PodPeeves

If you're going to put out a podcast, listen to it! Seriously, some of the 'casts I've tried recently have major sound issues.

I know if someone puts out a podcast they probably have a decent speaker system. This is not where you need to listen to the 'cast. Listen on a crappy set of speakers with some background noise. If it sounds good there, you're probably good.

Also, WATCH YOU LEVELS. I listen on headphones a lot. There is nothing worse than needing to crank the volume because the levels are in the mud, then WHAM a spike that nearly ruptures my eardrums.

Z

Down

Dropped $20 or so yesterday in the team competition. Daggerzz dropped a chunk, too. My team mates picked up some wins, so we're still neck and neck with team hitman. Sif3506 has got some momentum now, so team misawaplayer is going to be a threat.

I really thought we'd have more bust outs by now. Only 3 people out of 15 are under the initial stake of $10.

That's it for now.

Z

GAS Team competition

Ok, here's the link to my rail for the team competition.

The important information for the nonpoker players reading this is in the first post. It will show each of my sessions in a chart, with how much I bought in for, how much I cashed out and the profit. There will also be a grand total at the bottom of it.

According to the rules of the contest, I have to post the hand history of the first hand in a session immediately. If all that stuff doesn't make sense, skip it. There will also be rail posts, these will show the buy in and amount cashed out.

Any questions with it, just ask.

As of right now, I'm the number 1 horse with $69.10. The initial stake was $10 and we started yesterday morning. At the very top of the page there is a chart that shows team standings.

z

Need to put details up. Late into day one of getastake.com's 3 team competition, I have turned $10 into $38.85. Next closest is daggerzz with $27.55.

More later.

Blew my recent profit

Sat down and played .50/1.00 LO8. Bought in for $20 and topped off later with another $10. Ended up down about $25 when I left. Sat down at a .25/.50 table and was doing ok. I think I was up about $8.00 and was about ready to leave when BurnsMyToast sat down. I was tired and should have left, but I didn't. I was dozing off by the time I left. And I was down about another $5.00. I haven't looked at my hand histories yet, but I know I was playing way too many hands.

It's not so bad as long as I learn from this and DON'T DO IT AGAIN! If I'm not playing well, I need to just leave.

Will get the links and beginner poker info up later today or tomorrow.

Lunch is over, back to work.

Bust a Nut!

Coming soon

A list of poker books.
An offer to invest in a rock band's first CD.
Links to sites that I enjoy.

Where to go from here?

I've been playing the .25/.50 and .50/$1.00, more of the former than the latter, Limit Omaha 8 games. I've been doing well with them. I haven't had a losing session yet. I'm up almost $30 after about 800 hands. I look in the lobby for the tables with the highest percentages of people seeing a flop.

I'm grinding these out, and trying to multi-table when the conditions are right. I'm going to work my bankroll up about another $100 before I move up a level. I might start playing more of the .50/1.00 before then, though.

My plan is to keep moving up levels slowly until I find a level where I don't have a huge edge. Then I'm going to step back one and see how much money I can make per month. I need to get PT Omaha or a similar program, and I plan on doing that next month.

Quads twice in three hands!

I didn't get my quads, but I would have gotten them twice in three hands:

2nd hand of a .10 360 NLH SNG:



2 hands later:

Year of the pro

Write it down, there will be at least 6 pros at the final table of the Main Event this year. Buy-ins by average Joes will be way down. Satellite winners may reach an all time high.

Not bad

I won 2 of 10 and placed 4th once, for a total of 9 units. A couple of times focus became an issue.

Buy ins: $17.50
Cashes: $24.30
Profit: $6.80
ROI: 39%

I can do better. I think I need to keep playing these and not step out of this zone unless there is a very good reason, and I've planned on it. For instance, I want to play one of the SCOOP Limit O8 events, but I don't know about the timing. I have stuff to get done tomorrow.

After I get to where I am slaughtering these, I'll move up to the $3.40. The rake isn't quite so bad there. 16.67% for the 1.50 + .25 vs 13.33% for the 3.00 + .40.

I've got to get to where I'm multi-tabling at least 3 of these tournaments at a time if I expect to get a decent return on my time. I'm gonna put it at about 10 hours for the tourneys I just ran, for $0.68/hr. Eww. If I can triple that by running 3 at a time, and double it for jumping up to the 3.40 tournaments, that's about $4.00/hr. Still not great, but I should be able to get better payouts than I currently am.

If I can get 1 unit/tournament it'll look like this, I'm using 4 hours for my time investment:

1.75 tourneys=9.50 profit. $2.375/hour (2.50 in rake)
3.40 tourneys=20.00 profit $5.00/hour (4.00 in rake)
16.00 tourneys=110.00 profit $27.50/hour (10.00 in rake)

I don't think these numbers are unreasonable. I need to walk my way up the ladder doing this, though. Variance is gonna be a mother.

Z

Big step backwards

After my miserable showing in my prop bet with Blazman and Rant2112 (10x$16 18 player SNGs), I decided to take a step back.

I played $10 in .25 tourneys and had a 50% ROI. It probably should have been higher, but once I was guaranteed profit I turned into a maniac. These things were sucking the life out of me when I was taking them seriously.

Now I've moved on to the next phase: 10 x $1.75 18 player SNGs. I'm going to concentrate on O8, but I may step over to something else to break up any monotony.

I played my first one last night, and took it down for $10.80 cash. I felt like I was on an entirely different level than most of the other players. I timed my bluffs well, made the right calls and laid down the 2nd best hand more than once.

I explained the payout structure for Poker Stars 18 player SNGs over at the Ante Up forums, but I'll break it down here.

Look at the payout as units. There are 10 units paid out:
1st=4 units
2nd=3 units
3rd=2 units
4th=1 unit

In the $1.50 + .25 that I'm playing now, each unit is worth $2.70. The rake is pretty brutal at this level, but you still only need to earn 7 units in 10 tournaments to show a profit. (At the higher levels, you can turn a profit with 6 units in 10 tourneys.)

I look at these as 4 different tournaments wrapped into one. Each tournament pays 1 unit. In the first tourney, it doesn't matter how many chips you have, you just need to place in the top 4. It progresses in this manner for each successive tournament.

The only advantage to having more chips is better positioning for the next event. This is obvious, but the subtle key to these is that the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tournaments are freerolls. You have to outlast 13 players in the first tournament to earn your buy-in back and a little more on top of it. Every place you move up saves you a buy-in and keeps you from having to deal with the field.

Here is the key to these tournaments, write it down and don't forget it: Do not plan your strategy on finishing first. Your strategy should always be to make it to the next level in the best position you can. If you're short stacked, tread water. Every time you outlast a person, you win more than you do for placing 4th, since you don't have to pay the buy-in.

Winning should be your ultimate goal, obviously. However, finishing 2nd and earning 3 units pays more than finishing 4th in 3 tournaments and earning the same 3 units. It's like a hybrid Double or Nothing. You need to worry more about outlasting people than building a big chip stack, but that big stack will earn you more.

Bonus info: DO NOT PLAY The $20 + 2 18 player SNGs. The $15 + 1 has a rake that is 6.66% versus the 10% in the $20. The $50 + 5 suffers from the same rake inequity, but at least it is a much higher buy in.

Z

It's a step

Ok, so I haven't set up my own site, but at least I started a blog. If somebody bugs me enough, I might actually change the layout here some day.