# How much $ can I turn it into playing poker?



## PixelRabbit (Mar 12, 2013)

Ok so a couple years ago I was an online poker player.  All hell broke loose in the poker world and many sites got shut down and ultimately I ended up getting some money trapped.  I carried on with life without poker and pretty much wrote the money off.  Fast forward, I have access to the money again... but ... about half of it is in "points".  I can't bring myself to just let the value of them go so I'm going to have to play to release it as cash value *sigh*

I haven't played poker for almost 2 years now so after assessing what is available for me to play to give me the best chance of converting the money instead of losing it I've made a plan(ish).  It's going to take a while to get through all of the points but I started playing today.  

Since the money is going to camera gear, the more I make the more I can buy woot!! I thought it might be cool (and a little extra incentive to do awesome) to make a post to track my progress from time to time.  

Today was a good day, I converted $30 worth of points to play cash, I have X amount of time to "use" that money and try to earn enough points to release the amount. If I leave the table with a balance over what I started with that amount gets credited to my cash balance and I maintain what I started with.  After play today I earned $33 in cash and I have $20 still there to continue to play with to try to make enough points to release it.  I do not expect all days to go like this lol.

Wish me good variance!!!


So the money value of the points when I started is $480 and I started with 120 500 points.

Points/$value in use/$value used/released/left to release
Day 1
120 500/$0/$0/$0/$480
110 214/$20/$30/$33/$447


----------



## Majeed Badizadegan (Mar 12, 2013)

Good luck variance!

Can't believe Full Tilt ended up being a huge ponzi scheme.


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 12, 2013)

Thanks! Gawd, you have NO idea how it felt when Black Friday hit... being saved because I'm Canadian then Full Tilt imploded and bye bye money and income source.  Did you know Pokerstars owns it now? ....


----------



## sm4him (Mar 12, 2013)

Those were all English words, but I have no idea what any of that really means. :lmao:
All those points, and converting points to play cash, and earning enough points to release cash...it all sounds far too complicated for me.

The only poker I ever played was with my Dad--our little version of "family night," lol--but we played with the pennies out of the penny jar (it was a HUGE penny jar--probably had over $500 in change in it and it usually wasn't even half full) but when the game was over, the pennies all went BACK in the jar.

But yeah, good luck doing whatever it is you hope to do with those points that might or might not be cash.


----------



## runnah (Mar 12, 2013)

I don't know. That sounds like the same as investing your last $20 on scratch off tickets.


----------



## squirrels (Mar 12, 2013)

She doesn't always play games of skill for money, but when she does it is to buy camera gear.
The most interesting rabbit in Canada.


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 12, 2013)

Haha Sharon, as I typed that up I was thinking how convoluted it sounds unless you have an understanding of how it works to begin with lol! Thanks!



runnah said:


> I don't know. That sounds like the same as investing your last $20 on scratch off tickets.


Nah, it's more like if I don't play I just toss the scratch tickets in the trash without scratching them.  Either I play and take what I can get or I give it up, no in between.


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 12, 2013)

squirrels said:


> She doesn't always play games of skill for money, but when she does it is to buy camera gear.
> The most interesting rabbit in Canada.



:lmao:


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 13, 2013)

As of today :

Used $83 worth of points and cashed $72.
Not bad so far!


----------



## oldhippy (Mar 13, 2013)

Last time I played poker, well it wasn't pretty. They made me put my cloths back on..And oh..congrats on the good luck..win big, buy some cool stuff.


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 13, 2013)

Haha! Thanks Ed  
That's one of the benefits of playing online... lol!!
I'm not really playing anything that I will win big at unless I buy into a tournament or two.  I'm just playing cash and "grinding it out" as they would say in the poker world lol
 I'll be happy if I convert most of it and be done with it!


----------



## ghache (Mar 13, 2013)

i hate gambling. i enjoy poker, 10 bucks a game, with my friends in my basement, thats it.

i went to the casino once and it was to see a show. We went around my wife and i and spent like a couple 100s for the fun of it and that was it. Half of the poor people in there where spending their life away, you could see it in their faces.


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 13, 2013)

Ghache, I saw a LOT of sad stories go by when I was playing, people ruined their lives, people lied, stole, and lost it all.  I was lucky and found a coach and a backer who saw promise and took me under his wing, I was a profitable player but that is the exception to the rule, only about the top 10% of people who play online are profitable.


----------



## The_Traveler (Mar 13, 2013)

My friend and I used to go to Atlantic City and play 3/6 or 4/8 but the drive was too long for 6 hours of cards.
If Maryland casinos actually open table games (as promised), I might start playing again if the rake isn't exorbitant (like WV).


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 13, 2013)

Hey Lew  I never made the jump to playing live but not for a lack of trying.  Unfortunately I have some social quirks that I just couldn't get past.  Heck online when I was deep in tournaments I would get this weird hitch in my throat, I looked and sounded like a goober! I never got past it and could never bring myself to walk into the casino and sit down  

On the upside I played through it online, at the end I was playing cash but before that I was grinding tournaments, that's when it was the worst but I could just goober it up in private.  I did pretty well  I'll take a moment to brag....these are my highest payouts on Full Tilt Poker....




08/24/2009                      $34,000 Guarantee                              $24.00+$2.00                 3/2941                 $6,846.65                 04/26/2010                      FTOPS Event #7                              $120.00+$9.00                 15/8586                 $4,464.72                 06/26/2009                      $14,000 Guarantee (Double Stack)                              $24.00+$2.00                 2/588                 $2,187.36                 01/19/2010                      $42,000 Guarantee                              $24.00+$2.00                 7/2284                 $1,260.77                 04/06/2010                      $28,000 Guarantee                              $24.00+$2.00                 6/1097                 $1,260.00




And on Pokerstars I got my win 


05/13/2010                                   $11 NL Hold'em [$20K Guaranteed]                               $10.00+$1.00                              1/2868                              $4,518.81                              04/16/2010                                   $22 NL Hold'em [$12.5K Guaranteed]                               $20.00+$2.00                              3/1183                              $2,245.33                              04/12/2010                                   $11 NL Hold'em [6-Max, $8,000 Guaranteed]                               $10.00+$1.00                              2/856                              $1,070.00                              03/21/2010                                   $7.50 NL Hold'em [turbo]                               $7.00+$0.50                              4/1637                              $830.77                              08/30/2009                                   Sunday Million [$215 NLHE - $1.5M guaranteed]                               $200.00+$15.00                              343/8993                              $665.49


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 13, 2013)

Oh and rake... ugh... online if you play enough you can earn most of it back.  The sites have "rakeback" programs that you can earn some of it back and there used to be affiliate sites that you can join to earn more back on top of it.  I was earning back about 3/4 of my rake when I stopped playing.


----------



## Parker219 (Mar 13, 2013)

So you have a fair amount of final tables I see there, so why no wins? Are you not as strong heads up?  Or did you have a low stack verse other big stacks by the time the final table came around? 

For me, I made the most money playing someone heads up. I put up 100, thet put up 100, and the winner gets I think it was $196.


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 13, 2013)

Honestly there is only one I remember exactly what happened on the hand I went out on and that was this one:


04/26/2010                      FTOPS Event #7                              $120.00+$9.00                 15/8586                 $4,464.72

We were almost at the final table where the big money was, first was $137K and with 8586 entrants I'm going to ballpark it and say we had been playing for 16 hours give or take.  I was one of multiple stacks all around the same size.  Blinds were super high and going up, I picked up pocket Queens and went all in, got called by a pair of 10's If I win the hand I can cruise to the final table, there were enough desperate stacks left ... he hit a 10 on the turn... bye bye. 

As for the rest of the final tables, anything could have happened, when you get there weird stuff happens lol


----------



## Parker219 (Mar 13, 2013)

Oh wow, that was a dumb all in call by that guy with the 10's. They got very lucky. Still with 8,586 people, that is really good on your part. A lot of weird things can happen over 16 hours of playing. My worse bad beat story is when I had an ace high club flush, with the board being 10c-2d-9c-4h-7c. I went all in and someone had the 8c-jc for a straight flush. I went out in 3rd place! 

You can make money on poker, but what I found is, a lot of people start small, then IF they are good enough to win, they just take their money to bigger and bigger tables, soon enough you get a bad beat and are back to being at zero again.


----------



## weepete (Mar 13, 2013)

Well, good luck mate!

I played online poker for a couple of years, did not bad at first making a slim profit, and got pretty good at reaching the final three in small stakes tournaments. It got to the stage where the online money wasn't real for me anymore so I started throwing money away by going in with daft hands. When I hit £100 down overall (I kept a running total of winnings and losses) I realised it wasn't for me and packed it in. Now I just stick to the odd small stakes poker night with the boys, at least with that, win or loose it's cheaper than a night in town!

Its funny though, I've yet to meet a poker player that doesn't win  
[I'm not suggesting you fall into this category btw, you seem to know exactly what you are doing]


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 13, 2013)

Nah in his position and the size of our stacks (about 10 big blinds) I would have called me all day long lol But he DID get lucky.  Thanks  yes it's a minefield when you are playing that big of a field for that long.  

Ouch, that is brutal! but good job on 3rd 

"You can make money on poker, but what I found is, a lot of people start  small, then IF they are good enough to win, they just take their money  to bigger and bigger tables, soon enough you get a bad beat and are back  to being at zero again."

Yes, that is why most people who play online are not profitable, bad bankroll management.


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 13, 2013)

weepete said:


> Well, good luck mate!
> 
> I played online poker for a couple of years, did not bad at first making a slim profit, and got pretty good at reaching the final three in small stakes tournaments. It got to the stage where the online money wasn't real for me anymore so I started throwing money away by going in with daft hands. When I hit £100 down overall (I kept a running total of winnings and losses) I realised it wasn't for me and packed it in. Now I just stick to the odd small stakes poker night with the boys, at least with that, win or loose it's cheaper than a night in town!
> 
> ...



Thanks Weepete  Being realistic is half the battle, for every one of you there are 10 still at the tables digging themselves deeper and deeper in the hole and a good number of them have zero clue its happening.  

Yes you are right!! When I ran into someone who said they were an online player (and obviously they say they are making money) I would ask their online name.  There are sites where you can look up their name and see every thing they have played and how much money they have won or lost over time.  I never found one profitable one


----------



## manaheim (Mar 13, 2013)

I've wondered about playing online poker, because my experience with the "free" games is that people can play very foolishly.  People just don't understand the odds it seems.  Of course there are always plenty with a clue, but it seems like there's always some nut with $100 to throw away, too.  I imagine that's less common with the online ones where they play with real money though???


----------



## Rafterman (Mar 13, 2013)

I used to play on both Full Tilt and PokerStars. I played the free games at first, but then started playing real money at the wimpy tables (5-cent/10-cent and 25-cent/50-cent). I got as high as $50 at one point (which isn't bad with blinds that cheap), but eventually lost it all by entering tournaments. I'm not a tournament-style player, but more of a cash game guy. I did sit-and-gos for a while too, but they didn't hold my interest. Fortunately, I had no money in any accounts when all the online places got busted.

The last time my wife and I went to Vegas in 2011, I played Texas Hold 'Em at Mandalay Bay and turned $100 into $200 in about 90-minutes ($1/$2 blinds). I quit after that though and spent the winnings during the rest of the trip. I play weekly with some neighborhood guys, but there's usually wild cards thrown in, so it's more difficult than straight up. I can't wait to return to Vegas and take at least $500 with me for poker to see what I can come home with.

Congrats on all your past wins and I hope you do well getting back your cash! As you already know, playing online is WORLDS apart from in-person.


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 14, 2013)

manaheim said:


> I've wondered about playing online poker, because my experience with the "free" games is that people can play very foolishly.  People just don't understand the odds it seems.  Of course there are always plenty with a clue, but it seems like there's always some nut with $100 to throw away, too.  I imagine that's less common with the online ones where they play with real money though???



Ah yes, free games and micro stakes are free for alls, the higher in buyin you go the more people know what they are doing but even at the higher levels there are "donkeys".  Pro players play enough volume so the donkeys no longer matter.  The max tables I could play at once was 6 but I know guys who play 20+ tables at a time  
I took a quick look and found this video, you can even see his Heads up Manager on the table screens and all of the stats displayed.








Rafterman said:


> I used to play on both Full Tilt and PokerStars. I played the free games at first, but then started playing real money at the wimpy tables (5-cent/10-cent and 25-cent/50-cent). I got as high as $50 at one point (which isn't bad with blinds that cheap), but eventually lost it all by entering tournaments. I'm not a tournament-style player, but more of a cash game guy. I did sit-and-gos for a while too, but they didn't hold my interest. Fortunately, I had no money in any accounts when all the online places got busted.
> 
> The last time my wife and I went to Vegas in 2011, I played Texas Hold 'Em at Mandalay Bay and turned $100 into $200 in about 90-minutes ($1/$2 blinds). I quit after that though and spent the winnings during the rest of the trip. I play weekly with some neighborhood guys, but there's usually wild cards thrown in, so it's more difficult than straight up. I can't wait to return to Vegas and take at least $500 with me for poker to see what I can come home with.
> 
> Congrats on all your past wins and I hope you do well getting back your cash! As you already know, playing online is WORLDS apart from in-person.



Very cool Rafterman, thanks! Believe it or not I'm starting out on the .05/.10 tables to get back into the swing of things again, that is where I've released the $72  
As I mentioned above bankroll management is the biggest downfall of most who play online.  In your case you should have kept grinding out what you were good at and built it up slowly  The minute you play something new you lose all of your expected value.  People beat the micro level once and figure they are ready to move up to the next one but that's what screws them, they should stay at the micro level until they can consistently beat it... you get more kicks at the can if you stay at micro level, as soon as you move up and use big chunks of your bankroll on one thing you are pretty much kissing your money goodbye


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 23, 2013)

Ok I've totally lost track but I'm at just under half of the points left and I've cashed $168 of $480 not brilliant but not bad 

That combined with a couple gift certificates covers a Canon 430ii flash at Sears.

So that means new macro lens AND flash guaranteed! woot!


----------



## PixelRabbit (Mar 24, 2013)

I sat down at the table today and was having a good session so I ended up playing through the rest of the points.

Final results......

$435 cashed out for a total of $925 to spend and $30 worth of points that I'm going to leave 

I'm beyond thrilled !!

Let the shopping begin!!


----------

