$10,000 PLO and Golf Hustlers

Not only has it been a decent start to the trip for me personally, but the Boylepoker team as a whole appear to be firing on all cylinders, especially on the PLO front.
I thought I was doing well by cashing in my first tournament of the series, the $5,000 PLO, but obviously John O’Shea had to out-do me by finishing a few spots higher, although to be honest I think I might have to get used to being upstaged by John with the form that he’s in this year. Anyway, neither of us had much time to enjoy it, before Padraig came along and upstaged both of us.

No one would have been happier than me if I could have passed the $10,000 PLO title onto Padraig and for a while we were all getting pretty excited about it. I think the Rio had already put more bar staff on stand-by incase he made the final table, after seeing the amount of alcohol that the Irish crowd went through during my final last year. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, although he still managed a highly creditable 14th place finish and he must be happy with his form after his performance in the previous event, where he was a little unlucky to just miss out on the money.

I’m not intending to play any cash while I’m here and I’ve been using my free time to play a bit of golf with Paul Spillane, Julian Gardner, and Nicky Power. We tossed for teams and it ended up being an Ireland versus England grudge match, with me and Nicky taking on Spillane and Julian.

We played the first match for WSOP percentages. Myself, Julian, and Nicky staked one percent of our main event action, and Paul staked ten percent of himself in a $1,000 tourney. Myself and Nicky played about 20 shots worse than what we were capable of, and Team England had it wrapped up by the 14th green.

I knew I was capable of better, so I asked Julian if he wanted to have a side-bet over the last four holes for one percent of our action in the $10,000 PLO event, which obviously he was agreeable to. In my defense, I did play a lot better and managed to complete the next three holes with one par and two bogeys. Unfortunately that wasn’t good enough though, and as Julian tapped in his two foot birdie putt on the 17th to win the match, he gave me a bit of needle, asking, “Are you planning on playing any other tournaments Marty?”

We played the next day too with the same teams and I’m currently down four percent of any WSOP main event winnings to them, and as Nicky said to me, the only thing more annoying than two Americans high-fiving each other on the golf course, is two English guys high-fiving each other on the golf course.

In the $10,000 PLO I busted after about four levels, having never really got going in it. There were three big-ish hands in which I did all the damage. I’m not overly happy with how I played any of them, but there are two in particular that I really don’t like my play in. The first one wasn’t all that bad and if I’d done what I thought was right it might actually have cost me more chips anyway.

I called with A-A-J-7 (single suited in clubs) after one early limper, only to see two more calls after me, and we went to the flop with six players including both blinds. The flop came Kc 8c 10s and it was checked around to me. It’s a pretty good flop for me, giving me an over-pair, a nut-flush draw, and a queen or a nine for a straight, and so I decided to bet out 2,400. The button, who seemed like quite an aggressive player quickly raised me to 7,000. My hand was too strong to pass I think, so I had to decide whether to raise or just call. For some reason I felt that he wasn’t all that strong and my instinct was that I should reraise him all in. It couldn’t really have been a bad spot for me — if he is semi-bluffing with a wrap/flush draw, then I am in very good shape, and if he has a set or two pair then he may actually pass. Even if he calls then it’s a coin flip.

In the end I sort of chickened out and just called. I didn’t hit and I didn’t try to bluff the turn or river. We checked it down and he showed a set of eights, so I’m not sure if I could have made him pass or not.

I don’t like the way I played this next hand, but I’m still not sure what I should have done. With the blinds at 200-400, a player raised to 1,200 in early position and was called by two others. I called on the button with 10-10-9-6 double-suited, as did the two blinds. A flop of 9c 6c 2h was checked to me and I bet 6,000 only for one of the pre-flop callers to set me all in. I had 17,000 left and I didn’t have any inclination as to whether he was drawing or whether he had a made hand, but obviously it was a spot where I was either way behind, or else 50-50. I didn’t like the situation, but I was getting 2:1 pot odds. I really didn’t know what to do and I was very close to calling, but in the end decided to pass.

Like I said, I don’t like my play here, but I’m still not sure what I should have done — should I have checked the flop? With this option I leave myself open to getting outdrawn by a lot of hands which I could have gotten rid of with a bet on the flop, but it’s less risky and it also means if I can catch a 6 or 9 on the turn, then my hand is well disguised.

Should I bet and call his reraise, as it could easily be a semi-bluff? Like I said, if I call then I am going to be either a big underdog or else about 50 percent to win the hand. Was I right to bet the flop and play the hand like I did or should I have just passed preflop?

On reflection, out of all these options I definitely think I should have passed preflop, and I think that the worst way to play the hand was the way that I chose at the time.
The last hand was my exit hand. Maybe this wasn’t all that bad, but I felt a bit silly at the time. I raised in late position with Q-Q-5-5- double-suited and got called by the button — who was the aggressive player who had 8-8-8 in the first hand I mentioned — and also by the BB. I was quite short by this time (about 13,000) and I wanted to gamble to try to get a double up. The guy on the button had been pretty active and I decided if I flopped a set then I would try to trap him and if I flopped a flush draw then I would play it strong and be prepared to gamble.
The flop came K-5-3 and the big blind checked. I checked to the button, thinking there was a good chance he would try to steal it. He seemed to consider betting, but checked in the end and we saw a 2 on the turn. The BB checked again, and I still thought I probably had the best hand. I also thought that the button was considering bluffing the flop and I decided to check again as I thought that in the face of all the weakness that had been shown, he would bet now whether he had a hand or not. I know this is going to look very stupid if he checks and I get outdrawn on the river by a gutshot or something, but I really felt he had nothing and was going to bluff. I checked to him again and he bet 3600, the BB passed and I raised all-in.

In trying to be too tricky, I had let him catch a straight when he couldn’t possibly have called a bet on the flop, so like I said — I felt a bit silly. I know that betting the flop is the safest and probably the smartest move, and most of the time that’s what I would do, but at the same time, I like to mix it up sometimes with plays like this to try to win big pots. Sometimes it works in my favour and I get more chips than I would have if I played the hand by the book.

I was a bit down afterwards, especially since I’d played well in the $5,000 event and I was hoping to give it a good shot, but I’m feeling a bit better again now and I’m looking forward to the next tournament. I’d be interested to hear any opinions on the way I played, especially your thoughts on the second hand.