Couple days ago I lost 5 buyins in about 60 mins playing Full Tilt Pokers new Rush Poker. Annoyed I decided to take a day or so off and gather my thoughts. While gathering my thoughts I totally spent 10 hours a day playing BIOSHOCK because BIOSHOCK 2 comes out on Feb 9th. I have a feeling I will be taking another couple days off to gather my thoughts around that time too…heh
Slowing Down: This was the single most useful piece of advice. I play RUSH way to fast. Actually the problem was I didn’t really know how to play rush. I figured because it was such a fast game I could just quickfold till I got a monster hand. Thats sort of what everyone else is doing and as it is with many things in life:
Doing what everyone else is doing is a sure fire way to lose.
3 Betting: So I slowed down and started 3 betting alot more. This means LATE position to the BLINDS if someone position raises me I will RERAISE them. Almost 70% of the time this works.
If they DO call your RERAISE then its time to play some poker. When the flop hits and its pretty ragged take another stab at it. It usually will miss them. If they call, then just check it down unless you FLOP a MONSTER in which case just trap or simply ALL IN.
If they RERAISE your RERAISE then its time to fold the hand unless you have a PREFLOP monster like AA or KK. I wouldn’t play anything less than that on RUSH in this situation.
I am slowly tweaking my rush game an I feel that RUSH will be my primary source of income by MARCH 2010.
A couple of the buyins were lost because of suck outs like ALL IN PF my KK vs QQ and they flop a set. However the others were simply bad calls. While these calls would have been fine for some games Rush requires a different kind of strategy.
Since you can’t really get to much of a history on your opponents you have to really rely on your cards and betting patterns. Stealing isn’t a good idea unless you really detect weakness. However usually its just more profitable to find another hand.
I have decided too only play:
PreFlop All in – AA, KK
PreFlop Bet Hard QQ,JJ,TT
Post Flop All in:
2 Pairs (if obvious flush or strait isn’t there)
Three of a kind (if obvious flush or strait isn’t there)
Straits
Flushes
Full Houses
Royal/Strait Flush
As a Result:
Value of: A x Suited goes WAY UP as I will call moderate bets to see the flop and draw out a Flush
Value of ALL Pocket Pairs goes up as well – Call small to medium sized bets PF to hit a set
Call suited connectors to draw out a strait but only if its cheap
Full Houses and up obviously your ALL IN
I buy in for $10 and push hard when I have one of these hands.
Rush + Rakeback = Lots of Cash
Some multi tabler players are already averageing $50 an hour ALONE in rake back. So all you really need to do is sit around and wait for the nuts while earning your $50 / hour.
Well Rush Poker is here and its taking the interweb by storm. For those of you who don’t know what it is just watch the video I made and it will all become clear.
Some potential issues with Rush are as follows:
-You can’t observe tables which means the Poker Tracking websites can’t get hand histories. I personally like this since I don’t like HOW I play to be accessible to everyone but many people won’t like this.
-HUD doesn’t work! For all you grinders out there the HUDs aren’t fast enough to give you stats. I personally like this as well because that means the hardcore grinders might stay off of Rush and leave the fish to the real poker players.
-Rake Back info may not be accessible to 3rd party websites. I go through PokerStrategy.com and I have heard rumors they can track it so lets hope.
-Can’t get an immediate feel for your opponents but not impossible. What I mean by this is you are always playing new people. You can however label the psychos and nut jobs who raise EVERY hand.
-You can lose ALOT of money VERY fast. That being said you can make ALOT of money really fast.
-SUCK OUTS SUCK OUTS SUCK OUTS!!! Holy shit suck outs. Only play with MONSTERS and BET aggressively. Don’t slow play anything but the NUT hand.
FULL TILT POINTS – I racked up 500 Full Tilt Points in the 4 hours I played poker! IRON MAN challenge here I come!
Over all I am very impressed with Rush. I think its going to be the next step in online poker.
Before I implement Danial Negreanu’s Small Ball strategy into my game I feel I must plug up a large # of leaks I have identified.
-Playing Dominated Hands
-Over Valuing Top Pair (same as above but more specific)
-Slow Playing Hands I shouldn’t
-Tournament Pressure
-Bluffing in the wrong situations
Going too work on the dominated hand one first because I lose the most money on it.
I get dealt A 10 and raise my standard 3x BB raise
-I get a couple callers
-I flop TRIPS RAINBOW
At this point I think I am the greatest poker player in the world -So I slow play the hand just checking
-After Runner Runner Diamonds he goes ALL IN on the RIVER
-I call because I’m stupid
He gets to supersize his Big Mac Meal tonight where as I have to order off the Value Menu.
I posted BB to start playing and hit a pair of 7s on the flop. Stupidly I bet $1 which was WAY to much of a bet. After everyone folded a guy with a good hand half raped me because I just folded my stupid middle pair.
Bleeding isn't good...
I should have folded to any raise or at the very least bet 3x the BB to get information.
So its important to remember not to bleed money by betting too much.
I picked this book up Christmas 2009 and read it 2 1/2 times over the course of the last 3 weeks in December while sitting around at my parents house. I must say it is an excellent book but its not for everyone.
This book focuses on the mindset you should have while playing poker. Many people don’t really know what or how to think as far as attitude is concerned so they just try to eliminate all emotion which is a huge mistake.
The book is laid out in several sections:
Controlling your Focus -Focus on long term results not the short term because VARIANCE happens. No matter how good you are you will lose some sessions. How you deal with those losing sessions will effect everything.
-Focus on Power – Poker is a game of leverage and this book beautifully explains how you can stay on top and make sure the power is tilted in your favor.
-Focus on Other People – If your inner self isn’t in order there is no way you can focus on other people effectively
Controlling Your Thought Process Majority of the book concentrates on this because it is probably the most important thing in Poker and anything really.
-Probing effectivly
-Thinking Logically
Control the Information You Transmit This section is self explanatory but is important if you want to trap and bluff properly.
I would rate this book 9/10 as it focuses on much needed subject of mindset in poker.
If your looking to gain an edge in your game STUDY this book!
It is Day 2 of my poker grinding career and I am up $65. Its not as easy as one thinks to play multiple tables with full concentration. While this is day 2 I have logged 4 hours total.
I am averaging $16.25 an hour playing 5cent/10cent tables! My goal with the 5cent/10cent is to make $10 an hour.
Again only 4 hours logged but I need to adjust myself to be able to focus on 4 tables at once and I am getting better and better. My goal for tommorow is to play 3 hours. Eventually I want to play 6 – 8 hours a day and make up a full 40 hour work week.
Anyway here is a snap shot of my balance. I transferred $5 to my friends account so he could play which is why it only adds up to around $60 in profit.
The Grinding continues. So far I have done 90mins of “official” grinding. Just wanted to post one of my dumber donkey call mistakes. I over valued a premium PREFLOP hand on the river when I had NOTHING.
Anyway this stupid decision cost me $4.
Donkey Donkey
Anyway the goal is $10 an hour and so far the 90 mins I’ve played I’m at $35.
