Life in the post-NETELLER World

With the US-Government-catalyzed demise of NETELLER last week, my online poker days might be nearing their end. I've often discussed ending my online poker playing, but that's has always been because of bad play and/or a bad attitude on my part. The current situation is quite different, though. I'm actually quite excited to play poker these days.

The downfall of NETELLER put me a somewhat awkward spot regarding my online bankroll. I had originally planned to keep most of my bankroll on Poker Stars, but then I put a bunch of it back in NETELLER so that I could bonus-whore. I then deposited $50 at Poker.com and $200 at a Prima site, leaving another $200 or so in my NETELLER account.

When NETELLER announced that they were banning US players from transactions with gaming sites, I immediately cashed out my $200. I've heard rumors that NETELLER's cash outs have been very slow (i.e., more than a few weeks), but I think I got my money almost immediately. I haven't verified this with my bank account yet -- I've been too busy.

The other issues were getting my money out of the Prima site and out of Poker.com. The Prima site was a bigger issue because I had more money there and I had to clear a rather tedious bonus before they'd let me cash out (in fact, I had tried to cash out before NETELLER crashed, but it was denied). Luckily, I cleared the bonus, actually building my stack there by more than $300 before I donked away $200 during my last session (don't play $100 NL on a short bankroll!). I've since requested a cash out via check -- hopefully it'll arrive soon.

For now, I have money in three different sites (UltimateBet: ~$25, Poker.com: ~$35 and Poker Stars: ~$60) and I am confident that at least UltimateBet and Poker Stars will send me a check if I want my money out. The bigger issue, for me, is that I don't know how I can get money into the sites if I want to do that. Hopefully, a new online wallet will emerge since Click2Pay isn't signing up new US customers and the others are rather expensive.

The good news is that I am excited about playing poker again, so I am reasonably confident that I can rebuild my bankrolls at the three sites. I'm actually bankrolled nicely for $0.05/$0.10 limit poker at all three, which I've been regularly beating lately (I hope I have the talent for that). Strangely, I'm finding these microstakes games fun and I'm really focused. Hopefully, there will be enough players around to join me in the future.

I can't even spell P-O-K-E-R

After going on the heater that I chronicled in my last blog, I went on a serious tilt-fest that resulted in donking away a good chunk of change. It started innocently enough -- I started by taking a shot at $100 NL. I did well at first, but then I got frustrated with the aggression of my opponents (they kept re-raising me!) and I called an all-in with AKo when I flopped nothing.

I then proceeded to donk away more and more money at $50NL and then also at $25 NL. My bankroll at Poker Stars dwindled further and further. I eventually switched to $2/$4 7Stud, and I did well at first... but then I got cold-decked and I lost even more money. I started playing limit hold'em also, continuing to lose more money. My stack at Poker Stars is now less than $100 (it was once more than $750, although I've cashed in $200).

It's not all bad news, though. My bankroll at UltimateBet is now bursting at the seams (i.le., > $15). I'm genuinely proud of that, considering how little I play there and considering that I once had $0.46. I plan to keep grinding away.

The really bad news, of course, is that Neteller has banned US citizens from making transactions with online gaming sites. The truly unfortunate part is that I had deposited $200 into a Prima site and $50 into Poker.com the day prior to their ban, which was given without notice. In both cases, I was chasing reload bonuses. I think that I can cash out from the Prima site via a check, but Poker.com currently has no means for me to cash out my funds. This is more than a little frustrating. Hopefully, the landscape of online poker will change for the better, but I doubt it.

The truly good news is that I have been killing the $100 NL tables at the Prima site. I've been playing very well, except for the last 20 minutes where I've donked away $125. That's not entirely fair, the $25 was due to a bad beat... but there is no arguing that I donked away the $100.

Heater

Following my most recent semi-retirement from poker, I predicted that I would start playing better and that I would soon rebuild my bankroll. Afterall, that's what happened following my two previous "semi-retirements" from poker. Sadly, that did not happen and I managed to donk away 2/3 of my relatively small bankroll (i.e., small because I cashed out most of my money).

Once my bankroll dwindled to around $200, I realized that I either needed to start playing better or I would be forced into permanent retirement from poker. I decided to put virtually all of my online money into Poker Stars, a site where I had broken even at best in the past. I had two problems with Poker Stars: (1) I felt cursed there (bad beats seemed to follow me wherever I went), and (2) the game played very slowly, so it annoyed me (it's best not to play while annoyed).

This time, however, I focused on playing my best game and focused really hard to not let the bad beats put me on tilt. In short, I planned to play through the bad beats that I expected to come. Luckily, Poker Stars solved my problem with the slow play in that they have since introduced "high speed" tables that better fit my personality (I am a fast acting person in general). To summarize a long story, I entered the weekend with about $500 in my account. This is a "safe" buy-in for $25 NL (buying in full, that is), but I was itching to start playing $50 NL.

Yesterday (Saturday), I spent considerable time playing because I was left in charge of my infant daughter. She mostly sleeps all day, so I laid her on my chest and sat in my chair while two-tabling $50 NL (6-max). Because I don't have the bankroll to play this with a full buy-in, I started by buying in at $25 per table. I almost immediately lost my stack to a donkey who caught a lucky river card. I knew that he was a bad player, so I decided to re-buy for the full amount. I also decided to buy-in full at my other table too.

Well, donkeys being what donkeys are... re-buying in for the full amount was completely the correct play and I was eventually able to win my money back from the donkey when he made another bad play. I finished that table about even for the session. On my other table, though, I went on a heater and I doubled my [full] buy-in. Nice! I managed to squeeze in another combination baby nap and poker session later in the day, netting another $100 in profit plus almost $40 in bonus money. At this point, I cashed out $50 as part of my plan to re-build my bonus whoring account.

Today (Sunday), I won another $50 or so in a shortish session (~100 hands). I started out losing a bit on one table to loose-passives who kept catching cards. I kept attacking, though, and eventually they called off large portions of their stack when I held the goods. I finished that table about even.

I made almost all of my money for this session in a single hand when I called a button raise from the big blind holding JTo. The button had raised about 30% of his first 30 hands, so I interpreted this move as a steal. The flop came J 9 3 (rainbow) and I decided to check-raise. Strangely, he bet $30 into a pot of $4. I figured that he either held a very strong hand or nothing. Giving his aggressiveness prior to the hand, I guessed that it was more likely nothing and I pushed all-in. Even more strangely, he called another $18 and flipped over two eights. He did not improve and I took down a nice pot.

And finally, just before bed I played another short session that netted me another $30 in profit or so. Most of the profit came in one hand when it was folded to me in the small blind and I raised with AKo; the big blind called. The flop was perfect (something like K 8 3) and I made a pot-sized bet. The big blind mini-raised me and I decided to call and then check-raise the turn (all-in). The shocking part of the hand was when the big blind called my all-in with just K4 and I took his stack. After that, the newborn starting crying and I quit.

In other news, I've managed to piss away most of my stack at UltimateBet. For some reason, I thought that I could beat the $10 NL game there, but I lost two buy-ins, dropping my bankroll from $12.50 to $2.50. So, I am currently trying to grind it out at $0.05/$0.10 limit. It's not much, but I think I can manage it without going bust because the bonus is so good at low stakes.

Happy New Year

I brought in the new year in grand style (tongue-in-cheek)! My in-laws
were in town, so I spent most of my weekend trying to avoid them. I
accomplished this goal admirably by spending much of the weekend ice fishing. For those of you have never tried ice fishing, you might wonder what is the attraction. For those of you who have tried ice fishing, you realize that there really isn't much of a reason to do it. It's cold and boring. But, it was quiet and no one was yelling at me, so it was considerably better than hanging out at home. In the end, I caught a bunch of bluegills, a few crappie, one walleye, and one sucker. I've never caught a sucker while ice fishing, so that was an accomplishment. Sort of.

I didn't play much poker over the weekend (< 10 hands). I played a bunch yesterday, however. I spent several hours yesterday in front of the computer with my infant daughter asleep on my chest. I didn't play my best and I finished the session lucky to have finished about even. I mostly played $25 NL (buying in for the full amount) but I also played a little $50 NL and some $1/$2 limit hold'em and some $1/$2 HORSE (limit).

The session actually started out horribly when I was dealt AA in the big blind. It had been raised to 5x and called in two spots before it came around to me. Since I obviously had no read on the table, I figured that shoving all-in was the best play. I was hoping to get called but I would have been happy to just collect the pot as it was. Instead, I got called in two spots and the pot slid to one of my opponents who had called with 8d 6d but caught three diamonds to win a huge pot (the other opponent called with ATo). As you might imagine, this seemed liked a nice, soft table and it was. I think I managed to break even before I left but it was a grind.

I had two other big hands during the session that are worth talking about. The first was when I pushed all-in holding 99 on a flop of 6 4 2 and got called by a donkey with A6. Unfortunately, an ace came on the turn and I lost my stack. The other big hand happened when I pushed all-in with QQ on a flop of rags and got called by KK. This time, I sucked out when a queen came on the river.

After playing for awhile, I noticed that I was about even and I thought it might be a good time to try playing $50 NL. I think that my game is in good shape right now and I thought that raising the stakes a bit would help me re-gain my focus. I played really well for about 50 hands, but then I lost my stack with 44 and a flop of 7 4 3. The dude was pretty tight and he had raised preflop, so I put him on a pairs of tens or better (most likely KK or AA). Sadly, no, he held 77 and I lost the battle of set over set. That's not a complaint; in hindsight, I'm happy the way that I played the hand.

Nonetheless, I was pretty frustrated at having lost my stack, so I figured that I should switch over to a limit game before I went on serious tilt. I bought into a $1/$2 HORSE game, something that I've never played at Poker Stars. In fact, I've only played HORSE in the SNG form as offerred at Full Tilt. I was quite excited about the game; I figure that I should have an advantage in that I can play all five games well (or at least I think I can).

I started in the last few hands of hold'em and folded preflop. I also folded my first few hands of Omaha 8/b but they I decided to raise from UTG with Ad Kd 2h X. That's not a good play, but I was on semi-tilt from losing my stack playing $50 NL. I got called in three (or four) spots but I was ecstatic when the flop came 8h 5d 4d. I flopped the nut low and the nut flush draw. I was even more excited when the betting was capped four ways on the flop. My excitement continued to build when the 6d came on the turn, giving me the nut (non-straight) flush plus the nut low. When the betting was again capped on the turn, I figured that someone else probably had the nut low and perhaps someone even had a straight flush. Nonetheless, the powers that be at Poker Stars listened to my request (for once!) to not pair the board and I scooped the entire pot! One of the donkeys in the hand had flopped a straight and the other had flopped a set (hence the need not to pair the board).

I won the next hand too when I again held the nut flush plus a reasonable low. Finally, I won a nice pot playing Razz when my opponent thought that his 7 6 low was worth raising over the 7 5 low that I was representing. Soon after that, I quit... having won somewhere around $10 for the day. It was quite the ride!