I just got done playing the WSOP horseshoe council bluffs circuit event (#5) $345NLHE.

I was hesitant on whether or not I was even going to play in it…a long time internet friend was coming from out of town (who I’ve known for like 6 years but haven’t met in real life) and I wanted to meet up with him. It was either this tourney or a rock climbing comp up in Lincoln and I decided to play cards.

I sold 33% of myself in this tourney to a friend who wanted action and swapped another 5% with another friend (he was playing in another $345 NLHE a few days earlier)…he made me like $9 or something, whoo!

Anyways, I started off at 12 noon. There were 423 entrants and this was my first WSOP circuit event.

First few levels I stole a few pots, much of it from this huge moron who kept limp calling with any two cards. I had AA a few times, winning all of them except one (where I opened AA, 2 callers. Flop- J25cc some guy mindonks, I raise, another tard cold calls behind me, turn Jx, I bet and he raises, I fold, he shows KJ).

First few levels were pretty smooth. The next few hours were a bit rough at times as I got caught bluffing several times, mainly due to a poor image. (1 hand where I 3-barreled a guy on a 799KQ board and he called down with A7 and another hand where I opened T6s, flop JT2dd (check, I check back), turn 8d he bets small I call, river Q he bets the same amount, I raise and he calls with A9).

Probably misplayed on my part but whatever. My first table was pretty amusing, we had a guy that looked like

Mark Twain-

Bruce Pearl-

And a few other characters. One guy was obsessed with going to the strip club and mentioned it several times, even factoring it in his decisions (saying such things as “hmm, is it time to go to the playhouse or no?”). The field itself was incredibly soft, as most everyone was a redneck (like myself).

So I keep stealing blinds, mark twain calls me “relentless” several times. I’m asian so they probably already think I’m a maniac (and my play just confirms their suspicions). I build chips by winning a few medium pots, getting KK a few times (running like God at this time).

I get moved to another table and it’s a bit harder than the first. There are a few semi solid players, decent enough live players in that they know not to limp/call J3s and such. With that said, live players (and my competition) were pretty fucking awful in the mechanics/fundamentals of tourney play (ie. opening 4x+ and such). I continued to chip up by winning a few more pots (nothing exciting, a few small allins with me holding like everytime, a nice result). I took out some short stacks with JJ against AJ, 99 vs. 44, AA vs. 77, etc…nice to have hands hold.

I got moved again to a new table. Psycho image is still following me and I chip up pretty well. The only decent player is to my left and I get the pleasure of being in position against him (since he’s the only other big stack as well). I continue to run hot, playing pretty solid.

Not much to write about in this first part, I can already see it’s a bit long so I’ll hold off on the rest.

I’ve been playing a ton of PLO the last year or so. I’ve had mixed results- the first 50,000 hands I had a massive winrate, played well and more importantly RAN well. The next 50,000 hands were hell, as the variance train totally raped me. I ran really really bad, played poor and lost all confidence.

I looked through my  hands, reading my graphs. I realized that my red line (non sd winnings) were losing immensely in PLO (unlike in NLHE, where it’s at least a marginal loser, breakeven or slight winner).

I came upon this thread in the coaching listings on 2+2 (I see now that the thread was taken down due to his term ending). Anyways, I saw that while he was a decently big winner (not a huge sample size but w/e), his non-showdown winnings were very poor…he was losing a massive amount.

Everyone has an obsession with the red line (non-sd winnings)…to clarify, the red line shows what you do outside of showdown (meaning your actions on the flop/turn). Alot of really aggressive players will pick up alot of pots uncontested and have large red line winnings.

The graph doesn’t tell everything in NLHE. Obviously sample size is huge factor, and noone really knows how long the ‘long run’ really is. If a person picked up aces 6 times in a row, winning large pots before showdown each time (with the opponent folding on the river), obviously said person’s red line would sky rocket. But is that indicative of his awesome pos tflop skills or merely the strength of his hand?

I’ve been thinking alot about the red line with PLO. I actually pm-ed said coach and asked him about it…he said “everyones PLO red line is negative in 6max, so i guess thats the way it is.”

Since PLO is such a showdown type game (ie. people get it in with x amount of equity and call it good), I guess I can see it. And unlike NLHE, I think that postflop play is restricted in a few ways:

-in PLO there is going to be a higher vpip preflop. People are going to be calling with a wider range relative to NLHE (this is especially true at the micro limits).

-Since there is a wider field, people generally play more straightfoward postflop. People aren’t going to be floating or doing crazy multiway c/r-s like you might see in NLHE without some (usually decent) equity.

-As stated before, PLO is a showdown game. You’re pressing thin edges when you’re getting it in (taking 60/40s, 50/50s, etc). You’re going to showdown so much more frequently in PLO than NLHE (in pretty much all limits). In that regard, there are different objectives- in PLO, you’re maximizing your equity when getting it in while in NLHE, you’re doing the same (though, obviously not as frequently) AND trying to pick up pots in other senses (such as bluffing more frequently, etc).

Both NLHE and PLO are profoundly different (obviously). PLO you just say to yourself (alright I have enough equity lets get it in) while in NLHE it’s often the same routine (open pf, c-bet flop, either check or barrel the turn, etc). Both games you can be semi robotic (in the sense that you’ve played and read so many hands that you just “know” what to do in many situations). Obviously this becomes less so when you play tougher opponents who put you in ickier spots.

Anyways, yeah. I had a -6 bi day yesterday which sucked. Ran pretty great in the small pots and ran like hell in the big ones (or running into the top of people’s ranges, always annoying). I’m playing some more tourneys this weekend- plan on playing the $345 NLHE at the horseshoe (sold 33% to a friend and swapped 5%, I don’t know why I did this) and the Sunday mil (super big one this weekend). Hopefully I run well.

I’ve recently been playing poker for fun, something I haven’t done in a long, long time. Poker became too much like a job, something I didn’t enjoy doing, a grind. I decided that I’m going to play only when I want to and forcing myself to play was a losing enterprise.

Lately that means playing anything from 25NL to .5/1 PLO headsup or 6-max, tournaments, PLO8, etc. Thus far, I’ve enjoyed it alot…I play when I want and what I want…I’m not forcing myself to play like I used to (where I would have a mundane attitude and usually not care about anything).

It’s been good…I took down a $24 HA at FTP (jack shit prize but whatever)…got 8th in another NLHE 6max for jack shit as well. Other results have been pretty solid, been playing some PLO HU as well.

Not sure what’s going to happen in the next few months. I’m going to go skiing in early March, but aside from that, not sure. Still thinking about going to South America for a while and backpacking there. Gotta take care of some visa shit though before I do.