Are you a poker addict?

Did you know that there are now organizations offering assistance to help you get past your poker addiction ? YEP, evidence is the brochure above which somebody emailed to me as a joke but was actually from a real organization in Canada if I'm not mistaken. I certainly wasn't aware that it has now come to a point where online poker is seen as an addiction and people are needing outside help to crack the habit.

Weeeird....

The funny thing is they're saying that Poker is not a sport ........... err ... DUH .... obviously. Whoever claimed it was a sport in the first place must have some loose screws. The only thing we poker players can claim is that its a game that is more skill than luck. And this is obviously evidenced by the number of players who can win consistently at the game.

I am thinking that if you really do have a problem in controlling your finances with regards to your poker playing, then its a compulsive gambling issue rather than a poker issue. It just so happens that poker is the IN thing right now, so your previous gambling habits of betting in the casinos or the NBA are shifted to a different avenue.

So how do we differentiate between a compulsive gambler and your average poker player? Well, if you ask me, if you are playing poker without any intention of learning the math behind it and without any kind of bankroll management plan in place. Then you're pretty much a gambler who relies on luck.

The guy who studies poker theory and has a sound bankroll management plan is also gambling, we obviously cannot deny that. But since he is basing his decisions on mathematical probabilities and is managing his risk correctly. Then he is not much different from the entrepreneur or businessman who gambles by deciding to open a new store. He opens the store because he thinks it will do good and will make him a profit. Although he is not sure of this because of many factors that are beyond his control (economic conditions, competition, etc). But he tries to reduce his risk by coming up with a good business plan and makes sure that he has the capital to make a go of the business. Once he is successful, he then opens other branches.

The poker player is acting in the same rational manner as the businessman. He plays regularly because he is also expecting a profit and he also tries to reduce his risk (bad beats, tilting) by playing according to tried and tested mathematical concepts and via sound bankroll management.

So there should not be any kind of addiction talk involved. It is all about making positive expectation decisions. Simply put, you are playing because it is profitable to play. And it is just human nature to pursue something that is beneficial to you.

The ultimate test I guess is something along the lines of the following situation. Let's say your average ROI is 15% on your poker playing. Suddenly, due to global warming, the poker sites inexplicably experience a fresh wave of greed and decide to increase their rakes to 26% from its current average level of 10%.

If you are still playing poker after this increase, then you my friend are a compulsive gambler.

By the way, one of the primary characteristics of a compulsive gambler is his tendency to actively defend his habit and rationalize it. Which come to think of it is exactly what I am doing right now. Hmmm .........

Official Guide to Donkey Poker (Part 2)

In part 2 of our offical guide to Donkey Poker, we now discuss how you can tell for sure if you are an online donkey player or not. I have devised a very short quiz that will describe some attributes of the online donkey player, give yourself one (1) point everytime you have done anything similar to the things below, you can then check your results afterwards. Please be honest. This quiz is based on psychological mumbo jumbo and is 99.9% accurate.

1. You call pokerstars – jokerstars in chat everytime your pair gets beat by a bigger pair, a flush, a set even quads. Basically any hand that comes from behind to beat your hand sends you on a rant that online poker is rigged.

2. You type “Thanks for the chips, moron” when you go all in with your Ace Three, get called by Ace Queen. And the 3 miraculously appears on the river.

3. You block your sharkscope stats and don’t allow other people to see it.

4. You put anonymous negative comments on blogs where the writer is bragging about a big score.

5. You slowplay AAs. And you can’t believe it and blow your top when the guy in the Big Blind flops 2 pair with his 46 offsuit and serves you a Big Blind special.

6. You spend your savings on a killer computer set-up with the expectation that you will get the money back when you win at online poker even though you currently have a negative ROI.

7. You have lost more than a thousand dollars playing micro stakes and you feel that you are just experiencing variance. And that anytime soon, lady luck will smile on you.

8. You tell people that you are a poker pro. Even though you are playing poker for a living because you are a bum and have not held a proper job since college.

9. Somebody goes all in for his last remaining 170 chips. You are in the BB where the blinds are 75-150. It is folded to you and you auto click fold because you got dealt 8-3.

10. Your nickname in the poker sites are similar to the names of actual poker pros with slight mis-spellings. Example : PhillyHellmuth, Iveythe2nd, DanielNegrenew

Analysis of Results

3 or more points – Congratulations ! You are a true blue authentic donkey player. You deserve to sit with me in a poker table anytime, anyplace. You will be welcomed in many tournaments and players will clamour and fight to play a hand with you.

1 to 2 points – Semi Donkey. You have potential but something seems to be holding you back. You need to throw away your copy of Harrington and Super System and need to read Part 1 of the Official Guide to Donkey poker some more. Practice what is taught religiously. Also, change your nickname to AnniePuke or JamieFold.

0 points – Pathetic! You are a disgrace to the DONKEYASS (Donkey players Association). There is still a slight chance of improvement but you need to immediately change your playing style. Remember the DONKEYASS motto : Never fold a draw, always show a bluff and call everyone a MORON.

Disclaimer : Everything I write is done in good fun. If I inadvertently insult anyone, it is not deliberate. I myself have been guilty of some of these things in the past. So pare-pareho lang tayo. Heheh

Official Guide to Donkey Poker (Part 1)

In my ever continuing and lifelong quest to assist the donkey poker player in their mission to spew money in my direction , I present to you my gift. This is the donkey player’s guide to NL Holdem poker.

I will try to outline some situations that you will often encounter in your quest for poker greatness. These are hard borderline situations and it takes donkey poker players years and years of playing to develop the instinct to know how to deal with these situations. Well it’s your lucky day today as you have chanced upon this great blog. Now I unveil to you the secrets behind their thinking. The reason for their mojo. Its like skipping 2 years ahead in your poker education. If you follow these basic rules, I guarantee you that you’re on your way to getting the much coveted fish icon in Sharkscope.

1. Gut Shot Straight Draw after the flop. What do you do ?

Gut Shot Straight draws are your friend. Try to play this as often as possible. Just imagine, you have 4 outs out of the 40+ cards left in the deck. That’s almost like 10% man. The interest in your savings account only give you 3% at most. So lamang ka. Play this until the river. If you don’t hit anything, bluff big at the river as that’s the only way for you to win the hand.

2. KKs on an Ace High Board. You bet, your opponent raises you all in. What do you do ?

You only get KKs once out of every 221 hands. Imagine that. That’s like 0.4% man. Once in a blue moon kind of thing. Syempre if you get it, you have to make the most out of the opportunity especially since you’ve been getting nothing but junk hands for the past few turns. Fuck the Ace. Your opponent is most probably bluffing with his reraise all in. Payag ka ba nun ? It’s like he’s saying his dick is bigger than yours. Call. Make him learn his lesson.

3. Villain called your preflop raise, called your bet on the flop and raised your bet on the turn. You have middle pair. What do you do ?

Obviously the villain is bluffing. You can’t be cautious now, you already bet the flop and turn. You’ll look like a weakling if you check the river. And you can forget about folding, that’s like for sissies. The best move is to push all in on the river. This way villain is caught red handed with his bluff. Just imagine the feeling of contentment you'll get after you catch him with his weak-ass bluff.

4. You have suited connectors in SB. 4 limpers before you.

FOLD. Suited connectors are one of the most overrated hands in poker. Your opponents probably limped in with high cards, what are the chances of you winning a hand with a measly 78. It doesn’t matter if its suited. It certainly doesn’t matter that you have the correct odds to call. 78 has burned Phil Gordon more times than you can remember. Also, remember in 1978, when your grade school GF dumped you because you were just being honest and told her she was a blimp. Or that time when you went all in with 78 in a 3 suited board of 10, 9 , 8 ,7 and still lost. Certainly a bad luck hand. Obvious FOLD.

5. You have pocket JJs in BB. Villain A in early position raised. Villain B in middle position reraised. The guy in SB goes over the top of everyone and goes All in.

CALL. Villain A probably has A5, Villain B since he reraised probably has A 8 suited while guy in SB probably has AK. Three Aces already. What are the chances of the last remaining Ace coming up. Fucking Right babee. You’re way ahead with your Jacks. CALLLL



To be continued ??

Freerolls are not Free

There is nothing sweeter sounding to the ear of the poker player than hearing the word FREEROLL.

No Buy-in. Nothing to lose. Getting something for nothing. Libre. These are all phrases that we associate with the word FREEROLL.

And one cannot deny the value of the FREEROLL to the newbie poker player. It is a way to build a bankroll from scratch. In a third world country like the Philippines where almost 80% of your income go to basic needs like food and shelter. Filipinos don’t really have much disposable income to spend on leisure and entertainment expenses like poker. So for the poker fanatic, this is where FREEROLLS come in and it is like mana from heaven. Building a bankroll from 0 is probably one of the most satisfying achievements for a poker player.

But as you mature in this game and start winning consistently in whatever limit/game you play. Then freerolls can no longer be considered free. Why is that you may ask?

Freerolls are no longer free because there is now a cost associated with it. Uh-oh, what the heck is nova talking about ? Kaya nga FREE eh... how come you are talking about cost? No buy in nga diba?

The cost I am referring to is the opportunity cost. In economic terms, opportunity cost is defined as the value of a product forgone to obtain another product.

Translated to poker terms. The cost is the time that you spend playing the freeroll. Let’s say on average it is 4 hours. This 4 hours may not have too much value for the beginner as he has nothing better to do. But for the winning poker player, this 4 hours can be spent playing & winning at his usual game and limit whether it be SNGs or cash games.

The winning poker player has an average profit per hour that he is forgoing because he is playing the freeroll. So if a player on average earns $10/hour/table playing whatever his game is. In essence, it is the same as saying he paid $40 ($10 x 4 hours of play) to play that freeroll.

Of couse I am oversimplifying some things, but I am hoping you get my point. This point was reinforced to me last week when I tried to play one of those FPT Phase 1 freerolls. I said to myself. Let’s try it. Nothing to lose, right? But the play was just crazy. Half of the players were going all in on the first hand trying to double up. The other half were sitting out. They were probably thinking there’s another freeroll in 2 hours if I bust out. Some players were raising 8x the BB with junk hands. This is just plain weird as the only players who will call you with that kind of raise are the one who’ve got you beat.

In the end, I was so frustrated that I just went all in with a semi decent hand. Of course, I immediately busted out because I got called by somebody with QQ. Heheh

Let me be clear, I am not sour-graping about the bust-out. But I was disappointed with the play and I found it a waste of time. And it is not really the fault of the players, but more of the way the freerolls were structured. There were just too many phase 1 freerolls on offer such that players were hoping to get lucky on hail marys. The play would have been much better and more skill oriented if there were only a few phase 1 freerolls, because now players had a limited chance of qualifying and would not dare waste the opportunity.

But going back to my topic of opportunity cost and applying it to this situation. The time one could have spent playing a cash game, SNGs or even a low buy in MTT where you had a good chance of ITM was pretty much lost playing a free for all where luck was the only deciding factor. So it should not be considered free.

If we were to get really technical and do a comparison so that you can look at it mathematically.

Let’s assume - Winning player A who is earning an average of $10 an hour plays the freeroll. Freeroll finishes in 4 hours. 200 players played. 10 seats awarded. His chance of winning is 10/200 which is actually accurate with the way the players were playing. So how much should the prize (P) be for it to be worth his time? We can compute this thru a simplified break even analysis

10/200 x (P) = $10 x 4
P = $800

Yep, the value comes out to 800 DOLLARS or 36,000 PESOS. That means the prize had to be more than 36,000 PESOS for it to be worth his time. But wait, the prize for the phase 1 freeroll is only a ticket to a phase 2 freeroll (worth $25 or 1000 pesos) where the player has to again roll the dice of luck to finally win the ticket worth only 10,000 PESOS.

So LUGI siya diba? Another way of looking at it is the player paid $40 to have a 1/20 chance at winning $25.

Comparing this to the freeroll player who is just a beginner. Or the guy who has a negative profit expectation. Their break even equation becomes

10/200 x (P) = $0
P=$0

For him, playing the freeroll is certainly worthwhile. His expected breakeven prize is 0 so anything more than 0 is advantageous to him.

I am not maligning the Pokerstars freeroll system. It is designed to attract as many new players into the game as possible (who might become real money players in the future). In fact I am supportive of the way Pokerstars has opened the game to thousands of players with their generous freerolls.

I am only trying to make a point that once you reach a certain hourly profit level. Freerolls are no longer free. They are still free in the traditional sense that you don't put up any money, but a winning player should now check the prize against his hourly profit level to see if it is worth playing. I may have assumed some of the values, but I think the arguments are logical. What do you think?

Rakeback, 2nd Accounts & 1st Place

There are various reasons why a poker player might want to open a 2nd account in the same site. But the most common ones are:

1. Rakeback

Out of beginner ignorance or you just plain forgot, your first account was registered without any rakeback. So now you're playing your usual volume, but without the benefit of rakeback. This is just plain stupid as rakeback is free money. There is no reason why you shouldn't enjoy this benefit. Whether you are a small time player or a regular grinder, free money is free money. My rakeback is less than $50 per month, but its still significant especially converted to pesos. Where on earth do you get 2000 pesos a month by just doing what you're normally doing anyway.

2. Bonus Whoring

As you may have noticed, initial deposit bonuses are HUGE compared to reload bonuses. Some other sites also offer freerolls and other perks to new players. Case in Point is Full Tilt's 100% up to $600 initial deposit bonus. If you are a regular grinder who can hit the volumes, then its like claiming $600 for free.

3. Cheating in Tournaments

There have been numerous cases in the past where a person registers for a tournament using 2 accounts. Then deliberately loses his chips to his other persona. Double the chips means a better chance of winning the tournament. But Poker sites have wised up to this and have installed safeguards against similar incidents from happening.

There are other possible reasons I can think of why you would want to open a 2nd account. You are already considered a shark in your regular limits and other players avoid you, so you want to squeeze out some easy profit using a different nickname.

Obviously the main concern is the fact that poker sites do not allow multiple accounts from the same person. You might be banned and worse your bankroll could be confiscated. The sites usually check the IP address and if 2 persons play in the same table using the same IP address, then you're in deep shit.

So how does one open a 2nd account safely and legally ?

This method was actually suggested to me by one of the helpdesk staff of a rakeback site. So I am assuming that this is legal. Basically all you need to do is to open the 2nd account using the name of your wife or brother or sister or any relative who lives in the same house with you. I'm guessing it could even be your 4 year old niece who thinks a flush is what you do with the toilet after peeing. =)

So now, you have a valid reason why 2 accounts are coming from the same IP address. Again, this is all fine and the poker sites will have no say in the matter as long as you don't play the 2 accounts together in the same tournaments as you will be in danger of getting accused of collusion/cheating. As long as you make sure that you only play 1 account at a time, then it should be safe.

So how do you fund the 2nd account? Well, if you're just after rakeback. You can just use the transfer feature of the poker site and transfer money from the 1st account to the 2nd account. Obviously if your wife was really playing. Then its legal for you to give her a bankroll.

If you're after the initial bonus, then it needs an initial deposit. It was easier before when moneybookers was still around because moneybookers itself had the transfer money feature internally. You let your wife/sister/niece open a new account in MB. You withdraw some money to MB from your poker bankroll. Transfer it to your relative's account thru MB less some minor fees. Then make a new deposit using the new account. And voila.

Without moneybookers, it gets a bit complicated since you have to fund the new account using a different e-wallet account than the one you currently have. But it should still be OK to open lets say a new click2pay account under your relative's name and have it verified. Its just a longer process but still possible. I would guess depositing thru western union in Pokerstars is safest and fastest since they have no way of checking who made the deposit.

Withdrawal is also simple if you did not open a 2nd e-wallet account. Just transfer any winnings back to the 1st account and withdraw the same way you normally do.

So there you have it. Now you can play with rakeback and avail of another bonus. A word of warning though, you do this at your own risk. I can assure you that it works because I know other people who have done it this way. But as with anything profitable, it comes with its own set of probables. Just don't blame me if your account is suddenly frozen. =D

Of course, if you are opening a new rakeback account. Please do allow other Filipino players (like me) to refer you. Heheh. You get the full percentage rakeback and benefits same as if you just opened it by yourself. But at least, the referring player gets something that would have gone to the rakeback site lang anyway. Sayang din.

Out in the poker front, I finally nailed down 1st place in an online tourney after a long long time. Woohoo. See below



The catch is it was just a $2 MTT. Hyuk hyuk. Why you may ask am I playing a $2 tourney in the first place? Well, as I said in a previous post, I was having a bad September start. So I wanted to gain some confidence back. I'm not that pig headed to want to stick to a certain limit that I already play in. I'll play low buy in MTTs because even though the winnings are low, the players are well to put it mildly, god-awful. It's actually a good strategy. Part bankroll management and part "how to break a losing streak" kind of move.

Btw, my personal thanks to Pepesmith of Pokermanila for including my blog in the Pinoy blogroll. I appreciate the gesture and hope I can give something back to the poker community thru the contents of the blog. Also, if you are a new reader, please feel free to agree or disagree to whatever I write down here. I am no expert and like everyone else, I consider myself an avid student of the game. I certainly welcome any comments that would make our poker-playing a better and more profitable experience.

Double or Nothing

In the Ongame network (Pokerroom, Mansion, Redkings...), there is a Double or Nothing SNG. It is basically what it sounds like. You start with 10 persons and top 5 get double their buy in. So if its a $20 SNG, 1st to 5th get $40 back.

You might say, so what ? It sounds like a low risk, low reward kind of deal.

My thinking is this type of SNG becomes relevant when you are chasing a big bonus and you are purely an SNG/MTT type of player like me. For one, you can probably fold your way to 5th without playing too many hands. I'm sure most of us have experience where we accidentally sit out an SNG and we end up in 4th or 5th place.

Secondly, you can open 10 tables at a time and not pay too much attention and I'm guessing you ITM half of it with not much trouble. Obviously since 50-50 ang chance mo. So break even at worst and if you get lucky you earn some money. The important thing is it ends fast so you have extra time to open more sets. All the while having a great chance of getting ITM and earning points to get your bonus. Logical ba ?

Its different from a Heads-up SNG where you also get double your money if you win. In a headsup situation, you have to be constantly focused and aggressive. But in 10 person SNGs, you can pick your spots and wait for the donkeys to bust out.

I've read somewhere before about certain players who chase SuperNova Elites or monthly bonuses. So they open like 16 traditional SNG tables at a time. But if you sharkscope them, they're losing thousands of dollars in the games that they play. They're expecting the bonus to make up for the losses which is kind of stupid.

So yes, Double or Nothing SNGs are low risk-low reward. But if you factor in the bonus. It becomes a low risk-high reward kind of move. As poker players, aren't those the exact situations we are constantly on the lookout for ? =)

A.S.S.

ASS stands for A Sucky September..

After a very profitable August, September is starting out pretty badly. I know that this is old news and all poker players have been complaining about the same stuff over and over. But I cannot count the times that I've gotten my money way ahead this month and ended up getting sucked out. Get it - sucked out - sucky september. Mwehehe - corny ba.

Seriously, its just overwhelming sometimes. I am experienced enough to know that it is just variance. But getting your set beat by a runner runner straight will really make you explode in anger. I was squeezing the mouse so hard and was really tempted to smash it against the monitor. But I suddenly remembered that the widescreen LCD monitor is brand spanking new. Nyeheheh... courtesy of the very profitable august.

Oh well, its just the beginning of the month. I'm hoping all the bad mojo has been used up and it picks up soon. I'm not really down that much but I think I got spoiled by last month's results. My ITM percentage in the August online tourneys was if I'm not mistaken close t0 40% and I made final table 5 times.

Logically, one should recognize that this is an aberration and cannot be sustained. But being human, hope springs eternal and you always think that the lucky streak will not end. Why do you think so many people go to the casinos or bet the Lotto. Or even say 'No Deal" to Kris Aquino when it's obvious that you should take the money and run.

Its in our nature. We are optimistic to a fault and sometimes that leads to disaster. I was in the gym the other day and was watching this overly excited guy getting offered 300K+ in Deal or No Deal with the 2M still in play and he was looking at his wife for some sign. But you can see in his eyes that he was already counting what he was going to do with the 2 Million. In the end, he pushed his luck too far and I believe he ended up with 5 pesos or something.

It was painful watching him deflate right in front of millions of people when his box was opened and he saw the miniscule amount. Obviously, people in the gym were muttering "Sayang, he should have taken the 300K offer". But if they were there all caught up in the moment, I believe they would have gleefully said no deal also.

And its the same with poker. Sometimes we go on a rush and get monster after monster or hit top pair 3 hands in a row. And we get this adrenaline rush so we continue raising with Ace high hands even though its obvious that the rush has passed. And we end up busting out on an overplayed hand.

Knowing when to fold and knowing when to say 'DEAL". It's all the same. It requires great discipline and wisdom amidst a sea of temptation. Here's hoping that when the time comes, and its our turn in the hot seat, we have learned enough to know that we're beat and willingly lay down those KKs when there is an Ace on the board.

Moneybookers

Moneyfookers, Moneysuckers ...

Well, the hottest news right now is the sudden withdrawal of moneybookers from servicing online gambling transactions of Asian Players. It's a big blow to majority of online Filipino poker players who use MB as their primary deposit and withdrawal option.

Some are even predicting the death of online poker as they know it. But that's quite exaggerated already. The Asian market is the biggest growing market and I think new payment processors will come up and service the gap left by moneybookes. The market is too lucrative to really pass up. So I'm not really panicking.

I am actually more curious to know the reason behind the moneybookers withdrawal. I am sure it is not because the owners suddenly became born again Christians and developed some kind of moralistic outlook in life similar to the Anito chain of motels. They're still willing to service their European customers. Only Asian players got shafted. So they're still be considered accessories to gambling in God's point of view if that is what they're worried about.

So why ? What is it that is unique to us that would merit this sudden change of policy? There wasn't any law that was passed similar to the UIGEA in any Asian country as far as I know. If I had to make a wild guess, I would think that it has something to with UK laws and money laundering (Moneybookers is based in the UK). With the sudden growth of players from Asia who primarily use MB and with the amount of money passing through them. Maybe they think they should err in the side of caution rather than find themselves with their pants down and getting accused of laundering triad money or other similar activities. What do you think ? Heheh ... pretty far fetched ?

As to my personal playing, I'm not really that affected since I am mostly a recreational player and there is still Click2pay for me. The high fees I consider part and parcel of the convenience of withdrawing thru an ATM. I know others are not too lenient and don't like C2P at all. But beggars can't be choosers. I'm just hoping that C2P doesn't fall to the same fate as MB as I'm sure they'll encounter a sudden surge in their members who are looking for ways to deposit to Pokerstars.

But even if C2P encounters the same fate, I still won't think it is the end of the online poker era. No matter what happens, I think check payments will always be there. The poker sites will always give this to you as an option. And checks are basically one of the oldest payment modes there is. Even if it takes a month to clear, it will still clear and the money will still be yours. Depositing might be a problem, but I think Western Union and other money remittance services will still work out. Check payments and money remittance are used for a variety of other purposes other than gambling so it cannot be regulated in such a direct way.

So even without Moneybookers, I will still play in sites where I already have money and where C2P is not yet accepted. I will just let it sort out by itself. I am confident that online poker is a phenomenon that is here to stay and people and financial institutions will always find a way to fund their money-making transactions.