Wednesday September 26 2007

So this really isn't a chip update because I didn't play today. The stats stay the same as yesterday. From a site standpoint there's some really cool stuff. My first two articles Texas Hold'em 101 and Building a Bankroll got published on a poker site called Pocket Twos. This is very exciting because it means the site will get more exposure and I'll be able to help the poker scene more. If anyone's interested in my articles you can email me at fbpoker[at]gmail.com.

Also you may or may not have noticed the advertisements on the bottom of the sidebar. These are here to make a few pennies so I can eventually move the site it's own domain. I'd like to get away from the blogspot address ASAP. If anyone would like to donate towards this you can send the payments to adammckerlie[at]hotmail.com (via paypal).

Thanks
-Adam

Tuesday September 25th Update

I didn't get a chance to play a lot of poker today. I went to class (I'm in University), read a few chapters out of a textbook, and logged into Facebook for about 30minutes of Texas Hold'em. I did fairly well today unlike the disaster of yesterday's play. While there were no overly exciting hands (nothing to write about) I did manage to win approximately 24k chips.

I started the day with 70,586.90chips and ended with 94,218.70chips, much better than loosing 30k like yesterday. I'll hopefully make 100k by tomorrow and continue on my way towards the number 1 spot.

In other news there are now affiliate buttons on the sidebar. Two are for poker sites and one is for a poker tool. Pokerbility is an odds-calculating tool that can help your play exponentially. While it doesn't technically integrate with Facebook poker you can use it in "Offline" mode and manually enter in the cards that your getting. I've used it a few times and while I can do the math in my head quicker I'm sure it would be very useful for a lot of people.

Also in other news I'll be writing a couple of articles for the popular poker site Pocket Twos. We'll see how that turns out.

Monday September 24th Update

I was playing in the 100/200 stake rooms because I have accumulated enough of a bankroll, so I figured I'd try my luck in those rooms. Again there were so many people playing with 10,000 chips or less. People! Learn how to build a bankroll and choose your rooms. Anyways thats beyond the point.

I was playing along and I get dealt a Q and a 6, I'm thinking its not a decent hand so I call the 200 to see the flop. The flop comes 6, Q, 2 and I'm ecstatic. I'm even happier when I see the small blind raise 1124. I obviously call, the turn comes up a J. I don't like this card because it's possible someone has the Q and J beating out my Q and 6. The small blind goes all in and I call. The river brings a 3 and the small blind shows a Q, 2. I won another 10k worth of chips but it was fairly tense.

I finally hit 100k today. I was playing heads up against another person who was out of his league. He was playing 100/200 stake games with 2000 chips. I eventually took all of his chips and passed the 100k mark. Along with this milestone is that I am now the #1 player in the University of Guelph (my university), and 25th overall in all of Toronto (the biggest network in Facebook).

After the greatness of hitting 100k chips I think I lost my mind. I lost 30k chips in under 30 minutes due to a string of bad luck. I lost twice on full houses because a person caught the four of a kind on the river. Oh well I'll be back up to 100k in no time. This is a great example why you need to manage and build your bankroll properly.

2:30PM - 3:00PM Update
Starting Chips: 88,153.60
Ending Chips: 98,586.90

3:00PM - 4:00PM Update
Starting Chips: 98,586.90
Ending Chips: 100,587

4:30PM 5:00PM Update
Starting Chips: 100,587.00
Ending Chips: 70,586.90

Pokerbility: A tool to calculate your odds

How would you like a professional poker player in your pocket? What if, every time you sat down to play online poker, Doyle Brunson sat down next to you? Would you win more often, be more profitable, and have more fun with a professional poker player sharing their deep expertise with you while you play? Of course you would! With the Pokerbility software, you get all of the expertise custom-designed to help you win at online poker -- and you don't even have to feed it lunch.

Pokerbility is a software program designed to be your partner while you play poker. It will display the odds of every hand in a clear, easy to understand format, giving you the information you need to make the right decisions every time. Pokerbility is a poker odds calculator, the most accurate of its kind using the patent-pending CombiCalc™ Calculation Method. This method will provide you with the rank, the odds, and the probabilities based on your current hand and how the table is playing. By running calculations using combinations, permutations, and simulation calculations, Pokerbility does the difficult math instantly for you, which leaves you the time you need to play your hand correctly.

There are two ways to approach providing you the most accurate information and odds on your hands. The first, and most common, method that is used by poker odds calculators is to run game simulations -- a computer at high speed will play hands out to determine what the odds are that your particular hand win. The second method involves using calculations without the simulation -- a useful method for pre-flop play. Pokerbility is the only poker odds calculator that combines these two approaches to provide you with powerhouse advice every time.

Of course, what use is a poker odds calculator if it is incompatible with your favorite poker room? Fortunately, the makers of Pokerbility have thought of that and provide compatibility with about 50 different online poker rooms. The biggest and most popular rooms are all covered, including Party Poker, Empire Poker, Poker Stars, Royal Vegas Poker, PokerRoom, EuroPoker, and DoylesRoom.

Whether you are a beginner or an expert when it comes to online poker play, Pokerbility will give you an edge over everyone else at your table. Poker is all about making the right decisions all of the time -- a daunting task, to be sure. With Pokerbility by your side you will have the information you need to make the right decisions at your fingertips. You can adjust the program to reflect your playing style. If you are playing looser, Pokerbility will adjust -- if you need to tighten up, Pokerbility will tell you what you need to do. Real-time probability calculations and a clear direction of how to play the hand are invaluable to today's online poker player.

Intuitive, friendly, easy to use; Pokerbility is your ace in the hole. With the most accurate odds calculations using the CombiCalc™ Calculation Method, Pokerbility is like having your own poker professional partner, helping you win more often in more consistently.

Note that this tool currently doesn't fully integrate with the Facebook Texas Hold'em application. You can use the tool in it's off line mode and it does do a pretty good job of calculating the odds. I've talked to a person who works with this application. They say they're developing it to fully integrate with this Facebook Texas Hold'em application. Who knows when it'll be ready but there's a hope.

Building a Bankroll

One of the most often asked questions I get from beginners is how to keep from going bankrupt in their first 20, 40, 60 minutes of play. New poker players often make errors in how they ration their bankroll (the amount of chips they have to spend). I certainly did when I began playing. Even though Facebook poker isn't played with real money it still is extremely important to properly manage your bankroll.

When I first installed the Texas Hold'em application and got the first set of chips I was all gun ho and ready to go. I jumped into a 25/50 blind room with 500 chips. The blinds quickly ate up my chips and sloppy play took what was left over. I realized that I needed to think through my strategy a bit more. I invited a few friends, installed a few more applications and got a few more chips. This time I was a lot more careful, I played low stakes games and slowly won some chips. I kept doing this until I got to where I am now with almost 100k in chips.

If you're here it's possible that you're trying to become a better poker player. Since managing your bankroll is an extremely important part of being a good player here are a few tips on how to keep from going broke right away:

1. Start out small:
   New players loose all of their money quickly because they don't consider this point. If you only have 400 chips you shouldn't be playing the 100/200 blind hands. The general rule of thumb is to have 300 times the big blind. This means that if you're playing 1/2 hands then you should have at least 600 chips. I know this seems a little harsh but the reality is that people experience large swings. I've gone from 10k chips down to 1k chips up to 19k and back down to 0. This is just a fact of poker.
   
   I just laugh when I see players in the 25/50 blind hands with 1000 chips. I see most of them loose everything within 30 minutes. Here's a list of the minimum amount of chips you'll need for each of the different pot sizes for Facebook poker.
   
   • 1/2 blinds: 600 chips
   • 2/4 blinds: 1,200 chips
   • 5/10 blinds: 3,000 chips
   • 10/20 blinds: 6,000 chips
   • 25/50 blinds: 15,000 chips
   • 100/200 blinds: 60,000 chips
   • 200/400 blinds: 120,000 chips
   • 500/1000 blinds: 300,000 chips



2. Pick your tables:
   Along with starting small picking your tables and the people you play with is another important choice in building your bankroll. Generally when you're starting out your going to be playing with others who are starting out. A lot of people when they start playing poker don't care, they just throw away money and this makes them difficult to read and play against. When you're starting out I would advise playing against a few people at a time. Find a small table and play there. If you find you're loosing switch to another table.
   
   Starting small applies to this point as well. The larger blind tables generally have more experienced players there. If you go against an experienced player they'll call your bluffs and also bluff you out of your chips. It's a lose-lose situation. Pick your tables and the players you play against carefully, they're the people you're going to be taking chips from.

While a lot of people don't believe that this is important, I think it's extremely important. Building a bankroll is a good way to protect your hard earned work and keep all of your chips.

On a totally different note I didn't play any poker today so there won't be any updates to my chip count. I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll be able to play and get over the 100k chip barrier. Check in tomorrow to see if I did as well as for other poker tips. If you'd like to write an article or ask any questions write to me at fbpoker[at]gmail.com

Saturday September 22 Update

Today was a fairly big day. I didn't play much but the few times I did went very well. I started the day off with 60,981.60 chips and ended up with 86,953.60 (26k chips...not too bad). I played for about an hour so I was extremely happy with my performance. I played two tournaments today, one 5k buy-in where I got cocky and finished 6th and one 2.5k buy-in which I won taking home 11k of chips.

Here's a few highlights from the day:

• I had pocket K's and raised the pot to 100. The person on the dealer button re-raised 300 and everyone else folded. I re-raised to 500, the dealer re-raised again and I went all in. The dealer called and showed pocket Q's. The flop comes up 3 K A, obviously exciting me with my trip K's, the turn is a 9 and the river comes up a Q. In the end I win with trip K's over trip Q's and pocket a nice 8k worth of chips
• I have a J and A, everyone calls 50 (I was playing 25/50 blinds). The flop turns up 3 J A so I raise 50 (I wanted to slow play the hand because the table wasn't very daring. One person calls. The turn is a 9 and I raise 500, the other person calls. The final card is a Q, I raise 500 but the person folds. I was hoping for a much better result.

Those were my most exciting hands. I had a few other big ones but didn't write them down.


Update: 5:00PM
72,643.60chips

Update 6:00PM
88,153.60chips

Friday September 21 Update

So today was a pretty nerve wracking day. I was playing in the 100/200 blinds and made a few stupid moves. I entered in with 20,000 chips and at one point I was down to 3,000 chips. I continued playing until I was back up to my original 20,000 chips and then left the room.

Another exciting hand played out like this. I was on the big blind and got a Q and 3 pre-flop. Everyone called. The flop comes and its a K, Q, 9 which gives me a pair of Q's. The guy to my right raises 200 and everyone calls. The turn comes and its another Q giving me trips. The guy to the right raises 600, I re-raise to 1200 (everyone else folds) and the original guy re-raises again to 1800. At this point I was just thinking he was trying to bully his way through the pot so I went all in. He called and we show the hands. He has a K A giving him a pair against my trips. At this point I was a little worried but there was nothing I could do. The river comes and its a 5, I was so relieved and I received a pot over 15k.

I finished the day by playing horribly in a 5k buy-in tournament. I finished 4th so it wasn't a total loss but I lost 5k.

12PM - 1PM Update
Starting Chips: 32,341
Ending Chips: 49,627.60

4PM - 5PM Update
Starting Chips: 49,627.60
Ending Chips: 65,981.60

9PM-9:30PM Update
Starting Chips: 65,981.60
Ending Chips: 60,981.60

Texas Hold'em 101

Texas Hold'em (also know as hold'em) is probably the most popular variant of poker around. It's rise to fame started in the 2000s due to its exposure on popular T.V. shows and the internet. The no-limit betting form is used in the widely televised main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT).

How to Play.
Texas Hold’em is a deceptively simple game to learn but a harder game to master. Each player is dealt two cards and then five community cards are turned up by the dealer. You make the best five card hand using any combination of the seven cards. Each hand follows the following phases:

1. The Start:
   To start a new hand, two "Blind" bets are put up. The player immediately to the left of the dealer puts in the small blind which half the minimum bet. The player to the left of the small blind posts the big blind which is equal to the minimum bet. The rest of the players do not put up any money to start the hand. Because the deal rotates around the table, each player will eventually act as the big blind, small blind and dealer.


2. The Opening
   Each player is dealt two cards face down with the player on the small blind receiving the first card and the player with the dealer button getting the last card. The first betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind either putting in the value of the "Big Blind" to "Call", or putting in double the "Big Blind" to "raise" or folding his hand (in No-Limit the player can "Raise" whatever amount (s)he wishes. The betting goes around the table in order until it reaches the player who posted the small blind. That player can call the bet by putting in the remaining amount needed since the blind was already posted. The last person to act is the big blind. If no one has raised, the dealer will ask if they would like the option. This means the big blind has the option to raise or just "check." By checking the player does not put in any more money. A rookie mistake sometimes occurs here. Because the blind is a live bet live, the player with the big blind has already put his bet in. I have seen some players throw their cards in not realizing that they are already in the hand. Another rookie mistake is betting or folding your cards when it is not your turn. You must wait before you act.


3. The Flop:
   After the first betting round is completed, three cards are dealt and turned face up in the middle of the table. This is known as the "Flop." These are community cards used by all the players. Another betting round begins with the first player (that hasn't folded) to the left of the dealer button.


4. The Turn:
   When the betting round after the flop is completed, the dealer turns a fourth card face up in the middle of the table. This is called the "Turn."


5. The River
   Following the betting round for the turn, the dealer will turn a fifth and final card face up. This is called the "river," and the final betting round begins with four dollars being the minimum bet.


6. The Showdown
   To determine the winner, the players may use any combination of their two hole cards and the five cards on the table to form the highest five-card hand. In some rare cases the best hand will be the five cards on board. Don’t count on this happening too often. In that case the active players will split the pot. A sixth card is never used to break a tie.

Welcome

Hi, I’m Adam McKerlie and this is my journey to becoming number one in the Facebook poker application. Why am I doing this you may ask? Well I first installed the application a few days ago, I played a few hands and lost all of my money. After that I added a few of the other applications, got more chips and actually became serious. That was about the time where I started winning. Since that day I've now accumulated 50,000points and am currently ranked in the top 1000.

So who am I? Well, I’m a 19 year old university student currently taking Computer Science at the University of Guelph. I don't play poker professionally and have never really played for money. It's just a hobby of mine you could say. I enjoy playing poker, hanging out with my friends and doing creating websites (as well as a lot of other things).

What's this about? Well when I first started winning a few points from the application I thought it would be fun to make a goal for myself. This goal was to become the number 1 player in points and I plan on keeping this goal. I'll be posting about my successes and failures as well as tips along the way.

If you have any feedback or questions for me I’d really like to hear from you! Please feel free to either drop me a comment here or get into contact with me through any of the following methods:

• email - fbpoker[at]gmail.com
• Leave a comment here

Until next time…