Seat 22A

I’ve had a fairly successful week playing Rush hold’em on Full Tilt, averaging well over 13 ptbb/100 hands, for a net gain of 145 dollars. (Let’s ignore the part where I’ve given back 75% of these profits to the sharks at the Omaha tables while I learn that wicked game, okay? And, yes, I also know that 13 ptbb/100 is not sustainable, okay?) Anyway, I’m currently sitting on a loooooong airplane flight over the Pacific, so I figured I would take a stab at trying to dissect what, if anything, I’ve been doing differently during the past few days play than I was last week that might account for this nice $/hand rate. Fortunately, I’ve got PT3 on my laptop, so I’ve had some time to delve into my stats a bit. Two things stand out:

1. I’ve had MUCH better results at 6max then 9-handed Rush. It doesn’t matter whether I’m playing 1 or 2 games, whether those games are $10NL or $25NL, what time of the day I play, etcetera; I make significantly more money at short-handed tables than full-ring, period. The question is: Why? The answer is: I’m not sure, but I think it has to do with my inability to dial in the correct looseness or tightness at the tighter 9-handed games. Average table VPIPs at the 9-handed games I’ve played has been 19%, which is pretty damn tight. I’ve been playing tighter than this, averaging around 16%, but this is only 3 percentage points lower than the average opponent. In contrast, the 6max table average for my sessions has been around 27%, whereas I’ve been playing down around 19%, which is a full 8 points lower than the average opp. In other words, I think I’m adjusting my play enough to make a profit difference at the 6max tables, but not at the 9-handed games. I may have to tighten up further at the 9-max tables to start making money there… or, maybe, considerably loosen up, instead? I think it’s related to that old poker saw: if the table is tight, play loose; if the table is loose, play tight. Dunno. One this definitely clear, however: I’m barely breaking even at full ring, and I’m (knock on wood) crushing the 6max games.

2. The other thing that stands out when reviewing individual hands is that I’ve been getting off losing cards earlier in a hand than I normally do… and this is positively affecting my bottom line. If, for instance, I raise ATo from LP and then get 3bet from the big blind, I’m much more inclined to just let it go then I used to be. Even when the RR smells like a reverse steal and I will have position through the rest of the hand, I’m often better off just folding. At a “normal” hold’em table, this would be certain death, as the opposition would quickly cotton to the fact that I could be bullied like a little girl. In a Rush game, however, the story is different. Unless they’re really paying attention to the results of folded hands and/or doing extensive post-mortems, hardly anyone can pick up on the fact that I fold my trap hands like cheap suit at the first hint of resistance. Last week I was much more willing to call in position with a hand like this, but this week I’m simply ducking and covering… and it seems to be paying off. Or maybe it’s just short term positive variance…

My laptop battery is low, so I’m quitting here. I’ll undoubtedly think more on the subject and, hopefully, have time to post some more thoughts.

Oh, one more thing before I go. I was playing yesterday and an obvious fact occurred to me (which is related to #2 above). When I get heads up in Rush game against a lone opponent, he and I are in fact the only ones left at the table. In other words, if/when I show down some real cheese hand (or, conversely, a strong hand), the only person who gets to see my hand is this lone opponent; everyone else is long gone from the table. Said another way, it really is very hard for most of the players you go up against in Rush to get any kind of read on your play. Table image is essentially non-existent. In other words, this reinforces the whole “play exploitably” thing I mentioned in my last post. Very obvious, yes, but also very important.

Are we there yet?

All-in for now…
-Bug