I figured it out

I figured it out
With a pencil and a pad I figured it out!
Seven and a half cents doesn’t buy a hell of a lot,
Seven and a half cents doesn’t mean a thing!
But give it to me every hour,
Forty hours every week,
And that’s enough for me to be living like a king

I guess I could have also gone with the lyrics to some other show tune. No! I am not gay or however you wish to spell it in a blog. I am from the era of the movie musical.

Hands Rake Average Cost/Hand
.25-50 4940 91.05 .01843
.50-1 1353 40.20 .01478
1-2 154 12.00 .07792
2-4 28 3.00 .10714

Well, it is a weak sample except for the .25-.50. The numbers don’t seem seriously debilitating. If we use the large sample, it pretty much looks like chump change.
The .25-50 is a reasonable sample and a pretty good run. I earned $152.60 which amounts to 6.18 Big Bets per 100 hands. It is about 50% above normal expectations of 4BB/100. If you look at rake, it is 1.84 big bets. Their expectations are about half of my reasonable expectation for those hands at that limit.

What am I getting at? Kind of looks like wizzing into the wind … death and taxes. OK, the sites make money off of us. Duh! But, there are promotional bucks that come back to us. That is a cost of their doing business with us but that has changed. They may be still giving out X% based on their business plan. But the directions has changed.

Remember the good old days? They were the good old days. The cheap and easy funding of Neteller has changed the cost structure. The competition for filling seats has dwindled. As a result we aren’t seeing the sites push using redeposit bonuses in rampant mode.

Instead, the sites are pushing upper limits. Promotions tout the new Porsche that player points award. Ignore the fact that it was provided by pennies on the rake dollars. Hop in that big tournament for 10,000 points. Or, drop a few grand in a big monthly or weekly tournament.

All that is well and good if you are one of the premier or overly optimistic. For those who consider the 2-4 or 4-8 game or a $100 NL table their best shot, the loss of those bonus opportunities are big changes. The ability to get a check for you accumulated points isn’t coupled to those bonuses. So, regardless of your skill, you are a less profitable player these days.

All that is well and good but we are still at the tables. We feel lucky we can still do the online thing. But remember the pre-UIGEA with fondness.

Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end


We'd sing and dance forever and a day

OMG, maybe I am. Nahh! Ya think? Just sounds like something from Fiddler, right? Well, at least I don’t wear makeup like that G-Vegas crowd. And, I still think Mary was a fox — even in her 60’s getup. Where did I put my leisure suit, Larry? OMG, I’m not gay; I am Disco Stu.

Oh my friend we’re older but no wiser.

ADDENDUM:

I proceeded to be the village idiot at the .50-1 table. A loose cannon got my attention. He’d lose to the guy with 77 and beat me when I had AA. I was tilted. I can usually make money off these types but this one managed to get my goat. Not a big loss. Went to another table and made it back.

Just got off a 2-4 table. I will hit and run at them with early success and every session so far had provided that. I managed a quick $31.50 profit. The table was loose aggressive and lost a couple of players. I decided to leave. There was a player at the table I’d run into at the lower limits playing LOTS of hands and he was doing the same at 2-4. His game was the bluff and everybody caught onto him. People were calling and winning with folding hands against him.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 2:32 pm and is filed under Journal, Poker Other. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.