so do you use a bottle to pee in during long sessions? how do you handle it?

Is there an alternative apart from playing in your bathroom / playing dehydrated?

Great work man! gl How do you play spins stack or tile?

Favorite restaraunt? Favorite place in the world? 10 things you want to do before you die?

Do you feel the drop off in SNG volume over the years is simply evolution/industry happenings (IE inevitable)? In other words what, if anything, do you feel that online poker rooms can do to structures/offerings to bring back volume to SNGs (not including spins obv)?

Fun well, GL with everything.

Yeah meant to chill on for like 6 months, not decades.

Thanks for response, good info.

Having a laptop has become the greatest thing ever. I simply unplug the HDMI cable and run over to the bathroom. My last apartment had a rather tall laundry basket and I'd place my computer on it = boom, makeshift office.

Was so comfortable in the bathroom that I'd often lose track of time and finish out a session in there.

I tile all my games. Don't recommend it for the population, but it seems to work for me.

Thanks, was afraid you were here to close down the thread!

Weird answer and one that will surely get some hate, but I'm going with Olive Garden. It's certainly not the classiest place, but there are a variety of different dishes I enjoy. Plus those breadsticks! And that soup! Nom nom nom.

My girlfriend actually made the soup the other day and I was stoked.


Fred's Cafe in San Diego, California, on a Tuesday night in the middle of Summer. Weather is surely perfect. Great patio for people watching. And it's Taco Tuesday, so all of the incredible tacos are like $2.

I like food.


This was really, really tough. Here's what I've got so far. I wanna reserve the right to change this because I'm sure I'll think of more/different stuff in the next day or so.

1) Eat sushi/wagyu beef in Japan (so far, I've only done it in their airport)
2) Attend baseball game during World Series (Deeply regret not doing it last year for my hometown SF Giants)
3) Rent out one of those skyboxes at a SF Giants game
4) Have a game winning hit/make a game winning shot
5) Six pack abs
6) Visit: Australia, Colombia, England, Vietnam
7) Ship a live MTT (Amount not that important, I guess for $10k+)
8) Organize (and attend) yearly trip w/childhood friends
9) Overcome my severe cat allergy
10) Become ~fluent in another language


Spins have taken away a lot of SNG traffic because they're more "gambly" and offer the same "Sit and Go" perks -- Game times are relatively short, you buy-in for a fixed amount, play til there's a winner, and the table closes. That's just evolution IMO.

However, I do think SNGs can be revitalized pretty easily. One option is to make 9-man Spins, 18-man Spins, 180-man Spins, etc. Just turn all SNG types into Spin SNGs. Orrrrrr Stars can keep the games as is and highlight SNGs by:

a) Offering a deposit related bonus in the form of SNG tickets
b) Selling SNG tickets in the VIP store
c) Having sponsored pros in the games
d) Golden SNGs/BOP Freeroll/etc

Problem is, I fail to see why Stars would do any of this. Why would they try to get SNGs popping off again if they're making more money with the new 'Spin' format? The answer would be liquidity and long-term longevity, but I'm not convinced Amaya is interested in that sort of thing. Time will tell.

I'm not sure this is a solution considering the incentive for collusion, as a group of players pooling interest together, team play, etc would be very high in this alternative that isn't a winner take all format. I guess they could make a smaller version of spins with only a 2x, 4x, 6x, and 10x multiplier and keep the blind lobby system. I think that there would still be a fair bit of players sharing profits that have interest in one another but maybe it wouldn't be as bad.

btw, I think they should create less fluff in the SnG lobby. Remove games from it that don't run very often or are not that popular. Maybe even remove a few buy in levels as well although I'm sure PokerStars loves raking the hell out of their micros how about similar to spins we go $1, $3, $7, $15...and so on. No need for these penny games and all the inbetween levels. They didn't exist when I started online poker. I'm pretty sure $5 or $10 was the lowest buyin SnG you could play on PartyPoker when I started out playing poker and I'm not sure anything other than nine man SnGs existed on the site.(my memory isn't great but I don't remember a whole lot of variety, so someone correct me if I'm wrong here)

Anyway, my point is that there is a lot of fluff that could be removed that might boost some of the traffic in other games. If they want to keep the fluff have maybe an "on demand" separate lobby for the less popular games/formats.

+1 to cneuy, esp. like the idea of making SnG LOW (!!!) variance spins like 2×/5x/10x with blind lobbies. Seems like a v good compromise for recs that want quick money (so all of them) but don't want to get the just the chance to hit a decent multiplier once in a blue moon and/or prefer 6/9/18m to 3m + keeping grindability for regs.

Win/win/win Amaya/regs/recs imo.

Bump?

When at the final two tables of a 180m or larger MTT, how often does the stack dynamic at the other table factor into your decisions? Aside from opening up the table to watch, is there anything you do that might swing a close decision one way or the other WRT ICM influences?

Thanks again for the well, steak pics inc when I get back to my computer.

Big Hello from Sonoma;

I have been playing on Bovada. I started on Merge with cash and some SNGs on the side. Now I am going to stick to SNGs on Bovada.

Nice to know someone else from the Bay Area is playing poker.

I just found your blog TODAY and will start reading.

Nice to meet you;

Braden.

late to question? i hope no. ¿What you think going to be a good option to change totally of SNGs? , the actual situation of the SNGs is pretty bad so i think the next year going to be bad idea play 60$+ SNGs, ¿You have investments, businesses or something out of poker?, ¿you think is EV+ stake/coach poker players for SNGs up 30$ (i guess) ? ¿you can say how much you win per hour (pre/and post rakeback) ?

Thanks for do this , It's great to know there are people who want to share their knowledge and are not self-centered / arrogant as many regs SNGs

A lot. Stack dynamic + the player who has that stack can make a huge difference in how I play not only vs that particular opponent, but the rest of the table.

As for the last part, I'll often consider table composition -- and on very 'fishy' tables I'll pass up small edges (sometimes even medium edges) because the players left are normally going to punt/give a lot of equity.

Sonoma! Been out to Graton yet? Next time I'm in town, I'm going to play a few hours in their new casino.

GL on Bovada, hope the traffic improves so eventually I can return home for good.

Never too late.

I don't think SNGs are dead. The idea of them still appeals to your average player, but the games need to be highlighted in some way by Stars. In the past, they'd do promotions such as BOP, Golden SNGs, Deposit Bonuses for SNG tickets, etc and those always provided more traffic.

In addition, I'd like to see less rake and less rakeback, but keep in mind I want them together, in-tandem. Currently, the regs are paying a lot less in rake than the recs. The regs who get SN get back 40% of their rake paid whereas recs are losing more pre and only getting back 0% with the occasional stress ball. Ultimately, this has led to recs going broke at a much faster rate and the faster they lose, the less likely they are to redeposit. Another way to make recs lose at a slower rate is to ban HUDs and I'm all for that too.

I have a retirement account/mutual fund/$$ saved, does that count?

I'd prefer to not coach my opponents, but I'm willing to do it in the right circumstances. More +EV for them IMO, but variance free $$ is nice.

I'm doing my best to hide exact results on that, but there's a decent chance I change my mind before the year is over. My PG&C is void of purrty graphs and I think I'll post a end-of-the-year graph as my final goodbye post in that subforum. For now, let's just say I'm having my best year ever in terms of profit and hourly.



Thank you.

Is getting rid of SNE a good idea? Seems like 30-100 sngs have become pretty disgusting in the last few years. Do you think flattening the rb down to something similar to the lower levels would get rid of some of the masstabling regs?

I'm not sure. With SNE eliminated, I think the following is guaranteed to happen:

1) Lower volume in SNGs

The mass-tabling regs are a frequent target of criticism, but they're basically the "prop" players that Stars is paying to get games running. Recreational players don't want to sit at 1/9 or 2/9 or even 5/9. They want to play NOW, that's why cash/Spins are so popular among that player type. The mass-tabling regs fill up lobbies and allow a recreational player the opportunity to get in a 9/18 a lot faster than they would be able to otherwise. Fewer SNGs will certainly run without those regs.

2) Softer SNGs

The games that *do* run should be a bit softer than the average ones that go off now. With less regs pumping out volume, the games will have a much better rec:reg ratio and that will help out all everyone; the recs lose at a much slower rate, and the regs see an increase in their ROI. That might even benefit Stars because the slower recs lose, the more of their $ goes to rake and more likely they are to redeposit.

On the flipside, there will be a lot less overall rake paid by the player pool. I know that Stars gives back 50-60% to SNEs, but that's still $60k/year that PS is making off each player. There's no way they make that amount off those guys under a flat system. The SNE program motivates a lot of players, myself included, to put in a lot more volume (and subsequently pay a lot more rake) than I otherwise would consider doing.

I agree with the soapbox part, but the bold bit has made me chuckle - 29 is exactly when I'm going to retire (#yolo), and mind that I'm currently a ton of times poorer than you, I guess (and will still be a few times poorer even after some real-life good run).

don't do it ****74, I love you man

"life's too long, that's some cold ****" Mos Def

I don't think I'd ever fully retire; I'd probably always want to have some sort of job/hobby that takes up a lot of my time, keeps me mentally and/or physically active, etc.

So I guess by retire I meant "stop working so damn much." If I wanted to live in Thailand for the rest of my life, I could 'retire' now. Unfortunately I've grown accustomed to living in the western world and currently live in one of the most expensive cities in North America (Vancouver).

Great thread! Hope to catch part of your stream tomorrow! ... & maybe join you in a few donkaments on GGPoker.