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.