Yorky Pud

I seem to have made the Poker Gods (amen) angry for some reason and despite trying everything in my power to please them and get them back on my side I am failing badly.

In my last blog entry I mentioned that I had been playing some Pot Limit Omaha cash games and that I was finding myself in plenty of spots where I honestly did not know what the best course of action was. I don't like being in this situation so I dug out the only PLO book I own, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha – Volume 1: Small Ball and Short-handed Play by Jeff Hwang and got reading that again. I blasted through it in no time when I first read it but as a result did not take it all in but this time around I am really soaking everything up and really enjoying the book, so much so that Volume II: LAG Play arrived on my doorstep just before the weekend.

As I am busy reading up on PLO I thought it would be best to stop playing it so that when I do sit down at the virtual felt with my four holecards I can put everything I have learned into practice, rather than my approach to the game being a little fragmented due to having not read up on everything, if that makes any sense. This is where the Poker Gods (amen) got a little pissed off at me, for chopping and changing again. Here's how the conversation would have gone down if the Poker Gods (amen) did indeed exist and I had indeed spoken to them.

Pudding: Hi mighty Poker Gods (amen), master of the green baize and virtual felt I have something to tell you.

Poker Gods (amen): Yes oh weak Pudding. What is it this time? Another new challenge? Surely not, bwahahaha.

Pudding: Well, it is funny you should say that actually, because....

Poker Gods: WTF? You f*&%ing fat, four-eyed fish! You've changed games again?

Pudding: Only temporarily might Poker Gods (amen). Just until I read and fully understand the books I am reading.

Poker Gods: Silence you imbecile. * lightening cracks, the ground rumbles * You will run like death until we decide otherwise, but in a  way that you will look like a bigger and fatter fish than you actual are. Be gong, fool.

And that was that. The Poker Gods (amen) went and true to their word they have made me run like crap ever since. I have played 3,839 hands of NL10 since the last time I updated this little piece of the internet and lost close to nine buy-ins, yep, NL10 is biting me on the ass. To make matters worse I have no statistical proof that I am being royally shafted because most of the money is going in preflop, on the flop and the turn so the Adjusted EV stat, which I have now deleted as I have realised it is a waste of time, is skewed somewhat and it doesn't take into consideration the times you get your money in dead or practically dead against complete fish running like bejesus on the river. If I filter my results so that it shows all hands except those making it to the river I am actually up almost four buyins, it's a joke at the moment! Hands like this, this and this are the norm right now and although the sample size is nothing at all it is still pretty frustrating. I was going to jump straight into the PLO games tomorrow as it is the start of a new month but I will not do so until I am at least showing profit of $0.01 in my HEM database for NL10 even if it takes me another month to do, I guess it'll get me grinding if anything.

Away from the stresses and strains of online poker I have been playing quite a bit of Xbox 360 after getting myself back online via Xbox Live. For the most part I have been playing Grand Theft Auto IV and have gotten further than I have done before and I recently bought Battlefield 2: Bad Company so that I can fight it out with the cool kids and get used to it before Battlefield 3 comes out! That said, any hopes of becoming more proficient at gaming have taken a blow as the youngest Pudding thought it would be a great idea to get mouthfuls of milk and spray it at our TV. Unfortunately the TV did not see it that way and has decided to stop working entirely. It was out of warranty so I can't lie to Samsung but thankfully it is covered by my home insurance for accidental damage so for the sake of my £50 excess some dude is going to come and have a gander at it, try to fix it or replace it for a new shiny one. The joys of children eh?

Only five sleeps until WPT Grand Prix de Paris, which I am pretty excited about, though will be less so if the penultimate day runs for 15 hours like the one at Legends of Poker. I'll try to update before I disappear to the land of garlic and frog legs munchers so until then, thanks for reading and good luck at the tables.!

* Late Edit * A massive congrats to Dave “No Cash” Garden who followed up his Palm Beach Big Game win by taking down the APAT World Championship Main Event! Also, a big shout out to Chuck Clarke for finishing as runner-up in the Fox Poker Club London's Calling Main Event. Sickos.