Poker Wannabe: 11/18/2004

Bonus whoring is like drugs. Once you start it's so much fun that you can't stop. Every day it seems I find yet another site (or three) that I could try for a bonus. I have standards, of course, but while there are quite a few sites at which I refuse to trust my money, that still hasn't kept me from opening seven accounts this month to bring my grand total to 16 sites (including skins), with at least four more waiting in the wings.

So far this month I've tallied $770 in bonuses, with two more that I should complete in the next couple days that will bring my total to an even $1000. And I still have those aformentioned four sites to hit, plus Absolute Poker has just offered me a 20% reload bonus up to $210 (!!).

Arrgh! It's tough having so much free money thrown at me.

My goal was to try to finish all these bonuses this month since I have a lot on my plate starting with Thanksgiving and going on through to the new year. However, that plan is looking less and less likely. The Absolute bonus alone will take me 3000ish hands to clear. I'll just have to see how far I can get, and try to finish up the rest in the few free days I'll have in December.

No-Limit (Part deux)

I've been playing more no-limit in recent days, this time online. I signed up for an account on 24hPoker for--what else--the 100 Euro bonus they were offering (it's a Swedish site), and apparently their game selection seems to be (completely guesstimating here) about 90% NL and 10% limit. The limit was pretty rocky, but the NL seemed to have plenty of action, so I figured why not! I've really been wanting to branch out and learn other games well, and this would be as good a time as any to get more experience.

The first day was good--great in fact. Playing .50/1 and 1/2, I had a couple of people try to bluff me by going all-in and a couple other people call my all-in, and that let me peak at being up 420 Euros, and finish the day up 340 Euros (just FYI, the current exchange rate is approximately 1 Euro = $1.30).

The second day, however, showed me how crappy NL can be. I had QQ against KK and lost my stack at one table. At another table, I limped on the button with Th9h. Flop came AQJ with two hearts, turn was the 8d giving me a straght, and this guy who had KT (of course) played it perfectly, calling a small flop bet from a guy in EP, check-calling a somewhat larger turn bet by me and then check-raising me all-in on the river (not a heart). It was a huge pot and I was completely not expecting to see KT there. I in fact figured the guy hit two-pair or a set, since those seem to be all-in worthy hands at that site. That hand cost me approximately 180 Euros.

I had a couple other costly hands, one when I had AQ against AK and an A flopped, another where I flopped top-two and a guy went all in with a flush draw. I called and, of course, he hit.

So during that second day I plummeted 520 Euros to start before I once again had some people call my all-in when I had the nuts letting me finish the day down 220 Euros, up 120 Euros overall at the site.

Needless to say, I am swinging wildly at that site. And unfortunately I just don't have the NL experience to know whether or not such swings are typical, or for that matter, whether I'm even playing well.

Just like I did in limit, I'll probably have to just roll with the punches and take my lumps playing lots and lots of hands in order to learn what to expect in NL. I have at least one more day at that site before I clear my bonus. Let's hope I still have money left at that point!

Overall though the month has still been going great. Unless another brutal run happens like the last week of last month, I'll have some great results to report in my end-of-month recap.

Poker Wannabe

Life at the bottom of the barrel

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11/18/2004 - Bonus Whoring

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