Today didn't see much in way of poker volume, but what their was went very well. I spent most of the day with my basketball team. The season's ending and one of our player's parents had us over for sort of a year end barbecue as I'm heading out soon. As long as this season's been and as much of a grind it was with it being the first year of the program, I'm really going to miss the players and relationships that basketball, especially with these guys, created. Assistant coaches, no matter at what level, and this being one of the highest, either have a massive impact or none.....and as far as a bittersweet ending goes, I'll never know whether or not I had one with any of them, young men don't exactly exercise catharsis, but I'm going to remember this season, and them, for a long time. It'll be very exciting to see what basketball has in store for these youngins', I guess I'll have to wait.... thankfully, for some of them it'll be ESPN that will cover it.
Onto poker.
Unfortunately, I can't replay any of the 34 hands of heads up 10-20 PLO I played during the Celtics' / Pistons' game but it was a great outcome for me. A player I didn't recognize was sitting short ($400) in a 6max 10-20 plo game (max buy-in being $2000, and way above my online roll as I think you need roughly 100k+ for that, especially HU) but I sat with him, also shortstacked because..... 1. If I had seen him before, he wasn't a regular and 2. If he was sitting shortstacked to start a game, he wasn't an exceptional player. So based on #2, I thought that despite not being in the mood for $400 flips, If I could push him around a bit early and he was worried about the money, than this was a good spot for me. I ended up stacking him off numerous times over 34 hands and I think he put the last of his roll on the table because once the odd-figured last buy in was done, he quit. I think I raised 32 /34 hands and CB only 10 flops or so.... the only times he felted a hand, he was behind and I held. Bottom line, I had the cheat code on and ran like a god.... he was un-lucky as this is an extremely rare occassion for a HU game (but he was an extremely rare opponent).
The next hand is from $2-4 PLO 8/better Hi-Lo split. 6max. I have mentioned this game before, and it's very complex but essentially it's PLOmaha but the pot is split between the high hand and the low hand. Obviously you want to win both sides.....If you can find a good game with inexperienced players, stacks grow in this game faster than any, cause it's so hard to escape with half facing large, pot sized bets. Anyways, here's a nice pot illustrating the importance of going both ways. I ended up scooping this pot as my opponent was trying to escape with an A6 for low and no high. I make the nut low with A3 and have KK for an overpair to the board which held up for high.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2660946
I decided on not posting any no limit hands for today as they're all pretty much of the same ilk. Guys play passively vs. aggression and allow cards to come off that they shouldn't. It's taken me a long time to understand how to apply this loose-aggression as prescribed by my poker friends who've had a great deal more success than I have, but if today's any example, when you're running good, or when you get caught, this style pays for itself multiple times over. I got lucky in a bunch of hands today but like I said, passivity allows cards to come off that shouldn't in a no limit game, players get mad and then they play poorly against you AND, perhaps most importantly, there's a ton of fold equity when you're firing so much at pots. It's hard to call big bets with suspect hands vs. an aggressive opponent. It's a wonderful style but very difficult to time perfectly, which I'm nowhere near.
The cards are felting well right now and I really don't have any real coolers or bad beats to show thankfully. I hope it continues for me and friends over the next few weeks. Hope everything's well.
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