Ok, pretty nasty session where I initially ran well under EV and managed to claw it back for a very modest win.



First person to comment correctly guessing the game (type and stakes) gets my winnings - just include your FTP screen name and $5.45 could be yours!!! You don't get this sort of offer from Townsend, that's for sure ;-)

Nice little cash session whilst waiting for a PLO tourney to start...



and then the tourney itself went quite well!



I'm going to be playing the £100 freezeout next Wednesday at the International - they have a live webcam for the final table so watch out for the top of my head. Any CR members there give me a shout and I'll donk some money off to you in the PLO cash game afterwards !

Nice to get a repeat of yesterday's win...not so big but no deal either:



So that's $2,139 towards my Vegas trip in June. At this rate I won't have to stay at the Imperial Palace...

I decided to play a couple of MTTs last night since Kirsten wasn't getting back from college until gone 9pm. I signed up at around 6:30pm my time thinking I'd be done in time to get supper ready for 9 but didn't really look at how many people had entered. I busted out of a NLHE one at around 8:30pm just after we made the money, and was around 35/50 left in a PLO tourney. So I fired up the laptop and moved down to the kitchen to carry on playing whilst cheffing up a storm, basically nut-peddling whilst chopping onions. Seemed to work as everyone else slowly eliminated each other.

Needless to say the tourney carried on well past 9, and didn't finish until 00:45. We did a 3-way deal at the end just after I elimitated 4th place and took the chip lead, so I shipped $1800. I'll bet I was the only one to cook a meal for two mid-way through!

It was one of those "what could he check behind on the flop that he can now shove for value?" moments:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

UTG ($667.35)
UTG+1 ($240)
MP1 ($248.40)
MP2 ($200)
CO ($65)
Button ($203)
SB ($455)
Hero (BB) ($215.55)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 10, A
2 folds, MP1 bets $7, 4 folds, Hero calls $5

Flop: ($15) 10, 9, 5(2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks

Turn: ($15) 2(2 players)
Hero bets $10, MP1 raises to $32, Hero calls $22

River: ($79) 8(2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets $209.40 (All-In), Hero [tanks for ages and then] calls $176.55 (All-In)

Total pot: $432.10 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had 10, A (one pair, tens).
MP1 had A, Q (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Hero won $429.10

But remember to value shove the river instead...

So January I ran pretty hot:



My graph looks like I'm hooked up to some EEG whilst holding my breath - starts off calm enough then just goes crazy.

Feb has started out a lot better:



It could have all been very different but for this hand:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) - Full-Tilt Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

Button ($125.70)
SB ($115.40)
Hero (BB) ($111.70)
UTG ($54.55)
MP ($121.60)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7, 5
2 folds, Button bets $1.75, 1 fold, Hero raises to $5, Button calls $3.25

Flop: ($10.25) 4, 6, 8(2 players)
Hero bets $5, Button calls $5

Turn: ($20.25) A(2 players)
Hero bets $16, Button calls $16

River: ($52.25) Q(2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $99.70 (All-In)

Er, what to do now?!?

Hey, I've flopped a boat!

Oh no, it's been counterfeited - I have to fold :-(



What!!!! Quads on the river and people moving all-in!



Insta-tilt.

Breakeven...and it never felt so good!



Dropping 16 buy-ins before figuring out a profitable way to play this game was painful. One the plus side that's pretty much enough FTP points for a months CR subscription just there, plus about 5 buy-ins of rakeback, so profitable rather than breakeven ;-)

Now to fix my Rush PLO game...similar story - dropped 12 buy-ins in the first 634 hands (ouch!) and have recovered to "only" 3 buy-ins down.

Amazingly organised for me - vegas trip booked already!

My Rush poker graph at $0.10/$0.25:



As you can see, the first few sessions I was just 3 and 4 betting a lot and playing really aggro, which got a nice rising red line but a plummetting P&L!

Then I switched to a "wait and see" strategy of selective 3-betting and playing premium hands fast. However, it's amazing how many hands you can just quick-fold before getting something playable and then not getting paid off of having to let it go. Certainly mildly profitable, but there has to be a compromise between these two extremes!