A Couple Big Hands Is All It Takes

Over the past day I have played in a few different poker games, almost all of them being profitable.

The most memorable one was at the Fitz downtown. It was a 1-2 NL game where nobody took it too seriously. I was doing fine when an inebriated gentleman sat down. He had seen the game on "TV" and he thought he'd give it a shot. All of us looked at each other and the it was pretty clear that we all had a target. He was happy to be involved in pretty much every hand that was being dealt, and if you had even marginal cards, his cash was yours. He did get lucky one but I was one of the fortunate three that were able to win big pots off him before he left. It took him less than an hour to drop $300 into that game.

I had another session at the Cortez when things were turned around by a monster hand. I was down in the session, getting ready to leave when I was dealt two Aces, in late position. A whole bunch of people called and I raised the maximum. This wasn't a No Limit table so your bets and raises are limited. Almost everybody called and we saw the flop. The flop was 9 6 K with two spades. The first player to act bets the max and after a couple callers I raise. She re-raises me and one other person calls. At this point I'm not 100% confident in this hand because she could have two pair or three of a kind. The turn, an Ace! Now I have the best possible hand and I just need to hope that she doesn't get lucky. She bets, and I raise. She re-raises and now I have a tough decision. I know I have the best hand but if I raise again I may not be able to get any more chips from her. I decide to call and hope that another spade doesn't come. The river, a spade. What's worse, she bets out the maximum straight away. My decision is simple now, call or raise. I can't fold this hand. After thinking about it for about 15 seconds I decide to raise. She slowly makes the call and I flip over my three of a kind. She shows JK, for second pair, middle kicker. I didn't like the way she played this hand since she should have known that a simple pair, even top pair would probably not be the best hand. She said she read me as having Queens, but if that were true, I would never raise when the Ace comes on the turn since my hand would then be dead.

Anyways, that final hand let me leave with a healthy profit and the whole table stirring over the play. I'm just glad I had enough guts to force through the final raise.

So that's about it for now. Things are good and I'm leaving shortly for the Strip.

A Rough Start On My Second Day

I headed to the RIO early in the day yesterday but the long line-ups kept me from entering into any of their tournaments. To kill some time I headed over to the Gold Coast next door to play some low limit. I ended up having a very bad session with a combination of bad cards and weak, passive play on my part. I don't think playing more aggressively would have won me any pots but it would have.

I came back downtown and played in a low-limit Sit & Go tournament. This didn't go very well either as I was knocked out in 7th place, out of 10th.

My last stop was the poker room in the hotel that I'm staying at. I played in a 1-3-6 limit game that was very interesting. Even though I hate playing in a 2-4 limit game, this game played a lot better then most low limit games. I also like the ability to vary my bet sizes without over-committing to a hand like so often happens in No-Limit games.

This was also the game where I won back almost everything that I had lost throughout the day. I was amazed at how often I was getting called even though I only showed down winning hands. I was also lucky not to get caught up into too many draws, as that was the main reason I lost in my earlier session at the Gold Coast.

Well, tomorrow I'm off to the MGM and PH before going to the Rio at night.

My Poker Hiatus is Over!

I hadn't played a hand of poker in nearly 7 weeks, but that changed as of yesterday.

As far as why I didn't play it was a combination of factors, mostly revolving around my compulsion to track all the details of my on-line play. With the last 7 weekends being filled with different tasks or activities, I just didn't seem to have the time to properly setup my computer to track my poker stats.

Now that I'm in Vegas, things have changed. Yesterday I played at the Hooter Casino for a couple hours and walked away with a modest profit after being down most of the game. My key losing hand was a bluff that I just could get away from. By the end I had invested over half my stack into the hand and my oppenent called me with a Ace high, the same hand I had. Problem was, he had a better kicker so I lost the pot. Considering he called two good sized bets with no pair, no draw I was worried that he could tell I was bluffing. Within an hour it was clear, this player just fell in love with any Ace in his hand and would call all the way down. He didn't last long and was gone from the table, busted, within an hours time. My only mistake in the hand was not going all-in on the turn. It may have been enough to push him off the hand. AA bet on the river wouldn't have been any good because he didn't have much left and I'm sure he would have called.

My trip to Vegas was the best ever. No lineups, no annoying travelers, smooth flights, and I even pulled my luggage off the carousel 60 seconds after arriving to it! My hotel is small but adequate, and it gives me almost everything I need for the trip.

Now I'm off to the RIO, the home of the WSOP to star gaze a bit, play some poker and try to have some fun.

Back Into the Swing Of Things

April is quickly turning into one of the best poker months I've had in a long time. Most of it happened this past weekend.

On Friday I went to a new club to play my first live poker hand in 9 months. With my bankroll management rules I have had to spend almost all my poker playing time on-line. I really enjoyed this new club as they seem to do many things right. There are several tables with a tournament and then a couple cash games afterwards. On the night that I was there they had two 1/2 NL cash games going after the tournament. One is a larger buy-in with the second being a small buy-in.

First the tournament though. $25 buy-in. 10,000 chips, and blind levels at 15 minutes. With 100-200 starting blinds the blind level started pretty high so a good starting hand was usually required. The two tables filled up and it seemed like most players were separated into two different categories. One group were very passive while the other group were over-aggressive. Either way most players were also calling stations which made things a bit trickier to play. It was very clear that betting for value was a great strategy in this tournament, but in order to accomplish that, some type of hand was required. This, for me was the tough part of the tournament. In two hours I honestly only received a couple 'ok' starting hands. My strongest starting hand was a pair of deuces that I had to fold against a raise and re-raise ahead of me. There was only one hand (KQ of diamonds) that I regretted not playing by the time the hand was completed. In that particular hand the UTG player, who was short-stacked went all-in. UTG+1 called and then it got to me. I honestly read the UTG+1 as having an Ace. I was in a very tough spot. I could call but with so many people acting after me any type of re-raise screws me. If I go all-in someone behind could easily wake up with a hand and crush me. I folded, and so did everyone else. The UTG+1 player tabled an Ace-Ten and he won the hand unimproved. I would have had two pair had I played the hand. My read and decision, pre-flop was technically correct but I should have seized the opportunity to get lots of chips.

21 players started the tournament and I ended up getting 5th place. Top three cashed. I felt fine after the tournament considering that I think I would have easily cashed if I had one or two better hands in better position. After the tournament I wasted some time at the smaller buy-in cash game. In less then 30 minutes I had won my tournament entry fee and then some, making it a profitable night overall. The one thing for sure is that I will be returning.

My poker bankroll took saw another nice achievement over the weekend. I have tracked several stats and one of them is actual bankroll versus peak bankroll. On Saturday, I saw my bankroll peak at every single poker room that I play at on-line. This peak has maintained at all sites over the rest of the weekend. I'm now trying to build all my rolls at each room up to the same level so that my game selection will be more balanced.

All in all, a great poker weekend!

It's Been A While

I haven't had a post for a while so I figured I would remedy that today. First, the negative stuff:

My results for March were lackluster to say the best. Technically I did post a profit but it was about as small of a profit that I can achieve. In addition to that, the only reason I posted a profit was because of bonuses that I took advantage of at Pacific Poker. I earned a small profit in my cash games and lost it back when taking shots in larger buy-in tournaments and Sit and Go's. I was still playing within my bankroll but in order to have the roll grow I have to move up levels when the bankroll dictates to.

By comparison, April has been much better. I am currently on pace to have April be my best month in 2008. With my bankroll being spread over several sites, I am finding that only one of them is not at its peak level. This means that the bankroll in these sites has never been higher (over the course of my experiment). This is a good position to be in and it feels good to see the bankroll growing.

The past couple of weeks have also seen some poker news throughout the States. The WSOP is exploring the idea of having the main event play down to 9 people (the final table) and then the tournament will break for 90 days while all the footage is edited and produced. Then the players will re-convene and play down the final table live. At first blush I didn't like the idea but the more I think about it the more the idea grows on me. With any idea like this there are always going to be pro's and con's. With this idea it seems like the pro's outweigh the con's. My only hope is that if they decide to do it, ESPN has to go all-in with promoting the event so they can maximize their audience.

April also saw the US Congress hold talks about the UIGEA. To many this is the law that saw Internet Poker become illegal. Unfortunately most people don't understand that Internet Poker, in Canada and the US is as legal now, today, as it was before the UIGEA. Hopefully the law will be squashed considering everyone involved has admitted that it's almost impossible to enforce the law.

So that's it for me right now. I am playing in a small buy-in tournament tonight at a local club. I'm looking forward to this a great deal since it's been a while since I played live and I feel that my ability to read people gives me a better edge in a live environment over an on-line one.

What Would You Call With?

While I was multi-tabling 4 NLHE SnG's yesterday at Full Tilt and interesting hand played out. Here is some of the background:

I am just under the starting stack of 1500 at this table because I have been folding nearly all my hands. Anyone who is observant would see this and peg me as a tight player. I haven't shown anything to define whether I am passive or aggressive. In the cut-off I am dealt AQ and bring it in for a standard 3X raise. The small blind raise back pot. I think about it for a second and realize that there are two other big stacks at this table and if I have any chance to compete in this SnG this is going to be as good a time as any. I push and my opponent calls. Before you read on, think about what my opponent has and venture a guess.

HIGHLIGHT THIS AREA --->Pocket 3's! <--- TO SEE THE RESULT. Identifying a bad play is almost as valuable as performing a good one so I'm spending a lot more time analyzing some of the more interesting hands that I come up against. There are some key points that I want to outline that I feel are important:

• I was the one who pushed all-in. It's one thing to push all-in but it's another to call an all-in, especially pre-flop. Since I push all-in I can add some fold equity to my hand giving me the edge versus a small pair.
  
• With my hand I'm only worried about 4 other hands. Aces, Kings, Queens and Ace-King. With every other hand out there I am either a coin flip or I'm dominating them.
• My image, even though it doesn't really matter at these limits, is that of a very tight player, and with the push all-in I can now be classified as Tight-Aggressive.
• My opponent is at best, 50/50, but it's just as likely that they are dominated. Even though I was only afraid of four hands there is only one hand I can hold (deuces) where my opponent can be confident.

My opponent still called, even though they had all these factors against them. We both still had playable stacks and there was still plenty of time to build a stack in a better situation. I consider this call to be a very bad play, one I don't think I would make if I was in the same situation. What I notice, at every stake I play at, is that once a person places chips into the pot, they put a lot more into the pot to try to get them back. This ends up being a huge leak in their game.

By the tone of the post many would think that I lost the hand. They would be wrong. I won the hand with a straight but that really doesn't matter. I feel that I still made the right play and even if the pot got pushed to my opponent I would still feel good about pushing all-in.

Wow, Really, Calling All In With That?

POKERSTARS GAME #16057183014: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.01/$0.02) - 2008/03/17 - 21:45:24 (ET)
Table 'Weringia V' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: Pecek ($1.05 in chips)
Seat 3: jonshadow ($5.35 in chips)
Seat 4: Doctor-Lay ($5.96 in chips)
Seat 6: poste2006 ($4.50 in chips)
FranckRock will be allowed to play after the button
poste2006: posts small blind $0.01
Pecek: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jonshadow [Kh Ac]
jonshadow: raises $0.04 to $0.06
Doctor-Lay: folds
poste2006: calls $0.05
Nundrspock joins the table at seat #1
Pecek: raises $0.99 to $1.05 and is all-in
jonshadow: raises $4.30 to $5.35 and is all-in
poste2006: folds
*** FLOP *** [Jd 8h Kc]
*** TURN *** [Jd 8h Kc] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 8h Kc Jh] [Td]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Pecek: shows [7c 9s] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
jonshadow: mucks hand
Pecek collected $2.06 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2.16 | Rake $0.10
Board [Jd 8h Kc Jh Td]
Seat 2: Pecek (big blind) showed [7c 9s] and won ($2.06) with a straight, Seven to Jack
Seat 3: jonshadow mucked [Kh Ac]
Seat 4: Doctor-Lay (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: poste2006 (small blind) folded before Flop


This player was pushing on a lot of hands, pre and post flop. I figured him for a weak ace but I was very surprised when I saw that he had called that raise with 79. Sure he caught his 4-outer on the river to beat me but I know that in the long run I'm taking all his money.

Learning to Play a New Style

Over the past week it looks like I have snapped out of the slump that had eaten away a lot of my February profits. I have cashed in around half of my sit and go's earned enough to book a slight profit for the week.

In addition to the SnG's I have also been flirting with playing a new style at the cash games. The limits are low but I'm finding that I am enjoying this new style. In the past I have always thought of myself as a tight, aggressive player. As a result of watching some Cardrunner videos I am opening up my starting requirements and becoming a bit looser. I am raising almost every pot that I enter and breaking even. I'm still making two mistakes that I will most likely resolve in short time.

The first mistake is that I'm over-aggressive with a pre-flop raiser when I have a strong hand. I should be playing my strong hands with a little more deception. Playing these hands fast is a by-product of taking some bad beats and trying to prevent that. As I play in more cash games this fear should be reduced.

The second mistake is that I try pushing players off hands too often. I have to remember that I'm playing low-limits and as such I should just focus on playing ABC poker, with a more loose aggressive style. In the past I used to get frustrated by the loose aggressive players that raise so many hands but I'm discovering that if it's done in the right situation, and in good position it can be a formidable weapon at any limit.

A Bad Run...

For the past week I have been having a bad run during my Sit and Go's, both in Hold' Em and in PLO8. I haven't really seen much reason for the bad run. A bad run will always be a mixture of bad cards, bad luck, and even some bad play. I have been guilty of all of three even though I feel the luck has been the main factor going against me.

I have played in some turbo tournaments and that is something that I should be staying away from. The blinds move up too quickly in my opinion and even though the tournament concludes faster, it also becomes a bit of a luck-fest.

On the flip side I multi-tabled a few Hold' Em NL tables and did very well. I played a style of poker that is a bit foreign to me after watching a CardRunners video. The video focused on playing aggressively in position and smartly out of position. I usually play tight, only raising with premium hands but watching these videos showed me that most players, even in the lower stakes don't want to call with weak hands against players who show aggression pre-flop. I raised nearly every hand that I got involved with and never stopped betting until I was shown some resistance. The nice thing was, even if someone played back at me I'd say I was winning half the time so I was able to take some pots and show down some good hands. For me one of the amazing things two of my more powerful hands (Jacks and Ace Ten) were hands I was able to easily release based on my read of my opponents. I really felt comfortable during these sessions.

Time to get back to the tables to see if the bad run is over.

Slow and Steady...

Tonight I played in one 9 person PLO8 Sit and Go. From the start of the match the action was fast and furious. Nearly half the table was eliminated during the first blind level. My strategy at this point was simple, let everyone bust each other out while I play only premium hands. Unfortunatly, once play got to five handed things slowed down considerably. There was almost no pre-flop raising and most pots were won on the flop. After playing Omaha for the last few weeks this turn of events was certainly puzzling.

As the blinds continued to increase pots continued to get pushed to the bettor and raiser. Only one of my pre-flop raises were ever contested and for several levels I was the only player making raises pre-flop. We got to the break with the chips pretty evenly distributed. I was the short-stack once we got 5 handed and stayed that way until the money bubble burst. It took almost 70 minutes to get to the money. That kind of timing is normal in a 18 person SnG but pretty rare in a 9 person match.

When the dust settled I ended up getting runner-up in the match. I'm happy with the result and how I played since I didn't over-value my hands and didn't chase low draws. Considering my chip stacks compared to everyone else for an hour of the match I'm happy with how things turned out.

Full Tilt Doesn't Make It Easy

I played several Sit and Go's tonight and my evening started off being very rough. It seemed to be like a continuation from the previous day and by bankroll was taking another significant hit, but then, when all seemed to be lost, I picked up the chip-lead in two different SnG's at the same time.

Moving back and forth during a see-saw battle I was able to earn the runner-up spot in both matches. These cashes pushed my bankroll and evening into a profitable one. I still saw plenty of bad luck (for me) or good luck (for them), however you want to look at it. I found it tough because it seemed like when I was aggressive, I trapped myself with powerful hands. On the flip side, when I was being passive the hands never seemed to break my way.

When all was said and done things went ok. It's important to look at how hands and tournaments are played and in the long run the results will speak for themselves. It's tough when you put the money in as a favorite and then see the pot get pushed to your opponent. The main thing is to stay focused and continue to try to keep your composure as you push on. Time will reward strong play.

A Very Tough Day On The Virtual Felt

Today has been one of the worst days of poker that I have had on Full Tilt in quite a long time. I usually have to suffer through a bad beat or a foolish mistake every once and a while but I have had some brutal beats during the Sit and Go's today. The worst part is that most of them are happening on the money bubble so I'm investing lots of time into the match and then walking away in frustration.

When these kinds of sessions happen with some players they will buy into larger games trying to build up their bankroll. I'm the opposite. I'll play at a lower limit so that if my emotions start getting involved I won't have as much cash up for grabs.

In terms of money this day isn't a big deal at all. My overall roll is only down 2% so it's not as though it's painful financially, it just gets frustrating when you get un-drawn, you get unlucky, and when you play badly. Hopefully the streak is short lived.

Playing Well At Full Tilt, Party, Not So Much

I haven't had much success at Party since receiving my bonus. I was playing a bit out of my bankroll with their Sit and Go's, the SnG's took forever to fill up and even though I was always in contention of cashing the blinds seemed to get up to high late in the SnG. I also played a little Pot Limit Omaha High Low cash games. These usually never went very well. I would build up my stack then suffer a bad beat and that would clear out a lot of hard work. I'm glad I was able to play more at the site, and that it was technically free but now that my bonus has been used up I'm back to playing full time at Full Tilt where I have been playing very well. My success is coming primarily in PLO8 9 and 18 person Sit and Go's. I guess my style of play is more successful in PLO8 tournaments rather then cash games.

No Love at Lunch

Played in two low limit PLO8 SnG's at lunch and busted in 5th during both of them. I was a combination of too tight/weak starting hands throughout most of the first match. I finally get AA2T, suited once and my opponent pushes with QQ44. I go all in and winning this places me in 3rd and almost a lock for the cash. Flop comes 422 and it's all over. Thanks Full Tilt.

Second match saw me with top two pair and a low draw against a made flush on the turn. No help comes on the river and I'm out. I wasn't short-stack at this table but it was heading that way. It was probably also due to a bit of tilt since I knew my chips were going in bad when I called all-in.

I played in two more matches when I got home, one was a 9 person SnG at Party and the final one in bed was a 18 person SnG at Full Tilt. I was out in 5th during the match on Party. I had a nice chip stack about halfway through the match but then lost a great portion of it drawing to a flush and low draw that never came. Three people were knocked out in the first few hands so I figured that the rest of the match would be like that, it wasn't. Play slowed considerably when we got down to 6 handed and the short-stack to my right played very strong to stay in contention. It was all over for me when my nut straight on fourth street turned into a full house for my opponent on the river.

The second match, the 18 person SnG went much better as I cashed and ended up finishing in third. There wasn't much though behind this match. I played my strong hands strong and folded my weak hands and draws.

Overall the day was pretty uneventful. I posted a small profit at Full Tilt and a slightly larger loss at Party.

Lunchtime Poker

I went 1 for 2 in my Turbo 9 person PLO8 Sit and Go's that happened today at lunch. I played uber-type and patient in both matches. I was able to get a couple powerful scooping hands in the second match and took it down while using other players aggression against them.

I posted my first thread about a hand that happened yesterday. Click here to check it out.

#Game No : 6823100677
***** Hand History for Game (?) *****
PL Omaha Hi-Lo $6 USD Buy-in Trny: 38662748 Level: 5 Blinds(200/400) - Tuesday February 26 20:55:52 ET 2008
Table Table 125768 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 3
Seat 5: InsaynePayne ( 14 485 )
Seat 6: mark2004222 ( 1 675 )
Seat 7: Hero ( 3 840 )
Trny: 38662748 Level: 5
Blinds(200/400)

Holecards:
Dealt to Hero [ ]
RAISE Hero , 1,200
CALL InsaynePayne, 1,000
CALL mark2004222, 800

Flop:
[ ]
BET InsaynePayne, 3,600
mark2004222 folds
Hero folds
InsaynePayne does not show cards.
InsaynePayne wins 7,200 chips

Playing Normal Again

I played in two more PLO8 Sit and Go's at Party Poker tonight and earned second place in each of them. I was more patient during these matches and was willing to wait for good hands to play rather then getting my money in bad and hoping to draw out.

In my first match I honesty did not voluntarily put money into the pot for the first 20 hands. THis was a combination of some weak holdings and multiple raises pre-flop. As a result I cashed before ever having to risk a chip! It's not impossible to have that happen during a Sit and Go but it doesn't happen often.

With the second match I was involved in more pots but I still kept things under control. I released drawing hands when I was under too much pressure and things worked out quite well. I only had to play in one all-in hand but I was ahead pre-flop and on the flop, fell behind on the turn and then rivered my flush. The chips I earned in that pot let me coast to the final three.

A pivotal hand that I played when it was three handed:

Level: 5 Blinds(200/400) - Tuesday, February 26, 20:55:52 ET 2008
Table Table 125768 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 3
Seat 5: InsaynePayne ( 14,485 ) (This player has been super aggressive throughout 3 and 4 handed play)
Seat 6: mark2004222 ( 1,675 )
Seat 7: JonShadow12 ( 3,840 )
Trny: 38662748 Level: 5
Blinds(200/400)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JonShadow12 [ 4h 2d Ks Kd ]
JonShadow12 raises [1,200] (3 handed I figure I'll pick up the blinds with the raise. If not I still have a reasonable hand to play with and can afford an all-in against the short stack.)
InsaynePayne calls [1,000] (He's called lots of hands, I'm not surprised here.)
mark2004222 calls [800] (This surprises me a bit. He's low in chips so I'm pretty sure my hand may not be very strong now. I have to hit this flop hard to continue.)
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, Th, 9c ] (Not the best flop. Lots of hands beat me and I don't have any draws.)
InsaynePayne bets [3,600] (Damn - This puts me all in if I call but that bets smells like a small set or tw0-pair trying to keep anyone from drawing at a low.)
mark2004222 folds (With this fold, mark only has 475 chips left. I can call and probably lose or fold and almost certainly get second place. Based on my hand, my opponene and my remaining chips if I fold I decide to play it safe and fold.)
JonShadow12 folds
InsaynePayne does not show cards.
InsaynePayne wins 7,200 chips (This gives InsaynePayne a lock on the chip lead and eventually the match. At the same time though I cruised into an easy second place when I could have easily been in third with a foolish call.)

I'll take the profit and it's nice that my foolishly bad play didn't continue past 24 hours.

There's No Reason I Should Be This Lucky

Throughout the past couple of days I have ended up breaking even in my PLO8 Sit and Go's. Most have been 9-10 person matches with a couple 18 person matches thrown in for good measure.

Even though I would consider myself to have played very poorly in the past couple of days I still ended up breaking even overall. Once match I won by being extremely lucky. We were getting ready to leave and meet up with friends to go see a movie. I started the Sit and Go nearly an hour and a half before we had to go, and felt that this would be more then enough time. Nearly an hour and a half into the match and we were still 3-handed. With little time to spare I ran upstairs, shaved, brushed my teeth and played poker all at the same time.

By the time we got to heads-up play I was already late and trying to get dressed. I decided to push all my hands to get it over with. Within two hands I had won the entire SnG. My starting hand for the last hand was a 6789, compared to my opponents AAT2. In PLO8 this is the equivalent of Aces being up against 72. When the flop hit I got as lucky as I could have. 69J put me ahead with two pair and then I disconnected. All the money was in by that time so when I reconnected I checked the cashier and sure enough I had won the match. It's not the prettiest way to win things but sometimes, that's what it takes.

Yesterday I played at lunch and at night and ended up being lucky in some matches and playing badly in other ones. I was happy to leave even over the past couple of days and I'm going to be focusing on my patience and starting hand requirements going forward to try to improve on my recent performance.

Several Sit and Go's, a Little Bit of Profit

Throughout the day and night I played in several PLO8 Sit and Go's at PartyPoker and Full Tilt. The earlier SnG's didn't go very well. I can pinpoint the reason though, I played bad. It happens and the important thing is to recognize that it's happening, or happened and then make the necessary improvements.

I was able to tighten up, regain my patience and then earn a profit for the day after a cash and win.

$50 From Party Poker

I always like it when a poker site sends my an offer for some type of bonus. Once you open it you find out that you must play x number of hands, or some other requirement. Even though this is usually not the hardest thing to accomplish I'd rather receive a bonus where you can us it right away and only cash it out if and when you complete the requirements. This is the best way to do bonuses because you will get players jumping right in and if they lose all of the bonus money they won't be upset and chances are the site earns back a great deal more in the rake and entry fee's that this new, loyal customer will contribute.

Well, PartyPoker.com did just that. I received a $50 bonus that I can't remove until I play some poker and a little bit of the on-line casino. Now, I'm not a fan of casino's, especially on-line ones, even though most who know me think I'm a gambler. Even though I don't like it I know I need to play and I'm cool with that since it's free money.

Good stuff PartyPoker, I commend you!

Another Good Night With Omaha Hi/Lo

In following with my plan to play Omaha Hi/Lo only for the next little while I played in three PLO8 Sit and Go's at Full Tilt. My first SnG saw me finish in a painful 4th place. This was after being the short stack for several levels and clawing my way back up several times. I made some mistakes earlier in the session that prevented me fro cruising into the cash, but I also learned from those mistakes.


Me next two SnG's were much more rewarding. I finished in second in the 9 person SnG and then figured I would try out a 18 person SnG. Even though it took a bit longer I was able to win the event thus increasing my overall bankroll by 10%.

I've said it in past entries, Omaha Hi/Lo is a game where you can recognize your mistakes easily and you are ofter rewarded for playing well. I find there is a lot less luck in PLO8 when you compare it to Texas Hold'em.