Full Plate
Sunday, June 25, 2006
We've got a busy week planned. Not only do we have the usual slate of weekly blogger tournaments, but the DADI 7, NLHE, is scheduled for Thursday, June 29th. Sign up early, beeches! We've got some great freebie prizes in store. First place gets a $215 token from C-Mitch of O-Poker, an iPod Shuffle from PokerOnAMac.com, and 2000 VPP Points spread amongst four different players from Vegas Poker Pro.
Not too shabby for a little home-game-like online tournament. And remember, the password has changed to pokertrust.
Aside from the DADI tournament, I also have a vacation to Jamaica planned for next week. I leave a week from Monday, and it's really just crept up on me.
On the poker front, I've stuck with PLO8, mostly on Stars, working off a 20% bonus. It's been going well overall, even though I hit a couple of difficult second-best hands and a couple of more river suckouts that left me losing my entire $50 buy-in on several occassions. That's the nature of the beast, though, with Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, so I've taken my lumps and I'm on top overall, fortunately often doubling up with the stone cold nuts while the kamikaze style players push all-in with their weak hands.
I've been considering why PLO8 has been a more profitable game for me of late (or at least it seems that way), and I suppose it comes down to a variety of reasons. First, the game requires a good analysis of outs and redraws, and while I'm no pro, I do feel like I have a better grasp than the average shmo playing PLO8. At least at my levels, I have to assume that the players are little more than NLHE players who like to gamble. That's number 2 actually. The players are (at least at the .25/.50 level) pretty bad. They buy in short regularly, and they just don't have a grasp of what a good hand is. For instance, I literally just won a hand with QQJ6 in the BB when I flopped the Q on the flop. I bet the whole way, pot the whole time, and I was called down by someone with AQ for TPTK. Hell, when the river made a flush, I considered checking, but then I realized where I was, and decided, correctly, that my opponent was actually on something a lot weaker (or they would have bet first on the rivered flush). In PLO8, TPTK may as well be spelled SHIT. So, generally, we get a variety of gambling players who think that ramming and calling with bad draws or mediocre hands is the way to success. Third, the hi/lo component allows me to play more hands (albeit cautiously), so I get the action I crave so much. This way, I don't fall into the trap of playing KTs in NLHE because I've gotten antsy, something that I should NEVER do, but still happens from time to time. Fouth, I think that PLO8 demands me to think more. I am so familiar with Texas Hold'em that I can put myself on auto-pilot, which actually stinks in comparison to focused poker. At PLO8, I need to read the board carefully, contemplate my hand, and then act. Finally, PLO8 is easier for me because the decisions are much more clear cut. TPTK will not get beaten by an overpair, because I'm laying down TPTK nine times out of ten. Sure, you fall into different problems more often, like K-high flushes running into A-high flushes (it happened to me at least once yesterday), but if you are familiar with the game, you come to expect these things.
I've been itching, lately, to get into some bigger buy-in tournaments live. I'm seriously considering making a go at a WPT/WSOP Winner's Choice event at Full Tilt. Otherwise, I'm keeping an eye out for the WPT schedule for late 2006 and the WSOP Circuit events for the same time period. I want to buy in to the cheapest event, likely a $300 or $500 buy-in, but truthfully, my roll couldn't take it. So, I have a few options. One, I can try selling shares in me, but I don't think that will get me too far, and I don't want to annoy people. Two, I can try live satellites, if they have them. Three, I can commit more of my bankroll than is appropriate, just so that I have the experience. Four, I can save what little money I make from this site and use it for the buyin. That last option seems best to me, but I don't know how practical it is.
I'm off to AC for the first weekend in August for a bachelor's party. The party is on Saturday, but Roose and I have a room for Friday, so we can get the party started early. We plan to play the 11am Saturday $50+10 at Showboat. If anyone will be in town, let me know.
Rumor has it that some bloggers may also be meeting up at Foxwoods in November (I think) for some WPT event or other. If anyone knows any details, shoot me an email or comment. I'd love to make it.
I've still not been running super well. One blogger, who shall remain nameless, shot me an IM yesterday, complaining about his bad run/luck as of late. I'll admit that I was a bit annoyed. I had been running bad myself, and my goal was to repeatedly remind myself that this is a game of variance. Staring in the face of someone else's bad beat story did little to comfort me. So, I laid it out. "It's luck, and it will all even out." "Not for me it won't." "Bullshit." I hope that you all remember this when you are running bad. Sure, you should strive to improve your game. Sure, you should avoid tilting, and maybe even take a break or change rooms so that you can rehabilitate your table (and mental) image. But in the end, you WILL lose sometimes. It's up to you to determine if these losses will be a tragedy that will bring you into the depths of self-pity, or a bit of variance that you will wait out. For me, I'm going for the latter, and for the most part, it's been good for me mentally, if not financially just yet.
And now, I shall briefly return to my old habit of twisting famous movie lines to reflect some sort of poker-ish statement.
Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Phil Ivey!
posted by Jordan @ 4:34 PM,
5 Comments:
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At 11:53 AM,
TripJax said...
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See you Thursday, or sooner!
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At 3:09 PM,
Riverrun said...
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Can you guys make the next one on a monday? I want to play in one of these!
Good LUCK @ the tables Jordan.
Ryan -
At 3:51 PM,
Jordan said...
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Sure RiverRun. Actually, the last couple of tournaments have been on Mondays. But if you are generally interested in a Monday night game with other bloggers, consider Mondays at the Hoy (aka, Math), a tournament put on by Hoyazo (hammerplayer.blogspot.com). It's $20+2, and I believe it is at 9pm EST, but I may be wrong. I probably won't be playing there tonight, but in general, if I'm able to play on a Monday, I'm in for the Hoy.
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At 4:50 PM,
Riverrun said...
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Wow i'm an idiot, I just looked at my calender for the next 4 mondays and I'm booked till August. Next monday is the holiday for us Canucks so I should be able to play next week if I can scratch together the buy in.
If you want to win you better not show up! -
At 5:09 PM,
Jordan said...
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River, the current date for the game is this Thursday. Hopefully, you can make it. The next DADI event will not be until August (or potentially later), as we try to keep it to one tournament per month. So, if you can't make this one, hopefully you can make the next one.
On a side note, if you are ever looking to play an SNG, MTT or cashgame with some company, let me know in advance where and when or hit me up on the girlie Yahoo IM (highonpokr, with no E). That goes for all yalls!
