Ever get that strange feeling?
There's always a feeling that the online games must be rigged. Admittedly, I get that feeling from time to time, but I wanted to share some experiences which may help others and helps me maintain my sanity.
It's been torture for me, during the past week. I've been getting beat up at the mult-table Stars tournies. Based on my experience, it's real easy to see why others would concluded that Stars is rigged in some way. However, something funny happened along the way to the Forum. I play in a "fun" game during lunch -- no money is involved. There too I've been suffering bad beat after bad beat. Then I finally venture onto Party Poker, my safe-haven, and suffer bad beat after bad beat. Here's a summary:
Stars (these are just the memorable ones)
1) $650 Saturday qualifier, where, early in the tournament a desparate short stack pushes in I call with JJ. He shows A4o and flop comes AT9, brick, brick.
2) Rebuy period (need I say more), four limpers, I make a double pot sized raise with QQ in the cutoff. Button calls, as does everyone else. Flop comes AQT. I push all in, Button calls, the rest fold. Get this, button has J4o. Turn is a King, river brick.
3) Late stages in a multi, I'm medium stacked and raise 4X with AK. SB & BB call. Flop A79. I push in, SB calls with A5. River is a 5.
4) Middle stages in a multi with 15BB. UTG limper, I'm in MP and push in with AK. Everyone folds and UTG limper (double my stack) calls and shows AJ. FLop comes KT4. Turn 9, River Q.
5) there are many, many more -- at least two/three of these per night.
6) I don't to share my 6 handed table experience (suffice to say, I went 60 hands without a win, and losing with QQ, KK, and AA)
Lunch Poker (live -- fun -- not online)
1) AJ, loses to T7 -- flop is with an ace and I lose to three tens on the river. I pushed in at flop.
2) 88 loses to 33 -- all-in pre-flop
3) bottom pair (me) loses to JT, when the board makes two-pair (counterfeiting my bottom pair) because the Jack plays as the kicker!
Party Poker (limit)
1) I have AA, and lose to T7s (two sevens come up on the flop)
2) I have AK, and lost to Q8s (two eights come up on the flop)
3) I have KK, and lose to AT (two aces come up on the flop)
4) The above three hands were all in the spand of twenty minutes, and all loses to the same person!!
If I was playing exclusively at one site, I could understand how someone suffering the same bad beats would entertain the thought that the site was rigged. But what are the odds of everything being rigged? I would say it's extremely unlikely.
Over the past few years, I've gone through many of these "dark periods". Sometimes I blow my whole roll, sometimes I just ride it out, and sometimes I stop playing for a few days, weeks, even months. What I've found is that after the "dark period" my game has exponential improvements. I've always found something that I've improved. So while, I want to believe Hartgosh and others that stars is rigged, I can be more effective by trying to improve my game. The better I get the more difficult it becomes, even by a rigged site, to beat me!
It's been torture for me, during the past week. I've been getting beat up at the mult-table Stars tournies. Based on my experience, it's real easy to see why others would concluded that Stars is rigged in some way. However, something funny happened along the way to the Forum. I play in a "fun" game during lunch -- no money is involved. There too I've been suffering bad beat after bad beat. Then I finally venture onto Party Poker, my safe-haven, and suffer bad beat after bad beat. Here's a summary:
Stars (these are just the memorable ones)
1) $650 Saturday qualifier, where, early in the tournament a desparate short stack pushes in I call with JJ. He shows A4o and flop comes AT9, brick, brick.
2) Rebuy period (need I say more), four limpers, I make a double pot sized raise with QQ in the cutoff. Button calls, as does everyone else. Flop comes AQT. I push all in, Button calls, the rest fold. Get this, button has J4o. Turn is a King, river brick.
3) Late stages in a multi, I'm medium stacked and raise 4X with AK. SB & BB call. Flop A79. I push in, SB calls with A5. River is a 5.
4) Middle stages in a multi with 15BB. UTG limper, I'm in MP and push in with AK. Everyone folds and UTG limper (double my stack) calls and shows AJ. FLop comes KT4. Turn 9, River Q.
5) there are many, many more -- at least two/three of these per night.
6) I don't to share my 6 handed table experience (suffice to say, I went 60 hands without a win, and losing with QQ, KK, and AA)
Lunch Poker (live -- fun -- not online)
1) AJ, loses to T7 -- flop is with an ace and I lose to three tens on the river. I pushed in at flop.
2) 88 loses to 33 -- all-in pre-flop
3) bottom pair (me) loses to JT, when the board makes two-pair (counterfeiting my bottom pair) because the Jack plays as the kicker!
Party Poker (limit)
1) I have AA, and lose to T7s (two sevens come up on the flop)
2) I have AK, and lost to Q8s (two eights come up on the flop)
3) I have KK, and lose to AT (two aces come up on the flop)
4) The above three hands were all in the spand of twenty minutes, and all loses to the same person!!
If I was playing exclusively at one site, I could understand how someone suffering the same bad beats would entertain the thought that the site was rigged. But what are the odds of everything being rigged? I would say it's extremely unlikely.
Over the past few years, I've gone through many of these "dark periods". Sometimes I blow my whole roll, sometimes I just ride it out, and sometimes I stop playing for a few days, weeks, even months. What I've found is that after the "dark period" my game has exponential improvements. I've always found something that I've improved. So while, I want to believe Hartgosh and others that stars is rigged, I can be more effective by trying to improve my game. The better I get the more difficult it becomes, even by a rigged site, to beat me!
Comments
Poor players will make bad calls and hit amazing Flops/Turns/Rivers. Yes it does seem like you are having the worst of it right now, but I believe that it does turn around, if you stick to your game.
I am having an amazing time playing the 2/4 6 player limit on stars right now. Mostly because of just those kind of plays (in fact it is the big reason I don't play RingTable NL andymore, the suck out/baad call factor). Sure I get sucked out on 1 in 6 or so, but man the other 5 time more than make up for that one. The other night after 3 hours of play I was up 25 BB.
So stick to your Guns Magi it will turn, it is just a bad run of cards.
There seems to be a new wave of newbie poker players to the on-line world after this seasons running of the WSOP series.The bad play that is being rewarded lately seems to stem from someT.V watching wanna be poker players.This is a short term funk that will be deemed right in the long run with their bad play and a good players bankroll.Good players playing good poker with good cards will win in the long run.Maybe take a note of some of these players and see if they're still playing in a month or two when their luck runs out.
Good Luck.
I have many reasons to think the shuffle there is messed up. I want to tell everyone what I think, but too bad my schedule has been 2 crazy to distribute what I think. I don't want to send out a piece of junk that makes no sense, so I am taking the time. Also Mr. Jones has sent me several very funny emails about some of my opinions. Makes me wonder even more.
On the adverse side, you never know. I do know that over a period of five weeks I lost with OP to UP all in preflop 20/26 times (no, this is not what I base my entire belief on) Bad luck? maybe...
Its weird how some accounts always win when they go all in with A4cc vs QQ, and others always lose with the ladies. In light of the so much more information I have gained, it is really hard to accuse stars, but it is also just as hard to say it is legit. The sites know they could be out of business before to long, so from a business sense it (although unethical) it makes sense to set it up to make the most money, not just alot of money. Look at Enron for example of corporate greed... anyways, I really wish I could get into this now but I have a Espanol final in 3 hours that I really need to cram for.
GL
HG