Poker Dengeneracy

Here's a news flash for everyone - Sometimes poker is tough. However when it seems that I'm getting bloodbathed this year in every poker way possible I realize that there are those far worse off. More on that shortly. First let me moan for awhile. Bloodbathed has to be my new favorite poker term. If it wasn't coined by Chapel Hill's own Mark Newhouse then he is the first I have heard use it and it certainly describes his poker and life results lately.

I haven't played any live in a long while or blogged any for that matter. Just grinding online. Some of 2007's non-highlights:

1. Mid-six figure bankroll stuck in Neteller resulting in the current grinding of 5/10-15/30 instead of the 100/200 I would like to still be playing. I think the whole neteller debacle is by far the worst thing that has happened in 2007. It's been dragging on now since mid-January and is an ongoing source of depression every time I think about it. Hopefully this situation is nearing a conclusion though and I'll have some neteller news to be happy about in a week or so. Valuable lesson learned though. I had way to much of my roll there. Despite thinking it was safe being in a company that was publicly traded and regulated by the United Kingdom's banking industry regulators it was still a way stupid thing to do. If this doesn't have a happy ending it will be the ENRON of the poker world for a lot of US players.

2. June was my first losing month in over two and a half years. Not a terrible amount all things considered but still shitty especially since July hasn't gotten off to a much better start.

3. No decent tournament cashes to boost the bankroll since before Party left the US market. Jesus, it has really been that long. Bright side to this though is I really don't play many tournaments.

4. The waning popularity of poker in the US has led to a steady decline in profits from my rakeback site. I think traffic to most poker related sites like 2+2 is down a lot across the board. Alas, the recurring monthly income was nice while it lasted, is still fairly significant, and I was able to help a lot of online players with some really sweet rakeback deals.

5. This time last year I was in Vegas for a month for most of the WSOP including the main event courtesy of Martin's Poker. So many people think Vegas is the center of the poker universe but really it isn't. LA blows Vegas away poker wise but the series brings so much money to Vegas that it was sweet raping the cash games even though I had a lackluster performance in the main event getting knocked out on day 2 just shy of the money. Fast forward to '07 and I'm completely lethargic about the WSOP in general and tournament poker in particular. I just want my money from neteller to get back to the cash games.

One of the first things would be poker players should learn is if they want to be successful and profitable in their poker play they should stick to cash games and only play tournaments for fun with money that isn't significant to their bankroll. The variance in tournament poker due to the escalating blind structures and top heavy payouts is sick. So many big name tournament pros are constantly broke or staked when they could otherwise be profitable sticking to the cash games.

Case in point about tournament poker. I got no sleep last night so I decided to take a day off today and not really play much poker. However, I decided to mess around a little and play in a new tournament that PokserStars is offering on Sundays starting yesterday because I had a few PokerStars $T on the site that I have been meaning to use. It was $100k guaranteed $11 buyin freeze out. The first day it blew away the guarantee completely filling up with 15,000 players. Not only did it completely fill up but it didn't do so a few minutes before the start. It was full on Saturday. So I'm kicking it at the house this afternoon playing decent poker despite a drought of any big hands. I wade through 13,700 players for two and a half hours to end up cashing a whopping $19 profit. Imagine how emotionally and financially bankrupt one would feel spending $500K+ to travel the tournament circuit playing all the large buyin events and not having any significant cashes for a year or so. Forget it. Stick with the cash games.

Ok enough of my moaning. I don't bet sports or play pit games. I play well within my bankroll and if everything works out with Neteller everything else will be fine and my poker world should fall back into place.

On to the meat of my post and a situation that I'm glad I'm not in and one that should be a warning to anyone that enjoys success in poker. Many Triangle players are familiar with Mark Newhouse also known online as Newhizzle. Mark is from Chapel Hill and was a very successful online limit specialist before winning the 06' WPT Borgata Open for a little over $1.5 million.

Unfortunately Mark has had a lot of ups and downs since then. He recently lost a prop bet to Gary Wise that had to do with whether Gary could lose a certain amount of weight in a specified time. Mark lost and as a result has to blog for Gary's poker site http://www.wisehandpoker.com/ for thirty days as well as owing Gary $1500 upfront and $500 for every day he misses blogging. Mark has missed several days. No problem right for a guy who just won $1.5 million last year in one tournament plus winning a considerable amount from his cash game play? Well unfortunately Mark has gone from robusto to nearly busto losing a large amount of his winnings through a combination of degenerate gambling, bad staking arrangements, and playing in games in which he doesn't have enough of an edge.

Mark isn't much of a blogger, not that I am, but reading through his postings at http://www.wisehandpoker.com/blog/index.php/mnewhouse is really disturbing. There are also threads at the 2+2 forum detailing Mark's dealings with the infamous Brandi whom Mark so eloquently refers to as that crazy psycho bitch that make for a good read if you can wade through them. Here's a young man who had everything going for him but has let the gambooling lifestyle get to him. Mark seems like a genuinely nice guy even though I do not know him personally and hopefully he can get his life and poker career turned around and not end up continuing to spiral down hill until he ends up like Stu Ungar did.

Some things to take from Mark' situation would definitely include:
1. Investing your winnings outside of poker while you're robusto. Most of the true greats in the game like Doyle, Chip, and Ivey had done this and not only tremendously increased their net worth but also insured that they will never be truly broke.

2. Be neither a lender or borrower. Mark needs to shed the nice guy image. Most staking arrangements even though so common in poker are truly bad deals. Staking degenerate gamblers or losing players is an awful way to manage your bankroll. Case in point - Ted Forrest would be a great deal wealthier if not for poor choices staking other players. Players like Erik Lindgren who have had a lot of success staking other players are definitely rare exceptions and not the rule.

3. Stick to poker. Degenerate gambooling including playing pit games, high stakes bowling or shuffleboard, flipping for rolls, etc. may seem cool but are definitely -EV all day long. Case in point - The poker legend TJ Cloutier has gambled away most of his poker winning at the craps table. He has to be staked in pretty much all the tournaments he plays and lives modestly mostly off of appearance fees and book signings. Any time he cashes in a tournament his backers are there waiting to collect their share before he goes on a spree at the craps table which he usually does with his winnings.

4. Don't be ashamed to drop down in limits until your bankroll recovers. This is just common practical bankroll advice. Many of the best players including Ivey have been broke numerous times and had to rebuild. A lot of them could have avoided being truly broke though if they had put aside there gigantic sized egos and moved down to games their bankroll would allow them to play in comfortably.

5. Utilize better game selection. I would rather be a winning player at 100/200 than a loser at 1000/2000. Playing at the highest stakes against the best players in the world where your advantage is slim or nonexistent is not smart when there are juicy games at lower stakes that you could have a considerable edge at.

6. That thing that the fairer sex has that we as men all want should be pursued elsewhere outside of the poker world if pursuing it in the poker world involves staking or coaching arrangements. Thinking with the wrong head can have disastrous bankroll results. Case in point - See 2+2 threads about Brandi and Chantel


Hopefully Mark will get things turned around but his troubles should serve as a warning to many of us both young and old. When gambling daily it is easy and sometimes necessary to become desensitized to the value of money. However to be successful in the long run as a poker player though we have to exercise a great deal of self-control both at the tables and away from them and when presented with so many choices we have to choose those that are the most +EV the vast majority of the time.

Here's to a profitable second half of 2007. Good luck at the tables all unless you should find yourself seated across the table from me.