Another Bit of Genius

I've been pondering how to write a long post about cannibalistic polar bears and wounded sharks, but I think I'll summarize the idea in a single sentence. The following is my litmus test for when I'm too tilted to continue playing -- it applies primarily to no limit games, but also applies to limit hold'em to a large degree.

If I find myself waiting around for a premium hand to beat my opponents, it is time to get up from the table.

Read, ponder, and comment. There's a lot of wisdom in this idea and it's taken me years (and many tilted nights) to figure it out.

I guess I haven't worn the game out yet...

"Wow, Sean has chips in front of him. That doesn't happen too often!"

That was what the host of my local $1/2 NL game said last Saturday night.

In the past four sessions I've pulled almost $1100 out of the game (one small loss). That's an average of $60/hr. FYI, this isn't a brag (ok, maybe it is), because I've been very lucky at least two or three of the sessions I played. I suspect my real win rate is closer to $10-20/hr.

I was a little concerned that my good fortune would be noticed and get me uninvited but I guess my image is pretty safe!

As a side note, the host has lost over $1K by my count during those same four sessions. He's not playing tonight although he's letting everyone else play anyway and I half expect he'll sit in. Personally, I want to see him snap out of his Tilty McTiltipants funk, because his cloud of gloom spreads over the table, but I know profit will be harder to come by if he gets back on his game again.

Oh, and I'm not playing tonight, but I hope to play more in the next few weeks.

On Staking and Backing

Pauly mentioned this excellent staking thread on 2+2 and that has gotten me on the topic of staking and backing.

As you probably know, I was backed for the first few months of this year in $6/12 and $8/16 limit hold'em at the local casinos. Actually, it wasn't really a backing arrangement, it was more of him taking a piece of my action. Our deal was basic -- he puts in 50% of the cash, and takes 50% of any win or loss.

In a way, this deal was non-standard and screwed me a bit, since the 'standard' deal is the backer puts in 100% of the cash and takes 50-60% of the profit, assuming I make up any losses before I pocket any profit. The important thing was: we suspected I'd be profitable, but no one, especially me, was confident that I would. Plus, not having to worry about make up gave me a nice exit strategy (if I decided LHE wasn't for me, I didn't want to stick him with a big loss).

In the end, I spent 3 months with the deal in $6/12 (and 3/6) and earned my backer $562. Then, for April, we did a one-month deal where only my 8/16 was part of the deal, and I lost him $204. The deal pretty much worked out well for both of us; I turned 6/12 into a 3/6 game so I could afford it, and he made almost $400 by giving me about $500 in cash.

Would I do it again?

I'd prefer not to, but in certain cases (larger tournaments) I feel that my ability outdistances my bankroll. For cash games, though, I don't think that is the case. My cash game wheelhouse based on my BR is $6/12 and $100NL, and that's where I think I should stay for a while. And, of course, if my bankroll dropped too low for $6/12, I'd consider it. Honestly, though, I'd rather keep my +EV for myself whenever possible :)

As for staking other players... well, let's just say I'm not exactly rolling in money right now so it isn't an option. Well, let me restate that; I'd have no trouble staking someone pocket change ($20) if I trusted them.

In the future, if I had a ton of left-over money, I might consider it, but not for large amounts (more than around $1K) unless I suddenly became rich. There's just too many ways for the deal to turn out bad and/or add stress to my life.

The absurd thing is that this 18yo guy, Timex, is staking players and getting down $100K+ to other players. I'd bet that he probably has a million or two tied up in staking arrangements... What the hell kind of parents let a kid loan out that kind of money, even if he did make it gambling online at 16?

Staking arrangements do explain why I see so many players in monster events (like Poker After Dark or $100K tournaments) who don't seem like they should be able to afford the event.


BTW, this post isn't an invitation to ask me to stake you. Not even $5 online. Find someone else...

Dealerless Poker Tables

One of the things on my list on my LA trip was to try a Lightning electronic poker table (or a PokerTek). But I noticed an odd thing: both the Bike and Commerce (some of the largest poker rooms anywhere) had the tables, but NOBODY WAS USING THEM.

In both casinos, the Lighting tables were set up for $34 + 6 SnGs. There was no list, and other than people randomly resting and chatting near them, nobody was even interested in them.

I don't think this is a problem with the operation of the tables.

I think it is a tactile issue. Handling chips and cards is just part of the game.

For example, imagine one of your best days ever at poker. You had a mound of chips in front of you, right? For me, I think of the day I won almost $700 in the Garden City 6/12 and had over 400 $2 chips stacked in front of me.

I made the 25-chip stack arrow with a second floor.

It was a great day.

Now, imagine all those chips are just a number on a screen in front of you... It's a little bit less fun, huh.


Of course, it's all about economics. If there are enough financial reasons to play at an electronic table (games not offered live, significantly less rake, etc.) people will do it, but I suspect the rake will need to be near-free for it to happen.

The tactile aspect of poker is just too important to most players.


Hmmm... I wonder what it'd take for the Bellagio 'Big Game' to be played at an electronic table. I suspect PokerTek would have to pay Doyle, Patrik, and Jennifer over $100 an hour to do it...


Although I'd love to have a heads-up table at my house for little heads-up matches after my home game is over. Dealing heads-up is just so tedious. It wouldn't even have to keep track of bets, just deal the cards, the turn, the flop, and the river.

In a previous life (A.K.A. bachelorhood) I was an arcade game collector. I had my collection up to one (a Neo-Geo one-slot MVS rig with a number of games) before I got married and shipped it to Washington state. But there's a lot of cocktail tables out there, and they'd be perfect for a little heads-up console if I added a cheap monitor and an old computer. Hmmm...

The last thing I need is another project to be left unfinished and ultimately abandoned...

May Update

From my post frequency, you can probably tell my focus has shifted from poker a bit.

Actually, my shift has focused from blogging about poker more than anything else...

Let's just say that I just don't have as much time idle at a computer as I used to.

So, let me catch you up on the past month or so in my poker life.

(anybody reminded of Robert's style of writing right now? What is wrong with me?)

*****

The first few days of May I played a lot (meaning 3 hours) on UB. Apparently there's a lot of cheaters on UB. I suspect my stakes ($2 NL, 50c limit) are pretty safe though.

Let's be honest, internet poker just isn't as fun as it used to be.

*****

I played one night at Garden City this month. I ended up playing 8/16 to start to get on a table, winning $21, then losing $50 once I got to a 6/12 table. I can't remember much about it, although I wasn't playing horribly, but wasn't that well either.

*****

When I was in LA I played on night at Commerce. OHMYGOD that is a huge casino. I played 4/8 limit with a kill and then normal 4/8 a little later. When I was there, there were at least 15 tables of 4/8 running plus another seven of the 4/8 kill game running. I really wish I lived closer to that casino.

BTW, I lost $200 in the kill game with a few bad plays (cold calling a raise with KJo in a multi-way kill pot and getting all-in with a flopped king) but won $112 back in the non-kill game. I found the kill game much harder than the non-kill game; I think a lot of bad players are scared by the kill.

Oh, and I saw a guy in the high-limit section that looked familiar, and then I realized it was Ted Forrest. Later I saw Greenstein sitting at his table too.

*****

A couple of nights before I played the $50+10 + rebuys Deep Stack tournament at the Bike. Again, another huge casino. The comedy came when at 6:55 when I was waiting in the main room for the tournament to start and I asked one of the six dealers loitering around how I locate my table. He said it was in the ballroom. Apparently, my feeble mind just couldn't consider that there were even more poker tables elsewhere, even without evidence of the other 300 players in the tourney.

The tourney structure was great with essentially a $200+10 buy-in, half-hour levels at first, and a slow structure. If I get a chance I'll scan and upload the structure sheet (info that I searched everywhere on the net for before I left).

My tournament: well, I doubled early when I raised with 42s, turned a flush, and had a guy push into my turn bet with a straight draw, no club. Apparently he couldn't read the board that well.

I took a big hit later when my AKo ran into AA a little after the rebuy period ended. Pretty normal stuff, except when you consider I had like 70 big blinds in my stack and I four-bet all-in with a ton left over. It was a big mistake, and I wasn't thinking straight when I did it. That said, 90 minutes in if you have a 70BB stack with near the average in chips, that's a good tournament. I wish I was closer so I could play some of the 20/30 events.

*****

Played a few homegames and won a little and lost a little more. No big deal. Although I did have top pair runner-runner my set which hurt a lot... until I realized I was only a 17:1 favorite (I thought it was more like 50:1).

*****

Won $444 at the 1/2 NL game on Saturday night. I've almost covered all my losses in that game which feels really good. I played well, but not perfectly -- I overbet a value bet, missed a few small bluffs, and bluffed in a bad spot once or twice. Mostly, I just never had a substantial second-best hand (top pair is not a substantial second best hand -- that's easy to lay down).

The nice thing about the win was it erased my losses from the month (my LA trip and a few other things). So my bankroll is scratching $3K again and near a few year high.

*****

What next? Well, my next few weeks are pretty busy, but after that I hope to get some more live poker at GC and play the 1/2 NL game more often as long as the host doesn't shut the game down since he's been losing $300 a night.

And in this spot, I'm going to lean more towards the short and sweet posts instead of long summaries like this.