Archive for August, 2008
Poker Bankroll
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Management | 1 Comment
Why do I like playing poker? Why do I spend several hours each week gazing into a computer screen watching 2 cards being dealt to me and 5 cards being dealt on the table over and over again? Why do I bother keeping detailed records of session times, rebuys and net profits? Why do the 37$ I won during a session yesterday mean more to me than the 200$ I could earn sports-betting in half the time?
I already know the game and most of its aspects after 4 years of online poker, and I’m really not that interested in learning the finer details at the time being. My knowledge is good enough for the low levels I am playing. So where lies the fascination? Where does my motivation come from? Why am I content with grinding low limit tables with my short stack strategy?
I think I have the answer: I am in love with my Poker Bankroll. It’s my precious. My current Poker Bankroll is 191$ and I cherish every single dollar. You know why? Because I earned them myself from scratch by being better than my opponents. I have treated my Poker Bankroll with respect and done my utmost not to lose it when I have taken chances at higher limits. By doing so I have avoided going broke which in turn means that my current Poker Bankroll represents more than 100 hours of my life.
I want my Poker Bankroll to stay alive for a long time to come. Therefore I play as much as I can on limits where I know I can win and with a short stack strategy that I believe is profitable. This way my Poker Bankroll will grow fat and be able to withstand lean periods.
I hope that one day my Poker Bankroll will be able to pay me back for the many hours I have invested in it by paying for buyins to large tournaments, cool electronic gadgets, romantic dinners or even holidays.
We have had a rocky start my Poker Bankroll and I, but things are finally starting to go our way. We have almost 25 buyins to the limit we are playing and can therefore soon boast of practising sensible bankroll management.
I look forward to sharing more stories about my Poker Bankroll in the future.
short stack strategy_applied_update 4
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 | Poker Articles, Poker Projects | No Comments
I’m on a roll, and I have a graph to prove it. MUHUHAHAHAHAHA
200$ Bankroll here I come!!!
Bingo and Poker
Monday, August 18th, 2008 | Sports and Fantasy betting | 3 Comments
Bingo is mentioned more and more in advertising and in the media in general. I keep being amazed how fast this gambling segment is growing. 888 Holding plc (Pacific Poker) reported just a few days ago that the company revenue on Bingo, through the brand 888ladies, was up fourfold to $12m in just one quarter.
So I had to see what it was all about, just like the first time I tried poker at Party Poker back in 2003 or betting at Bet24 in 2001. I signed up at 888ladies and received $20 in free “chips” to play with. Bingo is mostly targeted the ladies, hence the lobby is pink… I used all the chips at once and bought 20 $1 cards with my numbers.
My first surprise was that it is not possible to calculate how large your chances to win are. You are informed how many players have joined the Bingo session but not how many cards have been purchased in total. This is rather annoying compared to poker where mathematics plays a very significant role.
Second surprise was that the game ran automatically. A number was drawn and this was instantly noted on the cards. So it is not like offline Bingo where you must be focused all the time to make sure that you get all the numbers right.
Third surprise was that the people on the live chat board really seemed to have a good time. So my conclusion is that even though Bingo is “just another casino game” in my view, I do understand why many people seem to enjoy the game, but I can’t imagine many poker players migrating to the Bingo tables instead of poker.
Michael, 18 August 2008
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188bet bonus
Monday, August 18th, 2008 | Sports and Fantasy betting | No Comments
New bonus available through WOSB.
The 188bet bonus will be open to all new customers and valid from from 18th August to 31st August 2008 .
Terms and Conditions:
1.This €18 Bonus promotion is entitled to First Time Depositors Only.
a.This offer is valid between 18th August, 2008 00:01(GMT-4) to 31st August, 2008 23:59 (GMT-4).
b.To enjoy this one time €18 bonus, a minimum approved one time deposit of EUR 88 or equivalent in other currencies during the promotional period is required.
2.Please email to promo@188bet.com to claim the bonus using your registered email with 188Bet indicating the following:
a.Member Code in the email subject.
b.Date Of Birth
c.Promotion Code: 188P18
3.Bonuses will be credited to member’s account within 48 hours upon email received.
4.All bonuses are non-transferable to other 188Bet accounts.
5.The amount of the deposit plus the bonus is subjected to a rollover of at least 3 times in wagers at our Sportsbook, before any withdrawals.
a.Only stakes that generates a win/loss return during the promotional period will constitute the 3 times rollover requirement. i.e. bets that are cancelled or refunded do not constitute as one rollover. So you need to wager a total of EURO 318 to be able to withdraw the bonus amount.
b.Only bets placed on European odds 1.60 or higher will be considered as meeting the rollover requirement.
c.Matched Bet Stakes are not included in the rollover requirements.
Read more about 188bet.
Michael – 18 August 2008
Short stack cash game strategy – bankroll project
Sunday, August 17th, 2008 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Projects | No Comments
I bet you have been waiting in great anticipation for my next short stack strategy update. I have been purposely waiting until I hit the 50 session hours mark so I could compare my short stack strategy results to my ealier regular cash game project.
Here’s a quick summary
- 50,45 session hours played
- Bankroll high: +42,56$
- Bankroll low: -28,9$
- Largest losing session: -13,04$
- Largest winning session: 23,15$
- End result: +25,75$
Short stack strategy project:
- 50 session hours played
- Bankroll high: +78$
- Bankroll low: -6,22$
- Largest losing session: -36,7$
- Largest winning session: 36,22$
- End result after 50 hours: +49$
If there is one conclusion I can make on my limited statistics it is that following the short stack strategy probably results in larger swings in your bankroll. Having said that it automatically follows – in my case at least – that the short stack strategy approach is simply more fun. I dislike the long grinding sessions…it’s simply too boring for me. I also like the simplicity of the short stack strategy. You will either be folding or putting it all out there.
I have also been playing quite a few tournaments lately to practice some “real” poker. I have had very limited success which has meant a reduction in my tournament bankroll from 300$ to 200$. I am seriously considering cashing out this bankroll because I would hate to lose it all.
I will leave you with an updated graph over my short stack strategy project. There are some big swings in there:-)
Bankroll Management – Motivation
Saturday, August 16th, 2008 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Management | No Comments
In the series of articles describing necessary skills required for good Bankroll Management at PokerBankrollBlog.com the personal skill – motivation – will be the next skill I will go into depth with. For you to know what I refer to when I say motivation a definition of motivation is necessary:
…..inner state of desire or need. That desire or need creates a movement or activity towards satisfying that desire…
So actually it is based on an internal drive or need that is already there – not just a future mental projection on what would be cool to reach.
Why is motivation important in Bankroll Management?
When starting on serious bankroll management the motivation and energy is often high. With the desire of improving yourself and reaching your goals such as being good at poker or building a big poker bankroll. But how often have each one of us not started a project where we in the beginning are really dedicated to the project, but then after some time it’s like the project just fades away and we kind of forget about the whole desire and motivation for the project.
So the question really is – How is a high level of motivation reached in the beginning and more importantly how is the level maintained?
How to keep the motivation high?
The first step is getting a high level of motivation from the start of the bankroll management. This is achieved by setting a goal which is visionary enough so that you would feel absolute fantastic if you reach that goal. Your goals must result in a drive and inspiration that can maintain motivation throughout the course of the project. Persistent motivation is based in great visions, where you are not intimidated by the size of your goal.
The second important step is the ability to keep the high level of motivation throughout the course of the project. Actually the way to achieve this is very much based on step one. When you set a goal that is too small and timid you will suffer a lack in motivation for bankroll management. At the same time the goal must be based in your true desires and not just a mental attraction to some state in the future – or else pursuing the goal just won’t feel right. If you find the right goal and it is something that you deep down really really desire you will always have that to fall back on and it will instantly increase you level of motivation.
Setting visionary goals actually requires a lot of courage and some fears may have to be confronted. Many people set low goals due to self doubt or the fear of getting disappointed. Actually it is needed to overcome these mental blocks for these people to be able to set a visionary goal that will keep motivation and energy at the highest level. These people have to realise that self doubt or the fear of getting disappointed is really not doing them any good and they have to put these blocks aside and open up for new things instead that really will do them good.
Other articles in this series:
— Join the Poker Bankroll building community on the PokerBRB forum and get support and useful hints from other bankroll building poker players.
— Get a PokerBRB rakeback deal to maximize your revenues.
Poker and Life
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 | Poker and Life, Poker Articles | 2 Comments
Poker and life….my toughest subject to write about to date on the Poker Bankroll Blog. Since I am suffering from a complete lack of inspiration on what to write about “Poker and Life”, most likely because a title of that caliber demands some deep philosophical considerations, I think I will start in a small corner of the topic at hand and share some of my thoughts and experiences on how to combine poker and having a girlfriend. Perhaps some deeper thoughts on poker and life will emerge…..we will see.
Here’s the problem (or challenge if you please). The day has 24 hours. Subtract 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work, 3 hours to shower, eat, go to the toilet, do chores and other life necessities and you are left with 5 hours of spare time each day. In my case, I want to find the optimal distribution of these 5 hours into spending time with my girlfriend, exercising, hanging out with friends and playing poker/working on the PokerBRB community. Let me tell you it’s a tough job combining poker and life when you want to do it all!
I have found that it is very beneficial for my possiblities of allocating sparetime to playing poker to include my girlfriend in my poker projects. By include I mean spend some of my occasional winnings on flowers, candle light dinners and cinema tickets. By doing this poker is associated with something positive and I almost never get complaints.
I will leave you with a picture of my latest poker bankroll funded gift.
I think I will allocate 1 hour of my spare time to play some short stack strategy poker and guess who won’t complain?:-)
Join the Poker Bankroll building community on the PokerBRB forum and get support and useful hints from other bankroll building poker players.
Get a PokerBRB rakeback deal to maximize your revenues.
Ladbrokes joins Microgaming.
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 | Poker Articles, Poker Network, Poker Room | No Comments
Ladbrokespoker.com is to set to join the Microgaming Poker Network to ensure more action for its players in tournaments and certain cash games.
Ladbrokespoker.com already licenses Microgaming’s poker software, so Ladbrokes’ customers will notice little change to the site when it begins operating within the Microgaming Poker Network from early 2009.
Commenting on the move John O’Reilly, Managing Director, Ladbrokes Remote Betting and Gaming said:
“Joining the Microgaming network will give our players more action on a wider variety of games, particularly at higher staking levels. Microgaming is a leading network and will offer Ladbrokespoker players faster access to the games they want. We will continue to operate outside of the network on tables where we already offer players the level of action they demand.”
This is a bit of a shame if you ask me. I think that it is good that there are a large number of medium sized poker networks were you can play. This reason is mostly a psychological. If you are on a down swing or need to find new motivation, it can be very healthy to try out a different network.
Read more about ladbrokes here.
What do you think?
/Michael
Malta News
Saturday, August 9th, 2008 | Poker and Life | No Comments
After a month with lots of friends on visit it is now back to work….hard work 
. It has been a fun month though with guest almost non-stop for the entire month. Here in Malta it is just getting hotter and hotter – to hot for our latest guest Mads who went directly home to the Danish hospital for observation with serious sunstroke…..not the best way to end a vacation.
Well, we keep running with our projects – hot weather or not!! We are really exited with our projects and many things will happen in the next months. One of the things that excite me the most is to see how our SEO-optimizing for WOSB.com will work out. Our big advantage is the massive content and the number of pages at WOSB. We have more than 1.100 pages which are all now optimized to a certain degree…..so we will see how the search engines will rank them over the next couple of months. It could be a hit.
I don’t think I will go any further….but leave you with a decent joke about the crazy women out there:
I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ so much. And I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing. I have never figured out why men think with their head and women with their heart.
FOR EXAMPLE: One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed.
Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says “I don’t feel like it, I just want you to hold me.”
I said “WHAT??!! What was that?!”
So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear… “You’re just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man.” She responded to my puzzled look by saying, “Can’t you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?”
Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.
The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store.
I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn’t decide which one to take so I told her we’d just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said lets get a pair for each outfit. We went onto the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you…she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn’t even know how to play tennis.
I think I threw her for a loop when I said, “That’s fine, honey.” She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation she finally said, “I think this is all dear, let’s go to the cashier.” I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, “No honey, I don’t feel like it.” Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled WHAT?”
I then said “honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You’re just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman.” And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, “Why can’t you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?”
Apparently I’m not having sex tonight either.
— Join the Poker Bankroll building community on the PokerBRB forum and get support and useful hints from other bankroll building poker players.
— Get a PokerBRB rakeback deal to maximize your revenues.
Ficus Bonsai
Friday, August 8th, 2008 | Poker and Life | 12 Comments
It is always good to have other interest than poker to fall back on if you need a break from the tables to regain focus. For some reason I like plants, in particular trees. So when I saw the Ficus Microcarpa Ginseng Bonsai tree in Ikea April this year, I had to have it even-though Ficus bonsai trees in that size are quite expensive (>100$). I rather cleverly presented it as a present for my girlfriend; being a poker player it always pays off to gain some goodwill on the home front, but more about this in a later post. This is a story of the troubles and victories of my ongoing battle to keep my Ficus Microcarpa Ginseng Bonsai alive.
In order to appreciate the effort it has taken me to keep my Ficus Bonsai alive here is a recap of the manual that was attached to my tree when I purchased it (yes, my tree came with a manual…you may laugh at this point if you wish).
First of all the manual gives a brief definition of the art of making Bonsai trees: “The goal is to recreate nature in miniature and to make the tree look much older than it actually is”
Well in retrospect I have definitely succeeded in the last part since my Ficus Ginseng Microcarpa Bonsai has lost so many leaves since April that it looks more like a dried up twig than a tree (see picture below).
So here is a resume of the most important points of the Ficus Microcarpa Ginseng Bonsai manual:
- Do NOT over water the Ficus Bonsai as this will kill it (Gasp!)
- Water the Ficus Bonsai from below, NEVER from the top
- Protect the plant against cold and draught during transportation
- Place it in a bright and slightly shaded place (NOT over a radiator, in draught or outdoors if the temperature falls below 15 degrees Celsius)
- The plant is sensitive to changes and will lose some leaves for 2-3 weeks
Point number 5 in the manual is just a plain old lie….your Ficus Bonsai will lose leaves continuously at a rate of 2-5 leaves a day until it dies or you discover the secret of keeping your Ficus Bonsai tree alive (you can hardly wait for me to reveal it right?).
Well up until a week ago I have painstakingly been following the instructions including only fertilizing my Ficus Bonsai tree with half the amount of fertilizer needed for your regular household plants. My breakthrough came when I decided to implement the following steps:
- Buy a proper saucer and fill it with LECA (light expanded clay aggregate) pellets to ensure effective drainage and thus prevent a waterlogged pot which causes root rot
- Spray the Ficus Bonsai with water twice a day using a regular water vaporizer (FYI this gizmo is also used to water orchids)
After implementing these steps a small miracle has taken place. My tree has only lost two leaves the last week compared to the regular rate of 15-20. In addition new leaves have started to shoot and grow at a rapid pace (see the picture below). So instead of shaking the tree each morning in despair and calling it really bad names, I am now looking forward to waking up to check the new growth.
While reading this post I realized I have forgotten two things. Number one is to mention that the total cost of my Ficus Bonsai is currently in excess of 200$, this explains in part why I have gone to great lenghts to keep it alive. Secondly, one of the reasons I have spent so much money on the damn tree is that it was attacked by some nasty creepy crawlers a few months ago. After some search online I discovered the name of the species:
The long-tailed mealybug also known as Pseudococcus longispinus (see picture below)
Apparently since this bug secrets a waxy substance over its entire ugly ass body it is resistant to many insecticides. Luckily I found one called Provado (expensive of course) which after being sprayed on the tree diffuses into the sap. When the nasty bug decides to snack on my tree it ingests the poison and dies a horribly painfull death, or so I imagine…MUHUHAHAHAHAHA
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