My head hurts ….

OK, as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, and the purpose of my ‘Poker Experiment’ is to see how far I can go and how big my bankroll can get without an injection of cash from yours truly. I’ve been playing on-line poker for about 3 weeks now and am ready to make my move to a new poker room and take advance of a sign-up bonus to help increase my BR and get me close to playing in a $3/$6 game (which is where I would like to be in the long run). As the e-book suggested, have a look around and make sure you review the current offers as they change regularly to ensure you take advantage of the most lucrative offer [just for reference, the e-book suggests that you go to Paradise poker next].

So I’ve been looking around and … wow, this may be more elaborate and ‘crazier’ than I thought when I started out. I’m so taken back by what I’ve found that I’m not sure how to put it into words … perhaps the best way to describe it is with one of the web sites I found [www.bonuswhores.com]. Yes, that’s right, you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself. Crazy stuff I say. From what I can gather, people actually make a living doing this kind of thing – moving their money between different poker sites and collecting the bonus.

Don’t get me wrong, I know there are hundreds of poker sites out there and they are all vying for our $$$. And the way they try to attract us is by offering such incentives as sign-up bonuses, reload bonuses, etc. The kicker here is the whole affiliate market which offer even more swag on top of the poker rooms. [I’ll add more about affiliates in another post]

So, where does this leave me you ask … at a crossroads I think. After trying to digest some of what I’ve found I can go in one of two directions …

First, become a ‘bonus whore’ and continue to move my money around from poker site to poker site based on the best offers of the day and be consumed by ‘the offers’

or …

Go back to basics and just play poker.

Don’t get me wrong, choosing the latter doesn’t mean I’m not going to take advantage of said sign-up bonuses etc.

It is early on in my blog so I’ll tell you which way I’m going … to play poker. I’m still going to move my money around in the short term in order to build up my BR. But the key here is that I’m doing this (experiment) because I want to play poker. I’m not going to be consumed by all the offers that are out there and move my money around once or twice a week to make a few bucks – that would feel like a job to me and I already have one of those!!!

As for what is next, well my BR is about $125 [yes, took a bit of hit the last time I played] and am going to play tonight and cash out at the end of the night. I’ve narrowed my next site down to a couple and will do a final bit of research tonight while playing to make sure I’m going to the right place [not researching better offers, just want to make sure the site rates reasonably well amongst online poker players].

I’ll be back later this week with verdict and a progress update.

Until then, AA up

I know, I know, I’ve only just started and look at me slacking off already. Well it has been nearly a week (sorry about that!!!), and as in the past, some ups and downs. But this week has been more about ups then downs, which is nice. The BR is now at $142 … yeah.

Maybe it was couple of days off I took earlier this week!!! After a week straight of playing it was time for a break, clear my head and get back to the basics. I think the more you play and if you have a bit of success it can alter you play somewhat. You start to make some lose calls and maybe chase a few hands farther than you would normally. But I guess that is part of learning the game, part of being a beginner.

From the ‘this was a fun category’ … a guy in early position raises and I re-raise in late position with QQ, the button calls and early raiser caps the betting and I call. The flop comes 7JQ rainbow (what a beautiful site!!!). The early positions bets into me and I raise, button folds and we end up capping the betting. Turn comes blank and we cap the betting again (and I’m thinking, what does this guy have? He can’t be chasing anymore, maybe JJ or QJ.) The river comes T and he bets and I re-raise to put him all-in for a $10 pot. And he show JJ … can you believe it, set of Q over a set of J. I felt a bit bad for him until …

From the ‘that hurt category’ … I’m in the SB with AKh and a guy in late position raises and the button calls. I 3 bet UTG and the two others call. The flop comes Kd 2d 2c, I bet and everyone calls. The turn comes 3h, I bet, late postion folds and the button raises and everybody calls. (am thinking at this point what might he have, a pair of 33, wow) The river comes 9d and I’m a bit worried so check call it down and the button show J7d, flush!!! Ouch.

So I’ve just wrapped up playing for the night and the BR has dipped a bit, back down to $137.

Until next time, AA up (I hope!!!)

Win some, loose some, win some …. You get the idea. After a reasonably successful first week that ended on Sunday night with BR at about $138 I went into the tank on Monday. It was a train wreck that in hindsight I suppose was just waiting to happen. Beings my BR is so small I’ve been playing the 0.15/0.30 games at Party to get comfortable and some experience under my belt. Having had some success I figure it was time to ‘move up’. A couple of things contributed to my decision, first and probably foremost was the success I had at the lower limit games (likely my down fall!!), but also the need to play in the higher games when I move to the next step in the process of building my BR.

So Monday, I decide to setup at the 0.25/0.50 game (which by the way falls nicely in line with my current BR) and wow, what a night. I get just killed and lose almost all my previous winnings (all but $1). Granted I got some big hands cracked including 4 boats, 2 trips, AA, KK, and QQ, but I just played some bad poker too. There seemed to be much more preflop raising and (according to my judgment) more people chasing with nothing – meaning bad poker! I don’t know, but to me it was really different then the 0.215/0.30 game which surprised me quite a bit.

After feeling beaten I got Tuesday thinking it had to be just one of those nights and that is why managing your BR is sooooo important. I was able to sustain losing and come back for another night without too much worry. So, Tuesday night I figure I need to get back on the ‘horse’ and give it another go. Before starting I decide that I’m going to consciously play a bit tighter and not chase too many hands. I setup myself up at 2 0.25/0.50 tables (by the way, no way I’m playing anymore without at least 2 tables on the go!!!) and after a few early misses I hit a couple of good hands and I’m up some money. Once I was up I managed to keep it there and end the night +$22. So, BR is getting back on track at $123.

I’ve decided that I’m going to play a few more days – maybe until the end of the week at Party’s 0.25/0.50 game before moving on. The next step in the process with either be Paradise Poker (getting a 25% sign-up bonus) or Absolute (getting a 100% sign-up bonus). I’m only thinking about this because ideally I want to get as big a BR as I can before going to Absolute – thus getting a bigger bonus.

In closing some other general thoughts …

• As much fun as this is, playing poker, I think I may need to take a day off soon!!! I’ve played everyday since I got my free bankroll – the problem is I think I’m addicted. I’ll likely play again tonight but maybe I’ll take a night off before the end of the week (we’ll see!!!)
• Another explanation for what happened during my losing session the other night, I got bored at the tables and started playing too many hands. Even though I’m comfortable playing 2 tables at once, that still isn’t enough to keep me ‘busy’. So, I either start playing more tables (which I don’t think I’m ready for on a regular basis) or I find something else to do while play.
• What is that ‘something else to do while playing’, read more about poker!!! I have been doing lots of reading over the last six or eight months about poker but have recently stumbled across what I think may be the best place to learn about poker. I know, I’m slow and everybody probably knows this already, but the poker forums have really caught my interest lately. I’ve mostly been reading the forums at http://www.twoplustwo.com/, but they are everywhere – all the poker sites have them and I’m sure they are equally as good. Some good questions followed by some great discussions – I hope to start posting some of my entry level questions there soon (just need to build up the nerve to ask my simple basic questions!!!)

I think that’s it for now … back at it tonight likely and see if my good run can continue.

Until next time, AA up

Well well, what do you know … The email did come after all. So, after a quick phone call I had $75 in my Party Poker account. Who said you can’t get anything for free!!!

So as you would have guessed no blogs for the last few days as I’ve been busy playing poker. Beings this was my first time playing online poker for real money I wanted to make sure I was comfortable and confident before playing for stakes that could have a serious impact on my bankroll. So I sat down at the 0.15 / 0.30 limit hold’em tables.

I played for about an hours the first afternoon and was actually pretty successful … making a profit of about $12.00. Later that night I signed up for a 3 hour session with much less success, losing just over $14. So for the first day, I was down about $2.

However, while playing the night session I also played in a freeroll for new players at Party Poker. There were over 1600 people in the tournament and top prize was $1000 and the bubble was 180th place which paid $4. So after 3 hours I managed to finish in 92nd place winning $6.50. I actually hand interesting hand that busted me, I was in the SB with TT and the blinds at 500/1000 and my stack is just under 10k (10 BB). I’ve been playing fairly tight most of the tourney and figured this might be the time to go all in. After an early raise I reraised and got raised again … with a caller in between me and the raiser I go all in for 10k. The initial raiser calls me with KK and they hold up. I think after thinking about this hand for a while I made the right play and just ran into a better hand.

So in the end I’m up a couple of bucks after the first day with about 260 of my 500 raked hands need to claim the remaining $25 bonus.

Next up is Friday night, deciding to again dedicate 3 hours to playing. For the first hour and half I’m playing 2 tables and struggling to make any thing happen. I decided to start up another table and now have 3 tables in action. This is keeping pretty busy and not much is happening as I’m down money in all three. As my time is nearing the end I actually bust out of one of my tables losing my entire $7.50 but the other two finally start coming around. In the end I lose about 0.95 in one table but am up over $14 in the other. So for the night I’m +$6.20 … not bad. Also, I have managed to play my 500 raked hands and thus released my bonus. So… after a few days my bankroll now stands at $123. Not bad if I do say so myself. We’ll see how things progress.

Of all the hands I played one stands out as the most memorable … maybe even the best hands I’ve ever played. Playing at the 0.15/0.30 tables I was dealt AA in mid position and I raise and get 4 callers … pot is now $1.57. The flop comes AQQ giving me a boat and the second nuts. First to act checks, 2nd bets into me and I raise with a caller behind me and the initial raiser reraises as do I to cap the betting. He of course calls and two of us are left with $3.07 in the pot. We both cap the betting on the turn and the river and he show AQ … boat over boat … wow. I picked up $7.52 on the hand … cool stuff.

If anyone is interested, I forgot to include a link to the online book that go me started. Here it is … http://www.legendsofamerica.com/poker-testimonials.html

Until next time, AA up

Well I’m still waiting for my ‘free money’ as promised by one of the online poker site promotions. The premise of the system is the need for online poker sites to sign-up new members to play at their sites. In order for sites to sign-up new members they offer a variety of sign-up bonus for new members (as well as ‘reload’ bonuses for existing users).

The promotion that I’m following starts at Poker Source Online (http://www.pokersourceonline.com/) and offers new members who sign-up with Party Poker $75 free and once you meet certain release requirements (playing 500 raked hands) they will deposit another $25 in your account. Obviously I’m skeptical about the process but decided I have nothing to lose and in the end it would be fun way to start my bankroll. The initial setup is a bit cumbersome as you need to setup various accounts etc. but not too painful.

So, here I am, a week later and still waiting for my email telling me I have my initial $75 to play poker with … who know, will it ever come?

Looking further ahead, the process talks about how you should play very tight in order to meet your release requirements before moving to another other poker rooms and slowly (but surely) building your bankroll. All this is fine but it begs the question …. At what point do you simply stop the process and actually do something with the money?

With that in mind (and beings I’ve had time to think while I wait for my email!!!), I’ve decided to layout my goals in terms of bankroll and levels of play. There are many places you can find information about what your bankroll should be for various levels of hold’em (you can search any of the linked sites I have put on my page and they will give you some info), here is what I’m going to use as my guide …

Big Bet = 0.50 Bankroll = $100
Big Bet = 1.00 Bankroll = $200
Big Bet = 2.00 Bankroll = $400
Big Bet = 4.00 Bankroll = $800
Big Bet = 6.00 Bankroll = $1200

These are guidelines and I may adjust them once I get going a bit. That being said I will likely start at the 0.25/0.50 limit games and try to progress per the above chart. And just so I say so now, I have no expectations that this initial $100 will get me to $1200 – but what fun would it be if I didn’t have something to shoot for!!

The other element that I will no doubt pursue is playing in as many freeroll tournaments that I can and maybe even some small buy in tourneys that have nice payouts.

As stated above, all this hinges on the infamous email … lets hope I get it today or tomorrow so I can start my quest.
Until next time … AA up

Hi …

Well this is it, my first installment. I’ve been reading various blogs online for some time now and have found them to be interesting and in some cases insightful. For me the question has been, what to write about … well, I’ve been playing some online poker for about 8 months now (all for play money to this point) and I figured that this would be a good topic. Here is a bit more info about me and my poker experience at this point in time …

First and foremost, I’m not a writer and have not been very good with it in the past, so just setting your expectation early on, the quality of the writing may be a bit iffy at times. I’m, hoping to use this as a way to improve over time, we’ll see!!

As for poker, it has become an obsession with me for the last few months. It started maybe a year or so ago with a few home games on a monthly basis. It was a mix of games, some of them really off the wall. Once in a while there was some Texas Hold’em which eventually I seem to lean towards. (not surprising being that is the craze these days) About 6 months ago a friend of mine decided to start a monthly game, which was always hold’em in tournament format. At the same time, six months ago I stumbled across the ESPN poker club and their online software for playing hold’em for play money.

So for the last six months I’ve been playing online at ESPN and in a monthly home game. Oh, and one more thing, I have recently ventured to a casino to play some live hold’em in both cash and tournament format. Very quickly, the tournaments were not very successful and the cash games have been mixed, playing mostly 3/6 limit.

So after a year of dancing around the issue it is time to take the plunge…. Yes, playing online for real money. I stumbled across an online book that steps you through a system to get your online bankroll for nothing … and as you would guess, it peaked my interest. I’m in the midst of going through the process and will provide details and an update on where I’m at in my next blog, a few days from now.

Until then, AA up