News of Improper Handling of Funds at Full Tilt
When we first tried to log in to Full Tilt after the US government seized its domain and some of its funds, we were confused.
Once we read the news reports, we were furious.
… with the US government.
Now, blame may be shifting to the Full Tilt that we once loved and adored.
The news reports of a new charge from the Attorney General paint a picture of a company that was giving out large portions of player deposits to key players within its organization. Apparently players like Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson were receiving millions of dollars in payments taken directly out of the cash that was being held on player deposits.
Basically, the company figured that it would never see a time when EVERY player wanted all of their money back. If this assumption were to be true, the company would never have to pay out the millions that they held for deposits. It would make sense that they would put the money in an interest-bearing account, but instead Full Tilt just made fat cash bonus payments to its partners.
I would be thrilled if I was the recipient of these payments, instead I will not be receiving a dime of what I had on my account. I’m pretty sure that playing on Full Tilt was -EV.
The full story on the New York Times can be found here.
Working Out The Rust
Last time I wrote here, the poker world had just been hit hard with the announcement of the closure of Full Tilt to US residents. Shortly thereafter, the site was forced by its contract with its governing homeland to close operations globally. There have been more developments that I will write about in the near future but I recount this to explain that the lockdown of Full Tilt caused me to drop off of online poker for a little while.
The time that was off of the scene was pushed longer as my summer saw 60-hour work weeks and and some international travel. Now that I am back to a somewhat normal pace of life, I dropped 50$ on my new poker room, and started dabbling a little bit on the tables. I will have a full review of the room later this week, but so far I am pleased with the play (and up by almost $200.) The room seems pretty soft and I final tabled in my first 300+ player tournament.
I am not sure if I will be able to dedicate as much time to long sessions as I had done before, due to more responsibilities at home with a baby on the way, so my bankroll policies aren’t quite as stringent as they once were. This will probably bite me in the ass, but so far the weak players have rewarded my more aggressive bankroll management.
I will try to stay on top of my blogging and keep you informed, but please drop a note in the comments so that I know that you are with me.
Black Friday: A Shakeup In The Online Poker Industry
The American government is making waves in the online poker industry following the shutdown of the “.com” domains of Absolute Poker, Pokerstars, and Full Tilt. The government also seized millions of dollars from the gaming companies and arrested 2 people in relation to processing payments to the poker rooms.
I am still trying to sort out what implications this has for poker players in the States. As for myself, I am an American citizen living abroad, although I use an American bank to make and receive payments. When I logged in on Saturday, I immediately saw a message explaining that US Players could no longer play for real money. I quickly switched my country to my current residence and was allowed to play.
Luckily for myself, I made a neat little withdrawal right before this mess. I was left with $5 and some change, so it will probably be a while before I attempt a transaction of any type with Full Tilt. I will post sometime tomorrow about the implications this has on my bankroll management strategy.
For those of you residing in the US, you will have to move to a different poker room. I cannot give a recommendation for you because I play on a Mac, and the three poker rooms that were affected were the only three that provided software for the Mac and accepted American players. I will be looking for alternatives and updating this post with details of deals or opportunities for American players to get their fix.
I will include links here to poker rooms that have confirmed that they will accept US players… More to come.
Lock poker seems to have a solid system and I am told that if you click the link below you will get 35% rakeback (and help out the blog!) I will try to review it within the next week. I am very excited for an option that plays on mac!
Guest Post: The 5/10 Shortstack Cash Game
Here is a guest post from KB:
Playing on Full Tilt has been quite the roller coaster for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m up about 50% of everything I’ve ever put into the site, but I’ve also had large streaks of loss, after loss, after being a suckout victim, after loss.
First Impression: Zynga Poker
Let me begin by saying that I have only spent about an hour playing on Zynga so far. I have not looked at all of the in-game features and have not fully explored ANY of them.
When I opened Zynga’s Texas Hold-Em application on facebook, I found that it was simple enough to get started. This was definitely a pro. Some of the various, ridiculous applications on facebook make you go through the electronic equivalent of NBC’s show ‘Wipeout’ just to get to the content. Kudos to Zynga (for now.)
Once I got started I found that I already had some play chips available (I think I started with 11,000.) This meant that I could just click play and sit down at a table. › Continue reading
What to do About Tilt?
A Little Tilt is OK, but Don't Fall Down!
Sometimes things just don’t go our way.
I just started my daily session of grinding the Super Turbo SnGs to find that I lost every flip in 8 tourneys. I had only one cash and was not happy about it. In business school we are taught to quantify everything (happiness, human life, satisfaction etc.) and I think that you might be able to quantify my level of tilt by the number of profanities per minute. For example, when AK cracks my AA, we’re probably looking at close to a profanity per second for a couple minutes.
While tilt is part of the game, a player worth his salt knows how to control and handle his emotions. So, what do we do when we are feeling a bad run of cards?
The first thing to step away for a minute. Pour yourself a drink, put a kettle of tea on the stove, do something other than staring blankly at a screen of poker tables. When you feel that you have taken an adequate break, come back to the tables with a fresh perspective. The worst thing that can happen is that you start taking more risks because you feel like you are playing from behind.
I recommend picking a slower game. This morning I moved from 6-handed Super Turbos to the 9-handed ring games. While the game goes much slower at these tables, I can shake off my losses with very little variance. If you lose a large amount of bankroll in a short amount of time, you should expect to take a much longer time to make it up.
Quick profit usually means high risk of quick loss, so take the steady approach to building your bankroll.
Hand Spotlight: 2 Pair on the Flop
As some background for this hand, I am currently grinding the 6-player $2.15 Super Turbo Sit & Go’s. This hand came on the 2nd hand of the tournament. Usually at this level there is a lot of pushing at the beginning from players holding Ace-Rag or a low pocket pair so it is extremely difficult to establish a player’s range. In order to turn a profit at this level, I play extremely tight, playing only AQ, JJ and up until a couple players are knocked out.
In this hand I was in the big blind and I was dealt 3c and 4h. This is a throwaway hand when you start at 10 big-blinds in these tourneys (or in most other games for that matter.) › Continue reading
Discipline: Poker’s Lost Art
As I mentioned on my twitter feed, I am currently putting in some long hours into a little experiment for the blog. There will be more details on this project in the coming week, but I wanted to write today about a side effect of my project.
If you are like me, you can play profitable poker if you play a system and stick to it. In general, we don’t go broke when we stick with a well thought-out plan. It’s those little diversions from the plan that tend to hit us right where it hurts (the bankroll.)
If A.D.D. is an epidemic, are Bonsai Trees an endangered species?
As I started my project, I decided to start when I had an even amount of money in my bankroll so that I could easily track my profit and ROI without too much math. Due to this methodology I have actually forced myself into a really good habit. I am not taking on little tournaments on the side like I usually do when I’m playing with no clear goal. Generally I start a session with a system and as I gain a bit of profit, I join a couple of larger tournaments to take a shot with my profits. Playing a single system with no distractions means playing at a higher level and if you can count on profitability, a lower variance and chance of busting your bankroll.
This philosophy isn’t without its problems. Chiefly, I have a hard time concentrating if something becomes too routine. To counteract this, I have set up my system so that every 30 minutes or so, I have a little break and I can get a glass of water or do something to break the monotony of the system.
Good luck skill at the tables!
Online Poker: Where to Start? (Part 3)
So far we have discussed the choices of tournament vs. cash game and which limits to play in when first playing online poker. Today, in the final installment of the series, I want to discuss the final criteria that one should check when choosing their very first table in an online poker room.
Which Game to Play? › Continue reading
Online Poker: Where To Start? (Part 2)
Yesterday I covered the theory behind the decision between cash games and tournaments for beginners. Today I’m going to cover the next logical question that one should ask themselves when considering which table to plop down at: limits.
When you are picking your limits there are two basic factors to be considered: bankroll size and skill level. › Continue reading
Tweets From the Table
