Well it's August 3rd and this is my first post from Beijing so I think it goes without saying that the poker hasn't really gone to schedule. I think since my last post, which was over a month ago, I've played maybe about 1000 hands which has been severely detrimental to my grand master plan of moving up at least 2 levels during my time in Beijing (maybe more? I can't remember now.. I've been away for poker for such a long time). Suffice to say there won't be any weekly updates for a while more, and I probably will just do a lump Beijing update after I leave.
On the flip side, there's good reason I've slacked on poker. Life has gotten in the way. Classes have been good and the best thing is I've meet some really really cool people in Beijing. I don't think I've ever drunk so much beer or been clubbing so many times in my life. Well, that was the last class really. It really sucked when everyone left and this new 6 hour intensive class has less fun exciting people. Well, there's really less people in general so that really does suck. But then again I do enjoy just chilling out and I have started to itch to play poker again, so in a way it's been good. Of the little I've played so far I have managed to pull off small (like 1 buyin or less) wins but those have been in just 1 hour sessions so that's alright.
I am really starting to consider staying here longer, maybe till the end of the year or potentially for a whole year which would be severely detrimental to my poker. I do still want to move up and make a decent side income from it but if I continue studying here I may have to work out a proper schedule. For now I'm just playing when I can which is just the odd hour here and there every week. Well, see how it goes.
Oh, and by the way, blogspot is blocked in China (among many other things including facebook, youtube and twitter) so it is hard to update. Not that there will be many updates anyway I don't think. See how it goes...
Monday, August 3, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Weekly Report: 7/6/09 - 14/06/09 Movin' On Up
Well, it was always bound to happen, I just wish it was later rather than sooner.
Yes, the inevitable downswing. I've heard about it, read about it, seen rants about it but I've finally experienced it. And it sucks. Oh man does it suck. AA just never seems to hold up, getting 1-outed on the river a few times, multiple preflop raise callers to my AJ+ and not even getting close to hitting the flop... it's just brutal.
What's even worse is moving up a limit in the middle of a downswing. Yup that's right, I officially moved up to 5NL on Wednesday after hitting the golden $150 target. I was initially supposed to move up on Tuesday after having an 8 buy-in Monday but that's when the downswing started and I dropped 10.5 buy-ins. Managed to recover all of it in Wednesday's first session so moved up during the second session.
I won't go into details about the downswing. I won't rant and rave but it really is demoralising when you raise pre, hit top pair and then run into a two pair or a set or get sucked out by a flush draw. Already raising pre and hitting is hard for me right now but then losing stacks to a hand that I'm easily beating pre is just.... arrgghhh. It's just really a usual downswing, getting unlucky running into hands, cold decks and getting sucked out on. Now I'll be the first to admit that I have uncovered a few leaks (losing too much on just pairs due to being dominated) and made numerous mistakes but it's not just that which is causing me to lose stacks.
Running bad has also made me deviate wildly from LAG spewy to super tight TAGnit. I think I've reached a good medium where I'm playing at about where I was at 2NL (15/13 - 17/15) but there were times I began to doubt my style, my play and just poker in general. I'm glad to say I don't think I tilted much and instead of crawling back into a hole I went to rewatch some DC videos and that did help me get back some perspective and confidence, but I was really wary until my recent winning session. But anyway, that's all I'm going to say about it.
A few surprising observations I have about 5NL. It seems to be much different from 2NL where it's pretty common to see AFs hovering around 1. At 5NL people seem to be much more aggressive so this whole aggression thing really caught me off guard causing me to make some really bad plays thinking people were bluffing most of the time. Also, table average VPIP always seems to hover around the 25% mark, and even that's a stretch sometimes compared to the standard 30%+ at 2NL. And it's pretty hard to find your standard 2NL 40/2/1.0 fish here which I can take advantage of.
Overall I do think that the standard of player here is better. They tend to not chase too much, make better bets and raises and just generally aren't as loose as those at 2NL. This of course, sucks for me. I rarely have been able to do my usual bang-bang-bang three streets of value as people usually give up by the turn unless they have something really decent and I don't see people stacking off preflop with much worse than QQ or on the flop with just top pair for example. Oh and there is just SO much more 3 betting and squeezing at 5NL it's crazy. I mean, I guess it's good in a way as it helps me get experience in 3 bet pots but I was very taken aback by just how aggressive it is even preflop. I'm pretty sure I've even been 4 bet bluffed a few times (I did manage to pull one of these off). Whoever said 5NL is exactly like 2NL is talking out of his ass, it's just complete bullshit. It just seems like a totally different game.
In fact the game just seems to be full of regs whose stats are pretty decent. I think it's mostly because if fish "just feel like playing" they'll just hit up the 2NL tables which are at the top of the lobby and they won't even bother to scroll down to the 5NL tables. I would even go so far as to say that a lot of 5NL players are 2NL players who are moving up, and if they are moving up, means they're alright players and beating 2NL at a decent rate. This is clearly reflected in the number of 5NL tables - there always seems to be so few. Maybe I've been spoilt with the 60+ tables at all times at 1c/2c but seeing 30 tables is kinda disheartening and makes table selection hard. I would even go so far as to say that I reckon 10NL is easier than 5NL because it's at the top of the "Low" section in FTP's lobby. Of course, that could be just me talking out of my ass due to some of the brutal beats I've had this week.
Moving on from that though, I've managed to release I think 3 payments of my deposit bonus which is about $18.59. This is important as it's probably the only thing that's kept me above $100 so far apart from the one winning session I've had at 5NL. Rakeback as well recieved about $8 on Friday. Oh, would like to point out that it really is easy to clear the bonus at 5NL - I haven't really been paying attention or inputting them into HEM like I did mainly because I was taking beats at the table (hah) but I imagine I can clear a level in a normal 2 session day.
A few hands here, including some sick beats:
2 mistakes I see here - I probably should have raised preflop more and I should have shoved the turn instead of practically minraising. Wouldn't have changed the outcome but still. 1 out 1 time!
Sorry, I meant 1 out 2 times!
Just a hand from 1c/2c. Biggest single pot I've won at these stakes (5 buy-ins!). It goes crazy on the river.
So that's the week. Been running pretty bad for about 5000 hands but hopefully I'm emerging from that. Probably not gonna play a session today, a bit tired and could use the break. On another note, may go to Crown tomorrow but we'll see how it goes. I don't expect to be playing too much this week since I'm heading back on Tuesday so I think Monday will be my last for a while unless Streamyx has suddenly decided to become half-decent. So I'm stocking up on videos to study while in KL then who knows...
Summary:
See how it goes man...
Yes, the inevitable downswing. I've heard about it, read about it, seen rants about it but I've finally experienced it. And it sucks. Oh man does it suck. AA just never seems to hold up, getting 1-outed on the river a few times, multiple preflop raise callers to my AJ+ and not even getting close to hitting the flop... it's just brutal.
What's even worse is moving up a limit in the middle of a downswing. Yup that's right, I officially moved up to 5NL on Wednesday after hitting the golden $150 target. I was initially supposed to move up on Tuesday after having an 8 buy-in Monday but that's when the downswing started and I dropped 10.5 buy-ins. Managed to recover all of it in Wednesday's first session so moved up during the second session.
I won't go into details about the downswing. I won't rant and rave but it really is demoralising when you raise pre, hit top pair and then run into a two pair or a set or get sucked out by a flush draw. Already raising pre and hitting is hard for me right now but then losing stacks to a hand that I'm easily beating pre is just.... arrgghhh. It's just really a usual downswing, getting unlucky running into hands, cold decks and getting sucked out on. Now I'll be the first to admit that I have uncovered a few leaks (losing too much on just pairs due to being dominated) and made numerous mistakes but it's not just that which is causing me to lose stacks.
Running bad has also made me deviate wildly from LAG spewy to super tight TAGnit. I think I've reached a good medium where I'm playing at about where I was at 2NL (15/13 - 17/15) but there were times I began to doubt my style, my play and just poker in general. I'm glad to say I don't think I tilted much and instead of crawling back into a hole I went to rewatch some DC videos and that did help me get back some perspective and confidence, but I was really wary until my recent winning session. But anyway, that's all I'm going to say about it.
A few surprising observations I have about 5NL. It seems to be much different from 2NL where it's pretty common to see AFs hovering around 1. At 5NL people seem to be much more aggressive so this whole aggression thing really caught me off guard causing me to make some really bad plays thinking people were bluffing most of the time. Also, table average VPIP always seems to hover around the 25% mark, and even that's a stretch sometimes compared to the standard 30%+ at 2NL. And it's pretty hard to find your standard 2NL 40/2/1.0 fish here which I can take advantage of.
Overall I do think that the standard of player here is better. They tend to not chase too much, make better bets and raises and just generally aren't as loose as those at 2NL. This of course, sucks for me. I rarely have been able to do my usual bang-bang-bang three streets of value as people usually give up by the turn unless they have something really decent and I don't see people stacking off preflop with much worse than QQ or on the flop with just top pair for example. Oh and there is just SO much more 3 betting and squeezing at 5NL it's crazy. I mean, I guess it's good in a way as it helps me get experience in 3 bet pots but I was very taken aback by just how aggressive it is even preflop. I'm pretty sure I've even been 4 bet bluffed a few times (I did manage to pull one of these off). Whoever said 5NL is exactly like 2NL is talking out of his ass, it's just complete bullshit. It just seems like a totally different game.
In fact the game just seems to be full of regs whose stats are pretty decent. I think it's mostly because if fish "just feel like playing" they'll just hit up the 2NL tables which are at the top of the lobby and they won't even bother to scroll down to the 5NL tables. I would even go so far as to say that a lot of 5NL players are 2NL players who are moving up, and if they are moving up, means they're alright players and beating 2NL at a decent rate. This is clearly reflected in the number of 5NL tables - there always seems to be so few. Maybe I've been spoilt with the 60+ tables at all times at 1c/2c but seeing 30 tables is kinda disheartening and makes table selection hard. I would even go so far as to say that I reckon 10NL is easier than 5NL because it's at the top of the "Low" section in FTP's lobby. Of course, that could be just me talking out of my ass due to some of the brutal beats I've had this week.
Moving on from that though, I've managed to release I think 3 payments of my deposit bonus which is about $18.59. This is important as it's probably the only thing that's kept me above $100 so far apart from the one winning session I've had at 5NL. Rakeback as well recieved about $8 on Friday. Oh, would like to point out that it really is easy to clear the bonus at 5NL - I haven't really been paying attention or inputting them into HEM like I did mainly because I was taking beats at the table (hah) but I imagine I can clear a level in a normal 2 session day.
A few hands here, including some sick beats:
2 mistakes I see here - I probably should have raised preflop more and I should have shoved the turn instead of practically minraising. Wouldn't have changed the outcome but still. 1 out 1 time!
Sorry, I meant 1 out 2 times!
Just a hand from 1c/2c. Biggest single pot I've won at these stakes (5 buy-ins!). It goes crazy on the river.
So that's the week. Been running pretty bad for about 5000 hands but hopefully I'm emerging from that. Probably not gonna play a session today, a bit tired and could use the break. On another note, may go to Crown tomorrow but we'll see how it goes. I don't expect to be playing too much this week since I'm heading back on Tuesday so I think Monday will be my last for a while unless Streamyx has suddenly decided to become half-decent. So I'm stocking up on videos to study while in KL then who knows...
Summary:
- Starting bankroll: $127.06
- Ending bankroll: $111.01
- Gain: -$16.05
See how it goes man...
Sunday, June 7, 2009
The Weekly Report: 30/5/09 - 6/6/09
Yes, I know it is slightly more than a week but its just this time to get things started.
So, the first week back to grinding the micros. How did it go? Well, you be the judge.
You could say I've had a good first week. Or rather a GREAT first week haha. Really didn't expect to be able to pull out a $50 win so soon. And that stuff about being ecstatic with 5bb/100? Well screw that! I'm currently running at 22.85bb/100 which is sustainable at these stakes if my further research hasn't failed me. Keeping things on the level though, it is only my first week so I could be on a heater but I'm not so sure I believe that myself as I've definitely experienced some pretty drastic (at least to me) swings. Here's the graph:
As you can see, I've definitely not had a nice fairytale exponential graph. In fact, I've pretty much had two breakeven periods back-to-back between hands 5286 - 7399 and hands 7964 -10629. That second breakeven period has a suicide drop of about $14 which I ran pretty bad. Really it was split over 2 sessions - the -$7.26 on the 5th and the first half of the next session on the 6th where I somehow managed to end up $2.91.
About standard I guess, no epic coolers or anything just typical overpairs running into sets, AA getting run down, running QQ into bigger pairs twice. There were a few spots which I should have known better than shoving preflop after getting 3bet but I only noticed their really low 3bet stat after going all-in. D'oh! Needless to say that included shoving 55 into a loose villain's JJ. The worse thing about this period though was that when I did win an all-in it usually was for a half-stack compared to when I lost, where I would stack off 100bb's. Damn you shortstackers.
Of course I guess that was just payback for the 10 buy-in session I had on the 2nd ending up $20.21 and thus up $27.87 on the day. I really can't remember too much about that day I just remember that everything was going right during that session. Whenever I had a big hand people really would seem to play back at me drawing really thin. Checking HEM now, there were 3 times I got my money in with 100% equity and 14 times I got it in with more than 75% equity, losing just once. Not much I can say about it I guess, just 3 words - run. like. GOD.
In other poker-related money-making news, I recieved my first rakeback payment this week of $3.02. Yeah not much, but really it's a buy-in and a half so I'm not complaining. I'm still a bit confuseD about the payment schedule for rakeback because on raketracker's forum the guy mentioned that FTP was now paying rakeback directly instead of through affiliates but I got this payment from them not FTP so whatever.
Also, and this is much bigger news, I managed to clear 2 levels of my 100% deposit bonus for a grand total of $12.39 woohoo! I think I clear a level about every 3 days so I'm expecting to clear another $12.39 this week which would be totally awesome as it's way faster than I initially thought I would be able to clear it. Definitely goes a long way towards building the roll for moving up. Yes, I am already realistically starting to think about moving up. I imagine I could hit $150 this week, which would give me the required 30 buyin minimum and honestly can't wait.
So, plans for next week. Gonna start my week of early tomorrow seeing as I have dinner plans and so hoping to wake up at 9 to catch as much of the Triple Points Happy Hour as possible. Also, I've been trying to complete the Phil Gordon 5 Common Hold-Em Leaks challenge as many times as possible to gain Academy Credits, which are essentially 1-for-1 Full Tilt Points (they can be exchanged at 5000 credits). Not sure why I want the points but really there's nothing in the Academy Store that particularly interests me so why not. I think I've completed the challenge 3 times already and there's a max of 10 times so we'll see how it goes.
Finally, not many interesting hands or whatever that I can remember so I can post up. Was supposed to do a session review today but was just way too tired after football. I think I will probably do a midweek post from now on so some things are still fresh in my mind. It will be more of general observations, hands or interesting things rather than a bankroll update. I do know there were some things I noticed at 2nl which I wanted to post earlier in the week but have since forgotten them. Maybe I should start taking paper notes during the week? Anywyay good first week, bring on the second.
Summary:
So, the first week back to grinding the micros. How did it go? Well, you be the judge.
You could say I've had a good first week. Or rather a GREAT first week haha. Really didn't expect to be able to pull out a $50 win so soon. And that stuff about being ecstatic with 5bb/100? Well screw that! I'm currently running at 22.85bb/100 which is sustainable at these stakes if my further research hasn't failed me. Keeping things on the level though, it is only my first week so I could be on a heater but I'm not so sure I believe that myself as I've definitely experienced some pretty drastic (at least to me) swings. Here's the graph:
As you can see, I've definitely not had a nice fairytale exponential graph. In fact, I've pretty much had two breakeven periods back-to-back between hands 5286 - 7399 and hands 7964 -10629. That second breakeven period has a suicide drop of about $14 which I ran pretty bad. Really it was split over 2 sessions - the -$7.26 on the 5th and the first half of the next session on the 6th where I somehow managed to end up $2.91.
About standard I guess, no epic coolers or anything just typical overpairs running into sets, AA getting run down, running QQ into bigger pairs twice. There were a few spots which I should have known better than shoving preflop after getting 3bet but I only noticed their really low 3bet stat after going all-in. D'oh! Needless to say that included shoving 55 into a loose villain's JJ. The worse thing about this period though was that when I did win an all-in it usually was for a half-stack compared to when I lost, where I would stack off 100bb's. Damn you shortstackers.
Of course I guess that was just payback for the 10 buy-in session I had on the 2nd ending up $20.21 and thus up $27.87 on the day. I really can't remember too much about that day I just remember that everything was going right during that session. Whenever I had a big hand people really would seem to play back at me drawing really thin. Checking HEM now, there were 3 times I got my money in with 100% equity and 14 times I got it in with more than 75% equity, losing just once. Not much I can say about it I guess, just 3 words - run. like. GOD.
In other poker-related money-making news, I recieved my first rakeback payment this week of $3.02. Yeah not much, but really it's a buy-in and a half so I'm not complaining. I'm still a bit confuseD about the payment schedule for rakeback because on raketracker's forum the guy mentioned that FTP was now paying rakeback directly instead of through affiliates but I got this payment from them not FTP so whatever.
Also, and this is much bigger news, I managed to clear 2 levels of my 100% deposit bonus for a grand total of $12.39 woohoo! I think I clear a level about every 3 days so I'm expecting to clear another $12.39 this week which would be totally awesome as it's way faster than I initially thought I would be able to clear it. Definitely goes a long way towards building the roll for moving up. Yes, I am already realistically starting to think about moving up. I imagine I could hit $150 this week, which would give me the required 30 buyin minimum and honestly can't wait.
So, plans for next week. Gonna start my week of early tomorrow seeing as I have dinner plans and so hoping to wake up at 9 to catch as much of the Triple Points Happy Hour as possible. Also, I've been trying to complete the Phil Gordon 5 Common Hold-Em Leaks challenge as many times as possible to gain Academy Credits, which are essentially 1-for-1 Full Tilt Points (they can be exchanged at 5000 credits). Not sure why I want the points but really there's nothing in the Academy Store that particularly interests me so why not. I think I've completed the challenge 3 times already and there's a max of 10 times so we'll see how it goes.
Finally, not many interesting hands or whatever that I can remember so I can post up. Was supposed to do a session review today but was just way too tired after football. I think I will probably do a midweek post from now on so some things are still fresh in my mind. It will be more of general observations, hands or interesting things rather than a bankroll update. I do know there were some things I noticed at 2nl which I wanted to post earlier in the week but have since forgotten them. Maybe I should start taking paper notes during the week? Anywyay good first week, bring on the second.
Summary:
- Starting bankroll: $61.96
- Ending bankroll: $127.06
- Gain: $65.10
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The First Day
Wasn't actually planning on playing today but I was bored after browsing the city and had nothing to do so I decided to get started today. Not immediately of course, I got back at around 7-ish and felt tired so I made dinner and thought I would just run through an episode of Micro No-Limit Grinder to get myself in the poker mood. That plan of course failed to materialise when I fired up SpadeEye to scan the tables while I was watching only to find my trial had expired. Sucks. I spent the next few minutes searching for... things... online only to no avail so I just thought, "Screw it, everyone at the micro stakes is shit anyway I don't really need a table selector to find the fish." And boy was I right.
I didn't get around to making a post I wanted to make before I started this project. Basically it was going to say how pensive I was at starting, the initial excitement of waiting for the deposit to come through was overwhelmed by uncertainty and fear which I guess caused me to want to delay the start of it to Monday. I realised that I had busted my previous (miniscule) roll while I was on a downswing and was afraid that the downswing would continue itself into my new roll. Well, that was the gist of it anyway. And I definitely thought that it was happening after dropping two+ buy-ins in my first 200 hands.
Thank god it didn't last too long and after 3.5 hours and 836 hands I've finished with an awesome return of $4.47. Sure it looks like a small win now but looking at the big picture if I manage to win just $2 everyday for a month I'm gonna double my bankroll. Really, I'm just pleased with booking the win and I have to say my first day got off to a good start. I probably will not do daily updates unlike last time because I think they do have a negative psychological influence and do make me a bit results-oriented. This first day report is an exception though.
As for multitabling, it did take a while for me to get used to, especially since I can't tile the tables on my tiny 14" screen laptop. In the end I opted for cascade but there were a few times I timed out and misclicked but I guess it's just a matter of getting used to. Also, I found it really hard to really get a read (aside from HEM stats of course) and make notes on opponents simply because there was always something that required my attention at other tables that I never really had the time to watch any interesting hands or think long enough about tough decisions. Most of the time I just felt I was playing my cards and position rather than my opponents, although that did start to change a bit towards the end of the session when I got more comfortable with it and pulled off a few double-barrell bluffs and squeeze plays based on opponent stats.
Oh and I think I just made a huge step forward in my cash game by putting "value bet, value bet, value bet" into practice. I wouldn't say I noticed anyone calling me down particularly light with any frequency but I did learn to bet my hands appropriately and stacked a few people through proper bet sizing and I am deifinitely calmer playing multiway raised pots and 3bet pots. I can't believe I never noticed it before but it seems that most people will seemingly tell you when you're beat by raising, otherwise they just call or fold. Definitely a lightbulb moment for me.
I guess that's about it for now. Will update this post tomorrow with hands and graph and some other observations I may have missed. There's some stuff I think I may have miscalculated in my previous post in regards to bonus clearing and rake but too lazy to go through it now. Need to get some sleep for football tomorrow at 10.
See how it goes man...
I didn't get around to making a post I wanted to make before I started this project. Basically it was going to say how pensive I was at starting, the initial excitement of waiting for the deposit to come through was overwhelmed by uncertainty and fear which I guess caused me to want to delay the start of it to Monday. I realised that I had busted my previous (miniscule) roll while I was on a downswing and was afraid that the downswing would continue itself into my new roll. Well, that was the gist of it anyway. And I definitely thought that it was happening after dropping two+ buy-ins in my first 200 hands.
Thank god it didn't last too long and after 3.5 hours and 836 hands I've finished with an awesome return of $4.47. Sure it looks like a small win now but looking at the big picture if I manage to win just $2 everyday for a month I'm gonna double my bankroll. Really, I'm just pleased with booking the win and I have to say my first day got off to a good start. I probably will not do daily updates unlike last time because I think they do have a negative psychological influence and do make me a bit results-oriented. This first day report is an exception though.
As for multitabling, it did take a while for me to get used to, especially since I can't tile the tables on my tiny 14" screen laptop. In the end I opted for cascade but there were a few times I timed out and misclicked but I guess it's just a matter of getting used to. Also, I found it really hard to really get a read (aside from HEM stats of course) and make notes on opponents simply because there was always something that required my attention at other tables that I never really had the time to watch any interesting hands or think long enough about tough decisions. Most of the time I just felt I was playing my cards and position rather than my opponents, although that did start to change a bit towards the end of the session when I got more comfortable with it and pulled off a few double-barrell bluffs and squeeze plays based on opponent stats.
Oh and I think I just made a huge step forward in my cash game by putting "value bet, value bet, value bet" into practice. I wouldn't say I noticed anyone calling me down particularly light with any frequency but I did learn to bet my hands appropriately and stacked a few people through proper bet sizing and I am deifinitely calmer playing multiway raised pots and 3bet pots. I can't believe I never noticed it before but it seems that most people will seemingly tell you when you're beat by raising, otherwise they just call or fold. Definitely a lightbulb moment for me.
I guess that's about it for now. Will update this post tomorrow with hands and graph and some other observations I may have missed. There's some stuff I think I may have miscalculated in my previous post in regards to bonus clearing and rake but too lazy to go through it now. Need to get some sleep for football tomorrow at 10.
See how it goes man...
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Just Shipped the Cash
So I just deposited on $80 AUD (about $60 USD) on FTP through local bank transfer and am just waiting for it to clear. It should be done by Friday since account clearing happens daily but it would be great if somehow it managed to get through sometime around 9 or 10 tomorrow morning due to the awesome Champions League final / breakfast plan tomorrow. I'm planning to sleep really early tonight and wake up for the game then just stay up the rest of the day. Really have no plans whatsoever so it would be great if I had some funds to start this little project.
It's quite funny really how I applied for a credit card really just so I could deposit, but took the bank transfer route instead. I recieved my card earlier today only to realise it's a Master instead of a Visa. Of course me being me, I fully researched people's experiences depositing with MasterCard and it seems it's a bit hit and miss. Plus they put in all these little points about how your bank may charge you this fee and that fee. Ugh. The scary thing for me was how FTP said they wouldn't refund should the transaction get rejected which is totally possible as I read some banks reject transactions to online gambling sites. How bullshit is that? They refund Visa though.
So after trawling through 2+2 posts and google-bashing deposit options for Australians (not that I allude to being one), I got basically zero information on the best way. A lot of people were saying Neteller but I'm really hesitant to provide my personal details to such an unreputable site (at least in my eyes) plus they charge fees for withdrawal which sucks. Bank transfer seems the best/cheapest way to deposit but the only thing is they don't tell you what exchange rate they're gonna use so that kinda sucks though I don't think it'll be something ridiculous like 5% on top of the current rate. That's the reason I deposited $80 instead of the $76 XE told me $60 USD is worth. Though about shooting an email to FTP support but general consensus is they take an age to get back to you so I thought I would just risk it.
Anyway, hopefully tomorrow turns out to be an awesome day with United completing the quadruple inMoscow Rome, enjoying an awesomely awesome breakfast and being pleasantly surprised by the numbers being $60 instead of $0.00 when I click the Cashier button.
See how it goes man...
It's quite funny really how I applied for a credit card really just so I could deposit, but took the bank transfer route instead. I recieved my card earlier today only to realise it's a Master instead of a Visa. Of course me being me, I fully researched people's experiences depositing with MasterCard and it seems it's a bit hit and miss. Plus they put in all these little points about how your bank may charge you this fee and that fee. Ugh. The scary thing for me was how FTP said they wouldn't refund should the transaction get rejected which is totally possible as I read some banks reject transactions to online gambling sites. How bullshit is that? They refund Visa though.
So after trawling through 2+2 posts and google-bashing deposit options for Australians (not that I allude to being one), I got basically zero information on the best way. A lot of people were saying Neteller but I'm really hesitant to provide my personal details to such an unreputable site (at least in my eyes) plus they charge fees for withdrawal which sucks. Bank transfer seems the best/cheapest way to deposit but the only thing is they don't tell you what exchange rate they're gonna use so that kinda sucks though I don't think it'll be something ridiculous like 5% on top of the current rate. That's the reason I deposited $80 instead of the $76 XE told me $60 USD is worth. Though about shooting an email to FTP support but general consensus is they take an age to get back to you so I thought I would just risk it.
Anyway, hopefully tomorrow turns out to be an awesome day with United completing the quadruple in
See how it goes man...
A few sums
Probably endeavoring to play 1000 hands or more per day 4 tabling. What does that mean?
60 hands/table/hour X 4 tables = 240 hands/hour
240 hands/hour X 5 hours = 1200 hands/day
1200 hands/day X 7 days = 8400 hands/week
8400 hands/week X 4 weeks = 33 600 hands/month
If I run at 4bb/100 @ 1c/2c:
$0.04 X 4 X 336 = $53.76 per month
So that's the plan. Will be hard though, considering I have never played 4 tables before and the 4bb/100 winrate is really just an arbitrary figure I pulled out based on stuff I've read. Hell, I've read its possible to pull out as much as 10bb/100 at these stakes although I'm pretty damn sure I won't get close to that. I would be very happy with 4, ecstatic with 5.
On another note, I researched a bit on the deposit bonus I think I would be eligible for on FTP - the 100% up to $600. Planning on depositing $60 so that would be awesome to get to easily double the bankroll. But I'm not so sure about how to calculate the bonus points though. From the bonuswhores.com site:
So I checked the rake structure at 1c/2c 6-max which is 1c/15c pot. If I'm understanding this right, I would need 1000 points to get the full $60 bonus since 1 point = $0.06. So assuming the average pot I play is only 15c
1000 points / 0.01 bonus points per hand = 100 000 hands
100 000 hands / 33 600 hands per month = 2.98 months
Which... is a while. Hopefully the average pot of 15c I'm assuming here is a bit low. Here's the catch though - the bonus is only valid for 120 days ie. 4 months. Basically, I have to maintain that target volume for 3 months in to get the full bonus (luckily they release it in increments of 10% ie. $6 ie. 10 000 hands) which may be hard what with the whole beijing thing coming up. So the extra month helps but I'm not too sure if I can make up my expected decreased volume during beijing in that extra month.
Also, I emailed my rakeback affiliate to get them to move me back to them seeing as how last time they told me that FTP moved me off their list because I failed to have more than $25 in my account anytime soon after I signed up. In an earlier email I sent them when I started playing cash again they said they could easily move me back once I had $25 in my account to which I replied ok I will let you know if I do. Now I'm planning to deposit $60 so hopefully they were true to their word that they can easily move me back. Hopefully. I think rakeback may be a dealbreaker for me playing at FTP despite it being my preferred site (I hesitate to say favourite since I've really only dabbled with Stars and very very very very briefly Absolute Poker pre-scandal).
So that's the plan. I'm not gonna mention moving up to 2c/5c eventhough I sort of have done the sums and stuff because I think it's absurd to even consider it seeing as I haven't even played a hand yet in my comeback to poker. The credit card confirmation came through today and I'm hoping to recieve it in the mail tomorrow, activate it and deposit before the end of the week so I can start. I am actually quite anxious about it seeing as all the preparation I've put in and I think the possibility of me busting is probably significantly more than the possibility of me being a winner right now. But that talk is for the next post.
See how it goes man...
60 hands/table/hour X 4 tables = 240 hands/hour
240 hands/hour X 5 hours = 1200 hands/day
1200 hands/day X 7 days = 8400 hands/week
8400 hands/week X 4 weeks = 33 600 hands/month
If I run at 4bb/100 @ 1c/2c:
$0.04 X 4 X 336 = $53.76 per month
So that's the plan. Will be hard though, considering I have never played 4 tables before and the 4bb/100 winrate is really just an arbitrary figure I pulled out based on stuff I've read. Hell, I've read its possible to pull out as much as 10bb/100 at these stakes although I'm pretty damn sure I won't get close to that. I would be very happy with 4, ecstatic with 5.
On another note, I researched a bit on the deposit bonus I think I would be eligible for on FTP - the 100% up to $600. Planning on depositing $60 so that would be awesome to get to easily double the bankroll. But I'm not so sure about how to calculate the bonus points though. From the bonuswhores.com site:
For each dollar raked from the pot, you will earn one point. You can earn partial points if less than one dollar is raked, and you can earn up to three points per hand. Basically, the amount that is raked is equal to the amount of points you will get per hand (a hand raked at $0.50 would give you 0.50 points). Each point is worth $0.06, so you can earn up to $18 per hundred hands.
So I checked the rake structure at 1c/2c 6-max which is 1c/15c pot. If I'm understanding this right, I would need 1000 points to get the full $60 bonus since 1 point = $0.06. So assuming the average pot I play is only 15c
1000 points / 0.01 bonus points per hand = 100 000 hands
100 000 hands / 33 600 hands per month = 2.98 months
Which... is a while. Hopefully the average pot of 15c I'm assuming here is a bit low. Here's the catch though - the bonus is only valid for 120 days ie. 4 months. Basically, I have to maintain that target volume for 3 months in to get the full bonus (luckily they release it in increments of 10% ie. $6 ie. 10 000 hands) which may be hard what with the whole beijing thing coming up. So the extra month helps but I'm not too sure if I can make up my expected decreased volume during beijing in that extra month.
Also, I emailed my rakeback affiliate to get them to move me back to them seeing as how last time they told me that FTP moved me off their list because I failed to have more than $25 in my account anytime soon after I signed up. In an earlier email I sent them when I started playing cash again they said they could easily move me back once I had $25 in my account to which I replied ok I will let you know if I do. Now I'm planning to deposit $60 so hopefully they were true to their word that they can easily move me back. Hopefully. I think rakeback may be a dealbreaker for me playing at FTP despite it being my preferred site (I hesitate to say favourite since I've really only dabbled with Stars and very very very very briefly Absolute Poker pre-scandal).
So that's the plan. I'm not gonna mention moving up to 2c/5c eventhough I sort of have done the sums and stuff because I think it's absurd to even consider it seeing as I haven't even played a hand yet in my comeback to poker. The credit card confirmation came through today and I'm hoping to recieve it in the mail tomorrow, activate it and deposit before the end of the week so I can start. I am actually quite anxious about it seeing as all the preparation I've put in and I think the possibility of me busting is probably significantly more than the possibility of me being a winner right now. But that talk is for the next post.
See how it goes man...
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Saddling up
Wow it's been more than 2 months since I last played a cash hand online. After that hand I kinda forgot about poker for a while, didn't really have an urge to play or really miss it all that much. Then slowly played a couple of home cash games with the usual, got back into playing some of the cardschat freerolls until I'm at the point now where all I can really think about is poker again. Oy...
I've decided this time that if I'm gonna do it I'm gonna do it right. I have applied for a credit card which hopefully gets approved (since I am considered by them to be a full time student (heh, heh) and thus have no income) so I can make my first ever deposit. Probably gonna deposit $60 so I get my full 30 buy-in bankroll thing. Doing the sums in my head it is fully possible to more than double that in a month and a half if I play 4-tables @ 60 hands/hour for 5 hours a day with a winrate of about 4ptbb/100. Here's the shit thing though - with going to Beijing on the 22nd(?) of June I probably will miss at least a week of poker time, so if I'm up to it, I really need to grind more during my time I have here now.
What did I say about doing it right again? Oh yea, I've downloaded some deucescracked vids and have been going through their Real Life Micro No-Limit Grinder series and there's just so much good stuff to be learnt there. I can't say enough about it just watching and listening to the discussion and coaching is really helpful and made me realise just how much I really don't know about playing cash at the micro levels. I never really understood what value-betting was until I saw these vids and just the way that the coach WiltOnTilt teaches you how to think and put opponents on hands is really eye-opening. I can really see how membership to such training sites are a great investment for people and I imagine that if I manage to grind up to let's say 10c/25c I would be willing to pay for membership and that's a big compliment coming from me.
So while waiting for credit card approval I've decided to finish watching that season 1 of that series then *maybe* if I'm not feeling too lazy go over the whole season again and make notes because as much as I've learnt and remembered I'm sure there's tons more stuff which I didn't catch or forgot. Of course, I may be super lazy (which is a very distinct possibility) and just move on to season 2.
Oh yea, also downloaded Hold'em Manager yesterday. I think I'm 95% sure I'm gonna make the switch over from PokerTracker. HEM just seems to run much smoother and I like the look of their HUD more. Of course it also helps that the deucescracked vids all use HEM and I wanna be able to follow them more closely. Awesome marketing strategy I have to say. Also started datamining the 6-max tables (which are the ones I'm pretty sure I'm gonna play again due to the DC vids instead of full ring) with SpadeEye. Just hoping to be able to log as many hands on as many players as possible so I don't just jump right in blind. Already come across a few regulars and some people I may want to target. Have to say there is distinct lack of preflop raising at these levels though which is surprising, I've rarely seen a player with a PFR of more than 9.
So that's my preparation for getting back into the game. Pretty intense I have to say for 1c/2c limits but hey, if it's all free and I got time to kill then why not. Of course this could all come to nought and I'll just piss away $60. Guess I won't know till I start playing. Still need to check up about bonuses and stuff I'm eligible for with my deposit at FT and also get in touch with my rakeback affiliate to reactivate my account. Hopefully all this stuff pays off. I reckon I'm more prepared now than I ever have been for poker.
See how it goes man...
I've decided this time that if I'm gonna do it I'm gonna do it right. I have applied for a credit card which hopefully gets approved (since I am considered by them to be a full time student (heh, heh) and thus have no income) so I can make my first ever deposit. Probably gonna deposit $60 so I get my full 30 buy-in bankroll thing. Doing the sums in my head it is fully possible to more than double that in a month and a half if I play 4-tables @ 60 hands/hour for 5 hours a day with a winrate of about 4ptbb/100. Here's the shit thing though - with going to Beijing on the 22nd(?) of June I probably will miss at least a week of poker time, so if I'm up to it, I really need to grind more during my time I have here now.
What did I say about doing it right again? Oh yea, I've downloaded some deucescracked vids and have been going through their Real Life Micro No-Limit Grinder series and there's just so much good stuff to be learnt there. I can't say enough about it just watching and listening to the discussion and coaching is really helpful and made me realise just how much I really don't know about playing cash at the micro levels. I never really understood what value-betting was until I saw these vids and just the way that the coach WiltOnTilt teaches you how to think and put opponents on hands is really eye-opening. I can really see how membership to such training sites are a great investment for people and I imagine that if I manage to grind up to let's say 10c/25c I would be willing to pay for membership and that's a big compliment coming from me.
So while waiting for credit card approval I've decided to finish watching that season 1 of that series then *maybe* if I'm not feeling too lazy go over the whole season again and make notes because as much as I've learnt and remembered I'm sure there's tons more stuff which I didn't catch or forgot. Of course, I may be super lazy (which is a very distinct possibility) and just move on to season 2.
Oh yea, also downloaded Hold'em Manager yesterday. I think I'm 95% sure I'm gonna make the switch over from PokerTracker. HEM just seems to run much smoother and I like the look of their HUD more. Of course it also helps that the deucescracked vids all use HEM and I wanna be able to follow them more closely. Awesome marketing strategy I have to say. Also started datamining the 6-max tables (which are the ones I'm pretty sure I'm gonna play again due to the DC vids instead of full ring) with SpadeEye. Just hoping to be able to log as many hands on as many players as possible so I don't just jump right in blind. Already come across a few regulars and some people I may want to target. Have to say there is distinct lack of preflop raising at these levels though which is surprising, I've rarely seen a player with a PFR of more than 9.
So that's my preparation for getting back into the game. Pretty intense I have to say for 1c/2c limits but hey, if it's all free and I got time to kill then why not. Of course this could all come to nought and I'll just piss away $60. Guess I won't know till I start playing. Still need to check up about bonuses and stuff I'm eligible for with my deposit at FT and also get in touch with my rakeback affiliate to reactivate my account. Hopefully all this stuff pays off. I reckon I'm more prepared now than I ever have been for poker.
See how it goes man...
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