Oskar Silow

The first game most poker players learn is usually Texas Hold Em, either limit or no-limit.  Draws are a little different in Omaha than Texas and the most important thing to remember is that in Omaha a draw can be favourite against a set.  Let me give you an example:

You are holding  
and the flop is .  You and your opponent end up all in and your opponent is holding .

So what are the chances that you will draw out on your opponent and hit either a straight or a flush?

You will make a straight with any non-dimond K, J, T, 8 or 6.  You will hit a flush with any dimond.  You have 22 outs.  Also you can make a running spade flush.  Having that many outs with a draw against a set is unheard of in texas where you can have 15 outs with a straight and flush draw.

The exact odds are 57.7% for you to win and 42.3% for your opponent to win.  As you can see, even tho he is holding top set you are the favourite.

The weather in Sweden has not been very nice the last couple of days.  After a summer of mostly sunshine the bad weather was well needed to find a reason to park my butt in front of the computer and actually grind a bit for a change…  Have had a couple of nice sessions and hoepfully the rush is coming =)

Day 3 - termination day as I call it :P  I started the day in good position with a 158k stack, average 95k, 2044 of the 6494 player were still in the field.

I lose some chips early on when my hero call turns out to be the wrong read.  Fortunately I get it back fairly quickly with a tough 4-bet bluff.   After the first level of day 3 (Level 10) I have 156k in my and 1701 spelare are still fighting for the millions.

During level 11 800/1600/200 I flop my 3rd set of the tournament.  I lost with  the first two the very first two hands of the tournament. This time I get to win a decent pot and move close to 200k in chips.

Unfortunately I 4-bet bluff a player who squeezed and had to fold my 98s when he moved all in on me.  Gave back those chips right away…

Finish the level with 138k, 1386 players left and average 140k.

Level 12 1k/2k/300  Winn a nice hand in blind vs blind when I float the flop and RR big on turn and he releases.

Flop a nutflush when I raise with AKs, QJ8 all dimonds.  Unfortunately a 4th dimond on the turn kills my action =(

RR the same opponent again (weak one) from SB with 77.  Flop QJ4 and I fire again.  Turn T and I shoot again and he releases fairly quickly ;).

Finish the level with 192k, 1071 players left and average 181k.

Level 13 1200/2400/300
I manage to win a pot against Ludovic Lacay for the first time.  He was a very tough opponent and really killed the table.  Getting some good cards and having a healty stack obviously helped him get away with a lot of his plays.  In this pot I bet flop turn and river with A7.  Board came KQ4 T 6 and he folded and showed AK on the river.  I usually don’t show bluffs, but I did this time which probably helped me get action later on.

The I finally casught some cards.  I find AA and face a raise from UTG.  I RR 6k to 17k and he moves all in on me for a total of 60k.  I call obviously and he flip JJ.  Flop QJ9 3 8, sucks!  Tough beat but fortunately I got bad beated when I had more chips so I didn’t bust.

Less than 15 minutes later I find AA again!!!  3rd time of the tournament and having lost 2/2 I made it 23k since one player made it 6k and got one caller.  The first player folds quickly and the second moves all in!!!  YES!!! CALL!!!  He has AQ and I can’t be a much bigger favourite.  250k pot :D  Flop KT8.  Outs doh!  Feel a little uneasy considering the 2/2 record…  Turn 6 there is hope!!  River J, SIGH!! FFS!!!  Bust in 920th-ish.  650 got paid…

Really felt tough, but I’ll be back next year and hopefully I’m due a little luck til then….

Tomorrow (Thursday @ 9 pm) it’s time again!!  For only $10 you get the chance to give PokerTimes finest an a** whoppin ;)  There will be a $100 bounty on myself (amexos), Kevin_vip and James Grant.  Come try beat us, if you dare…?

With many good and interesting players left in the field, one can only hope for the dream final table. How about for example: Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari and Dennis Philips.  Maybe this is the year Ivey take back the titel to the pros?