Poker Therapy: March 2007

Switch to PLO

So, having got a little bored with the tedious grind of 8-tabling $50NL I have switched (mostly) to $50 and $100 PLO (ok, so I was loosing at the $0.25/$0.50 game mostly due to my inability to stop trying to push people off bottom pair with nothing). I have also played some heads up NLHE and made a couple of hundred there.

Somewhat shamefully I don't have the Omaha version of PokerTracker - something I keep telling myself I will rectify when I get a new PC at home.

Anyway, current CR challenge bankroll stands at $1,751.77 after 7 days.

Poker Gods

You just gotta love those poker gods...

Played pretty poorly this morning (what do you expect - I got up at 7am on a Sunday!?) 8-tabling at 50NL and was $119 down on the session. Mixture of playing some poor pots and missing some coin flips. Clearly therefore the thing to do was move up a level...so I added myself to the waiting list of 8 $1-$2 tables and made some coffee. Of course, I had inadvertantly moved up 2 levels (hey, what's this maths thing?) so could only 4-table with my $1k bankroll. Then it struck me that having 80% of my roll in play was perhaps a little ambitious even allowing for the need to get a f'kin move on if I'm going to do anything in the challenge. Anyway, here's where it gets to the "poker gods" bit.

Very first hand at this new level:
FullTiltPoker Game #1917442907: Table Diamond Head - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 3:41:58 ET - 2007/03/04
Seat 1: FatKitty3705 ($414.60)
Seat 3: Furon ($216.95)
Seat 4: Kikka3 ($228.40)
Seat 5: MrGentleman77 ($198.30)
Seat 6: Beerpants ($178.15)
Seat 7: Tall_Mat ($200)
Seat 8: badshiba ($508.95)
Seat 9: barabin ($212.85)
Beerpants posts the small blind of $1
Tall_Mat posts the big blind of $2
cmnatlas sits down
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tall_Mat [As Ac]
cmnatlas adds $52.20
badshiba calls $2
barabin folds
FatKitty3705 folds
Furon folds
Kikka3 folds
MrGentleman77 calls $2
Beerpants folds
Tall_Mat raises to $9
badshiba calls $7
MrGentleman77 calls $7
*** FLOP *** [9c Qs 7d]
Tall_Mat bets $18
badshiba calls $18
MrGentleman77 calls $18
*** TURN *** [9c Qs 7d] [Td]
Tall_Mat checks
badshiba bets $42
MrGentleman77 calls $42

Ok guys, so what do you do here? Remember, I have just spent a couple of hours fretting over 15 dollar pots...was it better just to bet out the turn here?

Of course, I shoved it in...what do you take me for!?!

Tall_Mat raises to $173, and is all in
badshiba calls $131
MrGentleman77 calls $129.30, and is all in
Tall_Mat shows [As Ac]
badshiba shows [8d 9d]
MrGentleman77 shows [Th Jc]
*** RIVER *** [9c Qs 7d Td] [Ah]
Tall_Mat shows three of a kind, Aces
badshiba shows a pair of Nines
Tall_Mat wins the side pot ($3.40) with three of a kind, Aces
MrGentleman77 shows a pair of Tens
Tall_Mat wins the main pot ($592.90) with three of a kind, Aces
MrGentleman77 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $599.30 Main pot $595.90. Side pot $3.40. Rake $3
Board: [9c Qs 7d Td Ah]
Seat 1: FatKitty3705 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Furon didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Kikka3 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: MrGentleman77 (button) showed [Th Jc] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 6: Beerpants (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: Tall_Mat (big blind) showed [As Ac] and won ($596.30) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 8: badshiba showed [8d 9d] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 9: barabin didn't bet (folded)

Bankroll now a much healthier at $1,377.72

March madness continues

I managed to drop over $150 last night 4-tabling $0.25/0.50 so I did the only sensible thing and downloaded the beta version of the FTP client which has resizable tables and 8-tabled for a couple of hours this morning managing to get in 887 hands.

Despite donking off a buy-in with KhJh on a AsQsJs flop (he called with AdTc) I ended up $150.90 up:

Just look at that VPIP - soooooo tight. Seems to be the key at these lower levels. Not sure how I ended up on a pot limit table...must have just joined it without noticing! How observant.