Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Bonus Withdrawals



I can beat the hell-o out of the $25 NL tables at Poker Room and can’t get hardly a point towards bonus, go to the $1/$2 tables and get the hell-o beat out of me and get triple the points. Go figure. They don’t rake the $2/$4 tables till it is a $20 pot, so that is worthless for clearing bonus. Good if I played there all the time though. So it is going to be 4 tables at $1/$2 tomorrow for as long as I can stand it. Need to get on with the “bigger” picture but can’t leave all this bonus money just hanging out there.

As I posted before, I am going to scale back the bonus chasing. Now it is just going to be reloads and only at a few sites. I’m working on a “home” site; a place where I will play the most. I have narrowed it down to a few: Ultimate Bet, Party, and Absolute Poker.

I know there are a few people reading this and saying “Party! Go to Party Poker!” For my first attempt at “serious” $3/$6, I’m not sure I am ready for the variance at Party yet. That’s why I am leaning towards Ultimate Bet. The play there is weak/tight and there are enough tables to go around during the day.

Absolute Poker is good for the reloads. They have them all the time. The play there is like most anywhere else and with 10k in players a night, tables can be found. I’m not in love with the software but the reloads make up for that. It will make a good second site.

To me, if you are going to play poker seriously, use Poker Tracker and Game Time +, then you need to build a solid data base somewhere. Maybe my thinking is all wrong and I will find out later on that it really doesn’t matter but until then, I will go with this. I know that the more information you have about an opponent the better off you are, so why not carry that over to a particular site as well.

I have never had to move back down limits after moving up. At least not due to poker, I have had to cash out and been forced to start at lower limits again. This is mainly due to the fact that I have been cautious in my moves and made sure I was more than adequately bankrolled.

I think it just came to me why this is a bigger deal than it should be. I have been playing below my bankroll for a while now while chasing bonuses. I have, for the last few months, always had a bonus as a “safety net” and now that I have decided to cut that back, I realize that an off night will directly affect the bottom line. I’m having “Bonus Withdrawals”.

I had a goal. Playing correct poker has always been important but to be honest, winning poker as taken a back seat to clearing bonus and building bankroll to get back to $3/$6. I have been fortunate enough to win mostly AND clear bonus but the emphasis has been more on the bonus than the poker. Well, I made my goal. Now I guess I have to see if I am strong enough to handle the “bonus withdrawals” or will I have to throw in a crypto here and there and gradually ease away.


Till Next Time!

Monday, March 21, 2005

Love, Poker and To Do List



Love


I love my wife.

We have been married 12 years. She is a great supporter almost to a fault. I usually get her true feelings, if she disagrees or has a difference of opinion, eventually. (Usually late at night when I’m trying to sleep but I digress)

Saturday I get this: “You know I was very skeptical about this “poker thing” when you first mentioned it. (Playing full time) It’s turning out quite well.”

WOW! I was holding my breath after the first part.

I love my wife.

Poker

At the end of November when I turned down the transfer and effectively quit my job, I was bankrolled for $2/$4 comfortably and real close to my 300bb rule for $3/$6. After Christmas and deciding that we should pay off all our monthly debt to make things easier, my roll took a big hit and I turned into a full time bonus chaser to make it up. I only need to pay half the incoming bills so I was doing my share and building slowly. An unexpected expense in February put me behind the eight ball again but man what a March.

If I break even the rest of the month I will be very comfortably bankrolled for $3/$6 again and still have over $1000 in bonus to clear and five sites I will not get to till April. Poker has been “bery bery” good to me this month. I have made a big effort to tweak my game and looking for all the small edges I can get. I understood what all the books have said, the advice in posts from just about everyone. Now I believe it. Making good decisions is all that it’s about. The wins will follow. This month hasn’t been all about the wins either. I finished
Interpoker and Paradise Poker bonuses on the positive only because of the bonus. That’s OK though, if I was there for the long haul, I would have made it back. (Especially Paradise OMG!) Now all I have to do is finish up.

To Do List

As soon as Paradise and Interpoker money clear, it’s off to
Poker Room. I have about 45 days to clear it and most of my Absolute Poker so I will play one during the day and one at night.

Then
Poker Stars and Ultimate Bet. No expiration but next to be done.

Last,
Full Tilt. I will not get to reload there so I hope they carry it over like they do everything else. I have till July to finish the 1st time bonus. (If I'm going back I might as well do one more bonus!)

Then I will have to find a home, somewhere to play everyday because if all goes as planned the bonus chasing will stop. (Except for the good ones!) I’ll give you my opinions on that next time.

Till Next Time!