Sunday, October 09, 2005
Ugh. I don't know what to think. My initial impression was that Party fucked a lot of people over hardcore by separating their cash game tables from the skins. However, I think it could be good in the long run.
Right now, the tables are overrun with rakeback whores. These are the guys sitting at your tables with a VP$IP of somewhere around 7.5%. Normally this would be a losing to break even strategy. However, with rakeback, people make a living sitting for hours on end clicking the fold button.
Now I don't make a living playing poker. I just use it to help pay bills. I've worked hard on my game and rely on my winnings to make me some money. However, it's nice to have that GUARANTEED money every month. For me, it was usually a $750 to $800 payment every month. Somewhere I gotta make up for that loss of money right?
I've almost fully convinced myself that the loss of rakeback will send some of these rakeback whores back to their shitty jobs and allow one more seat at the table to be open for a LPP type fishy. These additional seats that are open will hopefully make up for the lost wages.
Now, their are some TAGs and winning players that lost their rakeback as well. Some of these guys will be dusting off their resumes. The others will probably trickle back to Party Poker. I don't think this will make that much of a difference at the limits I play.
I think all that Party Poker effectively did was make it impossible for a $2/4 player to be a pro.
I have already cashed out my bankroll on Empire. I have just a few bucks left in that account for some of their tournaments. I put a chunk of money back into Party so I could 4 table the BBJ tables last night. Those things are always full of trout and salmon.
I have signed up for rakeback at Ultimate Bet. I'll probably also sign up at one of the prima networks. The rates are a lot better anyway.
Other than that, I'm just going to keep working on my game. I can continue building my bankroll by actually winning at poker. I've done it before. I am probably going to be doing a lot more bonus whoring too. I think I'm going to start with the Titan $500 bonus. I also haved $50 left at Full Tilt to whore. That should go very quickly. I'll probably do it first. Also, as I was typing this, I was offered a $200 bonus on UB. So that will most likely be my next victim.
My biggest thing though is where am I going to play when I'm not whoring a bonus? I think all roads are leading to Poker Stars. 1.) I love their interface. 2.) The FPPs are actually useful. I can use them to actually enter satellites and other tournaments instead of crappy freerolls where 3500 people battle it out for $150.
I just need to practice better game selection in general. If I find a good game on UB, I'll play there, Full Tilt, there I go, etc.
So in conclusion, you're probably going to read how this is the end of poker as we know it! I think it could be the start of something good.
In other news, I didn't play in that tournament yesterday. I slept late, didn't feel good, and the WVU game was on. I ended up washing dishes and cleaning a little house. I played in a few tournaments. I made it to the final 2 tables of one on Full Tilt for a decent cash. I should have made the final table, but dumbass me takes a stand against the chip leader when he actually has a hand better than mine.
Today, I'll probably get quite a few hands played. I'm going to stick with Party today because the BBJ is over $230,000. I'll just play those tables until the jackpot is hit. By that time, hopefully my Empire cashout will have hit my neteller account. I can then move from there.