On a day where millions the world over will return to their desks in various corporations I am taking a moment to consider myself fortunate... the xmas and new year disruption to normal life is finally out of the way and it is time to get fully back to work - and it feels great!!
More business posts to follow as the month goes on. First an update from some new years pokering...
A mild disappointment on my first final table of the year in a 600-odd runner $5 donkament on Titan... came in 6th (or was it 7th?) playing a big pot against an over-aggressive but bad player in the big blind... raised up kings before the flop, and managed to act weak enough at the same time as building a big pot that we were both pot committed on a dry flop. Was one of those reads combined with pot control situations in position which worked out perfectly - until he spiked the river for a horror 2 -pair... no bad beat whining here on Plan3t Gong (it was self-banned a long time ago), did everything right which was all that I could do, the rest is down to chance!
Over on Stars I took advantage of their world record reload bonus and played a bunch of $6+50c SNGs, 9-tables at a time... sure, this is a step down from my previous levels, but based on my bankroll on this site that was what I should be playing (practice what you preach etc!!). Success so far, both in profits and clearing the bonus and now have 65-odd buy-ins for the $16s (next weekend though - too busy to play for a few days).
Next couple of days will be focusing on writing some great content and organising the initial steps for some new projects for '09... can not wait!!
GL at the tables, Mark
Monday, January 05, 2009
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Poker Writing Comp - $1000 + 10 * $100 Up For Grabs
Ummmed and Ahhhed about posting this, but since there are many talented bloggers / writers out there who pop over to Plan3t Gong now and again here it is... a decent sized prize for a strategy article competition.
This is run by Randy Ray, as reputable an affiliate as they come and owner of several highly respected and well known websites - you will have seen them, trust me!
With $1000 for first prize and 10 * $100 runner-up spots + 5 categories to choose from there is bound to be significant buzz around this comp, which closes at the end of Jan. Here are the categories - will link to the forum thread at Poker Affiliate Programs which announces this below:
- General Poker Strategy
- Texas Holdem Poker Strategy
- Omaha Hi Lo Poker Strategy
- Razz Poker Strategy
- Seven Card Stud Poker Strategy
Article Writing Competition
GL at those tables, Mark
This is run by Randy Ray, as reputable an affiliate as they come and owner of several highly respected and well known websites - you will have seen them, trust me!
With $1000 for first prize and 10 * $100 runner-up spots + 5 categories to choose from there is bound to be significant buzz around this comp, which closes at the end of Jan. Here are the categories - will link to the forum thread at Poker Affiliate Programs which announces this below:
- General Poker Strategy
- Texas Holdem Poker Strategy
- Omaha Hi Lo Poker Strategy
- Razz Poker Strategy
- Seven Card Stud Poker Strategy
Article Writing Competition
GL at those tables, Mark
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Poker New Years Resolutions
Everybody else is doing it - so now my turn, hey can't write something to provoke thoughts every day.
These will focus on my approach to the game and overall goal of enjoying poker, rather than stating any monetary aim (those are all tied up with my affiliate business anyway). Breaks will be initiated any time poker becomes a grind or a chore in 09!
1) Drop Down When Tired: Often find myself playing at the end of a day spent writing when 'winding down'. This play is usually half-assed to be honest, at best on auto-pilot and at worst as an 'aside' while surfing etc. Problem with saying 'don't do it' here is that I actually enjoy these periods... my relaxation (especially since I never watch TV!). So instead of denying myself something enjoyable... I'll resolve to drop down... maybe $6.50 SNGs or $10 cash games, where losing a couple of buy-ins would not make me grumpy just before bed!
2) Cash / SNGs >> MTTs: Enjoy larger tournaments but find them frustrating too... thing is my 'expectation' is much bigger in SNGs and lower level cash game tables. Cardrunners has already given me some great cash-game insights into lines and ranges that I am looking forward to putting to good use... SNGs are as soft as they ever were once you move away from the sites / hours where the grinders swarm! Going to play MTTs but this will be my liesure outlet, maybe one evening per week for them will be good... though see below.
3) Playing == Improving: In order to move up stakes / make $$$ I resolve to balance playing and studying the game in at least equal portions... PxF / Cardrunners are one thing but I really should spend some more time reviewing my hand histories too.
4) Qualify For Stuff! Yeah, would be great to play the occasional FTOPs / ECOOP event or just a Sunday Million... who knows, with a bit of effort I might even qualify for an outside event - going to take an occasional shot at this as time permits, actually believe I'm fairly +ev in satellite tournaments so this could be profitable as well as enjoyable as long as I take the T$ now and again to re-invest.
5) Enjoy Poker: Sure, the resolutions above all concern this but for me this is the most important of all - and so deserves a spot of its own... if I stop enjoying the game I'll stop playing for a couple of weeks... I see so many people start playing because they love poker, get seduced by the profit aspect - and then forget why they loved poker in the first place... I will not be one of those people.
Happy new year to all - and GL at the tables for 2009!
Mark
These will focus on my approach to the game and overall goal of enjoying poker, rather than stating any monetary aim (those are all tied up with my affiliate business anyway). Breaks will be initiated any time poker becomes a grind or a chore in 09!
1) Drop Down When Tired: Often find myself playing at the end of a day spent writing when 'winding down'. This play is usually half-assed to be honest, at best on auto-pilot and at worst as an 'aside' while surfing etc. Problem with saying 'don't do it' here is that I actually enjoy these periods... my relaxation (especially since I never watch TV!). So instead of denying myself something enjoyable... I'll resolve to drop down... maybe $6.50 SNGs or $10 cash games, where losing a couple of buy-ins would not make me grumpy just before bed!
2) Cash / SNGs >> MTTs: Enjoy larger tournaments but find them frustrating too... thing is my 'expectation' is much bigger in SNGs and lower level cash game tables. Cardrunners has already given me some great cash-game insights into lines and ranges that I am looking forward to putting to good use... SNGs are as soft as they ever were once you move away from the sites / hours where the grinders swarm! Going to play MTTs but this will be my liesure outlet, maybe one evening per week for them will be good... though see below.
3) Playing == Improving: In order to move up stakes / make $$$ I resolve to balance playing and studying the game in at least equal portions... PxF / Cardrunners are one thing but I really should spend some more time reviewing my hand histories too.
4) Qualify For Stuff! Yeah, would be great to play the occasional FTOPs / ECOOP event or just a Sunday Million... who knows, with a bit of effort I might even qualify for an outside event - going to take an occasional shot at this as time permits, actually believe I'm fairly +ev in satellite tournaments so this could be profitable as well as enjoyable as long as I take the T$ now and again to re-invest.
5) Enjoy Poker: Sure, the resolutions above all concern this but for me this is the most important of all - and so deserves a spot of its own... if I stop enjoying the game I'll stop playing for a couple of weeks... I see so many people start playing because they love poker, get seduced by the profit aspect - and then forget why they loved poker in the first place... I will not be one of those people.
Happy new year to all - and GL at the tables for 2009!
Mark
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Maybe This Describes Me? Or Maybe You?
Back to blogging!
Love Christmas and all that, but its really nice when finished... actually got a couple of presents this year (actually specify zero presents for me and have done for 15-odd years - but you just try convincing a Hungarian not to buy you anything...!). A webcam - which will be put to use shortly for some affiliate projects, and a massage chair-cover thing which is very nice indeed.
Anyway... onto poker.
Click the link below to read a thought provoking article by Tony Guerrera entitled 'Are You A TAG Fish'... a well thought through and constructed piece which shows just how the old adage that 'Tight Is Right' can be taken to fishy extremes.
Are You A TAGFISH??
If you are one of those people who play 'correctly' but are continually frustrated by the suckouts by 'the donks' then you need to check out this piece. While there is no single attribute which I am 100% guilty of in the list - there are some tendencies towards those things...
Gl at the tables, Mark
Love Christmas and all that, but its really nice when finished... actually got a couple of presents this year (actually specify zero presents for me and have done for 15-odd years - but you just try convincing a Hungarian not to buy you anything...!). A webcam - which will be put to use shortly for some affiliate projects, and a massage chair-cover thing which is very nice indeed.
Anyway... onto poker.
Click the link below to read a thought provoking article by Tony Guerrera entitled 'Are You A TAG Fish'... a well thought through and constructed piece which shows just how the old adage that 'Tight Is Right' can be taken to fishy extremes.
Are You A TAGFISH??
If you are one of those people who play 'correctly' but are continually frustrated by the suckouts by 'the donks' then you need to check out this piece. While there is no single attribute which I am 100% guilty of in the list - there are some tendencies towards those things...
Gl at the tables, Mark
Friday, December 26, 2008
Festive Chat Tell Anecdote
Enjoying a fantastic xmas at the in-laws... so much eating and drinking that I have lost count! Just a quicky post concerning a small tournament on Party that I busted out of before the money... this one concerns a 'chat tell'...
Here is what happened... I was moved to a new table and saw the end of a hand in which someone got busted. A 'table professor' then started a long and boring lecture about how Ace-Jack was not a great hand and should not have been played that way blah blah blah
Couple of hands later the blinds go up and I find myself with only 9 or so BBs in the hijack... with Mr $10 tournament 'expert' still chatting as if he was Phil fucking Ivey. I get dealt - yep, you guessed it - two cards! Since our expert in the BB will now find it impossible to call with anything ace-jack or worse I have a simple, yet effective, stealing opportunity.
His chat came home to roost...
Only, this time he had AQ, called and that was the end of me... ah well, maybe next time!
GL at the tables, Mark
Here is what happened... I was moved to a new table and saw the end of a hand in which someone got busted. A 'table professor' then started a long and boring lecture about how Ace-Jack was not a great hand and should not have been played that way blah blah blah
Couple of hands later the blinds go up and I find myself with only 9 or so BBs in the hijack... with Mr $10 tournament 'expert' still chatting as if he was Phil fucking Ivey. I get dealt - yep, you guessed it - two cards! Since our expert in the BB will now find it impossible to call with anything ace-jack or worse I have a simple, yet effective, stealing opportunity.
His chat came home to roost...
Only, this time he had AQ, called and that was the end of me... ah well, maybe next time!
GL at the tables, Mark
Monday, December 22, 2008
Omaha Planet Upgrade Completed!
Always really happy announcing the cumultation of tons of hard work and effort - for both Erika and Myself.
Today is no exception, we are pleased to bring the first major update of Omaha Planet all year - co-incidentally marking the 1st birthday of the site. The look is smarter and easier to follow (no long lists of articles, now several shorter ones). There is a bunch of new material and many updates to the existing articles too... what is more we are in the process of building up a pipeline of new material for the site.
Omaha Planet was 'useful but dormant' for far too long, this upgrade and content additions will give us a platform to really move forward with this one - to become the leading strategy site in its area as we move into 09, I'm looking forward to the challenge already!!
Oh - a link - of course... Omaha Poker
Your feedback is not only welcome, it is much appreciated to help us better understand what is good / bad / ugly etc - drop me a comment or send a mail via the address on the site.
Going down south to stay with the in-laws for a Hungarian xmas this year (we swap each year between the UK and HU), looking forward to some damn good eating and drinking... will have access to the net so will update here should anything interesting happen.
Gl at the tables, Mark
Today is no exception, we are pleased to bring the first major update of Omaha Planet all year - co-incidentally marking the 1st birthday of the site. The look is smarter and easier to follow (no long lists of articles, now several shorter ones). There is a bunch of new material and many updates to the existing articles too... what is more we are in the process of building up a pipeline of new material for the site.
Omaha Planet was 'useful but dormant' for far too long, this upgrade and content additions will give us a platform to really move forward with this one - to become the leading strategy site in its area as we move into 09, I'm looking forward to the challenge already!!
Oh - a link - of course... Omaha Poker
Your feedback is not only welcome, it is much appreciated to help us better understand what is good / bad / ugly etc - drop me a comment or send a mail via the address on the site.
Going down south to stay with the in-laws for a Hungarian xmas this year (we swap each year between the UK and HU), looking forward to some damn good eating and drinking... will have access to the net so will update here should anything interesting happen.
Gl at the tables, Mark
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Poker Affiliate Business Update - Winding Down 08 And Looking Forward To 2009
2008 has been a great year affiliate-business wise, we have built a business to the point where it now beats the income I used to earn in corporate life... and also laid some foundations for moving to the next level as the new year begins.
Just one more project to complete at the moment... Omaha Planet is getting a long over-due revamp and a bunch of new content. This site was bugging me for a while for lack of direction, what I decided in the end was that the content (aimed at beginners and those transitioning from Holdem) is excellent and some more of the same, along with clearer organisation was really the key. We hope to 'launch' the new version by the end of Monday (in fact it will go up then whether completed or not!).
More sites are in plan for next year, we have taken the decision to employ someone to help us build them which should allow the pace to pick up fast. The 'plan' is actually fluid, though based on strict financial targets... since I am an 'ideas man' something new could come up at any time... here is a flavour of what 2009 could bring:
- SNG Planet: More languages for sure, going to bring attention to the MTTs, Satellites and Deposit Methods sections soon (will continue with the SNG stuff though)... An 'archive' will be built to thin out the 100's of articles listed on each page too... later in the year we hope to start videos and some more interactive elements too... widgets are also possible... want to take this one to the next level, we already get 700ish visitors each day (and many pageviews each).. no reason why this can not be 2000 / day by the end of 2009.
- Melted Felt: This is more of a fun one... in 2009 it is 'officially' going to go corrupt (can't wait!!)
- Omaha Planet: Covered this one, just to say we have some targets in terms of visitors and conversions and hope to get this translated at some point too.
- Rakeback-Planet: Dropped the ball with this, letting it get out of date and never really pushed it... whole new approach in 2009, hopefully starting by Feb... going to make this personal, yes all of my rakeback players will be personally looked after by me! More than just dispute resolution, I hope to be able to arrange coaching, sort out better deals on tools, insights and previews from my industry contacts and a whole lot more (for those who play resonable high volume in return of course... this will not be a 'deposit $20 and Mark will solve your dispute' game... ).
- Killer-Holdem.net: Have been aging this one for a while, it will get its turn in the spring - want to make it a mini-strategy portal upon which the other sites can be fed traffic. We will see but there is no reason why this can not contain a couple of hundred Holdem articles and generate a nice income by the end of 09.
- Poker Bonusz Klub: Our Hungarian language portal - This is half way through a revamp, really pleased with the new look and extra calls-to-action... new cpntent is being translated at the moment too. Going to work on this one some more in terms of links / SEO and making it into a 'club', capuring e-mails and finding the best possible offers for them. Would also like to have versions of this in several languages by the end of next year.
- Plan3t Gong... not to forget the trusty old blog... still not exactly sure where this one is going, do enjoy writing it though and according to Google a lot of people enjoy reading it! Will continue with a mix of strategy, psychology and business for the time being and make a decision on it later... at some point I'll probably let it retire gracefully - but not for the next few months at least.
Well, those are the current sites and plans for each - will have to save the plans for more sites for another post. It is my Birthday tomorrow (still cant believe where all those years went... only 5 minutes ago I was 18 and in a bar with a beautiful Brunette *boom* 20 years litterally fly-by and I'm about to turn 38 engaged to a beautiful Blonde) so, no posting. Might well have a quick flick through on Monday and see how many 'part #2's' are still not completed!!
GL at the tables, Mark
Just one more project to complete at the moment... Omaha Planet is getting a long over-due revamp and a bunch of new content. This site was bugging me for a while for lack of direction, what I decided in the end was that the content (aimed at beginners and those transitioning from Holdem) is excellent and some more of the same, along with clearer organisation was really the key. We hope to 'launch' the new version by the end of Monday (in fact it will go up then whether completed or not!).
More sites are in plan for next year, we have taken the decision to employ someone to help us build them which should allow the pace to pick up fast. The 'plan' is actually fluid, though based on strict financial targets... since I am an 'ideas man' something new could come up at any time... here is a flavour of what 2009 could bring:
- SNG Planet: More languages for sure, going to bring attention to the MTTs, Satellites and Deposit Methods sections soon (will continue with the SNG stuff though)... An 'archive' will be built to thin out the 100's of articles listed on each page too... later in the year we hope to start videos and some more interactive elements too... widgets are also possible... want to take this one to the next level, we already get 700ish visitors each day (and many pageviews each).. no reason why this can not be 2000 / day by the end of 2009.
- Melted Felt: This is more of a fun one... in 2009 it is 'officially' going to go corrupt (can't wait!!)
- Omaha Planet: Covered this one, just to say we have some targets in terms of visitors and conversions and hope to get this translated at some point too.
- Rakeback-Planet: Dropped the ball with this, letting it get out of date and never really pushed it... whole new approach in 2009, hopefully starting by Feb... going to make this personal, yes all of my rakeback players will be personally looked after by me! More than just dispute resolution, I hope to be able to arrange coaching, sort out better deals on tools, insights and previews from my industry contacts and a whole lot more (for those who play resonable high volume in return of course... this will not be a 'deposit $20 and Mark will solve your dispute' game... ).
- Killer-Holdem.net: Have been aging this one for a while, it will get its turn in the spring - want to make it a mini-strategy portal upon which the other sites can be fed traffic. We will see but there is no reason why this can not contain a couple of hundred Holdem articles and generate a nice income by the end of 09.
- Poker Bonusz Klub: Our Hungarian language portal - This is half way through a revamp, really pleased with the new look and extra calls-to-action... new cpntent is being translated at the moment too. Going to work on this one some more in terms of links / SEO and making it into a 'club', capuring e-mails and finding the best possible offers for them. Would also like to have versions of this in several languages by the end of next year.
- Plan3t Gong... not to forget the trusty old blog... still not exactly sure where this one is going, do enjoy writing it though and according to Google a lot of people enjoy reading it! Will continue with a mix of strategy, psychology and business for the time being and make a decision on it later... at some point I'll probably let it retire gracefully - but not for the next few months at least.
Well, those are the current sites and plans for each - will have to save the plans for more sites for another post. It is my Birthday tomorrow (still cant believe where all those years went... only 5 minutes ago I was 18 and in a bar with a beautiful Brunette *boom* 20 years litterally fly-by and I'm about to turn 38 engaged to a beautiful Blonde) so, no posting. Might well have a quick flick through on Monday and see how many 'part #2's' are still not completed!!
GL at the tables, Mark
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