In the end it clearly wasn't my day but some positives came from it , mainly my discipline , i picked up garbage for 3 hours and missed every flop bar one where i flopped top set against a made flush but didn't improve v Scott Fischman , my 10,000 blinded away to 1400 and i hadn't won a single hand , average was now 13,000 , i managed to get it all in twice with AA xx and got back up to 10,000 then during the 150 300 level i dropped back to 7,000 , the final hand is the point of this diary .

To my right were Eric Dalby winner of last years Ladbrokes cruise and Jeff Duval on the button , both are excellent Omaha players , Eric raised to 1100 and Jeff called , i was in the BB for 400 , so after the SB passed there was 2800 in the pot and 700 more to call , with odds of 4-1 i had a playable hand Q7 67ds , i called . Flop was J 7 4 rainbow , usually i would bet out here against one player but i checked believing that if Eric hadn't raised with an overpair and checked too , Jeff would try to pick up the pot from the button on a bluff or semibluff which i would then reraise , unfortunately both checked , turn was a T , i checked and Eric bet 2500 , i know Eric has a made hand with a draw here as having Jeff behind him would stop him betting otherwise , Jeff passed , i now have to decided how the T has improved Erics hand and put him on a narrowed range of holdings .

Ok , i know Eric would have bet this flop with an overpair so his most likely hand is now two pair with a straight draw , eg TJ QK , i dont think he has 89 for the straight but it occurs to me he may have 99 with some other connectors and is representing the straight with outs , i decide this more likely so put him on 99 TJ , 99 TQ or 99 KQ , i call the 2500 leaving myself 3400 , the river is a 3 , i now put in a value bet of 1500 hoping he will pay me off , Eric is one of the chip leaders and instead of calling raises me all in , now i have a decision , there is 13,800 and 1900 to call , does he have top two and thinks they are good knowing if i had the straight i would have moved in on the turn and is hoping i will call with a worse two pair , he can't possibly put me on a set, or was he lucky to hit a middle pin T on the turn and has 89 afterall , i hope it is top two and decide i have to call , with blinds of 200 400 and only 1900 there's too much out there too pass , his hand is AK 89 , he had missed the flop but caught a perfect turn card .

This was one of those situations where i should have kept my thinking simple , he had raised to pick up the blinds ,didn't like two callers , missed the flop so checked , bet the turn knowing the middle pin would not be considered to have helped , then on the river i gave myself the chance to get away from the hand by betting , however i bet too much , a 1000 bet would have got the same response and i could have passed leaving 2400 , after betting and getting raised i refused to believe he had 89 even though all the evidence was there , it also occurred to me later he could have had TT QK and would have played it the same .

The point is sometimes even great players play a hand ABC and especially in Omaha you have to be more open to the fact they could have the hand they are representing.

On reflection i think my main mistake here was relying on either Eric or Jeff to bet the flop , as i now do in hold-em i should have led out , the pot was 3,500 , a pot size bet would have left me 2,400 committed to a reraise , but as we now know i would have won unchallenged and would have been back up to 9,400 , always try to remember the key pots you play and be honest enough with yourself to admit mistakes and learn from them.

All the best