BBT3

Hello all, thanks for stopping by for a read. Today's topic is the Battle of the Bloggers, version 3.

This is just about the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Al has done an amazing job at getting Full Tilt on board with lots of cash and prizes. Where else can you have a shot at TWO WSOP ME seats as well as TWO $2k bracelet packages. 4 seats for the TOC, not to mention cash and prizes to the top 20 on the leaderboard at the end of this madness.

How am I doing? Thanks for asking! 2 tourneys in and I'm in a solid 201st place. Part of that has to do with a slight flooding problem during the Skill Series on Tuesday evening. Started into it and the wife came upstairs with the dreaded "There's water in the basement" report.

So from about 9:45 until 2am, I was trying to stay ahead of the storm. Our little 1/3 HP sump pump (rated at 2900 gallons per hour) apparently wasn't up for the task of fighting the gazillion inches of rain on top of the gazillion inches of snow last week. Imagine that. Had to take yesterday off and run to Lowes for an upgrade to a 1/2 HP (4200 gph better do it from now on).

Needless to say, I haven't cashed or hit a FT in my two big tries. Tonight is the Riverchasers event, and is PLO8 this week. I hope to at least cash so that Al will finally link me.

Meanwhile, I'll cya at the tables.

Running better online

Hello all, thanks for stopping by. I have been playing some live lately down at the local boat, but just had a nice run online for the first time in forever. I've had final tables. I've finished 2nd. I've finished 3rd. But finally, I have a win in a public tourney. Weds night I won the PLO8 $5 tourney that kicks off on FT at 8:35 EST.

Isn't that pretty? Nice little cash for me. I have played in 22 MTTs this year (mostly private) and this put me up to a ROI of 48% for the year in MTTs. As you can tell, I usually play $10 and under MTTs.

I had some great reads going into the final table and was able to use them. GusTheDog was pushing with some marginal hands and gambling a bit, so I knew that I could get a nice trap to spring on him. When we got down to 3-handed with him, me and pogo7 I was actually a bit more worried about pogo than about Gus (sorry Gus, if you are reading this). pogo7 was showing down a lot of good hands. I got the chip lead with about 50 people left and hung around the top of the leaderboard for a long time.

Here's the hand that won it for me. To take someone out in a split game is difficult. To take 2 people out in the same hand is very rare, and you need some luck to pull it off. Here's the screenshot and Hand History:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5520059988: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (41885620), Table 19 - 2500/5000 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 0:50:36 ET - 2008/03/06
Seat 1: GusTheDog (120,168)
Seat 3: pogo7 (88,500)
Seat 4: IlliniFan (196,332)
pogo7 posts the small blind of 2,500
IlliniFan posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to IlliniFan [7h Qs 6s Qd]
GusTheDog raises to 14,000 He's been raising with a few hands, so this is a pretty wide range.
pogo7 calls 11,500 Now I definitely have to call.
GusTheDog: 2/3
IlliniFan has 15 seconds left to act
IlliniFan calls 9,000
*** FLOP *** [Tc Th Qh] Bingo! Now to get Gus to bet it for me.
pogo7 checks
Studinator (Observer): well, I'm outta here now. TID
IlliniFan checks
GusTheDog bets 42,000 Thank you Gus!
pogo7 raises to 74,500, and is all in This worried me a bit. But I have the nuts. I don't want Gus out yet.
IlliniFan calls 74,500 So I smooth-call.
GusTheDog calls 32,500 SWEET!
*** TURN *** [Tc Th Qh] [5s]
IlliniFan bets 107,832, and is all in I decide that Gus is committed by now. Huge pot.
GusTheDog calls 31,668, and is all in And he is.
IlliniFan shows [7h Qs 6s Qd]
GusTheDog shows [3d Qc Jc As] Wowsa! Talk about a big range!
pogo7 shows [4s 5d Ts Ah] Figured he had to have the set at least. I was worried about quads when he pushed, but was committed and had Gus over calling.
GalloFX (Observer): wtfaments?
vtlaxer09 (Observer): BIG POT
Uncalled bet of 76,164 returned to IlliniFan
*** RIVER *** [Tc Th Qh 5s] [8d]
predator06 (Observer): GAME THE FK OVER Gotta love the Predator rail. He's a great teacher. Thanks Pred!
vtlaxer09 (Observer): gus gus gus
IlliniFan shows a full house, Queens full of Tens, for high
GusTheDog shows two pair, Queens and Tens, for high
IlliniFan wins the side pot (63,336) with a full house, Queens full of Tens
pogo7 shows a full house, Tens full of Fives, for high
IlliniFan: GG guys
IlliniFan wins the main pot (265,500) with a full house, Queens full of Tens
pogo7 stands up
GusTheDog stands up
IlliniFan stands up
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 328,836 Main pot 265,500. Side pot 63,336. | Rake 0
Board: [Tc Th Qh 5s 8d]
Seat 1: GusTheDog (button) showed [3d Qc Jc As] and lost with HI: two pair, Queens and Tens
Seat 3: pogo7 (small blind) showed [4s 5d Ts Ah] and lost with HI: a full house, Tens full of Fives
Seat 4: IlliniFan (big blind) showed [7h Qs 6s Qd] and won (328,836) with HI: a full house, Queens full of Tens

Now that was a nice cash. I decided to give this thing a try again tonight. Look what happened:

Yep. That's right. Another PLO8 donkament, another cash.

I may have found a new home.

Meanwhile, I'm still running well in the cash game side (10.7% ROI) and the SnG side (17.4% ROI). Overall, not a bad year so far.

These wins have given me the confidence to get to Vegas this summer for sure. I now have an adequate BR that I can use for travel and still have money to play.

There's a group of forumers headed out in early June, but I can't make that due to work stuff. Damn life interfering with my poker games! Instead, I looked at the schedules for the WSOP and the Binion's 2nd Annual Poker Classic.

There is a nice little PLO8 $150 buyin event at Binions on the 22nd of June. The WSOP $1500 PLO8 event is on the 24th. I have enough in the roll to get to Vegas and play both. I'm going to try damn hard to win a Bracelet Race on Full Tilt to get me the WSOP buyin, and if I can't get one of those, I'll try some SnG or Satellites to the PLO8 WSOP event when I get into town.

So come late June, I'll be in Vegas. In the meantime, I'll cya at the tables.