Affordable Omaha tournaments don't come along very often. Affordable O8 tournaments, almost never come along. So you can see how excited I was when PKR published their "London Calling" tournament schedule at the Fox Poker Club. A £40+5 Omaha Hi Lo with 1 Rebuy or Addon. This, for me, was just sick. Finally I could play O8 live, and not just heads up for pennies with my buddy. Sure it's a little bit out of my bankroll, but for this tournament an exception just had to be made!
OK, so here's a little trip report. The tournament started at 4pm, and I got there a little bit early, just to make sure I got a seat, wasn't sure how big the club was. Turned out it was pretty huge. Just a guess but I think there were around 20 tables in there, and enough dealers to fill them all. The club was brand new, and very well presented. The place was brilliantly organised and I could not fault the staff. I met up with a few 2+2ers beforehand which in itself was pretty cool, but we weren't there for a chit chat, I was there to beat them ;)
We started with 5k chips at 25/50. 20 minute blind levels. My first level was fairly boring. I got top set in against bottom set fairly early on, but he backdoored a crappy low to split the pot. Would have been nice for that to hold up, but it was early doors and I wasn't too fussed about winning the tournament in the first level. I got a lot of chips when I turned the nut flush and nut low against a fairly loose player and he called me on 3 streets with a lower flush, no low, which made me very happy :) My table was a mix of tight competent players, and, well, the opposite. I managed to pick out the players I knew I was going to attack but with the blinds getting pretty steep already, I would need to make that advantage pay off soon.
After 1 hour I took the addon which built my stack up to around 13k, which was around the top 3 stacks at the table. One solid player had chipped up well throughout the level and one of the poorer players had binked a few hands after busting and taking a rebuy. We took a break, I discussed a few hands with the 2+2ers and heard some stories of the whales at the other tables. Tales of players not realising what their hand was, and others of some really horrendous bets and calls. That table was going to break first so I was hoping that some of them would filter down to my table. The second level was much more exciting. Soon I got Kings with a flush draw in against Aces against a stack which I thought was much shorter than it actually was. I was never going to fold but maybe it was a mistake to commit myself so quickly. I'll put the hand into a converter and post it later. That mishap put me down to around 2.5k so I had to make a move soon. It limped around to me in the big blind and I saw a flop with 44K8, the obvious nuts. I flopped bottom set, which was more than enough to put my measly stack in the middle. The nut low draw called me, yeah a draw, to a chop. Thankfully the board ran out 2 high cards and I scooped a pot which almost tripled me up. A few hands later it's folded to me and the big blind is short, almost pot committed. I pick up AK59s which is well ahead of his calling range so I isolate him, and sure enough he comes along for the ride with a less than brilliant hand. I held that one which put me back to around where I started the level. A few other small pots put me around 16k at the break which was around 15BBs but still average for the tournament.
One more round of discussing hands and we were back to the action. Our table split and I moved up to table 2. This is where the tale get's interesting. I got blinded down a fair bit after running card dead, then it folded to me in the small blind and I completed with rags. I was hoping to bluff any non-connected flop as I didn't believe he was folded to a raise, with any four cards. The flop wasn't really what I was hoping for but I check/called a min bet hoping to bluff on a later street. The turn went check/check and the river brought a 3rd flush card. I insta-bet half the pot, trying to represent. Villian tanked for ages before finally cutting out a call and throwing it into the middle. I turn over my complete bluff and he scooped the pot with a made low and a pair of eights for high. That brought me down to around 11k and then my biggest hand happened. A tight player in middle position raised the pot and I look down in the small blind to see AA78ds. I pushed and he insta called without waiting for the count and flipped over AA34s. The low came and I didn't suck out for the high so I got three-quartered and was down to 5k, around 3BBs. The table broke and the very next hand, I look down at A259. The blinds were about to go up so any 4 cards were being shoved here, luckily for me I had a good hand. The player to my right had already limped so he called with 2344, rags. The flop brought 1 low card and a flush draw for him, definately not what I hoped for. The turn brought another low card but another club, which had me drawing dead for the high but I could still hit a low. But the river bricked and I was sent home in 19th out of 46, respectable I feel.
The trip was amazing. It felt great to finally play some Omaha Hi Lo live, and although I didn't cash in the tourney, I was very happy with how I played and how deep I went. I even managed to outlast the 2+2ers I met so let's call that a win :) The trip also wet my appetite for playing some O8 cash so as soon as I made it back, I jumped into some cash tables. I'm hoping to play a few thousand hands before the end of the month, just to get back into the swing of things. I'm running pretty terribly in the NLHE SnGs so maybe some time off will be beneficial to my game.
Anyways, that's a long enough blog post. I'll update you on what happens fairly soon. Ciao x
