…nothing to show for it… 🙁
Played numerous SnGs and MTTs at both FullTilt and PokerStars…and after hours of good play I’m down…sometimes I hate the whole MTT and SnG thing…ah well…better luck tomorrow, hopefully 😉
Played two Horses today. The first one was heads up and I couldn’t hit a flop to save my life, so nothing to win there (-5.25$). Then I thought that it would be a good idea to test the donkeys at the 5+0.50 HORSE SnG with 8 players. Same shit different tourney. It’s funny sometimes when you can’t catch a hand and if you get one there’s sure as hell (at least) another player holding a better hand (i.e. J-J vs. K-K vs A-A)…I don’t know what it is, but this really makes me think that I’ve run out of luck somehow…(-5.50$).
After the double horse manure I went back to the normal game (NL HE)…first playing the 1$ tourney at 17ET…nothing spectacular to report, busted out in 127th (of 440), but play a good game. So the last resort were the ring games, so I busted some balls at the 0.05/0.10 NL tables (+10$) to come up almost even for the day…cool.
Now I’m going to relax a little before the DADIII starts…where my last funds at PokerStars will be on the line – don’t expect me to be scared money though 😉
I guess I should come up with better post titles, but it’s 3am, so I blame that fact for it 😉
Played a 7 Stud H/L MTT on PokerStars – the first in quite a while and to my surprise I was right back in the action (after all I was playing 7Stud H/L exclusively for quite a while) and able to scoop quite a bit in the beginning. Just before the bubble I was able to triple up and cruise into the money. Didn’t catch much of anything after that and just survived another level (antes 200, limits 1000/2000)…finished 47th of 456…for a whooping profit of 1.48$ (3$+0.30$ buyin)…Had three hours of poker fun though 😉 
After that I played a NL HE SnG and promptly busted out in 8th, those buggers have been totally -ev in recent days, I think I’m going to start playing MTTs again…
After dropping 2 Buy-Ins (or 40xBB) in 10 hands ( 🙁 ) I decided to change my plan. Instead of stepping down in limit, I’m going to try it with Limit Omaha H/L at the 0.25$/0.50$ tables. Maybe the craziness of PL Omaha H/L just wasn’t meant to be (yet). Let’s see how this works out…
Update:
Okay I give up…another 30 hands later and I’m out of another 20xBB which brings me back to my original plan as I dropped 100x BB in 3 days (2 playing days with a pause of 1 day, yesterday)… 🙁
…and a not totally satisfying 9th place finish.
60 players had entered the 5$ Omaha H/L Fixed Limit tourney and I was really looking forward to yet another good session of Omahatastic Poker. Early on I was establishing myself as the table-captain and long time chipleader. Then I almost donked of all my chips in 2 hands and was desperate with a not all that good hand of J-9-4-5, the J-9 connected for a nifty boat on the river though and so I was back in good shape. Then, as we approached the bubble, I asked myself: continue to play like you did the whole tourney or stall? I did the latter and barely made the final table being desperately short-stacked, but hey, at least I was in the money…and in the BB immediatly (800 – my stack 2400), so I pushed with my A-K-4-8 but couldn’t connect for the high or low (as I lost to a A-3-x-x hand). So I’m out in 9th place, not too good, not too bad and I’m back in business (given my micro bankroll at AP).
Oooh what a day. Played an even wider mix of games today in order to, hopefully, get my bankroll (which was micro to begin with) at AbsolutePoker back from life-support. I played in various HE games ranging from fixed limit 0.10$/0.20$ to 0.10$ NL along with the usual session of Omaha H/L. I couldn’t get much going and so I decided that it would be a good idea to play some S&Gs.
Good idea. I won the Omaha H/L one, bubbled in a HE NL and finished outside the money in the other one. Nontheless some solid playing time without risking too much. I guess going with multiple S&Gs Omaha 8b is the way to go if I want to rescue the remaining few dollars there.
So that’s what I’m going to do! Either I run up my bankroll at AP over the cashout threshold or I go bust…whatever…it doesn’t get me anywhere anyways…the ring games are just too tough (either you play against the calling stations hustling for a (re-re-)draw all the time – after all you can’t push a calling station out of a pot especially in limit or low-limit PL and even if the cards fall your way some of the time, it’s not enough to seriously build up your stack – or you face a NL crowd with a fat roll…you just can’t survive with a minimal bankroll…at least I can’t atm)…
But enough reporting/ranting…I’m going to watch the final table of the “Battleship at Atlantis” Heads Up tourney now…should be interesting!
Side Note: the main event of the PCA is a done deal, check out Brad’s (Otis’) coverage here if you haven’t already. Spoiler: 22 year old student and PokerStars regular Steve Paul-Ambrose has won the thing…1.363.100$ + the WPT championship seat (25k$) not a bad pay-day for a student(!), ka-ching!
I just played a little Stud H/L Limit S&G over at AbsolutePoker and what can I say – this is going to be the last one for quite a while. This was the first tournament of any sort that had me frustrated quickly…and not because of the cards that I was dealt. Let me explain: you sit at a one table S&G and play Stud H/L and one player at the table uses all the time he’s got on his hands all the time…so you’re basically sitting there waiting with each and every card that is being dealt – the other players weren’t too fast themselves which didn’t help either.
So I was trying to get out asap as after one hour of play we were heading nowhere and I’m right in the middle of it. This is the first and only time that I didn’t care if I won or not, I just wanted to get out asap, even if that meant taking last place – and this is what happened. I raised every card and busted myself with nothing in hand. So, I’m out of 2$+0.40$ fee, but more importantly I barely escaped with a sane mind and a few nerves less…
I guess a pic says more than thousand words…:
Sometimes you can do no wrong, other times you can do nothing but wrong. The latter happened to my in the last MTT over at PokerStars. The setup was similiar to my last Omaha H/L tourney at Stars: Buy-In 3$+0.30$ fee, 495 players entered, blind levels 15 minutes, this time top 45 in the money.
I took down some pots early on and kicked back into easy mode, before making some donkey moves within 3 hands – in the first hand I folded on the button after a raise and reraise in early position, I didn’t think my hand of 10-10-Q-2 would be any good as you are looking for possible high and low hands, what can I say…flop is 10-10-x…so I folded quads…great. In the following two hands I donked off a huge chunk of my stack when I bet into A-3 with my A-4…not a good idea. So I was in desperate position right before the first break (down to 800 chips with 100/200 limits, 50/100 blinds)…I took down a lovely pot when I rivered a set and was up to just under 2000 again as we headed into the first break.
Players remaining: 300, max: 10071, avg: 2475, me: 1928 (172/300). Right after the break I donked off some chips again and was soon stuck in desperate position again, but this time with 200/400 limits, 100/200 blinds. The end came slowly, in two hands, I look down at Ah-Qs-5s-2h and pushed UTG, some callers, flop is K-K-9…great…now I’m stuck in the BB with 200 odd chips left…All-In…and sure enough I hold the nuts flush on the turn, just to be sucked out by a river boat…argh!
Out in 203rd position… 🙁
So, I went out on a little mixed game spree today and totally donked off my chips. First of all I jumped between Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Hold’em, Limit Omaha H/L and Pot Limit Omaha H/L, then I played a “little bit” above my limit (considering my low bankroll with Titan) and lost my remaining chips in one 0.25$/0.50$ PL Omaha H/L hand. Well, so the Buy-In at Titan Poker is history, but I’m not too worried as the lack of games (especially 7 Stud H/L in regular play and Omaha H/L in S&G and Tournaments) didn’t do me any good and I had no intention what so ever to reload – there were only limited possibilities:
So 3. is what happened, I really dislike to lose money, but that’s the game….now I’m going to focus on the remaining poker rooms where I’m either up (PokerStars, UltimateBet) or slightly down (AbsolutePoker)…
Oooooooooooooh yeah! Finally I came through over at PokerStars!
I entered the Omaha H/L Fixed Limit tournament that started at 18ET, with a Buy-In of 3$ + 0.30$. 378 players entered, so the total price pool was over 1100$.
As this was my first really big (> 300 players) tournament in Omaha H/L, I was a little unsure about how to play and sure enough I donked off quite some of the starting chips (1500) right in the beginning. Then I thought: hey, you won and won and won over the last few days by just playing the really good hands (A-A-x-x), (K-K-x-x), (A-x-x-x), (Q-Q-x-x), (J-J-x-x), (A-K-x-x) etc where x = low card (< 8 ) and ideally one of the x's of the same suit as the Ace or big card for that matter. That strategy served me well! I didn't play all that many hands, although I saw quite some flops as the blinds were still low, but the hands I played I won - at least for the most part. After an hour of play there were 232 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 10563, avg: 2443, me: 4731 - hands dealt: 41, showdowns won 6 of 8, Current position: 21st of 232
I continued to play solid poker and was even able to scoop some pots (taking down the high and low pot or the high pot when there was no low) and I was still in contention right at the second break. After 2h8min of play there were 79 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 22658, avg: 7177, me: 9671 - hands dealt: 92, showdowns won 13 of 18, Current position: 25th of 79 .
Nothing out of the ordinary until the third break either...slowly but steadily grinding away and already in the money, since the 2nd break I've been able to make it to 4 showdowns which I all won! So after 3h18min of play there were 21 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 88723, avg: 27000, me: 20231 - hands dealt: 193, showdowns won 17 of 22, Current position: 14th of 21.
Right after the third break it was getting tense as the blinds kept rising and I was desperate to make the next level (17th place at least, although my true goal was to reach 6th place). People kept dropping and we were down to two tables. I'm still looking good, but can't seem to catch a hand. Then the "miracle" happens just as we're about to head to the final table I look down at Ac-Ah-2c-3d in the BB. I check and then push (5 callers) and push (3 callers) and push (1 caller) - bad for him, good for me: board gives me the Ace high flush for the high and A-2-3-4-5 (wheel for the low), total scoop and I almost quintuple up to 94.000 chips and that's with what I head to the final table. The chipleader is sitting on a massive stack of 130.000, but I'm not worried as I hope to see the others drop out and hence making another few places. Exactly that happens as I watch people go up and down and finally two of them exit at once (9th + 8th place) - hey, my goal of 6th is almost reached and I'm still looking good. Played some hands won a few to go up over 100k then I loose a big one as I keep betting into the nut flush. The 4th break is good for me, after 4h25min of play it's hard to stay focussed, nontheless I feel that I've still got some in me left...so, there were 7 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 152.680, me: 76672 - hands dealt: 217, showdowns won 23 of 29, Current position: 14th of 21.
Now I'm refreshed and sit out a few despite having the BB (12k), so I'm down to 64k but there are only 6 left! Goal achieved and maybe I can get even higher. Indeed I do as I just sit and relax as the other two "shortstacks" are eliminated. Good: I'm a sure 4th place finisher now; Bad: the others have massive chipleads on me. I try to wait for the big scoop, but to no avail - the blinds have been raised to 4000/8000 and with the limits now at 8000/16000 there's not much I can do anymore...I fold as long as I can and as I look down at the first half decent hand in a while (A-2-10-J) I decide to push...chipleader calls me down, so I push the remaining chips in the middle...no low...he wins...so I'm out in 4th place. I would have loved to get just one place higher, but hey this is my first top 5 finish in such a tournament so who am I to complain, especially due to the fact that I'm now up at PokerStars (I was down nearly 50$ prior to this tournament) 
Buy-In: $3.00/$0.30
378 players
Total Prize Pool: $1134.00Dear Ingoal,
You finished the tournament in 4th place.
A $90.73 award has been credited to your Real Money account.
