Microburst

Last night, all my profit came in a four hand microburst. On hand 34, I won a pot worth $8,404 when no one called my $3,400 river bet; I'd made a king high flush on the river. On hand 35, I was in the small blind, and folded before the flop. On hand 36, I won a pot worth $20,565 with a full house of jacks full of nines. On hand 37, I won a pot worth $15,900 with a jack high straight. I probably should have quit at that point, but felt like playing some more. I played another 44 hands, ending with a stack almost as big as the one I had at the end of hand 37.

During current Omaha session you were dealt 81 hands and saw flop:
 - 13 out of 16 times while in big blind (81%)
 - 7 out of 16 times while in small blind (43%)
 - 18 out of 49 times in other positions (36%)
 - a total of 38 out of 81 (46%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 11 (63%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $12,773
cash game PLO balance: $-47,807
balance: $7,155,833

A game of the nuts

As many poker professionals have stated, Omaha is a game of the nuts. It's very difficult to win at showdown in Omaha without the nuts (the very best possible hand given the community cards). I realized this intellectually before, but now I'm learning it the hard way :-) Last night, I hit the felt on hand 37 when I had a very strong hand, but not the nuts. I was dealt 3d Jc Jh Ad, the flop came Kc Ks 5c, and the turn was Jd. This gave me a full house of jacks full of kings. Believing I had a very strong hand, I bet $3,400; one opponent called, and another raised to $17,125 to go all-in. I reraised to $22,299 to go all in, and the first opponent, who had me covered, called. It turned out I was actually drawing dead on the turn; the opponent who had me covered had been dealt Qd 4d Js Kd, giving her a full house of kings full of jacks on the turn. She ended up collecting both the side pot of $10,348 and the main pot of $58,775.

There's a poker expression relating to straights - "the ignorant end". The ignorant end of a straight is the low end. You rarely want to go to showdown in hold'em with the ignorant end of a straight, and I can say quite categorically that you never want to go to showdown in Omaha with the ignorant end of a straight. The concept of an ignorant end can also be applied to full houses. The ignorant end of a full house is when you have three of the card with the lower denomination, and only two of the card with the higher denomination. That's what I had in hand 37 last night. It's foolhardy to put any money on the ignorant end of a full house in Omaha, which is what I did. I compounded the error by going all in. After reupping for the max, I settled in for a long night of watching my stack slowly sink towards the felt. The only positive I took from the session was that I didn't hit the felt a second time.

During current Omaha session you were dealt 183 hands and saw flop:
 - 22 out of 43 times while in big blind (51%)
 - 20 out of 48 times while in small blind (41%)
 - 37 out of 92 times in other positions (40%)
 - a total of 79 out of 183 (43%)
 Pots won at showdown - 9 of 21 (42%)
 Pots won without showdown - 20

delta: $-55,315
cash game PLO balance: $-60,580
balance: $7,143,060

Set over set

Last night, I played Omaha for the first time in over two years. I played pretty well, although the session was not a winning one. Towards the end, people kept leaving the table until there were only two of us left. I was able to relieve my opponent of his remaining chips, then decided to call it a night instead of joining another table. Hand 89 was the one which made the session a losing one. I was dealt Ts Th 7s 8h, and hit a set of tens on the flop. Unfortunately for me, one of my opponents hit a set of kings on the flop. He went all in on the turn, and I called. Fortunately for me, he'd started the hand with less chips than I had, so I didn't hit the felt. I did lose $22,943, however. I need to recalibrate my hand assessing for Omaha; Omaha requires much better hands to win than hold'em. Funnily enough, last night marks the first time my cash game PLO balance has ever ventured into the red.

During current Omaha session you were dealt 107 hands and saw flop:
 - 21 out of 24 times while in big blind (87%)
 - 15 out of 23 times while in small blind (65%)
 - 23 out of 60 times in other positions (38%)
 - a total of 59 out of 107 (55%)
 Pots won at showdown - 9 of 21 (42%)
 Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $-27,013
cash game PLO balance: $-5,265
balance: $7,198,375

Time to switch it up

Since I'm a creature of habit, and my habit has always been to wait until I hit another play million dollar plateau before allowing myself to change poker flavors, I'd been resigning myself to at least two more months of doggedly building up my stack. When I was trying to come up with a title for tonight's post, though, I realized there's no reason to wait. It's time to switch it up! I'm in a rut in hold'em, and it'll do me good to get some fresh air by playing another poker flavor. I've gotten into the habit of watching PokerStars TV while playing lately, and have gotten fired up once again by the idea of playing Omaha. I know, I've sworn off it at least two times before, but I'm willing to give it another shot. I know it'll be fun, whether I win or lose, and that's the main point.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 152 hands and saw flop:
 - 22 out of 26 times while in big blind (84%)
 - 19 out of 28 times while in small blind (67%)
 - 65 out of 98 times in other positions (66%)
 - a total of 106 out of 152 (69%)
 Pots won at showdown - 9 of 19 (47%)
 Pots won without showdown - 18

delta: $-14,925
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,775,980
balance: $7,225,388

Best AJo

As I've said before, AJo (ace jack offsuit) is my worst hand. I've lost more money on this hand than on any other. I half-jokingly resolved never to play it again. Such resolutions are impossible to keep :-) Last night, I had the best AJo of my career; here are the top ten:

Jd Ah      $47,864    2013\0702\hands    45
Js Ah      $44,750    2011\1014\hands    70
Jd Ah      $33,991    2013\0611\hands   276
Jh Ac      $26,300    2013\0530\hands    52
Jd Ac      $20,300    2012\0317\hands    81
As Jh      $15,700    2011\1112\hands    83
Jh Ac      $13,500    2012\0118\hands    10
Ac Js      $10,900    2013\0124\hands    53
Ac Jd      $10,400    2013\0629\hands    21
Jc Ah       $9,400    2012\1120\hands    46

This was another instance of "One hand to rule them all"; the next biggest absolute value delta I had last night was a mere 3,585.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 46 hands and saw flop:
 - 5 out of 6 times while in big blind (83%)
 - 3 out of 6 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 20 out of 34 times in other positions (58%)
 - a total of 28 out of 46 (60%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 9 (55%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $33,578
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,790,905
balance: $7,240,313

Poker radar

Last night, my poker radar was in fine working order. When it's really homed in, it's like being able to see your opponents' hole cards. You know what they have just by the way they're betting. You can sense when they're trying to buy the pot; the bet sizes are just a hair too big. Only someone who really doesn't want to see a call bets in a certain range. That's when the bet size isn't big enough for a bluff, and isn't small enough to be the result of slow-playing. In such cases, very often the opponent will have high cards, likely including an ace, but will not have hit a pair. This is the very scenario I sensed last night, on hand 35. I was dealt Jh Th, and the flop came Ts 9s 3d. I bet $600, and called a raise to $2,600. No one else called. The turn was 8h, my opponent bet $3,600, and I called. The river was Kh, my opponent bet $5,600, and I called a final time. My opponent turned over Ac Qs, and I won a pot worth $29,500 with my pair of tens.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 38 hands and saw flop:
 - 5 out of 5 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 7 out of 7 times while in small blind (100%)
 - 16 out of 26 times in other positions (61%)
 - a total of 28 out of 38 (73%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 8 (37%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $12,235
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,757,327
balance: $7,206,735

A second helping of deuces

In mathematics, twin primes are pairs of prime numbers which differ by 2. Just as there are an infinite number of prime numbers, there are an infinite number of twin primes. Here are the first 5 pairs: 1 and 3, 3 and 5, 5 and 7, 11 and 13, and 17 and 19. I've always loved this concept of numerical kinship. So much so, in fact, that I've appropriated it in a poker context. In poker, I declare twin hands to be consecutive hands where the hole cards are identical. The order in which the hole cards were dealt is unimportant.

If you're paying attention, you should notice when you're dealt twin hands. You should immediately get a funky feeling of deja vu when you look at the second twin. You should get a sensation that something isn't quite right. It just doesn't seem natural to be dealt the same hand two times in a row. Of course, this feeling is illogical; from a purely statistical standpoint, you should expect to see twin hands once in every 1,326 chances. Why is that? For the simple reason that there are 1,326 unique starting hands in hold'em. Every time you're dealt a hand, there's a 1 in 1,326 chance that your next hand will be identical.

On Saturday night, I was dealt twin hands near the end of the session. It was a pair of deuces (the deuce of spades and the deuce of diamonds, to be precise). I lost $400 on the first hand, but had a strong hunch when dealt the second one that I'd see a third deuce in the flop. I wasn't disappointed. I raised an all in bet of $5,739 on the turn to $11,478, and got one caller. On the river, I bet $20,000, and the opponent who'd called on the turn folded. My set of twos held up, and I won a pot worth $45,395, $29,717 of which was o.p.m. (other people's money). I realized I'd just seen the best of my luck and called it a night.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 82 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 8 times while in big blind (87%)
 - 8 out of 11 times while in small blind (72%)
 - 36 out of 63 times in other positions (57%)
 - a total of 51 out of 82 (62%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 12 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $-10,353
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,745,092
balance: $7,194,500