Thursday, April 26, 2012

Mixed Games and Prop Bets

Last night I got to the card room and there was a very juicy No Limit Game going.  There were action players and deep stacks.  Unfortunately there was only one No Limit game going and there was a waiting list of 4 people.  At this card room being 4th on the waiting list could mean 45 minutes to an hour wait or it could be several hours.  The way this game was looking it was going to be a bit of a wait.  There was one seat open in the Omaha 8 or Better limit game so I sat down while waiting for No Limit to open up.

I have very little experience at Omaha.  Last year I maybe played 10-20 hours total.  I know the fundamentals and don't think I am an underdog in the game, but I also don't know that I have any real edge.  But I also like playing some of the other games as I believe it helps your overall poker game and you never know when the poker landscape will change.  Thanks to TV, Big Bet poker and Hold em probably is not going anywhere, but it is always good to have an idea how to play other games.  It is also good for nights like this where my only choice is to wait and sit or wait and play.  I played.

When you are running good you are running good.  Despite modest experience and knowledge I had a very, very nice session.  The structure to the game was $2-4, $2-8.  This means preflop can bet and raise between $2 and $4 and between $2 and $8 after the turn.  In about 1 hour and 15 minutes I managed to win about $160 playing Omaha.  I had a couple of hoggers (meaning winning the whole pot, not splitting) and hardly lost a pot that I played past the flop.  In Omaha it is hard for high hands that are the flopped nuts to hold but they held for me tonight.  I flopped three jacks and they held (no low came), I flopped a straight and it held, I made a straight on a paired board with a possible flush and it won, and I even made a few lows in nice pots.  The table decided to switch the game to Dealer's choice which brought in games like Stud and Draw.  I have played these games enough to know what I am doing as well, though I am not super experienced.  I was still third up on the list so I agreed and managed to play break even poker at Dealers choice for about an hour.

One interesting hand came up in 5 card draw high low.  I was dealt a 5 6 7 8 of spades along with a red jack.  This is a great hand for a number of reasons, I have a flush draw, a straight draw, and straight flush draw.  But a straight counts for a low as well and any Ace, 2, 3, 4, 9, and even 10 would give me a decent low.  The odds of being dealt a straight flush in 5 draw is 65,000 to 1.  I was pretty happy to be 4 to a straight flush.  I did not make the straight flush but I drew the King of spades for a flush to win the high, and King high also won me the low as my opponents were paired up.  I won the whole pot.

It was about two and a half hours before I got in the No Limit game and it was getting late and I was already getting a bit tired.  In addition I am still not over my cold yet so I didn't plan on playing long.  I ended up playing for just over and hour and had to get home to get some sleep.  I am still trying to get healthy and had a long day at work ahead of me.  I managed to scrape out a small win in No Limit thanks to a decent pot with 10 10.  Overall for the night I profited a little bit over $200.

That makes 11 out of the last 12 sessions as winning sessions (including Omaha and Mixed games) in the poker room.  It is hard not to want to play late and play as much as possible when running this well.  Often on Thursdays I play pretty late as I know the next day is Friday and I am close to the weekend where I can sleep in (usually).  Also, there is a really cute girl who deals on Thursday nights!  So I may be putting in a long session tonight (long being 4 or 5 hours on a weeknight/worknight).

One interesting prop came up last night with a friend of mine who is also a dealer at the club I play at.  As many of you may know poker players often like to combat occasional boredom by making prop bets on the flops.  This includes betting on certain cards coming out and certain suits coming out on the flop.  My friend and I play these props when we are playing poker together and have recently started playing when he is dealing.  We just keep track of the results and when the night is over we settle up.  It is not for big stakes.  It is just for fun and to make things a little interesting when you are not in a pot.  My card is the Ace of hearts.  If the Ace of hearts is the middle card on the flop I win $3, if it is on the outside I win $1.  If it is on the outside but the whole board is suited in hearts I win $2.  If it is in the middle suited I win $5.  If it is in the middle suited with Royal cards--meaning Ace of Hearts in the middle and any combination of KQJ10 in hearts--I win $10 and if it is suited in royal cards on the outside I win $5.  If your card comes in the middle with a pair around it you win the value of the pair, plus $3.  So if the flop come 3 A 3 and it was the Ace of hearts I would win $6.  I win $3 for the card in the middle plus three more dollars for the pair of three's.  If your card is on the outside with a pair you win half of the value.  So if the flop was 10 10 A I would win $6.  I win one dollar for the Ace of hearts on the outside and $5 for half of the 10.  Make sense?  Well over two nights my buddy had been absolutely smoking me in props.  He was up $18 to $2 over about 5 or 6 hours of him dealing while I was playing.  So of course I started complaining and whining and sure enough right when my complaining got to its peak the flop came out KAK with the Ace of hearts in the middle!  That was a $13 score for me!  Not big money but it just goes to teach this valuable gambling lesson:  COMPLAIN AND THINGS WILL TURN.  Actually the lesson is patience.  In the long run the random luck and variance typically evens out.  But alas, when he outflops me $10 to $0 tonight I will probably start complaining again.

Only sports bet tonight is the Nationals at -111 against the Padres.  I will be watching it at the poker club and looking for the Ace of Hearts in the middle!

Disciplined Degenerate

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