DavyB
New Contributor
I am by no means a poker pro, like snowbank and pokerrich, nor did I pull ESPN airtime at a WSOP final table like JScott. However, this post is more geared to some people who may have read some of the poker posts and thought to themselves that they may want to try it. Obviously, several people have tried and had varying degrees of success. But judging by the number of views of the posts, they have been very popular. I heard Snowbank's presentation at the 2008 B&P on poker as a business, and I thought that it sounded like something at which I could excel. I'd played some poker before and even online at PartyPoker before it was shutdown to U.S. residents.
At first, I followed Snowbank's advice on playing the 6-handed NL games, but I found I was too impatient after a couple of hours each session of playing to be a winning player consistently. So I branched out and played various games, Sit-N-Gos, cash games, Heads-Up games, tourneys, etc. So my road to success is a little different from what snowbank and others have laid out. However, I think there is merit to it because like snowbank's system, it allows you to build capital from a small amount of money, even without being one of the top players.
The games that I have concentrated on are called Heads-Up Sit-N-Gos. Basically, it is a two-person tournament. At the buy-ins that I am currently playing--$110+5--the total purse is $220, $110 from each player and $10 to the rake. (Btw, rakeback applies to these games as well.) Obviously, the object of this small, two-person tournament is to end up with all the chips. Each player starts with 1500, blinds at 15/30, increasing every 3 minutes, and it's No Limit.
So let's say you win 50% of your games. You will be a losing player because of lost rake. Rakeback will only recover a certain portion of that rake. The break-even point is about a 52% winrate. Let's take a look at some examples, as well as win %, gross winnings, cost, net winnings, and ROI (not including rakeback).
52% = 52 wins/100 games
Gross winnings=52*220=11,440
Cost=115*100=11,500
Net winnings= -60
ROI= -.5%------> This means that at $110 buy-in, you will lose an average of 58 cents/game
So obviously at 52% winrate, you are a losing player, but with rakeback, you come out slightly ahead. Continuing...
53% = 53/100 = 11,660 gross winnings-11,500 costs=160 profit
ROI= 160/11,500=1.39%, or $1.60/game
At 53%, you become a winning player.
54%= 11,880-11,500=380
ROI=380/11,500=3.30%, or $3.80/game
55%= 12,100-11,500=600
ROI=600/11,500=5.22%, or $6/game
56%= 12,320-11,500=820
ROI=820/11,500=7.13%, or $8.20/game
57%= 12,540-11,500=1040
ROI=1040/11,500=9.04%, or $10.40/game
58%= 12,760-11,500=1260
ROI=1260/11,500=10.96%, or $12.60/game
59%= 12,980-11,500=1480
ROI=1480/11,500=12.87%, or $14.80/game
60%= 13,200-11,500=1700
ROI=1700/11,500=14.78%, or $17/game
So you may be thinking, big deal, so I win 57% of my games and make $10.40/game. Well, the great thing is, each game usually takes 15 minutes maximum, and I would say the average game takes 8-10 minutes. So you can generally play about 6 games/hour. Now you're making 6*10.40=72.40/hour, without rakeback. Until you decide you can play more than one game at once, just like snowbank and others multi-table. However, these games are much faster paced than the 6 player games--there are only two players, so you will need to pay more constant attention. But let's say you feel comfortable playing 2 games at once...now you're at 72.40*2=144.80/hour. Personally, I am at the point where I feel very comfortable playing 2-3 games simulatenously, or about 15 games/hour. Since April began, I have made over $14K. And, let me tell you, I am nowhere near to being one of the top/better players in these games. Obviously, you probably would not be starting out at $110+5 buy-in, but use the appropriate ratio to figure out what profityou can expect, given the buy-in you select and your winrate.
A quick note about rakeback, which I have somewhat glossed over in this discussion...as I said, rakeback still applies in these games, so my rakeback hourly is approximately $5 dollars/gm*15 games/hr*.27rakeback factor = approximately $20/hr.
My apologies for anything that is unclear/jumbled. I would be happy to elaborate if there is any interest.
At first, I followed Snowbank's advice on playing the 6-handed NL games, but I found I was too impatient after a couple of hours each session of playing to be a winning player consistently. So I branched out and played various games, Sit-N-Gos, cash games, Heads-Up games, tourneys, etc. So my road to success is a little different from what snowbank and others have laid out. However, I think there is merit to it because like snowbank's system, it allows you to build capital from a small amount of money, even without being one of the top players.
The games that I have concentrated on are called Heads-Up Sit-N-Gos. Basically, it is a two-person tournament. At the buy-ins that I am currently playing--$110+5--the total purse is $220, $110 from each player and $10 to the rake. (Btw, rakeback applies to these games as well.) Obviously, the object of this small, two-person tournament is to end up with all the chips. Each player starts with 1500, blinds at 15/30, increasing every 3 minutes, and it's No Limit.
So let's say you win 50% of your games. You will be a losing player because of lost rake. Rakeback will only recover a certain portion of that rake. The break-even point is about a 52% winrate. Let's take a look at some examples, as well as win %, gross winnings, cost, net winnings, and ROI (not including rakeback).
52% = 52 wins/100 games
Gross winnings=52*220=11,440
Cost=115*100=11,500
Net winnings= -60
ROI= -.5%------> This means that at $110 buy-in, you will lose an average of 58 cents/game
So obviously at 52% winrate, you are a losing player, but with rakeback, you come out slightly ahead. Continuing...
53% = 53/100 = 11,660 gross winnings-11,500 costs=160 profit
ROI= 160/11,500=1.39%, or $1.60/game
At 53%, you become a winning player.
54%= 11,880-11,500=380
ROI=380/11,500=3.30%, or $3.80/game
55%= 12,100-11,500=600
ROI=600/11,500=5.22%, or $6/game
56%= 12,320-11,500=820
ROI=820/11,500=7.13%, or $8.20/game
57%= 12,540-11,500=1040
ROI=1040/11,500=9.04%, or $10.40/game
58%= 12,760-11,500=1260
ROI=1260/11,500=10.96%, or $12.60/game
59%= 12,980-11,500=1480
ROI=1480/11,500=12.87%, or $14.80/game
60%= 13,200-11,500=1700
ROI=1700/11,500=14.78%, or $17/game
So you may be thinking, big deal, so I win 57% of my games and make $10.40/game. Well, the great thing is, each game usually takes 15 minutes maximum, and I would say the average game takes 8-10 minutes. So you can generally play about 6 games/hour. Now you're making 6*10.40=72.40/hour, without rakeback. Until you decide you can play more than one game at once, just like snowbank and others multi-table. However, these games are much faster paced than the 6 player games--there are only two players, so you will need to pay more constant attention. But let's say you feel comfortable playing 2 games at once...now you're at 72.40*2=144.80/hour. Personally, I am at the point where I feel very comfortable playing 2-3 games simulatenously, or about 15 games/hour. Since April began, I have made over $14K. And, let me tell you, I am nowhere near to being one of the top/better players in these games. Obviously, you probably would not be starting out at $110+5 buy-in, but use the appropriate ratio to figure out what profityou can expect, given the buy-in you select and your winrate.
A quick note about rakeback, which I have somewhat glossed over in this discussion...as I said, rakeback still applies in these games, so my rakeback hourly is approximately $5 dollars/gm*15 games/hr*.27rakeback factor = approximately $20/hr.
My apologies for anything that is unclear/jumbled. I would be happy to elaborate if there is any interest.
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