PLO, blinds start at $10/$20, $2,000 in starting chips, 10-minute levels.
5:02: Off to a decent start, as I river a straight with 8-8-7-4 on the second hand of play. Table 98 if you're watching.
5:05: 5 of 9 players at the table are sitting out. Maybe they thought this was TEXAS Hold 'Em?
5:10: I have Nicolala0001 to my left, and he's betting the pot every round of every hand. Whoops, there he goes. Justice, even if it wasn't done by me.
5:15: Does anyone even know how to PLAY this game?! Really big swings so far, with some REALLY stupid plays at my table. Will profile one hand in particular later.
5:20: I'm down to $740. And I'm not even all that concerned. That's how crazy this game is.
5:35: I got my hand (Ac-4c-9h-5h) to pounce with. Pounced after flopping top 2. Then I busted when my opponent turned a low flush. Ouch.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tourney 1 wrapup, tourney 2 preview
As the liveblog states, I didn't do so hot last night, with the exception of one key hand I'll profile. I held 10-9 offsuit in early position, with the blinds at $15/$30. The table was full of limpers, so I limped (a little loose for me, but if I saw a favorable flop with a hand that isn't awful, I stood to make some money). We had one limper behind me (the big blind sat out and folded), and the flop came 10-2-2.
Pretty nice flop for my hand. I bet out $100 (about the size of the pot), and the other limper called me. This didn't concern me too much; I put him on an ace at this point, and I think he thought I was trying to steal.
Regardless, the turn was a GORGEOUS 9 of diamonds. I now had the top two pair, and the only thing that logically beats me here is if he limped with a deuce and smooth-called on the flop. I bet out $150, about half the pot, and the player behind me pushes all-in! He had me covered, and so I went into the tank. Could he have A-2? The table on the whole had been playing tightly, so I didn't think he would have seen the flop with any deuce weaker than that (unless he had two of them!).
After a few seconds, I decided I couldn't fold this hand and that A2 or pocket deuces weren't all that likely. I called him down, and to my delight, he held J-10! I'd outdrawn him, and when the river didn't bring a jack for higher 2 pair or a deuce for a split, I raked in a pretty large pot. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there, culminating when my K-9 was outdrawn by J-2 suited.
Tonight's another night, though, with a distinctly different feel: Pot limit Omaha. I've never been a tremendous Omaha player. I feel like I play too many hands and that I don't know when to get off a beaten hand. Regardless, I'm playing tonight (no reason not to, the price is certainly right!), and I'm going to play a few extremely low-priced sit-n-gos just to get my feet wet and develop some sort of strategy. I've already gloriously busted out of one; I was short-stacked in a fast-paced MTT, and pushed pre-flop with A-Q-J-7, only to run into quad kings!
Remember, the live blog will be up starting when the cards are in the air at 5 PM, so stay tuned. Also, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AndrewChampagne .
Pretty nice flop for my hand. I bet out $100 (about the size of the pot), and the other limper called me. This didn't concern me too much; I put him on an ace at this point, and I think he thought I was trying to steal.
Regardless, the turn was a GORGEOUS 9 of diamonds. I now had the top two pair, and the only thing that logically beats me here is if he limped with a deuce and smooth-called on the flop. I bet out $150, about half the pot, and the player behind me pushes all-in! He had me covered, and so I went into the tank. Could he have A-2? The table on the whole had been playing tightly, so I didn't think he would have seen the flop with any deuce weaker than that (unless he had two of them!).
After a few seconds, I decided I couldn't fold this hand and that A2 or pocket deuces weren't all that likely. I called him down, and to my delight, he held J-10! I'd outdrawn him, and when the river didn't bring a jack for higher 2 pair or a deuce for a split, I raked in a pretty large pot. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there, culminating when my K-9 was outdrawn by J-2 suited.
Tonight's another night, though, with a distinctly different feel: Pot limit Omaha. I've never been a tremendous Omaha player. I feel like I play too many hands and that I don't know when to get off a beaten hand. Regardless, I'm playing tonight (no reason not to, the price is certainly right!), and I'm going to play a few extremely low-priced sit-n-gos just to get my feet wet and develop some sort of strategy. I've already gloriously busted out of one; I was short-stacked in a fast-paced MTT, and pushed pre-flop with A-Q-J-7, only to run into quad kings!
Remember, the live blog will be up starting when the cards are in the air at 5 PM, so stay tuned. Also, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AndrewChampagne .
Monday, January 25, 2010
WBCOOP Liveblog: Tournament #1
Some preliminary information on the tournament: $2,000 in chips to start, 10-minute levels, starting at $10/$20. Antes kick in at level 5, and the escalate pretty steeply in comparison to the blinds.
5 PM: Here we are! I'm in seat 5 at table 64 on the off chance one of you wants to log onto PokerStars and bust my chops in the chat.
5:05: Alternating between 2 and 4 sitouts per hand. Makes for a decent steal atmosphere early on, but it also makes it tougher to get a call on a pre-flop raise.
5:10: First decent laydown of the tournament. Lost the minimum with A10 after being re-raised all-in pre-flop. Treading water thus far.
5:15: Big double up with 10-9 when I turn two pair, now up to $3,000.
5:20: Down to nine-handed with two sit-outs. Table's playing pretty solid; several tight-aggressive types and a few calling stations, but no genuinely BAD players.
5:30: Maybe I'm the bad player. Just bluffed off over a grand, and now I'm about back where I started.
5:35: Back to "water-treading" mode. There are suddenly a bunch of limpers pre-flop at this table.
5:40: I just got slowrolled. Flop pair of 10's in small blind, guy calls time with QQ when 10's are the possible top pair. Down to 1000.
5:45: I'm out. K9 loses to J2 after a J-9-5 flop. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.
5 PM: Here we are! I'm in seat 5 at table 64 on the off chance one of you wants to log onto PokerStars and bust my chops in the chat.
5:05: Alternating between 2 and 4 sitouts per hand. Makes for a decent steal atmosphere early on, but it also makes it tougher to get a call on a pre-flop raise.
5:10: First decent laydown of the tournament. Lost the minimum with A10 after being re-raised all-in pre-flop. Treading water thus far.
5:15: Big double up with 10-9 when I turn two pair, now up to $3,000.
5:20: Down to nine-handed with two sit-outs. Table's playing pretty solid; several tight-aggressive types and a few calling stations, but no genuinely BAD players.
5:30: Maybe I'm the bad player. Just bluffed off over a grand, and now I'm about back where I started.
5:35: Back to "water-treading" mode. There are suddenly a bunch of limpers pre-flop at this table.
5:40: I just got slowrolled. Flop pair of 10's in small blind, guy calls time with QQ when 10's are the possible top pair. Down to 1000.
5:45: I'm out. K9 loses to J2 after a J-9-5 flop. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.
Tonight's the night
I'm playing in the 5:00 PM eastern WBCOOP tournament I publicized in an earlier entry. The top 153 get entries into SCOOP tournaments, and for the free investment and potential payout, there just isn't much of a better deal out there. This is the first of several tournaments like this this week, and you can catch reports of my play on this blog, as I'll be continually updating for my loyal legion of fans (yeah...sure!).
I feel pretty good heading into this. I played two hands of limit hold 'em this morning at my girlfriend's house; I flopped trip nines with J9 offsuit after the action was checked to me before rivering the FOURTH nine, and then the very next hand I was dealt pocket aces and won a decent pot. I didn't feel like giving my winnings back, so after I was dealt 7-3 the next hand, I left the table. Still, maybe it's an omen.
Regardless, I'll be live-blogging my progress here tonight, so be sure to stay tuned.
I feel pretty good heading into this. I played two hands of limit hold 'em this morning at my girlfriend's house; I flopped trip nines with J9 offsuit after the action was checked to me before rivering the FOURTH nine, and then the very next hand I was dealt pocket aces and won a decent pot. I didn't feel like giving my winnings back, so after I was dealt 7-3 the next hand, I left the table. Still, maybe it's an omen.
Regardless, I'll be live-blogging my progress here tonight, so be sure to stay tuned.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Shaking up a dormant blog
It's been a while, but PokerStars is running a series of tournaments for verified bloggers. I plan on playing, and will be updating this blog with my progress as the tournaments go on.
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