Yorky Pud

Apart from short stackers, which most sites have acted to eradicate, the one type of player I simply cannot stand is rakeback pros, or valueback pros as they would have to be called on the Ongame Network. However, this past week I have become one of these cancers.

I withdrew my bankroll before I went to EPT Barcelona, simply because I did not know what sort of expenses I would incur whilst out in sunny Spain. Since my return I have not put any money back on, simply because it is too near Christmas and I am covering EPT Prague next week. I still had a little bit of dosh knocking around on the Betfair site so when I received an email reminding me that my account still had 30% rakeback (valueback now) and was offered a no-deposit bonus, I decided to try and run the cash up to something more meaningful.

With the amount of money I had online it was basically pointless playing cash games so I started to register for some of the Double Or Nothing SNG with the turbo format. Whilst the 10% rake basically makes them unbeatable in the long run, the fact I get 300% rakeback and the bonus clears at 62.5% rakeback when cleared through tournaments, meaning I am getting 92.5% rakeback from these games! All I had to do was break even and I would be laughing.

Not only did I breakeven but I was actually in profit for the first 20 or so games but since then it has gone downhill rapidly. I have played a total of 202 games so far, with an ITM of 52.5% but an ROI of -4.6%, meaning I have lost $102 exactly. However, I have cleared $110 worth of bonuses and when I get my rakeback payment next Thursday I will be seeing a nice deposit of at least $60, probably a lot more as there is still a week to play. Surely this is wrong, that someone can lose and lose quite heavily but still win due to bonuses etc?

My figures are slightly lop sided though as I have only had three cashes in the last 14 games, which makes my results look even worse. According to the various stats on Holdem manager I should be winning with an ROI of exactly 2.0% or in monetary terms, I should be $146 better off! Sorry to any followers on Twitter this past week, I have been like a broken record moaning about bad beats. I hate myself for being a bonus **** but even if I continue to lose at this current rate I am still going to make almost $0.42 per game, so playing a couple of thousand of them whilst I work etc is really going to add up! Sad but true!

Since I have been playing on Betfair Poker I thought I might as well give my own opinions on the software. Although they pay the majority of my wages, I always try to be honest about anything to do with Betfair, even if at times that can be saying something negative about them. The new software got plenty of pelters when we first switched over and the Ongame network's software has received bad press across the board. However, I honestly think that the majority of players who have slagged it off have never actually played on it! Yes it is clunky, no you can't have a preferred seat in tournaments, there are no waiting lists or search function but it does what it is meant to do and that is deal cards and let you play poker. I am sure the developers can and will add a few more features such as auto top-up etc in the coming months, but for now it does a job.

I'm not sure how much I'll get to play next week as I have just been informed that the internet costs £20 per DAY at my hotel for EPT Prague and whilst I have a code that knocks off 40% of that, it is still a frigging ripoff to say the least. I won't pay it on principle, daylight robbery to say the very least.

As always, thanks for reading and best of luck at the tables!