Last night we broke out of the rut and opened up the last hour of play to non hold ’em games. We dusted off Anaconda, Heinz 57, Baseball, Little League, 357, Roll Your Own High Chicago Kings and Low-men, the Jake, and Follow the Queen, and the pots instantly escalated to stack-devastating amounts. I had the second best hand in at least three different games and ended down a few bucks for the night:

Anaconda Hi-Lo: Heads up, Kings full of Jacks going down to Aces full of Fives. Cavebutter raked the whole pot with his low hand also beating mine.

Baseball: Heads up, five Queens going down to five Kings.

Some other game: My hand, second best again to the winning hand. Ugh.

Considering the size of the pots in these games, I think I did reasonably well in the other games, since I could have easily been out my entire buy-in.

There was also an unusual Roll Your Own game where both players at the showdown had five aces, but one had the King for Chicago, resulting in a 25-75 split that caused a little grumbling. It’s easy to forget how Chicago can sometimes make the nuts worth less than half the pot.

After months and months of almost exclusively playing Hold ‘Em, it was hard for players to recognize the strength of hands, and the likelihood of improvement. This, combined with the size of the pots, caused some of the group to fold more quickly than they would have back when we were playing these games more regularly. Probably a good thing. One rule change we might consider is ditching the spread limit and no cap betting we typically have in games with lots of betting like Anaconda and Roll Your Own.

I won a ridiculous amount of money at last night’s home game–more than doubled my buy-in. Our game’s spread-limit nickel-quarter-half dollar. Big blind posts ten cents. Yeah, I know, it’s a bit screwy.

Mostly we play Texas Hold ‘Em, but two-thirds of the way through last night’s session I was itching to play something else. The table sort of hemmed and hawed and rejected my suggestion of switching to non Hold ‘Em games, so I called Omaha 8. Now some of us thought that this was a dirty trick to pull, but the way I figured it, it wouldn’t screw up the sequence of blinds, and anyone who objected to the game could fold.

Anyway, it was the only non Hold ‘Em hand we played last night, and it was brutal. All of us limped to see the flop (4xx) and there were calls all around when SB bet a dime. I’d made my set (with 4456) and raised a quarter. From there on out, we were swelling the pot: got SB and CO to call the quarter on the flop and two more quarters on the turn (3). When the river showed an ace and SB bet a quarter, I got nervous about the wheel and just called after CO.

At the showdown, my high (444) and low (A3456) hands beat out SB’s two pair and CO’s A3458 to take down the whole pot. I think there was at least 4 dollars in that pot. It was a ridiculous amount of money. Oh, did I already say that?

Elsewhen, I won two or three other pots of decent sizes, which contributed to my overall win.

Oh, and two of the regulars got wiped out (five whole dollars!), which is unusual. We’re a fairly tight table, and we almost always end up getting some of our buy-in back. This, of course, allowed three of us to end up +$$$ and the fourth almost even. I’ll have to ask the others, but I think I was playing more aggressively this week, and this may have thrown off the table. Or it could have just been a bad run of cards and beats.

Found myself sitting with Boy Genius and Pauly at a $5 SNG on Party this evening. Fun stuff.

Boy Genius went out on the first hand with cowboys. Some dork called his all-in before the flop with pocket sevens and caught a seven on the flop.

I was basically doing pretty mediocre until I caught a run of good cards and lucky boards:

With 300 left, I called some guy’s 600 bet with A6 suited. Caught an ace on the flop and doubled through.

A few hands later I had pocket fives in the big blind. Same guy made it 1015 to go and I called. The board paired and neither of us improved, and I doubled through again.

Next hand he goes all in, and I stupidly call the extra 15 with big slick. Should have isolated him with a strong bet. After the flop pairs my king I push in a $956 bet to get the other two callers out. All-in guy had J9 off and didn’t make anything.

I steal the blinds in the next hand with AJ off.

A few hands later I get big slick on the button and make it 600 to go. Pauly calls with JJ and is all-in. Someone else calls. When the flop pairs my king, I push in all my chips and get heads up with Pauly. Neither of us improve and my kings win.

Next hand I have AJ off on the button and make it 600 to go. Big blind calls. Flop shows QJ6 and I bet 666. Turn shows a queen and I bet 300, and with 239 left, big blind folds.

Last hand of the SNG: after getting killed on a number of hands, me and the dork who got Boy Genius out in the first hand have approximately the same number of chips. I’ve got pocket jacks. Dork raises, and instead of pushing all-in, I stupidly get into a raising match with him. Finally I call all-in and he’s got AQ diamonds. Flop shows 277, with one diamond. Turn and River come up diamonds and dork wins the tournament.

Blah.

Still, I wasn’t expecting to win any money, and just wanted to get some seat time with my fellow bloggers. Coming in second was pretty good, esp. since that was the only poker I played today.

Ever have one of those sessions where after an hour or so, you find yourself pretty much where you started? Not that I’m complaining; it’s better than losing. Still, it’s pretty weak to net $1 after playing for a bit over an hour.

Thankfully I switched tables and won a decent pot that pushed my daily rate to 11.06BB/100 hands. 49 hands to go.

Played on Empire again today for a couple hours. My account now has $55 in it. I still need another 90 hands or so to be able to withdraw the whole thing, but I’m feeling pretty good at this point. After losing nearly $20 early in the evening, I came back later and won $45 or so, netting $25 for the day. 140 hands at 20.69BB/100 hands. Not bad.