Some thoughts on Cash Poker vs Tournament/Sit n Go Poker

I’ve been playing poker online for about 18 months now. At first it was just for a bit of fun and I didn’t really care how well or how badly I performed, I was happy just to donate some money into my account and then see what happened. I didn’t take it too seriously and I had a lot of fun.

It was around a year ago that I really got bitten by the poker bug and started playing a lot more. I would stick to mainly No Limit Hold Em Sit-n Go’s with a buy-in of $5 or multi-table tourneys with smaller buy-ins. I was winning a little bit but was mainly up and down and not really turning a profit. Still I was having fun and didn’t mind the fact that I wasn’t making any money.

The last six months have been a bit different. I started playing cash games online and now I think I’ve finally reached the point where I prefer them to Sit n Go's or tournaments.

Let’s say I sit down at a micro limit table (blinds of $0.02/0.05) of No Limit Hold Em with the max buy in of $10. This is the equivalent of say two $5 Sit n Go’s (not including rake) yet I feel my return of investment is much greater. I can sit on the $10 for hours without going broke if the cards are running bad however I could easily blow through two Sit n Go's in no time at all if the cards are running similarly bad. On the flipside, if I win a sit n go of those stakes I can pocket around $22 for a $17 profit. This kind of profit at a cash table is really nothing and easily obtained as long as one has PATIENCE.

I guess for me, it makes more sense to spend 2 or 3 hours grinding away at a few cash games (multitabling) for a $20 or $30 profit with a low chance of busting out than to invest my bankroll in a Sit n Go where one bad hand can bust me out with no chance of getting my money back.

Patience really is the key. In general, I’m not a very patient person. I have had to really focus on it when playing my cash games. The ability to sit there and wait for the opportune moment to maximise my profit in a cash game doesn’t come easily. I will often play 3 or 4 tables at once but I’ve found I perform best when I’m playing at just one or two tables.


So with a firm decision made to focus on cash games, the question remains – what game is my game of choice. I’ve played so much No Limit Hold Em that I think I need a break from it. Don’t get me wrong – I love the game. I love its simplicity yet I also love its complexity. If you don’t know what I mean then you should stick to recreational poker.

So what does that leave??? Draw poker??? Not a chance. I will play the odd sit n go as I can cash in them regularly but I just cant get as absorbed by draw poker as other forms. Seven Card Stud??? Perhaps. I’ve played a bit of Stud but still consider myself a beginner at it. Getting used to not having community cards is something I’ll attack later on down the track. Razz (Lowball Seven Card Stud)??? Enough said about Razz.

That leaves Omaha (well there is a lot more, but of the games I have played over the last 18 months it only leaves Omaha). I stick to the Hi/Lo split and I find I'm really enjoying it. I like the multiple options with the four hole cards and I like the high hand/low hand split – especially when there is no low hand and I scoop the pot.

When I started playing I used to just throw away cash not really understanding which starting hands were of value etc, or chasing down the pot with a crappy low hand and getting pipped for the entire pot by a dude who flopped a wheel (A2345) or something similar. The more I play and read about Omaha though the more I like it and the better I am getting at it (I can gauge this by the fact that I'm now turning a small l profit on the cash tables).

Choosing which limits to play has been another issue I have had to deal with. Like most people, I want to try and win as much as possible and the higher stakes you play the bigger the wins will be in theory. But on several occasions I’ve been punching above my weight and ended up going broke and having to reload the bankroll. Trying to stick to some sort of bankroll management strategy was my New Years resolution and at this point although I haven’t got any management software or spreadsheets in place I’ve been able to mentally monitor my wins and losses and have kept the bankroll slowly increasing.

So with the UK trip pending I’m trying to play a little bit more and get my bankroll up a bit. I’ll probably have a bit more time on my hands over there at first and I intend to have net access so hopefully by the time I arrive my bankroll will be at level which allows me to play a bit higher limits.

The Sandwich

A quickfire dinner is often needed and what better than a bbq chicken and other selected sandwich fillers to slot between some slices fresh ploughmans for a quick and easy meal.

The sandwiches on the night consisted of chicken, cheese, whole-egg mayo (the only mayo) lettuce and some spices and I knocked off two of them. Tarz managed 1.5 and the final ½ was wrapped and fridged. I went to bed safe in the knowledge that I had a half-sandwich breakfast waiting for me the next morning.

At some point an hour or so before I was due to even consider rising, I stirred a bit but I remember thinking about the sandwich and falling back into slumber. My subconscious was now aware of the need for the sandwich and soothed my stirring sleep with thoughts of sliced fresh chicken tit, shaved tasty cheese, crisp lettuce and a fair slathering of the old whole-egg mayo.

Tarz was up earlier than me and was gone by the time I got up. I was starving but didn’t rush to get to the sandwich. I knew there wasn’t a massive feast so I didn’t want to rush in and have it be over in seconds. I got my shit together and headed for the fridge.

As I opened the door the first thing I noticed is that the sandwich was not where I had left it the night before. I didn’t panic but commenced a quick scan of the shelves. Halfway through the scan I realized it was futile. The sandwich was gone. Someone had eaten my breakfast and I just kind of stood there not knowing whether to hunt for a second rate breakfast or to cut my losses and move on, perhaps grab a consolation hot breakfast once I got to work.

I was rattled but I slammed the fridge door closed and headed off. One call to Tarz upon arrival at work confirmed my suspicions that she was the thief. Then again it was technically her sandwich so thievery wasn’t really an issue here. Regardless I felt robbed.

All the negative feelings were soon washed away by an egg and bacon roll and a Dare Espresso.

Still, I’ll never forget that sandwich…….

Australia Day No Limit Texas Hold Em Championships 2007

Well Australia Day has come and gone and I am no better off financially or title-wise after the annual Australia Day No Limit Texas Hold Em Championships.

This year was a bit different with 3 shorter games in which you earned points according to your finish position. At the end, an overall points winner took home a fair wad of cash as well as the shield.

I’ll say it straight up – I didn’t have a great day. I played fairly decent poker but just couldn’t make any real moves and gain chips. I felt like the whole day I was chasing the big stacks and just couldn’t make any headway. In the three games I finished 12th, 4th and 16th (with 23 runners in each) – not high enough to earn cash in any of the games and not enough points to contend for the title. The following hand happened in the first game and it pissed me off - anger isn’t good at the poker table, especially early on in a long day.....Needless to say I donked off many chips in this game after this hand through sheer stupidity....

I get dealt A8 off-suit in early position and have around 2200 (a bit above the starting stack)I just call the big blind (150) as does everyone else

Flop: A-8-8

It’s checked to me and I check again, hoping to get a bet out of someone with the other 8 (or an Ace).

The action gets to the host who bets 500. This guy is a really loose player and will bet with anything. The bet of 500 wasn’t huge and unless he had an A or the 8 then I can't feasibly see him betting that amount on that flop - its just not enough to scare away someone with anything close to the nuts.

So I don’t put him on a bluff but I also know I almost certainly have him beat and am putting him on an A (if he had the case 8 then I'd be expecting a big raise)….. so I sit for a while then push all in for around 2050 (or whatever i had left).

He sits and thinks then starts stacking chips up and counting chips. I look the other way to check out the other tables and when i look back, I'm certain that the stack he was counting was pretty much in the middle with the rest of the pot.....

So I flip my full house and he says “I haven’t called yet'.

I ask why the chips look like they're in the middle and get nothing but a 'sorry mate'.

So I’m furious and obviously he doesn’t call. I ask if he was going to call and he shows me his A (with a high kicker) and says 'Probably not because I figured you had an 8'.

I have played with this guy so much and I just know deep down that he was gonna call the bet if I didnt flip my hand so quick.....

Anyway end result (majority decision) was the he folded and I won the blinds, the pre-flop calls plus his 500 bet.

It’s usually the losing hands that anger me the most but this one is one I’ll remember for a long time...

The moral
a) Wait until you hear the actual players involved in the hand verbally state their action before you flip your cards

That is all

Dubbo & the Gilgandra Speedway

With the move overseas coming up later this year, Tarz wanted to do some more visits to the relos and this time it was off to Dubbo for the weekend. Now as stinking hot as Canberra has been, Dubbo was much hotter and heaps drier. This of course makes sense given Dubbo’s location in central-west New South Wales, but just because it was expected it doesn’t make it any easier to tolerate.

Anyway enough ranting about the weather since its something I can’t change anyway…..yet.

So in a nutshell, we spent the weekend hanging out with Tarz’s sister Melissa and her hubby John and the two boys, Joe and Tom. Nice and relaxing and pretty fun getting to muck around with two little guys aged 4 and 2. Just like playing with my nephews!!!!

The highlight of the trip was the Saturday night trip to the Gilgandra Speedway. As a born and bred Canberran, I had ample opportunity when younger to attend the speedway at Fairbairn Park or Tralee or wherever the hell it used to be, however not once did I head out there. Car racing has never really been the peak of excitement for me let alone watching cars scream around a 400m oval track made of mud and dirt.

Anyway, we drove the 50km to the Speedway which is located on the Dubbo side of Gilgandra. On the drive over there I had this vision of a high tech racing stadium with grandstands and replay screens and super facilities etc. Don’t ask why I envisioned this but I did. I should have realised that Gilgandra isn’t really a thriving example of a big city. We pulled off the highway and into the dirt carpark and I saw the ‘grandstand’ which was a grass/dirt hill all the way around the track. Luckily for Tarz and I, Melissa had brought us fold out seats. So there we were sitting on the hill with all the country folk waiting for the racing to begin.

Even though I'm not the biggest car fanatic, I really enjoyed the evening. The track is supposed to be heavily watered to keep dust down but in this drought they could only put a bare minimum of water down. So as the cars went around, dust was churning and these semi-hard mud balls would fly from the rear wheels right into the crowd.

We probably saw about 20-25 different races of all sorts of different classes of car from juniors (13-16 years old) right up to the NSW State Championships for the Super Sedans. My favourite would have to be the Fender Benders. You basically take any car that has less that 8 cylinders, throw a roll cage in it and away you go. Bumping and spinning other cars is allowed and I believe it is encouraged in this class.

So after five hours of country-style racing entertainment, we left the track at around 11pm. I was still in a singlet and boardies and still sweating – that should give you an idea of how hot it is out west in Australia.

In summary – if you get a chance to do something you have never done before go ahead and do it because you never know how much fun you might have. Even if it is stinking hot.

Soy finalmente un español

Well today is Tuesday 16 January 2007 and it is my first day as an official Spaniard!!!!

The last six months have proved extremely frustrating as i have tried to take out my citizenship with Spain. The initial problems were with the Spanish embassy here in Australia. I actually live in Canberra where most embassies are located so I can only imagine the trouble for those people not in Canberra with ease of access to the embassy.

The issues started in the middle of 2006 when I made many phone calls to try and ascertain whether I qualified for citizenship or not. My mother is a full-blood Spaniard and my reading of the website said I could indeed do this. The fact that I am 28 and mum never 'registered' me as her child with the Spanish authorities became the big issue so Mum ended up applying for a 'Libros de Familia' or family book which was the first step in me becoming Spanish.

The problems continued however and I was soon faced with what appeared to be a no-brainer of a decision. The Spanish authorities require new citizens to sign a form renouncing their current citizenship. so basically I had to choose Spanish or Australian. I don't care what nationality you offer me, I am never giving up my citizenship to the greatest country on the planet.

So progress was halted while i tried to contact the Department of Immigration to find a policy on such forms. In typical government agency style (I should know given the almost 4 year stint in a gov dept which I'm about to finish) I was passed from person to person, area to area, real people to recorded messages and you get the picture. No one wanted to give me a straight answer as to what happens if I sign that form!!!!

I decided to elevate this issue to the top. Rather than continue with the Department of Immigration I decided that I had had enough of their procrastinating and rang the Immigration Minister's office direct. And wouldn't you know it, within 24 hours I had confirmation that my signature on that Spanish form has no legal standing in Australia and I can keep both passports/citizenships. The fact that they also told me that the USA require new citizens to sign a similar form makes me think that there is definitely a policy that is easily accessible within the Department and that I just copped the public service at its absolute worst.

So with all the legal issues sorted I went back to the embassy and filled out the forms just before Xmas. Now mum had warned me that the embassy is much like actual life in Spain in as much as they are only open short hours and have a close down i the middle of the day for siestas. I had visions of this process dragging on and on and on.....

Imagine my surprise when Josefina from the embassy called on January 2nd to arrange an interview with the ambassador (he endorses new citizens pending how the interview goers). As I can only speak the bare minimum Spanish (sad I know, and if i have one regret from childhood it is not learning Spanish) I took Mum in with me to be the translator. The interview went really well (mainly in English but also a decent amount of Spanish) and the ambassador signed off on the papers. When leaving his office Josefina told me that considering I don't speak Spanish, the ambassador was nowhere near as hard on me as he usually is with non-Spanish speakers. I think taking Mum with me sealed the deal.

So yesterday arrives and I get a call and my passport is ready for collection!!!!

So as of the 16th January I am officially a dual citizen of Australia and Spain.

5 Card Draw Sit N Go’s

Well over the weekend I was mucking around on the laptop and thought I’d play some poker. I have been playing pretty much nothing but No Limit Hold Em cash tables and doing fairly well but I thought I’d try something different for a change so I entered a one table Pot Limit 5 Card Draw Sit n Go.

Now I’ve only ever played one or two games of 5 Card Draw as it isn’t exactly the most entertaining of poker games. Anyway, the simplicity of the game, combined with the miniscule buy-in ($1+$0.10) ensured that regardless of my experience, I was a shot at turning a small profit.

The game consists of this: 5 cards to each player, a round of betting, discards (between 0 and 5 new cards to replace those thrown out) and then a final round of betting after which the best 5 card hand wins. Pretty straightforward really and the ease of the game meant I could enter a few of these straight away.

I won’t sit here and bore you with details of hands or anything because 5 Card Draw isn’t really spectator-friendly like Hold Em. The point of this post however is that out of the 6 Sit n Go’s I played I won 5 of them. Not exactly enough cash to be rolling in it but not bad for an afternoon’s poker without having to completely focus on the action.

So now I play Hold Em regularly, Omaha High/Low semi-regularly and 7 Card Stud now and again. Well add 5 Card Draw to the list. Next up is 2-7 Triple Draw!!!

Tumut

After the spider incident Tumut was a super location to kick back and relax. We stayed at Tarz’s Nan’s place (Nan Hef) and it was awesome. Also staying there were Nan, Gail and Dave and Buzzy and Chris (Tarz’s Uncle and Aunty). The two days consisted of great food and refreshing drinks. We basically ate ourselves stupid for two days on super food (Buzzy is a very talented chef), drank beer, wine and Guinness and just enjoyed the time away from city life on the back deck overlooking the wide open expanses of the Tumut region. After two days of luxury it was back in the ute to head home.