theonlinepokerleague.com Blog

Pot Limit Omaha on Saturday (with prize!!)

 On Saturday I am hosting a $20+$2 Pot Limit Omaha event at PokerStars. This is one of the 3 “majors” that I am hosting this season and what “major” means is that I will put my hand in my pocket and provide a prize for this event.  I’m not exactly sure whether it will be a plaque or a trophy but there will be something and I will look to see what else I can lay my hands on to include in the prize such as WPT Cards or a t-shirt or something. Anyway what you need to know is that there will be a prize for this one and its gonna cost me money!! (That should be incentive enough!!..lol)

The details of the event are that it will be at PokerStars at 1500 EST on Saturday so if you’re in the UK like me then that will be 8.00pm. You can find the tourney under Tourneys–>Private from the lobby!

The details in full are:

Table name: TOPL $20 PL Omaha
Table number: 51431701
When: Saturday 16 June @ 15:00 ET
Game: PL Omaha
Blinds: 15 minutes
Starting chips: 1,500
Places paid - Normal PokerStars payout rules (top 3 up to 27 players etc)
Break: 5 mins after each hour
Buy in: $20.00 + $2.00
Password: topl07

I’m just hoping that I can win the thing so that it doesn’t cost me too much…lol. 

Assuming that I do not win then the winner will have to contact me to sort out the prizes.

Poker petitions for UK and US Governments

I’ve found a couple of petitions today with regards to trying to put pressure on respective governments with a view to either change the status of Poker or at least make it legal. I would suggest that everyone looks at these and adds their name if they agree with the objectives:

The first petition is to try and Repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The petition is as follows:

Repeal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act
Dear Members of Congress,
As an American, I am outraged to learn that Congress has passed legislation that will severely restrict my ability to have certain freedoms in my own home.Unfair passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is clearly designed to restrict the freedoms of voters who sent you to office to represent them, and prevent us from making mature decisions about how we spend our leisure time and money.

If you would like to sign this petition then please click here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/306149419

The second petition is in the UK and is on the governments petition site. The objective of this is to make Poker a prescribed game under the Gambling Act 2005.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to to classify Poker as a prescribed game under the 2005 Gambling Act, in line with the games of Bridge and Whist.

Further info: Making Poker a prescribed game would allow regulated Poker to be played outside of a casino environment in private members’ Poker clubs.

This petition has been laid by the UK Poker Club Association (UKPCA). The UKPCA has been set up by 13 of the UK’s leading private members’ Poker clubs to assist Poker players and private members’ clubs who are concerned by aspects of the regulations laid out in the Gambling Act 2005.

If you would like to sign this petition then please click here: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Poker-UK/

Pot Limit Holdem result

Ok there may have only been 5 of us in the game tonight but the game was still a tricky one and lasted the best part of 80 minutes. Str8Krzy was actually not seated for the first half an hour and he missed MrStricker66 going out. Whilst I managed to get into a big lead I couldn’t quite make it count and keep losing chips on silly pots that I shouldn’t have been in. Anyway Str8Krzy went out next which left Beardyian, Kedster and myself coming up to the break. Beardy was next to go and then after a number of hands Kedster managed to take 1st place. Well done m8.

Mansion Poker rakeback ends June 30

Yes thats right I’ve just recently heard that Mansion will be ending their rakeback program on 30 June so if you want to ensure that you get your 36% then make sure you sign up before then.

Don’t let this be you!..lol

Practice for Saturday

I thought I’d get in a bit of practice for Saturdays Pot Limit Holdem game that I am hosting on Stars on Saturday. I really don’t remember playing much PLHE before so it was a fairly new experience for me.

I played the game at Iron Duke (on the Merge Network) as I knew that there wouldn’t be that many players and true enough the game was only 14 players in total but it was also short handed so max 6 at a table meant there was a bit more action. I have to say that I did pretty well and knocked the first 3 out and was 1 or 2 all the way to the end and with just 4 left my KK went up against AJ, AJ which held up and we were heads up. At this point I had 75% of the chips and the game lasted but one more hand so I was please with taking the first prize.

Hopefully my good fortune will carry through to Saturday when we have the game at PokerStars. If you would like to play then just look for the game in the private tab and input the password detailed below:

Game details:

Table name: TOPL $5 PL Holdem
Table number: 51431420
When: Saturday 2 June @ 15:00 ET
Game: PL Holdem
Blinds: 15 minutes
Starting chips: 1,500
Places paid - Normal PokerStars payout rules (top 3 up to 27 players etc)
Break: 5 mins after each hour
Buy in: $5.00 + $0.50
Password: topl07

Before that game we have the WAPT Essex/London game on PokerStars on Friday. This game kicks off at 8.00pm and is for members of the World Amateur Poker Association. If you would like to know more before signing up then see Geoff who is near the top of my friends list on MySpace 

Know your enemy and win the prize!

“Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant of both the enemy and yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle”. The Art of War - Five Working Fundamentals by Sun Tzu circa 500 BC…

With this quote in mind there are a number of things that you can do to get that edge at the poker table when you do battle with your opponents.

1. Keep extensive notes on your opposition. - Ok this is a nice easy free one as almost all sites will let you keep notes on players and you should use this to make notes on how people are playing so that you can get an edge on them later in this game or in a totally different game in the future whereby you can draw on valuable information that you have kept on other players.

2. If you are planning on playing Sit N Goes then you need to make use of Sharkscope. SharkScope is the most complete database of online poker sit n’ go tournament results available for the PokerStars, FullTilt, CryptoLogic, Ongame, Pacific, Party Poker and Merge (Poker.com & Carbon Poker)networks. Support for iPoker, IPN and Cake is now in Beta test. Currently the database contains the results of 47,184,517 sit n’ go tournaments. You are allowed 5 free searches per day. For greater access please see their purchase options. This site is especially important as you can see players history and whether they are generally profitable players. Sharkscope does help in this regard with small icons for fish and sharks!

3. Tournament Players can also draw on online resource to help with ascertaining information on the players at their table. You can find out if players are used to playing at the level you are playing today and more importantly if you are deep in the tournament you can see if your opponents have been in this position before. The first resource to mention is The Poker DB which is run by Bluff Magazine. This site covers games from PokerStars, Full Tilt, Ultimatebet, Bodog and Absolute Poker. They currently have nearly 263,000 tournaments in their database and they have data on nearly 2,500,000 players. A basic subscription is free but if you would like more data then you can get full access for $100 per annum. This could prove to be an excellent investment.

4. The second resource for tournament players is Official Poker Rankings. This is a new database set up in 2006 and during the year more sites came onstream for data collection. Coverage is currently: Party Poker, Paradise Poker, Ongame Network, PokerStars and Full Tilt. Of the two I prefer this to Poker DB but with only 20% on the players on this one there is room to use both.

5. If you play SNG’s then contact Sharkscope to try and minimise the data that other users can see on you. You cannot be erased from the database but you can, to a certain, extent have your entries restricted. See their FAQ for details.

6. Consider investing in a poker tracker tool. One of the top tools is Poker Tracker which collates hand histories from most of the top sites puts them into one database. You can then with the aid of an addon overlay the playing statistics from your opponents onto the table as you are playing so you can easily see if your opponents are playing too many hands and if their hand selection is winning or losing for them. This software is really useful for cash game players where you will often play the same players night in night out. The database is often quite comprehensive so you can datamine the hand history and see what are the profitable plays for yourself and more importantly what plays lose you money eg if AQ suited is a loser then potentially you are overplaying the hand and maybe you should play it with a degree of caution in future.

7. Another Poker Tracker tool that you can try is Poker Office. PokerOffice is the most sophisticated tool on the market for Online Texas Holdem Poker. PokerOffice allows you to track all of your opponents actions as well as your own game, while you are playing, without any need for hand histories or user input. It stores all of the collected data and brings you summarized statistical reports, spreadsheets and graphs of your own and your opponents play. Major Features: - The PokerOffice Live Tracker! Get rid of tedious downloads of hand histories, PokerOffice brings you the opportunity to track your ring game and tournament play in real time without the need for hand histories. - The PokerOffice Statistics Section! Stores all collected data and brings you summarized statistical reports, spreadsheets and graphs of your own and your opponents play. Find out how many times you see the flop, raise, play middle pair on the flop, and much more.

I hope you find some of these sites of some use. The tournament selector on Sharkscope is a must for you to see and I will cover that in detail in future. But for now pop on over there and give it a go because its free if you are looking at Sit N Goes with buy ins of less than $10. This is an essential tool that ensures that you do not jump into a game full of sharks!! Don’t forget that you’re opponents are likely to be using these tools so make sure you are not at a disadvantage when you sit down at the tables.

Pot Limit Omaha tonight on PokerStars

This evening we have the next round in The Online Poker League 2007 Championship with a bonus event of a $5.50 Pot Limit Omaha game at PokerStars. Don’t worry if you’ve not played in these tourneys before as there are just a handful of us and we have a nice relaxed game every other week. If you would like to play then look for the table: TOPL #9 - PLO $5.50 under the private tables tab. The game starts at 15:00 ET (20:00 BST) and the password is topl07.

UP and running

Oh well I’m back up and running on the PC front so not all bad news recently. Another bonus is that I went to see Deep Purple, Styx & Thin Lizzy in Nottingham last night and despite the technical problems that limite Styx to just 3 songs I have to say that it was a great gig with Purple doing most of The Machine Head album..great stuff.

Back to the poker my balance of $380 on Hollywood has diminished greatly and is now on $230. Yes - I have played some appalling hands but everytime I get Kings and I’m trying to get my only caller to go all in he does with Aces and if I have aces then some nutter calls with 35 and makes a straight..aargh. I must admit I had flu like symptons over the weekend and my mind wasn’t totally clear so that may have contributed.

 My old PC went and pegged it last week so the transfer of data to my new pc with all the hand histories on Poker Tracker and my ledger as to well or badly that I have been doing has been lost. I will keep working on that PC as I believe it may just be a power issue but that could take some time so from May 1 I will start a new ledger. Heres hoping I can at least clear my small bonus on Hollywood without a major meltdown!

Computer probs and tonights event (#8)

Well after a weeks decent set of money finishes I have run bad..and when I say bad I mean I have stunk big time!! Not all of it has been my fault, however, with a series of PC crashes at important stages in SNG’s and MTT’s. I have therefore ordered a new PC which hopefully will turn up next week. In the meantime I was playing on Hollywood last night and the PC crashed with just 4 players left in the SNG (aargh) and nearly 18 hours later I still have not managed to get the PC working again. Hopefully I can get this laptop to work later so that I can play in Event #8 of The Online Poker League 2007 Championship. This weeks game is an $11 No Limit Holdem game. Everyone one is welcome so just look for TOPL #8 in the private lobby on PokerStars and enter topl07 as the password and with any luck I will see you there.

Back in the money!!..yahoo!!

My intention last night was to blast away the cold decks by playing 3 or 4 tables of SNG on Prima and get myself out of this terrible run I’ve been on for the last week. Things do not always go to plan, however, and I ended up on Bodog and I quite fancied the $3k guaranteed tourney with a $7.50 buy in. Again my cards were pretty poor but I managed to make things happen and got lucky a couple of times. Before I knew it 4 hours had gone and I was sitting at the final table in 5th place. I was mid/late with AJ so I raised and everyone folds and I picked up the blinds and antes of about 15k and moved up to 3rd and then I get KK. Well this is the first time I’ve seen a premium hand all night and I’m happy to pick up the blinds and antes again and if I get called I’m likely to be in good shape so I push with the hand and I’m all in. The big stack is now on the Big Blind and I think he had umbridge with my raise on the previous hand so he takes a stand with Ax. OK its a race and if I win I will be leading the tourney with just 7 players left so I’m not that unhappy but of course the A on the flop does make me swear a bit and I’m out in 7th place and a cash of $105.