HORSE 1000
Since I cashed out most of my online poker money, my poker play has been marginal at best. I originally started with $44 at Party Poker and I built that to as high as $90 playing $25 NL, but my heart wasn't in it and I would frequently donk away a buy-in or two. Last Wednesday night, I played just a little bit at Party (starting at $45 or so), winning a few dollars, bringing up my bankroll there to $51.71. I then moved on to play at some other sites (more later). Why is this important? On Thursday, I noticed that Party was going to ban all of their US players on Friday, so I cashed out $51 (the minimum withdrawal amount is $50).
I also played some at Full Contact Poker and this game was just harsh. I took bad beat after bad beat eventually going bust when I pushed preflop with KK and got called with 22... only to see a deuce come on the river. It wasn't that big of a deal to go bust there, considering that I had cashed out all but $50 when I decided to "semi-retire" from poker again.
From there, I moved onto UltimateBet, where I played like a donkey and I almost went bust. I pissed away a few dollars here and there before I totally went nuts. I had a soft table with a donkey who was overly aggressive, although he wasn't playing nearly as aggressive as me (can you say: got tilt?). Anyway, I pushed preflop with Q9o (good play, huh?) and got called by two legit hands (like AA and QQ) but I tripled up when the board was J T 8 X X. The very next hand I pushed all-in with AJ and got called by a big stack who held 22. I didn't improve and I lost my stack. After that, I was left with only $5 in my UltimateBet account. I was tired, so I quit for the night.
As I said before, I noticed that Party Poker was going to ban US players on Friday, so I cashed out my $50. Other than that, I don't recall playing very much at all on Thursday.
On Friday, I noticed that UltimateBet had a reload going and so I deposited enough to get the maximum bonus, but then immediately withdrew all but $50, essentially transferring my Party Poker funds to my UltimateBet account. Late on Friday, I noticed that Full Contact Poker was going to ban US players also (note: FCP is looking for a new network provider as a result).
On Friday night, I started to think about my place in the online poker world. With Party Poker out, my ability to win money was going to be seriously compromised. Their monthly reload bonus was a gold mine, essentially $100 every month for relatively little work. That does not even begin to include the ridiculously soft games at Party Poker. Sadly, the bonuses at Full Tilt and UltimateBet were much more difficult to clear, essentially a crappy version of rakeback; furthermore, I think the play at UB and FTP is much better. This combination meant that online poker was, for me at that moment in time, neither profitable nor entertaining (recall that I was also experiencing some burn-out).
After processing all of these thoughts, I decided to try a little experiment. I decided to play 1000 hands of each of the five games that make up "HORSE": (1) Hold'em, (2) Omaha 8/b, (3) Razz, (4) 7-card stud, and (5) 7-card stud 8/b. Because my bankroll was short, I decided to play all of these at $0.25/$0.50 stakes. It's hardly life-changing money, but I thought it would be fun and keeping track of my stats would help me stay focused.
Outside of playing HORSE sit-n-goes, I had little experience with either Razz or 7stud 8/b, but I feel really comfortable playing hold'em, Omaha 8/b, and 7stud in ring games.
So far, I am +$18 after playing 553 hands (out of 5000 total). I have played the most hands at hold'em (196), mostly because I tend to play those on "auto-pilot"; sadly, I do not play well on auto-pilot and I am slightly negative for these hands. When playing the other games, however, I have been concentrating and I am doing very well, especially at Omaha 8/b and Stud 8/b; I am about even at 7stud (one session of auto-pilot play was -12 big bets) and Razz.
I am not surprised to be doing well at Omaha 8/b. I think I play the game rather well; if I were bankroll properly, I could probably hold my own at stakes as high as $5/$10.
I am quite surprised, however, to be doing so well at Stud 8/b, although in hindsight it is almost exclusively a function of the bad play of my opponents. My "strategy"?: follow Todd Brunson's platinum rule very closely (see Super System II for details); this gives me a big edge.
I have managed to scoop a few pots here and there with legitimate hands. But my ridiculous win rate (right now: +30 big bets/100 hands) results from hands where I have scooped pots when I had a board lock for the high and I got called to the end in two spots by opponents with a mediocre high but no low. I have also won a few pots with a board lock low, but then scooped when my opponent folded on the river with a better high hand showing (I had K-high; they had two deuces showing).
So right now, I am quite excited about my HORSE 1000 experiment. I have five different games to choose from, so I doubt that I'll get bored with any single game (except hold'em, perhaps). My bankroll is short (~$100), so I playing at about the correct stakes (~200 big bets). And I am winning, albeit not big money, which is always fun.
I also played some at Full Contact Poker and this game was just harsh. I took bad beat after bad beat eventually going bust when I pushed preflop with KK and got called with 22... only to see a deuce come on the river. It wasn't that big of a deal to go bust there, considering that I had cashed out all but $50 when I decided to "semi-retire" from poker again.
From there, I moved onto UltimateBet, where I played like a donkey and I almost went bust. I pissed away a few dollars here and there before I totally went nuts. I had a soft table with a donkey who was overly aggressive, although he wasn't playing nearly as aggressive as me (can you say: got tilt?). Anyway, I pushed preflop with Q9o (good play, huh?) and got called by two legit hands (like AA and QQ) but I tripled up when the board was J T 8 X X. The very next hand I pushed all-in with AJ and got called by a big stack who held 22. I didn't improve and I lost my stack. After that, I was left with only $5 in my UltimateBet account. I was tired, so I quit for the night.
As I said before, I noticed that Party Poker was going to ban US players on Friday, so I cashed out my $50. Other than that, I don't recall playing very much at all on Thursday.
On Friday, I noticed that UltimateBet had a reload going and so I deposited enough to get the maximum bonus, but then immediately withdrew all but $50, essentially transferring my Party Poker funds to my UltimateBet account. Late on Friday, I noticed that Full Contact Poker was going to ban US players also (note: FCP is looking for a new network provider as a result).
On Friday night, I started to think about my place in the online poker world. With Party Poker out, my ability to win money was going to be seriously compromised. Their monthly reload bonus was a gold mine, essentially $100 every month for relatively little work. That does not even begin to include the ridiculously soft games at Party Poker. Sadly, the bonuses at Full Tilt and UltimateBet were much more difficult to clear, essentially a crappy version of rakeback; furthermore, I think the play at UB and FTP is much better. This combination meant that online poker was, for me at that moment in time, neither profitable nor entertaining (recall that I was also experiencing some burn-out).
After processing all of these thoughts, I decided to try a little experiment. I decided to play 1000 hands of each of the five games that make up "HORSE": (1) Hold'em, (2) Omaha 8/b, (3) Razz, (4) 7-card stud, and (5) 7-card stud 8/b. Because my bankroll was short, I decided to play all of these at $0.25/$0.50 stakes. It's hardly life-changing money, but I thought it would be fun and keeping track of my stats would help me stay focused.
Outside of playing HORSE sit-n-goes, I had little experience with either Razz or 7stud 8/b, but I feel really comfortable playing hold'em, Omaha 8/b, and 7stud in ring games.
So far, I am +$18 after playing 553 hands (out of 5000 total). I have played the most hands at hold'em (196), mostly because I tend to play those on "auto-pilot"; sadly, I do not play well on auto-pilot and I am slightly negative for these hands. When playing the other games, however, I have been concentrating and I am doing very well, especially at Omaha 8/b and Stud 8/b; I am about even at 7stud (one session of auto-pilot play was -12 big bets) and Razz.
I am not surprised to be doing well at Omaha 8/b. I think I play the game rather well; if I were bankroll properly, I could probably hold my own at stakes as high as $5/$10.
I am quite surprised, however, to be doing so well at Stud 8/b, although in hindsight it is almost exclusively a function of the bad play of my opponents. My "strategy"?: follow Todd Brunson's platinum rule very closely (see Super System II for details); this gives me a big edge.
I have managed to scoop a few pots here and there with legitimate hands. But my ridiculous win rate (right now: +30 big bets/100 hands) results from hands where I have scooped pots when I had a board lock for the high and I got called to the end in two spots by opponents with a mediocre high but no low. I have also won a few pots with a board lock low, but then scooped when my opponent folded on the river with a better high hand showing (I had K-high; they had two deuces showing).
So right now, I am quite excited about my HORSE 1000 experiment. I have five different games to choose from, so I doubt that I'll get bored with any single game (except hold'em, perhaps). My bankroll is short (~$100), so I playing at about the correct stakes (~200 big bets). And I am winning, albeit not big money, which is always fun.
posted by frazwood at 11:42 AM
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