Up and Down Online

I am trying to wedge in some online play this holiday weekend late at night or when everyone else is involved with something. Thursday is a very good day, increasing my bankroll by 30% by winning a small sit n go and doing very well on the omaha low limit game. However, Friday I give it all back. My tournament play is very spotty and unlucky. I am getting way too impatient, probably because of guilt playing poker while family is in the house, so am pushing too hard with marginal holdings. On the theme of totally whacked luck, I am playing omaha and really can't win a hand. I tighten up to the point of absurdity, trying to play only super premium holdings like AA23 suited. I limp and hope, but either no low develops or I am counterfeited every time. Finally, tilt sets in and I raise and re-raise with my premium hands, only to have the same results. My AA23 is beaten by KK34 every time, or even worse. One hand I had nut flush, nut low draws on the flop and get beaten by someone making a back door flush with 2/3 suited! Sick!!!

Now to the life lessons part that I promised my daughter. Never get involved with something when you cannot give your full attention to it. Distractions are fatal to success. Also, always be on your "A" game, and focus on always doing the right thing and do your best to ignore the results. A results oriented life forgets that what is important is that life is a journey not a destination.

New Ultimate Bet Website

So, Monday night I am happily playing along in a good Omaha game when the site announces that the table will close in 10 seconds! I check out other tables, and everything is shut down. Then I remember a message about the site undergoing some upgrades and will close for a few hours. O.K., to bed. Tuesday I am thinking about driving to Spirit Mountain for the day since Helene is working, but heavy rain makes the trip a bad idea, plus the gutter cleaner is here first thing in the morning, so I sit down to play online. What!!! The site is totally different, they have merged with Cereus, and totally changed everything. But, the worst part is my small real money bankroll has disappeared! I contact their online help desk who advises me to sign off and sign back on. No dice! I uninstall and reinstall the program, but still no money. I am feeling violated. I try playing the free money part and don't even like it. I forgot the loosey goosey play when it is play money. I give up and go have coffee at the bakery.

Later, I try again, and lo and behold, there is my money. Allrighty then. The new site is different though, the rake is more on the sit n go's which cuts into your payout. It runs slower, players are given more time to act. In general, I want my old site back. May have to explore other sites.

Someone just shoot me

Two low limit (50 cent) buy in tournaments this morning. I was in great shape in the first one, but two lucky breaks for my opponents took me out in 3rd for a 45 cent net win. The second one was a disaster, and a freeroll went up and down, losing with AK twice to small pocket pairs.

This is now a live, play by play account. I am now playing in a .02/.04 omaha game, and am down $.68. I have had huge draws to nut high and nut low with no draw coming in. I am just trying to play tight game until my luck changes. Yes! Just hogged a hand with a 10 high flush and a $.45 win! Being down only 33 cents makes my day.

Later....I play in a $1.00 sit n go, and win!!!! KA-CHING, net $4.00. Currently down .15 in low limit Omaha game.

Late update, I play in a $1.00 sit n go, and win! Maybe I am turning the corner. But, the win has a big downside. I signed up for the tournament just before Helene got home, and she is totally mad at me all night for playing it and not coming right up for dinner. :(

Still Waiting to Get Hot

O.K. this is officially bad. I played on a couple of online tournaments today and got crushed by, in order, My AJ beaten by A9, he caught a 9. Then pocket kings allin (tournament leader..me), gets called by pocket Jacks...and he naturally hits his 2 outer. Then...fairly deep in freeroll, I raise preflop with AK, get an AK7 flop, end up all in...against pocket 7's. WTF!!! Then to pour salt in the wound, the turn card is....the case 7!!!!!! The overkill of quads is just a little over the top for me.

I am, however, an eternal optomist. I am like the little boy who gets a big pile of manure for his birthday and happily starts digging through it looking for the pony! My spirit will not be crushed. Hope will go on....just like the Titanic.

Hunkering Down for Low Limit Online Play

I have been running so bad that I am down to playing 50 cent and dollar buy in Sit n go tournaments online. The play at that level is very bad, but I am still running pretty unlucky. Typical knockout blow, I have pocket 10's (twice...different tournaments), and run into pocket Jacks each time. I run into pocket aces with my pocket kings. The hits just keep on coming. But, I am able to cash often enough that I am staying even. Today I played in a 50 cent omaha 8 or better pot limit and won. It took 2 hours and I made $2.00. Not a good hourly rate. I also played in a dollar buy in pot limit omaha with rebuys and got crushed (40th place). I just am not getting my draws to come in....nut low, nut flush, and I lose to two crummy pair with no low hand coming soon. I think pot limit omaha is my favorite alltime game. It is a position game, along with choosing starting hands wisely, and managing the pot size is super important.

I keep thinking my slump will end....then watch out!

Dealing at the American Legion

Friday night poker tournament at the American Legion, and I am ready to break the bad streak. Bad news right away, they are short of dealers and ask me to deal. I reply that I will if they ask everyone and absolutely cannot find anyone else. My reason is that it is very hard to play well and deal, plus I do not tend to deal myself great cards. I relax with a corona and hope for the best. No luck. I am asked to deal table 2, given a $10 refund on the $40 buy-in, plus three free drink tickets (the upside of dealing). I get stung early on a jack high flop with my J/K when Matt shows pocket Jacks. He really doesn't maximize the pain, so I only lose about a third of my chips. Could have been worse. The table is a nightmare. A couple of very bad players who will not get out of a hand, and also play many hands, some very aggressively. Because I am short-stacked early I tighten down and wait for the big hand which just never comes. Even average hands on this table would win very big. Finally, I am down to $600 in chips with blinds 100-200, and the worst player raises all-in before me. I have AQ, so it is an easy call. He shows 77 which holds up to knock me out as we combine to 2 tables. I think that due to the extreme poor play at the table, if I had not been dealing I would have played my poor hands very agressively. Nearly every hand had 4-5 players limping in, then folding to any action after the flop.

Running Cold Still

This is getting ridiculous. I am getting beaten like a rented mule on very easy online sit 'n go's. For example....I am on the button with a jack/4 offsuit, the small blind raises small and I call. The flop is....jj9. Awesome! He continuation bets for a couple hundred. I smooth call. The turn is a queen. He bets bigger, I again call. The river....an 8. He checks, I put in a small value bet, he raises! I call to see pocket 10's make a straight! Later I lose a two pair q/10 to his K/J on a q/j flop, 10 turn, and king river. This guy owns me!

Another online game, I have K/2 hearts. The flop....all hearts, 8 high. I check, a short stack goes all-in, a big stack comes over the top of him all-in, and I call. The short stack has JJ, no hearts. The big stack has 8/9 offsuit, with the 9 of hearts. Great! The turn....a nine, giving big stack 2 pair. You know what the river is.....an eight! Wow!!! Nice hand sir! I am getting really tired of providing examples of how to draw out on someone. My only, and I mean only, consolation is that I am definitely getting all of money in with the best hands.

Pendleton Part 3

My last tournament at Pendleton this year, the Omaha 8 or better. Or, as I like to say, another $215. buffet. I do make it almost to the dinner break (4 1/2 hours of play) before being knocked out on kind of a fluke hand. I was in the big blind for over half my chips...blinds were 300-600, and the next player raised 600 so I called for pot odds. He had aa83, my hand was a/j (diamonds), K/9 (spades), not a bad hand. The flop came with 2 diamonds and the river....another diamond. I was ready to rake the pot when it was pointed out to me that the eight of diamonds on the river paired the eight already on the board, and there was also a 3 out there....giving the raiser a full house, but not with the cards he or I expected. Terrible beat!

Poker Round-up Part 2

Just like the old Timex ad, "takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'", I am back for more abuse on Sunday. The thing I really like about the roundup is running into poker friends from all over. There is a fairly large Cannon Beach contingency, including Jim & Rachel, the organizers of the American Legion tournaments. They sold their place in CB, so I haven't seen them for a while. My game went pretty much like Wednesday's, winning a few pots then losing on AQ vs AK when an ace hit. Lost another $100 in Omaha and called it a day. My new resolution: Never go all-in with only top pair....gotta be stronger.

My life lesson is to make good decisions and not to worry so much about the outcomes. Life is just a series of decisions we make, and things will not always work out, but if you always make good decisions the general trend will be good.

Wildhorse Poker Round-Up

Time for the semi-annual poker round-up in Pendleton, Oregon. I pick up Bob Pischel at 8:00 and we make the hour drive in time to play a satellite sit-n-go for $25. I hate the format, $800 in chips with 10 minute blinds. I am out early, and Bob follows. They have great cash games during the roundup, so I sit down to play Omaha, and by the time the tournament starts am up $120. In the tournament, I have some early success, our table breaks down. I was sitting a couple of seats behind a WSOP bracelet winner, Susie Isaacs, and was only in one hand with her. I had pocket 9's calling her small raise, and folding when I missed. I was hoping to knock her out as she is a bounty player and you get to spin a wheel for prizes. Anyway, when our table broke I am reassigned to a new table, and already dealt in. I look down at .....pocket queens. There is a raise to $300 under the gun by a young player, so I re-raise to $900. He calls. The flop is 9-8-2 rainbow, and when he checks I continuation bet 1200 into the 2000 pot. He goes over the top of me all-in and has me covered. I think for a moment...but obviously not long enough...and call. He shows pocket deuces for a flopped set! OUch! I am trying to think now what I could have beaten. I guess not pocket aces or queens, pockt 9's, 8's, or 2's. So, with 5 hands that could beat me guess a laydown wouldn't have been bad. I have to quit calling all-ins with only top pair or overpair (more on this subject later). Anyway, back to the Omaha game, playing until 11 p.m. and losing a hundred or two. Not a spectacular trip. I like to say that the buffet ticket costs $215, but the poker is free!!!

Bad Week in Tri-Cities

Oooooh, the loss, ooooooh, the humanity. The players at the Crazy Moose just take turns drawing out on me. Two days of losses playing my very best poker.

Trouble in Tullalip

What a great casino and poker room! Beautiful, spacious and many games offered. I sign up for the 3/6 and 4/8 games, and after a half hour I get in the 4/8. It is a pretty bad group of players, with one young gun raising on the button every time (I am in the under-the gun position on him, so it is not a big deal to me, I usually have already folded. I am having one of those days where every hand I don’t chase or don’t enter would have won, and every hand I do enter, I have to fold on the flop cause I missed big. I play pretty tight and watch the old guy next to me rack up about 400 in chips. He is catching everything, plus his hands are holding up. I flop a nut flush draw with a/9 suited on a kq flop with two clubs. I bet, he raises and I call. The turn is an ace, so I bet again, he raises and I again call. The river misses my clubs, I check/call to see his A/K win.

My consolation after losing about $70 is that I watched several players drop 2-300 each. I checked the rake out, and it was huge, at least 4 max, plus multiple drops in the bonus slot, which I had never seen before. They had a $200/hr high hand going, which was won each hour by very weak full houses, with at least 7 tables going….missed opportunity.