Vegas June/July 2022 (WSOP)

Day 15 - 8/b Mix at MGM

Last Updated: 2022-07-07 11:33:01

Like anything else, with poker there are good days and bad days ... and once in a while there are days that make you wonder why you keep doing this to yourself ... for a few moments, anyway ... then it's #OnToTheNextOne!

Because this is what you accept when you are a tournament poker player.

As I mentioned in yesterday's BLOG I found out about an Omaha 8/b Mix at MGM Grand on Wednesday, yet another casino running a summer poker series during the WSOP.

They were also running a $2500 buyin tournament that had a $2 million guarantee starting the day before that was $400,000 short (per their twitter feed) at the end of day 1, but they were allowing entries up to 2 hours into Day 2.

An hour before close of registration they announced on Twitter they were still on a $200K+ overlay with 816 entries. Well they finally made it, before the close of registration they hit a $2.1 million prize pool with over 960 entrants.

No such worries with the 8/b-mix tournament. A $25,000 guarantee was well over $70K by the first break and climbing.

If you're reading this BLOG and you haven't read my October BLOG (why??? :-) ) you might not know that I took 30th out of 641 (off the top of my head) in an 8/b Mix bracelet event. For the 2022 WSOP that same tournament just happened to be scheduled towards the end of this trip, so of course I'm going to play in it.

And what could possibly be a better warmup than the same tournament the day before for 1/3 of the buyin in what's surely a weaker field at MGM Grand?

That last statement was quickly proven. 20 minutes into the tournament I watch three people do everything they can to bust out of the tournament. A 3-way all in in Omaha 8/b in which the final winning hand was a pair of kings with no low for half the pot. Not one single one of those three people had any business getting all their chips in a pot.

The winner, of course, was the shorter stack at the time and so none of them got the fate they probably deserved.

One of the two losers would eventually ... well ... let's not spoil the ending just yet ...

OK quick explanation of what I'm playing here ... scroll down to "THAT" to skip the explanation :-)

Omaha variants are like hold'em except for two critical differences. You get dealt 4 cards instead of 2. More importantly you must use exactly 2 from your hand and 3 from the board. In NLH if the board is A-K-Q-J-10 with no flush possible literally everyone in the hand has a straight that cannot be beaten. In Omaha you can only use 3 of those cards, so if you have a hand like 3-4-5-6 you do not have a straight, you don't even have a pair. You only have a straight if you also happen to have a Jack and a 10, for example, you use your Jack and 10 and the A-K-Q from the board to make your straight. Got it?

8/b is a split pot game where if there is a "qualifying" low hand with 5 unpaired cards 8 or lower (using 3 from board, 2 from hand, can use different 2 for high and low hands) with aces low and straights and flushes not counting against you for low. A-2-3-4-5 is the best possible low, which also happens to be a straight eligible for the high hand.

A-2-3-4-5 all the same suit is called a "steel wheel", it's the best possible low but also a straight flush for high.

Still with me? My understanding is that about 2/3 of the time that all 5 cards are dealt on the board a low will be possible, so only 1/3 of the time the high hand is guaranteed to take it all.

The 8/b mix is playing Omaha 8/b three slightly different ways. "Limit", in which all bets are predefined. Say blinds are 200/400, you can bet exactly 400 before and after the flop and you can bet exactly 800 on the turn and river. Raises are same number as bets, in each betting round you are capped at a bet and 4 raises for 5 total bets.

"Pot Limit" where you can bet anywhere from the amount of the big blind to the total currently in the pot, but you cannot go all-in unless you have less than what's in the pot already.

"Big O" which is same game with 5 cards instead of 4 cards in your hand but still 2 from your hand and 3 from the board and played "pot limit".

Generally you should not play any hand that doesn't contain an ace. There are some hands without an ace that are playable, but not many. Ideally you would like a hand with an Ace and a 2 or an Ace and a 3 with another card the same suit as your ace so that if you flop a flush draw you are drawing to the best flush along with hopefully having a very good chance at the low hand if a low is possible. The best possible starting hand is A-A-2-3 with two suits to give you two nut-flush possibilities along with nut low possibilities. A lot of people go broke with flushes that are not the best possible flush in all Omaha variants...

THAT, my friends, is the 8/b mix. Same game played three different ways.

And ... yet ... I can't tell you how many times you will see 5-6 handed pots. Last I checked there aren't 5-6 aces in the deck...

No particularly notable hands early, but things went OK for the first couple of rounds. Won a pot, lost a pot, overall was down a few chips. We played 8-handed so we played 8 hands between game changes. After the first run-through of all the games I was at 22,800 from a 25k starting stack. I could have bought in an hour late and had a few more chips :-).

Playing BigO I'm in the big blind and look down at 3-4-8-9-10, which is a thoroughly unplayable hand except I'm in the blind and 4 people limped letting me see a free flop of ... 8-10-10.

Sweet!

I make a pot sized bet of 1000 and get called.

Turn is a harmless 5, I pot it again to now 3000 and get called again.

River is an ace. This is potentially a problem card as the unlikely hands of AA and A-10 just made a better full house. But I completely discount any AA hand because AA would have certainly raised preflop. And I have 4-3 as the 3rd best possible low just in case ... I bet pot again and he folds.

Probably my biggest win of the night...

In a blind see a flop with J-J-8-4, not a good starting hand, but the flop comes 3-4-J for top set. I bet out, one caller. Turn is a 2 so now a low is possible that I don't have, I check/call one bet. River is an ace, I fold to a bet, he shows me A-5 for a wheel.

23,500 at the first break.

Take down half of a not so big pot with a set of queens on a J-3-4-Q-5 board, nobody had a straight but someone had 8-2 for a low.

That might have been the last pot I won as I think about it. Well, the last time my stack increased anyway.

Card dead for a while, nothing remotely playable. I might have defended my blinds with junky hands to small raises and missed every flop by a mile.

Finally over an hour after break I pick up A-A-2-9 in the big blind. Not in love with the 9 but I have one suit and after a couple people limp into me I pot it to 2000 and two of the limpers call.

Flop K-Q-J. Can't make it up. Checks around the flop, I fold to a bet on a 9 on the turn that also put two diamonds on the board, that was not my suit...

The very next hand the two guys who called me preflop are the only two people in the hand when all the chips go in on a 6-J-3 flop. The guy who took down my pot has A-2-K-5, the other guy has A-A-2-6. The board runs out K-5, the guy with aces can't make a low and the guy who took down my pot wins the high with K-5, scoops and takes the other guy out.

Aces are much easier to crack in Omaha than in Hold'Em, but still! Dude cracks two consecutive A-A-2 hands?

At the time I still had plenty of chips, I was down to 18,700 from my 25k starting stack which was 47 big blinds.

But my stack was being blinded down and the blinds were going up...

Get an A-2-K-X hand, board comes A-2-Q and you might think two pair is nice, but not that two pair in this game. I try a continuation bet, get two callers, have to give up when I don't improve on the turn.

Pick up A-3-K-7 w/ suited ace, just call with several limpers ahead of me ... flop A-9-10. Done again.

Down to 16,800 which is now 34 big blinds.

Big O start with A-2-5-7-8 with good hearts and not as good diamonds, call a raise to 2200 ... flop 4-J-K with two spades. Done again.

Down to 13,800 with some blinds paid.

Try an all big card hand with K-K-Q-T-6 and two suits ... flop 2-3-10.

Raise out with A-2-6-9 with a suited ace again, and I get another A-2-K flop. I again try a c-bet with my two pair, get called, Q on the turn, done with another one.

7k.

In my big blind with a lousy K-8-5-2 I get a flop of J-J-10.

5k and I fold the rest of the orbit.

Down to my last 4500 in my big blind again a guy who only had a little more than me raised out and with almost 1/3 of my stack in the pot with the big blind ante I'm just not going away with much of anything. I have 3-5-7-9 with a suit, good enough.

He has all high cards, an ace and three face cards. The board actually ran out good for me, I made my low on the turn with 2-4-8 and a face card, giving me straight draws but no 3 or 6 on the river and I basically get my chips back as his high cards are good for the high hand.

Not even. Like some tournaments they've adopted big blind antes for pot limit Omaha variants. I paid a 600 ante, combined with the small blind of 300 there was 900 in the pot and since I had the low I only get 400 of the 900 and lose 200 chips in the deal.

Next hand I don't pull the trigger with K-K-5-9. Kings and two low cards I go for it, but with nothing to go with them I fold. I would have caught a full house and tripled up. Argh.

I raise out for half my stack with a high only hand of A-J-9-T, I get one caller. One of the guys who had gotten all his chips in without even a pair early on but survived as the biggest stack in the hand. He had been up and down like a yo-yo all day.

Flop comes A-Q-9, so I have top and bottom pair and an open ended straight draw with a low very unlikely. What more can I ask for???

I put in the rest of my chips, he snap calls and rolls over Q-Q-2-2.

9 on the turn gives both of us a full house, his queens full better than my 9s full, no ace on the river to save me. Done.

Brutal.

A run of cards so bad you wouldn't believe it if it didn't happen to you.

Picked up a sandwich for dinner, Joann and I traded backrubs, and then ...

Would you believe I walked over to Paris and bought into Event #72, Omaha 8/b mix taking place the very next afternoon? 'Cuz that's what I did around 10:30 PM.

#OnToTheNextOne