Rolled On The River

After working on the book and having just left StoxPoker I’ve had another fairly large endeavour that I’ve undertaken this year that I haven’t yet talked about much. In January of this year I signed a deal with Dusty “leatherass9″ Schmidt as his 2010 Protégé. As Dusty writes on his blog:

I haven’t really talked much about this, but I decided to take on one student this year as my 2010 project. Some of you may remember in 2008 I took on Matt Bolt (mbolt1) as a student and I started with him as a micro stakes grinder and by year end he had a 6 figure month and has made about a million dollars since I began working with him. I have worked with a few others as well who have done well, but Mbolt1 was the only person I have really spent a lot of time working with.

While I don’t expect everyone I work with to necessarily go on to crush the games the way Mbolt1 has, I decided to take on one more student this year and hopefully we can have some success together. His name is Michael Skelton and he holds the distinction of watching more training videos than anyone alive, I would be willing to wager. Michael produced virtually every single Stoxpoker.com video and was as loyal of an employee as you could find. His tremendous work ethic and unprecedented level of understanding of the “away from the table” stuff like rakeback, which software programs to use etc. is what made me decide to take him on as my 2010 protége.’

I have some high hopes for Michael or skelm as he is known to the community and skelmr on FullTilT. He is developing a tremendous understanding of the game of poker and already has shown some tremendous progress over our time working together. Here is a before and after shot:

Before: Pre-Coaching

After: Post-Coaching

As you can see, Michael lost a lot of money when the pot did not go to showdown before we began working together. Our work together took care of his falling red line and turned him into a winner when the pot does not go to showdown. While I don’t think it is as essential as most people think to have a positive red line, it is always nice to improve your red line when your showdown line remains relatively unaffected.

I look forward to seeing if I can continue to have some success coaching Michael. I feel he has a ton of potential and seems to grasp concepts quickly and effectively put them into action. He is not afraid to make changes to his game the moment he realizes he will be better off for them. That is actually a big thing he has going for him because many people will try things, but if they don’t have success with them they abandon the changes right away, when in reality it was probably just bad luck that kept the changes from working. It is huge in this game not to let some bad luck deter you from making the correct adjustments in your game. That is one of the biggest problems amongst amateurs in my opinion. They are too quick to abandon winning plays just because they don’t have success with them right away.

If you want to follow Michael’s blog feel free to check it out at http://rolledontheriver.com

By Leatherass

I’ll be sure to write more about this experience on the blog in the coming future along with some of the advances that I make as a player.

Editorial note: As the owners of CaptureRake both Johnny and I are particularly biased in writing this entry. That said I think the content speaks for itself and that bringing this to everybodys attention is important.

This morning Poker Affiliate Solutions posted the following on Poker Affiliate Listings:

We have been informed by Full Tilt management that beginning March 1st, commissions for all rakeback affiliates will be set at 3%.

This change will not be retroactive and will only affect the commission on players who sign up starting March 1st. Players will still be paid 27% rakeback.

As we learn more from Full Tilt about this change and its impact on Poker Affiliates, we will post updates.

Tony Guerrero

Poker Affiliate Solutions

If true (and based on the reputation of the poster this is very likely) – what does this actually mean? Primarily – less money for affiliates. Understandably FullTilt affiliates have for some time been receiving a rather hefty commission on your signups (most rakeback affiliates currently receive 35% of your MGR and pay you 27%). This extra money goes towards rake races, support and in some cases sub-affiliates.

This change, although not retroactive creates a situation that makes it near impossible for sub-affiliates to exist (the margins would be too low on new signups), a reduction on the payout for rake races and a far less active affiliate community (which may or may not have an affect on the size of the player pool).

At this point in time nothing is completely verified but should we get first hand news or anything further then I will update this post.

If you’d like to view the original forum post click here.
To view the associated TwoPlusTwo thread click here.

One of the handier tricks with Hold’em Manager that I like to utilize is custom statistics. Using these you can add various values to your reports, one of which is rakeback.

For example:

Adding this to your reports is relatively simple. First, locate the file customstats.txt – It can be found in your Hold’em Manager reports folder (typically C:\Program Files\RVG Software\Holdem Manager\Reports). If the file doesn’t exist then create it in this location.

Once you have the file open you want to add the following information to it:

<stat GroupName="Default" ColumnName="FTP Rakeback" ValueExpressions="Sum(PH.RakeAmount)/100.0*0.27 as FTPRakeBackAmount" Evaluate="FTPRakeBackAmount" ColumnHeader="FTPRakeback" ColumnFormat="$0.00" ColumnWidth="*" Tooltip="FTP Rakeback based on 27%" />

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Ok so this is a bit of a spammy entry but all the same…

We now own a rakeback skin! I’ve been unhappy with my current affiliate for some time – they don’t list deductions, my MGR updates slowly (if at all) and the rake race is ridiculous. In shopping around and talking at length with Schwallie I came to the (somewhat ridiculous) conclusion that having my own skin would be a better solution.

We’re (Johnny, Schwallie and I) over at http://capturerake.com – If you have any questions in regards to rakeback amounts, deductions, etc’ then feel more then free to e-mail me at skelmer at gmail dot com.

One problem I had until recently was checking the Hold’em Manager sessions tab and/or FullTilt cashier when playing to see how a session was going.

I noticed that simply telling myself I wasn’t going to click either of these wasn’t enough – I needed something more drastic. The end result of this was an AHK script that will close the cashier if it’s opened and minimize Hold’em Manager if I try to look at it (if you use the AHK script remember to start auto-importing before you open it).

I’ve included the AHK script below for those who would like a copy. I’m in the process of writing an article on how to use and write your own AHK scripts so although some of you may not yet be sure what to do with it, I will be putting instructions up in the coming week.

#Persistent
#SingleInstance

SetTimer, NoCashierOrHEM, 300
return

NoCashierOrHEM:
IfWinExist , Cashier
WinClose , Cashier
IfWinExist , Hold’em + Omaha Manager
WinMinimize , Hold’em + Omaha Manager
return

At the end of April I started staking and coaching a friend of mine (who had no exposure to poker whatsoever) from the ground up on two conditions:

#1 – that he would blog his journey with weekly entries

#2 – That he would watch at least three StoxPoker videos a week.

He has diligently been blogging whilst learning and I think his most recent entry provides some valuable insight into the path of learning via videos. With his permission I have included it below:

Poker videos come in two flavours, theory and practical. Theoretical vids show the math and psychology behind the games, and the practical ones show the teacher playing games and putting the theories to use in real situations, I started my little poker life watching mostly theory videos in the form of Ed Miller’s classroom clips, and slowly moved on to more practical ones. I would reccommend a combination of both, the theoretical ones are so valuable, they could replace almost any book, giving step by step instructions on the variety of plays out there, while taking the time out to crunch the numbers behind certain decisions and certain situations.

The practical ones take a coach on his thought process during a session, and the audio is usually (not always) recorded during the sessions, so you can get a grasp of what the coach is thinking on the fly. What I’m saying here is that both types of video should bring your learning full circle, which is the impact I’m beginning to feel. On one hand, you learn a bunch of theories you have try to match to the practical situations in which they apply (see Ed’s Art of Misapplication vid), on the other, you are watching the hands as they come up, and trying to work out what the most relevant information you should base your next move off.

You may be 3-bet with AJ, your decision has to be one of position, stack size, and player statistics. You also have to consider any history you have, and a few other situational factors. Watching practical videos will show you, for example if the guy was short-stacked and prone to 3-betting, you should put him all in, because thats what you saw a coach do. While on the other hand, the theoretical videos will give you the numbers behind stack to pot ratios, the advantages of position, and the ranges of players with a certain percentage 3-bet percentages.

Though this may seem like an absolute plethora of information to process in a short amount of time, continued theoretical and practical study sessions prove to help make the right theory stand out when you’re faced with a problem, the culmination bringing about better, faster, more informed decisions for you at the tables.

I’ve found both to be vital in moving forward so far, and I’m sure I’ll continue to in the future.

You can view the original entry here

Join thousands of poker players across America who are raising their voices to keep the US’ most popular game legal. On July 22, during National Poker Week, the Poker Players Alliance will present this petition to the President, asking his support to exempt poker from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), and for the legalization and regulation of online poker.

Please sign the petition and help everybody to be heard! If you didn’t catch the link in the entry you can find it by clicking here.

Please note this article mostly covers the Rakeback’s inner workings. To find out more about signing up for Rakeback, vist: http://rakeback.cardrunners.com

As you may already be aware, online poker rooms take a small portion of each pot to finance their operations. This is referred to as the ‘rake’. Rakeback is a portion of this that you, as a consumer, can claim back through an affiliate. Essentially, the affiliate receives a portion of the rake for referring you to the poker room, and then affiliates that offer rakeback push a generous portion of this to you, the consumer.

Unfortunately, because rakeback is managed through affiliates, it is only open to new accounts (existing accounts cannot be tied to a new affiliate, since that would prevent your original affiliate from receiving the income it already does from your play).

Read the rest of this entry »

I played 6-max No Limit Hold’em at 200nl until February of this year, at which point I decided to change my focus to Full Ring. Although unconventional, since most players don’t move from 6-max to Full Ring, I’ve found I can play 16-20 Full Ring tables quite comfortably, but only 8-10 6-max tables before losing focus. I felt that if I could achieve a winrate close to that of my 6-max play, I would be able to achieve a higher hourly return.

Thankfully, with the help of coaching from a coach, I did manage to accomplish this. I have since played just over 70,000 hands of NL100-200 Full Ring, playing 21 VP$IP / 19 PFR over 16 tables for a little more than 7 big blinds per hundred hands.

I intend to continue working on my No Limit game; however, I’ve also turned my attention toward Pot Limit Omaha Hi, and have begun coaching with StoxPoker coach Onassis for an hour each night, with the hope of beating these games in the near future.

I was recently talking to a friend of mine who is rather well off, and who used to play Poker recreationally quite frequently. Although he was ultimately a losing player, he didn’t mind losing a few hundred dollars on the weekend since he considered it to be ‘entertainment money’. Unfortunately, he is no longer interested in playing after a couple of heads up matches where his opponent decided that, in some way or other, verbal abuse gave him some hidden psychological edge.

As a collective, we should be promoting poker, as well as trying to create a fun atmosphere where one doesn’t need to understand every nuance and rule of the game in order to enjoy his or her self. When I was learning poker, and a total fish, I remember having a whole host of people willing to help me out, and to ensure that I was comfortable and enjoying myself. I’m seriously wondering if someone just starting out today would feel inclined to play through more than an orbit.

I really don’t mean to be so negative about this issue, but it seems like you can’t play at all lately without seeing somebody berating a player for their Ace high call on the river, making a snide comment about a poor pre-flop call with a hand like J2 offsuit, or making a scene when somebody pushes all in with a low pocket pair and sucks out.

If you are one of these people, please stop! If you see somebody making a play like this, relish the fact that, although you may have lost the hand to a poor player with poor cards, you made a winning decision and can be happy that the game of poker is alive and thriving. As for the age-old excuse that table talk will somehow cause your opponent to stack off against you lighter – nonsense! Any small temporary edge you’re gaining by tilting this opponent is offset by the fact that they’re more than likely to quit you earlier (increasing your chances of being hit and run), or won’t re-deposit once they’ve run through what they already have online. Instead, if you get sucked out, just reply with ‘nh’ and enjoy knowing that, although you lost your money, the chances having it returned are much better than if the TAG player down the road scooped the pot.