An online poker player describes how he earned $190 in just a matter of hours. During two hours he has played 250 hands but only two of them generated profit.
Poker as a job – a day in life of an online poker whiz
Internet poker is a growing phenomenon with millions being spent online each day. Regular poker player Nils Pratley describes what's it like to play online poker for real cash.
"It's only the first hand of my poker challenge and already I have a tight decision to make. I'm holding the three of clubs and the four of diamonds, normally a hand to be discarded without a second thought.
But the flop – the three community cards – is potentially a monster: it's four, four, five, all of different suits. I'm sitting on a three-of-a-kind, potentially a big hand. At stake is the £200 ($494) given to me by my editor to write this story.
The player to my right bets $8 into the $8 pot. (The site operates in US dollars). It smells like a bluff: I don't believe he's got the other four. I call, planning to move in for the kill on the next round of betting. Then comes the counterpunch.
A player to my left raises to $32, an aggressive move at these stakes. What to do? The first player instantly folds, confirming my suspicion he had nothing. But the raiser clearly has something. Should I call? Or re-raise, say to $64, and see if he blinks.
Except this game of no-limit Texas hold'em is being played in cyberspace, albeit with real money deposited by credit card. If my opponent blinks, he could be blinking in front of a laptop in Lyons. Maybe he's dancing around his kitchen in Kansas because his pair of fives has made him a full house.
If so, my set of fours is virtually dead. Nor do I like my chances if he has an ace or another high card with the four I'm now convinced he's got.
"You have 10 seconds to respond," flashes the message from the virtual dealer at PokerInEurope, a site run by British bookmaker Victor Chandler.
Online poker is played at speed and 30 seconds of thinking time is generally the maximum. I opt for discretion and fold.
I like to think I am playing in the conservative manner of Lee-Anne Smyth, a 25-year-old mathematics graduate from Belfast who has created a sensation in the world of online poker by claiming to be averaging £4500 ($11,000) a week at the Ladbrokes.com poker site, which is owned by the Hilton Hotel chain.
Reactions to Smyth's claim have ranged from "good on ya" to hostile disbelief. I think her story is just about believable. Poker on the internet is populated by wildly over-aggressive and rash players.
Smyth has been described as "a rock" – an ultra-tight player who only raises when she has a strong hand. It requires patience and I am told Smyth often reads a book to help her through her nine-hour stints.
My patience is rewarded just two hands later. I am dealt a pair of queens and raise to $20. One player calls and this time the flop really is a thing of beauty – four, seven, queen, two of them spades. I have a three-of-a-kind again and this time it is the best possible hand at this moment.
I bet $25 and am stunned to find my opponent bets his entire stack of $70. I make the easiest call in the world and the cards are turned over. He is chasing a spade flush and the odds dictate he will win this situation a little less than one time in three. Happily, this is not one of them. I collect the $175 pot and I'm showing a $90 profit after four minutes of play.
These are the joys of poker, a game that has been transformed by the internet. It's impossible to know how much is wagered online, but charities dealing with gambling addiction talk of bored housewives logging on for their mid-afternoon fix of hold'em. Students are thought to be a prime source of new players, too. One site, Pokeroom, says it is Sweden's 19th most profitable company, a credible claim. Poker sites take a rake from each real-money pot – typically 1 to 2 per cent – and it adds up. Ladbrokes' site, for example, has dealt 100 million hands in less than three years.
After my early success the cards run cold. After an hour's play, the $90 profit has been whittled back to $50. Another half hour passes before I get some action.
I am dealt ace-king of the same suit, a favourite hand because it is easy to play: raise and, if an ace or king hits, bet big; if not, slow down.
Two players call my $10 bet and the flop brings the king of diamonds plus the jack and five of clubs. I bet $30 and a player – an 18- to 29-year-old male in Glasgow, according to an online factfile – re-raises me another $40.
I call, worried he has a pair of jacks. The turn brings another five and he bets $60. I call again and now there is $289 in the pot. The last card is the 10 of hearts and I am relieved to see my opponent from Glasgow check, his first sign of weakness. I check behind him and the cards are exposed: my ace-king beats his king-queen and I'm back up to a $159 profit.
There is no fear that the money will fail to arrive from Gibraltar, the low-tax haven of Victor Chandler's computer servers. I have been playing online for two years and my winnings have always arrived promptly via a deposit to my credit card. Nor am I concerned by stories about sophisticated computer programs fleecing the innocent.
The bigger worry is two or more players colluding via telephone. I have seen a few suspicious situations, and the only sensible response is to move tables and ask the website operator to investigate. The sites are making so much money they have incentive to ensure the game is clean.
After another slip, I am lucky enough to find an opponent "on tilt" – betting wildly after a series of losses. Poor "lalaa" has blown about $500 in 15 minutes and now he or she is trying to bluff me out of a $300 pot when my queen-jack of clubs has made a full house.
After almost 2 hours I have made a profit of $190. I have mostly been playing two tables simultaneously, and played about 250 hands. My profit has been generated largely from just three of those hands. If that sounds like a grind, you'd be right. Online poker can be dull and the occasional hour or two is enough for me.
If you want to give it a whirl, do the sensible things. Play on a site run by a reputable operator and start at the "play money" tables for beginners.
Before you even think of risking real money, read some books on poker strategy and odds. If they make no sense, don't do it. Smyth and her like are waiting for you."
SOURCE: shm.com.au
