Second Class Post
Mar. 3rd, 2007 02:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksMost of the blogs I read have headed off into the distance, as far as I can tell. So I guess it's nice to see that Ignatious O'Reilly (http://guinnessandpoker.blogspot.com) is back, having worked out that he could make more money posting on his own blog and pimping Party Poker, Full Tilt and PokerStars than he could from the people at Pokerworks when they were hosting his posts. And, of course, there is more editorial freedom.
Also quite interesting, at the moment, is www.pokerverdict.com. where Hugo Martin not only gains kudos for a mention of Charles Bukowski, but also links to paperonpoker, who gives a fine tale of Mr Chu of the Vic. I remember Mr Chu from the early 1990s (and quite possibly the late 1970s) and the stud tables. After the stud died out apparently he spent some months watching the Hold 'em tables before stepping back in. And there he remains.
Richard Brodie's "Lion Tales" seem to have headed off into a surrealistic land, a fraction reminiscent of aforementioned Bukowski. How much is real, how much is fiction? And what had brought about this distinct change in the Brodie oeuvre? A mid-life crisis? Anyway, tales from Reno (where he is at the moment) are, well, weird. www.brodietech.com/liontales/blog.htm
The latest www.pokerati.com has a link to a superb tuff fish compilation - better even than watching tuff fish actually play. For those of you unaware of tuff fish, he's actually recorded some of his adventures on YouTube. The problem is that Tuff sometimes tends to "lose it" at short-handed NL tables, very much not having the patience of a saint.
www.sirfwalgman.blogspot.com is a bit of a lovefest for other bloggers and doesn't seem to post much of interest to those outside the circle. A bit like attending a party where it seems as if everyone knows everyone else. However, he has attempted to video some play online. I've often thought about managing something like this, but the effort involved always makes me reconsider. However, playing that single uploaded hand gives you an insight into how sirfwalgman, and a large number of people, play.
Negative EV at foolandhismoney.blogspot.com did a brief post in December about his win in the bloggers tourney in LV, but there has been nothing since. I found Kevin's card in my desk drawer at work the other week, but now I've probably lost it again (we met at the limit Bellagio 8-16 tables in 2005).
Dutifully pluoghing through the blogs listed by Iggy (and there are a lot) I came to the conclusion that, for me, most of them are a little like going to Gutshot to play poker live. You know that much of the conversation will revolve around football, TV, drinking and sex. This is bad enough at the Gutshot, but when the bloggers are talking about American football, American TV, and American drinking, then this poor reader, at least, feels even more left out. There is little in most of them to grab any purchase. And what poker there is usually related to low-stakes MTTs.
The problem is, low-stakes MTTs are what most players are interested in. And, yes, most of them quite clearly suck, so low-stakes MTTs are almost certainly the best way for them to spend any time playing poker, because they get a lot of entertainment for not much money.
One common thread to many of these bloggers' posts is how so many of them end upo going out "very near" the money, and their complate lack of appreciation of the cause. Of all the blogs I read, not one seemed to spot that their strategy of "sensible" play early on was leading to the desperation situation as the blinds went up.
And the complaint is usally along the lines of "I went out with AK vs 74s", rather than "I went out with 2,000 chips when the blinds were 300-600, and my opponent had 50,000 chips".
Law School Dropout (zbasic.com/pokerblog.html) has called it a day with his blog, and possibly with online poker, although he is planning on playing in the WSOP.
From jmcautomatic.blogspot.com we have "thanks for the fun. I quit". Ah well, at least he made the final post. Most of the blogs simply fade into silence.
++++
Party had a $100 deposit bonus but upped the required number of raked hands in a week to 1,000. At $2-$4 these days that can be anywhere between 2,200 and 2,800 hands played, and I really didn't feel like it. Then I played some $1-$2, because the average pot size was almost as large as that of the $2-$4 games (see the influence that these bots are having?). After 200 hands of this I looked at my bonus balance and saw that I had knocked off about 180 points. Wow, way to go, I thought. Clearly even the 25c rake at $5 (not imposed at the $2-$4 level) counted as a "raked hand".
So, that was it, I was off. Having played 1,000 games at $2-$4 to generate 350 points (mainly two-tabling), a mere three or four hours of three-tabling at $1-$2 cleared the bonus. Oh, and the quality of play was a lot worse too. Indeed it was at about the $2-$4 level of a couple of years ago. Except that, now, given current standards, it seemed much worse. The bonus generated when three-tabling was about $18 an hour, which is higher than I have seen anywhere for quite a while.
Also quite interesting, at the moment, is www.pokerverdict.com. where Hugo Martin not only gains kudos for a mention of Charles Bukowski, but also links to paperonpoker, who gives a fine tale of Mr Chu of the Vic. I remember Mr Chu from the early 1990s (and quite possibly the late 1970s) and the stud tables. After the stud died out apparently he spent some months watching the Hold 'em tables before stepping back in. And there he remains.
Richard Brodie's "Lion Tales" seem to have headed off into a surrealistic land, a fraction reminiscent of aforementioned Bukowski. How much is real, how much is fiction? And what had brought about this distinct change in the Brodie oeuvre? A mid-life crisis? Anyway, tales from Reno (where he is at the moment) are, well, weird. www.brodietech.com/liontales/blog.htm
The latest www.pokerati.com has a link to a superb tuff fish compilation - better even than watching tuff fish actually play. For those of you unaware of tuff fish, he's actually recorded some of his adventures on YouTube. The problem is that Tuff sometimes tends to "lose it" at short-handed NL tables, very much not having the patience of a saint.
www.sirfwalgman.blogspot.com is a bit of a lovefest for other bloggers and doesn't seem to post much of interest to those outside the circle. A bit like attending a party where it seems as if everyone knows everyone else. However, he has attempted to video some play online. I've often thought about managing something like this, but the effort involved always makes me reconsider. However, playing that single uploaded hand gives you an insight into how sirfwalgman, and a large number of people, play.
Negative EV at foolandhismoney.blogspot.com did a brief post in December about his win in the bloggers tourney in LV, but there has been nothing since. I found Kevin's card in my desk drawer at work the other week, but now I've probably lost it again (we met at the limit Bellagio 8-16 tables in 2005).
Dutifully pluoghing through the blogs listed by Iggy (and there are a lot) I came to the conclusion that, for me, most of them are a little like going to Gutshot to play poker live. You know that much of the conversation will revolve around football, TV, drinking and sex. This is bad enough at the Gutshot, but when the bloggers are talking about American football, American TV, and American drinking, then this poor reader, at least, feels even more left out. There is little in most of them to grab any purchase. And what poker there is usually related to low-stakes MTTs.
The problem is, low-stakes MTTs are what most players are interested in. And, yes, most of them quite clearly suck, so low-stakes MTTs are almost certainly the best way for them to spend any time playing poker, because they get a lot of entertainment for not much money.
One common thread to many of these bloggers' posts is how so many of them end upo going out "very near" the money, and their complate lack of appreciation of the cause. Of all the blogs I read, not one seemed to spot that their strategy of "sensible" play early on was leading to the desperation situation as the blinds went up.
And the complaint is usally along the lines of "I went out with AK vs 74s", rather than "I went out with 2,000 chips when the blinds were 300-600, and my opponent had 50,000 chips".
Law School Dropout (zbasic.com/pokerblog.html) has called it a day with his blog, and possibly with online poker, although he is planning on playing in the WSOP.
From jmcautomatic.blogspot.com we have "thanks for the fun. I quit". Ah well, at least he made the final post. Most of the blogs simply fade into silence.
++++
Party had a $100 deposit bonus but upped the required number of raked hands in a week to 1,000. At $2-$4 these days that can be anywhere between 2,200 and 2,800 hands played, and I really didn't feel like it. Then I played some $1-$2, because the average pot size was almost as large as that of the $2-$4 games (see the influence that these bots are having?). After 200 hands of this I looked at my bonus balance and saw that I had knocked off about 180 points. Wow, way to go, I thought. Clearly even the 25c rake at $5 (not imposed at the $2-$4 level) counted as a "raked hand".
So, that was it, I was off. Having played 1,000 games at $2-$4 to generate 350 points (mainly two-tabling), a mere three or four hours of three-tabling at $1-$2 cleared the bonus. Oh, and the quality of play was a lot worse too. Indeed it was at about the $2-$4 level of a couple of years ago. Except that, now, given current standards, it seemed much worse. The bonus generated when three-tabling was about $18 an hour, which is higher than I have seen anywhere for quite a while.
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Post
Date: 2007-03-04 02:59 pm (UTC)Re: Post
Date: 2007-03-05 08:54 am (UTC)On the plus side, you got mentioned. A good four-fifths of those accessed were immediately dismissed as 'pointless'. And, for a blog, it does what it says on the tin. There's nothing wrong with a blog being for a circle of friends that doesn't bother to explain things to outsiders. That, to use a hip phrase that was once fashionable, went out of fashion and then came back in again, is what 'narrowcasting' is all about. And, as that kind of blog, it's very good.
However, that can mean that the general tone of the blog makes it of less interest to 'outsiders'. Nothing wrong with that, but for readers looking for topics of interest to the wider world, it might not be the best place to start.
PJ
Re: Post
Date: 2007-03-06 04:15 pm (UTC)Yeah. My point is, sure there is a lot of crap out there (SirFWalGman included), but sometimes, even crap can be entertaining, if not to you than to someone else. I mean, it's a blog, not a written tome.