I'll get through the background to this game as quick as possible. Basically, on a whim i decided i wanted to play horse and using boards.ie managed to set up the game in the jackpot for 8pm on saturday. We had 12 runners, and a €600 prizepool. The structure had been designed by Carl who should seek other employment rather than a tournament structure designer, but to be fair, he is the only one who did it so I wont complain too much. I had figured that to win this you'd have to be in the jackpot at 4am. I don't think some of the other players had anticipated how long this could take. We did afterall have a 10,000 starting stack which was going to allow for alot of play.
Being honest I felt that I had a bit of an edge heading into this and while I would never claim to be an expert in any of the five games, i definately knew the basics which was more that most. Also, i had a strategy. A fairly simple one but a strategy none the less. The plan was not to get involved in much of the hold'em as everyone would know what they were doing unless I had a draw heavy hand that i could get to a river cheaply on in limit. Having watched Anto have Aces and queens beaten in the first five hands i was determined not to get in trouble with big pairs. I then got JJ and check called to the river, losing minimum to Gordon's AA on a rag board.
With Omaha HI/LO i have played a fair bit of this online, and was running well until i had 3 sick beats. I have read a fair bit of omaha hi/lo strategy and felt this would be where i'd get my chips. And after the first round of this my 10,000 was up to over 14,000.
With razz and stud my plan was to only lead the betting when i could beat what i could see. if i couldnt beat what i could see but had a feeling i was ahead i'd check call the whole way down, again losing minimum this way when i was behind.
For Stud hi/lo my plan was to play next to nothing. The only times i got involved was when it was very clear that 2 opponents were playing for the hi or the lo and i could aim for the other.
We lost two players reasonably quickly but it was clear that they were not in the mood for the long haul required for this and were more than happy to dump their chips and go drinking. I must admit I was a bit baffled by this, everyone always complains about how they want good structures for low buy-ins etc etc, then they get a game with a 10,000 stack and LOTS of play and they lose patience and get bored. Cant keep everyone happy.
We got down to eight and our final table. We lost Conor K after he had two king showing in stud and was calling bets along the way, but he looked defeated, i hadn't realised he had gotten so short. I was quite happy to see him go as other than Oscar I felt that he'd be tough to get by. What I hate about playing against him is that he can play uber-aggressive, and it would appear as if this doesnt only concern hold'em. He'll keep firing bullets, big ones so that even if you think your ahead his bets make it tough to call without a big hand, and in stud games there are alot of streets to fire bullets on.
Then i got myself into a hand with Rob C. I had A2 down and 5 showing, my next card was a 3, and my next a 4. This was great but hed had three spades showing and I know Rob to me tight ight tight so when he pushed his final chips in front of him I was tempted to fold my straight. I'd a huge hand for stud but feared I was behind. I ended up calling, assuming I was behind which in my mind makes it a bad call. He had only the flush draw but I had 2 spades to dodge. Fortunately I did but I'm still not happy about the call.
After this when we got back to hold'em i played my favourite hand of the night. I open raised from UTG with 73 spades. I had been raising alot now with hands like this hoping to catch a nice draw flop. Three callers including Oscar see a 23K flop. Oscar bet out and I reraised, and Oscar called. Oscar bet a Q turn and i called. I had reraised the flop thinking that if i hit i was gonna get nicely paid in a big enough pot but I was thinking in the back ofmy mind that I have read a few posts on boards by oscar about some big bluffs he had made in limit holdem and he had told me beofre hand that the best strategy for limit holdem was to bet bet bet. With this is mind i justified my call, and then on a 10 river he bet out the standard 800 into about a 5k pot. I figured with the potential to be ahead and the great value I had to call with my 2nd bottom pair. Oscar showed 72 for bottom pair and i took a nice pot.
After alot of 6 handed play we agreed to switch to Pot Limit Omaha High at about 3am. We lost one player failry quickly. I then started to get involved a fair bit and knocked out Gordon in what people have said was a terrible play. I raised with TT68 and flop came 977. I bet out and Gordon pushed. (I later discovered that I could justify my call based on value and percentages and stuff but i'd be lying if I said i considered that). Gordon had been quite aggressive the whole way along so i figured that if i called, there was a small chance i was ahead, and if not i had plenty of outs. I called, a sweet J on the turn and we were down to 4 and i had a nice chip lead. Soon after we lost Ross who seemed to be getting tired and was playing as if he wanted a massive lead or a quick exit. Oscar provided the quick exit and left Oscar with about 40k, i had just shy of 50k which meant Alan had just over 30k. I knew both these guys were better at PLO than me so we all quickly agreed a 3 way chop. €200 in a night and home i went happy to have played well at something other than holdem.
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