Ick, I suck. My first semi-pro session

[grandgnu]

Wow do I ever suck. I had built up my confidence by starting with $75 and turning it into over $300 in about a weeks worth of play.

I'm only going semi-pro, not quitting my day job or counting on poker for income (although I did just score $650 this past weekend in my home Hold 'Em tournament game, w00t!)

So anyway, used part of my online winnings to pay for Poker Tracker Omaha, very cool program.

Then deposited $310 into Empire with a 30% rakeback deal and 20% deposit bonus.

I cleared my $62 bonus and my bankroll stands at a whopping $192. I played WAY over my head. I was three-tabling the $2/$4 games because most of the $1/$2 games were 6-handed max, and I prefer a full ring game.

So anyway, there were numerous hands I played like a donk, and the hands that were strong that I played well, I'd get sucked out on by someone playing like the game was hold 'em (i.e. sticking around with a middle pair and catching trips on the river)

It didn't help that I had worked a double shift the day before and didn't get much sleep either. My own stupid fault I suppose.

I'm going to drop down to the $0.50/$1 tables and multi-table there until my bankroll is sufficient again to move up. It's only just begun. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Luckily, there are a lot of donks at the tables playing ridiculously underpowered hands. I just need to tighten up a bit and make things happen.

I believe my stats were VPIP 27 and Won$SD 51%. I've got some work to do, but my sample size is too small. I think I might have gotten caught up playing hands where my opponents were playing so poorly that I allowed my own hand requirements to change too drastically because I thought I could outplay them.

And I overcompleted from the SB too often, about 80%, terrible, but only about 300 or so hands.

[toots]

I'm thinking the key to O8 is patience, and I mean that in tons of different ways.

[Ironman]

I agree Toots. At VPIP of 27, you start to add in just one extra hand per rotation and 5 extra hands per hour. I've noticed that when my session numbers jump from 24 to 27% that things are not good.

I might be way off base here, but I think a case can be made for playing 20% of hands and doing well. And I think a case can be made for playing 40% of hands and doing well (although I don't recommend it), but when you get around 30%, you are adding in those slightly marginal hands that get beat out by the nuts on rather routine plays.

The guy who plays 40% has such unusual cards that they can frequently back into some hands that are just not normal.

Just a thought.

Dave

[grandgnu]

Well, my sample size is very small. I had about 1,000 hands before (from PokerStars) and I had a VPIP of 23% and a Won$SD of 63%, so much better, but still too few hands to know.

Just a combination yesterday of being tired and playing too high for my bankroll. Lesson learned, I'll get back on the horse tonight and correct my mistakes.

[grandgnu]

It also didn't help that everytime I dumped a hand on the flop, where I had a belly-buster straight draw to the nuts, that it would show up on the turn and there'd be tons of action from players with the idiot end of straights, two pair, etc.

Missed a bunch of $40-$50 pots I could've scooped, and that might've caused me to play more loosely as well. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[toots]

Had that happen the other day at Foxwoods. I'd make what I thought were good preflop or flop folds, only to see the two miracle cards come on the turn/river.

After about six of those in a row, I turned to the guy next to me and asked "Can you tell that I'm on tilt?" to which he replied "But you've barely played anything."

Yeah, that was the point.

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
Had that happen the other day at Foxwoods. I'd make what I thought were good preflop or flop folds, only to see the two miracle cards come on the turn/river.

After about six of those in a row, I turned to the guy next to me and asked "Can you tell that I'm on tilt?" to which he replied "But you've barely played anything."

Yeah, that was the point.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh heh. One hand that royally ticked me off is where I raised pre-flop with A/A (and don't recall the other cards) and a guy caught a Jack on the flop, top pair with the Jack in his hand (he had something like 5/6/9/J) and a Jack on the river to scoop the pot against me when he was beat.

Granted, I'm happy he's playing like a douche, but I'm not happy about the hit to my bankroll. Ah well, what can ya do?

I just wish the 1/2 games had more 10-handed tables instead of all that 6-handed crap, maybe I'll have to eventually give it a shot.

I know I can crush 2/4 when I have the bankroll, but don't want to hit those tables again until I'm sitting on about $500-$600.

[hurlyburly]

[ QUOTE ]
I just wish the 1/2 games had more 10-handed tables instead of all that 6-handed crap, maybe I'll have to eventually give it a shot.

[/ QUOTE ]

You should not consider multitabling if you don't find 6H tables more profitable than full ring games. The only game I don't prefer short-handed is stud/8. It's not even close.

[grandgnu]

I think this was by someone named Doc Hutchinson:


ASSUMPTIONS: A ten-handed game at the lower levels with a mix of good and poor players.

OBJECTIVE: To identify those hands that have at least a 50% above chance expectation of winning. That is, while any random hand should win about 10% of the pots in a ten-handed game, the hands identified as "playable" by this system have at least a 15% probability of winning.

METHOD: In any split pot game the best hands are those that have a chance to win both high and low. Most of the hands without this potential should be discarded. However, there are a few hands that are profitable even though they have no potential to win low.

The first step in evaluating your hand is to see if it is one of these HIGH-ONLY hands. To qualify, all four of your cards must be Ten or above AND include (1) two pair, or (2) a pair and two suited cards, or (3) two double suits. Eliminate any high hand containing three of the same rank. If your hand does not qualify as a HIGH hand, then...

The next step is to see if your hand can be played as a LOW or TWO-WAY hand. This determination is made by adding the number of points obtained in these four simple steps:


FIRST , look at your two lowest cards and award points as follows:

A-2 equals 20 pts. A-3 equals 17 pts. A-4 equals 13 pts.
A-5 equals 10 pts. 2-3 equals 15 pts. 2-4 equals 12 pts.
3-4 equals 11 pts. 4-5 equals 8 pts. Anything else = no pts.

SECOND , look at your two remaining cards ("kickers") and award points as follows:

3 equals 9 pts. 4 equals 6 pts. 5 equals 4 pts.

Jack, Queen, or King equals 2 pts. 6 or Ten equals 1 point

Do not award any "kicker" pts. for a card that duplicates a card used in step one and if the kicker is paired it is counted only once under this step.

THIRD , if you have any pairs, add points as follows:

Aces equal 8 pts. Kings equal 6 pts. Queens equal 5 pts. Jacks equal 2 pts. Tens equal one point Fours equal one point Threes equal one point Deuces equal 3 pts.

Deduct half of the points awarded under this step if you have three cards of the same rank.

FOURTH , if you hold two suited cards and the highest of them is

an Ace, add 4 pts. a King, add 3 pts. a Queen or Jack, add 2 pts. an 8, 9, or Ten, one pt.

Deduct half of the points awarded under this step if your hand contains three cards of the same suit and award no points if all of the cards are of the same suit.

EACH HAND WILL EARN A TOTAL FROM 0 TO 45 POINTS. PLAY THOSE HANDS WITH 20 POINTS OR MORE AND CONSIDER RAISING WITH 30 POINTS OR MORE.

EXAMPLES FOR CLARIFICATION

You are dealt AS, 3S, 5H, KD. Since not all four cards are above Ten, the hand is evaluated as a low or two-way hand by following the four steps outlined above. Step one awards 17 pts. for the A-3, step two grants six pts. for the 5 and K "kickers," step three does not apply, and step four gives four pts. for the two suited cards (spades) headed by the Ace. The total equals 27 pts. making this a playable hand.

You are dealt AS, AC, 2S,3C. The hand does not qualify for high. Step one awards 20 pts. for the A-2, step two gives nine pts. for the 3 "kicker," step three grants eight pts. for the pair of Aces, and step four means that each double-suited combination headed by an Ace is worth four pts. each or a total of eight pts. for the two combinations. The grand total for this hand is 45 points. Incidentally, this is the most powerful hand in high-low Omaha.

You are dealt AS, TS, AC, QD. This hand qualifies for high because it satisfies the condition that 1) all four cards are Ten or above, and 2) two of the cards are paired and two are of the same suit.

You are dealt AS, TS, KD, QD. This hand qualifies for high because 1) all four cards are Ten or above, and 2) it contains two double suits.

NOTES

A very high correlation (but not a one-to-one correspondence) exists between a hand's point count and its winning percentage. Thus, a hand that earns 25 pts. is quite likely to have a higher win percentage than a hand with 24 pts.and it is almost certain to have a higher percentage than a hand with 23 or fewer pts.

It should be noted that initial card selection, while crucial to success, is not the only skill necessary to maximize Omaha profits. These other skills, however, do not lend themselves to easy quantification and are beyond the scope of this simple mathematical approach. Recall, too, the basic assumption that this system is being used at the lower limits. I hope that these limitations will not detract from the main purpose of this approach which is to provide a simple aid to the beginner.

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I just wish the 1/2 games had more 10-handed tables instead of all that 6-handed crap, maybe I'll have to eventually give it a shot.

[/ QUOTE ]

You should not consider multitabling if you don't find 6H tables more profitable than full ring games. The only game I don't prefer short-handed is stud/8. It's not even close.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't have much experience playing the 6-handed games. While I've heard that they are profitable, I guess I just prefer to have a 9 or 10-handed table. More fish chasing the 16th nut low/high hands and more money in the pot.

Pot Limit Omaha can be riDONKulously profitable as well, but my bankroll isn't ready for those swings (awhile back I got busted out when I flopped a huge draw to the nut low, nut straight and nut flush, only to have a lucky donk who had been playing like a maniac stick around with top pair of Jacks and catch a turn and river card of Jack/Jack to take all my money, doh!)

Last night I just didn't have the discipline I needed. I was getting upset because I'm not used to being down at all three tables I was playing, and I was underbankrolled and overtired. I won't make that mistake again. My bankroll is still up from when I started, and I plan to continue it's growth.

Plus, the 30% rakeback at the end of the month will be a nice addition I'm not used to receiving. I'll probably give the 6-handed tables a try, but right now I'm going to stick with the $0.50/$1 tables on Empire until I've built it up to $300 again, before I tackle 1/2.

[grandgnu]

So, after seeing my bankroll of $310 plus $62 bonus depleted to a whopping $48, I made the switch to the $0.50/$1 tables and fought my way back up, ending at $190 yesterday evening.

In addition, I've generated over $200 in rake, so I'll be looking forward to 30% back at the end of the month, should help me get back into the swing of things.

After 3,500 hands at Empire Poker, my stats have improved significantly.

VPIP 21 (was 27)

Won$SD 59 (was 50, I'm moving in the right direction)

[wiseheart]

I used DH's system to turn $5 into $2000 on Stars
in the course of 2 months. Im not going to give
the link, because if everyone used the system then
nobody would win.

But the bottom line is, if you play over your head
you will lose, no matter how tempting it is. I
moved to the $30/60 fixed omaha 8 at stars and won
$250 the first hour, so I come back today to play,
and you know what happens? I lose $1800/hour.

Stick to the $.5/1 or $1/2 or make your own mistake
like I did and then learn.

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
I used DH's system to turn $5 into $2000 on Stars
in the course of 2 months. Im not going to give
the link, because if everyone used the system then
nobody would win.

But the bottom line is, if you play over your head
you will lose, no matter how tempting it is. I
moved to the $30/60 fixed omaha 8 at stars and won
$250 the first hour, so I come back today to play,
and you know what happens? I lose $1800/hour.

Stick to the $.5/1 or $1/2 or make your own mistake
like I did and then learn.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your problem is that you're playing on Stars, I believe you'll find better game selection and more fish at Party and skins.

Anyway, went from my low of $48 back up to $220 today (a few days of grinding). The fish are ridonkulously fishy lately.

I held A/A/(other cards) and the flop was A/Q/Q. I've got two fish betting into me, I figure they each hold a Queen and are drawing dead. But one of them keeps raising when I bet, so I'm a tad bit worried that he may hold Q/Q and the other opponent might have a straight draw.

I didn't have any prior experience with these two, but the fish who was re-raising me held an Ace, just one Ace, no Queen. He was playing like it was Hold 'Em or something. Took down a $15 or so pot, could've easily gotten that sucker capped if I knew how fishy those two were, next time, next time.

[FBMike]

This is off-topic, but you or somebody else might help. I don't play the Party skins because DLHelper gets installed. Briefly, DLHelper is spyware, but theoretically the good kind.

Skins like Party use your own computer against you when you collude. This is good, if the colluders are competent. If the colluders are incompetent, you open yourself up to exploitation by crackers of any vulnerability in DLHelper, along with the usual risks, but at little or no profit, since the incopetent colluders suck and are peeing away money.

I have a couple of firewalls (hardware and software), along with a couple of anti-spyware products, that are sure to gripe about DLHelper (one I think will warn me as soon as I install Party.)

Here is my question: How soft are these limit O/8 games on Party compared to, say, UB or Stars? I'll do the extra work to allow traffic through the firewalls and turn off an anti-spyware program to make a few BBs an hour.

If DLHelper has a significant risk to be exploited, then winning extra thousands to lose my Party bankroll through theft or cheating is unacceptable.

I'm not a professional in things like decompiling DLHelper to see any flaws. In fact, I only know a little bit about VB, Python, and some C++ and Java (so little I could at best make video poker, with a manual.) However, things that get me paranoid are any things that my networks (home or work) decide not to block.

At work I could not possibly allow DLHelper to exist on my networks, because there are too many problems with security vis-a-vis company losses (not to mention the "poker slacker" problem.}

I think the general IT community hatred of DLHelper might, therefore, be for IT-averse risk assessments, rather than exploitability in DLHelper code.

I would be interested in any comments.

[muse21]

try the software forum.

or the internet forum.