Bitcointalk Poker Nights Discussion Thread (private games for btctalk members)

[yahoo62278]

Sportsbet is hosting another 40 mBTC Freeroll tonight - not sure if anyone is going to join but I thought I would let you guys know. 60 registered Spammers already.
~

I think it's a nice one, and definitely worth participating. Last time there were around 150 participants, if I remember correctly, and this time there will be even more, I guess. I'm pretty sure many of them have no account at all here, but I'm not going to criticize Sportsbets' policy in this regard. They are funding the prize pool of $300, which is almost unheard of for a freeroll, and I can be only grateful to them.

However, I'd like to suggest a rule for our series. Since we desire to play with real members of bitcointalk, not with just anyone, I think it would be better to accept only Jr. Members and above.

What do you guys think?

Jmac1551 is also a newbie whom I know IRL and invited to the tourney.

Long as they pay the fee I dont care who joins. I'd just rather not see 10 new names the final game to get access to the losers freeroll.

[1714477943]

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[1714477943]

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[Trofo]

If by some miracle I manage to get a big stack of chips then I will leave the table for an hour and come back to play in later stages.

Is that a legit tactic?

Is this why people are going to sit out in the other tournaments, I'm playing in to learn it?

Don't do it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I am just doing it because I don't like playing these freerolls at the beginning and don't have time to grind trough first 2 hours of bad game play. I am giving it about 1% chance of working out.


For our Championship series newbies are perfectly OK. Especially, if SwC is cheeking for alt accounts and it seems you guys had some info regarding that.

[big_daddy]

If by some miracle I manage to get a big stack of chips then I will leave the table for an hour and come back to play in later stages.

Is that a legit tactic?

Is this why people are going to sit out in the other tournaments, I'm playing in to learn it?

On a side note few more days left to earn my entry fee back in low rake.  

I saw a lot of players doing this, but you have to gain a lot in the early stages to keep your bank alive
It's much easier on tournaments without "ante", only with small and big blinds, and it's much easier on full tables, 7 to 9 players

[cryptofrka]

I managed to win 2 all-in hands on Sportsbet table and went offline for like 30 mins, only 2 players at the table were active so they just traded blinds in the meantime.
It's not for me but fair play to Sportsbet - the reward is good if you can play 2-3 hours of really bad poker before it gets better.

Regarding the series - I don't mind Newbie accounts participating. It's a pay to play tournament - and multiaccounting would probably be detected by SwC.

[webtricks]

Sportsbet is hosting another 40 mBTC Freeroll tonight - not sure if anyone is going to join but I thought I would let you guys know. 60 registered Spammers already.

I have already played previous two weeks of 'Play with Steve' series and gonna play tonight too. First week was really awful for me playing against the army of alts and inactive players. But in second week's touney, I adapted myself according to the situation and really enjoyed the tournament. I was among top 10 for quite some time before going all-in on QQ and lost the bet. However, now I know how to deal with alts as it is easily identifiable when someone is bluffing or when someone is genuinely playing. So tonight would be fun, especially if Steve sits on my table again.
 

[iv4n]

If by some miracle I manage to get a big stack of chips then I will leave the table for an hour and come back to play in later stages.

Is that a legit tactic?

Is this why people are going to sit out in the other tournaments, I'm playing in to learn it?

Don't do it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I am just doing it because I don't like playing these freerolls at the beginning and don't have time to grind trough first 2 hours of bad game play. I am giving it about 1% chance of working out.

I feel an urge to respond on this, basically free roll tournaments have some special strategies, game style of free roll tournaments and paid tournaments are two different worlds. I have read about some strategies from some people who count losing and winning hands, and they go all in based on that, you can find on net more about it. Generally I think we already discuss that, as you go higher with entry (no matter is it cash or tournament) you have more serious games! Simply as stakes go higher you play with more experienced people, games are more interesting, there's more tension and of course you have to adjust or you will sink to zero in a blink of an eye!

I'm in for tonight game at sportsbet. I don't expect much, I usually suck at free rolls, but who knows, I like to play with you guys and I will take my chances! Good luck to all, I hope some of us here will win it!

[CoinEraser]

Sportsbet is hosting another 40 mBTC Freeroll tonight - not sure if anyone is going to join but I thought I would let you guys know. 60 registered Spammers already.

I'm in and I'm waiting for it to start.    147 people have already registered so far. See if I have more luck today. Hope to see you all at the gaming tables. Good luck to you all.  
That was a short game for me. I'm out. 7-7 was not good enough. 

[Betwrong]

If by some miracle I manage to get a big stack of chips then I will leave the table for an hour and come back to play in later stages.

Is that a legit tactic?

Is this why people are going to sit out in the other tournaments, I'm playing in to learn it?

Don't do it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I am just doing it because I don't like playing these freerolls at the beginning and don't have time to grind trough first 2 hours of bad game play. I am giving it about 1% chance of working out.


For our Championship series newbies are perfectly OK. Especially, if SwC is cheeking for alt accounts and it seems you guys had some info regarding that.

Absolutely agree with you, playing a bad game is extremely annoying and almost unbearable. What I do to cope with that is I watch something on YouTube in another window, keeping an eye on the tables, but mostly not playing during the first hour and a half.

That's what I like about our series: no bad game from the very beginning. And since we have some good players among the newbies, ceehe and Jmac1551, as was mentioned above, I absolutely don't mind them playing. So, I take back my suggestion about strengthening the rules and accepting only Jr. Members and above. Let's continue playing good game, mates!


On a side note I was lucky enough to take the 9th place in the yesterday's 40 mBTC Freeroll on Sportsbet.



Don't know about you guys, but when I read "My place 9th of 149"



no matter the money, it makes me feel good.

[Globb0]

For our Championship series newbies are perfectly OK. Especially, if SwC is cheeking for alt accounts and it seems you guys had some info regarding that.

And since we have some good players among the newbies, ceehe and Jmac1551, as was mentioned above, I absolutely don't mind them playing.

Im one of those newbies and it was harsh sometimes. But I feel like its a learning opportunity with you guys being more pro but also not minding to chat and explain something or give advice.

On a side note I was lucky enough to take the 9th place in the yesterday's 40 mBTC Freeroll on Sportsbet.


Don't know about you guys, but when I read "My place 9th of 149"


no matter the money, it makes me feel good.

Cool. I won a freeroll on SwC though it was just silly I still felt the rush at the final table. I was like don't F this up G. hehe

[bullrun2024bro]

If by some miracle I manage to get a big stack of chips then I will leave the table for an hour and come back to play in later stages.

Is that a legit tactic?

Is this why people are going to sit out in the other tournaments, I'm playing in to learn it?

First of all, sitting out is never a legit tactic. Especially as a beginner you should start to convernt your cip counts into big blinds (in your head) - the more blinds you have the more pressure you can put on your opponents and the more hands you can play. That's why should try to increase your chip stack at all times of the tournament. Sitting out for an hour or more gives you a huge disadvantage, because the blinds will go up and it will be easier for your opponents to put pressure on you (since they were able to increase their stacks, while your were sitting out).

Let me give you a rough (basic) example, e.g:

Player 1 has 50000 (100BB)
Player 2 has 3500 (7BB)
Player 3 has 4000 (8BB)
Player 4 has 1000 (2BB)
Player 5 has 4500 (9BB)

If you're Player 1 here and you get the chance to open raise, you could basically push "all-in" any two cards and your move would be mathematically correct. Many beginners make the mistake that they fold far too many hands, especially in the final phase of the tournament, because they are waiting for good hands. If you drop to a lower stack (e.g. you only have 15-20 big blinds left) your range of playable hands gets smaller and smaller. You should switch to a "push or fold style" with that kind of a small stack.

If you are interested in Poker, I suggest you to check some basic (beginner) Poker videos on Youtube. If you spend a few hours to learn the basics, I am sure you will be able to play most of the (fun) tournaments here on BitcoinTalk profitable on the long run.

[Globb0]

Im trying to see some cards before I fold. But the NL bit doesn't help because of bullies

And sometimes when I go for it. Its go home time

[figmentofmyass]

If you drop to a lower stack (e.g. you only have 15-20 big blinds left) your range of playable hands gets smaller and smaller. You should switch to a "push or fold style" with that kind of a small stack.

push/fold at 15-20 big blinds is overkill IMO.

even when i'm legit short-stacked (like 8-10 big blinds), i like to mix in stop-and-gos rather than just open shoves.

[Steamtyme]

push/fold at 15-20 big blinds is overkill IMO.

even when i'm legit short-stacked (like 8-10 big blinds), i like to mix in stop-and-gos rather than just open shoves.

I don't mind having a small range for jamming here. More so around 15BB but sometimes it just makes sense especially in a late position.

In regards to starting stacks. Personally for all tournaments I wouldn't mind having a starting stack around 7500 - 10000. With a short late reg like 30 minutes. Most of the people playing seem to be able to make it work so keeping this shorter for reg/rebuys if available still keep the overall length down. You could go with say an 8 minute level and see how it goes. Just my thoughts on the overall matter. For a championship game I think the more chips the better. Makes for a more interesting game, playing real deep and lets people really mix in some plays.

Also personally I wouldn't seeing a few non-series tournaments. I'm not liekly going to be able to play in many series tournaments moving forward so just having a one off weekly or a longer series season would be something I'd like to see.

[Globb0]

If you drop to a lower stack (e.g. you only have 15-20 big blinds left) your range of playable hands gets smaller and smaller. You should switch to a "push or fold style" with that kind of a small stack.

push/fold at 15-20 big blinds is overkill IMO.

even when i'm legit short-stacked (like 8-10 big blinds), i like to mix in stop-and-gos rather than just open shoves.

Thanks for the link, Ill have a read of that today.

Are there any hotkeys in SwC? Im always scrambling for the mouse? like F1 = fold or something.

I played before somewhere and that was an option

Maybe its a suggestion I can make to their Devs if they put F1 F2 F3 on the buttons so you can see it you can just use keyboard then (mostly)

[figmentofmyass]

Are there any hotkeys in SwC? Im always scrambling for the mouse? like F1 = fold or something.

I played before somewhere and that was an option

Maybe its a suggestion I can make to their Devs if they put F1 F2 F3 on the buttons so you can see it you can just use keyboard then (mostly)

in the browser-based version, i don't see any options at all. if you download the software, there are 2 settings:

options > settings > "bet using enter key"
options > settings > "hot keys"

you can set your own hot keys, but i think they can only be letters---no numbers or F keys:

Personally for all tournaments I wouldn't mind having a starting stack around 7500 - 10000. With a short late reg like 30 minutes. Most of the people playing seem to be able to make it work so keeping this shorter for reg/rebuys if available still keep the overall length down. You could go with say an 8 minute level and see how it goes.

+1. i would much rather see deeper stacks, even if it meant speeding up blind levels a bit more.

[efialtis]

Not sure if you guys watched today's final but it was awesome really with Iv4n winning, followed by ceehe and SyGambler.

Well, I think it's time for some more poker action - #2 Bitcointalk Poker Series announced here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5245365

What do you guys think about bigger starting stacks for our qualifiers?

[figmentofmyass]

What do you guys think about bigger starting stacks for our qualifiers?

we discussed it a few days ago: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5217547.msg54305039#msg54305039

yahoo62278, BitcoinGirl.Club, and Steamtyme (and myself!) supported the idea. i don't think 5k starting stacks would significantly lengthen the tourneys looking at the blind structure, but it would make things more splashy and interesting. blind level length seems much more important re time. i'd like to see 5k starting stacks, or maybe 7500 starting stack + increase the blind speed 2-3 minutes.

[cryptofrka]

What do you guys think about bigger starting stacks for our qualifiers?

I found out the hard way that 3k starting stack does not give much room for errors

One bad call and you are on the ropes really fast and then it's really a struggle because the blinds keep increasing and you can play less and less hands.

5k might be the sweet spot, it is almost double the initial stacks.

[cancerbola]

And what does everyone think about a more top heavy points structure 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1? Helps the guys in the midfield separate from each other if they manage to get a more than decent finish. Also helps with reducing ties, makes comebacks possible right until the last round, and missing out on one or two games won't hurt you that much if you think you can finish ITM a few times.

[buwaytress]

Good morning guys! Been feeling so, so guilty about sitting out entire weeks of poker, but personal situation means I really can't afford the time to sit at tables as much as I'd love to. Been watching with envy the freerolls at SB and then the weeks at SwC.

@efialtis I believe I still have one entry, but I honestly can't remember, if so, put that small tip in for the final pot, won't you? I saw your PM but I definitely can't make it tonight =(