Saturday, January 31, 2009

day of poker

bankroll: $162.41(+$0.76)
VPP: 60(+14)

i played another $1.15 omaha double-or-nothing SnG(won), normal SnG - finished 2nd/9 (2 sngs, 2 2nd places..hm?), holdem sng, which was quite interesting.
45 participants 0.25$ buy-in(i know, lol, cheap bastard,etc but i didnt want to wait half an hour to get all places filled). on the bubble i had 20k chips, 2nd stack was 10k so i owned the table. players weren't big fish..i mean i've seen much worse players in omaha sng's. so when 2 of us left it was like this:


me with 47.5k chips, 2nd and 3rd dudes with ~8k chips. and i finished...guess? 2nd! not the sort of consistency i wanted to show..i guess i suck when i play heads-up :(

then i played $5.5 double-or-nothing SnGs. finished 6th in the 1st one(almost in the money).
i was chip leader but then suddenly everyone started playing very tight so i couldnt improve and lost few hands..then blinds increased so i started losing money. eventually i had 2nd shortest stack(close to starting 1.5k, shortest was probably 900)..and i had that itch "i gotta double up!" and lost..i also lost 2nd: finished probably 7th. again everyone was too tight so when i had a chance i moved in on flop with nut flush vs chip leader(i was 2nd). he called with a set(he had pocket pair). turn was ten and river - another ten. full house. pffft!

then i moved back to 2nl holdem cash game and recovered my losses in only 120 hands.

it's not about money now, it's about learning. probably i should stick to cash games however i gotta work on my tournament game too. for example, tomorrow there's $200k guaranteed $11 buy-in tournament(i guess 30k max participants). great risk/reward ratio. if it was omaha i'd play it, no questions asked. probably i should work on my hold'em MTT strategy

Thursday, January 29, 2009

omaha

today i didnt have much time so i played 1.15$ plo SnG again. either i'm too damn lucky or omaha is indeed "more skill less luck" :)
4 of us left:
guy on my left with 7470 chips, i'm with 4895 chips guy on my right with 405chips, guy next to him with 730chips. we(deep stacks) have position on short stacks, so they started to fold every hand..half an hour of that exciting "stack-the-donk" game and 3 of us left:
guy on my left with 7995(deep stack has position on me..grrr!), guy on my right with 1015chips and me with 4490(i think i was simply folding every hand). we're in the money! obviously we stacked that dude and now we're heads-up!
he has 7045 and i have 6455. now thats where i suck. i have absolutely no clue how to play heads-up..let alone heads-up omaha. after about 20mins of stupid check-raise-fold he had 5270 and i had 8230 and i was bored to death so i started pushing(and losing chips obviously) because i just wanted to quite and i didnt care about that extra dollar i could have won. here's how i lost everything:

Hero (BTN/SB): t6655 M = 29.58
BB: t6845 M = 30.42

Pre Flop: (t225) Hero is BTN/SB with 33 of diamonds 66 of spades 66 of diamonds 88 of clubs
Hero raises to t450, BB calls t300

Flop: (t900) 77 of clubs 55 of spades AA of diamonds (2 players)
BB bets t450, Hero raises to t2250, BB raises to t6395 all in, Hero calls t3955 all in

Turn: (t13310) TT of diamonds (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: (t13310) 55 of hearts (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: t13310
Hero shows 33 of diamonds 66 of spades 66 of diamonds 88 of clubs (two pair, Sixes and Fives)
BB shows AA of spades 66 of hearts 88 of diamonds TT of hearts (two pair, Aces and Tens)
BB wins t13310

bad play but not a terrible play. but it made me think that probably i have bigger potential in PLO than in NLHE. and average PLO player(at my stakes) is much weaker than average NLHE player. also i may try omaha hi/lo and re-evaluate my goals.

i don't have "Poker Essays" by Mason Malmuth but here's a quote from Jeff Hwang's book:

"the benifit of omaha hi/lo being a relatively low-volatility game is that it doesn't require as much of a bankroll to play it. In Poker Essays", Mason Malmuth approximates bankroll requirements for a variety of poker games at various stakes. Malmuth says that an "ok" player needs only $2500 bankroll to play $10/$20 limit omaha hi/lo, while "good" player needs a $1500 bankroll, and a "great" player only needs a $1300 bankroll. In contrast, Malmuth suggests players of the same skill level require $8000,$4900 and $3900 bankrolls respectively to play $10/$29 limit hold'em"

also there are some juicy omaha MTTs like $11BI $2000 guaranteed. now there are 324 participants, 54 paid places. 1st place is $623.7, 46th-54th are $16.2

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

some more omaha

i've been quite busy recently so today i wasn't in the mood for cash games(now i don't play when i'm tired or not focused...i learned it in a hard way lol) but there was PLO freeroll on FT..i've decided to play it just for fun. 2700 participants, 27 paid places. now i played pretty solid omaha:

but then one stupid mistake and i'm allin with a bad hand and back to 10k. doubled up to ~18k lost some, doubled up to ~24k, lost everything and finished 116th..in real tournament i'd be in the money so i've decided to try $1.15 double-or-nothing SnG

hand1:
Poker Stars $1.00+$0.15 Pot Limit Omaha Hi Tournament - t10/t20 Blinds - 10 players -

BTN: t1500 M = 50
SB: t1500 M = 50
Hero (BB): t1500 M = 50
UTG: t1500 M = 50
UTG+1: t1500 M = 50
UTG+2: t1500 M = 50
MP1: t1500 M = 50
MP2: t1500 M = 50
MP3: t1500 M = 50
CO: t1500 M = 50

Pre Flop: (t30) Hero is BB with KK of spades 55 of spades KK of diamonds 77 of clubs
UTG calls t20, 1 fold, UTG+2 calls t20, MP1 calls t20, MP2 raises to t40, 4 folds, Hero calls t20, UTG calls t20, UTG+2 calls t20, MP1 calls t20

Flop: (t210) 22 of diamonds 22 of hearts 55 of clubs (5 players)
Hero bets t100, UTG folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls t100, MP2 calls t100

Turn: (t510) 99 of diamonds (3 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks

River: (t510) 22 of clubs (3 players)
Hero bets t300, MP1 folds, MP2 calls t300

Final Pot: t1110
Hero shows KK of spades 55 of spades KK of diamonds 77 of clubs (a full house, Deuces full of Kings)
MP2 shows TT of spades AA of diamonds AA of hearts JJ of spades (a full house, Deuces full of Aces)
MP2 wins t1110

kings vs aces..not very well played but i wanted to see how others plat at this table.
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hand3:
MP2: t1480 M = 49.33
CO: t1470 M = 49
Hero (BTN): t1040 M = 34.67
SB: t1440 M = 48
BB: t1500 M = 50
UTG: t2920 M = 97.33
UTG+1: t2150 M = 71.67
UTG+2: t1500 M = 50
MP1: t1500 M = 50

Pre Flop: (t30) Hero is BTN with KK of clubs AA of spades 44 of hearts AA of clubs
2 folds, UTG+2 raises to t60, 1 fold, MP2 calls t60, 1 fold, Hero raises to t100, 1 fold, BB calls t80, UTG+2 calls t40, MP2 calls t40

Flop: (t410) 99 of diamonds AA of diamonds 77 of spades (4 players)
BB checks, UTG+2 bets t410, MP2 folds, Hero calls t410, BB folds

Turn: (t1230) 55 of spades (2 players)
UTG+2 bets t990 all in, Hero calls t530 all in

River: (t2290) 22 of diamonds (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: t2290
Hero shows KK of clubs AA of spades 44 of hearts AA of clubs (three of a kind, Aces)
UTG+2 shows 99 of hearts JJ of diamonds AA of hearts QQ of hearts (two pair, Aces and Nines)
Hero wins t2290

i put him on flush-draw(most likely) or 68(unlikely)..so turn card bugged me but i was already commited.
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hand4:
MP1: t1380 M = 46
MP2: t1470 M = 49
Hero (CO): t2290 M = 76.33
BTN: t1430 M = 47.67
SB: t1400 M = 46.67
BB: t2920 M = 97.33
UTG: t2150 M = 71.67
UTG+1: t460 M = 15.33
UTG+2: t1500 M = 50

Pre Flop: (t30) Hero is CO with 33 of diamonds 66 of clubs 44 of diamonds 88 of clubs
3 folds, MP1 calls t20, MP2 calls t20, Hero calls t20, BTN calls t20, 1 fold, BB checks

Flop: (t110) 55 of clubs 77 of hearts 77 of spades (5 players)
BB checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets t110, BTN folds, BB calls t110, MP1 calls t110, MP2 folds

Turn: (t440) 44 of spades (3 players)
BB checks, MP1 checks, Hero bets t440, BB calls t440, MP1 folds

River: (t1320) AA of diamonds (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: t1320
Hero shows 33 of diamonds 66 of clubs 44 of diamonds 88 of clubs (a straight, Four to Eight)
BB shows 66 of hearts 77 of clubs KK of diamonds 22 of diamonds (three of a kind, Sevens)
Hero wins t1320
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just 4 hands of the tournament and i'm the chip leader with solid chances of winning the tournament by folding every hand. but when only 6 guys left it became soo boring! as a chip leader i've decided to knock someone out and made a big mistake:


BB: t3250 M = 10.83
Hero (UTG): t3795 M = 12.65
MP: t2210 M = 7.37
CO: t2790 M = 9.30
BTN: t1990 M = 6.63
SB: t965 M = 3.22

Pre Flop: (t300) Hero is UTG with AA of spades AA of clubs 33 of hearts 22 of clubs
Hero calls t200, 1 fold, CO calls t200, 1 fold, SB calls t100, BB checks

Flop: (t800) 55 of spades QQ of clubs 88 of diamonds (4 players)
SB bets t765 all in, BB folds, Hero calls t765, CO folds

Turn: (t2330) TT of clubs (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (t2330) 44 of spades (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t2330
Hero shows AA of spades AA of clubs 33 of hearts 22 of clubs (a pair of Aces)
SB shows 33 of spades QQ of hearts QQ of spades 66 of diamonds (three of a kind, Queens)
SB wins t2330

but then recovered easily:

BTN: t2950 M = 9.83
Hero (SB): t2630 M = 8.77
BB: t3410 M = 11.37
UTG: t2590 M = 8.63
MP: t1090 M = 3.63
CO: t2330 M = 7.77

Pre Flop: (t300) Hero is SB with 44 of diamonds 99 of spades JJ of diamonds JJ of hearts
4 folds, Hero calls t100, BB checks

Flop: (t400) 99 of hearts JJ of clubs 77 of clubs (2 players)
Hero bets t400, BB calls t400

Turn: (t1200) 66 of spades (2 players)
Hero bets t1200, BB calls t1200

River: (t3600) KK of clubs (2 players)
Hero bets t830 all in, BB calls t830

Final Pot: t5260
Hero shows 44 of diamonds 99 of spades JJ of diamonds JJ of hearts (three of a kind, Jacks)
BB shows TT of spades JJ of spades AA of diamonds AA of clubs (a pair of Aces)
Hero wins t5260

with his betting pattern i knew he didnt have flush-draw but still river card scared me though i was already committed. maybe it was a mistake since shouldn't have risked my whole stack in such situation when i was close to the money and extra chips wouldn't help me anyway..but hey i'm not perfect..yet :)



that zag dude lost and we won