Today was a really slow day due to the whole christmas thing, played a little casual Omaha H/L (0.10$/0.20$ Fixed and 0.25$/0.50$ fixed)…nothing went my way so I donked off some dollars, which I was able to get back (almost everything at least) in heads up play…
Regular play: Donkeys 1-0 Ingoal
Heads Up: Ingoal 1-0 Donkeys
🙂
Oooooooooooooh yeah! Finally I came through over at PokerStars!
I entered the Omaha H/L Fixed Limit tournament that started at 18ET, with a Buy-In of 3$ + 0.30$. 378 players entered, so the total price pool was over 1100$.
As this was my first really big (> 300 players) tournament in Omaha H/L, I was a little unsure about how to play and sure enough I donked off quite some of the starting chips (1500) right in the beginning. Then I thought: hey, you won and won and won over the last few days by just playing the really good hands (A-A-x-x), (K-K-x-x), (A-x-x-x), (Q-Q-x-x), (J-J-x-x), (A-K-x-x) etc where x = low card (< 8 ) and ideally one of the x's of the same suit as the Ace or big card for that matter. That strategy served me well! I didn't play all that many hands, although I saw quite some flops as the blinds were still low, but the hands I played I won - at least for the most part. After an hour of play there were 232 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 10563, avg: 2443, me: 4731 - hands dealt: 41, showdowns won 6 of 8, Current position: 21st of 232
I continued to play solid poker and was even able to scoop some pots (taking down the high and low pot or the high pot when there was no low) and I was still in contention right at the second break. After 2h8min of play there were 79 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 22658, avg: 7177, me: 9671 - hands dealt: 92, showdowns won 13 of 18, Current position: 25th of 79 .
Nothing out of the ordinary until the third break either...slowly but steadily grinding away and already in the money, since the 2nd break I've been able to make it to 4 showdowns which I all won! So after 3h18min of play there were 21 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 88723, avg: 27000, me: 20231 - hands dealt: 193, showdowns won 17 of 22, Current position: 14th of 21.
Right after the third break it was getting tense as the blinds kept rising and I was desperate to make the next level (17th place at least, although my true goal was to reach 6th place). People kept dropping and we were down to two tables. I'm still looking good, but can't seem to catch a hand. Then the "miracle" happens just as we're about to head to the final table I look down at Ac-Ah-2c-3d in the BB. I check and then push (5 callers) and push (3 callers) and push (1 caller) - bad for him, good for me: board gives me the Ace high flush for the high and A-2-3-4-5 (wheel for the low), total scoop and I almost quintuple up to 94.000 chips and that's with what I head to the final table. The chipleader is sitting on a massive stack of 130.000, but I'm not worried as I hope to see the others drop out and hence making another few places. Exactly that happens as I watch people go up and down and finally two of them exit at once (9th + 8th place) - hey, my goal of 6th is almost reached and I'm still looking good. Played some hands won a few to go up over 100k then I loose a big one as I keep betting into the nut flush. The 4th break is good for me, after 4h25min of play it's hard to stay focussed, nontheless I feel that I've still got some in me left...so, there were 7 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 152.680, me: 76672 - hands dealt: 217, showdowns won 23 of 29, Current position: 14th of 21.
Now I'm refreshed and sit out a few despite having the BB (12k), so I'm down to 64k but there are only 6 left! Goal achieved and maybe I can get even higher. Indeed I do as I just sit and relax as the other two "shortstacks" are eliminated. Good: I'm a sure 4th place finisher now; Bad: the others have massive chipleads on me. I try to wait for the big scoop, but to no avail - the blinds have been raised to 4000/8000 and with the limits now at 8000/16000 there's not much I can do anymore...I fold as long as I can and as I look down at the first half decent hand in a while (A-2-10-J) I decide to push...chipleader calls me down, so I push the remaining chips in the middle...no low...he wins...so I'm out in 4th place. I would have loved to get just one place higher, but hey this is my first top 5 finish in such a tournament so who am I to complain, especially due to the fact that I'm now up at PokerStars (I was down nearly 50$ prior to this tournament) 
Buy-In: $3.00/$0.30
378 players
Total Prize Pool: $1134.00Dear Ingoal,
You finished the tournament in 4th place.
A $90.73 award has been credited to your Real Money account.
Played three session of Pot Limit Omaha H/L today and was able to stay ahead in two of them finishing the day slightly up. Ever so slowly climbing back up the ladder… 🙂
Played two sessions today and went on a roll right in the first one…played for around an hour and took of with +2x Buy-In nice 🙂
Didn’t catch anything major in the second session and quit relatively fast as I was going nowhere…manage to go out ahead…so I’m not complaining…once again a lovely day at UltimateBet.
Just ordered myself two poker books, hopefully they’ll arrive in time for the holidays…first of I ordered Phil Hellmuth’s “Play Poker Like the Pros” – the reviews weren’t all that great but I thought it can’t be that bad and I’m sure that Mr. Whinebox has got some interesting stuff to say:
The second book is “Tales from the Tiltboys” by Phil Gordon. After finding out about this book from his own homepage I just ordered it, after all all the praise can’t be wrong:
This book goes to show you how one group of guys that play poker together can go on to rule the world!
Phil Hellmuth Jr.�Poker legend and author of Play Poker Like the ProsGetting near the Tiltboys is like falling into the orbit of a very bright, unstable star. Their cheerful message: quit your job, ignore the advice of your loved ones and go live forever on the Island of the Lost Boys. Read this book at your own peril.
Ira Glass�Host of public radio’s award-winning This American LifeThank you, Tiltboys! You’ve changed my life! It drives my girlfriend wild when I spank her with your new book Tales from the Tiltboys.
Chris “Jesus” Fergusonâ€â€?2000 World Series of Poker Champion and Honorary TiltboyIf enough people buy this book, maybe I won’t have to pay Perry to be quiet during tournaments anymore.
Erik Seidel�Six-time WSOP bracelet winner
Source: Sportspublishing LLC
Ended the day by donking of 1.5x Buy-In at Omaha H/L 0.01$/0.02$ PL…just couldn’t catch hands even while holding da, possible, nuts (A-A-2-3)…sure enough someone comes through with his pocket kings, no low…etc…not a good session – in fact the first losing session at UB for a while – but I don’t complain, the overall statistics for today are positive, back to hit the tables again tomorrow…
Do you know the feeling when you’re sticking around at a table just a liiiitle bit too long? That’s what just happened at a Limit Omaha H/L table. I played a little 0.10$/0.20$ Limit with 0.05$/0.10$ blinds and really did well for the most part…was up almost 3x buy-in then donked of most of it again in the last two hands I played (still up 1.25x buy-in but still really dumb)…donked off one buy-in when my 2-3 flop 4-5-6 ran into A-2…argh…matching suit too…so no high no low…argh!
Nontheless a positive session as I regained some ground…nontheless I would have been even further in front if I had moved on two hands earlier, but what can you do.
Alrighty, off to watch the WWdN #9 final table now…
Donkey is what donkey do…played 0.05$/0.10$ Pot Limit Omaha H/L and how unlucky can you be? Pushers at the table you look down at hands like K-K-3-5, Q-Q-3-6, 10-10-4-4, K-K-6-6 and none of it comes through (neither high nor low)….then you hold the best hand at the time, unless another player would hold A-2…and sure enough he does…two buy-in down the drain…
Nontheless I’ll continue to try my luck over next few days as I just reread the terms & conditions for the sign-up bonus (200%) and they’re quite horrible – maybe I should have read them before depositing…1 point awarded in each .50$ raked hand (yeah right, I would need to gamboool for MAJOR cash to even see such rakes) or for a 1$ tournament fee…and yes, 100 = 10$…argh!)…so my solution is easy: either I go broke at AbsolutePoker or I reach the withdrawal threshold (50$)… – seems that going broke is the more likely possibility though 🙁
Played two sessions of Omaha H/L 0.01$/0.02$ PL today. Wasn’t able to scoop as much as I wanted, but stayed ahead in both sessions and cleared some more of my bonus. So all in all two successfull sessions.
On another note: It comes in quite handy to start off a table or hit it as a second player as you get 25% more UltimatePoints…especially when you’re trying to clear your bonus, like me.
What can I say, I couldn’t resist to test my card run over at PokerStars in Omaha H/L Pot Limit – after all the cards were falling the right way for me the whole day. Bad idea, I’ve never donked off a Buy-In so quick…2hands…great, just great…not a high note to finish the day with…
