As with many of my fellow US players I have been searching for possible options and alternatives to fill the vacuum that has appeared since last week. As I have said in some of the forum threads and discussions I think that the DOJ is pretty smart and are watching where the money moves in this time to get a feel for full horizon of the online poker landscape. So with that being said, there are many places that are accepting US players for playing in real money games (which from the indictment I understand that playing is not illegal, just moving the money is what they are frowing upon) so I spent some time thinking on this. The conclusion I came to is that this may very well be the perfect time for a little Ferguson Challenge for the Gman. For those of you not familiar with this let me explain 🙂 At some point in the last several years Chris Ferguson from Full Tilt Poker decided to undertake a challenge where he developed a bankroll of $0 to $10,000 as quickly as possible. I like the idea. In the current times this is pretty interesting to me. So how am I going to do it, well here is the plan. Right now I am signed up on Carbon Poker and looking into Lock Poker (both on the Merge Network) and I am going to hunt the daily freerolls that they offer. Winning one is good for $50, which all of the seed money I need to jump into the cash tables (probably .02/.04 based on my general BRM guidelines) to start the climb and build. There needs to be a lot of strict BRM with this and a little bit of luck to get off the ground, but thankfully I think I am a better player than the average freeroll runner so I am hopefull that will help. For now I am not worried about withdrawl as I don't need the money for real life so this will really allow me to focus and concentrate on playing and developing the BR here and who knows, but the time it turns into something significant perhaps there will be some resolution and then withdrawl with be simple and straightforward. Until that day this seems like a very interesting and entertaining way for me to continue to play and develop and to set some new targets and goals in an attempt to re-engage into the poker community in a way that I don't think puts me in any real jeapordy.
As a side note for Carbon poker at least the daily $200 freerolls are pretty interesting and only have 2 NLHE events with the others being either HORSE or PLO so the mixed game stuff I have been playing with is going to come in handy in really allowing me to play more games in an attempt to bink a freeroll and get off the ground here. Stay tuned and I'll let you know how things go when they start to get off the ground. This is the Gman signing out!
xxsosickxx
GLGL!!!! will you be sporting a cowboy hat and growing your hair out long also? Maybe you can practice slicing fruit w/ cards also ;)? sigh…..seems like you actually found a great way to fill the void…..
lespaulgman
Yeah, I only wish I could grow hair like that…i’m stuck with bald so I may jsut try for the Andy Bloch cowboy hat look and hope I don’t look like a tool. I think that this may be an interesting way to try to jump back into the game. I am concerned overall about the flow of money so to me this seems like the most solid way to try to crack into the money without the risk. We’ll see how it work 🙂 Stay tuned!
xxsosickxx
well, bald or not, your still a sexy beast imo. I might depo like a small amount on carbon or something and see what happens, just enough to play and not care about ever seeing again. TBH ive really been enjoying live cash and really feel like a have a huge edge…weeeeeee
lespaulgman
I want to start playing more live, but the best place for me to play is about 45min away so it is a bigger deal economically to shuffle down and back and play. I’m seriously considering looking into it more. Carbon seems like a nice interface. I figure what the hell, if i can bink a freeroll (and no good reason I shouldn’t) then I can get off and running again. Might as well try and see what I can do!
Hagbard Celine
gl man…awesome challenge.
brooksea
Nice approach, good luck, and keep us posted. I have been considering one of these alternative sites as well, but I was hoping to get some more info over the next few weeks from people such as yourself regarding your experience on the sites, game quality, quantity, selection, ect. In the meantime I am going to watch more video, try and cull some interesting hands for review, and play more live poker. I am lucky enough to have 3 decent cardrooms within 1 1/2 hours drive. Any feedback that you can post regarding your experience with Carbon or Lock will be greatly appreciated!