Sunday, December 18, 2011

Monsterpotten

Got to squeeze in some Saturday night live Holdem/Omaha, with an affordable .25/.25 blind structure. Time to try out a few things, maybe ramp up the aggression against some players who don't know my game.

Things went well, except one player on my left got the better of me a couple times. I went for the accidental 3bet bluff from an early position raiser (because I threw the wrong color chips out, lol), but it looked like it was going to work for a second, until the big blind cold-4 bet me. He was kind enough to show aces as I folded. Later, I raised from late position with KQ, he defended with JT, then runner-runner boated me after I checked top pair to get value from a good player later. Whoopsie.

This was all made up for with a monster Omaha pot. I limped with Js Tc 8c 6s - a nice structured wrap and double suited to boot. Board comes 7c 8s 9c, I've got the current nuts and a pretty little straight flush redraw. I bet pot and get re-potted, something pretty rare in this game. The joy of Omaha, he might have the same current hand, with a higher (even nut) flush redraw. My monster hand suddenly looks more like showdown value - can I get to the river without a club coming or the board pairing. I call the bet, the pot is getting big, and life is not great.

Then, fortunes change again, the most beautiful 6c comes on the turn, and I have the straight-flushin-mother-humpin-stone-cold-lead-pipe-immortal nuts. Furthermore, I think it's likely that my opponent now has the ace-high flush on a non-paired board. I'm out of position, so I check and let him bet. I take a bit of time to Hollywood a little, make a little sigh, pretend like I've got top set and need to call this bet to try and boat up to catch the flush. After the appropriate time, I toss the chips in, praying that the board doesn't pair up. His flush needs to remain best.

A red four comes. No board pairing. I think the villain has the ace high flush, which I'm sure he can see is the third nuts (5c 8c also makes a straight flush), but I don't think he's going to check behind. If he does, he's a damn fine Omaha player. I check. He bets $15. I check my stack quickly, I've got $45 left, a great amount. I announce that I'm all in. He's got to call $30 to win like $90.

He lets out a groan and a little laugh. "Shoulda seen that coming" he bemoans. "Sooo sick, I've got the third nuts here, and I think I have to fold". I'm trying very hard not to give anything away, but it looks like he already knows what I've got. My only hope is a desperation/frustration call, or perhaps some notion in his head that I'm bluffing or am not a good enough Omaha player that I would checkraise a king-high flush all-in

He takes a good 90 seconds to make his decision, then throws a pile of red chips in as he turns his cards over. Ace and three of clubs as I suspected, along with a 7 and 9 for two pair on the flop. "You were never ahead, my friend", I tried to say nicely and not-condescendingly, as I turned over the bad news.

A brutal, brutal Omaha hand for him, ending in a 400 big blind pot for me.

3 comments:

Memphis MOJO said...

It's interesting that he was good enough to know he was beat, but NOT good enough to lay it down.

matt tag said...

agreed, this player seemed decent all night, never saw him make another big mistake. Glad I was the one to capitalize on this one.

diverjoules said...

It was nice seeing you. And so nice of you to share your knowledge with me. I know next to nothing about Omaha, except that I don't care for it too much.