The Hand

Well I went out in third place in the HORSE SnG. The girl who was on short stack actually won quite a few all ins in multi way pots. The hand that knocked out 4th place was between me, her, and the new short stack guy.

It was Omaha Hi/Lo and I flopped trip aces and filled up on the turn. There were a lot of three bets and four bets, which left my pretty sure that I wasn't the only one with an ace in my hand. There was also a low on the board, so somebody probably had that too. The short stack guy ended up being the one with the ace, but he didn't have a full house like I did. He also had a low, but it couldn't compete with the girl's wheel. We split the pot and he was out in 4th.

I took a beating when we got into razz. I would start with great hands, but get outdrawn along the way. After a while, I just started stealing pots with good up cards but crappy (face) down cards. Unfortunately, I started this tactic too late and was only able to get myself up to around 1900 when we started the Stud Hi round.

I'll be the first to admit that Stud Hi is not my best game. I can compete in Stud Hi/Lo with the best of them, but I'm only average at best with it comes to Stud Hi. I generally try to ride the level out playing super tight. Since it was three handed though, I was going to actually have to get my chips in there.

I kept getting a lot of split and wired medium pairs that were killing me. I couldn't seem to hit much of anything. There were even quite a few time where I would have something like (7)(5)7 and my opponents would be showing a 7 and a 5. That happened more than once, no joke. If you know anything about stud, that's never good.

I was whittled down to about 800 and picked up split kings. I raised it up and one guy called me We saw 4th street, he called, I raised, he reraised and I pushed all in. He showed (Q)(J)10 J to my (K) (2) K 5. He drew another 10 on 6th street and 7th street bricked out. His two pair beat my kings. Rough way to go out since he had to KNOW that I had the kings before he helped me get all my money in. I got it all in with the best hand though, not much more I can do.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, I wanted to share a hand that happened in the ring game I was playing. It was Omaha Hi/Lo and is perhaps the best hand of the game that I've ever played.

I was down about 1K and was dealt Ac 7s 2c 5s. I love this type of hand in Omaha Hi/Lo since there's a very good chance of grabbing the nut low. I was also double suited, which was nice. Getting the nut low is only a great advantage when you can get three or more people to play the pot, otherwise you're just splitting with whoever wins the high and you're not actually winning much of anything.

SIX people went to the flop after some guy in mid-position raised it to 200 (100/200 limit obviously).

FLOP:
8c Qc 6d

It took me a second to realize exactly how great this flop actually was for me. I've never seen a more draw heavy flop in my life. I had the open ended straight draw, the NUT flush draw, and the NUT low draw. Somebody in early position bet and when it got around to me, I didn't hesitate in raising to 200. I don't have a made hand yet, but there's no doubt that no matter what anybody has (even trip queens) I'm a favorite to not only win the pot, but to SCOOP the pot.

All 5 people called my raise.

TURN
7c

This was the most beautiful card in the deck. It completes my NUT low with A 2 6 7 8 and it completes my NUT high with the ace high flush. All I needed now was for the river to not pair the board and to not be a two (which would effectively erase my nut low).

So, the guy in early position now bets 200. Gets one call, then one fold, then another fold. I then raise to 400. Original bettor pops it up to 600, then 2nd guy caps it at 800. I call and the first guy calls which puts him all in.

RIVER
5h

Perfect card. It improves my nut low while avoiding hurting my hand in any way.

The guy who isn't all in bets 200, I raise him to 400, and he calls.

My hand is shown, nut flush and nut low. They both muck and I scoop a pot worth 4800. I'm well over my starting stack now. I unfortunately kept playing until I was only 1K above my starting stack.

Still, the 1k I won at the ring game and the 16K for my 3rd place finish in the HORSE, gives me a profit of 7k, which is much preferred to losing 14K (had I busted in both the ring game and the SnG).