Thursday, January 29, 2009

Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino Presents Split Tens


Recently while playing at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas I was reminded about the difference between online play and B&M casinos.


When playing seven card stud and you are starting off with split tens, it is probably best that your opponents are not showing anything higher than your ten. Sure it is possible that they are starting with a higher buried pair or even a rolled up anything, but as time passes and you gain more experience with your opponents, you will learn to read for that.


However, online with the split starting hands under jacks, I have for one reason or another experienced a remarkably high percentage of hands where I hit trips on either fourth or fifth street. The game at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino clearly helped me come back to reality. It would appear that hitting those trips as frequently just didn't seem to happen and I often found myself getting to fifth street with nothing more than a pair under jacks that I would have to fold out.


Strange how that happens. That being the difference in the types of hands I make playing online in comparison to when I am not. The Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino is probably my favorite old town casino in Vegas and a great place to be brought back to your senses.


Remember when playing in live B&M games only start your stud hands with premium hands. Jacks or better split and best to have something building like a straight or flush as well. Those trips are only going to hit a small percentage of the time.


Great seeing everyone at the game, by the way. Will hopefully be heading out there again soon to learn that maybe aces up really do have a chance to win after all, despite my online experiences.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Harrahs Announces the 2009 World Series of Poker Schedule


The schedule is up. The most prestigious event in the poker world will once again be arriving at the Rio all suite hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The tournament will run from May 26 to July 15 2009. There will be 57 bracelet events available for you to test your chops at with many favorites returning.


Among the most popular tournaments coming back to the Rio hotel are the 50k H.O.R.S.E, always popular with the cafeteria crowd. Also there will be a 40k buy-in NLHE event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the series. That should be another popular entry for the riff raff.


Many 10k and classic $1,500 tournaments will also be offered followed the ceremonious Main Event which once again will delay the play of the final table until November. The tournament organizers having enjoyed the result from last year's experience.


It should be one to remember. I'm just gonna head over to my piggy bank and grab my entry for the H.O.R.S.E. tournament. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you there. Better brush up on your Razz. If you are looking for me I will be in the spa at the Rio all suite hotel and casino.

Online Poker Tournaments: Explore your options


In the continuing saga of trying to duplicate Chris Ferguson's 10 or 20 thousand dollar accomplishment online from nothing, it continues to be a struggle by the way, I have discovered something interesting with the online poker community.


There happens to exist on a couple online poker sites, the opportunity to play a variety of different games. During the boom, you couldn't get me off of the hole em tables. I was making money consistently and I could do it quickly. I only had to sit for a short period of time and I could win more than enough for that session. It was great.


Then something happened. To this day I can't quite explain what it was but it definitely happened. Suddenly I couldn't win a hand anymore. I'm not talking about cold cards. I'm not saying that for a couple days I was getting the bad end of things. I could not win anymore. It didn't matter if I was up against the whole table or just one opponent, it just wasn't happening at all anymore. So, I realized it was time to give it a rest.


I cashed out a chunk of my chips and gave up on online play for a while.


Recently I discovered a rather entertaining trend. On the sites that offer a variety of games, I am able to win once and a while again. That's right, I have started winning again. It is still crazy. The challenge is immense. However, it would seem that with games that aren't as popular as hold em, I seem to have gained a bit of an edge again.


It would seem that with traffic having died down considerably online and hold em still being the most popular game, that if you are a decent player at the other games, you stand a chance of coming out ahead more often than not.


This could be due to more players exploring the other games but not quite knowing how to play yet. Also, a large part of the gamble aspect of hold em seems to diminish in the seven card games. Whatever it is, it is slowly working and seems to help a little in the exploration to duplicate Chris Ferguson's accomplishments. It is still not easy and I am a long way away from victory, but I have started along the path. If you are looking to expand your opportunities with online poker, you may want to explore what some of the other games have to offer.


Best of luck!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Chris Ferguson Freeroll Challenge


The saga continues. As I have mentioned in the past, I am continuing to try to match Chris Ferguson's incredible achievement of building a $10k roll from nothing. I am the first to admit that I am not at Chris Ferguson's level as of yet but I am extremely interested in seeing the viability of getting to somewhere from nothing.


The challenge continues to be surviving beyond the initial freeroll. I have been playing a little on Poker Stars as of late because I have found that surviving the freerolls on other sites has been next to impossible. With the initial freeroll on Poker Stars you can win a ticket to another tournament where there is a chance to finish in the money. I am not sure if Ferguson took this route initially. I believe he played on Full Tilt where there may have been money waiting at the end of the initial freeroll.


I have managed to acquire a few tickets to subsequent tournaments with payouts. The best finish I have had so far in those subsequent tournaments is a winning of $1. Needless to say, it has been tough. Playing the micro games afterwards with Chris Ferguson's rules I haven't been able to move forward. That is proving to be the hardest part to date. If anyone has any tips I would love to hear them.


Anyway, I considered surviving the freerolls an accomplishment since everyone playing doesn't care and you really have to play solid AND get lucky to survive. I will keep you posted how this plays out.

Party Poker Slowing Down Still


So it has been a while since the federal government has passed legislation condemning certain types of online monetary transfers. As such, it made it illegal for many U.S. players to play online poker.


The one site that seems to have continued to suffer considerably from the government's decision is Party Poker. The word "suffer" of course is relative. I am sure that Party Poker still does relatively good business. Their returns must be substantial considering the appeal of their site to players around the world.


Party Poker recently revamped the appearance of the site. It looks good and is easy to navigate. However the one fact that can not be denied is the considerable drop in membership. Party Poker has since opened up all kinds of gaming sites including Backgammon and Blackjack. I'm sure there are still plenty of people who enjoy playing those games online although I can't imagine why you would.


The poker games have dropped off considerably. There are definitely not nearly as many tables going as there used to be and the action has slowed down considerably. I used to enjoy the $5/10 limit games on Party Poker with ten player tables and today you are lucky to find one table like that going.


As far as Party Poker poker games, it would appear that the most action and busiest tables are all in the basement at the micro levels. As you should know, the rake down there is heavy so it is difficult to move forward at all. What you will find there still, no matter what games you choose to play are the infamous ridiculous rivers. That's what makes that site fun! Crazy action. That may also have something to do with why the traffic hasn't picked up much on the site. I'm sure if American players really wanted to keep playing there, they could figure out ways to do it. Obviously they haven't.


A real shame actually. The site used to be a lot of fun. However, as I mentioned earlier, I'm sure they are doing just fine.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Freeroll Tournament Potential Winnings


A considerable amount of time has passed since last I wrote, however that has more to do with getting extremely busy than anything else. This is not to say I have given up in any way on my determination to see if being successful in freeroll tournaments can't eventually lead to the building of a bankroll. There may be some money available and possibly even some truth to the amazing accomplishments of Chris Ferguson in this area.


Since I last spoke to you about my endeavours in this arena, I have entered a couple freeroll tournaments with some success. Generally what happens is I enter the freeroll where I hope to finish high enough that I gain a ticket to another tournament where there is some payoff for finishing high enough in that. So it is a two tier process. So far, I have achieved some limited success.


I have finished high enough on one occasion to move onto the second tournament where I finished in the money. Hang on to your hats. I made $1.00. It has been crazy almost impossible to move that money up. I have won a couple more qualifying tournaments and am trying to win another $1.00. I will let you know how that goes.


In the meantime, it has been hard to see how Ferguson could have made 10 or 20k in one year doing this considering how hard it is to move from the micro limits. However, I am not saying it is totally impossible, just simply a crazy hard challenge. I will keep you posted.