So I was the first to lose my $100. Danno still has ~$50, and same for Bryan. I obviously did not follow my own bankroll management tips. After you get down to say, $50, then playing 5% per game is a whopping $2.50. Blah. I basically did a double or nothing strategy with my last $30 or so and lost.
That being said, I did learn a lot about odds, lines, and the sports betting industry in general. Fun stuff. I ended up loading some more cash on another sports site. (Carib Sports). The reason I didn't reload at Bodog is because they don't post their lines until Tuesday or later, and even then, they don't post lines for many games, no moneylines, etc. - It really bites to see a line that you feel you have a good edge, but you can't bet it because it's not listed. By the time Bodog lists it, the line has moved so that it's no longer a good bet.
The thinking is pretty simple. The sports book's goal is to have equal betting on both teams in the contest. So the opening line is set to do just that... induce betting on both sides. So if the game is a big mismatch in team talent or a very popular team vs an unknown, the line will usually be a bit inflated on the side of giving points to the underdog/unknown. If you can catch that line as soon as it comes out, you can usually take the underdog with points, and have a good shot at a winning bet.
Though sometimes the line can move favorably, in most cases this season, I would find myself annoyed at Bodog because by the time they had posted the game, the line had moved unfavorably, relative to the bet I wanted to make.
Anyway. Sports betting rocks. Maybe I'll get back to poker in 2011.
Friday, December 03, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Sports Betting Race
Bryan (bmetz), myself and Danno (atlantisdan) are going to do a sports betting competition for NFL / College. We will each deposit $100 to say, Bodog, and then bet as many college or NFL games as we want. Whoever has the biggest Sports bankroll at the end of the NFL/College season, wins. The two losers pay the winner $25 each, so another $50 for winning.
So what strategy to use? Obviously, there are the usual sports betting money management systems out there. The only problem is, small bets probably won't keep pace if one of the other two hit some lucky streaks with larger bets. The last thing I want is to be faced with dropping huge bets on any one game to catch up.
This almost reminds me of a blackjack tournament, where your bet size and position are the two main ingredients to success. Position won't matter here, because none of us will really know the games that the others are betting. We'll have to do a weekly bankroll report or something, so we know who is in the lead.
Should be fun. Betting horses, sports or playing craps is so much less stressful than poker. Casino games especially, you know you are behind on every bet and an underdog. You're just hoping to get lucky a few times. Compare that to say, consistently getting money in with a 60%/40% lead and getting sucked out on incessantly. Since you know you are supposed to win the majority of those, it's incredibly frustrating when you hit the run where every flip goes against you.
Moral? Play craps or blackjack at a 1% or less house advantage. You'll lose a buck for every $100 wagered, on average and if you win in a session, it feels great. If you lose, well, you expected to, so no harm done.
I'll get back to poker in the short term. I got top level Iron Man at Full Tilt in August (200+ points per day for the first 25 days), so I'm a bit poker burnt out.
So what strategy to use? Obviously, there are the usual sports betting money management systems out there. The only problem is, small bets probably won't keep pace if one of the other two hit some lucky streaks with larger bets. The last thing I want is to be faced with dropping huge bets on any one game to catch up.
This almost reminds me of a blackjack tournament, where your bet size and position are the two main ingredients to success. Position won't matter here, because none of us will really know the games that the others are betting. We'll have to do a weekly bankroll report or something, so we know who is in the lead.
Should be fun. Betting horses, sports or playing craps is so much less stressful than poker. Casino games especially, you know you are behind on every bet and an underdog. You're just hoping to get lucky a few times. Compare that to say, consistently getting money in with a 60%/40% lead and getting sucked out on incessantly. Since you know you are supposed to win the majority of those, it's incredibly frustrating when you hit the run where every flip goes against you.
Moral? Play craps or blackjack at a 1% or less house advantage. You'll lose a buck for every $100 wagered, on average and if you win in a session, it feels great. If you lose, well, you expected to, so no harm done.
I'll get back to poker in the short term. I got top level Iron Man at Full Tilt in August (200+ points per day for the first 25 days), so I'm a bit poker burnt out.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Dinner with the Legend, Doyle Brunson!
No, I didn't get to have dinner with Doyle, but I did think the promotion up, so I get creativity points right? Evidently it made an impression on the OFC guys. I'll make a special place for those creativity points, right beside my sklansky dollars. I've got quite a collection of both!
In all seriousness, I just wanted to give a thumbs up and welcome home to Mike (MJCACE), who took down our Dinner with Doyle promotion and won a weekend in Vegas and dinner with the legend himself. Besides Doyle, there were other pros there, including Todd Brunson, Pam Brunson, and some Brunson 10 legends. Mike even came back with more money than he took. Who leaves Vegas "up"? Impressive!
You can read all about it on MJCACE's Blog. The Vegas Trip report is just south of the Summer Trip Report. Ahh, the life of a guy who earns his bill money fishing at Full Tilt, Cake and Absolute Poker!
Congrats again Mike and hope to see you in our next poker promo!
In all seriousness, I just wanted to give a thumbs up and welcome home to Mike (MJCACE), who took down our Dinner with Doyle promotion and won a weekend in Vegas and dinner with the legend himself. Besides Doyle, there were other pros there, including Todd Brunson, Pam Brunson, and some Brunson 10 legends. Mike even came back with more money than he took. Who leaves Vegas "up"? Impressive!
You can read all about it on MJCACE's Blog. The Vegas Trip report is just south of the Summer Trip Report. Ahh, the life of a guy who earns his bill money fishing at Full Tilt, Cake and Absolute Poker!
Congrats again Mike and hope to see you in our next poker promo!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Paradise Poker - Bonus Bump
It's interesting to think back to 2002 when I first checked out online poker and Paradise Poker was the king. They and Pacific Poker were the sites I first downloaded and played the 'play money' tables. Over the years, Paradise really eroded as they didn't bother updating their software to include things like tournaments. Can you imagine a poker room not offering tournaments now?? That feet dragging plus events like the UIGEA really hurt their player base.
At any rate, Paradise is doing their best to reclaim market share. They joined the International Poker Network (IPN)a couple of years ago. This network is also referred to as the BOSS network by old timers. It's not open to USA players, but for non-USA players it's a good player population with loose games.
Their affiliate backend is undergoing some changes, and that is resulting in positive changes for the players. Paradise now offers our members and visitors a 200% up to €1000 plus 30% rakeback. That's a hard deal to beat on a network with such loose games.
If you haven't checked out IPN/Boss network rooms in awhile, they are growing. Start with the best bonus code: Paradise Poker Bonus Code
At any rate, Paradise is doing their best to reclaim market share. They joined the International Poker Network (IPN)a couple of years ago. This network is also referred to as the BOSS network by old timers. It's not open to USA players, but for non-USA players it's a good player population with loose games.
Their affiliate backend is undergoing some changes, and that is resulting in positive changes for the players. Paradise now offers our members and visitors a 200% up to €1000 plus 30% rakeback. That's a hard deal to beat on a network with such loose games.
If you haven't checked out IPN/Boss network rooms in awhile, they are growing. Start with the best bonus code: Paradise Poker Bonus Code
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Bad Bankroll Management
Oops. So I took my meager $700 roll to the $5/$10 7 card stud hi and hi/lo games at Full Tilt, simply because they were too good to pass up. Not to mention, bonus clears really well at that level, and I had $400 courtesy of a Full Tilt promotion.
Eh, well, donked through all $700 before the weekend was over and am playing on 'company money' right now. (We tend to always have a nice balance in our poker accounts to do rakeback prepayments and such). So bad bankroll management cost me.
I think Poker Stars $5/$10 game would better suit me because of the ante structure rewarding tight play. I'm a nit. The $5/$10 game at FTP has a $1 ante and $1.50 bringin. As you can imagine, if you can limp in and nobody completes, you can literally limp with just about any hand. This kills me in hi/lo because I'm still weak in that game, so limping with marginal hands end up costing me more money.
Good news is, I've got less than $100 left of bonus to clear and 2 weeks to clear it. Here's hoping I don't drop another $700 clearing that $100 bonus. :)
I've gotta say, it's interesting to play at the same tables as Keith Sexton, Cindy Violette, etc. - It also tells me that they obviously find something profitable in those tables. Maybe it's my bankroll? Hmm... I wonder if Keith and Cindy have FTP execs call them anytime I sit down at $5/$10. After last weekend, I could hardly blame them. Dinner was on me, for a LOT of players!
Eh, well, donked through all $700 before the weekend was over and am playing on 'company money' right now. (We tend to always have a nice balance in our poker accounts to do rakeback prepayments and such). So bad bankroll management cost me.
I think Poker Stars $5/$10 game would better suit me because of the ante structure rewarding tight play. I'm a nit. The $5/$10 game at FTP has a $1 ante and $1.50 bringin. As you can imagine, if you can limp in and nobody completes, you can literally limp with just about any hand. This kills me in hi/lo because I'm still weak in that game, so limping with marginal hands end up costing me more money.
Good news is, I've got less than $100 left of bonus to clear and 2 weeks to clear it. Here's hoping I don't drop another $700 clearing that $100 bonus. :)
I've gotta say, it's interesting to play at the same tables as Keith Sexton, Cindy Violette, etc. - It also tells me that they obviously find something profitable in those tables. Maybe it's my bankroll? Hmm... I wonder if Keith and Cindy have FTP execs call them anytime I sit down at $5/$10. After last weekend, I could hardly blame them. Dinner was on me, for a LOT of players!
Monday, February 08, 2010
New "exclusive" bonuses at Poker-Strategy.org
We picked up a couple of new exclusive bonus codes in the past month that I would like to share here. Both are non-USA sites, unfortunately, but these are good options for the rest of the world.
The first one is a PokerTime Promo Code. The bonus code gives you a $10 no deposit bonus. $10 cash, no deposit needed, free cash to check out the tables. Then if you decide to deposit, they will follow that up with a 150% up to $600 matching deposit bonus. That smokes the 100% up to $500 default code advertised on PokerTime.Com
Next up is a new site - Winner.Com. This is a new site that features a full casino as well as poker room, with plans for lots of other gaming action in the future. This is a great domain name to include all kinds of things including sports betting and skill games, bingo etc. Our Winner Poker Coupon Code awards a 100% up to $500 bonus, compared to the default 100% up to $200 that you get by going through their default bonus.
For more details on either, click the links above. These are straightforward bonuses. They're just much better than the default offers by the poker rooms. It's amazing the extra value one can get just by browsing a bit, eh?
The first one is a PokerTime Promo Code. The bonus code gives you a $10 no deposit bonus. $10 cash, no deposit needed, free cash to check out the tables. Then if you decide to deposit, they will follow that up with a 150% up to $600 matching deposit bonus. That smokes the 100% up to $500 default code advertised on PokerTime.Com
Next up is a new site - Winner.Com. This is a new site that features a full casino as well as poker room, with plans for lots of other gaming action in the future. This is a great domain name to include all kinds of things including sports betting and skill games, bingo etc. Our Winner Poker Coupon Code awards a 100% up to $500 bonus, compared to the default 100% up to $200 that you get by going through their default bonus.
For more details on either, click the links above. These are straightforward bonuses. They're just much better than the default offers by the poker rooms. It's amazing the extra value one can get just by browsing a bit, eh?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The ol' poker bug bites me again!
The last month I played poker was the last month I updated this blog. Surprise, surprise, surprise as old Gomer Pyle would say. I've been getting that gambling itch though, and have got in a few hands the past 2 nights. A few quick observations...
1. The 7 card stud games have really died at Absolute Poker. When I left, there were always several $1/$2 tables going and $2/$4 and at times $3/$6 during the prime hours. I have had to START full $1/$2 ring games both times I have played. Sheesh. If I had more time, I would contact Absolute about propping.
2. Though I had to start the tables, they did seem to fill fairly quickly. I recognized hardly any of the players. These are both positives. Once the tables filled, the pot averages were always 6 or 7 times the big bet, and 35% to 40% of players seeing 4th street. Ripe statistics!
3. The 7cs hi lo tables were massively profitable! Both the $2/$4 and $1/$2 tables were chock full of fishies. The $2/$4 hi lo table stayed at 40% or better fourth street percentage pretty much all night.
I made about $80 at the heads up table. The vast majority of that on one donkey who came in and pissed away ~70 bucks in under 15 minutes. Most of my other profit came from hi lo. I might start focusing more on hi lo stud. The more I play it, the more I am able to stay away from hands like 257 rainbow and just wait on the premium hands that have potential for the scoop. With almost half the players seeing 4th street each hand, and paying my premium hands off, it makes the tighty tight style even more attractive.
The only thing I was annoyed to see was the fact that Absolute seems to have fixed the stud tables so that we don't get credit for a raked hand unless we see 4th street. Used to the rule was that you just had to contribute to the pot, and since ante games you contribute every hand, we stud players got a nice shake when it came to the VIP program and rakeback earnings. No more gravy on that train though.
Maybe this will drive me to check out Poker Stars new VIP rewards program. That or those rush tables at Full Tilt. :)
1. The 7 card stud games have really died at Absolute Poker. When I left, there were always several $1/$2 tables going and $2/$4 and at times $3/$6 during the prime hours. I have had to START full $1/$2 ring games both times I have played. Sheesh. If I had more time, I would contact Absolute about propping.
2. Though I had to start the tables, they did seem to fill fairly quickly. I recognized hardly any of the players. These are both positives. Once the tables filled, the pot averages were always 6 or 7 times the big bet, and 35% to 40% of players seeing 4th street. Ripe statistics!
3. The 7cs hi lo tables were massively profitable! Both the $2/$4 and $1/$2 tables were chock full of fishies. The $2/$4 hi lo table stayed at 40% or better fourth street percentage pretty much all night.
I made about $80 at the heads up table. The vast majority of that on one donkey who came in and pissed away ~70 bucks in under 15 minutes. Most of my other profit came from hi lo. I might start focusing more on hi lo stud. The more I play it, the more I am able to stay away from hands like 257 rainbow and just wait on the premium hands that have potential for the scoop. With almost half the players seeing 4th street each hand, and paying my premium hands off, it makes the tighty tight style even more attractive.
The only thing I was annoyed to see was the fact that Absolute seems to have fixed the stud tables so that we don't get credit for a raked hand unless we see 4th street. Used to the rule was that you just had to contribute to the pot, and since ante games you contribute every hand, we stud players got a nice shake when it came to the VIP program and rakeback earnings. No more gravy on that train though.
Maybe this will drive me to check out Poker Stars new VIP rewards program. That or those rush tables at Full Tilt. :)
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