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.

Who? Mike Jones

No need for an introduction. Ill pick up where I left off. The South Padre trip was interesting to say the least. Im pretty sure that Cam (my roommate) and I drank enough to kill a small army over the course of the week. During the day, everyone crowded a particular beach for all day drinking and chaos that typically comes with the territory. After that, we would nap. Upon waking, more drinking ensued. Once we lost touch with reality, we ventured to whatever random night club was going on that night. A couple days into our trip, we met up with a friend (Alex) of ours from school. He lives in Texas so South Padre was in his backyard. He was with a friend from home. Our first night together. His friend parted ways with us to meet up with some of his friends who were also down. Alex ended up crashing at our place. When we went back to his hotel around noon, his friend was not there. And there were no signs thay he had ever been there. His cellphone was off. He was pretty wasted the night before. We called the local hospital. No records of him. We called the jail. Got 'em. He spent the night and morning in the jail. Needless to say, he said it was pretty miserable. Also needless to say, I found it pretty funny. I didnt manage to take too many pictures bc Im not a camera kind of guy. "Hold on! Let's pose for a pic you silly goose!" Nope, not me. I manage to snap off a few, though.


After flying back to Jersey early Saturday morning, we were pretty beat. However, we still had a little bit of fuel left in the tank for Saturday night. Actually, Im pretty sure we were running on fumes. My sisters best friend from college is pretty loaded. Anyways, her parents rented out a stretch Hummer for an event they were attending. Once they were finished with it, we took it up to their college - Villanova - for a night at the bars. The stretch fit all 7 of us pretty comfortably. It also wasnt terrible that my sister's friend brought two bottles of Goose along for the ride. Fun night.


In somewhat related news, shout-out to my sister who made the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleading squad. Over 400 girls tried out and 38 were selected after four rounds of eliminations. Congrats to the sis.

Outside of that, Ive been spending way too much time in the library. I've had the pleasure of watching the sun rise from the library windows more times than I'd like to remember. We actually had our last day of classes on Wednesday, so that was nice. We're in the midst of finals week now but I finished up with three of my finals today. Brutal, but Im relieved. At least until Wednesday, which is when I shall make my glorious return to the library for the majority of my waking hours until Friday evening.

Ahh the library, such a depressing topic. I'll move on to another depressing topic. My poker results. Ive been practically break even on the year over 100k hands. Im actually pretty pleased with break even status considering how things have gone/been going. However, I still have lots to learn and much to improve on. In any event, Ill move on because bitching is for the birds.

On Thursday, after our last day of class, a good buddy of mine and I ventured over to East Carolina Univ. He had visited friends there before and I heard nothing but rave reviews. It was pretty unbelievable. Now I see why people say college is the best four years of your life. Dont get me wrong, I find my fun here at Duke. But the good majority of Dukies are not here to party, they're here to study.

I want to start using this blog for hand analysis because it will improve my game. Here are some hands from tonights session. It was the first time I was able to play in over a week because of school work and my trip to ECU.


$2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BTN: $665.15
SB: $236
BB: $400
Hero (UTG): $562
CO: $646.10

Pre-Flop: A J dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $12, CO folds, BTN calls $12, 2 folds
Im new to the table. Im assuming the the BTN is a weak player because I saw him open limp on the button.

Flop: ($30) 4 J 2 (2 Players)
Hero bets $20, BTN calls $20
Could make it $24 here.

Turn: ($70) 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets $44, BTN raises to $128, Hero calls $84
When raised, I feel his range is polarized. He either has a made flush or is bluffing. My main decision is how to react to the raise. I have two options: shove or call and c/r the river. If I shove, he calls with his made flushes and folds his bluffs. I opt to call because I figure that he would bet any made flush on the river and sometimes his bluffs. Im also assuming that a bad player does not have the ability to fold a made flush on the river to a c/r. However, I think its pretty trivial either way because I dont think he bluffs here too much without a read on me.

River: ($326) A (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $112, Hero raises to $402 and is All-In, BTN calls $290

Results: $1,130 Pot ($2 Rake)
BTN mucked 6 8 and LOST (-$562 NET)
Hero showed A J (a flush, Ace high) and WON $1,128 (+$566 NET)

$2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

CO: $412
BTN: $340
SB: $475.10
Hero (BB): $439.90
UTG: $433.80

Pre-Flop: 9 9 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls $4, 2 folds, SB calls $2, Hero raises to $20, UTG calls $16, SB folds
Solid image. Havent had any real confrontations with UTG. Hes running 22/12 over a short sample. When he calls, Im assuming the majority of his range consists of suited connectors and small pairs.

Flop: ($44) A 7 2 (2 Players)
Hero bets $32, UTG calls $32
I find it common for semi-competant opponents to call any cbet with pocket pairs after they limp and call a raise. After Im called, I believe that he is on the heart draw or is floating with a pair.

Turn: ($108) 4 (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $64, Hero calls $64
My plan is to check/call the turn. He could be semibluffing a heart draw or simply betting the turn as part of his plan to float.

River: ($236) 4 (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $160, Hero calls $160
Wtf? Thats my initial thought. By betting the turn and river as strong as he did, hes repping a pretty huge hand. I retrace the actions through the hand. Any set raises the flop. He could have floated the flop with 44 and turned his set, that makes sense but the probability of that is significantly discounted after the 4 pairs on the river. If he limp called an AJ or AT type of hand, I would assume that he'd check the turn back for pot control. This is another case of a spot where I thought his range was very polarized. I thought he could have played AA and possibly a slowplayed set like this. All draws missed and I called because I felt he had more bluffs in his range than monsters.

Results: $556 Pot ($2 Rake)
Hero mucked 9 9 and LOST (-$276 NET)
UTG showed A 5 (two pair, Aces and Fours) and WON $554 (+$278 NET)
--Pwned. Lesson learned: dont give unknown players credit for being semi-competent.


$2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

Hero (CO): $498.15
BTN: $410.80
SB: $382
BB: $466.50
UTG: $388
MP: $1,117.05

Pre-Flop: 9 9 dealt to Hero (CO)
2 folds, Hero raises to $12, BTN folds, SB raises to $36, BB folds, Hero calls $24
My rust certainly showed in this hand. I learned from it, though. Ive been playing with SB for most of my session across a couple tables. Hes tight and is running at 18/14 over a decent sample. Hes 3 bet me a few times but hasnt been out of line. I play alot of hands from the steal positions. I have set odds, a good made hand, and position - call.

Flop: ($76) 7 3 5 (2 Players)
SB bets $50, Hero calls $50
Way ahead/ way behind - call.

Turn: ($176) 2 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $102, SB raises to $296 and is All-In, Hero calls $194
My thought process was way too risk averse in this spot. I opted to bet because I didnt want to give AK-Q a free card. He tanked before he c/r, but once I bet the turn, I wasnt folding bc i sized my bet so he might think he had fold equity for an AK-Q c/r semibluff. If I wanted to bet here, I should do it with a big hand or air so I can confidently call or fold. This is a spot where a check is the optimal choice. Checking the turn will allow me to play optimally on the river because out of position aggressors will normally either value bet or check down in this spot. If he bets the river, I can safely fold. If he checks, I can check behind because a bet rarely gets called by worse against this tight player.

River: ($768) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $768 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked 9 9 and LOST (-$382 NET)
SB showed K K (a pair of Kings) and WON $765 (+$383 NET)
- Boo this man. Hopefully the rust has worn off.