Emu's first cash buy in

[Nevah play JJ]

Hi all..

Just thought I would take the time to give a few thoughts.

Tonight was our first cash buy in at The Emu Hotel. Run by Caleb and Nathan it promised to be a great night, very professionally run and the promise was delivered!!

I have to admit I was highly dubious about the whole cash buy in thing and to a degree remain that way, but I think I will start my post with the negatives then put the positives.

Negatives

1.
The Emu Hotel had a cash prize of $200 for 1st and $75 for second. First tonight got $143.50. That is a $56.50 drop in prize money. I guess you can work out the sook in regards to that particular bit.

2.
I wasn't a fan of double December and am not really a fan of double points for the cash buy in. I know it is heaps of work, but I can't help but feel if you want to "out" those that buy in, then there should be a separate ladder.


Neutral thoughts

1.
Not sure about why there is the need for the larger sized chips stacks. I always feel that the size of the chip stack is unimportant. The important part is how you manage it. But please if I am wrong, correct me...


Positives

1.
I LOVE the antes!! They really do not allow for us to sit back and just wait for hands to come.

2.
Paying cash to play totally forced me to change the way I played, for some reason, buying into the game made me so much more conscious of the decisions I made. It wasn't so much the prize money at the end, it was more, I didn't want to throw the money I put in on stupid calls.

3
Blinds levels and time to the first break was awesome, I loved getting into a rhythm and not having to go on break

4.
Again, Caleb as always did a great job, I do always enjoy his touneys and Nathan!! Ohh that little man has so much love... hehehe..

He will only tell on me and tell you all, I played Pocket Jacks not once.. BUT twice and won on them. Evil little man even gave them to me on the final table up against my other most hated hand Pocket tens..

But anyway, I had a great night and not only because of the win, but because I really enjoyed the TD's we had and because the whole night was run really smoothly.

So hopefully I will be playing the cash game again...

[bennymacca]

do you play online or in other poker events JJ?

your comment about the stack sizes and antes puzzled me a bit.

NPL as it is is a super turbo structure, there is really no time to "wait around" for a hand even in the freeroll format.

bigger stack sizes allow for post flop poker to be played. with antes as well, it allows steals to actually become profitable.

so the bigger stacks allow the better players to outplay people post flop. the antes allow the players who are positionally aware to pick up the antes preflop.

so you are right about the management of the stack, but small stack sizes only allow for preflop poker.

[Nevah play JJ]

do you play online or in other poker events JJ?

your comment about the stack sizes and antes puzzled me a bit.

NPL as it is is a super turbo structure, there is really no time to "wait around" for a hand even in the freeroll format.

bigger stack sizes allow for post flop poker to be played. with antes as well, it allows steals to actually become profitable.

so the bigger stacks allow the better players to outplay people post flop. the antes allow the players who are positionally aware to pick up the antes preflop.

so you are right about the management of the stack, but small stack sizes only allow for preflop poker.

Hi benny the cunt,
I must confess I have only just started to play online through 888 due to the promotion during the state finals. I have really enjoyed getting into it to be honest.

Is what your saying that the bigger stacks are actually more important in managing the ante stage of the tourney, rather than the earlier stage of the game without the antes?

I guess I just always thought it was relative, if you have a starting stack of 2k instead of 1k, then you make your raises higher, rather than just 2x, 3x. You made them 4x 5x etc.... and it allowed for heaps more time to wait for a hand to come to you.

Thanks for your help

[bennymacca]

I guess I just always thought it was relative, if you have a starting stack of 2k instead of 1k, then you make your raises higher, rather than just 2x, 3x. You made them 4x 5x etc.... and it allowed for heaps more time to wait for a hand to come to you.

in general, i dont think this is true. preflop, i think your raises should always be 3-4BB, for every raise that you wanna make. i have heard that a good rule is 3BB from late position, and 4BB from early position, plus 1BB for each limper. thus is you are on the button, and 2 people have limped, then your raise should be about 5BB.

this works well when you have a deep stack, but not so well if you are short stacked, because it will commit you to the hand.

so a bigger stack size means that if you have AK, you can raise preflop, get a caller, and still have enough chips to fold if you miss on the flop.

with short stacks, you really only have two options - all in or fold a lot of the time

[Caleb]

I'm going to try to comment on certain aspects of this, here we go.....

Negatives

1.
The Emu Hotel had a cash prize of $200 for 1st and $75 for second. First tonight got $143.50. That is a $56.50 drop in prize money. I guess you can work out the sook in regards to that particular bit.

The Emu Hotel & The Christies Beach hotel are the only 2 hotels I know of in the state that offer $275 in nightly prizes twice a week. That sort of generousity is unheard of in my travels and all the players should be extremely grateful for this. It is something the venue chooses to do in order to reward players who choose to play at their venue.

That said, the general consensus was on Wednesday was one in line with you....

"How come i'm paying money to win less???"

To those that would listen to me, I told them the following;

1. The prize pool was almost doubled for the CBI with the players sharing $510 in the prizepool, not $275. Plus a better, more competitive game to go along with that.

2. First prize was not $143.50. First prize was $143.50 in cash, PLUS a $50 tournament ticket to the $5k guarenteed deepstack. That's actually valued at $50 which brings first place up to $193.50, plus prizes.

3. 2nd place won $152.50 total plus prizes, more than double what the freeroll offered.

4. 3rd-5th shared $164 plus prizes, when during the freeroll they would've shared a bottle opener and 3 FTTs between them.

In summary, 1st won $6.50 less overall, and the rest of the top 5 won a hell of a lot more than otherwise would've been the case. I know which situation I would prefer if I were playing.

I know I'm good but even I don't expect to win every time

2.
I wasn't a fan of double December and am not really a fan of double points for the cash buy in. I know it is heaps of work, but I can't help but feel if you want to "out" those that buy in, then there should be a separate ladder.

Double points is a way of encouraging players to play new events and formats they might not otherwise try. It's fine if you're not a fan, in fact it's a good thing to know. I'm in no position to comment as I don't know the situations regarding the future of the points structure, but if you don't like something do tell us.

Neutral thoughts

1.
Not sure about why there is the need for the larger sized chips stacks. I always feel that the size of the chip stack is unimportant. The important part is how you manage it. But please if I am wrong, correct me...

You're not wrong, but you're not looking at the whole picture. More chips means deeper, more effective poker skill being on display, like benny the cunt said. More chips the better I say, as long the blind levels are managed correctly.

Positives

1.
I LOVE the antes!! They really do not allow for us to sit back and just wait for hands to come.

As I say to all my players who comment, good or bad, on the ante situation.

They are here to stay. Learn to love them!!! Skillful players accumulate massively once antes are introduced. It's also an element of the tournament that actually forces players to adapt and play accordingly. That will produce better, more rounded play and players in the long run. Surely a good thing.

2.
Paying cash to play totally forced me to change the way I played, for some reason, buying into the game made me so much more conscious of the decisions I made. It wasn't so much the prize money at the end, it was more, I didn't want to throw the money I put in on stupid calls.

Exactly the way you should be treating it. Spot on.

3
Blinds levels and time to the first break was awesome, I loved getting into a rhythm and not having to go on break

Obviously not a smoker .
Its a good club to be a part of. I'm in the minority of the NPL staff in that respect.

4.
Again, Caleb as always did a great job, I do always enjoy his touneys and Nathan!! Ohh that little man has so much love... hehehe..

I had to! Nathan loves to ride me.... (take that any way you want.)

His appearance was a one-off I believe. I'll be there every week with Glyn making his first appearance this week.

[Nevah play JJ]

Hey ya benny the cunt and Caleb, thanks for the answers to my posts.

I just wanted to say benny the cunt, I did a lot of thinking about what you put in your posts and was quite pleased with the help you had and have given me. Thank you so much for what you put.

Caleb, you and I chatted tonight about what you put in your post and I really appreciate that you didn't see what I said as being negative, because it was not meant to be so and you did raise a very valid point, as did Tim.

I did fail to mention the $50 ticket into the deep stack tournament and to be honest, if the choice between being given the $50 cash or the ticket was an option, I would definately take the ticket!

I must also say it is fantastic that the ticket can be transfered also. After having won again tonight, I am excited that I could give my partner my other ticket so he can play also.

Still not totally convinced about Double points, but again, I can fully understand as to why there is the need for them.
Having said that, 2 wins with a field of 50+ players has given me HUGE points and has as of now, boosted me from 11th on the State leaderboard to 3rd. So I can imagine there are some very cranky players out there that do not think I deserve that spot. However, we all know how the leaderboard changes dramatically, so maybe this particular "issue" is irrelevant.

Over all, I honestly think that tonight went really well, week 2 of the new game at The Emu and it seemed to be great competition. Caleb and Glyn might think otherwise because they see more of the over all picture than we do, but from my point of view, the drunkenness, loudness and generally disruptive types of loutish behaviour have really died down considerably and frankly it makes for a wonderful playing environment.

I didn't mention on the other post, I really love having tables assigned!!! For many reasons, one of which is I found sitting with friends/mates around the table, I didn't play to conspire, but I didn't always play as aggressively as I should, for fear of upsetting a friend. This does not mean I soft played or conspired, because I do not, have not, will not ever do so, I just mean I never made someone go all in when I knew I had the winning hand.

It has taken a lot to learn there are no friends at the table, but that is still a stumbling block. One of which I am certainly getting stronger at defeating!!! Again, this I really believe has to do with having seats assigned.

The final table draw... wow.. lots of messing around, but there is absolutely no way it could ever be made fairer to all players.

Wow.. this was supposed to be a short post, sorry to ramble on to anyone that is reading it or rather still reading it.

But in finishing, I was guilty of being VERY negative about the cash games being introduced, I am not a fan of change and in all honesty I am not sure I will be able to afford to play every week.

I was too fast to form a wrong opinion and am frankly pleased this is the case. I look forward to watching how these games will begin to grow further.


Ohh and for the record, what a little cutie is Glyn?!?!

Glyn.. if you read this, Thanks for the win!! Not sure how it happened, LOL, used the first card before the break, was short stacked most of the night and came back on final table..

Thanks for an awesome night to Caleb and Glyn..

[AceLosesKing]

Wow, can I just say JJ, what a wonderful poster you are. I could go on but I think my first statement says it all

Well done on the win

[Nevah play JJ]

Awww... Thanks AK.. I appreciate that.

I think I ramble too much, but I have so much to say and so little room to do it.. LMAO

See you at States this season??

[marino_1251]

JJ you can't complain about double points you got 170 and 3rd in the state so go for top 2 its in your reach lol, well done though, amazing effort

[Caleb]

I was wondering just how long your essay was going to be. You were on-line for nearly an hour before this post popped up.