And indeed there will be time, to wonder...

I spunked away $250 on Ultimate last night, following a fairly horrific $90 loss at Omaha (three sets on the flop getting beaten onthe spin etc etc, you know the drill) with an equally horrific $160 loss at $3-$6. All of which meant that I was late to bed. But, really, I couldn't leave this game. One guy over 100 hands saw 70% of flops and won nearly half of them. In a full ring game. I've seen nothing like it for yonks. Thankfully he decided to leave after a couple of hourse, else I might still be playing. Even so, only 5 hours' sleep; I do wonder why I bother with it all at times. Still, today's another day. I've got to get out of this rut soon, or I might take up something else, like Bridge. Three months of going nowhere is a long time. Thank god the writing money comes in.

At least the Omaha had some interesting hands rather than pure bad beats. I'm still not very good at this game, I know. What's worrying me is that I am not sure that I have the mental drive to become good — a situation in which I have never found myself before. Is this really age. or what?

I bought some flowers last night. This morning I have to look like a chump carrying them to work. Someone in the office was very sad yesterday (I suspect family problems back home), so I thought they might cheer her up a bit. I mention this only in light of the Challinger's "small doses of altruism" recommendation. Does it make me feel better? At the moment, not really. It makes me feel irritated that I have to carry them to work. This is clearly not working.

++++

Later:

Oh well, the girl at work was very happy with the flowers, so that bit was worthwhile.

The other thing that I meant to mention, and one fortunate side-effect from going to bed so late, was that I saw Mars. I was walking up the stairs to bed and saw the moon through the extended skylight. A little lower down in the sky was this red thing, no larger than a pinhead. "Wossat? I thought to myself". So I got the binoculars, caring not one whit about the rstraining order that silly woman across the road took out on me, and looked up at the sky. Sure enough, it looked like an asteroid, well, a round asteroid. I went onto the web, and was duly informed that it was Mars. That was a stroke of luck.

If I had any interest in astronomy, I guess that it would be luckier still.

A PLO hand

I was behind when I got myself all in here.

Powered by UltimateBet

MrEmmGee is at seat 0 with $120.50.
Jmas is at seat 1 with $33.10.
HugePeter is at seat 2 with $53.55.
Birks is at seat 3 with $47.85.
ZONE2005 is at seat 4 with $56.70.
loose_action is at seat 5 with $50.
mshalen is at seat 6 with $41.50.
Flexi Digit is at seat 7 with $17.75.
Cariola212 is at seat 8 with $47.
oneforluck is at seat 9 with $48.25.
The button is at seat 2.

Birks posts the small blind of $.25.
ZONE2005 posts the big blind of $.50.

Birks: 7c 8c 9h 7h

Pre-flop:

mshalen folds. Flexi Digit calls. Cariola212 folds. oneforluck folds. MrEmmGee calls. Jmas calls. HugePeter folds. Birks calls. ZONE2005 checks.

I'd consider raising with this in late position. With 9987 DS I definitely would.

Flop (board: 6c 4c 7d):

Top set, flush draw, gutshot straight draw with a nine as back-up, gutshot straight flush draw. On the downside, I could be behind at the moment and behind on my flush draws.

Before looking below, what do you think my equity is likely to be against my opponent's range? He is competent, capable of complex plays.

Birks checks. ZONE2005 checks. Flexi Digit bets $.50. MrEmmGee raises to $4. Jmas folds. Birks re-raises to $15. ZONE2005 folds. Flexi Digit folds. MrEmmGee re-raises to $48. Birks goes all-in for $47.35. MrEmmGee is returned $.65
(uncalled).

Was this right? MrEmGee was the best player at the table, which made me slightly uncomfortable. He was unlikely to raise with a naked straight. On the other hand, if I flat call, I could be facing two oponents rather than one and have even less idea where I was. I suspect a flat call might be right, but I feel that I am better off with a head-to-head against EmmGee. Note that FlexiDigit was short-stacked.

Turn (board: 6c 4c 7d 5d): Gives me the top straight. My money would be going all-in here anyway.

River (board: 6c 4c 7d 5d 8h):

MrEmmGee shows 5c 8s 9c Js.
MrEmmGee has 5c 9c 6c 7d 8h: straight, nine high.
Birks shows 7c 8c 9h 7h.
Birks has 7c 9h 6c 5d 8h: straight, nine high.

If I flat-call the raise, I might get flexi digit in. I probably make an extra two bucks on the deal.

Without using pokercalc, what do you reckon my equity is? Was my play wrong, given that my pot equity was less than 50%?