Amendments to the Commandments

Napalm's YTD: $8,714.38

I came up with two new commandments to "Napalm's 10 commandments of NL HE Ring" based on some losing plays over the last couple nights.

12 - Thou shall raise 2 to 3x the POT with many limpers if you hold a big pair in position. The size of the bet shall be proportional to the number of limpers in the pot

13 - Thou shalt not lead the betting, out of position, more than once if no drawing flop hits. Let the foe take the lead

Live and learn baby.

Lost my cool

Napalm's YTD: $8,761

I finally lost my cool. 7 weeks of playing NL HE ring games, and I finally came unglued.

After being sucked out more time than a $5 dollar hoe in the last two days, the final straw came.

I am on the button with AK off. I raise 6 TIMES the bb, or $6 bucks. I get 5 callers, yep you heard me right, 5 CALLERS.

Flop comes K 4 J, two spades. It checks around to me. What? Checks around? Well ok then.

I go ahead and bet $20 bucks, putting at least 3 other people in the hand all in. Dude in the SB calls all in, everyone else folds. He flips over K J, no spades. So le me get this right. He calls with KJ off out of position, then SLOW plays it with 5 other people in the hand after the flop WITH a flush draw on the board.

Well, there went my cool. Right down the crapper.

I start off with the old faithful, "Hey retard, time for your medication” Then broke into a chorus of "Pretty colors make me feel happy, want to hold and love pretty colors." and "The pictures are sooo nice, don't take my pretty pictures away." And of course, "The little men on the cards are smiling at me, they are my friend, TTTTIIIIIIIMMMMMMYYYYYYY"

Needless to say it got ugly. I am sure they will ban me on Stars any day now. I was so good for so long. I guess I should have seen it coming.

Mind Of A Madman

liquid's YTD: $727.56

Imagine you are playing pot-limit Omaha. You have been dealt 2d 9h 3s 4d in early position. What do you do? Fold, you say?

Wrong, you limp in.

The flop brings 9s 5h 5c, giving you top pair with dung for kickers on a board that's paired. There is a pot-sized bet from late position and one caller. What do you do? Fold, you say?

Wrong! You raise. But just the minimum.

The original raiser responds with another pot-sized bet. The caller folds. What do you do? Fold, you say?

Wrong again -- you call.

The turn brings 6c, giving you a 13-out straight draw on a paired board. What do you do? Check, you say?

Good for you! Your last iota of reason compels you to check.

The original raiser dumps in another pot-sized bet. What do you do? Fold, you say?

Pshaw! Call.

The river brings 7c, and your monster runner-runner ass-end straight beats a 5d with a couple good kickers (Ts Ad 4s) that never came. You were an 87% dog on the flop, and a 70% dog on the turn, but luckily your loser foe has been victimized by similar bizarre and painful beats over the past two days, dropping four buy-ins in the process.

Congratulations, you are a Party Poker Champion!

I am bitter beyond my years.

Bloodbath

napalm's YTD: $8,520.69

Wow, it was like Night of The Living Dead. It was like Jason vs Freddie. It was a crime scene. Get out the yellow tape.

4, yes count them, 4 suck outs on the river or turn on my NLHE game on Stars last night. Every time I have the best hand going in, every time I pushed my opponent to play for all of his chips, every time, my opponent called, and every time, he boated on the river.

BUT, the wild thing was, I only ended up losing $130. I won OVER 45% of the pots I played in. That is about 12% percent higher than normal.

It should have been a $300+ night. I guess allowing a bad player to get lucky once in a while enforces negative behavior, which is good for my game in the long run.

A Gift From The Poker Gods

liquid's YTD: $836.99

After blowing through $20 on some fun-n-loose play to start the evening, I decided to (a) tighten up considerably and (b) play two tables. For me, multi-tabling and tighter play go together like Halliburton and Iraq, so it's all good.

Shortly thereafter I stumbled into a rare and beautiful free-roll, in a raised pot no less:

$25 PL Omaha Hi - Monday, April 18, 22:12:51 EDT 2005
Table 36658 (Real Money)

Seat 1: Hero (MP3, $20.85)
Seat 5: Foe (BB, $24.50)

Dealt to Hero [Td 8c 7c 7s]
UTG folds.
UTG+1 calls [$0.25].
UTG+2 folds.
MP1 folds.
MP2 calls [$0.25].
Hero calls [$0.25].
CO folds.
Button raises [$1.6].

Standard button raise by an aggressive player. I'm in.

SB folds.
Foe calls [$1.35].
UTG+1 calls [$1.35].
MP2 calls [$1.35].
Hero calls [$1.35].

** Dealing Flop ** [7d, 9c, 6c]

A dream flop for hero! Nut straight, middle set, open-ended straight flush draw. Golly!

Foe bets [$6].
UTG+1 folds.
MP2 calls [$6].

Better and better. Unfortunately, I have to charge a min raise here, so I may lose MP2.

Hero raises [$12].
Button folds.
Foe is all-In.
MP2 folds.
Hero is all-In.

Crud, the multiple re-raises chase off MP2. So it looks like I'm free-rolling against someone who wants to get his money in while he still has the best hand...

** Dealing Turn ** [ 6s ]

...which is not long.

** Dealing River ** [ 4h ]
Hero shows [Td 8c 7c 7s] a full house, Sevens full of sixes.
Foe shows [4s Th 8h 8s] a straight, six to ten.
Foe wins $3.65 from side pot #1 with a straight, six to ten.
Hero wins $50 from the main pot with a full house, Sevens full of sixes.

Only downside was that my failure to reload cost me $3.65.

Running In Mud

liquid's YTD: $835.19

My purpose on this blog is becoming clear: I am the mortal counterpart to Napalm's superhuman poker prowess. I played enough PLO on Party this weekend to claim my $150 deposit bonus: over 1000 hands. Total winnings after all that play?

Get ready.

Here it comes!

$4.24

At least this tally does not include the deposit bonus. I enjoyed equal portions of good play, bad play, good catches, and bad beats -- plenty of blame for everyone involved. At my nadir I was down close to $100, so I am thankful I was able to end the weekend in the black.

My biggest problem was adjusting to the seemingly random play from one table to the next. On PokerRoom there was a pretty consistent aggression factor, and there weren't many surprises at showdown. On Party, I had trouble getting a handle on what different folks were trying to accomplish. In particular, I've never seen so many slow-play attempts in Omaha. Very interesting.

My Boyfriend is Out of Town

Napalm's YTD: $8,260.49

The title will mean something by mid-summer, I promise you. But for now, here is a quick run down of my play of late:

Tied for first place in a live tournament and won $990. Buy in a rebuy totaled $225. There were 21 people in the event, mostly professional type players. Very tough game but I held my own.

Won over $1200 online in NLHE games. Mostly showing down the nuts, as usual.

Won about $100 in live action NLHE and Limit Hold 'em games.

Hit the quad jackpot twice in a live ring game for a total of $350.

Made 2 final tables and won one on Pokeroom $5 multi table events.

Basically unleashing major amounts of Napalm on the poker world.

Enter Tank

liquid's YTD: $830.95

My laptop arrived Wednesday: a Dell Inspiron 6000. I have gone to the dark side.

I had four laptop-shopping criteria:

1. Cheap.


2. High screen resolution.


3. Good battery life.


4. Small.

I ended up choosing the best screen resolution I could find (1920 x 1200!!) for the lowest price I could find ($799). Battery life is adequate at between 2.5 and 3 hours. As for criterion #4? Well, three out of four isn't bad. This thing is a tank. Ergo, I have named it "Tank."

So I spent Wednesday evening setting up Tank, researching bonus codes for Party Poker, transferring funds, checking out Poker Tracker for Omaha, and not playing any actual poker at all. Yesterday I tried my first few sessions on Party. I decided to start at the $25 PLO tables, an option I never had on PokerRoom. About ten minutes in, I flopped a bare set of aces, called a pot-sized bet from early position, and got another caller behind me. The turn brought a blank and another pot-sized bet from early position. I went ahead and re-raised all-in.... and both players called: early position with top and bottom pair, and late position with third set. A sign of things to come? Sweet mother I hope so.

A few technical notes:

1. The 1920 x 1200 resolution on Tank is perfect. Plenty of room for multiple tables, stats windows, whatever.


2. The Party interface is clunkier than I expected. Particularly disappointing is the lack of keyboard shortcuts. I found this workaround, which is so-so. Also, as far as I can tell there's no way to check your hole cards after you've folded them, other than to wait for the hand to complete and then check the history.

I Can Be Taught

liquid's YTD: $775.35

I'm slowly learning some of this basic PLO strategery. My latest lesson is betting out with top two pair or a set on a flop that suggests an obvious straight or flush. Case in point:

Omaha Hi $0.50-$1 PL (real money), hand #813,xxx,xxx

Seat 2: Foe (UTG, $55.25 in chips)
Seat 7: Hero [KS,9S,AC,3D] (MP3, $48.75 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
SB posts blind ($0.25), BB posts blind ($0.50), CO posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
Foe calls $0.50, UTG+1 calls $0.50, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, Hero calls $0.50, CO checks, Button calls $0.50, SB calls $0.25, BB checks.

FLOP [board cards AH,JS,KD ]
SB checks, BB checks, Foe checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $3.50, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds, Foe calls $3.50, UTG+1 folds.

TURN [board cards AH,JS,KD,AS ]
Foe bets $10.50, Hero bets $21, Foe bets $40.75 and is all-in, Hero calls $23.75 and is all-in.

RIVER [board cards AH,JS,KD,AS,2H ]

SHOWDOWN
Foe shows [ JH,6H,8D,JD ]
Hero shows [ KS,9S,AC,3D ]
Foe wins $6.50, Hero wins $97.

I suppose this is the natural inverse of my desire to disguise my hand when I flop the nuts with no re-draws.

This game can be fun, sometimes.

The Girlfriend and the Bathroom

Napalm's YTD: $6,974.24

So I'm in a $.50 $1 NLHE game on Stars, I'm one behind the button with 99 and call a $2 raise along with 3 other people.

The flop comes 3s 4s 7d

The action checks around to me, and I bet $7, the button calls, everyone else folds.

Turn is a 5 of hearts.

I decide to put the button all in and rep the flush and/or the straight (my 99 might still be good). His pot odds would have been wrong to chase, so I feel I can scare him away. I have him outchipped by about 5 to 1.

He CALLS! Dammit.

River is a Jd, which is probably doesn’t help either of us.

Cards are turned over, Button has a 6s 7h. The dreaded gut shot straight.

But here is the rub.

The guy then tells me that he was in the bathroom and his girlfriend was playing the hand. He said he would have never called the initial raise with a 67.

There goes my money, right down the crapper.

Promises, Promises

liquid's YTD: $635.10

So much for my resolutions. I've already broken #1 and #2 at least twice each.

1) I find myself at a table with several very agressive players. But I'm treading water so I decide to stick it out. (Resolution #1 broken.)

In the big blind I'm dealt a measly 2dTd8d3s. But no one raises, and seven see the flop: Jh9d7h. I have the nut straight in early position with no hope of improvement, two to a flush on the board, a measly $3.50 pot, and several deep stacks at the table. Bleah. In that position, I hate declaring my hand to everyone. I really just want to see a cheap turn before I go wild, so I check. Table checks around to CO, who pots it. Button folds and a very short-stacked SB calls all-in. I call and the rest fold.

Turn brings a blank. I bet $5. CO moves all-in for another $10.50. I happily call. Worst-case scenario, CO is free-rolling against me with the same straight and a draw -- a likely split pot. Best-case scenario, I've successfully disguised my straight and got a dog to go all-in.

Result: CO had AsJc9cTh. Yay me! Chalk up a huge theoretical win for liquid:

pokenum -o 2d td 8d 3s - as jc 9c th -- jh 9d 7h 2c
Omaha Hi: 40 enumerated boards containing 2c 9d Jh 7h
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
3s Td 8d 2d 33 82.50 4 10.00 3 7.50 0.863
As Jc 9c Th 4 10.00 33 82.50 3 7.50 0.138

Back in the real world, CO caught a 9 on the river to make his full house. Crud.

2) I get a very nice Tc9dTs7s in middle position, lean towards raising, but end up limping. No raises, seven see the flop: 7h5cTd. I go ahead and pot it ($3.50). I get one call: A wacko. Oh boy. The turn brings 8d for a straight possibility. I check to wacko. He thinks for a while, and finally pots it ($10.50). Resolution #2 tells me to fold. But this guy is a known maniac who's donated to me before, and in the off-chance he actually has a straight, I still have some outs with my set. I use most of my allotted time before potting it back ($42), enough to put him all-in. He quickly calls. Crap. River brings a blank.

Result: Wacko had Th5d6s8s -- a respectable three pair with a straight draw, but almost everything good about his hand was bettered by mine. Yay me! Another big theoretical win:

pokenum -o tc 9d ts 7s - th 5d 6s 8s -- 7h 5c td 8d
Omaha Hi: 40 enumerated boards containing 5c Td 8d 7h
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
Ts 7s Tc 9d 33 82.50 7 17.50 0 0.00 0.825
8s 6s 5d Th 7 17.50 33 82.50 0 0.00 0.175

Back in the real world, the river brought a blank, so for a change I got some actual money as well.

3) Yet again, I'm at a table with a very loose agressive player. He is raising every other hand and scaring folks off. Resolution #1 tells me I should be among those folks. But I stick around for "just one more orbit...."

In the big blind, I get 4c7h6s5c: a fun hand. LAggy is on the button but surprisingly does not raise, and six see the flop: 8d2s4h. Sweet, I have a 13-out straight with no flush to worry about. I bet $2. Two call, and LAggy.... pots it for $13. Resolution #2 tells me to fold. I call. The others fold.

Turn is 7s. I check, LAggy pots it for $33 -- just enough to put me all in -- and I cheerfully call.

Result: Surprise #1 was that LAggy actually had the goods on the flop: 8sQd8cTh. So chalk up a theoretical loss for me. (I really need to stick to those resolutions.) However, surprise #2 is that even with his top set, he wasn't as far ahead as I would have thought:

pokenum -o 4c 7h 6s 5c - 8s qd 8c th -- 8d 2s 4h
Omaha Hi: 820 enumerated boards containing 2s 8d 4h
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
6s 5c 4c 7h 362 44.15 458 55.85 0 0.00 0.441
8s 8c Qd Th 458 55.85 362 44.15 0 0.00 0.559

Very educational.

Back in the real world, the river brought a blank and I won. Hot diggity.

Stupidest. Play. Ever.

liquid's YTD: $553.45

Wow, I'm still having trouble believing this one. I had only been playing for 10 minutes and was up $7, but I was feeling loopy from my cold medicine and decided to quit when the blinds came around to me. So I'm under the gun -- last hand -- and get 7T78. That's good enough to see cheaply UTG, so I limp in. And lo! The flop comes 7-2-4 rainbow! I pot it and get two callers. Ace on the turn, and I think, well surely no one has aces, so I pot it again since there's a diamond draw now. The person behind me re-raises, and the next guy goes all-in. Naturally I push the rest of my chips in... never seeing the straight on the board until the deed is done. Uh! Idiot!

Resolution #4: Lay off the cold meds.

'Ere, He Says He's Not Dead

liquid's YTD: $603.45

I'm getting better. I don't want to go in the cart. I feel fine.

I went back to very sparing play over the weekend -- 90 minutes yesterday morning; 90 minutes this morning; 30 minutes this evening -- and made $110, which thankfully wipes out Friday night's losses. In general I just hit and ran, cashing out of sessions after taking a few decent pots. I am a wuss.

The morning play was a pleasant change. I sleep better when I don't go straight from a game to bed.

No terribly interesting hands. Taken by itself, the biggest win of the weekend was straightforward:

Omaha Hi $0.50-$1 PL (real money), hand #788,xxx,xxx
Table Alhambra, 3 Apr 2005 09:35 AM

Seat 2: Foe (MP2, $39 in chips)
Seat 9: Hero [QS,AC,6D,AH] (UTG+1, $58.25 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
SB posts blind ($0.25), BB posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
UTG folds, Hero calls $0.50, MP1 calls $0.50, Foe calls $0.50, MP3 folds, CO folds, Button calls $0.50, SB calls $0.25, BB checks.

FLOP [board cards 4H,AD,QD ]
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $3, MP1 folds, Foe calls $3, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds.

TURN [board cards 4H,AD,QD,9S ]
Hero bets $9, Foe bets $20, Hero bets $45.75 and is all-in, Foe calls $15.50 and is all-in.

RIVER [board cards 4H,AD,QD,9S,6H ]

SHOWDOWN
Hero shows [ QS,AC,6D,AH ]
Foe shows [ QH,2C,QC,7D ]
Hero wins $19.25, Hero wins $77.

More notable is the context of the session. In talking with foe afterwards, this hand apparently succeeded due to (a) several pre-flop raises from me on previous hands (in middle-to-late position), plus (b) no pre-flop raise from me on this hand (in early position). Foe understandably put me on a flush draw or two pair, discounting my disguised top set. I might have played the hand the same way if I were foe, though more likely I would have raised my middle set on the flop to try to get more info.

You Say You Want A Resolution

liquid's YTD: $585.45

My new resolutions, after the Week From Hell:

1. If a known mega-agressive player is at the table, I will leave. I don't yet have the bankroll or the ability to play with these folks properly.

2. If a player makes a bet, my strong inclination will be to believe that player. (Another reason to follow resolution #1.)

3. If a table gets short-handed -- four players or fewer -- I will leave. My short-handed game blows.

Violating these three rules led to most of my losses during the WFH.

Biggest. Hand. Ever.

Napalm's YTD: $6,639.84

Holy Crap! Check this out. Took no skill whatsoever but paid very nice.

PokerStars Game #xxxxxxxxxxx: Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00)

Seat 1: CO ($46.95 in chips)
Seat 3: Foe 2 ($49.25 in chips)
Seat 5: Hero ($149.80 in chips)
Seat 6: BB ($30.15 in chips)
Seat 7: Foe 1 ($151.20 in chips)
Seat 8: UTG+1 ($270.45 in chips)
Seat 9: MP ($94.90 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ah As]
Foe 1: raises $1 to $2
UTG+1: folds
MP: folds
CO: folds
Foe 2: raises $10 to $12
Hero: raises $18 to $30
BB: folds
Foe 1: calls $28
Foe 2: raises $18 to $48
Hero: raises $101.80 to $149.80 and is all-in
Foe 1: calls $119.80
Foe 2: calls $1.25 and is all-in

*** FLOP *** [Kh 9c Td]

*** TURN *** [Kh 9c Td] [6s]

*** RIVER *** [Kh 9c Td 6s] [Ts]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [Ah As] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
Foe 1: mucks hand
Hero collected $201.10 from side pot
Foe 2: mucks hand
Hero collected $145.75 from main pot

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $349.85 Main pot $145.75. Side pot $201.10. | Rake $3
Board [Kh 9c Td 6s Ts]

How 'bout them apples? I think I found the retard table. Funny thing was, I was down $200, and that monster shot me back up $50.

Gotta love this game.

Ouchie

liquid's YTD: $493.20

After my hefty correction last weekend, I managed to grind out a small profit this week before getting brutalized to the tune of two buy-ins last night.

So this is that insane PLO variance I keep reading about. It hurts. I may need to take a break.