Phew. Took a while to read this journal. Felt like I learned some things about Omaha though... mainly how little I know. Good luck in what remains of June!

I read it but its very difficult. Do you get paid by the word?

Well, a good night tonight (though I was slightly disappointed to find I was only $300-odd up at the end of it; I felt I'd won a bit more but some early losses on the E200 table must've hurt my winnings). I'm enjoying winning again at empire having moved down to 50PLO and 25PLO8 just to clear the bonus, and I seem to be back into the winning mode at Crypto again, although the tables are still depressingly tight.

In fact, the tightness of the tables at present is a real worry for me; the loosest still seem to be at Party/Empire but I'm going to take a break from there for a while after my recent horror run (although I've clawed back to nearly break even at those sites for the month). Perhaps I'll have another look at UB, there's occasionally a loose PLO table there, and keep perservering at Stars and Crypto. I think July will be an important month, it'd be nice to record a solid win because with Crypto tightening up since the introduction of the 25 and 50 tables and Empire getting crossed off my list for a while, I'll be needing a bit of luck or a month of very solid play to keep my winrate up at its normal level.

Anyhow, was going to post some hands but suffice to say I played fine tonight, including one bizarre hand that I'll post in the omaha forum...

$2960
58 hours
$51/hr

Still the 100 bonus at Empire and 120 from Stars to come in the near future, hopefully both this month, so fingers crossed I should claw it back to over 3k. And at least it's sunny

Monk
xxxxx

Well, the start of another month in my poker life, and my oft-promised audit of the first 6 months of 2005 should be on its way soon . Anyhow, in the last 2 days I've played a couple of sessions, both about 2.5 hours, and I'm up, but only thanks to bonuses - I've freed one of my old Stars ones as well as picking up a few over at Crypto.

The story otherwise is fairly familiar - big wins at the crypto PLO and what seems to have been a run of ugly luck elsewhere.

Today's session, in particular, was frustrating; I was nicely up and found KQJT with a suited Q at 100PLO in the big blind. One guy raised early, SB and myself were the only callers. Flop brought a very pleasing 9J4 rainbow, and I bet out when it was checked to me. The preflop raiser called. Perhaps I could consider check-raising here, that's something to think about in future, because the only hands I'm behind (realistcally) are sets (which I felt he was less than likely to hold); if he has a similar wrap, my top pair is likely to play, and if he has an overpair betting out or check-raising should generate enough pressure to push him off it. Anyway, I wasn't sure he'd bet if checked to so it's probably best to bet out here. Turn brought the T, giving me top two to go along with my nut straight, I bet pot again of course and he raises me all in. I call, the K hits the river, and he flips over AQQ8 for the 3 outer. Ugh. He called the flop with nothing but a weak overpair and dominated gutshot, raised me all-in with a non-nut straight and then sucked out in horrendous fashion for a $200+ pot. Then to add insult to injury he left when the blinds came round. Nothing is more annoying than someone stealing your pot with a bad play and a 3-outer, then pissing off with your money!

I'm currently also clearing the Party bonus playing the little PLO8 tables; today I had a fun hand, had AA26 single suited in the SB, raised when it was folded to me, the BB re-raised, I raised him back, he raised again, I called with the intention of pushing on any flop (in case it totally missed him and I could take it away with my last bet), pushed on the 59K flop, he called and scopps the damn thing when he catches a jack to make two pair with his AJ75 (ace not suited). His explanation? "I thought you were making a play at me". Yeah, and of course AJ75 is just the hand to try to snap that off with, after the 4th raise. grrrrrr. Well, at least it was only a small-fry table.

I did make my one big pot today when I won a $350 hand on the PLO200 table with AAJ3ss all-in preflop in PLO. My opponent had KQT9 and I hit flopped two jacks followed by an ace to win it. His hand wasn't bad, but it's a horrible one to re-raise with because my (likely) AA (plus my hidden J) eats up three of the cards he'd like to see to make straights with. I also seemed to miss a ton of times today when I got my money in with a strong draw, which was disappointing.

So, I'm doing OK thanks to bonuses, though it should be noted than I'm a few bucks down on the tables, so far. With the games seemingly quite tight at present, it would be nice to have a run of luck; I was making a lot of hands last month and the month before but the last 2-3 weeks has been pretty harsh (I think I'm break even or so in that period), with a bad run of cards running into apparently tighter action online. So let's gamble it up guys, and start missing your draws please!

July's two sessions:

$200
5 hours played
$40/hr

Monk
xxxxx

Well, I'm pissed off right now, bigtime. Because for the 3rd or 4th straight session I've had a decent run at the tables only to be sawn off by some idiotic beat that cost me most/all of my winnings. Had a good vent in the omaha section which I may delete when I calm down a bit suffice to say, I made a big re-raise on a flop with top set and flush draw, some goon called with a 3 outer gutshot and runner-runnered a flush. Great. Finished $70 up for the session and should be $300 really, but there ya go. I also managed to time out on a $40 winner. Add that to the one boneheaded play I made yesterday, and the multitabling error when I failed to raise a two-way nut in a PLO8 game, and I feel my own mistakes have cost me some money.

However, the most frustrating thing is these damn BEATS on Stars. Rather like tighty the other day, i'm just at the end of my rather short fuse at the fact that no less than THREE times in big pots (which have been few and far between on Stars) I've pushed in a big raise with some hand only for someone to make a moronic call with a gutshot or some other appalling hand and catch. 3 sessions ago, someone called down my raise with top two pair against middle set and caught a three outer to win. 2 sessions ago, I bet the nut straight, he raised all in with the second nut, and caught his 3 outer gutshot for the win. And today some idiot calls with a gutter for a huge bet on the flop and lucks out, the worst play of the three by some margin. Three 3-outers for a combined $800+. Also lost a fair few additional times as favourite elsewhere (for instance, another big $200+ pot when I was 81% flop fave yesterday). The fact that I feel I'm not playing terribly well of late, and that the tables havent been kind makes it doubly hard to swallow.

Anyhow, should be well over $1k for the month if only luck hadn't been so painfully unkind, but hey, after about 3 weeks of it i'm pretty much used to the hammering now . I really wish I hadn't said in the middle of last month "I'm probably due a bad run anytime soon because I've been running really good" .

Oh, I would be break-even this month if not for bonuses lol. At least the fact I'm up is a consolation, though it's been a long, long time since I saw so much money slip through the net to such idiotic and frustrating losses. Nvm, trip to London to come later this week, which i WAS really excited about until today's latest hammering took the wind out of my sails again ho-hum.

$570
10 hours played
$57/hr

Monk

Well, something of an upturn in fortunes today. I'm off work now till next week, which is good news, and i've had my first satisfying poker session for a while.

Played E200 PLO and $200 PLO at Crypto (bonus hunting at interpoker and william hill, my last two for the month already) together with 100PLO at Empire and Stars, and a $100PLO8 table at Inter. Mostly quiet without a lot of big pots, saw some huge action on the E200 table but without getting involved much myself (my biggest pot came from raising AAss preflop from the button, catching a ragged low flop with a flush draw and betting out after 4 checks to take it down). However, I felt like I was making the right moves, using my position well, and when I had hands they were generally holding up. I made at least 2 well-timed moves on opponents to take them off hands, and bluffed the scare cards pretty fearlessly to good effect in small pots. True, I didn't have too many tough decisions to make or too many marginal hands of the sort have been going a little wrong lately, but I felt that's partly because I kept things razor sharp and didn't let myself get into any trouble by putting myself in strong positions and controlling the game well. All in all, a solid performance.

Also had one of those sessions whereby several times I checked down or rivers, or bet them and got called, certain I was beaten only to turn over a winner to my surprise (it's been kinda the opposite lately!). For instance, once I raised AQQJ preflop, found AQ7 on the flop, bet it, got two callers, turn put out a flush and river didnt pair the board, checked both cards in the worst position and amazingly neither had the flush so I won a nice pot (first caller had bottom set, the other guy didn't show but I suppose it could've been a straight draw).

I held 4567, all spades, at Stars, when the flop brought K48 with two spades. I decided to bet, perhaps unwisely, into a small field, surmising the spades made a flush draw less likely to call and KK the only big set threat. I got two callers, made my 9-outer for the straight on the turn, got it all in with one guy who had the same straight and hit my 7-outer flush redraw; when the flush hit the river I had a feeling I'd lost but again I was pleasantly surprised.

And perhaps the oddest of all - I had some hand involving JJ, saw a flop all spades (I didn't have a flush), which was checked around 4 players to me on the button. I hit a J on the turn to give me top set, checked AGAIN so I decide to take a semi-bluff stab at it with my 10-outer, get called, river blanked off, he checked AGAIN, I decide to bet again to see if I can shake him off a lower flush (debatable play really), he calls and, amazingly, my set holds up!

So overall I made $300 without really hitting anything resembling a big hand, which was solid enough following some recent sessions where I've made very little despite having cards enough to make $600 or more with a bit of luck. I'll take the solid win, though, and with bonuses to come from stars and interpoker in the next week or so (although maybe longer, as I plan a trip to london at the end of the week), and a few more quid to get at William Hill, plus my empire rebate and a return to ultimatebet to see how the 100, 200 and 400 PLO is looking there, and maybe grab the $200-odd bonuses i have there too.

Off work tomorrow so hopefully i can book 4 hours or so, minimum, before i leave on thursday.

$870
12 hours played
$72.50/hr

My winrate is so high almost exclusively due to bonuses - I've picked up about half my winnings from freebies so far!

Well, after my bad run it seems like I'm back on track with a bang, and in serious style today. Enjoyed one of my best ever two-hour sessions to push my month from the "good" into the "great" category, and some of the bad luck I'd had in the last few weeks has nicely turned around as I won two enormous pots (which both had a great deal to do with luck!). Once more I made an early error (mis-read a board causing me to raise when I should've just called with a wrap draw, I then bet again the turn as a semi-bluff and end up losing about $80 on a bit of a butchered hand.

Anyhow! Then these two hands happened, on the E200 table and £100 table. Note that I'm not exactly favourite in either situation, though I feel I played both of the hands fine in the context of the tables and betting that went down. Seems my luck all came to roost in one big session, and I found myself scoring over $1k in less than 2 hours. For our American friends, E520 is about $750, and £515 is just short of $1000.

------HAND 1------
Game #760155213: Omaha High Pot Limit (€1/€2) - 2005/07/08 - 12:56:28 (ET)
Table "Sage" Seat 3 is the button.
Seat 1: Jackal3 (€198 in chips)
Seat 2: dazmac (€147.87 in chips)
Seat 3: ME (€195 in chips)
Seat 4: Koko_Kanu (€307.50 in chips)
Seat 5: bullen1 (€137.32 in chips)
Seat 6: MrShaggy (€191.50 in chips)
Seat 7: Gregoshea (€583.34 in chips)
Seat 8: knulpe (€17.50 in chips)
Seat 9: hoffy (€650.75 in chips)
Seat 10: Nomiz (€77.50 in chips)
Koko_Kanu: posts small blind €1
bullen1: posts big blind €2
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to ME [Qd Jd 9h 8h]
MrShaggy: calls €2
Gregoshea: calls €2
knulpe: calls €2
hoffy: folds
Nomiz: calls €2
Jackal3: raises to €15
dazmac: calls €15
ME: calls €15
Koko_Kanu: folds
bullen1: folds
MrShaggy: folds
Gregoshea: calls €13
knulpe: raises to €17.50 and is all-in
Nomiz: calls €15.50
Jackal3: raises to €120
dazmac: folds
ME: calls €105
Gregoshea: folds
Nomiz: is all-in €60
----- FLOP ----- [Qc 4d Tc]
Jackal3: bets €78 and is all-in
ME: is all-in €75
Returned uncalled bets € 3 to Jackal3
----- TURN ----- [Qc 4d Tc][8s]
----- RIVER ----- [Qc 4d Tc 8s][3d]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Jackal3: shows [6d Ah Ts As] (A Pair of Aces, Queen high)
ME: shows [Qd Jd 9h 8h] (A Straight, Queen high)
knulpe: shows [Jh Jc Kd 7s] (A Pair of Jacks, Queen high)
Nomiz: shows [3h 5d 2d 2s] (A Pair of Threes, Queen high)
ME collected €235 from Side pot #2
ME collected €180 from Side pot #1
ME collected €102 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot €520 Main pot €102 Side pot #1 €180 | Side pot #2 €235 | Rake €3
Board [Qc 4d Tc 8s 3d]
Seat 1: Jackal3 lost
Seat 2: dazmac folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: ME (button) showed [Qd Jd 9h 8h] and won (€517) with A Straight, Queen high
Seat 4: Koko_Kanu (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: bullen1 (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: MrShaggy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Gregoshea folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: knulpe lost
Seat 9: hoffy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 10: Nomiz lost

So I was money favourite in the 4-handed main pot, 3-handed sidepot 1 and was about 41% against the AA hand, but knowing full well he held aces, I knew I could easily fold on a bad flop, so the energy is with my hand.

------HAND 1------
Game #760330903: Omaha High Pot Limit (£0.50/£1) - 2005/07/08 - 13:32:08 (ET)
Table "Primrose" Seat 10 is the button.
Seat 1: Grimnok (£79.50 in chips)
Seat 2: TOSHG (£18 in chips)
Seat 3: ppaul (£38.50 in chips)
Seat 4: Jackieno9 (£102.01 in chips)
Seat 5: __data__ (£668.18 in chips)
Seat 6: Callmeal (£384.50 in chips)
Seat 7: ME (£211 in chips)
Seat 8: chris20 (£13 in chips)
Seat 9: Koko_Kanu (£137 in chips)
Seat 10: Noor99 (£167.50 in chips)
Grimnok: posts small blind £0.50
TOSHG: posts big blind £1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to ME [As 9s Ah Ks]
ppaul: folds
ppaul leaves the table
Jackieno9: folds
__data__: folds
Callmeal: calls £1
ME: raises to £4.50
Shanks joins the table at seat #3
chris20: calls £4.50
Koko_Kanu: folds
Noor99: calls £4.50
Grimnok: raises to £8
TOSHG: folds
Callmeal: calls £7
ME: raises to £42
chris20: is all-in £8.50
Noor99: calls £37.50
Grimnok: raises to £79.50 and is all-in
Callmeal: raises to £336.50
ME: is all-in £169
Noor99: is all-in £125.50
Returned uncalled bets £125.50 to Callmeal
----- FLOP ----- [9d 7d Js]
----- TURN ----- [9d 7d Js][3d]
----- RIVER ----- [9d 7d Js 3d][3s]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Callmeal: shows [Tc 9h Qh Jd] (Two Pairs, Jacks and Nines, Seven high)
ME: shows [As 9s Ah Ks] (Two Pairs, Aces and Threes, Jack high)
chris20: shows [8s 6s 8h Kh] (Two Pairs, Eights and Threes, Jack high)
Noor99: shows [Qd 5h Jc 4h] (Two Pairs, Jacks and Threes, Queen high)
Grimnok: shows [Ac Qs 6c Ad] (Two Pairs, Aces and Threes, Jack high)
ME collected £87 from Side pot #3
ME collected £264 from Side pot #2
Grimnok collected £133 from Side pot #1
ME collected £133 from Side pot #1
Grimnok collected £31.50 from Main pot
ME collected £31.50 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £683 Main pot £63 Side pot #1 £266 | Side pot #2 £264 | Side pot #3 £87 | Rake £3
Board [9d 7d Js 3d 3s]
Seat 1: Grimnok (small blind) showed [Ac Qs 6c Ad] and won (£164.50) with Two Pairs, Aces and Threes, Jack high
Seat 2: TOSHG (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Jackieno9 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: __data__ folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Callmeal lost
Seat 7: ME showed [As 9s Ah Ks] and won (£515.50) with Two Pairs, Aces and Threes, Jack high
Seat 8: chris20 lost
Seat 9: Koko_Kanu folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 10: Noor99 (button) lost

Well, on this occasion my AAss hand looks pretty, but amazingly worked out to be the UNDERDOG out of all the hands that got all in! The other guy with AA used one of my occasional ploys (minimum re-raising to reopen the pot with AA) but could easily have been on anything up to the point when I raised him back and he moved all in; as it was only another £30 or so, I presumed he likely also had AA but that my hand would be favourite for the side pots (especially if I could knock anybody out with another raise) so I shoved it all in.

Amazingly, 5-handed for the main pot I hold only 16% of the equity. The only player with +EV, in fact, is the muppet who decided to play the horrible 8s 6s Kh 8h!!! For side pot 1 I'm holding about 22% against 4 players, but once the other AA hand runs out of money, I'm starting to make some serious cash - in the second big sidepot, I'm making 40% against three opponents and for the last little sidepot against the JQT9 hand I'm 64% favourite.

Overall therefore, my EV for the hand is:
16% of £63 = £10
22% of £266 = £58
40% of £264 = £105
64% of £87 = £55

TOTAL = £228 for a £211 stake.

So I'm hardly coining it in here, but by the time it gets back to me I've put so much money in that everything is just being tipped into the middle. As the cards were flipped up (before the flop on Crypto) and the flop, turn and river came down really quick I was a bit disappointed, because I thought the QJT9 hand had made a straight glancing at the action, and so when £500 was shoved my way I was slightly shocked. Still, great session!

It was also nice to win some money on the PLO8, which has been extremely slow for me - in June and July I'm just barely over break even (though I haven't played that much) though I've felt that luck hasn't been on my side when I have played.

Still, great session, and freed the Interpoker bonus - this month has taken an upturn in a big way, and I feel my play lately (except for a couple of dumb errors) has been really sharp.

$2480
17.5 hours played
$142/hr

Not bad, not bad!

Monk
xxxxx

EDIT: PLayed another 2 hour session tonight, freed up my $120 stars bonus which was exactly how much I was up for the session, however, I played like an absolute drain and pissed away a large amount of money; by rights I should've been at least another $100 or so up, if not $200. It is disappointing of late that although I'm making some good plays, I am making some real cock-ups too and frankly tonight I made about 3 or 4 absolute glaring mistakes, all of which cost me money. So, in the long-term, one long game approach, not a great session, but hey, I won some money, and I've had a terrific day on the tables, so HOORAY FOR ME!

$2600
19.5 hours
$133/hr

And, on yet another bright side, I just royally pissed off the struggling Tightwad by my pretend disgust on Yahoo at the fact that my winrate has dropped below $140/hr for July. Heh heh heh.

Well, had a pretty shitty day to be honest. Went out with some friends last night and got utterly blasted, and so I've had a bad head all day (the hot sunny british weather hasn't helped!), the woman who i'm buying my apartment off is now trying to fleece me to the tune of about £800 for carpets which she'd previously agreed were part of the main price of the sale, and we got thumped in the cricket! Bollocks. And if that wasn't enough to put me in a bad mood, just followed up my huge session on friday with one of the WORST two hour sessions I've ever endured.

Lost out to the tune of $640 (after I had a very small loss in the half hour sessiojn this afternoon), though I'm surprisingly philosophical, feeling it's actually the best i've played in a while (except one error towards the end that only really cost me maybe £40 or so); poker can be cruel, the only occupation in the world you can put the work in, do it fine and still wind up with a lot less than you started with.

In the spirit of catharthis, I'll run through a couple of the bad moments...

***** Hand History for Game 2341179801 *****
$100 PL Omaha Hi - Sunday, July 10, 13:08:50 EDT 2005
Table Table 55261 (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: want2chop ( $136.6 )
Seat 8: PokerWizzy ( $148.63 )
Seat 10: ME ( $107.5 )
Seat 9: Dominicco1 ( $134.75 )
Seat 2: it8myfault ( $80.05 )
Seat 7: kong168 ( $89.9 )
Seat 5: z32fanatic2 ( $97.5 )
Seat 3: Tarpatti ( $98.5 )
Seat 4: pesnyary ( $100 )
Seat 6: piper190 ( $50 )
kong168 posts small blind [$0.5].
PokerWizzy posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ME [ Kh 6s Kc Qd ]
Dominicco1 folds.
ME calls [$1].
want2chop calls [$1].
it8myfault calls [$1].
Tarpatti folds.
z32fanatic2 calls [$1].
kong168 calls [$0.5].
>You have options at Table 36683 Table!.
PokerWizzy checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2s, Kd, 8c ]
kong168 checks.
PokerWizzy checks.
ME checks.
want2chop checks.
it8myfault bets [$5.7].
>You have options at Table 36541 Table!.
>You have options at Table 36796 Table!.
z32fanatic2 calls [$5.7].
kong168 folds.
PokerWizzy folds.
ME raises [$15].
want2chop folds.
it8myfault calls [$9.3].
z32fanatic2 calls [$9.3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5d ]
ME bets [$48.45].
it8myfault calls [$48.45].
z32fanatic2 is all-In [$81.5]
>You have options at Table 36541 Table!.
>You have options at Table 36683 Table!.
ME calls [$33.05].
it8myfault is all-In [$15.6]
** Dealing River ** [ 3s ]
ME shows [ Kh, 6s, Kc, Qd ] three of a kind, kings.
it8myfault shows [ As, Ac, 3d, 4c ] a straight, ace to five.
z32fanatic2 doesn't show [ Ts, 8s, 8h, Jd ] three of a kind, eights.
ME wins $34.9 from side pot #1 with three of a kind, kings.
it8myfault wins $240.15 from the main pot with a straight, ace to five.
kong168 has left the table.

This was the first real ugly hit I took. Who calls a check-raise on the flop with no hand? This guy amply demonstrated for the rest of the session he was utterly clueless, but this was a rough way to lose when both opponents had 3 outs between them on the flop. Also not sure what the guy with middle set was doing, if he'd just moved in on the flop presumably we'd have lost the AA guy. They both played this pretty horribly. I make only a small raise on the flop as I know no-one can have any sort of hand which can draw out on me at that stage, and I want action from two pair and lower sets. Think I played it about perfectly, but that ugly river was a killer.

***** Hand History for Game 2341241001 *****
$100 PL Omaha Hi - Sunday, July 10, 13:24:50 EDT 2005
Table Table 36683 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 2: fToRrEeEsSt ( $206.3 )
Seat 4: teddyraay ( $135.65 )
Seat 6: PokerWizzy ( $402.22 )
Seat 7: beserk7 ( $63.5 )
Seat 8: Dominicco1 ( $76.85 )
Seat 10: joezac1 ( $121.75 )
Seat 1: ME ( $96 )
Seat 9: z32fanatic2 ( $99 )
Seat 5: Tarpatti ( $97.5 )
Seat 3: emma0906 ( $139.9 )
Dominicco1 posts small blind [$0.5].
z32fanatic2 posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ME [ Ts Tc 9h Jc ]
joezac1 folds.
ME calls [$1].
fToRrEeEsSt calls [$1].
emma0906 calls [$1].
teddyraay folds.
PokerWizzy: nh
Tarpatti calls [$1].
PokerWizzy folds.
beserk7 folds.
Dominicco1 folds.
>You have options at Table 36541 Table!.
z32fanatic2 raises [$5.5].
ME calls [$5.5].
fToRrEeEsSt calls [$5.5].
>You have options at Table 36541 Table!.
emma0906 calls [$5.5].
Tarpatti calls [$5.5].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7h, Kd, Td ]
z32fanatic2 checks.
ME bets [$31.35].
>You have options at Table 36541 Table!.
>You have options at Table 36796 Table!.
fToRrEeEsSt folds.
emma0906 folds.
Tarpatti calls [$31.35].
z32fanatic2 folds.
>You have options at Table 36541 Table!.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9c ]
ME is all-In [$58.15]
>You have options at Table 36796 Table!.
>You have options at Table 36541 Table!.
Tarpatti calls [$58.15].
** Dealing River ** [ 8d ]
ME shows [ Ts, Tc, 9h, Jc ] a straight, seven to jack.
Tarpatti shows [ 6h, Ad, 4d, 5h ] a flush, ace high.
Tarpatti wins $209 from the main pot with a flush, ace high.

This hand came shortly after. Guy called two pot-sized bets with zero implied odds to catch a flush draw. These guys will pay off bigtime over the long run, but it is annoying to lose on another river.


PokerStars Game #2072732965: Omaha Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2005/07/10 - 13:24:00 (ET)
Table 'Palma' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: ME ($196 in chips)
Seat 3: Uncle Bak ($353.70 in chips)
Seat 4: Hearty Harry ($237.20 in chips)
Seat 5: YD_Mazal ($80 in chips)
Seat 6: kingpin182 ($324 in chips)
Seat 7: Reel_Toy ($40 in chips)
Seat 8: gameday19 ($206 in chips)
Seat 9: thenizz ($708.85 in chips)
thenizz: posts small blind $1
ME: posts big blind $2
wineo32: sits out
Reel_Toy: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [Tc Jd Jh Qc]
Uncle Bak: calls $2
Hearty Harry: folds
YD_Mazal: calls $2
kingpin182: folds
Reel_Toy: checks
gameday19: raises $4 to $6
thenizz: calls $5
ME: calls $4
Uncle Bak: calls $4
YD_Mazal: calls $4
Reel_Toy: calls $4
*** FLOP *** [Kc 2s Ac]
thenizz: bets $34.20
ME: calls $34.20
Uncle Bak: folds
YD_Mazal: folds
Reel_Toy: folds
gameday19: folds
*** TURN *** [Kc 2s Ac]
thenizz: bets $101.40
ME: calls $101.40
*** RIVER *** [Kc 2s Ac 5h]
thenizz: bets $304.20
ME said, "goddamn had the biggest draw in the world"
ME: folds
thenizz collected $304.20 from pot
thenizz: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $307.20 | Rake $3
Board [Kc 2s Ac 5h 5d]
Seat 1: ME (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 3: Uncle Bak folded on the Flop
Seat 4: Hearty Harry folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: YD_Mazal folded on the Flop
Seat 6: kingpin182 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Reel_Toy folded on the Flop
Seat 8: gameday19 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 9: thenizz (small blind) collected ($304.20)

A routine missed draw. I'm nearly 45% on the flop and 40% on the turn to hit, so no way I can fold. A little frustrating that all my big draws like this ended up missing today, whilst if anyone else seemed to have some sort of draw against my set, they routinely hit it. Oh well.

***** Hand History for Game 2341220795 *****
$100 PL Omaha Hi/Lo - Sunday, July 10, 13:19:38 EDT 2005
Table Table 36796 (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: chicfo ( $166.37 )
Seat 2: SMi1inGTigER ( $95.99 )
Seat 3: MARCA ( $266.78 )
Seat 4: greeknh65 ( $135.96 )
Seat 6: BassPro99 ( $100.05 )
Seat 7: LSD2121 ( $106.9 )
Seat 8: FominVB ( $63.67 )
Seat 9: uh_oh ( $83.67 )
Seat 10: ME ( $111.82 )
Seat 5: whoozyodaddy ( $97 )
uh_oh posts small blind [$0.5].
ME posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ME [ 7c 5c 7d 4s ]
chicfo folds.
SMi1inGTigER folds.
MARCA calls [$1].
whoozyodaddy calls [$1].
BassPro99 calls [$1].
LSD2121 folds.
FominVB calls [$1].
uh_oh folds.
ME checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3h, 7h, 3d ]
ME bets [$5.25].
MARCA calls [$5.25].
whoozyodaddy folds.
BassPro99 folds.
FominVB calls [$5.25].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qc ]
>You have options at Table 36683 Table!.
ME bets [$20.2].
MARCA calls [$20.2].
FominVB calls [$20.2].
** Dealing River ** [ As ]
>You have options at Table 36541 Table!.
ME bets [$78.85].
MARCA raises [$175].
FominVB is all-In [$37.22]
ME is all-In [$6.52]
MARCA shows [ 3s, 3c, 8d, Qd ] four of a kind, threes.
FominVB shows [ 4c, Ac, 4d, 2s ] two pairs, aces and threes.
FominVB shows 7,4,3,2,A for low.
ME shows [ 7c, 5c, 7d, 4s ] a full house, Sevens full of threes.
ME shows 7,5,4,3,A for low.
MARCA wins $89.63 from side pot #2 with four of a kind, threes.
MARCA wins $48.15 from side pot #1 with four of a kind, threes.
ME wins Lo ($48.15) from side pot #1 with 7,5,4,3,A.
MARCA wins $95.26 from the main pot with four of a kind, threes.
FominVB wins Lo ($95.25) from the main pot with 7,4,3,2,A.

Omaha hi/lo now... This was incredibly annoying, not least because the guy with quads slow-played it when it would've been far better for him to try to get the pot heads up to defend against possible low draws. And who the HELL calls in MP with 338Q in PLO8??? Oh, morons, that's right. At least I got some low out of the side pot, though up until the turn I was hoping for a three-way scoop, and even on the river I was sure I was going to make, rather than lose, money on the hand. I played this fine, IMO. Both opponents were bad and loose beyond belief but didn't find a hand to take either down with. FominVB sucked out half a pot from me later when I was winning high and low on the turn.

------HAND 1------
Game #771623023: Omaha High Pot Limit (£0.50/£1) - 2005/07/10 - 18:45:16 (UK)
Table "Primrose" Seat 9 is the button.
Seat 1: ME (£90.50 in chips)
Seat 2: Jackal3 (£108.25 in chips)
Seat 3: hit_man (£88.25 in chips)
Seat 4: johnnyray (£207.50 in chips)
Seat 5: nailyoass (£89 in chips)
Seat 6: Arnomannn (£80.52 in chips)
Seat 7: dazmac (£512.23 in chips)
Seat 8: SE77EN (£9.50 in chips)
Seat 9: felipe52 (£424.88 in chips)
Seat 10: Never_Lou (£72.50 in chips)
Never_Lou: posts small blind £0.50
ME: posts big blind £1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to ME [6h 2d 4h 5c]
Jackal3: folds
hit_man: calls £1
johnnyray: calls £1
nailyoass: calls £1
Arnomannn: calls £1
dazmac: folds
SE77EN: calls £1
felipe52: calls £1
Never_Lou: calls £0.50
ME: checks
----- FLOP ----- [6c 3h 9s]
Never_Lou: checks
ME: checks
hit_man: bets £8
johnnyray: folds
nailyoass: folds
Arnomannn: folds
SE77EN: folds
SE77EN sits out
felipe52: folds
Never_Lou: folds
ME: calls £8
----- TURN ----- [6c 3h 9s][4d]
ME: bets £24
hit_man: raises to £79.25 and is all-in
ME: calls £55.25
----- RIVER ----- [6c 3h 9s 4d][Th]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
hit_man: shows [8h 7h 9c 5d] (A Straight, Ten high)
ME: shows [6h 2d 4h 5c] (A Straight, Six high)
hit_man collected £179.50 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £182.50 Main pot £179.50 Rake £3
Board [6c 3h 9s 4d Th]
Seat 1: ME (big blind) lost
Seat 2: Jackal3 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: hit_man showed [8h 7h 9c 5d] and won (£179.50) with A Straight, Ten high
Seat 4: johnnyray folded on the Flop
Seat 5: nailyoass folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Arnomannn folded on the Flop
Seat 7: dazmac folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: SE77EN folded on the Flop
Seat 9: felipe52 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 10: Never_Lou (small blind) folded on the Flop

This was the one poor play I made; already about $500 down at this point and so possibly playing slightly loose, though I still felt pretty much OK going into this hand. A very good argument can be made for folding on every street. If there's been more than one caller on the flop, I would have folded, expecting my low-end straight draws to be dirty, but against this guy I took the (wrong) line that he might've had two pair or a set, and thus most of my straight outs were likely to be live. I felt that, at the very least, 2s and 4s were likely to give me the win. Still, a loose call, drawing to non-nut straights and I probably got what I deserved.

On the turn, I get my card, bet out and then have a real decision when he moves all in. I found 57 hard to believe, but in truth this guy is a decent player and it's highly unlikely he's raising in on anything else. However, I felt that a set might still be possible, or the same straight as me, and, steaming a little, I called. £55 into a £180 pot, and even if he did have me beaten I still have 4 outs to the boat, so even if he does beat me I've got £18 expected value for my £55 call. If he has moved all in with a set only about 25% of the time I am just about OK to call. Still, I think it's a mistake, but not a bad one. HOWEVER, calling on the flop compounded the error, and in truth I shouldn't have lost a buyin here. Bad play, and too loose, but really tip of the iceberg on my overall losses today and importantly not TERRIBLE play, or a big error - just a number of small ones compounded by some bad cards and bad luck.

Overall however, I felt I played OK and so I don't feel as bad as I have done in the past when losing $700-odd in a day, but it does yet again put a real tang of disappointment on the overall flavour of July so far. Nearly $2k in the first 10 days is usually a good performance, but had some of those hands held today I'd be looking at nearer $3k .

$1850
22 hours
$84/hr

Still a great winrate for the month so far so I guess I can't complain too much. But today really blew!

Monk
xxxxx

Well, I rather foolishly jumped into some $3/6 limit with Mecos and Tightwad, unfortunately those two lover boys were a bit too tough for me, and, in between sucking each other off, unfortunately they managed to collude enough to make me lose $80.

Today I was back in the usual PLO battleground, and played a GREAT session for an hour and a half, making some good plays, and a lot of smart moves which all worked out without exception. Feeling great about the game, I run into my big hand on the E200 table, as I find KKJ9 as I'm getting ready to call it a day.

Raise preflop, coupla callers. Flop comes K85 rainbow. One guy raises, great, I re-raise about half pot to keep him in if he holds a low set. He pops me again, and I gleefully get all in. He shows A885. River brings an 8 and his one outer costs me a $500 pot. Disgusting, and quite disgusted. After having a session of stinking luck last time round, to lose like that right at the end was horrible. Winrate dropping off a bit now!

On the plus side, I'm getting some good numbers together to do a big audit of my game, with PTO up and running finally and having run through my spreadsheets for the year. Shockingly, I;ve discovered I am down $500 in total for the year in $200 and $100PLO at Party/Empire. That's probably somewhere in the 8-10k region, in terms of hand numbers. Have had some horrible luck there, though, as usual. At Crypto with nearly 30k hands for the year i'm winning a rather impressive 34BB/100, so I think it's hardly likely that I'm not good enough to be winning at Empire!

Finished $160 up, which was some sort of consolation, but really, that hand... Ugh. Sure I had a big session a few days back, but the sheer number of 3, 2 and 1 outer beats I've taken in the last 3 or 4 weeks in huge pots has been truly horrible. This was a pot that would have been REALLY nice, though at least I am still up for the session.

$1945
24 hours
$81/hr

Though it'd be $2400 again if not for that ugly fricking pot. Bah!

Monk
xxxxx

You still can't beat my screenshots from a while back. You know..the two 1-990 outers for my stacks Both happened within like a week from each other. I'll tell you..nothing makes you wonder about the game then top set losing to running quads (2 outs, then 1..UGH!!)

It's good to see you're doing so well despite the big losses. I'm the same way...we most both really be on the top of our games right now.

Doesn't it feel great to know you're a kickass long-term winning player??

Don't you ever wonder about the bigger games, Monk? I've watched a bunch of 5/10 NL holdem tables and I KNOW i can beat them. I took a $2000 shot last month actaully...got raped by river quads and the like...but I just know i belong there. I wasn't too upset about the loss...it was a gamble and I was willing to pay the price.

Why don't you take a shot??? Just take a couple grand...and if you win...well..keep winning...and if you lose..then just go back to where you're comfy. But at least you take a shot you know? It's kinda like asking never asking that real hot girl for her number..and then you regret it all the rest of your life. If you never take a shot..even a small one....you may never reach your full potential.

I think you're alot better then you may realize.

Nah, I know I'm good honestly, I've watched the 1000 and 2000 PLO games oin occasions at Stars and Empire and I've never seen one where I've thought I wouldn't be a winning player. Mostly there's likely a few better players than me though, as I would be playing a bit scared at that level.

I play up to $400 buyins which suits me fine at the moment. My major problem is that, pscyhologically, I go f'in CRAZY when I take an ugly beat for a $600 pot or whatever (you've doubtless seen my rants on here ) - I talk shit in the chatboxes, whine on here, whine to tightwad and generally make a prick of myself; it helps me stay focussed on the tables and NOT tilt, which is one of my the better features in my poker game - if I'm on the verge of tilting due to losses, I have no problem whatsoever quitting. Indeed, after a few seriously bad beats I have a problem even forcing myself to put in the time, even when I know I'm playing well. Again, that's probably not the worst thing in the world as it keeps me fresh.

However, the thing I worry about is how I'll react if I take a crapping at the 1000 tables; the other day, I played near my best for two hours and lost about 3 or 4 buyins, that's a bad session for me, however in the 1000 games that'd be the amount I usually WIN in a month, LOST in 2 hours. I dunno how I'd react to that.

What I am gonna start to do, I think, is avoid playing the 100 games wherever possible and try to stick to the 200s and 400s when they're good. Don't forget, I multitable pretty severely so I usually have $1k or so in play at any one time, just spread over different tables. Perhaps in time I can push that up to 2k, and increase my winrate. I know right now my only chance of getting rich from poker is to up the stakes, and I know I'm good enough. This year has really taught me that, as I've been rocking the 100, 200 and sometimes 400 tables solidly and I'm still not considerably over $50/hr for the year. If I want to get that nearer 100, I guess I gotta start upping the ante!

Of course, the other main problem I have is that I know from my figures I'm a break even (in fact, slight loser) at Party/Empire in my main PLO games this year over 10k hands. Good winner at Stars, huge winner at Crypto, loser at Party, where most of the really juicy big games are. I think perhaps I need to turn that stat over before I consider taking a shot at the 1k and 2k buyins, although I can comfortably afford the former and probably to take shots at the latter.

Thanks for taking the time to comment!

And yeah, it is cool to be a big winning player in the long term making loads more than I do at work this year and to be honest it's something I'm really proud of, and it makes me sad that some people would look down on my exploits because it's "gambling". I still bring up poker in conversation whenever I get the chance, fuck 'em

Monk
xxxxx