Current bankroll (10/14/2006):
$414
Sitting on the sidelines to see how this absurd new law pans out.
Looking for Leaks
I haven't played at all since my last post, because I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong when I play these tighter games. I don't think the players I've been up against are any better, they are just playing tighter. Since all of the answers are hidden in the hands I played in the last two sessions, I've been analyzing the Poker Tracker numbers, reviewing how I played those hands, posting some of them on the Two Plus Two forums, and reading other hand posts to see how my play compared to the suggestions from the other players.
I found a post by
UATrewqaz on the Two Plus Two forums that seems to fit me pretty well. It wasn't directed at me, but it probably sums up my play better than I could:
Your postflop play probably isn't as good as the other TAGS. Playing the typical [idiots at the lower limits] you can just play perfect preflop strategy and still make money. Against people who are making [fewer] preflop mistakes your postflop play is really the only place to punish them.
I'm doing ok preflop, but I'm not playing as well as I could post-flop. My Poker Tracker numbers (although the sample is tiny) show that I'm not being aggressive enough post flop. My review of some hands as well as the review on the forums said the same thing. There were opportunities to raise where I just called and ended up losing to a draw. I might have lost if I had raised and was called down, but by raising, I put the other player in a bad position where he's just as likely to fold a drawing hand.
I'm going to take a little more time to review my play before I play again. When I start back, I'll play one-hour sessions and review each one when I'm finished until I feel like my play is where it needs to be. I'm even considering some training advice I read somewhere on the Internet: drop down to a lower limit, and only bet/raise/fold post-flop on any hand I play (no calling). A session or two playing like this should help the aggression factor.
Playing Awful in the Tight Games
Results: 2.5 hours played; down $36
Now that I have some Poker Tracker stats, I should be able to figure out what I'm doing wrong, but I'm still losing when the games are tighter. I played two different sessions at $.50/$1.00 tables, and lost at both sessions. Both tables had around 32% of the players seeing the flop.
Some of it was just plain luck. I had KK in the big blind and everyone folded to me (I won $.25). On the very next hand, the player to my left had KK and everyone but me called his pre-flop raise (he won $9.50).
The only positive not of the evening was that I got up to 100 raked hands which clears $10. At this rate, this is going to be an expensive $100 bonus.
First Impressions of Bet365 Hold 'em Poker
Results: 1 hour played; up $4
Well, I have a couple observations from my first hour of play at
Bet365. I played at a six-player $.25/$.50 limit hold 'em table. It was the loosest table I could find at that limit:
- Their software is a little buggy when you make a deposit. I attempted to deposit $200 into the poker room, but it went into the sports bet site. It wouldn't let me transfer it to the poker site nor would it let me make a withdrawal (my email address didn't match the one I registered ad Neteller).
I ended up depositing an additional $200 into the poker site. Once I closed the client and went back in, I was able to transfer the first $200 into my poker account. It's a little frustrating because they only allow one free Neteller withdrawal every 28 days, so I'm going to leave the majority of my bankroll there for the time being.
- The play is much faster than any of the other sites I've played on. The cards are dealt much faster, and betting goes around the tables much faster. A couple times I felt pressured to make a decision before I was ready. Once I realized what was happening, I made a mental adjustment to prepare for my play a little sooner.
- There wasn't a large selection of games to choose from. At the level I was playing, there were two full rings and three 6-handed games. I don't know if this improves later in the day or not.
- Poker Tracker works on the Prima network. I'm finally able to see my stats for this session. I'll share the stats if anyone is interested, but one thing jumped out at me pretty quickly. According to Poker Tracker, I contributed to 41 raked pots (out of 65 played). Since Bet365 only counts hands raked at $.25 or above towards the bonus, I only logged 17 raked hands on Bet365. At this rate, it will take 59 hour of play to clear the bonus. If they all counted, it would take 24 hours of play time. If I'm going to do this in a reasonable amount of time, I'm going to have to move up in limits.
- The players here range from good to bad (even at the level I was playing). The skill range seemed very similar to what I used to see on Party Poker. I played with the fish and was more careful around the decent players.
I'll play some more this evening and post another recap then.
If you missed it, I added a link to
Poker with WillWonka in the link section. I read through part of his blog this weekend, and liked what I saw. I'll be back in the future to read through some of his older posts.
On to Bet356
I got my payout today, so I'm going to move 1/2 of it to
Bet365. Their games are supposed to be pretty loose and they have a very good sign-up bonus ($100).
I'm not sure how many games they have available in the evenings (they don't have very many mid-day games), but I'll give it a try. I think I'm going to continue to mix in some freerolls to improve my NL play as well.
I'll post more after my first session.
Waiting and Waiting
I'm still waiting on a payout from Casino.net. I didn't expect it to take this long. Tomorrow is five business days, so maybe I'm just impatient.
While waiting, I started reading Winning Low Limit Hold 'em by Lee Jones. 
It's a much easier read than SSH, but I wonder if he took some EV shortcuts to make the play a little easier. His examples make a whole lot of sense, and I'd highly recommend this book to someone who wants to get a quick edge on the game. I'm about 1/3 of the way into it, so I'll post more about it when I'm finished. The plan is to read it through once, read it a second time while taking notes, and then memorize the notes. I should have it all down pretty well vy Valentine's Day.
Tournaments
In the last post, I said that I was going to look for some freerolls to pass the time. I only have accounts on four poker sites, and I don't want to open any others if it will mean missing out on a potential bonus. The 2 UK sites (Sporting Bet and Casino.net) have some decent daily freerolls, but they are in the early afternoon. I intended to play them this weekend, but I forgot all about them.
Since nothing else is available in the evenings, I've been playing the "play money" tournaments on Poker Stars. I know that these games aren't very realistic, but I found that the do tighten up quite a bit when you get to the final table. I played my 5th 45-player NL tournament this evening and won it in a fairly interesting fashion:
Preflop: Hero is BB with [ Qc 5d ]
Villian raises 1600 to 2400
(I thought I'd push him off the pot)
Hero raises 5600 to 8000
Villian said, "lets end it here"
Villian raises 20945 to 28945 and is all-in
(He probably doesn't have a pair, and as long as he doesn't have a K or A, I'm OK. Maybe this is a bad call, but I'm the chip leader by a couple thousand...)
Hero calls 20945
Villian shows [ As 3s ] (Uh oh!)
*** FLOP *** [9c Js 4d]
*** TURN *** [9c Js 4d] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [9c Js 4d Td] [8d]
Showdown:
Hero shows [Qc 5d] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
Villian shows [As 3s] (high card Ace)
Hero collected 57990 from pot
I came in 4th on the previous tournament (AA beat my KK), 6th on the one before that (ITM), and 17th the first two. I'll mess around with these a little while longer and then try some of the low limit multi-tables at the next casino. Hopefully the play is similar.
The Bonus Whoring Continues
Results: 0 hours played; cleared $70 bonusI logged in to
Casino.net this evening expecting to play a little poker, and much to my surprise, I had the second half of the bonus ($70) in my account. It must have cleared sometime during last night's play. It looks like I won't be playing limit hold 'em to build the bankroll again for a few days; I'll request a withdrawal, but I can't play elsewhere until it hits my Netteller account. It said that it would take 1-4 business days, so I might be playing again this weekend.
While I'm waiting for the payout, I think I'll play some freeroll tournaments on some of sites where I have an account. I suck at the NL tournaments, so the freerolls are a chance for me to try out different play styles. We'll see how it goes.
Table Selection Equals Winning Poker
Results: 45 minutes played; up $15
I kept looking for a loose table today, but for most of the day the tables on
Casino.net were a little tight (33% - 35% players seeing flop). When I checked again at 9PM, I found that the tables were much looser (65%). Looking back at last week's fiasco, I played two tables during the day on Sunday when they were they were at their tightest. I'm not winning as much when the tables tighten up, and when I don't get my draws, I'm punished heavily. From now on, I'm only going to play when I can find a table with 55%+ players seeing the flop.
On a side note, I found myself getting a little more aggressive post-flop on a couple hands. On one, I had AJs (raised and called around the table pre-flop) and the flop had an A with two low cards. Someone bet in front of me, all four others called and I raised. All of the bettors called my raise then checked to me on the turn (a 10). From that point on, I was the lead bettor, and got all but one to fold before the showdown. The other player had A5, so I won with high kicker. If I'd called post-flop, some of the others might have stayed in and beat me on a later street.
The other hand was similar; I had AKs, flopped a pair of kings and pushed hard. I don't know what the other guy had at showdown (he mucked), but he lost in any case.
Although I've read the chapter in
Small Stakes Hold 'Em a few times, I don't think I really understood the idea of pot equity until tonight. In both of these hands, the odds of me improving my hands were a higher percentage than my percentage of the pot. I think that's called "raising for value" if I understand the concept. Instead of letting the other players see a card for cheap (or free), I'm making them pay to see it, and I have an equity edge on the money they are adding to the table.
I'm such a newbie to poker, but I really think I'm learning.
Lots of Hands Today
Results: 3 hours played; down $12
I played three different sessions today multi-tabling the $.25/$.50 hands each session. The first was brutal: I lost $23 in an hour and forty-five minutes. After a little break, I played a different table for the rest of the second hour and won $3. Later this evening, I had another hour-long session and won $8.
Overall, the first session really wasn't bad; unfortunately, I lost four big hands for the majority of losses. On one, I had the nut ace-high straight on the turn and was beat by a flush when the third spade fell on the river. On another, I had AdKd; the board was xdKcxdAc at the turn. I had two pair on the board with a decent shot at a flush. The flop was another club, giving my opponent the flush instead.
In each of these four hands, the person who beat me shouldn't have been in the hand with their pre-flop cards. I'm not going to worry about it too much though. If it weren't for players like these, it would be much harder to win in the long run. If they didn't win every once in a while, we wouldn't have as many fish. Maybe they'll be there again tomorrow.
Slowly Building the Bankroll Again
Results: 30 minutes played; up $8
I played a single $.25/$.50 table for 30 minutes before bed. The cards were good to me once again. Maybe I can clear this bonus this weekend and move onto the next poker site.
Back on Track?
Results: 1.5 hours played; up $20
I played 2 $.25/$.50 tables at Casino.net again this evening with good results. The tables were looser than normal, so I made the best of it. Because of the interface, I wasn't able to save my best hand, but here's my second best hand of the evening:Casino.net 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Qc, Qs.
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds,MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, CO (Fishy) raises, Button (Fishy2) 3-bets, Hero caps, BB folds, UTG calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, Fishy calls, Fishy2 calls.
Flop: (29.52 SB) 7s, 6s, 9d (7 players)
Hero bets, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, Fishy calls, Fishy2 calls.
Turn: (18.26 BB) 6d (7 players)
Hero bets, UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, Fishy calls, Fishy2 calls.
River: (23.26 BB) Qh (5 players)
Hero bets, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, Fishy calls, Fishy2 folds.
Final Pot: 25.26 BB
Fishy has Jc Ah (one pair, sixes).
Hero has Qc Qs (full house, queens full of sixes).
Outcome: Hero wins 25.26 BB.
The other hand was better than this one (hit the nut straight on the turn), and the other players were equally fishy. I watched them call with anything the whole session; I felt like Pavlov's dog.
Legal Again!
Results: 2 hours played; down $4
I took the afternoon off to renew my driver's license (it expired last June), so I was able to get in a two hour session this afternoon. I played two $.25/$.50 tables, and it was a decent session. Although it ended on a down note, I was playing pretty well and the tables were quite loose.
I'm going to take a little break and play more later. Multi-tabling is more taxing than playing on single tables. After two hours, I'm ready for a break!
On another note, I'm going to look for some type of virtual desktop software that will let me spread things out a bit. What I'm looking for is available on UNIX, but I don't know if it is for Windows.
The Bonus Might Make the Bankroll
Results: 2 hours played; even
I played the $.25/$.50 tables again tonight (ten handed), and it felt like I was back on Sporting Bet. Although the session ended up even, I was up $4 until the last two hands brought me back down. In any case, I got in another two hours of play and should have had a good number of hands that count towards the bonus. A few more days like this and I'll get the last $70 on Casino.net.
One thing I noticed, I'm misplaying a few marginal pre-flop hands when compared to the suggestions in Small Stakes Hold 'em. I'm not sure how this is affecting my overall winnings, but I'm going to tighten up a bit and see if it helps. I'm also working on a small Windows application that will help with the pre-flop decisions (so that I'm not making mistakes). Since I've been without the poker odds calculator, Texas Calculatem, on these sites, I have to find another solution.
The Short Handed Tables are Looser
Results: 1.5 hours played; up $7
The short-handed low-limit tables on Casino.net are looser than the ten-handed tables.
After reading quite the last few days, I thought I'd give it another try this evening. I may have been tilting a bit after the group of losses (although I was trying not too), so the layoff was probably good for me. I wish I knew who wrote which part of
Small Stakes Hold 'em so I could give proper credit, but thanks to Miller, Slansky, and Malmuth for the great book. I read a review that calls it "the Bible of the low limit game," and I'd have to agree.
I was a little more picky this evening with the table selection. I've noticed that the five-handed tables on
Casino.net are generally looser than the ten handed tables. Normally, the ten-handed tables average around 40% players seeing the flop; the five handed tables (at low limits) average 70% and higher. Also, playing the short-handed games, the blinds come around faster so the bonuses should clear faster.
The table I chose was a five-handed $.25/$.50 table that was averaging 86% of the players seeing the flop; I'm sure that went down a bit when I joined the table. Although most everyone called the blind to see the flop, they would play tighter on a raise. There was a really reckless player (raising with 3c5d pre-flop and calling down all the way to showdown), but most were just careless pre-flop. It was a slow and steady grind, but that's much better than what I've been seeing on the full tables lately.
I'll give it another try in the next couple evenings to see if the play is similar. Maybe I can clear this $70 after all.
Done With $0.50/$1 Tables at Casino.net
Results: 2.5 hour played; down $27
I'm not sure what's going on, but the bleeding continues at Casino.net. The tables aren't quite as loose as they were on Sporting Bet, but I doubt if that's what's going on. I chased a set on one hand and lost to a straight on the turn; that hand alone cost me $9. The pot was too big to let go, but I really doubted that he called 2 bets preflop with cards that would complete the straight (he had 4c5c). I read two pair and got burned.
On another hand, I held QQ and flopped Q7K; lost that one to the guy that held KK.
If I could run poker tracker, I'd have a better understanding of what was happening. However, I doubt that I won 10 showdowns over the entire session. In any case, I'm done with the $.50/$1 tables at this site. I'm working on clearing the last $70, but at this point, I'm in the red on this site. It doesn't do me any good to clear the bonus if I can't at least break even in the process.
Back to the Books
Results: 1.5 hour played; down $17
Again, the cards weren't falling for me. It's going to be hard to clear this bonus (and it won't mean much) if I keep going backwards. I would have improved the session a bit if I'd held my ground with some hands on the later rounds. As an example, I folded a straight-draw on a turn re-raise with a decent pot; the river would have finished the straight for me, but I was gun-shy after all of the bad hands.
Other than the few bad plays on the late rounds, I didn't make very many bad decisions. As I said, I just wasn't hitting any cards. The few times I had a high pair, I would be beaten on the flop. I watched everyone else hit their flushes, draw into sets, boats, or quads.
As I planned last night, I think I'll take tomorrow off to re-read some sections in
SSH. I'm also going to work up a pre-flop cheat sheet to make sure that I'm not making any mistakes on the close hands. I'm also considering limiting myself to one table until I can be sure that I'm not making any mistakes. It's hard to judge when playing on these sites where I don't have good hand histories and can't use Poker Tracker.
On an unrelated note, I got an email from one of the local newspapers this week. They want to do an article on Geocaching and asked me for an interview. If the weather holds up this weekend, we might go out and find a cache as well. I really enjoy the sport, so I also like sharing it with others. If you haven't heard of it, be sure and check out
geocaching.com.
A Very Timely Bonus
Results: 2 hours played; down $16; $30 bonus cleared
I multi-tabled again tonight with results similar to last night. The bonus couldn't have cleared at a better time.
After thinking about it all day and reviewing my play tonight, I do have a few more insights:
- Although the high pairs pre-flop keep me in the game, hitting flushes and straights are what makes me the real money. The pots are usually higher, and you're paid off for taking the draws. These last two nights I haven't hit one flush or straight.
- Paraphrasing Ed Miller from his book, Small Stakes Hold 'em, if there's a good chance that you have the second-best hand on the river, get out. I chased hands both nights to be beaten a better kicker. That probably cost me $7-$10 over the two sessions.
- There were four or five hands where a sleeper (caller) woke up with a bet on the turn or river. When that happens, I need to be a little more observant and think about what might have caused him to wake up. I know of at least two hands and $5 that I lost by not seeing this until after showdown.
- I was tired from staying up to watch the game last night. When I sat down at the computer, I drank a beer to relax. This wasn't a good combination; I never drink when I gamble, and I really wasn't playing as much attention to the game as it deserved.
I was getting a little jaded by the winning sessions, but it's probably good that I'm getting some wake-up calls at these levels. I'm going to try to finish Miller's book over the next two evenings, go back and review a couple sections, and hopefully play better this weekend.
Results: 2 hours played; down $14
Played while watching the second half of the bowl game. The cards wouldn't fall for me (playing $.50/$1). At one point I was down $28, so I did make a bit of a comeback. The game was much tighter tonight, but there weren't many tables available. I might have to work on my short-handed play for
Casino.net since there were plenty five-handed tables available.
Results: .25 hours played; up $13
I played during the Orange Bowl halftime and did pretty well. Since I didn't have time to wait for a $.50/$1 table, I took the first seat I could find on a $.25/$.50 table. I hope the Seminoles do as well as I did.
Started Playing on Casino.net
Results: 1.5 hours played; up $29
Since I did so well at
Sporting Bet, I decided to open an account at
Casino.net. It uses the same poker software as Sporting Bet and offers the same bonus: $30 after 100 raked hands and $70 after another 400 with a $100 initial deposit. I deposited $300 and plan to play at the $.50/$1 limit tables as long as they are nice to me. When I'm finished here, I think I'll reserve half of my bankroll when I move to the next casino to avoid down time.
My initial impressions of Casino.net are that it is tighter than Sporting Bet at these limits. The tables on Sporting Bet were consistently 60%+ in the pot pre-flop. On Casino.net, I only saw one above 50%. The 5-hand tables, but I need to work on my short-handed play before I commit any money to them. It was a little more difficult to get on a table here as well; I had to queue up on both tables that I played.
I ended up multi-tabling a $.50/$1 table and a $.25/$.50 table. I've only tried this a couple times before, and it can get nerve wracking when you have good hands on both windows. At one point I had pocket rockets on both tables! Even though the tables were tighter pre-flop, the post-flop play was similar to Sporting Bet. The other players give way too much value to A-anything, and they don't seem to care that there are 3 cards to a straight/flush on the board once they hit their pair. I guess that's why these low limit tables are so easy to win.
I had a little run at the higher limit table that I'd like to share. The first four times I went to showdown, I lost to the same player to my immediate right. He showed me no respect from that point on. Late in the session, I had AA big blind (the hand I mentioned earlier) and after capping the bets pre-flop, flopped the set. He and another player stayed with me until showdown and I bet through the whole way.
The next hand, I had KK in he small blind and flopped another set. He again stayed with me calling me down through all streets. The third hand I had AdKd on the button and re-raised his raise (he said "I don't think so."). I flopped four to a flush and then hit it on the turn. He bet and I raised through all three streets. I'm sure he's talking about his three "bad beats" and doesn't remember whipping up on me early in the session.
Payout Received in Four Days
After I finished the last post, I decided to check my Neteller account. The withdrawal from Sporting Bet was posted. I'm not sure where I'm going next, so I'll post again when I make the move. I probably should have waited until after the holiday for the withdrawal, but this way I was able to spend some time with the family.
Don't Buy a Bankroll Building Ebook!
I requested a payout from
Sporting Bet on Friday night, so I haven't been playing since then. I've read that it can take six or seven days for the payout; I'm in a holding pattern until they release the funds. I guess the good part about this is that my wife can't say that I spend all of my free time playing poker!
While I'm waiting, I've been finishing
Small Stakes Hold 'em by Ed Miller and reading poker articles on the Internet. Although Miller's book is great for learning the best play on a given hand to maximize your expectation, it doesn't really talk about the psychology of the game.
Although no-limit hold 'em play is much different than limit poker (which is what I'm playing),
Doubleas blog has some
great articles on betting to push your opponent off of a hand. When I've ventured into the Dark Side (NL tournaments), I find that I'm often pushed off of a good hand by an aggressive bet, yet I never bet aggressively in return. Hopefully the next time I play one of these tournaments, I'll remember Doubleas articles.
While searching though Google, I came across a handful of e-books that teach you how to build your bankroll using bonuses at online casinos. While there may be valuable information in those books, there is plenty of relevant (and free) information available in the Internet. Here's my suggestion:
- Start at the Two Plus Two forums. Read through the links in their Beginners forum. The most important two for learning how to build your poker bankroll are Homer's post and Greg J's post. Not all of the bonuses in the initial post are valid any more, but read through the comments for updated ideas.
- Read through the guide at Bonus Whores. They have a step-by-step guide that is fairly up to date. I decided to start on Sporting Bet because I liked their bonus structure, but I'll move to the sites listed here soon enough.
- Do some Google searches and blog searches for Building your bankroll. You aren't the first one to go down this path. Emulate others who have been successful.
- Read some good books on hold 'em poker. I've mentioned and highly recommend Small Stakes Hold em
by Ed Miller. If you're new to hold 'em poker, I'd suggest Hold 'em Poker by David Slansky. Another highly recommended book for advanced players is The Theory of Poker also written by David Slansky.
Keep in mind, you don't have to be a poker expert to begin building your bankroll. As long as you are tight pre-flop and play decent poker, your bankroll will grow almost by itself with the help of the bonuses. As you play more poker and begin reading the books I recommended, you'll see your win rate (and bankroll) increase.
What is a Raked Hand?
Someone asked me today what a "raked hand" was. Since only raked hands count when working on clearing bonuses, I thought I should explain for those who don't know. Here's the definition from Mike Caro University on
Poker1.com; the first definition applies to raked hands:
Rake1. (v) Take a percentage of the pot, usually by the house as its means of making money on the game. Sometimes called snatch. 2. Get someone out of a game; so called because the signal is often a finger run up the person's spine. This is sometimes used by a floor person to unobtrusively request a thief to cash in. 3. (n) The money taken as described in definition 1, or the house's cut taken in some other form (as, for example, time). In a nonrake game, you might hear a loser sarcastically say, "Hurry up and deal; you're slowing down the rake." Sometimes called take or takeoff, juice, vig. 4. The percentage of a pot represented by the rake. A Vegas casino might advertise, "Lowest rake in town." If a new player asks, "What's the rake?," he wants to know what percentage is taken by the house from each pot.
The rake varies by casino. For the hand to count for your bonus clearing, you have to contribute some money to the pot that is eventually raked. If you're playing tight (as you should in these games), you may have to see a couple hundred hands to get a hundred raked hands.
