When we last left our hero he was icing down his junk from a couple of bad beats and some granite-like play that left me to nut-peddling or stealing blinds.

After watching my mini-roll go from a promising $91.29 the first week, the cut almost back to almost-even at $69.12 was making the grind seem more like filling out TPS-reports in my cubical that exactly zero people at work would read. You do read here once in a while I hope :)

With a mix of luck and a welcome school of fish swimming downstream to the micro-limits, I was able to log a decent week for the Small Stakes Challenge at Absolute Poker.

Session #1:

Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better
Blinds: $.10/$.25
6-max
Two hours
Starting amount: $20
Ending amount: $50.33

Anytime you double up at a big bet (pot or no limit) table it is a cause for excitement. But to do so when the cards are flipped over and you find yourself behind it is a reminder that even though you read all those books and blogs, sometimes you need to get lucky. Despite technically being ahead with a pair of aces, my opponent's huge nut low-nut flush draw had me dodging outs like a politician caught in a lie on national television. Next time I'll need to show a little more restraint while pushing aces with non-nut outs (I had an open ended straight draw and 2nd nut low draw).

Session #2:
Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better
Blinds: $.10/$.25
6-max
90 Minutes
Starting amount: $20
Ending amount: $29.98

Sadly my one huge hand that I stacked someone on, managed to be the micro-stack at the table. The rest of the session was spent grinding away as I already had note on three of my opponents from previous sessions telling me that I was one of the looser players (and that's saying a lot).

Session #3:
Limit Omaha Eight or Better
Blinds: $2/$4
Full Ring
75 Minutes
Starting amount: $40
Ending amount: $61.90

Having a large chunk of my bankroll on the table was not ideal for a swingy game such as this one. 3-bets and capping were common pre-flop with only mild restraint being shown post-flop. But, the play was sub-par as several hands that I normally would toss away post-flop without second thought became value raising hands that got paid off by the table maniac. The reason for the switch to limit wasn't voluntary as Absolute's game selection came into play. There were no pot-limit games running, and the bulk of the play was at $2/$4. I'll need to use caution in the future if/when this happens again.

Starting bankroll: $69.12
Week #3 (winner!): +$62.21
Ending bankroll: $131.33

This week I may adventure into no limit hold em if the game selection continues to be poor on the Omaha side.