The awesome power of position

My plans were well and truly foiled last night. My brother came round, rendering the evening dull and meaning I could not simply sit on my backside and play poker for four or five hours.

I got quite tetchy as the clock ticked on, while we all sat in relative silence saying and doing nothing while the TV twittered. Grrrr.

Even worse; when my mum went off to pick him up, early evening, I played a short, hurried half-hour session, knowing they would come through the door at any moment. That is almost always a recipe for disaster. I don’t think I played bad – in fact, I picked off a bluff nicely which I was proud of – but you just find yourself trying to cram some action in when you know you only have twenty minutes, half an hour, forty-five minutes. I turned in a small loss before the door opened and my heart sank as my frustrating night began.

Eventually brother left, mum went to bed, and I crammed a session in despite the late hour. I played for a couple of hours, winning ninety bucks at six-max PLO and losing eleven by failing to cash in a sit ‘n’ go.

The cash was fine. I switched tables when the first one dried up, and proceeded to run nice at the second, including a straight flush – far less unusual in Omaha than in Hold ‘Em of course. I also picked up at least one good-sized pot with a bare-faced bluff; all hail the awesome power of position!

The sit ‘n’ go was frustrating, as I bubbled out in fourth. I never got any kind of hand at all, but people dropped out fairly quickly and I managed to get to the last four barely playing a hand. We had two big stacks and me and another guy very low. I wasn’t going to demean myself by hoping to just outlast him, especially as he had slightly more chips and appeared intent on folding his way into third if he possibly could. I found a decent enough hand on the button (QQT8 double suited I believe), went for it, and got called by the chip leader, which was almost inevitable.

I had his hand quite well dominated, especially by Omaha standards, but his J9xx saw a flop of JJ9 and I was dead in the water. I was a lot more peeved than I should have been.

However, the emotional control remains good and I am really pleased with my Omaha game at the moment. I’m up more than $750 over the last 50 hours, at 25c and 50c blinds, which is pretty damn good. I don’t suppose it is sustainable; hell, experience tells me it definitely isn’t sustainable. I had a bad run the week before last, but on the whole I have seen my big hands stand up over those fifty hours. I am intrigued to see if six-max makes a difference though; there seems to be far more chance to outplay people, which should be good for results. As long as I am trying to outplay the right people…