High On Poker

It seems at least a couple of people are interested in the Broke -Ass Cash Game Challenge, but there are some quibbles about some of the rules. Well, rather than respond in comments, I figured I may as well mention it here.

One of the major questions was how we would track play. Jamie from Wall Street Poker did a similar challenge involving live play, but it suffered due to the fact that a particular competitor was able to put in more hours. Edgie also suggested that we track the amount of hands played and profitability per hand in order to determine the winner of the prop bet. Someone else suggested we do it based on win rate per hour. And while I can understand the sentiment, I have to argue against such measurements.

The easiest way to do this is to simply make it total money won. While this does not account for the amount of hands or hours played, I would prefer those aspects of the game to be decided by the individuals. If you win a lot on day 1 and want to sit back for the rest of the time period, I don’t really care. If you are way behind and want to cram in the end, so be it. The goal, after all, is to build my bankroll through micro stakes while making the micro stakes somewhat bearable. (Side note, while PokerMeister did inspire this idea, I don’t 100% agree with his goals for me in this challenge. I’m not so concerned with mastering multitable play as much as I want to build the roll the old fashioned way — multitabling will happen, though). By adding an hourly rate or win/hand rate, suddenly the emphasis is more on record-keeping then on the game itself. Also, win/hand would require the purchase of tracking software and I wouldn’t want any of my competitors to buy $80 software for a $.05/.10 NLHE challenge.

So, let’s keep this easy. Even if the bet has to be smaller, I’d rather just keep it as, you play and I play for a month or two weeks or whatever and then we compare the end result. KISS. Keep it simple, stupid.

Now, Edgie mentioned possibly playing $5-max buy-in tables, and to that I say, HELL NO! Last night, I decided to experiment for a bit at .05/.10 on PokerStars. It was a 6-handed table, and I was in the CO with A8o. I had joined the table about two or three orbits ago, and had already noticed that I was getting a decent amount of respect for my raises, so I decided to play the A8o hand. I don’t remember all of the details, but three spades flopped (I didn’t have a spade), I bet in position and got only one caller. The turn was a blank and the one caller checked. I bet $.70 into the $1.10 pot. I kid you not, while I waited for my opponent to fold, I felt that thing that I love most about the game: the High. The High on Poker. My heart sped up. I stared at the screen hoping that this fucktard would fold, while adrenaline raced (well, trickled) through my system. Finally, he folded and I let out a sign of relief. I then realized that I won something like $.65 from that pot. $.65! I remember thinking, “Really? REALLY? All of that for .65? WTF am I doing!?”

I suppose that story illustrates two points: (1) at these micro stakes, the game can still be exciting, and (2) but that excitement is diminished once the real world value of money is considered.

So, that’s all to say that while I will try to stomach .05/.10 blinds for this prop, I don’t think I can bear anything less. Sorry, Edgie.

Finally, let’s be clear that while I initially stated we should stick ot $10-max tables, I really mean $.05/.10 blinds. I don’t care if it is deepstack or not at that level. I don’t care if you buy in short. The blinds are the micro part that I am focusing on.

So, let me throw out the proposal once again, with some more details:

1. The competition can be heads-up with me, or as part of a pool with other players. If you are interested in either, let me know which one. Obviously, I can play multiple heads-up challenges at the same time, and I would be happy to do so.

2. The competition will be .05/.10 NLHE, 6-handed or full ring games, but no heads up tables, because heads up is a fundamentally different game.

3. The competition will last for a certain time period, most likely 2 weeks, to allow brevity but some play.

4. Players only need to track wins/losses at .05/.10 NLHE games. The amount of hands or hours played need not be tracked.

5. Halfway through the challenge (or potentially more often if the challenge is longer than 2 weeks) each competitor must give their current total wins/losses. Blogging about play and progress is encouraged but optional.

6. The prop bet will be for a minimum of $20. This will be worked out once it is clear whether we are dealing with heads-up challenges or a pool of competitors.  If it is a heads-up challenge, perhaps I would consider $10, but only if I already have at least $20 in action elsewhere.

So, are you still interested? If so, leave a comment or email me (highonpokr AT yahoo).

Until next time, make mine poker!