what about Bovada?

[Nick]

Hi everyone! I started playing poker in 2010. When i first started I played live in my local casino. After going broke I didn’t play again until 2013. But the second time around I played online at Bovada. Yes somehow I missed the poker boom I hear so much about.

Now I have a few questions:

How is online different from live today? I hear people say it is easier. But i haven’t been in a casino for close to ten years. And I played early in my poker hobby. Also There was a vlogger who claimed to have a $1700 cash game winning session off of a $300 dollar buy in! Now I understand that this was only US dollars. But still that sounds amazing. It is definitely crushing my results online.

Exactly how much easier was it to win during the “boom”?

I saw on a vlog that this guy had moved to canada after Black Friday. I was wondering why move to canada? whats wrong with Bovada? It seems to me that it would be easier to play at home on a different site then to move to another country. Also I don’t hear to much about professional online players anymore. Do they not exist today?

[DeeKay]

Wow. Loaded questions where I could probably write several pages of comments. But let me just write some high level comments, if that should help…
Poker in Casino’s today is much tougher. If you were playing ABC poker (Harrington on Hold’em) in 2005-2010, you were likely pretty successful. Players were so bad, so clueless that I found it hard not to do pretty well. Today, players are far more gifted, studied, and the game has revamped so much. Straight forward ABC poker will make you incorrectly fold a lot. The game is more aggressive. there are more professionals, or people who play consistently. I play for entertainment, maybe once or twice a month at a casino. I have found over the last 5 years, I’ve gone from a winning poker player to a break even poker player. So I’m working hard to get my edge back (hence Brad Owen minded strategies). Because games are playing more aggressive and bigger and deeper (bigger buy in amounts), there is no question that sitting at a 1-2, 1-3, or 2-5 game can turn great results. I’ve cashed out $1500 at a 1-2 game ($300 buy), and $4400 at 2-5 ($1k buy).

I don’t play online anymore, but still the same differences… more crazy play, less information to work with and decisions must be made quicker. And of course, the impossible suck outs are always prevalent.

Don’t worry about other people’s success or failures… just worry about yours. My suggestion is the study up and be prepared. You should know your math, and know your ABC game. Be comfortable analyzing hands, analyzing your opponents possible hands, etc. Then I suggest reading “The Course” by Ed Miller (highly recommended by Owen). This will help you with the more modern aggressive game. It will help to understand why there is so much raising now and how to counter. But above all us… play with in your limits, and manage your bankroll appropriately.

[Nick]

Thank You DEEKay for your answers. I would love to read your other pages, if your are willing to post them. I have considered myself a winning online player (small hourly rate) for awhile now. This past 6 months I have been on a roller coaster that has caused me to fear that I may have become a break even player. I’m trying new things. 3betting wider, working on hand reading more, slow playing, bet sizing. But it seems like the days of getting doubled up with every top pair top kicker are long gone.

This is a thread that I hope will keep going. DeeKay I would love to hear your story of how you cashed in those sessions.

Thank You for your suggestions I will put the course on my reading list.

[DeeKay]

Sorry I haven’t posted back. Didn’t note your response for some reason.
You are right that the game is much more sophisticated, so getting great value when you have top-top is much harder. I think the best way to learn and help is by hand discussion… which is what most do on this site. This you can read back a hand that didn’t go well and others can chime in on what they would have done or why something was smart or poorly played. Learning things that you haven’t considered is just a tremendous way to improve.
You mentioned a few things you are trying, but I would ask… what is the strategy? You should be playing wider hand ranges or 3-betting more with a strategy. Hopefully you are doing things with purpose because the hand situation dictates that. This is why I loved “The Course”. It helped me improve in most areas, but especially:
– getting max value on the river
– punish players playing too many hands
– punish weaker players
– consider pot size depending on how much equity I have in the hand (build the pot with huge equity, pot control with less equity)
– knowing when to bet based on potential hand ranges.
– considering how many streets of value I have

Again, I can’t speak to online poker these day… all to live poker.

[Author]

Posts