OK - after the debacle that was yesterday morning with poker, I am straightening myself out and getting focused. I have slightly less than 6 months to prepare for Event 26, and by prepare I mean win enough money to play in Event 26. And not just the buy-in for the tournament, but all of the travel expenses that go along with it.
So here is the goal - In order to pay for my way to tournament, I merely have to win $11.50 per day. That only accounts for taking 3 days off between now and then. Since I play poker pretty much at some point every single day of the year online, I don't see this as a problem. To also justify playing with money won instead of using the money to pay for other stuff around the house, I am also factoring in needing to win another $11.50 a day for personal use. That way when I say I am spending over $2K to play in a tournament and spending 3 nights in Vegas away from the family, before anything can be said I will also plop $2K down and say here is some extra for the family. And who am I kidding - if I need to dip into that fund because I come up a little short, I will. So that sets my goal at $23 profit a day, right? Wrong. I am also throwing in what I call the "X-Factor" - and additional $9 a day to pay for one $8.70 satellite for a $26 token each day. This is gravy. If I am playing and I have been teetering all day with being down for the day, or just breaking even, and I get up to being $24 up, I may just call it quits and forego that token tourney. But if I am having a good day and have won at least $32, then I am going to use $8.70 to play a token tourney and see if I can paraly that into a $26 token to use in the nightly Razz tournament. All of this helps focus me. If I play good in that token tourney, then I get to really focus in on the Razz tournament that night. And that, of course, then focuses me on preparing for the WSOP even more. Plus, any cashing I do in that Razz tournament is bonus money I will use to help towards my goal.
So basically what I am going to do is plot my progress here on the blog. Not that anyone cares, but it is just another way of making me focus.
Anyway, I started my goal this morning. And I am happy to say that I am already at my goal for the day. I decided today to really short-buy into a $2/$4 Razz cash game. I bought into the game for $20, and I had a table full of loose players. I pretty much sat back and waited for hands. I got up early, but then had a few runner-runner bricks to nut draws that never panned out. Luckily, I never fell below my buy-in, and a good run of about 4 hands propelled me to my goal, and then some. I played for about 50 minutes, and was up $41.90. I know this is not a lot of money, but remember I really plan on taking baby steps all the way with this one and try not to get too greedy nor too down at any one point. This is about as close to bankroll management as you will see me do. I know for a fact that I am one of the worst in terms of playing higher than I should, so I am trying to quell that urge as much as I can in order to achieve my goal of playing at the WSOP on won money. And I know I can do it. I really hope that I can play the Razz tournament quite a bit over this time frame as well on tokens, and cash frquently during that tournament too. With all of this going on, I feel confident that I will be playing at the table come June at the Rio, and I can honestly say that I am not afraid to play anyone in Razz. Usually the person that hurts me the most playing that game is myself. Over the next six months I think I can learn to limit my mistakes and become a much better player. I have no illusions on making the final table or even cashing. I just want to get the experience and move forward. I think eventually I will be good enough to cash, and eventually I may even make a Razz final table. Time will tell, but I have to start sometime. And that time is now.
Daily Profit: +$41.90
Daily WSOP Profit: +$21.40
Daily Personal Profit: +$11.50
Daily Token Sat Profit: +$9.00
WSOP Goal at this point: $11.50
Relative to Goal at this point: +$9.90
I still have to play the Token Satellite, although due to other commitments tonight I may not be able to play the Razz tournament even if I win the token. Which means it gets saved until another night (the next night I don't win a token). It is a long journey, but one I plan on taking to the end.
Showing posts with label razz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label razz. Show all posts
Friday, December 14, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
World Series of Poker 2008 Schedule Announced
As much as I am pissed about my earlier NLHE cash game debacle (see last post), I am re-energized again, as Harrah's has announced the 2008 Schedule for the World Series of Poker.
Some notes about the schedule:
(1) Event 8 is one of the coolest concepts I have seen for the WSOP in quite some time. I know the $50K H.O.R.S.E. event is considered the premiere skill event, but this may be recognized as the #2 event after this year. If you go to the link and see, it is a mixed game that has 8 formats of poker in it. It has all five limit games of H.O.R.S.E., follwed by a level of No-Limit Hold 'Em, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi, and then a limit level of 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. Oh yeah - it is a $10K buy-in event. It probably will not get a time slot for ESPN coverage this year, simply because there is just way too much to cram in a 1 or 2 hour TV schedule. I am thinking ESPN wants to see how the event plays out and what the players think of it before devoting airtime to it. But if it is run well and the players enjoy it, it may get the same type of multi-night attention the H.O.R.S.E. tourney gets. It will need it. I am guessing the Triple-Draw portion of the game will get very little airtime whenever it gets shown, unless there are some critical hands that occur that force its coverage. For me, this is an excellent addition to the WSOP.
(2) I am planning on being in Vegas on June 13th to play in Event 26 - Seven Card Razz. $1,500 Event, and I am going to have to buckle down to justify me going. But I plan on using my SkyMiles to book a ticket now to force me to concentrate on what I am doing and earn the money to play during the next 6 months. I think if I win the money separately from othe income sources, it will feel even better. I think this is the kick in the pants I need to buckle down and play better and analyze my play.
(3) 31 of the 55 bracelet events are Hold 'Em events. I have not researched this, but I think that is down a couple from last year. I think they may have replaced a hold 'em event with the new ultra-mized game I talked about above, and possibly added an Omaha event, which seems to be a game gaining some serious steam in the poker world. There are 8 total Omaha only events, 5 Stud only events (including Razz), 6 Mixed game events, 2 Draw games (both 2-7 Lowball, one being NL Single Draw and one being Limit Triple Draw), and 3 Limited Field events (the Ladies, Seniors and Casino Employee event). All in all, it seems to be a pretty good mix.
(4) One of the most interesting things about the schedule is the addition of many higher buy-in "World Championship" events. Last year, besides the Main Event the only other two buy-in's that rivaled the Main Event were the $10K PLO World Championship event and the $50K World Championship H.O.R.S.E. event (which I heard may be renamed the Chip Reese Memorial, which I think would be an extremely classy move on Harrah's part). Many of the other "World Championship" events were $5K or lower buy-ins.
Well, this year is different. There are 9 "World Championship" Events, and they all have $10K buy-ins, except for the H.O.R.S.E., which remains a $50K buy-in. I have a feeling that these will be the games broadcast on TV. Which is fine, because this covers the gamut of poker games. You have all HE variations displayed, with Pot-Limit, Limit, Heads-Up and the Main Event No-Limit. It will also cover Seven Card Stud Hi (unfortunately, they do not have a $10K event for Hi/Lo Stud). There is events for Omaha Hi/Lo and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi. And finally the ultra mixed game mentioned above and the $50K H.O.R.S.E. round out the list. If this is what they show on ESPN, I will still be happy to watch. You will get more elite players playing in most of these events (except the Main Event, where they are saturated so much with the donks), and it should make for good TV. I hope this is what they do, but they may snub some of these for more Hold 'Em tournaments instead. We shall see.
I am definitely looking forward to this year's coverage, especially since this will be my first year I play in an event (cross my fingers I am able to do it). Check out the schedule and let me know what you think.
Steak
Some notes about the schedule:
(1) Event 8 is one of the coolest concepts I have seen for the WSOP in quite some time. I know the $50K H.O.R.S.E. event is considered the premiere skill event, but this may be recognized as the #2 event after this year. If you go to the link and see, it is a mixed game that has 8 formats of poker in it. It has all five limit games of H.O.R.S.E., follwed by a level of No-Limit Hold 'Em, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi, and then a limit level of 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. Oh yeah - it is a $10K buy-in event. It probably will not get a time slot for ESPN coverage this year, simply because there is just way too much to cram in a 1 or 2 hour TV schedule. I am thinking ESPN wants to see how the event plays out and what the players think of it before devoting airtime to it. But if it is run well and the players enjoy it, it may get the same type of multi-night attention the H.O.R.S.E. tourney gets. It will need it. I am guessing the Triple-Draw portion of the game will get very little airtime whenever it gets shown, unless there are some critical hands that occur that force its coverage. For me, this is an excellent addition to the WSOP.
(2) I am planning on being in Vegas on June 13th to play in Event 26 - Seven Card Razz. $1,500 Event, and I am going to have to buckle down to justify me going. But I plan on using my SkyMiles to book a ticket now to force me to concentrate on what I am doing and earn the money to play during the next 6 months. I think if I win the money separately from othe income sources, it will feel even better. I think this is the kick in the pants I need to buckle down and play better and analyze my play.
(3) 31 of the 55 bracelet events are Hold 'Em events. I have not researched this, but I think that is down a couple from last year. I think they may have replaced a hold 'em event with the new ultra-mized game I talked about above, and possibly added an Omaha event, which seems to be a game gaining some serious steam in the poker world. There are 8 total Omaha only events, 5 Stud only events (including Razz), 6 Mixed game events, 2 Draw games (both 2-7 Lowball, one being NL Single Draw and one being Limit Triple Draw), and 3 Limited Field events (the Ladies, Seniors and Casino Employee event). All in all, it seems to be a pretty good mix.
(4) One of the most interesting things about the schedule is the addition of many higher buy-in "World Championship" events. Last year, besides the Main Event the only other two buy-in's that rivaled the Main Event were the $10K PLO World Championship event and the $50K World Championship H.O.R.S.E. event (which I heard may be renamed the Chip Reese Memorial, which I think would be an extremely classy move on Harrah's part). Many of the other "World Championship" events were $5K or lower buy-ins.
Well, this year is different. There are 9 "World Championship" Events, and they all have $10K buy-ins, except for the H.O.R.S.E., which remains a $50K buy-in. I have a feeling that these will be the games broadcast on TV. Which is fine, because this covers the gamut of poker games. You have all HE variations displayed, with Pot-Limit, Limit, Heads-Up and the Main Event No-Limit. It will also cover Seven Card Stud Hi (unfortunately, they do not have a $10K event for Hi/Lo Stud). There is events for Omaha Hi/Lo and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi. And finally the ultra mixed game mentioned above and the $50K H.O.R.S.E. round out the list. If this is what they show on ESPN, I will still be happy to watch. You will get more elite players playing in most of these events (except the Main Event, where they are saturated so much with the donks), and it should make for good TV. I hope this is what they do, but they may snub some of these for more Hold 'Em tournaments instead. We shall see.
I am definitely looking forward to this year's coverage, especially since this will be my first year I play in an event (cross my fingers I am able to do it). Check out the schedule and let me know what you think.
Steak
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Easy Money (or as close to it as you can find in online poker)
This is my first post on my blog. I am not going to bore you with my background, etc. etc. I am a amateur poker player, and I am not all that great. I have my moments, but I tend to play bigger than I probably should and I tend to blow through my online roll pretty quickly. I have just recently started playing better live, which has lead to a few cashes and winning cash game sessions. But nothing serious at all.
And I figure the majority of poker players are in my boat these days. We cannot all be winning players - that is impossible. The fish don't lose enough money to make everyone else winning players. That being said, I am trying my best to get better. And hopefully I will eventually turn that corner. I hope to learn a lot from those who post comments here. And who knows - you may learn something from me too, although I am thinking those will be rare occurrences indeed.
OK - the one thing that I think I have got down pat online is the art of the cheap satellite tourney. Specifically, the satellite tourney to win $26 tokens on Full Tilt. The one in particular that I love is the $8.70, 18-person tournament they have to win a token. You have to finish in the Top 6 to cash ($14) and the Top 5 for the token.
Why do I love this tournament? For starters, it is just cheap enough to attract really bad players, especially players who do not know how to transition from a regular tournament to a satellite tournament. And what is so great about them? You simply have to play ABC poker to regularly win. Wait for premium hands and pounce. There are just enough fish to pay you off when you hit, and just enough other good players to stay out of your way while you pick off the fish. And, of course, you should stay out of there way while they do the same.
In order for this to make sense, you need to win slightly more often than every 3 tournaments you play. If you play ABC for the greater majority of these tournaments, you should easily win every other time you play. That would be on average spending $17.40 to win $26, which is just under 50% profit.
Unfortunately, you must use these tokens to play in other tournaments, so you do not realize the profit from these tournaments immediately. But Full Tilt runs $24+$2 tournaments several times during the day. If you have a tournament you regularly play that has this buy-in, you MUST start playing these token satellites. You immediately will reap in the benefits by saving yourself around $10 every time you play. And the better you get at the satellites, you ROI should get even better (I have recently started scoring about 2 tokens for every 3 satellites I play). And one good score in the $26 tournament can make your investment in the satellites even feel more rewarding? What's better: winning a tournament you spent $8.70 to get into or $26? Psychologically, you would be amazed how much that $17.30 savings means to you when you cash.
Another way to invest those $26 tokens is by using them in another satellite tournament. There are $24+$2 satellite tournaments for $75 tokens as well. Same format as the $8.70 tourneys. The only difference is that with the $8.70 tournaments you have both Turbo and Regular tourneys to choose from, while on the $26 tournaments you merely have Regular speed to choose. But in this format, 6th place pays $60+, so even if you bubble the token you still end up with a decent payday. All for the initial investment of a mere $8.70. You can then use the $75 token to play in several higher dollar buy-in tournaments for a fraction of the price. Or you can even use these tokens on special single table SNG's where the top prize is $310.50. For those keeping score at home, if it takes you two times to score a $26 token, two times to win a $75 token, and two times to win, that is a 220% ROI if you are able to win the single table SNG.
As most people know, I am a Razz fanatic. While I play ring games a lot, I mostly like to play the nightly $2,000 Guarnatee at 8:15PM on FTP. It is a $24+$2 buy-in, and I am now at the point that if I don't have a token to buy-in, I just don't play. It just makes sense to play that way. It forces me to makes good decisions while playing my satellite tourney so that I am ensured to win the token so I can play the nightly tourney. In fact, I am in the process of stockpiling tokens right now so that when I go on my business trip next week I don't have to worry about a thing and just hop online at 8:15 each night and play. Right now I am 4-for-4 in that endevour. With one cash in any of the 5 tourneys I play next week, I will be an overall winner. And all I have to say is if I don't cash at least once next week, then I may quit playing for awhile. But the Razz tourney is a topic for another post on another day.
So make sure and take advantage of the $8.70 satellite SNG tourneys. It saves me from losing more than otherwise normally would. Hopefully it will help you as well.
And I figure the majority of poker players are in my boat these days. We cannot all be winning players - that is impossible. The fish don't lose enough money to make everyone else winning players. That being said, I am trying my best to get better. And hopefully I will eventually turn that corner. I hope to learn a lot from those who post comments here. And who knows - you may learn something from me too, although I am thinking those will be rare occurrences indeed.
OK - the one thing that I think I have got down pat online is the art of the cheap satellite tourney. Specifically, the satellite tourney to win $26 tokens on Full Tilt. The one in particular that I love is the $8.70, 18-person tournament they have to win a token. You have to finish in the Top 6 to cash ($14) and the Top 5 for the token.
Why do I love this tournament? For starters, it is just cheap enough to attract really bad players, especially players who do not know how to transition from a regular tournament to a satellite tournament. And what is so great about them? You simply have to play ABC poker to regularly win. Wait for premium hands and pounce. There are just enough fish to pay you off when you hit, and just enough other good players to stay out of your way while you pick off the fish. And, of course, you should stay out of there way while they do the same.
In order for this to make sense, you need to win slightly more often than every 3 tournaments you play. If you play ABC for the greater majority of these tournaments, you should easily win every other time you play. That would be on average spending $17.40 to win $26, which is just under 50% profit.
Unfortunately, you must use these tokens to play in other tournaments, so you do not realize the profit from these tournaments immediately. But Full Tilt runs $24+$2 tournaments several times during the day. If you have a tournament you regularly play that has this buy-in, you MUST start playing these token satellites. You immediately will reap in the benefits by saving yourself around $10 every time you play. And the better you get at the satellites, you ROI should get even better (I have recently started scoring about 2 tokens for every 3 satellites I play). And one good score in the $26 tournament can make your investment in the satellites even feel more rewarding? What's better: winning a tournament you spent $8.70 to get into or $26? Psychologically, you would be amazed how much that $17.30 savings means to you when you cash.
Another way to invest those $26 tokens is by using them in another satellite tournament. There are $24+$2 satellite tournaments for $75 tokens as well. Same format as the $8.70 tourneys. The only difference is that with the $8.70 tournaments you have both Turbo and Regular tourneys to choose from, while on the $26 tournaments you merely have Regular speed to choose. But in this format, 6th place pays $60+, so even if you bubble the token you still end up with a decent payday. All for the initial investment of a mere $8.70. You can then use the $75 token to play in several higher dollar buy-in tournaments for a fraction of the price. Or you can even use these tokens on special single table SNG's where the top prize is $310.50. For those keeping score at home, if it takes you two times to score a $26 token, two times to win a $75 token, and two times to win, that is a 220% ROI if you are able to win the single table SNG.
As most people know, I am a Razz fanatic. While I play ring games a lot, I mostly like to play the nightly $2,000 Guarnatee at 8:15PM on FTP. It is a $24+$2 buy-in, and I am now at the point that if I don't have a token to buy-in, I just don't play. It just makes sense to play that way. It forces me to makes good decisions while playing my satellite tourney so that I am ensured to win the token so I can play the nightly tourney. In fact, I am in the process of stockpiling tokens right now so that when I go on my business trip next week I don't have to worry about a thing and just hop online at 8:15 each night and play. Right now I am 4-for-4 in that endevour. With one cash in any of the 5 tourneys I play next week, I will be an overall winner. And all I have to say is if I don't cash at least once next week, then I may quit playing for awhile. But the Razz tourney is a topic for another post on another day.
So make sure and take advantage of the $8.70 satellite SNG tourneys. It saves me from losing more than otherwise normally would. Hopefully it will help you as well.
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