Well, Day one of the November PSO did not go as well as planned. Two middle of the pack finishes (literally: I placed around 660/1400 and 700/1300) did not mean good things for my score. And when I looked yesterday morning, lo and behold, I was sitting in around 2400th place. And while part of the 783 place jump between the 10pET tournament last night and the results posting of the 8pET tourney can be attributed to an increased number of players, I was able to regain all of the 10.27 points I lost on the first day... So I guess hooray for not digging too deep of a hole? I'll check again in a few hours to see where I am after the 11/2 11pET tourney posts.
October's payout also landed on the 11/1, so there was $30 in my account. Which is good, because a couple really bad days at the table had totally wiped me out. I say bad days, my cash game was shit during the last full week of October, because I wasn't focused on poker. And tilting is deadly to a bankroll even at 5/10c limits.
Update: OK, so the results (10pET) tournament got posted. I'm not happy with where I'm sitting, but I know it could be a lot worse. Again, I finished on the wrong side of the bubble, about 60 places out of the money; but I picked up a dozen points, which puts me as far out of the hole as I was in it when I started the day.
Not surprisingly, I'm on the outside of the league's bubble as well; but only by about 220 people. How close is it? The money starts at 1,000th place, who currently has 1522.15 points. I have 1513.60. Yes, 220 people are within 8.55 points of the Active player prize pool.
Two things are coming into play here. Every month, the bubble number has gotten bigger. Part of that is probably due to an increased number of players -- bigger tournaments mean bigger point payouts. But I can't discount increasing skill levels of the rest of the field; theoretically, that's what this league is supposed to be about. Last month's cutoff was 1635.06; and the difference between 1st and 1000th was 307.44 points
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
October PSO, 4 days to go
Well, with 4 days left to go in October, I've been on a decent run in the PokerSchoolOnline.com Skill League. After 36 tournaments, I'm up 305 points; with nearly half (140) of those coming in the last week (10/21-10/27). Barring a complete meltdown between now and Monday morning, I should be in the money. Not to blow my own horn, but I'm in 201st place out of over 10,000 players; which puts me square on the bubble for the next prize jump: less than a half a point is between me and doubling my prize.
Like most tournament payouts, the big money jumps occurs on the final table; the guy in first (currently thatsmysky 1930.90) will take home 1500 dollars, while the guy in tenth (ESSY ARMEN 1908.06) only gets 100. Now, I hear you, and you're saying Deege, you've collected 140 points over the last week, putting you at 1805, you're only 103 points away from the big money jumps. And when you say that, I laugh in your general directions because, I don't have 4 days worth of tournaments to rack up 103 points; I've got 4 days of tourneys to make up 103 points and if you don't think there's a difference there, you've never tried to hit a moving target.
And the thing is, I've played with a number of guys on the first page of the leaderboard; at least 6 of the top 12 in the last week and a half. They're good; and they're not going to wait for me, or anybody else to play catch up. Personally, I'd be happy if I was on their radar... you know, my smiling mug shows up in their screen and they go "oh hey, it's dingo."
After 10th place, the next 88 people get $50, unless they aren't "Active"; earning at least 20 VIP points from Pokerstars in the previous month. Surprisingly enough, two of the top 10 (11SCORPIUS11 and stuckinit) are not "Active" players. For them and any other Whitestar player, the payout drops to 10% of the Active player's cash. 99th place (Choas Evo21 1840.78) gets $30, and 201st (dingodeege 1805.14) drops to $15, and Whitestar players are out of the money. It's a bit disconcerting to have two payout structures, but hey, I'm Active (and with over 100 VIP points this month, will be again in November), so I don't really mind.
Here's the fun thing about the point system: it's variable. The more points you have, the harder it is to get big point payouts. Now, there's still a massive jump for hitting the money; I have a finishes of 163 and 139 in tournaments with similar number of runners (that you didn't have to take. And it cost you money. Yes, making a move on the bubble is good strategy, and it's profitable, when it works. If you got into an all-in situation that you didn't have to, especially when you're that close to the money, you better have the nuts.
Like most tournament payouts, the big money jumps occurs on the final table; the guy in first (currently thatsmysky 1930.90) will take home 1500 dollars, while the guy in tenth (ESSY ARMEN 1908.06) only gets 100. Now, I hear you, and you're saying Deege, you've collected 140 points over the last week, putting you at 1805, you're only 103 points away from the big money jumps. And when you say that, I laugh in your general directions because, I don't have 4 days worth of tournaments to rack up 103 points; I've got 4 days of tourneys to make up 103 points and if you don't think there's a difference there, you've never tried to hit a moving target.
And the thing is, I've played with a number of guys on the first page of the leaderboard; at least 6 of the top 12 in the last week and a half. They're good; and they're not going to wait for me, or anybody else to play catch up. Personally, I'd be happy if I was on their radar... you know, my smiling mug shows up in their screen and they go "oh hey, it's dingo."
After 10th place, the next 88 people get $50, unless they aren't "Active"; earning at least 20 VIP points from Pokerstars in the previous month. Surprisingly enough, two of the top 10 (11SCORPIUS11 and stuckinit) are not "Active" players. For them and any other Whitestar player, the payout drops to 10% of the Active player's cash. 99th place (Choas Evo21 1840.78) gets $30, and 201st (dingodeege 1805.14) drops to $15, and Whitestar players are out of the money. It's a bit disconcerting to have two payout structures, but hey, I'm Active (and with over 100 VIP points this month, will be again in November), so I don't really mind.
Here's the fun thing about the point system: it's variable. The more points you have, the harder it is to get big point payouts. Now, there's still a massive jump for hitting the money; I have a finishes of 163 and 139 in tournaments with similar number of runners (that you didn't have to take. And it cost you money. Yes, making a move on the bubble is good strategy, and it's profitable, when it works. If you got into an all-in situation that you didn't have to, especially when you're that close to the money, you better have the nuts.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Playing Poker again.
Been a while since my last post. I haven't been too busy; I've reworked my laptop to a dual-boot Ubuntu-XP hybrid and my desktop to more of a local file server.
Since I wrote last, the Boot Hill Casino over in Dodge City has opened and is running well: lots of money getting put into the state's education coffers. But I haven't been much.
I can't: I have an addictive personality; and I simply can't afford to make the half hour trip and drop a $50 or $100 into the slot machines or blackjack tables. And if I can't afford to play 21, I sure as hell can't afford to buy in to the poker game. Their small table is a 50 BB buy-in; that's $500 to even sit down -- or just shy of a paycheck. I'm not that good.
So I've been getting my fix on Pokerstars. I had busted out on Full Tilt playing their Rush Poker. Rush poker seems like a good concept, you can see over 150 hands per hour, compared to a regular online room at around 50-60. The idea is you're put on a table, and as soon as you fold your hand, you're shunted to another table. The Big Blind is paid by the person who has seen the largest number of hands since paying the big blind. This appears to be determined after the players are seated, so you may -- like I was -- be put in the small blind multiple times in a row, only to be dropped in the big blind the next hand. Yeah, I had that happen more than once.
So, why'd I jump over to PS? The PokerSchoolOnline.com Skill League. Basically, you watch a few lessons, take a few tests, and are awarded an ticket. That ticket buys you in to every PSO Skill League free roll. When I started, it was a $50; but then they cranked up the league. Every month, the PSO is putting $17,500 (plus $40 a day in freerolls) up for grabs. How do you get a piece?
Take the test, get the ticket. Play the free rolls. Place well enough in the free rolls (usually top 200 or so, depending on the number of runners) and you'll get rating points. Do poorly and you'll lose them. At the end of the month, the ratings are locked in. Finish in the top 200 and win cash.
But wait, there's over 9000 people signed up for the tournaments. Only the top 200 get paid? Yes... and no.
Now, here's where it gets tricky. There's two prize levels: Whitestar and Active. Active players earned at least 20 Pokerstars VIP Points in the month prior to the league's month. So to be an Active player for August, you will have needed to earned 20 VPP in July. If you didn't, you're a White Star. To win as a White Star, you need to have finished in the top 200 ratings for the month.
Active players have an advantage. It makes sense, in the scheme of things: one of the things they tell you in the lessons is you need to practice. So they are rewarding players that put in the time outside of the league... doing their homework, so to speak. What's the advantage? A 10x multiplier on the payout. I'm not kidding: the 99th rated player will receive $3, unless they are Active, in which case they'll win $30... All the way up to $150 for first place changing into $1,500. Also, more Active players get paid: While only the top 200 are guaranteed money, any Active player who placed in the top 1,000 will get paid.
Needless to say, I put in the time to qualify for Active this month.
But see, I have a dilemma. I've got 1755 rating points, with 4 tournaments left in the month, putting me in 277th place. I'm just shy of 8 points ahead of the 300th place player... but 301st place pays 1/3rd of what I'm at. On the other hand, I'm 36 points behind the 200th place player; which represents the next prize level, and double my cashout. 36 points isn't insurmountable... Simply cashing can usually gross you 30 points. On the other hand, finishing outside of the quarter could actually cost me points.
So... is it worth the gamble? I think I've got to at least play -- and do well -- in one of the four. A thirty or forty place climb isn't unheard of -- heck, my top 20 finish last night jumped me over 70 places -- and if twenty people in the 300s manage it I could drop.
Since I wrote last, the Boot Hill Casino over in Dodge City has opened and is running well: lots of money getting put into the state's education coffers. But I haven't been much.
I can't: I have an addictive personality; and I simply can't afford to make the half hour trip and drop a $50 or $100 into the slot machines or blackjack tables. And if I can't afford to play 21, I sure as hell can't afford to buy in to the poker game. Their small table is a 50 BB buy-in; that's $500 to even sit down -- or just shy of a paycheck. I'm not that good.
So I've been getting my fix on Pokerstars. I had busted out on Full Tilt playing their Rush Poker. Rush poker seems like a good concept, you can see over 150 hands per hour, compared to a regular online room at around 50-60. The idea is you're put on a table, and as soon as you fold your hand, you're shunted to another table. The Big Blind is paid by the person who has seen the largest number of hands since paying the big blind. This appears to be determined after the players are seated, so you may -- like I was -- be put in the small blind multiple times in a row, only to be dropped in the big blind the next hand. Yeah, I had that happen more than once.
So, why'd I jump over to PS? The PokerSchoolOnline.com Skill League. Basically, you watch a few lessons, take a few tests, and are awarded an ticket. That ticket buys you in to every PSO Skill League free roll. When I started, it was a $50; but then they cranked up the league. Every month, the PSO is putting $17,500 (plus $40 a day in freerolls) up for grabs. How do you get a piece?
Take the test, get the ticket. Play the free rolls. Place well enough in the free rolls (usually top 200 or so, depending on the number of runners) and you'll get rating points. Do poorly and you'll lose them. At the end of the month, the ratings are locked in. Finish in the top 200 and win cash.
But wait, there's over 9000 people signed up for the tournaments. Only the top 200 get paid? Yes... and no.
Now, here's where it gets tricky. There's two prize levels: Whitestar and Active. Active players earned at least 20 Pokerstars VIP Points in the month prior to the league's month. So to be an Active player for August, you will have needed to earned 20 VPP in July. If you didn't, you're a White Star. To win as a White Star, you need to have finished in the top 200 ratings for the month.
Active players have an advantage. It makes sense, in the scheme of things: one of the things they tell you in the lessons is you need to practice. So they are rewarding players that put in the time outside of the league... doing their homework, so to speak. What's the advantage? A 10x multiplier on the payout. I'm not kidding: the 99th rated player will receive $3, unless they are Active, in which case they'll win $30... All the way up to $150 for first place changing into $1,500. Also, more Active players get paid: While only the top 200 are guaranteed money, any Active player who placed in the top 1,000 will get paid.
Needless to say, I put in the time to qualify for Active this month.
But see, I have a dilemma. I've got 1755 rating points, with 4 tournaments left in the month, putting me in 277th place. I'm just shy of 8 points ahead of the 300th place player... but 301st place pays 1/3rd of what I'm at. On the other hand, I'm 36 points behind the 200th place player; which represents the next prize level, and double my cashout. 36 points isn't insurmountable... Simply cashing can usually gross you 30 points. On the other hand, finishing outside of the quarter could actually cost me points.
So... is it worth the gamble? I think I've got to at least play -- and do well -- in one of the four. A thirty or forty place climb isn't unheard of -- heck, my top 20 finish last night jumped me over 70 places -- and if twenty people in the 300s manage it I could drop.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
A Gentle Reminder
I was gently - ok forcibly - reminded yesterday why I appreciate the Network Install Disk concept.
The Network Install Disk is a concept that says, this CD will give you a very minimal system, just enough to get the basic commands working and then hook up to the network. From there, we'll upgrade the underlying architecture if we need to, and then install the most recent version of the programs you want to run. The benefit to this is you don't have to install the program, then download and patch using Security Update 1, then Security Update 2, ... then Security Update 347 (you get the picture). This is in comparison to the Snapshot or "Gold" concept, where the installation always contains the same version of every program.
Why did this come up? Well... I reinstalled Windows on a PC at home. This is a box I've been playing with for a couple years -- the one that my Mother-In-Law gave me. It was time to retire my daughter's computer (which wasn't top of the line when Windows 95 dropped), and seeing as she was probably going to need Word to work on schoolwork next year; I figured I might as well bite the bullet.
At this point, I had two choices. I could either try and track down a English-language version Windows XP OEM disc image that had SP3 on it, or I could use the system recovery discs that came with the computer. At one time I had an SP3 disc (my laptop has a valid license); but I couldn't find it. So again, I gritted my teeth and went through the process of restoring Windows.
For reference, using a network install disc, I can go from a wiped hard drive to a completely updated Debian or Ubuntu system in slightly more than an hour. I can get Puppy Linux up and running in about half the time. Gentoo takes me a little longer, but that's because I have to compile Xorg.
Did I mention that the recovery discs don't even have SP1? Yeah, it took me over 6 hours from putting the first disc in the drive until Windows quit wanting to install more security updates. And there's no reason to not install the security updates for Windows -- and every reason to do it as soon as possible, especially when it's connected to the internet.
The Network Install Disk is a concept that says, this CD will give you a very minimal system, just enough to get the basic commands working and then hook up to the network. From there, we'll upgrade the underlying architecture if we need to, and then install the most recent version of the programs you want to run. The benefit to this is you don't have to install the program, then download and patch using Security Update 1, then Security Update 2, ... then Security Update 347 (you get the picture). This is in comparison to the Snapshot or "Gold" concept, where the installation always contains the same version of every program.
Why did this come up? Well... I reinstalled Windows on a PC at home. This is a box I've been playing with for a couple years -- the one that my Mother-In-Law gave me. It was time to retire my daughter's computer (which wasn't top of the line when Windows 95 dropped), and seeing as she was probably going to need Word to work on schoolwork next year; I figured I might as well bite the bullet.
At this point, I had two choices. I could either try and track down a English-language version Windows XP OEM disc image that had SP3 on it, or I could use the system recovery discs that came with the computer. At one time I had an SP3 disc (my laptop has a valid license); but I couldn't find it. So again, I gritted my teeth and went through the process of restoring Windows.
For reference, using a network install disc, I can go from a wiped hard drive to a completely updated Debian or Ubuntu system in slightly more than an hour. I can get Puppy Linux up and running in about half the time. Gentoo takes me a little longer, but that's because I have to compile Xorg.
Did I mention that the recovery discs don't even have SP1? Yeah, it took me over 6 hours from putting the first disc in the drive until Windows quit wanting to install more security updates. And there's no reason to not install the security updates for Windows -- and every reason to do it as soon as possible, especially when it's connected to the internet.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Sometimes, I hate...
Poker. Especially for a while after what (on the surface) appears to be a bonehead play on the part of an opponent pays off. And when it pays off against me, it puts me off my game -- or "on tilt", as it were.
The other day, I was doing fairly well in a 1-table DON[1]. Two players had already been knocked out, and the short stack was to my right (before me in line to act) and fairly nervous. Or rather, he had been opening up his starting hand requirements and pushing all-in with marginal hands, and had built his stack from 2 BB to around 5. This was late in the tournament, and I was bubbly[2]. I had around 10 BB when I got dealt pocket Queens in the small blind.
Action folded around to the nervous short stack in the dealer's chair. He pushes all-in. Now, his play until now has been erratic; any more so and I would say he was giving chips away... except when he actually had a hand, where he would flat call. Based on his play so far, I put him on either suited connectors[3] or a small pocket pair. I had been cultivating a tight-aggressive persona, so when I pushed over the top to encourage the BB to fold, he did.
If anything, I was giving Dealer too much credit. I was doing a happy dance in my head when he showed his 9-3 off suit. Dude was trying to steal a pot and I caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.
He pairs his 9 on the flop. I get a little nervous, because pair vs pair is a lot dicier than pair vs two unders, even with only 2 cards to go. No worries, I've got 8 cards in the deck which will improve my hand -- two of which will seal the deal -- to his 5. The turn is no help to either of us, save the fact it gives me a couple more cards that can't hurt me. Still, he has 5 outs, which will hit about 10% of the time.
Of course, the river card's a three, giving him two pair to my QQ. I fight my way back, but run out of chips against bigger and bigger blinds, finishing in 7th place, two out of the cash.
[1] Double-or-Nothing. A tournament format where all winners receive double their entry fee back. I.E., in a 10-player $1 DON; the top 5 players will win $2.
[2] A player near the last paid finishing position (both above and below) before the last non-paying position has went out is considered 'on the bubble'. The "bubble bursts" when the "bubbleboy" is left "outside the bubble".
[3] Two cards of the same suit which are less than 5 apart, usually less than 10. Combine the limitations of "Straightening cards" (pocket cards which, with a draw, put you in position to make a straight, but not much else) with the hidden strength of a flush draw and you get the idea.
The other day, I was doing fairly well in a 1-table DON[1]. Two players had already been knocked out, and the short stack was to my right (before me in line to act) and fairly nervous. Or rather, he had been opening up his starting hand requirements and pushing all-in with marginal hands, and had built his stack from 2 BB to around 5. This was late in the tournament, and I was bubbly[2]. I had around 10 BB when I got dealt pocket Queens in the small blind.
Action folded around to the nervous short stack in the dealer's chair. He pushes all-in. Now, his play until now has been erratic; any more so and I would say he was giving chips away... except when he actually had a hand, where he would flat call. Based on his play so far, I put him on either suited connectors[3] or a small pocket pair. I had been cultivating a tight-aggressive persona, so when I pushed over the top to encourage the BB to fold, he did.
If anything, I was giving Dealer too much credit. I was doing a happy dance in my head when he showed his 9-3 off suit. Dude was trying to steal a pot and I caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.
He pairs his 9 on the flop. I get a little nervous, because pair vs pair is a lot dicier than pair vs two unders, even with only 2 cards to go. No worries, I've got 8 cards in the deck which will improve my hand -- two of which will seal the deal -- to his 5. The turn is no help to either of us, save the fact it gives me a couple more cards that can't hurt me. Still, he has 5 outs, which will hit about 10% of the time.
Of course, the river card's a three, giving him two pair to my QQ. I fight my way back, but run out of chips against bigger and bigger blinds, finishing in 7th place, two out of the cash.
[1] Double-or-Nothing. A tournament format where all winners receive double their entry fee back. I.E., in a 10-player $1 DON; the top 5 players will win $2.
[2] A player near the last paid finishing position (both above and below) before the last non-paying position has went out is considered 'on the bubble'. The "bubble bursts" when the "bubbleboy" is left "outside the bubble".
[3] Two cards of the same suit which are less than 5 apart, usually less than 10. Combine the limitations of "Straightening cards" (pocket cards which, with a draw, put you in position to make a straight, but not much else) with the hidden strength of a flush draw and you get the idea.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Laptop setup
So the laptop I picked up is an acer TravelMate 2420. Nothing special, but enough for what I intend to do with it: some light browsing, casual gaming, watching videos, and as a background-music generator.
What I've noticed so far:
What I've noticed so far:
- Installing Windows from OEM is a pain in the ass if you don't know which device drivers you're going to need ahead of time.
- If you want to connect to the internet through a router with MAC filtering, be sure you've whitelisted either your eth0 (wired) or wan0 (wireless) MAC address. Or at least spoofed a whitelisted address.
- The BIOS that acer used on this model can boot from a USB drive. However, it recognizes it as a Hard Drive which defaults to a lower priority than the actual disk. Therefore, you have to re-set the boot order each time.
- On an existing Ubuntu install which had been upgraded (9.04 -> 9.10), using the kde-minimal package to try out KDE4 wiped everything from my home folder except for the Pictures directory.
- That said, the TravelMate 2420 is capable of running KDE 4 point whatever; with a decent set of visual effect. Which is better than my desktop with a dedicated video card.
- It can also -- according to the upgrade advisor tool -- run Windows 7, with a limited Aero interface. It won't be running it here -- I'd use the money to buy/build a new computer designed for it -- but I could.
- I should have written down my home IP address, I could have pulled some of the music from my home computer to listen to tonight.
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