Friday 24 August 2012

Goodbye 888 Poker

Dear 888 Poker,

It was a good run while it lasted but you just didn't fulfill my needs as a poker player. Sure, it was fun in the beginning with your initial deposit bonuses but after those were cleared you quickly became stale. I still remember the times we spent staying up all night, it was just bad beat after bad beat with the inevitable tilt that followed.

You introduced me to many new donkeys, fishes and elephants. For that I am grateful. I still remember the "f u", "moron" and "idiot" comments left in the chat box after I'd stacked somebody.Those were truly the fun times.

You stood by me while I won and lost the biggest pots in my life. I'm still not sure why I decided to play 100PLO8 with only 2 buy-ins but its something I shall not forget. The racing of my heart when a huge pot was brewing, the uncertainty which filled my thoughts when an aggressive LAGtard potted into me, the feeling of utter invincibility after running a successful bluff. All these things now etched into my mind like a beautiful dream.

The swings may not be large compared with other players, nor the amounts in the pot significant to some but I take pride in the fact that they were mine. It was my decision to play in 50 and 100PLO8 games under-rolled. It was my decision to check, bet, fold, call and raise on each flop, turn and river. It truly was a liberating feeling of having that self-imposed onus on yourself. Its up to you to make the right decision and if you're correct, more often than not you'll be rewarded with the pot. By playing higher-stakes than I'm used to, 888 Poker you helped me remember that.

You might ask 'Why did I choose to leave you now?'. The answer to that is because I've already withdrawn my initial deposited amount several times over and that I feel its not worth it for me to deposit again and feed you anymore rake. I've left the amount equal to several buy-ins at the micro-limits on there just in case we decide to get back together again but don't get your hopes up. The bankroll which I was once slightly proud of is now just a remnant of its former self.

Goodbye 888 Poker and possibly goodbye PLO8.
I think I'm going to concentrate more on Pokerstars and PLO now.

I'll leave you with these hand histories of our times together.


Winning Hand 1 - Freeroll city

I like my raise on the turn with a no-bust low + a wheel wrap in this $33 pot. An awesome river card falls giving me nut-nut. I get paid off in 2 places after betting half pot on the river.


Winning Hand 2 - The underfull is good for once

This is the biggest pot I've won. The flop came to give me an under-full. I put Mr Preflop Raiser on AA-Low rather than a J after better so small on the flop. It turns out he didn't have AA and so I had the high locked up and was freerolling him.


Winning Hand 3 - Bulldozing my way to victory

This was one of my biggest bluffs....or I think it was a bluff. Perhaps I had the best hand with my AT but I didn't want to check behind to find him holding JJ, QQ or AA. I did put him on AA but I also think that I represented a K well. He only had $10 behind when we reached the river and when I went all in, he tanked....and mucked. Easy game.

Winning Hand 4 - Playing with my whole roll

This is one of the hands at 100PLO8. I'd just lost a big pot prior to this hand and was playing with my whole bankroll on the table. I was in desperation mode trying to chase losses. Luckily I stacked one of the guys and accomplished my task.


Winning Hand 5 - No possible low bluff

I missed my no-bust low draw + gut shot draw and so resorted to bluffing on the river. I'm successful in my endeavor and win the pot. I put him on a low-draw/flush draw, even if he did have nothing, was it better than my nothing? I didn't want to risk it.


Winning Hand 6 - Self-leveling cooler wars

Ah, this was a lovely $84 pot. It was a 50PLO8 HU match. My opponent was VERY aggressive, raising with lots of marginal hands. I elected to play passively preflop because of his tendency to pot re-raise alot before the flop. I notice he may have been tilting after losing some previous hands.

As it played out, the min-bets of his was new. He would usually bet the pot whenever he wanted to bet. I suspected they were vacuum bets trying to induce me to bluff him off his 'weak' holdings. Unfortunately he leveled himself and got caught in his own trap. The thoughts that were going through my mind was.... I seriously hope you don't have a set and please don't have a better low draw than mine.

Fortunately lady luck was on my side and I picked up the better low on the river, scooping the $84 pot.

 Losing Hand 1 - Check Raise bluffing at the wrong moment

I got to look at the flop for free with my mediocre hand. I flopped bottom 2 pairs and with no low-draw out there would probably be the best hand. I get one caller after betting 3/4 of the pot. The turn comes a Kd. I check, he bets which I consider a float bet. So I basically decided to turn my hand into a bluff by check-raise bluffing the K, representing the nut straight with AJ. If he did anything other than raise there, I was 100% going to bet the river. This bet was designed to make him fold his two pair hands, flush draw or maybe even J9. Unfortunately he re-pops me, tell me he means business. I fold but I think it was a good attempt.


Losing Hand 2 - Uncomfortable nuts

Play sets like drawing hands.... I partially took Dan Deppen's advice to heart but at the same time I wanted to price out random drawing hands (25, 56, (A2 probably won't fold but it might)) while wanting to make sure the turn didn't bring a low card. I suppose I didn't follow my game-plan and with no low possibility, I probably should've folded my hand preflop. Either way, I got it in with somebody with AA, the no-bust nut low draw/wheel wrap and a backdoor flush draw. Sickness was soon to follow as the turn brought a 6 and the river no help.


Losing Hand 3 - Hoping to hit the runner, runner Royal Flush ahaha

This hand pretty much speaks for itself. Even though my opponent had a set, I still had 43% equality with my nut flush draw, gut shot straight draw, backdoor flush draw and backdoor low draw.



Losing Hand 4 - Semi-bluffing a semi-bluffing hand

This particular opponent was very aggressive, I'd seen him show down with complete junk hands in previous hands. I really did not expect him to show up with a premium hand there. I was about 90% sure at least my 23 low was good there, let alone my low wrap. But I guess I was wrong.



 Losing Hand 5 - An uneducated bluff

Ah, this was a failed bluff attempt. I honestly wasn't betting my pair of Ks for value. Since no low came in, I was kinda hoping he would put me on TJ (A long shot I know) and would be willing to fold some flukey 2 pairs (3s + 6s, 9s + 3s). But the possible missed flush draw on the board didn't help my cause and he snapped me off.


Losing Hand 6 - Set over set over set
Last hand!
This was abit of a cooler. I flopped bottom set and was against, not only top set but middle set too. The funny thing is, I had more equity in the hand than the middle set person due to my nut low draw.


Heres the graph of the awesome swings.