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View Full Version : An online adventure - long


07-11-2002, 11:59 AM
Sue me Wrong Forum Guy. I'm not posting on the Internet Gambling forum.


My son has an online poker account. He gave me his password a while back so I've been looking around there a bit. A few days ago I couldn't resist nosing around so I checked out how much he had in his account.


$50. Hmmm....okay. Start small, work your way up. Still, a bit too small for my liking and I told him so. He hemmed and hawed, stuck between a rock and a hard place. He finally admitted to starting the account with $500. What limits were you playing, I asked. $5-10, he answered.


I wasn't entirely pleased but didn't let it show. I asked him what limit he was playing at the moment. He said none, impossible to to recoup what he had lost.


Now I was getting seriously annoyed but I didn't show it. Tell you what, I said. Let me fool around with your money for a few days and see what I can do. If I get it back to $500 you follow my advice on how to continue building your bankroll. If I bust out, and that's entirely possible, I'll give you $50 cash. He agreed.


With only $50 I had two choices. No limit with the smallest blinds I've ever seen, or $1-2. I watched the no limit for a couple of hours. It's a strange game online, ultimately beatable but too much risk with only two buy-ins. So off to the $1-2.


It was the oddest session I've ever played in. Nobody raised (except me) without the nuts, and even then I noticed a couple of them just calling with unbeatable hands. It took me....oh, two hands (in one hour) to lose half my (son's) stack. Finally I got QJs on the button in a familt pot, raised and all was right with the world. Result: Ten hours of play +$75.


The next day I was back facing a totally different line up. Talk about weak tight. A raise sent them all scurrying. On one hand I got a small set to fold (he showed me) by jamming AQ with a Q on board. Seven hours of play +$60.


The next session was wild. A true, certified maniac entered the game. have you ever played against a real maniac before? He raised, reraised or capped every single hand. And he won for a couple of hours, won real big. I was staying out of the way with my terrible hands as he drove everybody else nuts, cracking every imaginable hand and capping it each time. I was begging the Lord to give me a hand and finally my prayers were answered. I nailed him six times in a row. The flops hit me, not him. My name's Billy son, wanna play head-up? Just joking. The best luck I had that day was staying out of the way during his rush. His rush ended and the rest of the table was too battle-fatigued to do anything but watch. +$130 for the day.


Yesterday was most bizarre. I was down 15bb or so, trying to resist being sucked into the loose-passive rythym of the game. Fold, fold, fold...finally 9h8h appeared in my hand UTG. I limp and so does everybody else. Good.


The flop comes 10h7h5h, something like that. Anyway, I've got a flush. now the kicker is that at this site they have a high hand jackpot. Every ninety minutes the high hand wins whatever. In this case it was $127 I believe. As much as I'd like to bet here I can't take the risk of everybody folding. Or can I? Anyway, the blinds checked, I checked and it was checked around.


The turn brought a lovely Qh. Checked to me. Now what? Easy...bet. I got three callers and the button raised. I called. So did the others. The river was a 3x. It was checked to the button, he bet, I raised etc etc until it was capped. Straight flush baby, a nice pot AND the jackpot, which held up.


So that's my online adventure. If there's any point to this tale it is that of adjusting to your opponents (most of whom are very straight forward at that limit). Being able to note the changes from loose-passive to weak-tight to tight-aggressive, all of which you experience over many hours of play make the $1-2 game online very profitable.


One hand that still annoys me, though. I open-raised with 88 UTG+2. Three callers in a very passive game. The flop came AK4o. I bet, call, call. Bad sign. The turn is a 9. I check, button bets, small blind calls, I fold. The river was a baby card. Bet, call. The button wins with J4. I can only wonder what the small blind had.


Best of luck to you all. Billy (LTL)

07-11-2002, 12:38 PM
Nice Story Billy.


I still can't see the straight flush though. did the flop have a 6, or the turn a J??

07-11-2002, 12:47 PM
nice story, hope you recoup your son's money. i was wondering when you're gonna post your story of how you got the name - - long tern loser.

07-11-2002, 04:03 PM
Billy,


It looks like you were on Ultimate Bet. Yes we have all played with a real maniac. I play about 30 hours per week on UB and at least 25 to 50% of them have a true maniac at the table during that time frame. I do have my favorites but will keep their names to myself to protect my earn. /images/smile.gif


Good story please keep us informed as to how you progress.


Jimbo

07-11-2002, 10:02 PM
Apologies. You are quite correct and my stated hand was a bit inaccurate. The end result was QJ1098 of hearts. Because it was late (my time) when I wrote the post I took certain liberties with the hand. Best of luck. Billy (LTL)

07-11-2002, 10:24 PM
Hi Jimbo. Yes, it was Ultimate Bet. I'm playing under the name drifftaway but so far only on the low limit games. And I've recouped the $500 so I'm not so sure my kid will let me play anymore. Might have to start my own account.


At the low limits at least I've found many of the games remarkably easy in that you can play like the Rock of Gibraltor for hours at a time and still get action when you get a hand. I've also found that if there is any scare card on the river you will rarely be bet into, or raised, unless your opponent has the nuts. Is this generally true of all the games?


Anyway, it was fun. Drop in and say hi if you see me there and we'll compare secret notes on maniacs we have known and loved. Best of luck, Billy (LTL)

07-11-2002, 10:37 PM
Billy,


Congratulations on your extraordinary success. Seems like you are winning multiple BB/hour at $1-$2. You seem to be making as much as a good weak $5-$10 player.


How does a "Rock of Gibraltar" play on UB?


Here is a preliminary pass:


1. Preflop: Stay in only with Sklansky 1-5.

2. Postflop: Stay in only with high pair or better (4 for a straight or flush).

3. Turn: Bet all with two pair or better; Two bet open straight or four for a flush; one bet top pair if no straight, flush possibilities

5. River: Bet all with straight, flush; Two bet with two pair; Bet with top pair only if no flush, straight


How would you modify this?


Thanks,

Michael

07-11-2002, 10:57 PM
What advice to you plan to give your son?

07-11-2002, 11:49 PM
What advice to you plan to give your son?


Well, the same advice I wanted to give him when he told me he was playing $5-10 with a $500 bankroll. Play lower limits and build on both your bankroll and experience. I started off playing to prove a point. I only posted about it because I was surpised how easy the games were.


What surprised me most was that I wasn't getting particularly good cards dealt to me, I was getting my fair share of bad beats and with the exception of several hands, was not drawing out on my opponents very well. Considering all of that the games were still easy.


Best of luck. Billy (LTL)

07-12-2002, 01:04 AM
Seems like you are winning multiple BB/hour at $1-$2.


Keeping in mind of course the very limited time I've played there. But yes, it seems to me that several big bets an hour should be possible in these games over the long term. Famous last words.


How does a "Rock of Gibraltar" play on UB?


Apologies if I've given you the wrong impression. In many of the sessions rocklike play would have been a fatal mistake. The very loose point I was trying to humourously make was that when you've been seen folding hand after hand for hours and should have a tight "rocky" table image, when you do come out jamming you still get lots of action.


Your 1-5 is fine for the tight aggressive games as long as you aware of the necessity of both making and calling (suspected) bluffs occaissionally.


The games are very beatable if you are quick to adapt your play to the rhythym of the table. But of course you can't play like a rock all of the time. Sometimes you're even best off putting on your Manny the Maniac mask and saying "Party time, folks".


Best of luck. Billy (LTL)

07-12-2002, 09:24 AM
there are twenty forums here with vigorous discussion devoted to poker strategy. to try and break strategy down into four or five basic rules is very unrealistic and will result in an unprofitable strategy.


Here is a preliminary pass:


1. Preflop: Stay in only with Sklansky 1-5.

2. Postflop: Stay in only with high pair or better (4 for a straight or flush).

3. Turn: Bet all with two pair or better; Two bet open straight or four for a flush; one bet top pair if no straight, flush possibilities

5. River: Bet all with straight, flush; Two bet with two pair; Bet with top pair only if no flush, straight

07-13-2002, 03:03 PM
1/2 at UB is a funny world.

Starting at the .25/.50 tables at UB with 40 bucks I thought that tables at 1/2 and above must be filled with good players.


I've since found though that the tables seem to be split between those who play good cards reasonably well, and those who play any cards badly. Like a lot of places I guess.


From the little I played against you I could tell you where a good player, but many others don't take any notice of the way anyone plays there. That's why after hours of folding you still generally get action.


I'm envious of you hitting a Jackpot in your first week mind, I've been playing there 8 month and not a sniff!


Cya at the tables and GL

07-14-2002, 07:57 AM
From the little I played against you I could tell you where a good player


Thanks John. You should have seen me today though. Six hours and a whole dollar profit. Better than a loss I suppose.


Well done on building up your bankroll from $40. I have only one real complaint on UB. I find the low limit rakes are extremely high. Same as a real life card room I suppose but what annoys me is when playing short-handed, which I enjoy the most, they still seem to be taking their 5%. At the $10-20 table, shorthanded, $150 pot is raked 50 cents. Oh well, another reason to keep building up the bankroll I suppose.


My other complaint is that there is usually somebody who is the designated complainer at the table. I find it very frustrating when the true live ones are scared out of the game by some professor or other. In real life I'd pull the guy off to a corner and deal with it. Online you can do nothing but try to gently control the damage done. What are these morons thinking? And of course the table captains inevitably could use a little game refinement themselves.


I'm envious of you hitting a Jackpot in your first week


Luck. What can I say? Best of luck to you and don't chase out your opponents when you flop a flush, you need a miracle card for a straight flush, and there is a decent jackpot waiting for you at the end. (I think that's the strategy, anyway. Billy (LTL)