PlauZee's HU SNG Poker Blog

Beside playing some HU SNGs, yesterday was another MTT-evening. I did pretty well again finishing 4/5 in the money (obv no cash in the HU MTT, again!).
Nevertheless I definitely should have get way more out of it instead of busting in the $3 Rebuy tournament, when I was bluffing biiig with a top20 chipstack and 400 players left.
It’s so easy to trap me. It’s so easy to play top-top vs me when you know u r ahead. It’s so damn easy to stop-bet-bluff me twice only to get me allin with nothing else than T8, think about 30 seconds on the river, but – of course – just call me with top-top, cuz u know u r the best player.

Last hand of what should have been a great tournament.

Dammit! I really can’t handle playing vs donks. Shame on me!
Basically, I really don’t think it’s a bad play in this spot, cuz I was pretty damn sure he had nothing what makes a call worth it. But I totally failed in reading my opponents abilities and that’s what makes it horrible.

Monthly profit increased to little more than 7k, so far. Keep on rolling, baby!
January goal is to reach the 10k and to stay away from too much risk when running worse than I do at the moment.

(Scotty’s youtube-Video – for those very few who don’t know what the title of this post does mean)

Here’s a short summary of the differences between the old and the new VIP program at Pstars which affects the HU SNG rakeback:
Please notice that I always calculate with the Supernova change (1,000 FPPs = $16) and with the net profit for the milestone-bonuses ($800 less for the 50k FPP you have to pay for).

Previous rakeback

• 25 VPPs/$5 rake
  (87.5 FPPs or $1.40 per $5 rake -> 28% standard rakeback as Supernova)
• +$200 as 100k VPP milestone-bonus
• +$1,200 as 200k VPP milestone-bonus
• +$2,200 as 300k VPP milestone-bonus
  –> 33,7% rakeback on average

2010s rakeback

• 27.5 VPPs/$5 rake
  (96.25 FPPs or $1.54 per $5 rake
  -> 30.8% standard rakeback as Supernova)
• +$1,200 as 100k VPP milestone-bonus
  (including the $1,000 “VIP Stellar Rewards“)
• +$2,600 as 200k VPP milestone-bonus
• +$2,800 as 300k VPP milestone-bonus
  –> 42.9% rakeback on average
  (44% for 400k VPPs and an increase of 0.9% for each 100k VPPs you can clear afterwards until Supernova Elite – 1mio VPP)

Including all bonuses the previous rakeback for the first 100k VPPs was 29%, now it is 37,4%.
($20,000 rake to pay, 28% standard rakeback+$200 as milestone-bonus) vs. ($18,182 rake to pay, 30.8% standard rakeback+$1,200 as milestone-bonus)

I think I’ll reach the 300k VPP without any problem this year. For 300k VPPs the rakeback increased from 33,7% on average to 42,9%!
($60,000 rake to pay, 28% standard rakeback+$3,400 as milestone-bonuses) vs. ($54,546 rake to pay, 30.8% standard rakeback+$6,600 as milestone-bonuses)

Rakeback is a very big part of the HU SNGs profit. Last year I would have earned $18,382 until I would have reached the 300k VPP milestone. This year it will be $23,400 rakeback for less games than last year (cuz of the VPP increase for each HU).
For me, it means approximately an extra $5,000 rakeback. Especially considering my monthly average profit of at the moment ~$5,000 the new rakeback deal is indeed pretty sweet! Not to forget the new quarterly $1,000,000 FREEROLL for Supernovas!

Sounds pretty odd and sad, but hopefully I will reach this year the profit which PStars does with me while playing at their platform…

Because of lack of time and writing motivation just two very sweet screenshots of yesterdays tournaments:

Very sweet 4,55k profit within some hours finishing 6th in the turbo MTT and 3rd in a 22buyin MTT. The moment couldn’t be better to save a lot of time re-building my bankroll

Hey guys and a very happy new year 2010!
I wish u the best for 2010 – especially with all your “social goals” (luv u Thomas )!

After my very very sick run in the beginning of December with almost +10k in the first week I lost it all within another week playing Cash HU the “kind-a-standard-limit”. I cashed out lovely 10k when I thought the time and dollar change was right. The 10k (including a big rakeback-bonus) I had left in my account were kind of a Christmas gift to all the guys who played me, sucked me out and received some tilting donations from me. Merry X-Mas, guys. I hope u enjoyed it..
In the end the December results were -$953.53 and I did not reach the 300k VPP milestone. I only had 20k VPPs left to complete the milestone, but after I had lost the money that fast I didn’t feel in the mood of playing and made a break for some weeks partying a lot and enjoying the Christmas/New Year-holidays.

After getting busted I cashed in only one time. I really hate cashing-in nowadays. I really don’t wanna touch the winnings I made and which are safe at my bank account. Today, I prefer to take the step back to smaller limits, getting more comfortable again and try the “shot” when the time and roll is right instead of just cashing in some k’s again. Even though it might take some time and it’s kind of -EV I feel way safer that way. Poker is still gambling, in some points you should never forget that – especially when you are talking about “investments” and CashIns.

My Bankroll is pretty tiny at the moment. I’ll play some 57.50s 4man HUs on my own and take some “shots” at 115s and 230s from time to time. Let’s see where I’ll stand at the end of January. Even though I cashed in yesterday to claim the reload bonus of $150, there’s still not much to lose anymore

Time to crush some games, enjoy the new rakeback-deal at Pstars and build the roll.
Gl everybody!