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Play Poker and Win $1,000,000 in Quality Links

March 15, 2007 by 1 Comment

I will be playing in the SEO Poker Tournament on Saturday March 24th at 9:00 PM GMT.

What if there was a way for you to win $1,000,000 or more worth in quality inbound links?

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Would you be interested? Would your clients be interested?

Because this, the 2nd SEO Poker Tournament, has the highest stakes imaginable in Search Engine Optimization, the Holy Grail of Ranking in Google, Yahoo, and MSN: Quality Inbound links with the anchor text of your choice.

There are many SEO factors that determine how well a page will rank: None are more important than quality inbound links. Instead of paying $100 to enter this SEO poker Tournament, you and every other player will ante quality inbound links. The winner of the tournament will receive all the links to their site with anchor text of their choice for a 1-year period.

Win Hundreds of Quality Links to Help You Rank
According to the Text Link ads Link Value Calculator, a home page link from SEO Black Hat is worth up to $2,354 per month or $28,248 per year. Imagine winning Hundreds of links to your website . . . just like that one! That’s what we are playing for in the 2nd SEO poker tournament.

Filed Under: Poker

All-in with my Poker Expectancy

December 12, 2006 by 6 Comments

I will start by saying that my poker expectancy may not be an exact science but it does give me a great idea of how I will perform next year when I play a similar number of games online (if the government allows ISP’s to allow players access to these sites). I personally play on PokerStars and only do it for fun as I enjoy the strategies and challenges each game presents. I’m primarily a low limit poker player because I don’t have the stomach of a gambler even with excellent odds on my side (sometimes luck does play a part). I play sit-and-go games online because they are short and sweet and the best players can typically make the money three out of every four games. In my case, I made the money 71% of the time in 2006 as I will explain in a second.

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When I travel to Atlantic City or Las Vegas, I play $1-$2 no limit cash games because they offer low entry fees for potentially unlimited reward. I occasionally play cash games online but I have a better record playing sit-and-go tournaments with 9 players at a table.

I decided to keep statistics of every sit-and-go game in 2006 so I could develop expectancy similar to the one I have been keeping for my trading account.

I have played 174 games with a $10 + $1 entry fee to date.
Of those 174 games:

  • I placed in first 21 times or 12% of the time
  • I placed second 30 times or 17% of the time
  • I placed third 73 times or 42% of the time

    • In total, I placed in the money 71% of the time.

    Each game costs me $10 plus a $1 entry fee paid to the casino for a total of $11.
    First place awards $45 (50%) minus the entry fee of $11 for a profit of $34.
    Second place awards $27 (30%) minus the entry fee of $11 for a profit of $16.
    Third place awards $18 (20%) minus the entry fee of $11 for a profit of $7.

    My total account position varies because of the cash games but according to these notes, I made $1,155.00 in 2006 by playing $10 sit and go games. The breakout occurred like this (all fees have been subtracted from winnings):

  • I made $714.00 for first place finishes
  • I made $480.00 for second place finishes
  • I made $511.00 for third place finishes
  • I lost $550.00 for placing out of the money

    • PW is71%
    AW is $13.75
    PL is 29%
    AL is $11.00

    PW: Probability of Win
    AW: Average Gain
    PL: Probability of Losing
    AL: Average Loss

    If I play 15 games per month for each of the twelve months next year, I can expect to make approximately $1,182.60 with $10 sit and go games. My actual expectancy per game is $6.57.

    So, for every game I play, I can expect to make $6.57 regardless of a win or loss and the size of the win. My goal is to increase the number of first and second place finishes by becoming more aggressive in the late stages of the game.

    Interesting stuff if you ask me and I will keep you updated as I continue to play in 2007. I am looking to step up a level and play $20 + $2 games but the level of skill rises with each level so my expectancy is sure to change.

    As long as you have data and a consistent way of playing the game (in this case with the odds of each hand), you can calculate an approximate expectancy that is sure to be accurate.

    Filed Under: Expectancy, Poker

    How the Poker Craze can Help you Trade

    November 10, 2006 by Leave a Comment

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    As promised, I have uploaded the excerpt of my article from the latest edition of The Trader’s Journal.

    The article explains on the basis of position sizing and expectancy and how poker has made me a better trader.

    How the Poker Craze can Help you Trade

    Filed Under: Media, Poker

    Expectancy explained through Poker

    June 22, 2006 by Leave a Comment

    I have been taping the 2005 US Poker Championships on ESPN with my DVR because I love to watch Texas hold ‘em. Most of you know by now that I love to play the game too. As the episode ended last night, they put up a stat that caught my attention even though I was starting to doze off. I paused the show, wrote down the statistics and thought to myself that it would serve as an excellent example on expectancy.

    As you already know, a positive or negative expectancy can be achieved in multiple ways and the number of losers versus the number of winners does not matter so much when considering them individually. The power of expectancy takes place when you combine the percentage of winners and the size of the winner versus the percentage of losers and the size of the losers.

    For more on expectancy please visit this post.
    Also check out my expectancy calculator.

    Poker expectancy example (this relates directly to trading):

    Nine players at the table:
    34 total hands were played in this round
    Player A saw the flop 28 of 34 hands or 82% of the time
    Player A won hands 16 out of 28 tries for a 57% winning percentage

    Player B saw the flop 11 of 34 hands or 32% of the time
    Player B won hands 4 out of 11 tries for a 36% winning percentage

    Looking at these numbers and assuming that both players had equal chips (they were close), who do you think made more money during the round?

    Most people would guess Player A due to the 57% winning percentage on 16 hands. Player B fails in comparison with only 4 wins, a quarter of the wins of Player A.

    Well, Player A actually had a net loss of 5,500 chips
    While Player B actually had a net gain of 10,000 chips.

    So what is my point?

    The point is that being more active or less active is not a way to guarantee success. You must formulate a positive expectancy system that balances the opportunities with minimal risk and maximum gain. Player B took on less opportunity but made the most of it when the opportunity arrived.

    Player A was erratic and played several hands that gave him poor odds and this is what I see so many traders do when the market is weak such as now. They trade for the sake of trading and they lose. I told you yesterday that I haven’t made a trade in five weeks and I will not make one until I feel the right opportunities arrive. Until then, I battle my patience and stick to my rules so I don’t trade erratically and play the game for the sake of playing.

    Now, to tie this into the current market, I want you all to look at the chart I posted on a couple forums yesterday and the daily screen last night. Several people jumped back into the market on the long side based on a “possible follow-through day” but I don’t see it and I will sit this hand out until I see the downtrend broken and the NH-NL ratio strengthened.

    Filed Under: Poker

    Blogging to the World Series of Poker

    May 31, 2006 by Leave a Comment

    As many of you know, I love the market, I love writing and I love poker. In addition to writing on this blog, I write market analysis and provide equity research five times a week on MSW. To my delight, I went to play a sit-and-go no limit hold’em game tonight and saw an advertisement link to a free tournament sponsored by PokerStars for all types of bloggers. I use PokerStars.com exclusively and can recommend them to anyone interesting in playing online.

    Here are some details from the PokerStars website:

    “PokerStars is proud to announce the 2nd Annual World Blogger Championship of Online Poker (WBCOOP). This is an exclusive FREE poker tournament open ONLY to Internet bloggers.”

    “To prove our continued commitment to the bloggers of the world, we’re giving away a $12,000 package to the 2006 World Series of Poker. This package includes a $10,000 buy-in to the main event, hotel accommodations, and additional spending money. Imagine blogging your WSOP experience live from Las Vegas! You’ll have endless blogging material, a shot at being on TV, and a chance to win millions of dollars.”

    “…you do not need to deposit money in your PokerStars account or provide any financial information in order to play in the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker event. Yes, it’s absolutely free!”

    Each blogger in the poker tournament will start with 2,000 chips.
    Blinds will start at 10/20 and will go up every 15 minutes.
    Prizes will be awarded based on placement in the tournament.

    Good Luck to all that enter!

    I will be there using my wife’s screen name for good luck!

    Piranha

    Online Poker

    I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

    This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

    Registration code: 9433662

    Filed Under: Poker
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