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.