For all those of you who are looking forward to making it up to the $200 buyin games just to let you know there are still some bad players even at those levels. Made $215 at the 200 buyin O8 at Stars tonight, partly coming from the following hand:

I am in the SB with A247ds. Very aggressive poor player who's recently joined and is gambling it up raises in LP. This could be just about anything. I call, as do two limpers (they could have a variety of cards against this loose player).

Flop brings 458 rainbow, giving me nut low with a pair and a couple of gutshots, and two backdoor flush draws. I bet out (in case anyone wants to fold) and my opponent minimum raises. I call.

Turn brings a 3, giving me the wheel. I decide to check it (I had a feeling he had A2 so there was no need to go crazy here; if not i'm happy not to force him out). He bets $18 into a 70-odd pot. I call, not wanting to feed him if he's milking me. River brings an inconsequential high card, and I check again. He bets $18 once more. I call. He has A35J for a terrible low and three pair for high. I scoop.

This pot was about $150 by the river. It's all from memory as I can't find the hand history.

The following hand I got a HH for. Another unbelievable play - although the pot is not so big. I usually bet these ragged flops with a nut low draw in short handed pots as I have some equity in them but often win it uncontested. The turn call was simply because my opponent was very bad, I couldn't put him on 24 in a million years, and I could just be scooping if he was being very stupid. He was. He was the sort to play any 4 and do some very odd things with them. Turned out his average two way hand was worse than mine both ways wierd. Imagine scooping on a $200 table with aces for high and 2nd nut low on a flush board!

Transcript for game #1066406095 requested by FelonusMonk
*********** # 1 **************
PokerStars Game #1066406095: Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2005/01/11 - 18:48:46 (ET)
Table 'Hydra' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: fatchance13 ($184 in chips)
Seat 2: ONLY_NUTS ($102.25 in chips)
Seat 3: TheStrength ($81.50 in chips)
Seat 4: Jayrule ($766.15 in chips)
Seat 5: Tus# ($53.50 in chips)
Seat 7: FelonusMonk ($223.40 in chips)
Seat 9: spagettiman ($250.10 in chips)
Jayrule: posts small blind $1
Tus#: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FelonusMonk [2h Td 5h Ah]
FelonusMonk: calls $2
spagettiman: folds
fatchance13: calls $2
ONLY_NUTS: folds
TheStrength: folds
Jayrule: folds
Tus#: checks
*** FLOP *** [7d Js 3s]
Tus#: checks
FelonusMonk: bets $5
fatchance13: calls $5
Tus#: folds
*** TURN *** [7d Js 3s]
FelonusMonk: checks
fatchance13: bets $2
FelonusMonk: calls $2
*** RIVER *** [7d Js 3s As]
FelonusMonk: checks
fatchance13: bets $6
FelonusMonk: calls $6
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fatchance13: shows [9s Qc 4d 6c] (HI: a pair of Nines; LO: 7,6,4,3,A)
FelonusMonk: shows [2h Td 5h Ah] (HI: a pair of Aces; LO: 7,5,3,2,A)
FelonusMonk collected $15.70 from pot
FelonusMonk collected $15.70 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $33 | Rake $1.60
Board [7d Js 3s As 9d]
Seat 1: fatchance13 showed [9s Qc 4d 6c] and lost with HI: a pair of Nines; LO: 7,6,4,3,A
Seat 2: ONLY_NUTS folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: TheStrength (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Jayrule (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Tus# (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: FelonusMonk showed [2h Td 5h Ah] and won ($31.40) with HI: a pair of Aces; LO: 7,5,3,2,A
Seat 9: spagettiman folded before Flop (didn't bet)

The first hand, why didn't you raise the river? Were you that worried that he had same low and possibly a higher high to take 3/4 of the pot? If he had the nut low with a better than wheel high, i think he would have bet harder knowing he was likely getting 3/4 the pot. Therefore, I think you would be in good position to checkraise him or even bet out larger than the $18 he bet for a pot likely to be halved at worse. I haven't really played much O8 but this seemed like a situation that could have netted you much more. His weak bets tell me his hand wasn't good enough to win him 3/4.

I agree. Mostly I think I was just a bit worried about reopening the betting in case he was milking me. If I knew what he had I'd have probably raised him another $30 or so. I didn't really think there was much chance of me scooping or three quartering him so I guess I merely called. Against most opponents at this level I think a raise here could be potentially nasty (all he'd need was the A2 and a 6 to steal half of my growing stack), but against this goon (I didn't realise going into this hand he was THIS bad; I'd just seen him bet quite aggressively and show down some non-premium stuff) I should certainly have raised.

The minimum raise on the flop made me about 90% sure he had A2 at the time, I was only calling because he made it cheap for me to see another card with my limited high prospects (a 6 or another 4 could easily win it for me on the high end, 7s, 3s and a card that fed me a flush draw would be useful too, and my pair of 4's could always be an unlikely leader). After I hit the wheel I guess I just slowed down knowing I was going to showdown but wanting to do so cheaply. I agree that his bet looks weak on the river but I thought (at the time) reopening the betting was potentially dangerous against another big stack. It's spots like this where I sometimes have to think a bit harder, though with all that money at stake I think again I'd play it safe as it's really hard for me to win any more than 1/2 here against a reasonable player.

Monk
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