Category Archives: Pot Limit Omaha

You’ve Got to Know When to Hold ‘Em

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Carbon Poker Lincoln Omaha Hi-Lo ($0.50/$1.00)

This would have been a good time. The Carbon Poker/Merge client has an optional readout of your made hand—or what your hand would be if you hadn’t folded it. I folded this hand pre-flop, looked down for a second, and when I looked back after the river card, saw it told me I would have had a seven-high straight flush that beat the king-high flush which won the pot. And I would have tied for the low. I didn’t manage to capture a screen shot of the hand in play, but here’s the history.

Foxwoods Before the Storm

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On a business trip to Boston and I had a day to kill before Hurricane Irene hit New England. So I decided to head down to Foxwoods in Connecticut, which is running deep stack tournaments at 6pm every night. The WPT Poker Room at Foxwoods is advertised as the largest poker room on the East Coast, so I figured it could be a bit of an eye-opener for me, having played poker in a small tribal casino as my first casino experience just a few weeks back and the only other casino I’d been in being Spirit Mountain.

I got to Foxwoods with some time to kill before the tournament and went downstairs to where the cash action is. Lots and lots of cash action. There was a short wait for a seat at a $1/$2 No Limit Hold’em  table; I got my WPT Poker Room card and some chips.

The games at Foxwoods were definitely not as soft as Spirit Mountain. I managed to lose my first stack with a made straight on the flop hoping that nobody had already made the bigger straight draw. Got it all back when I doubled my stack holding 5x 5x with Kx Kx on the board and the big stack thought I was completely bluffing. Then I managed to lose the whole thing, with my last hand being A♠ 7♠. The board gave me a pair of aces and wheel draw but Kx 2x actually made the wheel. I went to get a late lunch.

When I was ready to face the music again, I happened into the start of a $1/$2 Pot LImit Omaha Hi-Lo game and signed up. This session went incredibly well. A three-card run in one hand turned into a straight that won me a double-up, and I caught another couple big hands, nearly quadrupling my buy-in. I actually threw down a hand with both Broadway and wheel draws after a turn bet from across the table that would have cost me about two-thirds of the profit (above the buy-in and the two stacks I’d lost in Hold’em) because I figured I needed to slow down for a second. As it turned out, the wheel came through and I probably could have added another couple stacks because I would have scooped the pot and both the other players were nearly all-in.

Success is fleeting, however. The tournament, a $15,000 guarantee with about 140 players didn’t last very long for me. I could only console myself with the fact that I wasn’t the first person out of the game. It was off to my hotel to get some sleep after that.

Back out to Foxwoods for the morning turbo. Took a bit of a hit after an OK start, but made it to the second table out of 50 entrants. Picked up Ax Kx in the big blind. After a big raise from a mid-position player and an all-in from button, if I got lucky, I might triple my stack. The raiser was largest stack, both were bigger than me. I called all-in, and the big stack called. The big stack also had Ax Kx, the button held Ax Ax which held up, taking me out in 15th. First place paid $917.

The morning bounty tournament was still in the first level, so I bought in there. I plugged along with about the starting stack as the average chip level went up, then took a hit that put a mark on my stack. By the time the blinds were up to 500/1000/150 I was down to about 7bb. I shoved with A♣ Q♣ and got called by someone who could afford the chips to race with Tx Tx (who I’d knocked out of the turbo game earlier). I placed 14th of 42. The prize pool was $5,149, with $1,803 going to first and just six players paid.

I’d lasted long enough that the early afternoon turbo was beyond it’s buy-in, so I got lunch and some goodies for friends back home, dragged things back to the car, then stepped downstairs to the cash games again.

I haven’t ever played much 7-Card Stud. My advice is, do not make your first live experience against a bunch of geezers at someplace like Foxwoods in a Fixed Limit $1/$5 game. I made a couple of blunders that marked me as a neophyte in the first couple of hands. Seriously, people were laughing. I managed to get a little bit of respect (and some chips) back with a sneaky move and a flush, but mostly the stack went down and down. The slower speed of the game did kill some time, though. I killed some more watching people play Sic Bo.

Finally, the $20,000 guarantee tournament. Our table started out laughably short-handed with just four players despite being set up for ten. People started to filter in as time went on. I pulled an iron out of the fire on one hand when a short-stacked player who had announced she was “on tilt” and I both seemed to have paired a Kx on the flop. Hers was presumably better than my Kx Tx until the river when I called her all-in as the Tx hit. My turn came later, when Ax Jx and an Ax on the board ran into a set of 3x with two of them on the board after the turn. That knocked me down to about a quarter of the starting stack and I was out relatively soon, in 98th place of 140. The prize pool was more than $27,000, with fourteen places paid and more than $7,700 to first place.

Back to Portland.

Wyld Stallions

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D’s Dealer’s Choice

I hadn’t played with the guys at this table for a few weeks due to a trip out of town and a holiday, but I was looking forward to it because I came armed with several new games I could use to annoy the ever-whiny A, who still bitches and moans about me introducing Badugi several months back. There were only three of us to start with, which made it perfect for Chinese Poker, which I’d seen at the Encore the other night but hadn’t ever played. Two other games I’d never played but cracked open for the night were Sweten—a split-pot combination of 5-Card Draw and Omaha that I heard about in an interview with Greg Raymer on an episode of Dennis Phillips’s Final Table podcast—and Double Flop Hold’em.

I was severely beaten during a round of B’s favorite: Kings and Little Men, where I ended up putting $28 into the pot after losing with two 2s in my hand and a 2 on one of the crosses. Combined with earlier losses, I was down almost $80 in a quarter-ante game (although they’re still telling tales of the night a K&LM pot went over $700) until I won almost the whole thing back in a single hand of unadulterated Pot-Limit Omaha.

I really hate wild cards.

3 hours. ROI: -20%.

Omaha, Yo!

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Cake Poker Odesa Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max (20bb)

Just a very lucky first hand that didn’t look like much: K♦ Q♥ J♠ 5♥. I was BTN and put in 1bb as dead big blind. CO limped in, I checked, SB raised to 5bb, CO and I called. Flop was A♣ 7♦ K♣ and SB bet out 8bb. CO folded, I called, and the turn gave me an ace-high straight with T♣ but put a flush draw on the board. It also ruled out a low. I had 13bb in already and SB bet enough to put me all-in to call. I gave the straight a shot, a 5♠ came on the river, and SB showed K♥ 6♦ T♦ A♠ for two pair. I took the entire pot and left.

1 hand, 1 minute. +23bb.

Cake Poker Odesa Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max (20bb)

Turnaround from the previous game. In BB for the first hand with A♥ Q♣ T♥ 2♣. You’d think it would look good, double-suited with a setup for the low. Holding Q♣ A♥ T♥ 2♣, I called a raise to 2bb along with two others and the flop was 8♠ A♥ 8♣. Not looking good for a low for me. I bet 2bb to see if I could take it but only one of the three other players dropped out. 2♦ turn game be aces up with a queen kicker and I opened with another 2bb. Both players stayed in. The river was 9♥, of no help whatsoever. I checked, then folded when BTN bet 8bb. He showed an eight for a winning set, UTG showed aces up with a king kicker.

Got a straight-heavy Q♣ 9♦ T♠ 7♠ next hand on SB. I limp in after two others, BB raises to 2bb, and everyone calls. A♠ K♠ 7♣ puts me one card from the nut straight or a flush. I open with 4bb, BB calls, and the other two fold. The turn 3♦ gives me nothing and I fold to a bet that puts me all-in, which was probably a mistake.

An odd little 4♦ 5♦ 2♠ 5♣ for my third hand. I min-raise and SB comes along. I get almost nothing on the flop of Q♥ 2♥ J♦ but I go all-in for 6bb when SB bets 5bb. He’s got my pair with better kickers, another pair, and a flush draw: 2♣ 4♥ J♥ 7♥. I’m praying for a 5x that never comes. Instead, we get A♣ Q♣, which makes the deuces irrelevant.

3 hands, 3 minutes. -20bb.

Cake Poker Odesa Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max (20bb)

One hand makes the session. I’m BB on my fourth hand with T♣ 2♦ J♦ K♦. I’m heads-up with a limper. I hit two pair on the A♦ J♠ K♠ flop and bet 2.5bb. HJ raises to 6.3bb and I call. I make a nut flush draw with 6♦ on the turn to go along with my potential full house or straight. I check, HJ puts me all-in to call and I pull the trigger. The river is J♣ and my full house beats his 7♠ Q♣ T♥ 8♥ straight.

5 hands, 4 minutes. +16.9bb.

Cake Poker Odesa Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max (20bb)

Straight and flushes in 4♦ 6♦ 5♦ T♠. On SB on my third hand of the session. Five players in for the price of the bb. I make top two pair with the 7♣ 5♥ 3♥ flop and open with a 1bb bet. Only the BB drops out. T♣ for the turn gives me a higher pair of pairs and I bet half the pot, 4.5bb. HJ drops out, so only three of us are there for the river card: K♠. I check, UTG checks, CO bets 15bb, and only I make the all-in call. CO has 3♦ 8♠ 6♦ 9♠ and may have miscalculated his hand. He only had a pair of threes but with three cards in his hand he had a ten-high straight. Easy to do in Omaha.

I lost 12bb on the next hand, got nearly 10 back the hand after thatm then lost four more before I left.

5 minutes, 6 hands. +21.3bb.

Cake Poker Odesa Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max (20bb)

A brief day of PLO wins came to a close with this crazy hand. I was UTG with 9♣ Q♥ 4♣ 5♣. Not a hand that gets into the books as the one you should play with. I limped in, HJ called, CO raised to 3.5bb, BTN called (and had already been forced with a small dead blind), the blinds and I called. Only HJ folded, and pre-flop there was 19bb in the pot. The flop cards were 6♦ 3♠ J♠. I had a sort of open-ended straight draw but not much else, and there was a flush draw on the board. The blinds checked and I bet out 4bb, nonetheless. CO called, but BB went all-in. I had squat so far, but I called for less. CO called, as well. BB had the nut flush, big-time with T♠ A♠ 9♠ 6♠. He even had three cards to a straight flush. CO was keeping BB from getting a royal flush with K♦ A♣ A♥ K♠, and he had the best made hand at the moment, but he didn’t really connect with anything on the board. Q♣ on the turn gave me an actual pair but didn’t do much for the hand as a whole. Then 4♦ for the river made me two pair and won me the main pot of 55.5bb.

6 minutes, 7 hands. +34.5bb.

Omaha, Ho

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Cake Poker Darwin 6-Max Pot-Limit Omaha

I decided to change things up a bit, in part because the relatively few NLHE games on Cake are often full. So I tried out the lowest-stake PLO table, buying in for 40bb.

There were five players at the table. I was UTG and paid the bb to play, drawing a decent A♥ J♦ T♦ T♥. I raised to 2bb and all but one player called. The flop gave me top two pair with J♠ 3♥ A♠. The blinds checked, I potted to 8bb. BTN raised all-in to 8.25bb; BB was all-in for 1.5. BB flipped over 5♣ 6♥ 2♦ 5♦ and BTN showed 2♠ 3♠ K♠ 7♣. Inside straight and a flush draw, I was slightly favored over both. 3♦ fell on the turn and shifted the balance to BTN with a set, but I made a full house with J♥ on the river and took 24.5bb. That knocked out two of the players at the table.

All the spots had filled back up a little later when I got J♥ 9♣ 9♦ K♥ on BTN. Three players ahead of me called, I called, and only theSB sat the hand out. I made middle set on the 8♠ 9♠ J♠ flop. Action checked to me and I bet half the pot, 2.75bb. Only one player dropped out. I got a great present with the turn J♦. Once again action checked to me and I half-potted for 8.25bb. Two players dropped out but CO stayed in. A♦ fell on the river. CO checked, I potted for 33bb, CO called and showed 4♥ Q♠ K♦ 3♠ for a flush that was great on the flop. I took in a total pot of 92.5bb and called it a session.

8 minutes, 11 hands. +63.25bb.

Cake Poker Odesa 6-Max Pot-Limit Omaha

Went up a rung of blinds for the next game, buying in for just 20bb. Third hand I was dealt was 8♥ K♣ A♠ Q♥ and two of us limped in with the BB to see the flop. 2♦ 8♣ K♠ gave me a decent-looking two pair without any flush or straight draws, I bet half the pot—1.8bb—and took it down, which put me slightly ahead after the first couple of hands.

Got 8♦ 7♠ K♣ Q♠ on SB. UTG raised to 2.3bb, I called along with BB. The rainbow flop here is almost as good for me as the one above—Q♦ 3♥ T♠—although the queen and ten could fit into a straight. Everyone checks and I’m wondering if my pair of queens is good. 7♣ on the turn gives me two pair again, no chance for a flush on the board, and a couple of straights are possible but not made. I open with a bet of 3.5bb, the BB calls, and UTG drops out. I’m pretty sure the 4♠ on the river is a brick, but I check, BB checks, and he shows A♦ 9♥ 8♠ 8♥. He’s been behind since the flop. I take 13bb and I’m up over 35%.

Next hand is double-paired: K♣ 8♠ 8♦ K♦. I raise to 2.5bb from BTN and the blinds fold.

High-paired and connect-suited: K♥ 8♠ K♣ 9♠. I raise to 2bb in CO. Blinds fold.

Three-flushed with a spread of six: 8♥ J♦ 6♥ 9♥. I limp from UTG, a new player in HJ checks his buy-in, BTN limps, SB raises to 2bb. BB folds, everyone else calls. The flop is flush- and stright-heavy with 9♣ 7♣ 8♣. Two pair for me with straight draws on either end. Everyone checks. The turn is 2♣, which gets checked around as well. J♣ on the river makes the flush on the board. I toss a bb bet out and everyone folds. Bizarre. My profit is 6.4bb and I’m up almost 17bb for the session. I should leave but I guess I decided to try to double my investment.

Double-suited with a high connector (Q♦ K♦ 4♥ 9♥) on the big blind. One limper and the flop is 4♣ J♥ Q♥, giving me top and bottom pair asa well as a flush draw. We both check and I make my flush on the turn with 2♥. I bet a bb and HJ folds.

On BTN holding a seemingly big hand with a big pair and a large suited connector. Five of us limp in to a 5♥ T♦ K♣ flop. I’ve got top set right off the bat. Everyone checks around to me and I should bet this but don’t. 9♥ improves me to a straight. HJ bets 3.5bb and I raise to 15.5bb. Everyone between us gets out of the way. He re-raises to 2.75 and I call, leaving about 9bb behind. Q♠ on the river doesn’t improve my hand but it doesn’t make it any worse. HJ bets to put me all-in and I call, he shows Q♦ A♦ J♠ 9♣ for the ace-high straight. We were chopping it until that last queen.

10 minutes, 11 hands. -20bb.

Cake Poker Darwin 6-Max Pot-Limit Omaha

Back down to the small stakes for a couple of games. Bought in for 40bb. Hand six here was small-paired and small gap-suited: 7♣ 5♣ 7♥ A♦. I was UTG and limped, HJ limped, BTN min-raised, both the blinds, myself, and HJ called the raise. Got my two-pair-on-the-flop with Q♠ A♠ 5♥. SB bet 2bb, BB called, I raised to almost the full pot: 10bb. BTN called and both the blinds folded, making it heads-up. 2♥ on the river didn’t change anything for me, I went all-in for 25.25bb and got a call from BTN, who had a couple of routes to a straight draw with T♠ K♦ T♦ J♥. Heck, even another Tx would give him a better hand, but I was ahead 4:1. 3♠ on the river made me glad he hadn’t had spades. I took my 79bb pot and went home.

7 minutes, 7 hands. +39bb.

Cake Poker Darwin 6-Max Pot-Limit Omaha

A pattern starts to become visible in these sessions of minimal movement with a bit swing up or down. Down in this case. Bought in for 40bb. Nineteenth hand, I was down just 2.5bb from where I’d started. and got four to a wheel with a suited ace. I limped in from CO and four of us saw the flop. Nut flush draw  and a six-high inside straight draw with 6♥ 6♦ Q♦ but there was a potential full house—or four-of-a-kind—on the board. BB bet 4bb, I raised to 8bb, two others got out and BB re-raised to 28bb. I called, with 8.5bb behind. Hit my flush (and pointless straight) on the turn with 3♦. BB bet 1bb, I went all-in (what else?) and he called to show a full house with A♠ 6♣ 9♠ 3♣.

14 minutes, 19 hands. -40bb.

Cake Poker Perth 6-Max Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

I’ve gotten the impression that I sort of liked H/L games playing D’s bi-weekly cash game but something about playing it online just left me feeling stupid. Maybe it was because I had K♦ A♣ A♥ K♥ on my second hand here (with a 40bb buy-in) and I busted out. I was BB, BTN raised to 3.5bb, SB called, I re-raised to 14bb and got a call from BTN. Flop gave me the nut flush draw with Q♥ 3♥ 7♣. I checked instead of raising and BTN followed along. 8♣ on the turn looked inoffensive. I checked, BTN bet enough to put me all-in and I called. He showed J♣ J♠ 8♦ 8♠ and the 6♦ hit on the river. Nothing really to do with the H/L game structure, really, I just decided to concentrate on pure PLO.

1 minute, 2 hands. -40bb.

Cake Poker Darwin 6-Max Pot-Limit Omaha

Only won a couple of hands in this session, not enough to right my boat but had to get out before I got even or lost everything. Only significant hand came when I was down almost 25bb from my 40bb buy-in. Got 8♣ 4♣ 3♥ 7♣ in UTG, a hand rife with unexpected straight and flush possibilities. I limped, BTN limped, SB min-raised, and three of us called. Hit two pair on the A♠ 3♣ 4♠ flop and called the SB’s 1bb bet along with BTN. Q♥ came on the turn and I called another 1bb bet from the SB, though I suspect I should have been scared. BTN opted out. 2♠ for the river either gave him a flush or it didn’t and I called another 1bb bet. He showed a great hand: T♠ T♣ J♦ A♣. The problem was that it wasn’t a great board for that hand and my crappy low two pair was better. I got out a couple of hands later.

14 minutes, 12 hands. -16bb.

Cake Poker Darwin 6-Max Pot-Limit Omaha

Bought in for 40bb, First hand was low-paired and half-suited: K♦ 4♣ 2♥ 2♣. I was in for the bb as CO with five players. UTG called, I checked, BTN raised to 4bb, everyone called but SB. 7♣ 5♣ K♥ on the flop gave me top pair and a low flush draw. Everyone checked. Turn T♦ did nothing for me, but it meant there were no straights on the board yet. BB and UTG checked but I bet 5bb. Everyone called and the pot was up to 36.5bb. Made my nearly-straight-flush with 6♣ on the river. BB checked, UTG bet 1BB, I just called in case there was a higher flush, BTN and BB called. UTG  had a seven-high straight, BB had a set of sixes, BTN just had a pair of kings (albeit with a better kicker than I had). Won 28bb.

9♥ 8♥ 8♣ Q♦ for hand two. I limped from UTG and was heads-up with BB. Hit a set on the flop with 9♠ 3♥ 8♦. BB bet a bb and I potted to 3.25bb. He re-raised to 12.25bb and I called. 4♣ turn didn’t mess things up for me. When BB went all-in for 9.5bb I called and saw his set of threes. With 3♣ 7♠ 5♦ 3♦ he had a potential nine-high straight, but I had him about 7:1. 5♠ maintained the status quo and I grabbed 20.25bb of profit.

I played a couple more hands and won both of them, too (though for lesser amounts) then got out and banked it.

4 minutes, 4 hands. +58.25bb.

Cake Poker Odesa 6-Max Pot-Limit Omaha

After the success of that outing, I stepped it back up to the higher-stakes tables. Kept the buy-in at the 20bb minimum and drifted along for a couple of hands as long as the flop in each case. I was down about 4bb by hand 5 when I got a three-suited four-straight: 9♠ T♣ J♥ Q♣ in HJ. I limped, CO raised to 4bb, BB three-bet to 13bb, I called, CO called. My stack only had 3bb left. My flush hit on the flop with 3♣ 5♣ A♣. I could be beat with a suited K♣ or 2♣ 3♣ in someone’s hand but it didn’t seem likely. BB checked, I tossed in my last 3bb, and BB felt he had to call to keep me honest, I guess. Then again, with a stack of 115bb, I guess he could afford to. He showed 6♠ 6♣ T♠ T♥ and needed two runners to win, which he didn’t get. I took in a profit of 26bb and left.

7 minutes, 5 hands. +22bb.

Cake Poker Darwin Pot-Limit Omaha

Winning was fun! It put a whole new perspective on poker. Because some of the other tables were full, I sat down at the full-sized low-rent tables for a bit. Did my usual of lying in wait through the blinds to the flop with hands I liked. I was down to 29bb from my original 40bb buy-in when I got K♣ K♦ T♠ 3♥. I called from UTG and was heads-up against the BB. The flop was 7♣ 9♥ T♦, BB checked and I bet 1.25bb, half the pot. BB called. J♣ on the turn and I had a gut-shot straight draw. We both checked. J♠ on the river and it was checked to me again. I bet 5bb, got re-raised to 20bb, then called to see BB had 9♣ K♠ J♦ 3♦ for a full house.

Had two pair get knocked out by a five-high straight made on the flop the next hand.

14 minutes, 11 hands. -40bb.

Cake Poker Odesa 6-Max Pot-Limit Omaha

Started off well with 8♣ A♥ 3♥ 5♥ in BB. UTG raised to 2.7bb, I was the only caller. The flop gave me top and bottom pair: 8♥ 4♠ 3♣. I bet 1bb and got a call. The 7♥ turn put the nut flush in my reach; I checked and got a check from UTG. A♦ on the turn improved by two pair and I bet another 1bb. UTG called, showed A♠ T♦ T♣ Q♥ for only the aces. I earned 4.6bb.

Three hands later, 3♣ 7♠ K♥ A♠ as CO. Two limpers ahead of me, I called, and both blinds were in. Once again, I caught two pair on the flop of 2♠ 3♥ 7♥. Action checked to me and I bet half the pot: 2.5bb. Only HJ called. T♦ for the turn, HJ checked, and I checked, seeing as I did have only middle two pair. The river card was J♦. We both checked, and HJ showed Q♥ J♠ Q♦ 9♥. I profited about 6bb.

Fourteen hands in, it was 7♣ 7♠ Q♣ 3♣ on BTN. I called after action folded to me, SB raised to 3bb, the BB folded, and I called to go heads-up. Hit a set with the flop of 8♦ Q♠ Q♥. SB checked and I raised to 3.5bb, was re-raised to 7bb, and went all-in for about 26bb. SB folded and I took in 10bb profit.

12 minutes, 14 hands. +18.3bb.

Cake Poker Odesa 6-Max Pot-Limit Omaha

Another excursion on the same table a couple of hours later. Nothing really happened for twenty hands, then I picked up a not-especially-choice 7♦ Q♣ T♦ 4♣ as HJ. Still, it was double-suited, and I limped in. CO and SB limped but BB raised to 5bb. I was the only caller. The 4♠ Q♠ Q♦ flop made me a full house and I was more than happy when BB led out with a 6bb bet. I went all-in with 18.6bb, fully expecting BB to call from his 60bb stack, and he complied, showing an already-dead K♣ 7♥ 9♥ J♣. The 5♥ and 3♥ that hit the board were irrelevant, and my stack was up to 46bb, so I left.

21 minutes, 21 hands. +26bb.