Poker Rigged? What do YOU think?

Dec 2, 2007 2:22 pm

The problem here is in the definition of the word "rigged". Rigged, bad beat, getting caught in a bluff, being outplayed and making a move and getting caught are not synonymous. I doubt anyone who is even marginally on top of the stories of security and procedural breaches, admissions by the sites themselves, third party exposé's and paybacks* to players by sites themselves can say breaches don't exist. We all have to admit to that since recovering from being cheated is most often internally investigated and most don't have the legal and technical expertise to properly investigate and press for recovery you are effectively at the mercy and integrity of the site for redress. *Payback defined here as a refund to an account not associated with a promotion. All of these things exist. I bet no one here is going to deposit 1,000 of their own money in AbsolutePoker today and everyone has a heightened observation of "strange things" happening. Much of this can be resolved my regulation and penalties for malfeasance, insurance that sites have the financial ability to cover what they owe, are fined and penalized in cases of breaches and a uniform baseline of externally verifiable operational integrity of anyone operating a site is in place. All of this being in effect will have absolutely no effect on "bad beats" real or perceived, getting caught in a bluff or being outplayed.

 

As for being "rigged" there is scarcely an enterprise that humans participate in where if someone can cheat someone will. Proper procedures should be able to detect "rogue" employees and rogue sites certainly the environment for both exist now.

 

The only protection we have as players is the existence of verifiable methods of secure operations, enforcement with teeth to punish those who either purposely or through ineptitude operates outside uniform, external guidelines. It appears that the people involved in the Absolute scandal were all close-knit insiders (including Mark Seif) who blogged and held the position to the end that "this was impossible","be careful there may be a defamation suit". Who can say from a perspective of close, personal knowledge that there are no rigged sites, rigged games and that every hand dealt is perfectly above board? I am absolutely sure (pun intended) that everyone making this claim of "not rigged hold a position within the sites from which to make this claim from fact. Given the millions sites can easily make and the existence of technological means to establish secure operations I can think of no other reason than greed, stupidity or to rig the site for more and more profits (a combination of greed and stupidity) to advocate no meaningful oversight. In my view those who believe that linking security and legalization reduces the likelihood of removing prohibition are fooling themselves.

 

Notwithstanding the foibles of lawmaking in the US congress (foibles it appears to me all politicians of all parties and countries have) separating these issues strengthens the "prohibition crowd's" argument by letting them add "NO poker without oversight just so site operators can make millions and we can be cheated" to their mantra and it lets the "stop prohibition crowd" to add "I'd rather have NO Poker rather than poker without oversight so I can be cheated"to theirs. If the sites are not careful this "open environment" will be what kills online play.

 

Did anyone notice that just within the last few weeks the main sites just purchased and/or developed and installed software to detect multiple / defunct accounts? Having done this earlier would have given "PotRipper", "BullDozer" Et.Al. one less avenue to compromise their sites. I bet the cost of this was much less that the cost to site traffic, reputation and movement towards not being legalized.

This can be seen that a least some sites know the importance of having an honest, secure game.....but being forced into accountability by catastrophic event is not accountability ©2007 Jon Holt Merlin333

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Absolute Poker responds to charges of insider cheating

22 October 2007

By Gary Trask Casino City Times

With charges of insider cheating and security breaches still swirling around Absolute Poker, Absolute's owner attempted to set the record straight Sunday by releasing a statement addressed to its players.

"The integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems," said Joe Norton, the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and the owner of Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, which holds a 100% interest in Absolute Poker.

"Like you, I have not been happy that during the initial stage of our investigation, AP has not been more forthcoming in providing a timely or comprehensive explanation on this matter, giving rise to anger, suspicion, and concern on the part of our valued customers," the statement read. "I hope that our customers can appreciate that this remains an incredibly complex and sensitive issue, and I want to give you my strongest possible assurance that we will be as forthcoming as possible on how this breach occurred and what we are doing to remedy the situation."

Norton, who is currently traveling, has agreed to answer questions from Casino City via e-mail. They'll be published here as soon as they're available.

The situation that Norton speaks of began about a month ago, when complaints began to surface that there were "superuser" accounts that could see the hole cards of all the players at a table during a high stakes poker tournament at Absolute Poker.

According to forums on TwoPlusTwo.com, the complaints started when "Potripper" enjoyed a prosperous, yet unlikely, string of fortune during a poker tournament, at one point going 20 minutes without folding pre-flop. A player by the name of "crazymarco" got suspicious and e-mailed Absolute Poker to request an XLS file of the hand history. As is the standard, Absolute Poker complied.

But what crazymarco received was far from the standard hand-history file. In addition to hand histories, it revealed the hole cards of each player and IP addresses and user details of both people at the table and those observing.

Further investigation revealed that "Potripper" folded his first two hands at the table in question, but once observer No. 363 arrived at the table, "Potripper" didn't fold another hand before the flop for 20 minutes with the implication being that somehow No. 363 was using a super user account and relaying all of the hole cards to "Potripper." Making matters worse, the IP of No. 363 was tracked back to a person by the name of Scott Tom, who Absolute Poker has confirmed is a "former member of Team Absolute Poker."

Norton's admission on Sunday that the security breach at the company was a "horrendous and inexcusable offense" came eight days after Absolute Poker announced that it had conducted an "extensive investigation" and "to the best of Absolute Poker's knowledge, information and belief there was no security breach." In that same statement, dated Oct. 12, Absolute Poker said that an "internal investigation determined that it is impossible for any person, device, program, script or other means to see hole cards."

Currently, both the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and a third-party auditor, Gaming Associates, are conducting investigations. AP announced that it would make the results of these audits public upon completion.

 http://www.casinocitytimes.com

 

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If you didn't read the first part, then why are you reading this second part? Meh, I just doubled to 54% of the chips 6 handed, because I cardrackthe hell out of everyone, ship it?

 

The next hand PP loses with K4 to AJ (AIPF, PP had barely 1BB) so we are 5-handed. Two hands later PLLSHRK doubles up with 88 vs. 74. After that about 10-15 hands pass while everyone gets bunched up at around 18k in chips and myself staying about the same as before. Then this happens between myself and (who I viewed at the time) my toughest opponent:

Seat 2 - PLLSHRK ($12150 in chips)
Seat 4 - SEEDOG2 ($19485 in chips)
Seat 6 - KIDSLICK80 ($16740 in chips)
Seat 7 - JSAW72 ($17815 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($60420 in chips)
PLLSHRK - Ante $150
SEEDOG2 - Ante $150
KIDSLICK80 - Ante $150
JSAW72 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Posts small blind $1000
PLLSHRK - Posts big blind $2000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [Ad As]  <- BINGO
SEEDOG2 - Folds
KIDSLICK80 - Folds
JSAW72 - Raises $6000 to $6000 <- YESSS
MRSLEEP34 - All-In(Raise) $59270 to $60270 <- Overbet shove, plz call
PLLSHRK - Folds
JSAW72 - All-In $11665 <- ONE TIME VP?
MRSLEEP34 - returned ($42605) : not called
*** FLOP *** [7d 8h 2s] <- YES
*** TURN *** [7d 8h 2s] [3s] <- OMFG, I LOVE U VP!
*** RIVER *** [7d 8h 2s 3s] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JSAW72 - Shows [Ks Ac] (ace high)
MRSLEEP34 - Shows [Ad As] (One pair, aces)
MRSLEEP34 Collects $38080 from main pot

Pretty sick cooler, but I'll take it. This then puts me with 80k which is around 64% of the chips in play. SEEDOG eliminates PLLSHRK with AJ vs. AQ the very next hand. Down to 3 handed with me, SEEDOG2 (who I've played with before) and KIDSLICK80 (who I played with for the first time this week, and it wasn't for long.) Two hands later another relatively sick cooler goes down:

Seat 4 - SEEDOG2 ($27485 in chips)
Seat 6 - KIDSLICK80 ($18740 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($80385 in chips)
SEEDOG2 - Ante $150
KIDSLICK80 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Ante $150
KIDSLICK80 - Posts small blind $1000
MRSLEEP34 - Posts big blind $2000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [10s 10h]
SEEDOG2 - Folds
KIDSLICK80 - Raises $3000 to $4000 <- Plz don't be just stealing
MRSLEEP34 - Raises $20000 to $22000 <- I suck at reraising, just put him all-in
KIDSLICK80 - All-In $14590 <- Race? No, I'm just the king o coolers
MRSLEEP34 - returned ($3410) : not called
*** FLOP *** [5d 4d 10c] <- VP loves me, no 6, 7, or 8 plz
*** TURN *** [5d 4d 10c] [Qc] <- alright, HUHUHU time
*** RIVER *** [5d 4d 10c Qc] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KIDSLICK80 - Shows [8h 8c] (One pair, eights)
MRSLEEP34 - Shows [10s 10h] (Three of a kind, tens)
MRSLEEP34 Collects $37630 from main pot

Cooler dot org apparently, but that's how I roll. HU starts out interesting as I try to just limp into pots and SEEDOG starts raising me a lot, and I say to my buddy Brandon "Oh, no walkover, booo, lol." Then I get KK and no action (for the only time ever, no cooler?) and basically calling station my way into a decent chiplead with flopping bottom pairs and calling/checking down. Which leads to me having a substantial chiplead going into this hand:

Seat 4 - SEEDOG2 ($14885 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($111725 in chips)
SEEDOG2 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Ante $150
SEEDOG2 - Posts small blind $1200
MRSLEEP34 - Posts big blind $2400
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [3c Qc]
SEEDOG2 - Raises $3600 to $4800
MRSLEEP34 - Calls $2400 <- Meh, gamble?
*** FLOP *** [4c Kd 6c] <- flopped a flush draw
MRSLEEP34 - Bets $7200 <- might as well commit myself to the hand
SEEDOG2 - All-In(Raise) $9935 to $9935 <- not much more
MRSLEEP34 - Calls $2735 <- let me get there?
*** TURN *** [4c Kd 6c] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [4c Kd 6c 9d] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SEEDOG2 - Shows [5h Kh] (One pair, kings)
MRSLEEP34 - Shows [3c Qc] (king high)
SEEDOG2 Collects $29770 from main pot

Meh, oh well. He had that many chips earlier. More hands go by with us trading chips untill I call a flop a turn bet with a Gutshot str8 draw and hit pair on the river for a bunch of chips. Which lead to this hand:

Seat 4 - SEEDOG2 ($20020 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($106590 in chips)
SEEDOG2 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Ante $150
SEEDOG2 - Posts small blind $1200
MRSLEEP34 - Posts big blind $2400
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [3h Ah]
SEEDOG2 - Calls $1200
MRSLEEP34 - Raises $4800 to $7200
SEEDOG2 - Calls $4800
*** FLOP *** [6h 6s Ad]
MRSLEEP34 - Bets $14400
SEEDOG2 - Folds
MRSLEEP34 - returned ($14400) : not called

Leaving SEEDOG with only 12k in chips, and the very next hand it ends like this:

Seat 4 - SEEDOG2 ($12670 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($113940 in chips)
SEEDOG2 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Posts small blind $1200
SEEDOG2 - Posts big blind $2400
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [3s Ah]
MRSLEEP34 - Raises $8400 to $9600
SEEDOG2 - All-In(Raise) $10120 to $12520
MRSLEEP34 - Calls $2920
*** FLOP *** [Kd 6d 2d]
*** TURN *** [Kd 6d 2d] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 6d 2d 2s] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SEEDOG2 - Shows [9s Jd] (One pair, twos)
MRSLEEP34 - Shows [3s Ah] (One pair, twos)
MRSLEEP34 Collects $25340 from main pot

 

GG SEEDOG, and TY deck for slapping me in the face. Good luck all next week. Obviously my first win ever here, and it was a blast getting pwned in the face by the deck.

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Well as anyone who cares enough to actually read my blog here probably knows, I luckboxed a victory last Sunday in Event 5. I figured I'd do a smallreport of how the FT went down, here. It'll mostly be Hand Histories, but I'll try to add in some commentary as I go, AND SO IT BEGINS.

 

The FT started off relatively slow, with me questioning aloud how the hell I ended up as the chipleader going into the FT, as well as a near endless stream of shout-outs to all needed. The first 3-4 hands were all relatively boring untill this:

 

JSAW72 - Folds
MRSLEEP34 - Folds
VPPRO26 - Folds
187RYGUY - Raises $3600 to $3600
PLLSHRK - Folds
36TXBLUEEYES - Folds
SEEDOG2 - Folds
PRINCESSPKRX - Calls $3000
KIDSLICK80 - Folds
*** FLOP *** [Qd 5c 4d]
PRINCESSPKRX - All-In $9452.50
187RYGUY - All-In $6210
PRINCESSPKRX - returned ($3242.50) : not called
*** TURN *** [Qd 5c 4d] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [Qd 5c 4d 8h] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
187RYGUY - Shows [Kc Qc] (One pair, queens)
PRINCESSPKRX - Shows [Qs 8s] (Two Pair, queens and eights)
PRINCESSPKRX Collects $21720 from main pot

Which sent Ry "home" in 9th place. We had been chatting for about 30 minutes prior to this, which started when I was guessing what hand he had one hand, which I was wayyy off. So after the hand he just told me to take it down, and maybe something about eliminating PokerPrincess, lol. A few hands later VPPRO was eliminated in 8th place with two-pair vs. PP's flush. I was no longer the chipleader :(. A Few hands later this happens:

Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [8s 8c]
KIDSLICK80 - Calls $1600
JSAW72 - Folds
MRSLEEP34 - Calls $1600
PLLSHRK - Folds
36TXBLUEEYES - All-In $395
SEEDOG2 - Folds
PRINCESSPKRX - Checks
*** FLOP *** [9c Kc 7c]
PRINCESSPKRX - Checks
KIDSLICK80 - Checks
MRSLEEP34 - Checks
*** TURN *** [9c Kc 7c] [6d]
PRINCESSPKRX - Checks
KIDSLICK80 - Checks
MRSLEEP34 - Checks
*** RIVER *** [9c Kc 7c 6d] [5h]
PRINCESSPKRX - Checks
KIDSLICK80 - Checks
MRSLEEP34 - Bets $3200
PRINCESSPKRX - Folds
KIDSLICK80 - Folds
MRSLEEP34 - returned ($3200) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MRSLEEP34 - Shows [8s 8c] (Straight, five to nine)
36TXBLUEEYES - Shows [9s 9h] (Three of a kind, nines)
MRSLEEP34 Collects $4020 from side pot-1
MRSLEEP34 Collects $2675 from main pot

So I luckbox out a str8 and eliminate TX in 7th place. VP loves me, and I don't know why. After this hand I am 2nd in chips by like 4k, when 4 hands later this beast goes down (edited out stacks not involved):

Seat 5 - PRINCESSPKRX ($36365 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($32760 in chips)
PLLSHRK - Posts small blind $800
SEEDOG2 - Posts big blind $1600
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [Kc Ks]
PRINCESSPKRX - Raises $3200 to $3200
KIDSLICK80 - Folds
JSAW72 - Folds
MRSLEEP34 - Raises $11200 to $11200
PLLSHRK - Folds
SEEDOG2 - Folds
PRINCESSPKRX - Calls $8000
*** FLOP *** [7c 8c Js]
PRINCESSPKRX - Bets $6400
MRSLEEP34 - All-In(Raise) $21460 to $21460
PRINCESSPKRX - Calls $15060
*** TURN *** [7c 8c Js] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [7c 8c Js Qd] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PRINCESSPKRX - Shows [9c 9h] (One pair, nines)
MRSLEEP34 - Shows [Kc Ks] (Three of a kind, kings)
MRSLEEP34 Collects $68320 from main pot

 This sick hold puts me at 68,320 chips, good for first by a HUGE margin and a commanding 54% of the chips in play, while 6 handed. I'm now chatting with both RY and my friend Brandon (Bdogwashere last season) where I declare "Well, no need to go crazy now, just let it happen, right?".

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Aside from this quote coming from one of my newest favorite movies, this concept really applies to tournaments as well. I mean, yeah, you could be happy finishing 2nd for a large payday, but ultimately your goal for every tournament should be to win. Finishing 2nd, which is something I used to be able to accomplish, is arguably the worst feeling in the world, especially if you had the right mindset entering the tournament, needing to win.

 

"It's like getting punched in the stomach, then kicked in the crotch on the way down." I guess I said that one-day after finishing 2nd in a $5 tournament on AP a few years ago. I don't really remember saying it, but my mother thought it was hilarious and reminded me of it the other day after she finished 2nd in a tourney. Tournament poker is arguably the most frustrating form of poker there is. Every tournament you enter is a downward spiral of depression, false hope, and failed expectations. You can't honestly expect to win more than .5% of the tournaments you enter (assuming MTT tourneys with fields >200 players), even if you are an elite player. The variance is just too high to overcome, so that means in >99% of the tournaments you enter, you will leave feeling disappointed.

 

It's a vicious cycle, but you gotta love it in order to continue playing day after day, after a long losing streak, or non-cashing streak. The reason most people put up with it is for the payoff. Nothing feels better than winning a tournament you just spent over 5 hours playing. There's a deep level of satisfaction, knowing that you bested that huge field of players, all striving to accomplish the same goal. Even if you know you just got lucky, who cares? Winning (and the money) is really all that matters in poker, so soak it all up while you can. Don't get overly excited though, because the future that lies ahead is the same spiral of shattered hope and expectation, but at least you know that there is a payoff, right?

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Sorry about the lack of entries lately (assuming it matters to anyone aside from me, of course). Adjusting to my new schedule took way too long andI hadn't played any tournaments for a few weeks. Today I played a few tournies, horribly and managed to bubble each one. Oh well, if I played better that wouldn't have happened.

 

On to the real subject of this entry, I guess you could rename my entry "Lack of Class". Today, at least 3 people berated me or someone else at the table for making a mistake. What could possibly ever drive someone to do this? Do you not want your opponents to make mistakes and for yourself to capitolize on them? One guy berated me for sucking out on his QQ with Kd9d. Saying something like "Wow, every idiot gets rewarded". Funny thing is this will only do 2 things; One, make me nervous and try to play better, thus reducing his edge on me. Or two; distract himself even more than he already is, again reducing his percieved edge over me.

 

Unfortunately for him, my play was completely standard, at least I think anyway. I guess I'll post this on the forum for people better than me to comment on. Really it just suprises me that people would go out of their way to make fun of someone, when it can only have a negative reaction on themselves. It's not like live, where I could see a sentance or two slip out of your mouth when you are pissed off. It's the internet, which requires you to actually think out what you want to say, then type it out and hit enter. Hell, on AP sometimes it's more bothersome to chat than it is to be sucked out on.

 

All it really does is show a lack of class and respect for a fellow human being. If you get that worked up over losing a pot in a tournament online, in the comfort of your own home, than maybe you shoudl reconsider how you spend your free time. Like, I love bowling, it's fun to do and hang out with friends while doing it. Back when I used to bowl on my High School team, I would get pissed off if I got a bad break or just wasn't bowling good. So what did I do? I stopped bowling on the team after my Sophmore year. If it's not fun for me anymore I see no reason to waste my free time on it.

 

Well, sorry for the horribly written and thought out post, but that's how I roll. 'Till next time, don't hate yourself too much, unless that's what you like to do.

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So, for the past 13 seasons I've been playing every Sunday that I could make it, in hopes of making the "Hall of Champions". In my first season I managed to finish 6th (or 7th) despite many things. For one, I was a new player online, relatively horrible but undoubtedly luckboxing my way into 2nd place before the final event. In one event AP crashed, and I could not log in for a good hour and a half, and somehow I managed to top 30 before logging in just in time to see myself forced all-in on the BB with 10-3. GG me and F AP. I remember in the final event I was sweating Owenmoney the whole time, hoping he would bust out early so I could go deep and win the season. However, it would be me who busted early making a call on someone's all-in (like their 5th in a row) with AcJc and them winning with something like a 10-5. At the time, mostly due to my horrible noobness, I was assured that this was a horrific bad beat, and that AJ had to be a huge favorite to win the hand. Thank you Chris Moneymaker, although I still haven't figured out how to crack AA with 88 yet.

 

For the next few seasons we were on different sites, even the god-awful mistake of a site PokerHost. Which somehow is still in business, despite it being, by far, the worst poker site I have ever played on. Until we found JetSet, which is still my favorite site I've ever played on, which unfortunately met it's end a year or so ago. I loved how much fun you could have while playing there, breaking chairs and throwing chips. The site is probably at least 70% responsible for all the friends (and maybe enemy's?) I've made at this site and on the tables. It also hosted the first (and only) season that I had a lead in at any point. Which was after event 2, and I think Fubar ended up winning that season.

 

JetSet also showed me my favorite part of playing in this league, the table talk. Of course, playing poker against great players is fun, but so is chatting it up at the table with people you've played with before, and even people in their first event. I try to keep it as friendly as possible because hostility is no fun to be a part of (as I'm sure anyone who played with StinkyTuna this season can confirm). I'm probably annoying at the table, but I'm okay with that, because I really couldn't care less if someone decides to not like me because of some innocent table chatter.

 

On to this season, I tried to set a goal of getting 90+ points every week, and was successful the first two weeks. I thought I had a good chance of winning the season but after a few weeks and nothing really good to show I found myself in 7th place going into the last event, and just wanted to make the top 5. So I tried the DR approach, after not getting hands for a good hour or so, and ended up shoving all-in with AJ and getting called by 10-7 and losing. However, Ivan said he had 55 that hand, so I was dead anyway. No big deal, nothing to whine about. Now, I had to go to my main stat man DR and pray that I had a chance. He told me I had to see where a few people finished before knowing. Notably, if Strip finished outside of the top 4, I was good. So I joked around a little on the table about wanting Strip to bust out, but honestly I was cool with him finishing in the top 4 and (hopefully) winning it all.

 

Congrats to Gypsy for winning, played the entire season great. I said before the 6th even that Gypsy had the best chance of winning if she finished high in both events. So, I obviously rigged it. No big deal, feel free to PM me rigging requests in the future. Now seriously, getting 5th was a good thing for me because now I don't have to be the guy with all of the posts, but nothing to show for it in the league. But, I owe it all to Jsaw for putting the league together and KFE/Strip/other admins/mods that I might not know about for running the forum and keeping the league going despite all the bitching we do about it, lol.

 

I feel that I've benefited a lot from this forum, and I've become a much better player than when I first started. That is mostly due to the articles and posts on here from better players than myself that I can read and learn from. So again, thanks for setting up the league and allowing myself to top 5 and luckbox out a trophy. 

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The last 2 weeks have been a sort of "poker hell" for me. Mostly because I started a new job where I work late night/early morning so I missthe early morning tourneys on AP that I really like to play. It also makes me way too tired to play any of the other tourneys that I like on the schedule.

 

I guess after a while I'll get used to it but it sucks because I actually like playing poker (aside from the whole wanting to die after losing a tournament, obviously) and for the next couple of weeks I wont be able to, unless I find a way to move funds around to different sites, but I'm way too lazy to do that.

 

Lately, since I've been unable to play tourneys I've mostly been reflecting on how I've missed such an oppurtunity to make a living by not wanting to/trying to get good at poker, and fast. When I was 16, I won enough money by playing horrible to actually have a decent bankroll online and if I was to actually work on improving my game since then I might be playing for a living now, or at least providing myself with some supplementary income for the time being.

 

Now after cashing out a good change of what I won 2-3 years ago, but still wanting to play the same stakes as I did, I cannot keep a steady bankroll and have become my own worst enemy in becoming a better player. I know how to play good, I'm pretty sure I think out most situations well, but for some reason I do not apply it. I'm not nearly aggressive enough in tournaments, miss a ton of value on hands that I do play, and allow myself to get pushed around way too much. Cash games are a different thing altogether, I can't get used to having so many blinds, and I play way too many hands, but still passively and almost as poorly as a human being can play them.

 

I hope in the future, online poker becomes legal again, and a bunch of new players get introduced and maybe then I'll convince myself to study hard and actually play a ton in my free time to get better. What could be better than playing a game that you love, in the comfort of your own home for a living?

 

Oh well, sorry for weeping uncontrollably, but you're the sucker who actually read this. 

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I've heard many people say that you have to be at least a little crazy in order to play this game. Well I guess we all have a little part of us thatenjoys earning money at the expense of others (who might just be gambling away their savings) or something else. But the reason I know I'm crazy has absolutely nothing to do with cash-games. I love playing the short-stack.

 

Sure, getting a huge chiplead and bullying around the table can be fun, but for me there is nothing more exciting then sitting around with 7-12 Big Blinds, just waiting to stick it in and hope to win the pot. There are usually only 2 choices when you get that low, shove it in or fold. But it's not as easy as just seeing if you have a decent hand. You gotta see if you can steal the blinds without being called.

 

I guess it's just the decision to risk the tournament that I've just invested 2-3 hours into every 9-10 hands or sometimes even sooner.  Like shoving 9BBs with some relatively garbage hand (10-7os) from the button and having to sweat out whether or not the big blind is going to call you or not. It's also good for tilting the table sometimes. Like after someone limps in from the cutoff and you shove on the button and they fold, calling you a moron in the process. You know now that the next time you shove over him, he might call lightly, which you can obviously use to your advantage by having a good hand.

 

I probably only really like playing the shortstack because I am sub-par at playing post-flop poker. Like most beginners who have learned a little, but not put in the necessary hours to improve their game overall. Simple hand selection and a decent read on the players left behind you is all you need before shoving all your chips in, looking to double or just take the blinds and survive one more level. Like you obviously don't wanna shove garbage from the Button is the BB is a huge chipleader who is playing recklessly, because he will call you often. You can also shove over loose players raising on the button, but only if you have like 10-12BBs because they usually don't have a good enough hand to call another 7-9BBs with. Giving you more chips than if you just opened by going all-in.

 

Furthermore, I like playing the shortstack is because most people will underestimate you for the rest of the tournament if you double up or just stay alive for a while. They will probably think "Oh, he's a shortstack so he obviously can't play poker very well, and all he's doing is going all-in with good hands." Then when you do double a few times, and make it to the Final Table, or final 3 he will think that he can bluff you off everyhand you don't shove preflop. Then calling him down with decent hands or rebluffing him can get you a lot of chips to go headsup, where it really gets fun.

 

Obviously this style will often get looked up and beaten by legitamately good hands, but that's why it's so fun. If there was no danger involved, I probably wouldn't enjoy playing the short-stack as much. Also you run the danger of someone "getting tired of you" and calling with a marginal hand, but that's what you want to happen in poker. So if they bad-beat you, you should be happy you got all-in with the best of it.

 

 

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I haven't had much time to play multi-table tournaments lately (my favorite to play), but its not like I can get rid of the poker bug. With limited time, I have been playing 6 max turbo sng's and love them... I think your odds may actually be better than 9 person sng's and here is why. It's not the numbers, they are the same 2/6 or 3/9. It's the donkey factor, countless times 1 or 2 people will go out on the 1st hand or within the 1st orbit. If 2 people go out you now have a 50% chance to money with blinds being tiny. These also suit my style of play, which some of you know to be conservative early and aggressive late. Of course the main benefit to me now is the time. You can win outright in 20-30 minutes max.

If you haven't tried one before, give it a shot or three the next time you are looking for a quick game.

Have a good one.. KFE

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