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Monday, May 28, 2012

Rants & Raves: Poker Promotions

A few weeks ago, I went up to Grand Sierra on a Wednesday night for their 6:30 tournament. Only two of us showed up, so I sat down to play some $1/$2. The game only had a couple of players, so the Floor named Jason was playing in the game as a Prop. The hand before I started, the Floor hit a Royal Flush and collected a High Hand Bonus of around $230.

Last week, the Peppermill had a promotion going for the 1-year anniversary of their new poker room. They did a drawing every two hours for $500 or $1000, and you earn tickets with hours played in Live Games. I rarely play Live Games, so I didn't even know about the promotion. I busted out of the tournament early, so I sat down in the $4/$8 Limit game that just opened. Naturally, my name didn't get called, but a Peppermill Dealer named Iva got called twice in a row, and won $1500.

In both of these stories, an employee of the poker room won a promotion bonus. And I have a problem with this.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Horsing Around On My Off Day

"Shuffle Up & Deal" - $240 HORSE at Grand Sierra on Tuesday. We have 8k chips, and levels are 30 minutes. We play eight hands of each game.

It looks like just three tables set up for this one. Tables are eight handed, and my table has seven bodies. Naturally, I'm the youngest (41), and I recognize one of the players who's a regular tourney grinder around town.

Level 1 (75/150) - My table is now full, but a couple of empty seats at other tables. This table has been playing normal so far. My basic strategy is to play tight early, as these hand don't mean anything since we started with more than 50 Big Bets. That hasn't been a problem as my cards have sucked, and I've lost the few pots I played. I have 7175 chips, and we ended on Razz #4.

Level 2 (100/200) - Cards got a little better, as I won the last two Stud-8 hands. First one was with a Flush, and he folded to my River bet. Second hand was a scoop with a Pair of Aces and 75-Low against a Pair of Threes and a 76-Low. I have 7675 chips, and we ended on Stud-8 #5.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

1 vs 100

(WARNING: This post contains only analysis of tournament stats. If this isn't something you want to read, then move on to your next blog.)

This week, I played my 100th tournament of the year. A hundred is a nice round number to do some analysis of the stats, so that what I'm gonna do. I'm also including the last 100 tourneys that I played last year, which goes back to April 24th. Each set of 100 will be separate.
(This Year ~~ Last Year)

Under $100
Count: 85 ~~ 63
Wins/Chops: 16 (18.8%) ~~ 12 (19%)
Cashes: 24 (28.2%) ~~ 20 (31.7%)
Bubbles (estimated): 2 ~~ 6
Profit: $2278 ~~ $2977
Profit per Tourney: $26.80 ~~ $47.25
ROI: 43.2% ~~ 69.5%

Friday, May 4, 2012

May News & Notes

- This will be a quick one, as I really don't have much to say. Last month, I was up $450 overall, which is rather mediocre. The whole month was just like last weekend. I was up in $1/$2 NL and donkaments, but down in Omaha-8.

- This month, there will be two tournament series in town. Grand Sierra has a new series, the Spring Pot Of Gold, from Thur May 10 - Sun May 20. Peppermill has their Chop Pot Classic from Wed May 16 - Sun May 20. I find it interesting that the Peppermill had originally scheduled this from May 1-6, but decided to drop it right on top of Grand Sierra's new event.

Naturally, I'll be working through most of it. Here are the events that I might play:

Sun 5/13 12:00 @GSR - $240 NLHE (15k Guaranteed)
Tue 5/15 17:00 @GSR - $240 HORSE
Sat 5/19 19:00 @PM - $130 HORSE
Sun 5/20 12:00 @PM - $110 CP-8
Sun 5/20 16:00 @PM - $130 O-8

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Lost Weekend? (Part 3)

Sun 11:00 ~ Atlantis $80 Bounty - 21 players

In Level 4 (200/400/50), there were a few limpers, so I raised to 1500 with Qh Qc in Mid. Button called, and so did the first limper. Flop 6h 5h 2h. First guy, a Kid who has already re-entered, went All-In for 6k-ish. I snap-called, and Button folded. Kid had 8h 8s, and I collected Bounty #1 ($20).

At the Break, I had 24400, which is certainly above average. Most of the knockouts have been at our table, so we have bigger chip stacks than the other table. There were 15 players left.

In the 500/1000/100 level, I got someone All-In with my AK vs AQ, and lost for 9600. Very next hand, there was one limper, and I raised to 3k with AK. Limper called, and he shoved on a K-high Flop. I called, and he also had AK for the chop.

Final Table was in the 800/1600/200 level. I had 12400, which was towards the bottom of the list.

After a couple of hands, I shoved for 12100 with 88. A shorter stack for about 6500 was the only caller. He had 33, and missed. I collected Bounty #2, and got my stack up to 20k.