Ubering Up The 50/50

Beware, this is going to be a long one. One of the best reasons for having a blog is moments like this. Not so you can brag to the world about how great you are. So you can document your thoughts and ideas in detail (for yourself) when things like this happen. Though you will always remember the big score, few can relive it in vivid detail many years later.

First off, my MTT confidence was extremely high going into this one. The Venetian live tourney, changed my thinking around MTTs in a big way, though not really changing my strategy towards playing them. I guess I finally saw what the difference was in some of the top pros that play a similar style to me. The difference that separates them from the rest of the crowd. It all comes down to unwavering discipline. I found out that I had it to some extent during the Venetian event.

The second thing is that I have been so busy with my fantasy website, that I just don't play much. Whenever, I go on vacation for a few weeks, and come back to the game, I always run very hot. I think decisions get too automatic when you are playing constantly, and the time off takes a bit of this away and improves your decision and thought process. So I am on a semi-permanent vacation from poker right now. I mainly dabble in MTTs when I play, and play almost zero cash games. This was my third time playing poker in the last month. 1st time, I took down the riverchasers. 2nd time was the BBT when the servers crashed. I also played the 50/50 that night, and was alive when the servers crashed for a decent cash. And then last night. I fired up the 2+ donkfest, the 50/50 and the Math. Similar to the 2+, 50/50 and BBT the last time I played.

The third thing is that I absolutely must play in the deepstack slow structures. My style has no chance in a regular structured MTT. The 50/50 has about as perfect a structure as I could imagine for me. If you started with 4k in chips, I would need to find a way to play it every night. Riverchasers was double stacks. The MATH which is one of my best blogger MTTs is double stacks. The Venetian was super deep stacks/slow. Get the picture.

So now for the first hand. There is a story. I was just pulling myself together as the 2+ rebuy and the 50/50 were being dealt the first hands. For some reason I confused the tables and when I saw KQs, I did the obvious rebuy play of open pushing it from early on the first hand. Except I guess I miss clicked and didn't quite push. Then I realized I just did that on the 50/50 not the 2+ as the guy tanked, then pushed. I am priced in. Below are 3 hands from the first 5 as I try to run with my ubershitty image.

Hand1
Dealt to Blinders [Qh Kh]
ZatoichiRonin folds
Blinders raises to 1,640
Jimmy75REY folds
shipitcrew folds
JackalHyde raises to 2,000, and is all in
Loungefly420 folds
pearlwashington folds
D_proxy_99 folds
hampham2000 folds
Blinders calls 360, and is all in
JackalHyde shows [Ks Ah]
Blinders shows [Qh Kh]
*** FLOP *** [Ad Jh 3s]
*** TURN *** [Ad Jh 3s] [Tc]*** RIVER *** [Ad Jh 3s Tc] [7h]

Hand2
Full Tilt Poker Game #3106729299: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 22 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:31:41 ET - 2007/07/30
Seat 1: D_proxy_99 (1,990)
Seat 2: hampham2000 (1,980)
Seat 3: ZatoichiRonin (2,000)
Seat 4: Blinders (4,030)
Seat 5: Jimmy75REY (2,000)
Seat 6: shipitcrew (2,000)
Seat 8: Loungefly420 (2,000)
Seat 9: pearlwashington (2,000)
hampham2000 posts the small blind of 10
ZatoichiRonin posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [2s 2d]
Blinders raises to 40
Jimmy75REY folds
shipitcrew calls 40
Loungefly420 folds
pearlwashington folds
D_proxy_99 folds
hampham2000 calls 30
ZatoichiRonin calls 20
*** FLOP *** [6c Ts Tc]
hampham2000 checks
ZatoichiRonin checks
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders bets 120
shipitcrew calls 120
hampham2000 folds
ZatoichiRonin folds
*** TURN *** [6c Ts Tc] [Ac]
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders checks
shipitcrew checks
*** RIVER *** [6c Ts Tc Ac] [Ah]
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders checks
shipitcrew checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Blinders shows [2s 2d] two pair, Aces and Tens
shipitcrew shows [8h 8s] two pair, Aces and Tensshipitcrew wins the pot (400) with two pair, Aces and Tens

You have to love the UTG min-raise with 22 and how I played it down. I really wanted to show this one down, and actually could have won it on the flop. Could my loose, retarded, maniac image be any better at this point. This all set up Hand 5.

Hand 5
Full Tilt Poker Game #3106763328: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 22 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:34:43 ET - 2007/07/30
Seat 1: D_proxy_99 (1,990)
Seat 2: hampham2000 (1,940)
Seat 3: ZatoichiRonin (1,460)
Seat 4: Blinders (3,840
Seat 5: Jimmy75REY (2,610)
Seat 6: shipitcrew (2,240)
Seat 7: Haoleboy24 (1,910)
Seat 8: Loungefly420 (2,000)
Seat 9: pearlwashington (2,000)
Jimmy75REY posts the small blind of 10
shipitcrew posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Js Jc]
Haoleboy24 folds
Loungefly420 raises to 100
pearlwashington folds
D_proxy_99 folds
hampham2000 folds
ZatoichiRonin folds

I was basically going to jam here based on my image. For some reason I did not like the bet size. It screamed of a pocket pair, but I was thinking KK, QQ for some reason. I decided to keep it small for now.

Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders calls 100
Jimmy75REY calls 90
shipitcrew folds
*** FLOP *** [Tc 7c Qs]
Jimmy75REY checks
Loungefly420 checks
Blinders checks

I figured, I would reraise the turn if I felt weakness, or bet out if checked to again.

*** TURN *** [Tc 7c Qs] [4h]
Jimmy75REY checks
Loungefly420 bets 800

I am not going to call that. The sizes are too weird. I really think he has me here with QQ or KK. Not too proud of how I played this one, but oh well. I would pull things together after this.

Blinders folds
Jimmy75REY folds
Uncalled bet of 800 returned to Loungefly420
Loungefly420 mucks
Loungefly420 wins the pot (320)

I went pretty cold the first hour or so, and my stats were way out of whack. No pots won preflop or on the flop for me in the first hour. Everything on the turn or river. Then I wake up to rockets.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3108332539: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 97 - 120/240 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:51:36 ET - 2007/07/30
Seat 1: Blinders (5,376)
Seat 2: DocYarosh (2,215)
Seat 3: jojo37 (13,040)
Seat 4: iculookn22 (10,381)
Seat 5: YuckYuck (10,858)
Seat 6: MAROMB78 (3,765)
Seat 7: dbass777 (5,195)
Seat 8: 702richg (17,845)
Seat 9: RedSoxFan83 (7,005)
RedSoxFan83 posts the small blind of 120
Blinders posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Ah Ad]
DocYarosh folds
jojo37 folds
iculookn22 folds
YuckYuck folds
MAROMB78 folds
dbass777 folds
702richg folds
RedSoxFan83 has 15 seconds left to act
RedSoxFan83 raises to 699
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders raises to 1,158

That's a min raise, I am going to the felt here for sure (based on getting 1/5 my stack in with AA) and I want this guy committed.

RedSoxFan83 calls 459
*** FLOP *** [3h 4c 6h]
RedSoxFan83 checks
Blinders bets 1,440

Suckering him in

RedSoxFan83 raises to 5,822, and is all in
Blinders calls 2,753, and is all in
RedSoxFan83 shows [Kh Jh]
Blinders shows [Ah Ad]
Uncalled bet of 1,629 returned to RedSoxFan83
*** TURN *** [3h 4c 6h] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [3h 4c 6h 6s] [9d]
RedSoxFan83 shows a pair of Sixes
Blinders shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
Blinders wins the pot (10,927) with two pair, Aces and Sixes

Full Tilt Poker Game #3108579321: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 8 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:14:41 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: glomike (8,144), is sitting out
Seat 2: aztecberry (6,442)
Seat 3: bigtym (16,184)
Seat 4: Ghadhames (21,838)
Seat 5: Blinders (8,317)
Seat 6: DENCHO (19,095)
Seat 7: TL2008 (7,860)
Seat 8: MeDaMan4Money (6,627)
Seat 9: EratikSA (26,661)
Ghadhames posts the small blind of 200
Blinders posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Ks Ah]
DENCHO folds
TL2008 folds
MeDaMan4Money folds
EratikSA folds
glomike folds
aztecberry folds
bigtym folds
Ghadhames raises to 1,100
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders raises to 2,800
Ghadhames has 15 seconds left to act
Ghadhames folds
Uncalled bet of 1,700 returned to Blinders
Blinders mucks
Blinders wins the pot (2,650)

Then came this hand which really set everything up for me.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3108589523: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 8 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:15:40 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: glomike (8,094), is sitting out
Seat 2: aztecberry (6,392)
Seat 3: bigtym (16,134)
Seat 4: Ghadhames (20,688)
Seat 5: Blinders (9,817)
Seat 6: DENCHO (19,045), is sitting out
Seat 7: TL2008 (7,810)
Seat 8: MeDaMan4Money (6,577)
Seat 9: EratikSA (26,611)
Blinders posts the small blind of 200
DENCHO posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Kh Ks]
TL2008 folds
MeDaMan4Money folds
EratikSA folds
glomike folds
aztecberry folds
bigtym raises to 1,200
DENCHO has returned
Ghadhames raises to 5,000
Blinders raises to 9,767, and is all in
DENCHO folds
bigtym folds
Ghadhames calls 4,767
Blinders shows [Kh Ks]
Ghadhames shows [Qh Qc]
*** FLOP *** [9s 4d 7c]
*** TURN *** [9s 4d 7c] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [9s 4d 7c 7h] [3s]
Blinders shows two pair, Kings and Sevens
Ghadhames shows two pair, Queens and Sevens
Blinders wins the pot (21,584) with two pair, Kings and Sevens

I took this stack into bubble time. I was at a very tight table, with one other big stack who was pretty aggressive. Most of the tighties were pretty short and holding on for the bubble. I started beating the aggressive guy across the table in with raises, and the two of us completely raped the table of all the blinds and antes while completely staying out of each others way. When the bubble finally burst, I had nearly doubled my stack without a showdown, and was in the top 10 in chips.

I played the bubble much better than I ever have before, but the situation was also very right. I don't often have those many chips at that point, but I can see the value of taking a few chances to get there by bubble time. After the bubble, I bled a little more off before picking up rockets again, in a great situation. This is why you EP limp rockets.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109033988: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 8 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:00:42 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: glomike (18,263)
Seat 2: 702richg (9,224)
Seat 3: bigtym (23,443)
Seat 4: Ghadhames (10,172)
Seat 5: Blinders (31,334)
Seat 6: iculookn22 (13,762)
Seat 7: Elx (18,448)
Seat 8: tinuccia67 (18,736)
Seat 9: EratikSA (33,338)
702richg posts the small blind of 400
bigtym posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Ac Ad]
Ghadhames folds
Blinders calls 800
iculookn22 raises to 4,000
Elx raises to 18,348, and is all in
tinuccia67 has 15 seconds left to act
tinuccia67 folds
EratikSA folds
glomike folds
702richg folds
bigtym folds
Blinders calls 17,548
iculookn22 calls 9,662, and is all in
Elx shows [Kc Kd]
Blinders shows [Ac Ad]
iculookn22 shows [As Qc]
*** FLOP *** [5s 4d Js]
*** TURN *** [5s 4d Js] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [5s 4d Js Ts] [6h]
Elx shows a pair of Kings
Blinders shows a pair of Aces
Blinders wins the side pot (9,372) with a pair of Aces
iculookn22 shows Ace Queen high
Blinders wins the main pot (43,086) with a pair of Aces
iculookn22 stands up
Elx stands up

Here I am second in chips with less than 100 left.

Everything was working out real good. I was always getting it in ahead (usually way ahead), and everything was holding. This hand below was a bit of a cooler.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109228385: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 100 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:22:14 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: Tuuuuuuut (15,420)
Seat 2: Blinders (65,494)
Seat 3: pokerfields (31,665)
Seat 4: thangblackjack (22,610)
Seat 5: azrawdawg (14,816)
Seat 7: Ryan1118 (55,090)
Seat 8: KKbucsKK (8,300)
Seat 9: ths115 (22,839)
KKbucsKK posts the small blind of 600
ths115 posts the big blind of 1,200
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Kd Qd]
Tuuuuuuut has 15 seconds left to act
Tuuuuuuut calls 1,200
Blinders calls 1,200
pokerfields folds
thangblackjack folds
azrawdawg folds
Ryan1118 calls 1,200
KKbucsKK folds
ths115 checks
*** FLOP *** [Ah Jc Td]
ths115 checks
Tuuuuuuut checks
Blinders checks
Ryan1118 bets 3,200
ths115 calls 3,200
Tuuuuuuut raises to 14,070, and is all in
Blinders calls 14,070
Ryan1118 folds
ths115 folds
Tuuuuuuut shows [Ac Jd]
Blinders shows [Kd Qd]
*** TURN *** [Ah Jc Td] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [Ah Jc Td 2c] [Ad]
Tuuuuuuut shows a full house, Aces full of Jacks
Blinders shows a straight, Ace high
Tuuuuuuut wins the pot (41,140) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
Seat 8: KKbucsKK (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: ths115 (big blind) folded on the Flop

Flopped the straight, and get it in on the flop. Lose to a rivered boat that leaves me one card short of a Royal. I bled off a few more chips on the hand below. I think this one shows, that I am not just playing big hands, but trying to scrap a bit when priced in. Not sure how the guy calls the turn bet against me here, but part of my strategy relies on people not playing properly against me. The guy is paying me off here most of the time by making that turn call

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109393586: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 100 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:41:50 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: Tuuuuuuut (82,074)
Seat 2: Blinders (51,024)
Seat 3: pokerfields (46,915)
Seat 4: thangblackjack (18,410)
Seat 5: azrawdawg (18,532)
Seat 6: ImFernando (40,587)
Seat 7: Ryan1118 (23,954)
Seat 8: donkey_kong0 (42,700)
Seat 9: wignall (26,043)
Tuuuuuuut posts the small blind of 1,000
Blinders posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Kc 3d]
ImFernando: poker tends to be crule like that'
pokerfields folds
thangblackjack folds
azrawdawg folds
ImFernando raises to 4,000
Ryan1118 folds
donkey_kong0 folds
wignall folds
Tuuuuuuut folds
Blinders calls 2,000
*** FLOP *** [6d 4c 8d]
Blinders checks
ImFernando checks
*** TURN *** [6d 4c 8d] [6h]
Blinders bets 6,000
ImFernando calls 6,000
*** RIVER *** [6d 4c 8d 6h] [4d]
Blinders checks
ImFernando checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Blinders shows [Kc 3d] two pair, Sixes and Fours
ImFernando shows [Ac 5d] two pair, Sixes and Fours
ImFernando wins the pot (23,250) with two pair, Sixes and Fours

At this point, I think we were down to two tables, and I had gone through a long stretch with nothing to work with. Kung Fu was raising like clock work, and when I got this hand, I knew exactly how it would play out before anything happened. It would fold to Fu who would raise. I would push and he would fold.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109800418: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 100 - 2500/5000 Ante 600 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:37:10 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: Tuuuuuuut (77,574)
Seat 2: Blinders (50,112)
Seat 3: pokerfields (24,366)
Seat 4: thangblackjack (51,640)
Seat 5: EratikSA (77,698)
Seat 6: ImFernando (89,248)
Seat 7: Ryan1118 (30,826)
Seat 8: iknow_KungFu (496,949)
Tuuuuuuut posts the small blind of 2,500
Blinders posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [6h 6d]
pokerfields folds
thangblackjack folds
EratikSA folds
ImFernando folds
Ryan1118 folds
iknow_KungFu has 15 seconds left to act
iknow_KungFu raises to 12,000
Tuuuuuuut has 15 seconds left to act
Tuuuuuuut folds
Blinders raises to 49,512, and is all in
iknow_KungFu has 15 seconds left to act
iknow_KungFu folds
Uncalled bet of 37,512 returned to Blinders
Blinders mucks
Blinders wins the pot (31,300)

Below is just another example of straight forward play late that gets paid off. The flop gets scary so you just push and pray, but I am not going to give anyone close to drawing odds at this stage.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109817173: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 100 - 2500/5000 Ante 600 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:39:43 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: Tuuuuuuut (72,674)
Seat 2: Blinders (64,512)
Seat 3: pokerfields (14,466)
Seat 4: thangblackjack (54,040)
Seat 5: EratikSA (70,298)
Seat 6: ImFernando (99,148)
Seat 7: Ryan1118 (40,726)
Seat 8: iknow_KungFu (482,549)
EratikSA posts the small blind of 2,500
ImFernando posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [As Kh]
Ryan1118 folds
iknow_KungFu folds
Tuuuuuuut folds
Blinders raises to 16,000
pokerfields folds
thangblackjack folds
EratikSA folds
ImFernando calls 11,000
*** FLOP *** [Ad 7d 4d]
ImFernando checks
Blinders bets 47,912, and is all in
ImFernando folds
Uncalled bet of 47,912 returned to Blinders
Blinders mucks
Blinders wins the pot (39,300)

Below was a tough hand against the chip leader right before the FT. Had to get away, but could have been ahead. Should I have pushed this flop at this point of the MTT? The guys range was basically ATC.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109892282: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 100 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:51:00 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: Tuuuuuuut (111,298)
Seat 2: Blinders (71,612)
Seat 4: thangblackjack (78,530)
Seat 5: EratikSA (53,958)
Seat 7: Ryan1118 (72,778)
Seat 8: iknow_KungFu (510,237)
Tuuuuuuut posts the small blind of 3,000
Blinders posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [3d Td]
thangblackjack folds
EratikSA folds
Ryan1118 folds
iknow_KungFu calls 6,000
Tuuuuuuut folds
Blinders checks
*** FLOP *** [Qd 8d Tc]
Blinders bets 12,000
iknow_KungFu calls 12,000
*** TURN *** [Qd 8d Tc] [9s]
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders checks
iknow_KungFu has 15 seconds left to act
iknow_KungFu bets 35,000
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders folds
Uncalled bet of 35,000 returned to iknow_KungFu
iknow_KungFu mucks
iknow_KungFu wins the pot (43,500)

I would arrive at the final table as the short stack after a double elimination. Smokkee and KOD were railing me all of a sudden. I would fold my Q2o in the BB to a preflop raise, and then open push J3s on the next hand when it folded to my SB. No Call. As it was orbiting around, this happend. You got to love these types of hands when you are short and on life support, and each elimination increases your payday a bunch.

When we got down to seven players, I got it all-in preflop with AKo against J9o, and lost the race.

I really do not mind going out like that. Sure I wanted the win and everything, but I would rather go out getting it in ahead like this, then being forced to jam with crap late and lose to a much better hand. I was able to play my game the whole way here. Chad was railing me with two tables left, and I was still playing very tight. I really was not catching much and just trying to survive until I did. I decide not to force the issue, and was able to take a chance later with a hand like this. I play the shortstack pretty well late, and this double up would have given me some breathing room for a last shot at the win.

Fifty-Fifty Seventh

Wow! Above is my biggest online MTT score ever, and I barely play poker anymore. And WTF am I doing playing MTTs anyway. Ain't I a cash game specialist? I did it without a single "re-steal", and the best part about it was the hand below. This was the very first hand of the Fifty-Fifty. Warning, don't try this one at home, but a great way to shitify your image right out of the gate.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3106721497: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 22 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:31:00 ET - 2007/07/30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Qh Kh]
ZatoichiRonin folds
Blinders raises to 1,640
Jimmy75REY folds
shipitcrew folds
JackalHyde raises to 2,000, and is all in
Loungefly420 folds
pearlwashington folds
D_proxy_99 folds
hampham2000 folds
Blinders calls 360, and is all in
JackalHyde shows [Ks Ah]
Blinders shows [Qh Kh]
*** FLOP *** [Ad Jh 3s]
*** TURN *** [Ad Jh 3s] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Ad Jh 3s Tc] [7h]
JackalHyde shows a pair of Aces
Blinders shows a straight, Ace high
Blinders wins the pot (4,030) with a straight, Ace high
JackalHyde stands up
Blinders: see ya

More to come, as I grabbed quite a few HHs and screenshots from this one.

Neteller Releases Funds

Neteller is back up and allowing you to withdraw your funds. I already requested mine. I have three suggestions:

1) Go make your request ASAP.

2) Do not agree to the release.

3) Request the funds by check.

The release they want you to agree to is pretty lame. Both parties hold each other harmless for what happened. Don't be fooled, this is a one way release for Neteller. Neteller can't come after it's users for seizing their money, but believe me, the users have a solid legal case against Neteller. I am expecting some kind of class action against them that they will eventually lose. I will take the $50 payday or whatever 10 years from now, fuck Neteller.

In the FAQs they state how user's will not receive interest on their funds per the terms and conditions. Where in the terms and conditions were they allowed to seize our funds for 6+ months? Where were they allowed to break off all communication and support of US citizens due to "high phone volume"? They also will not allow requests next year for the funds. So I guess they just get to keep the funds for the people they can't get a hold of, or who don't respond. Nice.

For item 3, I suggest this as it is the least traceable. I would imagine that there will be tons of tax implications from all of this, so be careful.

Profiting From The FullTilt Shutdown - A Tale of Three MTTs

What a complete joke last night. I totally freakout when my site has the smallest glitch, but we have never came close to a full-on service interruption like that. Well I don't have that kind of traffic level yet I guess. The interesting thing about last night was the money I won without doing a thing.

I have not heard a thing from FT on the matter, but my understanding is that for voided MTTs, you get your money back if you were still alive, plus an even split of the dead money regardless of your stack size (unless MTT was ITM at the time).

So last night I was going to fire up my first poker session since taking down the riverchaser's last week. Nice way to roll into the BBT freeroll coming off a win. But if I was going to dedicate some time to poker, I might as well play a few MTTs, right? So I went ahead and fired up the 2+ rebuy donkfest (to blow off some steam I guess), and the 50/50 (for a big score) while waiting for the BBT to start 1/2 hour later.

I did my best to donk it up in the rebuy. I was in push or fold mode preflop from the beginning. I won a few pots early getting it in ahead, then won a few more getting it in behind. I was openly mocking the table challenging them to play pots with me, unless they were afraid of digging out another $2 to continue. Then they started sucking out on me, and my stack was like a roller coaster. I got down to 1100, and kept pushing to get a rebuy or two in, but kept winning. I got to the break with 2000, and took the add-on. I was in for $6 at that point. Nothing of note happened after the break.

In the 50/50 I got nothing, and folded for the first 45 minutes. Was not very low though because of the structure. Right before the break, I flopped 44x after calling a min raise from the SB with A4s. I won a decent pot and got back to 2k at the break. Nothing of note happened after this.

Early in the BBT, I got called down on a double barreled bluff with three to a flush on board (I had an over + draw to the 2nd nut flush), by another blogger who had an over + 4th nut flush draw. I have no idea how he calls a near pot size bet on the turn against me, but I tend to make people play worse then they should. So I dropped a few chips on that one. I would catch AA on one hand, flop a set a few hands later, but never got paid much. This would leave me around my starting stack.

So then the site basically goes down, though I never lost my connection. They would void these three MTTs. Keep in mind, I am nicely below average in all three MTTs at this point, and in a little trouble except the BBT. So what did I win?

For the 2+ rebuy, there was about 1/3 of the field out. I also was just in for $6, while the average had to be at least $12. I should get my $6 back plus a $8 -$10 profit for this one.

For the 50/50. More than 1/2 the field gone. $55-65 profit.

For the BBT, good question. I would say the field should be reduced to 51 when they re-run it. No second chances after getting eliminated in a freeroll. I would also hope that FT throws a few extra bucks in for screwing up our special event. This one was like a $32 buy-in with 56 entries and 1800 prizes. If the next one is 51 entries and $2000 in the prize pool I just picked up an extra $7 for the BBT as well.

You guys should take notes here. Playing tight gets paid, even if you end up below average an hour or so in to a MTT.

Censorship

I would like you to imagine a very different world for a moment. A world where poker was very popular, but had a very different structure. Imagine that is was played almost like an MTT by email. Some of you have probably played in something like this. The idea is that all actions happen via email, and a hand of poker takes a day or so to play. Imagine that this is all there was. A handful of email MTTs that lasted close to a year. These MTTs would charge an entry fee, keeping 1/2 for the house, and pay out a small handful of top prizes.

Even with this being the only game in town. because of the depths that NL Holdem offers, you would still have all of the advise blogs, and Forums... like you have now. The best poker players would be the consistent performers in the few MTTs. Making money at poker long-term, however would be basically impossible. Sure, somebody would win each MTT every year, and be close to guaranteed a lifetime profit, but can we really say they are profitable long-term. Lets say you could run 5 of these MTTs a year for 40 years. 200 trials. 50% rake. Sorry, nobody beats that, unless variance is the reason.

So now lets imagine somebody comes along fed up with the current system, and invents an alternative called the "cash game". These so-called cash games would be played round the clock on a new poker website. They would charge a 5% rake, and allow for people to play 1000s of hands a day vs 1 with the major MTTs. The classic low margin, make it up on volume approach.

But what you are doing is different, so nobody knows about your concept. Not a problem, you head over to the largest forum on poker to spread the word. You post a thread called "Profiting Long-Term by Playing Poker". This will truly be a revolutionary thread for the poker world. I mean nobody has ever actually thought this was possible before. So in your thread, you explain how with the current system it is impossible to profit long-term because you can never get there, and even if you could, the rake would kill you. So you explain this new concept of the cash game and provide a link to the only website in the world that provides it. The only website in the world where you can actually profit at the hobby that every single person on this forum clearly enjoys. You can already guess what happens, right?

The thread is yanked off the forum immediately because it is viewed as an Ad.

Fucking Censorship.

Substitute Fantasy Sports for Poker, and the above is a true story. Happened today.

Resteal Redux

I think a bunch of people missed the point of my last post. I don't really mind sticking my neck out once and a while and being a bit controversial, because it tends to get people thinking deeply about important concepts. That was what I was trying to do. There have been tons of posts about making moves with ATC in MTTs (not just Hoy). I often cringe inside when I read these, as there is typically no justification given other than the results of a single hand (which is never a valid justification). A bunch of times, I wanted to really rip apart the poster in the comments, but I have always held back. If someone has the balls to put their opinion out for all to see, I am not going to rain on their parade by nitpicking the math, like I tend to do. So I read Hoy's resteal post, and did not like the conclusion from the very beginning of the post. This was a very specific example of a steal and a resteal from the end stages of an MTT. I liked the resteal example because it was a resteal push, which simplified the math and made it possible to at least put together the form of the equation to calculate expectation value. Since this was a post about making moves, and no hand value was given for either example, I am assuming we are talking about ATC here. Hoy goes on in the post to show how you don't really do this with ATC, but in the beginning this statement caught my eye.

And the thing about restealing is, it is worth way more in terms of chips won than any kind of a regular blinds-and-antes steal, so that makes it all the more important to a long-term survival strategy in the low-M late stages of mostly all online mtts.

The problem I have with this statement is that the number of chips won on a given hand, does not say anything to the importance of a strategy to winning a tournament. You could autopush 32s whenever you get it, and if you are called and it wins a big pot, that does not make it an important or good strategy. The fact that a resteal will win you more chips proves nothing.

I was trying to communicate two things in my post.

1) The very specific resteal example given in the beginning, may be -EV.

2) If you compared the steal vs. resteal with ATC of the two examples, the steal would have a higher EV.

That was it.

I was not saying the following in my post.

1) Restealing is never +EV.

2) Restealing is bad in general.

3) Restealing in general never happens in cash games.

So now that I have opened up this can of worms, I guess to dig myself out, I will need to calculate the expectation value of the steal with ATC from Hoy's example. This is not trivial at all, and why I did not try to do it before. If you guys did not like my resteal calculation, I am sure you will not like this one either. But I will give it an honest shot, and we will see what falls out.

Assumptions

1) For the steal, like I did with the resteal it will be done with ATC. ATC does not include any of the top 20% hands. If you raise the button with a top 20% hand, that is not a "steal" though it may appear so to the blinds.

2) To simplify things the button, BB and SB will all have a 100k stack to start the hand.

3) To further simplify things the SB and button may call the steal or may push all-in. They can't make a smallish reraise that would pot commit them any way.

4) The stealer will fold to a single push for all 0-70% hands, and call 70-80% hands.

5) The stealer will always fold if both blinds push.

Blinds 4000/8000, Ante 1000 7-handed. It folds to the button who raises to 24k with ATC.

SBs strategy preflop.
SB is out of position to both the button and BB and will need a strong hand to play on. SB will push a top 10% hand, call a 10-20% hand, and fold all other hands.

BBs Strategy preflop
BB has more money invested and is more priced in. BB will push a top 15% hand, and call a 15-30% hand.

Chances that the steal wins preflop.

(.8)(.7) = .56 or 56%

EV when won preflop = .56 (19,000) = 10,640

Chances that both blinds push preflop.

(.1)(.15) = 1.5%

EV when both blinds push .015 (-24000) = -360

Chances that the SB only pushes and stealer folds.

(.1)(7/8)= 8.75%

EV for this is .0875 (-24000) = -2100

Chances that the BB only pushes and stealer folds

(.15)(7/8) = 13.1%

EV for this is .131 (-24000) = -3144

Total EV for this ending preflop is +5036

All-in preflop situations

All-in vs. BB

BB has a top 15% hand, and stealer has a 70-80% hand. I will assume that with these ranges the BB is a 60/40% favorite.

EV for this situation.

Stealer wins (.15)(1/8)(.4)(109,000) = 817.50
Stealer loses (.15)(1/8)(.6)(-100,000) = -1125

All-in vs SB

SB has a top 10% hand, stealer has a 70-80% hand. I will assume with these ranges that the SB is a 65/35% favorite.

EV for this situation.

Stealer wins (.1)(1/8)(.35)(113,000) = 494
Stealer loses (.1)(1/8)(.65)(-100,000) = -812

Total EV for all-in preflop situations = -626

Post flop assumptions

I need to make some further assumptions postflop if I want to give myself a shot at doing the calculation. All betting on the flop will be push or fold, and will end right there. I am not going to take the calculation all the way to the river (could not even if I tried). SB and BB will push all flops with top pair, middle pair, an over pair or a draw, and check all other flops. Stealer needs top pair or better to call a push post flop. Stealer will c-bet push 100% of the time a blind checks the flop. (I must make this assumption, or we will go to additional streets.). I will also eliminate the both blinds call case preflop (both push and its over already for the stealer). If either blind pushes and is called by the stealer (or check raises), I will give them a 65% chance of winning the pot.

I wish I could nail this part, but this is very, very difficult.

The stealer does not have a pair as he does not have a top 20% hand. You can't assume both cards the stealer has could make top pair, since he has ATC, so just one of them has a shot. I give him 3 outs x 3 cards or about a 20% shot of catching something he can call a push with.

I will put the chances of a blind picking up the required hand at at least twice that, so I will say 45% chance. I will also say that the blinds will go for a check raise 1/3 of the time they catch like this (probably higher, but since the stealer will autopush I will leave it like this.)

Vs. BB post flop.

BB check folds

(.44)(.55)(2/3)(34000) = 5430

BB pushes, stealer folds

(.44)(.45)(2/3)(.8)(-25000) = -2610

BB pushes, stealer calls and wins

(.44)(.45)(2/3)(.2)(.35)(109000) = 977

BB pushes, stealer calls and loses

(.44)(.45)(2/3)(.2)(.65)(100000) = -1699

BB Check raises the Stealer, stealer wins

(.44)(.45)(1/3)(.35)(109000) = 2492

BB Check raises the stealer, stealer loses

(.44)(.45)(1/3)(.65)(100000) = -4247

Total EV of post flop action with BB

+253

Since the action against the SB heads-up will be pretty much the same, I will double this value to include both blinds expectation values. Adding everything together now will give you the expectation value of the steal with ATC from the button.

Expectation Value of a Steal from the button with ATC.

5036 -626 + 253 + 253 = +4916

This is a positive number and is much better than the -12,300 I got for the resteal with ATC. I rest my case. Let the hating begin!

The Expectation Value of a "Re-Steal"

I commented the other day on Hoy's post about MTT resteals, that I thought what he was describing was -EV. Hoy was specifically talking about later stage MTT play, and I really can't argue with the success he has had in numerous large MTT fields. He is an expert at this stuff, and I am clearly not. What I will try to do is explain my reasoning, as to why I would make such a comment, and let others decide if I am right or wrong here.

Lets just briefly look at the "re-steal" preflop from a cash game perspective. I will stick with the idea that this can be done properly with ATC in the late stages of a tournament. Also, we are in a cash game with deep stacks, so this will not be a resteal push as in the Hoy example. So a cash game resteal from late or a blind with ATC would just be 3x times the initial raise, and not for nearly your whole stack. Well guess what? This pretty much never happens in cash games. People who know what they are doing do not "re-steal" preflop with ATC in cash games. Why do they not do this? In cash games people have plenty of time to figure out what types of plays make money and what types do not. They realize that this is a -EV move in a cash game, and don't bother with it. Re-steals preflop in cash games are done with more than ATC (are not really "re-steals") in what must be over 99% of the cases (retarded maniacs will do anything I guess). If you strip out the differences in what position you will cash in (tournament winnings expectation), and just look at the chips involved (chip expectation value), I think there is a pretty good case right here that restealing preflop with ATC is -EV.

So now for Hoy's specific example.

But now look at how great a resteal is for your same average 100k stack. Now you're in the big blind, and the action folds to the cutoff, who raises it up to 24k on a steal attempt. Sitting on the button, you sense weakness in the cutoff's move, and so you move allin over the top for your entire 100k stack, the blinds fold and the cutoff folds his naked steal. Now look what you've just won. The same 4k and 8k in blinds, plus the same 7k in antes, but now you throw in an additional 24k representing the steal-bet made by the preflop stealer. Now that is 43k added to your stack, and when you're only sitting on 100k in total tournament chips.

There is a little confusion in this as Hoy says the restealer is in both the BB and on the button. I will assume the BB, because the resteal push from the button should have a lower EV as you need to also get through both blinds. From the BB you only need to worry about the "stealer" calling.

Blinds 4000/8000, 1000 ante, 7-handed. Cut-off raises to 24000, and you push 100k from the BB on a resteal.

After your push, (for 92k more) there is 135k in the pot, and the initial "stealer" needs to call 78k more, which will make the pot 213k. The stealer is getting close to 2-1 odds here on a call. That means that if the BB does not have a big pair (bigger than both of the stealer's card), then the stealer is priced in. The push from the BB looks very weak here IMO. There is no way I put him on a big pair pushing from the BB like that. It looks like he does not have a hand he is willing to play post flop with. A couple big cards or a small pair come to mind, or even ATC. Also lets keep in mind the "stealer" is stealing from the cutoff and not the button. It takes a better hand to steal from the cutoff than the button, because you need to get through the button, and will be out of position if the button calls. The stealer does not have ATC here. The stealer's range is better than your ATC resteal range.

So now I will put some numbers in, and will probably screw this up, but bear with me a bit.

1) I assume that the stealer's range is ahead of the restealer's range. You don't resteal with a big hand, that would be a reraise value bet, and not a "resteal". So we can eliminate all of the big hands from the restealer, but none of the big hands from the stealer, as he could legitimately have a big hand. The stealer here has at least a top 50% of hands range.

2) I will also assume that the stealer has the restealer covered. If he does not have the restealer covered, the call of the push starts to become automatic, and the expectation value of the resteal goes down dramatically as a result. Everything will be decided preflop for this hand.

So the BB pushes, and the stealer is getting 2-1 odds, and will not be eliminated on this hand. People sophisticated enough to steal from the cutoff with weak holdings, will also be sophisticated enough to know they are priced in, even with their weak holdings. So I come up with these odds.

Push gets the stealer to fold preflop.

Stealer has a top 20% hand - 0% chance of folding (is not stealing, but has a hand)

Stealer has a top 50-20% hand - 30% chance of folding (is stealing, but feels priced in)

Chance of a fold is (.4)*0 + (.6)*.3 = 18%

Chance of a call = 82%

Who wins when it is called

Stealer has a top 20% hand. (40% of the time, and will be a 2-1 favorite)

Stealer calls with a 50-20% hand that is ahead (40% of the time 60/40 favorite)

Stealer calls with a 50-20% hand that is behind (20% of the time 40/60 dog)

Expectation Value

Restealer bets 92000 and wins 43000 18% of the time

EV is (.18)*43,000 = 7,740

Stealer has a top 20% hand

EV = (.82)(.4)(.33)*213,000 = 23,055

Stealer calls and is ahead

EV = (.82)(.4)(.4)*213,000 = 27,945

Stealer calls and is behind

EV = (.82)(.2)(.6)*213,000 = 20,959

Total EV of resteal = 79,700 - 92,000 = -12,300

There are a ton of assumptions here, so you can argue some of the fine points and may come to a different conclusion. The key points from Hoy's example are that the stealer's range is ahead of the restealer's range, and the stealer is very priced in to the resteal and will know his price because the restealer is all-in preflop.

Several things could push this resteal up into positive EV territory, but I do not see it in the example. I would rather resteal a button's steal from the BB, as the button stealer's range is much wider than a cutoff stealer's range. I would rather resteal with a deeper stack so the stealer is faced with a more difficult decision, and can expect more money going in post flop. I would rather resteal with a top 50% hand vs. ATC as you can see how that swings the expectation value in your favor. Hoy, I am sure can add a ton more fine points to this that I am not aware of, and you did a pretty good job of that in the balance of your post. My main point here is don't fall in love with a resteal push over a cutoff "steal" with ATC in the late stages of an MTT. IMO, you are much better off going for a steal vs. a resteal at this stage of the MTT and with these stack sizes. I did not bother with the math on a steal, but I will just state that it can be +EV even with ATC. You may win more chips with the resteal, but you are taking a huge risk pushing ATC. Restealing works much better if you your stack is much deeper, and your cards are decent. Restealing with ATC may look cool, but I don't believe there is a mathematical foundation to justify it. Lastly, the correct way to do all of this is to do it from tournament winnings expection value. To do this you would need to know all of the stack sizes of all the players left, and all of the payout positions. Since this was not provided in the example, I am sticking with the normal expectation value in relation to chips.

Edit: I am going to do an iteration of the resteal calculation to make it more symetrical with the steal calculation in the following post. This new value should be more fair for apples to apples comparision.

New Assumptions. Everyone has 100k. Restealer has a 0-80% hand. Cutoff raiser has a 50-100% hand, and will call a push from the BB with a 70-100% hand.

Chance of getting stealer to fold = 40%

EV = (.4)(34000) = 13,600

When the stealer calls we have a 0-80% hand vs. a 70-100% hand. I will guess here, but a poker calculator could give you an exact number. For the overlapping range it is a push, which leaves a 0-80% hand vs a 80-100% hand (67/33?).

Chance of push is (1/8)(1/3) = 4.2% (and you win 1/2 of dead money)

EV of push = (.6)(.042)(4500) = 113

Restealer wins

(.6)(.958)(.33)(109000) = 20676

Restealer loses

(.6)(.958)(.67)(-100000) = -38512

Total EV of resteal = -4123

I Have Been Astined

I am not an English lit. major so I have no idea if I am using the correct form of "Astined", but I think I know what it must feel like to be him. The deck hit me pretty hard in last nights riverchasers event. I got AA 4 times, KK twice, and quite a few other big hands. I did not really get paid off big with the big hands as I had to manage the pot size a few times, but it kept me in the ballpark for a late run at the final table to the title. I was playing a lot more aggressive late than I normally play, but I was getting a bunch of medium strong hands, that I am comfortable raising preflop. I think I raised preflop 5 times straight at one point with three tables left.

Having said all this, I think I was still playing very well. I made some huge laydowns, and folded a bunch of hands preflop when we were shorthanded, that most people would go right to war with. I got heads-up with AlCantHang, and he had a big lead, but I made some semi-heroic all-in calls, and it was over very fast. Below are my stats from the tourney. In about 300 hands, I only showed losing cards twice (not to bad). Still a pretty tight 12% of flops even while being Astined.

I guess all of the key hands were very late. I was last at one point with two tables remaining, but rallied back to a decent stack. I had a pretty good read on BuddyDanks raising range, and I pushed all-in for 18k+ over a 4,500 open. I had a good but not great hand, but I thought I could push him off, and we would be coinflipping otherwise. He folded. On the next hand, there was an open push for 10k, and I had QQ and smooth called. There were about 4 behind, so this may not have been the best play (Pushing was the other option), but I guess I was going for a near triple up. That has to be scary when I smooth call that big of a bet preflop with my image, and the rest of the table folded as a result. Open pusher had ATo, and my QQ held and I took over the chip lead. At that point I played it the way I always do when I have chips late, which is very different than most people play it. I sat back and picked my spots, rather than get overly aggressive and donking off my chips. This has worked for me many a time, and it worked again last night. I am basically hanging around until we get to 3-4 handed, but willing to scrap if I think I have the best of it. I play very shorthanded (2-4) pretty well, and shorthanded (5-7) not so well, so I guess I am minimizing my weakness as much as possible. We got down to three handed, and the three key hands are listed below.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2930933594: Riverchasers Online Poker Tour (22093219), Table 6 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:25:06 ET - 2007/07/13
Seat 3: Blinders (27,343)
Seat 7: AlCantHang (107,601)
Seat 8: jade2002 (24,056)
Blinders antes 250
AlCantHang antes 250
jade2002 antes 250
AlCantHang posts the small blind of 1,000
jade2002 posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Ac Ks]
Blinders raises to 6,000
AlCantHang folds
jade2002 raises to 23,806, and is all in
Blinders calls 17,806
jade2002 shows [Ts Tc]
Blinders shows [Ac Ks]
*** FLOP *** [Ah 8c Qh]
*** TURN *** [Ah 8c Qh] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 8c Qh 9d] [8d]
jade2002 shows two pair, Tens and Eights
Blinders shows two pair, Aces and Eights
Blinders wins the pot (49,362) with two pair, Aces and Eights
jade2002 stands up

Not much to talk about there. The hand basically played itself.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2930938411: Riverchasers Online Poker Tour (22093219), Table 6 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:25:36 ET - 2007/07/13
Seat 3: Blinders (52,649)
Seat 7: AlCantHang (106,351)
Blinders antes 250
AlCantHang antes 250
AlCantHang posts the small blind of 1,000
Blinders posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Td 8c]
AlCantHang: crap
Blinders: gg
AlCantHang has 15 seconds left to act
AlCantHang: now i'm dead
AlCantHang raises to 5,000
Blinders calls 3,000

I am not folding T8 heads up this deep to that sized raise.

*** FLOP *** [Qs Tc 6c]
Blinders checks

Figure I am good, and Al will c-bet

AlCantHang checks

He let me down

*** TURN *** [Qs Tc 6c] [9h]
Blinders bets 7,000

Time to extract some value

AlCantHang raises to 101,101, and is all in

I was not a believer here. All c-bets the Queen I am pretty sure, and he does not push with a monster. I figure he has the 9 or the 9 gave him a good draw, and make a pretty quick call for my entire stack.

Blinders calls 40,399, and is all in
AlCantHang shows [9c Ks]
Blinders shows [Td 8c]
Uncalled bet of 53,702 returned to AlCantHang
*** RIVER *** [Qs Tc 6c 9h] [4s]
AlCantHang shows a pair of Nines
Blinders shows a pair of Tens
Blinders wins the pot (105,298) with a pair of Tens

Full Tilt Poker Game #2930949278: Riverchasers Online Poker Tour (22093219), Table 6 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:26:42 ET - 2007/07/13
Seat 3: Blinders (107,998)
Seat 7: AlCantHang (51,002)
Blinders antes 300
AlCantHang antes 300
AlCantHang posts the small blind of 1,200
Blinders posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Qd 8h]
AlCantHang: i've never claimed to be a poker player
AlCantHang has 15 seconds left to act
AlCantHang raises to 4,800
Blinders calls 2,400

Can't fold that to a min-raise heads-up

*** FLOP *** [8s 6c As]
Blinders checks
AlCantHang bets 45,902, and is all in

Again, I don't see him pushing with the Ace. If I am wrong, I am dead, but am willing to take the chance and end it now.

Blinders calls 45,902
AlCantHang shows [8d 7s]
Blinders shows [Qd 8h]
*** TURN *** [8s 6c As] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [8s 6c As Qc] [6s]
AlCantHang shows two pair, Eights and Sixes
Blinders shows two pair, Queens and Eights
Blinders wins the pot (102,004) with two pair, Queens and Eights
AlCantHang stands up

I think Al played great the whole way, and even played these last two hands very well. I just had the luck on my side plus was getting Astined left and right. It felt great.

Leverage

Lets imagine for a moment that you have skill and knowledge at poker that exceeds a subset of all poker players. So now you are tasked with extracting value from your knowledge and skill advantage over the weaker players. You may chose to do this by playing cash games, MTTs or S&Gs of any stakes. When you select what stakes and game you will play to extract value, it is best to chose the game and stakes where you can apply the most leverage to your skill advantage. Good players will figure this out and play the games that maximize their leverage or ($/Hr in profit). For me, a cash game specialist, my leverage is maximized when I three table the 1/2NL Holdem cash games on FullTilt. This is where my profits per hour are maximized. This is where my leverage is currently the highest. I can 4 table .50/1NL, but don't earn the same rate. When I 4 table 1/2NL, my earnings rate drops as well. Some people chose to multitable S&Gs. Some people multitable MTTs. Some people only play one table at a time. If they are maximizing profit per hour by making this choice, they are maximizing the leverage of their skill advantage.

But, leverage has its limits. You can only play so many tables at once before you leverage is decreased. You need time to make decisions to extract the value of your skill advantage. When you are on too many tables at once, you don't get the time, your decisions suffer as a result, and your win rate goes down. There are limits to the amount of leverage you can apply in poker.

Now lets take the contests on FantasySportsLive.com and see how much leverage you can apply if you have a skill advantage in drafting players (due to your superior sports knowledge). The leverage that can be applied is almost unlimited. Once you figure out your rooster for the day which takes some careful and skillful thought, you can enter multiple contests with the same or similar rooster. Since this is not like poker, you don't need to do anything once you have made your draft selections (which just takes a few minutes/contest). You are not limited to a number of tables due to limited decision time. You have an unlimited amount of time to make your draft decision, and then you have finished all of the work for that contest.

It is almost like this. If you could write a program that exactly mirrored how you play poker and included your skill advantage, you could use the program to play for you. You could enter 100s of S&Gs or cash games at a time and really leverage your skill advantage at those stakes. But writing a program like that is not easy at all, and you would be a bot and potentially caught by the poker site. On FSL you don't need to write the program, just enter a bunch of contests and let your draft skillz do all the work. It is pretty easy money because of this.

So if you guys have not checked the site out you are missing out. Bobby Bracelet, Joe Speaker, FallStaff, DonkeyPuncher, 23skidoo, Pauly, Iggy, Change100, OSU, chipper, kajagugu, GCox, TripJax, and many other bloggers are regulars and doing quite well. Mr. Bracelet, and Mr. Speaker are pretty much pwning the other players on the site. If you are waiting for football, I understand (I can't wait myself), but you might want to get a feel for how things work so you can begin applying the leverage immediately when the FB contests begin. Lastly, check out this post by Joe Speaker which does a great job of describing the phenomenon we have created with these types of contests.

I plan on playing the MATH tonight and possibly the 50/50, so hope to see everyone on the virtual felt.