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.