A Brief Rant about the "Minor Leagues of Online Poker"

Greetings.

Yes, two days in a row for posting.  I'm already way ahead on my own expectations. 

Now then, I wanted to do a little post about what I consider the 'minor leagues' of online poker. 

You see, we are all very familiar with the "Big Two" of online poker (Full Tilt and Poker Stars).  What I am referring to is the 'little guys'. 

What has prompted this little foray was an e-mail I had received from another poker forum, who was pimping their weekly tournaments.  They used to do all of their tourneys on the "Big Two", but now they were using some other minor sites that I had never heard of.  Sites like, well, apparently Phil Laak now has his own poker site, called "Unabomber Poker" or something like that.

This is where my thought train starts.  Phil Laak, his own poker site?  Really?  There are maybe 5 top pros who should have their own site:  Doyle Brunson, and then pick any four of the founders of Full Tilt. 

Why on earth would anyone go to Phil Laak's site to play poker?  I don't know, I am asking.

Poker Stars and Full Tilt both offer something not seen at most little sites:  the chance to interact and play against real poker stars.  I imagine that Phil Laak's site has him, and that's it.

In the past, we have seen other name brand pros start their own sites, only to have them crash to the ground.  Namely, Daniel Negreanu, whose site was absorbed into Poker Stars, and Johnny "Fucking" Chan, who had a site last year and as of this posting I have no idea if it even exists anymore.

I'm sure that initial start ups of minor online poker rooms can be profitable, but over time I would have to think that unless you have a name pro who is constantly at final tables, your site's chance for growth is minimal at best.  Just look at the "November Nine" for 2010: all of them are either Poker Stars or Full Tilt. 

As for Phil Laak, there is no question he has some poker skills, it just seems that his skills aren't what they used to be.  I'd like to see him at a final table soon, and hopefully his poker site will still be around when he gets there.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!

Lost in the Dark...until now.

Greetings,

I don't know how many people even recall my incoherent ramblings of poker games past.

Nonetheless, here I am, ready to move forward with what I should consider as a steady hobby.

Over the last few months I have spent my time "off and on" playing at Full Tilt. In my own assessment, I feel I have played better than I have in years gone by, with one exception: I still make the occasional donkey call.

The donkey call is something that I do for one simple reason: make the person prove the value of their hand. About 2/3 of the time, I pay the consequences for calling the best hand, but when I do catch someone bluffing or catch them with a marginal hand, it does two things (in my opinion): (1) it sends the message that I will call a big bet, and (2) it shows other poker players what kind of person they are dealing with.

Quite often, shortly after I 'out' a player as a bluffer or as a marginal player, they normally are busted by someone else. It doesn't always happen, but when it does, it does give me a small sense of satisfaction.

That's all for now, I will be doing bigger and better daily updates now that all of my issues are behind me and I can concentrate on enjoying my poker game.

It's Groundhog Day

Am I dreaming, or did I actually decide to come to my poker blog and post about poker?

No dreaming, I am here. I got tired of seeing my last post was done in June or something like that, so I figure I will post to get the blog updated.

Just a quick post before I actually start writing stuff worth a damn.

One thing of note - I noticed that if you use the Google Reader to follow blogs, with my own blog - it will go back and pick up my older posts (pre 2008).

SO much to cover, but I just want to get the cob webs and dust knocked off the site. I'll be back with a better, longer, more informational post.

Thanks and see you soon.