Obviously I can't be buggered creating my own rakeback from scratch, so it's not exactly original, being more or less just an affiliate page through rtr, but hey, it will do the job. And anyone signing up will get the best possible rtr deal available with the comfort of their support and reputation.
All I need to do is draw up myself a decent logo and i'm set. Kind of a pity that I have the artistic ability of a small stone or some other inanimate object, but we'll see what I can do if I ever get around to it.
So for you guys who don't have a deal or affiliate for rakeback at a number of sites feel free to check it out: http://grinder.rakebackpartners.com/
On to poker news - I finally cashed in a Kamikaze .. for all of about $10. I think it was held at about 4am my time, so obviously I missed all the action, but hey, can't complain about any free money, given it only cost me some crappy Cake gold card like a 4 of spades. Bit of a pity that I couldn't win at least one more hand and it would have made me some decent cash.
My half hour session last night was a bit of a non event. Although I ended up about $50 in front, my stacks never really moved much. I did lose one 22BB pot where it was capped four ways preflop with me sitting on KK and flopped 762r. On the flop I got checkraised and with another caller I ended up just calling down. Obviously the check/raiser had TT, and turned another T. Grrrrr.
Current bankroll: $18,900
July time played: 6h
July profit/(loss): $350
Showing posts with label bonuses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bonuses. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Almost blew another shot
Got in about 3 hours of poker over the weekend, predominantly playing on Bodog as i'd cleared my bonuses on other sites for February already. Generally had three tables running, with one or two at $4/8 and the other two at $1/2, depending on the levels of fishiness available.
I actually found one guy on the $4/8 tables who was running at 86/56 .. which is very loose aggressive. He was also showing down around 70% of hands. He had position on me, but I had position on another 65/20 guy, and the seat to aggro dude was already taken. Unfortunately for me though, aggro dude was also winning over 70% of his showdowns, and was quickly up by a good 100BBs. About 30 of those were mine, and plus all of the profits that I was taking from the fish to my right. This had effectively wiped out all of my $4/8 shot buffer, and also taken me down another 10BBs on top of that, and I was looking like having to drop back to $1/2 again.
I reloaded another 25BBs because the table was so good, and I was still playing well, and finally he stopped running so unbelievably hot, and I managed to recover 25BBs. I actually have one interesting hand to post, but its on my other PC. I'll have to remember to grab it out tomorrow.
The $1/2 tables however were treating me very well again, and I would have made another 40BBs in my session there. I think my BB/100 is above 0.4 now at $1/2 which I have to be pleased with, given it only turned just positive a few days ago.
On the Interpoker through RakeTheRake front, it looks like you can also earn the monthly bonus (which is not deducted from MGR) as well as double rakeback, so that takes effective rakeback to very close to 100% until March 17. I'll be playing there as much as possible rather than looking for a new deal this month I think.
Current bankroll: $17,250
I actually found one guy on the $4/8 tables who was running at 86/56 .. which is very loose aggressive. He was also showing down around 70% of hands. He had position on me, but I had position on another 65/20 guy, and the seat to aggro dude was already taken. Unfortunately for me though, aggro dude was also winning over 70% of his showdowns, and was quickly up by a good 100BBs. About 30 of those were mine, and plus all of the profits that I was taking from the fish to my right. This had effectively wiped out all of my $4/8 shot buffer, and also taken me down another 10BBs on top of that, and I was looking like having to drop back to $1/2 again.
I reloaded another 25BBs because the table was so good, and I was still playing well, and finally he stopped running so unbelievably hot, and I managed to recover 25BBs. I actually have one interesting hand to post, but its on my other PC. I'll have to remember to grab it out tomorrow.
The $1/2 tables however were treating me very well again, and I would have made another 40BBs in my session there. I think my BB/100 is above 0.4 now at $1/2 which I have to be pleased with, given it only turned just positive a few days ago.
On the Interpoker through RakeTheRake front, it looks like you can also earn the monthly bonus (which is not deducted from MGR) as well as double rakeback, so that takes effective rakeback to very close to 100% until March 17. I'll be playing there as much as possible rather than looking for a new deal this month I think.
Current bankroll: $17,250
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
A question of interpretation
If you read this, how much equivalent cashback would you expect to be receiving?
"100% up to $500 first deposit bonus released automatically at the same rate as the cash back deal (points are not deducted from your account) 30% cash back deal with our VIP Club. Points can be cashed at anytime. Both offers run concurrently. It’s like having double the cash back while you have the bonus."
"100% up to $500 first deposit bonus released automatically at the same rate as the cash back deal (points are not deducted from your account) 30% cash back deal with our VIP Club. Points can be cashed at anytime. Both offers run concurrently. It’s like having double the cash back while you have the bonus."
Sunday, January 11, 2009
A cold start to Ladbrokes
For some reason I can't work out how to put a picture in the middle of my post. Anyways the graph above relates to sitngos on Interpoker which I will talk about later in this post.
I managed to get in another two hours of poker over the weekend, as well as a home game friday night for fun.
In my online time, i've cleared the sign up bonus on Ladbrokes, and as a rough estimate I believe I will need to rake another $30 to $40 there to place in the rake race. However, in my 800 or so hands so far, i'm running at a fairly cold -8BB/100, which is mainly due to my W$SD being around 41% instead of 51%. AKo has been a big loser to me, but when I looked into it, i'd lost to some pretty obscure 2 pair holdings, such as 62o, and also to a gutshot and runner runner flush draw. I've actually only had AKo five times in 800 hands so i'm not havin a lot of luck there.
I had found great position on a good $2/4 table with a huge fish on my right who was somewhere in the 95/5/.4/50 range. He had a reasonable stack of $80, and proceeded to donk off his entire stack within about 100 hands. Unfortunately for me, every time I was in a hand with him he hit his miracle outs, and then in the next hand he'd give my loss away to someone else. Frustrating. Especially when I end up down 30BBs.
Did a little better on a Ladbrokes $3/6 table to recover 7 or 8BBs, however, effectively now i'm only break even on Ladbrokes AFTER including the $100 sign up bonus and my $120 Boogster bonus. Hopefully I can run at least a little warmer when I play my last few hands to make sure I place in the rake race!
Interpoker, Cake and Bodog all paid me off 5-10BBs playing from $1/2 to $3/6. Probably made back about $80 all up in relatively few hands split fairly evenly between all three sites. Had a bit of trouble as per usual to find tables loose enough on Interpoker, but did spot a couple that I had good position on a couple fish. On a few others though, I had to quit after a single orbit as they were full of tags, but as i've noted before i'm determined to only play where I have a good edge, so i'm never going to stay at a table like that.
I also hit up 3 double up sitngos whilst I was waiting for decent cash tables to open up. The first was $5, which ended at the 15/30 blind level. I hand't received any starting hands worth playing but all of a sudden I notice there's only three of use left and i'm in the money. Score.
The next was a $15 sitngo where about 5th hand in i'm dealt AA on the button. Folded to me and I raise 3x BB to about 60 chips. Big blind then reraises me to 200 chips. I think about it for a few seconds and 3 bet to 500 chips to which he pushes in his 1,500 stack so I obviously snap call. AA holds up, and with the occasionally steal and not a single further showdown I easily double my cash.
My third double up was only a $5 again, and this one was much tougher, with all 6 players still in at the 100/200 blind level. I open push from the CO with 88, get called by 44 on the big blind who flops a 4, and i'm out. Oh well. Can't win em all.
In my online time, i've cleared the sign up bonus on Ladbrokes, and as a rough estimate I believe I will need to rake another $30 to $40 there to place in the rake race. However, in my 800 or so hands so far, i'm running at a fairly cold -8BB/100, which is mainly due to my W$SD being around 41% instead of 51%. AKo has been a big loser to me, but when I looked into it, i'd lost to some pretty obscure 2 pair holdings, such as 62o, and also to a gutshot and runner runner flush draw. I've actually only had AKo five times in 800 hands so i'm not havin a lot of luck there.
I had found great position on a good $2/4 table with a huge fish on my right who was somewhere in the 95/5/.4/50 range. He had a reasonable stack of $80, and proceeded to donk off his entire stack within about 100 hands. Unfortunately for me, every time I was in a hand with him he hit his miracle outs, and then in the next hand he'd give my loss away to someone else. Frustrating. Especially when I end up down 30BBs.
Did a little better on a Ladbrokes $3/6 table to recover 7 or 8BBs, however, effectively now i'm only break even on Ladbrokes AFTER including the $100 sign up bonus and my $120 Boogster bonus. Hopefully I can run at least a little warmer when I play my last few hands to make sure I place in the rake race!
Interpoker, Cake and Bodog all paid me off 5-10BBs playing from $1/2 to $3/6. Probably made back about $80 all up in relatively few hands split fairly evenly between all three sites. Had a bit of trouble as per usual to find tables loose enough on Interpoker, but did spot a couple that I had good position on a couple fish. On a few others though, I had to quit after a single orbit as they were full of tags, but as i've noted before i'm determined to only play where I have a good edge, so i'm never going to stay at a table like that.
I also hit up 3 double up sitngos whilst I was waiting for decent cash tables to open up. The first was $5, which ended at the 15/30 blind level. I hand't received any starting hands worth playing but all of a sudden I notice there's only three of use left and i'm in the money. Score.
The next was a $15 sitngo where about 5th hand in i'm dealt AA on the button. Folded to me and I raise 3x BB to about 60 chips. Big blind then reraises me to 200 chips. I think about it for a few seconds and 3 bet to 500 chips to which he pushes in his 1,500 stack so I obviously snap call. AA holds up, and with the occasionally steal and not a single further showdown I easily double my cash.
My third double up was only a $5 again, and this one was much tougher, with all 6 players still in at the 100/200 blind level. I open push from the CO with 88, get called by 44 on the big blind who flops a 4, and i'm out. Oh well. Can't win em all.
My Interpoker double up sitngo sharkscope graph is attached above. ROI of around 17% which I think is okay. Haven't played too many as I play them as more of a change up from the cash routine but I will keep playing them to keep fresh (and whilst they are profitable)!
Current bankroll: $16,100
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Poker kickbacks = awesome!
I've already managed to clear my kickback on Ladbrokes. I'd actually forgotten just how quickly kick back bonuses clear. Not really much more than a couple hours play, not even four tabling since the traffic there is so low. Anyways, that's a $120 boost to the bankroll thanks to Boogster . It reminds me how important those kick back bonuses were for me starting out my bankroll last year, so I think i'll have to seek out a few more.
I'm also a little over halfway through clearing my Ladbrokes $100 sign up bonus. Hopefully I can clear that in a couple more hours of play. I realised I didn't need to panic about making it into the Ladbrokes rake race, as I think I am easily raking enough to get in the top 3,000. Will wait for the next rake leader board update to check.
Thankfully the Boogster bonus has offset me for my hour and a half last night of running like stink on the tables, and dropping a good 20BBs on the Interpoker $2/4 tables. So instead of being down for the session, my bankroll has continued to increase .. albeit slowly ...
I'm looking forward to clearing that sign up bonus on Ladbrokes as well - and hopefully I can win a few BBs on the tables at the same time.
Current bankroll: $16,050
I'm also a little over halfway through clearing my Ladbrokes $100 sign up bonus. Hopefully I can clear that in a couple more hours of play. I realised I didn't need to panic about making it into the Ladbrokes rake race, as I think I am easily raking enough to get in the top 3,000. Will wait for the next rake leader board update to check.
Thankfully the Boogster bonus has offset me for my hour and a half last night of running like stink on the tables, and dropping a good 20BBs on the Interpoker $2/4 tables. So instead of being down for the session, my bankroll has continued to increase .. albeit slowly ...
I'm looking forward to clearing that sign up bonus on Ladbrokes as well - and hopefully I can win a few BBs on the tables at the same time.
Current bankroll: $16,050
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Cake gold card fishing and Pokerstars reload
Actually played a couple hours this morning on Cake when they had their 4x gold card promotion, where gold cards are supposed to drop four times as fast as usual.
They hold a gold card lottery each day and give away either cash or a freeroll when you trade in your cards. The rarer the card the higher the value cash or freeroll.
I picked up a few cards on the $3/6 and $2/4 tables, but only made a couple BBs overall after several nasty beats. It was one of those sessions that I was never really down in, but never really up either, although on a $1/2 table I did need to reload after dropping 25BBs, but that was more than made up on a $3/6 where I was up 10BBs.
Also received my monthly Bodog reload bonus which is a nice little boost to the bankroll, so also deposited another $200 for my next reload. I think I will receive a rakeback adjustment shortly for my bonus payout so I have dropped my total bankroll by a bit to compensatte.
On top of that I deposited only $100 on Pokerstars for their reload. According to 2p2 its only worth around 20% rakeback, but i'll play the double ups on there whenever i'm bored of cash, and since their rake is lower, its more like an equivalent 38% rakeback on the normal double ups, and even higher on the turbos, when compared to say the crypto double ups.
Current bankroll: $15,600
They hold a gold card lottery each day and give away either cash or a freeroll when you trade in your cards. The rarer the card the higher the value cash or freeroll.
I picked up a few cards on the $3/6 and $2/4 tables, but only made a couple BBs overall after several nasty beats. It was one of those sessions that I was never really down in, but never really up either, although on a $1/2 table I did need to reload after dropping 25BBs, but that was more than made up on a $3/6 where I was up 10BBs.
Also received my monthly Bodog reload bonus which is a nice little boost to the bankroll, so also deposited another $200 for my next reload. I think I will receive a rakeback adjustment shortly for my bonus payout so I have dropped my total bankroll by a bit to compensatte.
On top of that I deposited only $100 on Pokerstars for their reload. According to 2p2 its only worth around 20% rakeback, but i'll play the double ups on there whenever i'm bored of cash, and since their rake is lower, its more like an equivalent 38% rakeback on the normal double ups, and even higher on the turbos, when compared to say the crypto double ups.
Current bankroll: $15,600
Thursday, December 18, 2008
WBCOOP fail #1
First attempt at qualifying for the finals this morning didn't go great, although I guess I did give it a bit of a shake.
Got up at 5.15, but was able to concentrate okay. Actually had a speculative hand or two early, that just didn't pay off. A3s limped in 6 ways flopped my flush draw. Obviously missed by the river, although an A on the turn gave me a small hope.
About 3 other similar hands where I started with a strong holding and flopped either a draw or nothing lead me to being down to 1.3k chips from the starting 2.5k. I then managed to steal a few blinds or win pots with good cbets to get back to a bit above my starting stack.
At about the 40/80 level (somethin like that anyways) after an hour I even managed to luck box a double up with my 99 versus QQ with my 9 flopping sweetly. From there I kept my stack at about 5k for the next half hour, mainly through stealing blinds as I was pretty much card dead. Scored AA once, but still only got the blinds with a 3x raise.
When my stack was about 4.5k and the blinds 100/200 I found myself with AKo in middle position with one early limper. With the pot at about 800ish I decided to just shove from the HJ, as i'd stolen the previous two hands as well. The CO with about 2k behind him decided this was worth calling with K7s. The button with 3.5k behind him also thought his 66 was worth a call. With the flush hitting on the river, and me getting no help i'm then crippled on just under 1k chips. I guess my shove was a poor decision ...
I fold a bunch of hands then eventually find it folded to me in the CO with 54s. I decided to shove to try to steal blinds since I only had about 700 chips left. The sb calls me with JTo, and even though I flop the flush draw, I find myself out in about 250th of 500ish.
Oh well. There's always tomorrow in the 8game crapshoot.
I had a few cash tables open at the same time, and cleared enough points on Interpoker to clear my $50ish bonus for the month. It took opening and closing a few tables to find one with decent position, but eventually I found one that was okayish (well okay since I only needed a few points to clear my bonus, but not ideal for a long term table). I made a few BBs in the process as well on one of the $3/6 tables.
I also had a couple $1/2 bodog tables open, and managed to find one of the best tables that i've ever played on. All three players to my right had a VPIP of 60+ and preflop aggression less than 10. The two on my left were tight passives - one so tight that he folded 100% of my blind steals ... although admittedly there weren't too many stealing opportunities with limpy mclimpster playing on my right.
It started horribly, and I was quickly down 40BBs as the limpers were eating me alive. One of them at one stage had a win rate of 60BB/100 over 70 hands. A good chunk of those wins were from my pocket. Slowly though it turned around, as they kept calling me down with crap and I pounded them constantly with raises. I probably ended up about 20BBs or more, although a couple of the fish were still showing a profit after 150+ hands.
I had one interesting hand where I had AdTd UTG. I obviously open raise this, and get two callers. Flop is KdQdJd ... so my third royal flush ever I believe. SB bets into me, which I just call hoping CO calls as well which he does. Turn is a blank 2 or something, which SB bets, so I raise. River is a blank 3. SB checks and I bet. SB folds.
Then I suddenly think to myself ... doesn't Bodog have a royal flush bonus running at the moment? OMFG .. what if they don't pay if there's no showdown? what have I done? I quickly fire up the website, and read some of the sweetest words i've read for a while -
"The hand does not have to go to showdown "
So there's another $50 bonus (at which point I start to realise ..oh its only $50 .. but then again .. better than nothing!), and all I had to do was fire off an email to their support. It should be credited in the next couple days when I will add it to my bankroll.
So all in all, even with the disappointing tourney result, not a bad little session.
Current bankroll: $15,300
Got up at 5.15, but was able to concentrate okay. Actually had a speculative hand or two early, that just didn't pay off. A3s limped in 6 ways flopped my flush draw. Obviously missed by the river, although an A on the turn gave me a small hope.
About 3 other similar hands where I started with a strong holding and flopped either a draw or nothing lead me to being down to 1.3k chips from the starting 2.5k. I then managed to steal a few blinds or win pots with good cbets to get back to a bit above my starting stack.
At about the 40/80 level (somethin like that anyways) after an hour I even managed to luck box a double up with my 99 versus QQ with my 9 flopping sweetly. From there I kept my stack at about 5k for the next half hour, mainly through stealing blinds as I was pretty much card dead. Scored AA once, but still only got the blinds with a 3x raise.
When my stack was about 4.5k and the blinds 100/200 I found myself with AKo in middle position with one early limper. With the pot at about 800ish I decided to just shove from the HJ, as i'd stolen the previous two hands as well. The CO with about 2k behind him decided this was worth calling with K7s. The button with 3.5k behind him also thought his 66 was worth a call. With the flush hitting on the river, and me getting no help i'm then crippled on just under 1k chips. I guess my shove was a poor decision ...
I fold a bunch of hands then eventually find it folded to me in the CO with 54s. I decided to shove to try to steal blinds since I only had about 700 chips left. The sb calls me with JTo, and even though I flop the flush draw, I find myself out in about 250th of 500ish.
Oh well. There's always tomorrow in the 8game crapshoot.
I had a few cash tables open at the same time, and cleared enough points on Interpoker to clear my $50ish bonus for the month. It took opening and closing a few tables to find one with decent position, but eventually I found one that was okayish (well okay since I only needed a few points to clear my bonus, but not ideal for a long term table). I made a few BBs in the process as well on one of the $3/6 tables.
I also had a couple $1/2 bodog tables open, and managed to find one of the best tables that i've ever played on. All three players to my right had a VPIP of 60+ and preflop aggression less than 10. The two on my left were tight passives - one so tight that he folded 100% of my blind steals ... although admittedly there weren't too many stealing opportunities with limpy mclimpster playing on my right.
It started horribly, and I was quickly down 40BBs as the limpers were eating me alive. One of them at one stage had a win rate of 60BB/100 over 70 hands. A good chunk of those wins were from my pocket. Slowly though it turned around, as they kept calling me down with crap and I pounded them constantly with raises. I probably ended up about 20BBs or more, although a couple of the fish were still showing a profit after 150+ hands.
I had one interesting hand where I had AdTd UTG. I obviously open raise this, and get two callers. Flop is KdQdJd ... so my third royal flush ever I believe. SB bets into me, which I just call hoping CO calls as well which he does. Turn is a blank 2 or something, which SB bets, so I raise. River is a blank 3. SB checks and I bet. SB folds.
Then I suddenly think to myself ... doesn't Bodog have a royal flush bonus running at the moment? OMFG .. what if they don't pay if there's no showdown? what have I done? I quickly fire up the website, and read some of the sweetest words i've read for a while -
"The hand does not have to go to showdown "
So there's another $50 bonus (at which point I start to realise ..oh its only $50 .. but then again .. better than nothing!), and all I had to do was fire off an email to their support. It should be credited in the next couple days when I will add it to my bankroll.
So all in all, even with the disappointing tourney result, not a bad little session.
Current bankroll: $15,300
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Poker session length
Although I didn't play much today, on Sunday and Monday I played about 3 to 3.5 hours on each day.
I hear of guys who play 8-12 hours in a day, and somehow my 3 hours as an extreme day for me seems pretty small.
The thing is though, by the end of those three hours i'm actually starting to get pretty bored of poker. That level of keen-ness and passion for the game is starting to wear pretty thin. Its at that stage that I think right, i've got to quit very soon or risk either not paying attention properly and losing a heap of BBs or possibly worse, getting sick of the game so much that I need to take a break for a while.
On Monday for example, toward the end of my session, I actually misread the board for the first time in probably six months, where I thought I had a straight and checkraised the river (my FD had missed but I thought my straight had hit), only to then find that I was check/raising J high. I guess it would have been a great move if he'd folded to the check/raise, but he wasn't goin anywhere and reraised me back. Cost me $12 all up so not a total disaster, but a good indicator that it was time to quit.
So far i've always chosen the first option in just quitting the session when i'm getting bored, since i'm not playing to live off a poker income, there's no point in playing when I don't feel like it.
Hmm ... this post is more about daily play than individual session lengths but I couldn't think of a decent and succinct title for the post.
Yesterday's play was all of 15 minutes, and somehow I managed not to lose any BBs, even with my AA being cracked twice, and more than my fair share of nasty suckouts, with a W$SD of 35%. Luckily I hit a couple big hands against a maniac who was all too happy to 4 bet the river with a single card 2 high flush versus my Q high with the K on the board. Rakeback credited me around $30 so all in all a small boost to the bankroll.
I also realised I had forgotten in my goals for December the Interpoker monthly bonus. I'm only taking it up for 30 pounds for 300mpps as I know I can do that quite easily. Getting rakeback at the same time means I should be getting around 60%rb or maybe more I think ... but will see.
Current bankroll: $15,050
I hear of guys who play 8-12 hours in a day, and somehow my 3 hours as an extreme day for me seems pretty small.
The thing is though, by the end of those three hours i'm actually starting to get pretty bored of poker. That level of keen-ness and passion for the game is starting to wear pretty thin. Its at that stage that I think right, i've got to quit very soon or risk either not paying attention properly and losing a heap of BBs or possibly worse, getting sick of the game so much that I need to take a break for a while.
On Monday for example, toward the end of my session, I actually misread the board for the first time in probably six months, where I thought I had a straight and checkraised the river (my FD had missed but I thought my straight had hit), only to then find that I was check/raising J high. I guess it would have been a great move if he'd folded to the check/raise, but he wasn't goin anywhere and reraised me back. Cost me $12 all up so not a total disaster, but a good indicator that it was time to quit.
So far i've always chosen the first option in just quitting the session when i'm getting bored, since i'm not playing to live off a poker income, there's no point in playing when I don't feel like it.
Hmm ... this post is more about daily play than individual session lengths but I couldn't think of a decent and succinct title for the post.
Yesterday's play was all of 15 minutes, and somehow I managed not to lose any BBs, even with my AA being cracked twice, and more than my fair share of nasty suckouts, with a W$SD of 35%. Luckily I hit a couple big hands against a maniac who was all too happy to 4 bet the river with a single card 2 high flush versus my Q high with the K on the board. Rakeback credited me around $30 so all in all a small boost to the bankroll.
I also realised I had forgotten in my goals for December the Interpoker monthly bonus. I'm only taking it up for 30 pounds for 300mpps as I know I can do that quite easily. Getting rakeback at the same time means I should be getting around 60%rb or maybe more I think ... but will see.
Current bankroll: $15,050
Monday, December 1, 2008
Party to the rescue
Its funny how things tend to just work out in the end.
I wrote the other day how I screwed up my Cake reload, by accidently depositing $50 instead of $400, which meant my bonus was all of $12.50 instead of $100.
On Saturday I then receive an email from Party offering a 20% reload that clears at 3x party points. For a shorthanded player that is equivalent to around 120% rakeback, based on my play, and for a full ring player it would be even higher. So basically its a no brainer to take up the offer.
The thing is, if i'd have taken up the full Cake offer, i'd only have $100 left in my Neteller account, and may not have been able to take up the Party offer. As it happens, my screw up left me with $500 in my Neteller account, basically exactly the amount I needed to take up the Party offer in full.
Over the last couple days i've cleared the $100 Party bonus on the $2/4 tables, and whilst clearing also made around 40BBs on the tables and added enough points to my party points balance to get a $25 cash back payment as well, so all in all, a tidy little exercise. In summary, I deposited $500 on Saturday and then withdrew $800 back to neteller on Monday.
The only bit of a problem I have with party is that there are tons of TAGs there, and I seem to be forever shuffling tables. On Sunday, when 2 tabling whilst playing a tourney, in the space of 3 hours I opened up and sat down at 18 different tables. Monday was quite similar with 21 tables being opened in a 3 hour window. However, as i've discussed before i'm refusing to play on tables that are too tight, and now make it a rule that on my immediate right I either have a fish, or a complete maniac or I have to leave the table.
I wrote the other day how I screwed up my Cake reload, by accidently depositing $50 instead of $400, which meant my bonus was all of $12.50 instead of $100.
On Saturday I then receive an email from Party offering a 20% reload that clears at 3x party points. For a shorthanded player that is equivalent to around 120% rakeback, based on my play, and for a full ring player it would be even higher. So basically its a no brainer to take up the offer.
The thing is, if i'd have taken up the full Cake offer, i'd only have $100 left in my Neteller account, and may not have been able to take up the Party offer. As it happens, my screw up left me with $500 in my Neteller account, basically exactly the amount I needed to take up the Party offer in full.
Over the last couple days i've cleared the $100 Party bonus on the $2/4 tables, and whilst clearing also made around 40BBs on the tables and added enough points to my party points balance to get a $25 cash back payment as well, so all in all, a tidy little exercise. In summary, I deposited $500 on Saturday and then withdrew $800 back to neteller on Monday.
The only bit of a problem I have with party is that there are tons of TAGs there, and I seem to be forever shuffling tables. On Sunday, when 2 tabling whilst playing a tourney, in the space of 3 hours I opened up and sat down at 18 different tables. Monday was quite similar with 21 tables being opened in a 3 hour window. However, as i've discussed before i'm refusing to play on tables that are too tight, and now make it a rule that on my immediate right I either have a fish, or a complete maniac or I have to leave the table.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Poker Freerolls
One additional bonus that you get from signing up with the right affiliate for rakeback/kickbacks, is that often the affiliate will put on monthly freerolls provided you play enough hands to qualify.
I'm not talking about the freerolls that the individual poker rooms put on, as they often have less than $1,000 prize money for several thousand players giving you an equity of 50c at best but more often something like 5c.
The affiliate freerolls tend to have several thousand dollars in prize money, and generally a limited number of players. For example this month I qualified for the raketherake freeroll on Interpoker. It has a prize pool of $6,000 with approx 250 players max. Take out 50 or so that don't bother to turn up, and another 50 or so that are total muppets, and I'd have an equity of about $24. With any luck I could finish substantially higher than that though.
Now i'm a fairly average tourney player but normally cash in these without too much stress, although my attention span seems to wander after a couple hours. Nevertheless, its a good bit of additional value and is relatively stress free.
If interested feel free to use my RTR link on the right. They generally have some pretty decent bonuses on top of regular rakeback, and their freerolls are fairly regular.
Played about half an hour last night, and really struggled to find good tables, so often ended up playing a single orbit and quitting. It was reasonably productive though making about 10BBs on the $2/4 tables and about 5BBs on the $3/6. Nothing really of interest, with no big hands. Just a regular grind playing big hands preflop with a few cbets paying off.
Current bankroll: $14,150
I'm not talking about the freerolls that the individual poker rooms put on, as they often have less than $1,000 prize money for several thousand players giving you an equity of 50c at best but more often something like 5c.
The affiliate freerolls tend to have several thousand dollars in prize money, and generally a limited number of players. For example this month I qualified for the raketherake freeroll on Interpoker. It has a prize pool of $6,000 with approx 250 players max. Take out 50 or so that don't bother to turn up, and another 50 or so that are total muppets, and I'd have an equity of about $24. With any luck I could finish substantially higher than that though.
Now i'm a fairly average tourney player but normally cash in these without too much stress, although my attention span seems to wander after a couple hours. Nevertheless, its a good bit of additional value and is relatively stress free.
If interested feel free to use my RTR link on the right. They generally have some pretty decent bonuses on top of regular rakeback, and their freerolls are fairly regular.
Played about half an hour last night, and really struggled to find good tables, so often ended up playing a single orbit and quitting. It was reasonably productive though making about 10BBs on the $2/4 tables and about 5BBs on the $3/6. Nothing really of interest, with no big hands. Just a regular grind playing big hands preflop with a few cbets paying off.
Current bankroll: $14,150
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Got called a fish
Only got in another 15 minutes of poker or so last night, but hopefully will be able to put in a longer session tonight.
I only need about another 60mpps on Interpoker to finally get my 150 pounds + $120 so really lookin forward to that. Might not be able to make it tonight still, as the time i'll be playing is when Crypto is particularly dead - although double ups will probably be running but won't give me enough mpps.
In my session last night I found myself up against a guy who berated me for being a fish. It was on Cake, and only a $1/2 table as there were no juicy larger tables running. I had notes on this guy from a number of times I played against him. They read something like:
"Aggressive muppet. Huge VPIP & PFR. cbet 3x wth air. Can c/r flp wth air. Call down any pair. Reraise light". (as well as a few examples of his plays after that)
Anyways, i'd seen him earlier attempt to steal the big blind from the SB and then 3 bet the big blind's reraise with 94s preflop and then he bet the flop, turn and river on a board of 4TJr, 7,5. BB had AK.
For my hand against him, I find myself with 99 in the CO, and raise preflop.
On the poker points front from my last post, I forgot to mention I do have about 7k FPPs on stars, so I need to find out what is the best way to turn them into cash. (bearing in mind I have $0 bankroll on that site). Any ideas would be appreciated, although I could probably quite easily look it up on 2p2 myself. (and have to trawl through various rubbish ideas to find the right answer).
Current bankroll: $14,100
I only need about another 60mpps on Interpoker to finally get my 150 pounds + $120 so really lookin forward to that. Might not be able to make it tonight still, as the time i'll be playing is when Crypto is particularly dead - although double ups will probably be running but won't give me enough mpps.
In my session last night I found myself up against a guy who berated me for being a fish. It was on Cake, and only a $1/2 table as there were no juicy larger tables running. I had notes on this guy from a number of times I played against him. They read something like:
"Aggressive muppet. Huge VPIP & PFR. cbet 3x wth air. Can c/r flp wth air. Call down any pair. Reraise light". (as well as a few examples of his plays after that)
Anyways, i'd seen him earlier attempt to steal the big blind from the SB and then 3 bet the big blind's reraise with 94s preflop and then he bet the flop, turn and river on a board of 4TJr, 7,5. BB had AK.
For my hand against him, I find myself with 99 in the CO, and raise preflop.
- He is the only caller from the BB on a flop of J36r.
- I bet, and he check/raises.
- I'm thinking there's a chance he has a J but based on my notes I can't really fold here in a 7sb pot as there's a good chance i'm ahead given his tendency to bet air.
- I'm tempted to 3bet but don't - possibly a mistake, but for some reason it felt a bit thin against the check/raise even with my notes on him. (plus the fact i'm in position and if he is bluffing he can keep barelling off)
- The turn is an 8 and the board is a complete rainbow which he bets and I am calling down here (again possibly a reraise is better).
- The river is a hail mary 9 which he then bets again so I obviously raise.
- He calls and shows J3o for a flopped 2 pair... and then goes mental calling me a total fish amongst other things.
- I just had a bit of a laugh although couldn't resist calling him a muppet for his J3o call - I know I shouldn't have said anything, but he just got madder.
- Unfortunately I then had to quit - which probably pissed him off even more - but it would have been nice to take some more $ from him.
On the poker points front from my last post, I forgot to mention I do have about 7k FPPs on stars, so I need to find out what is the best way to turn them into cash. (bearing in mind I have $0 bankroll on that site). Any ideas would be appreciated, although I could probably quite easily look it up on 2p2 myself. (and have to trawl through various rubbish ideas to find the right answer).
Current bankroll: $14,100
Monday, November 24, 2008
Poker points
One of the small benefits (or problems depending on which way you look at it) of bonus chasing is that you also accrue a bunch of poker points. The problem is they're usually a relatively small amount, and spread across a stack of different sites.
Some of them are relatively simple to convert into cash -
Some of them are relatively simple to convert into cash -
- Bodog - converts 1 point to 1c with a minimum of 500 points
- Party poker - converts 1 point to 1c with a minimum of 2000 points (or so .. i should check that one)
- Everest - 1 point = $0.004
Others, not so simply, where you need to use your points to enter tournaments and hope to cash in those tournaments, or qualify in those tournaments and cash in the next tournament down the chain.
For example, I have about 20k points on Full Tilt, and i've decided to use them on the 1800fpp sitngos where the top 3 win a $23 (or so) tournament entry ticket. I think the next step is to enter a tournament and try to cash, or enter a satellite and hopefully win another ticket that I can deregister for tournament $ and then play lower stake tourneys. Sounds like a pain in the ass? Well .. yes. Cake is similar but using Gold chips instead of points, which I have a fair stack of. Cake also has gold cards which i've occasionally converted into cash through tournaments. I have one fairly rare Cake gold card that i'm hoping to be able to convert to cash directly sooner or later whenever it comes up in their lottery.
Other sites you buy bonuses with your points which basically convert them to cash, but you need to actually have earnt enough points for the bonus, and then you have to play through to clear it.
Finally, other sites have points that dont actually do anything at all. Go figure.
Many sites also have a shop that you can convert your points into stuff. I generally prefer cash, but there are probably decent options out there.
I really need to go through all my sites that i've signed up for and cashed out of to see if I have points that I can use for something - effectively I had basically written them off if they didn't convert directly to cash, but obviously they do have some value that I may be able to extract.
I'll have to look at what I can do with relatively few points on Pacific, Interpoker, Ultimate bet, Mansion, Gnuf, Sun, Littlewoods, Titan, Cake, William Hill, 24poker, Pokerroom to name just a few. I'm still wondering if my Fulltilt method is the best as well or if there are better options.
So far i've played in one of the 1,800 FTP tourneys and won a $23 token. It basically played like a double up sitngo since it has a flat prize structure.
Didn't actually get to play much last night - maybe 10 minutes for virtually no movement in the bankroll.
Current bankroll: $14,100
Monday, November 10, 2008
Poker bonus status
Sometimes its kinda tricky to keep track of where you are at when clearing multiple bonuses at a time, so I thought i'd better step back and work out exactly what I have outstanding that needs to be cleared.
- *Interpoker - Earned a little over 1200mpps out of 1500 required by 30 November to clear around $370. This is priority #1.
- Bodog - Reload bonus of $200, which i've probably cleared about $50. Expires 26 November, but you don't have to clear the entire bonus to receive it - effectively you earn it to the nearest 1c which is quite generous. I'll reload again as soon as it expires and pays me out.
- Cake - Reload bonus of $100, which i've done $30 of. Haven't played much cake since the first day or two though. I think cake bonuses last 60 or 90 days, but clear in $10 chunks so there is no real rush to complete this one.**
- Party poker - did a small 8x reload just to maintain my party points before they change their points system in December. Only need another 50 points for about a $10 bonus so takes no time at all on $2/4. Probably priority #2 as it wont take long to clear and does expire in a week or so.
*Already credited my bankroll for $150 in Oct
**Since it clears in $10 chunks i've already received the $30 into my bankroll.
Hmm .. I guess its not all that difficult to track, but is relatively easy to forget about a bonus, particularly if you open other sites as a priority and find fishy enough tables to play on.
I put in under half an hour last night, and made a few BBs on Cake $3/6 and Interpoker $2/4. The bodog $1/2 tables managed to be losers .. again. I just cannot seem to run even remotely warmly there, but it doesnt really matter if i'm winning a few BBs at higher stakes. At least my Interpoker balance is starting to head in the right direction - hopefully it keeps going as i'm fairly sure I will play their monthly bonuses each month as well after I clear this sign up bonus.
It was a bit of a struggle to find fishy tables last night and I ended up opening a few that I only sat on for an orbit or two when they started with an average players per flop of 50% and then promptly dropped to 35% as soon as I joined.
I also received my credits for the weekend's efforts on Bodog .. only about $20 which was a bit disappointing given my loss there .. but better than nothing.
Current bankroll: $13,850
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Attributes for a successful poker player
Thought I might just copy, paste and modify my response to one of TiocfaidhArLa comments as it might be useful to come back to one day. Basically the question was:
"if someone wanted to emulate your success what are the key attributes they need - discipline, attention to detail, study, natural talent for games etc?"
So in answering from my perspective and what works for me -
Conservatism - (this probably sounds weird as an attribute for effectively gambling, however I don't really view poker as a gamble - to me its more like I have a small edge so the more I play the more likely I am to win). I am not at all worried about dropping down levels when I have a cool run. I'm a bankroll nit to a high degree ... i like to have several 1,000 BBs in my bankroll. (ie bearing in mind i've lost 300BBs once before, that would be a disaster to say a 500BB bankroll which i'm not prepared to go through). I guess this relates to bankroll management most directly, and as they say if you don't manage your bankroll correctly you are going broke. I don't want to go broke.
Discipline - includes a) not tilting, and quitting immediately when seeing it coming on. b) the ability to actual notice tilt coming on. c) always table selecting and quitting tables as soon as they turn poor.
Preparation - Study I am admittedly a bit lazy on however I read the stox book and the boerer book early on and occasionally hit up 2p2 but I don't do as much as I should. Yes I use their basic charts for starting hands, and used to have a hard copy out whenever I played. Now I would play basically to those charts adjusting for opponents off the top of my head.
Self Analysis - I review my own stats regularly, particularly after a bit of a losing run. I find that I sometimes become a bit too showdown bound which I have to reign in. Most of the time though its just variance and running super cool at showdowns. Hot runs tend to be the reverse.
Opponent Analysis - The use of software tools is invaluable. I use Pokertracker2 for my database and Gametime+ as my HUD although i'm fairly sure i'd do better with pokerace, but will wait till PT3 is compatible with all sites before I get it. The key thing here though is to be able to adjust my play slightly depending upon opponent tendencies. On sites that don't allow Pokertracker I make sure I take notes and rate every single opponent.
Confidence - When i'm confident I can beat any given level, and not play scared i'm generally the most successful. (Although overconfidence might lead to playing too many hands which would be very bad). For me the confidence baseline is still probably at $1/2 where i'm sure I can clean up over the long term. I'm fairly sure I can do the same at $2/4 and $3/6 but when in doubt I still drop back, although admittedly most of my $1/2 play is on Bodog which doesn't have $2/4 or $3/6 6 max and I will now be playing more 2/4 and 3/6 cake and interpoker.
Perceptive and flexible - this can be as simple as being aware of someone's stats, and how you should play against them. For example if they rarely showdown you know to put real pressure on them on early streets. If you get resistance from one of these players you'd know to throw it away unless you have a strong hand. Also if you notice someone times out when you're heads up against them and you're the next to act, you want to isnta-raise and hope they don't have any disconnect protection to take an easy pot. Some people may think this a little unethical, but I figure it happens to me sometimes so it would all even out. In my last session when the guy reconnected he said he had flopped a boat versus my 3rd pair ...
Adaptable - if you're playing relatively small stakes and want to get the best returns you need to be able to sign up at multiple sites to gain the best deals. For example, many of the one off PSO sign up bonuses offer returns far in excess of 100% rakeback, so its often in my best interest to play on new sites. I also find myself often playing on multiple sites at the same time due to limited traffic or fishy tables on the individual sites. Takes a little getting used to, but I have adapted. Will I adapt to other games or NL? Maybe. One day.
Concentration - if you cant concentrate on the action and the tables then poker would quickly become a losing venture. Making a mess of a single hand for say 10BBs by misclicking the fold button undoes 750 or so hands of good solid play.
Self awareness - you need to know your own strengths and weaknesses and in particular your limitations. For me, i'm generally only able to concentrate for maybe a couple hours max, and the majority of my sessions are probably more like half an hour to an hour. This means i'll often take a break and do something else after a session before coming back to it. It also means that i'm probably never going to get huge value from a MTT as I just end up losing concentration and making some bonehead play when I just make it into the money.
Inquisitive - A desire to know the ins and outs of any rakeback or bonus deals is important in being able to assess how good a particular deal is. Also realising that rakeback figures alone don't necessarily tell the whole story on how good a site is, particularly where rake taken can vary significantly. For example 27%RB of a 2BB/100 rake is far better than 40%RB of a 3BB/100 rake.
Patience - even after beat after beat, you still need to be patient and wait for the right hands. Sure I have runs of playing less than 10% of hands, which is extremely low at 6 max, but other times you hit premium hand after premium hand and more than make up for it. (Provided you don't run out of patience, tilt, and lose a stack of BBs)
I might add some if I think of anymore ....
All that being said, i'm still not 100% sure i'm a winning player, although have done okay so far. I guess though the key thing to note is that total return is far more important than actually winning at the table which is why rakeback and bonuses are so important to me. Will be interesting to see how the next few months go.
I'm sure others would have advanced through the ranks quicker through much less conservative bankroll management, but i'm comfortable with my progress. I might actually be a bit further along if the share market wasnt killin me at the moment and i hadn't withdrawn quite as much of my bankroll, but thats another story ...
"if someone wanted to emulate your success what are the key attributes they need - discipline, attention to detail, study, natural talent for games etc?"
So in answering from my perspective and what works for me -
Conservatism - (this probably sounds weird as an attribute for effectively gambling, however I don't really view poker as a gamble - to me its more like I have a small edge so the more I play the more likely I am to win). I am not at all worried about dropping down levels when I have a cool run. I'm a bankroll nit to a high degree ... i like to have several 1,000 BBs in my bankroll. (ie bearing in mind i've lost 300BBs once before, that would be a disaster to say a 500BB bankroll which i'm not prepared to go through). I guess this relates to bankroll management most directly, and as they say if you don't manage your bankroll correctly you are going broke. I don't want to go broke.
Discipline - includes a) not tilting, and quitting immediately when seeing it coming on. b) the ability to actual notice tilt coming on. c) always table selecting and quitting tables as soon as they turn poor.
Preparation - Study I am admittedly a bit lazy on however I read the stox book and the boerer book early on and occasionally hit up 2p2 but I don't do as much as I should. Yes I use their basic charts for starting hands, and used to have a hard copy out whenever I played. Now I would play basically to those charts adjusting for opponents off the top of my head.
Self Analysis - I review my own stats regularly, particularly after a bit of a losing run. I find that I sometimes become a bit too showdown bound which I have to reign in. Most of the time though its just variance and running super cool at showdowns. Hot runs tend to be the reverse.
Opponent Analysis - The use of software tools is invaluable. I use Pokertracker2 for my database and Gametime+ as my HUD although i'm fairly sure i'd do better with pokerace, but will wait till PT3 is compatible with all sites before I get it. The key thing here though is to be able to adjust my play slightly depending upon opponent tendencies. On sites that don't allow Pokertracker I make sure I take notes and rate every single opponent.
Confidence - When i'm confident I can beat any given level, and not play scared i'm generally the most successful. (Although overconfidence might lead to playing too many hands which would be very bad). For me the confidence baseline is still probably at $1/2 where i'm sure I can clean up over the long term. I'm fairly sure I can do the same at $2/4 and $3/6 but when in doubt I still drop back, although admittedly most of my $1/2 play is on Bodog which doesn't have $2/4 or $3/6 6 max and I will now be playing more 2/4 and 3/6 cake and interpoker.
Perceptive and flexible - this can be as simple as being aware of someone's stats, and how you should play against them. For example if they rarely showdown you know to put real pressure on them on early streets. If you get resistance from one of these players you'd know to throw it away unless you have a strong hand. Also if you notice someone times out when you're heads up against them and you're the next to act, you want to isnta-raise and hope they don't have any disconnect protection to take an easy pot. Some people may think this a little unethical, but I figure it happens to me sometimes so it would all even out. In my last session when the guy reconnected he said he had flopped a boat versus my 3rd pair ...
Adaptable - if you're playing relatively small stakes and want to get the best returns you need to be able to sign up at multiple sites to gain the best deals. For example, many of the one off PSO sign up bonuses offer returns far in excess of 100% rakeback, so its often in my best interest to play on new sites. I also find myself often playing on multiple sites at the same time due to limited traffic or fishy tables on the individual sites. Takes a little getting used to, but I have adapted. Will I adapt to other games or NL? Maybe. One day.
Concentration - if you cant concentrate on the action and the tables then poker would quickly become a losing venture. Making a mess of a single hand for say 10BBs by misclicking the fold button undoes 750 or so hands of good solid play.
Self awareness - you need to know your own strengths and weaknesses and in particular your limitations. For me, i'm generally only able to concentrate for maybe a couple hours max, and the majority of my sessions are probably more like half an hour to an hour. This means i'll often take a break and do something else after a session before coming back to it. It also means that i'm probably never going to get huge value from a MTT as I just end up losing concentration and making some bonehead play when I just make it into the money.
Inquisitive - A desire to know the ins and outs of any rakeback or bonus deals is important in being able to assess how good a particular deal is. Also realising that rakeback figures alone don't necessarily tell the whole story on how good a site is, particularly where rake taken can vary significantly. For example 27%RB of a 2BB/100 rake is far better than 40%RB of a 3BB/100 rake.
Patience - even after beat after beat, you still need to be patient and wait for the right hands. Sure I have runs of playing less than 10% of hands, which is extremely low at 6 max, but other times you hit premium hand after premium hand and more than make up for it. (Provided you don't run out of patience, tilt, and lose a stack of BBs)
I might add some if I think of anymore ....
All that being said, i'm still not 100% sure i'm a winning player, although have done okay so far. I guess though the key thing to note is that total return is far more important than actually winning at the table which is why rakeback and bonuses are so important to me. Will be interesting to see how the next few months go.
I'm sure others would have advanced through the ranks quicker through much less conservative bankroll management, but i'm comfortable with my progress. I might actually be a bit further along if the share market wasnt killin me at the moment and i hadn't withdrawn quite as much of my bankroll, but thats another story ...
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Small session ... non event
Dropped a few BBs in a less than 30 minute session. Had a nice seat next to a 60/45/5/40 player, but I just didn't seem to hit anything, and when I had my JJ overpair to the board his T4s flopped a 4 and rivered a T ... Add in a few more reasonable pots on hands like that and even with a couple hands that hold up I still end up down for the session.
This weekend i'll be trying to clear some more interpoker mpps. I've only done maybe 350 so far and need 1,500 to clear my bonus by 30 November. Plenty of time, but i'd rather be ahead of schedule than behind. The next weekend I should also be able to put in a bit of time at the tables so should get myself well in front of schedule.
Hoping to start running a little better on Interpoker, as i'm still at -3bb/100 there from 1,000 hands or so. But I guess its an improvement over the -10BB/100 that I was running at after starting off super cold.
Don't have much time today so i'll leave it there. Post again after the weekend, where surely I will be 100BBs up .... heh
Current bankroll: $13,350
This weekend i'll be trying to clear some more interpoker mpps. I've only done maybe 350 so far and need 1,500 to clear my bonus by 30 November. Plenty of time, but i'd rather be ahead of schedule than behind. The next weekend I should also be able to put in a bit of time at the tables so should get myself well in front of schedule.
Hoping to start running a little better on Interpoker, as i'm still at -3bb/100 there from 1,000 hands or so. But I guess its an improvement over the -10BB/100 that I was running at after starting off super cold.
Don't have much time today so i'll leave it there. Post again after the weekend, where surely I will be 100BBs up .... heh
Current bankroll: $13,350
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Double up SNGs
I've played a few of these double your money SNGs on interpoker, mainly the 6 man ones, just as a bit of a break from the cash tables. They're actually reasonably fun, and relatively quick, as you only have to make it into the top half of the field to double your cash, and as soon as half the field is out, everyone goes all in.
So far the opponents i've seen have been a lot looser than I would have expected, although i've only played at the $5-$20 buy in level. I used to play them on Sun which is also on the Crypto network, but I think I played too many and got bored. Now its a nice change of pace again, so I figure i'll keep playing them from time to time.
My strategy in them so far has been to play tight early on, although if i can overlimp in cheap with either a pocket pair or suited connector I will give that a go too. Late game as the blinds increase I try to steal a few blinds from the mid stacks to maintain my stack, but generally don't get involved in a confrontation unless I have something relatively strong. I think patience is the key in these, as you're not necessarily aiming to win, just survive to the top half.
Also they credit 3mpps per $ in fees, and when you add in rakeback as well i'm paying virtually no rake whilst my bonus is still clearing.
I did get to play for a little over an hour last night, and had an interesting little session. There weren't many Interpoker tables running so I had to sniff around at Bodog and also opened one on Pacific. I could not believe how cold I started running. On Pacific I just couldn't hit anything, and even with a bit of a comback late in the session, I was running at a WTSD of 20%!!! ... and of those I was only winning 40%. WTF. Admittedly the suckouts were coming thick and fast. My Bodog and Interpoker tables also started terribly, but after the first 15 minutes turned around completely. On Interpoker I ended up at a 35% WTSD with a 75%W$SD, and had not quite as good, but similar results on Bodog.
Add in a couple small double up wins, and my bankroll increased by about 20BBs. WOuld have been more but Pacific was my big loser at $2/4, Interpoker was a big winner at $2/4, but Bodog was only at $1/2.
Current bankroll: $13,350
Note to self: go back through notes to self and actually post about them when they are relevant
So far the opponents i've seen have been a lot looser than I would have expected, although i've only played at the $5-$20 buy in level. I used to play them on Sun which is also on the Crypto network, but I think I played too many and got bored. Now its a nice change of pace again, so I figure i'll keep playing them from time to time.
My strategy in them so far has been to play tight early on, although if i can overlimp in cheap with either a pocket pair or suited connector I will give that a go too. Late game as the blinds increase I try to steal a few blinds from the mid stacks to maintain my stack, but generally don't get involved in a confrontation unless I have something relatively strong. I think patience is the key in these, as you're not necessarily aiming to win, just survive to the top half.
Also they credit 3mpps per $ in fees, and when you add in rakeback as well i'm paying virtually no rake whilst my bonus is still clearing.
I did get to play for a little over an hour last night, and had an interesting little session. There weren't many Interpoker tables running so I had to sniff around at Bodog and also opened one on Pacific. I could not believe how cold I started running. On Pacific I just couldn't hit anything, and even with a bit of a comback late in the session, I was running at a WTSD of 20%!!! ... and of those I was only winning 40%. WTF. Admittedly the suckouts were coming thick and fast. My Bodog and Interpoker tables also started terribly, but after the first 15 minutes turned around completely. On Interpoker I ended up at a 35% WTSD with a 75%W$SD, and had not quite as good, but similar results on Bodog.
Add in a couple small double up wins, and my bankroll increased by about 20BBs. WOuld have been more but Pacific was my big loser at $2/4, Interpoker was a big winner at $2/4, but Bodog was only at $1/2.
Current bankroll: $13,350
Note to self: go back through notes to self and actually post about them when they are relevant
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Interpoker bonus
Finally got round to checking how my bonus was going compared to rake on Interpoker.
Pokertracker2 tells me that i've paid approx $67 in rake. Interestingly, my RTR indicates a rake paid of $83. Not sure what the difference is - maybe PT2 is calculating contributed rake, versus RTR paying rakeback on dealt?
I've also earnt 280mpps - and need to get to 1,500mpps to clear $370 (150pounds + $120) in bonus cash. So effectively that's around $70 of the bonus cleared.
All up then my bonus appears to be clearing at around 100%, and then the cream on top is the rakeback of $27. Happy with the deal so far.
As far as play goes, I put in about half an hour last night, and started horrendously with a number of nasty suck outs in the space of 5 minutes putting me down by around 30BBs. One particularly nasty one was when I held AK on a board of AK8r. Turn 3, river 6. I got called all the way and reraised on the river by a guy showing down 66 ... wtf were they thinking. Add in a few similar beats and i'm ready to punch a hole in my monitor.
However, the remainder of the session was significantly improved, and these clowns kept calling down with trash, and my hands kept holding up. I also managed to hit a flush draw or two for the nut flush in a couple big pots which also helped. In the end I was around 15BBs up on a combination of $1/2 and $2/4 tables.
I also dabbled briefly on a full ring table which had a players per flop of 50%. Unfortunately by the 2nd orbit the 3 massive fish had busted out, so I quit as well after breaking even, but making quite a few MPPs just because they were building big pots every hand.
Current bankroll: $13,300
note to self next post - considering eurolinx through RTR to get back onto some fishy microgaming.
Pokertracker2 tells me that i've paid approx $67 in rake. Interestingly, my RTR indicates a rake paid of $83. Not sure what the difference is - maybe PT2 is calculating contributed rake, versus RTR paying rakeback on dealt?
I've also earnt 280mpps - and need to get to 1,500mpps to clear $370 (150pounds + $120) in bonus cash. So effectively that's around $70 of the bonus cleared.
All up then my bonus appears to be clearing at around 100%, and then the cream on top is the rakeback of $27. Happy with the deal so far.
As far as play goes, I put in about half an hour last night, and started horrendously with a number of nasty suck outs in the space of 5 minutes putting me down by around 30BBs. One particularly nasty one was when I held AK on a board of AK8r. Turn 3, river 6. I got called all the way and reraised on the river by a guy showing down 66 ... wtf were they thinking. Add in a few similar beats and i'm ready to punch a hole in my monitor.
However, the remainder of the session was significantly improved, and these clowns kept calling down with trash, and my hands kept holding up. I also managed to hit a flush draw or two for the nut flush in a couple big pots which also helped. In the end I was around 15BBs up on a combination of $1/2 and $2/4 tables.
I also dabbled briefly on a full ring table which had a players per flop of 50%. Unfortunately by the 2nd orbit the 3 massive fish had busted out, so I quit as well after breaking even, but making quite a few MPPs just because they were building big pots every hand.
Current bankroll: $13,300
note to self next post - considering eurolinx through RTR to get back onto some fishy microgaming.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Potentially good .. and bad news
Well looks like Littlewoods has indeed moved to the 888 network, and there does appear to be a reasonable likelihood rakeback will be carried over ... will be watching developments closely.
On the bad news side, I can't see the William Hill time played bonus anymore ... very very disappointing.
On the bad news side, I can't see the William Hill time played bonus anymore ... very very disappointing.
Still running well + free party cash
Only played all of 10 minutes last night, and still ended 15BBs up.
Won two key hands, firstly in a blind v blind battle with me in the BB with AA, and SB holding KK. Betting capped preflop, SB bets out the flop of A72r, I call. SB bets out blank turn, I raise, SB calls. SB checks blank river, I raise, SB calls and shows KK ... I think that's the maximum I could have gotten there.
Only other hand was when a fairly aggro LAG raised from the button preflop and I have A7s in the BB. I am the only caller. Flop is 568r and he bets out, which I then raise with the OESD and the A. He calls. Turn is an A which he bets out, so I raise, he reraises and I call. River is a Q. He checks .. weird .. so I raise, he calls and flips over 77. He was drawing to 1 out to win the hand, and 8 to chop.
Party also gave me another $15 free (but restricted) money to play with, so I took that to the blackjack table. I only bet $10 on the first hand, which was kinda silly as I won that one, so took my $10 profit out to add to my bankroll. Second hand I put on $15 and dealer scores blackjack, so that's game over. Still .. $10 for free and about 2 minutes work I can't complain about.
Weekends comin up so thats it for me for the week.
Current bankroll: $13,350
Won two key hands, firstly in a blind v blind battle with me in the BB with AA, and SB holding KK. Betting capped preflop, SB bets out the flop of A72r, I call. SB bets out blank turn, I raise, SB calls. SB checks blank river, I raise, SB calls and shows KK ... I think that's the maximum I could have gotten there.
Only other hand was when a fairly aggro LAG raised from the button preflop and I have A7s in the BB. I am the only caller. Flop is 568r and he bets out, which I then raise with the OESD and the A. He calls. Turn is an A which he bets out, so I raise, he reraises and I call. River is a Q. He checks .. weird .. so I raise, he calls and flips over 77. He was drawing to 1 out to win the hand, and 8 to chop.
Party also gave me another $15 free (but restricted) money to play with, so I took that to the blackjack table. I only bet $10 on the first hand, which was kinda silly as I won that one, so took my $10 profit out to add to my bankroll. Second hand I put on $15 and dealer scores blackjack, so that's game over. Still .. $10 for free and about 2 minutes work I can't complain about.
Weekends comin up so thats it for me for the week.
Current bankroll: $13,350
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Cake reload complete
Got in about two and a half hours over the weekend, which was time enough to hit the $2/4 tables on Cake to clear my latest reload in full. I think about $50 for the month which is okay.
I then withdrew most of my bankroll there, and will deposit and play there again when the next reload is offered. Till then, will give Cake a miss, as there's not much point in playing when i'm not getting both rakeback and a reload bonus.
I also reloaded on Bodog for their reload bonus, and have started clearing that. Don't quite have enough of a bankroll on there yet to risk playing $4/8, but hopefully should have shortly. If I didnt cash out about half of my bonus there to another site, i'd probably have enough, but I'd rather make sure i'm cashing out regularly there given rumors regarding the site. Can't say i've had any problems though, and cashouts have been processed within about 10 hours for me there so far.
Also just signed up to a decent Pacific deal, although the actual bonus part of the deal looks fairly tough to achieve (well except the up front payment part - although i'm still not sure exactly how many points I need to clear that even). Hadn't really researched that I need to go buy handgrabbing software for Pacific if I want to track my opponents. I might have to look into sourcing the handgrabbing software at the best deal possible. Maybe through a sign up deal somewhere and pick up the bodog handgrabber at the same time.
(Oh, and if anyone is looking for a pretty good Pacific deal flick me a message).
I'm still not 100% certain how much i'll play on pacific, but the blindman seems to think its a great site. Will see.. i'll just have to avoid the tables he's on :)
Anyways the weekend went okay, although I did lag out a couple times, so i'm not sure if my router or ISP is working 100% at the moment. Managed to make about 30BBs on a combination of $1/2 and $2/4 tables. Had a fantastic start where I did a couple of big suckouts when holding a good but 2nd best hand - which then promptly turned around when a couple fish sucked out on me over and over again. Oh well. At least the session ended up!
Might post on goals etc again soon .. or might not ... depends if I think it through any further.
Current Bankroll: $13,050
I then withdrew most of my bankroll there, and will deposit and play there again when the next reload is offered. Till then, will give Cake a miss, as there's not much point in playing when i'm not getting both rakeback and a reload bonus.
I also reloaded on Bodog for their reload bonus, and have started clearing that. Don't quite have enough of a bankroll on there yet to risk playing $4/8, but hopefully should have shortly. If I didnt cash out about half of my bonus there to another site, i'd probably have enough, but I'd rather make sure i'm cashing out regularly there given rumors regarding the site. Can't say i've had any problems though, and cashouts have been processed within about 10 hours for me there so far.
Also just signed up to a decent Pacific deal, although the actual bonus part of the deal looks fairly tough to achieve (well except the up front payment part - although i'm still not sure exactly how many points I need to clear that even). Hadn't really researched that I need to go buy handgrabbing software for Pacific if I want to track my opponents. I might have to look into sourcing the handgrabbing software at the best deal possible. Maybe through a sign up deal somewhere and pick up the bodog handgrabber at the same time.
(Oh, and if anyone is looking for a pretty good Pacific deal flick me a message).
I'm still not 100% certain how much i'll play on pacific, but the blindman seems to think its a great site. Will see.. i'll just have to avoid the tables he's on :)
Anyways the weekend went okay, although I did lag out a couple times, so i'm not sure if my router or ISP is working 100% at the moment. Managed to make about 30BBs on a combination of $1/2 and $2/4 tables. Had a fantastic start where I did a couple of big suckouts when holding a good but 2nd best hand - which then promptly turned around when a couple fish sucked out on me over and over again. Oh well. At least the session ended up!
Might post on goals etc again soon .. or might not ... depends if I think it through any further.
Current Bankroll: $13,050
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