So having dropped 11 buy-ins at the low point (after ~3k hands) I'm now break even ;-)



Really, there's not much to it other than hitting sets and getting paid off with big pairs.

One nice variant to stave off the boredom is to play the "I'm a donk, no really I am" line thus:

Full Tilt, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players
Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details


MP2: $21.51 (215.1 bb)
MP3: $11.55 (115.5 bb)
CO: $13.04 (130.4 bb)
BTN: $13.95 (139.5 bb)
SB: $24.81 (248.1 bb)
BB: $2.50 (25 bb)
UTG+1: $12.44 (124.4 bb)
Hero (UTG+2): $14.06 (140.6 bb)
MP1: $4 (40 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with 7 7
UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $0.30, MP3 calls $0.30, 4 folds

Flop: ($1.05) Q 7 8 (3 players)
Hero bets $0.40, MP2 calls $0.40, MP3 calls $0.40

Turn: ($2.25) 2 (3 players)
Hero bets $0.40, MP2 folds, MP3 raises to $1, Hero raises to $13.36 and is all-in, MP3 calls $9.85

River: ($26.46) 9 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $26.46 pot ($1.59 rake)
Final Board: Q 7 8 2 9
MP2 mucked and lost (-$0.70 net)
MP3 showed Q J and lost (-$11.55 net)
Hero showed 7 7 and won $24.87 ($10.81 net)

The reason I know this line works is I fall for it when it's the other way round. E.g. I open UTG and get min 3-bet from middle position - they've got AA or KK a lot and are fishing for the original raiser to come over the top. So now I just call and check-fold if I miss (I'm assuming no-one who reads this is going to be playing 10NL Rush much! If you are, you can have my 50c).

Finally it occurred to me that Rush poker is a great example of variance. Normally if you 4 table say, then you're in four pretty different games - different line ups, table dynamics, table images etc. So any variation in your results between the table is hard to pin down - maybe it's the other players, how you are adjusting (or not) to them, the cards or something else. Now with Rush you're playing 4 copies of exactly the same game - same opponents, same table dynamics, same image (i.e. mostly none or derived from a HUD). So the only thing to explain something like this:



is the inherent variance in the game. Which just goes to show how big a factor variance is going to be.