The Quest is moving along quite nicely of late. The Double-Up tournaments have clearly been the shot in the arm that I needed. The bankroll is up 58% since I began playing these tournaments. PokerTracker tells me my ROI in these is 26%. I don't know if that's a good tournament ROI, but I know I'd love to get half that return on my other investments. I'm now 25 for 38.
I got email from what used to be Poker.com and is now PDC Poker reminding me that I still have money there. I loaded up their new software and found they sit $0.02/$0.04 NLHE. No short-handed tables, but at least it's another place I can play with the current bankroll. I played for about an hour and walked away with $1 in profits. Overall impression was that the tables were very soft. Much more like I would expect at this level. The tables at PokerStars are hardly filled with sharks, but there are far more decent players in the shallow end than you would imagine.
PDC Poker also sent me a special reload bonus offer, but the clearance requirements look a bit steep. 300 comp points to clear $1 of bonus. Playing an hour of $0.02/$0.04 I earned a big ZERO comp points. At Poker.com you earned comp points for just sitting there. At the new place I can't even find specifics on how the comp points are awarded. I think I'll pass on their fine reload offer.
The bankroll now stands at $169.41. If I can sustain the current pace the next step up should be less than two months away.
Showing posts with label quest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quest. Show all posts
15 January 2009
12 January 2009
A Quest milestone
As I write this, The Quest bankroll stands at $150.06. That's the 30 buy-ins I need to safely play at $0.02/$0.05 NL. I've been playing at that level for a while, theoretically just getting my toes wet, but now it's official. The Quest is now marching toward the $0.05/$0.10 NL level.
It's always been my intent to use good bankroll management on The Quest. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with the 30 buy-in bankroll. It was no big deal before. If I lost a few buy-ins I could easily refund or just start over. It's still not really a big deal, but the 30 buy-ins doesn't leave me feeling safe. I'd like to see more like 50 buy-ins in the bankroll.
I'm going to advance the buy-in level before the next move up. I'll start dabbling with $10 buy-in events when I hit 30 buy-ins, with the official move coming at 40 buy-ins. For the level after that I'll advance both points by another 10 buy-ins and will then be at the point I consider fairly safe.
It's always been my intent to use good bankroll management on The Quest. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with the 30 buy-in bankroll. It was no big deal before. If I lost a few buy-ins I could easily refund or just start over. It's still not really a big deal, but the 30 buy-ins doesn't leave me feeling safe. I'd like to see more like 50 buy-ins in the bankroll.
I'm going to advance the buy-in level before the next move up. I'll start dabbling with $10 buy-in events when I hit 30 buy-ins, with the official move coming at 40 buy-ins. For the level after that I'll advance both points by another 10 buy-ins and will then be at the point I consider fairly safe.
12 June 2008
Decent, short night
I've been feeling under the weather this week and haven't played much. Monday I was still stinging from the weekend and decided it was best to take some time off. Tuesday I was really dragging. I slept my way through an evening of partially watched TV on the sofa. I think I started to watch three different shows and have no idea how any of them turned out.
Wednesday I got home a bit earlier than usual and sat down to play before dinner. I hit a quick double up and decided to bank my winnings and go get some food. My intention was to play a bit later on, but that never happened.
The double up hand was rather interesting. I get pocket sixes. The BB and I see the flop of 699. Chips coming my way, I can just feel it. The BB puts in a normal sized bet and I call. The turn is another 9. Great. My flopped boat can now be counterfeited and I can be drawing totally dead if he's got the case 9. Again the BB bets an amount that's not all that scary and I call. As if things weren't already interesting enough, the river brings the last 6, giving me quads. The BB pushes all-in. As I push the "call" button I'm wishing Stars had a bad beat jackpot. The way my luck has been running it's almost a sure thing the BB has quad nines. But, no! He turns over AQo and I scoop a nice pot.
If I'm really back to my winning ways I should be ready to move up fairly soon. Only time will tell if the bad run is over.
Wednesday I got home a bit earlier than usual and sat down to play before dinner. I hit a quick double up and decided to bank my winnings and go get some food. My intention was to play a bit later on, but that never happened.
The double up hand was rather interesting. I get pocket sixes. The BB and I see the flop of 699. Chips coming my way, I can just feel it. The BB puts in a normal sized bet and I call. The turn is another 9. Great. My flopped boat can now be counterfeited and I can be drawing totally dead if he's got the case 9. Again the BB bets an amount that's not all that scary and I call. As if things weren't already interesting enough, the river brings the last 6, giving me quads. The BB pushes all-in. As I push the "call" button I'm wishing Stars had a bad beat jackpot. The way my luck has been running it's almost a sure thing the BB has quad nines. But, no! He turns over AQo and I scoop a nice pot.
If I'm really back to my winning ways I should be ready to move up fairly soon. Only time will tell if the bad run is over.
05 June 2008
Big night on The Quest
Tonight was the best night yet for The Quest. Early in the evening I two-tabled for about half an hour, finishing up $1.49.
After dinner I fired up three tables. That got a bit hectic. With that experience, I seriously doubt there's any way anyone could expect to play a dozen or more tables without knowing you'll be delaying action on more than a few of them on pretty much every hand. IOW, I was right on the money referring to these clowns as Massively Multi-tabling Inconsiderate Asshats.
Anyway, I took a very small loss on one of the tables and very nice profits on the other two. Most of the winnings came from two hands. The first was when somebody apparently just couldn't believe I had his queens beat, despite a pre-flop raise and a large flop re-raise. On a turn card that helped no one, he pushed in what he had left, about half the pot. The way the cards had fallen I found it very hard to believe he'd gotten any help from the board, so I called. My aces held and I made a nice $2.13 profit on the hand.
The other big hand was a three-way all-in in which my AKs prevailed over A4o and KQo for a $3.68 profit.
After that little run I decided to bank my profits and call it a night, up $9.49. A few more nights like this and I'll be flirting with the big action at $0.02/$0.05!
After dinner I fired up three tables. That got a bit hectic. With that experience, I seriously doubt there's any way anyone could expect to play a dozen or more tables without knowing you'll be delaying action on more than a few of them on pretty much every hand. IOW, I was right on the money referring to these clowns as Massively Multi-tabling Inconsiderate Asshats.
Anyway, I took a very small loss on one of the tables and very nice profits on the other two. Most of the winnings came from two hands. The first was when somebody apparently just couldn't believe I had his queens beat, despite a pre-flop raise and a large flop re-raise. On a turn card that helped no one, he pushed in what he had left, about half the pot. The way the cards had fallen I found it very hard to believe he'd gotten any help from the board, so I called. My aces held and I made a nice $2.13 profit on the hand.
The other big hand was a three-way all-in in which my AKs prevailed over A4o and KQo for a $3.68 profit.
After that little run I decided to bank my profits and call it a night, up $9.49. A few more nights like this and I'll be flirting with the big action at $0.02/$0.05!
02 June 2008
Too many posts
This marks the 200th post for Patchwork. I'm not going to bother with any kind of retrospective because, frankly, I doubt I've said enough of significance in these 200 entries to fill a paragraph. It is rather remarkable, though, that what started as something strictly to get me into "blogger-only" tournaments has managed to last to the 200th entry. It's a good thing I find myself entertaining.
Some comments about the blog in general would probably be in order. In retrospect, I'm not so sure the name "Patchwork" combined with my poker moniker, Patchmaster, was such a great idea. Well over half the hits on the blog are from people looking for information about Scott's Patchmaster lawn seed or some "patch work" game that must be available online somewhere. I'd probably make more money selling grass seed online than I ever could from poker.
The number of people coming here not by mistake has increased since I joined Poker Weblog$. I hope that trend continues. It would be nice to know I'm not simply confusing half my readers.
I'm also quite surprised at some of the other Google searches that turn up Patchwork blog entries near the top of the results. My ranting about the horrible internet connection I had while living in a hotel for six months when I first moved to Orlando has made me #1 if you search for "guest-tek sucks", a fact I'm sure endears me to the hearts of Guest-Tek hotel services management.
The number of readers from countries other than my own also surprises me. I noticed this when I first started the blog, but back then I think these were mostly bored people just paging through the random blog circle at Blogspot. More recently these readers seem to be coming here on purpose. Well, at least those who aren't looking to spruce up their lawns.
I also should give some thanks to the fine folks at Blogger and Blogspot. I've never fully wrapped my head around how all this stuff works, but it does work, quite well most of the time, and I've been able to use it without understanding it. That says quite a lot about what a great job they've done. I can sit here and blather on about poker or bad hotel wireless internet or whatever else strikes my fancy and not worry my bloated head about how or why my words actually get read by other people.
Often while writing my blog entries I've thought I had some appreciation for how Allan Havey must have felt on Night After Night performing to his "audience of one". On the other hand, Allan knew at least one person was listening. When the occasional comment comes in I'm always shocked and amazed. People read this crap?
For those following The Quest, I've decided to alter my bankroll management rules to maybe kick this thing up a few notches. Until I hit the $25 buy-in level, I'm going to move up to the next level when I have 30 buy-ins at that level. I will allow myself to test the waters at the next level once I've accumulated 20 buy-ins for that level. Since I'm playing $2 buy-ins right now, I'll start flirting with $5 buy-ins when the bankroll hits $100 and officially move up when the bankroll hits $150.
I've adjusted the speedometer to reflect these new rules.
Tonight was a decent night on The Quest. I didn't play much last week and had been basically even on the week until tonight.
There was one amusing incident. It's not like it's the first time I've seen this, but it still kind of cracks me up when people whine about how you sucked out at the river when the reality is that they played their hand poorly and you actually had them beat before they even made a move.
In this case I caught bottom pair and four cards to a J-high flush on the flop. SB checks. I bet half the pot to build it a bit in case I hit the flush and to see if I can get any information. One fold, two calls.
The turn brings a J, giving me jacks up and still the flush draw. Now the SB decides to bet half the pot. He actually had top pair kings on the flop but was either afraid to bet them or maybe thought he was being crafty. With only a 7 kicker, I'd have bet them on the flop when the pot was smaller and got some info on where I stood. If I got resistance, I'd get out cheap with my weak kicker. If he'd done that, I'd have likely folded and he'd have probably won a small pot.
So he bets half the pot into my two pair at the turn. I come over the top with triple his bet. Other guy folds and it's back to the SB. He makes a min raise. This is another move that baffles me. If this was a table full of sharks I might be a little afraid of this bet because it looks like he wants me to call. But this is not a table of sharks and this bet just looks confused and weak. It's possible he's got a set, but there are two flush draws on the board. That's a very risky way to be playing a set. If I've got a set, I'm putting it all in the middle right here. I decide to just call and see what happens.
The river brings my flush, not to mention a Broadway straight possibility. Now the SB gets brave and pushes it all in, a bet slightly larger than the pot. I think for about two seconds and call. If he's got the ace or queen flush, good for him. Of course, he's got top pair, kings, and I rake in a very nice pot. And, the reason I launched into this story, then came his comment, "last card."
The SB was one move too late this whole hand. If he'd done on the flop what he did on the turn, he'd have won a small pot, but at least it would have been a win. If he'd done on the turn what he did on the river, there's a real good chance I'd have folded. Instead, he waited until the board showed two obvious possibilities he was beat, not to mention several set possibilities which were quite strong given the way I'd been betting. Maybe he figured me for a set and thought a big bet on that river would scare me away, though his comment leads me to believe otherwise. Anyway, his weak play early on got him into big trouble at the river.
I don't mean to just make fun of how poorly this hand was played. The more I got into describing it the more I realized it was classic mistake after classic mistake. I doubt any regular readers will learn anything from this, but maybe a new player may someday stumble on it and pick up a tip or two.
Well, that's it for the 200th entry. Hopefully I'll still be interested in doing this for another 200 entries.
Some comments about the blog in general would probably be in order. In retrospect, I'm not so sure the name "Patchwork" combined with my poker moniker, Patchmaster, was such a great idea. Well over half the hits on the blog are from people looking for information about Scott's Patchmaster lawn seed or some "patch work" game that must be available online somewhere. I'd probably make more money selling grass seed online than I ever could from poker.
The number of people coming here not by mistake has increased since I joined Poker Weblog$. I hope that trend continues. It would be nice to know I'm not simply confusing half my readers.
I'm also quite surprised at some of the other Google searches that turn up Patchwork blog entries near the top of the results. My ranting about the horrible internet connection I had while living in a hotel for six months when I first moved to Orlando has made me #1 if you search for "guest-tek sucks", a fact I'm sure endears me to the hearts of Guest-Tek hotel services management.
The number of readers from countries other than my own also surprises me. I noticed this when I first started the blog, but back then I think these were mostly bored people just paging through the random blog circle at Blogspot. More recently these readers seem to be coming here on purpose. Well, at least those who aren't looking to spruce up their lawns.
I also should give some thanks to the fine folks at Blogger and Blogspot. I've never fully wrapped my head around how all this stuff works, but it does work, quite well most of the time, and I've been able to use it without understanding it. That says quite a lot about what a great job they've done. I can sit here and blather on about poker or bad hotel wireless internet or whatever else strikes my fancy and not worry my bloated head about how or why my words actually get read by other people.
Often while writing my blog entries I've thought I had some appreciation for how Allan Havey must have felt on Night After Night performing to his "audience of one". On the other hand, Allan knew at least one person was listening. When the occasional comment comes in I'm always shocked and amazed. People read this crap?
For those following The Quest, I've decided to alter my bankroll management rules to maybe kick this thing up a few notches. Until I hit the $25 buy-in level, I'm going to move up to the next level when I have 30 buy-ins at that level. I will allow myself to test the waters at the next level once I've accumulated 20 buy-ins for that level. Since I'm playing $2 buy-ins right now, I'll start flirting with $5 buy-ins when the bankroll hits $100 and officially move up when the bankroll hits $150.
I've adjusted the speedometer to reflect these new rules.
Tonight was a decent night on The Quest. I didn't play much last week and had been basically even on the week until tonight.
There was one amusing incident. It's not like it's the first time I've seen this, but it still kind of cracks me up when people whine about how you sucked out at the river when the reality is that they played their hand poorly and you actually had them beat before they even made a move.
In this case I caught bottom pair and four cards to a J-high flush on the flop. SB checks. I bet half the pot to build it a bit in case I hit the flush and to see if I can get any information. One fold, two calls.
The turn brings a J, giving me jacks up and still the flush draw. Now the SB decides to bet half the pot. He actually had top pair kings on the flop but was either afraid to bet them or maybe thought he was being crafty. With only a 7 kicker, I'd have bet them on the flop when the pot was smaller and got some info on where I stood. If I got resistance, I'd get out cheap with my weak kicker. If he'd done that, I'd have likely folded and he'd have probably won a small pot.
So he bets half the pot into my two pair at the turn. I come over the top with triple his bet. Other guy folds and it's back to the SB. He makes a min raise. This is another move that baffles me. If this was a table full of sharks I might be a little afraid of this bet because it looks like he wants me to call. But this is not a table of sharks and this bet just looks confused and weak. It's possible he's got a set, but there are two flush draws on the board. That's a very risky way to be playing a set. If I've got a set, I'm putting it all in the middle right here. I decide to just call and see what happens.
The river brings my flush, not to mention a Broadway straight possibility. Now the SB gets brave and pushes it all in, a bet slightly larger than the pot. I think for about two seconds and call. If he's got the ace or queen flush, good for him. Of course, he's got top pair, kings, and I rake in a very nice pot. And, the reason I launched into this story, then came his comment, "last card."
The SB was one move too late this whole hand. If he'd done on the flop what he did on the turn, he'd have won a small pot, but at least it would have been a win. If he'd done on the turn what he did on the river, there's a real good chance I'd have folded. Instead, he waited until the board showed two obvious possibilities he was beat, not to mention several set possibilities which were quite strong given the way I'd been betting. Maybe he figured me for a set and thought a big bet on that river would scare me away, though his comment leads me to believe otherwise. Anyway, his weak play early on got him into big trouble at the river.
I don't mean to just make fun of how poorly this hand was played. The more I got into describing it the more I realized it was classic mistake after classic mistake. I doubt any regular readers will learn anything from this, but maybe a new player may someday stumble on it and pick up a tip or two.
Well, that's it for the 200th entry. Hopefully I'll still be interested in doing this for another 200 entries.
Lost Weekend
No, I'm not referring to the TV show. I've never seen it and have no interest in it.
I usually try to recap my weekend play on Monday. As I was going over in my head the poker happenings of the last three days I realized most of it has faded away. I recall playing Kat's Friday night Donkament, and vaguely recall not rebuying 32 times like usual, but I have almost no recollection of the tournament at all. According to the tournament summary I found somewhere on my hard drive, I finished in 7th. I'll have to take the summary's word for it because I'm drawing a complete blank.
I do recall about seven hands from Dr. Pauly's PLO tournament on Saturday. Well, I recall two of the seven hands. In the first I tangled with Pauly. Don't recall what I had. Something worth playing but that missed the flop. I got the impression he was trying to either double up early or bust so I hung on longer than I should have and ended up donking off a third of my stack. In the first hand. Six hands later I get it all in with my AAxx vs AKKx vs QQxx. Flop brings a K and I go home far from repeating last week's performance.
Having exited the PLO tournament so early I signed up for one of the WSOP freerolls Stars is running every hour. This was the first time I found one that started less than 45 minutes from now and that still had seats available. All I remember about this one was getting it all in with JJ vs AK vs AQ. Flop is KQJ, making me 80% to win. Turn is a blank, making me better than 90% to win. Naturally, the river is a T, giving each of the other two Broadway and they split my stack. I know I played it right, but that just doesn't seem to make up for the huge sucking sound that came at the river.
While waiting for Pauly's PLO tournament I joined The Quest for a bit. Suckout city. I guess I've been fortunate of late to have avoided a long string of bad beats, but that's what I hit on Saturday.
I briefly considered going back to The Quest after my tournament losses, but I knew I was on the verge of megatilt, so I fixed some dinner and watched TV instead. I was still feeling a bit tiltish on Sunday so I didn't play at all.
So it's been a slow week for The Quest. I have been two-tabling of late, not that it has obviously improved my win rate. On Saturday it just increased the loss. But even two-tabling I didn't spend many hours Questing this week.
I've been reading some things that make me think my bankroll management plan for the lowest levels may be overly conservative. Rather than sticking with the plan of having 50 buy-ins before moving up, I may cut back to 25 or 30. When I hit $25 buy-ins I'll probably want 50 of those in the bankroll, but at $5 and under I think I can probably sneak by with less.
I usually try to recap my weekend play on Monday. As I was going over in my head the poker happenings of the last three days I realized most of it has faded away. I recall playing Kat's Friday night Donkament, and vaguely recall not rebuying 32 times like usual, but I have almost no recollection of the tournament at all. According to the tournament summary I found somewhere on my hard drive, I finished in 7th. I'll have to take the summary's word for it because I'm drawing a complete blank.
I do recall about seven hands from Dr. Pauly's PLO tournament on Saturday. Well, I recall two of the seven hands. In the first I tangled with Pauly. Don't recall what I had. Something worth playing but that missed the flop. I got the impression he was trying to either double up early or bust so I hung on longer than I should have and ended up donking off a third of my stack. In the first hand. Six hands later I get it all in with my AAxx vs AKKx vs QQxx. Flop brings a K and I go home far from repeating last week's performance.
Having exited the PLO tournament so early I signed up for one of the WSOP freerolls Stars is running every hour. This was the first time I found one that started less than 45 minutes from now and that still had seats available. All I remember about this one was getting it all in with JJ vs AK vs AQ. Flop is KQJ, making me 80% to win. Turn is a blank, making me better than 90% to win. Naturally, the river is a T, giving each of the other two Broadway and they split my stack. I know I played it right, but that just doesn't seem to make up for the huge sucking sound that came at the river.
While waiting for Pauly's PLO tournament I joined The Quest for a bit. Suckout city. I guess I've been fortunate of late to have avoided a long string of bad beats, but that's what I hit on Saturday.
I briefly considered going back to The Quest after my tournament losses, but I knew I was on the verge of megatilt, so I fixed some dinner and watched TV instead. I was still feeling a bit tiltish on Sunday so I didn't play at all.
So it's been a slow week for The Quest. I have been two-tabling of late, not that it has obviously improved my win rate. On Saturday it just increased the loss. But even two-tabling I didn't spend many hours Questing this week.
I've been reading some things that make me think my bankroll management plan for the lowest levels may be overly conservative. Rather than sticking with the plan of having 50 buy-ins before moving up, I may cut back to 25 or 30. When I hit $25 buy-ins I'll probably want 50 of those in the bankroll, but at $5 and under I think I can probably sneak by with less.
30 May 2008
Cheating follow-up
Yesterday Ultimate Bet released the results of their investigation into the alleged cheating situation. Full text is here. Here's the short and not-so-sweet:
Not much happened on The Quest front this week. Tuesday I just felt like taking a break. Wednesday I was in a mood and experience told me playing poker would be setting myself up for mega-tilt. So instead of poker I watched that awful Andromeda Strain remake that was on A&E. Thursday I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up just in time to go to bed. I think I'm becoming my father.
I've been playing with the new Version 3 of Poker Tracker. The tighter integration between PT and the HUD is nice. The couple times I've tried it the display has worked well. The Table Tracker portion could be quite useful, though I'm a bit bothered that it will be a monthly fee add-on and that they haven't settled on pricing yet. Plus, it doesn't work at PokerStars and the details on when it might be working are a bit sketchy. I'd hate to become dependent on a feature and then have it become too expensive.
Tonight is Katitude's $1 rebuy donkament at Full Tilt. Saturday is Dr. Pauly's PLO tourney at Stars. If recent weeks' progression is any predictor, I'm due to win this week. If karma is involved, Change100 will bust me out in a horrible suckout before the end of the first level. Should be fun to see which is stronger.
The investigation has concluded that certain player accounts did in fact have an unfair advantage, and that these accounts targeted the highest limit games on the site. The individuals responsible were found to have worked for the previous ownership of UltimateBet prior to the sale of the business to Tokwiro in October 2006. Tokwiro is taking full responsibility for this situation and will immediately begin refunding UltimateBet customers for any losses that were incurred as a result of unfair play.
The fraudulent activity was enabled by unauthorized software code that allowed the perpetrators to obtain hole card information during live play. The existence of this vulnerability was unknown to Tokwiro until February 2008 and existed prior to UltimateBet's acquisition by Tokwiro in October 2006. Our investigation has confirmed that the code was part of a legacy auditing system that was manipulated by the perpetrators. Gaming Associates, independent auditors hired by the KGC, have confirmed that the software code that provided the unfair advantage has been permanently removed.
If one is to take Tokwiro at their word, and I have no reason not to, they appear to be dealing with this in a very reasonable manner. It would have been nice to have seen a bit more due diligence on their part before buying UB in 2006. And it would have been very smart on their part to launch a full investigation immediately following the Absolute scandal. But I've made more than my fair share of mistakes in the business world, so it's hard for me to be too critical. If they carry through with making cheated players whole and complete all the security tasks they've outlined in the full news release, it would appear they've acted in good faith. I may yet take advantage of that free $100.
Not much happened on The Quest front this week. Tuesday I just felt like taking a break. Wednesday I was in a mood and experience told me playing poker would be setting myself up for mega-tilt. So instead of poker I watched that awful Andromeda Strain remake that was on A&E. Thursday I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up just in time to go to bed. I think I'm becoming my father.
I've been playing with the new Version 3 of Poker Tracker. The tighter integration between PT and the HUD is nice. The couple times I've tried it the display has worked well. The Table Tracker portion could be quite useful, though I'm a bit bothered that it will be a monthly fee add-on and that they haven't settled on pricing yet. Plus, it doesn't work at PokerStars and the details on when it might be working are a bit sketchy. I'd hate to become dependent on a feature and then have it become too expensive.
Tonight is Katitude's $1 rebuy donkament at Full Tilt. Saturday is Dr. Pauly's PLO tourney at Stars. If recent weeks' progression is any predictor, I'm due to win this week. If karma is involved, Change100 will bust me out in a horrible suckout before the end of the first level. Should be fun to see which is stronger.
27 May 2008
Cheating
Dr. Pauly linked to an interesting thread at 2+2 today and suggested that other bloggers do the same so the story gets the coverage it deserves. Hard to imagine my link will pick up much that his misses, but I've posted it anyway because I want to comment on it.
I've seen the video of the Absolute Poker cheating. Even posted it here a week or two ago. I thought that pretty damning evidence.
Perhaps a video recreation of the Ultimate Bet situation would convince me as well, but I have to say that based on the statistical evidence posted at 2+2 I'm not convinced. Fewer than 3000 hands is insufficient to base any statistically valid conclusion. Of anyone, the folks who hang out at 2+2 should be among those most familiar with the long run consisting of hundreds of thousands of hands, not a couple thousand.
I believe I've written before about one particular guy I used to run into at Poker Room back in my bonus chasing days. I absolutely could not win against this guy. No matter what happened, if the two of us got into a hand together, it was about a 98% probability that he'd win. I don't have access to the Poker Tracker data, but I know this was over a several month period of me playing two to three hours a night. I'm sure I played well over 5000 hands against this guy.
This fellow was my number one nemesis. I lost more money to him, by a wide margin, than any other player in my Poker Tracker database. And here's the kicker -- he was a major losing player. He was bleeding money at an incredible rate, at least at the tables we played together. I must have been the only guy at the whole site that he was in plus territory against.
I wasn't losing to him because I was playing poor poker or he was playing great poker. As can be seen by his overall results, he was not a good player. I wasn't losing to him because I was seeking to even the score or because he was targeting me. I was losing to him because of variance, plain and simple. It just happened that when we got in a hand together, he would almost always end up with better cards.
I'm sure had he not wisely given up on playing poker, at least at Poker Room, I would have eventually evened the score and most likely taken a lot of money from him just like everyone else had.
All this said, some of the other things outlined in the 2+2 thread go a long way to convincing me that something not right was going on. The account name changes at very suspicious times, the deletion of accounts immediately after they've been outed at 2+2, the tie-in between Absolute and UB, all these make me rather glad I did not take advantage of the free $100 at UB. Not like somebody would be using super-user mode at the $0.01/$0.02 tables, but I don't want to play at a site where it appears systematic cheating is going on at any level.
Following my second place finish in Dr. Pauly's PLO tournament on Saturday, my poker karma had apparently not been properly balanced. I played a two-table SnG where I built up a nice stack early, only to bust out after back to back very bad beats. Monday I played a very cheap tournament at Poker.com, staying near the top of the pack much of the time, again to miss the final table due to a couple really bad beats. One of them was the type where all you can do is scratch your head trying to figure what the other guy was thinking when he pushed all his chips in, only to watch your chips heading in his direction when it's over. I profited a big $0.57 in that one. Well worth the three hours.
The Quest had some ups and downs over the weekend. The bankroll gained $5 this week, which seems to be about average since I rejoined The Quest in earnest. I'm going to have to find a way to step things up a bit. At $20 a month gain it's going to be another ten months before I have the bankroll to move up. I can't spend another ten months at $0.01/$0.02.
I've seen the video of the Absolute Poker cheating. Even posted it here a week or two ago. I thought that pretty damning evidence.
Perhaps a video recreation of the Ultimate Bet situation would convince me as well, but I have to say that based on the statistical evidence posted at 2+2 I'm not convinced. Fewer than 3000 hands is insufficient to base any statistically valid conclusion. Of anyone, the folks who hang out at 2+2 should be among those most familiar with the long run consisting of hundreds of thousands of hands, not a couple thousand.
I believe I've written before about one particular guy I used to run into at Poker Room back in my bonus chasing days. I absolutely could not win against this guy. No matter what happened, if the two of us got into a hand together, it was about a 98% probability that he'd win. I don't have access to the Poker Tracker data, but I know this was over a several month period of me playing two to three hours a night. I'm sure I played well over 5000 hands against this guy.
This fellow was my number one nemesis. I lost more money to him, by a wide margin, than any other player in my Poker Tracker database. And here's the kicker -- he was a major losing player. He was bleeding money at an incredible rate, at least at the tables we played together. I must have been the only guy at the whole site that he was in plus territory against.
I wasn't losing to him because I was playing poor poker or he was playing great poker. As can be seen by his overall results, he was not a good player. I wasn't losing to him because I was seeking to even the score or because he was targeting me. I was losing to him because of variance, plain and simple. It just happened that when we got in a hand together, he would almost always end up with better cards.
I'm sure had he not wisely given up on playing poker, at least at Poker Room, I would have eventually evened the score and most likely taken a lot of money from him just like everyone else had.
All this said, some of the other things outlined in the 2+2 thread go a long way to convincing me that something not right was going on. The account name changes at very suspicious times, the deletion of accounts immediately after they've been outed at 2+2, the tie-in between Absolute and UB, all these make me rather glad I did not take advantage of the free $100 at UB. Not like somebody would be using super-user mode at the $0.01/$0.02 tables, but I don't want to play at a site where it appears systematic cheating is going on at any level.
Following my second place finish in Dr. Pauly's PLO tournament on Saturday, my poker karma had apparently not been properly balanced. I played a two-table SnG where I built up a nice stack early, only to bust out after back to back very bad beats. Monday I played a very cheap tournament at Poker.com, staying near the top of the pack much of the time, again to miss the final table due to a couple really bad beats. One of them was the type where all you can do is scratch your head trying to figure what the other guy was thinking when he pushed all his chips in, only to watch your chips heading in his direction when it's over. I profited a big $0.57 in that one. Well worth the three hours.
The Quest had some ups and downs over the weekend. The bankroll gained $5 this week, which seems to be about average since I rejoined The Quest in earnest. I'm going to have to find a way to step things up a bit. At $20 a month gain it's going to be another ten months before I have the bankroll to move up. I can't spend another ten months at $0.01/$0.02.
21 May 2008
Bodogery and more
The Bodog blogger tournament was last night. For once I actually remembered in time to sign up and play.
Before I get into the tournament I have to say something about the Bodog software. There are some things about the software that I rather like. They've been fairly consistent in the notion that while poker in the real world is played around a table, online is not the real world and there's no reason the game display has to emulate a table with people sitting around it. Bodog has tried a number of different designs over the time I've played there. The most recent one is pretty good.
But Bodog has had one consistent problem with every rendition of the interface. The interface is obviously programmed by a bunch of 20-somethings who have absolutely no concept of how difficult it can be for those of us on the back side of the hill to read small print. Part of the problem is my laptop which has a native resolution of 1920x1200. Setting it to anything else produces a horrible looking display. With most other programs there's some way for me to make the print larger so I can actually read it. Full Tilt and PokerStars both now allow me to make the game window big enough that I can see it without any trouble. Not so the Bodog software. There's no adjustment I can find for font size and I can't make the window larger. I can't partake of chat because I can't read it. The type is too damn small. I had a headache after the tournament last night from squinting at the screen for so long.
I wrote to Bodog about this ages ago and got a reply stating this was a common complaint. They've made dozens of updates to the software since then, completely redesigned the interface, and still most of the print is too damn small for my presbyopia-plagued eyes to read. Bodog, if you want me and others like me to play on your site, you have to fix this. There are few places left to play for those of us from the land of the formerly free. I'd love to spend more time playing at Bodog, but I can't read the damn screen!
Okay, enough ranting about Bodog's minuscule font. I was on fire during the first few levels of the tournament last night. I kept getting decent starters and the flop just kept hitting me. My stack had grown by 50% in very little time at all. And then the cards stopped coming. I went from being obvious table captain to some guy in a little dinghy being towed behind the real boat. And in shark-infested waters like these, you have to be extremely careful about going into the water without some weapons at hand.
From the end of my rush until I finally busted out, I don't think I won but maybe four very small pots. I was basically a spectator, watching my stack slowly disappear. I busted out in 23rd of 41. It was very disappointing because at the first break it looked like this was going to be a great tournament for me. So it goes.
Having busted out fairly early I still had plenty of evening left to join The Quest. Sadly, I should have just gone to bed early. I took a bit of a hit early due to a flopped second-nut straight where it took me a bit too long to realize there was a higher straight possible. I manged to recover to the point of a small profit. Then I got carried away with QQ, running headlong into a three-way all-in against 66 and KK. The kings and I both ended up with sets. At least I wasn't the fool pushing in with 66 against a raise, a re-raise.
I was able to turn a small profit with the second buy-in but still finished the night down $1.61.
There was one hand after my re-buy that kind of bugged me. I know here in the shallow end it's pointless trying to find logic in the play of many of the participants, but I just can't help myself. There's the occasional hand where I just have to sit back and ponder, what the hell was going through this guy's mind?
I get AK in the cutoff. It folds to me and I make it 3BB to go. I don't mind action, but I don't want all of the remaining four players to call either. The SB calls, everybody else folds. Perfect. AK plays great against one opponent. Flop is JTx, rainbow. I c-bet half the pot, SB calls. I'm thinking maybe I need some help here. Turn is a K, just what the doctor ordered. I figure I'm in the lead, but now there are two diamonds on the board. I bet two-thirds the pot. SB calls. The river brings a Q and the SB insta-pushes. Of course I call. The SB tables A9 for a split.
So let's review. Holding A9o, the SB calls the cutoff bet because, well, he's got an ace and he's defending his $0.01 blind. He calls a half the pot bet on the JTx flop because, uh, he has a runner-runner straight draw, and he's still got an ace. On the turn he calls a two-thirds the pot bet because now he has an inside straight draw. And, of course, he still has an ace. Those aces are like gold, you know.
I'm sure he thought he played this hand perfectly. I know I should stop trying to find logic where I know there isn't any, but sometimes I just have to scratch my head and wonder what possible thought process lead to these decisions.
Before I get into the tournament I have to say something about the Bodog software. There are some things about the software that I rather like. They've been fairly consistent in the notion that while poker in the real world is played around a table, online is not the real world and there's no reason the game display has to emulate a table with people sitting around it. Bodog has tried a number of different designs over the time I've played there. The most recent one is pretty good.
But Bodog has had one consistent problem with every rendition of the interface. The interface is obviously programmed by a bunch of 20-somethings who have absolutely no concept of how difficult it can be for those of us on the back side of the hill to read small print. Part of the problem is my laptop which has a native resolution of 1920x1200. Setting it to anything else produces a horrible looking display. With most other programs there's some way for me to make the print larger so I can actually read it. Full Tilt and PokerStars both now allow me to make the game window big enough that I can see it without any trouble. Not so the Bodog software. There's no adjustment I can find for font size and I can't make the window larger. I can't partake of chat because I can't read it. The type is too damn small. I had a headache after the tournament last night from squinting at the screen for so long.
I wrote to Bodog about this ages ago and got a reply stating this was a common complaint. They've made dozens of updates to the software since then, completely redesigned the interface, and still most of the print is too damn small for my presbyopia-plagued eyes to read. Bodog, if you want me and others like me to play on your site, you have to fix this. There are few places left to play for those of us from the land of the formerly free. I'd love to spend more time playing at Bodog, but I can't read the damn screen!
Okay, enough ranting about Bodog's minuscule font. I was on fire during the first few levels of the tournament last night. I kept getting decent starters and the flop just kept hitting me. My stack had grown by 50% in very little time at all. And then the cards stopped coming. I went from being obvious table captain to some guy in a little dinghy being towed behind the real boat. And in shark-infested waters like these, you have to be extremely careful about going into the water without some weapons at hand.
From the end of my rush until I finally busted out, I don't think I won but maybe four very small pots. I was basically a spectator, watching my stack slowly disappear. I busted out in 23rd of 41. It was very disappointing because at the first break it looked like this was going to be a great tournament for me. So it goes.
Having busted out fairly early I still had plenty of evening left to join The Quest. Sadly, I should have just gone to bed early. I took a bit of a hit early due to a flopped second-nut straight where it took me a bit too long to realize there was a higher straight possible. I manged to recover to the point of a small profit. Then I got carried away with QQ, running headlong into a three-way all-in against 66 and KK. The kings and I both ended up with sets. At least I wasn't the fool pushing in with 66 against a raise, a re-raise.
I was able to turn a small profit with the second buy-in but still finished the night down $1.61.
There was one hand after my re-buy that kind of bugged me. I know here in the shallow end it's pointless trying to find logic in the play of many of the participants, but I just can't help myself. There's the occasional hand where I just have to sit back and ponder, what the hell was going through this guy's mind?
I get AK in the cutoff. It folds to me and I make it 3BB to go. I don't mind action, but I don't want all of the remaining four players to call either. The SB calls, everybody else folds. Perfect. AK plays great against one opponent. Flop is JTx, rainbow. I c-bet half the pot, SB calls. I'm thinking maybe I need some help here. Turn is a K, just what the doctor ordered. I figure I'm in the lead, but now there are two diamonds on the board. I bet two-thirds the pot. SB calls. The river brings a Q and the SB insta-pushes. Of course I call. The SB tables A9 for a split.
So let's review. Holding A9o, the SB calls the cutoff bet because, well, he's got an ace and he's defending his $0.01 blind. He calls a half the pot bet on the JTx flop because, uh, he has a runner-runner straight draw, and he's still got an ace. On the turn he calls a two-thirds the pot bet because now he has an inside straight draw. And, of course, he still has an ace. Those aces are like gold, you know.
I'm sure he thought he played this hand perfectly. I know I should stop trying to find logic where I know there isn't any, but sometimes I just have to scratch my head and wonder what possible thought process lead to these decisions.
20 May 2008
Quick Update
Another good night on The Quest. Up $1.49 in less than an hour. If I could live on $1.25 an hour, I'd have a new profession.
The graph has been updated. One more good session and I'll be out of the red zone. I'm getting anxious to step this up even more, so I may start playing two tables. I don't think it will be too much strain at this level.
The graph has been updated. One more good session and I'll be out of the red zone. I'm getting anxious to step this up even more, so I may start playing two tables. I don't think it will be too much strain at this level.
19 May 2008
TheWeekend
Saturday was Dr. Pauly's PLO tournament. I monied last week, so I was looking forward to having another go. Unfortunately, real life intervened. About 15 minutes in to the tournament I had visitors and had to sit out. By the time the visitors left I was down to crumbs. I pushed it all in before the blinds took it. No joy.
Saturday night The Quest made a very decent score, finishing the night up $4.84. It may not sound like much, but that's over 9% of the bankroll at the start of the day. I recall there being a couple big moves that worked well.
Sunday I again played the Britbloggerment. Things moved a bit faster this week, it taking only 50 minutes to make the final table instead of 80 minutes. I got off to a slow start, but at least I didn't need to dig myself out of a huge hole like last week.
When we got to the bubble, the cards completely dried up. By this time it wasn't exactly a tea party, so I either had to be first to push with total garbage or just keep folding and hope for the best. By the time I finally got dealt QJo, they looked like just one step below AA, so I pushed. Unfortunately, somebody with AJo called. Neither of us improved and I went home as bubble boy.
During Sunday night's Quest I was beginning to wonder if I shouldn't have just taken the night off. My play was mostly spot on. I think I only made one semi-serious mistake. But the suckouts were terrible. I recall one that went exactly as I'd planned, the other guy pushing all-in, me making the call and having him beat, him hitting his 3-outer at the river. I had to reload after that one.
I got most of it back on a suckout that went in my favor, though I comfort myself knowing the idiot should have never made the call pre-flop, so it was really his fault. (Pretty good rationalization, eh?) I mean, seriously, who calls a 3BB pre-flop raise with Q8o? That's just stupid.
At any rate, the suckout got me almost even. A couple good hands right before I quit gave me a $0.41 profit on the night. The bankroll now stands at $56.72. Yellow zone here I come! The graph doesn't yet reflect these numbers. It will be updated after tomorrow's play.
Saturday night The Quest made a very decent score, finishing the night up $4.84. It may not sound like much, but that's over 9% of the bankroll at the start of the day. I recall there being a couple big moves that worked well.
Sunday I again played the Britbloggerment. Things moved a bit faster this week, it taking only 50 minutes to make the final table instead of 80 minutes. I got off to a slow start, but at least I didn't need to dig myself out of a huge hole like last week.
When we got to the bubble, the cards completely dried up. By this time it wasn't exactly a tea party, so I either had to be first to push with total garbage or just keep folding and hope for the best. By the time I finally got dealt QJo, they looked like just one step below AA, so I pushed. Unfortunately, somebody with AJo called. Neither of us improved and I went home as bubble boy.
During Sunday night's Quest I was beginning to wonder if I shouldn't have just taken the night off. My play was mostly spot on. I think I only made one semi-serious mistake. But the suckouts were terrible. I recall one that went exactly as I'd planned, the other guy pushing all-in, me making the call and having him beat, him hitting his 3-outer at the river. I had to reload after that one.
I got most of it back on a suckout that went in my favor, though I comfort myself knowing the idiot should have never made the call pre-flop, so it was really his fault. (Pretty good rationalization, eh?) I mean, seriously, who calls a 3BB pre-flop raise with Q8o? That's just stupid.
At any rate, the suckout got me almost even. A couple good hands right before I quit gave me a $0.41 profit on the night. The bankroll now stands at $56.72. Yellow zone here I come! The graph doesn't yet reflect these numbers. It will be updated after tomorrow's play.
16 May 2008
Not much new
The Quest was joined for just a short while last night. I got home later than usual and after dinner I couldn't pry my ass off the couch. Before heading to bed I played for maybe 20 minutes. It almost turned into a rather lucrative 20 minutes.
My table had two of those crazy people who keep betting way more than is called for and then raise each other as if the size of the raise was indicative of the size of their cajones. It took less than two rotations to figure one of these two guys was going to over-raise pretty much every hand and then the other would come back over the top.
I made a couple half-assed attempts to play mediocre hands, as much to openly demonstrate that I was a weak fish as anything else. Then I kept folding until I caught some good cards. Flopped a set on one hand, just tagging along with the crazy guys on the flop and then pushing all-in on the turn. They backed down and I took a rather nice pot.
Crazy guy #1 seemed a bit less crazy than crazy guy #2. #1 was clearly wary of me after than first hand. #2 had no such fear. We got it all in with me holding AK and him holding AQ. I'd have ended up with a very nice stack if the board didn't river a second pair, neutering my king. I think I actually lost money on the hand due to the rake.
After that hand both of the crazy guys settled down quite a bit, betting amounts that were more in line with the size of the pot. I realize everyone is entitled to bet however much they want, but it still irritates me to see players who insist on open-raising $0.20 into a pot with $0.03 in it. Go play $0.02/$0.05 if you want to bet that much into an unraised pot. (I know it sounds stupid to get concerned about such small amounts, but I'm trying to approach this seriously and in proportion to the stakes. I've not played $1/$2 NL, but I'm guessing you don't see a whole lot of open-raises to $20. Or am I wrong?)
I've come upon an offer of free money to sign up at some new (to me) sites. Ultimate Bet is one of the few big sites I've never signed up with, so I'm eligible to get $100 free money to play with there. I'm debating whether I should take advantage of this, moving The Quest to UB and adding the $100 to the bankroll. It kind of cheats the idea of turning $5 into $5000, yet is still in line with the basic idea of starting very small and building the bankroll to a decent size. I'm conflicted on whether I should sign up and add this to the bankroll or not.
I just went off to look up some things about UB before finishing this entry. I guess during my time mostly away from poker over the last year there were some big doings at Absolute and now allegations of the same thing at UB. I had read a number of different allegations of cheating at Absolute but was unaware at least one such incident had been proven beyond doubt and they've been fined and put on probation with the oversight body. This YouTube video is quite revealing, pun intended.
My table had two of those crazy people who keep betting way more than is called for and then raise each other as if the size of the raise was indicative of the size of their cajones. It took less than two rotations to figure one of these two guys was going to over-raise pretty much every hand and then the other would come back over the top.
I made a couple half-assed attempts to play mediocre hands, as much to openly demonstrate that I was a weak fish as anything else. Then I kept folding until I caught some good cards. Flopped a set on one hand, just tagging along with the crazy guys on the flop and then pushing all-in on the turn. They backed down and I took a rather nice pot.
Crazy guy #1 seemed a bit less crazy than crazy guy #2. #1 was clearly wary of me after than first hand. #2 had no such fear. We got it all in with me holding AK and him holding AQ. I'd have ended up with a very nice stack if the board didn't river a second pair, neutering my king. I think I actually lost money on the hand due to the rake.
After that hand both of the crazy guys settled down quite a bit, betting amounts that were more in line with the size of the pot. I realize everyone is entitled to bet however much they want, but it still irritates me to see players who insist on open-raising $0.20 into a pot with $0.03 in it. Go play $0.02/$0.05 if you want to bet that much into an unraised pot. (I know it sounds stupid to get concerned about such small amounts, but I'm trying to approach this seriously and in proportion to the stakes. I've not played $1/$2 NL, but I'm guessing you don't see a whole lot of open-raises to $20. Or am I wrong?)
I've come upon an offer of free money to sign up at some new (to me) sites. Ultimate Bet is one of the few big sites I've never signed up with, so I'm eligible to get $100 free money to play with there. I'm debating whether I should take advantage of this, moving The Quest to UB and adding the $100 to the bankroll. It kind of cheats the idea of turning $5 into $5000, yet is still in line with the basic idea of starting very small and building the bankroll to a decent size. I'm conflicted on whether I should sign up and add this to the bankroll or not.
I just went off to look up some things about UB before finishing this entry. I guess during my time mostly away from poker over the last year there were some big doings at Absolute and now allegations of the same thing at UB. I had read a number of different allegations of cheating at Absolute but was unaware at least one such incident had been proven beyond doubt and they've been fined and put on probation with the oversight body. This YouTube video is quite revealing, pun intended.
14 May 2008
Quest Update
Another good night on The Quest. My first session before dinner I got rather lucky when I flopped a set of kings against the other guy's pocket aces. The board pairing on the turn didn't hurt, removing what little concern I had about that flush filling.
You see the slow play with aces a lot at this level. I've done it myself a number of times, but I have to wonder about the actual wisdom of it. Considering I had kings, in this case I certainly wasn't going away, but if he'd come back over my small pre-flop raise, my call might have given him a better clue about what I might be holding. He might not have been quite so eager to push all his chips in the pot. He played it passive all the way to the river, where, far too late, he finally starting betting. I put chips in on every street, though I tread lightly so I wouldn't scare him away.
I took a couple very small pots after that and decided it was time for dinner, up exactly $2 for the session.
Later in the evening I sat down again. This time I spent at least the first 30 minutes folding. I don't think I made it past the flop once. Just as I was beginning to think I should give it up for the night, the cards improved. I won a few small pots and was soon back to even. A couple small sets helped me finish the second session up $0.64.
The bankroll has now crossed the $50 mark. If things continue as they have been of late I should be out of the red zone some time next week.
I've been giving more thought to how to speed this up a bit and have almost concluded I should start playing as many freerolls as I can find. I can always keep a table of ring open at the same time. It may end up with me actually spending more time at the ring tables. I looked into cheap SnGs, but I don't think the payoff is worth it. The time is likely better spent playing ring. Or maybe I should buy in to two dozen tables for $1 each. Playing so many hands at once should help smooth out the variance.
You see the slow play with aces a lot at this level. I've done it myself a number of times, but I have to wonder about the actual wisdom of it. Considering I had kings, in this case I certainly wasn't going away, but if he'd come back over my small pre-flop raise, my call might have given him a better clue about what I might be holding. He might not have been quite so eager to push all his chips in the pot. He played it passive all the way to the river, where, far too late, he finally starting betting. I put chips in on every street, though I tread lightly so I wouldn't scare him away.
I took a couple very small pots after that and decided it was time for dinner, up exactly $2 for the session.
Later in the evening I sat down again. This time I spent at least the first 30 minutes folding. I don't think I made it past the flop once. Just as I was beginning to think I should give it up for the night, the cards improved. I won a few small pots and was soon back to even. A couple small sets helped me finish the second session up $0.64.
The bankroll has now crossed the $50 mark. If things continue as they have been of late I should be out of the red zone some time next week.
I've been giving more thought to how to speed this up a bit and have almost concluded I should start playing as many freerolls as I can find. I can always keep a table of ring open at the same time. It may end up with me actually spending more time at the ring tables. I looked into cheap SnGs, but I don't think the payoff is worth it. The time is likely better spent playing ring. Or maybe I should buy in to two dozen tables for $1 each. Playing so many hands at once should help smooth out the variance.
12 May 2008
Weekly Quest Update
Two sessions in The Quest tonight, combined for a $2.53 gain. That recovers the last from the three bad nights this week and bringing the bankroll to a new high of $49.62. The upward trajectory has slowed a bit, but at least it's still moving upward.
Made a couple nice plays tonight, including an all-in where my top kicker was the deciding factor. I'm still letting some pots get away to what's either atrociously bad play or some wickedly good play. I'm leaning toward the former, especially when there's an all-in followed by a call, neither of them having better than second pair, my top pair taking the pot if I hadn't folded. No worries, though. As I've said here many times, my track record with calling all-ins without spectacular holdings are very poor. I'll stick with the small ball and let the lotto players fight among themselves. Unless I'm really, really sure I'm ahead.
Made a couple nice plays tonight, including an all-in where my top kicker was the deciding factor. I'm still letting some pots get away to what's either atrociously bad play or some wickedly good play. I'm leaning toward the former, especially when there's an all-in followed by a call, neither of them having better than second pair, my top pair taking the pot if I hadn't folded. No worries, though. As I've said here many times, my track record with calling all-ins without spectacular holdings are very poor. I'll stick with the small ball and let the lotto players fight among themselves. Unless I'm really, really sure I'm ahead.
10 May 2008
Can I please have my bath size Dial back?
My exchange with PokerStars concerning the MMIAs has begun to remind me of the comedy sequence of letters between a hotel guest and various members of the hotel staff about the soap in the guest's room. The guest has brought his own soap and would like the maid to stop dropping off additional little hotel soaps each day. (It obviously would have been easier to simply throw them away, but it wouldn't have been nearly as funny.) The guest keeps making contact with a different member of the hotel staff, and each of them communicate up or down the line a different version of exactly what they think the guest wants, none of them communicating anything that results in satisfying the guest's simple request.
The issue with PokerStars has several aspects. The first is that each email to support goes to a general address. Whoever happens to be the next available lowest level support person is the one who initially reads and often responds to your email. Sometimes they recognize that the issue is over their head and they kick it up the line. Even when it makes it to a supervisor, it likely won't be the same supervisor to whom you're actually replying. So far I've not received a response from the same person twice.
Because each response comes from a different person and they may not have taken the time to read the entirety of the previous exchanges, there is a tendency to repeat a lot of basic and completely useless information. In this case I've been told about a dozen times that, technically, each player has the right to use the entire 25 seconds they have available on every single decision. I get that, PokerStars, can we PLEASE move beyond it, because I may go postal if I'm told that one more time.
In my reply to the email saying they really wanted reports from players of abusive MMIAs I asked if there was some code phrase or password I could use to indicate I understood the situation and to cut through the normal support BS response. The reply to that once again informed me that each player had the right to use the full 25 seconds they have available for every decision, exactly the BS I was trying to avoid.
The other issue is that Stars either doesn't really have a formal policy on MMIAs or they've done an atrocious job of communicating that policy to their support people. It's been a vicious circle of being told reports of abuse can be made, being told there's nothing they can do, being told they really, really want reports of abuse because that's the only way they have of policing the matter, being told there's nothing they can do, rinse, repeat. Each time, of course, being reminded that each player has the right to use the entire 25 seconds available to them.
I have grown weary of the fight. In my last reply I told them they need to define a policy, communicate it to their people, and enforce it. Until they get their shit together on this, I'm done with it. And there seems to be little reason for them to get their shit together.
It's pretty clear they've done some math and decided they make more money by satisfying the players who want to sit at 24 tables at once (that, I'm told, is the actual table limit in the software) than they do by keeping the games moving at a reasonable pace. They say they're interested in keeping everyone happy, but it's not like they're going to openly admit they don't care about satisfying the single-table player. Actions speak louder than words, and so far their actions are speaking quite clearly.
I'm torn between attempting to make a point by opening 24 tables and playing as slowly as I can on all 24, encouraging other people to do the same, and simply picking up my chips and moving somewhere that has fewer MMIAs. The problem with the latter is that Stars is the only place I've found with $0.01/$0.02 NL tables, and that's the only place I can play with reasonable bankroll safety at the moment.
So I see three choices: continue playing at Stars at least until I build the bankroll to the $0.05/$0.10 level; move elsewhere and take my chances with a grossly inadequate bankroll; or drop some more money in the bankroll to up the safety level. I suppose I could do like Chris Ferguson did and start playing freerolls to pad the bankroll. That seems a real longshot way of doing it. I actually think I'd be better off buying in for half a stack and taking my chances with the nine and a fraction short $0.05/$0.10 buy-ins I already have.
I got the computer fired up and logged into Full Tilt about 20 seconds too late to join the Friday blogger donkament. I was really in the mood for this one too. There's a nearby upscale restaurant that's apparently been having some trouble attracting customers so they've started offering some happy hour specials. There's something really incongruous about a place where the cheapest entree on the menu is $17, but they have $1 beers. Four beers and half a $21 appetizer plate later, I was definitely ready for some rebuy madness. But it was not to be.
Instead I played an Omaha tournament. I don't know why I keep trying that game. I seldom get dealt decent cards, if I do the flop misses me completely, and I have little skill at post flop play. I doubled early against someone even worse than me, but made a couple stupid mistakes and was out before the first break. I should obviously stick to Hold'em. And I will, right after I finish Dr. Pauly's PLO tournament.
The issue with PokerStars has several aspects. The first is that each email to support goes to a general address. Whoever happens to be the next available lowest level support person is the one who initially reads and often responds to your email. Sometimes they recognize that the issue is over their head and they kick it up the line. Even when it makes it to a supervisor, it likely won't be the same supervisor to whom you're actually replying. So far I've not received a response from the same person twice.
Because each response comes from a different person and they may not have taken the time to read the entirety of the previous exchanges, there is a tendency to repeat a lot of basic and completely useless information. In this case I've been told about a dozen times that, technically, each player has the right to use the entire 25 seconds they have available on every single decision. I get that, PokerStars, can we PLEASE move beyond it, because I may go postal if I'm told that one more time.
In my reply to the email saying they really wanted reports from players of abusive MMIAs I asked if there was some code phrase or password I could use to indicate I understood the situation and to cut through the normal support BS response. The reply to that once again informed me that each player had the right to use the full 25 seconds they have available for every decision, exactly the BS I was trying to avoid.
The other issue is that Stars either doesn't really have a formal policy on MMIAs or they've done an atrocious job of communicating that policy to their support people. It's been a vicious circle of being told reports of abuse can be made, being told there's nothing they can do, being told they really, really want reports of abuse because that's the only way they have of policing the matter, being told there's nothing they can do, rinse, repeat. Each time, of course, being reminded that each player has the right to use the entire 25 seconds available to them.
I have grown weary of the fight. In my last reply I told them they need to define a policy, communicate it to their people, and enforce it. Until they get their shit together on this, I'm done with it. And there seems to be little reason for them to get their shit together.
It's pretty clear they've done some math and decided they make more money by satisfying the players who want to sit at 24 tables at once (that, I'm told, is the actual table limit in the software) than they do by keeping the games moving at a reasonable pace. They say they're interested in keeping everyone happy, but it's not like they're going to openly admit they don't care about satisfying the single-table player. Actions speak louder than words, and so far their actions are speaking quite clearly.
I'm torn between attempting to make a point by opening 24 tables and playing as slowly as I can on all 24, encouraging other people to do the same, and simply picking up my chips and moving somewhere that has fewer MMIAs. The problem with the latter is that Stars is the only place I've found with $0.01/$0.02 NL tables, and that's the only place I can play with reasonable bankroll safety at the moment.
So I see three choices: continue playing at Stars at least until I build the bankroll to the $0.05/$0.10 level; move elsewhere and take my chances with a grossly inadequate bankroll; or drop some more money in the bankroll to up the safety level. I suppose I could do like Chris Ferguson did and start playing freerolls to pad the bankroll. That seems a real longshot way of doing it. I actually think I'd be better off buying in for half a stack and taking my chances with the nine and a fraction short $0.05/$0.10 buy-ins I already have.
I got the computer fired up and logged into Full Tilt about 20 seconds too late to join the Friday blogger donkament. I was really in the mood for this one too. There's a nearby upscale restaurant that's apparently been having some trouble attracting customers so they've started offering some happy hour specials. There's something really incongruous about a place where the cheapest entree on the menu is $17, but they have $1 beers. Four beers and half a $21 appetizer plate later, I was definitely ready for some rebuy madness. But it was not to be.
Instead I played an Omaha tournament. I don't know why I keep trying that game. I seldom get dealt decent cards, if I do the flop misses me completely, and I have little skill at post flop play. I doubled early against someone even worse than me, but made a couple stupid mistakes and was out before the first break. I should obviously stick to Hold'em. And I will, right after I finish Dr. Pauly's PLO tournament.
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