Hold'em? What's Hold'em?

It's Friday; must be time for another post! It's amazing how quickly a week can pass, and a little disquieting that I've only managed to play a couple of poker sessions. One of them was quite fun, however. Yes, it was a freeroll, and it was Razz, of all things. Yes, there were over 4000 entrants, and the top 88 paid out exactly the same, with an entry into a round 2 freeroll. But I just had to see how far I could go, and the answer was 2nd:



I had to leave the house when we were heads up and I had fought back from a 4-1 chip disadvantage to a 4-1 chip lead. The last half hour of the tournament consisted of me auto-folding to 2nd, for which I apologize to my opponent. Razz is likely my favorite part of the HORSE rotation (although Stud High/Low and Omaha 8-or-better are in a close tie for second), and it proved to be a good choice in which to try for one of the round 2 freeroll tickets. The initial play is horrid, of course; very few of the freeroll players have much experience playing Razz. It's enough to sit back and wait for a good starting hand, and then pump in as many chips as you can while your optimistic opponents draw while showing QJx. If you have the chance to play Razz against the standard poker player, I recommend it, as ABC poker will give you a big edge. The beats will be brutal when they happen, but get past the variance and I think it is a literal goldmine.

Another variation that I've been toying around with this past week is 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. I believe that the coverage of the 2007 WSOP had a brief look at this game, which is often considered to be akin to self-mutilation. There isn't a lot of game selection, and since I'm only playing with spending dollars at Poker Stars right now, and at the lower limits, I usually only have one table to play at (sometimes two, if there is a glut of players about). The variance can be high, as with any drawing game, but if you watch the players around you, it can be quite easy to find one or two who are more than willing to draw two cards against your pat hand on the third draw, and pay you off at the end with their J-high or their pair of deuces. I'm not saying that it's never correct to call on the end with such a hand, but I wouldn't recommend doing it against someone who was pat after two draws.

So, that's the state of the union for this week; the next week isn't likely to leave much time for poker either, but I'll write when I can and keep you appraised of the latest and greatest!

Small steps in HORSE

Well, it looks like I might be updating this blog on Fridays... Seriously, though, I will try to write as often as possible, but schoolwork and other commitments take up a large portion of my time, leaving precious little for "optional" activities such as posting to the blog. So, good intentions and all that - we'll see what happens!

I have recently been playing a few of the low-limit ($3+$0.30) multi-table HORSE tournaments on Poker Stars. Yesterday, I finished in 16th place of 264, which was good for a $10 cash. Not great as an hourly rate, I'll admit, but I was happy with my play. Today, I thought I'd try again, and here is the result:



Third of 240 is nothing to sneeze at, and I'm happy with my performance. I played tightly but aggressively in this event, and I only got my money in while behind a few times (it's tough to say for sure in some of the games, and it was limit HORSE, of course {a horse, of course?? ;0)} so who really knows). I never cease to be amazed by some of the, shall we say "creative" play in these tournaments, particularly in the first level of each of the new games. I had a player at my table raise during a Razz round when he had QQJT showing vs. someone's 863A. Dead money, anyone? Had fate been a bit kinder and my opponent hadn't rivered a flush in Omaha 8/b when we were three handed, I would have been the chip leader and might be celebrating a bigger score. All of that is water under the bridge, though; I played the best that I could, and was rewarded with a decent result.

So, while I can't quit my day job yet (insert laughter here, for those in the know), I am encouraged by being able to string together a couple of cashes in these tournaments. Still, the long run is the most important thing, and that hasn't even begun, as I'm operating on a very small bankroll. At least it's moving in the right direction, though - that is always welcome.

Until next time, stay afloat on the river!

Returning to the fold

Well, it's been a while. A long while, in fact, since I've written anything online. There is a small chance that some of the readers who stumble in here may remember a little blog called Bullets in the Hole, which was started by a friend of mine in the infancy of the online poker explosion. That blog was a tentative experiment that resulted in the discovery of a nascent community that enjoyed playing poker, writing about it, and dropping the hammer at every opportunity. One of the more enterprising poker bloggers at that time even created a hammer-related challenge that went through three separate iterations. That was the kind of community it was; small, but growing and enthusiastic. We had our own deities, such as Iggy and Dr. Pauly to keep us inspired. I'm happy to see that they are still writing, but sad to say that I haven't kept up with the community for the last several years.


Perhaps this is a chance to become involved again, in a small way.