Cain is Abel

Rush poker was introduced by FTP less than 1 month ago.  Due to the terrible shortstacking problem causing bad game-selection at Stars, I’ve put much more time in at Full Tilt experiencing their new Hold’em variant.  The first ~40-50k hands have gone very well, and I’ve learned enough to write an article about the positive and negative differences in Rush Poker.

For those who have not played it, or do not quite know what Rush Poker is,  here’s a brief explaination:

The rules/layout are the same as normal Texas Hold’em. 6 or 9 players at a table,  same betting order, etc.  The only difference is – at the end of every hand, the table is broken up, and a new randomly generated table of players is created for your next hand.  Every hand will be played against a different random table, from a random position.   You are also allowed to “quick fold” a hand if you are planning on folding anyway and do not want to wait for other players to act.  This allows you to immediately see a new hand at a new random table without having to wait 1+ minute for the current hand to end. Because of this, Rush Poker players generally get 200+ hands per hour, which is 2-3x more than any standard table.

This change may look somewhat minor to someone who has not played before.  The rules are the same, the cards are the same, so why is it so revolutionary?  Here are the differences from my experience.

RUSH Positives:

• Faster hands per hour across the board.
• Faster load-up time.  Usually, 16 tables at FTP would take a good 15+ minutes to load up and be playing 1000 hands per hour.  At Rush poker, you can immediately load up 4 tables, and within the time it takes the software to say “3…2…1…” you are in the action! The same 1000 hands per hour is achieved at 4 tables with 10+ minutes of load time saved.
• Weaker and Tighter regular players.  The strong players who have put in time at Rush Poker tend to 3-bet way less, steal and defend way less, and play a much more ABC game that can be exploited more than their usual game would allow.
• Faster rake/FTPs generation. For those working towards Iron Man status, 4 tables of 100NL rush poker will take about 15 minutes to qualify you for the day.  This is about 50% faster than loading up 16 tables of the equivalent stakes and waiting for the blinds to come around.

RUSH Neutral:

• No HUD / Reduced HUD.  Both Hold’em  Manager and PokerTracker have trial versions of Rush HUDs available, and they both are functional.  Eventually both of them will have a working version and there will be very little difference.  Basically, as the tools are developed, experienced players will be able to use them.  A slight positive aspect of this point is that fish feel safer at the moment – due to HUDs being less available.

RUSH Negatives:

• Fish are significantly tighter.  There are still plenty of loose weak players, but they have much less incentive to play those bad preflop hands when they can just fold and immediately see the next one.  There are still plenty of weak players in the field, but their preflop mistakes are being corrected by their ability to quickly see a new hand.
• It is more suited towards Mid and Low stakes games. The 1/2NL games have about a 3rd the players of .5/1NL.  Experienced players get a huge portion of their edge from game flow and personal reads, so it seems unlikely that we will see a large audience for higher stakes Rush Poker games.

SUMMARY

I predict Rush Poker will have a moderate following in 2010, but I don’t see it overrunning the standard 9-man tables.  It is a fun, simple variant of Texas Hold’em that moves at a faster pace and encourages a tighter style of play.  In the long run, I expect it will be somewhat less profitable than standard games, but not by much.

REAL ESTATE BUSINESS:

For the past year, I’ve been learning from scratch how to repair and manage some low-income investment property.  From the beginning, I never really intended for them to be such a hands-on experience.  However, when your property manager is stealing from you, the few tenants aren’t paying, the repair men are conning, and the business is hemorrhaging money, a more personal approach becomes necessary.

In February of ‘09, we were at 21% occupancy, with ~16% needing complete rennovation, and the remaining 63% needing serious work. I fired the crooked manager, started overseeing the repairs myself, and started doing all of the legal/financial/management footwork that was needed.

1 year later, we’re at 69% occupancy, with all of those units in vastly improved condition.  10% still need repairs, 10% need rennovation, and 10% are rentable.

Despite the vast improvement, low income properties are still a giant pain in the ass.  This is a job that clashes heavily with poker, because there is almost always something that needs your time, effort, and patience.  The job wears on your patience especially, because you are constantly negotiating with people who either don’t want to work, or want to scam you.

I passed off the management torch this month, in order to give myself more time to focus on poker, family, etc.  Despite having a manager to deal with the majority of the issues, it still requires daily effort.

Fortunately, after this past year, the business has become close to self-sustaining.  I still need to put in the time, of course, but they aren’t nearly as much of a liability as they were last year. I have learned a ton about life in general by taking on the management of these buildings.  It has been a very growing experience, and while it came at the cost of other aspects of my life, these lessons will be very beneficial in the long run.

As I get more time in the future, I may write some more detailed articles about my experience.  From a crazed schizophrenic tenant I inherited, to a crooked manager, to a conman contractor, I’ve got quite a few interesting stories built up.

The best advice I can give to anybody who is considering real estate investment is: Either do the management yourself, do most of the repairs and manual labor yourself, or don’t get into the business. If you aren’t hands-on, you are going to get robbed and things are not going to run the way they should.

Back to poker!

2010 has been running just fine for me.  I put too many of my resources into the RE business in ‘09, so by the time I got serious about poker again in January, my bankroll was left a bit shorter than I would prefer.  I’ve been crushing the 100NL level as always, and building back up to a comfortable bankroll.  Just this month, I started mixing 200NL in there as well (and killing it, of course).  By the end of February, I should easily be where I’d like in terms of bankroll.

SHORTSTACK EXODUS:

Full Tilt Poker made a huge update in January that increased the minimum buyin from 20BB to 35BB on standard tables, and created “shallow” tables for the shortstacks to play against each other.   To an average player, this may not seem like much – but it is a huge deal.

“Shortstacking” is a strategy that involves buying in for the minimum, playing a watered down strategy, and enjoying a strategic advantage against other full-stacked players at the table.  A couple shortstacks here and there are not too terrible to worry about, but this strategy has spread heavily in the past couple years, and has caused games to be less enjoyable and less profitable.

FTP finally did something about it, and as a result, their games have been more profitable than ever.  Many people are encouraging Stars to make the same change, and we are still awaiting an official response.

The issue is so strong that I have already moved the majority of my play over to FTP in order to enjoy this great update.  If Stars does not make a similar change in the coming months, after I’ve cleared my bonuses there, I wont have much reason to continue playing anywhere other than FTP.  I’m not the only high-volume regular who has made this transition, so it is a pretty big deal.  As good as Stars has been to me for the past couple years, they need to embrace this change or they will have a hard time getting my business back.

Unfortunately, shortstacking has become so popular on Stars, that I think they may be reluctant to make a similar change in fear of scaring away a large part of their player base.  I look forward to hearing their official response.

I plan on writing a longer article about what I consider the benefits and drawbacks of shortstacking on a personal level, and how I believe it effects the game of poker in general.

“Rush poker” has also been recently introduced by FTP.  It is a unique way to play Texas Hold’em where you are matched up against a random set of opponents every single hand – sort of like changing tables in a tournament.  It eliminates a lot of the player reads you can make, and vastly changes the dynamic of the game due to not having any table history to work with.  I’ve put in quite a few hours of Rush poker over the past month, and will also be writing an article about my experiences there.

Look forward to more updates in February!

Poker has still been a bit wish-washy for the past month.  I’ve been getting in a reasonable amount of time just table selecting and playing a low # of tables, but even at best, my hourly rate is not going to be over 100 using this approach.  It’s nice, but it just is not profitable enough.

There is definitely not enough time to complete SNE in ‘09.  I may give it another run in 2010.

My biggest issue in the poker world has been a lack of focus.  In 08, my goal was clear, and it was very easy to see if I was ahead or behind my own personal expectations.  I haven’t had that for close to a year now.  It is just much less motivating and seems much less significant to float around and play random length sessions with no ultimate target.  It is almost too easy to make more than my own personal cost of living every month, and with that in mind, there is much less pressure to get in more than part-time hours.  Other distractions do effect the situation, but if I truly wanted to put in the hours, I would have. Having a “SNE Quest” to set my pace may be the best solution.

I applied to be a “Stars Online Pro” shortly after they opened the registration. Considering my (relatively) veteran status as an online pro, I think I’ve got a pretty damn good shot.  Not many have been in the game as long as I have without going bust.  That, on top of my poker software and training videos, makes for a decent resume.  If I’m accepted into this new program, I am 100% going for SNE in 2010, and will accomplish it.

Fingers Crossed!

I’m getting to a point where I may want to start blogging again, so I figured I’d put a stop to my gap in posting with a little update on what I’ve been doing the past half-year or so.

I gave up my SNE pursuit for 2009.  This decision was partially due to burnout, but mostly because of how many other things I’ve had on my plate in 09.

SNE Burnout: It really is difficult to pull together the motivation to complete this year long grind for a second year in a row.  It is hard to describe the negativity you feel waking up first thing in the morning, seeing the same 10-20 players at every table, knowing your edge is small, and knowing that you’ll have to put in hundreds more hours against them to stay on pace.  These feelings can be pretty crippling, especially during a downswing.

Distractions: My father and I own a few rental properties which were managed by an outside company until March.  Poor management and fraud caused this business to lose money very quickly, and has been putting a financial strain on me for years now. It is actually the main reason I have been unable to relocate to Vancouver, which has been my primary goal since 2005-2006.  I personally took over management in March, and have been learning to do everything from scratch.  It is not very fun being a landlord, but you cant trust anybody else with your property, so we don’t have many options.

I still plan on being a long-term part of the poker world, so as soon as these recent distractions have been handled, I’ll be back in full force.  I have continued to earn my living at poker in 09, and my win rate has actually been higher than it has in a long time. Most of that is due to being able to play when I feel like it, instead of being obligated on a daily basis.  I also have started table selecting over multiple sites, which is very good for my win rate as compared to playing a bunch of regulars at 24 tables.

As for the unfinished video series – I’ve had interest from many different training sites, but could never put together a deal.  This kind of training series is definitely different, and more valuable than the other generic videos out there, and monetizing the series will be extremely difficult. I still know that there is a huge demand for this series, as it has STILL not been done, but to complete it, I’ll need to also know that I can earn enough to make it worth my time.  I’m still weighing my options and thinking about alternative ideas for release of the series.

I’ll still be working on my rental properties, and putting in part-time hours at poker for 2009. I’m not sure what 2010 will bring, but it very much depends on how clean my plate is at the end of this year.

The articles describe the day pretty well. I introduced myself to the Stars’ bloggers and let them know that I had a wife and other family at home who were constantly refreshing the blog for updates on me. I guess I was interesting enough to get some serious individual attention!

EPT Monte Carlo: All the way from Evansville, Indiana… – PokerStars Poker Blog

EPT Monte Carlo: On trucks and final tables – PokerStars Poker Blog

EPT Monte Carlo: Tough day for the SuperNova Elite – PokerStars Poker Blog

My table was ROUGH! Andrew Chen (who coincidentally had asked me for directions to cheap beer on the 2+2 forums less than 24h earlier) sat to my immediate left. Directly to my right were Pokerstars Team Pros Alex Gomes and Dennis Phillips, separated by an empty seat. The empty seat was shortly filled by Michael Tureniec, another ultra-aggressive professional. So from the beginning, I was surrounded by some very big sharks.

I was about 5 minutes late returning to my table after the first break, and saw Andrew Chen leaving after busting AK v QQ. I wasn’t too disappointed at the time, because I knew Chen would have given me trouble.  5 minutes later, Patrick f***ing Antonius takes Chen’s empty seat. This was incredibly stressful for 2 reasons: 1) Antonius is known for his aggressive play, and he was fairly low on chips, so I expected him to give me a difficult time. 2) With 2 Team pros, Antonius, and Tureniec at my table, the media had us surrounded.  It was not a good time to be camera shy – there were literally dozens of camera men coming and going. The good news is, I very well may show up in some of the publications/websites who were there taking pictures.

I was incredibly satisfied with my balance of aggression and selective play. The first 4 levels of the tournament went about as smoothly as they could. I took down a ton of uncontested pots early on, and my first showdown was a steal attempt with K6o, which happened to flop a king. This helped my image a bit, and allowed me to get paid off on a few future hands.  (JT vs KQ? on QxTxT), (JJ v ?? on 356J5)

The one mistake I wasn’t too happy about, was an accidental call from early position with QQ. The blinds were 150/300, 25 ante, and I tossed in a 1k chip without announcing the raise. The rest of the table clearly noticed that I intended to make that EP raise, and I had 3 or 4 limpers behind me. The flop came a fairly safe T23, and I was OOP vs an aggressor who was very willing to get it in on this relatively small pot.  I wasn’t interested in trying to salvage any ego after the accidental call, and got away for less than 1500 of my (at the time) 44k chips.

About 30min later, near the end of this level, I catch pocket aces. A player from EP raised to ~900, and I reraise from the CO to 3000 – EP calls. Flop: JT9 rainbow. EP checks to me, and I fired 5000 to protect my hand. My raises had been getting a lot of respect from the table, so I put him on a fairly narrow range of: 77+, AQ+, and a discounted KQs-T9s.  He checkraised to 15k and I went to the tank. I do feel like I needed to protect my hand, but this was a board that completely smoked his range.  Best case scenario for me was that he was on AQ and trying to semi bluff me out. I dont think he’d checkraise with a hand like that though. So that leaves sets and major combodraws which leave me a huge dog, or a minor favorite. I wasnt interested in flipping for my entire tournament this early, and certainly expected his range to be much heavier on 88-QQ. After thinking for a couple minutes I mucked the bullets for a 8k chip loss.

About 5 hands later, I’m down to 33-34k chips and find myself in EP with black kings, the blinds had just increased to 200/400 ante 50. I raise to 1200 and get called by Patrick Antonius. Dennis Phillips was in the SB, and reraised to 3000.   I had been making enough successful steals that it felt like many of the players were interested in looking me up. Dennis’ raise also looked like a potential squeeze play, due to Antonius’ call behind me. I reraise to 18k and commit my stack, Phillips pushes, I call and see the ugly news – Black kings vs black aces. An ace on the flop sealed my fate.

I really can’t be upset with the way the tournament went. I was very happy with my play the entire time. Despite being surrounded by extremely strong and experienced players, I was able to gradually build my stack until the last couple coolers. There was a bit of an intimidation factor, but it didn’t keep me from successfully 3betting the ultra-aggressive Alex Gomes with 64o, or making a similar play against Michael Tureniec with an equally garbage hand. Unfortunately it was the good hands that lead to my demise.

So that’s it for this blog post. We still have the sweet Monte Carlo Bay Resort room for the rest of the week. There are some other small tournaments that will be available to the other bustos out there, but I’ll probably take a day to relax and enjoy this tiny country.

Blogging from the hotel right now. 20EUR/day for internet, anyone?

After having a couple of 10$ beers down in the lobby, we decided to head to a supermarket and stock up on this necessary resource. The whole trip took about 40minutes and saved us about 200$.

I wish I had my camera-comp cord with me, because the first recognizable face I had a picture with was Daniel Negreanu. Pretty cool.

I saw Tony G, Eric Seidel, Joseph Hachem, and a few other well-known pros in the lobby while I was down there. I’m sure I’ll get to meet + get a picture with many more of these folks in the next few days.

As far as the tournament goes – I’m very happy with the blind structure, and think it will give me a solid advantage. I definitely excel with lower blinds, as opposed to the shove-fests that online tournaments often turn into. On top of that, I’ll be playing on day 1a, which means I get a 1-day break to recoup. Definitely happy with these updates.

I’ll update as I can – I’m still looking to find the players lounge (which may not yet be set up, i’m not sure) which should have free beer and wifi.

We were in Nice for a day before this. Nice was nice, the weather was not. It has pretty much been raining since we got here. The atmosphere in Nice was great, and we loved every restaurant that we visited. It is a great people-watching city.

If you ever visit Nice, beware the dog shit. There are a LOT of people walking their dogs around town, and apparently they can just shit wherever they want. A sidewalk is no sanctuary from their turds, so keep an eye out!

That’s it for today. My first day of the tournament is tomorrow at noon, so GL me!

I’ll be devoting much of the next month to preparing myself for the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event. It may be a bit of a late start, but I’ve had a ridiculous amount of responsibility on my plate lately, and have not been able to devote enough time to poker. The progress of my video series has also been halted. I’ll put more time into this project when I have some to spare – much of the work has already been done, so it is definitely on the horizon.

As for my tournament training:

I started a thread on Part Time Poker, a staking/coaching forum, detailing my situation.  There are some very good players who frequent those forums, so I expect to find a great coach.

The plan for now is to start a shorter-term BAP* from April 1-21. I have never received a stake through the forum before, though I have staked many others. I think that I’ll be able to establish myself as a reliable investment during those 3 weeks.

After closing the first BAP, I will open another one to sell a portion of my Monte Carlo entry.  The buyin for the main event is about 14kUSD, which is more than I would want to risk on a single tournament. I’d like to sell at least 5k, and as much as 7k of my entry, in order to lower my personal risk.

*BAP = Buy A Piece – a type of stake where multiple investors pool money together to fund a player, with a percentage of the winnings to be shared among the investors

I’m not sure of the specifics on the BAP, such as % staker cut, or the exact amount I want to sell – but I will definitely be offering some of my action in this tournament to the public. So if any of you readers are interested in taking a piece of the EPT Main Event, let me know!

As for non-tournament poker, I’ve put in some hours the past few days. The games are still just the same as they were – there is not much more for me to learn from this style. It is still a solid income, but it definitely doesn’t spark much excitement nowadays. MTTs will be a welcome change.

Heh…not really. I did run pretty horribly during the vegas trip. I probably got in about 10 table hours, so ~250-300 hands really isn’t the largest sample.  To have the 3 brutal losses I experienced, on top of the fact that I showed down 0 significant wins (all wins were bluffs/no shows) was clearly the nasty side of variance.

Fortunately, I got to win through my mom/stepdad who I gave lessons to during the trip.   **brag** My mom, who had never played poker before, placed 12/50 in a 70$ SnG, and chopped the next one for a 300$ win! Paul also placed 16/50th in the first one, and chopped his second for (I think) 325$!

Despite my terrible luck, I did get more comfortable at a live table.  I’m confident with my ability to compete in the very different casino atmosphere.

As for the beat hands….

A7 vs AJ   Board: A75TJ   (~1200 pot, all in on turn)

AA v TT Board: A5TTx (~300 pot, all in on flop)

KK v AA Board: I forget, no king (~800 pot, all in preflop)

Bad luck.

When I get time, I’ll be uploading some pictures and maybe doing a more detailed trip report.

Back to the busy balancing act.

I’m going to Vegas for the first time since turning 21! This should be quite an experience!

Hopefully I come back with a big wad of cash.

Updates to follow!

So, I’m sure my regular readers have been wondering “Wtf is Belok going to do about SNE? He’s way behind!” Well, I did fall behind – and have decided not to go for it this year. I think I’ll hit some milestones, but for now I’ll be focusing my time on…

THE MASS TABLING VIDEO SERIES

I’ve begun seriously progressing on the videos, and am extremely excited.  In addition to being very informative, I have some pretty great demonstrations lined up, and enhancements out the wazoo. Things that have not been seen before.  This series is going to be the ultimate source for multi-tabling information for both advanced and novice players.

ETA ~1-2 months, but I am not releasing it until the entire series is complete. The wait will be worth it.