Poker Crack

First off, a couple of congrats are in order.

Congrats to IT on winning the Mookie! I know this is late, but better than never.
Congrats to Jamyhawk for working up the token ladder to a four-figure score. Well done!
Congrats to Raising Cayne for getting laid. I think he won some money too.

Anyways, speaking of IT, he had a post up recently trashing what has become my newest addiction - the Super Turbo SNGs on FTP. Yes, they are the epitome of donkfest. They aren't so much about skill as they are about seeing who is the wisest pushmonkey at the table. And I can't get enough of them.

I've played probably somewhere around 100 of these, + or - 10, at the $15 buyin. My ROI to date is approximately 30%. It's not a big sample, but I do think that these can be very profitable. At least for me, they have been so far. They're also very convenient; as I spend many of my days in my neighborhood coffee shop, looking for jobs and doing other assorted internet gazing, it's nice to be able to fire up a game and make money by either pushing or folding.

There's a good percentage of people who play these things horribly. There's no point in trying to play postflop, yet you'll find many people limp-folding to raises preflop, or worse, limp-calling then folding post-flop. There's also a fair amount of people who are willing to push too loosely too early, calling shoves with A2 or QJ within the first level or two.

I've been successful at these games primarily by playing these things preflop only - it's either push or shove. Additionally, whereas many people will push or call with mediocre hands like small aces or two paint cards (KJ, QT, etc.), I limit these mostly to situations where I'm open-pushing & I'm shortstacked. Same thing with pairs 66 & below. Finally, I play the bubble very cautiously when I'm in bad position against bigger stacks. In a regular SNG, I may be willing to bust on the bubble if I'm playing to win, but in these games, there's almost always one or two stacks on the bubble that are down to 2-3xBB that there's greater equity in folding AJ with a bigger stack in front of you to wait out the bubble. I haven't done the math but it works for me.

But be warned. These things are really fucking addicting. In fact, this post is over. I need another hit.