Running to Stand Still
Since my last blog entry, I feel like I've accomplished a whole lot of nothing. I finished the Golden Palace promotion and I cashed out with a tidy profit of more than $200, not including the bonus that I'll eventually receive from PSO. This promotion was far better than I expected it to be. It cleared relatively quickly; I liked the site; and the cashouts were reasonably quick, requiring no additional identification (to Neteller, at least).
I am still grinding away at my Dream Poker promotion. I am playing this one primarily by playing $1/$2 limit hold'em, although I've had a two sessions of 5-card stud (yep, 5-card) where I've lost around $30. So far, I have played more than 1300 hands of hold'em and I would guess that I am only about 60% of my way to clearing the bonus. Yep folks, the Dream Poker promotion clears VERY slowly. I don't quite regret starting it, but this is certainly the worst PSO promotion that I have attempted. First, I don't like the Prima system, in general (just my bias). Second, it's a contributed raked hands system, which is extra difficult to clear as a rather tight player. Third, low stakes no limit does not seem to work for me, so any chance that I had at playing more hands (I can play LAG and win at no limit), and thus clearing the bonus more quickly, does not apply here. My current estimate is that I'll need to play somewhere between 1800-1900 hands to clear the PSO promotion. That's a lot of play to get only $120 of bonus ($60 from Dream Poker, $60 from PSO).
I also deposited some money back into my Poker Room account. The Poker Room was one of my first PSO promotions, which I screwed it up terribly. I initially deposited enough to get the maximum bonus ($200), which is released at once after enough points are accumulated. The PSO promotion, however, completed at 600 points, much less than that required to clear the $200 Poker Room bonus. So, I did that one simply for the PSO points; in hindsight, I should have deposited only so much so that the bonus clear at 600 points (i.e., at the same time as the PSO bonus).
Anyway, this weekend, the Poker Room had a 7x reload bonus going, which I decided was worth attempting. I rationalized that it was better than the 9x Full Contact Poker bonus, which I was currently attempting (it's the same network, so why not?). I played well at first, increasing my stack by about $70, but then I started to donk away cash left and right. Then, I had a bad hand that cost me $90. The guy to my right was a complete maniac with a HUGE stack (like $350) that he had won by bullying people and/or catching miracle cards to suck out. I had built my stack up from $50 to around $90. I was dealt AA in the big blind; it was folded to him and he limped. I raised to 5x and he called (as I expected). The flop was T 6 2 and he bet out. I pushed all-in, figuring that he was call with any piece of the flop. Unfortunately, he held T6 and I lost my stack. Doh!
Last night, I realized that I was stuck about $90 at the Poker Room in my attempt to clear $50 worth of bonus; so I decided to stick to $50 NL, a game that I am confident that I can beat if I play well. The cards were generally bad for me all night, but near the end of the evening I made a crying call on the river with JJ (board: T 9 5 2 A) against a guy who had pushed all-in (he had KQ). I think I finished +$25 for the night, which is the start of a nice comeback.
I have also played a little bit at Full Tilt Poker, increasing my stack from $50 to $75. I almost lost it all last night, though. I noticed someone had signed-up for a HORSE SNG ($30+$1.50), so I bought in. Unfortunately, this guy was easily the best heads-up HORSE player that I have ever been against. First, he played all of the games well , which I've never seen before. He was particularly aggressive in Omaha 8/b, which is usually a game that I dominate. His aggression in that game, by the way, is a great strategy because you scoop the pot every time that you opponent folds. We were pretty evenly matched in the other games but he caught better cards. He won a huge pot in Razz with A 2 3 5 7 vs. my A 2 4 5 7 (identical cards showing). He then made a big call (bad call?) when he held only a pair of aces while I was showing four diamonds (I only had a pair of sixes). Given his skill and those two big hands that went against me, I had no chance in this match. Luckily, I immediately signed up for another HORSE SNG (again $30 + $1.50) and won it (easily), so I finished -$3 for the night.
As long-winded as this blog entry is already, I have even been playing at UltimateBet again. A couple of months ago, I deposited some money in my account there and played just a little bit. I eventually wihtdrew my original deposit once I showed a slight profit (like $20) and I have gradually built this up to a decent stack (like $140). I really like UltimateBet's software (and I have a ton of bonus cash to clear), so I might play there some more from now on.
One thing you might have noticed so far is that I haven't mentioned Party Poker once. I have been playing there very sparingly, primarily because they have taken away all of their bonus points for frequent play. I know longer can get 500 points points a month and 200 points a week for merely playing a few rake hands each day. So, I play there when I feel like it. But with perhaps a dozen or more better bonuses elsewhere, I don't see the point of playing there too much.
I am still grinding away at my Dream Poker promotion. I am playing this one primarily by playing $1/$2 limit hold'em, although I've had a two sessions of 5-card stud (yep, 5-card) where I've lost around $30. So far, I have played more than 1300 hands of hold'em and I would guess that I am only about 60% of my way to clearing the bonus. Yep folks, the Dream Poker promotion clears VERY slowly. I don't quite regret starting it, but this is certainly the worst PSO promotion that I have attempted. First, I don't like the Prima system, in general (just my bias). Second, it's a contributed raked hands system, which is extra difficult to clear as a rather tight player. Third, low stakes no limit does not seem to work for me, so any chance that I had at playing more hands (I can play LAG and win at no limit), and thus clearing the bonus more quickly, does not apply here. My current estimate is that I'll need to play somewhere between 1800-1900 hands to clear the PSO promotion. That's a lot of play to get only $120 of bonus ($60 from Dream Poker, $60 from PSO).
I also deposited some money back into my Poker Room account. The Poker Room was one of my first PSO promotions, which I screwed it up terribly. I initially deposited enough to get the maximum bonus ($200), which is released at once after enough points are accumulated. The PSO promotion, however, completed at 600 points, much less than that required to clear the $200 Poker Room bonus. So, I did that one simply for the PSO points; in hindsight, I should have deposited only so much so that the bonus clear at 600 points (i.e., at the same time as the PSO bonus).
Anyway, this weekend, the Poker Room had a 7x reload bonus going, which I decided was worth attempting. I rationalized that it was better than the 9x Full Contact Poker bonus, which I was currently attempting (it's the same network, so why not?). I played well at first, increasing my stack by about $70, but then I started to donk away cash left and right. Then, I had a bad hand that cost me $90. The guy to my right was a complete maniac with a HUGE stack (like $350) that he had won by bullying people and/or catching miracle cards to suck out. I had built my stack up from $50 to around $90. I was dealt AA in the big blind; it was folded to him and he limped. I raised to 5x and he called (as I expected). The flop was T 6 2 and he bet out. I pushed all-in, figuring that he was call with any piece of the flop. Unfortunately, he held T6 and I lost my stack. Doh!
Last night, I realized that I was stuck about $90 at the Poker Room in my attempt to clear $50 worth of bonus; so I decided to stick to $50 NL, a game that I am confident that I can beat if I play well. The cards were generally bad for me all night, but near the end of the evening I made a crying call on the river with JJ (board: T 9 5 2 A) against a guy who had pushed all-in (he had KQ). I think I finished +$25 for the night, which is the start of a nice comeback.
I have also played a little bit at Full Tilt Poker, increasing my stack from $50 to $75. I almost lost it all last night, though. I noticed someone had signed-up for a HORSE SNG ($30+$1.50), so I bought in. Unfortunately, this guy was easily the best heads-up HORSE player that I have ever been against. First, he played all of the games well , which I've never seen before. He was particularly aggressive in Omaha 8/b, which is usually a game that I dominate. His aggression in that game, by the way, is a great strategy because you scoop the pot every time that you opponent folds. We were pretty evenly matched in the other games but he caught better cards. He won a huge pot in Razz with A 2 3 5 7 vs. my A 2 4 5 7 (identical cards showing). He then made a big call (bad call?) when he held only a pair of aces while I was showing four diamonds (I only had a pair of sixes). Given his skill and those two big hands that went against me, I had no chance in this match. Luckily, I immediately signed up for another HORSE SNG (again $30 + $1.50) and won it (easily), so I finished -$3 for the night.
As long-winded as this blog entry is already, I have even been playing at UltimateBet again. A couple of months ago, I deposited some money in my account there and played just a little bit. I eventually wihtdrew my original deposit once I showed a slight profit (like $20) and I have gradually built this up to a decent stack (like $140). I really like UltimateBet's software (and I have a ton of bonus cash to clear), so I might play there some more from now on.
One thing you might have noticed so far is that I haven't mentioned Party Poker once. I have been playing there very sparingly, primarily because they have taken away all of their bonus points for frequent play. I know longer can get 500 points points a month and 200 points a week for merely playing a few rake hands each day. So, I play there when I feel like it. But with perhaps a dozen or more better bonuses elsewhere, I don't see the point of playing there too much.
posted by frazwood at 12:48 PM
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