Where to Play Cash Game Online Poker
There's been a lot of topics for the blog that's been swishing around in my head so you'll probably see some updates, especially since I am on vacation through Monday (yessss!). One was, where is a great place to be playing online poker these days. For those of you that are die-hards, you'll probably want to debate this and that's great I welcome that. If you are someone that doesn't really play online poker then this might be more educational. I'm going to take an Amercian perspective on this since that is where I am from, so sorry to the international types.
I think right now though everyone can pretty much agree the online games are getting terrible, even at small stakes. The regs are decent, the good players really good, and the fish are getting pretty rare. Your typical 100nl 6max table these days has 4 solid regulars (if you are fortunate semi-decent regs or regfish), 1 legit fish and you. Full Ring tables are saturated with 12/10 nits (about 4), two LAGish players (20/15), two randoms and you. Now you might say "hey those games are beatable!" and you would make a compelling argument that for the most part I would agree with. But the truth is that you would also agree with is that the games have never been worse and the edges never been thinner. I think at the microstakes like 25nl and below, you really have nothing to worry about, but at 100nl and above this is my firm belief.
I think game selection is a big deal, but of course nothing will substitute intelligence and skill at the table. I was curious to see what tables are running today at the four biggest sites that accept USA players. I was kinda surprised when I did my manual count:
Filters applied: Shallow tables excluded, only counted full tables...
100nl ($0.50-$1 Blinds) 6max Tables:
- PokerStars: 70
- Full Tilt Poker: 48
- CEREUS: 10
- Cake Poker: 4
100nl ($0.50-$1 Blinds) Full Ring Tables:
- PokerStars: 108
- Full Tilt Poker: 38
- CEREUS: 3
- Cake Poker: 3
I was kind of surprised to see that 6max tables are now the popular choice, I don't know why it never went in my head but we can see for the most part that is true, with the exception of full ring tables at PokerStars. I imagine a lot of SNE/SN grinders out there at Stars are plugging up the tables at that stake/format.
It really shows how terrible the choices are out there. Maybe I am a little cynical? Probably. But I think what I am getting at is that if you are planning to jump into the world of online poker you couldn't be coming into it at a worse time. If you are like me and were playing semi-serious before and were wondering what you might be able to do with it now, I think all you can do is simply study your butt off and get real good to keep beating the stakes you are used to beating. In terms of people hoping to actually move up in stakes, wow, that's definitely a tall order these days after 100nl. Again, I am not saying it's unbeatable, I'm just saying its absolutely harder than it has before. It's also scary to see regs who were winning consistently at 1knl ($5-$10 blinds) play in 400nl or even 200nl games because they need to make money. That has some of the 200nl regs moving down to 100nl, and well ... you see the pattern. At least, I've seen it with my two eyes, but hey, if you figure you can make it *now* in online poker, if things ever clear up in the USA and aboard to getting it legalized and a bunch of new fish show up (and are sustained) we'll all be looking really pretty!
So, the question is where you should be playing. That's a tough question...
PokerStars: It seems like this has the best regs out of any online site but at the same time, the most fish. There are a ton of 16+ or even 20+ mega-tabling grinders on here at the 100nl+ stakes because of the rewards.
Full Tilt: I don't know why people think Full Tilt regs are bad, I think they are pretty decent. I don't see quite the same number of mass multi-tables here (since 16 is the max) but you'll definitely find really good players playing the 100nl 6max tables.
CEREUS: The word is here that the FR regs and players at 100nl or even 200nl are actually quite bad, the only problem is that during peak hours there's only 3-6 tables running. That's just not a ton of traffic when you really think about it.
Cake Network: The Cake Network is supposedly filled with nits but I haven't been seeing it to quite that degree. There's definitely a shortage of traffic if you compare it to other sites and the software is really outdated ... the good news is that the beta (which I have) is pretty darn awesome, and maybe when it comes out the news will spread and people will be curious about the site. For now, the 100nl traffic is pretty shallow.
So that doesn't paint a real pretty picture but hey, I already admitted to being a little cynical. What spurred on this post was me playing live at Pechanga last night at the $1-$2 table (which WTF they only let you buy into for a max of $100 UGH!). The game basically played like 25nl or maybe even 10nl and within 20 hands I had an absolute dead on read on every player at the table. I left up but because my friend busted quick we had to go ... I am supremely confident that I could have run that table over if I stayed for 3+ hours.
So the main lesson here is: Live poker is LOL soft imo and if you want to really improve your game what you can do is play online and do training. That will make you a better player and you can win what you win. But, if you have the opportunity to play live regularly, this online play + training will make you just about the best player at any 1/2 or 2/5 table you play at - period.
read moreThis 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: $0.50)
Funny. I snorted actually when this happened but didn't tilt like I usually do. I was rather proud of myself for just taking it in stride. I didn't panic and I didn't freak out and yell and scream and just say "F THIS I ALWAYS RUN BAD!!!" after I lost a few other pots later in the session. I just stuck with it, fought back, won some hands, and minimized the loss for the session and made sure I reached my target goal of hands played for the session. "This is why I set aside 60 buy-ins," I would tell myself. And thus, the groundhog became a Phoenix.
read moreIt Feels Like I’m Playing Well
Well, I think I'm playing well ... at least I am identifying situations a lot better, making better laydowns and betting for value with a much better purpose than before. There are a lot of fundamentals that I've worked on and I'm really not reading into results. Well, that is until my last two sessions because there were some kinda weird hands that actually had me lol and says "wow really??" ... so for some interesting tid-bits:
Hands: 685
Result: -1 buy-in
W$SD%: 35%
I was chatting with CaseAce48 on AIM and explaining that I usually do fantastic against the regs and the fish just always somehow pull "one pip higher" on the hand chart right out of their asses. I think my sample size here is *clearly* very small but I was curious to see what happend. Something felt off and I wanted to know why, so I did some digging. Here are some hands ...
- Fish shows AK on a 5JAT2 board ... I have AQ
- 4 bet four times in 200 hands from people that never 4bet (different tables)
- TT < JJ as well as TT < QQ in pots where villain flatted behind my raise and check-called to the river when we *both* have overpairs to the board
- AQ < AK vs SSer who goes nuts on the blinds
- AJ < AK on a AT594 board where he check-calls to the river
Strange stuff. I think the biggest pot I've lost in these two sessions was only $60 which might explain why I'm just down the one buy-in, which to be honest, I didn't even know I was down until I looked.
Anyways ... what I was hoping to do is find out what was going on because in the back of my head it felt like "wow gee are my reads off, why am I paying these guys off all of a sudden" but I don't think the problem is that bad. Something to think about though when the month is through and I do my end-of-month DB analysis for myself, which is why I am writing about it here.
And now ... my favorite hand ... not complaining but an eye-roller nonetheless ...
Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 437596
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter
SB: $100.00
Hero (BB): $123.15
UTG: $101.05
MP: $141.10
CO: $108.15
BTN: $33.70
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with Q Q
UTG calls $1, MP calls $1, 1 fold, BTN calls $1, SB calls $0.50, Hero raises to $8, 2 folds, BTN calls $7, 1 fold
Flop: ($19.00) 9 A Q (2 players)
Hero bets $26, BTN calls $25.70 all in
Turn: ($70.40) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($70.40) K (2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $70.40
Hero shows Q Q (three of a kind, Queens)
BTN shows 3 A (a flush, Ace high)
BTN wins $67.40
(Rake: $3.00)
MiniFTOPS Main Event, 100nl 6max and Ending the Year Right
I ended up playing in a bunch of tournaments yesterday, which means for me five. That is seriously a month's worth of tournament play for me wrapped up into one giant ball of a day. I don't even remember all the ones I played in and the only one you are going to care about is the MiniFTOPS Main Event. I bought in for Full Tilt Points so it was a bit of a freeroll, but as a reader did mention in my previous post some of the buy-in will be deducted from my rakeback. Just lovely.
I cashed in one of the five tournaments I played in, a "lol" $11 SNG. That covered the buy-in for that one plus one of the $5 buy-ins I entered. I know, big spender. Anyways thoughts of the MiniFTOPS Main Event:
- It was a lot of fun playing in a "main event" tournament and being so deep
- Had a real good run early and was up to 35,000 in chips after the third break
- Went card dead for a while before losing a few pots
- Busted in 2,400ish place out of 15,000
- $0
Anyways, just reinforces the fact that tournaments are just a collosal waste of time for a cash game player. Did I have fun? Absolutely. Do I regret buying in? No way.
As a few loyal readers will know I started getting coaching from a friend who is now an instructor at Stox by the name of "Clean" who is really getting me to think properly about poker and 6max play. I don't want to harp on the results because that's not what he has me focusing on - just the fundamentals of solid play and theory. I definitely feel more focused and feel more confident in what I am trying to accomplish during a given hand during a session.
So, that basically has meant that 100n 6max has gone real well for the most part. For the results people (typically me haha) I've just been killing the regs and running into the fish who have "one pip better" hands at the river. It would be real frustrating if I let it tilt me but so far I've just gone back and analyzed my play and looked for mistakes.
The goal for me as a poker player is to really be comfortable over a good stretch of hands (30-50k) at 100nl and make sure I really know what I'm doing. At that point I'll finally take a stab at 200nl games when they are juicy and just focus on playing the same game I've been playing and not overcompensate.
In terms of my poker writing things are going really well. I'm really enjoying the articles I am writing for Poker Table Ratings and for the most part they have been really well received by the site's fickle crowd. I have some really great things coming up for Poker Software and Mac Poker which are great sites if you haven't already bookmarked them.
It's Christmas on Friday, so for you Christians that practice your belief, have a very Merry Christmas! My apologies for not wishing those of the Jewish faith a Happy Hanukkah previously, but accept it here.
Take care, and goooooo San Diego SUPER Chargers!!!
read moreSeptember Swings – Mac Poker Software, Crack, Hyper Turbos and More
Well September has been a busy month for me professionally. I've written 10 articles this past week ranging from WCOOP and MiniFTOPS previews to the rise of poker software for a Mac. For those of you that haven't seen "BlazingStars" and Poker Copilot 2 in action together, it's something to behold. Basically BlazingStars is a hotkey program and Poker Copilot 2 is a full hand history tracking utility with a HUD. Both are awesome. Big news came when PokerTracker 3 people said a Mac version is on the way which is real exciting for me since I'll be on the private beta test. If you're a dogmatic PC person that thinks Macs are for hipsters, you're definitely wrong. The operating system and architecture, not to mention the stability are something that even computer neophytes will appreciate.
Poker Playing
So far the start to the month has definitely been very swingy. I started so cold it wasn't even funny. I was thinking to myself I really didn't seem to be hitting any flops or big hands, so I did a check in Holdem Manager and sure enough, through 3,000 hands I was hitting 2.6% of sets (supposed to be 11.5%) and looks like I was whiffing bad a lot of the time in other situations. Look at 3bet pots and man I was getting killed by not hitting and my opponent hitting hard so cbetting became suicidal. That's nothing huge to read into but just confirmed my observations at the table.
There are some mega-frustrating hands that would happen and it seems like hands that are top pair top kicker over overpairs are getting outflopped every time. And every time, it's against a massive fish. Take a look at this hand for example:
This guy is a 37/15/3 and his min-raise was pretty suspect. But the fact that he just kept barreling made me wary that he indeed hit that flop hard and was going with it. I don't think at any point I was thinking of raising him and maybe on the flop that was a mistake. I posted this hand and basically everyone agreed it's a crying call at the river.
Anyways hopefully this stretch of "this stuff" happening is behind me (at least where it happens a majority of the time) and I'm judging to simply get my hands in and play some cards.
It's like CRACK
A good internet poker buddy of mine that works for a few of the sites I write with suggested I try hyper turbo multi-table tournaments. I usually look for a game to give me some variety from the daily grind and WOW these things are fun. You start with 10 big blinds and the blinds move up every 5 minutes (on Full Tilt) or 3 minutes (on PokerStars). I have been playing the $7 matrix ones on FTP and those are a great distractor. I've played four and "taken it down" twice (meaning won at least 1 of the 4 tournaments + 1st place overall bonus). Anyways if you are looking for something stupid and fun, I highly suggest these tournaments. They are like poker crack.
Congrats to ChuckTs (aka CLEAN)!!!
A good friend of mine, Taylor, just announced that he got hired on as a coach at popular poker training site Stox Poker. Taylor's a perfect fit over there and I am so glad he got this gig. As many of you might know Taylor is my coach (when I book sessions that is) and he's dramatically improved my game. I guess I'm not *too* happy he'll be improving others! Nevertheless, I think Stox got themselves one of the up and coming stars of 6max online poker.
Vegas Report Coming
I did take my wife to Vegas for 4 days and 3 nights last weekend for her birthday and I do have a report coming soon. I only played poker over at the M Resort where we stayed one night with no real results to report. Vegas is kind of played out for me at this point and I don't think I'll be going back for at least six months unless I get some magical assignment to cover the final table of the WSOP. Anyways, I have a biting commentary about Vegas night clubs coming soon. (they suck)
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.
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