Ok everybody...I have been pimping Cake Poker out forever and I am finally showing why. The players there are either very bad or just don't care about their money. I only wish I could have had the Cake Hand Converter way back when, but the results would still be roughly the same. The Cake Hand Converter is a nifty little contraption that converts Cake hand histories into Poker Stars ones so that you are able to upload them into your PT3 or HEM database. I decided to start using PT3 for analyzing hands but HEM for the HUD (which I have been experimenting more with), though even with the HH's from Cake, it is still not possible to use a HUD.
A few notes about my progress at Cake:
1) The bad news: I play as many $2/4 - $3/6 games as possible, though sadly, they run sporadically and are not always available. The good news: the quality of play at at $3/6 (and some at $5/10) is somewhere between a $.50/1 and $1/2 game at Full Tilt.
2) The $5/10 game there is unique in that it does not have a core group of regulars. Since it comes together rather infrequently and is well above a typical (good) $2/4 player's comfort level, it tends to consist mainly of 6-max players and people looking to gamble it up. Beatable as it is, I am still easing my way into it, as you will often find yourself flipping for $200 or more, which can easily turn an otherwise good session at $1/2 into a quick loser.
3) A little more shameless plugging: the support staff is phenomenal and the payouts are fast. I have been getting pretty ticked off at Full Tilt for having screwed up a $5,000 cashout numerous times and basically leaving that money in limbo for 50 days and counting. I guess they threw the payout doomswitch on me. The better attention I get at Cake combined with the horrific level of competition makes it a solid winner in my book.
What's more? This is an incredible network to bonus whore and build a bankroll. Of the 4 skins offered at Rakebacknation.com, all of them are no longer taking ANY deductions from your rakeback, including sign up bonuses and comp purchases. You can also change your screen name weekly- a short stacker's wet dream!!
9 comments:
i got one more. they allow you to return to a table in 20 mins instead of 30 mins with the min buyin
hmm looks like u r winning more on nl4 and nl6 instead of nl1 and nl2
is it coz the players are more aggro and 3bet light and then u can shove?
Had no idea! God only knows how many extra hands I could squeeze in in a week's time.
As for the results- it's nothing out of the ordinary, just running good. No matter what you play, you can only make so much money pre-flop, because you are generally getting it in with an average equity of less than 60%. You maximize your expectation by using the right bet-sizing post-flop to get your opponents to commit with much less equity than your average pre-flop shove.
@ Travis from previous post, I didn't realize stud was not that profitable. On the rare occassions I play (mostly due to love from h/l stud from home games)it seems the proficiency level at low/middle stakes (but then again I might have only a couple hundred hands at stud online so the sample size is low) is low what did you feel didn't make it profitable?
@ Both of you, was there ever a time that you thought of playing another form of poker (omaha/stud/whatev) b/c you thought the general play level of opponents was pretty below average (from friends always grab my ear about how soft plo is) or have you not thought much about it because of both of your profitability at what you play?
After this post will look into Cake, Full Tilt's payouts are frighteningly slow, same with Bodog back in the day when I dabled there.
Yeah, I still plan on learning PLO, but since I am by no means a baller, it is costly to take time off from my bread and butter game to pick up a new one. I have no question in my mind that I can pick it up quickly, being that a lot of hold'em math is translatable, but it just isn't really feasible at the moment.
@ Roenan
Stud could be profitable, it is just that it is hard to find a game (especially a good one) and the people that know stud play stud and the fish that don't know stud (or anything) play hold 'em. There is an old Japanese saying that says "Fish in troubled waters" and the waters in Stud are just too calm. Not to mention that while I have a lot of experience and affinity for stud, I don't have near the technical knowledge that I have for Hold 'Em.
Like Lorin, I have been thinking about getting into PLO. Not only might it be the next big thing, but I have always been one that likes to play my draws fast and that seems to be key in PLO. It may be a very good fit for my particular skill set. I have had pretty damn decent results the few times I have played it, but I have to admit that almost all of those times I was playing against hold'em players that had no concept of the adjustments that you need to play PLO.
You really should check out the Cake network. The interface isn't as good as Tilt but it's not bad and the rakeback and bonus deals you can get there are awesome. Not to mention to competition is softer than Elton John's dick at the playboy mansion. Lorin has found a rakeback site with a great deal and either one of us would help walk you through getting your Rakeback deal together if you wanted the help. We both just have a urking for playing without rakeback. It is just leaving money on the table.
hey SSH,
I'd like to see a post about your HEM HUD and how your implementing it for SSS. Also your colour ranges would be cool. Hell why not export it and make it available to your reader.
cheers s1n
Hey, I've short stacked a fair amount at the micro stakes (25-100NL) but have never discussed "strategy" per se, since the concept that shortstackers even play postflop seem to be beyond most players, but anyway, do you mind if I ask you some questions and we discuss some strategy or theory? I know I am just a micro player, but I've been working on an article of sorts, that you might find interesting anyway. Leave me a comment or email if you can spare the time (RoSeekerSL at gmail).
Thanks.
PS. also, for non hold'em games, Razz has got to be the most profitable. I can't even beat 100NL (partially due to variance) at 6max full stacked, but I can beat 5/10 and 10/20 Razz fairly easily, so, you know.
That would be fine, as long as the strategy discussions are basically within the confines of the material covered in this forum. Outside of that, I am offering some coaching that you might interesting and certainly very beneficial to your game. Other than that, fire away!!
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