G
GabryRox
Enthusiast
Hi everyone,
Since this is my first post here, I will start with an introduction. My name is Jim and I live just outside of Portland, OR. I've been playing VERY casual NLHE with friends for about 2 years, but never really caught the big poker bug like a lot of my friends.
About 4 months ago, I opened a pokerstars account, mainly to just get more HE experience via their play money rooms. After a while, I got bored with that and started looking into other games. After a while, I really started getting into Omaha Hi-Lo. After becoming somewhat succesful at it in play money rooms, I decided to try real money. Over the first 3 months or so, I really wasn't playing a lot. I was mainly playing Limit Omaha Hi-Lo at the .25/.50 level. I had some success, but ended up losing 3 $50 deposits over those 3 months. Looking back on it, I know why... I was playing WAY too many hands, including random crap like J-9-8-5 that should never see the light of day.
Still, I liked the game and wanted to see how I could get better. So, I proceded to do a lot of research online. Found some really good stuff about starting hands and betting strategy. I felt like I was grasping it all pretty well, so I made an $80 deposit and started again at the .25/.50 ring games (still Omaha). I was more successful, but ended up breaking even over about 2 weeks in December '07. I was a bit frustrated because I was also not racking up many FPP's and felt like I would never get to my $50 bonus (@ 500 FPP). So, I decided to jump up a level to the limit .50/$1.00 games. I basically started this on Dec 31st and good success for the first few days, and was able to build my bankroll up to nearly $170. The next day I broke even, then on Sunday, disaster struck. I lost half my bankroll (about $85) on that day. I proceded to lose about $30 each of the last 2 days, leaving me now with a pathetic $25.
From my perspective, I believe that I am still playing consistantly well for the most part. Sure, I've had a few lapses when I've dumped a few extra $$$ into the pot while chasing a fluch or something. But it seems like most of my losses are just bad luck (mabye my perspective is warped though). It seems like over the last 3 days, a higher than normal % of my good starting hands that include A-2 or A-3 or even A-2-3 are getting counterfeited or double counterfeited on the flop. When I do get a good hand... like nut low + nut high flush or a boat, somebody ends up hitting a boat or higher boat on the river, leaving me with a split or quarter when I expected I should be scooping.
I've tried to tighten my play... not chasing crazy stuff like I was previously... for instance, flopping 2 pair and then praying to hit a boat on 4th or the river.
So, I guess my ultimate question is... is it possible that I am just in a run of bad luck right now? Or maybe I am playing at the wrong level or in the wrong room. One thing I read recently regarding assessing the looseness of a Omaha hi-lo table is to track how many people on average see the flop. For a full table of 10, if you see 5+ to the flop on average, that would translate into a pretty loose room. Do you all think that is a decent way to assess this? Obviously there are other tells in regard to looseness... like seeing a guy raise almost every hand, only to reveal a crappy hand in the end. But that seems to be a bit more rare.
Anyway, thanks in advance for any tips you might be able to provide!
Since this is my first post here, I will start with an introduction. My name is Jim and I live just outside of Portland, OR. I've been playing VERY casual NLHE with friends for about 2 years, but never really caught the big poker bug like a lot of my friends.
About 4 months ago, I opened a pokerstars account, mainly to just get more HE experience via their play money rooms. After a while, I got bored with that and started looking into other games. After a while, I really started getting into Omaha Hi-Lo. After becoming somewhat succesful at it in play money rooms, I decided to try real money. Over the first 3 months or so, I really wasn't playing a lot. I was mainly playing Limit Omaha Hi-Lo at the .25/.50 level. I had some success, but ended up losing 3 $50 deposits over those 3 months. Looking back on it, I know why... I was playing WAY too many hands, including random crap like J-9-8-5 that should never see the light of day.
Still, I liked the game and wanted to see how I could get better. So, I proceded to do a lot of research online. Found some really good stuff about starting hands and betting strategy. I felt like I was grasping it all pretty well, so I made an $80 deposit and started again at the .25/.50 ring games (still Omaha). I was more successful, but ended up breaking even over about 2 weeks in December '07. I was a bit frustrated because I was also not racking up many FPP's and felt like I would never get to my $50 bonus (@ 500 FPP). So, I decided to jump up a level to the limit .50/$1.00 games. I basically started this on Dec 31st and good success for the first few days, and was able to build my bankroll up to nearly $170. The next day I broke even, then on Sunday, disaster struck. I lost half my bankroll (about $85) on that day. I proceded to lose about $30 each of the last 2 days, leaving me now with a pathetic $25.
From my perspective, I believe that I am still playing consistantly well for the most part. Sure, I've had a few lapses when I've dumped a few extra $$$ into the pot while chasing a fluch or something. But it seems like most of my losses are just bad luck (mabye my perspective is warped though). It seems like over the last 3 days, a higher than normal % of my good starting hands that include A-2 or A-3 or even A-2-3 are getting counterfeited or double counterfeited on the flop. When I do get a good hand... like nut low + nut high flush or a boat, somebody ends up hitting a boat or higher boat on the river, leaving me with a split or quarter when I expected I should be scooping.
I've tried to tighten my play... not chasing crazy stuff like I was previously... for instance, flopping 2 pair and then praying to hit a boat on 4th or the river.
So, I guess my ultimate question is... is it possible that I am just in a run of bad luck right now? Or maybe I am playing at the wrong level or in the wrong room. One thing I read recently regarding assessing the looseness of a Omaha hi-lo table is to track how many people on average see the flop. For a full table of 10, if you see 5+ to the flop on average, that would translate into a pretty loose room. Do you all think that is a decent way to assess this? Obviously there are other tells in regard to looseness... like seeing a guy raise almost every hand, only to reveal a crappy hand in the end. But that seems to be a bit more rare.
Anyway, thanks in advance for any tips you might be able to provide!
