My trusty squire (and tournament director) Sportznut100 suggested that I switch up my cash game -- maybe switch from HORSE to Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo -- a game I call "Russian Roulette with five bullets.) But more than switching from HORSE to a specific game, maybe it's a better idea to switch from HORSE to some other set of games on a weekly basis. I haven't decided yet. So in the meantime, I decided to play mostly O8 tournaments.

Tournaments:
My wife was out of town the entire last week, and you would think this would give me more time to play poker. That's not necessarily true because of kid duties, etc. But I did manage to get in some tournaments, and I did manage to make some $money$.

On 10/20/2006, I placed 2nd out of 144 players earning $560. And on 10/27/2006 I placed 8th out of 153 players to earn another $80.

Cash Games:
I took Sportz' advice and played some PLO8. The first few sessions I did great and made a quick $100. However, in a subsequent session, I lost $50 even faster to an idiot willing to put his entire bankroll on the line (preflop) when he re-raised me all-in after his initial raise, and my pot-sized re-raise. He had A2xx (no pair in his hand) and I had AAK3 double suited. On the flop of 22QTK, I lost a quick $50. And in a nutshell, that's why I don't like playing PLO8. I haven't been back since.

Bonehead hands I saw played:
In one of my tournaments, I was dealt AAQ3 single suited. Between myself and another guy, we capped the action pre-flop. When the board came out 24Q (rainbow), we capped it again. When the turn gave me the nut flush draw in addition to the nut low draw, we capped it again. Then when the river was a King, I feared a possible straight draw on the board, and I merely checked. My opponent bet -- as he had been doing the entire time, I called. That king was his 2-outter -- as he had pocket kings and no other draw on that flop or turn. Definitely an idiot trying to lose his tournament chips, but it was me who suffered instead.

In another tournament, I saw an equally boneheaded play. In this tournament, I had AAT3 single suited and raised. The flop was AK9 rainbow, and I flopped top set. As long as the board doesn't produce a straight, I'm going to bet and raise to anybody willing to tag along. The turn was an 8. I'm still not worried as there is no straight and no flush possible. But when the board produces a 7, there doesn't appear to be any danger, unless you're up against some idiot with JT trying to catch the 4-outter straight draw, and ended up getting the 7-J straight instead. So when he bet I was suspicious that he had chased the runner-runner flush that was just now possible on the board. But that's not it at all, he made a runner-runner straight (no flush) and bet into me anyways. I had to call and was beaten by his runner-runner straight. It wasn't just me who commented about the play. At least two others at the table chastised the guy for one of the worst plays (and beats) they had seen in a long time.

Summary: In the end, the cash games were still getting me down. I managed to do well in a few tournaments while I still remain a little gun-shy about the cash games. I put some money back in Full Tilt -- because they are now running nightly Omaha Hi/Lo tournaments -- and three times a week those tournaments are double stack (twice as many starting chips). I'll definitely be playing those tournaments -- so look for me back on Full Tilt very soon!