HappyHowie
Rising Star
Silver Level
This is mostly story with some poker hands thrown in. Since this is my first substantial post, I hope it’s in the appropriate place.
Friday night I wanted to kill some time so I looked for a freeroll on Poker Stars. I found an Omaha H/L freeroll about to start so I signed up. I had played some Omaha and I figured a freeroll would be a risk-free way to get more of a feel for the game.
Well, I immediately realized that it was fixed limit. I had never played fixed limit Omaha in my life. Oh, well, it should be an interesting diversion and I’ll be in bed soon. I had a wedding to go to the next day, and I didn’t want to stay up too late.
There were over 2400 in the freeroll. In a typical NL freeroll half (if not more) of the players are gone before the first break. With FL and split pots, it takes an hour to knock anybody out. This could be a long night.
To make it worse, I take a look at the tournament lobby and noticed that the freeroll is a satellite, so even if I do well, I can’t win any money. I have never played a satellite because I think they are a waste of time. Now at this point any sane person would have sat out and gone to bed. Unfortunately, I was winning, so I kept playing.
My strategy was simple, bet and raise with the nuts or nut draws and don’t chase non-nut draws unless it’s cheap. The thing is no one believed me when I raised with the nuts; they kept calling and raising and I kept winning. To make a long story short (as my Aunt would say after an hour or so), I came in second place at 6:30 in the morning. I went to bed a half-hour before my wife got up. I got up in time to walk the dog and get ready for the wedding. When the waiter asked me if I wanted regular or decaf, guess what I said?
I made matters worse for myself because the top 27 all get to the next level. I could have sat-out then and gone to bed, but I was in fourth place at the time and I’m thinking maybe I can win this thing. What a stupid, macho, attitude. There is absolutely nothing left to win and it was the middle of the night, but I persisted for two more hours.
Two hands at the final table were somewhat interesting. I was at the same table with this guy for hours. He started out with a huge lead over me; I eventually passed him, then he got a big lead again. This went on for a while. At this final table hand he had about 750,000 chips and I had about 450,000 chips. The flop was JTx giving me a set of Tens and him a set of Jacks. We cap the betting. The turn is a T which gives him the nut FH and gives me quads. We cap again and after a rag on the river. When I win he goes, “So sick.” I reply “Sorry.” Now our chip stack are reversed.
Noting happens between us for a while, then I have a weak hand in the blind with 567x. I forget what the fourth card was. The flop is 348. I’m thinking I have a draw to a nut straight and head-to-head might have a chance for low. The turn is a face card, he bets and I raise. I forgot I was on a draw. I thought I had the straight (hey, it’s 5 in the morning). We cap the betting on the turn and river when another face card hits. He has the nut low and won high on something like Ace high. His remark was, “wtf.” I didn’t reply. Our chip stacks were reversed again with him in the lead.
I got the last laugh when he finished fourth and I held on for second. The other guy knocked out the last three players and had an 8:1 chip lead so I dumped my chips, took second and went to bed.
I just got back from the wedding and decided to write this while I wait for the coffee to wear off and I can go to bed. Anyway, I live in San Francisco, so the wedding was very diverse and interesting, complete with lion dancers. Oh, the drums, the drums.
Friday night I wanted to kill some time so I looked for a freeroll on Poker Stars. I found an Omaha H/L freeroll about to start so I signed up. I had played some Omaha and I figured a freeroll would be a risk-free way to get more of a feel for the game.
Well, I immediately realized that it was fixed limit. I had never played fixed limit Omaha in my life. Oh, well, it should be an interesting diversion and I’ll be in bed soon. I had a wedding to go to the next day, and I didn’t want to stay up too late.
There were over 2400 in the freeroll. In a typical NL freeroll half (if not more) of the players are gone before the first break. With FL and split pots, it takes an hour to knock anybody out. This could be a long night.
To make it worse, I take a look at the tournament lobby and noticed that the freeroll is a satellite, so even if I do well, I can’t win any money. I have never played a satellite because I think they are a waste of time. Now at this point any sane person would have sat out and gone to bed. Unfortunately, I was winning, so I kept playing.
My strategy was simple, bet and raise with the nuts or nut draws and don’t chase non-nut draws unless it’s cheap. The thing is no one believed me when I raised with the nuts; they kept calling and raising and I kept winning. To make a long story short (as my Aunt would say after an hour or so), I came in second place at 6:30 in the morning. I went to bed a half-hour before my wife got up. I got up in time to walk the dog and get ready for the wedding. When the waiter asked me if I wanted regular or decaf, guess what I said?
I made matters worse for myself because the top 27 all get to the next level. I could have sat-out then and gone to bed, but I was in fourth place at the time and I’m thinking maybe I can win this thing. What a stupid, macho, attitude. There is absolutely nothing left to win and it was the middle of the night, but I persisted for two more hours.
Two hands at the final table were somewhat interesting. I was at the same table with this guy for hours. He started out with a huge lead over me; I eventually passed him, then he got a big lead again. This went on for a while. At this final table hand he had about 750,000 chips and I had about 450,000 chips. The flop was JTx giving me a set of Tens and him a set of Jacks. We cap the betting. The turn is a T which gives him the nut FH and gives me quads. We cap again and after a rag on the river. When I win he goes, “So sick.” I reply “Sorry.” Now our chip stack are reversed.
Noting happens between us for a while, then I have a weak hand in the blind with 567x. I forget what the fourth card was. The flop is 348. I’m thinking I have a draw to a nut straight and head-to-head might have a chance for low. The turn is a face card, he bets and I raise. I forgot I was on a draw. I thought I had the straight (hey, it’s 5 in the morning). We cap the betting on the turn and river when another face card hits. He has the nut low and won high on something like Ace high. His remark was, “wtf.” I didn’t reply. Our chip stacks were reversed again with him in the lead.
I got the last laugh when he finished fourth and I held on for second. The other guy knocked out the last three players and had an 8:1 chip lead so I dumped my chips, took second and went to bed.
I just got back from the wedding and decided to write this while I wait for the coffee to wear off and I can go to bed. Anyway, I live in San Francisco, so the wedding was very diverse and interesting, complete with lion dancers. Oh, the drums, the drums.
