Hand 6 I would go bigger on every street. Did he not have an inelastic calling range there?

Given that there's only one A left I'm basically trying to get value from Tx and the draw... So I bet less than I would have with AK, for example.

congrats on your recent success

It is true that some sites have had better RNGs than others, and they aren't perfect, but I don't think that the problems are as significant as you seem to think - except in cases where there were actual scandals with superusers and all.

Thanks!

So then how would you explain the fact that when i have kings the ace always comes? I suppose you call that random chance, huh? LOL

That's my skill edge when I flat you in position to take it away post-flop when the ace hits.

I completely understand your sentiments, Cuse. In fact, I appreciate that you weren't more condescending in your reply. Can you imagine when I was telling people that the cards on Planet Poker were being impacted by my mouse movements (before the public announcement was made). People were literally laughing me out of the room:

"Sure man....you're controlling the cards LOL. Yeah, they set up a multi-million dollar online site, and they decided to leave the controls in your living room on some random kids desktop LMFAO. Give me pocket aces for the next whole week please ROFL."

On top of that, I had two main problems:

1. I did not want to show anyone exactly how it was done because I was making a s***load of easy money and having everyone using the same trick would obv nullify it.

2. I didn't know exactly how or why or what was happening. I just new it worked...for some reason. Only once it was announced that they had been using player mouse movements to seed the RNG did it finally all make sense.

So yeah, I was questioning myself for even posting those comments. Believe me, I know how it all sounds. I've been criticized, and then I wan vindicated against all odds. But as I said, I'm not denouncing all sites, and to be realistic, given how sleazy the whole industry has been on numerous different sites in numerous different ways...I think that even the harshest critic might have to concede that it is within the the realm of possibility that A FEW sites have RNGs that aren't quite 100% straight up.

Well I find it extremely hard to believe you were exerting control over the cards. Just because mouse movements seed an RNG doesn't mean, to my understanding, that you'd be able to repeat the same movements and get the same cards.

As far as I know a computer can't be set up to have a perfectly random RNG. So I think all of them are technically flawed, but we're talking about such ridiculously small deviations from true randomness they're irrelevant. I doubt a machine shuffler in a poker table is perfectly random, or a hand shuffle. Is the card on the bottom of the deck equally likely to come up on the top of the deck as a card in the middle? Probably not.

September 15 – “And now he’s acting like a bully, / so he tries to push and pull me, / but he knows that he can’t fool me so he’s mad. / He has no choice but to scream, / and raise his voice up at me, / cause it annoys him to see that I ain’t scared. / You aint no motherf***ing bully. ”

So I headed over to Harrahs Philadelphia on Monday on minimal sleep and got ready to grind. Unfortunately there was a long wait for the 2/5, so I had to start in a 1/2 and work my way up.

Run Em Over

The 1/2 at Harrahs sucks as much as ever. It’s a bunch of OMC nits basically, so I ran the table over… I did pick up some hands preflop and just took down a bunch of small pots.

Results: +$27 in 34 minutes at 1/2 ($4 in tips)

Cold as Ice

I finally got into the 1/3 and ran KK into AA, we got it all-in preflop.

Results: -$288 in 28 minutes at 1/3 ($2 in tips)

Finally in the 2/5

I finally got into the 2/5, which was a much better game than the 1/2 or 1/3. Early on I flopped a flush against an aggro action player and won a huge pot.

Hand No. 1

A tight player limps UTG and I make it $25 with AA. An action player calls in the blinds and the UTG nit makes it $125. I am shocked – like, does he have the other two? Or KK? I think he may fold KK to a 4bet, so I flat. I also want the action player in, but he folds. We’re about $900 deep going to the flop.

Flop ($275): Q55

He checks, I bet $150, he folds. He says he had JJ and I tell him AK. He flips out and tells me how terrible it is to call $100 at 2/5 with AK and that if I do that they’re going to change my name to (REDACTED for fish’s privacy). I laugh and say I can’t fold AK.

Going to War With The Whale

The action whale then asks me how much money I have in play. I tell him about $1,200. He turns to the dealer and says “10 percent.” The dealer says, huh? The whale says, “$120 tip to you if you felt him. I’m putting a bounty on his head.”

I laugh and say, “OK, bring it on man.”

He tells me a couple of times he’s going to felt me, and asks me how I’m going to feel when I lose to him with two random s*** cards that he stacks me with. “I won’t care man, bring it on. Let’s go.”

He seems aggravated that I’m not in fear at the prospect of playing and possibly losing a $2.4K pot. He seems to realize that I’m not one of those run of the mill scared-ass regulars that he can bully around when stacks get deep. So he resorts to trying to tilt me.

He asks me if the S on my hat stands for s***hole, and starts calling me s***head. I ignore him. Then he starts ripping on Delaware, and I laugh and tell him he’s going to have to try harder to piss me off – I don’t like Delaware anyway.

He pauses. “What do you weigh, about 250?”

I respond, “A little less. By the way (pointing to a stack of greens), this is the money I won off you – in case you’re wondering.”

That gets under his skin, and we’re prepared to go at it. A while later I play a big pot against him with an overpair and win another $300-$400 off him and he is clearly annoyed and keeps eyeballing my chips.

Unfortunately, I can’t play a long session because I have to get home for Monday Night Football… He gets down below $800 on the table anyway, so at least I didn’t pass up an opportunity to stack him for like 2K more.

Results: +$1,593 in 2 hours, 56 minutes at 2/5 ($13 in tips)

September 16 – “If I’m open for the three, I’m a take it in a second. / Even if there’s one second, I’m a make it, it’s nothing. / I don’t take it for granted, I don’t take it for nothing. / I take it for what it’s worth.”

I hit up Parx for the Tuesday action after a meeting. I ran pretty good, but didn’t play any overly interesting hands. I would’ve had a much bigger win, but a fish floated me with J9 on a 865 board, then turned a T to be open ended and called a big bet again. When the 7 hit the river, I couldn’t put him on a 9 unless he had 89 so I paid off with top pair.

Later, I ran into a set in a weird spot and probably misplayed a hand worse than I have in a long time. Basically when I got check-raised on the turn I got confused because it had checked around on the flop and I had TPGK and didn’t think the villain would check a set twice. However, there were no draws or bluffs for him to have, so he basically HAD to have a set. That cost me about $300 and I’m still a little annoyed by it. Never the less, it was a solid winning day of more than my expected winrate (although it may be time to adjust that upwards of 10bb/hr), so it’s still a solid day.

Results: +$405 in 7 hours ($30 in tips)

Pranking Duke

I was hanging out behind a buddy playing 1/2 after I finished while waiting for Duke to arrive to collect some money from our MNF bet, and shoot the breeze a bit. Then this big, weightlifting, crazy looking dude in the four seat asked if my friend had seen “that little Indian guy, or maybe Pakistani – cause he’s a cool little dude!”

I decided to have some fun with Duke since there was an empty seat and I knew he might end up at that table, and had just walked in. I texted Duke and said “Hey watch out for the 4 seat, he was just saying he hates you and he looks mean.”

So Duke walks up, and the guy gets a big smile and says, “Hey little buddy! How’s it going???”

Duke looks taken a back and doesn’t know what to do and says, “Uhh, hi.”

I can barely contain myself when the guy extends his hand and says “How have you been??”

Duke sheepishly reaches out, as if he's wondering if he's about to get his arm ripped off, and shakes his hand and says, “Uhh, fine?”

At this point I’m cracking up at the look on Duke’s face, and so is our friend in the 10 seat – not a 2p2er to my knowledge. I’m just laughing hysterically and turning away from the table. I walk over and pat Duke on the shoulder and tell him I was messing with him, then text him to tell him the 4 seat was actually asking about him cause he thinks he’s a nice dude.

To make up for my prank, I told him who to God seat in the game, and then headed back to my hotel.

September 17 – “It’s how we do it, how we did it, how we done it. / I ain’t bragging, I ain’t boasting, it’s the way it go. / I ain’t bragging, I ain’t boasting, that’s the way it is.”

It was back on the Parx grind today, and had to spend a little time in a 1/2 game waiting for my 2/5 seat. I lucked into the God seat on a spaz, but didn’t pick up any hands during my time there.

Result: -$31 in 20 minutes at 1/2

Starting to be Recognized

Parx basically has a lot of fish and a lot of solid to really good grinders, many of whom are starting to recognize me and BS with me. It’s nice to socialize, but I’m sure it sucks for image. They also fall into talking WAY too much strategy at the table, so when that happens I just shut up and try to act uninterested. A couple are smart enough not to do that, though, so props to those of you who are reading. And facepalms to those who talk strategy at the table.

Anyway, I think as long as I’m aware of what my image is to those good regs, I can act accordingly.

Other than that, I get position on some players I want position on and make some hands and value bet well and get called.

Hand No. 1

I open to $20 with QQ up front. The button, a good reg, calls. The BB raises to $80. We’re pretty deep, like 1K give or take. I flat and the button calls.

Flop ($236): Q93

The BB bets $150 and I decide to call. The button folds. I’m just thinking one thing… No king, no king, no king, no king.

Turn ($536): K

The only truly bad card in the deck, as he may put me on JT and it could kill action, and now if he had AA/KK only, one of them got there. However, he could also have cbet AK and think he just go there. He checks, I bet $300, he jams $740. “If you have kings this is so gross,” I say, as I quickly call.

River ($2,016): Brick

“Aces,” he says, and I table my set. He starts whining incessantly about how bad he runs.

Smooth Sailing

Other than that, I don’t really get into any interesting spots. Everything seems to flow easily, and I just keep chipping up. I make some big hands, but they play themselves basically. It’s becoming easier and easier to consistently make the right plays, and rarely do I feel like I’m making big mistakes. I was particularly happy with my play today, given that I was tired.



Results: +$2,813 in 5 hours, 34 minutes ($28 in tips)

+10k in a week? Decent

Yup, I skipped the 10K month and went straight to the 10K week!

Very nice, time for a 10k day

Haha I'm ready for it!

Sick week, 5/T shot coming soon?

No no, I wasn't able to be get specific cards to come. I was just able to get more high cards than low cards. So I was able to make top 10% hands like 30-40% of the time. It allowed me to play a LAG's VPIP with a nit's range.

Oh, and people did eventually crack the RNG so they could know exactly what the turn and the river cards were going to be. This was documented and admitted by Planet Poker in press releases.

Thanks trob! I'm debating... Bankroll wise most would do it soon (I'm pushing 27K), but I'm a bankroll nit and also don't have that many 2/5 hours under my belt yet. If anything, I'd consider the Parx T/T must move on a Tuesday or wait for SugarHouse... or a trip to MDL. I hear Borgata has the toughest of the 5/T games.

Why not take 7k and play 5-10? If you lose you still have plenty to play 2-5.

I think by should def stick to 2/5. In fact I almost think yu should at least got rough one good sized downswing prior to moving up. You need to know you can play well and grind through a downswing at every stake you play IMO. From what I recall you haven't really hade a decent sized one at 2-5.

I'd only have like 13K left for 2/5 before dropping down to 1/2, and that's not a huge roll. I think right now getting stability to buy in to 2/5 for 1K all the time with no fear of moving down is most important... That said, if there's a juicy 5/T or T/T game, I may sit... But I won't be taking a regular, full-fledged shot at it.

I had a downswing right when I took my first shot, which was about 2K-2500, so 4-5 buyins, but nothing huge. I have somewhere around 160 hours in at 2/5, and while I have zero doubt whatsoever that I will crush the game long term, I do want a good sample size to be able to accurately predict my long term win rate, which is probably between $45 and $70 an hour.

As I originally stated, getting my roll to 50K + a year's living expenses to move out and support myself on poker is the key goal. 50K is 100 100bb 2/5 buyins, or 50 200bb buyins. I'd feel pretty comfortable with that full-time, but not with much less - so I want to get to that and be stable before I take any major 5/T shots.... In the mean time I think if the game is really good I will probably sit.

4-5 buy ins is not a downswing, that's a bad session. I was thinking more in the 12-13 bi range, which can happen at 2/5 especially at 1k max.

Are you saying a 12 to 13K downswing or ~6K?

6k.

Oh ok... Yeah that's certainly realistically in the realm if possibility. I think my game has improved substantially though and my tilt control is top notch so it's not likely to occur anytime soon. I've been stuck almost every session this month, for example, but I'm still absolutely crushing.

I agree with your point in principle but I look at it more as playing say 500 hours than waiting for a downswing.