On the bright side, while I was folding a lot yesterday I picked up a good plo4 guide and read most of it. Good ideas in there for sure and much in line with my thinking, some new food for thought too.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...N2E3OTE5YTUyNA

I live in Latvia and travel to Sweden for work and meeting childhood friends (I grew up there) a lot, when I'm there I try to squeeze in a session or two at a poker club - they run everything and never a problem to find a 2/2, 2/2/4 or whatever PLO game (or at least one orbit PLO, one orbit NLT). At least on the weekends - when I went there on a Thursday there was only one game running and it was 5/10 PLO with most hands being straddled. Had 1k with me which was the min buy-in so I sat, and I had the best session of my life (cashed out for a 5k profit), mainly due to getting extremely lucky in a PLO5 hand (flop QJT, I had AKJTx and made a full house on both boards vs AKxxx w/ double backdoor flushdraws) for a 8,5-9k pot.

The pandemic ****ed everything up here in Latvia. Pre-pandemic they had tournaments with 20-30 entrants during the weekdays and 50+ on weekends, and at least 3-5 cash tables running every weekend at the casino, now they only open one cash table on weekdays and two on weekends, and only NLT as most players who show up prefer NLT over PLO. I heard something about a dealer shortage, but not sure of the reasons, perhaps they have too few customers so they focus on the table games. No idea, but it sucks. In neighbouring Estonia the poker scene seems to be thriving and it's the same casino operator, not sure why it's so dead here.

I'll check the underground game out if I have an opportunity, however my degenerate days are long gone and I'm mostly living a calm family life nowadays, so I play when I have an evening off and nothing else planned, which isn't too often. The only saving grace with the casino game is that it is uncapped buy-in and mostly plays deep, especially after 4-5 hours, so it's basically 1/3 or 2/4 with a lot of players sitting on 1000+ stacks. If it was a 300 max buy-in game, I'm not sure I'd even play, since shortstacked NLT is so incredibly boring.

Oh, for vacation we'll head to Poland and Slovakia, do some hiking in the mountains, go to a theme park and see some sights. Both countries are beautiful, have good food and drink, and are also cheap to visit. Europe is really nice in this aspect - you're basically never more than a couple of hours on a plane from totally different cultures etc.

Anyway, good to see a PLO thread so I at least can live out some PLO action vicariously. Hope you run better in the next session!

Thanks for the good vibes ReGen! Nice to hear about your life, sounds wonderful.

The list last night for plo was very long and not wanting to wait I decided to fire another tourney (a $250 bounty). I got all in with 15 bigs with 55 v. KQs and she flopped a Q but I rivered a 5! Then UTG "calls" (says he meant to call, dealer declares it a raise), utg1 calls, SB 3!, I 4! jam AQo given the dynamics, SB's ATs calls and he flops a T, but I go running hearts for a flush! Uneventfully bleed down some until we are on the money bubble and I am shortest stack. Someone else suggests paying the bubble but a pro flat out says no, which disappointed me because I was close to having nothing to show for 7 hours of play that I could have been spending playing cash. A couple nice people in the tourney gave me encouraging words during the break. (I think they could tell I was feeling a little defeated...I lost A9 v. K8 just before the color up break, and I was down to 10 bb.)

Anyway I do my thing laying low and picking my spots and get some jams through, then finally the guy who rejected the bubble pay calls off half his stack with 55 against my 10 bb jam and I have 88 - I was fearing the worse but thankfully an 8 on the river was overkill and I held. (He was soon crippled and I finished him off with ATo and thereby won my second bounty.) A few larger stacks busted ahead of me and suddenly I was in 4th place looking at a $950 cash when someone brought up ending the tournament so we could go home. We ran the numbers and agreed to an ICM chop with first place getting our bounties ($50 apiece) since he was the overwhelming chip leader with 75% of the chips in play. Ended up cashing for $1,350, plus $100 in bounties, after almost bubbling, for over third place money as the shortest stack.

Played a little plo and won a dsAA ai pre, won with QJTT8 on T69 over two streets (top set plus wrap...very nice), and that was pretty much it. Got to hang with my buddy at the plo table, always a fun time.

Played some plo, very card dead for a while, the finally got something going and ended up $650 or so. Knowing when to go for value on rivers without the nuts can be a challenge in this game when the nuts so frequently changes. There were a couple spots I thought I could have bet but chose not to (not sure if worse is calling), and one spot I did bet but value owned myself.

The floor messed up a table transfer and then insisted I post at the table I had briefly left and then returned to (I was too tilted about the transfer issue to play and left for some pizza). Funny because I left the first table after posting the big blind, so in my mind I only owed the small. Nope. That drove me up the wall and I asked for a voucher which I did not get. In any event, I am glad it's a Thursday since I will be going to Live - the Thursday evening music event going on all summer at MGM makes traffic and parking insane and food lines unbearable.

Well, never thought I'd want to cry over a session of poker but I was close to it today. Started to feel like making it big wasn't in the cards. Sad dumbo.

Went to mdl and saw 25/25 mix big o and plo5 was running so put my name on the list as game looked good. Sat down and got AAT83ss and isoÂd, flop T52, cbet, action player not in hand says “oh he has aces with a 3!” turn was K, check check, river 9. V in hand bets $400, action says “he has 2s and 4s,” I fold and V shows a bluff.

Then limp AAK88 and flopped top set on 874, turn 3, river 3, fun V who bluffed me earlier bets $500, I call to include third V to call, he folds and I fast roll the scoop or chop and V had 33 with a low.

Play a couple more meh hands AQ842 otb against a blind raise and another so-so aces and lose both and call it a quits early. “You don’t like playing with us?” asks action player. “No, I just don’t have the bankroll to play this game for too long.”

Then sat relatively card dead at 2/2 for hours and felt quite depressed. Chopped one with AKQJT on KJT, turn brought bdfd I didn’t have and we got it in - V with the flush draw and AQ, ran it twice and he made flush once and I made boat once. Spewed once pre with lots of dead money with AQJ74ds and didn’t work out. Still made a few hundo but didn’t make up for the 25/25 loss.

Still losing this month again. Sigh.

Was up $4.5k at 5/5 until made AA679hhdd $3,000 pre and shipped 235hh flop for last $1,800 for $5k side pot against A4 and lost. Very +EV against a marginal hand for the side pot and main and had 50% otf. V was aggrotard pro who thought tight players didn’t deserve to win so I imagine he made a very speculative call to reduce my odds of beating the action player. Worked out for him this time. Now down $800. Bleh.

Sucks to be on the wrong side of PLO variance. Haven´t really ran that many hands in PLO5 equity calculators, but I imagine going three-ways with a speculative hand for a potentially huge pot with low SPR on the flop to be a quite marginal error? Or am I totally wrong here? Preflop play has always been a weakness of mine (I like to play too many hands).

Anyway, sucks that he got there. Next time you´ll hopefully just hit a damn heart on the turn and ship it!

He was probably -EV for both the side pot and main pot tbh given my hand, definitely for the side pot with me where he needed around 50% to be +EV. He had an A in his hand too which was even worse.

Indeed. Would have been nice to ship this one given how the month has been going. At least I bluffed V off the second nuts earlier in the session.

Running below EV in the big pots this month, really starting to take a toll. At least in theory I should be up tons of money and still no fear of RoR. It was fun to play in the game too, during the big pots everyone from the 2/5 plo game came over to rail and watch and cheered me on as I scooped my first big pot (dsKK K otf all in multiway went runner runner nut flush). Too bad it didn't end the way it started. Maybe I should have booked the $4.5k win instead of going for all the glory. I suppose if my goal is to keep moving up I shouldn't quit in good games even when up a lot so I'm glad I didn't leave.

Had a nice rungood session at 2/5 and 5/5, up the most this month in one session. Played overnight again to reset schedule and just woke up after a good 15 hours of zzz....folded the winner in a couple pots, otherwise could have been a record-setting session at 2/5 plo. Definitely needed a nice win for a change. Biggest pot was beating two full wraps with KK on K-8-5-3-5 for a $3k pot and gii at 5/5 with dsAAT75 and scooping with the nut straight T7. Nice how things turned around so quickly after the prior session! Folded AA+nfd ott to overbet jam in side pot, just not getting the right odds to continue, would have scooped, and non-nut wrap ott when all outs were no longer to the nuts in a different pot. For a 20-hour session I played very well.

Played 5/T expecting action player to show up as a call in (he didn't). Instead, sat in a terribad game for a down and lost a buy in QQ<AA, but came to my senses and left for plo soon thereafter where I ran well until backraising KKQ33ds over a short stack jam and deeper-stacked calls quite confident I was pushing an edge against the deep stacks (especially if the shorty has AA), and got one call of my $575 backraise, a nice guy who hasn't played plo in a while and is getting back into the mix. His AKJT9ds way outflopped me on Q78dd (his suit) but given the size of the pot I was priced in and lost. Slowly built it back up and bled down again until I GII in a 3! pot with KdQJdTc8c on Ad-8d-3h and went runner runner nut straight against a set of 8s (at spr around 1 it was a no brainer get it in spot). Called it a night soon after. Had a great time at a fun table, chatting everyone up, a rarity these days.

More and more plo tables in the poker room in general, what a nice trend! We've seen 4 tables on weeknights lately. Hope that bodes well for the future of this crazy game.

Ran well tonight at 2/2 and 5/5/25 for a couple thousand in profit. GII pre AAT98ds against a K-high rundown that 4! jammed and he flopped top two on KQ2 but the rivered paired the 2 and I scooped. GII in 3! pot with QT986sscc on 984ssc against an aggrotard player, turned the nut straight and held. Did not play too long, I deserve some rest. Been grinding very hard for a long time. What an understatement.

The other night at 5/5 a recreational player who teaches during the day and dabbles in plo at night asked someone else if he ever wondered whether they were "surrounded by greatness" at the table. I interjected, having just lost a $12k pot, and said "no, they're all donkeys, every last one of them!" For all the ups and downs, I've been enjoying the ride more than usual lately.

What time does 5-5 plo5 run on fridays?

Is it always 5-5-25?

At MDL it’s hit or miss to get in the game Fridays. Normally only if they open a must move which they don’t always do anymore. (Semi-private game with emailed list of starting line up.) For the record I utterly despise the system there. Especially because the starting line up always includes someone who I believe runs a 5/5 plo home game that takes away a lot of the 5/5 player pool from the casinos. Seems pretty unfair. Main game is 5/5/25/50 and must move is 5/5/25. (Mandatory 25 btn straddle, 50 sb blind raise.)

It only just started running at MGM again. I don’t get there when the game starts due to work but at MDL around 7 and MGM…not sure. 5/5/15 normally at MGM. (Not mandatory utg straddle but strongly encouraged.)

“Don’t show off,” said my third grade homeroom teacher as I panted back into the classroom after picking up some fliers for her. (So much for the favor, I now think. But as a 8-year-old I was just bewildered.) She was frustrated with me because I’d gotten into it with a classmate earlier; he stabbed me with a lead pencil. (I heard he later went on a serial killing spree.) She was very orderly and wanted her students to behave. How else would we become upstanding, obedient citizens? I capitulated and tried to hold my breath.

Our English teacher had a make-believe bomb that she would threaten to “go off” if the class started to annoy her. (This was definitely pre-9/11.) Ms. Kopp was her name. Her trademark expression was “does a chicken have lips?” (I.e., the answer is NO.) Another do not pass go do not pant after doing me a favor type. We generally tried not to misbehave. No one likes to be blown up.

“Silly faggt, dcks are for chicks.” Another choice phrase in class, this one in sixth grade uttered by a kid who looked like he’d been held back a grade he was so tall. I looked up the saying on the computer, before Google. I think it was ask jeeves. For some reason the saying resonated with me, but I didn’t yet know why.

Tenth grade math was even better. Class wasn’t for talking. “Shut up!” ms teacher yelled after I made a joke. No jokes, no talking, no expression. Just choke on force-fed learning and stay in line.

I drank a lot in college. Dabbled with guys and girls, figuring out who I was. Figuring out whether the saying was true. I learned it wasn’t. I tried not to conform but it was nearly preordained. I was a cog. I thought law school would be empowering and release my inner independent self. (Also to be completely honest I watched a lot of Will & Grace growing up and the idea of being a hot rich gay lawyer was quite appealing.) They don’t tell you in school that you’re basically a slave though. They train you to be one but they don’t spell it out for you. I know that’s disrespectful to actual slaves but the idea of being coerced to work to stay alive or else live like an animal feels like indentured servitude.

Reality was biting and I was undiagnosed too. What a time to be alive! Binge drinking became my medicine unbeknownst to me. Then the light went off behind me. We were driving back from the club. Well, I was. They were passengers, and we were all toasty from a long night out. “Walk this line,” “Look at the light.” Frisked cuffed pissed in a cup. Little did I know it wouldn’t be the last time.

“Did you know I’m undiagnosed and drinking to drown out the voices?” I guess that would have been my explanation to the judge in hindsight. But it was too early to know what was going on in my head. No crazy breakdown murder conspiracy episode yet. So I just submitted to the indignity. It’s what I was taught to do after all.

You can still get a law license and be president of the United States despite a minor running in with the law. Just not a felony drug charge, and definitely not if you’re black. I cut the drinking and was manic about law school instead. Not taking your meds while a basket case - drinking, in other words - is . . . difficult? A challenge? An obstacle? I incessantly figgited, hardly slept a wink, was such a mess I submitted the wrong copy of my torts final and had to run to campus to slide the right version under my professor’s desk. “What time is it?!” I asked a classmate frantically as I ran into the school. “11pm,” ok good I had a witness. I wasn’t such a bad crazy lawyer in training.

I kept busy with activities to stop the schizoaffectiveness from doing too much damage. Law journal, mock arbitration, etcetera. I got into civil liberties, then criminal prosecution. Did you know you can be a prosecutor in the same district you got into trouble a few years earlier? Talk about conforming. (The office was too racist for me, “not a good fit,” to quote another lawyer who left.)

Anyway I have rambled on enough as I sit here folding.

Tonight I ran pretty well, up $1450 or so, not many tough spots. Donning my pineapple summer button down got some attention from this Jersey-accented guido type. "Oh, he's wearing an upside down pineapple shirt, that means he wants to f you and your wife," he commented as soon as I sat down. "I've heard it all at the poker table," I responded coolly. The only insulting thing about his comment was that he thought he was insulting me. (And no, I don't want to f your wife.) Life goes on.*

*Penultimate post was inspired by lastcardcharlie's 2+2 blog, "I'm going to change the world." He's a cab driver.

Thanks to Marle for another banger: "playing 2/5 as a 5/T player." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ2tcYvd65I "I'm actually a reg at Bellagio. I play $1,500. That's 150 big blinds. That's a lot." Dying.

Thanks for response..

Looks like I’ll be making a pit stop on my way down south.. I’ll be at NH around 2-6 tomorrow.

Hoping they get a 5-5 going by then but will plan to play the 1-2 700cap game.

Cool! Hope to see you there.

Up $3.2k at 5/5/25/50, gave a little back near the end, called it an early night even though I could have played longer but just wasn't feeling it. Was beating myself up for one hand I played near the end with AA in the blind $50, probably could have ended the hand on the flop with top set on a rainbow but wanted to trap an action V and it backfired when he hit his double-gutter ott and blocking the wheel I called his turn barrel. On the drive home, I started beating myself up at first, but then realized I've been running very poorly in this game the past few sessions and still played tonight and won, so I was happy with my wherewithal. Turned top pair into a bluff a couple times (with some back up just in case) and it worked out well, so that was a step up in my game I am proud of too. Finally up a respectable amount this month after a really rough start!

Just got into 5-5-15 at NH

In for 2500:

Out for :

Just saw your post after you left….I wasn’t sure if that was you. Good fold with the JJ99; I had AA.

And thanks a lot for stacking me! :P
Solid win!

Edit: safe travels.

Maryland live next time… in a couple days

It plays bigger there - 25/50, sometimes $100. Gl. Might see you there as well.

Up $2k at 5/5, another $600 at 2/5 plo, for a nice turn around near the end of the month. What a circuitous way to end up here though, variance really put me through the ringer this month. Nice to bump into PokerEthics too, even though at the time I didn't even know it was him. He luckboxed his way into cracking my (medicore) aces!