Saturday, March 22, 2008

Fly on the wall




Last night I logged on to Full Tilt Poker to play my nightly sit-and-go. Before joining a table, I decided to scan the big-dollar cash games to see if anybody interesting was playing that I could watch for a while. And boy, did I hit the jackpot there. As you can see, this $500/$1000 HORSE game had Eli Elezra, David Benyamine, David Singer, John D'Agostino, Mike Matusow, and John Juanda. You don't often find a lineup like that.

You might also notice that this screenshot happened to catch Matusow sticking a knife into Benyamine via the chat box. It's pretty well known that Benyamine stopped playing online for a while earlier this year after losing a few hundred thousand dollars. He's getting back into it now, but apparently Matusow wants to make the experience as painful as possible. Note the irony of Mike Matusow chiding somebody else's financial status. Anybody want to take Matusow's side on a bet as to whether he or Benyamine has the greater net worth, or the highest average annual income for the past five years?

Anyway, I had a great time watching this game for a while before closing the window. I resisted the temptation to click on the "join waiting list" button, since I think the FTP server would have sneered or laughed at me, while pointing out that I don't have enough in my account for even one small blind in this game. I moved on to my $5 STT. I won it, but it felt kind of pointless and pathetic.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really enjoy your blog. As a world class curmudgeon the musings and thoughts of a fellow Grump always welcome...if only for later comment.

Anyway, I do have a question. Why do you play $5 STT rather than higher stakes ones? As a pro your proficiency can't be debated, so I'm curious why you would choose micro stakes; especially that micro.

Rakewell said...

I just don't do particular well online. Part of it is having to operate without seeing opponents. Part of it is that there is typically less time to get to observe and analyze opponents' styles. Part of it is that I get bored watching the screen, and go a little crazy sometimes. Part of it is that it doesn't feel like real money I'm playing with and for. They all add up to me being a long-term loser online. So I'm undertaking a long program to change that. I can now make money with $5 STTs; at $10 I about break even. So I'm gradually building my online bankroll with the $5, after which I will bump up to $10, see if I can keep building it, etc.