The whys of online poker

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, Full Tilt’s licence was suspended last week. Luckily I cashed out of there two or three weeks ago, but will the cheque ($1400 and change) even arrive? And will it bounce when I try to cash it? There are players with scarily large amounts tied up on that site – five years’ average salary kind of amounts – who can’t cash out and fear the money might be gone for ever.

Assuming I do get my money I’ll finally be able to forget about my poker “career”. So why do people dabble (or a lot more) in this online poker lark in the first place?

1. To make money, obviously. But just as obviously most people don’t. I’m guessing 20% of players finish in the black in any given year. For me that was part of the motivation but deep down I knew I lacked the balls to play at high enough stakes to make serious dosh.

2. To have fun, get a buzz, all that stuff.

3. To give one’s brain a workout. The scenery constantly changes; having to react quickly to situations gave me a lot of mental stimulation. This was a pretty big motivator for me.

4. To boost one’s ego by outdoing certain other players, trash-talking in chat, and getting recognition for winning this or that tournament. I never ceased to be amazed at the egos that some players have. That part of the online poker scene left me cold to be honest. In the draw games that I played, people tended to me more civil than is the case at your average hold ’em table, and if they weren’t I’d just switch off chat.

5. To get involved in the poker community, socialise with other players on forums, or joke about how a certain hand played out.

6. To escape from real life, as an alternative to recreational drugs. That was my biggest motivator of all. The realisation of this (and my new situation of trying to pursue a business idea while holding down a full-time job) made me give up.
Finally, I loved this article about Black Friday that Andrew Brokos posted on Twoplustwo, particularly the bit about the meaninglessness of other (non-poker) jobs. I entirely agreed with him.

Apokerlypse

You probably can't read the "update" above, but I can assure you it's not good. The FBI have seized the PokerStars.com site (and Full Tilt too) and by the time I logged on to Stars the company had rerouted it to another address. US players are locked out. Can they cash out? Can I cash out (even though I'm outside the US)? I've just moved from Auckland to Wellington and right now I don't even have an address. And if everyone tries to cash out, Poker Stars' funds might have shrunk to the point that when I try to, the money won't be there. It's probably just as well I'm starting a new job on Monday.

This is no-limit poker, folks!

No-limit single draw has at times felt like a limit game, with relatively few four-bets or big all-ins. For some reason people seem very cautious, not wanting to bet big unless they have a truly massive hand. But then yesterday morning, as a reminder that the game is indeed no-limit, this hand came up.

PokerStars Game #51148256211: Single Draw 2-7 Lowball No Limit ($0.25/$0.50 USD) - 2010/10/15 15:53:17 ET
Table 'Renzia V' 7-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Antoniomaqui ($16.45 in chips)
Seat 2: ka$teIIa ($6.75 in chips)
Seat 3: popaionut ($57.65 in chips)
Seat 4: vitalikvital ($57.45 in chips)
Seat 5: Ic3-T ($49.50 in chips)
Seat 6: sngonta ($55.55 in chips)
Seat 7: plutoman20 ($30.60 in chips)
Ic3-T: posts small blind $0.25
sngonta: posts big blind $0.50
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to plutoman20 [6s 4d 8c 3c 5d] This is a truly massive hand. On the list of the 100 greatest hands of all time, it's right up there at number nine. It's a 282:1 shot, rarer than aces in hold 'em.
plutoman20: raises $1 to $1.50 My standard raise.
Antoniomaqui: folds
ka$teIIa: raises $5.25 to $6.75 and is all-in Yes!
popaionut: calls $6.75
vitalikvital: folds
Ic3-T: calls $6.50 Wow. What the hell have they got? Hopefully pat nines or tens, or draws to 8-7s. Interestingly my hand is the best possible hand without a deuce; this increases the chance that my opponents have the vital deuce they'll need to beat my hand. So what do I do here? I go all-in, right? Well actually my hand is good enough that I want to get called, don't I?
sngonta: folds
plutoman20: raises $10.25 to $17 Seventeen is the first number that comes into my head. I guess one of those two will call the extra $10.
popaionut: calls $10.25
Ic3-T: calls $10.25 OK, so they both call. Not sure I wanted that.
Ic3-T: discards 1 card
plutoman20: stands pat on [6s 4d 8c 3c 5d]
ka$teIIa: discards 1 card
popaionut: discards 1 card Everyone's drawing. Bugger. I'm still a biggish favourite here though.
Ic3-T: bets $17.50 I'm probably toast now. But the pot's so damn big I've got no real choice but to put the rest of my stack in.
plutoman20: calls $13.60 and is all-in
popaionut: calls $17.50 Oh you're calling too?! The pot has now reached three figures, though I doubt I'll be getting my dirty mitts on any of it.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Ic3-T: shows [2c 6d 3d 7d 4c] (Lo: 7,6,4,3,2)
popaionut: mucks hand
Ic3-T collected $7.80 from side pot-2
plutoman20: mucks hand
Ic3-T collected $69.90 from side pot-1
ka$teIIa: mucks hand
Ic3-T collected $26.15 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $106.85 Main pot $26.15. Side pot-1 $69.90. Side pot-2 $7.80. Rake $3
Seat 1: Antoniomaqui folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: ka$teIIa mucked [4s 9c 7s 8h 5c]
Seat 3: popaionut mucked [5s 6h 4h 2h 8s]
Seat 4: vitalikvital (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Ic3-T (small blind) showed [2c 6d 3d 7d 4c] and won ($103.85) with Lo: 7,6,4,3,2
Seat 6: sngonta (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: plutoman20 mucked [6s 4d 8c 3c 5d]

So I was beaten by both players (the ultra-short stack was drawing dead). If it's any consolation Popaionut lost even more on that hand than me. I should have shoved pre-draw and taken all the initiative; my stack was going in anyway. Just because I can sometimes go hundreds of hands without making an eight doesn't make my hand invincible. The short-stack, although he/she was well out of the running, played a big part in the hand. With a full stack he might have raised to $4, the pot would have been smaller, and I might have got away from my hand after the draw.