Flopped the Nuts

Just tried some play money Omaha Hi-Lo at Paradise… It was my first time playing Omaha, and well… WTF?

That game is absolutely crazy! It was a ton of fun and I almost doubled my play chips, but I have no idea what the hell happened!

Winning Online Tournaments, Part II is up at PokerSavvy.com

I still haven’t read Part I, but I certainly still plan to do so.

I’ve been playing like crap online lately. I tapped out my bankrolls at Paradise and UB in early March (they were small bankrolls — I’m still playing for fun, remember…). My confidence was low, etc., etc. Blah blah blah.

Well, I rebought at Paradise and jumped into a $5+1 sit-and-go (they call them “mini-tournaments”).

Things started out poorly. I wasn’t catching any cards: After 20 hands I hadn’t been able to even play in more than a couple and had won zero. Then I had a little run and won 3 of the next ten.

I was in the 2 seat and pretty much from the get-go the players in the 9 and 10 seats were trading the chip lead with some challenge for the 6. I was playing tight enough that once I started winning hands I was a bit better than even.

I mostly played tight and sat by as others were knocked out. When it got down to four of us, the short stack had ~700, I was in 3rd with ~1600 and the other two were both in the 3000-5000 range.

My winning groove was continuing at a modest pace, and the blinds were getting big enough that almost any bet would scare people off anything but a lock. There was one point where I was afraid the short stack was going to overtake me, but I rebounded and actually busted him.

The money round had me still the underdog with a bit over 2000 in chips, but I just turned into an animal. Whereas the player in the 9 seat had been the table captain for almost the entire game, I suddenly was able to push both of my opponents around pretty successfully. Quite a change from the first 20 hands!!

Long story longer: I won. I actually finished with a win percentage of 28% out of 74 hands (after being at 0% after 20 and 10% after 30).

I didn’t have very many spectacular hands that I recall… The best was when I rivered a King for two pair to win a nice spot from the 9 seat. There was also a full house or two.

Anyway, no telling if this is the big turn around I’ve been hoping for, because I can’t really say I outplayed everyone. I mostly outlasted the others while I was getting crap and hammered ‘em with good bets when I got the cards. But if that’s not poker, I don’t know what is.

At least my bankroll is plus $19 for now…

Just a quick link list for the kids:

• Phil Hellmuth Jr.: The Bad Boy of Poker — Very nice (perhaps a bit fauning) profile piece.
• Live With the World Poker Tour in San Jose — Part I — Our favorite celebrity poker vixen, Mimi Rogers made the money!
• The Tipping Point of Poker — Mental masturbation about why poker is popular.
• Capitalizing on the Poker Boom — It is the responsibility of every serious poker player to teach these newbies a lesson (and take their money).

All of this fine poker related reading and more can be found in the April isssue (the whole thing is online now).

Harrah’s to Reopen Binion’s Horseshoe

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. today announced it will reopen Binion’s Horseshoe Casino and Hotel on April 1. The landmark downtown Las Vegas casino will open in time to host the 35th annual World Series of Poker, scheduled to begin April 22.

Wonder if it’ll keep that “slightly run-down” feel Binion’s was kind of known for.

College Students Join Ranks Of Poker Players

The creators of ‘’World Poker Tour,’’ which kicked off a new season this month, also say a poker competition between colleges, with scholarship money and other prizes, is in development.

I wish I had a chance to win a scholarship playing poker back in the day (not that I knew anything about poker back in the day…).

Poker, TV coverage are a draw for millions

There’s also plenty of good-natured ribbing about 30-year-old Kyle Scheidler’s conservative playing, which has earned him the nickname “I’m out.” The ribbing is also aimed at the housekeeping habits of Dunn, 29, and the melodic ring tone on 29-year-old Chris Wolf’s cell phone. They warn him about the penalty for looking at the phone — 25 cents in the pot — and for answering it, $1.

Oooh… I like that rule! Though if we did that at my Thursday game we would only take one player’s money, and that player always suffers the bad beats anyway, so I’d feel bad.

Then again… Matt has had at least a couple calls during play…

I’m watching “More Than Human” on the Discovery Channel and isn’t Annie Duke on there as an expert in the field of recognizing liars by non-verbal cues! Poker’s everywhere, folks.

Of course, I’m not in the least bit worried that I recognized Annie before the show popped the graphic with her name and profession.

Ed and I went out and met Shane in Vegas yesterday. (I wanted to surprise Shane so I did not post that I was going.) I will be posting about the poker we played later, I am exhausted having just gotten home. (Yes, I went for only 19 hours.)

The one thing that could not wait to be posted though? Look at this picture, tell me who it is then tell me how jealous you are.

Shane was shaking and nervous like a little girl. It was a friggin trip.

Kevin Pollack is out as host of Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown and former Kids in the Hall and News Radio cast member Dave Foley will be taking over.

“I am excited to be working with Bravo and ‘Celebrity Poker,’” Foley says. “I wanted to be on ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,’ but apparently I did not meet the requirements for either category.”

Not entirely sure if this will help, but I did find Kevin’s performances to be especially lackluster. Phil Gordon remains as the expert color commentator.

Found at Love and Casino War

As I predicted Neal ruled the game. He actually took the entire pot, which has only happened once before.

We love parity! (I swear.)

I just discovered Warren Karp’s Poker MD site. Good content for the beginning and learning player.

Check it out.

(It also looks like Warren’s articles end up on The Poker Paper, so pick your poison or double up.)