Beating Pot Limit Omaha High/Low

It was late and I wanted to play a fast SNG.  I went to Full Tilt Poker and saw a Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo game about to start so I entered.

Like any game of Poker, the key to winning Omaha, you need to play tight up front.  In the early rounds, I will only play with four cards that can work together somehow, straights, flushes, pairs, and aces.

This game was a little unusual. In the first hand there were three players all-in and at the end there was one player with a 3-to-1 chip advantage on everyone else.  And this player used her large chip stack effectively. She played every hand and if no one played aggressive, she bet the pot to steal it.

This player was on my direct right.  This was the best position for me.  The reason was that if this player bet the pot, I had an easy decision to fold my marginal hand without losing any chips.  I soon began to what the rest of the table drop out like flies.  When the table got to three players, I had the same amount of chips I started with.

I knew I had to act.  How do you beat the dominant chip leader?  The chip leader was playing loose, so you play against the loose player.  I always let this player lead out.  If I liked my hand I limped.  If I didn't like my hand I folded.  Every time I had to act first post-flop, my move was checking.

Forgive me for not giving any details, but I can't remember exact hands in Omaha.  Basically, anytime I flopped a good hand, I checked.  The chip leader would bet the pot and then I'd raise to the new pot size.  I'd either win or split the pot.  My Passive Aggressive style accomplished one important thing.  The chip leader was afraid of my checks.  She was always afraid that I was slow playing.

Here's an example.  I had A-J-x-x. The flop came A-J-J.  I was first to act and I checked. On the turn, nothing, I check, she checks.  On the river, I check, she bets pot, I come over the top and win.

The benefit for being feared at the table was that I would get free cards in early position.  If I'm the first to act post flop, I check and she checks.  When you give your opponent free cards in Omaha, you'll lose, because you're giving your opponent an opportunity to beat you with anything.

Needless to say, I won this SNG.

Home Game Tournament

The company the I work at occasionally has poker tournaments for fun.  Soup, a good friend of mine, is moving to Fresno, so we had a going away poker tournament.  There's a significant difference between a home game and a casino game.  In a home game, most people will see flops, call raises and play with anything.  It usually means you have to play careful and you can't go in overconfident.

 

My strategy in this game was threefold:

 

Position

Great reads

Position

 

In other words, I want to have position against my opponents. I want to be able to force my opponent into a tough decision rather than bet into a dominated hand.  Also, I don't want to risk everything when I don't have a good read on my opponent.

 

The first half of the tournament was a game of limit hold'em and we hand the blinds move slowly.  My main strategy was wait for good hole cards and play aggressive.  I got good hands, made straights and took pots.  There were some players trying to steal pots. I challenged a few times and took about half.  Can't beat a bluff with a worse bluff.

 

I did play a hand in the dard.  I was the big blind and called without looking.  The flop came King-Jack-4.  I raised and was called.  The turn came a rag and I bet again, and my opponent folded.

 

By the time limit was done, I had the same amount of chips where I started.  We moved to no-limit, I knew I had to make a move or I would never make it.  Because there was a rebuy in this tournament, I was willing to risk a mediocre hand in order to double up.  I took my opportunity with and opened ended straight draw against a set.  I lost and came in with a rebuy.

 

Now, I am back to where I was before I got busted out.  I'm going to sit back and wait for my hand.  So how many times can a person be dealt 7-2 in a game.  Well apparently 7 times seems like a good number.  And guess what, if I had played every 7-2, I would be a dominant chip leader. Flopping trips and two pair on three occasions. But of course, I'm mucking 7-2 pre-flop.

 

Oh well, in the long run, you know you can't win with 7-2.  During this time, I'm doing quite nice building my chip stack.  I'm playing position and then pouncing when sensing weakness.  Stealing blinds and going over the top on weakness.

 

The Defining Moment of the Night.  I can't exactly remember the exact details of the hand, but here's what I remember.  I'm in late position and of the 7 of us, 4 people limp in and I'm dealt J-9.  Since we have limpers, I limp in as well. The flop comes Ace-5-9 of hearts.  Someone may have it their flush. Someone comes in for a standard raise, so I decide to call and see what happens. The turn comes a 9.  I hit trips but I know I need a full boat.  Well, I now need to know where I stand.  It's checked to me so I'm going to make a probe bet and I come in for a standard raise.  My friend comes in for a significant raise for about half my remaining chips.  After thinking I call off half my chips and the river brings a Jack for my full house.  My friend raises me all in and I quickly call to win and basically triple up and I'm the chip leader.

 

Huge controversy here...kind of.  Should I have called on the turn.  The answer was yes and the reasoning is pot odds.  In fact, when I was raised for half my chips, the question in my mind was not folding, it was whether to go all in or not.  My thinking was that by calling, if I missed my draw, I'm still in the game.  If I make my hand, I'm the chip leader.

 

Here's why this was the right call.  There's over 100 chips in the pot.  I'm raised 20 chips, that's giving me over 6 to 1 on my money.  I had 10 outs.  I needed to either pair the board, my kicker or hit quad 9's.  With ten outs, I need to make at least 5 to 1 on my money, since I was 20% to hit my hand.

 

Now, it's down to two of us and the remaining players were short stacked.  In fact, my heads up opponent knocked the last two players out in the same hand.  It was an interesting hand.  The winning hand was 5-7.  The losing hand was K-Q suited and A-J.  Calling with 5-7 was the right move for the chip leader.  When two players go all in and you only have to call a small amount with 2 live cards, then you do it.  As long as no opponent has a 5 or 7 you can get lucky.  And he did, flop brought a 7 and it held up.

 

Head to Head.  I like to play head to head.  Anything can happen with any cards.  For most of head to head, whoever raised first would win. The one thing I noticed about my heads up opponent was that he was a calling station.  I had a hard time getting him to fold.

 

Last hand.  I have 6-9. I call and I'm raised.  I call.  The flop comes Q-8-6.  I go all in. After thinking for quite a long time, he calls.  I accomplished what I needed to and that's put my opponent on a tough decision. I did, I just didn't think he'd call.  I knew he didn't have the Queen and I was thinking he's wait for another chance to knock me out.  Well the turn gave me a double belly buster straight draw and I never made my hand after that.  I come in second and I get my two buy-in's back.

 

So in all of the tournaments I competed in with my fellow co-workers.  I've come in 2nd place four times. Hope this helps you.

Great Learning Podcast

If you want to some good practical advice on playing Sit-N-Go's, I've got a great podcast for you.  It's Poker Diagram (www.pokerdiagram.com).

It is available on iTunes and is generally published once a month.  Two guys from England basically play a SNG's and comment along the way.  Great play and great commentary.

Good word of practical advice this week.  If you're a low limit player like me, realize that you're playing for fun and not for money.  The key is to find a level of play that you can consistently win.  You don't want to play high limits in hope of getting lucky and making quick cash fast.  Play for run and not for money. Your wife will thank you.

Playing the Maniac

I was at Pechanga again - my favorite card club. I waited about 20 minutes until finally getting a seat at the $2/$4 table.

I sat down at seat 1. I hate seat 1 because I can't perform one of my favorite bluffs and that the big blind bluff. I'll tell you about it later but it's basically playing the big blind in the dark without looking at them. Basically, because the dealer is blocking you, the table can see that you haven't yet looked at your cards, plus I have to move my cards because if seat 2 or 3 mucks, their cards might hit main and my hand is dead.

So I sat down in seat 1 and the lady in seat 2 asked me if I was ready for a wild ride. I looked around at everyone's stack and said, "Let's see what happens."

After about two hand I realized what she meant, the guy sitting in seat 7 was a maniac, playing slow and complaining of a headache. Let me describe his maniac tendency. Preflop he was 80% raising, 10% limping and 10% folding. When anyone would raise him, he was always reraising. Believe me, he was raising with anything. Especially with 1 face card and any two cards above the value 2.

Let me talk about maniacs for a second. The key to beating the maniac is to play tight, value bet and don't allow his style of play to frustrate you. I have a great frustration story to tell you later. One thing you'll notice is that the maniac will win a lot pots, but they are small pots. They will lose a few, but when they lose they really lose. During my two hours of play, I saw this maniac drop about $200.

Tight play is the key. After about mucking 6 hands preflop, I'm dealt pocket aces under the gun. I'm first to act after the blinds and I limp in. There are about 4 callers and as I expect the maniac raises. Seat 9 calls and I reraise to $6 to isolate. Amazingly enough, no one folds and the maniac caps it to $8. I'm a little concerned. Because the bet is capped with 6 players in the hand.

The flop comes 8d-Ad-5c. Great flop. I made my set but there's a flush draw. So I'm hoping that the board pairs. Again I'm in early position, I check because I'm expecting the maniac to raise. Suprisingly, seat 6 bets $2. The maniac raises to $4. I decide to take a stand and I reraise to $6. This effectively causes everyone to fold but the three of us. Seat 6 calls the $6 and the mainiac caps the bet to $8, I call. Here's what I'm thinking. The maniac caught a piece of the flop. Maybe the 8 or 5. Seat six is on a flush draw. Now I'm really hoping that the board pairs.

The turn comes the 5d. This is the best card I could imagine. I just made my full house. Seat 6 just made his flush and the maniac will play no matter what. I, of course, check because I'm setting a trap. Seat 6 bets $4. The maniac raises to $8. I reraise to $12 and seat 6 caps it at $16. The maniac actually folds at this moment. When seat 6 capped the betting, I'm very concerned. Does he have pocket 5's? The only hand that can beat me. Crap. I won't even win the jackpot if he does.

The river is 6h. I doubt that he has pocket 5's, but I've invested enough in this hand. I check, seat 6 raises. I say, "there's only one hand that can beat me so I'm calling." Seat 6 flips over Kd-7d for the nut flush. I flip over my Aces full of five to win a monster pot. I'm about $70 up on just one hand. The table is amazed.

When playing a maniac, you'll win a large pot with monster hands. I crippled the maniac and in about 2 hands, he's off to get another hundred to continue playing.

10 hands later I'm in the big blind. I'm fully expecting the maniac to raise. He doesn't. It comes to me and I have Jh-8h. I call. There's 7 players in the hand. The flop comes 2h-8c-8s. Tip 8's and I'm thrilled. I want to trap again. I check. It's checked to the maniac, who bets. It comes to me and I call because I don't want to give away my hand until the turn when the bet doubles. Then seat 6 raises to $4. The maniac reraises to $6 and I decide to cap it at $8. We're down to 3 players again.

The turn is 2d. Full house again. I check, seat 6 bets to $4. Maniac raises $8. I reraise to $12. Seat 6 having learned his lesson earlier folds. Maniac caps it at $16. I know for certain this guy doesn't have pocket 2's. I know I'm in command.

The river is 7d. I won. How much am I going to get? I bet $4. The maniac raises to $8 and I reraise to $12. The maniac pauses the seat 8 says, "he just reraised you." The maniac says, "I know, good for him." He calls and I flip over the full house and he mucks. I'm now up $130. The problem the maniac had here was that I played a hand like J8 suited. If he was a normal player and raised preflop, I might have thought twice about mucking J8 suited. But because I was in the blind and his style of play, I'm playing J8 suited no matter if he raises or not.

I end the day about $60 ahead. I lost two hands to him. The first time, I had top pair with Kings, he caught a Jack on the turn to give him a set of Jacks. Fortunately I only lost the minimum. I don't like to be aggressive with top pair. When playing a maniac you know that he'll play with any two cards. This means that the value of top pair is reduced significantly, because he can hit two pair with any random board.

The second time I lost to him was with King high. I knew that he couldn't beat king high. He caught a 3 on the river to pair up. At this point I tightened up, I and walked away a winner.

The lesson today, don't be intimidated or frustrated by a maniac. I've played against maniacs many times and I have ALWAYS seen them lose at the end of the session.

Defeated at $2/$4

I ventured again into the world of $2/$4 online Hold'em.  Crushed once again.  I started with $120 and ended with $40.

I'm following strictly.  Howard Lederer's Limit Hold'em chart.  I started by losing about $10, then $20 and then moved my way up to $130.  The great fluctuations occurred with good solid aggressive play.

My upward swing was due to aggressiveness with good hand.  I was raising any time I hand a preflop qualifying hand.  In fact, my table began to fear me.  I was getting away with picking up blinds having one caller and getting them to fold when the flop missed both of us.

The downward spins occurred when my somewhat strong hand was beaten by a dominant hand.

For example.  I have Queen, Jack.  I flop top pair and begin to play it aggressively.  Unfortunately my two other opponents have pocket Kings and pocket Aces.  I lose.  As I should, but I didn't dump a lot of money into it.

I am then dealt a fairly good hands preflop. Pocket tens, pocket queens, Ace-rag suited with good draws that don't work out.  This all occurred within a two rounds of blinds and I couldn't make these hands hold up. Generally I don't mind losing a good hand once in a while, but six times I got descent starting hands in the correct position only to be cracked.

Frustrating.  That's poker I guess, but why does this happen when I'm trying to move up?

Back to $1/$2 until I build my bankroll back to normal.

I Love Low Limit Professionals

Have you ever been in this situation?

You're at a low limit table and you make a fairly loose play to win the pot. Then some "professional" has to go on about how you got lucky and they feel they need to critique your play for the next three hands.

That happened to me yesterday. I really ticked a guy off and it was beautiful.

I just sat down at a $1/$2 table at Full Tilt Poker (http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/?aff=1956) and I'm in seat 7.  When you sit down at a table you're asked if you want to post the small blind.  Since I'd have to wait three hands for the big blind, I decide to post my dollar.

I'm dealt 10-4 offsuit.  It's folded to me and I check, since I'm already in the hand.  Seat 6 folds. Seat 9 raises. The button calls as does the small blind and big blind.  I decide to call this raise, so maybe I'll get lucky.

The flop comes Queen-10-7 rainbow.  The blinds check, I check and seat 9 bets.  One caller and everyone folds to me and I call the bet.

Fourth street brings me a 4 and now I have two pair.  I check, seat 9 bets, knocking out the last player and I reraise and I'm called.  The river is junk.  I bet and I am called with Pocket Kings and I win with two pair. This really ticks off seat 9. I win about $10

Of course, I had to show that I was playing with a lousy 10-4 offsuit.

Following this hand, here's how the chat proceeds:

Seat 9: 10-7 offsuit???
Humble Guy (me): I'm crazy.
Seat 9: You're stupid.
Humble Guy: Maniac.
Seat 9: Moron. You must lose a lot of money playing this way.
Humble Guy: There's this concept called pot odds.
Humble Guy: I was getting 8-to-1 odds preflop calling with two live cards. Would you call with those odds?
Seat 9: Shut up, retard.
Humble Guy: Hit and run baby.
Humble Guy has left the table.

I'll admit not very Humble, but I had fun.  I won about $10 and that paid for my $5 No-Limit SNG, which I won and earned another $18. Then I played Razz and won another $10.

Normally I wouldn't hit and run, but I really wanted to play a tournament. And as Barry Greenstein states in his book, Ace on the River, "You should try to win money and let the losers win the arguments." I wasn't in the mood to battle a person on tilt, so I took his money and left.

Another Win

I just won another SNG at Full Tilt Poker (http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/?aff=1956).  I'm still playing the lowest price SNG.  I think I'm ready to move up.

 

This was a particular interesting tournament.  The table was particularly tight.  I was able to steal alot. The key to this win though was taking notes.  You've got to use the tool when available.  I like to label my opponents tight vs. loose and passive vs. aggressive. My bluffs usually happened by limping in, since that's what everyone was doing and if I sensed that no one had a hand, I'd raise.

 

The first player out was the best.  He was attacking anyone when he sense weakness.  This guy, you can sit back and wait for a big hand and then come over the top.  In fact, many times just going over the top forced this guy out.

 

On player was down to 24 in chips. He build his chips up to 1200 and he goes all-in. I'm dealt Ace-King.  This guy was so lucky that I knew I'd lose to him with AK.  I called and he flips pocket tens.  I was right, he won.

 

He miraculously regained a lot of chips and wound up in the final three.  When we were down to three, I became aggressive.  I threw in a standard raise every hand and took 6 hands in a row without ever seeing a flop.

 

When it came head-to-head, I trapped my opponent to 200 chips with trip Queens. He was blinded in the next two hands. I was dealt really bad cards.  Soon, he had the chip lead on me.  I continued to raise all the time and I moved 1,000 over his stack.

 

One thing to know is that almost any hand can win head to head.  I like to see where I stand with big card.  I'm finally deal J-T off.  I figure I'm going to end it now and I pull a straight on the river.

 

Cheers.

This Week's Online Success

I've actually had a pretty good weekend online.  My wife had surgery last week so my playing was limited. Before surgery, I had a pretty bad run and lost about half of what I earned the previous week.  This weekend on the other hand was good.

 

What was the key? Simply, Aggression. I took that attitude that whenever I had a hand I needed to fight for it.  If I would normally call, I was raising.  If I had big cards, I was raising to isolate. 

 

Control of the table.  The other key was to control the table. By raising and looking like a maniac. No one was going to out raise me.  I wanted to be in control of the raising. This cause a lot of people to leave the pot and it also kept that bad players in.

 

This new found aggressing helped my no-limit tournaments.  I made the money in 7 out of 10 SNGs.

 

More later...

The Swings are Tough

I'm doing my normal playing and just as I'm coming off a great week in poker.  It's followed by a losing week so far.  Last week, I won close to $360 and now I'm down $120.

 

I'm learning a few things with this loss.  At cash games, if I'm not in control of the table I need to leave.

 

Losing on the river is just as common as winning on the river.  It feels like my worst losses occur on the river.  I have the best hand going in and I lose it on the lucky river.  This is the balance of poker, being aggressive and being prepared to give it all up for the lucky card.

My Best Stud Hand

I was playing in my monthly home game with my old roommate and a couple of friends. In this blog I'm just going to talk about a hand.  I'll get to the rest of the game later.

 

The game was Follow the Queen.  It's 7-stud but if a Queen is dealt as an upcard the card following makes that rank a wild card.

 

I'm dealt three Kings. Two down and one up. Very strong hand. One of my opponents has a 4 showing. The next I'm dealt a 6 and two seats down a queen is dealt. My opponent with the 4 is now being dealt the wild card, which is a 7.  I'm still feeling confident.  My set is still good.

 

On 5th street, I'm dealt a Jack, but my opponent with the 4 is now dealt another 7 giving him a set of 4.  Not only that he bets strong. My kings are not looking very good at the moment.

 

On 6th street, my hope is another queen comes out but it doesn't.  It's now down to three players. The set of 4's is betting strong and I'm calling.  The third player is staring at my cards and wondering why I'm calling.  My calling is enough to scare him out of my pot.  My fear at the moment is that I'm now losing to a four-of-a-kind.  I'm cringing as I call the max bet.  I know I'm making a loose call.

 

On 7th street, I'm dealt my down card.  It's a Jack and I just made a full house.  Incredibly strong hand, if I weren't playing a stupid wild card game. The 4's again bets strong and I have to call.  I can't fold a full house.  I'll just pay the guy off.  He flips over a Ace for three-of-a-kind.  I win a huge pot with my boat.  That was scary, because I was losing up until the last card.

 

At the same time, if these wasn't a wild card game, I had King-King-Jack as my down cards and King, Jack, 7, 6, 2 as my upcards.  This is an incredibly deceptive hand for stud.

 

In conclusion, I hate wild card games.  The reality is that you need a wild card to win. I've thrown away natural trips because I didn't have the wild card and I could have easily lost this hand.