OK, I decided to play a little more of the Empire bonus off since this insomnia thing is in full swing right now.
.50/1.00 Limit 6MAX. Bought in for $25 and proceeded to become "Mr. 2nd Best Hand" again combined with a bunch of ugly losses to crap like SB having 72off and catching a FH after calling my PFR with me having something like AK and a K72 flop. I bet into him every street of course and he check raises me on the river after another 2 hits. Anyway, longstory short I lost the whole $25 so reloaded and decided to knuckle down and play as smart as I could. I actually loosened up and NEVER got into a hand PF without raising. After a spree of winning almost every hand for like 15 hands in a row, everybody and I mean EVERYBODY left the table! I still needed another 7.75 to get back to zero for the session dammit! PHUCKERS!!!!
Oh well, in the red for the day.

Jan 4th totals:
Empire .50/1.00 Limit 6MAX, 134 hands, -$7.75
Rake: 0
Various: 0

Bonus Progress:
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 47 today --- 557 out of 1000 total
10gbp cleared on Totalbet 25gbp monthly 5 hour bonus
FPP's towards Pokerstars $150 bonus: 0 today --- 430 out of 750 total
-------------------------
Total: -$7.75
Time: 1h 18m

I should write a diet book cuz I just lost 90 pounds in record time.

I know I made some mistakes but JESUS H. CHRIST! The shit my Mother******** opponents were calling my PFR's with and then killing me by the river was just more than I could take.
Session started out REALLY good, before you could blink I was up 30 pounds, then..... I started losing to one stupid bastard over and over and over......

cracked by
cracked by sb who calls a raise and then a 3 bet PF with 74soooooted.
cracked by This was the only call he made that I agreed with.
cracked by
[Kd] cracked by [8h]

I know that folks are gonna play looser at 6MAX than FR but OMG! I went on TILT for the first time in a long time and had my worst night in 7 months. Actually it was the worst night I've had since the day I lost 60% of my BR back in June. Granted it was nowhere near what that loss was compared to the BR but it was about half of it total $ wise.

By the time I had lost my reload, I had had 2 losing sessions tonight. First at Empire where I managed to stop myself after only losing $35 and then at Totalbet where I went to try and hit the pocket rockets bonus while working off the monthly 5 hr. bonus.

I hope to god this is just a downswing and if so I can't wait to see the upswing after this.

Jan. 5th
Empire: 2 tables, 1hr 2m, 127 hands, -$35.25
Totalbet: 1 table, 2hr 43m, 232 hands, -$158.03
RB: 0
Various: $17.56
_______________

Bonus Progress:
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 50 today --- 607 out of 1000 total
20gbp cleared on Totalbet 25gbp monthly 5 hour bonus
FPP's towards Pokerstars $150 bonus: 0 today --- 430 out of 750 total
-------------------------
Total: -$175.72
Time: 3h 45m

Had to play a few hands at Party today to keep my Party points from being taken away (not sure if they're worth having or not though) so I played a little more than an orbit at lunch today. I shouldn't have even made a bet but I did and managed to start the day out on a losing note which after the clobbering I took yesterday was par for the course. Tonight went a tad better at least. Sat down at an Empire 6MAX .50/1.00 table to clear some raked hands and stayed for almost 3 hours since I was never really losing much and I want this bonus done soon. I'm finding that stat "Agression Frequency Total" to be quite helpful when it comes to knowing whether a tightish player actually has something and they have a low number for that stat, ~35 or less. Anyway, I managed to win a little bit and turn the day as a whole into a winning one which was a nice change.

One thing I am noticing is that I need to concentrate on the game at hand a bit more and stop reading the internet while I am playing. The wife bought me a really nice expensive bottle of Tequila on New Years Eve and I have had a shot of that before playing the last few times I have won and I don't know, maybe it calms my mind down just enough that I don't get as bored and I pay more attention. Whether or not that may be true, I never do more than 1 or 2 shots for the night. I'm not going to play drunk like I know some of you do because I have a hard enough time winnig as it is.

I've decided that as soon as this bonus is cleared at Empire, I'm going to give that "Catapult Theory" that Cactus Jack posted about in the Bankroll Management forum a shot. I need the break from trying to clear bonuses and playing the same old thing day in and day out. Especially since I have not been winning at it lately. Haven't decided for sure whether or not I am going to do it with NL or 6MAX Limit yet though. Considering NL really only because I may be making another casino trip this next weekend to play NL and would like to brush up on it a bit.

Jan. 6th
Empire: 1 table, 2hr 49m, 287 hands, +15.75
Party: 1 table, 0hr 12m, 12 hands, -$7.75
RB: 0
Various: $0

Bonus Progress:
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 117 today --- 724 out of 1000 total
20gbp cleared on Totalbet 25gbp monthly 5 hour bonus
FPP's towards Pokerstars $150 bonus: 0 today --- 430 out of 750 total
-------------------------
Total: $7.50
Time: 3h 1m

After reading some of the stories folks here have given about playing Omaha H/L I figured I'd give it a whirl at the nano stakes tables at Stars just for a change of pace. I had read about Piers' wifey playing it and not doing so hot because she didn't play what he told her to play so I read one of the Omaha articles on the main page here and then kept that in mind. Playing .01/.02 Pot Limit, I made 508.5BB in 56 hands! Is this game supposed to be this easy?
I may look into this a bit more!

Jan. 7th
Pokerstars: .01/.02 PLO H/L 1 table, 1hr 19m, 56 hands, +10.17

RB: 0
Various: $0

Bonus Progress:
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 0 today --- 724 out of 1000 total
20gbp cleared on Totalbet 25gbp monthly 5 hour bonus
FPP's towards Pokerstars $150 bonus: 0 today --- 430 out of 750 total
-------------------------
Total: $10.17
Time: 1h 19m

Played a bunch more PLO H/L today after doing so well in my very first ever session of it this morning. While the next 2 sessions didn't go as well as I would have liked, I did learn quite a bit. I also figured out that I wasn't sitting at a table full of donks like I had been the first session. But I didn't lose much those 2 sessions so that's a bright spot I suppose. My last session I did ok. Was pretty much breaking even until one hand towards the end of the session which I will post here because the guy I beat told me afterwards that he didn't think I should have been calling his raises because I didn't have the best low. Is he right? I thought I played it fairly well but you guys know more than me. I am MPA in this hand. When I made the river bet, I honestly didn't think he was going to call it as he was the only one at the table at the time that I felt was a decent player to this point.

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha/8, $0.02 BB (7 handed)

saw flop|saw showdown

CO ($1.41)
Button ($6.50)
SB ($2.78)
BB ($2)
UTG ($3.85)
MPA ($5.77)
MP2 ($5)

Preflop:
1 fold, MPA calls $0.02, 2 folds, Button raises to $0.04, SB calls $0.03, BB calls $0.02, MPA calls $0.02.

Flop: ($0.16) , , (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MPA bets $0.16, Button raises to $0.64, SB folds, BB folds, MPA calls $0.48.

Turn: ($1.44) (2 players)
MPA checks, Button bets $1.39, MPA calls $1.39.

River: ($4.22) (2 players)
MPA bets $3.7 (All-In), Button calls $3.70.

Final Pot: $11.62
Main Pot: $11.62, between Button and MPA. > Scooped by MPA ($11.62).

Results in white below:
MPA has 5c 2s 6d 2h (Low: 7, 5, 3, 2, A | High: straight, nine high).
Button has 9d Tc Ad Ah (High: three of a kind, aces).
Outcome: MPA wins $11.62.

Jan. 7th - Totals
Pokerstars: .01/.02 PLO H/L 1 table, 1hr 19m, 56 hands, +10.17
Pokerstars: .01/.02 PLO H/L 1 table, 0 hr 56m, 40 hands, -1.93
Pokerstars: .01/.02 PLO H/L 1 table, 3hr 29m, 144 hands, -3.17
Pokerstars: .01/.02 PLO H/L 1 table, 1hr 35m, 65 hands, +6.06

RB: 0
Various: $0

Bonus Progress:
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 0 today --- 724 out of 1000 total
20gbp cleared on Totalbet 25gbp monthly 5 hour bonus
FPP's towards Pokerstars $150 bonus: 0 today --- 430 out of 750 total
-------------------------
Total: $11.13
Time: 7h 18m

Well, it's early a.m. and I thought I'd see what the PLO25 H/L was like at Empire as far as clearing bonuses was concerned. 1 table, seat open so I sat down and bought in for $25. Guy to my immediate left has a stack of over $90 to everyone elses ~$20 stacks. One other guy has about $40. Anyway, I decide to play VERY tight since this is higher stakes PLO than I have played thus far and I wanted to make sure I did make any HUGE mistakes. I notice that there are folks bitching about the big stack making it not fun by bullying the table continuously. Well, to make along story short, I had a hand with the big stack that I ended up with quad 2's and doubled up off him. But that didn't stop him from continuing to bully the table as he still had ~$60. I left an orbit later before I could give it back to him.

Jan. 8 thus far:
Empire PLO25 H/L 17 hands, 0h 24 m, $20.04

RB: 0
Various: $0

Bonus Progress:
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 22 today --- 746 out of 1000 total
20gbp cleared on Totalbet 25gbp monthly 5 hour bonus
FPP's towards Pokerstars $150 bonus: 0 today --- 430 out of 750 total
-------------------------
Total: $20.04
Time: 0h 24m

I don't particularly like your preflop call with 5622 but after that I think you did fine. As Jus said in a multiway pot your hand is usually going to be in trouble here for low but heads up you are likely fine for half the pot but half pots don't much get the job done in a big way generally. As for the button he should have dumped his hand on the flop. He has NO LOW whatsoever and is only asking to get scooped here. These are the type of situations where you have to be willing to throw your nut hand away early when it is cheap when you only stand to at maximum get half a pot and lots of times get scooped.

The huge difference between PLO and PLO8 is that you have the potential to be shut out of half the pot. AAKQ and AA23 might not be too far apart in PLO (obviously the high wrap is better), but in PLO8, there is a MASSIVE difference between the two, as one can only win half the pot most of the time.

Piers point about the preflop play is that if you are playing 5622 on a regular basis, it will be -ev over time. You are basically forcing yourself to hit a near perfect flop (which you got here). You are pretty far behind A2,A3,A4,A5,A6, 23,34,24 and (depending on the flop) even some A7,A8 hands. The thing you have to realize about O8 is that the more people in the pot, the higher the odds of someone drawing to the nut low. The absolute worst situation you can put yourself in is drawing to a non-nut low with a weak high hand. If the flop comes down with something like Q65, you will probably have to throw that away. Remember that anyone drawing to a low will usually pick up some kind of low str8 draw as well.

One of the things you have to realize about h/l games is that there are two classifications of hands you want to play: multiway hands and HU hands. Anything with scooping potential you want to play HU and anything with 1 way potential you want to play multiway (as long as its a draw to the nuts). You dont want to ever play a hand that has an ok high and an ok low (and get middled). 5622 is that kind of hand, where most of the time someone will be drawing to a better low and someone will be drawing to a better high (note that you hit the idiot end of the str8).

-Jus

Got extremely discouraged today. Seemed like nothing I did was right at the poker tables. Didn't really matter what game I was playing either. Just lose, lose, lose. Then of course, lose some more. Thought about quitting poker for a week or 2 to see if that would help my mind set then thought better of that. Figured it was probably variance and trying to learn a new game and that I should just play through it. So came back for a late evening session of 4 tabling 6MAX Limit .50/1.00 at Empire to finish off that bonus requirement. First time I have ever 4 tabled 6MAX. WOW! Talk about concentration! I've 4 tabled full ring before but this was WAY faster action. Surprisingly, (at least to me), I did fairly well at it and beat every table I was at but one. When one table would empty I would just jump on another one and away I went. The one table that did beat me, I had been up on but then started losing and couldn't bring myself to just leave it before the losses got too high and that ate up most of my profits from the other tables. I need to work on that and acepting that i am not going to make a comeback at some point and just cut my losses and move on to the next table. But the players at that table were mostly the same players at my other tables that I WAS BEATING! But in the end I did finally clear the bonus there at Empire and that $100 went along way to helping prop up my BR against the losses I have taken recently. Still down over $100 this month but I'll work on that. Many of you guys 4 table 6MAX Limit? I kind of liked it because it didn't let my mind wander so I didn't read the internet and all that other stuff I usually do when playing. I think from that perspective it really helped my game. But I don't know if it would be +ev for me to do all the time. I was determined to win when I started that 4 tabling session and therefore my concentration was up. Would be really draining to play like that all the damn time I think.

In between my losing first half of the day and my 4 tabling session tonight, the wife and I rented the dvd of the 1st 4 episodes of 24Hours with Keifer Sutherland. Wow, I had heard it was a popular show but geez, we couldn't stop watching it until we had watched all 4 episodes on the disc! Gonna have to rent the next dvd tomorrow! I can't believe people actually had to wait a week in between episodes when that show was new! LOL! These compilation dvd's are awesome! No commercials either!

Jan. 8 Totals
Empire PLO25 H/L 17 hands, 0h 24 m, $20.04
BetFreds PLO H/L .01/.02 15 hands, 0h 20m, $1.62
BetFreds 6MAX Lim .05/.10 70 hands, 0h 55m, -$0.49
Pokerstars PLO25 H/L 70 hands, 1h 47m, -$21.30
Pokerstars 6MAX Lim .50/1 156 hands, 1h 28m, -$25.00
Pokerstars PLO H/L .01/.02 2Tabling, 41 hands, 0h 59m, $1.33
Empire 6MAX Lim .50/1 4Tabling!, 723 hands, 6h 27m (actual time about 1.5 - 2 hours), $5.50

RB: 0
Various: $100 - YES! Finally!

Bonus Progress:
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 254+ today --- 1000 out of 1000 total
20gbp cleared on Totalbet 25gbp monthly 5 hour bonus
FPP's towards Pokerstars $150 bonus: 24 today --- 454 out of 750 total
-------------------------
Total: $81.70
Time: 12h 22m