March monthly report

I made $446 in March, a pretty good result considering how little I actually played. At my lowest point I was down (from memory) $166. This is the first month that I've done better on Full Tilt (+$231) than on Stars (+$215). For the year to date I'm up $1072.

It's doubtful I'll play much in April. Mid-month I'll be shifting 400 miles south to Wellington. New city, new job, basically a new life ... poker will have to take a back seat for a while. In my next post (which won't be far away) I'll attempt to get a handle on what makes people play online poker in the first place, but for now I'll post some hands from a game I've yet to mention in this blog: Omaha-8.

Two years ago I only had very basic knowledge of poker. The only two games I had any vague clue about were Texas hold 'em and five-card draw. I had some idea of what stud was but didn't know about bring-ins or any of that stuff. As for Omaha-8, well I'd heard of it but had no idea how it was played - I always thought the 8 had something to do with having eight cards. When I first tried the game for play money, it took a few hundred hands before I could even read my hand. "Yes! There's a second spade to go with the three in my hand, and I've even got a something-something low!" Now I can read my hand, and even have some idea of its strength, but really I'm still a novice at the game. I sometimes browse the Omaha-8 section on Twoplustwo - a bloke who goes by the name Buzz, and must be at least seventy, moderates that forum. I enjoy reading his posts which at times get quite philosophical. Last weekend I tried my hand at a $4.40 no-limit Omaha-8 tournament. I finished in the top quarter but still some way short of the money. Here are three hands from the tourney:

Hand 1
If I wasn't in the big blind I wouldn't have gone near this hand, but I got a free look at a flop which I thought was a decent one for me (and perhaps more importantly, unhelpful for my opponents) so I fired out a bet. I followed up with another bet on the turn when I turned the nut straight (but, with a third spade out there, far from the nuts). When the board paired on the river, it seemed there were too many ways to lose - I was now only really beating a bluff - so I gave up.

PokerStars Game #59858993061: Tournament #376203535, $4.00+$0.40 USD Omaha Hi/Lo No Limit - Level IV (25/50) - 2011/03/26 20:15:29 ET Table '376203535 28' 9-max Seat #5 is the button Seat 1: 1mackdaddy (6579 in chips) Seat 2: cridivan8 (792 in chips) Seat 3: kwok1983 (8986 in chips) Seat 4: rolrobher73 (2895 in chips) Seat 5: pigwrench (7785 in chips) Seat 6: SugarTFox (3420 in chips) Seat 7: plutoman20 (4538 in chips) Seat 8: paytonw34 (3000 in chips) Seat 9: silvia132 (2610 in chips) SugarTFox: posts small blind 25 plutoman20: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to plutoman20 [8h 9h Jh As] paytonw34: calls 50 silvia132: calls 50 1mackdaddy: calls 50 cridivan8: folds kwok1983: folds rolrobher73: folds pigwrench: folds SugarTFox: calls 25 plutoman20: checks
*** FLOP *** [9s Ts Ah] SugarTFox: checks plutoman20: bets 150 paytonw34: calls 150 silvia132: folds 1mackdaddy: calls 150 SugarTFox: folds
*** TURN *** [9s Ts Ah] [7s] plutoman20: bets 380 paytonw34: calls 380 1mackdaddy: calls 380
*** RIVER *** [9s Ts Ah 7s] [7h] plutoman20: checks paytonw34: checks 1mackdaddy: bets 1100 plutoman20: folds paytonw34: folds Uncalled bet (1100) returned to 1mackdaddy 1mackdaddy collected 1840 from pot
*** SUMMARY *** Total pot 1840 Rake 0 Board [9s Ts Ah 7s 7h] Seat 1: 1mackdaddy collected (1840) Seat 2: cridivan8 folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 3: kwok1983 folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 4: rolrobher73 folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 5: pigwrench (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 6: SugarTFox (small blind) folded on the Flop Seat 7: plutoman20 (big blind) folded on the River Seat 8: paytonw34 folded on the River Seat 9: silvia132 folded on the Flop

Hand 2
Although folding to the shove kept me in the tournament on this occasion, I still think I should have called.

PokerStars Game #59860076833: Tournament #376203535, $4.00+$0.40 USD Omaha Hi/Lo No Limit - Level VI (40/80) - 2011/03/26 20:38:16 ET Table '376203535 28' 9-max Seat #3 is the button Seat 1: gotgame1538 (9427 in chips) Seat 2: Tekim007 (2625 in chips) Seat 3: kwok1983 (13515 in chips) Seat 4: rolrobher73 (2848 in chips) Seat 5: pigwrench (7095 in chips) Seat 6: SugarTFox (6725 in chips) Seat 7: plutoman20 (4218 in chips) Seat 8: tower999 (3000 in chips) Seat 9: silvia132 (4569 in chips) rolrobher73: posts small blind 40 pigwrench: posts big blind 80
*** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to plutoman20 [2s Jd Ac Qc] SugarTFox: folds plutoman20: calls 80 tower999: folds silvia132: calls 80 gotgame1538: calls 80 Tekim007: calls 80 kwok1983: raises 13435 to 13515 and is all-in rolrobher73: folds pigwrench: folds plutoman20: folds silvia132: folds gotgame1538: folds Tekim007: calls 2545 and is all-in Uncalled bet (10890) returned to kwok1983
*** FLOP *** [7s 2h 3d]
*** TURN *** [7s 2h 3d] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [7s 2h 3d Td] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN *** Tekim007: shows [Th 4s 2d 3h] (HI: two pair, Tens and Sevens) kwok1983: shows [Ad As 4d 6h] (HI: two pair, Aces and Sevens; LO: 7,4,3,2,A) kwok1983 collected 2805 from pot kwok1983 collected 2805 from pot
Tekim007 finished the tournament in 380th place
*** SUMMARY *** Total pot 5610 Rake 0 Board [7s 2h 3d Td 7h] Seat 1: gotgame1538 folded before Flop Seat 2: Tekim007 showed [Th 4s 2d 3h] and lost with HI: two pair, Tens and Sevens Seat 3: kwok1983 (button) showed [Ad As 4d 6h] and won (5610) with HI: two pair, Aces and Sevens; LO: 7,4,3,2,A Seat 4: rolrobher73 (small blind) folded before Flop Seat 5: pigwrench (big blind) folded before Flop Seat 6: SugarTFox folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 7: plutoman20 folded before Flop Seat 8: tower999 folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 9: silvia132 folded before Flop

Hand 3
I think it was the sheer amount of folding over the previous 45 minutes or so that encouraged this call. This hand plays better heads-up I think. OneHopless was pretty unlucky to be eliminated here.

PokerStars Game #59862939053: Tournament #376203535, $4.00+$0.40 USD Omaha Hi/Lo No Limit - Level XIII (200/400) - 2011/03/26 21:49:14 ET Table '376203535 32' 9-max Seat #6 is the button Seat 1: bearly788 (21945 in chips) Seat 2: sapw (3425 in chips) Seat 3: sam tsunami (12427 in chips) Seat 4: Krossman44 (8050 in chips) Seat 5: plutoman20 (4431 in chips) Seat 6: danicasi (9868 in chips) Seat 7: Jogger1 (8840 in chips) Seat 8: oneHopless (4880 in chips) Seat 9: Puntal_13 (22894 in chips) bearly788: posts the ante 50 sapw: posts the ante 50 sam tsunami: posts the ante 50 Krossman44: posts the ante 50 plutoman20: posts the ante 50 danicasi: posts the ante 50 Jogger1: posts the ante 50 oneHopless: posts the ante 50 Puntal_13: posts the ante 50 Jogger1: posts small blind 200 oneHopless: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to plutoman20 [Kd Ad Ks Ts] Puntal_13: folds bearly788: folds sapw: folds sam tsunami: calls 400 Krossman44: calls 400 plutoman20: calls 400 danicasi: folds Jogger1: calls 200 oneHopless: raises 4430 to 4830 and is all-in sam tsunami: folds Krossman44: calls 4430 plutoman20: calls 3981 and is all-in Jogger1: folds
*** FLOP *** [Js 9d 7h]
*** TURN *** [Js 9d 7h] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [Js 9d 7h Jd] [6s]
*** SHOW DOWN *** oneHopless: shows [Ac Qc 2d As] (HI: two pair, Aces and Jacks) Krossman44: shows [2s 4s Jc 6c] (HI: a full house, Jacks full of Sixes) Krossman44 collected 898 from side pot plutoman20: shows [Kd Ad Ks Ts] (HI: two pair, Kings and Jacks) Krossman44 collected 14393 from main pot No low hand qualified
oneHopless finished the tournament in 146th place
plutoman20 finished the tournament in 147th place
*** SUMMARY *** Total pot 15291 Main pot 14393. Side pot 898. Rake 0 Board [Js 9d 7h Jd 6s] Seat 1: bearly788 folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 2: sapw folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 3: sam tsunami folded before Flop Seat 4: Krossman44 showed [2s 4s Jc 6c] and won (15291) with HI: a full house, Jacks full of Sixes Seat 5: plutoman20 showed [Kd Ad Ks Ts] and lost with HI: two pair, Kings and Jacks Seat 6: danicasi (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet) Seat 7: Jogger1 (small blind) folded before Flop Seat 8: oneHopless (big blind) showed [Ac Qc 2d As] and lost with HI: two pair, Aces and Jacks Seat 9: Puntal_13 folded before Flop (didn't bet)