Poker Moth

A couple of HHs for you from a No Limit Omaha hi-lo Ante Up MTT . The first one is from the early stages: we’re only a couple of hands in, but I’ve already three-quartered someone to add 50% to my stack.

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SB ($2,050)
dermoth ($2,976)
UTG ($1,955)
UTG+1 ($1,749)
Hijack ($745)
Cutoff ($3,560)
Button ($1,950)

everybody antes $10
SB posts (SB) $5
dermoth posts (BB) $5

Dealt to dermoth Ts  Ac  Ks  2d

Which, on the face of it, is a pretty bloody good hand.  Surely good enough for a raise?

fold,
UTG+1 calls $5
Hijack calls $5
fold, fold,
SB checks
dermoth checks

Or… not. I should maybe explain this. If I raise, one of two things will happen. If I raise pot, I’ll get six callers and be out of position for the rest of the hand, and if I shove all-in, I’ll get three callers and be lucky to escape with half the low end of the pot. The thing about these Ante Up tourneys is that I have a massive advantage over the field, and so I have absolutely no desire to start flipping coins with a bunch of lowdonks until there’s a better than 5% chance that I can make everybody fold their AT75 rainbow type hands. I’m not even joking – you would not believe the trash these people are capable of calling with. I generally define the shove-calling range at this stage as “any two wheel cards”. I got called by 5552 once. Yeah, he made the wheel. 5552 always makes the wheel. You didn’t know that?

FLOP ($90) Qs  Jc  4h
SB bets $185

And now I flop the top wrap, and the small blind bets twice the pot. He’s either got a set, two pair (plus extras, probably), or the exact same wrap I have. I have position on him, 13 nut outs, the runner-runner nut low draw, and a pretty clear idea of what he has. I also have him covered, which will turn out to be important on the turn…

dermoth calls $185
UTG+1 folds
Hijack calls $185
TURN ($645) Qs  Jc  4h  3d
SB bets $1,850 (AI)
dermoth calls $1,850

Three things of note have happened. First of all, the turn brings me the nut low draw to go with my nut high draw. Secondly, the small blind has shoved, and thirdly, I’ve called him. That last part wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t have a few hundred chips behind, but I do, so I can gamble a little here. I say a little because at this stage, any A, K, T,  or 9 makes me the high, and any 5,6,7 or 8 the low.  Even with just one card to come, I’m a favourite to walk away with at least half the pot. So I call.

There was also a shortstack in the pot, who I’m ignoring, as he only had 745 chips to start. Annoyingly, he’s in there with AKT3 rainbow, so not only does he hold a bunch of my outs, but he also ends up splitting the pot with me when the ace hits.

Hijack calls $545 (AI)
RIVER ($4,890) Qs  Jc  4h  3d  As
dermoth shows Ts  Ac  Ks  2d
(Pre 37%, Flop 30.7%, Turn 38.9%)

Hijack shows 3s  Th  Ad  Kc
(Pre 24%, Flop 20.6%, Turn 18.1%)

SB shows 9c  Jh  7h  Qc
(Pre 39%, Flop 48.7%, Turn 43.1%)

dermoth wins $3,750
Hijack wins $1,140

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I’m still not entirely sure whether I approve of my play here, or not. In the context of Ante Up donkaments, risking a huge percentage of my stack on a draw while the antes are still tiny is… a bit dodgy, no matter how strong the draw is. It’s not just that I don’t need to gamble, it’s more that I actively want to avoid gambling wherever possible. Why flip coins when people will happily give you their chips?

Still, it’s hardly a huge error, and you can take gamblephobia too far, as this next hand history demonstrates. We’re back in the realm of pot-odds comedy here, and this one’s a classic of the genre.

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A few hours later. There are 13 players left in the tournament, and the antes are now 700 a pop.  We’re in the money, and things are tightening up for the final table bubble. BEHOLD, THE STACK SIZES -

SB ($43,701)
BB ($16,527)
dermoth ($33,553)
UTG+1 ($1,116)

Remember – the antes are 700 chips each. This guy has 1.5 antes left.

Hijack ($17,555)
Cutoff ($46,770)
Button ($7,092)

Everybody antes $700
SB posts (SB) $5
BB posts (BB) $5

Dealt to dermoth 8d  4s  Tc  9h
dermoth calls $5
UTG+1 calls $5
Hijack calls $5
Cutoff calls $5
Button calls $5
SB checks
BB checks

Unusual – nobody folded preflop. Every single one of these players would fold preflop from time to time, despite getting odds in excess of 1000-1 on the limp.  And this is Omaha hi-lo, ffs!

FLOP ($4,935) Qs  2d  Jh
SB checks
BB checks
dermoth checks
UTG+1 bets $20

Just to reiterate – this guy had $1116 in chips at the start of the hand. He then paid $700 for his ante, and five for the limp, leaving him with $411 in his stack. He has now bet TWENTY chips into a pot containing FOUR THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE chips, offering his opponents odds of TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY SIX TO ONE on the call.

Although, to be fair, the implied odds aren’t great, as he now only has $391 left.

Hijack folds

Well, he’s got through one player. Somehow.

Cutoff calls $20
Button raises to $6,387 (AI)
SB calls $6,387

Oh no! A reraise and a caller! What happens now?!

BB folds
dermoth folds

Wait for it…

UTG+1 folds

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You know, I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I was making this stuff up. It all sounds so unlikely, but this actually happened. He bluffed one two-hundred-and-fiftieth-ish of the pot, (or, if you prefer, one thirty-fifth of an ante), then folded getting odds of twenty-to-one-ish on the call, and with only half an ante left in his distance-quotes-stack.

Cutoff folds
TURN ($17,749) Qs  2d  Jh  6c
RIVER ($17,749) Qs  2d  Jh  6c  Jc
Button shows 4d  9s  Qh  Ts
(Pre 41%, Flop 32.3%, Turn 20.0%)

SB shows Jd  Qd  2s  3d
(Pre 59%, Flop 67.7%, Turn 80.0%)

SB wins $17,749

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So, that’s that. Sadly, I could only manage to finish 6th, after getting a bit short and jamming top two pair and naff all else on a K54 rainbow board. Got called by 2345, with predictable (and thoroughly deserved) results.

Ah, Ante Ups. Will you ever stop making me laugh? I doubt it.

Back on the Ante-Up horsey today, and I managed my first cash (at the fifth attempt). Final table, in fact; I just got bumped out in 7th, running KQQTss into a slowplayed AA33, SAD FACE. I very nearly didn’t play, as I was on the verge of quitting for the night, but when I saw that Stars had added Ante Up MTTs in no-limit Omaha hi/lo, it became clear that I had no choice. Ante-up tourneys in NLO8? New BEST THING EVER!

Yeah, I made the final table at my first attempt, so I’m obviously going to say that, but they really are fantastic. Ante-up is a beautiful structure in bog-standard hold’em, but you still need to hit the occasional flop. In Omaha/8, that’s not so hard to do, and it’s… gorgeous. I was chipped up for most of the tourney, although there was one point where I came perilously close to being knocked out; a turdjuggling flump called my pot sized bet on the flop with a gutshot wheel draw, then called my mahoosive overshove after he completely missed the turn, (and I still had the nuts with top set), but he obviously hit one of his four wheel outs on the river to scoop me. That took me from being among the chip leaders to a perilous shortstack (often a fine line in Ante Ups) which was deeply annoying, as I’d have been all but untouchable if I’d won that pot, but hey. I managed to finaigle my way back into contention with a couple of races, although I never fully recovered, and things took a turn for the worst again around the final table bubble, where I ended up pretty flop-dead, and frequently out of position against a totally unbluffable chipleader, which meant I had to batten down the hatches for a while until the bubble burst. That took about four hours (approx), and by the time it did, I was running on empty. Probably my own fault for being a bit too passive/payout conscious. Oh well.

Anyway, it ended up being a healthy (if not spectacular) payday, but it was also the funniest tournament I’ve ever played. I was in actual, factual fits of laughter for huge portions of it, largely because of a table expert who was slagging off all and sundry for playing “loose”, while he was folding 75% of his hands preflop despite getting odds in excess of (for instance) 500-1 on the limp. And then there were hands like this one (from the eternal final table bubble) -

Seat 3: dermoth (32750 in chips)
Seat 4: Seat 4 (16340 in chips)
Seat 5: Seat 5 (42962 in chips)
Seat 6: Seat 6 (171337 in chips)
Seat 8: Seat 8 (37823 in chips)
Seat 9: Seat 9 (22170 in chips)
dermoth: posts the ante 800
Seat 4: posts the ante 800
Seat 5: posts the ante 800
Seat 6: posts the ante 800
Seat 8: posts the ante 800
Seat 9: posts the ante 800
Seat 9: posts small blind 5
dermoth: posts big blind 5

That’ll be 4810 chips in the pot to begin, then.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dermoth [Ac 9s Ts 8d]
Seat 4: calls 5
Seat 5: calls 5
Seat 6: calls 5
Seat 8: calls 5
Seat 9: checks
dermoth: checks
*** FLOP *** [As Qs 7c]

Not a great flop; top pair and ropey runner runner straight possibilities versus almost guaranteed flush and low draws.

Seat 9: checks
dermoth: checks
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: checks
Seat 6: checks
Seat 8: checks

Things had got very trappy by this point. Seat 6’s enormous stack and loose betting range, combined with the payout structure (which at this stage offered a 10% payout jump for tenth place, followed by a 33% one for reaching the final table), meant that people were checking a lot of strong holdings on the flop, and check-calling with draws. Anything less than an overpot bet was likely to be called, and my hand certainly didn’t merit that kind of strength.

*** TURN *** [As Qs 7c] [Th]

I make two pair on the turn and pick up a straight draw, but I’m out of position, and all an information bet is likely to tell me is that I’ve got four decent outs and am very, very vulnerable. If I make my straight, I’m not happy; it will either complete a low draw or 700 different broadways, depending on which end hits. Check!

Seat 9: checks
dermoth: checks
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: checks
Seat 6: checks
Seat 8: checks
*** RIVER *** [As Qs 7c Th] [7h]

Lows and flushes miss, but I’m still losing to AQ, KJ, AA, QQ, TT, and now any hand with a seven in it. So I check and hope for a free showdown.

Seat 9: checks
dermoth: checks
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: checks
Seat 6: checks
Seat 8: bets 5

No, that’s not a typo. This is the kind of thing that happens in Ante Up tournaments. Seat 8 bets 5 (five) chips into a pot containing 4810 (four thousand, eight hundred and ten) chips. It’s worth remembering that we’ve been in this tournament for three hours at this point, and the original field of 250+ runners is now down to just 11. And one of those eleven survivors – theoretically one of the eleven best players in the tournament – has just made a bet on the end, into five players, offering them odds of 962-1 on their call.

Seat 9: folds
dermoth: calls 5

OK, yes, this looks like an extremely passive response, but I’m not fond of making raises that will only be called by hands that can beat me, which limits my options in this spot to calling, folding, or making a similarly pathetic raise, to, say 275, or something. I’m obviously not folding with odds of 962-1, and I don’t fancy any kind of reraise because a) there are still three players to act behind me, including the chipleader, b) my hand’s pretty weak, and c) how can a minbet possibly be anything other than an attempt to keep the action alive and provoke someone into reraising? So, yeah. Just a call.

Seat 4: calls 5
Seat 5: folds
Seat 6: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seat 8: shows [6s 9d Ad Kc] (HI: two pair, Aces and Sevens)
dermoth: shows [Ac 9s Ts 8d] (HI: two pair, Aces and Tens)
Seat 4: mucks hand
dermoth collected 4845 from pot
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4845 | Rake 0
Board [As Qs 7c Th 7h]
Seat 3: dermoth (big blind) showed [Ac 9s Ts 8d] and won (4845) with HI: two pair, Aces and Tens, and then fell off his chair laughing.
Seat 4: Seat 4 mucked [4d 6c Td Qh]
Seat 5: Seat 5 folded on the River
Seat 6: Seat 6 folded on the River
Seat 8: Seat 8 (button) showed [6s 9d Ad Kc] and lost with HI: two pair, Aces and Sevens
Seat 9: Seat 9 (small blind) folded on the River

I am aware that this kind of funny will only appeal to the nerdiest of poker nerds, but my god, I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire poker career.

Dear PokerStars;
Please run this tournament ever day. Ty,ty.
Moth.