Chipping Up

I’ve tried to play more ring games in the EVE Online Hold’Em room but to be honest, there isn’t much action. I don’t really have the bankroll to play the 1000 limit tables and the 200 tables don’t fill up much.

One side effect of this is that I’ve been exercising my short handed game more and that is a good workout.

Last night I played several tournaments on PSO. I played a Limit Hold’em with 22 starters. A Razz with 24 starters and a Stud Hi with 21 starters. (Poker School Online is not Party Poker by any stretch. You just don’t get 100 players in a field.)

I finished 13th in the Razz (by far my worst game). I finished fourth (the money bubble) in the Limit Hold’em. And I finished 2nd in the Stud.

Playing a variety of games is great fun. My favorite format is HORSE (Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, Stud Hi, Stud Hi/Lo). But I must admit that playing three separate tournaments, short handed, simultaneously is HARD on the brain cells. The screens keep popping to the front demanding action and I have to try to follow the play and remember what game each is very quickly.

Multi-tabling is not my forte.

In the Eve Online Hold’em room (EOHR), I feel like I’m starting to adjust to the kind of play that is most common. You still need to see lots and lots of hands by a particular player to get a decent read on them. But I’m beginning to feel more in tune with the general betting tendencies. When 6 players limp into a flop and the pot sits at 14 and it goes check check, UTG bets 2!, call call call. To be quite honest, this is terrible poker. But it is what it is. And if you want to take the chips you have to learn what language the natives are speaking.

I also am starting to have a better understanding of the overbet (another favorite move in the EOHR). A typical example might be an early position player limps and there are 3 callers. The pot stands at 8. SB and BB check and UTG bets 100! What? Why, where, how??

If the flop is terribly coordinated, say two flushed and 3 cards to a 5 card straight, it doesn’t matter if you have aces…these guys are going to call. But let me assure you, in the above example the over bettor does NOT always have aces or even a pocket pair. They will bet this way with over cards, top pair zero kicker, a draw, you name it.

And, of course, not everyone will do this the same way for the same reasons. But I’m improving my appreciation of who does it and why.

Enough for now, back to the tables.