PLO8 MTTs - ABC

We have an old saying in the Lagtard group, ABC - Always Be Closing. For those who don't have a clue what we're on about, you'll want to watch this : 

So what does this mean for us poker players, when you get deep in a tournament, seal the deal and ship that bad boy. Unfortunately, I can't seem to follow my own advice recently.

Now, I love PLO8 MTTs. The skill level of the average player in these is just terrible at best, literally some of the plays you see in these things just boggles the mind. Even the regs who actually do have a clue about how to play the game, just don't understand how to change their game to deal with the MTT format. I don't mean to sound cocky or anything, but provided I don't receive some sort of bad beat early on in the tournament, I believe I can go deep in pretty much any daily tournament. However, that's as far as it goes, because when I get to the final, and most important stages, I can't seem to close it out. In the past week, I've made around 10 final tables, granted not so difficult considering the average field size is around 100, but not even one victory. So far 3rd seems to be my favourite number because my last 4 finishes have all been in this position. Thankfully all these deep runs have kept me afloat financially, however, unless I up my game and take those top spots, it's never going to increase my bankroll to the levels I would like.

So yeah, this has been a bit of a frustrated rant post, but hopefully I can turn this around and make some strides. I'd like to play a few more daily $109s by selling off packages and also I would like to play a few more mixed game tournaments but unfortunately there aren't that many daily tournaments, only a few decent sized HORSE MTTs and the odd Stud8 without a guarantee.

On a side note, good luck to all the Brits over in Vegas and with the upcoming PLO8 events, I hope some 2+2ers and some readers of this blog can make some deep runs, and then come back and put me in some events ;) Take it easy everybody.

Reconsidering the NLHE angle.

So those of you who regularly follow this blog, or those who possess the ability to simply scroll down the page to my last post, will know that I began my summer grind with the intention of learning NLHE cash not only as a way of looking for the dead money but also as a way of breaking up the monotony of grinding O8 constantly. But the more I think about it, the more it just doesn't seem appealing to me.

Over the past few days I spent a fair amount of time grinding NL50 but almost twice as much time discussing NL cash play with a few players who I consider knowledgeable about the game, but for all I know could be complete donks ;) Just kidding guys, thank you for all your help. And although I feel that my game has picked up exponentially even after just a few days, I'm not feeling that spark of excitement, and I can't see myself having the motivation for those long sessions that I do playing O8. So for now I think it's an end to my NLHE cash career.

However, I haven't quite given up on NLHE all together. As all my faithful fans know, I also grind 180s, or I did before I retired for the exam period. I still enjoy playing 180s and in general MTTs, but I know I'm well behind the average player as far as competency in concerned. If only I had a long sustained period of time where I didn't have much to do and could devote a lot of hours towards studying the game. Oh wait, I do :) When I started playing again, the first thing I did was buy a Deucescracked subscription. It wasn't a spur of the moment decision, I had taken the 7 day free trial a few months ago but decided it wasn't good value to purchase the subscription when I was about to take 2 months off. So far I've been using the subscription to watch O8 videos and the odd NLHE cash video that was suggested by friends, (while I'm on it, everyone should watch the Bart Hanson video where he breaks down his own play on Live at the Bike, it's free to watch), but starting tonight I'm going to watch some MTT videos. I know I'm not going to turn into a pro overnight but I'd like to at least hold my own when I inevitably play the odd NLHE MTT.

So let's get a small update going about how O8 has gone recently. I made back to back final tables in my favourite tournament, the $16t 2xChance, but only managed a 3rd and a 5th for around 900$ combined which is still a nice payday, but I would have liked to close another one. I've badgered Stars constantly to add more turbo PLO8 MTTs to the schedule but for now I'm happy to play this one no matter what, it's just the most profitable tournament online in my opinion, maybe eclipsed only by the Sunday Storm. Cash had been going well until today where I ran $500 below EV and dropped quite a chunk but I felt I played well and recognized the spots where I played badly, so I'm taking it on the chin and will be back to the grind shortly.

So I guess that'll be it for now. Thanks everyone for reading the blog, and I'd definitely recommend reading some of the other O8 based blogs listed somewhere on my page. Also, if you're not already there, join the O8 regs Skype group. Good luck at the tables!

Welcome back to normality.

It's a lovely summers day, the sun is shining, and for the first time in 2 months, I am not staring at it through the library window!

Yes, exams are finally over, I think I've done well enough to not have to do resits, and am now a free man! And what would I like to do with my freedom? Ah yes, play poker of course. And when we play poker, we write blogs, isn't that how this shit goes down?

So before I get into a rather long winded explanation about what I hope to achieve this summer and what my goals are, I'll give you a small insight into how the last two months have gone. In a nutshell, brilliant. I'm not sure about whether it was because I was playing a lot less and was able to concentrate more, or the fact that it's short term run good that's just been spread out over a long period because of not playing much at all, but whenever I seemed to sit down at the (virtual) table, I just crushed. Here's a small breakdown of what I've done while "revising" :

-Won the $33 1.5k Guarantee for $750
-Won the $16.50 2x Chance Turbo for $850
-Won it AGAIN for $950
-Cashed the PLO8 Medium SCOOP event for $260
-Broke about even on the cash tables

All in all an extremely profitable period of time in which I was supposed to be playing zero poker but ended up playing very little. What this means for me now is that I can afford to take shots at softer games I pick out at the higher stakes without risking a large percentage of my bankroll, and more importantly, allows me to cash out significant amounts of money in order to pay off my summer. In essence, poker is now my job :) (for the summer......)

So what are we going to do this summer, this calls for another list!:

- Play higher stakes FR O8 cash games. 0.50/1 NL and 1/2 NL
- Grind a lot of O8 MTTs $22+ (and of course the $16t 2x Chance)
- Start playing more LO8 cash (2/4-3/6)
- Learn NLHE cash (0.25/0.50)

I'll make a better effort to keep the blog updated with how I get along with these goals, starting now!

1) O8 cash - Already up around $500 but with few hands and a bit of run good.
2) O8 MTTs - No major cashes yet this month but no serious volume yet either.
3) LO8 cash - Winning a fair bit at 1/2, break even 2/4. Waiting to find a less reg filled 3/6 game before I jump in.
4) NLHE cash - 2k hands and break even. Still learning the nuances of the game.

More detailed breakdowns of my endeavors to come but for now it's a quick update just to scratch my writing itch. Good luck at the tables all!