Status Report

Posted by amarillosb

June 25, 2008

I’ve been sucked into poker vortex, and I’m lovin’ it. I’ve managed to win enough in my PLO cash games to fund all of the events that I’ve played at the WSOP. I haven’t had any tournament cashes though. Some poker smarty once said that in tournaments, “all you can do is play well in enough to put yourself in a position to get lucky when the blinds and antes start getting high.” I’ve been within fifteen from the money five times only to run into a sick beat or a cooler. Which is frustrating, since it’s maximum effort and time commitment for no return, but I have been bringing my A game, and I feel good about that.

Here are some things I’ve noticed at the WSOP this year, mostly related to Omaha, since that’s the game I’ve been focusing on this year.

#1 Many hold’em players aren’t just bad Omaha players, they possess a magical ability to tilt good Omaha players during tournaments

In each Omaha tourney I’ve played, you could immediately tell the no limit players. They start trying to steal right off the bat, which is so stupid early in PLO tourneys for a couple of reasons. First, since it’s pot limit, you can rarely raise enough to make people fold, especially the blinds, since one hand is rarely less than a 2:1 dog against another preflop. Second, the pots are so big in PLO that you just need to win one or two every now and then to stay ahead of the blinds.

And before long, even the players who were clearly Omaha players start pushing preflop too. It’s peer pressure in action. I rarely make the first raise preflop for a few reasons, but even I was pushin’ my aces. It’s tough to constantly defend against hold’em blind stealers and to then switch gears, chill out, and play slow style Omaha.

The second tell-tell sign of a hold’em player is that they’ll play two pair all the way to the river like it was the stone cold nuts. When you have a player like this at your table, you think you should call them down every time. But eventually they’ll pick up a monster, and you’ll be the one short stacked because you were just sure that your bottom set had to be good against this donkey. Then, he’ll give all your chips away to tougher players at the table.

#2 The WSOP needs to have a lap-top friendly room where we can play online, check our email, etc.

I’m thinking rows of folding tables with power outlets and chairs. Nothing too fancy. All of us non-vips just need a place to chill out…and write poker blogs. I certainly wouldn’t have gone so long without writing if I had a comfy place to use my lap top at the Rio. And all the internet players need a place to play while waiting for their buddies without having to walk two miles back to the room. This seems so obvious; maybe there is a place besides the hotel business center that I don’t know about.

#3 Vanessa Selbst is a pretty incredible player

I’ve had Men Nguyen and Greg Raymer on my left in two events this year. I played with Vanessa Rousso, Humberto, and so on, and none of them affected my play all that much. But Vanessa Selbst has been at my table twice, and she is intimidating. Period. She never lets up, and what makes her so freakin’ incredible is that she is highly skilled at making you do what she wants you to. Plus she is LUCKY. Put me up against a lucky nit any day, but a LAG that hits every 10 5 offsuit? Man, how do you beat that? She is a great, great player, and she is dominating the WSOP. I saw on deucescracked that she charges an exorbitant fee for coaching, but after playing with her and watching her PLO final table and her run in the heads up hold’em event, I’d venture to say that if she coaches as well as she plays she is worth every penny.

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