Review: Killer Poker Online
I’ve read some columns by John Vorhaus online and enjoyed what I read. His book, Killer Poker Online: Crushing the Internet Game, is a completely different story. The book is a waste of time and money. I’m glad a friend bought the book for me or I would have been very disappointed in the read.
I read the book expecting to get some new insights into online poker. I was looking for strategy and examples of online play. In the first paragraph of the Introduction, Vorhaus writes:
…I want to put forth the startling idea that, hey, maybe Internet poker’s not such a hot idea…
What? Is this really in a book about crushing the Internet game? Instead of reading about poker strategy, the book taught me the basics of how online poker works. Chapter 2 is titled “The Mechanics of the Thing” and explains the computer recommendations for running a poker client, what a screen name is, what the lobby is, play money tables, hand history logs, setting your options and various other things.
New Book on the Way
Last night on UB I turned my 3,200 Ultimate Points into 4,600 playing a no-limit points table, just enough to order Zen and the Art of Poker, a book I’ve wanted for several months.
Feeling Comfortable Again
I’m starting to feel comfortable again at the tables. Earlier today I played for a few hours on Party again, but with much better results. I’m feeling good playing 4 tables of $1/2 6-max, so I think I’m going to stick to it for awhile.
I eliminated the tilt factor completely today. Sure, I took my share of bad beats, but I didn’t let it affect my game. Guess what? I came out ahead! Imagine that. For most of the session I was up a little at a table or two and down at the other tables. For the most part, I was down 25-30 BB for the majority of the time I played. Near the end of my session I was able to get some hands to hold up and ended up winning back what I had lost yesterday and a little more. I finished up about 33 BB to the good.
-EV stopped by my table for a bit and was getting better cards than I was at the time. After winning about 10 BB (I think), he took off for what he said was juicy $5/10 table. It was nice to chat it up for a bit with a fellow blogger.
I don’t think I’ll be playing anymore today, so it’s nice to finally have a winning day.
Back at Party
With Party’s redeposit bonus I couldn’t resist switching back over from UB. After making my deposit the bonus didn’t show up in my account, so I had to contact customer support this morning. I’m happy to say they fixed the problem in a few minutes. I’m going back to the $1/2 6-max tables at Party, with 4 up at a time. The pace of play is slower than at UB, so it’s much easier to keep up with multiple short-handed tables.
After getting the bonus funds I played for a few hours this morning and broke even at the tables. During that time, I cleared almost 1/3 of the 1400 raked hands that I needed. My main focus was to play a solid game and not let any bad beats get to me. I let a couple of bets slip away, but overall I did pretty well.
I ran some errands during the day and jumped back on for a few hours tonight. Again, my play was solid for the most part. I had a some bluffs at the wrong time, but not too many. I was 4-tabling again and one thing I’ve noticed is that the rate at which I would get beat by a backdoor draw or a runner runner seems so much higher because I’m playing to many tables at once. The beats did get to me a couple of times, but for the most part I kept it under control. I finished down about $50 for the day, but cleared the entire $200 bonus, so overall it was a +$150 day.
Looking through my spreadsheet and Poker Tracker, I noticed that I haven’t had a winning day at the ring games since the 11th. That’s not really a good indicator of anything because I took an entire week off from poker. I felt pretty good about my play today. It was much better than it had been over the past couple of weeks. Slowly but surely I’ll get my game back and build the bankroll up too. Another thing I noticed in Poker Tracker was that I’m only $1.14 ahead for online ring games! How does that happen when I have a bankroll of over $2100? One big tournament win and bonus funds, that’s how.
Back to the Grind
Last night after work I decided to step back into the ring. I had some cash left in my UB account so I sat down at two $1/2 6-max tables. It was more of the same. Suckouts everywhere. They are causing me to go on tilt. I see tilt coming, but it’s too late. This is a huge hole in my game and I now realize it. I finished down for the night and cashed out of UB. The plan is to take advantage of Party’s deposit bonus over the weekend and go back to basics. Push with big hands and get out with garbage. I’m tired of this losing shit.
Using WordPress 1.5
The site is now using WordPress 1.5, the latest and greatest version of the best blogging software the web has to offer. I’ve added a contact form, which can be accessed in the Navigation section on the right or by clicking my name in the footer. You won’t notice much different around the site, but I sure do in the administration of it. Sometime soon I’ll work on a better looking design, but this is what you get to keep for now. I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled poker blogging in a few days…
Time Away
I haven’t played any poker this week except for the UB freeroll. I’m enjoying my time away from the tables and should be ready for a big comeback in a few days.
Ready To Quit
I’m seriously ready to quit. That’s how bad it’s going. If I wasn’t witness to the string of bad beats I’m going through I wouldn’t have believed it was possible. Seriously…it’s that bad. I’ve bled off 1/3 of my bankroll in a week. No lie. My opponents gut shot straight draws are hitting much more often than my flush draws. Go figure. I really hate complaining, but I’m going to lose my mind. I’ve checked my stats with Poker Tracker and I’m still playing tight. I’m betting my big hands. It’s not like it’s rocket science at these low limits.
I’m not even going to go into details by posting any hand histories, because it would turn into a novel. Besides, who wants to read them anyways. It just goes to prove…the fish aren’t just playing at Party Poker. They are in full force at UB (sign up with “mtdewvirus” as your referrer) and they are sucking out on me in record fashion.
Maybe I should come up with a new hobby. But what hobby out there allows you to make money. Or lose it I should say. 1/3 of the bankroll in a week. Think about that. That’s over 200 BB at $2/4. I wish I could have a week where I came out ahead that much. I’ll need a couple of those just to recover.
What really hurts is the fact that it’s not only the bad beats that are killing my bankroll. I can’t hit a huge draw to save my life. Flush draws are out the window. The same with open-ended straight draws. What about FD + OESD? Yeah right. Or FD + gut shot straight draw? Do I even need to answer?
Does anyone know any prayers to the poker gods? Maybe a rain dance?
Is It Rigged?
I haven’t posted since Tuesday, so I thought I’d give a quick update of how it has been going at the tables. In one word…shitty! The bad beats are coming in from all directions. I flop 2 pair and someone calls me down going runner runner for a bigger two pair. I flop the nut straight and someone hits a 3 outter on the river for a bigger straight. I flop a full house with the hammer and someone spikes an ace on the river with his A7 for a bigger full house. I flop trips and someone calls me down hitting a 2 outter on the river for a full house. These are just a couple of examples. The other day in a span of 10 minutes I got beat on the turn or river 5 times by someone with 5 outs or less.
It’s simply impossible to come out ahead when the other players are pulling cards out of their ass like this. It’s at times like this when it really makes you wonder if online poker is rigged. I know it’s now, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit the thoughts enter my head once in awhile. I can’t complain about the horrible players I guess, but it would be nice if my monsters would hold up to those drawing dead (2-4 outs) once in awhile. It’s extremely hard to recover from losing a 20 BB pot that you were the clear favorite in. Especially when it happens more than once.
Sorry about the bad beat whining, but I needed to get it out of my system somehow. Screaming at my monitor hasn’t seemed to help at all.
Say NO to Tourneys
That’s my new slogan. At least for the next two months. Tournaments are definitely -EV for me at this point. If I’m going to reach my goal, I can’t keep giving my money away in tournaments. I was “suckered” into another one last night. A $30+3 on UB with $5,000 guaranteed. As I logged into my account and looked over the tables I noticed this tournament had 109 people and only 5 minutes left to register. Top 20 places were paying and unless 167 people entered, UB was going to be adding a decent amount of cash to the prize pool to reach that five grand. For some reason I thought UB cut off registration 5 minutes before the start of a tournament so I signed up. Well, 71 other people must have been thinking the same thing. When the tournament started there were 181 people and UB didn’t have to put up any dough. What at first looked like a 1 out of 5 people win money deal turned out to be no deal.
For the first three levels I saw exactly 0 hands out of the blinds. All I could find were unsuited low cards or marginal cards out of position. I think I managed to win one hand when I made what I thought was a great move with my big slick after the flop only to be called by another big slick and split the pot. As always seems the case, I ended up going in on a draw and lost. Out in 81st place. When will I get it through my head not to put all of my chips on the line for a draw? I do it over and over and over again in tournaments and it just doesn’t pay off. I always bluff at the wrong times too. I guess a draw is a semi-bluff, so no difference there. So the tournament set me back $33 or about 8 BB at my regular $2/4 game. Nothing huge, but it slowly eats away at the bankroll.
That’s it though. No more. I’m vowing to not play another online tournament (except WPBT events of course) until after the goal period is over and I can study some tournament strategy. I like tourneys and no-limit, but I suck at it. I know I suck, but I’m still playing and giving my money away.
I also played some of the $2/4 6-max games last night and lost about 30 BB. It’s always the same thing when I lose. I don’t want to show fear, so I call down a raiser or a check-raiser with my 2nd best hand and lose precious bets. Call it the “I don’t want to be bluffed syndrome.” Sometimes I feel like an incompetent plumber. I know the faucet is leaking and I know how to fix it, but I just sit there with my ass crack hanging out. Drip…drip…drip…
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