Let's Hear It for PLO

More weekend quick hits:

Pauly has published the latest edition of Truckin', his fine literary blogzine. I have a story this month, along with excellent pieces by The Man himself, BG and Grubby. Please check it out and, if you like what you read there, send us all a check...er, I mean...tell all your friends and internet cybersex partners.

I came to an obvious conclusion a few months back: Do whatever The Poker Nerd says. This week, he said the Pot Limit Omaha super satellites for the WCOOP events on Stars were exceptionally soft. As if I needed any further proof, drizz promptly folded his way into a seat (or 900 FPPs).

I keed. I keed.

I won my own satellite seat last night. It was of little consequence that I had played PLO exactly zero times previously. I can nut peddle with the best of 'em. There were 310 players, meaning 31 seats and, you're not going to f-ing believe this, we were down to 98 players after an hour.

I spent most of the rest of the tourney folding and hanging out in the middle of the pack. Until late, I wasn't flush enough to fold to the seat, but I then made one well-timed play to put me into safety with about 40 remaining. At which point, naturally, I started getting huge starters, the hands that had eluded me most of the night. I folded every last one of them. Of course you did, you might say, what else would you do you frickin' idiot, your seat was safe. Well...ask Jason why this is a big step for me.

So anyway, now I have that satellite seat OR 900 FPPs to pimp elsewhere. My thinking is that I'll go ahead and play the PLO satellite if the numbers look good. Of the 60 seats awarded yesterday, only 18 remain registered. With 9 seats given away, PLO might be the best spot for a small field. Then, naturally, I'll take the W$ if I qualify for the Main Event. That's where the PLO experiment ends, for now.

And that's a good way to end my online poker play until next weekend.

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It was a coin flip, a common hand we see countless times every day. Win half, lose half, play the next hand. But, oh man...

It was my 88 vs. AdKd. He had me covered. Flop was 8c6h4d. I lept from the couch with a "Yes!" I noted the pot size (30K). I searched the texture of the flop for potential pitfalls. "No diamonds!" I shouted, not overly concerned (I am a 95% fave at this point).

They came runner-runner. He had only 7 live cards (8d gives me quads; 6d a boat) in the deck and he needed two of them. He got 'em.

I was chatting with and being sweated by Chad at the time, but I walked away for a few minutes.

Yes, a coin flip, but...well, I guess I've never been so devastated by losing a coin flip before.

Notice I can't really describe it?

I mention this not just because of the riviting human drama, but because a curious thing happened. That guy who caught the runner-runner won the tournament.

I know the multis are more luck-dependant than ring games. I've had my share of good fortune and good results. So it's not surprising that my recent run of bad luck has coincided with bad (poor, awful, fucking terrible) results.

I think I'm a little more accepting of the variance issues than I was 3 weeks ago. I still think it's total bullshit, but my growth as a player DEMANDS I handle these swings. As I mentioned, I'm gonna avoid the virtual felt for the week. Re-charge, re-fresh, do some study.

And yes, G-Rob, get in some live play. Please hold the Tequila.