It's Been Tuesday all Week and it's Tuesday Again

Not the best showing as far as football pickin', but not the worst. 8-6 overall and 3-1 on money games. That brings me to 27-19 for the year overall, and 10-2 in the ones that really count. I like how the season is shaping up so far. Last year was my worst handicapping year ever but this time around I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on things. Now if the freaking Chiefs would stop killing me every week I'd be set.

Not much shaking in the world of poker. I've been playing a decent amount of Omaha and dipping my toes back into the Party $25 NL waters. My small monkey mind is still regularly boggled by the play that goes on at the $25 NL tables. I know it's blasphemy but it's almost too fishy for my liking. Omaha still makes me giggle at times. I've been good about tagging the fishes that play low limit Omaha at Party, as there aren't a ton of them, so it's much easier to identify and track them down. The funny thing is that I'm starting to feel sorry for a few of them, as they continue to not adjust to the fact that what are normally decent hold 'em hands get the crap kicked out of them in Omaha. And happens over and over and over. And I just shake my head. Dude, that pair of aces isn't going to hold up, not now, not ever, no matter how many raises you slam in there, and keep slamming. My home improvement projects appreciate your money but come on, dawg, really...

SSH has already paid for itself, which is cool. I've still got a few internal quibbles with some of the sections but it's definitely been a worthwhile read, especially in two broad areas. I definitely had fallen into the trap of discounting gut shot straight draws far too often, regardless of the pot size. I basically insta-mucked them, which isn't the worst sin but definitely not good poker. Seeing the actual odds and math and what-not was pretty eye-opening, as they aren't always the huge dogs I assumed they were. They've also got extra value when they do hit, as not only do they hit big, but they advertise fish to the whole table.

The other big leak that has been repaired is that I folded far too often to one bet on the river, when I assumed I was beaten. Again, it was mainly just the blind adoption of assorted poker credos we somehow pick up along the way (never chase gutshots, know when to fold 'em, etc.) but there's a lot to be said for calling one last bet if you have any chance in hell of winning a big pot. I've found this to really be true in Omaha, as far as calling with two pair (on a board that hasn't paired). In any given hand you'll have someone betting a flush draw or a straight draw (or both), along with people who flop a set and bet hard, etc. I find myself limping with two pair a good bit, trying to fill the boat and missing. In the past I'd almost always muck at the river, even if there was no flush potential on the board, but that's a pretty bad play. With the average Omaha pot size you only need to win 1 out of 10 hands to make it +EV to call one last bet on the river, even with marginal hands.