Bloggers PLO8

Well, our DSL is pretty much down, so I'll take this opportunity to talk about the PLO8 tourney last night.

First, thanks for hosting it, Jax.

I didn't know if I was going to play or not. I had to go get some labwork done in town. That turned out to be totally FUBAR, because I went to three different labs and still couldn't get it done!

My veins are kaput. Even after being off of chemo, they're simply collapsed, and no good. Now, do you think any normal, vaguely human (or humane) doctor could have just taken a look at my arms during my oncologist appointment and figured that out before he sent me all over town? You'd think, right? But not MY kind of doctors, oh no. The kind I get stuck with willingly send someone with collapsed veins out to get bloodwork. Lucky me!

At any rate, you can read my bitterness. So I wasn't in much of a good state when I returned home a few hours later. Then my Dad got online and we started talking about it. He got upset, too, having watched my brother almost die from Hodgkin's Lymphoma and somehow feeling I, too, have some kind of systematic cancer (I don't), and am going to die if I don't get help.

So he got me even further worked up. And it was in this state that I entered the PLO8 event. I shouldn't have played.

During the first hour, my Dad continued to IM me with distress. He was hurting, and I'm happy that our relationship has gotten so good, but it definitely distracted me from paying attention to the tournament. I called down some pot sized bets and raises that I didn't have much chance of winning. I figured I'd probably get knocked out quickly and just go on with my night.

Although I kept going in, and usually came out scathed, I still survived (barely). I should have been eliminated for my lack of focus and stupidity. Then I started catching, scooping a few pots, and didn't look back.

Once my Dad signed off of Yahoo, I was able to focus a little better. My anger abated somewhat due to the passing of time, and the good camaraderie during the tournament.

I caught many lucky hands (not necessarily great starting hands, nor necessarily great flops, I just scooped more than my fair share of pots).

Tournaments are extremely luck-based in the short term. I always try to make sure that newish players know this. If I say this often enough, it will help in two ways; 1) players who win a few tourneys and start to think that they have some "gift," will not get too full of themselves and spiral downwards shortly afterwards, thinking they are doomed, or that they play horribly and can never win again. They will understand the concept of the short term luck factor in tournaments versus cash games. 2) players who cannot make a cash in tournament after tournament will not feel an overwhelming depression and think something is wrong with their game, if they understand the huge variance in a tournament.

So I didn't really play that well, but got lucky (right up until the last hand).

Of course I did see a lot of mistakes, by myself as well as by others, but on the whole, poker bloggers have increased their skill set in such a monumental way compared to two years ago that I truly have no real complaints.

If anyone would like me to go through a few key hands with him or her, please send me the HH and I'll try to analyze your play, as well as perhaps suggest the most optimal way that hand could have been played (there are many ways to play a hand in PLO8; unlike PLHE, which requires a totally different skill set).

Although I was not concentrating fully last night, and most of the tourney was just a blur to me, today I am focused and will help out as much as I am able. I am not a fantastic PLO8 player, but I am a Ray Zee and Bob Ciaffone aficionado.

Cheers!

Felicia :)