POT LIMITED SUCCESS

Every time I moan about my cash game, I seem to turn the corner and win for awhile, until of course I deem myself reformed, and then I hit the skids again. Well, having read TJ's Omaha strategy book, I felt confident enough to try some pot limit Hi/Lo. I like that Omaha is not a bluffing game, but rather, as TJ Cloutier calls it - peddling the nuts. You only get involved with hands that could turn into the nuts and you fold at the flop unless you've got the nuts or are drawing to the nuts. I like that Hi/Lo gives you two different nuts to shoot for. Even if your set runs into a miracle straight, you can still rake half the pot with the nut low.

So, last night while semi-watching PRIMARY COLORS, I was at a PL OH8 table. I was also playing a NL HE tourney and folding most every hand in the Omaha game. I played well in the HE tournament but ran into some bad luck. I raised under the gun with KK and the chip leader reraised me. Another player called his reraise and I rereraised the size of the pot $740. The chip leader went all in without blinking, so I mucked my kings. I could have taken a flop, but the third guy made that a questionable play, and I wanted to know if I was up against queens or aces before the flop and I think I got my answer.

The very next hand I got kings again in the big blind and played back at the under the gun raiser. The flop came Jxx and I put in a good check-raise. He didn't buy it and went all in with 88. He caught an 8 on the turn and I was crippled. I fought my way back and got an average-sized stack when I made my only questionable play of the event. I called a raise and a call from the big blind with 64h hoping to get lucky. The flop came three middle cards with a 6 and two hearts. The guy first to act went all in. I had him covered, so I went all in, hoping to drive out the original raiser, who had me covered. He would not go away with his AA including the ace of hearts. Too bad for me, the other guy had the jack of hearts, so two of my outs disappeared. I still had 6 hearts, 2 sixes, and 3 fours, so I wasn't drawing dead, but nothing came and I was eliminated. It wasn't a horrible play, but maybe too aggressive since the first all in was already representing a hand, indicating that I was playing from behind.

I entered a $10 PL OH8 tourney to get some more low-cost tournament experience. Once again, I played few hands, and drew only to the nuts, betting the size of the pot every time I thought I was ahead. The strategy is really sound. There were 71 entrants, and I was doing great with 23 remaining when disaster struck. I would not have played AQ85 normally, but I was in the big blind with a raiser and three callers, and it was cheap enough to take a peak at a flop since my A5 was suited and I might flop the nut flush or a draw to it. Sure enough, the flop was Q85 all hearts. I lead out with a $1200 pot sized bet, yelling from the rooftops that I have the nut flush and everyone should fold now. I got two callers. Not bad for me so long as the board does not pair. The turn was a 7. The pot was $4800 and I matched it, putting both players all in should they choose to call. Both called. The first guy had A2 and gambled on the flop, hit on the turn, and earned half the pot. The other guy made the cardinal mistake of falling in love with his trips in the face of an obvious flush. He had flopped a set of queens and couldn't get away from it. Lucky for him, another 7 fell on the river and I was shut out of the pot.

The very next hand, I went all in from late position with KK and the big blind called me and hit a miracle straight to knock me out of the tournament. I wish I could lose every tournament this way. Knowing that I made perfect plays, forced the opponents to make mistakes, and just got unlucky. I can't win every tournament, so losing this way almost feels like a win, if you get my meaning, since I couldn't have played any better. As Phil Hellmuth says, "if there wasn't luck involved, I guess I'd win every time."

So, moments before this debacle, here's how my cash game ended for me: nothing had happened in two hours of play and I was down only about $20, with $180 in front of me. I called from early position with a good hand, AA53 double suited. TJ says that you never raise with aces, you only reraise with them. I could have raised the pot only $6 or so, but when the button put in a pot-sized raise, I came over the top and reraised the size of the pot to isolate him. Amazingly (since he didn't also have aces) he reraised again, and I happily put all my money in the middle before the flop. He shows KQQ8, one suit. I was amazed that he thought his queens were good after my reraise. Obviously, I was a huge favorite. Even if he hits an unlikely hand, I am still good for the low half of the pot so long as three low cards come. Luck being a lady, the cards fell in such an ugly way that he hit a K8 two pair without me getting a flush or a qualifying low hand.

Both the cash loss and the tourney loss were the kind of ass-whoopings that make me feel good about my play rather than bad. In both situations, I will gladly and repeatedly put all my chips in the middle, then watch the remaining cards fall.