While playing online poker, I constantly try to monitor my opponents. I make notes on their play. I also regularly check their numbers on OPR, and it seems that every night I find something more surprising.
Sometimes it's someone who has played 300 tournaments and cashed three times. Sometimes it's someone who has played 15 tournaments in the last four hours. But one guy last night really set the bar high for craziness.
Yahoo No. 1 (not his real fake name) has cashed for $236,462. Almost a quarter million dollars in cashes.
Notice I didn't say in "earnings."
That's because while he has won $236,462, his profit is only $5,986.
I can think of a lot of ways to make $6,000, but probably the most time-consuming way is to play in more than 15,000 SNGs and tournaments.
That means he's making about 40 cents per SNG/tournament, which isn't a great rate.
Collecting cans in the park would be more lucrative.
Of course, if you multi-table, I guess … no, you still can't make any money this way. Although this guy takes multi-tabling to a new level. He played more than 2,200 SNGs and tournaments LAST MONTH.
I love poker, but Yahoo No. 1 needs to get a life.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Um, please keep your mouth shut
Just realized I never posted this after my Vegas trip. Too busy to come up with something original today, so here you go:
The situation: Blinds are 1,000-2,000 in a small buy-in shove-fest at Planet Hollywood. Tournament pays four people and there are six left. I'm in the big blind with 6,000 or 7,000 in chips, which means about a third of my chips are already in the pot. (Still, I had one of the biggest stacks at the table at this point.)
The guy in first position has all his chips — 2,500 — in his hand. He's pondering his options, which are to shove knowing I'm going to call or to fold and play whatever two cards he gets dealt in the next hand for all his chips when he's in the big blind. Clearly, he should shove if he has anything — and I mean anything. Suited? Connected? One-gappers? Any one card 3 or higher? I mean freakin' anything.
But while he's pondering, the dealer chimes in.
"Just do it," she says.
After another 10 or 15 seconds, he does it, and instead of what might have been a walk and 3,000 more chips in my stack, I have to put 500 more chips in with 9-3 offsuit. He beats me with JT offsuit, and I am forced to scold a dealer for the first time in my life.
"You didn't have to encourage him," I said.
"He was going to do it anyway," she said.
"Yeah, I was," the other player said.
They were both right. But that was not the point.
"I know," I said. "But you didn't have to encourage him."
I didn't raise my voice. I was not overly upset. But dealers should keep their mouths shut in situations like these. I needed to make my point.
I did. She apologized a few minutes later.
The situation: Blinds are 1,000-2,000 in a small buy-in shove-fest at Planet Hollywood. Tournament pays four people and there are six left. I'm in the big blind with 6,000 or 7,000 in chips, which means about a third of my chips are already in the pot. (Still, I had one of the biggest stacks at the table at this point.)
The guy in first position has all his chips — 2,500 — in his hand. He's pondering his options, which are to shove knowing I'm going to call or to fold and play whatever two cards he gets dealt in the next hand for all his chips when he's in the big blind. Clearly, he should shove if he has anything — and I mean anything. Suited? Connected? One-gappers? Any one card 3 or higher? I mean freakin' anything.
But while he's pondering, the dealer chimes in.
"Just do it," she says.
After another 10 or 15 seconds, he does it, and instead of what might have been a walk and 3,000 more chips in my stack, I have to put 500 more chips in with 9-3 offsuit. He beats me with JT offsuit, and I am forced to scold a dealer for the first time in my life.
"You didn't have to encourage him," I said.
"He was going to do it anyway," she said.
"Yeah, I was," the other player said.
They were both right. But that was not the point.
"I know," I said. "But you didn't have to encourage him."
I didn't raise my voice. I was not overly upset. But dealers should keep their mouths shut in situations like these. I needed to make my point.
I did. She apologized a few minutes later.
Monday, April 20, 2009
What now?
There is a hole in the plan.
If I continue to increase the stakes that I play for as my bankroll continues to grow, my bankroll should grow exponentially. I should be able to double it every couple months, which should eventually get me to $50,000.
But I've run into a problem. Even though I am bankrolled to play games in the $25 to $30 range, I spend most of my time playing $11 SNGs.
Why? Because they fill up. The $11 SNGs for both 18 and 45 players tend to fill up and start every five or 10 minutes. Even the 27-player SNGs, which might be my favorite, fill up every 10 or 20 minutes.
But when I sign up for a $22 SNG, I am often the only one. After waiting for five or 10 minutes and still needing 17 or 44 people to play, I often move on.
There is one SNG at the $26 level, but it seems especially tough. There are fewer fish in that game, but I'm not sure if it's because of the buy-in or because it's the only game available at that buy-in. No matter what, I fear skipping over it into the $33 game for a few reasons:
— Those games don't seem to fill up very fast.
— I'm barely bankrolled for those games, so if I go two or three games without cashing I'm going to have to move back down.
— I've been getting killed in the $26. I am now 0-for-I'm-not-even-going-to-check-how-many, which makes me hesitant to move up to play $33 games.
Current bankroll: $1,399.
OPR ranking: 98.1.
If I continue to increase the stakes that I play for as my bankroll continues to grow, my bankroll should grow exponentially. I should be able to double it every couple months, which should eventually get me to $50,000.
But I've run into a problem. Even though I am bankrolled to play games in the $25 to $30 range, I spend most of my time playing $11 SNGs.
Why? Because they fill up. The $11 SNGs for both 18 and 45 players tend to fill up and start every five or 10 minutes. Even the 27-player SNGs, which might be my favorite, fill up every 10 or 20 minutes.
But when I sign up for a $22 SNG, I am often the only one. After waiting for five or 10 minutes and still needing 17 or 44 people to play, I often move on.
There is one SNG at the $26 level, but it seems especially tough. There are fewer fish in that game, but I'm not sure if it's because of the buy-in or because it's the only game available at that buy-in. No matter what, I fear skipping over it into the $33 game for a few reasons:
— Those games don't seem to fill up very fast.
— I'm barely bankrolled for those games, so if I go two or three games without cashing I'm going to have to move back down.
— I've been getting killed in the $26. I am now 0-for-I'm-not-even-going-to-check-how-many, which makes me hesitant to move up to play $33 games.
Current bankroll: $1,399.
OPR ranking: 98.1.
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