Playing Online for student beer money week 1

[1800GAMBLER]

Hehe, i'm just joking /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif. But this is my first week playing online for real money after 3 months of reading poker, lurking here and playing fake money.

Sidenote: Fake money is pretty much the same as low limit games, same % of people for flops, same chasing hands etc.

I've played obsessively for the past 3 months, read huge amounts and become pretty obsessed. Anyhow this is leading me to a question of my results for my first week.

In the first day i added $60, finished at $90 then finished at $162 the following day, i then started to record the next sessions i played. Here's the first record to the last record:

<pre><font class="small">code:</font><hr> HOURS PLAYED STARTING BALANCE END BALANCE PER HOUR BB/(HOUR*TABLE)
4 162 229 16.75 8.375
4 606 485 -30.25 -15.125
4 485 570 21.25 21.25

TOTAL HOURS AVERAGE PER HOUR AVERAGE
37.00 15.41 8.39
</pre><hr>

... that's a sample of a few days, sorry the code command messed up.

In the past days of playing i've had 3 lossing sessions, 1 which i blame on my own really bad play. 1 which would have been a losing session for pretty much anyone i feel.

I'm playing $.5/$1 and just now $1/$2 and as you can see from the BB per hour per table i'm taking these games for way more than i should be, even though they are really soft.

I've had a lot of chasing sessions going down $50 - $100 and chasing to grab a break even. First time in NL cost me a fair amount too, but i've managed to pull it back.

I know 37 hours is nothing and a lot can change over these, so this could just be a winning streak but even if it is it can't be an extra 7BB per hour per table streak can it?

So that's pretty much my only question, is this a winning streak? How much of that cash can be put down to my own play?

Thanks. Good luck all and good luck david ross.

[J.R.]

When my girlfriend first started playing 1-2 at pokerroom, she won 6 bbs/hour for 50 hours. Then came the great fish attack, but she perservered and has averaged 2+bbs/hour. Not to say you are not a winning player, but they will catch you too. You are on a winning streak. How much of your earn is due to your play, as opposed to the rush? Only time will tell. Nonetheless, it's possible to win 7bbs/hour over a 37 hours and still be a losing player.

[davidross]

Seriously, if losing this beer money will cause you to have to stop drinking while you're attending school, don't do it. There is nothing more sacred to a student than his beer money. I would not have survived university without it.

I love the title by the way. You can't draw any conclusions until you have several hundred hours would be my guess. But I have no doubt that if you are working at it as hard as you say you are, you will beat those games for a very respectable amount. Good luck and keep us posted.

[1800GAMBLER]

I'm glad you enjoyed the joke /forums/images/icons/smile.gif i love reading your posts and wish everything possible to help you get out of your session. I'll come and watch a few of your games later.

It's always been the 1BB amount that has scared me, i've had losing session bigger than the recommeded BB losing session suggested, but i'm convinced this is due to the swings of a loose, gutshot chasing game. These players chase their gutshots and miss all day while i pick up their calls, of course they are going to have a day were they all pick them up.

'I don't like to lose anymore than i feel i can make back in one session.'

$120 i dropped in less than 3 hours after i watched domainated hands make their runner runner straight with the kicker of their 2nd pair. I sat down the day after (today) and picked it all back up and plus some.

I really doubt this is a winning streak and i think i could beat these low limit games for this constantly, but i wanted opinions.


I don't think it's a winning streak because i haven't had my luck, i know luck is more than a starting hands factor, i've made a post in probability about it. I'm just wondering if anyone regular beats these low limit, soft games for this amount.

The 2nd reason for the post is the david ross saying how he had no swings at these limits, i thought i was slacking.

However, i urge a high limits player making 1BB per hour to move down and see how much they can take this for. To quote: '4 callers??????'.

Thanks, and i'll post my results next after a month.

[1800GAMBLER]

No offence if you do take offence to your girlfriend as a poker player but i dumped around $150 to a guy who bet into his gutshot draws in less than 2 hours. He has to check/fold for a few more hours and he averages the same as what we stated.

Everyhand i try to analyse player's mistakes and my own, i'm constantly thinking why i am raising and why i shouldn't. Once again i'd thank david ross in his post of 'raising here doesn't get anyone to fold he just gives them the odds to chase their pairs.'

Now ask yourself this, would you raise with AKo if you know 5 other player wouldn't fold? and why?

I can't help it, i have to know and why, the answer is solid, yes. The main reason being if you don't hit the flop you then give yourself the odds to see the turn, possibily if the bet came from a nice place, raise, add huge amounts to the pot and get a free turn and river.

For these reasons i think i can take these games for this all the time. But of course, i wanted the people who are experienced to give their opinions.

Thanks again.

[J.R.]

No offence if you do take offence to your girlfriend as a poker player but i dumped around $150 to a guy who bet into his gutshot draws in less than 2 hours. He has to check/fold for a few more hours and he averages the same as what we stated.

This doesn't make any sense to me.

Everyhand i try to analyse player's mistakes and my own, i'm constantly thinking why i am raising and why i shouldn't.

Good.

Now ask yourself this, would you raise with AKo if you know 5 other player wouldn't fold? and why?

I didn't realize this would be a quiz. But to answer, yes, because I likely have the best hand.

The main reason being if you don't hit the flop you then give yourself the odds to see the turn, possibily if the bet came from a nice place, raise, add huge amounts to the pot and get a free turn and river.

This doesn't make much sense to me. This rational could be used to justify raising any pocket pair, or any two cards for that matter. I think you should delve deeper into why you raise here. By the way, by rasing the flop you are not getting a free turn, you are getting a half-priced look at the river (assuming a the flop bettor would have bet the turn in the absence of your flop raise).

Good luck. I only brought up my girlfriend because of the super rush she experienced when she really started to play online and develop her game. I congratulate you on your determination and effort, it will be rewarded.

I am not trying to put you down or discourage you, and hope you continue to win 8bbs/hour, but just want you to realize that I have never heard of anyone doing this in any game, as it just very unlikely that your edge could be that huge. This might be possible playing 3-4 tables at once, but even then it would be difficult.

But the most important thing is to realize you are in college. You can play poker your whole life, but you are only in college for four years (or maybe more, if you're lucky /forums/images/icons/smile.gif ). Have fun, and if your online winnings are really your beer fund, may the bbs rain down from heaven like the greatest monsoon, as there is no better day than one spent in the blissful splendor of collegiate inebriation.

[CMangano]

I just recently started playing and also did very, very well at the start. After a month and a half I was at $40/hr at 3/6. Just like you I had the dangerous attitude of "I can continue to beat these games for this much!" Obviously that is not true, and the very next month I gave back most of my previous winnings. I now understand how quickly it can change. However, with that said, I think the losing month was the best thing that could have happened, as I learned from it and it really tested me. So, when you have a bad month and your average gets brought back down to normal, I hope it has the same effect for you.

That being said, I think you can consistently beat these games, just not for 8bb/hour.

[1800GAMBLER]

'I didn't realize this would be a quiz. But to answer, yes, because I likely have the best hand.'

This is the point i'm thinking about the way people play. No one is going to fold, and everyone gets 3 more cards to help their hand now. 2 out of 3 times you miss your pair, They have 10 cards between them all, probability one of them hits a pair, 1.19:1. Your hand is pretty crap in less than 3 seconds. So with AK probability of getting to the flop (based just on making pairs) 1 out of 3 times. So why raise if you only have the best hand 1 out of 3 times if you know they aren't going to fold.

'This rational could be used to justify raising any pocket pair, or any two cards for that matter'

Pocket pairs: No, you're never going to get 25:1 odds from a preflop raise.

Any 2 cards: No, you're probabiliy drawing dead.

Reply to the part about the edge: When you are playing against people who know when to fold and a few who don't you only have your edge over that player. I'm getting an edge over 5 others at these tables who have no idea when to fold. Now the arguement of: More players not folding = more outdrawn = less edge; isn't true either. Since the increase in pot size cancels this.

I'll keep you posted next week.

Good luck.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Beer will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no beer.

[lefty rosen]

Even at the 1/2 level at pokerroom, which plays about the same as 50/1 at most sites, the bad beats will bite you in the butt and may put you on tilt. Also the reason why you can make 4.5 bb an hour is because morons are paying you off, you will get nothing out of the winning players unless they have a decent hand. This is from a guy who played there for about 6 months and cracked out 5,500 out of there under this name. I have since cracked out about 500 mainly because I cant play at that level for long its too much work to crackout money for me now.