Trying to forget this hand....

After my posting the other night i had a very interesting session on the Omaha £10/£20 table.

I managed to win another £10000+ pot with just two pairs after i had bet with 89TQ on a 467 board. It all went in on the turn when the Q came. I made a £3000 bet hoping my opponent would pass and he called with 47 and the river came a 6 to give me a better two pair. I managed to get up to £27000 in front of me then i lost a £20000 pot i am still gutted about. On a flop of 58K rainbow i called a £200 bet from a player with 677Q. Turn a 9 to give me the nuts plus the Q flush draw. I check knowing he would be bet again which he did £600. I reraise another £1800. He reraises again £3000 more and i set him all in for another £5000. Total pot around £20000. He shows TJJK with a Jack flush draw which is of course dead to my Queen flush draw. River a black Queen to give him a better straight. Switched my computer off straight after that as i was in total shock. I had been beating up on this guy for hours and had taken about 10k off him so he got his revenge big style. Still won £9000 but it felt like i had lost.

I have decided to definitely play in both the WSOP main event in July plus a couple of the warm up events. Tempted by the $10000 PL Omaha but my tournament Omaha play has been bad of late so will need to address that if i decide to play. Will probably play a satelite for it. After that i am going to play in my first WPT event in Paris.

Am having a few days away from the tables online. Partially because i am gutted about that £20k pot i lost and i am moving house at the moment so am very busy with that. The posts will become frequent again soon.......

Phew.....

Just had to post this as it’s the biggest pot I have ever won in my life……I posted here about another time i had passed a set of Queens to a potential massive bluff. This time i decided to make the call ... I just failed to believe him after his preflop raise.

------HAND 5------
Game #404471364: Omaha High Pot Limit (£10/£20) - 2005/04/27 - 02:29:10 (GMT)
Table "Harstad" Seat 5 is the button.
Seat 1: _bigd_ (£2732 in chips)
Seat 2: kingpo (£2436 in chips)
Seat 3: Capucho.. (£3586 in chips)
Seat 4: TURolle (£2000 in chips)
Seat 5: Dakota (£18357.96 in chips)
Seat 6: luckypunk (£5649.16 in chips)
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (£4996 in chips)
Seat 8: BeatKebab (£4061 in chips)
Seat 9: Flopitza (£600 in chips)
Seat 10: Is he bluffing (£15022 in chips)
luckypunk: posts small blind £10
Milkybarkid: posts big blind £20
TURolle: posts big blind £20
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [Qd 5h 6s Qh]
BeatKebab: folds
Flopitza: folds
Is he bluffing: raises to £90
_bigd_: calls £90
kingpo: folds
Capucho..: folds
TURolle: folds
Dakota: folds
luckypunk: calls £80
Milkybarkid: calls £70
----- FLOP ----- [6c 3h Qs]
luckypunk: checks
Milkybarkid: checks
Is he bluffing: bets £380
_bigd_: folds
luckypunk: folds
Milkybarkid: calls £380
----- TURN ----- [6c 3h Qs][7h]
Milkybarkid: checks
Is he bluffing: bets £1140
Milkybarkid: calls £1140
----- RIVER ----- [6c 3h Qs 7h][Tc]
Milkybarkid: checks
Is he bluffing: bets £3420
Flopitza leaves the table
Milkybarkid: is all-in £3386
Returned uncalled bets £34 to Is he bluffing
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Is he bluffing: shows [As 4c 9h 9s] (A Pair of Nines, Queen high)
Milkybarkid: shows [Qd 5h 6s Qh] (Three of a kind, Queens, Ten high)
Milkybarkid collected £10189 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £10192 Main pot £10189 Rake £3
Board [6c 3h Qs 7h Tc]
Seat 1: _bigd_ folded on the Flop
Seat 2: kingpo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Capucho.. folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: TURolle (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Dakota (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: luckypunk (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (big blind) showed [Qd 5h 6s Qh] and won (£10189) with Three of a kind, Queens, Ten high
Seat 8: BeatKebab folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 10: Is he bluffing lost

Just thought i'd add a hand i wasn't involved in which shows why i am drawn to the £10/£20 table.

Omaha High Pot Limit (£10/£20) - 2005/04/27 - 01:18:04 (GMT)
Table "Harstad" Seat 9 is the button.
Seat 1: _bigd_ (£440 in chips)
Seat 2: Freechips (£9390 in chips)
Seat 3: Capucho.. (£2578 in chips)
Seat 4: kingpo (£2409.50 in chips)
Seat 5: Dakota (£12598.50 in chips)
Seat 6: luckypunk (£1374 in chips)
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (£844.04 in chips)
Seat 8: BeatKebab (£1970 in chips)
Seat 9: Flop_hit (£1581 in chips)
Seat 10: p10ker (£700.64 in chips)
p10ker: posts small blind £10
_bigd_: posts big blind £20
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [4c 6s 2h Js]
Freechips: raises to £70
Capucho..: folds
kingpo: calls £70
Dakota: calls £70
luckypunk: folds
Milkybarkid: folds
BeatKebab: folds
Flop_hit: calls £70
p10ker: folds
_bigd_: calls £50
----- FLOP ----- [5d Ac 5s]
_bigd_: checks
Freechips: checks
kingpo: checks
Dakota: checks
Flop_hit: checks
----- TURN ----- [5d Ac 5s][4h]
_bigd_: checks
Freechips: bets £360
kingpo: folds
Dakota: calls £360
Flop_hit: folds
_bigd_: folds
----- RIVER ----- [5d Ac 5s 4h][2c]
Freechips: bets £1080
Dakota: raises to £2160
Freechips: raises to £7560
Dakota: calls £5400
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Freechips: shows [Qc 7d 8h 9s] (A Pair of Fives, Ace high)
Dakota: shows [Jh 7c 5h Ad] (A Full House, Fives full of Aces)
Dakota collected £16197 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £16200 Main pot £16197 Rake £3
Board [5d Ac 5s 4h 2c]
Seat 1: _bigd_ (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 2: Freechips lost
Seat 3: Capucho.. folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: kingpo folded on the Turn
Seat 5: Dakota showed [Jh 7c 5h Ad] and won (£16197) with A Full House, Fives full of Aces
Seat 6: luckypunk folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Milkybarkid folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: BeatKebab folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Flop_hit (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 10: p10ker (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Bits n Pieces

Its been strange having a lull in poker tournaments. After Monte Carlo it was soon The Vic, then Gutshot and Luton..... i would have gone to play in the Blackpool festival but it coincides with a university reunion. Bizarrely the next tournament i may actually play in could be the WSOP main event in July. I have been keeping tabs on the Bellagio all week. Hopefully next year i'll be able to play if all goes to plan....... a couple of the Brits did well.

I was considering going to Barcelona but as its so close to my month in Mexico i've decided i'll only go if i qualify via a satelite. I had a go at the one on Betfair last night and managed to finish 5th despite the trash hands i was continuously dealt. Most of the players were quite passive so i managed to be chip leader for a while without ever having to show down a hand.

Having so much time on my hands to play poker has been good. At the moment i am tending to stick to set hours of play... usually between 1-6pm in the afternoon. I know it won't always go as well as it has been. I have played 14 sessions since the 13 April and have managed to make a profit in each one. It seems that i can't miss at the moment and long may the rush continue.

I haven't been to the Vic to play any Live Cash for ages. I do prefer the buzz of playing live but when there are so many fish about all over the place playing Omaha online at the moment i can't see the point. I seemed to have finally plugged my major weaknesses in my online play so far this year. Most importantly i am concentrating and playing alot better, I am sticking to Omaha cash which is far and away my best game online. I have also not played after drinking very much and have kept my tilting down to a minimum.

I do like to set myself targets and my new one is that everything i win (i hope!) in May online will be spent on a new car when i get back from Mexico..... so if you see me at a poker tournament in the summer in a 20 year old Fiesta you will know May was not good.

New Tactics

Now that I have been able to get some serious hours in online and think about my play I have developed a new ultra aggressive preflop tactic in Omaha and so far it has been a huge hit. I am raising with about 40% of hands preflop and calling a lot more before the flop as well. My post flop play is still the same but what my tactic is doing is making it very hard to ever put me on a hand. I am getting paid when I hit more than ever. Hands like 5679 are now an instant raise and sometimes a reraise preflop.

I was so aggressive during one session yesterday on the £2/£5 table that I won 110/330 hands on a full table of ten players. The main thing is that I am trapping players extremely well post flop. Take the hand below. Especially playing short handed I like to be the aggressor…. Raising between 70-80% of hands before the flop. Ok so the example below it is very bad play from my opponent. I have noticed that due to my repetitive raising that I am forcing my opponents into making a lot of mistakes post flop.

------HAND 4------
Game #591143163: Omaha High Pot Limit (£2.50/£5) - 2005/04/20 - 16:56:35 (GMT)
Table "Iris" Seat 3 is the button.
Seat 3: davidlead (£870.36 in chips)
Seat 6: Milkybarkid (£788 in chips)
Seat 8: I’mAFish (£846 in chips)
Milkybarkid: posts small blind £2.50
I’mAFish: posts big blind £5
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [3s 4d 5c 7d]
davidlead: folds
Milkybarkid: raises to £15
I’mAFish: calls £10
----- FLOP ----- [Ac 2s 4h]
Milkybarkid: bets £30
I’mAFish: calls £30
----- TURN ----- [Ac 2s 4h][9s]
Milkybarkid: checks
I’mAFish: bets £90
Milkybarkid: calls £90
----- RIVER ----- [Ac 2s 4h][9d][8h]
Milkybarkid: checks
I’mAFish: bets £270
Milkybarkid: raises to £653 and is all in
I’mAFish: calls £383
----- SHOW DOWN -----
I’mAFish: shows [Ad 4s Jc Jd] (Two Pairs, Aces and Fours, Nine high)
Milkybarkid: shows [3s 4d 5c 7d] and won (£1576) with A Straight, Five high
Milkybarkid collected £1576 from Main pot

In sixteen hours of play this week I am nearly $10000 in profit. I have jumped in to the £10/£20 and broke even but I really don’t need to take the extra risk when things are going so well elsewhere.

I am currently trying to debate whether I should go to the World Series after travelling in Mexico as well….. hmmmmm

Luton Main Event report

I played in the £1000 No Limit Holdem at Luton over the weekend. Everything went extremely smoothly on Day 1 and I was hitting cards, my bluffs were working and I was sat on a very good table which allowed me to build my chips up to a healthy 60000 which was 5th out of the 44 runners remaining for Day 2….

Some hands that I remember from Day 1.

- Blinds 100/200 crazy player to my right who I had targeted for a double up raises to 1200 to play. I have KK so I call knowing he will pay me off if I get a favourable flop. It flops JJ9. Not really ideal. He checks and I bet 3000. He goes all in for another 6000. Against a whole medley of players I would consider passing here but not against him. I call and he has AK and I am up to 20000

- Blinds 300/600 I call on the button after numerous limpers with 4s6s. Flop 35T rainbow. Everyone checks so I bet 3000. One caller. Turn a 7 to give me the nuts but ther is now a flush draw. He checks again and I bet 3000 again. He reraises 6000 more. I go all in as I don’t want to be outdrawn by slowplaying. He passes. Up to about 35000.

- Blinds 300/600. This hand was bizarre. I limp under the gun with AA. Five other limpers around to the big blind who just raises 1000 more. I call as there are some crazy players on my table and I think one of them may try a move in this pot. Sure enough Ali Mallu raises 7000 more. Big blind passes and I raise another 13000. Ali passes.

- Blinds 400/800. I raise UTG to 4000 with AK. Big blind who was a very bizarre player who had never played live before called. Flop 23K but all clubs. He bets 1000. Hmmm I call. Turn J. he bets 1500. I call. River a 3. He bets 1500 again and I call. He has the nut flush. I think I escaped that one lightly.

- Blinds 600/1200. Button raises to 3500 to play. I have AA in the big blind. I raise 8000 more and after a big think he calls. Flop AJ9 with two hearts. I bet 8000 and he passed. This put me up to around 50000.

I then got a rush of AK’s and no callers to my raises so ended the day on 60000 chips.

Day 2

Twice I raised early on with AQ only to lay them down to all in moves and I was down to 46000. I then raised 5 out of 6 hands with no callers and showed the table a pocket pair each time. Bit of a rush…..

This was a key hand. Blinds 800/1600. I raise again to 4500 to play with AQ and pick up a caller in the big blind. Flop 78K with two clubs. He checks and I decide to represent the K and bet 9000. He calls. I am figuring him now for a flush draw or KQ or KJ. Next card a 2 and he checks again. If he is flushing here I don’t want him to get a free card with a 28000 pot out there I bet 20000. Hopefully he will now even let go of a weak King. After about 4 minutes he calls. Hmmm I am down to 20000 chips now. River a 2. Again he checks and I decide not to bluff my last 20000 so check. I show AQ and he says its good. He had A9 clubs. Amazingly after that bluff I am up to 90000 chips and probably amongst the chip leaders.

I managed to get my chips to 100000 before I was moved to another table.

I then got bluffed out of a hand straight away in a small blind/big blind battle. I think I played the hand badly. Blinds 1000/2000 small blind raises to 5000 and I look down at AQ. He has around 40000. I was going to put him all in but decided to just raise it to 15000. He then moved all in after a think. I had no read on this player and haven’t played with him before so he could have been a rock. I passed as 25000 more was just too much. He showed K9. Damn how I hate it when I get bluffed.

We were down to around 23 players when the hand that killed me happened. I had about 75000 chips and blinds were 1500/3000. Early position young guy raised to 8000 to play. I am in the cut off and decide to call with JJ. My first mistake is that I should have raised it there to find out where I was. Flop 259 rainbow. He bet something like 11000. I was convinced I was winning. I had him on AK or a smaller pocket pair. Again I should have raised there to find out what he had. I called. Turn a T. He checks. I fire out 17000 and he starts thinking…. When he eventually calls I am convinced I am beat as I can’t see what hand he could be calling where I am ahead. River a blank. He checks and I check. He has TT for top set. My own fault I let him catch it. It leaves me on 40000 when I should have been on over 100000 if I had played it better. Still he hit a two outer on me so he was lucky.

With the blinds now 1500/3000 I raise twice with AT and AJ only to pass both times to all in raises behind me. I was down to 24000 when I went all in with ThJh and was called by the button who had me dominated with AJ. I didn’t utilise my last 40000 chips very well to be fair.

Overall I played well and got close to the money again. I have a mentality nowadays to try and win tournaments rather than just make the money. In the past I would have just got anted away until I made the money but I think long term taking greater risks at the bubble stage of tournaments will provide greater rewards….

Mad Week

It’s been my first official week playing poker for a living and my god has it been some induction. I’m not sure if it was meant to be this turbulent. I have been playing a lot on the £10/£20 Pot Limit Omaha tables on Betfair…. I have won and lost more in pots this week than at any other poker game that I have ever played. The game at the moment is a goldmine but the swings are just insane. I was £10000 down at one point early in the week but a couple of good days have meant I am marginally up now. I have played with some aggressive players in my life but this table has to be seen to be believed.

One of the areas that I am struggling with is that I think I am getting bluffed out of pots too easily with the best hand. Take this situation. In one big hand I called £150 preflop with QQTJ and it flopped 8Q3 rainbow. I bet £600 and pick up one caller who is extremely aggressive and a bit of a calling station. Turn brings a 5 which also brings the diamond flush draw. I bet the pot again (£1800) and my foe calls again. River brings a 7 which is also the third diamond. Now what? There is £5400 in the middle. I’m first to speak and decide to check… whether that is the right move is another question. My foe thinks then bets the full pot of £5400. In this one hand I could have gone from being £7000 up before the hand started to either £800 down if I called and he has a flush or £15000 up if he was bluffing…. I tamely passed but I sooooo wanted to call.

This hand shows why the game is just so good at the moment if you can catch one of the hyper aggressive opponents overplaying a hand.

Game #562580563: Omaha High Pot Limit (£10/£20) - 2005/04/14 - 13:38:39 (GMT)

Table "Harstad" Seat 6 is the button.
Seat 5: Milkybarkid (£3553.15 in chips)
Seat 6: Foe (£3337.50 in chips)
Seat 7: doctor123 (£2607.90 in chips)
Seat 8: RayVon (£2000 in chips)
doctor123: posts small blind £10
RayVon: posts big blind £20

----- HOLE CARDS ----- dealt to Milkybarkid [6d 9h 7c 6s]
Milkybarkid: calls £20
Foe: raises to £90
doctor123: folds RayVon: folds
Milkybarkid: calls £70

----- FLOP ----- [9s 6c 2c]
Milkybarkid: checks
Foe: bets £210
Milkybarkid: raises to £840
Foe: raises to £2730
Milkybarkid: raises to £3463.15 and is all-in
Foe: is all-in £517.50
Returned uncalled bets £215.65 to Milkybarkid

----- TURN ----- [9s 6c 2c][Qc]

----- RIVER ----- [9s 6c 2c Qc][4h]

----- SHOW DOWN -----
Milkybarkid: shows [6d 9h 7c 6s] (Three of a kind, Sixes, Queen high)
Foe: shows [2h 5s Kh 2s] (Three of a kind, Twos, Queen high)
Milkybarkid collected £6702 from Main pot

----- SUMMARY ----- Total pot £6705
Main pot £6702 Rake £3 Board [9s 6c 2c Qc 4h]
Seat 5: Milkybarkid showed [6d 9h 7c 6s] and won (£6702) with Three of a kind, Sixes, Queen high
Seat 6: Foe (button) lost
Seat 7: doctor123 (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: RayVon (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Over on Pokerstars I managed to have a very good session taking on Darwinism mainly heads up and turned $1300 into $8000 which was a very good session.

I have set myself an amount to continue to play the £10/£20 game and if I lose that I will go back to playing the £2/£5 tables. I know I don’t really have the bankroll to play in the £10/£20 game but if I can get of to a good start I should be ok.

Off to Luton now to play in the main event. It will be good to get back to tournament poker after the week I have had. Hopefully I’ll get some decent cards and play my best game.

Omaha madness

Betfair… well all Crypto sites opened a £5/£10 and £10/£20 PL Omaha table recently. In my wisdom last week I decided to jump aboard as at least 5 bad players were on the table that I have extensive notes about. Thirty minutes later I was down £4500. Ouch. There is a player who seems to be new called Sanex and he bets the pot preflop with around 80% of hands. So each flop was costing about £150 to see. He also hit a Gutshot to win a £3500 pot against me. On one flop I held top set and the nut flush draw only to be outdrawn by a player reraising me with bottom set and hitting runner runner to make a 7 flush against me in a massive pot. The average pot was around the £1500 mark. It really was the most insane PL Omaha I had ever seen. Hitting top pair on the flop meant betting the pot of around £500. I am not sure of the bankroll needed to play in such a game but I know that I should definitely avoid it.

I have played again a couple of times since breaking even over the two sessions. When it gets going it must be the biggest PL Omaha game on the net.

Here is a hand that I played on tilt earlier and won. This hand can’t be worth a call preflop, never mind over a £1000 preflop. It’s probably the worst play I have ever made on the net preflop in terms of money and how bad my hand was. The only method to my complete madness was that I knew Sanex would go all in which would mean that the £980 that OOOa had put in would be dead and having put Sanex on AA I would only be about a 35%-40% dog to his hand. 000a called so I was deep in the mire.

------HAND 5------
Game #557541493: Omaha High Pot Limit (£10/£20) - 2005/04/13 - 10:21:33 (GMT)
Table "Harstad" Seat 6 is the button.
Seat 3: sanax (£5746.68 in chips)
Seat 5: MuckMuck (£8333.50 in chips)
Seat 6: 000a (£4215.76 in chips)
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (£1191.62 in chips)
Seat 8: moras (£980 in chips)
Milkybarkid: posts small blind £10
moras: posts big blind £20
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [5s Kh 6c Qs]
sanax: raises to £70
MuckMuck: folds
000a: raises to £240
Milkybarkid: calls £230
moras: folds
sanax: raises to £980
000a: calls £740
Milkybarkid: raises to £1191.62 and is all-in
sanax: raises to £4574.86
000a: is all-in £3235.76
Returned uncalled bets £359.10 to sanax
----- FLOP ----- [Th 2h Jc]
----- TURN ----- [Th 2h Jc][8d]
----- RIVER ----- [Th 2h Jc 8d][Ad]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
sanax: shows [7d Qc Ah Ac] (Three of a kind, Aces, Jack high)
000a: shows [8s 7c 9c Ts] (A Straight, Jack high)
Milkybarkid: shows [5s Kh 6c Qs] (A Straight, Ace high)
000a collected £6048.28 from Side pot #1
Milkybarkid collected £3591.86 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £9643.14 Main pot £3591.86 Side pot #1 £6048.28 Rake £3
Board [Th 2h Jc 8d Ad]
Seat 3: sanax lost
Seat 5: MuckMuck folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: 000a (button) showed [8s 7c 9c Ts] and won (£6048.28) with A Straight, Jack high
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (small blind) showed [5s Kh 6c Qs] and won (£3591.86) with A Straight, Ace high
Seat 8: moras (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I played in the £150 Pot Limit Rebuy’s in Luton on Monday and as one of the players said to me I must have run over a black cat on the way there. Was all in 4 times with the best hand and got beat each time…. still I’ve had some good luck in tournaments of late so was overdue a night like that.

I am going to play in the £1000 Main Event in Luton on Saturday which I am looking forward to.

Gutshot £750 Main Event Report

After a few drinks with Richard Gryko I turned up for the main event hoping to put in a good performance. Starting chips were 8000 and the clock was 45 minutes. I’m not sure if it was the drinking but I started off very aggressively and was up to 11000 chips very quickly after tangling with Jac Arama. Jac then got his own back on me when he called a decent sized raise in Level 2 with 48 suited and hit trip 8’s against my AQ. By the time Level 3 had arrived I had around 10000 chips. I enjoyed the following hand. Early position raised to 800 and there were two callers before it got to me. I decided this was a good opportunity to pick up the pot with a complete bluff so I raised to 4000 with KT. They all passed…..

Soon the table broke and I was moved upstairs and lingered around the 15000 mark for the next few levels. I lost a few thousand chips when I called a bet on the flop and turn with a flush draw and a Gutshot and missed… then I had AA and KK but didn’t make anything but the blinds. I had 14000 chips when I raised to 1200 to play in early position with JJ. The button called and it I flopped quad Jacks on a JJ5 flop. I checked and the button checked. Next card a T and I bet 1000 and he called. Last card a rag and I bet 3700 hoping that he would put me on a bluff and call if he had something. He moved all in and I had him covered. He had TT so had made a full house on the turn. That put me up to 22000 chips and the Jacks that had been so good to me then turned on me as I lost reasonable pots twice with them. Once calling a reasonable raise and losing a race v AK and the second time I layed them down on a K high flop. I lost a few more pots when I passed medium pairs to reraises and was down to 12000 chips when I picked up QQ and got doubled up by an opponent holding AQ.

The blinds were now 500/1000 and we were down to 3 tables. I was about average in chips with 30000. There were a few very aggressive players at the table including Jimmy Alp. In one amazing hand he called a raise to 3000 from the big blind with 23 suited. It flopped 267 and Jimmy then called a bet of 5000. Turn a 2 and Jimmy got doubled up by an opponent with AA. Management decided to play down to 20 as it was getting late and by the time the blinds reached 1000/2000 I had been treading water for a while. Most pre flop raises were now winning the pot. I picked up a decent pot when I reraised what I thought was a button blind steal with AsTs and the button called. It flopped K34 and I figured that if I bet large if he doesn’t have a K he would pass so I bet 10000. He passed after a dwell… phew.

The last hand of day 1 soon happened which involved me. Jimmy raised to 7000 with the blinds at 1500/3000 and I looked down at AK. I knew that he could literally have anything so I pushed my stack of 30000 into the middle. The small blind then thought for eternity before eventually going all in for 15000. Jimmy passed. Whilst the blind was thinking of calling I put him on TT, JJ or QQ. So I was delighted when he turned over QK and missed his Q and I finished the Day 5th in chips with 51000.

It was nice to return for Day 2 without being short stacked for a change. Hopefully it meant I could play my real game and not a short stacked strategy. Soon I was back amongst the pack when I lost with JJ v AK against a short stack which put me back down to 35000 which was about average. I then raised something like four out of seven hands preflop without a caller which put me up to 60000 ish again. The small stacks were gradually getting knocked out and the two chip leaders also had been knocked out. The blinds had gone up to a massive 3000/6000 which meant the average stack had only 10 big blinds. It became a game of timing and hoping that if you did raise that nobody found a monster behind you.

I then got lucky when I picked up A4 in late position and raised to 11000 to play and the button went all in for 23000. I didn’t like it at all but the pot odds meant I had to call. He had JJ. No help on the flop but an A on the turn and I was now chip leader with about 120000. Fellow blogger Rob Sherwood was then unfortunate to go out on the bubble and we were down to the final table.

I was slightly concerned entering the final table that the blinds were about to go up to 4500/9000 which meant that even though I had the chip lead I only had 12 big blinds. On with the game…. We played 9 handed for about 30 minutes before two players were taken out by Mick Cook’s rockets and I had kept my chips at around the 100000 mark. With blinds at 4500/9000 I raised Jimmy Alp’s big blind from the small blind to 24000 with 55. Flop 88A with two clubs. I then bet out 25000 hoping he hadn’t seen a favourable flop. He called…. Hmmmm I now have him on a flush draw. Turn bring the flush and I now know I can’t be winning. He has to have either an A, 8 or a flush… so I pass to his small bet and am down to 50000. Jimmy then took out the 5th place player when he called an all in bet with bottom pair and the flush draw and made his flush. I then got very lucky and doubled up when I called my last 50000 from the big blind with TQ and Mick had JQ and I rivered a straight. I then had 66 in the big blind and called and all in raise from the short stacked player who held TK and I hit a set and we were down to three. We then swapped percentages in each other so I was guaranteed at least £10000. I decided to take Jimmy on with 5s6s and it flopped 36K. He bet out as I expected but I figured as he plays so loose he was highly likely to be bluffing but on this occasion he held AK and it stood up for me to finish 3rd.

I feel i played my A game throughout the tournament. I felt much more on the ball than i had done for the Vic main event a week earlier. The only time I was all in with the worst hand and survived was when we were down to 4 players and I got lucky with TQ v JQ. Mick was a deserved winner and was definitely the most dangerous opponent at the final table.

I think I will head up to Luton to play in the £150 Pot Limit Holdem Rebuys tonight. I’ve even been to the gym already today. I love not having to go to work on a Monday morning……

Amused again

Another quote from the Poker News on Sporting Life.....

"Some of England's top poker players are: John Falconer; Keith Hawkins, Dave Colclough, Julian Thew, Willie Tann, Dave 'DevilFish' Ulliott - a former jeweller form Hull - just to mention a few."

Hmmmmm.....

This week

The focus is mainly on playing cash online though I will probably venture to pay in the main event at the Gutshot over the weekend. I know when i published my schedule I said I was going to play in more of the events at the Gutshot but I struggle to motivate myself for smaller tournaments. It's not an arrogance thing its just that i just don't seem to try very hard in them and I have grown too used to decent structures of late to play in fast structure tournaments which finish in 1 day. Also, I am not chasing ranking points which would be a reason why I may have been tempted by them.....

I’d also like to thank On Tilt for sorting out my blog problem yesterday. I got myself in to a right mess playing about with the code.

On the run

I had to laugh when looking at Sporting Life’s poker news that they have a poll for the world’s greatest poker player. Well who would you expect to see in the top three? I almost choked when I saw the three names nominated… Daniel Negreanu, Devilfish and Chris Moneymaker. Talk about taking things to the extreme...

I am on a mad rush online at the moment which is most welcome after an expensive week at the Vic. I won another $6000 last night to add to the $10000 over the weekend.

Betfair has gone mad again at the moment on the PL Omaha tables. Quite often there is over £1000 to be in the middle before the flop. I watched one hand last night where £3000 was in the middle preflop with 5 players all in.

I have 3 or 4 examples of truly bad play from last night but am only posting this one. I don’t even need to explain this one away……

------HAND 5------
Game #528766973: Omaha High Pot Limit (£2.50/£5) - 2005/04/04 - 20:41:05 (GMT)
Table "Iris" Seat 9 is the button.
Seat 1: Sharky (£464.02 in chips)
Seat 2: Horselove (£904.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Ivorlott (£669 in chips)
Seat 4: seafoo (£392 in chips)
Seat 5: Geo011114 (£633 in chips)
Seat 6: Class_Act (£1047.18 in chips)
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (£1235.41 in chips)
Seat 8: LuckyPete (£270 in chips)
Seat 9: Rhaegar (£2833 in chips)
Seat 10: Molsson (£1352.50 in chips)
Molsson: posts small blind £2.50
Sharky: posts big blind £5

----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [Ks Qd Js Kh]
Horselove: folds
Ivorlott: folds
seafoo: folds
Geo011114: calls £5
Class_Act: raises to £22.50
Milkybarkid: raises to £80
LuckyPete: folds
Rhaegar: folds
Molsson: folds
Sharky: folds
Geo011114: folds
Class_Act: calls £57.50

----- FLOP ----- [Kc 7c 3d]

No slowplaying here due to the flush draw. He whacks in nearly a £1000. Surely I must me up against a big flush draw or smaller trips….. You would never get such a gift in a live cash game like this one.

Class_Act: checks
Milkybarkid: bets £44 (betting weak nearly always induces a reraise against an aggressive maniac)
Class_Act: raises to £304.50
Milkybarkid: raises to £1086
Class_Act: is all-in £662.68
Returned uncalled bets £118.82 to Milkybarkid

----- TURN ----- [Kc 7c 3d][Jc]

----- RIVER ----- [Kc 7c 3d Jc][2h]

----- SHOW DOWN -----

Milkybarkid: shows [Ks Qd Js Kh] (Three of a kind, Kings, Jack high)
Class_Act: shows [Kd Tc 3s Ad] (Two Pairs, Kings and Threes, Jack high)
Milkybarkid collected £2103.86 from Main pot

----- SUMMARY -----

Total pot £2106.86 Main pot £2103.86 Rake £3
Board [Kc 7c 3d Jc 2h]
Seat 7: Milkybarkid showed [Ks Qd Js Kh] and won (£2103.86) with Three of a kind, Kings, Jack high

Mad March

In the space of a month I had my biggest ever win in a tournament, my biggest cash game loss and my biggest online win. What a month..........

I played in the £1500 main event at the Vic on Saturday. I didn’t play well. I was up to 20000 chips after two levels and lost them all in three hands in the level after the dinner break. Firstly I called a raise pre flop with QQ and then had a stab at an A high flop hoping my opponent had a pocket pair. Whoops he had AA...... the next big hand I lost with TT when I check raised on an 8 high flop to walk in to a set. I was down to 7000 chips when I called a small raise with QhKh and it flopped 8hQcAh. One raiser on the flop and a caller so I move all in. I get quickly called by the original raiser who had a set as well. Three sets against me sent me crashing out......

Cash Mayhem

I sat down with £4500 in the Dealers Choice on Thursday night. They say that luck evens itself out and perhaps this was my unlucky night to make up for Monte Carlo. My flatmate watched me for 4 hours and he couldn't believe the luck that I was getting either. Significant huge pots that I got suckered on:

Numero 1 - Omaha 8/better.
I had KKA5. Flop K37 rainbow. I raise £300 on the flop. I pick up the crazy maniac who can't resist getting involved in every hand. Think his name was Ali. Turn 7 to give me a full house. I bet £900. He calls. River an 8 to bring the low. (surprise). I bet £2000. He calls with K246. Pot gets chopped. He called £900 on the turn when his best hope was a chop. Then £2000 on the river without even the nut low. Arrrrrgh

Numero 2 - Omaha 8/better.
This one is even worse. I had A2QQ. Flop Q73 rainbow to give me top set and the nut low draw. I bet £250 and pick up the same caller. Turn a T which has brought a back door heart flush draw. I bet £750. He calls again. River the Ah to bring the flush and kill my low. He bets £1000. I pass. He shows 4h5h. lol you have to laugh when things like that happen

Numero 3 - Stud 8/better.
I have AA in the dark and a 9 showing. Before it reaches me there has been a raise, a reraise and an all in for £600. My opponent’s cards that I can see are a 2, 3 and a Q. I dwelled and though back to my book I had read on Stud Hi/Lo recently before pushing my stack in to the middle. It looked to me like Player A and B had good low hand draws. Player C obviously had a pair of Q's. Eventually called by A and B after long thinks creating a £2500 main pot and a £2000 side pot. I don't manage to make even two pair but amazingly I would have scooped the high but Player A managed to make a flush on his last card. I spilt the sidepot as I won the high in that one.

Numero 4 - Four card Irish.
Just to cap it off this was my last hand of the evening and just about summed it all up. I held 34AK and it was £25 to play. I called on the button. Flop A25 rainbow to give me the nuts. Early player who was the same one who took me on above on hands 1 and 2 bets out £150. Two callers before it gets to me. I decide I am not going to slowplay this hand so push all in for £800. Maniac calls me with A5 and the turn is a 5. Another player says that he passed the same hand.

It was a horrific night. When you get someone calling you in Omaha 8/better with 4567 when you hold AA24 double suited and they manage to scoop when they hit a flush on a high board on the turn then it’s not your night.

Online - Betfair and Partypoker

I hadn’t had a decent online session for a while. I played for about 6-8 hours and managed to win £5000 by playing PL Omaha multi-tabling on Partypoker and Betfair. The most amazing hand was when I got check raised for $1900 on a 9843 board when I held 99. My foe had 84AK and was drawing dead. Such gifts are always welcome.

I complain when other people get lucky but here is an example of me turning the tables.

Here is one from Betfair.

Game #522562113: Omaha High Pot Limit (£2.50/£5) - 2005/04/03 - 14:52:54
(GMT)
Table "Iris" Seat 8 is the button.
Seat 1: mockler (£100 in chips)
Seat 3: Cilla24 (£930.75 in chips)
Seat 4: BUKRA (£395 in chips)
Seat 5: Barcrest sits out
Seat 6: Milkybarkid (£489.75 in chips)
Seat 7: Unlucky Foe (£500 in chips)
Seat 8: karakel (£387.50 in chips)
Seat 9: Googi (£277.50 in chips)
Googi: posts small blind £2.50
mockler: posts big blind £5
Unlucky Foe: posts big blind £5
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [Ad Kh 6d 5h]
Cilla24: calls £5
Spacedais joins the table at seat #2
BUKRA: folds
Milkybarkid: raises to £22
Unlucky Foe: calls £17
karakel: folds
Googi: folds
mockler: calls £17
Cilla24: calls £17

Small ambitious raise preflop with an A and K suited.

----- FLOP ----- [5d Ks 6c]

mockler: checks
Cilla24: checks
Milkybarkid: bets £90.50
Unlucky Foe: calls £90.50
mockler: folds
Cilla24: folds

Rainbow flop. I have three pairs so bet the pot. Unlucky Foe calls so I have him on a straight draw or maybe just a K.

----- TURN ----- [5d Ks 6c][5s]
Milkybarkid: checks
Unlucky Foe: bets £35
Milkybarkid: calls £35

Ok the check call isn’t great but I think I have this hand nailed so am just trying to milk it for all I can.

----- RIVER ----- [5d Ks 6c 5s][5c]

Milkybarkid: checks
Bigdogdt joins the table at seat #10
Unlucky Foe: bets £75
Milkybarkid: raises to £342.25 and is all-in
Unlucky Foe: calls £267.25

I hit 4 of a kind. I check hoping to induce a bet if he has a pocket pair. He does bet… I raise all in and he calls and shows KK. Without doing my maths here I reckon I had about 1% chance of winning this hand on the flop and hit runner runner.

----- SHOW DOWN -----
Milkybarkid: shows [Ad Kh 6d 5h] (Four of a kind, Fives)
Unlucky Foe: shows [Jd 2c Kd Kc] (A Full House, Kings full of Fives)
Milkybarkid collected £1023 from Main pot

----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £1026 Main pot £1023 Rake £3
Board [5d Ks 6c 5s 5c]
Seat 6: Milkybarkid showed [Ad Kh 6d 5h] and won (£1023) with Four of a kind,
Fives

and one from Party

***** Hand History for Game 1837829985 *****
0/0 OmahaHiGameTable (PL) - Sun Apr 03 09:55:02 EDT 2005
Table Table 36727 (Real Money) -- Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: lucol ( $1251.5)
Seat 2: Apache55 ( $1157)
Seat 3: LuaghoutLeah ( $200)
Seat 4: Dreamer ( $2632.25)
Seat 5: JESPEZ98 ( $230)
Seat 6: Milkybarkid ( $1509.25)
Seat 7: Kogen ( $700)
Seat 8: fireblast1 ( $2886.5)
Seat 9: sheila23 ( $342)
Seat 10: aquila1 ( $1000)
lucol posts small blind (5)
Apache55 posts big blind (10)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Milkybarkid [ 5s, Ad, As, 9d ]

Standard raise with double A suited.

LuaghoutLeah folds.
Dreamer calls (10)
JESPEZ98 folds.
Milkybarkid raises (45) to 45
Kogen calls (45)
fireblast1 folds.
sheila23 folds.
lucol folds.
Apache55 folds.
Dreamer calls (35)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ks, 3h, 8d ]

Rainbow flop with no draws so I bet the pot again.

Dreamer checks.
Milkybarkid bets (147)
Kogen folds.
Dreamer calls (147)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 5d ]

I have now picked up the flush draw. I am still hoping that a pot bet wins it here. So I bet $441. Hmmm a pot reraise. I have already committed $633 to this pot. I am not convinced that he has anything here and worse case scenario I can still hit an A or a diamond so I call my last $876

Dreamer checks.
Milkybarkid bets (441)
Dreamer raises (1764) to 1764
Milkybarkid calls (876.25)
Milkybarkid is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ 4h ]

Creating Main Pot with $3075.5 with Milkybarkid
** Summary **
Main Pot: $3075.5 Side Pot 1: $446.75 Rake: $3
Board: [ Ks 3h 8d 5d 4h ]

Woohoo my Aces are good.

Dreamer balance $1123, bet $1956, collected $446.75, lost -$1509.25 [ Kd 2s Qd Js ] [ a pair of kings -- Kd,Ks,Qd,8d,5d ]
Milkybarkid balance $3075.5, bet $1509.25, collected $3075.5, net +$1566.25 [ 5s Ad As 9d ] [ a pair of aces -- Ad,As,Ks,8d,5d ]

Overall March was a fantastic month. I surpassed my expectations in Monte Carlo which gave me a much needed boost to my bankroll. My live cash results haven’t been good but I had one of my best ever months online despite not playing a great deal. I will continue to strike a balance between tournaments, cash and playing online…. I am sure April could be interesting with it being my first month when I am not working so can focus and put more hours in.