A Silver Lining

The events of the last few days have angered me more than anything in my entire life. If the government used the time and effort it’s spending fighting gambling instead fighting terrorism, maybe we wouldn’t be sending more troops to Iraq. I won’t go into it anymore now; I need to dedicate an entire post to say everything I need to.

One thing that is certain, the online poker landscape will be changing dramatically in the following weeks. We will see who the pretenders are, and who the contenders are. Some sites will have the balls to say “F the US government” and continue to bring the people the entertainment they want. The game make up will also change significantly. I actually think this might improve the games for a while. For the next week there will be panic among the masses. Many players will be tilting away stacks from the current uncertainty. Fish with a few buy ins in their account will probably just gamble them away knowing it will be difficult to cash out.

In the long term I see the break even, or slightly profitable, players leaving the game. That means there will be fish and sharks. People playing for a living will find a way to play, as will the people who really want to gamble. This could actually make the games more profitable, as long as you practice excellent game selection.


From this assessment, I made the decision to move up to the $100NL games a bit early. I need to take advantage of the current climate while I still can. I can’t wake up each day and be certain online poker will be there. This means the correct way for me to maximize my bankroll is to move up now. If you’re not certain you can beat the next level I wouldn’t suggest this, but at this point I can’t blame anyone for taking a shot. Before you even think about doing this you must be certain you have enough money to get by in the event you can no longer play online.

I started the $100s on Friday and Saturday, and was right on the money with my assessment of the current poker climate. Players were playing much worse than normal, many having a fire sale of their online bankroll. I think this hand sums it up pretty perfectly:

http://www.pokerdynasty.net/forum/index.php?topic=463.0

The first session didn’t start off too hot. I was playing with a few decent aggressive players (had no prior data available for table selection) and every time I decided to make a move I was shown the nuts. I also lost a $400+ pot when my AA didn’t hold up vs top pair. I wasn’t worried about the poor start. The play was terrible, as expected, so I wasn’t going to let the initial results affect my plan.

It didn’t take very long to cash in on the ridiculous play, and I had a very good Saturday. Between the two days I played 4872 hands and made $292. One of the biggest factors in moving up was the extra bonus money I could earn, and I was able to make another $83 from that. I hope to clear $500+ per week in bonus money for as long as I can.

While it’s true the current situation blows, but like in every other poker situation, you must make the most of what you’re given. If you don’t give up and start blowing your bankroll, you should be able to find some incredibly profitable games. Online poker may not be here forever, make the most of it while you can.

Bankroll: $2997
Hands played this week: 9535
Bonus cleared this week: $153
Hands played this month: 26232
Bonus/rakeback this month: $574