. [6x 6x] did manage to win me a small pot.

With the blinds at 100/200, I raised to 500 with [ax 9x], getting two calles. Then BB went all-in for more than 14,000 and I folded. We all folded.

[jx jx] picked the wrong time to shove, i.e. when I had [ax ax]. I managed to double up and was back in positive territory with 35,000 chips two-and-a-half hours into the match.

By the time of my next major action, the blinds had moved up to 300/600. I raised to 2,000 with [9x 9x], getting a single call and then a re-raise to 6,000. I called, and the previous caller came along. Top card on the flop was [qx] but there was also another [9x]. I opened all-in and since my stack was now large enough to do some serious damage, the other two folded. At the second break, I was holding 48,300 chips, about 5% of the total in play. There were 39 of the original 56 players remaining.

I moved to table 1 shortly after the break ended and took some time to get my footing, losing consecutive hands with [4x 4x] on the BB and [kx qx] on SB. At three hours and twenty minutes, I was down to 41,400.

Then I got fancy with [5h 6h]. There wasn’t much on the flop apart from a lone heart, but I stayed with the hand, and another heart showed on the turn. There was a bet of 2,500 and two calls. I re-raised to 7,500 and got calls. The river gave me a king-high flush—but hardly the best king-high flush—and it was checked through. There was nothing better than two pair behind me.

On my next SB, I lived dangerously with [7d 2d]. I made middle pair on a [kx]-high flop and bet 2,000, hoping to scare someone away but got two callers. The turn was a [6x] and I had to call another 5,000 to see the showdown but my sevens were good. In less than half an hour I’d gained over 30,000 chips, making it to 73,200.

From there, I called a 9,500 chip all-in with [Ks Js] but folded after a bet from another caller with only one spade on the flop. Running spades with the [as] on the river would have given me the nut flush and a major win.

The player on my left had been whining about calls—particularly my calls—ever since I’d gotten to the table. I put him all-in with [6x 6x] and he called with [ax qx]. Three [kx] on the board made me a full house and took him out. Because of the previous loss, though, I was still only at 75,400 when we’d been playing for four hours.

Speculating with [6s 7s] cost me after my flush draw caught [7x] on the river. I called a heads-up bet of 2,000 and thought I’d won from the comment by the player on my right but he was slow-rolling me with [kc 7c]. My stack was down to 68,400 at break 2 with 21 players left.

Once action started up again it was downhill to the end. I lost more than 10,000 chips with [ad 6d] and didn’t hit anything. A pair of [qx]s took the hand.

I hit top pair with [ax 8x] from the BB and bet 5,000 against SB for a win, but was down to 46,600 at 4:50 into the game.

Pushing with [8x 8x] from BB, I was nearly felted in a three-way all-in against [kx qx] and [qx jx]. [kx qx] double-paired on the flop and did not look back. I lost 42,200 chips but managed to double up on the next hand with [ad qd] when I hit [ax] on the flop. Fifteen minutes later I’d managed to move back up from the basement to an even 34,000.

The last hand of the match for me was a shove with a premuium pair: [tx tx]. Unfortunately, the guy to my left was more premium: [jx jx]. Didn’t quite make the final table.

Five hours and twenty minutes. -100% ROI. Placed 13th of 56.

Not So Much Card Dead As Card Comatose

Posted on by

Aces Players Club Back-to-School Special (12,000 chips)

DV and I both played this game, in which the house added $1,000 to the pot for first prize just to make it extra juicy. I ended up at table 1, seat 8, and spent the afternoon next to R, the gent who beat me out of a first-place finish in a freezeout a few months back. DV ended up out in the hinterlands.

My first move of any sort was as BB with [ax 9x]. By the turn, there were two kings on the board and when a bet of 400 opened, I folded.

On SB with [8d 9d], I caught top pair on the flop with my nine. The [kc] on the turn, two clubs on the flop and a bet of 400 from the same guy (seat 1) as the hand before and I folded.

Shortly thereafter, I picked up [as ks] and raised to 350, getting four callers. The king paired on a pretty dry flop, I bet 1,000 and took the pot. Twenty-five minutes into the game, I was 625 chips ahead of starting stack.

Three players were in for 350 when I picked up [ax ax] as BB. I raised pre-flop to 2,000 and only one stayed in. The flop was jack-high, I bet another 2,000 and my opponent folded. R told me he folded jacks to my raise. That put me up to 15,225 by the 35 minute mark.

Called 225 with [kd jd] and whiffed the board, then folded to a river bet, then blew another 300 playing [ax 2x] (althought that wasn’t my worst play in this tournament with that hand). I lost about 1,000 chips over twenty minutes.

Dumped another 750 chips raising to 350 with [ax tx]. I had a wheel draw on the turn but missed. Just after an hour of play I was back down to 13,400.

Set-mining with [6x 6x] as SB is dangerous work! Don’t call 600 pre-flop with it. It isn’t worth it. [8x 8x] as BTN, on the other hand, proved profitable when I re-raised to 1,100, made my set on the flop, then won with a 2,200 opening bet post-flop. Twenty minutes after the hour I was up to 13,975.

With [as qc] I raised to 2,000 pre-flop, getting two callers. There were two spades on the jack-high flop and I opened for 1,300. I was min-raised, then action came to a halt when the player to my right went all-in for more than 14,000. I thought about it briefly and laid down my hand; everyone else did so as well. The winner showed [jx jx] for top set and took in a big pot. I, on the other hand, was down to 10,400 at the beginning of the first break, so I almost doubled my stack by buying the 8,000 chip add-on.

Set-mining with [7x 7x] is dangerous work (see above). 1,500 chips worth of dangerous. Speculating with [kc 6c] is 500 dangerous. From 20,000 chips (12,000 starting stack plus 8,000 add-on) at the two hour mark, I was down to 16,300.

Things looked up a bit when I called 1,200 holding [ac 6c] and the flop was all clubs. Heads-up after the flop, I bet 1,200 after my opponent checked and took the pot. At two-and-a-half hours I held 17,400 chips.

R remarked that I wasn’t holding onto many hands, which is when I coined the title for this post. Then I lost 2,400 with [jx tx], which is usually a good performer for me.

Last hand of the game was a highly speculative [as 2c]. The flop made me straight possibilities: [qc 4x 3c].  The only other player in the hand was pushing hard, and I pushed back, eventually going all-in. Then the turn improved me to a flush draw: [9c]. Then I connected to my flush with [4c] on the river. Unfortunately, what the other guy was connecting to with that card was a more powerful full house because he had [qx qx] in his pocket. R said he thought I was getting frustrated. I don’t know. I didn’t feel frustrated, I just thought I had an opportunity with that hand to do something before my stack got so small from blind attrition that I’d always get called. If my opponent had a pair instead of a set, he might not have called the all-in.

DV lasted a couple hours longer than I did. I swung back by the club to see if there was anything I could get him about an hour after the last I’d heard from him, but he was out by then. R was there but wasn’t in the tournament any more.

Three hours. Placed seventy-first of 93 entries. Fourteen places paid, with $15,000 in the prize pool.

 

98 Tournaments

Posted on by

Played three tournaments yesterday(ish), which brings my total since 1 May to 98, including both live and online games.

Aces Players Club $10K Guarantee (10,000 chips)

I haven’t cashed in this tournament over six attempts. But at least I usually make it to the add-on break so that I can donate another $50 to the prize pool. Not last night. I picked up [kx kx] as BB and hit a set on the flop. I was so busy hoping for the board to pair on the river that when a mid-position player who’d been calling my raises shoved, I snap-called and was easily beat by the Broadway straight I missed seeing. I just said “Not tonight” when the dealer asked me if I wanted to rebuy, but what I was thinking on my way out the door was “Not after a stupid call like that.”

Twenty minutes. Didn’t even bother to check the entries or my position but I think I was first out among about 45 players although some likely showed up after I was KOd. -100% ROI.

Encore Club $3,000 Guarantee (10,000 chips)

I thought of variations on the theme of what I should have said as I drove across town to the Encore. I still had enough in my pocket for a buy-in in their Friday night 8pm freezeout, and I even managed to get a spot in their parking lot.

Sometime about three months ago I stopped keeping notes on my live games. It seemed distracting, I wasn’t always finding time to post the results here (I’ve got several games from June and July I never got around to), and I felt I wasn’t able to concentrate on my game as much. On the other hand, I was cashing more often while I was keeping notes, so I decided to do it again for this game. Did it make a difference?

Early on I lost 1,300 chips with [qh jd]. I needed a [9x] for a queen-high straight but folded on the turn bet and the other two players still in the hand chopped my contribution, as they were both holding [ax tx] and made a pair of tens.

Hit a pair of queens with [qx 9x] and took a small pot, then tossed [jx tx] post-flop which would have made a jack-high straight on the turn. By 15 minutes into the game I was down to 8,600 chips.

[jc 7c] lost me 250 when I folded after an unpromising flop. I pushed 1,200 into the pot holding [9x 9x] in position after a limper who called but [ax] on the flop and a bet from the limper made me throw it and he showed his [ax]. Down to 7,575 at 33 minutes.

Called a raise to 425 with [qx 8c] but tossed it after another ungood flop. Three-quarters of an hour in, I was down to 6,950.

Finally, my flushing strategy worked with [ts 8s]. I hit on the turn and pulled in enough to bring me back up over starting level, to 11,825.

Overbet [ax tx] and lost 1,200 when I didn’t connect by the river heads-up and my opponent bet another 1,200. At the first break I was holding just over the starting stack: 10,125 chips; just a little below average with only one player out.

I went card-dead for quite a while and slipped slowly to 9,100 after the return to play, then shoved from BB with [jx jx] (the strong hand of the night) and was called by [ax qx] (which was consistently losing last night). The woman who called me had me covered by only about 600 chips and the loss was crippling. On the other hand, I was up to 17,800 by the two-hour mark.

I called an all-in with [ah 8h] and was outmatched by [ad 9d] but the board gave me a low straight and I knocked out a player, taking me up to 23,200 at 2:15 into the game. By break two that had increased to 25,800.

With the blinds at 400/800/100 after the chip-up, I raised to 2,000 with [qx jx] from UTG and managed to take the blinds down. With [kh 5h], I raised from BTN to 2,400. There weren’t any hearts on the flop and BB won the pot hitting jacks over nines right off the bat.

A player with [9x 9x] went all-in with 14,000 and I called with [kx kx], which held up. A little more than three hours into the game, I was up to 33,800. I promptly slammed down again calling an all-in from a 5,000 chip short stack with [jx tx]. They tripled up.

Clubs failed me again with [ac 5c] on BB. There weren’t any black cards on the board by the turn when another player bet out and I folded, losing 1,600 chips. Twenty minutes after being at neatly 34K I was down to 24,600. Another twenty minutes had me cut down to 20,600, just under the average stack.

Two kings on the board by the turn forced me to fold [ax 8x] and forfeit 1,600 more chips. The slide continued, down to 18,800 at the third break.

Four hours into the game and it was an even 14,000. I took the blinds and antes with [kd tyd] but a pre-flop all-in with [qx tx] got called by a big stack with [ax jx]. I had an up-and-down straight draw from the flop, but nothing else materialized and I was gone.


Five hours. Finished eleventh of 44 entries. Six places paid, with $4,400 in the prize pool.

Carbon Poker $150 Guaranteed Pot Limit HO (2,000 chips)

What better to cleanse the palate of five hours of play, only to bust out short of the money, than some mixed-game online action? I joined the game with only four other players at one of two tables, playing Pot Limit Hold’em. I lost a couple of early pots, laid down a [kd js] after missing the flop that would have cleaned up on the fifth hand, then finally turned [ac 8c] into enough to get me back up over starting stack on hand 8.

The very next hand, I paired my ace in [ah 7s] on the flop to win a small pot, then lost a little back. We lost a player on hand 10, then the tables consolidated on hand 14. The sixteenth hand was the beginning of our switch to Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo.

Hand 21 was a turning point. I picked up [ks 9h 3h 2d]. Seemingly not a particularly good hand, but with low possibilities if there’s an ace on the board. I raised to 90 (from 15/30) UTG, was re-raised by UTG3 to 315, and called after BTN called. The [7h jd kh] flop gave me a heart draw and top pair; I bet the pot: 990. UTG3 went all-in and I was all-in to call. He had [7s as kd ah] for two pair as it stood; we were 40/60 with me on the short end. But I made the flush on the [5h] turn and his only hope was to catch[7c], [7d], or [kc] on the river. I went from 2,295 to 4,920 and a more than 1,000 chip lead.

I didn’t win anything through the next round of PLHE, actually managing to lose the 1,000 margin I’d had. By the start of hand 40 I was down to 3,285. That hand, I got [3d 4d ah 7c] in SB and called the 60 chips of the big blind. The [qd th 3h] flop gave me a gut-shot Broadway draw; I had a backdoor nut flush. I checked it and BB checked. [kc] on the turn gave me the nuts: Broadway. I checked, BB bet 225, I pot-raised to 1,425 and he called. A pointless [7c] showed on the river. I checked, BB tossed in his remaining 515 chips and I called. He just had kings and threes. He was KOd, I was up to 5,945.

Hitting trip nines on the next hand (the last of that round of Omaha) put me over 6,000 chips. [as qs] on hand 47 dragged in another nearly 4,000 chips. At nearly 8,500 chips, my nearest competitor was 2K below me. I lost a bit on a few hands, but a split high pot ([2d 2s kd kc] on the board and two of us with aces) on hand 54 (PLHE) got me up to 8,088.

My nearest competitor and I went head-to-head in hand 56 (PLO8) with me taking the low and earning a couple hundred in early bets and calls.

The next hand, I picked up [6c 6d kd ac] in HJ at 75/150. Action folded to me, I raised to 450 and got called by BTN and SB. The flop of [9s 5d 2c] missed me completely and got checked all around. [2s] on the turn didn’t do me any good, either, but when SB checked to me I bet 750 and both the others folded. I was up to 9,288 and I was invincible with a nearly 3,000 chip lead.

I lost 825 speculating with one of those unrecommended hand that I nevertheless enjoy in PLO8: [9c tc 7d 8h]. SO good if you manage to hit a bunch of mid-range cards on the flop for a straight, not so good when it’s [5h 5c jd] and someone bets 1,330. I folded and watched nothing that would have improved my hand show up.

I speculated with a couple of more hands, dropping down to just over 6,000 chips by hand 63. Then I picked up [5d 2s ah 7d] and everything went to hell. A player starting with just under 5,000 raised to 425 from UTG1, and I re-raised to 850 for some reason. SB folded, BB called, then UTG1 raised to 3,475. My hand wasn’t strong—even if a low came along I could be easily counterfeited— but I called anyway. The [kd ks 8d] on the flop gave me nothing, but I still called an all-in bet of 1,450. My opponent flipped over [as ad 6h 4s] for a pretty good two pair. The [kh] on the turn sealed my fate. With no possibility of a low and a full house in his hand, I was drawing dead for a pot of 10,775 chips. I started the first hand of a round of PLHE with just 1,101.

My last hand (at 100/200), I potted pre-flop from UTG to 700 with [jh ts]. BTN re-raised to 1,200, then BB pushed to 4,400. I called with my remaining 401 chips and BTN folded. BB flipped over [ks ah]. He had over cards and both my suits, but I still had about a 35% chance. That dwindled to 22% when we both paired on the [td 9s ac] flop. Neither the turn or river cards improved my lot, and my implosion was complete. Top to bottom in five hands.

67 minutes. 67 hands. Finished seventh of 10 players. Three places paid; $190 prize pool.