SHIP IT

liquid's YTD: $5350.91

Going to Vegas next week! I'm boning up on limit hold 'em since I don't imagine I'll find a PLO game. It's more fun than I expected.

Napalm and I hit the $0.02-$0.04 tables on Stars to practice casino-style donkfests. I made him cry like a little girl.

Hold'em ($0.02-$0.04)

Seat 2: Liquid (Button, $9.61)
Seat 4: Napalm (SB, $2577.32)

ANTES/BLINDS
1 fold, MP1 calls, 2 folds, Liquid raises, Napalm 3-bets, 1 fold, MP1 calls, Liquid caps, Napalm calls, MP1 calls.

($0.26) FLOP [Kd 7d 2h]
Napalm bets, MP1 calls, Liquid raises, Napalm 3-bets, MP1 calls, Liquid caps, Napalm calls, MP1 calls.

($0.50) TURN [Kd 7d 2h 9h]
Napalm bets, MP1 folds, Liquid raises, Napalm 3-bets, Liquid caps, Napalm calls.

($0.82) RIVER [Kd 7d 2h 9h As]
Napalm checks, Liquid bets, Napalm calls.

SHOWDOWN
Liquid shows [8h Qh] (high card Ace)
Napalm shows [5d Jd] (high card Ace - lower kicker)
Liquid wins $0.90.

PWN3D!!!!!!11!

Crime Scene – Not for the squeamish

Napalm's YTD: $17,800

The police got out the yellow tape tonight. Some one got robbed and beaten and left for dead on Hollywoodpoker.com.

All of this happened at a $3$6 limit table in a three-hour span. Victim vs. the perp(s)

AK vs KK (Ace on the flop, K on the river)

(Very next hand) KK vs AK (Ace on the river)

KQ vs 9 10 (flop is 10 9 J, betting capped until the river brought a 9)

JJ vs 10 10 (flop is 10 J 4, 10 on the river)

AK vs A9 (perp flopped a flush)

QQ vs 9 10 (flop is Q J 2, 8 betting is capped on the flop and turn, 8 on the river)

J5 vs 33 (flop is J 5 3)

AK vs 10 7 (flop is A K 4, runner runner flush)

AK vs AQ (flop is K 10 2, J on the turn)

QQ vs 8 9 (flop is Q 10 5, jack on the river)

A 10 vs KK (ace on the flop, runner runner K high flush)

QQ vs 8 7 (flop is 4 5 6)

QQ vs AQ vs AJ (A on the river)

KK vs JJ (J on the turn)

AK vs AQ (A on the flop, Q on the river)

6 4 vs A 4 (flop is 6 4 9, A on the turn, A on the river)

KK vs JJ, (flop is A K Q, turn is 10)

AA vs JJ, (flop is J J 6)

9 10 vs 8 8 (flop is 8 Q J, A on the turn, A on the river)

All of these hands were raised preflop, sometimes three and four bet. Every flop was bet and or/raised by the victim.

The victim may never be able to play Internet joker poker again.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

liquid's YTD: $5222.76

I cleared my Stars bonus yesterday, and partly by virtue of said bonus, the Stars line on my YTD chart is finally in the black. Hooray. This is despite my all-time biggest single-hand loss:

Omaha Pot Limit ($0.50/$1)

Seat 5: Moran (Button, $164.70)
Seat 7: Hero (SB, $144.25) [Kd Ad 5h As]
Seat 9: Shorty (UTG, $26.25)

2 folds, 2 calls, Moran raises $6 to $7.

Ah geez. I was getting ready to call it a night, and was tempted just to fold and leave. But one of my side cards is very good, and LAGgy Moran could be raising with anything from the button, so this could actually be fun.

Hero calls $6.50, 1 fold, Shorty raises $19.25 to $26.25 and is all-in, 2 folds, Moran raises $63 to $89.25.

Moran is looking to isolate. He could be in good shape three-way if Shorty has my other two aces, but Shorty is short enough that he could be easily pushing with non-AAxx hands. Away we go....

Hero raises $55 to $144.25 and is all-in. Moran calls $55.

FLOP [3h Ks Jd]
TURN [3h Ks Jd 4h]
RIVER [3h Ks Jd 4h 6s]

SHOWDOWN
Hero shows [Kd Ad 5h As] for a pair of Aces.
Moran shows [6c 6d 4d 3d] for three of a kind, Sixes.
Shorty mucks [8d Ah 8c Ac] for a pair of Aces.
Moran wins $236 from side pot.
Moran wins $79.25 from main pot.

The ugly numbers:

pokenum -mc 500000 -o kd ad 5h as - 6c 6d 4d 3d - 8d ah 8c ac
Omaha Hi: 500000 sampled boards
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
As Ad Kd 5h 74911 14.98 289763 57.95 135326 27.07 0.285
6c 6d 4d 3d 153178 30.64 346822 69.36 0 0.00 0.306
Ac 8c 8d Ah 136585 27.32 228089 45.62 135326 27.07 0.408

Yech. Almost a worst-case scenario: Shorty has my aces and one of my diamonds, and Moran has three of my other diamonds. Still, my EV for the $236 side pot is good, even factoring in the dead cards:

pokenum -mc 500000 -o kd ad 5h as - 6c 6d 4d 3d / 8d ah 8c ac
Omaha Hi: 500000 sampled boards
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
As Ad Kd 5h 303417 60.68 196583 39.32 0 0.00 0.607
6c 6d 4d 3d 196583 39.32 303417 60.68 0 0.00 0.393

So s'all good. I guess.

Stars Wars: Episode IV

liquid's YTD: $5029.51

My past experiences on Poker Stars have not been good. But last week, I decided to take a shot at a clearing a couple of bonuses I have stacked over there. Brace yourselves kids.

This time around I've played the $100 PLO tables exclusively. After the first two days I was up $200, and had nearly wiped out all of my Stars losses from earlier this year. All is rosy! Then the next day I lost $100. Then I won the $100 back... before tallying almost $300 in successive losses. The hate began to burn in my belly again. But now I've won the $300 back. So whatever. I am numb to it all.

Anyway, there have been several interesting hands, but I'm too lazy to go digging through them right now, so here are a couple from last night that are fresh in my memory.

The first hand is for Napalm, since I'd just told him yesterday afternoon that I almost never run an outright bluff.

Omaha Pot Limit ($0.50/$1)

Seat 1: Hero (CO, $96.50) [Jc Tc Qc Td]
Seat 3: Foe (SB, $48.15)

ANTES/BLINDS
Foe posts small blind ($0.50), BB posts big blind ($1).

PRE-FLOP
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $1, MP3 folds, Hero calls $1, Button calls $1, Foe raises to $5, BB folds, MP2 folds, Hero calls $5, Button folds.

($14) FLOP [8s 6h 4h]
Foe checks, Hero bets $10, Foe calls $10.

($34) TURN [8s 6h 4h 5d]
Foe checks, Hero bets $32.15 (= foe's remaining stack), Foe folds.

This is why I'm not raising pre-flop much these days. There's always some scumbag looking to steal a raised pot.

Karma evened the score a few hands later.

Omaha Pot Limit ($0.50/$1)

Seat 1: Hero (MP1, $113.80) [Qc Qs 8c Ah]
Seat 5: Foe (Button, $49.25)

ANTES/BLINDS
SB posts blind ($0.50), BB posts blind ($1).

PRE-FLOP
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls $1, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO calls $1, Foe calls $1, SB folds, BB checks.

($4.50) FLOP [6d Qd 5s]
BB checks, Hero bets $4, CO folds, Foe calls $4, BB folds.

($12.50) TURN [6d Qd 5s 3h]

Now of all the straight and flush draws that were out there on the flop, the 7-high straight is one of the least likely. Foe wouldn't call the flop with 74xx, would he, unless xx completed a bigger wrap? Only a 3 on the turn would give him the nuts. So I decide to go all fancy.

Hero checks, Foe bets $8, Hero raises $16 to $24, Foe raises $20.25 to $44.25 and is all-in.

Oops. And of course I didn't consider foe's stack very carefully, so now I have to call.

Hero calls $20.25.

Time to suck out!

($98) RIVER [6d Qd 5s 3h Th]

Or not.

Foe shows [7c 4c 9d Ad].

Note: You don't have to bother raising your nut flush + open-ended straight draws on the flop when I am more than willing to pay you off after you hit.

Higher Ground

liquid's YTD: $4357.91

I'm playing the $100 PLO tables this week. Initially they seemed much more aggressive than the $50 tables, but I've since discovered that my first few sessions included a couple of folks who just push the action a lot more than the others. When those folks aren't around, the tables have been as loose-passive as the typical $50 table.

I've gotten pushed around a little, leaked a little more, collected one big pot on a redraw that hit, and in the end managed to scrape enough modest pots to break even for the week. The YTD chart has definitely flattened out as a result, but s'all good. I anticipated having to shell out some cash to learn a new level, so for now I'm happy with breaking even.

Plus, in reviewing my hands, I've noticed that my legitimate hands are few and far between. Case in point: I played a single table this evening for more than two hours, and ended the session up a whopping $2.60. I noted all of four non-trivial wins:

1. I limp with Kd 4c 3s As on the button. Flop is Qd Jd Ah and checks around. Turn is 3h and I donkey it up by calling a weak $3 bet (along with two others) with my spiffy top and bottom pair. River is Ac and checks to me; I bet $7 and get two callers (one with trip aces and the other with pocket Qs for an underfull). Depressingly, this was my best hand of the night, and the only one I showed down.

2. I call an EP raise to $4 with 9d 5c Kd Kc in MP, along with two others. Flop of 8d Jd 4s is checked to me, and I bet $10 into a $17 pot with the second nut flush draw. Button calls; others fold. Turn is 4h; I bet $25; button folds.

3. I limp in CO with Ah 3h Ks Jc. Flop is 2s Jh 9s; checks to me; I bet pot. EP caller; everyone else folds. Turn is Kc; EP checks; I bet pot; EP folds.

4. I limp in MP with 9s Tc Ad Kh. Flop is 4c Qs Kd and checks around. Turn is 9d; I lead with a half-pot bet; one caller behind. River is 5s; I bet half pot; foe folds.

There's a good chance I had the best hand each time, but it sure would be nice to splash around with something more than two pair once in a while.