Misreads, Monkeys, and Omaha High

I had only 4 others show on Sunday night, so we played a cash game instead. I was the night's winner, in for $10 and out for $46. Pretty nice, considering I didn't think my game was well-suited to short-handed play a few months ago.

The most amusing hand was one where I didn't really misread my hand, but I misread how it fit the board. I held 98 offsuit on the button. Shawn limped in, I limped in, and Forty Ounce Dave raised from the big blind. Shawn and I called. The flop was QJ7-rainbow. Dave bet out 2/3 of the pot, Shawn called, and I called, thinking I was open-ended. The turn was a blank, and Dave bet smallish, relative to the pot size. I'm not sure if Shawn called or not, but I did. I hit my gutshot with a river ten, and raised Dave. Dave said "I have no clue what you have. I can't put you on 98, you know better than to chase gutshot straight draws." It wasn't until he said that (and called) that I realized my odds weren't nearly as good as I thought. My blunder disguised my hand well.

I also trapped Albert, who can normally sniff out a trap, for all of his chips when I flopped a straight with my badass 96-suited. 875 on the flop, and we went check, check. The turn was an ace, and I bet into him, hoping the ace hit him. He raised me, and I smooth-called. When I checkraised him on the river, he couldn't get away from his A5 for two pair.

Speaking of 69.. during one hand, the flop arrived QKQ, which I dubbed "the threesome". A Jack showed up on the river, which sorta killed the mood. After the hand was over, I naturally had to show my 69 offsuit. Geez, I need to get out more.
~
I played in my first Full Tilt $20 freeroll last night, and I must say, the players there are putridly awful. Full Tilt must have a higher ratio of awful players than UB's freerolls do. Normally the dummies are gone by the first hour break at UB, but well into the second and third hour of FT's freeroll I saw plenty of min-raises, "any two will do", and min-bets on the flop holding A-rag-high, no pair. I finished 91 out of 900, and was bounced when some assclown called my preflop all-in with 98 offsuit and runner-runner'ed a straight on me. I never really had the chips to flex late in the tourney - I was too busy marveling at the unpredictable monkey-play early.
~
I, too, am joining the legions of poker bloggers who are Full Tilt affiliates. Wasn't even my idea, really, but my friend Guinness-Loving Kevin sent me an email asking if I had set myself up as an affiliate at either Party or FT, as he was considering signing up on those sites. It was a nice gesture on his part, as I used him as my UB referral. My hope is that some of the PCS'ers I play with might sign up at FT through me, too.
~
I finished first in another UB-points pot-limit Omaha sit 'n go. This makes three first place finishes in the last three PLO sng's. I don't think I'm some sort of PLO savant, but it might be safe to say I'm better than the bad PLO'ers that populate the lowest echelons of UB.
~
My little brother gave me a ring today and asked me if I had bought Super System 2 yet. My family is so slack about Christmas gifts, I often get combo xmas/b-day gifts. My birthday is March 21. I love my family. And I'm looking forward to reading SS2, and perhaps getting into some micro-limit Omaha/8 on UB.
~
Public service announcement/shill: The good folks at ESPN are offering up some sort of freebie "win your way into a WSOP seat". I downloaded the program, but haven't been able to connect to their server yet. When I mentioned what I had found, GLK said he was already in the mix. He knows the particulars. Win 5 sng's, get an entry into a weekly/monthly tourney. Win that, and get a WSOP seat. Or something.

More on this if I get my connection problems sorted.