Posted by Junelli 11:05 AM
Friday I got a hall pass. Dabney is training with Houston Fit for a half-marathon in January. Her group meets at 6:15am on Saturday mornings from now until the race. That means Friday night is poker night. As some of you may know, I am not currently training with Houston Fit. [insert fat joke here].

All day I had planned on playing $2-$5 PL at the Zebra. The game is great but sometimes it doesn't start until 8 or 8:30pm. I wanted to start earlier so I headed up to Northside at about 5pm to sit at the $6-$6 NL game.

Northside's $6-$6 game is very good. They play on Wed, Fri and Sunday and start at 2pm. By 6pm Friday they had 2 full tables going. Most players buy-in for $500, but several players sit down with $1,000. The action is very fast, and it almost always costs $25-$50 to see a flop. Nearly all of the players are average to above-average skill, and it's a tough game to beat. However, if you catch a rush and hit some hands, you can easily book a $1,000 win. That cuts both ways though.

Friday night I was never really up, and couldn't make any big hands. I won plenty of small pots (<$50), but never got involved in many big hands. However, seeing flops and missing hands gets expensive and I found myself stuck about $450 after 4 hours.

I wanted to go to the Zebra, and probably should've cashed out. However, I reloaded one more time and waited to hit a big hand, get unstuck, and then cash out. That strategy rarely works.

I got all my money in when I flopped trip sixes from the BB. The button reluctantly called me, but won the pot when he outkicked me.

It was 11:30pm, and I had lost $700 at Northside. Time to try my luck at the Zebra.

The Zebra had a full $2-$5 PL game and I was #3 on the list. Everyone playing had a lot of chips, and it looked like I could be waiting awhile. Meanwhile the other table had a seat open at a $1-$2 PL Omaha Hi/Lo game.

I'm not an Omaha player and have only played it live about 5 times. I've played it some on the Internet, but really don't feel like I have a good grasp of the game. The Zebra's Hi/Lo game is huge, and the pots are enormous. I've seen players win and lose over $5,000 in one session. I've always avoided that game like the plague.

However, I was bored with waiting for the PL table, and feeling a little frisky. I sat down into the Hi/Lo game with $400 and actually expected to lose it within about 30 minutes.

I got all my money in on the very first hand. Thank goodness I had the nut low so I was still alive. Cody and Terry were sitting beside me teaching me how to play. About 45 minutes later I got all my money in with a draw to the nut flush and the second nut low. I hit the hi and won a little bit.

After 2.5 hours the game broke and I had won $150. Not a lot of money but a profit nonetheless. I really enjoyed Hi/Lo, and it's much more exciting than Hold 'Em. You have to think much more, and I can easily understand it when they say that luck plays much less a role in Omaha, and that a good player will beat a bad player much more often in Omaha than in Hold Em.

One other aspect of the game I noticed is the aspect of "gambling." Omaha players are much more willing to make/call big bets on draws and without made hands. In my opinion, playing Omaha definitely affects your Hold Em game (for better or worse). I moved over to the $2-$5 PL game, and immediately ran over it. I was throwing money around like I was still playing Omaha. Within 15 minutes, I had the whole table concerned about whether or not I was in a hand.

At 5am the game nearly broke and I decided to play 3 handed with Riva (hottest female poker player around), and Mark (dealer). Although we were still playing $2-$5, we were straddling to $10 on every hand, and it was always $50 to see a flop.

I feel pretty good about my short-handed play, but I have a tendency to play too loose. On several occassions I've given back a night's profit in the last 30 minutes of short-handed play. However, sometimes I can increase my winnings by repeatedly breaking someone.

I (and Mark) did that Saturday to Riva. She kept reloading, and we kept hammering her. On one hand I had AA and made it $50 to go preflop. Both players called, and the flop was Q78 with two clubs. Riva led out for $225, and I put her all-in. She had a gutshot with a club draw. She kept goading me to cut her a deal because of all her outs. She talked to me like I didn't know what I was doing, and kept telling me all the cards she could hit to win. It kind of pissed me off that she was talking down to me like a newbie, so I told the dealer to run it. Two blanks came off and I won a very big pot. She was pissed that I didn't cut her a deal. I might've done it if she hadn't rode me so much about it.

Anyway, we finally quit at 8:15am and I cashed out with $1,250. It was a very good comeback, and got me out of the red from the Northside game.

10 Comment(s):

Posted by  Johnnymac, at 9:01 PM, September 12, 2005  

God, I am such a low roller. I cannot comprehend this post any more than the Indians could comprehend Columbus's ships sailing up to the beach 500 years ago. Wow.

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Posted by  Dr Fro, at 9:23 PM, September 12, 2005  

Is Riva the fake-boob girl that played at Top Hat back when I lived in Htown?

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Posted by  Junelli, at 10:25 PM, September 12, 2005  

I doubt it. She is a bartender at the Lounge and also a dealer at Bernard's game (on Montrose). She looks about 25. Petite blonde hair.

Extremely good looking.

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Posted by  Tenacious, at 11:15 AM, September 13, 2005  

bring her to the private game at the Zebra tonight. I might show up around midnight...going to Moscow tomorrow...

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Posted by  Johnnymac, at 12:45 PM, September 13, 2005  

Tenacious, what do you do for a living? Moscow?

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Posted by  Junelli, at 2:25 PM, September 13, 2005  

He's KGB. Haven't you ever seen "No Way Out." Tenacious = Yuri.

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Posted by  Tenacious, at 3:14 PM, September 13, 2005  

Tenacious: Every minute you don't tell us why you are here, I cut off a finger.

Emmett Fitz-Hume: Mine or yours?

Tenacious: Yours.

Emmett Fitz-Hume: Damn!

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Posted by  Johnnymac, at 3:20 PM, September 13, 2005  

See, I'm looking for a job. I speak Russian. I do energy. I'm chasing down leads.... Great combination... and all I get is sarcasm! Fine, I want to be a spy. I can be the next Jason Bourne.

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Posted by  Tenacious, at 11:21 AM, September 14, 2005  

http://lonestartravelstorussia.blogspot.com/

I'll try to find Teddy in Moscow, and put to work my two stacks of very low society on the felt. Or I'll just go buy a Russian hooker. Or both.

Da svidaniya!

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Posted by  Johnnymac, at 1:10 PM, September 14, 2005  

You see, Tenacious, I could have told you about the pizza joint on the Arbat that is always so good to come back to when you've spent two weeks in Siberia eating fishhead soup and drinking warm beer. But you'll probably find it on your own. Just stay clear of the toilet paper. Hopefully you have taken your own.

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