Multitable Madness

I 12 tabled the Pokerstars NL50 tables again last night, and I can't believe how much softer they are than the NL100 tables. I was thinking of moving back to the NL100 tables tomorrow, but the games are so good at NL50 that I am thinking of taking a shot at 15 tabling them for a couple of days. Don't know how it will work out, but i'll give it a shot tomorrow and let you all know how it goes. 15 tabling isn't that hard, but it does cost you money when you have tough decisions which need thinking about on multiple tables at the same time. I might just buy in for $30 on each table so that the hard decisions are kept to a minimum, and move more into shove or fold mode.

Found an interesting new site called pokerplayerwinnings.com. I don't know how complete and accurate the figures are on the site, but it lists the top winners and losers at each level in cash games on Full Tilt. Below are some of the figures. I assume the week to date figures are for the last 3 days. To win or lose $1500 in 3 days of poker at NL100 is fairly high.

The next figures are the overall top winners at NL100 Pokertracker stats for the last week. As you can see the top winners all have one thing in common, they are highly aggressive. They play a lot of hands, raise nearly every pot that they enter, and keep on betting after the flop. It's certainly a lot more aggressive than I'm comfortable playing, but there might be something to it.

It will be interesting to see how the top players stats look after the site has been running for a few months. I keep you updated. Overall the message seems to be that if you want to win big then you need to bet big and often, and hope like hell that variance is on your side. Good luck all.

It’s all in the mind

I've been in a bit of a rut with my poker lately. My results have been fairly average, and I am struggling to get excited about grinding out the hands each day. I have thought about moving up a level but decided it could be a dangerous move, so have decided instead to play more tables. I used to 12 table without too many problems, but wanted to concentrate on improving my poker play, so cut it back to 9. I think that I have now improved my game and am ready for 12 again. Pokerstars seems to have increased their max tables allowed to 15. I don't think I'm quite ready for 15 yet, but it could be fun to give it a go sometime. I get quite a bit of overlap 12 tabling on my 20" monitor so am thinking of upgrading to a 24". I started 12 tabling the NL50 tables today to get back into the swing of it, and went on a real rush. The good thing about playing more tables is that there is less time to get bored and I can complete my hands quicker each day. Fingers crossed that I can keep focused and playing well 12 tabling over extended periods.

Today's Topic: Why am I not winning at poker:

Here are the seven top psychological factors that damage your play and perceptions of poker according to Alan Schoonmaker in his excellent book "Your worst poker enemy".

• Know less about the game than you think you know
  
• Are less talented than you think you are
  
• Let pride, anger, and other emotions adversely affect you
  
• Don't seriously try to maximize your profits, despite anything you may say
  
• Don't fully accept responsibility for your decisions and consequences
  
• Expect greater profits than your talents, knowledge, and personality can produce
  
• Don't analyze yourself thoroughly and objectively
  

If any of the above factors are affecting your game, then it is important to understand and correct them. If you are not certain how to fix them then get yourself a copy of "Your worst poker enemy" in which all of these factors and many more are covered in great detail. It has certainly helped fix a couple of psychological leaks that I had, the main one being " Not seriously trying to maximise my profits".

Cup Time

Hope everyone had a good weekend. I played a bit of poker and did a lot of relaxing myself. Was going to play in the Supernova freeroll on Sunday but being in Australia it's on at some ridiculous time like 4 am. Next week maybe. Tomorrow is Melbourne cup day. Melbourne cup is Australia's version of the Kentucky Derby, and each year the nation stops to watch the race and have a party. My hot pick for the race is "Master O'Reilly".

Talking of sports betting I've been having a go at betting the NFL this year. I've been using the tips from Fezziks Place, and also trying out a system from a book I just finished reading. I've been placing my bets on a sports book called BETUS.com. They have a good signup bonus and their poker site is part of the "Cake Network" which I've wanted to try for a while. There isn't a ton of games going on their poker site, but the one that are running seem fairly soft. So far it's been going well and I am up over $200 from the NFL picks. Not a fortune, but it makes watching the games that much more exciting, and as I always say "A dollar won is always that much sweeter than a dollar earned".

Good luck to all you Aussies placing a bet on Melbourne Cup tomorrow. If anyone one has any hot tips make sure you let me know.

A Stars Star

It's been a long time coming but last night I finally reached SUPERNOVA status on Pokerstars. I was expecting a little bit more fanfare, but a small box appeared on screen advising me I had reached Supernova. I was planning on reaching it a month ago, but got a bit sidetracked in that quest. I'm pleased that I have made it, as it does now guarantee an equivalent of about 33% rakeback. This saves me the time and hassle of looking around different sites trying to find whatever bonuses or deals they have going. At the same time it does lock me into playing on Stars for the foreseeable future which may or may not be a good thing.

Today's Topic: Poker Tells

As I mentioned yesterday I have been playing a bit of live poker of late and have being trying to pick up on peoples tells. A "tell" is any physical reaction, kind of behavior, or habit that gives (or tells) the other players information about your hand. The 3 most reliable tells that I have observed are as follows:

• Shaking Hands: During a hand, if you notice a player's hands are shaking as she places her bet, she probably has gotten a really, really good hand. Perhaps the nuts.
  
• Staring Down Other Players: If an opponent is staring you down, he's trying to represent strength. Usually though, he has a weak hand – he might have something, but it's something that can be beaten or drawn out on.
  
• Sighing and Shrugging: If a player makes a show of sighing or shrugging, and says things like "Oh, I guess I'll call," or even "Why am I calling?" he probably is overacting and is trying to hide a big hand.
  

Hope everyone has a fun weekend and remember when it comes to poker "Nobody is always a winner, and anybody who says he is, is either a liar or doesn't play poker".

Poker laws in Australia

The last couple of days I can do no wrong at Pokerstars. I just keep hitting everything. I hoping I'm on the start of a rush (if this doesn't jinx me nothing will). October as a whole was a fairly poor month. I struggled in the cash games, and donked off a bit of money playing sit'n'go's. The one good thing about a tough month is that it does force you to think about your game and make an effort to improve it. When things are going well, it easy just to go with the flow. I have definitely learned a couple of new profitable strategies in October, so it's got to be a good thing in the long run. One thing I have been doing in the past is over-betting my bluffs, when in reality if your opponent doesn't have much you don't need to bet a lot to get them off their hand.

I've also been playing some live poker lately. Public poker tournaments with a cash entry fee are illegal in the state where I live (Queensland), but 20 min's drive away in New South Wales cash games Tournaments are allowed. A Pokerdome has opened at one of the sports clubs, and runs cash tournaments all day. The level of competition is very weak, and is a bit of fun when I don't feel like playing online. I've only entered two 50 – 60 player tourneys and come second in both, earning me the nickname of "bridesmaid". I've been reading up on poker tells and it is amazing how obvious some of them are in live poker. I'll list the most reliable ones I've found tomorrow.

Today's Topic: Poker Laws in Australia

Poker is becoming very popular in Australia. The laws on where poker can be played for money vary from state to state, and I'll summarize below.

• Cash game poker in a casino: Is legal and available within all states in Australia
  
• Poker tournaments with a cash entry fee and commission charged, outside of a casino: Are legal in both NSW & Victoria.
  
• Poker tournaments with free entry but prizes awarded, outside of a casino: Are also legal in Queensland
  

  
   

• Private or social poker for money: It is legal to play poker for money at a private house or residence, for entertainment purposes only in NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia provided that:
  

  
   

  • No entry fee or registration is charged to play the game
    
  • No person derives a percentage or share of the amounts wagered
    
  • All money bet goes to the player/s who won the hand
    

You are not liable to pay income tax on any money won playing poker in Australia as it is considered a form of gambling. Gambling winnings are not liable for personal tax provided that the gambling activity is not regarded as your primary source of income.

For any Americans reading this I think that you will agree that the Australian government has a lot more liberal approach to poker than your own government.

 

 

No news

Things were fairly steady with my poker over the weekend. I've found it really hard to get my big hands paid off lately. If I raise everyone folds, if I slow play their miracle card comes and I lose a huge pot. I guess these things happen sometimes.

I've been doing a bit of sports betting over the last few weeks for some entertainment, and have been doing really well. I'll keep at it and if things keep going well I'll give out my tips for the week.

Not much other poker news. I got offered a $150 Full Tilt bonus a couple of days ago, but I don't know if it is worth my while transferring money to Full Tilt to clear a bonus which will only take a couple of days. I'll just sit on it for now.

Interesting write up about Mike Matusow on Bill Rinnis blog from Mikes brother.

That's about it for me today. Hope to dig up something a bit more exciting tomorrow.

Where is it all at?

Hi everyone. Played a few MTT's last night but failed to cash in anything. I got my pocket aces cracked 3 times which never helps your chances. I'm getting back into the cash games first thing tomorrow morning, and am really looking forward to it. Not much else going on in my poker world, but I am planning on playing a lot over the weekend so should have some news Monday.

Today's Topic: The state of online poker

With everything going on in the online poker world over the last 12 months I thought it would be interesting to take a look at where online poker is currently at. I gathered the peak number of cash game players every day for each pokersite from Pokersitescout and have but it into a graph to see what the top five sites are doing (click on the image to enlarge it).

As you can see Pokerstars is just getting bigger and bigger with no-one coming close to challenging them. Party poker has made an amazing comeback to the #2 spot after pulling out of the US market seeing their numbers drop to as low as a 3500 daily peak at one stage. It is a real testament to the Party team that they have been able to develop a new market so quickly. The other big surprise is the steady decline of traffic on Full Tilt Poker over the last few months, struggling to keep their #3 spot. Ipoker network is growing but this is not surprising considering that they now have over 60 poker sites on their network.

Overall the figures are very healthy, just before the Americans introducing the Unlawful gaming act last year daily cash game player peaks for the top five sites were sitting around the 25,000 mark, at a similar stage this year the daily peaks of the top five poker sites have increased to about the 39,000 mark. This is a great sign and even with a lot of negative publicity for online poker this year, the future is still looking extremely bright.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and
remember that "In The Game Of Life... Play The Cards You're Dealt".