Mar 24 2010

Part 2 Is the Stoxtrader Scandal an Overreaction?

Category: Poker News — malcolm @ 9:03 am

When the Stoxtrader scandal broke I found myself reading the Internet forums searching for a massive morsel of scandalous information that would put into question the very integrity of online poker. After searching for some time I did note that various large companies were under the microscope in a negative way but I came to realise that the large online poker sites were not in the firing line this time. In fact, given the furore and anger in the forums it was a bit of an anti-climax when the actual “scandal” was made clear to me.

It is particularly reassuring for me to know that there is not another super-user problem as was discovered in the far worse UB and Absolute Poker problems of 2007 and poker sites like bwin.com remain trustworthy and dedicated to providing a good online poker experience for us all to enjoy. I note with pleasure that the poker software upgrades in the opening part of 2010 by many poker rooms have been excellent. Unfortunately it is the players themselves in this case (if they are guilty as nothing has yet been definitively proven) that have used the software in a certain way rather than the software being coded to maliciously cheat players.

This scandal should remind everyone that there are far more instances of players being naughty than online poker rooms. The real dangers of cheating lie in opponents more than they lie in the poker rooms in my opinion. Everyday poker rooms issue refunds to players affected by those who have acted in breach of the rules of fair gaming. I even had money refunded to me from a SNG I played in as there was something going on in that game, probably two players sharing details of their hole cards with each other via Skype or mobile phone.

One thing that did alarm me was given the session times of two of the accused players was it not obvious to the poker room security people that these players had a very co-incidental habit of appearing on the same tables together? But when you consider that some players follow other players whom they have stats on and hand histories you realise that there must be many instances where a certain fish is followed through the tables they play on by opponents believing they will get their money. Buddy lists, table selection over many thousands of poker players must make instances of players playing on the same table over and over commonplace. For that reason I do think that this could vilify the poker sites for appearing to be slow on the uptake that this was colluding was potentially going on.

Stoxtrader has since resigned from his coaching site Stoxpoker.com as he does not want to drag its name through the mud. Unfortunately the damage may have already been done. He has said he had two accounts one for playing and one for his training. Why did he not use another site? His explanation is plausible but there are still questions to be answered.

Despite his own problems, the actions he has taken are that of one individual and unfortunately there are many cheaters in the online poker world, protected by the relative anonymity of it. For this reason alone, I believe the furore of this is a little bit of an overreaction. This is especially in light of the fact that Stoxtrader has not yet been found to have done anything wrong.

Ironically damage has also been done to the reputation of his publishers two plus two, who have banned users and deleted threads when discussions of this scandal have appeared. They portrayed themselves in the past as the honest voice of poker during previous scandals but now refuse to allow discussion on a scandal close to home. This blind protecting of their authors despite increasingly compelling evidence that he was, at the very least, not acting completely honestly in the way he was playing online poker, has enraged their users.

To honest poker players integrity is everything. This compounds the feeling of dissatisfaction when a player or company acts below that high standard. Only by everyone discussing their issues openly and hopefully reaching the truth can this matter be resolved. Hampering this discussion has only added petrol to the flames on what is an issue that poker room security can probably solve through their own records. Two plus two need to let the public have their say and air their grievances.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Mar 24 2010

Part 1 Stoxtrader Scandal Surfaces

Category: Poker News — malcolm @ 9:00 am

Unfortunately yet another scandal has appeared that puts a negative spotlight onto the world of online poker. Fortunately, it is not related to a security breach perpetrated by unsecured poker software but this time, a player has been identified as being part of an alleged multi-accounting scandal which has angered the high stakes Limit Holdem community. This is more of a player pet hate than a full on poker scandal, but it has taken a twist when the two plus two poker community has started to restrict discussion on the matter which has angered forum members.

It must be pointed out to readers that as yet, nothing has been admitted and players should be treated innocent until proven guilty.

Nick “Stoxtrader” Grudzien is a co-owner of stoxpoker.com, which is a fairly large coaching site. He also co-wrote the book, “Winning in Tough Hold ‘Em Games”, which was published by 2+2′s publishing that also has on its books high profile poker authors such as Collin Moshman, David Sklansky and Dan Harrington (none of whom are connected with any of these allegations).

An allegation was made by an anonymous two plus two forum poster that Nick Grudzien was behind four accounts that had enjoyed big winnings and then abruptly quit the site amid these big wins. Behaviour like this always rouses suspicion because it is rare for a gambling player at the high stakes games to walk away with a big profit. Normal behaviour sees them continuing to stay involved like Durrrr or Phil Ivey. The thread was quickly deleted and his account banned. Two plus two often has to deal with things like this so the banning was not unusual.

Stoxtrader further fuelled the flames by making a bizarre response to the allegations where he did not deny the relationship to the four accounts he was accused of owning, thus multi-accounting, and the speculation between forum posters went into overdrive. Despite clamour for full investigation and discussion, two plus two continued to stifle this and unwittingly heighten anger and uncertainty and banned any user mentioning such discussions in the forums. They have therefore faced a large amount of criticism for blindly trying to save one of their own authors from the firing line rather than accepting there may be a case to answer, not least because of Nick’s ambiguous and puzzling statement he made on the matter.

One can back up two plus two to a point as this scandal, albeit potentially damaging, is just hearsay and allegations in its current form. But rather than two plus two allowing it to run its course by stifling the discussion it looks more guilty.

Users of online poker sites need to be reassured as this allegation is more about the character of the poker coaching sites and certain high stakes players rather than a discussion about the code security of the online poker sites themselves. Sites like bwin.com, my favourite poker site for cash games, remain out of the firing line and I believe them to be reputable and highly recommend anyone to try them out.

Hopefully this latest poker scandal has just got out of hand and will pass like the weather. It may hold some credence for certain players and cost a few reputations. Thankfully online poker is not the villain this time, so we can continue to play our hands and study to make our own profits. It is up to those accused of these “poker crimes” to deal with the ensuing chaos surrounding alleged events. For now, at least, the rest of us can simply continue to play poker.

Part 2 of this article will look in detail at whether this is all a large over reaction and exactly what the ramifications of any wrongdoing are.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Mar 19 2010

The Professional Poker Player Debate in 2010

Category: Poker Blog — malcolm @ 7:56 am

Playing Texas Hold’em poker for a living sounds great to me as I sit at my desk. In fact, it has sounded great to me ever since I realised that playing a lot of hands at modest stakes can yield excellent profits from playing poker from home via internet poker. But as we are prone to assess things with rose tinted spectacles there are both positive and negative aspects of the debates. This article will update these debates to issues relevant to us in 2010.

Standard of Games

I read many contradictions on the standard of poker now and in the past. Most poker articles in 2007 discussed a massive change happening in the games where they went from super-soft (apparently) to games where a solid grasp of Poker strategy was necessary. Even at the micro stakes you were urged to get poker training and learn the fundamentals. But surely you needed to do this anyway otherwise you are simply one of the many fish. I am unconvinced that the games are much more difficult now than they were at the micro-limits and I am equally unconvinced they were ever as soft as everyone says. If you are a great player you will win and if you are a weak player you will lose. There were just more weak players in the past that’s all.

To be a professional you must show a good win rate at levels where this win rate equates to over around £15,000 per year or $25,000. Any less and I think you will struggle to maintain even a reasonable standard of living including when downswings occur and money is tighter.

Life Considerations for a Pro

Getting a mortgage in the UK is going to be very difficult for a single professional poker player. In the current economic climate I would suggest that right now (March 2010) unless you can buy a property outright then you will not get borrowing on the back of insecure income streams like Poker. Whilst we know a good win rate is possible and you may well have the graphs to support your skill projections, we all know that in any gambling enterprise “current success is not a guarantee of future performance”. Even if you are fairly sure you will continue to win, other people and in particular money lenders, will not be.

Solutions for 2010 Onwards

Income you make from Poker is currently tax free in the UK and there are no Political plans to have that reviewed in the near future as far as we know. This means that you only need to earn what you want in your hand rather than account for a loss of 10% – 20% in taxes. This makes life a little easier and also increases the monetary value in real terms of anything you win at the poker table. Developing a share fund or other investments is easier to build without the burden of losing income to tax and due to the insecurity of poker as a main income stream this is highly recommended.

Other Opportunities

I advocate players consider other ways than poker to secure their income. Property investment, although not a massive opportunity right now, is a great way to potentially earn money in a buoyant market and Poker players often have spare cash lying around that usually just gets gambled and played with. Why not use that money to generate a business of some sort whether shares, investments like property or buying a small business already trading to manage.

Playing poker professionally is tough but if managed correctly could give you a much better quality of life due to its fundamental freedom. I would take whatever measures I could if I was a pro to secure my income as far as I can to allow me to keep that freedom that Poker affords its professionals.

Having a secure financial future can be achieved through poker but also a combination of all the financial things at a person disposal with cash to invest. If you earn it, invest it. But keep some of it to play poker at great rooms like bwin.com who are constantly improving their delivery of online poker to players from all around the world.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Mar 16 2010

The Various Poker Faces of Bluffing

Category: Online poker tips — malcolm @ 10:24 am

The feeling of knowing you have got one over on a poker opponent is a large part of the joy of why many players play Texas Hold’em poker. Bluffing is the art, and it is an art, of presenting your opponent with a story in the hand that you have a hand that is stronger than what you actually hold, when what you actually hold is very weak. Before you make that big re-raise with nothing, look below at the two main types of bluff that you can use.

The Stone Cold Bluff

This is the classic bluff. Your hand must be very weak and you make a strong bet to try and take the pot down straight away by causing an instant fold from your opponent. The worst case scenario is to be raised or re-raised by your opponent as you will have to fold. Do not fold immediately, put on a little act before you fold. This suggests to your opponent that the fold was marginal and they may feel a bit uneasy. This is good because in the same situation again they will remember you going into the tank and may decide to fold and spare their sweating your decision.

You must tell a convincing story with your bluffing. If you have played passively throughout the hand then make a solid bet from nowhere that may not fit with the hands your opponent believe you could reasonably be holding. This will result in you being called which is exactly what you need to avoid when trying a stone cold bluff.

Timing a stone cold bluff is critical because you do not even have a draw to back up your bet. A stone cold bluff is a bet with nothing and to be successful you need it to be winning the pot outright more often than not.

The Semi-Bluff

This is a bluff that is used after the flop that is used to deceive opponents into giving up the pot early in the hand but you have the insurance of a strong draw to what is likely to be the winning hand even if you are called. Most bluffs by professionals have an element of semi-bluff to them, where they will usually hold overcards to the board or a draw.

You will see semi-bluffs in cash games regularly if you watch things like the Million Dollar Cash Game or High Stakes Poker. Say a player holds Ah-Kh suited and the flop comes down Jc-6h-2h. This is a fairly safe board but your opponent bets into you. Something like QJ, JT or a medium pocket pair is a strong possibility here. You decide to raise. Why? If you opponent does not have the jack you may get a fold with them believing you had AJ or Queens. If you are called and your semi-bluff does not work you have the nut flush draw and any further heart you can be sure you have the best hand. Some of the biggest pots you see won in cash games are when the semi-bluff is called and then the draw hits.

If you do get called and your semi-bluff hits on the turn, be wary if this pairs the board as your opponent could have a draw to a full house which would beat you. This would be unlucky, but would cost you a big pot due to the raising that occurred earlier in the hand inflating the bet sizes for the rest of the hand.

Practise your bluffing at bwin.com but remember not to overdo it. Opponents, even new players, know you cannot always have a hand if you are constantly pounding the pot. Discretion is a good tool in Poker; bluffs are most effective when timed correctly.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Mar 08 2010

When Will They Learn?

Category: Texas Holdem FAQ — malcolm @ 8:24 pm

Doyle Brunson used Twitter to make a great response to the EPT Berlin Armed Robbery scare that has the whole of the poker world in shock this week. He said “Welcome to my ex-world. 800,000 euros….nice score.” Doyle is certainly not condoning what happened in Berlin and was very careful to say ‘ex-world’ but this was a throwback to a different age of Poker where there was a constant threat of being robbed because of the security issues in playing with a large amount of money in an unsecured environment. The robbers even had public advertising telling them where the money will be and when! Can we really be surprised such a robbery has taken place?

There were security issues already at the venue and unfortunately they were proved to be accurate when the casino erupted in mass panic when armed robbers broke in and started demanding money. According to many eye-witness reports, players ran for cover under tables then crawled across the floor and made their way through the various fire exits to safety. Although unconfirmed, there are rumours that a hotel doorman intercepted the gunmen and saved some of the money. Considering he will not be getting the money as a reward, my feelings are he should have left them to it. There were no gunshots fired as far as I can tell from reading witness accounts, which is something positive. Someone could have lost their lives.

Stuart Rutter was quoted today as saying he noticed when you bought in for cash the large amounts of notes were stacked next to the teller and when asked about security they simply said not to worry. The poker tournaments must respond as players said that although they understood buying in with cash is not the best way to operate there was little choice for the EPT tournaments. In my opinion, because some events can be €10,000+ to enter it should be done through bank transfer in all cases. If a poker player prefers to deal cash in hand for either tax or personal preference then unfortunately they cannot take part. If they really wanted to play they would find a way even depositing into a friends account and having them swipe their card for the buy-in. Having €1 million in cash at a venue (and having advertised this often guaranteed) and yet still be surprised when a robbery is attempted is very naïve.

It is bizarre to think this heist has not taken place earlier. In the USA there is gun protection at the WSOP when large amounts of cash are placed on the table when the tournament reaches its heads up match. The sight of gunmen can look a little theatrical and unnecessary, but the EPT has learned just why the security is taken so seriously. If you are lax there are people out there willing to make you pay for that lax attitude.

Hopefully Poker can respond and tighten security so the live game is not affected. Cash is not a great way to operate in my view with anything other than the smallest amounts of money. I remember working in the betting Industry when one bettor was known as the “hip bag man” because he wore a hip bag rammed with cash for his betting. I was told his nickname by other customers! The risk of robbery must have been high for this man and the stash on offer for any would be robber was over £10,000. As Doyle said in his tweet – nice score.

Do not fear, however, as online poker can be the answer. If you play at a great site like bwin.com, your money is safely stored in their accounts and you are as safe as you can be in your own home. Your risk of robbery is not increased in the same way it would be by playing in an environment where millions of dollars in real cash could tempt an assailant into trying to get their hands on it. Perhaps this episode will remind people of the benefits of online poker.

Sign up to bwin.com today if you want to play poker in a safe environment.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Feb 20 2010

Tournament Structures Discussed

Category: Poker Blog — malcolm @ 3:18 pm

There are many different types of Poker Tournaments that you can participate in, particularly if you like to play poker online. Each different type of tournament with a different structure needs a different approach in order to succeed. We are going to look at each type of structure in turn and analyse what sort of approach is optimal in each one. Future articles will look at each type of poker tournament in more detail. Before you sign up to any poker tournament you should be analysing the structure and assessing if it is worth your while to play in it.

Freezeout Tournaments

These tournaments are the most frequently played. Players get one buy-in and pay-outs and prizes are decided by what your finishing position is. Once you bust out of the tournament your game is over i.e. once you lose, you are frozen out from continuing to play. The structure of a freezeout is normally now like a deepstack or a turbo, but somewhere in the middle. A solid grasp of poker tournament strategy gives you a good chance of success in this tournament format.

Re-buy Tournaments

For the first ninety minutes or opening levels of some poker tournaments you buy a new stack of chips if you are busted. For this reason players like to build a stack in the early part of the poker tournaments by gambling. This is a good strategy to use because as everyone else is gambling you get far more value spots where a raise can be far lighter in terms of hand strength than when a player would bust out if he is called.

Action in a re-buy period of a tournament is fast and furious and not for the weak at heart. They can give you a good opportunity for building a big stack for the later stages of the tournament but you will need to change gears and adopt a more conservative style of play after the re-buy period ends as players immediately tighten up. The action at the beginning is only such because players can re-buy if things do not work out for them.

Turbo Structures

Poker tournaments can often take around four hours to complete, sometimes a lot longer. Players who enjoy participating in online poker tournaments sometimes do not have as long to play before other engagements so they prefer a faster structure. Not only does the faster structure get the poker tournament completed in a shorter space of time but the strategies used are more straight-forward. This gives less skilled players a better chance to win. Players are looking to get their money in as the favourite and hope to hold. Winning these marginal situations are a big part of getting lucky enough to win the tournament, rather than relying on squeeze plays and other complicated moves to outplay their opponents. A player with a skill edge also enjoys tournaments as their profit is obtained in a shorter space of time.

Different types of poker tournaments suit different types of player. If you enjoy a gamble rather than steadily outplaying your opponents then you will find the poker tournament structures that suit you best are the ones with the faster structures. The poker strategy required to beat those games is better suited to your own poker playing preferences. Try out all the different types of tournaments and see which suits you best.

Just because you think one will suit you does not mean it will unless you have already experienced it. Keep accurate records and let the statistics show you which type of poker tournament to focus on. Prize pools are always healthy, so do not delay in finding your best game.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Feb 16 2010

DVD Poker Tuition Discussed

Category: Poker Blog — malcolm @ 11:12 am

There are many DVD’s on the market to help teach you how to play poker. Most were recorded a few years ago at the height of the poker boom with players racing to release products to capitalise on the sudden interest in the game and glut of new players entering the poker market. This compromised the quality of what was on offer due to the speed the products were released and with the game developing this article asks whether any of the DVD training materials in the marketplace are value for money. In my research I have found that unfortunately this does not appear to be the case, but there is another solution.

Phil Hellmuth, Mike Caro, Howard Lederer, Phil Gordon and many others released DVD products to satisfy demand in people wanting to know how to play poker. These types of things are often cleverly placed in Supermarkets and stores and regularly get picked up by well-meaning family members as stocking fillers at Christmas. You even have had one in the last few years, I know I have!

Before you buy these DVD products to help a family member or friend learn Texas Holdem remember that these products are for the absolute novice. If the person who will watch the poker tuition DVD is already playing online poker and winning then the material in the training will not be advanced enough for them and they will gain little from being told what a raise is and what a check is when they already know the basics. Once you have watched these DVD’s you should have a good grounding of how to play and this is also important.

Because online poker has become a game played primarily by intermediate and advanced players with the odd fish here and there these DVD’s are too basic for the standard online poker player. Whilst you may well enjoy watching the poker players go through the basic concepts in poker, perhaps marvelling at how slim and young they look, you will need to look elsewhere to take your online poker game to the next level. Note that there are few DVD’s available that have been released after 2006. So where are the players going for that all important poker training?

The answer is online poker training websites. For a monthly subscription of around $20 – $40 players can stream tuition videos made by the best online poker players. The advantages over this type of training are that the players selected to make the videos by the training sites are selected for two reasons. Firstly, their ability to put into words the strategies they use for their success and second, their poker resume online is very good and they are therefore worth listening to and learning from. Most of the players selling the DVD’s are well-known, but not for online poker play. Whilst you may not buy a DVD with Adam Junglen on the front of it you would benefit greatly from what this great player has to say on beating online poker because he does it everyday.

If you get a Poker DVD for a birthday or Christmas present then do not despair. Perhaps you should have dropped better hints for a subscription to Card Runners or Deuces Cracked! Fortunately the price of these products are low enough where you can watch it once and take whatever value you can get from the advice (they are not all terrible) and move on. Certainly there are more advanced lessons on three betting, continuation bets and check raising that are generally not covered by the DVD tuition on the online poker training websites and that is where you should go for modern poker training.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Feb 12 2010

If I Was Only Allowed One Form of Poker

Category: Texas Holdem FAQ — malcolm @ 2:58 pm

Let’s assume that you force yourself to only focus on one type of Texas Hold’em poker game from this moment forward. What would you choose? Here is the case for each of the three main disciplines offered in poker. They are cash games; multi-table tournaments and single table sit and go poker tournaments.

Cash Games

Cash games are real money pots with real cash being won and lost every hand. Probably over half of all poker players would choose this as their preferred form of poker if they had to choose only one type of poker to play. Cash games are played with a specific strategy that once learned will form a solid foundation of your future poker playing.

Using good bankroll management you can work your way up and down the poker levels to manage swings of luck and if you are good enough at the strategy required in cash games you can show a consistent profit over time. Many players make over $100,000 from relatively small stakes by combining actual cash wins with rakeback or VIP player points and prizes.

Cash games are always available and accurate statistics can be kept on regular players to help your decision making and when you win, you win real money. You can also start and finish playing whenever you want and, perhaps crucially, you have full control over which table you play at and against which opponents. Game selection can enable you to always be contesting hands against players who you should beat.

Multi-table Poker Tournaments

Life changing wins can be obtained by winning a big poker tournament. Cash game wins are more consistent but compared to your buy-in a poker tournament win will be a lot higher. For those who like the chance to win big money and have a bankroll to withstand the swings of playing regular poker tournaments this would be a good game for you to play.

There are players like Shaun Deeb, who play only poker tournaments and show a good profit from doing so. Playing multi-table tournaments is not something many players would choose to do exclusively but if you understand the correct strategy to make it work you can show a good profit over time.

Single Table Sit and Go Poker Tournaments

SNG’s are a great way of learning final table strategy. As you are repeating the same blinds, chip stacks and bubble way once you understand the concepts of Sit and go play and the push fold ranges on the bubble you can play many of these tournaments at once and repeat the strategy over and over.

This is a relatively low risk way of building your bankroll as even against good players you are able to repeat sound strategy and show a decent profit. ROI (Return on Investment) of between 10% and 15% is very achievable over the long term for a good Sit and go single table tournament player.

The downside of SNG play is you never know who you will play against until players begin to register and often there is too large of a playing pool to know whether you should unregister based on the other players joining the game.

My own choice would have to be cash games. My favourite game is playing Sit and go’s, but cash games are the bread and butter of the quality poker player. You would need to play many $10 SNG’s at a 10% ROI to earn enough to make a living whilst playing cash games this could be done playing less hours but having more of an edge over the players you choose to play against. Poker tournaments are what I use for a shot at a big prize depending on my success in other forms of poker so I would be hesitant to play these exclusively.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Jan 29 2010

Should Poker Rooms Sponsor Players?

Category: Poker Blog — malcolm @ 9:51 am

The marketing side of poker is big business with the top players paid to wear branded logos for poker rooms. At tournaments like the World Series of Poker, representatives for the biggest poker rooms offer large sums for players to wear their badges. It was reported that Darvin Moon, the second place finisher in the 2009 WSOP main event, declined all offers for sponsorship and was apparently offered $500,000 by a poker room in a last ditch attempt to have him wear their brand for the live final table. Amazingly, Darvin declined the offer.

Are these types of sponsorships worth it? Many poker sites send players to large events and stipulate the players wear their branded T shirt and caps as part of the deal. They hope the players get on television but this may not happen and they may bust out early in the tournament. The site hopes that the player wins their seat through their site and goes on to earn a big score from the event. Other players then follow suit hoping for a similar outcome. Chris Moneymaker won his seat to the 2003 World Series of Poker through winning a series of satellites into the event. His total investment was said to be $40 to win $2.5 million. Pokerstars did very well in subsequent years sending hundreds of players to the event.

Competition is high for the poker rooms and many rooms sign up players to long term deals. Annette Obrestad works with Betfair who pays her buy-ins to large tournaments all around the world. You question whether this is value for money. Annette does get a lot of exposure but it is she that gets the exposure not the site she represents. Of course their badge is on display if she gets on television, but there is no verbal discussion of Betfair when the TV watches Annette. The site hopes people notice the badge, like Annette’s play, and visits the site she recommends by the logo she is wearing.

The problem for the poker rooms is that every site sponsors players and it is costing a lot of money to keep up. There is a trend towards sites rewarding their high raking regular players with live sponsorship deals to go to live events, thus holding onto their custom. It also shows other players that increasing their play with the site could be very beneficial to them.

James Akenhead signed up as a Full Tilt Red Pro after making the final table of the World Series of Poker and went on to play in the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event and win the Poker Million. He appeared in many magazines and interviews as a result of his achievements in 2009. In every picture or TV segment he was wearing the badge of Full Tilt. Whatever they paid/pay James for him to wear their logos paid off. There are, however, many Red Pros who are staked into events and earning great rakeback that you wonder whether they are value for that investment.

Poker rooms also run the risk that the player may get into trouble. If an incident occurs like Scotty Nguyen in the 2008 HORSE event at the WSOP then the poker rooms would not enjoy being associated with it. The motivation of the players for sponsorship is also a worry for the sites. Many of them are just looking for a way to be a poker professional, live comfortably and play in large events. A proportion of them will care about the site and how they represent it, but most would sign up with whoever offered them the deal. Darvin Moon should be praised for his refusal to sign up as a sponsored player. Why? Because he said he never played online poker and to wear a badge would mislead the public who did not know he was a live only player.

A great way to represent a poker room is to win a satellite and be sent to a large poker event. Bwin sent many players to the Aussie Millions and their players are genuinely representing the site and their progress can be followed by reading the bwin poker blog.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Jan 28 2010

Talking about poker bankrolls part three

Category: Poker strategy — carl @ 5:27 pm

In the third and final part of this series then and following on from part two, this highlights another so called piece of poker wisdom that is wrong and that is that just because a player is playing successfully at $100-$200 Hold’em online for instance, that they can beat all of the levels below that. Maybe they can but chances are that they can’t for the reason that I stated. As I have said many times, there is a lot of rubbish spoken in poker and much of the advice that is bandied about is far too generic for it to be of any use whatsoever.

Because of my very cautious attitude to money then what I had to do was to basically trick my mind into playing with large amounts of money. What worked for me personally was to take $2000 for instance that I had earned down some other gambling avenue and to use it to take a shot in a poker game. If I lost it then I would not play until I had mentally absorbed the loss.

This brings up yet another point of why the slide rule “experts” have missed the point. Let us go back to the case of the 18K poker bankroll. What if you are the type of person that tilts easily or simply cannot mentally absorb a loss until a certain amount of time has passed. If you have lost 1K in the blink of an eye in a big no limit pot with an unbelievable outdraw then you are hardly the type of person that can be entrusted to have another seventeen grand at their disposal immediately can you.

If everyone had to wait until they had the correct theoretical poker bankroll available before they could play at any level then hardly anyone would be playing the game. Here’s another thing, do you really have to play down to the felt and lose all of your bankroll before you admit to yourself or find out that a particular level of poker is too difficult for you. If the “experts” say that you need 12K to play theoretically at a certain level to avoid going bust then what if you stump up the money but are wrong in your assessment of your abilities.

If you are five grand down, do you play on just because you have another seven in your poker bankroll before you say “oh well, better drop down a level but I will have to wait until I have got some more money because I have lost it all trying to prove that I could beat 20-40 holdem”.

This is insane and utter madness. The upshot of all this is that don’t go along with what you hear about poker bankrolls and just do whatever makes you feel the most comfortable because if you are uncomfortable then this will affect your game plain and simple. If a bankroll approach helps you then fine, if you prefer a no bankroll approach then that is fine also but too much rubbish is spouted in this area by people who have never tried to gamble for a living and I think that you know my views on them by now.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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