Vegas Quickie and Online Omaha 8

I have been playing more online due to the double FPP points that Stars was giving out until the end of the year to promote their new VIP program.

I've been running very well. I'm a nut peddler. I'm tight, I'm a rock, I'm cautious, I like to trap, I don't want to have to concentrate very hard to play, I like to surf, I'm a cinch player.

One of the reasons that online I will only play O8, is because I know if I play a game that requires 100% concentration, I won't play at all. With O8, I can basically just coast. I can play with one eye shut. It is a "sure thing," with very low variance. Sure, I could really dig into it. I could keep moving up limits and pay attention to every player, every hand. I could multi-table and use Poker Tracker along with other online gaming tools. I could increase my EV a little this way (while increasing my variance, also). But I'd only last a day or two, and then quit.

I've never been much of an online poker player, and I suppose I never will be. I just do it to make a little money on the side.

Soooo, last Wednesday was Glenn's last day dealing. What started in February 2004 as a "favor" to Dan, the CRM at the Palms, ended up lasting almost a year. It was a good experience for him, and he's glad he did it.

As a celebration, we ran up to Vegas on Thursday. We planned on staying a day or two. Just depended on if we could get a reasonable room, and how we were running.

We ran by Caesars first. We'd called ahead and they claimed they had a 15/30 and 30/60 Stud game going. Of course, that turned out to be an interest list only, and never got going. Oy.

Caesars has a huge room. It is extremely spacious and spread out. It sort of reminds me of the Bike. Unfortunately, the problems I foresee (confirmed by others who have visited already), are the location, lack of rail (I kind of like this, but I can see where it would be a marketing disaster), cocktail waitresses, general disorganization and lack of knowledge, and type of tables.

As far as the tables go, they are too small for ten players. They either need to make their tables nine-handed, or get bigger tables. The funny thing is that it is such a spacious room, with so much room in between tables, but while you're sitting at one, you feel cramped. Ugh!

So we headed over to Orleans. I wanted to play in a live O8 tourney before going to Tunica.

I have never been a big fan of the Orleans, for so many reasons that I won't even bother to list them here. Needless to say, their poker room has been FUBAR since it opened. Stealing from the TOC after their opening only began a downhill descent that has never been stopped.

Anyway, it was a cheapie tourney. $40 buy-in with a $20 add-on.

Before the tourney, I sat in the 4/8 O8 with a half kill. It was the only limit they had going. I caught some fantastic cards, against players who cannot lay down a hand, and quickly doubled up. I think I cashed out at $176. So I had my buy-in and add-on.

I didn't think I'd last long in the tourney. I literally did not win even a portion of a pot for the first ninety minutes. Of course catching all of the greatest cards in the world during the cash game meant that I caught a lot of 3999's in the tourney, lol. I was dealt trips five times.

Fortunately, however, I managed to make somewhat of a comeback. Mainly it was due to this hand.

I was in the SB with 237Q. I believe the blinds were 50/75, betting limits 75/150. So I went ahead and completed. If you do not complete in this situation with virtually any four cards, you do not know how to play O8. Please stop playing until you read Ray Zee.

The flop came down: A4xx (high). I believe there were six of us in the hand. I checked. It was checked to a MP player who bet. I think all but one of us called. Turn made my nut low, I checked again, MP bet and there were four of us seeing the river. River brought both a straight and flush possible, but since I only had one big bet left, I threw it in, now believing I was the only player with the low (the players at my table had been raising quite a bit with bare lows).

It was passed to MP, who raised. The only other player left in the hand folded. I expected to see MP with a good high.

Instead, MP had the nut low, too. Yes, I was a little surprised. He didn't have even a pair. He had jack high! I won 3/4 of the pot with queen high.

The whole table exploded. I just sat quietly raking in my chips. This propelled me to make it much deeper into the tourney than I'd expected.

In the end, I think I busted out 25th of 100ish.

My last hand, the limits had gone up quite a bit more than prior to this time. We went from 150/300 blinds (300/600 betting) to 200/500 blinds (500/1000 betting). This left me short, fast. So when my big blind flopped absolutely nothing in an unraised pot, I was down to my last 800.

In the SB I was dealt A7JJ with a suited jack. It was passed to the button, who raised it up. He was brand new to our table. I had no reads whatsoever. I put in my last chips, and the BB called as well.

The flop was nothing special, but put a low draw on board. I believe 45K. Check-check. The turn was a queen. Check-check. Just when I was starting to get hopeful, the river was a trey. Instant jamming. I knew I was looking at two wheels. Yep, they both turned up A2xx and split the pot. Neither of them had even a pair. IGHN.

I started remembering quite a bit about tourney O8. I definitely needed the practice. There were many things I'd forgotten. It's back to Ciaffone, Zee and TPFAP before we leave for Tunica!

Yes, we are going to Tunica, for sure (unless something big happens on Friday, during my oncologist appointment). Hope to see some of you there (but not stalkers ;).

So after I busted out of the tourney, I got back together with Glenn. He was boohooing and bawling around about losing so much. He was running very badly, and down maybe six, seven hundred by this point, between Caesars and Orleans.

We called Aladdin, to see if the mixed game was still going on (HORSE + TDL). It was a go, so we drove over quickly (by this time it was midnight, when they said the game usually broke).

The game was good. Aladdin is still ironing out some details, but I think it will be successful, if they keep it going. The rules need to be standardized somewhat. Like if one raps pat in TDL, can he draw on the next betting round? One playing dealer said absolutely not, while the rest of us said, "Of course, that's just good poker!" Also, they were playing all of the Stud games (Stud, Stud 8, Razz) and TDL with a spread limit of 2-20. No good. The bad players go bust too quickly. Sharks like me will (and did) run over the game. Make it 5/10 like the rest of the games.

We wrapped it up about 2am.

After leaving Aladdin, Glenn was depressed and didn't even want to stay in Vegas. He begged me to just go home. I said that was fine.

So there ya go, a little live game teaser.

I can't wait to get to Tunica. And next time I'm in Vegas I'm going to do the smart thing, and stick to Wynn.

Happy New Year's everyone!

Felicia :)