No more poker please!
Since my last post I have literally not left the pc. Very sad I know, but I have 6 months rent for my flat I wanted to pay for this weeked (yes very greedy) and after doing so well recently felt I could get it out of the way without too much trouble. How wrong I was.
Before I get into it, I must say that my swings on Betfair nowadays have reached ridiculous proportions. One day I will have my biggest ever winning day, the next my biggest ever losing day. No-one will ever feel sorry for anyone who has won almost £30,000 in two weeks and that's the last thing I want. But it is understandably very stressful to be able to lose £13,000 in one day, as I did on Betfair on Saturday. I have grey hairs popping up all the time and I'm only 22. Ouch!
Saturday 7th January 2006. A very sad day for me and Betfair poker. I posted a thread on the Betfair forum about the possibilty of the odds on Betfair being incorrect, such was my concern at what I have seen over the last few months. I have been winning, but some of the things I have witnessed on a regular basis are unreal. 1-4 outers hitting for fun, and not just against me, but almost every round. The odds are not correct, the percentages don't add up, and worst of all some players seem to be imune to these long shots. Unfortunately I'm not, and had AA cracked all 4 times on Saturday aswell as 2 of my 3 sets. Tilt set in, and amongst other things I called a £900 bet on the river in one hand just because I KNEW my opponent had hit a 3 outer to beat me and wanted to show the rest of the table how ridiculous it was. I knew it was coming. Fortunately I ended the day £4000 up on Virgin so only £9000 down for the day. I say only, but given the situations I was dealt into I felt like I had done well. I passed the cracked Aces twice to players who showed me a full house and a straight, and overall felt like I lost the minimum, bar tilt.
Woke up extremely determined on Sunday, felt like I had to have a big day just for my own peace of mind. Didn't start well, and after about 3 hours I was £4000 up on Virgin but £4000 down on Betfair. Looking back on it, if I hadn't gone near Betfair this weekend this week would have ended as my best ever, almost £30k up. As it ended I was very stubborn and refused to accept defeat. A very stupid mentality to have. Sunday did give me some hope though, I went on a rush on Betfair after about 5 hours and found myself £8000 up altogether. Came off the pc and went to bed £1000 down for the weekend, feeling like I had been through the equivalent of WWII.
Monday was about to test me to the limit. Started off very well, and after an hour on both sites found myself £6000 up. The problem was, the tables were still very good, and I felt like I couldn't possibly hit another dry patch like Saturday so soon. I was wrong, as usual, and I proceeded to get stuffed on Betfair. Had a £10,000 downswing and soon found myself down £4000 on the day. All the while Virgin was going like a steady drip, but on Betfair I couldn't get a hand to stand up. Had AA cracked 3 times today and KK also cracked 3 of the 4 times I was dealt it. The odds of that combined with Saturday's? I can't even be bothered to figure them out but I know they're pretty long! Spent 4 hours trying to get even for the day, ridiculous after previously being £6000 up, but what can you do? Decided to take a break for a few hours and took a £1500 loss altogether.
Logged back on at about 1am, and got into 1 game on Virgin and another on Betfair. Had KK cracked almost immediately on Betfair, while on Virgin I quickly doubled up to £4000. See a pattern emerging? I did, and decided to log off Betfair pretty sharpish £200 down. Managed to make £4000 on Virgin in the space of 30 minutes, and called it a day. Ended the weekend £1500 up, but I would happily pay £1500 to not have to go through that again soon. As it stands I made £11,000 last week and I'm currently £2500 up this week. How that is possible I will never know, but I'm thankful! People seem to get the impression I am still lazy and big wins come easily, trust me I am working my bollocks off for this money at the moment!
To break it down, these are my figures since I opened up my Virgin account on Saturday:
Betfair: -£15,500
Virgin: +£17,000
Before I go on let me say something about Virgin. There are several fundamental reasons why I am doing so well there. The standard of play is absolutely dire, I haven't yet had to rebuy for a full £2000 in about 8 sessions, which for me is unheard of. The players (and no offence intended if any are reading!) are your Grade A fish, passive with hands like top pair but massive calling stations to go with it, who are willing to pay you off regardless of whether you only ever show them the nuts. They are also 5 seater tables, which I think makes a huge difference to my play. I already know from my poker tracker database on Betfair that I'm make more money when the game is 3-5 handed as there is a significant decrease in big hands being out there, meaning it is easier to bully a table and not get caught out. People will read this and think I am blowing smoke up Virgin's arse because I am sponsored by them, but anyone who knows me will know I wouldn't do that. I turned down £3000 to wear a Pokerstars t-shirt at the final in Dublin, I will always say my honest opinion and surely I can be given a bit of credit after that for not being able to be bought. Virgin has some problems with note taking and also a few teething issues with connections and deposits, but in terms of standard of play, the place is a goldmine. The only problem for me at the moment is liquidity, I am sometimes finding myself playing heads up or waiting for 30 minutes for someone to join me at a £10/£20 table. I'm sure that will change as they grow and I will be able to shift my online poker 100% towards them. At the moment I'm unsure what to do. I've lost all faith in the deal on Betfair, but find myself still playing there because the players give action when you hit and the games always fill during the day. There is no way I will stop playing on Virgin after what I have seen so far, but unless the tables fill more reguarly I'm not sure if I can afford to play all of my poker on there.
I got some bad news aswell today, the Copenhagen EPT is apparently full a week in advance, but I will find out more about that tomorrow. There is also one more thing that grated me today, a response to my post on Betfair about the deal being irregular. Someone quipped that I sound like a spoilt brat when things don't go my way, implying that I should be thankful for the position I am in. I know for a fact that since I started learning about the game, no-one has taken poker more serious than me or put more effort into improving. This game doesn't involve that much natural talent in my opinion, it is what you make of it. I put everything I had into getting to where I am today, but by putting myself out there and posting my results and thoughts on here, I can understand that I make myself an easy target. Secondly, I am extremely competitive and self-demanding. Some people can take a losing day and that's fine, but I set myself high standards and feel I should try to win every day of every week, every week of every year. If I don't then I want to know why, I cannot just accept that there is no reason for my loss unless I know I have played badly.
As with most stressful days like this, I know I can learn loads from it and hopefully use it to make me a better player. I am starting to miss the good old days though when I would settle for a double up each day and leave it at that! But as the saying goes, he who dares Rodney, he who dares...
Before I get into it, I must say that my swings on Betfair nowadays have reached ridiculous proportions. One day I will have my biggest ever winning day, the next my biggest ever losing day. No-one will ever feel sorry for anyone who has won almost £30,000 in two weeks and that's the last thing I want. But it is understandably very stressful to be able to lose £13,000 in one day, as I did on Betfair on Saturday. I have grey hairs popping up all the time and I'm only 22. Ouch!
Saturday 7th January 2006. A very sad day for me and Betfair poker. I posted a thread on the Betfair forum about the possibilty of the odds on Betfair being incorrect, such was my concern at what I have seen over the last few months. I have been winning, but some of the things I have witnessed on a regular basis are unreal. 1-4 outers hitting for fun, and not just against me, but almost every round. The odds are not correct, the percentages don't add up, and worst of all some players seem to be imune to these long shots. Unfortunately I'm not, and had AA cracked all 4 times on Saturday aswell as 2 of my 3 sets. Tilt set in, and amongst other things I called a £900 bet on the river in one hand just because I KNEW my opponent had hit a 3 outer to beat me and wanted to show the rest of the table how ridiculous it was. I knew it was coming. Fortunately I ended the day £4000 up on Virgin so only £9000 down for the day. I say only, but given the situations I was dealt into I felt like I had done well. I passed the cracked Aces twice to players who showed me a full house and a straight, and overall felt like I lost the minimum, bar tilt.
Woke up extremely determined on Sunday, felt like I had to have a big day just for my own peace of mind. Didn't start well, and after about 3 hours I was £4000 up on Virgin but £4000 down on Betfair. Looking back on it, if I hadn't gone near Betfair this weekend this week would have ended as my best ever, almost £30k up. As it ended I was very stubborn and refused to accept defeat. A very stupid mentality to have. Sunday did give me some hope though, I went on a rush on Betfair after about 5 hours and found myself £8000 up altogether. Came off the pc and went to bed £1000 down for the weekend, feeling like I had been through the equivalent of WWII.
Monday was about to test me to the limit. Started off very well, and after an hour on both sites found myself £6000 up. The problem was, the tables were still very good, and I felt like I couldn't possibly hit another dry patch like Saturday so soon. I was wrong, as usual, and I proceeded to get stuffed on Betfair. Had a £10,000 downswing and soon found myself down £4000 on the day. All the while Virgin was going like a steady drip, but on Betfair I couldn't get a hand to stand up. Had AA cracked 3 times today and KK also cracked 3 of the 4 times I was dealt it. The odds of that combined with Saturday's? I can't even be bothered to figure them out but I know they're pretty long! Spent 4 hours trying to get even for the day, ridiculous after previously being £6000 up, but what can you do? Decided to take a break for a few hours and took a £1500 loss altogether.
Logged back on at about 1am, and got into 1 game on Virgin and another on Betfair. Had KK cracked almost immediately on Betfair, while on Virgin I quickly doubled up to £4000. See a pattern emerging? I did, and decided to log off Betfair pretty sharpish £200 down. Managed to make £4000 on Virgin in the space of 30 minutes, and called it a day. Ended the weekend £1500 up, but I would happily pay £1500 to not have to go through that again soon. As it stands I made £11,000 last week and I'm currently £2500 up this week. How that is possible I will never know, but I'm thankful! People seem to get the impression I am still lazy and big wins come easily, trust me I am working my bollocks off for this money at the moment!
To break it down, these are my figures since I opened up my Virgin account on Saturday:
Betfair: -£15,500
Virgin: +£17,000
Before I go on let me say something about Virgin. There are several fundamental reasons why I am doing so well there. The standard of play is absolutely dire, I haven't yet had to rebuy for a full £2000 in about 8 sessions, which for me is unheard of. The players (and no offence intended if any are reading!) are your Grade A fish, passive with hands like top pair but massive calling stations to go with it, who are willing to pay you off regardless of whether you only ever show them the nuts. They are also 5 seater tables, which I think makes a huge difference to my play. I already know from my poker tracker database on Betfair that I'm make more money when the game is 3-5 handed as there is a significant decrease in big hands being out there, meaning it is easier to bully a table and not get caught out. People will read this and think I am blowing smoke up Virgin's arse because I am sponsored by them, but anyone who knows me will know I wouldn't do that. I turned down £3000 to wear a Pokerstars t-shirt at the final in Dublin, I will always say my honest opinion and surely I can be given a bit of credit after that for not being able to be bought. Virgin has some problems with note taking and also a few teething issues with connections and deposits, but in terms of standard of play, the place is a goldmine. The only problem for me at the moment is liquidity, I am sometimes finding myself playing heads up or waiting for 30 minutes for someone to join me at a £10/£20 table. I'm sure that will change as they grow and I will be able to shift my online poker 100% towards them. At the moment I'm unsure what to do. I've lost all faith in the deal on Betfair, but find myself still playing there because the players give action when you hit and the games always fill during the day. There is no way I will stop playing on Virgin after what I have seen so far, but unless the tables fill more reguarly I'm not sure if I can afford to play all of my poker on there.
I got some bad news aswell today, the Copenhagen EPT is apparently full a week in advance, but I will find out more about that tomorrow. There is also one more thing that grated me today, a response to my post on Betfair about the deal being irregular. Someone quipped that I sound like a spoilt brat when things don't go my way, implying that I should be thankful for the position I am in. I know for a fact that since I started learning about the game, no-one has taken poker more serious than me or put more effort into improving. This game doesn't involve that much natural talent in my opinion, it is what you make of it. I put everything I had into getting to where I am today, but by putting myself out there and posting my results and thoughts on here, I can understand that I make myself an easy target. Secondly, I am extremely competitive and self-demanding. Some people can take a losing day and that's fine, but I set myself high standards and feel I should try to win every day of every week, every week of every year. If I don't then I want to know why, I cannot just accept that there is no reason for my loss unless I know I have played badly.
As with most stressful days like this, I know I can learn loads from it and hopefully use it to make me a better player. I am starting to miss the good old days though when I would settle for a double up each day and leave it at that! But as the saying goes, he who dares Rodney, he who dares...
posted by Dpommo at 2:45 AM
15 Comments:
Good Post Son.
And Roland confirmed to me EPT sold out.
Hi Pommo
I am a regular player on Betfair and although not a member of the forum, I read it daily. Your comments on both the forum and here have been very helpful .. so hopefully I can return the favour here. I have been going through a bad run of cards on Betfair this last few weeks, and like you, I was wondering if the deal was genuinely random. So, I did some research, based on approx 2000 dealt hands ... my conclusion (on every factor tested) was that the deal is random. It might not seem that way at times, but I'm now 100% convinced that the deal is random. As for one of your other points .. I had my biggest winning week on Betfair after withdrawing my largest amount from their site, so I can't agree that withdrawls are somehow punished. Having said all that, it is probably a good thing to try out different sites, and I wish you well whichever site you play on. Happy fishing!
Great post mate!!
Laters bud, a session with dubaifish calls :-)
i certainly know what you mean about those swings.....ive had a night where i had KK three times in an hour and all times ran into AA..needless to say i didnt catch a set.....anyway,perhaps it happens like that sometimes.
could you tell me about this virgin,what other sites are on that network?
have never heard of it before.
hope your aces stands up tonight!
Thanks for the reply Christine, as I said I can't be sure what is what when it comes to the deal on these sites, but I'm keeping an open mind.
And to the anonymous poster, Virgin is on Boss Network, other sites I know of on that network are Sporting Odds and Poker Heaven. They only relaunched Virgin Poker in November so it's still pretty unknown.
Celeb Poker are also on the same network as Virgin.
Pommo
Very good as usual
Are u sponsered into the EPT's now?
Good luck on the tables mate
Penno
If BF was a hook a duck game i would have a cane without a hook thats all i can add...
P.S What a great move on the river against noseicap £365 into £468 pot he thinks and re-raises to £998 you re-raise £2300+ he folds and you show 7c 9c which matches nothing
LMFAO
Made my day that one GL
hi pommo,
is there any rakeback promos available on virgin?
you don't seriously believe all this about "rigged" accounts and withdrawl fairies do you?! :)
cheers
graeme/bampot
I hear plans are afoot to start offering Virgin AirMiles as a frequent player reward.
If you get any info on this that you can share, Grateful if you could post it here.
If this does happen (and the ratio is sensible) I would certainly be happy to rattle some points up to use for upgrades/free flights each year.
Great Post Pommo. Glad its going well for you.
Hi mate
1st post to your blog but keep up to date with it and some others.
Firstly good post interesting reading.
secondly keep your eye out for other decent live tourneys. The EPT events are not the only ones worth going to. You are obviously a v talented player but lacking in live experience (I am v much lacking in decent live experience myself up here in edinburgh.) You and dubai and the rest of the boys would have loved the dublin event last weekend.
381 player 1000 euro event (3 days v v big starting stack)
& a 300 500 euro and 300 250 euro game. The amount of novice players was amazing!!
and all the 200/500 stts you could want for on the side!! anyway hope to see you at some of these type things later.
was going to type something else but tourney just started . will post later.
Graham
Dp,i have left betfair 3 months ago as the beats were ridiculous, i was a losing player on there even though i went on long runs of profit only to tilt and lose the lot, i am aggressive when i have the best hand and i lost most my money to 2 and 3 outers.i took a month away from poker and switched sites (prima).I have had a winning 3 months, the beats do happen but hands seem to stand up more. there are alot of aggressive scandis playing there and it would defintely suit your game.
as long as i keep the tilt factor under control i can see me making a profit.
as you say you have put yourself on the line for criticism by putting up the blog, but fuck the begrudgers, this blog is primarily for yourself.
i must admit that i have tried to follow in your footsteps from the £0.50/£1 tables to the £5/£10 on betfair but got slapped back down.basically i haven't had the mentality to deal with the huge swings NL brings and i could never do it full time.i do not enjoy the game any more and only do it for a job, last year was the most stressful of my life and i shouldn't have let poker affect me so much but it consumed me.the bigger wins began to mean less and the bigger losses hurt more. i have steadied the ship and have recouped a good portion of my money back, but i return to work next month and then poker ends for good.
i wish you all the best in your career, its a hard way to make a living so i wouldn't start worrying what other people think and save all your energies for staying focused.
GL PJC
by the how does it feel to win £30k in 2 weeks on line? u lucky bastard :-)
Why do you post about such new networks ?
It just makes it tougher for you when other guys join.
But apart from that, nice blog !! ;-)
Dp,
Couldn't agree with you more regarding Betfair.
I have about 8/10 winning sessions playing live cash, either hold em or dealers choice mainly, but cannot win on Betfair full stop and it's the only site I play on.
Another loss tonight playing Omaha on there. I either miss everything repeatedly, or hit and I get shafted by a ridiculous outdraw.
Good luck anyway.
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