About a week and a half ago, I looked at my depleted bankroll and started questioning my abilities. My confidence was really low, and I basically decided that I couldn't play. When it all goes really wrong, I start waiting for the wrong cards to fall. Of course, this attitude only compounds losses. On the last WSOP broadcast, Cindy Violette said something during her interview that I thought was so true and profound. She said (I'm paraphrasing here) that when she's feeling good, the cards just seem to come. In my experience, the exact opposite is true too.

Thus, I decided to regroup and pull all but $100 off, and play $10 S&Gs and low PL Omaha at PokerStars. I'd also play the extreme low limits (1/2) in LHE after I built the roll up a bit. The idea was to build it to $1000, and then start again. I'd use the money to pay credit card bills, or maybe buy a computer. I felt that, if I concentrated and played enough, I could do it in 4-6 weeks. I liked the idea of having a goal. I've built a bankroll up this way before, but often squandered it by moving up levels too soon.

So, I'm up to about $480 as of this morning. I've had some lucky runs, but I've also had my fair share of rough outdraws.

Kim has been getting up at 6AM to go to school. I woke up when she left today, and could not get back to sleep. So I played a bit. I was on a tear early, but then I went cold for the last half hour. I looked at the clock and realized that I needed to leave for work, right as this hand came up:

PokerStars Game #2472365477: Omaha Pot Limit ($0.10/$0.25) -
2005/09/01 - 09:45:57 (ET)
Table 'Nauplius IV' Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: riverqueenl ($10.95 in chips)
Seat 2: dumbfounded ($26.15 in chips)
Seat 3: RtoC ($26.50 in chips)
Seat 4: livingsign ($67.30 in chips)
Seat 5: oskar92 ($24.90 in chips)
Seat 6: 6kevin6 ($9.40 in chips)
Seat 7: SuperNorm333 ($26.90 in chips)
Seat 9: booker73 ($7.90 in chips)
SuperNorm333: posts small blind $0.10
booker73: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to livingsign [Td 5c 8d 9c]
riverqueenl: folds
dumbfounded: calls $0.25
RtoC: folds
livingsign: calls $0.25
oskar92: folds
6kevin6: calls $0.25
SuperNorm333: folds
booker73: checks
*** FLOP *** [9d 6d 7d] - - -- - - - -- - - - - - -- Hello. I flopped the ultra nuts.
booker73: checks
dumbfounded: checks
livingsign: checks - -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - -- -- - I'm not likely to win anything with this hand unless someone boats. It's slowplay time.
6kevin6: checks
*** TURN *** [9d 6d 7d] [Tc]
booker73: checks
dumbfounded: bets $0.50
livingsign: calls $0.50 - -- - - -- -- - - - - - -- - - - I'm just trying to catch a few bucks.
6kevin6: folds -- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - bummer
booker73: folds - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - -- - - - - - - - double bummer.
*** RIVER *** [9d 6d 7d Tc] [Kd]
dumbfounded: bets $2 -- - - - - - --- - - - - - - - - -- - this is when I first suspected he had A high.
QueenOvettes has returned
livingsign: raises $2 to $4 -- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- If he had the third nuts, he'd still call this I think. If he had the second nuts, he might raise. I felt like the min. raise maximized my opportunity to win real money on the hand.
dumbfounded: raises $10 to $14 -- - - - - - - -- - - - - - Bingo.
livingsign: raises $30 to $44 -- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - --I almost felt bad. I've been in his shoes before.
dumbfounded: calls $11.40 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
livingsign: shows [Td 5c 8d 9c] (a straight flush, Six to Ten)
dumbfounded: shows [Ad Qh 5d 8c] (a flush, Ace high)
livingsign collected $50.30 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $52.90 Rake $2.60
Board [9d 6d 7d Tc Kd]

Seat 2: dumbfounded showed [Ad Qh 5d 8c] and lost with a flush, Ace
high

Seat 4: livingsign showed [Td 5c 8d 9c] and won ($50.30) with a
straight flush, Six to Ten

Don't be mistaken. No names have been changed here. His actual screenname was dumbfounded. How appropriate. Poor guy. When I first started playing omaha, this happened to me (catching A high vs the straight flush). It's since happened one more time, and I've seen it happen four or five other times too. The first book I ever read on Omaha told you to beware of straight flushes when you hold A high. I remember thinking, "Come on." But now I do look for them. When I play Omaha, I keep a running count of the nuts in the hand.

I have refrained from rerasing with the A high flush with a straight flush out there in omaha. I did it just a few days ago, and the table gave me some crap about it. "No raise with the nuts?"

I certainly lose quite a bit of $$ in dumbfounded's spot. However, looking back on it, he has to wonder if I would have been reraising there with anything other than the pure nuts. I may have lost less.

Source: Law of Poker