Thursday, February 19, 2009

Anyone want another online challenge?

As many of you know I have had tremendous success playing PLO and PLO8 on cake although my success is slowing in 2009. I am considering moving some funds over to Full Tilt for a number of reasons, if I can successfully obtain another rake back account. I think I can, but won't know for sure until I register with a new email. Rakeback for me is huge as about 1/4 of my total winnings have been funded by rakeback.

Playing on line on Full Tilt will help me determine if I am a really good on line player or just a really good online player against the competition on cake. PLO8 action is weak on cake though there is plenty of PLO action. It will also be good practice for the WSOP as well as Marsh, myself, and Jeh are planning to attend.

Rather than all of us starting with $50.00 and grinding it out at the micro stakes, I would envision each of us starting with X, X to be determined by each players comfort level with their own bankroll. The challenge would be to watch each player progress to 2x, 4x or 10x or a bust out, using reasonable bankroll management principles.

I would be happy to share my knowledge if anyone wishes to attempt the challenge concentrating on PLO or PLO8. With my comments subject to group scrutiny, it will be helpful for me as well as I try to continue with my success as an Omaha player.

Anyone up for another challenge?

22 comments:

Marshall said...

I very well may be. My main two concerns are that I am trying to grind up my roll again on Cake, so I am hesitant to take time poker time away from that. And also that I currently don't have rakeback on FTP, and am not sure about getting a 2nd account (you aren't really supposed to have 2).

I would however like the challenge, the competition, and the motivation that this type of thing brings, so I will have to look into it.

Ryan said...

I'm interested, but I'm not quite liquid enough right now to make a deposit reflecting what my next online goals are (which is to play at stakes reflecting my full bankroll, not just my online bankroll).

When I am, I'm there...as long as it's a place with a good deposit bonus and rakeback.

Woodrow said...

I already have made a full tilt account, so I'm not sure I'd be eligible to make a rakeback account for it, does anyone know the specifics on that?

Marshall said...

Wood- FTP's policy is that once you sign up you can't un-sign up to get rakeback going. Also having multiple accounts with them is against the rules (to prevent multi-accounting).

I have heard of a few people contacting support to get a rakeback deal retroactively applied, but I am not sure how that is handled.

jason said...

Marsh:

When I get back to Seattle, I am going to try to establish a full tilt account with a rakeback using an email address that I have not registered before on Full Tilt.

There software may or may not be capable of flagging me as having the same name and address of someone already on Full Tilt. Do you foresee any problems if I am successful?

I did try once asking customer support for a rakeback but was not successful. This is just my case so it might be possible, I was not very persistent.

Woody, I will definitely let you know if I am successful establishing a rakeback account with the new email address.

Ryan said...

Violating their terms of service is surely punishable by a freezing of your accounts and its assets.

I am not technical enough to know if or how they would police it if you did it, but with the stakes you are looking at, I would not risk it if I were you.

I would contact them again, say that you want to move $Xk from Cake onto their site, but you simply won't do it unless you get rakeback, and that if they won't do it you'll go to a new site that will.

It wouldn't be a bluff, either, that's exactly what I would do if they won't...play somewhere else. Is there a reason it has to be FTP?

Also, if they think you are bluffing, offer to transfer the $ in first if they promise to give you rakeback once you've done so.

All I know is, I wouldn't risk an TOS offense that could be interpreted as a cheating/collusion mechanism, and potentially have my roll seized.

jason said...

Ryan:

Comment is very much appreciated and makes sense.

I have contacted the folks that provided the rakeback on cake for us and hope they can help. Otherwise, I like your plan.

I only choose FTP in the event that I ever build up my roll to dollars big enough to play at high stakes vs. mid stakes. FTP has more action at high and nosebleed stakes than any other site and does provide a rakeback. I am a long way away from playing at $10/$20 or higher though at present.

Ironically, looks like I just won a gift from my efforts on cake from the rakeback folks. Don't know what this gift is but it sounds cool.

Taken from rakeback resource newsletter.


2: January Contest Winners

For the month of January we ran a contest - generate at least $50 in rakeback at Full Tilt or Cake Poker, and earn an entry into a prize draw where you can win 1 of 5 Flip Mino HD Video Cameras. I own one of these things and they are just awesome. Every time you earned another $50 in rakeback, you'd earn an extra entry into the draw. We would like to congratulate our 5 winners, who are:
BadBlue (Full Tilt)
ray918273 (Full Tilt)
Inside Joke (Cake)
bugman00 (Cake)
Teppec (Cake)
Winners: please e-mail me at admin@rakebackresource.com with your mailing address. Otherwise I'll contact you separately within the next 24 hours.

Ryan said...

Well, the price for my great advice is that thing you won, Jason.

I'm sure it's a piece of crap, don't even bother opening it, just hand it over to me (and pay no mind to the fact that it has been on my amazon wish list since it was launched).

Ryan said...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B001HSOFI2/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

You really needed to win it *before* heading to Mexico!

Sushi Cowboy said...

I would be very very skeptical that just changing your email address would be enough. I would say that you need *at least* another bank account (yeah, good luck with that one!), and I'm guessing you're going to need a different name. As Ryan said, if you get caught it could mean your bankroll so I'd make sure you set up your second account in a very clean manner.

How about PokerStars instead? They are also a very high volume site.

Marshall said...

Stars doesn't do rakeback.

They have a built in "VIP" program for rewards and such, but good old cash speaks a bit louder.

Sushi Cowboy said...

Did not know that.

jason said...

There is another site called Aced Poker which might have some merit.

It is open to US Players, has a rakeback, and has a sign up bonus of $500.00. Essentially for the first month we would be playing with no rake at all between the bonus and the rakeback. The site has also received good reviews from the forums. Probably not adequate high stakes poker but this is just a me issue(potentially) not a group issue. Jamie Gold plays on the site so the stakes can't be that small.

I will see what happens with Full Tilt but Aced may be a good back up plan.

Sushi Cowboy said...

They offer $500 sign up bonus AND rakeback?

Marshall said...

Marty-

The sites offer the bonus' directly as an incentive to join. The rakeback offers are 3rd party deals that encourage other websites to market on behalf of the poker sites and also give the player a reason to sign up as well.

jason said...

Yes, both rakeback and bonus. You do have to deposit at least $500.00 of course to qualify for the $500.00 bonus.

Anonymous said...

next time we are together, someone please tell me what a rakeback is

jsola said...

You're familiar with 'rake,' right? Rakeback is an automatic return on a certain % of the rake that you pay. So with Cake a lot of us have 33% rakeback, meaning at the end of the month we get 33% of the rake that we've paid deposited back into our accounts.

Most sites have it, but it isn't well advertised, and you almost always have to go through a third party to get it.

Also I'm hesitant to move/deposit money onto another site that's even LESS well known than Cake. I doubt you would ever get the nosebleed action you want on there, Jason.

jason said...

Site is definitely less well known, I will give you that but the forum reviews, blogs, and poker review websites all give Aced high marks. So I doubt there will be any integrity issues, only action issues.

Since the vast majority of WNP internet players play .25/.50, up to $1/$2 NLHE, and occassional lower stakes PLO and PLO8, I am pretty confident there will be enough action for almost everyone.

My dilemna is that I get less action at $2/$4 PLO8 than I want, but all the action I can handle at $2/$4 PLO. Again, not a group issue, just a me issue.

If enough players want to give Aced a try, I'll join in for the reasons Marsh stated: comraderie, common goal, sharing of information. Perhaps, we can get a better pulse on the interest level at WNP.

jason said...

Site is definitely less well known, I will give you that but the forum reviews, blogs, and poker review websites all give Aced high marks. So I doubt there will be any integrity issues, only action issues.

Since the vast majority of WNP internet players play .25/.50, up to $1/$2 NLHE, and occassional lower stakes PLO and PLO8, I am pretty confident there will be enough action for almost everyone.

My dilemna is that I get less action at $2/$4 PLO8 than I want on Cake, but all the action I can handle at $2/$4 PLO. Again, not a group issue, just a me issue.

If enough players want to give Aced a try, I'll join in for the reasons Marsh stated: comraderie, common goal, sharing of information. Perhaps, we can get a better pulse on the interest level at WNP.

The site also has some features that we use at WNP such as "Deal it Twice" or "Expose a card."

Here is more info if interested.

http://www.loosechangepoker.com/rakeback/aced-poker-rakeback/

Adam said...

Jason, would you consider doing another holdem challenge, or are you more/only interested in an omaha challenge? Depending upon the stakes and structure, I'd be interested in participating in a holdem one.

Unknown said...

I would however like this types of challenge!!! By the way, i like full Tilt Poker is one of the few poker gaming rooms that actually offers great sign up bonuses such as 100% credits after depositing money in your gaming account.

Thanks for this post.
-------------------------
Full Tilt RakeBack