Cruising

Won three straight SNGs last night. Can't remember the last time that happened. Of course they were of the $2 variety, so it's relatively little money. But a solid $20 profit on $2 games? I'll take it. I will probably end up taking a shot at a $5 again in a bit - maybe two.

The cards are falling my way. I think I won both coinflip situations, and a 60-40, and my dominating hands held up. But it's not that I'm getting great cards. Sure I'm getting decent cards deep, but not getting AA every hand. And it's not so much the cards I'm getting as the timing of the good cards. Getting very strong cards early in an SNG is dangerous if you're not willing to let go of them. Late, the decisions are much easier. All three games went the same way - I was low stacked in or around the money, then shoved fairly strong hands and ended up being the favorite.

I did lose with TT to 44, so it's not as if I won every hand. I think I was just able to avoid the suckouts. In the last game, I hit a huge three-way all in with 88 vs. 55 vs. AJ and was able to hold.

Been keeping up in the Take 2 challenge. If I play every day for the rest of the month, I will amass 23 days of play. But after I hit the bonus on day 15, the next bonus is at 25 days, which I will not be able to make. Right now, I'm at 9 days. I'll play tonight and get a $10 bonus....weeeeeee!

I think I'll wait until after I get the Take 2 money to do the cashout.

The one good thing about the Take 2 is that it's getting me to play some cash games. And as Herm Edwards would say - You play to win the game! You don't just play it to qualify for the Take 2! And I think I've turned a modest profit in the games, and am getting more confident in my reads. I still bet too much with the nuts.

Couple things that I think I've improved on - one is not being afraid to sit down with a big stack at the table. I used to avoid tables with guys sitting with $7 because they'd just buy every pot from me. I'm better at picking my spots against these players now, evaluating which hands have good value to see a flop and hit a big one. Because it's PLO and not NL, there's a lot more you can do to control the size of the pot, even if you don't have a really deep stack. I've been basically forced to play with bigstacks though because the micro tables are usually full, so you just gotta get in where you fit in.

The other is getting away from marginal hands. In PLO, at least at the stakes I play, this is absolutely key. It's probably the #1 most important thing in the entire game. Hand values just don't transfer from NLHE. It's a completely different game from a hand-evaluation standpoint, reading the board, etc.

Couple things I have not been able to do well is bet-size appropriate on the turn. I still have a lot of difficulty figuring out where I am. If someone's on a flush draw and I bet pot, are they getting really good value to call that bet and float to the river? I generally like keeping pots small until I have a good sense of where I'm at. And in PLO, there's a lot of value in betting small to protect against your opponent hitting his spade on the river. And when it does come, you can get away from the hand at that point. It's almost like buying insurance. At these stakes, guys are gonna call. You may even want to consider just checking a set or dummy straight. The other is set over set. When I have the under, and there are not obvious straights or flushes, I will probably go broke.

If the next couple sessions go well, maybe I'll move up to 2/5 cent and see how it goes. Maybe one table of 2/5. I know that my game is not suited to play against people who play big and play for "real" money. I will absolutely get bullied. In order to be a great player in PLO, you must be able to raise with a wide, wide variety of hands on every street. I like to limp to see a lot of flops. That won't happen the higher up you go.