bonus chasing grinder

Some ordinary xmas poker

2009-12-28T02:59:00.000-08:00

I've played a reasonable amount over these holidays, and started well over xmas, but then dropped a quick 60BBs on the $3/6 tables at fulltilt. I had position on one guy running at -100BBs/100. Apparently the only time he ever had a hand, was when I had something decent but not as good. Annoying.

Checking him out on pokertableratings showed me he was overall running at -40BB/100, however, I was basically top of the list of losers against him. Even more annoying.

Anyways, the last couple days i've pulled it back even, and should have a couple half decent rakeback credits to come as well. Hopefully i'll have one or two more decent sessions to finish the year off.

Current bankroll: $24,200
December time played: 38h
December profit / (loss): $1,850

An early xmas present on the tables

2009-12-23T17:32:00.000-08:00

I'd lost all 26 hands on one table in my session last night after seeing over 50% of flops with basically premium starting hands almost every time. My W$SD was 0% from 10 showdowns with a mixture of strong to weak (A high) hands.

Then I got paid off with the following hand -

$3/$6 Limit Holdem
5 Players

Stacks:
UTG $145.38
CO $268.50
Hero (BTN) $108
SB $72.50
BB $140.50

Pre-Flop: (1.5 SB, 5 players) Hero is BTN Jd Js
1 fold, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, SB 4-bets, 1 fold, CO calls, Hero calls

Flop: 6s Jh Jc (13.0 SB, 3 players) hehe not often you flop the stone cold nuts
SB bets, CO calls, Hero calls i generally wait for the turn to c/r in these situations

Turn: 7h (8.0 BB, 3 players)
SB bets, CO calls, Hero raises, SB calls, CO calls nice to get two calls to my c/r

River: Ac (14.0 BB, 3 players) surely this helps someone ...
SB checks, CO checks, Hero bets, SB calls, CO calls nice. two callers again.

Final Pot: 17.0 BB
SB shows TwoPair Qs Qd
CO shows TwoPair 4h Ah him hitting the flush draw might have been even better
Hero shows Four of a Kind, Jacks Jd Js

Hero wins 16.5 BB (net +11.0 BB)

And all is right with the world again.

Current bankroll: $24,200
December time played: 31h
December profit / (loss): $1,850

Any more xmas bonuses?

2009-12-22T19:27:00.000-08:00

Now that Fulltilt is out of the way it's time to find some more xmas bonuses. They seem to be a bit thin this year, but hopefully something comes up.

In the meantime i've still got $100 of my last Cake reload to clear which will take a while, and i'll probably up my ironman to gold for fulltilt which means I need to do another 3 days of 100 fulltilt points (about half an hour per day). After that though, i'm not really sure.

I noticed Bodog has opened a $3/6 6max table, so I gave that a shot last night, although it broke up pretty quickly. I have to really have a closer look at Bodog, as I believe they have a much higher rake structure than somewhere like Fulltilt. (In practice its a solid 0.5BB/100 higher over about 40,000 hands).

Add to that the fact that i'm running at about 0.4BB/100 over 40,000 hands (after a 30,000 hand breakeven stretch ...) at $1/2 on Bodog compared to over 1BB/100 everywhere else i'm not sure what to think.

This month i'm running at a profit at $2/4, $3/6, $4/8 and $5/10 but a loss at $1/2. Can't complain about that at all - wish it always happened that way.

Current bankroll: $24,100
December time played: 30h
December profit / (loss): $1,750

Not enough bonus chasing?

2009-12-21T16:05:00.000-08:00

Having a look at my monthly graph for this year shows a big drop in the amount of bonuses i've been clearing on a month by month basis when compared with 2008 (the red part of the results graph).

There's probably a few causes of this -

I've been playing a lower volume this year which will result in fewer bonuses
Any months with losses at the table should show as red due to the way the graph works
I haven't been actively chasing as many bonuses this year through sites like Pokersource

I think the main contributor #1, as the lower volume has meant i'm not raking back as much - particularly if I look at this month and the last month where i've played more like the volume I put in last year, my rakeback/bonuses have increased significantly.

That being said #3 allowed me to pick up 100%, 200% or even more in rakeback by doing hit and runs on various sites through Pokersource. Basically easy money, but only for $100 or $200 per site.

I'll have to think about it some more for next year as i've gotten fairly comfortable just playing on a few sites that give regular bonuses that are probably close to 50% rakeback, rather than chasing the bigger deals (percentage wise) on different sites.

Current bankroll: $23,950
December time played: 28h
December profit / (loss): $1,600

Sunday, not my day

2009-12-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

Played in the Cake freeroll on the weekend with about 100 entrants and the top 20 paid. I received a number of premium hands early but didn't get any bites so basically just collected a bunch of blinds. The only time I did get called I was holding KJ, and whiffed the flop, but a 1/3 pot cbet was enough to take it down.

At about the 40 minute mark I was a little above average with 2,200 chips, and looking at AA in middle position. UTG had raised a bit over a third of his stack with 400 chips (8xBB) so I figured I'd just push all in and hope he'd call off the rest of his stack. The table muppet who played most hands to date then called all in for 2,000 chips with QQ, a short stack with 200 chips called with 84o and the utg raiser also called with KJo.

Flop 922r, turn 9, river obviously has to be a queen to basically punt me out. Not happy, as I would have been chip leader if my hand held up. Next hand its folded to me in the CO with QJo so I push all in - muppet calls with QQ again and i'm out. FFS.

I then went out mountain bike riding and was cruising downhill when my brakes fell off, so I had to lay the bike down to stop which turned out to be fairly painful. This was really not my day. Particularly given i'd had my brakes repaired on Friday.

The cash tables were reasonably generous though so it wasn't all bad, and I ended the weekend a couple hundred in front. It could easily have been more, but my last session lost me about 30BBs at $1/2 where the river suckouts kept hitting thick and fast to the aggro retards who kept three betting the turn when behind and hitting 2 or 3 outers on the river. I was disappointed I had to close the table while those guys still had cash.

Completed my Fulltilt bonus bonus and have qualified for a silver ironman. I'm thinking of playing the 100 points per day for the next 5 days to qualify for gold to increase my end of year bonus.

Current bankroll: $23,900
December time played: 27h
December profit / (loss): $1,550

Sometimes things just go right

2009-12-17T19:49:00.000-08:00

Had a nice little session last night, and although I didn't get a huge number of premium hands I still scored a nice little profit.

This was mainly through three or four hands in a very short period where I ended up calling down with an average, but not strong hand heads up against a fairly aggresive opponent, and won them all. They were the type of hands that you don't expect to win often, but just often enough to make the call down worthwhile. String a few of those together that pay off, and your session will end up pretty good.

Of course by doing this you'll occasionally feel pretty silly calling down with your pair of tens versus trip kings, but as long as you're winning your one in six or one in eight and the odds are dictating a call, then it's worthwhile.

Might not get in much poker over the weekend as i'm off to golf and out mountain biking as well. I'll make sure I get in enough to just complete my fulltilt bonus before it expires.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $282
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $18
Days left: 3

Current bankroll: $23,700
December time played: 22h
December profit / (loss): $1,350

Poker table ratings

2009-12-15T17:06:00.000-08:00

I've seen a few guys reference pokertableratings in their blogs, so thought i'd check myself out.

For some reason on Fulltilt it only shows a little under 10,000 hands and gives me the following ratings:

Overall: 47/100 (higher is better)
BB/100: 2.85 (must have recent sessions in it as that is running very well)
Tilt score: 32/100 (lower is better)
Bot score: 4 (lower means more inconsistent)

What does it tell me?

Not much. I'm a little surprised at my low overall rating (I assume 47 is low?) whilst running pretty hot. And also a bot score of 4 apparently means i'm hugely inconsistent which is probably even more surprising as i'd consider my play to be very consistent, although opponent dependent.

I checked my Bodog stats as well which gave me an overall rating of 21, with only my results at $4/8 recorded which is where I basically started with a 150BB downswing. I've clawed over half that back, but haven't played on Bodog for a while. Given my play would be exactly the same on both sites, but the ratings are so far apart I have to assume they are more results driven than actual play style driven. This would mean the rating aren't all that useful until they have logged thousands of your hands - probably hundreds of thousands.

I made a few more BBs on the tables last night, although finished the session with a bad beat on a $80 pot which was disappointing. The fact that I was disappointed with a winning session may mean i'm getting a little too comfortable with this current upswing. I need to make sure I keep concentrating and playing my best without tilting through overconfidence.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $272
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $28
Days left: 4

Current bankroll: $23,450
December time played: 20h30m
December profit / (loss): $1,100

Bubbling

2009-12-14T21:54:00.000-08:00

Again another reminder of why I don't play MTTs. I figured i'd give an Aussie Millions gold chip semi final qualifier a shot on Cake as I had the day off work and nothing better to do.

I triple and quadrupled up early on when I saw the number of muppets on my table shoving with stuff like 92o preflop, and they were more than willing to call a preflop shove from me holding KK. At the one hour break and end of the rebuy period I had about 12k chips after starting with 1.5k and was near the lead.

After that I was completely card dead, and met some big resistance to several steals so had to lay down some half decent pots which was disappointing. Towards the two hour mark, there were 12 players left, with the top 10 getting a ticket. Unfortunately I was in 12th.

The guy in 11th then pushed all in from the cut off, with me in the SB with AQo. I was guessing his range was pretty wide here, and somehow convinced myself to call all in with about 11,000 chips left and blinds of 1,000/2,000. I'm not sure its the right move, although when he flipped over A2o I was miles in front. Obviously the river was a 2 which sent me packing, and for no result after two hours.

The cash tables started on fire with me picking up pots left and right, making a quick couple hundred. I played on and off for the rest of the day, but didn't do much more than break even, and that was including a fairly long session against a huge fish who just kept on hitting. He scooped two massive pots holding the mighty 54o and another with 52o (versus my AA).

Can't complain though as it was still a profitable day.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $265
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $35
Days left: 5

Current bankroll: $23,350
December time played: 19h
December profit / (loss): $1,000

Failed another freeroll

2009-12-13T18:36:00.000-08:00

Hit up a fulltilt freeroll and lasted about an hour before crashing out for no return. Ended up having to push KdQd utg with 10BBs and got looked up by JJ. Diamond flop but no help and i'm gone.

I've got the day off today and am about to enter a semi final qualifier for the Aussie millions on Cake. Not really holding out too much hope but I guess you never know.

Got in a bit of play over the weekend and made sure I hit my fulltilt poker points targets. Running a very hot 16BB/100 at $1/2 over 900 hands so far this month, but only about 1BB/100 at higher stakes.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $258
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $42
Days left: 6

Current bankroll: $23,100
December time played: 14h
December profit / (loss): $750

Where'd the aggro pills come from?

2009-12-10T16:07:00.000-08:00

Struggled a bit to find decent tables last night on fulltilt to get my 100 points, so ended up playing a few where there were only one or two fish that I didn't necessarily have position on. What that meant was that I had a few more run ins with LAG/TAGs three betting and making positional raises against me.

However, several of them were taking it a tad too far. One guy 3 bet my CO raise with J7o and then capped a flop of AhKhJh. I had an A but no heart and called down his turn and river bets. River was a heart as well even, but neither of his cards were hearts.

A few hands later my AKo UTG raise is three bet by aggro with A6o on the button. Flop AQ7r and again I get capped on the flop and even raised on the turn before I decide to call down and win.

Admittedly it did backfire for me on one hand where I got to see a free flop in the BB with 63s on a flop of 643. Aggro boy capped the flop, bet into a turn of 7 and bet into the 5 river. He then flips over 86o for the runner runner straight.

All in all a reasonable session for me though, winning a few BBs at the $3/6 and $2/4 level which could have been a lot more, but also winning about 25BBs on a couple $1/2 tables where a couple fish were giving their money away.

Home game with the boys tonight which should be fun. A busy weekend though so i'm not sure when exactly i'm going to get in my 100 fulltilt points worth of play each day.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $239
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $61
Days left: 10

Current bankroll: $22,900
December time played: 11h
December profit / (loss): $550

Cake gold stacks

2009-12-09T21:12:00.000-08:00

Cake poker have just implemented a new rewards scheme called gold stacks. It's basically just a small additional award that is allocated based on how many gold chips you collect. (Gold chips being an existing awards scheme).

At first the rewards are just gold chips, but after that they become pending bonuses that you then clear like a reload bonus, and as you get even higher they become purely cash bonuses.

Some guy on 2p2 worked out that the impact is about a 2.5% to 10% increase in effective rakeback depending on how many levels (ie stacks) you've already completed.

I'm not sure if i'll get too far through it, but hey, its some more free money so I won't complain. (although if they stop doing reload bonuses I will be very disappointed).

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $230
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $70
Days left: 11

Current bankroll: $22,800
December time played: 10h
December profit / (loss): $450

Fulltilt lagging

2009-12-08T20:45:00.001-08:00

Seems like a bit of a flurry of fulltilt posts from me lately.

Last night was a horrible experience. Tables were lagging and sitting me out, although luckily it only started when I was about 10 points short of my 100 points for the day. It also didn't appear to cost me much as I didn't actually lag out on any hands that I wanted to bet or raise with. Very concerning nonetheless. I had a look on 2p2, but there didn't seem to be anyone reporting the same issue.

I'm hoping its all working fine for tonight otherwise I might have to ditch the idea of clearing my bonus and qualifying for ironman completely.

Just in case it's pokertracker related i've set all my database maintenance running. Will try it withouth pokertracker if my problems continue. Obviously though, timing out makes it unplayable.

I still ended up with a small profit for the session so can't complain too much as it could easily have turned out much worse if the lag had cost me a large pot or two.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $225
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $75
Days left: 12

Current bankroll: $22,750
December time played: 9h
December profit / (loss): $400

Reimbursement from Full Tilt Poker‏

2009-12-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

Received a nice little email from Full Tilt last night:

"The Full Tilt Poker Security department has recently concluded an extensive investigation and we have determined that some of your opponents were in violation of our site terms.

We have permanently closed all of the offending accounts. In cases of proven cheating, 100% of the confiscated funds are returned to the players who were victimized. The reimbursement calculation is based on the number of tournaments or hands played against the offending players, and the amount won or lost against them.

We have determined that you are entitled to a refund of $17.60 which will be placed in your account in the next 72 hours. "

Admittedly not big dollars, but it is reassuring to know Fulltilt do look at cheaters, even in the $1/2 to $3/6 fixed limit games.

I have played almost four hours since Friday, clearing my 100 Fulltilt points each day. A couple of those hours were single tabling whilst watching TV so all up not a huge volume.

I'm trying to remember any interesting hands, but nothing much comes to mind - I probably shouldn't be even playing when i'm not fully focused and watching TV. I do remember one hand where I held KK on a AKK flop, and villain capped the turn and river which was nice of them ... particularly as he was holding A6o.

No big swings either in that time to speak of, just a series of small wins in each session with only one table where I ran memorably cold winning only one hand in 56.

I guess bigger things are happening away from the tables, with my house purchase settling yesterday which has taken a fair bit of my attention over the last few weeks, particularly dealing with the bank which could most generously be described as painful. Now that's done we'll be moving in late January which will result in less poker that month too.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $220
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $80
Days left: 13

Current bankroll: $22,650
December time played: 8h
December profit / (loss): $300

Change of plan on Fulltilt bonus clearing

2009-12-03T21:24:00.000-08:00

I realised last night in order to qualify for the iron man bonus I should be aiming to stretch out my current bonus clearing for as long as possible to obtain the best January bonus.

So for the last 17 days or so, i'll be simply clearing 100 fulltilt points per day. This means that i'll probably throw in some Cake, Bodog and maybe another site into the mix once I get the 100 points each day.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $195
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $105
Days left: 17

Current bankroll: $22,450
December time played: 4h
December profit / (loss): $100

Stomach ache plus online poker doesn't work

2009-12-02T21:40:00.000-08:00

...... Particularly when you need to make a quick exit.

I guess you could try Amatay style, and play on your laptop and take it to the bathroom with you, but I think i'll pass on that option.

Since my PC is a desktop I ended up having to go with the quick clicking sit out on all tables.

I guess it would be worse again if you were playing live.

Anyways, played a bit last night, cleared some more bonus, dropped a quick hundred, before gaining it back and then some. I should really try to hit an ironman bonus on fulltilt this month so that would give me another bonus to clear in January.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $185
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $115
Days left: 18

Current bankroll: $22,400
December time played: 3h
December profit / (loss): $50

FT bonus clearing quickly

2009-11-30T21:11:00.000-08:00

So far i've cleared almost $160 of my bonus, so only $140 to go. The last few sessions have been fairly painful though and i've been dropping BBs quicker than the bonus has been clearing - more or less purely through a couple muppets who seemed to hit more than they missed.

eg the 99/14 guy who went to showdown 60% of the time and won 50% of those showdowns. Having him on my right would normally be a massive advantage, but this time it was crippling.

The losses at $2/4 have been somewhat offset by small gains at $3/6 and $5/10 - hopefully I can find my muppets again tomorrow and win some back. Doubt they'll have any cash left though. Plenty of other fish in the sea though.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $158
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $142
Days left: 20

Current bankroll: $22,250
December time played: 2h
December profit / (loss): ($100)

November 2009 summary

2009-11-29T22:06:00.000-08:00

Well, the first day of November started with a $300 loss. Since then I haven't really looked back and started the month bonus clearing on Cake before switching across to the new Fulltilt holiday hundred bonus which turned out to be the holiday three hundred for me. It's going to take a fair chunk of December for me to work my way through it, and Cake also just gave me another reload so there's already another bonus to clear once Fulltilt is done.

I finally got round to registering Pokertracker 3, so i'll stick with that for my database and HUD for a while.

For November the goals in order of priority were:

• Make a profit again (tick)
• Put in some more volume than August and September and October (significantly more)
• Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible (cleared a bit, then got sidetracked with Cake and Fulltilt bonuses)
• Clear some more of my Cake reload and see if I can score a few more gold chips and qualify for the freeroll again (tick)
• Play some more Pacific or Microgaming if it seems fishy (Cake and FT took over so missed this one)
• Spend some more poker points and hopefully convert some to cash (fulltilt?) (too busy clearing bonuses. Maybe in January .....)

The profit of $1,600 for the month was made up of:

Bonuses/vip/rakeback: $380

• Bodog $80
• Cake $140
• Fulltilt $160

Poker bankroll Interest: $70

Poker profits: $1,230 (less $80 PT3 licence)

Goals for December are:

• Clear the remainder of my Fulltilt bonus
• Clear some more of my Cake reload
• Qualify for the Cake and Fulltilt freerolls in January
• Play the December Cake and Fulltilt freerolls
• Take up as many xmas freerolls, gifts and bonuses as possible

Current bankroll: $22,350
November time played: 34h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,600

Tis the season for poker bonuses

2009-11-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

The next month or so always seems to be the best time of year to play poker. The sites seem to all throw out great bonuses and other freerolls and incentives to ensure the casual players hit their site in particular during their holidays.

The casual players drink more and are relaxed more and give their money away more easily as well.

All in all, a win win situation.

After Fulltilt's bonus the other week, Cake has now pumped out a nice little reload which i'll also take up. Only 25% to a max of $100, but since they don't deduct fees, it's free money to go along with my rakeback. From memory their bonuses expire in 90 days which is tons of time to get it cleared. If anyone could confirm that would be handy. They're also running some other promotions in the lead up to xmas.

Looking forward to seeing what the other sites have to offer.

Has anyone heard anything about wbcoop this year? I haven't heard a word. Surely Stars are running it again???

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $88
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $212
Days left: 23

Current bankroll: $22,400
November time played: 31h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,650

Optimum stakes for clearing FT?

2009-11-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

From memory the optimum stakes for clearing the Fulltilt bonus were at $2/4 for fixed limit holdem. I'm not sure if it's still the case but I will just assume it is.

Actually i'm playing a mix of $3/6 and $2/4 as i'm not finding enough fishy tables at either level to have a solid four or five tables running. Admittedly I did get up to six tables last night at one stage, but I'm too far out of practice with six and found myself cutting it fairly fine on timing out. (I did time out twice but thankfully it was where I would have folded anyways).

What I do find with fulltilt is that the fishy tables tend to tighten up fairly quickly, and what started off as a fantastic table to play at can suddenly turn into a TAG fest within a couple orbits. I use the colour coding available in fulltilt to mark each player, so that I can quickly see when I need to quit a table - for example when the player on my right turns from a green fish to a red TAG.

Last night's session ran pretty hot throughout and I was never really down. Ended banking a solid 50BB win to more than make up my loss from the night before and am now past a quarter of my bonus cleared.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $83
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $217
Days left: 24

Current bankroll: $22,350
November time played: 30h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,600

Bump in the road

2009-11-25T01:06:00.000-08:00

Got hammered on the $2/4 tables whilst clearing my FT bonus last night. Dropped a good 50BBs within probably half an hour which is a fair effort. The $3/6 tables ended up a few BBs, but still a decent loss, partly offset by a rakeback credit.

Also found I have a small problem with Fulltilt in that it freezes my machine when I load it up, and has now frozen it once in play - which is far worse. Not sure if anyone knows of anything that would cause this, but a solution would be helpful.

Hopefully get in a bit of play tonight when the mrs is out at netball. Its probably going to be a fairly light weekend this weekend so I need to get in front on my FT bonus clearing.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $65
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $235
Days left: 26

Current bankroll: $22,100
November time played: 28h30m
November profit / (loss): $1,350

My xmas present

2009-11-23T15:04:00.001-08:00

My Xmas present fresh out of the packaging from my lovely wife arrived from ebay the other day. It was a little large for me to miss .... hadn't put the cupholders in when I took the photo, but still looks good to me. Best present ever ... well almost. Apparently i'm not allowed to use it until after xmas though. No home games scheduled between now and then so that's okay.

Played a little poker last night and made a few more BBs. Nothin much to write about though. Also had a mate of mine ask if there were any decent poker PC games - anyone know of any? I can remember WSOP on xbox that I had a few years ago, but am not sure if anything has been released lately.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $53
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $247
Days left: 27

Current bankroll: $22,200
November time played: 27h
November profit / (loss): $1,450

My monthly reminder

2009-11-22T14:39:00.000-08:00

Played my Cake freeroll on Sunday morning where I lasted 45 minutes or so.

I'd built up my stack slightly from the starting stack of 1,500 to 2,500 early after the super loose aggro table muppet who played every single hand pushed all in versus my nut flush with his complete air.

At about the 40 minute mark I would have held about the same number of chips thanks to a few blind steals but other than that being pretty much card dead, until I ran into another super loose short stack with 900 or so chips. He open pushed all in from the cut off and after seeing some of the trash he was playing I called in the BB for 700 chips with AJo. He flipped over K5s and when we both whiffed the flop and turn, obviously he has to river his K.

Very next orbit and i'm in the BB again and this time with 88. Min raise from the cut off of 400 is called by the SB, so I decide to push with my 7BBs. Open min raiser folds and cold caller then calls and flips over 77. Happy days. River 7. And i'm out.

At least I didn't spend hours playing for nothing, but it does remind me why I generally don't play MTTs. The frustration is huge.

I kicked off my Fulltilt bonus as well on the weekend so will keep track of how i'm clearing to make sure I clear it all before it expires in 30 days. With a total bankroll of $550 on Fulltilt I was hoping to not have to deposit as that would incur fees which hit my rakeback. My start was poor though, dropping a quick 20BBs at $3/6 and another 20BBs at $2/4. I was looking like I needed to deposit or i'd be restricted to 2 or maybe 3 tables. A few massive fish turned it around though and I made it back and in the process cleared $40 of the $300 bonus.

Fulltilt bonus cleared: $40
Fulltilt bonus remaining: $260
Days left: 28

Current bankroll: $22,100
November time played: 26h
November profit / (loss): $1,350

Frustration ..... off the tables

2009-11-19T19:21:00.001-08:00

For the past couple weeks i've been trying to get a home loan approved.

Home lending company requests your information, you send it in. You get approved. Simple right?

Apparently not. At least four different times over the space of 10 days I've been told this is the last thing you have to do before getting approved, which I have then provided within the space of minutes. It's also a week after our "subject to finance" clause expired for the purchase of the house, so i've been getting grief from everyone including the vendor). I reckon i've spent a good six hours on the phone or emailing various numb nuts in that time, and my customer service officer has gone missing for at least four business days out of the last seven. We finally have approval but it feels like i've been running a marathon for days.

Fortunately for me though, poker has been running reasonably well with a 4BB/100 return so far this month on the tables. I try not to let poker influence my mood too much, but when you're having a good run, its hard to resist - especially when other things in life aren't going as smoothly as they should.

Only played a little last night, and made a few BBs mainly from one aggro muppet who's first hand after I sat down was a raise with Q9o from MP after one limper was already in. Second hand he capped 66, however, I hit a runner runner K high flush to take a nice pot after whiffing the flop. As happens more often than not with these guys, they don't last long, and being midweek on Aussie time the tables tend to dry up quickly.

I also picked the wrong day to leave my mobile at work, where one of my mates was messaging me about a freeroll for the Aussie millions on either party or cake, i'm not sure which. Apparently the winner got a seat, but there were seats to plenty of the other events for lower placing players. Ack.

Current bankroll: $22,000
November time played: 23h
November profit / (loss): $1,250

My bonus gets even better

2009-11-18T21:45:00.000-08:00

Checked my bonus on Fulltilt - it's actually $300. Not sure if i'll even be able to clear that much, but i'll give it a good crack!

I then had a quick look on 2p2 - it looks like a lot of people are getting $100, but a number are also getting up to $500. $300 seems good enough for me - more than happy with that.

Played for nearly half an hour last night, and found some muppets on microgaming as well as pacific. The microgaming guys jagged a couple big pots off me but I ended the session about even with a full house on the last orbit that someone raised the turn and then even the river against me.

A $3/6 table on Pacific donated me a solid $100 when a super aggro fish kept betting with complete air. I called him down with mid pair a couple times successfully. Unfortunately though he quickly ran out of money and left the table which meant time for me to leave as well.

Current bankroll: $21,950
November time played: 22h
November profit / (loss): $1,200

Fulltilt holiday bonus

2009-11-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

I received my Fulltilt bonus email last night. Good to see they are finally offering bonuses at least a little more regularly. Since it expires in 30 days, i'll probably take it up on saturday morning which will allow me an extra weekend to clear the bonus.

That basically means i'll be playing a ton of Fulltilt, a chunk of Cake, and maybe a little Bodog next month, and that's about all.

I played for an hour last night, but wasn't concentrating 100% as I could only find a couple tables at best to play on. I was running super hot on one table though, and won 45BBs within half an hour, where it seemed every hand I played would hit. Even if it didn't everyone else would fold to my cbet.

No really huge pots as there was a lot of folding by the loose fish post flop. The biggest pot I won was 87s in the big blind with three limpers on a board of 6h7s8h. I bet, get raised and called by the other limper. Turn is Qd and raiser bets which I decided to call. River was 7h completing the flush and also giving me my boat which I check/raise the river with the villain showing down 54o for the flopped low end of the straight.

Received my monthly bodog reload bonus as well, although I'm not sure I received all of it and will need to check tonight.

Current bankroll: $21,850
November time played: 21h
November profit / (loss): $1,100