Alright I figured I'd give one of these Journal things a shot since I'm basically undertaking a new game. Omaha.... As some of you may know I have basically been a LHE player for most of my time playing. I decided to adventure into the realm of big bet poker as opposed to a fixed betting structure. ATM I'm playing 6 max games, for the simple fact that usually there's more tables going than FR.... So I might be kind of missing a step by starting out a completely new game at shorthanded tables. However I'm playing low limits ATM and my expereince at least from LHE is a lot of players in shorthanded games play considerably looser than FR... To the point they open up their game too much and play too many marginal hands. If i can capitalize on that it will hopefully be pretty profitable. My only real exposure to the game so far has been Ciaffone's book and Stuart Reuben's, along with about 20K hands on the $10 and $25 tables... I just found out today that Rolf Slotboom's was shipped so I should have that soon, which I'm looking foward to.

Not sure how into this thing I'll get, but if nothing else I have my own place to vent about poker. I play poker mostly as a hobby, my feelings are it's better than sitting in front of a tv for a few hours. Archery is my other hobby, I've shot competitevly for a number of years. Although this year I won't have the time to dedicate to shooting like I have in the past. Hopefully next season I won't be as busy.

Either way, I've been debating whether or not to start one of these.... Guess we'll see how it goes.

Alright since this is supposed to be based mostly on Omaha.... I have to have this in here, so I don't need to go hunting for it.... It's not mine and it might be posted on here too. But I believe it was taken from someone else's blog/poker journal type thing... But I get a kick out of it every time I see it... So without further delay.........

EURO ROUNDERS !!!!


Michel (voiceover): "If you can't find the boorish
American hold'em player at the table within half an
hour, you are the boorish American hold'em player."

-----

TITLE/CREDITS. This entire movie is in black and
white, with subtitles.

-----

Michel (voiceover): "This game is really scummy, and
well above what I can afford to play. My entire
bankroll is riding on this one session going well.
This is Teddy CIA's place, where they only play Pot
Limit Omaha, the most sophisticated game in Europe."

- Michel knocks on the window -

Teddy CIA: "You want poker, or whore?"

Michel: "Poker. Give me three stacks of high, elitist
society."

-----

Michel: "I raise."

Teddy CIA: "It's a position raise. I call."

- The flop comes 5-7-A, with two diamonds -

Michel: "I bet the pot."

Teddy CIA: "I raise the pot."

Michel: "I reraise the pot."

Teddy CIA: "I reraise the pot."

Michel: "Pot."

Teddy CIA: "Pot."

Michel: "Pot."

Teddy CIA: "Pot."

Michel: "Pot."

Teddy CIA: "Pot."

Michel (voiceover): "I sit back and think. I have
three aces - the best possible hand. I want him to
think I'm debating a call, but really I'm just
thinking about Monte Carlo, and whatever the
[censored] is in Monte Carlo."

Michel: *shrugs* "Okay, well, I re-pot it, I'm all in,
because I don't think you have a pair." *winks at the
camera*

Teddy CIA: "Who are you winking at? It doesn't matter,
I call."

Michel (voiceover): "I know before he even says it."

Teddy CIA: "I have 8-6-4-3 with two diamonds, for a
wrap straight draw and a flush draw, which is a
favorite over your top set."

- Turn is a King. River is a 2 which gives Teddy CIA
an ace-to-five straight for the win. -

- Michel sits there, shell-shocked. -

Joey Croissant: "Come on, I'll get you a whore."

-----

Michel (voiceover): "Well, that sucked. Since then,
I've sworn off of poker and made my living as a
roadside prostitute for boorish American tourists.
Hopefully, I can pay my way through law school that
way. I can always find games, though. I could turn
this truck onto the road and be at the Taj in 19 and a
half hours."

-----

Michel (voiceover): "I'm here to pick my friend Worm
up from prison."

- Worm walks out of prison -

Michel: "Worm! It's wonderful to see you!"

- They kiss each other passionately on the mouth -

Michel: "How was prison?"

Worm: "I was brutally sodomized on a regular basis."

-----

Michel: "Look...Croissant, I never told you this, but
about a year ago, I was playing poker at the Casino
des Atlantes, and Marcel Luske walks in. He sits down
at the 50/100 pot limit game. And, I mean, the whole
place stops, right? Just watching this guy play. After
a while there isn't a retarded European gambling game
going, because everybody's just, you know, watching
this guy."

- Joey Croissant nods -

Michel: "So you know what I did? I sat down."

Joey Croissant: "No way, you need at least 300,000
euros to sit down at a game like that. Such bad
financial management is typical of a boorish
American!"

- Joey Croissant and Michel laugh for twenty-six
minutes -

Michel: "Right, okay, but seriously, I played for an
hour, doing nothing but folding. Then I won a huge
pot."

Joey Croissant: "Aces? Kings? Ace-King doublesuited?
Suited aces? High connectors? Middle doublesuited
connectors? Two big pair?"

Michel: "Rags."

Joey Croissant: "That's probably fine too, you're only
like a 48/52 dog."

Michel: "I raised. And he came over the top of me,
like I was a boorish American. I re-popped it. He
potted it again. I think for like two seconds and then
I re-pot it."

Joey Croissant: "Jesus [censored] Christ, how much
money did you have?"

Michel: "After I bet I would quietly slide my chips
back toward my stack, nobody noticed. Anyway, he
thinks for a while, looks at me, checks his cards
again, and he mucks. I take it down. And then he looks
at me and says, 'I have to know. Did you have it?' And
I said, 'I'm sorry Marcel, I can't remember.'"

Joey Croissant: "Face!"

Michel: "I know, totally. Anyway, based on that one
hand, I felt confident gambling for all the money I
had, at one time."

-----

Law Professor: "I am a Jew."

Michel: "I hate you."

-----

Teddy CIA: "We play, heads up, Pot Limit Omaha, 25 and
50 blinds, until one of us has it all?"

Michel: "Out of sheer curiosity, you realize you're
giving up like boat loads of equity by agreeing to
gamble for money that's effectively yours anyway,
right? That you could just not let me play, and then
kill me and take what I have?"

Teddy CIA: "I know, but I am a boorish American!"

- Michel and Teddy CIA laugh for seventy-two minutes -

-----

Michel (voiceover): "I pick up Ace-Ace-Jack-Ten
doublesuited."

Michel: "I raise the pot."

Teddy CIA: "Very aggressive. But, I reraise the pot."

Michael (voiceover): "He's representing
Ace-Ace-King-King doublesuited, the only hand better
than mine. I can't call, and give him a chance to
catch. I can only fold...if I believe him."

Michel: "I reraise, I'm all in."

Teddy CIA: "Take it down."

-----

- The flop reads 10-9-5, with two spades -

Michel: "Pot."

Teddy CIA: "Pot."

Michel: "Pot."

Teddy CIA: "Pot."

Michel: "Pot."

Teddy CIA: "Pot."

Michel: "Pot. I'm all in."

Teddy CIA: "Alright, I call. What do you have?"

Michel: "Jack high flush draw and middle set."

Teddy CIA: "Wrap, with a king high flush draw."

Michel: "Boy, I sure hope my 5:4 edge holds up,
otherwise I am going to die."

- Turn is an off-suit 5, giving Michel an unbeatable
hand. But the river is the ace of spades anyway,
because it's always the [censored] ace of spades. -

Teddy CIA: "He beat me. Pay that man his money. His
silly, silly-looking European money."

-----

Cab Driver: "Where are you off to?"

Michel: "Monte Carlo."

Cab Driver: "Good luck."

Michel: "Shut the [censored] up."

Well just finished up a pretty decent session.... Played 461 hands on the $25 tables with a BB/100 of 17.61. Pretty satisifed with my play, I got away from an AKJT hand on a flop of A4J with 2 diamonds when the SB CRed the pot on me post flop. He had a set of 4's the button stayed in hand the NFD, then called a PSB on the turn for the rest of his chips... which missed. Most of my losing hands were all kept to a minimum of a few bucks.... Which is good considering my last few sessions I was watching stacks disappear like they were part of a magic trick.

Overall I still play like a nit as far as VPIP goes, maybe as time goes on I can open up my game a little more but I still have a lot to learn.

Some fun hands... It's amazing how many people love their flush draws, even non nut ones.. I was surprised that this many diamonds managed to come out here, considering there were only 5 left on the flop.

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $0.25 BB (6 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

Hero ($26.70)
Button ($39.20)
SB ($2.85)
BB ($7.40)
UTG ($25.65)
MP ($6.30)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , , , . MP posts a blind of $0.25.
UTG calls $0.25, MP (poster) checks, Hero calls $0.25, Button calls $0.25, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($1.50) , , (6 players)
SB bets $0.5, BB calls $0.50, UTG folds, MP calls $0.50, Hero calls $0.50, Button calls $0.50.

Turn: ($4) (5 players)
SB bets $2.1 (All-In), BB folds, MP raises to $5.55, Hero calls $5.55, Button folds.

River: ($17.20) (3 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $17.20

Results
SB has 9d 8s 6d 4c (flush, queen high).
MP has Td Th 8h Kd (flush, king high).

Outcome: Hero wins $17.20. [/color]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This guy was great too, I probably should've gotten him all in on the flop but a recent string of similar situations resulted in quite a few stacks disappearing. I will give him credit for throwing in half of his remaining stack on the turn though..... BTW when the hell did people completely abandon the idea of trying to draw cheaply???

Seeing that board pair is a great feeling though...except on the occasions it gives someone quads

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $0.25 BB (6 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

Hero ($34.25)
CO ($32.40)
Button ($3.95)
SB ($30.05)
BB ($24.50)
UTG ($12.80)

Preflop: Hero is MP with , , , .
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.75, 2 folds, SB calls $0.65, BB calls $0.50.

Flop: ($2.25) , , (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $2, SB calls $2, BB raises to $9, Hero calls $7, SB folds.

Turn: ($22.25) (2 players)
BB bets $7, Hero raises to $14, BB folds.

Final Pot: $43.25


No showdown. Hero wins $43.25.

Meh, I dunno what the hell is going on with this game.... For some reason I just can't seem to put together a decent number of sessions for a while.... When I started playing this game on the $10 tables I wound up being up almost 20 stacks over about 10K hands.

Switched to the $25 tables, which to me don't really seem like they play all that different. Got up about 14 stacks there within 5K hands or so, managed to give them all back plus another 4 or 5stacks on top of it in the next 5K hands. So as it stands right now at the $25 tables I can't seem to get out of the hole (albit a small one) I'm in... I have this pet peeve about seeing a negative at the level I'm currently playing.

Guess I just have to study and play more, unfortunately there's really not a ton of discussion in the Omaha section....Anyway tonight was another blah session, played about 600 hands and lost a few bucks. Seemed like everytime I won a decnt pot I lost another one somewhere else. Here's the one near the end of the session that got me close to even again.... And I though I lost this one once the board didn't pair.

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $0.25 BB (5 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

Hero ($28.95)
UTG ($14)
MP ($26.95)
Button ($25.15)
SB ($23.90)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , , , .
UTG calls $0.25, MP calls $0.25, 1 fold, SB raises to $1.25, Hero calls $1, UTG calls $1, MP calls $1.

Flop: ($5) , , (4 players)
Hero raises to $16.75, UTG folds, MP raises to $25.7, SB folds, Hero calls $8.95. Bah converter scrwed up, anyway SB led at the pot for $4 then my raise kicked in

Turn: ($56.40) (2 players)

River: ($56.40) (2 players)

Final Pot: $56.40

Results
MP mucked [5h 2h 5d 7c]
Outcome: Hero wins $56.40.

Well kind of a slow night, not many tables seemed to want to stay together. Plus I'm tired and didn't feel like playing a ton of hands. Overall it was a decent session, wound up with about a buy in and a half in 300-ish hands.

This was one towards the beginning of the session to get thing off on the right foot. Also a reason I like this game because people will stack off relatively easily.

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $0.25 BB (5 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

Button ($25.35)
SB ($40.65)
BB ($24.90)
UTG ($25)
Hero ($26.75)

Preflop: Hero is MP with , , , . UTG posts a blind of $0.25.
UTG (poster) checks, Hero calls $0.25, Button raises to $1, SB calls $0.90, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.75, Hero calls $0.75.

Flop: ($4.25) , , (4 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $4.05, Button calls $4.05, SB folds, UTG calls $4.05.

Turn: ($16.40) (3 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $15.6, Button folds, UTG raises to $19.95, Hero calls $4.35.

River: ($56.30) (2 players)

Final Pot: $56.30

Results
UTG has Ks 6c 4h 4c (full house, fours full of queens).
Hero has Qs 9c Qh Td (four of a kind, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins $56.30. [/color]

Played very few hands tonight 128 to be exact but managed to get up a little over 2 stacks. Decided to enjoy winning some hands when all the money went in for a change and call it quits. I probably won't be playing for the next 2 weeks or so.

After some whining posts here are some good hands.. First was the first hand I was dealt at the table... Not sure if this was the optimom play or not but I was able to get a decent amount of my stack in PF so I wasn't going anywhere this time.

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $0.25 BB (6 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

Button ($43.10)
SB ($14.75)
Hero ($25)
UTG ($28.10)
MP ($22.40)
CO ($19.55)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , , , .
UTG raises to $0.65, MP calls $0.65, CO raises to $2, 2 folds, Hero raises to $7.4, UTG folds, MP folds, CO calls $5.40.

Flop: ($16.20) , , (2 players)
Hero bets $15.4, CO calls $12.15 (All-In).

Turn: ($43.75) (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($43.75) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $43.75

Results
Hero has Kc Ac As Ks (three of a kind, aces).
CO has Tc 7c 2c Jc (one pair, tens).
Outcome: Hero wins $43.75.

#2.

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $0.25 BB (5 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

Button ($30.30)
SB ($26.65)
BB ($22.70)
UTG ($42.40)
Hero ($24.80)

Preflop: Hero is MP with , , , .
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.75, Button calls $0.75, 1 fold, BB calls $0.50.

Flop: ($2.35) , , (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.5, Button calls $1.50, BB folds.

Turn: ($5.35) (2 players)
Hero bets $3.75, Button raises to $16.35, Hero raises to $22.55, Button calls $6.20.

River: ($50.45) (2 players)

Final Pot: $50.45

Results
Hero has Th Ad Jd 4c (flush, ace high).
Button mucked Qd Ah 9d Js
Outcome: Hero wins $50.45.

#3.

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $0.25 BB (6 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

MP ($42.15)
CO ($11.65)
Hero ($45.80)
SB ($21.20)
BB ($14.45)
UTG ($15.85)

Preflop: Hero is Button with , , , .
UTG calls $0.25, MP calls $0.25, CO calls $0.25, Hero raises to $0.75, 1 fold, BB calls $0.50, UTG calls $0.50, MP calls $0.50, CO calls $0.50.

Flop: ($3.85) , , (5 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MP checks, CO checks, Hero bets $3.7, BB raises to $13.7, UTG folds, MP folds, CO folds, Hero calls $10.

Turn: ($31.25) (2 players)

River: ($31.25) (2 players)

Final Pot: $31.25

Results
BB has Ks Tc 4s 5h (flush, king high).
BB mucked Ks Tc 4s 5h
Outcome: Hero wins $31.25.