Absolutely playing

I am still playing poker; just wanted to clear that up before I move on...

I know that I haven't posted much lately. My poker playing has been downsized to just the online world. The availability of live games have diminished tremendously. Although I much rather play live, I have been having some success online. Recently, I joined a new rakeback program that is being started by a new group of people.

What is a rakeback program? I will attempt to explain. First, you create a new account with an affiliate who offers this kind of program. Once the account is created and everything is being tracked, you can begin playing at that site. The affiliate will then give you a cut of rake that you produce back each month. Depending on your amount of play, it can be a few dollars to several hundred back each month. Now the rakeback is only on the revenue that you generate, not on the rest of the players. That means that you control your revenue each month, not someone else. Just how much can you get back? Most sites tend to agree that 25% to 30% back is standard and you shouldn't look for anything less. Apparently, these kinds of programs have been around since the beginning. To the average poker player, this can be a great profit tool.

Back to me...

I signed up with a new rakeback site that is being created. The site is called gotrake.net and can be found at that same address. Their is nothing there right now because the site is still being created. However, you can still sign up with one of their poker rooms and begin earning money while playing poker. I am currently playing at Absolute Poker and have found a new home at their 5-10 limit tables. They have several poker rooms available, so if your looking to make some money back on your play. They may have the perfect site for you.

If you are interested, leave me a comment post and I will get back to you with information.

Casino Chips, Strikes and the Spurs

As I write this post, I have to admit that my poker playing has slowed down. As you can probably tell from the lack of new posts on this blog. When I first started I was writing 2 maybe 3 new posts a week. I am down to maybe a new post a week now. I have just been doing a lot of other things and my playing time has disappeared. Between work and sleep, that leaves me very little time to do anything else. I have been going to Spurs games, clubs and many other things.

Recently, I have picked up my casino chip and silver strike collecting. I now have close to a 100 different casino chips. I had been collecting on and off for a couple of years now. Just recently, I really picked up the pace. I managed to find some pretty good ones on eBay for reasonable prices. In addition to the current ones in my collection, I have added a bunch of obsolete chips and canceled ones as as well. My pride and joy are my chips for the Dunes Hotel that used to exist in old Vegas. I have a $1, $5, $25 and $100 chip. The Dunes used to stand where the Bellagio exists today. From the very first time that I went to Vegas, I was hooked by the Dunes sign on the strip. It was the coolest thing that I had ever seen. My grandfather and I used to sit for the longest time in our room and watch that sign.

Also, I have added numerous strikes to my collection as well. About 10 years ago, we got our first strikes. They were these new items that had been placed in the machines. If you hit the right combination, these coins would drop out of the machine. They are coins with a brass outer ring and a silver insert worth $10. What makes that unique is that the silver portion is .999 fine silver and is stamped with a different pattern. The patterns or images commemorate a different event that happened in Vegas at the time. I started collecting them individually and didn't think anything of it. Eventually, I had about 50 of them in my collection from over the years. In recent months, they have become especially popular. Now, I have started to seek out others that I can added to my collection. Just in the past few days, I have added over 10 new ones that I have purchased from different sources.

In additon to collecting, I have submitted applications to join the CC&GTCC and Silver Strikers. The CC&GTCC stands for the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club. It is national organization that stands for the collection and perservation of casino memorabilia. The Silver Strikers are a similiar organization, but they concentrate on the collecting of silver strikes. Look for my posts later discussing these two organizations.

Finally, I have been going to Spurs games on a regular basis. The season is winding down and it is time for my Spurs to repeat as champs again. It is going to be a tall order this year because there are several good teams that could give them some good competition. Alas, I have the faith and will be there cheering for them all the way through the playoffs.

Freerolls

Do you play a lot of freerolls?

I have recently played in quite a few. They offer some nice prizes and it is good not to have to wager money all the time. Most of the time, there are money freerolls. A particular site will add money to the prize pool and players will share that based on their finish. I know for example that some sites have a new members freeroll. It is only open to new members and it gives them a chance to get their feet wet. Others like poker magazines will give prizes to the winners.

After playing in these tournaments, I have come to one conclusion. For the serious player, these are the worse things out there not to mention a waste of time. People talk about crapshoots and poorly structured tournaments. With nothing at risk, people go all out in these tournaments. It is a blinding mess of all ins. Everyone wants to double up quickly and get that early chip lead. The game of poker is thrown out the window.

The other day, I flopped a set of tens and was in pretty good shape. I had a lot of callers who saw the flop. After one player bet the flop, I decided to expose my hand and made a pretty good raise. My goal was to thin the field and knock out the drawing hands. We went to the turn with three players (including me). I make a big turn bet hoping to take it down right then. To my surprise, both of the other players call my bet. The river card did not help anyone (so I thought). I move all in for the rest of my chips figuring to have the best hand. Can you guess what happened? One player drew out and made a flush on the river to bet my set. He risked all his money on that draw. It was a freeroll, so I can't get too angry.

Honestly, these freerolls can be good and bad to players. I am not going to stop playing in them just because I get beat or sucked out on. It is hard to beat the key thing about these tournaments. They are "free" and if you do well enough. It can mean easy money or some very nice prizes for the cost of nothing, but time.

Winning feels good...

What else can I say? I have just been on one of those streaks right now. I am stringing more and more winning cash game sessions together. My tournament play has suffered, but I really love playing in a cash game. Don't get me wrong, it is not all wins. I still have some losing sessions, but not as many as before this run began. Each time I play online or live, I just focus on that time and not anything or anyone else. I think the main trick is that I have chosen a particular limit and stuck to it.

Before I settled down into this current streak, I was all over the place. I was playing 10-20 and 5-10 limit and various no limit levels. It was really screwing up my radar for picking out situations and making decisions. As you well know by now, limit and no limit are two completely different monsters. I was playing limit hands like no limit ones and vice versa. Sticking to a particular limit and type of game is very important to your development. At least that is what I have learned so far...

Patience is another virtue that must be learned to succeed (especially online). You have to understand that there are tens of thousands of people online looking to do the same thing as you. They all want to score big the quick and easy way. Next time you are in an online, pay attention and notice all the hit and runs that take place. Players are moving in and out of tables looking for the quick score. There have been several times where I saw a new player sit at a table with $40. He/she would play one hand and get all their money in. Sometimes they'd win, more often they will lose. Money is money and they are just throwing it away. Just sit there and play poker. If think that you don't have the best hand, then fold it. Don't play on hoping for that miracle two outer. You will be amazed at how much money is saved in the long run. Just play your game and someone will come along to pay you off.

Pick a limit and type of game. Whether it is 3-6 limit or 1-2 no limit, find your game and play it. If your playing online, be patience and play smart. It has been working for me (at least lately). I know it will work for you.

Great Tourney and Good Fun

This past weekend, the SAPC held its first ever live poker tournament. Primo and I were the chief organizers for the event and ran the tourney from start to finish. Thirty-three avid poker players ponied up $100 to battle and test their skills to see who was the best. We had fours tables to start and a dealer for each table. In addition to the tourney, we provided food and drinks to all the players. Also, everyone received a goodie bag filled with tons of stuff. Finally, we unveiled our new license plate frames and gave one to all the players in attendance. It is our hope that you display them with pride, so that everyone will know that you are a member of the San Antonio Poker Club.

Special thanks to our all sponsors and to rookiepsu, jpcycle and sa-poker who let us borrow their tables. Also, to Kirk from Barpoker.com for lending us the chips and cards for the tourney.

Now to the tournament...

We started the tourney with 33 player on four tables. Only the top 6 would get paid for their work that evening. Each level lasted 30 minutes and we started at 10-20. There wasn't much action during the first two levels of play, but we did manage to lose three players. From the action I saw during the first hour, one player had his over pair run into a made straight and lost all his chips. Going into the break, we still had 30 players left and who would come back to blinds of 25-50. During the next two levels of play, we had a fleury of action. We broke a table and lost a substantial amount of players. About ten players unfortunately busted out and took the long walk. We broke one table and just before the next break another as well. After two full hours of play, we were down to about 18 or 20 left from the original 33.

During the third hour, action came to a roaring stop. Players began to tighten up as they saw more and more people bust out. Everyone was being cautious and didn't want to make that crucial mistake. During the fifth level, we hardly lost any one as the tight play continued. However in the sixth with blinds at 100 - 200, we lost a few more players and were getting close to that all important final table. Going into the third break, I think we had 12 or 14 players with the 9 making the final table. Play really grinded to halt as we approach the money bubble. Only the top six would get paid for their efforts this night.

After the fourth break, we finally made it down to 9 and the final table. Players drew for seats and the button was drawn for again. Once final table play began, we quickly lost one player and were to the elite 8 as they say. Play continue on for another half hour and we arrived at the money bubble. We were to the final 7 with only 6 making the money. The action really slowed down as players tightened their game tremendously. We played for what seemed like forever, but no one busted out. The bubble lasted for a good hour and a half as everyone wanted to make some money, but one person had to go. Janet from Buda busted out on the bubble and was the last person not to receive any money.

Shortly after 10:30 pm (I think, it was a really long day), we were in the money. Action picked up from the slow crawl it had been earlier. We had two quick bust outs and got down to the final four. Rock finished in sixth place with RJ Autry taking 5th place. Play really began to heat up as the final four all had chips to play. The action was fast and furious as each player pushed the action. We had a lot of raises and didn't see many flops. However, when you get this deep blinds can really add up and it is important to steal them as often as possible. After several rounds, we had our next bust out and Adam (jpcycle's friend) took fourth place for his trouble. We were down to the final three and the blind stealing commenced again. We saw very few flops over the next several rounds.

After a while, our chip leader got tangled up in two big hands and eventually busted out in third place. Jpenque ran into two very tough hands that cost him his entire stack. They were both coin flip hands and he had the lead both times, but lost them both to take third. About 11:15 pm after almost seven hours of play, we were heads up. After a few hands, both of the final two players made a quiet agreement. Three more hands were played for the evening. Jpcycle finished in second and David M. took first place in the tournament officially.

Again, thanks to all the players who particpated and made this event a rousing success. Thanks to our sponsors who contributed items to the goodie bag. Thanks to all those who donated use of their equipment for the tournament. We are looking forward to doing this again, so we'll catch you next time.