Quest of a Closet Poker Player

Somewhere in the midst of another premium hand getting outdrawn for the seventeenth time, I headed away from my comfort zone and sat with the big boys:  $5/10 NLHE on PokerStars.

This is a typical, throw-out-bankroll-management, on tilt reaction to the downswing and losing.  From my peak of $5.2k on Stars earlier this month, my account had been cut roughly in half over the last couple weeks.  My plan of taking out anything over $4k each month looks like a pipe dream as I cannot make any of this work.

I should dive back into the facts, but it just looks so familiar:  Villain set farms and catches his draw while I have sets turn into losers, draw that don’t connect, etc.  Overplaying big hands?  I’m an expert at this.

Jumping up in stakes is a horrible sign, made worse if it is about justifying your own poor play or inability to handle the current game.  I can say that I haven’t had a mindset of playing in a game where my raises are respected.  It is more about shocking my system back into focusing on the game properly.  This is the only real downer of a hand in the jump up:

POKERSTARS GAME #12784866201:  HOLD’EM NO LIMIT ($5/$10) - 2007/10/22 - 18:10:05 (ET)
Table ‘Argelander’ 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: yoitsmedude ($1580.75 in chips)
Seat 2: LK_Revolt ($2674.75 in chips)
Seat 3: Gogol’s Nose ($1705 in chips)
Seat 4: csquard ($1000 in chips)
Seat 5: nj1958 ($169.75 in chips)
Seat 6: ROVIH ($1399 in chips)
yoitsmedude: posts small blind $5
LK_Revolt: posts big blind $10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to csquard [9c Tc]
Gogol’s Nose: folds
csquard: raises $20 to $30
nj1958: folds
ROVIH: folds
yoitsmedude: calls $25
LK_Revolt: folds
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8s 4s]
yoitsmedude: bets $40
csquard: calls $40
*** TURN *** [Jc 8s 4s] [Qh]
yoitsmedude: bets $100
csquard: raises $225 to $325
yoitsmedude: calls $225
*** RIVER *** [Jc 8s 4s Qh] [Qs]
yoitsmedude: bets $450
csquard: folds
yoitsmedude collected $797 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $800 | Rake $3
Board [Jc 8s 4s Qh Qs]
Seat 1: yoitsmedude (small blind) collected ($797)
Seat 2: LK_Revolt (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Gogol’s Nose folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: csquard folded on the River
Seat 5: nj1958 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: ROVIH (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Overall for October, I’m back in the red (-$350) after being up over $1.5k at one point.  I realize most people come to this blog to lay witness to my losing sessions (thanks pokerpeaker).  For me, it’s not always great fun to produce the content for this.   I’m up $500 at $5/10 NLHE, which is just enough to probably sucker me into donking off my entire bankroll soon enough.  Stay tuned.

The Absolute Poker saga is riveting, no doubt about it.  My buddy Jennifer from the WSOP has details here.  Let me give you a few other thoughts:

1. AP needs some crisis management help  Their reaction to this situation is deplorable as they have continually walked a deny/redirect tightrope with their communication.  The specific situation is all about the credibility of their business/site, and they have done nothing to restore this credibility.  Look for their answers and you have to search everywhere:  a 2+2 post here, a PocketFives forum response there, a Mark Seif blog post on CardPlayer.  Go to their website, and you see alot of nothing.  Crisis management is about candor and consistency in message, and AP has provided neither.  Combine that with a business situation that lacks regulatory oversight, and you have a cauldron for a mess that likely will torpedo this enterprise.  That UltimateBet (new owner of AP) hasn’t addressed the situation taints them as well.
2. Kahnawake Gaming Commission is a facade  Jennifer recaps the statement from this organization, as well as their launching of an investigation and bringing in Gaming Associates to conduct the audit.  I’ve always scratched my head when I saw the KGC name on the bottom of sites, somehow uncomfortable with this firm as the protector of my online game.  The AP saga is another example in a long list of cases (e.g., multi-accounts, etc) that point to security issues being discovered and outed by players rather than by this regulatory firm, KGC.  It should be their role to be the advocate of all players in ensuring an even playing field rather than a rubber stamp for the online sites.
3. Power to the People  N 82 50 24 has led the charge in digging through the data to turn this ho-hum hand history handout into the smoking gun it has become.
4. The Tip of the Iceberg  It is standard practice in situations like these to focus solely on the current company and situation while ignoring the big picture.  Is this a single rogue problem with AP or is it widespread?  Are there new phrases that we’ll add to our online poker lexicon to go along with terms like superaccount?  Are there other land mines waiting to be discovered in the coming months?
5. No One Does Anything  Here is a list of sites who currently offer affiliate downloads for Absolute Poker:  PokerWorks, CardPlayer, PokerNews, and PokerPages (for to name a few). This is a site whose actions have undermined online poker, yet we stand by and do nothing?  I call on every single site to pull Absolute Poker from their online advertising.  Immediately.

Hope everyone has a great day, and take care.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 8:56 am and is filed under Uncategorized.