If you can't play.....write about poker

Speaking of SpinLegends, FYI I am currently playing my own bankroll not theirs, but working for PS.com fortunately means I have access to their strategy advice. I won't be giving anything away from their lab of secrets, but will be commenting on the general offering.

That's a great blog idea, Barry :f_thumbsup:, I think I'll be hanging out itt quite often

As an introvert who dislikes working for any team, I'm not super-thrilled about the fact that stables exist at all, but poker sites welcome them as they want higher MTT guarantees, more jackpot hits and more high stake action, and I don't mind the SpinLegends team doing their business because I have the option of playing on my own at those sites where their padawans are absent

What do you think about Natural8's tournament staking system that allows to sell shares officially and transfers money automatically from the horse's account to the investors' once the horse wins? Should Pokerstars implement such an in-house system too? I think it would reduce the stakeroll risk significantly and shift the market equilibrium in horses' favour because backers would be able to afford to operate on thinner profit margins and would reduce their profit cuts in order to outcompete each other at horse acquisition.

Originally posted by tonypmm
That's a great blog idea, Barry :f_thumbsup:, I think I'll be hanging out itt quite often

As an introvert who dislikes working for any team, I'm not super-thrilled about the fact that stables exist at all but poker sites welcome them as they want higher MTT guarantees, more jackpot hits and more high stake action, and I don't mind the SpinLegends team doing their business because I have the option of playing on my own at those sites where their padawans are absent

What do you think about Natural8's tournament staking system that allows to sell shares officially and transfers money automatically from the horse's account to the investors' once the horse wins? Should Pokerstars implement such an in-house system too? I think it would reduce the stakeroll risk significantly and shift the market equilibrium in horses' favour because backers would be able to afford to operate on thinner profit margins and would reduce their profit cuts in order to outcompete each other at horse acquisition.

Obviously it would be awesome if all sites could do it, but I understand why a site like Stars would not implement it. Its quite a bit of overhead. Also I'm not sure its a good first impression to a brand new player to be made aware of staking, so having it front and center on the site homepage would be a mistake IMO.

I've been around poker a long time and seen sooooooooooo many scams that started from poorly constructed staking deals, that it would be nice to see a system that automatically escrows the right amounts.

Originally posted by BarryCarter
Also I'm not sure its a good first impression to a brand new player to be made aware of staking.

Even a recreational player has a decent chance of being staked, e.g. a group of real-life friends can collect money to enter the most skillful member of the group (like a pub champion) into an MTT and have a good sweat. This kind of staking without longterm coaching is what I'd adore to see happening more.

Barry this is fantastic! I will follow your blog with great interest.

Count on my help for Spins if you need some review, look into stats, overall strategy or to discuss hands.
I wish you to crush and make way more then 1k$ in 2017 from Spins.

And please, don't stop with articles at any cost. They are one of the major reasons why I keep checking main page of Poker Strategy!

Originally posted by tonypmm

Originally posted by BarryCarter
Also I'm not sure its a good first impression to a brand new player to be made aware of staking.

Even a recreational player has a decent chance of being staked, e.g. a group of real-life friends can collect money to enter the most skillful member of the group (like a pub champion) into an MTT and have a good sweat. This kind of staking without longterm coaching is what I'd adore to see happening more.

I didnt think of it in terms of recreational players being staked, that is a very interesting point. If that happened, obviously would be majorly +ev for everyone

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
Barry this is fantastic! I will follow your blog with great interest.

Count on my help for Spins if you need some review, look into stats, overall strategy or to discuss hands.
I wish you to crush and make way more then 1k$ in 2017 from Spins.

And please, don't stop with articles at any cost. They are one of the major reasons why I keep checking main page of Poker Strategy!

Thanks sir, followed your blog for a long time, glad to see you finally doing a BR challenge too.

Originally posted by BarryCarter
My only real aim is to become decent enough that the SpinLegends coaches consider me a 'winning' player, so to start with:

Starting Bankroll: $100
Goal: $1,000

This will be playing $1 Spins to start with, moving to $3 if I get the BR somewhere between $300-$500. That said, I think I'll maybe get one of the SpinLegends guys to assess my game before moving up because obviously I might get a big multiplier tomorrow.

It's so easy to estimate the EV ROI in Spins (1K games already give quite an accurate idea of it) that Spin regs' decisions about moving up / down are based rather on their EV than on their BR size. Bear in mind that your BR is 'almost infinite' because you have a side source of income, part of which you can gradually inject into the BR, hence you can afford almost any downswing if your EV is positive. So move up to $3 whenever you make sure that you're too strong for $1. This conclusion can be made on the sole basis of you winning more than 80 EV chips / 7% EV ROI per game over 1K games but it's advisable to consult a coach prior to moving up, to see if your game still has any large leaks.

Let me start ask you an unrelated question:

Which type of progressive KO MTTs do you find the best for the poker economy - standard (50%) PKOs, 75% ones (as in the Saturday editions of Bounty Builder) or the total (100%) ones (as in merely 6 MTTs on Saturdays only and SCOOP event #39)?

The difference between these types is that 50% / 75% / 100% of the buy-in goes to the progressive bounties and so the regular prize pool is 50% / 25% / ~0% of the total prize pool. The regular prize pools of 50% / 75% PKOs tend to pay 12-13% / 7-8% of the field, resp., whereas total PKOs pay tiny non-bounty prizes to the final tablers only. But of course it's very possible to walk away with a bounty prize way before reaching the regular prize zone, and thus the more % go to the bounties, the smaller variance the tourney has.

I've seen people finish in the top 4% of a total PKO and not win any money, apparently because they were too unwilling to take risks and hunt for bounties at the right time, and I'm afraid that some recreationals may feel uncomfortable about not getting a guaranteed reward for going deep, though from the strategic point of view, total PKOs are the most fascinating because it's not at all clear what the value of one's stack is, as its only use is to attempt to knock out shorter stacks (who obviously go all-in with premium hands only, to charge the maximum value from the hunters), and its value diminishes with time because the amount of bounties which are still in play decreases.

Originally posted by tonypmm
Let me start ask you an unrelated question:

Which type of progressive KO MTTs do you find the best for the poker economy - standard (50%) PKOs, 75% ones (as in the Saturday editions of Bounty Builder) or the total (100%) ones (as in merely 6 MTTs on Saturdays only and SCOOP event #39)?

The difference between these types is that 50% / 75% / 100% of the buy-in goes to the progressive bounties and so the regular prize pool is 50% / 25% / ~0% of the total prize pool. The regular prize pools of 50% / 75% PKOs tend to pay 12-13% / 7-8% of the field, resp., whereas total PKOs pay tiny non-bounty prizes to the final tablers only. But of course it's very possible to walk away with a bounty prize way before reaching the regular prize zone, and thus the more % go to the bounties, the smaller variance the tourney has.

I've seen people finish in the top 4% of a total PKO and not win any money, apparently because they were too unwilling to take risks and hunt for bounties at the right time, and I'm afraid that some recreationals may feel uncomfortable about not getting a guaranteed reward for going deep, though from the strategic point of view, total PKOs are the most fascinating because it's not at all clear what the value of one's stack is, as its only use is to attempt to knock out shorter stacks (who obviously go all-in with premium hands only, to charge the maximum value from the hunters), and its value diminishes with time because the amount of bounties which are still in play decreases.

Yeah I think you are right about recreational players leaving a 100% event and getting nothing. I think a recent TCOOP or micro millions event that exact thing happened, I think there was a third place finisher who got nothing at all.

As for the best for the poker economy, I guess a 50%, because it rewards the broadest scattershot of players, the guys playing for bounties, people who bust people early and the hangers on.

As you know, the 100% Bounty events and Spins clearly as similar as (like beat the clock) they are in a way cash games where you are forced to play to a finish.

Just watched this documentary, it was jawdropping and the most fascinating insight into the affect of money on people I've seen.

My brother's wife is like a queen of Moscow

Wow, my god, Barry is bloging now ?!

I'm glad, I'm sure you already know all the influence your 2 books had on the community but as a (modest) player I wanna thank you and Jared anyway !

I'm actually reading Sapiens and The subtle art of not giving a fuck (I'm a big fan of Mark Manson' blog) but I dont' know the other books of your list. As a bookworm I'm happy to find new interesting suggestions though

Have you maybe read To save everything, click here : the folly of technological solutionism and The net delusion by Evgeny Morozov or Internet : who owns our future ? by Jaron Lanier ?
I found them really great.

About narcissim in our society (but nothing internet related) I also liked Christopher Lasch's books The culture of narcissism and The minimal self : psychic survival in troubled times

Do you get paid when you write about poker?

Originally posted by MyFloXyBabY
Wow, my god, Barry is bloging now ?!

I'm glad, I'm sure you already know all the influence your 2 books had on the community but as a (modest) player I wanna thank you and Jared anyway !

I'm actually reading Sapiens and The subtle art of not giving a fuck (I'm a big fan of Mark Manson' blog) but I dont' know the other books of your list. As a bookworm I'm happy to find new interesting suggestions though

Have you maybe read To save everything, click here : the folly of technological solutionism and The net delusion by Evgeny Morozov or Internet : who owns our future ? by Jaron Lanier ?
I found them really great.

About narcissim in our society (but nothing internet related) I also liked Christopher Lasch's books The culture of narcissism and The minimal self : psychic survival in troubled times

Holy shit please post more sir, all those books sound great. I have read the net delusion and enjoyed it, I have heard of 'click here' and will get it now.

Sapiens is possibly the most interesting (not best, but most interesting) book Ive ever read.

Mark Manson, dunno if you know but I help Jared with his podcast and actually got Mark on as a guest, he is a poker player as it happens. A real fanboy moment for me http://jaredtendlerpoker.com/blog/mark-manson/

Thanks for the kind words on the books

Originally posted by freedomisland
Do you get paid when you write about poker?

Somehow, yes

I'm a member of staff here at PokerStrategy

Week 1:

108 Spins
$18 profit + $1.85 promotion bonus
Bankroll $119.85 (Started at $100, target $1,000)

Originally posted by BarryCarter
$1.85 promotion bonus

You play The Deal too, don't you?

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