PencilGeek's Poker Blog

My name is Robert Collins, and I’m an amateur poker player. If you’re curious what I do for a living, you can read my resume at www.rcollins.org. I wont' say much about my poker skills...but I will say plenty of things about yours.

I primarily play Omaha Hi/Lo because that’s my strongest game. I suck at Holdem, but I’m pretty good at Omaha Hi/Lo (aka Omaha-8, or just O8 for short). In reality, I probably don’t suck at Holdem, but I don’t find it as interesting as O8. In case you are wondering where I play, you are just as likely to see me at a $1/2 game, as you are at $15/30. Often times I play the low stakes while I’m waiting for a bigger game to open up, or want to play for stakes I don't care about. For some reason, people at the $1/2 tables can't believe a WSOP tournament finalist is playing at $1/2 level...but I do...and I do it often.

Many people online hate me because I talk a lot of trash at the tables. Then when they make negative comments of their own, I tend to “tear them a part” using a combination of logic and verbal acuity. So to avoid the inherent flame wars, I've recently been muting the entire table -- which means I won't see any of your chat if you're trying to talk to me. In reality, I’m a very mild-mannered, fun, and likeable guy; my real life persona, has no relationship to my online behavior. In fact, after we trash talk in the poker chat, I’m just as likely to say “I’m sorry” as I am to invite you over to my house for dinner or to play poker. The trash talk is never personal.

My biggest win came by making it to the final table of the 2006 WSOP Omaha Hi/Lo tournament: $2000 buy-in, Event #8. I placed 6th in that tournament out of 670 players. This is the only WSOP or live Hi.Lo tournament I have ever entered, so for now, I have a perfect record of making it to every final table of every tournament I’ve ever entered!

• WSOP Update: Event #8 – Jack Zwerner Takes Omaha Hi/Low Bracelet
• Final results from Event #8
• Pictures from the WSOP compliments of cardplayer.com
• PokerListings.com

I've also played in numerous multi-table hi/lo tournaments online, and regularly make it into the money, the final table, or win it outright. The hardest tournament for me to play is the $6 Party Poker hi/lo tournament. In this tournament, the buy-in is very low, which means the players are very bad. This tournament typically has hundreds of people, and it took me months of playing it before I even made it into the money the first time. But when I did, I won it outright, then placed 2nd the following night. The next day, I flew off to play in the WSOP hi/lo tournament listed above.

Here are my recent online tournament cash finishes in Omaha Hi/Lo (since June, 2006)

In addition to playing poker, I host a very nice monthly NL Texas Holdem tournament at my house in Morgan Hill, California. We usually have 30-40 players with $4000-6000 in the prize pool. Tri-Tip dinner is included as part of the buy-in. For information about these tournaments, visit www.cadillacpoker.com.