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.