I never thought I would ask this question because it always seemed really stupid to me when I've seen other players ask similar questions but I now feel the need to ask and realize it is a legit concern. In March of 2011 I started on Bodog with a 29$ roll (Started at $150 in Oct. 2010 playing plo) and started taking NLHE HU seriously. Since then I currently sit at $1200 and it was as high as $1800. Ok pretty legit increase. I'm currently on another downswing where I've lost nearly half my roll, (like the 4th time its happened to me so its nothing new and the same emotions and concern happen everytime). So what's different this time?This time I realize that I've played over 1k games w/ an average stake of $11. That's about $500 in rake, with rake back that's an extra $150 (conservative estimate). According to PTR I've paid almost $1200 in rake and would have received $376 back from rakeback (High estimate). I'm guessing it would actually be more like $300. That's about $450 total in rake back. When I was playing really small stakes I was like, who gives a shit? Not only that but it forced me to be a legit winner in both HUSNGs and Cash games before rake. I was learning the game and had previously been a huge loser on FT and actually that site also seeing as I lost $120 playing PLO originally there. This naturally made me want to be not only a winner, but a winner after rake had been taking into account. I really wanted to get good at the game.Now, I'm sitting here thinking wow, my roll would be 33% larger NOW, if I had rakeback. At some point I would have been at $2200 assuming the idea of getting rakeback at the end of the week didn't make my play softer (as in I don't try as hard). I would have been legitimately rolled for $33s and shot taking at $55s. Instead, I've never really moved past the $22s and shot took at $33s. Now I'm back to possibly grinding the $6s and $11s until I get my mojo back and start playing $22s again. This is a major decision with the current climate especially with Bodog being shut down in a month and a half anyway for me. Where do I go from here? What is the best site for me to play on? Will the competition get better (did I just say that?)? It will probably take about 3 or 4 weeks for me to get the money from Bodog. My greatest concern is that I see all these threads about Merge and what not taking impossibly long for them to pay out and the US legalizing poker in the near future could happen and I don't want it to take forever getting my money off those sites.What is my best move here?
Bodog isn't shutting down as far as I know, they are just "rebranding" their US site. Something called Mohawk Gaming (KGC ran) is taking over for Bodog's USA playerbase I believe, but it might just be a skin on the "Bodog Network" based on reading between the lines.It's kind of confusing given the way they announced it and the forum talk and speculation based on that, but Bodog may not be shutting down in any real way for USA players.
Yes, but rakeback is also a big concern. I really, really want some rakeback but maybe its not as big of a deal as I am thinking. Also, traffic is a major concern for me lately. I want to be able to play MTTs and 9man STTs at the same time. I know its not that great of an idea to be a jack of all trades and a master of none but I'd like to be able to increase my volume. Its become very apparent to me that I can't 4 table HUSNGs. Probably not even 3 table. My ego tells me I can but really, I can't. I'm not that good. However, MTTs and STTs take a lot less thought and I can do them while playing HUSNGs and Bodog simply doesn't offer them at a consistent stake level that is consistent with my bank roll. When Bodog is rebranded, traffic is going to be cut majorly on a site that could already use more than it has.
There isn't a lot of information available on first glance, but out of the 4 players on the lower stakes leaderboards that I see on either site, all 4 are on Bodog.If you want to really get into it, go to the network by network profit leaderboards and dissect which players are primarily heads up players, add in at least 35% rakeback for Merge network players (we're around 45-47% plus a 200% up to $2k deposit bonus here) and compare the heads up leaders at and around your stake level to get a good idea of what a top player at that level can achieve. It might take a half hour or so to do that, but it will answer your question as best an answer as you can find I believe.