Pot Luck Omaha
I have the standard poker beginnings story. Play home games with friends for small buy-ins. Watch poker on TV. Learn to play online with freerolls and small deposits. I think back now about how ridiculous most of this was. Watching Celebrity Poker with Phil Gordon commentating and waiting to see who landed in the losers lounge. That was just sad. How pathetic it was staying up all night in a 6,000 person freeroll to try and cash $1.80 then dust it off at 4am in a micro no-limit game. I remember climbing the ranks like most of us rookies. When heading down to the casino for a $120 daily morning tournament seemed like the main event. All of sudden realizing K9 sooted isn't my favorite hand. When you couldn't wait to get aces under the gun and limp. All the stepping stones most of us go through.
So I started playing online in 2005. I would win sometimes but never really make it to the cash out phase. My first big run was in 2006 when I got into the nightly $150 on Full Tilt through a $26 satellite. I remember updating my girlfriend every time someone got knocked off the final table and pacing back and forth between breaks. Finally I was the only one left and had $8,600 in my account. About time all the tips and tricks I learned from Celebrity Poker Showdown payed off. I played the next day in 5-10 NL cash games and the streak continued. I had $20k and thought I would never look back. You all know how this goes. I jumped to 10-20 NL 6 max/$1k SnGs and was broke 2 days after the win.
I couldn't repeat that temporary success for a while. I had a similar run in 2007 on Absolute where I deposited enough for a $150 dollar tournament with my credit card and took 3rd for $7200. I decided not to sleep and grind all night. About 10am the next morning I finally took a break with $11k in my account because I had to go check in to probation. I was getting semi delusional from not sleeping but was on a high from winning and told my probation officer that I was a professional poker player. I went home and really wanted to get the bankroll going so I jumped in the biggest game I could find. $200-$400 LH heads up. I lasted about 20 minutes.
I eventually started profiting and would actually cash out. Which brings us to spring of 2008. The height of my online poker addiction. During this time I would play everything and would try to grind out $500-$1k a week and cash it out. I would only leave $2k in my account for fear of blowing everything. Well I went out drinking one night and returned home drunk. Not sure why I decided to play PLO but I felt like gambling. I sat at 10-20 PLO with my $2k. I kind of knew what I was doing but was just hitting whatever I needed. I don't think the other players were that good at this time but WTF do I know. I want to say I got my stack up to $8k and decided to jump limits. I sat at 25-50 PLO with $6k and left my original $2k behind. Same thing here. I would pot whatever hand I liked pre and would hit the flop. I had my stack to about $13k and got involved in a pot with someone who had me covered and we got all-in on the turn. The $26k pot didn't get pushed my way. I stared at the screen in shock and disgust for a bit. I wanted that money back more than anything.
So after 3 hours of running hot at stakes I have never played and donking it off in one hand I decide I can do it again. Back to 10-20 PLO. I played more aggressive than the last time around because I wanted my money back. I jumped limits quicker this time around. I was eventually sitting on a 50-100 table with $30k in front of me. The only higher limit was 200-400 at this time and I seen someone sitting short with $8k. I take my shot. About 4 hands in, we end up all in and my broadway wrap gets there. Ship the $16k pot! He reloaded and we kept playing. I was winning small pots trying to play conservative. Its 6am and I remember Phil Galfond sat down. I was sobering up at this point and realized how much money I just made. I sat out and stared at my balance of $43k for a bit. I called a friend and had them change my password because I did not want to give this back.
I eventually received my bank wire of $30,000 after jumping through hoops and the constant fear of not getting paid. I also withdrew a $2k check and made sure I left $10k online for the grind. I believed I was a high limit player now. As soon as I pulled that $30k out of the bank I figured it was time for a casino celebration. I got a few of my friends and a couple girls together, booked a suite and headed down to the casino. I only brought $2k cash, dress clothes, and my laptop. I end up pretty drunk before we even went to the club there. I figured it was a good time to show off to all my friends how much of a pro I am. So I plugged in the laptop and sat at 10-20 PLO with one other player. I was giving lessons out loud on how to play hands and everyone couldn't believe the amount of money at risk. I lost 3 buy-ins in 25 minutes and told everyone to head to the club without me. With my last $5k I sat at 25-50 with hopes of getting my money back. That didn't work.
I grabbed the nearest bottle, chugged, then headed down to meet everyone. I don't remember too much from the night. One ridiculous thing I do remember is having to take a piss and going into the bar bathroom which only had one stall. It was occupied but I couldn't wait. The kid taking a piss left the stall door open and there was a floor drain grate right behind him in the stall. I took out my dick and started pissing into it while he was facing the toilet. He realized what I was doing as piss was splashing on the back of his pants and didn't appreciate it. He started talking **** and I laughed. It eventually got physical, not to much had happened because I threw him out the bathroom door and a bouncer was in the hallway there. The bouncer grabbed him and he was complaining that I pissed on him. I said that he was crazy and just attacked me out of nowhere. I said he must be on drugs. Well the bouncer must have believed me and threw the other kid out the club. Only other thing I remember after that was taking my $11k loss out on the girl I brought up for me. Petite, real good looking, little Portuguese girl. I gave her the business and was as rough as possible once I got her back to the room. She had what I call a Chinese finger trap which was nice. Top 3 of all time for sure.
http://www.highstakesreport.com/2008...-omaha-action/
This is a link to the big hand I lost. Hand C. I'm GREEZGREEZ. I swear I had a club flush draw. That 9 of spade was a club.
Last edited by WarmDeck; 05-29-2014 at 01:11 AM.