Sunday, August 9, 2009

Omaha: The drug of choice

I went to the Gold Strike last night to play in the regular Saturday evening tournament. They weren't holding it because the World Poker Open is still going on. They did have two tables of Omaha Hi/Low $4/8 limit with a kill, however, and the waiting list wasn't that long. Sign me up. I admit I don't really know how to play, but I know more than these donks. Just sayin'.

Most Omaha games are crazy, but, in this one, everybody played like they were high on meth. Players were calling with anything. There was a guy who raised every time it was his turn. "Let's build a pot," he'd say. Another crazy guy who had been raising a lot moved to the seat to his left when it became open.

"Every time you raise, I'm going to re-raise," he said. "I don't care what I have in my hand."

The first crazy guy said, "I didn't drive 600 miles to fold. Let's play some poker."

I wouldn't necessarily call that poker, but so it went. If one bet, the next guy would raise. If you wanted to see a flop, you had to be prepared to pay $20 if it was a regular deal, or $30 if it was a kill deal. I raise. I re-raise. I re-re-raise. You could smell the testosterone in the air.

This led to $300 pots, and was juicy if you hit, but expensive if you missed. Often you caught a draw and the pot was big enough that you had to stay to the river.

The worst player at the table was a lady in the four seat. She would play anything, call all the way to the river, turn over junk and win a pot when she had caught runner-runner or whatever. She honestly couldn't spell p-o-k-e-r with a dictionary, but had a massive stack. Whe she finally checked out, she had to be up $600 or $700.

The lady to my right was about as bad. She had already been to the ATM when she leaned over to me and said, "She sure plays garbage," meaning the lady who was in the four seat. That's the pot calling the kettle black I thought as she played every deal and called all the way. The only difference was she wasn't getting lucky like four-seat was.

I wish I could play in a game like this every day. I would have to quit my job -- the money would be too good.

Unfortunately, I only won around one buy-in. I tried to keep some sanity to my play. This limited my losses, but also my wins. Nevertheless, it was fun and amazing to watch.

The bad-beat jackpot has been hit a lot lately, so most of the players have moved the O/8 play over to the Horseshoe which is next door. The last time it was hit, the pot was bigger than each player's share.

Heard at the table:

A gender-specific answer:
"Do you have the nuts?" asked a man who had called all the way to the river.

The woman who had been betting said, with a straight face, "No, but I've got the breasts," as she turned over the nuts.

From the it-all-depends-how-you-look-at-it department:
A guy made a move on the river (never a good idea at limit O/8), and he was called down and lost. "You made a move!" observed one of the players. "No, I was trying to take advantage of the situation," he answered. Um, [MOJO scratches head] okay.

18 comments:

  1. LOL, MOJO! I'm afraid that is how I play poker. I've got to up the ante every time, even when I have nothing to play. Makes me feel like I'm really psyching everyone out and sometimes they fold. HA! And the only time I ever play is on Thanksgiving after dinner and not if my husband is playing too. He totally can't take it.

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  2. That's why I probably won't be playing Omaha. Those games always seem to end out of control - at least out of my control, ahem...

    "I have the breasts"
    Pretty cool answer, for sure!

    /j.

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  3. Sounds like the .01/.02 tables on Stars and FTP. One is tempted to call light, to mix it up. Yet, overall, patience and paranoia work best in Omaha.

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  4. I've been seeing more of these wild Omaha tables lately. I guess the rush is much better than NLHE.

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  5. WOW What a crazy table! I guess that woman realized she was on a lucky rush, so she just played everything. Did her hitting all of those hands slow down the 2 crazy raisers at all? Or did they continue to build pots for her all night?

    "I wouldn't call that poker." LOL

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  6. One doesn't need to know much about poker (like me!) to enjoy this story! You're a good writer...got me laughing!

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  7. Sounds like a wild table. Love the one ladys comment

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  8. @Nikki: You're not alone. Most players like to bet too much.

    @Joxum and dbcooper: Her comment went mostly unnoticed by the other players, but I thought it was hilarious.

    @bastin: I mixed it up some, but when they keep re-raising, it makes you think twice.

    @lightning: there's the rush, but also because you start with four cards, everybody thinks they have a great hand.

    @jusdealem: she didn't slow down a bit. One of the guy who kept raising said "I can't beat you," to her, and he said it quite a few times.

    @jacob: thanks for your comments. Now if only I could take photos like you do.

    Any readers interested in photos should check out his daily photo blog here.

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  9. Bad beat jackpots tend to bring in hordes of players, who sit around playing tighter than a baby's ass, waiting for the jackpot. Of course, the tighter you play, the less likely is that jackpot to hit.

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  10. this was an excellent narrative. I will not be sitting down to play with these pros. i am glad you shared the experience with us. Also, thanks for your comments on my site about the solar eclipse photos. BTW, if you like travel photos, we just put together a travel photos site at www.vivalavoyage.com. We have India photos posted and will put up new travel photos each Sunday. Happy blogging.

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  11. WOW. Thanks for posting the link to Jacob's photo blog. Amazing photos!

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  12. "Thanks for posting the link to Jacob's photo blog. Amazing photos!
    "

    And, he's an all-around good guy.

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  13. Mojo, do you ever go to Tunica? I know someone who works at Horseshoe, but I've only been once.

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  14. @Nikki: I go to Tunica to play poker most weekends. I don't play the machines or any of the table games -- poker appeals to me, but not the other stuff. I occ. play at the Shoe (as we call it).

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  15. The shoe! That's cute! Gotta tell my friend. I've never heard him call it that!

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  16. Memphis, what you did for my girl CK, was pretty effin' cool dude! Just thought you should know that.

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  17. @bambam: Thanks. When I saw it (it was a card protector, not a poker chip), I knew I had to get it.

    @Scottsdale-Julie: Thanks for your comment.

    Folks, Julie also has a daily photo blog for Scottsdale AZ here, and her new posting of photos from India are superb. They are here.

    She, Jacob, Wolynski and others make me very jealous. I'll get there some day.

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  18. Catching up on the reading ... yes, nice favour for CK ... boy, I wish I could find LO8 games like that!

    -PL

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