Micro Stakes Maniac

Poker, the cliche goes, is a game of decisions. Winning players make more good decisions than bad, and losing players, of course, the reverse. Sounds pretty easy.

But why are you playing poker?

Fun? Profit? Career training? Exploring career training? Baby needs a new pair of shoes?

The above is the meta question you need to answer before you make other key decisions like:

• * How much money do I start playing with?
• * How much money can I tolerate losing
• * How much non-playing time do I invest in learning the game
• * What kind of games do I play? At what levels?

In other words, you are one of three kinds of player.

• * Recreational – what you spend is a function of “the cost of fun”; you play b/c you love the game, and you’re willing to lose a certain amount, or not be too ambitious about winning. Fun trumps profit.
• * Side-Profit – what you spend is a function of making a little money w/o too much of an investment; you probably enjoy the game, but in the end, profit trumps most considerations. The Fun vs. Profit balance tips toward profit.
• * Career – you want to become a “professional” or career poker player; your income derives solely from poker play. Profit uber alles. Profit trumps fun.

I participate in chats on various poker boards, on every imaginable (poker) topic, and many discussions splinter off into disagreement mainly b/c the participants hold different, unstated assumptions, about who is where on the above list of the three types of player.

So, which type is Your Maniac? And how does that effect certain decisions?

I’m a Rec player who shades toward Side-Profit –

• * I’m not willing to lose money to play, but neither am I ambitious to win a tremendous amount. My winnings relative to the time I expend playing, from a time-money-value standpoint, compared to other activities I could be engaged in, is not profitable.
• * My initial bankroll was small (the PokerStars minimum at that time, $25); I lost my initial investments several times (a topic for another post) before I recovered them all, in full.
• * I will invest some, but not a great amount, of enjoyable time off-table to learn to play better. I’m personally competitive, and I enjoy reading & chatting about playing the game better. I will not invest off-table time doing something I do not enjoy.
• * I’ll invest money in select poker books, but my CAPEX (Whoa! Big Word!!) does not exceed my profits. In other words, what I spend to get better does not exceed my winnings.
• * I play in a wide variety of game levels & types (.02 through .50 BB cash games; smallest stakes MTTs, from 45 to 20,000+; SNGs; freerolls). I’m a winning player at all of them (possibly not DorNs, which I do not enjoy playing). It is more profitable to specialize in a single game type & level and learn to crush it, preferably playing multi-tables using legal tracking software (two other things I don’t do because I don’t enjoy either).

So, the career player is pretty much the opposite of the Rec player.

Pros call it “grinding”, as in “grinding out wins playing 25NL, multi-tabling 20 tables for 7 hours straight…”

Does that sound like fun? Or work?

Yeah. Its a job. You have to invest time in things you don’t like, but that will pay off later. You must be willing to lose money in the short-term, perhaps even quite a lot, to get better and recover and exceed your initial investments (i.e. some see graduating from college as exactly that – an initial capital investment that is recovered & exceeded over time).

You play the game types & levels where you win the most $$$/hour.

Interested in Career play?

Invest some time reading/writing on CardsChat or 2+2 forums to get an idea of what it takes to be a career player. (See under my “Poker” blog roll for links.)

I’ve seen (but don’t recall where) some extensive posts describing what you have to do to become a career player. It’s a lot of work. Not a get-rich-quick path.

Read the blogs of career players, and you will get a good idea of what it requires to duplicate their path.

Way.

Hand #1: My AsQc vs. Donkey AhTs

So, Donk has been loose & obvious with weak. He raises from MP and I re-raise strong from the button. Donk calls.

Flop: Ad7h2h

With my massive 82.323% vs. 17.677% advantage and certain read, I put Mr. AceTen Donkey All-in and cruise to a well-deserved win & nice pot.

Nope.

Donk spiked a T and donked the pot. Grrr. At least my read was right.

Hand #2: No Tilt For Me!!

OK, the Poker Gods whacked me a good one there. But hey, short stack only got 1/3 of my buy-in.

So, I vow to prove to myself that I’m not going to tilt off the rest of my chips. I’m going to make good decisions and get back to at least even. Most importantly, I won’t let Tilt get the better of me.

Can you hear the stirring music in the background? “With Steely Resolve, our Maniac focuses like a laser and cuts ‘em up and get back his chips.”

How about a AA vs. 34o heads up to get back on track?

A nice 85% to 15% crushing advantage, pre-flop.

So your Maniac does the right thing and raises strong pre-flop and gets the short stack BB to call.  Hmmm….how much am I going to win now? Hope it’s alot and gets me back to even.

Flop – 3s2c5c

Yikes. Pretty dangerous. Better raise big to make any draws pay.

Whoa! Short stack puts me all-in! He must have flopped either straight or flush draw. I think it’s pretty even either way and factor in the clown/donkey bluff%, and it’s a clear call. Plus I have a gutshot straight draw and backdoor nut flush to boot.

Not even. This mega-donkey is holding 3h4d!!! Middle pair and gutshot straight draw. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I’m about 70/30 to take this Donk’s chips. I’m back to level! Yeah Baby!.

Not. Spiked a 3 for the set and now I’m down 2/3s my original buy-in. Same table, same session, different donkey. Double Grrr.

Hand #3: Rinse. Repeat.

OK, DonkZilla. I will not tilt. I will get my buy-in back. I will show you. I will. I will. I will.

Now, I’m the short stack, for now, till I nail this donkey. And I won’t leave the table till I’m done & won.

If I couldn’t win with AQo or AA, then how about my least-favorite hand, KK? Maybe it’s Opposite Day, as my young children like to say, and KK will be my ticket back to level.

So, I’m short, and everyone at the table whose been paying half-attention has seen that I’m only playing quality, and playing it aggressively.

In 1st position, I call to hopefully get the Donkey to my immediate right (see above AA vs. 34o) to enter the pot or to re-raise a raise. No raise and three to the flop, including, of course, my new bete noir, Right Donkey.

JdKdTc

Hello!

Top set on an extremely dangerous board. This small stack Maniac is All-In, which is still 10 times the size of the very small pot at that point. Hopefully, Mr. Right Donk comes along the ride. He owes me.

He does, as does his friend, Left Donk.

Mr. “34off” Right Donk flips over TdJh for a gutshot straight (again) and a backdoor flush draw. 6%!!

Mr. Left Donk flips over Qh4h for an Opened Ended Straight Draw (8 outs). 24%!

Thank you double donkeys for getting me back to level!! I’m 70% against 6% and 24%!

Sweet Revenge and Mr. 6% Right Donk draws two diamonds on the turn & river for a Ten-high 4-flush and I’m over and busted out.

Three 70% or better hands, after all the money was in, in the same session, lost on the turn or river.

AHHHHHHHHHHH. Now I’m on tilt, but I’m busted out and I DO NOT RETURN FOR MORE. Quadruple Grrrrrrrrrr.

I hate this game!!! I love this game!!!  Humility is a Dish Best Served Cold.

Thanks to online player and poker coach zerosum79 for the nice intro video on playing Sit N Gos.

You can DL the video by clicking here.

Thanks also to CardsChat moderator dakota-xx for pointing it out.

Calculating what you need to earn per hour
to replace the income of an average, white-collar American income

Read the rest of this entry »

I am everywhere. At least, online that is.

So, you’ll have to forgive me as I work to figure out much of this blogging software/configuration stuff.

RSS

Here is the URL to enter into your RSS feeder (I use iGoogle as my homepage and LOVE IT). Yes, you have to do it manually until I can figure out how to get the auto-subscribe configured/enabled etc.   (Will get there, I promise.) 

http://microstakesmaniac.com/?feed=rss

Even I can do it.

Stars & Tilt

Follow me on PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker. I have the same username on both:

1MicroManiac

Fair warning — I’m transitioning my Stars account from my old to the new “1MicroManiac”. May be a few weeks before I really start using it. Am using my FT account just to play money Rush Poker.

Twitter

Twitter? Hey, look to the right of this page and click the “Twitter Me” graphic. Or do it the hard way:

McrStakesManiac

http://twitter.com/McrStakesManiac

Email

So you want to email me directly?

microstakesmaniac@gmail.com

I get much useless email, most of it legitimate (thanks gmail!), so be patient if I don’t reply in 30 seconds or 3 days or, like, forever.

Facebook

Micro Stakes Maniac

I use FB the least and have hardly done anything with it (yet). That, like so many other things, will change. But hey, remember, I have a Real  Job and an Actual Family and two like, crazy-ass rat terriers and  I’m slightly addicted to Full Tilt’s Rush Poker and it’s basketball season and Landon Donovan is now playing for Everton and sometimes, amongst all that, I actually try to play real money poker.

So there, I think that’s everything.

Saw this comment about Rush Poker and it looked like sound strategy (that accords with my limited Play Money experience).

Credit to the comment writer, “Peter Finch”, who is commenting on a Poker News Daily article with Andy Bloch (“Andy Bloch Discusses Rush Poker Strategy”):

Strategy is very easy in this game.
1. If people fold to you – no matter what hand you have no matter what position raise 3x the BB and you will usually take the blinds every time (around 65-70%). Don’t even look at your cards. People are waiting for big hands and fold is the order of the day. If anyone re-raises you pre flop fold. If anyone calls or raises before you – fold.
2. If one person calls you and you hit nothing on the flop – bet a pot size bet – 70% of the time they will fold right there and then.
3. With 2 callers again if your the first to act – bet the pot even if you have nothing. One may call you – play your normal game after that.
4. If any one re raises – fold
5. Because of the number of hands, most people who call you will be on high cards, if you call with crap, and the flop hits you – you will be payed off big time.

As no-one can get a read on you – you can use this every single hand and a you will pick up most of the blinds, and most of the pots after the flop. Any hands that go further than that – even if you any win a minority – you will be in front. Your going to win more than you loose – I know, I’ve been doing this for the last couple of days. it will esp. work in the lower stake games.

Its only a matter of time before everyone figures this out. This simply cracks the Rush Poker as being any game of ‘real poker’ at all. Personally, I’m a hopeless player – So my only claim to fame will be this post – the first to provide a winning system to this new form of poker.

If you read the main article — be warned: Andy Bloch is a paid Full Tilt player and he’s clearly a non-critical, pro-FT “homer”.

Here’s another article by Dan Katz  from called Basic Rush Poker Strategy: A First Look.

I’ll be live twittering during Sunday’s WBCOOP Event 7, to start at 3:00PM EST (UTC 2000).

Hash tag #WBCOOP
Twitter ID: McrStakesManiac

Today’s goals —

A) DO NOT get sucked into aggressive, short-handed play during low-blind play.

B) Focus & Be Present by giving the Tourney my full attention (no watching basketball or the ManU vs. Arsenal replay….)

C) Yes, score a SCOOP satellite ticket (top 153 finishers)…

My last chance to salvage a shred of self-respect. Do I sound irritated? Yeah, I am.

*** First Break UPDATE ***

So far, solid play. Have avoided loose aggro play. No costly mistakes. Stayed focused and more importantly, not gotten bored and decided to throw all my chips into some 8-11 out hand I would probably lose.  Current at t4,000, t500 above AVG.

*** Second Break UPDATE ***

After a sparkling Post-Break start, ran into some cold flops and lost 25%. Recovered some. t7500 (AVG 6500); 253/785.  Staying focused and avoiding mistakes. All good.

*** Third Break UPDATE ***

Yes, I made it this far.

Currently right on average at t13,600. Current position is 146 out of 370.

Playing very tight, with two very large stacks dominating the table. Just looking for a chance to double up against one of them. So far, have been mistake free & focused.  One All-In w/KQo against button steal that netted me t3,000.

*** Final UPDATE ***

Knocked out and really, really incensed. Was holding steady, then had KK on the button against the table big stack. Re-raised him  and he called. Ace flopped and he bluffed me off the KK holding K8o…. If I’d called, I would have easily won and been in the top 50 and on cruise control.

So of course, I followed that up by going all in the next hand with AJs and the guy flips over AA and takes me out.  3 hours and 15 minutes of very good play followed by 90 seconds of one bad fold and a bad-luck call.  Done. Finished 353/2039.

What a game! Addictive. I’ve been playing w/Play Money and it’s really, really fun. (Is it really poker or “wait for the premium pockets then play your cards vs. their cards”?? Yeah, the latter).

Only at Full Tilt. Here’s their promo/description:

Play Rush Poker* – the World’s Fastest Poker Game!

Warning: Rush Poker* is extremely fast paced – prepare yourself for the most intense poker action in the world!

Available exclusively at Full Tilt Poker, Rush Poker* is the ultimate high-speed poker experience.

This new poker format is designed to minimize your wait time between hands and keep you in the action. You’ll join a large player pool and face a different table of opponents every hand you play. When you fold your hand, you’ll be rushed to another table for a new hand right away.

To play even faster, use the Quick Fold button to move to a new table for the next hand immediately.

I actually signed up for a Full Tilt account just to play (nothing against FTP; I just never had a reason to play on two sites with essentially the same games).

I’ll be posting more soon on Rush Poker. If you’re new to the game, it may be an invaluable learning experience. And there are strategies to beat it. (I’ve comfortably won with Play Money, and the games are much more solid than other Play Money games.)

*** UPDATE ***

Found this on Poker Daily News: Rush Poker Player Reactions

I’ll be live twittering during Saturday’s WBCOOP Event 6, to start at 3:00PM EST (UTC 2000).

Hash tag #WBCOOP
Twitter ID: McrStakesManiac

Today’s goal — a SCOOP satellite ticket (top 153 finishers)…

Seriously, my two best WBCOOP events have been 2 & 5, PLO & Mixed Game, which is totally crazy.

I’ve got two more chances to salvage a little self-respect.

*** UPDATE ***

Over and out in 3 hands. All in w/2nd best 2-pair. Yes, way too aggressive for low-blind play, but it’s Saturday afternoon and I’m really ambivalent about playing.

And I really, really, really, hate these short-handed tables during low blind play.

Basically, you’ve got a very high percentage of players (30%??) who registered but aren’t playing. So, my table had 4 players and 5 sitters, and we 4 were chasing a lot of dead chips, forcing me into an aggressive game.

Yes, I should handle it better, by not getting sucked into a style that A) I don’t play well, and B) that is generally dangerous & counter-productive during low-blind play (unless you really know what you’re doing; clearly, I don’t, at least, not in the heat of the moment I don’t.) Triple Grrr.

I pretty much only play one game, No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE), so I would be playing the mixed game for … what?

On the fence. Check back later. I might change my mind.

*** UPDATE ***

Eight minutes before the start, I decided to go ahead and play.

I didn’t twitter b/c I spent all my “free” time reading up on how to play these games!! Yes, I was completely lost. Of the eight games:

• I had never, ever played 5 of them
• Have only played PLO once (WBCOOP Event 2)
• Have played very, very little Limit Hold’Em, and that was when I first started.

So, of course, I had my best showing. Unbelieveable. Should I really be playing No-Limit? Beginner’s Luck? Was everyone else just as lost? (Didn’t look like it, actually).

Finished 253 of app. 1800.  Even late, I was in the Top 50, and probably could have folded through the games I didn’t know and just played NLHE & PLO (I’m an expert now, after 90 minutes of play) and staggerred across the 153 line. But of course,  I didn’t.  I continued to play into games I didn’t know  (like, the basics, such as winning hand ranks etc. )  and with the bigger blinds/antes/pots, I got burned.

Finally eliminated in PLO. My nut flush lost to a flopped 7 over 2 full house.

Really, I was just still amazed at getting to that point!

Next up — Event 6, and with 4 inches of overnight snow on the ground, I’m not going anywhere else today.