Wow, just been on the craziest 200PLO table ever. I'd been playing a fairly drab session, cards pretty dead, won a few here, lost a few there (including a $250 pot at PLO8 where my opponent called a re-raise preflop with A37T and then called off the rest of his stack on the flop with a pair of 7s against my aces.... and caught another 7), then I arrived on a table at Crypto.

This guy (who, in my PTO database with 300 hands seems pretty passive, no aggression, no PFRs really) comes on with $200, and just goes berserk. He is literally betting and raising practically every hand preflop. Then getting all in on ANY flop. Now, pretty soon people cotton onto this - i'm still sat there folding every hand as I am so card dead I can't even call with some of this garbage OOP to the guy hoping to capture his stack on the flop.

Anyhow, as my annoyance with crap hands continues (it costs 10-20% of a stack to see most flops due to the raising) I'm just waiting for something to take this guy down with. Yet, unbelievably, he is winning. not just a little bit, but a lot. He gets up to $600-odd, then gets all in with another big stack, produces a massive suck out and wins a $1k pot. Then very next hand, he bags someone else's big stack and runs it up to $1400. Within about 20 minutes of yo-yoing up and down, he has an astonishing $2k. And he's going in on practically every hand. Amazingly, he then starts to fold occasionally (and I'm thinking, damn, is that the end of it?). At this point I'm 200-ish down and hoping for a big hand to run through (I had 400 on the table when he arrived, i've dwindled to 240-odd without seeing past the turn).

I finally get a hand (top set) and because of my artificially tight image everyone folds when I bet. So i decide to play a few more hands (i'm resorting to playing garbage like T874 out of position to this guy). Anyhow, eventually I find a low two pair hand, 4466, and call a raise because I know if i hit he'll go all in, and i'm happy to put it in with bottom set when he might only have a pair. I hit my dream flop, maniac guy AND another fish manage to dump all their chips in with nothing better than two pair and I'm 71% favourite 3 handed. A real ugly one to lose, being one of the biggest pots i've played this month.

------HAND 1------
Game #992491334: Omaha High Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2005/09/26 - 18:59:46 (ET)
Table "Swaps" Seat 10 is the button.
Seat 1: JAMMYBSTD ($194 in chips)
Seat 2: HongKKid ($780 in chips)
Seat 3: KConthePC ($315.62 in chips)
Seat 4: I-Bet-Pot ($93 in chips)
Seat 5: nic987 ($499 in chips)
Seat 6: chump906 ($73 in chips)
Seat 7: nice_guy ($183.75 in chips)
Seat 8: MONK ($234.75 in chips)
Seat 9: TheSkill ($224.75 in chips)
Seat 10: 2231 ($1218.89 in chips)
JAMMYBSTD: posts small blind $1
HongKKid leaves the table
KConthePC: posts big blind $2
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to MONK [6d 4s 6h 4h]
I-Bet-Pot: folds
nic987: calls $2
chump906: folds
chump906 sits out
nice_guy: folds
MONK: calls $2
TheSkill: folds
chump906 sits back
2231: raises to $11
JAMMYBSTD: calls $10
KConthePC: calls $9
nic987: calls $9
MONK: calls $9
----- FLOP ----- [3d 7h 5c]
JAMMYBSTD: bets $55
fedex43 joins the table at seat #2
KConthePC: folds
nic987: folds
MONK: raises to $220
2231: raises to $770
JAMMYBSTD: is all-in $128
MONK: is all-in $3.75
Returned uncalled bets $546.25 to 2231
----- TURN ----- [3d 7h 5c][5h]
----- RIVER ----- [3d 7h 5c 5h][Kd]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
2231: shows [4c 7s 4d 2h] (Two Pairs, Sevens and Fives, Four high)
JAMMYBSTD: shows [Ad 7c 5d 6c] (A Full House, Fives full of Sevens)
MONK: shows [6d 4s 6h 4h] (A Straight, Seven high)
MONK collected $81.50 from Side pot #1
JAMMYBSTD collected $601 from Main pot

Not too worried (although i'm getting tired and ready for bed) and I want to see some more pots to try and get that cash back. Annoyingly, I then accidentally misclick and raise from the button. He re-raises (as he does EVERY hand), I have a tough decision but with so much money in I know if I hit the flop hard I WILL get this guy all in, so I make a marginal call. I then hit a flop I'm happy to get all-in against the loose guy (as I say, he'll get all in with any hand here, so my double-gutter, 3rd nut flush draw and pair is looking quite nice). Another guy calls, though calling standards here are pretty weak because of the crazy guy (could be as little as a straight draw or 2 pair) so I figure on balance it's close but I probably have odds to put in $150 to win 600. Perhaps a bit loose, in retrospect, but hey, I was steaming a bit and thinking that if I could get up to 400 or 600, I had a chance of a massive score against the maniac so I thought the gamble was worth it. Alas, I lost, though I was right to call (had 41% equity putting only 25% of the chips in).

------HAND 1------
Game #992491384: Omaha High Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2005/09/26 - 19:08:45 (ET)
Table "Swaps" Seat 6 is the button.
Seat 1: JAMMYBSTD ($599 in chips)
Seat 2: fedex43 ($193 in chips)
Seat 3: KConthePC ($289.62 in chips)
Seat 4: I-Bet-Pot ($88 in chips)
Seat 5: nic987 ($200 in chips)
Seat 6: chump906 ($67 in chips)
Seat 7: nice_guy ($181.75 in chips)
Seat 8: MONK ($211 in chips)
Seat 9: TheSkill sits out
Seat 10: 2231 ($1539.14 in chips)
nice_guy: posts small blind $1
MONK: posts big blind $2
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to MONK [Qc 6h 8c 9d]
2231: raises to $7
JAMMYBSTD: folds
fedex43: calls $7
KConthePC: calls $7
I-Bet-Pot: folds
nic987: calls $7
chump906: folds
nice_guy: folds
MONK: raises to $12
2231: raises to $58
fedex43: calls $51
KConthePC: folds
nic987: folds
MONK: calls $46
----- FLOP ----- [8d 2c Tc]
MONK: checks
2231: bets $189
fedex43: is all-in $135
MONK: is all-in $153
Returned uncalled bets $36 to 2231
----- TURN ----- [8d 2c Tc][2d]
----- RIVER ----- [8d 2c Tc 2d][Qh]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
2231: shows [7s Kd Ac Ah] (Two Pairs, Aces and Twos, Queen high)
fedex43: shows [8h 4d 7h 8s] (A Full House, Eights full of Twos)
MONK: shows [Qc 6h 8c 9d] (Two Pairs, Queens and Eights, Ten high)
2231 collected $36 from Side pot #1
fedex43 collected $591 from Main pot

Fedex43, who started that hand with less than a full buy in, had $1500 within about 20 minutes. No kidding. Pretty soon he won another double through from the maniac. I was a bit raw to finish up $500 down on this table after sitting with the crazy dude for 2 hours, when this guy took away a grand and a half in 20 minutes lol...

Anyhow, I got my money in in good spots (as I feel I did all session) so I'm not too upset about the fact I lost nearly $600 all told tonight.

The funniest thing that happened was how the maniac exited...

He had $500-odd left, up against a guy with about $400-something. Flop brought AK5, the other guy check-raised (after the inevitable preflop raise) and was thus able to get $200 into the middle. Maniac made it another raise, and they're all in for an $800 pot.

Maniac flipped up 77T3. On a AK5 flop. For $400-odd. I mean, I understand playing crazily can be fun if you have the money to waste but, throwing money away like that, I can't remember seeing anything like it on a poker table.

Kinda goes without saying, he was out next hand. About the quickest loss of $2k I've ever seen on a $200 buyin table, and I didn't get any of it. Damn.

Oh well, it's still an above average month for me, so I guess I can't complain.

Crazy times!

Monk
xxxxx