MMM: In a Rush?

Dear Sushi Cowboy,


Based on our records of your play on Full Tilt Poker it seems like you do a lot of multi-tabling and it is for players like you that we have created Rush Poker tables. Is there anything we can do to get you to try them out?


Andy B.
Team Full Tilt

Dear Mr. B,

Funny you should mail me about that. As it turns out I got a promotional offer to try Rush Poker when it first came out. I forget all of the strings that were attached but I thought that a first time deposit was one of the conditions and I didn't want to have to run around trying to get money online and cleared fast enough to take advantage of that promo so I passed.

However, last week I got a pop up offering me $25 to clear 50 Full Tilt Points at Rush tables with no other requirements. That just so happened to coincide with a busy week for me and I was looking for a way to score some quick points because of my schedule so I actually did try it. You seem like a numbers guy so you can appreciate that I did the math and figured that I had a no-lose proposition available to me. After looking over the figures I found that the highest pot size to (SB+BB) ratio was at the .02/.05 NLHE 9 handed tables. Based on the average pot size I calculated that I could play and fold *every* hand until I amassed 50 points and still come out well ahead. With an average pot size of .75 that means .05 rake or .05 points each hand roughly. 50 points would therefore be 1000 hands and at a nine handed table that's 111 orbits. At .07 in blinds per orbit it is going to cost me less than $8 in blinds to get $25 with zero risk.

Since the offer expired last Sunday I decided to give Rush Poker a try on Thursday. I was running behind schedule on grinding out 50 points and figured I could make up the balance very quickly on Rush. I played 414 hands and was extremely passive to say the least...I had a VPIP of exactly zero. Despite that stat, I did actually win three hands by getting two walks and a free showdown with AQos which was good for TPTK and a massive .14 pot. I just played long enough to clear my 50 points for the day then I quit. I tried to time it so that I could get as many free hands in as possible but it's tough to know exactly in Rush. I double checked my figures and indeed I was down $3.15 and earned 18.43 points which is right in line with the expected burn rate. So far so good.

On Friday I figured I would finish off the balance but I also decided to loosen up my starting hand requirements a bit and play aces by shoving my full stack into any pot where I pick them up. My second session was even more successful. I played 833 hands and actually lost less than my first session even though I played twice as many hands thanks to five walks, two uncontested showdowns (sixes held up and Q8os made two pair), and two hands with aces (one hand I shoved UTG and got called by QdJd and Ad2d while 88 doubled me up in the other).

All told I was down $6.18 for all hands but netted out $18.82 which was even more than I had planned. I'm EV- at Rush without the bonus payouts which I attribute to my microscopic VPIP even though my win at showdown percentage is good. I'm not fully sold on Rush Poker yet but I can see it as being a possibly EV+ game if I tweak my ranges a little more since people are clearly willing to stack off light.

Thanks for bring up the topic Andy and we'll see you on the felt!
Sushi Cowboy