Anyone following the first couple events on cardplayer or pokerwire? I hate the Full Tilt infiltration of those sites, and the amalgamation of their coverage. I much preferred poker wire’s previous system.
I went to school with a girl who now occupies the adjacent cube at work. Her husband apparently entered a $3 poker tournament online and won a seat in a bigger tournament, then again and up and up and now he’s got a seat in the World Series of Poker, if he wants it.
One interesting note(as popular wisdom sez the poker boom is winding down): the $1500 buyin NLHE event(#2) was the largest prize pool for a non-WSOP Main Event tourney in history.
Who the hell says the Poker boom is dying down? It certainly is not. All of the events at the WSOP will be bigger than ever.
The bubble may eventually burst, but I dunno if it will - how many people do you know who played a lot of poker who decided they no longer want to play? If anything, people tend to get more into it. About the only thing that can burst the bubble is the continuing efforts to make online poker illegal, and it’s hard to see that being successful unless the financial institutions get heavily involved given the out of jurisdiction operations.
Down to 12 in that event (which is really the opening event, since Event 1 is for employees) - only pro names still in are Carlos Mortenson and Jennifer Harman.
In Event 3 (pot limit) they’re also in the money (90 left) Kinda weird that they’d schedule these events to conflict.
All online coverage sucks, until it gets down to a few tables. Just far too much going on and too little access given for accurate info to get out. On top of that, postings get hands/boards wrong (one update from the other day had Raymer losing a hand with QQ on a board of TJKAx to two-pair).
I follow what I can through 2+2, because you often get people distilling the updates from various sites along with first-hand info into something coherent.
I think it’s fair to say that the expansion is slowing (the boom is winding down). It’s not that any bubble has burst, though I’d like to see how the middle events pan out. It’s easy to see why the first (and cheapest) NLHE event was huge. The ME will be huge too, but I wonder if that will carry through all series or if the mid-size/off HE events will grow in sync.
Online numbers have stopped blowing up like WoW subscriber numbers. Eventually, the bubble will burst (as all bubbles do). That doesn’t mean we’ll be back at sub 1,000 entrant MEs, since it might be a “soft landing” instead of the internet stock bubble blowing up. If the WPT doesn’t get it’s act together, it will likely wane some because the big names hate it and don’t want to play.
I think this will be the peak year, and that it will level off or even taper some from here.
I agree. I play a lot of online poker, and the game is much different than it was a few years back. Then, bad players abounded everywhere as newbies who caught the WSOP on ESPN hit the online sites in droves. Making money was very, very easy for someone who actually studied the game.
Fast forward to today, and it’s not the same. The number of clueless newbies joining the fray is comparatively low. Games at all levels are tighter, tougher, and harder to show a profit at. I’m still winning, but my $/hour is nothing like the boom years. Piece of advice for anyone considering serious online poker: study HARD before you place your first bet, or you’ll lose your bankroll fast. You won’t be playing against other clueless newbies. You’ll be a fish in a shark tank.
Well, that’s not entirely true. There are still plenty of fish-barrel games at the lowest limits (.5/1 on Party Poker is still largely a joke). From there, it’s mostly a matter of game selection (which is a form of study).
Now that Party has shifted towards rolling bonuses instead of flat “Everyone can get it” bonuses, 1/2 isn’t the periodic bonus clearing rock/sharkfest, either. I can still frequently find sweet 2/4 games, though it starts to peter out there from the boom days.
You definitely want to study before jumping in, though. I just think that if you’re paying attention, it’s not all that hard to find cakewalks at the smallest limits.
The microlimits, yes, but anything above that has dramatically increased in quality. 2 years ago you could make $25/hr multitabling with a starting hand chart and basic motor skills.
The biggest difference isn’t(IMO), that there are fewer clueless newbies, it’s that high volume multitabling TAGs are becoming more numerous and sites are catering to them with VIP offers and better software. A few years back even playing 4 tables at once was considered insanity and there were serious arguments about the virtues of playing one table at a time, now if you play less than 8 you aren’t a serious player.
Well, in the eyes of the super-multi tablers, anyway.
They very often play a very predictable game (when playnig 8 tables, even with a HUD for stats, you have very little time to think). While they make more raw $$, their $$/100 hands drops for each added table. Those guys can be exploited.
It was at it’s worst when Party or Stars would roll out a universal deposit bonus, and they’d flock to the 1/2 tables (the lowest limit where the bonus was clerable handily).
I’ve found that the grinder multitablers tend to either focus on 3/6 6-max or 5/10, neither limit impacts me (yet?).
Those guys can be exploited.
Yeah, but poker is a zero sum game(actually negative expectation with the rake, but you know what I mean). There are only so many seats per table, and if a TAG sits there a fish can’t.
No doubt. I’m just saying that if you end up stuck with an 8-tabling TAG at the table (and it’s hard, given the wide selection of games at a place like Party, you can fairly easily get up and swap tables) it’s not the end of the world.
Sure, but it’s usually a lot more than one. I’m currently grinding out a bonus at PokerRoom.com, for example, and an average full ring 1/2 table there has a VPIP of 20. You don’t see a lone TAG or rock, you see eight. I plan to leave once I clear the bonus for that very reason. My BB/100 stat there is positive but low due to the tight play–most pots are contested 3 handed or heads-up for small amounts of money. Without the bonus, it’s not worth my time. Even sites like Party have tightened up a lot. They’re a bit better than PokerRoom, but not the fish fests they used to be.
They’re not like they used to be, but it’s still 4-5 fish at a table if you spend even a little time looking before you sit. Mostly because a) They have tons more players than PR and b) They don’t offer universal bonuses as much as sporadic individual ones.
It’s pretty easy to find a 2/4 table at party with a VPIP of 35% or more without a lot of pre-flop raising.