Cash PLO

I got sick last Wednesday and basically today (Tues) is the first day I feel pretty close to normal. It really kicked my rear end and I had no patience to play FTOPS or tournaments in general. I had planned on playing 3 or 4 additional FTOPS events (PLO Hi/Lo, PL Split Holdem/Omaha, Sunday Bounty and FTOPS Main Event) but just couldn't sit still that long and had no desire to grind out hours of tournaments.

But I did play a lot of satellites and started to run well (or at least more normal). I won a bunch of seats to the PLO Split, PLO Hi-Lo and a few others. Nice thing is you are able to unregister from the tournament you qualify and take the cash so that worked out well. Felt like my satellite play was really, really good and that is important because satellite play is very unique. Basically it is a survival test and a lot of players are really weak in satellites, particularly on the bubble. I haven't completely figured it all out but I think last week I was about +$600 in satellites which equates to abt a 15-20% ROI. Will figure out more exactly later.

I also have gotten back to playing $1/$2 PLO. This is my best game and the most fun. I was up ~$2.5k last week which was the best week I have had in quite some time. I have actually been playing the Cap Limit on Full Tilt which essentially caps the hand betting at $80. This means that you are never exposed for more than that cap amount on any one hand. I sort of like this and it actually makes the game play bigger than without a cap. For example, if I am in the BB with AAxx and there is a pot raise and 2 callers in front of me, I can re-pot to $32. This is 40% of the cap and I am typically happy to do this pre-flop. In a non-capped game I would be a little more reluctant to do this as it really tells the whole table what I have. And if I am playing with $300 stack I obv don't want the table to know what I have. Playing for $80 though and getting a large percentage of it in pre-flop this is less of a concern. Generally the play is worse with the Cap Limit game and the players are very exploitable.

Anyway I think I am going to stick with cash for a while just because of the reduced time commitment, etc.

FTOPS and few other random tournaments

Still running pretty bad in general. I have played a few of the FTOPS on Full Tilt and a bunch of the satellites. I have not cashed in either of the 2 FTOPS I played so far but am still +$$ due to winning a bunch of seats and getting the cash for the extra seats I have won through satellites. Here is a run down of the two tournaments and a few other gems thrown in as well.

FTOPS #1 Wednesday, Nov 5

This was a $200 No-Limit Hold-Em 6 max tournament. I got in through a $24+2 satellite. I almost didn't play since it started at 9 p.m. on a Wed and there were 5,000+ players but WTF. We start with 5,ooo chips and I didn't really do much for the first hour but grew my stack to ~7k. Then a big hand came up:

ME (BB) AQhh (~9000 chips)
Villian (SB) ?? (~7800 chips)

He completes (blinds 60/120) and I raise to 480 and he calls.

Flop came T high 3 hearts. BOOM. He checks I bet 500 into the 960 pot. He calls.

Turn was a rag. He checks I bet 800 into the 1920 pot. He calls. So now he has to have a set, 2 pair or nothing with the Kh. So I will be cautious if the board pairs.

River is a 9h. This is perfect if he has the Kh. He checks. He has about 5800 left and if he has Kh he may call a big bet. If he has a set or 2 pr he will likely not call any bets. So I decide to look weak by shoving and overbetting the pot. He tanks for a while and I am screaming for him to call. Finally he does and shows KhTx.

That puts me up to 17k. I then win a bunch of small pots up to around 22k and then almost double up when I have TT. Guy raises pre and I call on the button with TT. Flop Txx he bets, I raise, he reraises and I just call. Turn small rag. He bets 1/2 his stack and I ship it in. he tables AA and I am up to 45k or so. Got as high as 50k and in top 50 in chips. Then I kept getting into some really tough spots:

Raised button to 675 at 140/280/30 with 55. Short stack shoves from BB with only like 3200. I call he has 66.

Raise in 2^nd position at 170/340/40 with AKsuited to 925. SB shoves for 5200 total. I call obv and lose to 77.

I raise JJ and agro on my left reraises me. I call. Flop AKx and give it up.

Then screwed this hand up I think. Raise 3.5x from SB with TT. Same agro donk on left flats. Flop KKJ 2 spades. I bet ½ pot. He calls. Turn rag. I bet ½ pot again, he calls. River blank again. I check he bets 80% of pot which is like ¾ of his stack and I tank and fold. I don’t think he has a K on that drawy flop. He raises at least by the turn. And I don’t think he is value betting a J on the river. Then his river bet looks like a bluff in hindsight. If by some surprise he has a K wouldn’t he bet a little smaller? Tough hand.

Raised JJ again later got three bet again and folded pre. Out of position and stack sizes were weird. Couldn’t 4 bet without pot committing.

Then completed out of SB with K8. Aggro checks. Flop AAK. I check he bets ½ I call. Turn K. I check he checks. River 6. I check he bets, 2/3 of pot and I call. He has A9 and I lose the minimum. Played that hand well I think.

Then lose another flip AQ<99.

Finally the beauty, shove 10 bb with A2ss; BB snaps with A2cc and flop comes all clubs. I run good.

So out 1100/5400 for no cash. Oh well.

FTOPS 2 PLO Bounty, Thursday Nov 11

Came home early to play this. Started at 2 p.m. last Thursday. Standard PLO tournament except in addition to the prize pool each person has a $40 bounty attached to them that goes to the person who eliminates them. I actually cross booked my action with my boys Mr Chow and Diamond King 2 swapping 10% each of our action. One of us is bound to cash right? No sir.

I played like doo-doo and drifted my stack down from 5k to about 3k. No real exciting hands. Table was very aggro and cost a lot to see a flop. I generally like to play PLO more post flop than preflop but I can play preflop PLO too. Chopped a pot when we all got in preflop with me a significant favorite and we both turned the same str8. I had AAKx and he had KKAx. Flop JTx turn Q. SHoot me. Then this was my final hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8841332247: FTOPS Event #2 (62633246), Table 38 - 100/200 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 15:56:02 ET - 2008/11/06
Seat 1: FkePlasticTrees (1,705)
Seat 2: fortunatouk4 (4,760)
Seat 3: sleaterx (7,820)
Seat 4: Malleichkomme (15,054)
Seat 5: OnDaComeUp (6,255)
Seat 6: Oetzi (13,869)
Seat 7: LEADBOOTS (18,668)
Seat 8: Allin_Benve (3,986)
Seat 9: Kinda Lazy (17,760)
fortunatouk4 posts the small blind of 100
sleaterx posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FkePlasticTrees [Ah Ad Tc 4c]
Malleichkomme folds
OnDaComeUp folds
Oetzi folds
LEADBOOTS raises to 550
Allin_Benve folds
Kinda Lazy folds
FkePlasticTrees raises to 1,705, and is all in
fortunatouk4 folds
sleaterx folds
LEADBOOTS calls 1,155
FkePlasticTrees shows [Ah Ad Tc 4c]
LEADBOOTS shows [Td Kd Kh 3c]
*** FLOP *** [6c 2h Ks]
*** TURN *** [6c 2h Ks] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [6c 2h Ks 9d] [7s]
FkePlasticTrees shows a pair of Aces
LEADBOOTS shows three of a kind, Kings
LEADBOOTS wins the pot (3,710) with three of a kind, Kings
FkePlasticTrees stands up
The blinds are now 120/240
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,710 | Rake 0
Board: [6c 2h Ks 9d 7s]
Seat 1: FkePlasticTrees (button) showed [Ah Ad Tc 4c] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: fortunatouk4 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: sleaterx (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Malleichkomme didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: OnDaComeUp didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Oetzi didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: LEADBOOTS showed [Td Kd Kh 3c] and won (3,710) with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 8: Allin_Benve didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Kinda Lazy didn't bet (folded)

So I'm out. Sucks but hand played out standard preflop.

While I was playing this tournament I played a bunch of other smaller tournaments as well:

FTP $10 PLO Rebuy Finished 11th for like $100. I was in for the minimum ($30) and had a ton of chips. Was big stack almost from the start but lost a few pots around the cash bubble (18 cashed) and then lost a pot when I got it all in on the flop with a 13 card wrap vs top set.

Stars 2k guarantee PLO ($15+1.50) The king of kings of all of my bad beats. We are inside the money when this pops up:

PokerStars Game #21811333037: Tournament #117601430, $15.00+$1.50 Omaha Pot Limit - Level XII (500/1000) - 2008/11/06 15:37:33 ET

Table '117601430 9' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: MinRdetails (27860 in chips)
Seat 3: bwslim69 (27448 in chips)
Seat 4: `penguan (16798 in chips)
Seat 5: IeAtFisHeS (39010 in chips)
Seat 6: IIbarcodeII (75570 in chips)
Seat 7: willydurango (37971 in chips)
Seat 9: Splurg7 (22126 in chips)
IeAtFisHeS: posts small blind 500
IIbarcodeII: posts big blind 1000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bwslim69 [5c Qs Ah Ac]
willydurango: calls 1000
Splurg7: folds
MinRdetails: folds
bwslim69: calls 1000
`penguan: calls 1000
IeAtFisHeS: calls 500
IIbarcodeII: checks
*** FLOP *** [Kc 4c Ad] Top set with nut flush draw
IeAtFisHeS: checks
IIbarcodeII: checks
willydurango: bets 3000
bwslim69: raises 8000 to 11000
`penguan: folds
IeAtFisHeS: folds
IIbarcodeII: folds
willydurango: raises 25971 to 36971 and is all-in
bwslim69: calls 15448 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (10523) returned to willydurango
*** TURN *** [Kc 4c Ad] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 4c Ad 2s] [Kd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
willydurango: shows [Kh 2c 7c Ks] (four of a kind, Kings)
bwslim69: shows [5c Qs Ah Ac] (a full house, Aces full of Kings)
willydurango collected 57896 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 57896 | Rake 0
Board [Kc 4c Ad 2s Kd]

Nothing like the old one outer….

That's about it for now. I may play the $200 Pot Limit Split today (Holdem and Omaha). We'll see. I have won 4 seats already to that so that is good profit. I may play the two FTOPS on Sunday as well (NLHE Bounty and FTOPS Main Event).

Will write soon if anything good happens between now and then.

Running really, really...really bad

So I have been running insanely bad of late. Playing a few multi table tournaments (MTT) and SNG each night and have just been getting frustrated. One night last week I lost the following all in a span of about 20 mins in 4 different tournaments:

Full Tilt Daily Double A: Guy shoves 2k at 100/200 and I call with AA and lose to AT when he turns a str8

Full Tilt Daily Double B: Guy open raises with AK and I call with QQ. Flop comes AQ9. He bets I raise, he reraises all in, I call...turn 9 river A and I lose to bigger house

Full Tilt $24k guarantee: I am on the button with KK. Blinds 40/80 and there are 4 limpers in front of me for a pot of 440. I raise to 750 (leaving me with only 1400 or so behind) and folds around to last limper who only calls the additional 670. Flop comes Q99. He checks I bet 1000 into the pot of 1860 and he puts me all in for an add'l 400. I call obv and he tables JT offsuit and turns 8. Guy called 1/3 of my stack with JT. Genius.

Full Tilt $4k guarantee (PLO): Early position raiser makes pot bet at 50/100 and three callers before me (Pot 1200). I am on the button with AAQT doubles suited and abt 3k in chips. I repot to 1750. One caller and flop comes JJJ. The way I am running I know he has a J but I ain't folding here with 4k+ in the pot. Ship and he tables QJTx. Nice call sir. If you are going to call may as well stick it all in preflop?

This is to say nothing of the innumerable hands where I have an overpair only to have my opponent flop a set. Happened too many times for me to count.

In my Tuesday night home game I have lost the following in our tournaments the last 2 weeks:

Me Opponent

Two weeks ago
KK vs AT suited; Turned flush-All chips in preflop
QQ vs AT suited; Rivered flush-All chips in preflop (against same player)
AK suited vs 84 offsuit; rivered full house (I only had 3BB after the previous 2 hands and he had to call with Any two I think)

Last week

AA vs QQ; flopped a Q-All chips in preflop

To be fair I did run pretty well in the cash game we play after the tournament when I flopped bottom 2 pr against an opponents AK (with an A flop) and a big suckout in a monster PLO pot where I turned a bigger boat after the money went in on the flop.


I did go deep in a small buy in tournament last night for a measly cash (40th out of ~1100). Deep in this tournament I got short when I lost AQ suited vs. KK all in preflop. Survived for a while then pushed all in for abt 12.5k (blinds 1000/2000/150) with AK suited and got called by AT. Board ran out 74784 for a chop pot. That would have given mes some breathing room but no sir. Then a little later at 1200/2400/200 I shoved 13k with AK again and lost to QJ. Fun stuff.

I guess all I can do is tighten up a bit and allow time for the variance of MTT poker to swing my way.