A PlatinumStar Ultimatum
I accomplished both goals I set a few posts back of getting the $50 Stellar Bonus as well as achieving PlatinumStar level of PokerStars. This marks the first time I have reached this VIP level, so that's something to acknowledge. See:
So there it is, finally.
The ultimatum I am issuing is of course unofficial and in no way something to reflect my professional standing as a writer in the industry. But as a player and consumer, I do get to choose where I play online. If PokerStars does not address the shortstacker issue as they say they will make an announcement about (either way) in mid-April, I will move my entire roll to Full Tilt Poker and play there for the foreseeable future.
Here's some of the criteria that have made me think about this decision:
- The RakeBack at FTP and the VIP System (at Platinum) at Stars is about a wash
- Cash game players are perceived by many to be slightly worse at Full Tilt
- There are no shortstackers at Full Tilt
- Full Tilt plans to revamp their VIP system to something kind of awesome (allegedly)
Those are just the first four thing off the top of my head. It's not to say that PokerStars doesn't have a lot of attractive things going for it. Such as:
- Best table software / more reliable software
- Biggest pool of players
- SuperNova > rakeback at Full Tilt
- SCOOP & WCOOP > FTOPS (in my opinion)
- Better customer service
But the shortstacker issue really seems to be the kicker in this situation, so it's really what is going to sway me to one side or the other.
read moreNew Themes from TiltBuster.com
Next week I'm doing another feature on table, deck and chip mods from TiltBuster.com, which is a site where these three guys put up some amazing modifications for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and other sites.
As a little preview, check out the table below, it's using the "Raven No Images" theme which is a little dark but kinda cool. The deck is "3D Stars John" and the chipset is the Paulson Chips.
A few people snort at the notions of mods, but I think they are great. If they work with TableNinja (they do!) and they help the HUD layout, then I am all for it.
Here is the screenshot of the setup I am testing out (click to enlarge):
You might notice my stack size at this table. I had insomnia so I put in another session which went well!! Yay!
This is Why I Set Aside 60 Buy-ins
Well, the last post couldn't have been more prophetic. I had one of my worst sessions results wise at 100nl in a very long time. It's not devastating but it's tough to lose 4 buy-ins in a session no matter what game or stakes you are at. It always stings a little more when you have just moved up. I really don't want to think about what it did to my monthly bottom line. I'll probably cry.
I have to admit I felt the pangs of tilt creeping in at the end of that fateful 1,000 hand session. It started to feel like no matter what I do, it would come out all wrong. Sound familiar? Ya, sounds like every other 10-15k hand bad-run I've gone through. Keeping in mind I've put in a grand total of 2,700 hands at 100nl, the number of bad beats and coolers is disproportionate to their expected level, thus I am well below All-in EV and other indicators.
So, this is a good reason why I set aside 60 buy-ins for moving up, I'm still doing fine bankroll wise to hang here and I am 1000% positive I can play here. I can't run into coolers and lose every flip and get outflopped and hit only 5.6% of sets over the long haul. The real issue is just making it through another rough stretch. Here are the major hands from the session I put in, if you care to look.
Here I am with KK. You might remember that last session I had AA lose to KK AIPF. Here's the opposite-double-negative of that.
Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players -
MP2: $98.50
CO: $147.85
BTN: $139.85
SB: $76.85
BB: $100.00
UTG: $100.00
UTG+1: $101.50
UTG+2: $49.90
Hero (MP1): $100.00
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is MP1 with K
K
3 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, MP2 calls $3.50, CO calls $3.50, BTN raises to $16, 2 folds, Hero raises to $50, 2 folds, BTN raises to $139.85 all in, Hero calls $50 all in
Flop: ($208.50) Q 5
A
(2 players - 2 are all in)
Turn: ($208.50) 6 (2 players - 2 are all in)
River: ($208.50) 9 (2 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $208.50
BTN shows A A (three of a kind, Aces)
Hero shows K K (a pair of Kings)
BTN wins $205.50
This hand was actually at the EURO tables. The villain is a 38/22 over 50 hands with a 10% 3bet figure.
Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players -
BB: $101.50
UTG: $122.60
UTG+1: $46.50
MP1: $118.70
MP2: $70.65
Hero (CO): $100.00
BTN: $105.50
SB: $44.50
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with Q Q
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $3, MP1 calls $3, 1 fold, Hero raises to $12, 3 folds, UTG+1 raises to $46.50 all in, 1 fold, Hero calls $34.50
Flop: ($97.50) 6 3 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)
Turn: ($97.50) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($97.50) 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $97.50
UTG+1 shows A A (two pair, Aces and Threes)
Hero shows Q Q (two pair, Queens and Threes)
UTG+1 wins $95.50
This was against a 34/17 with an 11% squeeze number.
Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players -
UTG+1: $109.65
UTG+2: $100.00
MP1: $87.15
MP2: $100.00
CO: $100.90
BTN: $174.45
SB: $39.75
Hero (BB): $100.00
UTG: $103.00
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with A K
6 folds, BTN raises to $3, SB raises to $39.75 all in, Hero calls $38.75, 1 fold
Flop: ($82.50) 6 6 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)
Turn: ($82.50) T (2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($82.50) J (2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $82.50
SB shows 4 4 (two pair, Sixes and Fours)
Hero shows A K (a pair of Sixes)
SB wins $79.50
I grabbed this hand to show what happens when I do flop something, this didn't come from the "big loss" category...
Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players -
MP1: $52.70
MP2: $50.00
CO: $215.60
Hero (BTN): $101.50
SB: $127.00
BB: $117.75
UTG: $101.50
UTG+1: $140.20
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with J A
4 folds, CO raises to $3, Hero calls $3, 1 fold, BB calls $2
Flop: ($9.50) J 7 2 (3 players)
BB checks, CO bets $7, Hero calls $7, BB folds
Turn: ($23.50) 9 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $14, CO calls $14
River: ($51.50) 5 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero checks
Final Pot: $51.50
CO shows K K (a pair of Kings)
Hero mucks J A
CO wins $49.00
So that's all I care to show at this point. Standard? Sure. Sucky? Absolutely. Tilted? Not exactly, but I think it's a good thing I am calling it a day and heading out for a dinner with some friends. See you next time and in the meantime send your positive mojo and good luck my way, por favor. read more
Why Bankroll Management is Important in Poker
I'm going to tell you the story of a groundhog. You all know one and chances are, we've all been one at one point in our poker career whether you are a recreational player or seasoned professional. A groundhog pops out of his hole and sees a shadow, then dives right back to where he came from. The mere sight of potential trouble has him scurrying back to where he came from. He barely ever stuck around to see if the shadow was even really there.
Sound familiar? It should. Whenever we move up in stakes, be it for Sit & Gos, Tournaments or Ring Games, we've all been the groundhog. As many people believe, as soon as you move up in stakes, the doomswitch is activated and you will immediately go through a rough 10k-ish stretch of terrible hands. It happens everytime and to seemingly every player. If you don't believe me, ask your friends that play regularly, it's as sure as the sunrise is in the morning.
This is where the importance of bankroll management comes into play. Two years ago when I was first climbing the micro-stakes into the small stakes games, I thought 30-35 buy-ins was plenty to "take a shot" at the next level. The only problem is that it really didn't leave me much wriggle room for that inevitable run-bad. Many players have never gotten over this hump and keep taking 3-5 buy-in shots at the next level, which in my mind is just always poised to fail. I drop 3-5 buy-ins regularly in a session, but in the end, always come out a little bit ahead for my modest but consistent win-rate.
After reading Dusty Schmidt's book I realized the issue without him totally going into what was exactly affecting me. He advocated that 100 buy-ins is the way to go, which I don't think works for me at all. But the concept of having more than enough buy-ins to withstand a rough stretch was one I never ever really accounted for.
During my Phoenix-like rebuilding of my PokerStars bankroll, I moved from 25nl to 50nl and started a prop bet to get me to play a bunch of hands rather quickly. Of course, I ran bad for a while then played through it and won at a decent enough rate. But one thing I did was decide that 60 buy-ins was what it takes for me to move up. There's plenty in there to withstand a terrible swing and recover without freaking out too bad. I thought about the number for some time and 60 was a little more than I thought was really necessary for me. That's when I knew I had the right number.
So, with 66 buy-ins I moved back to my old stomping grounds on PokerStars, playing 100nl Full Ring. Some old names were still plodding through those stakes, playing their 10/8 nit game, 20-24 tabling and making 0.4BB/100. Lots of fish are there too and the games really haven't changed much at all, thankfully.
Of course, within the first session, I ran three buy-ins below EV. In fact, here's one of the first hands I played after moving up:
Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players -
MP1: $101.90
MP2: $166.05
Hero (CO): $100.00
BTN: $100.00
SB: $49.00
BB: $194.90
UTG: $110.60
UTG+1: $111.25
UTG+2: $161.80
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with A A
2 folds, UTG+2 raises to $3, 1 fold, MP2 calls $3, Hero raises to $12, 3 folds, UTG+2 raises to $24, 1 fold, Hero raises to $60, UTG+2 raises to $96, Hero raises to $100 all in, UTG+2 calls $4
Flop: ($204.50) 8 3 Q (2 players - 1 is all in)
Turn: ($204.50) 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($204.50) K (2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $204.50
Hero mucks A A
UTG+2 shows K K (three of a kind, Kings)
UTG+2 wins $201.50
(Rake: $3.00)
Wow right? He didn't show his cards right away but by the river, I figured my goose was cooked. Then there's a marginal cooler in this hand where I lose with a boat:
Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players -
BB: $61.70
UTG: $103.00
UTG+1: $142.20
MP1: $120.65
MP2: $177.00
Hero (CO): $118.40
BTN: $102.50
SB: $100.00
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with J A
4 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, BB calls $2.50
Flop: ($7.50) K 5 J (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5, BB raises to $10, Hero calls $5
Turn: ($27.50) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
River: ($27.50) J (2 players)
BB bets $16, Hero calls $16
Final Pot: $59.50
BB shows K A (a full house, Kings full of Jacks)
Hero mucks J A
BB wins $56.60
(Rake: $2.90)
Not terrible but hey, it always sucks to lose with a boat. Then there's this that always seems to be the kicker:
Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players -
Hero (BB): $100.00
UTG: $108.55
MP: $100.00
CO: $108.75
BTN: $100.00
SB: $49.00
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with A A
5 folds (A walk)
Final Pot: $1.50
Hero mucks A A
Hero wins $1.00
(Rake: $0.50)
Funny. I snorted actually when this happened but didn't tilt like I usually do. I was rather proud of myself for just taking it in stride. I didn't panic and I didn't freak out and yell and scream and just say "F THIS I ALWAYS RUN BAD!!!" after I lost a few other pots later in the session. I just stuck with it, fought back, won some hands, and minimized the loss for the session and made sure I reached my target goal of hands played for the session. "This is why I set aside 60 buy-ins," I would tell myself. And thus, the groundhog became a Phoenix.
read moreGoals to Achieve by the End of Feb
Just got two goals to hit by the end of this month and they are both volume based (good thing cause I'm going through another fun rough stretch).
- 565 VPPs until I unlock another $50 Stellar Reward.
- 1248 VPPs to achieve Platinum Star.
At 50nl FR, that would mean I need 3,531 hands to get the stellar reward and 7,800 hands for Platinum Star.
At 100nl FR, that would mean that I need 1,822 hands for the reward and 4,025 hands for Platinum.
I have 6 days to achieve the goal!
read moreAbout Me
My name is Sean Gibson and I am a poker journalist and part time poker player. I work full time at PokerNewsDaily.com where I host a daily news show called "The Daily Deal" and also handle the bulk of the live player interviews. In terms of poker you will find me playing $1/$3 No Limit Hold'em in Vegas or in Los Angeles (or San Diego) and online playing small stakes games.
Recent Comments