Fall Break, Home, Party, Phillies, Little Poker

Friday marked the start of Fall Break. It was basically an extended weekend and Im heading back to Durham tonight. Its always fun to come home. This past weekend I explored Manayunk, Philadelphia for the first time. Its a prime party town on the outskirts of the city. I had always heard good things about it from friends. Its mainly a bunch of people in their 20's just looking to have a good time. My kind of people. Im glad I had the opportunity to check this place out because its definitely a place I would consider moving to after graduation.

Philadelphia has been waiting for a championship for 25 years. We are very passionate about our sports. At the same time, Philadelphia fans are notorious for their mood swings based on performance. We're desperate for a championship, so you cant blame us. This year is different, though. The Phillies are up 3-1 on the Dodgers in the NLCS. We're just one game away from our first World Series appearance since 1993.

On the poker side of things, low volume is the key phrase here. Not saying thats a good thing, either. Its tough to stay on the grind with so much going on while Im on break. This is probably a double-edged sword, but I usually never sacrifice a fun night out for a thousand hands of poker. Poker will be around forever and is available 24/7. Going out and having a good time is something that is limited, so I want to take advantage of my youth. In any event, Ive managed to log a mere 1000 hands since Friday and have picked up 3 BIs in the process.

$1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha Hi

UTG	ZBTHorton	($343.55)
CO	dusk2dawn75	($389.65)
BTN	Hero	($200.00)
SB	xxCar-Haulerxx	($94.75)
BB	FredFonk	($290.95)

Pre-flop: ($3, 5 players) Hero is BTN

ZBTHorton raises to $7, dusk2dawn75 calls $7, Hero raises to $31, 2 folds, ZBTHorton folds, dusk2dawn75 calls $24

ZB is a competent LAG player who tends to play too many hands. Dusk is your standard LAP player and is not competent. If ZB is opening a wide range, a squeeze in position is profitable. As it turns out, Im playing a large pot heads up in position against the donk, which is an ideal situation, especially given that he could have any four.

Flop: ($72, 2 players)
dusk2dawn75 checks, Hero checks

This is where things get tricky. While the face value of my hand looks pretty good, Im not thrilled to get it in the middle here. The hands that Im most likely to get it in against on the flop are JT, T6, and 65, all of which are possible holdings for Dusk, who could have any four as far as Im concerned. I check it back because Im not afraid of any turn and deception. The check is good for deception because most people put you on AAxx after a three bet and a flop check. If I turn a heart or pair the board, Im confident with my hand.

Turn: ($72, 2 players)
dusk2dawn75 bets $36, Hero calls $36

No sense in raising because Im either way ahead or way behind.

River: ($144, 2 players)
dusk2dawn75 bets $72, Hero goes all-in $133, dusk2dawn75 calls $61

River the nuts. Easy shove.

Final Pot: $410
dusk2dawn75 shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $407 ( won +$207 )
dusk2dawn75 lost -$200.00
ZBTHorton lost -$7.00

The flop check proved to pay dividends as this type of opponent is most likely getting the second nuts in on the flop. As evident by his line, he probably thought I had AAxx and tried getting a light call down.

PLO is fun for everyone

I logged 2100 hand tonight and picked up two BIs. After reviewing my play, I was happy to see that my decisions were +EV when the money went in. However, my review also suggested I have much room for improvement. The games were unbelievably good tonight. One of the aspects of PLO I love the most is that good games are always running during the daytime.

I watched and took notes on Greg Brooks' only PLO video on Leggo. Ive watched many PLO vids by now and I must say that his vid was one of the best Ive seen across any of the sites. His commentary and analysis was excellent, but the most beneficial aspect of his vid was his session review. In the past, I simply reviewed my equity in PTO by checking my equity and pot odds in certain spots. Greg showed how to analyze various holdings through PTO. It can be done by checking "Winning %," then my on to "Open in Browser." From there you can plug in various holdings to analyze your equity versus your opponets range, rather than just his immediate holding. In hold 'em, we use Pokerstove for such analysis, but there is no such program for PLO. Im very happy that I discovered this because it will be huge building block towards achieving my goals. More PLO vids Greg! Maybe Martin can pass the word along since hes ballin it up as a guest pro over there.

I would post some hands, but for some reason none of the converters are working for me tonight.

New Challenge

Adding PLO into my arsenal has made poker much more fun. Poker feels new and exciting again. In lieu of this I want to start a new challenge which will motivate me to blog regularly. I will start at 200PLO. The final destination will be 1kPLO. While 1kPLO will be my final destination, there are many short term goals along the way. My short term goals, which will ultimately help me achieve my long term goal, will consist of watching and taking notes on five videos a week, play my A game, be an active contributor in 2p2's omaha forum, and analyze my play after each session. Hopefully I can befriend some other PLO regulars. Getting hooked up with UF2B was paramount to my development as a NL player. Ill use this blog to chronicle my progress though the PLO stakes and to analyze large or interesting pots. Along with blogging about my progress and hand analysis, Ill write about any poker related thoughts and observations.

PLO

At the start of September, I decided to fully commit to learning PLO. I am having fun playing poker. I personally feel that the edges in the current NL games are few and far between. While the occasional fish pops up here and there at the NL table, they seem to be instinctively flocking to today's PLO games. With all of the training sites available, everyone is good at NL. A few months back, Taylor Caby decided to grind out a bunch of hands at 5-10. He couldnt get over how tough the games were. Heres a guy who crushed the biggest games just a few years ago, and now hes having a rough time with 5-10. Granted, my perspective should be taken with a grain of salt. I cant remember the last time I played on a Friday or Saturday night - the most profitable times of the week. Although the variance is high at PLO, it is also high in NL. Anytime you're getting TT, AQ in preflop for 100bb, its a high variance game. Even the HU NL games are getting ridiculous these days. Game selection is key in HU. When there are 10-15 other HU regulars waiting for a game, its tough to game select. PLO is fun and also very interesting. There are so many unique situations. Not too many people know how to play this game optimally. As PLO has become more popular over the last year or so, it reminds me of former trend seen in the poker world. The poker boom. Everyone flocked to NLHE. This was a time period when Andrew Wiggins was beating up on the 10-20 games... enough said. Back to the point at hand, PLO is starting to boom - just like NLHE did several years back. No one knows how to play the game. Best of all, gamblers love it. Its safe to say that PLO yields significantly more action than NL. If you were a compulsive gambler (aka recreational gambler) putting money on an online poker site and you were a bad player, would you prefer more or less action? While NL may be the more popular game at the moment and said recreational gambler may feel more "comfortable" playing NL, he ultimately has no clue what hes doing. Whether he has no clue what hes doing at NL or PLO, I think hell have more fun at PLO. These are just my observations. History tends to repeat itself, and as PLO gains popularity, more fish will make the shift. Even if they dont make the shift, the games are quite profitable as it stands.

Oh yeah, I have a blog

I guess the title says it all. The past few months have been pretty hectic. I finished up summer school near the end of June. We had a great time and I came through with an A and a B+ in my two courses, so Im pleased with that. I came home to a good situation. My buddies and I rented a house at the shore (Sea Isle City) for the entire summer. I go down from Fri-Mon while playing poker, working out, wrestling, and studying for the LSAT during the week. This summer has been awesome, but words dont really do it justice. I have some pretty crazy memories from this summer that will last a lifetime. Its not over yet, though. My friends have a going away party planned for me on Fri, which unfortunately, is my last night.

I havent been too enthusiastic about poker in recent months. After a harsh downswing in June followed by an extended period of break even poker, I decided to drop down to 1-2. Things are going well there and Ill probably hang around at that limit until I get settled in at school. School starts Monday, a week from today. Pretty crazy. Im living in a house with 6 other guys and it should be a non-stop party for the most part, which is a double edged sword. In any event, Im looking forward to it. Ill try to make a habit of updating this thing bc I enjoy writing and I think its healthy for my game.

HU and Some Hands

Damn, almost two weeks have passed since my last post. Im back in Durham for summer session. Ive actually been back for a bit over a week. They didnt waste any time getting our asses back in gear for the summer session.

Ive been working pretty hard at my HU game as of late. Its coming along pretty well. Ive been watching HU vids and taking careful notes. I review the notes before each session. After awhile, the notes become common knowledge. I started with Krantz's Pr1nnyraiding series because it serves as a good introduction into HU play. Its given me a good fundamental platform to build off of.

Best of luck to the both the men's and women's Duke Lacrosse teams this weekend as they're both in the Final Four. I live with lax guys so hopefully they come back with the national title because in that case it will be a continuous party for at least a few days. They took second the past two seasons, so they're due this year.

Poker is fun, for everyone...

UTG: $350.70
Hero (MP): $890.10
CO: $506.60
BTN: $401.70
SB: $206.40

Pre-Flop: A Q dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $12, CO raises to $36, 3 folds, Hero calls $24
My image is loose and aggressive. Ive been at the table for about an hour. Villain is tight and aggressive, but has been 3 betting me aggressively. Hes solid and plays well. Earlier in the session, he 3 bet me twice in a row and I folded preflop both times. The hand prior to this he 3 bet me, so this is the second time this session that hes 3 bet me twice in a row.

Flop: ($78) Q K 2 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $64, Hero calls $64
Way ahead or way behind - call.

Turn: ($206) K (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($206) 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $116, CO raises to $406.60 and is All-In, Hero calls $290.60
Standard VB here considering he might be able to find a call with a worse Q or medium pp. He thinks for a bit and shoves. He wont give me too much credit for a K here. AK 4 bets, KQ could flat but prob c/r the flop. KJ is really the only credible K I could have, but Im usually not calling with it OOP in MP. He has to assume Im making a thin value bet here. He has a lot of FE given my bet and the effective stack size. I figured he was capable of turning a made hand like 77-99 into a bluff plus any air.

Results: $1,019.20 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked A Q and LOST (-$506.60 NET)
CO showed Q K (a full house, Kings full of Queens) and WON $1,016.20 (+$509.60 NET)
- Nice turn check by him.

Hero (BB): $404
UTG: $1,037.90
BTN: $72
SB: $480.30

Pre-Flop: A K dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to $12, 2 folds, Hero raises to $44, UTG calls $32
- Four handed. Same villain as above and about 20 minutes later...

Flop: ($90) J 6 K (2 Players)
Hero bets $64, UTG calls $64
Hes views me as loose and aggressive, so its easy for him to assume Im cbetting here with 100% of my range. I expect him to call with TP, mid pr, any draw, and some medium pp's. Pretty wide range.

Turn: ($218) 7 (2 Players)
Hero bets $296 and is All-In, UTG calls $296
Im definitely betting the turn but how to extract max value? I could make the standard bet of $100 to set up an easy river shove. However, I think that he'll fold a good portion of his range on the turn and definitely the majority of his range on blank rivers if i take this line. I ended up shoving because the flop is draw heavy, and the turn made it draw heavier. I figured I'd shove bc it was the most obvious way to rep a draw. He tanked and called.

River: ($810) 4 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $810 Pot ($2 Rake)
Hero showed A K (a pair of Kings) and WON $808 (+$404 NET)
UTG mucked A Q and LOST (-$404 NET

And the fat lady sings

Its all over. Junior year of college has officially concluded. I cant believe Im about to be a senior. Time sure does fly. Growing up, its easy to take your youth for granted. Shit, I still do take it for granted. In any event, Im heading to the shore at Wilmington, NC where a friend of mine is hosting a weekend long party. Should be a good time and a solid cap to the year.

I get money

Ahh the college life. Nothing like sleepin' in on a Tuesday. Ran some errands. Played a session. Hit the gym. Finished up with a fairly long session. I used to be a gym rat in my high school days because of wrestling and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Once I got to college, we were stuck on the generic wrestling lifting program. Generic lifting programs are terrible because everyones body will respond differently to various forms of training. I lost interest in lifting and after my career ended, it was very tough to find the motivation to get back at it. I would trickle into the gym here and there but it never clicked. As a new years resolution, I told myself I was going to get back in the gym. The best investment of FPP's Ive ever made was in my Ipod Touch. I can tune out the soothing music they love to play in our gym and the nerds who are aimlessly throwing weights around next to me. With the exception of last week, I hadnt missed a workout. Im on a five day split routine Monday to Friday. Its finally paying off. My abs are back. Im happy to see them because its been awhile. Perfect timing for the summer. Today's workout was pretty brutal. It was back day. I decided to amp up the intensity significantly for todays back routine because I felt that my gains were plateauing. Ugh, it worked. After three tri-sets (three sets in a row with no rest in between repeated three times), I had to take a ten minute intermission. The intermission was spent in the bathroom puking and laying on the cold floor. Afterwards I felt like a million bucks then finished up the rest of my workout and did some cardio.

On to what you probably came here for... poker.

Hence the title of my post. Maybe one day Ill be sweet enough to replicate Gambler2k4's baller pose with the $50 bills.


CO: $816
BTN: $386
SB: $86.20
BB: $621.40
UTG: $1,933.15
Hero (MP): $456.40

Pre-Flop: Q A dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $12, CO calls $12, BTN calls $12, 2 folds
Standard raise and Im called by two TAG players.

Flop: ($42) 7 3 K (3 Players)
Hero bets $32, CO folds, BTN calls $32
Standard cbet. Once CO folds and Im HU with button, Id expect him to raise his sets and call with his pairs. Alot of guys will call with any pair here because they expect me to cbet this with 100% of my range.

Turn: ($106) 8 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $76, Hero raises to $164, BTN raises to $342 and is All-In, Hero folds
Id expect him to check back his one pair hands for pot control. When he bets, the majority of his range cannot stand a c/r.

Results: $434 Pot ($3 Rake)
BTN mucked and WON $431 (+$223 NET)
- He ended up showing 87. Dont ask me why he showed.


SB: $120
BB: $78
UTG: $376
MP: $486.70
Hero (CO): $1,390.80
BTN: $820.60

Pre-Flop: 9 T dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, MP calls $4, Hero raises to $20, BTN calls $20, 3 folds
MP is a huge donk. BTN is kind of LAG, but has made some skeptical plays. He seems like a tourney donk who might be giving cash games a try. With the donk in the hand, Id expect him to be calling with any hand that has good implied odds.

Flop: ($50) 7 7 A (2 Players)
Hero bets $36, BTN raises to $76, Hero calls $40
Once raised, I assume his range consists of trips+ or a draw. Once I call, he's most likely to put me on TP that doesnt want to commit alot of chips bc were 200bb deep.

Turn: ($202) Q (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks
Id expect him to follow up with trips+ here because he should want to get paid against an ace and not give a free card to a draw. Once he checks through, I put him on a draw that is taking his free card because he assumes Im not folding my TP.

River: ($202) 3 (2 Players)
Hero bets $100, BTN calls $100
All draws miss. I bet because I have no showdown value and it should effectively fold out all of his draws. My bet size says, "Call me please because I have TP and I know your draws missed." Unfortunately, he complied.

Results: $402 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 9 T (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-$196 NET)
BTN showed A 5 (two pair, Aces and Sevens) and WON $399 (+$203 NET)
- lol donkaments


SB: $396
BB: $669.20
UTG: $682.40
MP: $1,205
Hero (CO): $428.70
BTN: $394

Pre-Flop: K K dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG calls $4, MP folds, Hero raises to $20, BTN folds, SB calls $18, BB calls $16, UTG calls $16

Flop: ($80) T 8 2 (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $55, 2 folds, UTG calls $55
UTG is a loose passive donk who plays his hands face up.

Turn: ($190) 8 (2 Players)
UTG bets $36, Hero raises to $126, UTG calls $90
An 8 is certainly in his range, but if he has it, he'll let me know. Im not worried until he gives me reason to be. I think hes blocker betting with a draw to set his own price. I raise because I feel it extracts the most value from the majority of his range (TP and draws).

River: ($442) J (2 Players)
UTG bets $481.40 and is All-In, Hero folds
Draw completes and its an easy fold.

Results: $382 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG mucked and WON $379 (+$208 NET)
-Sklansky bucks balla.