Building a Hold 'em Poker Bankroll

New Computer Gear

2007-01-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

I haven't done any research lately to see how online poker is fairing since the law went into effect. I've been so buzy with other things going on that I haven't really thought about poker at all. It's amazing how as soon as you stop doing something that is taking a decent amount of your time, other things seem to fill the gap pretty quickly.

Since I'm not really sure when I'll start playing again, and when I do I can always start a new bankroll, I bought a 22" widescreen LCD monitor (Samsung 225BW) with part of my poker winnings:

Too bad I didn't have it when I was playing poker. At the native resolution of 1680x1050, you could easily play 4 screens with no overlap. I found that although my overall winrate dropped a bit, my winnings per session went up when I multi-screened, and I was clearing bonuses faster. Depending on what's going on in the poker world today, this may or may not matter.

Also, my wife bought me a 15.4" widescreen Compaq laptop for Christmas. Combined with the new monitor, I could be a poker playing fool. Or maybe more of a poker playing fool. In any case...

While I'm talking computer gear, I stumbled upon a nice article that tells how to clean spyware from a computer. Since I'm always downloading new tools and gadgets, fighting spyware seems to be a losing battle. If you find that your computer isn't running as fast as it used to, you might want to check this out.

Done with Poker for Now

2006-10-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

What a ride. I logged onto Paradise Poker and saw the announcement that they would stop deposits from the US and eventually stop real money play:

Unfortunately, on Friday October 13th President Bush is expected to sign into law the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The legislation is designed to restrict Americans from being able to fund their online poker accounts and in doing so to prevent Americans from participating in one of their national past times. Full details of the legislation can be found on pages 213-234 at the following link: http://www.rules.house.gov/109_2nd/text/hr4954cr/hr49543_portscr.pdf

Paradise Poker, as part of the SportingBet PLC group of companies, is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange and is obligated to act in accordance with the new legislation. After much deliberation, our Legal Team has advised that in order to comply with the new legislation Paradise Poker will be required to stop accepting deposits from all US players. In addition we will no longer be able to offer US players the ability to transfer funds to each other using the ‘Send Money To Player’ function or to transfer funds to Sportsbook.com.

Please be assured that all US customers will continue to be able to access their accounts and submit cashout requests as normal. Although we will no longer be able to accept their additional deposits, to ensure a professional wind-down for our US customers, they will continue to be able to play at our real money tables with the funds they already have on deposit at Paradise until November 13th 2006. The only players that will not be able to continue playing at our real money tables are players located in one of the following states, where some form of online gambling legislation already exists:

Utah
Hawaii
Michigan
Indiana
Oregon
Nevada
Washington
Illinois
Louisiana
South Dakota

Please note that all players will no longer have access to our casino products or sports betting products. Any Paradise Poker players that have open bets at Sportsbook.com will have the bets cancelled and the funds, along with any other funds held at Sportsbook, transferred back to Paradise Poker. The funds will be transferred back to Paradise Poker within 12 hours.

We very much regret the unfortunate environment in the United States that has prompted us to take these steps. Should there be any positive changes regarding the legal landscape, we will certainly inform players immediately.

For those interested, we recommend visiting http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/ , a group that has been organized to represent the rights and interests of American poker players.

We thank you very much for your patronage over the years and remain hopeful that the day will come when the U.S. will join much of the rest of the world in recognizing the sense behind regulating, rather than the prohibiting online poker.

That prompted me to check around with the other sites where I still had money. I still had $150 on Poker Stars (and it's business as usual for them), but the first $100 of that had to be cashed out through FirePay, and they've changed their policy:

SUBJECT: New FirePay policy for US account holders

On September 30, 2006, the United States Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

Once President Bush approves the Act. FirePay (www.firepay.com) will no longer allow US consumer payments for online gambling merchants.
Beginning the day President Bush signs the Act, FirePay will decline any purchase transactions from US FirePay account holders at any gambling merchant site.
Ten days after President Bush signs the Act, FirePay will decline any transfer attempt made by any online gambling merchant to a US FirePay account.
All US FirePay accounts holders will continue to be able to make purchases and receive payments from non-gambling, online merchants, as well as “Deposit From” and “Withdraw To” their US bank account.

Click here for the latest news and opportunities for FirePay account holders.

** Please note:
This new policy will not affect FirePay account holders from outside of the United States

For any questions regarding these deadlines or policy, please email info@firepay.com

Sincerely,
FirePay
info@firepay.com

So, after s good bit of thought, I decided to withdraw all of my active funds from Poker Stars and Paradise. I haven't decided what I'll do with the Neteller balance, but Firepay sent me my initial $100 deposit less a $10 processing fee (this must be new as well).

As it stands, my balance is $314 which is all winnings. I think I'll give poker a bit of a break and see what happens.

Home Game Results

2006-09-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't played any limit poker yet this weekend, but I did play at another home game. These guys aren't that serious about the game, so there are always less players in the second tournament than are in the first one. One of them really enjoys bluffing, but last night he'd river what he needed when it mattered.

I lost the first game but broke even for the night when I came in second place in the second game. It was interesting in that I was very short-stacked and in last place early in the tournament. Although I never lost the honor of short stack at the table, the big stack kept putting the others out. The few times that I felt like I had to play (or get blinded out), I'd win and double or triple up.

Near the end of the tournament, I was in the big blind and only had enough chips for both the big blind and the small blind the next hand. The player on the button thought I was going to go all-in, so she did as well. I guess she didn't want the other player in, but he had her covered and called. When I folded, he put her out, I was shocked that I made it to second place.

I'll probably play some poker online this weekend, so I'll post the results tomorrow night.

I posted a few more pictures to my photography gallery today. If you haven't had a chance to visit, here's a sample:

The Paradise Poker saga continues

2006-09-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

Results: 2 hours played; up $13

It's been a long time since I posted anything, but I haven't been playing as much limit poker as I should be playing to reach my goal. Instead, I've been playing small limit tournaments on Poker Stars, in live tournaments in the local casinos, and in home games. I'm even on Stars, but down quite a bit from the casinos (probably close to break-even overall counting the home games).

Over the weekend and again this evening, I did play some on Paradise Poker in an attempt to start hacking away at the bonus there. It's been much easier to play the limit tables after playing in some big money (to me at least) tournaments. The bad beats don't sting quite as bad when it's only a couple dollars on the line.

I'd forgotten just how loose the games are on Paradise. I've two-tabling the $.50/$1 games, and it seems like there's always someone calling down to the river hoping that his pair of fours will hold up to win the pot. I've tightened up quite a bit pre-flop and have started really betting aggressively when I have an edge. Of course I still get the occasional bad beat, but all that really does is cause bigger swings in the bankroll. It's still trending up, so eventually I'll hit my goal.

Tried a Casino Trip

2006-07-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

Results: 3 hours played; down $5; $10 bonus cleared

My sessions today were a bit mixed. I played a total of three sessions and only pulled ahead because of the bonus. After playing, I looked at the Poker Tracker results, and I played correctly for most of the hands. However, I was still on a bit of tilt from last night.

Last night I went with a friend to a local casino of their Saturday night tournament. It was a $60 buy-in game, and there were 31 players (if I counted right) with the top 3 places paid.

I knew going in that both my friend and I had good chances going in, but we drew seats right next to each other. We tried not to go up against each other, so I would have rather been at another table. Eventually they moved me when another one got pretty short.

The short of the story is that I made it to the final table as the short stack. I fought off the blinds and won a few hands to make it to 5th place and busted out. My friend was the chip leader with two left and got sucked out when his flopped 2 pair (AAKK) lost to pocket 8's when an 8 hit on the river. He ended up with 2nd place for $465.

Looking back on the evening, I'm not sure if I played the last hand correctly. Before the hand, I had $8500 and the blinds were $1000/$2000. I drew 5c8c in the big blind. There was one limper pre-flop and the small blind called ($6000 in the pot).

The flop was 67T rainbow. The small blind, an aggressive better all night, bet $3000. The pot was offering me 3:1 for a 2.17:1 draw. However, just calling would have but me in a very bad positionwith $3500 chips left if I lost, so I went all in. The small blind called my raise, showed a ten, and ended up taking me out.

I thought about that hand all the way home, and don't know if I made the right move or not. If I'd folded, I could have lasted another 2 rounds and might have made it to the money; one other player was out right after I was. On the other hand, if the draw would have hit, I would have doubled-up and probably would have skated to 3rd place. Tough hand -- tough decision -- tough luck.

Fun Session at Paradise Poker

2006-07-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

Results: 3 hours played; up $5

I played for an hour last night and for two hours tonight for a $5 gain. Instead of playing the $.50/$1 tables that my bankroll will support, I've moved back down to the $.25/$.50 tables to help knock the rut off of my limit game. Unfortunately, the bonus clearing is taking way too long at this level. I tried to speed it up a bit by multi-tabling tonight, but it's going to take a level change to make a real difference.

I tried to post last night, but for some reason it wasn't saved. Yesterday at lunch I found out that I won a grand prize in an online sweepstakes sposnored by Dodge and Golf Magazine. Since the letter didn't say, for a few minutes I thought I may have won a car or truck. As it turns out, the prize is a nice set of Cleveland golf clubs worth $2,000. I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to keep them, but either way I'm very happy with the non-poker win!

First blood at Paradise Poker

2006-07-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

Results: 3 hours played; down $15

I played for a little over four hours this evening on Paradise Poker but I didn't do very well. I'm a little rusty, so I was playing tighter than usual. When I did play, the cards were falling against me. I lost with pocket kings on the big blind against pocket aces in late position. On the very next hand I drew pocket kings again on the small blind and lost to queen trash when we flopped two queens. Two hands later I had pocket queens and folded to a bet with a flop of AKT.

I think it's time to break out the books (again).

On to Paradise Poker

2006-07-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

Results: 0 hours played

I started a new account on Paradise Poker and think I'll play there for a while. The interface seems very easy to use and there are always plenty of games to play.

I'm not sure how this new legislation is going to shake out, but for now, it's business as usual for me.

A long time with no new posts

2006-07-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted any results, but it's time to get back on track. Since the last post, I've been playing mostly SNG's on Linesmaker poker with pretty good results overall. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to clear any more of the bonuses there.

Since I was getting impatient and was really ready to move on to another site, I decided to withdraw the balance and open an account somewhere else. However, on the day I was going to do the withdrawal, I stupidly decided to play some craps on their casino site. Without going into details, I took a real beating. When I decided to call it quits, I was down $63 overall on the Linesmaker sites. At least I'm still in the black overall, but that little trip to the casino was a stupid thing to do with my poker bankroll.

Today I'm turning over a new leaf and getting back into limit poker in earnest. I opened an account on a new site, and I'll be posting the results from my first session shortly. Wish me luck.

Good Day with Mixed Results

2006-04-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

Results: 1.5 hour played; down $17

I multi-tabled a couple $.50/$1 games yesterday afternoon, and I couldn't ever get into a groove. I got drawn out on a couple big hands, then didn't hit my draws on other hands when I needed them. Hopefully I'm a little closer to the bonus; I'm going to try again this afternoon.

Last night I went to my friend's home game and had another good evening. I won the first tournament ($70 profit), came in second on the second tournament ($30 profit), and came in second on a four-person heads up tournament (-$10). While waiting for round two of the heads up tournament, I beat my first opponent again in another heads- up match (+ $10). In all, it was another $100 evening. I wouldn't be too surprised if I'm not invited back for the next game.

Before the game, I went by the book store and picked up Caro's Book of Poker Tells. Since I haven't played live games in a while, I wanted to try to pay more attention to the other players at the table. I didn't have much time to read it, but the few pages I read before playing helped me pick up on a couple tells during the course of the evening. One led to a nice pot, so Im sure the book will be worth the read.

Can I Do This in the Home Game?

2006-04-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

Results: 2 hours played; up $56

I played a couple SNG's and a little limit poker during the down time this evening and had a pretty good session.

During one of the tournaments, one of the players started berating one of the others for sucking out on him. It got so bad that the others at the table were telling him to cool it. Usually I get a little ticked off when someone does this and I tilt a bit when playing against them. This time, I was chip leader, so I tightened up more than normal and watched the rest of the table go on tilt. A few minutes later, there were only two of us left and I eventually won.

There's definitely a lesson here. If you get steamed when someone starts talking trash at the table, rest assured that you aren't the only one. The best way to handle it is to tighten up and let the others battle it out. If you pick your spot, you can win some nice pots.

I'm playing in the home game tomorrow night, and I'm a little apprehensive. I'm sure I'll do well if I play my game, but I've been talking so much trash about it this week that some of the others will be gunning for me. I've become much more observant lately (especially in the tournaments), so I should be able to avoid most of the trouble.

Along those lines, I've noticed something recently. Everything I've read says that you really should watch and remember what the other players do on each hand. I guess I never knew what I was looking for until recently. Over the last several games, I've noticed that I have started picking up on the other players' betting patterns. Usually, I can use this to my advantage, but occasionally, they change play style on a hand and I get burned. I'm sure that my play is better because of this.

Also, I've stopped trying to be so exact when counting outs and calculating pot odds and implied odds when playing in the tournaments. I still estimate both (and have the standard outs memorized), but I think that's close enough. If I have to work too hard, it's not fun anymore, and I want to have fun while I'm winning money. Maybe after I've played another 10,000 hands I'll adjust, but this seems to be working for now.

Gotta Play to Clear It

2006-04-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

Results: 2.5 hours played; up $8

I double-tabled two tournaments tonight for the first time. In the first, a $3 tournament, I was sucked out in 5th place. In the other one, also $3, I went all in with 2 pair (A's and 7's) and was beat by A's and 9's; I left in 4th place just out of the money.

After a little break for dinner, I started up two more tables (a $3 and $5) and these went a little better. By the time there were five or so players left, I was chip leader on both tables. When it got down to three of us on each table, things got a little hairy. I'm used to multi-tabling full ring games, but it's really fast when you're short-handed. Luckily I had a good run of cards on both tables.

Once there were only two left on each table, my play suffered from the speed of the games. On both tables I lost the chip lead (at almost the same time) and eventually lost the tournaments. I guess I can't complain with 2 second-place finishes, but my goal was to win. At least I'm up for the evening.

I play my home game this weekend, and I'm really looking forward to unleashing my new-found tournament skills on them. We'll see how that goes.

As for the bonus, I'm never going to clear it if I don't play the limit games, but as long as I'm winning at the tournaments, the bonuses are less important.

Quick Update

2006-04-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Results: 3.5 hours played; up $21

I played quite a bit this morning and then more this evening. I double-tabled a SNG and a limit table until the tournaments got down to five players. It was a mixed bag, but one big win made it a positive day.

More SNG Tournament Play

2006-04-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

Results: 3 hours played; up $40

I was home sick today with a migraine, and while the pain killers made it bearable, I played some SNG's on Linesmaker Poker. I'm not sure how many I played overall (6-7), but I think I played three $5, two $3, and a couple $10 tournaments. I came in second place on one of the $5 tournaments but was out of the money on the rest. On the last of the $10 tournaments, I was playing well but got sucked out by someone who was going all-in on every hand (and won every one that made it to showdown).

I was about to call it a day when I saw a $20 tournament about to start. Yes, I shouldn't have played, but it was going to be my last game of the day win or lose. This time, I decided to sit back and wait for big hands until there were five or less players left then turn up the heat. I won a couple big hands then lost one and was short stack once it got to five players.

Once my M got under 5, I started pushing all-in given any good cards. I lost the first one to someone with a shorter stack, and it left me with under $400 with $150/$300 blinds. I pushed with 67s on the next hand and tripled-up with a straight. I pushed again on the next hand with A2s and doubled-up with the wheel. This gave me a little breathing room.

The two big stacks (almost even) were bullying around the two short stacks at the table, so when the other short stack was in the hand (he was to my right), I generally folded. Eventually, he went all in and lost to a set of aces.

From that point on, I turned it up a notch. Any time I had position, I would raise to 3x to 4x the blind with any two decent cards. On one hand, the chip leader reraised me all-in after I raised with KK. It held up and I was the new chip leader.

From this point, it was pretty much a textbook game. I got sucked out on a few hands, but played pretty well and ended up winning it all -- $100 first place prize. I wish Linesmaker had better hand histories, but I did save the last five hands. Since I like the heads-up section of Dan Harrington's books so well, I'll post those hands with a similar commentary. Please comment as you see fit:

The final two players at a $20 NL ten-player tournament. Blinds are $200/$400

Hand 1
VILLAIN has $9240
HERO has $5160

Preflop: HERO has Q 5 in the small blind

Although he has almost a 2-1 ship lead, I'm not letting up the pressure. At the time, I thought this hand was better than a random hand, so I raised 3x the big blind. In fact, it is a 50.71% favorite against a random hand. Not a bad play in any case as I'd rather be on offense than defense at this point in the tournament. I also have position for the rest of the hand, which is worth a ton.

HERO raises to $1200.
VILLAIN calls.

He didn't show me anything with the call, but we'll see what happens on the flop. Unfortunately, I act first.

Flop ($2400 in pot): 8 A 9

VILLAIN checks.

I normally would bet a probe bet of about 1/3 to 1/2 the pot here, but he's been calling those all tournament long. My other option is to put out a pot-sized bet and keep my fingers crossed. I didn't feel great about my hand, and I shouldn't have -- it only has a 34.47% chance of winning at this point.

I'll just check and hope for the best.

HERO checks.

Turn ($2400 in pot): 3

VILLAIN checks.

This card probably didn't help him, and in case he's just stringing me along, I'm not going to do anything with it; my chances of winning the hand have actually dropped to 29.33%

HERO checks.

River ($2400 in pot): 5

VILLAIN checks.

I don't love this card, but my pair is probably better than his high card (I'm a 54.65% favorite against random cards). If I check, the winning hand could be a coin flip. I could do a probe bet, but he'd just call and we'd be back to the coin flip. I don't feel good enough about the hand to want him to call, so I make a pot-sized bet and hope he'll fold.

HERO raises $2400.
VILLAIN calls.

HERO shows a pair of Fives.
VILLAIN mucks.

HERO wins the pot of $7200 with a pair of Fives.

Hand 2
VILLAIN has $5840
HERO has $8560

Preflop: HERO has 7 Q in the big blind.
VILLAIN raises to $2000.

Although I have a playable hand (49.9%), I'm severely dominated if he has an ace or king or a high pair. It's not worth risking anything over this one.

HERO folds.
VILLAIN wins the pot of $800.

Hand 3
VILLAIN has $6040
HERO has $8360

Preflop: HERO has 7 8 in the small blind.

This is a worse hand than the last one, but I have the advantage of position for the rest of the hand. I feel like he stole the last pot from me, so I'm going to return the favor. If he raises, I'll have to make a decision about how much further I'll go. I'm raising 4x the blind.

HERO raises to $1600.
VILLAIN folds.

HERO wins the pot of $800.

Hand 4
VILLAIN has $5840
HERO has $8560

Preflop: HERO has T 5 in the big blind.

VILLAIN calls $400.

I really don't like my cards. Against a random two card hand, this one is a 44.94% underdog. I could raise here and try to push him off the pot, but my other option is to check and see the flop for free. I can then decide how to proceed.

HERO checks.

Flop ($800 in pot): 8 7 7

This flop didn't help me at all, but the chances are that it didn't help him either. I have a couple options here. I could check, but if he bets, I wouldn't know what it meant. Otherwise I could bet, but what should I bet. If I make a pot-sized bet and he folds, I'm happy, but if he calls, I haven't defined his hand and I'll end up spending more down the road. The best option is a probe bet of 1/3 to 1/2 the pot to see what he does.

HERO bets $400.
VILLAIN raises to $800.

Ok, he likes his hand, but he told me a little more than just that with this bet. He didn't bet enough to push me off the pot, so he probably wants me to call. I'm folding here.

HERO folds.

HERO wins the pot of $1600.

Hand 5
VILLAIN has $6440
HERO has $7960

Preflop: HERO has T 9 in the small blind.

If these were suited, I'd feel pretty good about them, but since I have position on later rounds, I think it's good enough for a raise. As it turns out, it's a 49.82% underdog, but that doesn't take position into account. At this point in the tournament, position is huge. I'll raise here my standard raise of 3x to 4x the blind.

HERO raises to $1600.
VILLAIN calls.

Flop ($3200 in pot): 4 9 Q

VILLAIN checks.

Ok, he's either saying that the flop didn't hit him (likely) or he's going to check-raise me. I haven't seen him check-raise at all, but that doesn't mean that he can't given the right situation. Without knowing what he has, I'm a 71% favorite here, so I'm raising, but how much? If he has a higher card (or cards), I don't want him to draw out on me, so I should make a pot-sized bet of $3200. However, he only has $4840 left, so I decide to bet large enough to put him all in.

HERO bets $5600.
VILLAIN calls and is all in.

VILLAIN shows: 5 3 (high card, Queen)
HERO shows: T 9 (a pair of Nines)

At this point he's a 1.86% underdog to make his flush on the next two cards, but it wasn't a terrible move for him to call. If I was bluffing, he would have won a nice pot. In fact, I'm only a 60% favorite after seeing his cards.

Turn: 5
River: 6

HERO wins the pot of $13680 with a pair of Nines.

Maybe I'll post one of my losing games the next time, but they won't be as interesting (unless I come in 2nd place). Linesmaker only saves the last five hands no matter who is in them. I guess I could try to save them all as I play, but that seems like a whole lot of work.

Building the Bankroll

2006-04-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Results: 2 hour played; up $8

I played an hour of $.50/$1 limit poker this evening and was up $2. There wasn't anything special about the session, but I was up so that's something.

Then I played a $3 SNG. There was a guy at the table who went all-in over and over and was tilting the whole table. He was sitting to my left, and every time I would raise, he'd come over the top. I kept thinking that I was setting him up for a big score, but I never got the opportunity. He pushed out everyone at the table (including me), and I took second place.

I'll keep working on the limit tables; I really need to clear that bonus.

More Linesmaker Poker Play

2006-04-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

Results: 9 hours played; down $18

It's been a while since I posted anything, so I figured I was due for an update. I've been playing more SNG's on Linesmaker Poker recently than the limit tables over the last week. Last weekend, I lost about $85 on a handful of tournaments (including a $20 multi-table tournament), so since then, I've been grinding it back. I've found that if I play on the weekend nights, I can regularly win, but on the weeknights, I lose. The fish must come out on the weekends.

Unfortunately, I'm not going to clear this bonus very fast if I keep playing these tournaments, so I'm going to switch back to limit poker for the bulk of my play. The limit tables on Linesmaker are pretty easy (at least at my limits), so it shouldn't take too long. Also, as I've said before, the bonuses are really nice on this site. If you haven't signed up yet, be sure and do so.

Speaking of affliates, I went through a couple of the affiliate reports for the sites I have listed here and saw that I've already had a few signups under me. If you want to try one of these off-the-wall sites that I play, I appreciate you using my links. I was surprised at how many people read this thing regularly, and even more surprised when I saw who was coming in via Google search results. If you do a Google search for one of these poker sites, my link is the second one on the list!

The strangest search so far was "how much is four yards of dirt". I guess Google knows how much I was getting buried a few weeks back.

In a previous post, I mentioned a new affiliate program that I joined. It seemed great because they give you an immediate $50 once you link their site on your web page. Unfortunately, they won't send you a check until you've reached $175 in bonuses. It's not as exciting as it first seemed, but $50 is $50. Here's a link to the site if you're interested. If you have a lot of traffic on your page, it might be worthwhile.

For those who are keeping score, since my beating last weekend, I've won 3 out of 5 $5 SNG's and came in 2nd and 4th on the other two. I don't know how many I lost last Saturday afternoon though...

Two More Sit and Go's

2006-04-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Results: 2 hours played; up $16

I decided to play another couple sit and go's this evening. The first was a $3 tournament and I didn't do so well. I was the early chip leader, but had four bad hands in a row in the middle of the tournament and busted out in 5th place.

The second was a $5 tournament. I really started out in a zone. Normally, I only play premium hands early, but I started this one out in the big blind so I played the first two by default. Out of the first five hands, I won four. Out of the next three, I won two more (a blind steal and a split pot). Eventually I won eight out of the first eleven hands. On the eighth hand, I raised preflop with the hammer on the button and took down a nice pot when I flopped a pair and made two pair on the turn. Of course, that was the one hand of the evening where I showed everyone my cards: "HAMMER!".

When we got to four players, the other three were playing decent poker, so the game dragged on a bit. Eventually the others fell one by one, and I won my 3rd sit and go in four attempts this weekend. Again, thank you Dan Harrington!

Two for Two

2006-04-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

Results: 3.5 hour played; up $19

What a day! This morning I planted my vegetable garden and moved the last of four yards of dirt into the back yard. Since I didn't really want to move all of the dirt by hand, I rented one of the Bobcat mini track loaders. It really helped, but it was still a lot of work. The compact loader (that you ride) would have been easier, but the larger one wouldn't fit through my gate:

I took a short break this afternoon to play in a freeroll on Bet365. There were about 12,000 players for the $1,000 guaranteed prize (the top 235 payed if I remember). I left in 623rd place when I went all in with pocket K's after a K hit on the flop. Some donk called with ATo (no pair on the flop) and drew a flush on the river.

Once I was finished in the yard, I played some $.25/$.50 for about an hour and lost $5. The game wasn't memorable, but I really wanted to play $.50/$1 when I sat down. Next time I should wait for the table I really want.

Then I decided to play another sit and go. This time it was a $5 tournament. The results were much like last night. When there were five of us left, I put three of the others all in with two pair, but one of them drew into a set on the river. This put me at low stack with three left. It didn't really matter though; in the end, I took home the gold.

I might play a little more this evening if I can stay awake. As I said, it's been quite a day!

Thank You Dan Harrington!

2006-04-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

Results: 1.5 hours played; up $12

Tonight, I played my first sit and go tournament since reading Dan Harrington's books, and I have to say my play is drastically better.

It was a cheapie $3 single table, but I felt like I owned the game. Early on, I noticed that the other players liked to limp in or post a min raise. Only me and one other player were entering with healthy 3x BB raises, and for the most part, the limpers would all fold. When someone would make a mistake and call, they usually folded to a continuation bet on the flop. By the time that half the table was gone, I was chip leader by a comfortable margin and never really had a monster hand.

Once the blinds got up to $200/$400, I started playing a little more aggressively. This got me in trouble three different times when I put the short stack all-in with a low pair and lost. Luckily, my blind stealing and aggressive betting won it back in short order.

It really started getting interesting when there were only two of us left. I was still leading in chips, and he raised big; I had AKs, so I put him all in. His QT held up when a Q hit on the flop. At that point, he had 5x my stack, and I thought I was finished. His passiveness payed off though, because I kept pushing him off pots with aggressive betting. Every time I'd climb back into the lead, he'd win a big pot and take the lead again. Eventually by betting got the best of him and he called a bet that put him all-in when he thought I was bluffing; my pocket J's held to win.

I know it's early to think that I'm the next Daniel Negreanu, but my play style, especially short-handed and heads up, is markedly better. I'll try a few more from time to time, but I really want to get back to the home game I've been playing!

If you play no limit tournaments and haven't read Dan Harrington, you're not winning as much as you could.

New Favorite Boss Media Poker Room

2006-04-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

Results: 2 hours played; up $8; Cleared $20 of new player bonus and got a $28 deposit bonus

It's official. As of this evening, I have a new favorite among the Boss Media poker rooms that I've played: Linesmaker Poker. They are offering an $80 sign-up bonus for new players that clears incrementally after 100/300/400 raked hands. You also get a 15% deposit bonus that you can use immediately. The play was similar to the other Boss Media sites, so this should be gravy for decent limit players.

I deposited $185 (all that was left in my Neteller account), and they added the additional 15%. With that, I bought $200 in chips to make the math easier and multi-tabled a $.25/$.50 and a $.50/$1 table. After a little over an hour of play, I was up a dollar overall, but I noticed that my balance had gone up by $20; I'd already cleared the first part of the bonus!

We'll see over the next few days how the tables look over different parts of the week, but it's promising so far. If you're looking for a good kickstart to your poker bankroll, look no further than Linesmaker Poker. Use my links and you'll have a friend for life!

Also, if you're into posting affiliate links on your website, I'm working on something that should be very exciting. I'll post more about it when the details are more solid, but if it pans out, it's the best thing I've seen in a long time. In the mean time, shoot me a note and I'll spill the beans if you can't wait.

Another Poker Bonus Cleared

2006-04-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

Results: many hours played; down $75; $30 bonus cleared

It's been a while since I've posted, but I've been playing quite a bit. I'm a little ashamed of a couple sessions, so I hoped to spare the gory details. Since Drewspop asked, I'll post them anyway.

During the week last week, I played a couple short sessions at the $.25/$.50 or $.50/$1 tables for a small gain. On Saturday evening, I really wanted to put in a long session to get back into the groove. Unfortunately, there weren't any of the lower limit tables available. Instead of turning on the TV or just spending a quiet evening with my wife (or any of another million things I should have done), I noticed that there was a seat available at a $2/$4 table, and it looked looser than I expected.

WARNING: Do not read any further if you have heart conditions or have recently stopped taking antidepressants. If you decide to continue, do not not drive heavy machinery for at least an hour.

Since I had played the $4/$8 tables on vacation, I was pretty sure that I could handle this one without much trouble. I never even thought about the bankroll requirements of playing at this level. As a refresher, your minimum bankroll for no limit poker should be 300BB; my total bankroll was 125BB and only 78BB on this site at this limit.

As you would expect, the cards just wouldn't fall for me. If I'd had a decent run of cards, it wouldn't have been so bad, but every time I made 2nd nut flush, someone else had the nuts. If I made nut flush, someone would hit a full house. When I hit a full house (J's/T's), someone else had a higher boat (K's/T's). Over the course of a 2 hour session, I had a few smallish wins but lost my whole buy-in ($100). I should have stopped after $50, but I was on serious tilt at the end of the session.

This week, I went back to the basics of $.50/$1 poker and climbed back out of the hole a bit. I was at a pretty loose table last night and was up aout $10 when I lost power to the computer. When it came back up and I reconnected, I saw that the final $30 bonus had cleared, and my bank on the site was at $298.50 (much better than it was on Saturday). Since I cleared my bonus, I thought that I might as well win another $1.50 to make the withdrawal an even $300.

WARNING: The bloodletting continues below. Read at your own risk.

I went back to the same table I was at before (the software had held my seat), and began working on the last $1.50. Over the course of the next 2.5 hours, I never won a hand! The table was full of donkeys, and every time I had a decent hand, they outdrew me. I had AA, KK, and QQ all busted.

In the most memorable hand, I had AKs and re-raised preflop; one of the blinds capped and there were several who stayed in the hand. The flop was AKQ. Yep, one of the pre-flop limpers called three raises with JT off-suit.

I finally decided it was time for bed and left the table down $24.

Since the bonuses cleared, I went ahead and requested a withdrawal. Total balance - $459 (up $74 on Total Poker).

A couple learnings from the losing sessions:

No matter how tempting, I won't play above my bankroll again. If I can't find a table at my limits, I won't play.
My buy-ins are usually 50BB. If I lose 1/2 of my buy-in at any table, it's time to take a break to avoid tilt.
Once I've cleared a bonus, it's time to move on right then.

Trip Report - Biloxi Casinos

2006-03-27T09:06:00.000-08:00

I'm back from vacation and ready to play some poker.

While I was in Florida, I took a short trip to Biloxi. The casinos there were demolished during Hurricane Katrina last year, but I was surprised to see that three had reopened: The Isle of Capri, the Palace, and the Imperial Palace. I stopped by all three and was amazed at how nice they were. The strip is still a mess, as is the rest of the town, but it was business as normal inside of the casinos.

The Imperial Palace has a very nice poker room on their non-smoking floor. This was good for me, but the smokers took frequent breaks to go downstairs. There were two types of tables available on a weekday afternoon: $1/$2 no limit and $4/$8 limit. The limits were a little high for me at $8, but I decided to play anyway because I have heard how loose they can be.

I bought in for $200 and played the first session at an average table. I had two maniacs to my left, and every time I limped in with marginal hands, they would raise (often with nothing). I kept thinking that I'd get a monster hand and take them down, but the monster never came. Over the two hour session, my best pre-flop hand was pocket nines in middle position, and my best overall hand was when I caught a flush with my middle connectors from the blind (it was beat by a higher flush when the 4th of the suit fell on the river). I left the table down $150.

During the break, I tried their buffet. It was certainly above average, and they had a few items that were very good: crab legs (2 types), the carved pork roast, the Cajun sausage balls, and the bananas foster on the desert bar (wow!). I would certainly eat there again.

After dinner, I went back to the poker room. The limits hadn't changed, so I thought I'd risk another $100 at a new table. This table was noticeably looser than the previous table. There were two older ladies decked out in their embroidered gambling clothes who had never played live poker before. They had played play money poker online, so they thought they were ready to win some real money. Over the course of an hour and half session, I never saw either one fold preflop! At this table, I started out on a losing swing (down about $60), but won three hands in a row -- all were boats -- to pull back ahead. I later rivered a nut flush to pull me ahead for the day. All told, I played about 3 1/2 hours and left up $2.

I heard quite a few rumors about the other area casinos. It seems that many of the out-of-work dealers like to spend their time in the poker rooms. The Grand Casino plans to reopen on September 1st in what used to be the hotel across the strip from their casino. When they first open, they won't have a poker room, but eventually they are going to open a huge room. All the buzz was about just how big it's going to be. It should be interesting.

After Hurricane Ivan a few years ago, I spent some time with clean-up in the Pensacola, FL area, but I wasn't prepared for the devastation they had along the Mississippi coast. The national news has moved on to other bigger stories, but it will be years before that area returns to normal. If you get the opportunity to help, please remember that they still need it.

New Gallery Link

2006-03-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

Results: 1.5 hours played; down $1

Someone complained that my gallery site (the link on the right) is a little hard to navigate. Since I just wanted to share my photographs anyway, here's a link to the most popular photographs in the gallery. You can browse through the thumbnails without all the additional clutter.

I played last night on two $.50/$1 tables for a little over an hour and a half. Again, I found myself up quite a bit on one table and down a similar amount on the other. At one point I had rockets on both tables and flopped a set on both. One was busted by a flush on the river, and the other rivered a full house to beat a lower full-house. As good/bad as these were, together they were a wash.

Next week I'm taking my daughter and her best friend to Florida for Spring break. I'll be staying with my parents, so I won't be able to play unless I gan find a sit down game. If any of the back bay casinos in Biloxi, MS survived Katrina and are still open, I might make a day trip that way during the week.

Cleared First Part of Bonus

2006-03-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

Results: 1.5 hours played; down $21; cleared $70 of bonus

This evening, I played two $.50/$1 tables, and I had a string of losses on one table that hurt the whole session. At one point, I was up $15 across both tables, so the losing swing took me down $36.

I was happy to see that $70 of the bonus had cleared when I ended the session. I thought that $30 cleared first then $70 cleared later, but I'm not complaining.

A Couple Break-even Sessions

2006-03-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

Results: 3.5 hours played; even

I'm a little behind posting since the weekend. On Saturday we went shopping for a prom dress for my daughter, so I didn't get much time to play. Instead, I read Lee Jones' book while I waited in the car. Hopefully, it'll help polish the game.

I played for 2 1/2 hours on Saturday night and was down $8. The good news is that I got a lot of hands in, but the bankroll was swinging a bit. The tables were tighter on Saturday that they had been, so I turned up the aggression when I had a hand. That alone probably accounted for the swings.

I played for another hour tonight for an $8 gain. For most of the session I was down around $10, but I won a nice pot near the end of the session to go ahead. I flopped two low pair from the big blind and made my boat on the turn. I played the hand very aggressively, and was called down by someone who flopped a pair of queens.

Tonight's play was a little different than the previous sessions. Early on I noticed that very few hands were making it to showdown. From that point on, when I had a made hand, I would bet through all streets. When scary cards hit the board, I kept betting unless someone bet into me or raised my bet. I had a really nice run of seven hands in a row where I bet every street and the other player folded at the river. I think this run is what helped make the late hand so big.

I also started reading Harrington's books last night. They bring a whole new insight into tournament play. I can't wait to be able to play at the home game again.

Easy Money on Total Poker

2006-03-10T19:27:00.000-08:00

Results: 1 hour played; up $34

Ok, this site is crazy. I played for an hour at a $1/$2 table, and I think they are even looser than the lower limit tables. The players per flop on this table was 76%.

On one hand, I had QJs and all nine other players called the blind. The flop was 89T rainbow and four of us capped the betting. Three capped the turn (a 4), and one stayed in for the river (6). He showed K9 for high pair.

I'm done for the evening (watching Arkansas and Florida), but I'll be back on Sunday.

A Quickie

2006-03-10T16:58:00.000-08:00

Results: 10 minutes played; up $2

I lied. I played a few hands at lunch today and will probably get in a session this evening. The Harrington books didn't arrive today, so I'll have to read Jones tomorrow as planned.

If you didn't notice, I added a link to my photography site. It's just another hobby of mine, but like poker, I'd like to think that it's getting better. If I could quit my job and play poker and take pictures for a living, I'd do it tomorrow.

Another Positive Session

2006-03-09T19:01:00.000-08:00

Results: 1 hour played; up $11

I played a short 1 hour session this evening before watching an SEC basketball game. The game was as loose as the others I've played. One of them rivered a straight after calling a pre-flop raise with 4d5c. Those are the players you want at your table every time you play.

The only negative comment I have about the site so far, other than the Boss interface, it that it can be difficult to find a table even at the lower limits. I wanted to play .50/1, but there weren't any tables (even full). I settled for .25/.50, but I guess I can't complain with the results.

This weekend I'm going shopping with my wife and daughter, so I'll have to settle with reading about poker. My daughter is looking for a prom dress, and my wife doesn't want to drive. I'll spend some quality time with Lee Jones.

More Total Poker Action

2006-03-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

Results: 1.5 hours played; up $6

It continues. I played for an hour and a half at .50/1 for a $6 gain. It almost feels like I'm home again. The players on Total Poker are as loose as any others I've seen. They play on almost anything and hold out for nearly impossible draws. I was sucked out a few times, but made up for it when they didn't hit their draws.

We'll see how it goes over a few more sessions, but so far, I'm glad I chose them for my next poker site.

This afternoon over lunch, the previous post, I hit two flush draws on the first two hands. The first was king high second was ace high; another player had the king. The whole table was complaining about the suck-outs, but both times I was playing within the pot odds. Maybe next time they'll try for he flush draw (when they shouldn't) and I'll be there to take their money again.

Moved to Total Poker

2006-03-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

Results: .5 hour played; up $16

Just a quick update. I started playing on Total Poker this morning, and in my first session (at $.50/$1 limit), I was up $16. I don't know what it is about these Boss Media sites, but I think they like me. I'll post more later.

Isn't Life Funny Sometimes?

2006-03-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

Results: 0 hours played; cleared $50 Bet365 bonus

I was trying to figure out how much longer I was going to try to clear this Bet365 bonus, but the good folks in their customer service department made my mind up for me. I sent them an email last night to find out how many raked hands I've played towards the bonus; their application wouldn't show me for some reason. They responded that because I'd played 250 raked hands , they went ahead and deposited the $50 bonus into my account. That took my total bankroll up to $389. I'm down $31 on Bet365.

I'm going to play a few more of the $2.50 tournaments this evening then request a cash out. I think I'll continue to play the weekly freeroll tournament on this site, but otherwise it's on to the next bonus.

Interestingly enough, I took a look at my Poker Tracker stats for all of my sessions on Bet365, and the losses may have less to do with the site than they do with my play. This was the first site that I've played on while chasing the bonus where Texas Calculatem worked, and I think I was leaning too heavily on it instead of my own intuition. As I've said before, it does a great job showing you your outs and what the other players are likely to have, but its play suggestions are too passive. Although it's a small sample, my stats surprised me:

VP$IP 25.83%
PFR 6.27%
Aggression Factor .96 (ouch!)

It looks like I played a few more hands that I usually like to play (I usually hover around 20%), my pre-flop raising was normal, but the total aggression factor was horrid -- I like to be somewhere between 2.0 and 3.0. Here are some details of the aggression number:

After the flop, I called/checked right around 60% of the time. No wonder I didn't have very many winning sessions.

I spent some of my home-game winnings this week on Harrington's tournament books. I saw that his new workbook will be released on 5/15, but I bought volume one and two. For some reason I get hammered heads-up; if anyone can help me, Harrington can. I'm visiting family at the end of the month, so I should have plenty of opportunity to read.

Today Wasn't Very Good

2006-03-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

Results: 2 hours played; down $15

I've been having probelms checking my raked hands on Bet365 for the last few days, so I sent a note to customer support this afternoon to ask where I am. I think I'll play to the next plateau and then request the bonus. Enough is enough.

The freeroll tournament was about like the later 2-hour limit session. I busted out in around 7000th place. I had AKs and the flop was AKJ. I raised, someone went all-in and I called; he had JJ.

While I'm in a holding pattern, I'm going to go back to the books. Maybe it's time for a refresher.

3 Tournaments Last Night and Another Freeroll Today

2006-03-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

Although the tournaments ran into the wee hours of the morning, I had another good night at the home game last night. I lost the first tournament but came in second on the next two for a total of $29. In the last game, I was chip leader by about 5X, but lost four all-ins in a row Kx against Ax to lose the tournament. At that point I felt like I had to put him all in, and he got very lucky.

There were a couple of memorable hands where I kicked someone out by a big suckout. One one, he had 6d7d and I had AdTd. After putting him all in, the flop was 6c7sJd. Both the turn and river were diamonds for a runner-runner flush. On another, I put he #2 stack all-in preflop and he flopped a flush. I needed runner-runner JJ or TT to beat him, and it came JJ for a full-house. One a previous hand, he had quad queens and lost to a royal flush (someone else has a boat on that hand, so the pot was huge).

I'm going to try the $5,000 freroll on Bet365 again this afternoon. There will probably be 10,000 players, and if it's like last week, first place is $960. I'll be happy of I place higher than last week (190), but I'd really like that big prize.

Played Higher Limits Tonight

2006-03-02T21:46:00.000-08:00

Results: 1 hour played; down $8

I got impatient waiting for the lower limit tables tonight, so I played at a $1/$2 table. The play was about the same as at the lower limits (maybe a little tighter), so I was a little more aggressive when I had a hand. Unfortunately, I had pocket aces busted by 9T (he hit 2 pair), and on two other hands I folded to a raise post-flop to see a flush or straight fall on the turn.

I'd guess that the my entire $8 loss could be attributed directly to the blinds. I never had a playable hand on the BB, and every time, someone raised into me. When I had a playable hand on the SB and called, the flops were worthless to me. I'll double-check Poker Tracker, but I think I lost every blind during the session.

Earlier in the evening, I played a $2.50 buy-in 30 player tournament. I tried to bide my time and double-up on premium hands (my normal early strategy), but they never came. Once we were down to about 15 players, I hadn't won a pot and was the short stack of the tourney. At that point, I loosened up a bit (hoping to double up), but got busted out in 11th place. If it hadn't happened then, the blinds would have killed me on the next round, so the timing seemed right.

Tomorrow night I'm going back to the home game where I won last time. They're calling me "The Machine" so I'd better not let them down. Maybe I'll win enough there to ease the pain of the Bet365 bleeding. I'm seriously thinking about ending that joyride, but we'll see what happens over the next two days.

A Session for the Ages?

2006-02-28T20:00:00.000-08:00

Results: 1 hour played; up $3.50

Well this evening's sessions wasn't one for the ages, but at least it was positive. There weren't very many memorable hands. On one, I flopped a flush and slowplayed it perfectly; this was probably my biggest win. On another, I made my ace-high straight on the turn and was beaten by a flush on the river. Otherwise, it was a pretty boring session, and I didn't really play very many hands.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Starting to Doubt Myself

2006-02-27T21:44:00.000-08:00

Results: 1 hour played; down $11

I'm really beginning to rethink if Bet365 is where I need to be playing. I'm down about $55 since starting here (including tournament winnings) and I've played 200 raked hands for a $20 bonus. Maybe this is within the normal bankroll swings, but it doesn't feel right to me.

I'm going to play three more 1-hour sessions and reevaluate. If I'm up or even, I'll play three more. If I'm down, I'll make sure that I've played another 100 raked hands and pull up stakes.
If it's not fun, there's no reason to continue.

Busted Out in the Money

2006-02-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

Results: 3 hours played; up $6.50 (freeroll tournament)

I finished the tournament 190/10,000 for $6.50. I thought I had the hand I wanted to double up with, but it wasn't to be. I was dealt AhQh on the button and raised 2 limpers for 1/4 of my stack with one caller (BB). The flop was KcAdKh, it was checked to me, and I raised 1/2 my stack; the other player called. The turn was 7s and I went all in; the other player called and showed pocket kings. He slow-played perfectly; I took the bait and ran with it.

In any case, this was a real learning experience for me. For the first hour or so, I waited for premium hands and either went all in or pushed out a large bet (1/5 of my stack). There were many callers. Also, for the first two tables, 1/2 of the players were link-dead (they didn't show up). Any time I was in position, I stole their blinds. This got me up to the top 50 in chips.

The second hour was similar, except when I had the opportunity to put a short stack all-in, I took it with any playable hand. As my stack increaded, I started bullying the mid-stack players; if they wanted to play with me, they'd have to go all in. I got up to the top 30 in chips.

When we got within 30 spots of the bubble, the play really tightened up, so I took the opportunity to steal blinds when possible. I topped out at the top 20 in chips, then lost a couple of the hands where I was being aggressive. I coasted for a bit waiting for a hand to double up, and chose the wrong one.

I don't know it the three hours was worth $6.50, but I'll definately do this again. You get a whole lot of poker with no risk, and the winner took home $960.

I'm going to take a little break then play some ring games for a bit.

A Few Sit-n-Go's

2006-02-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

Results: 2.5 hour played; up $4.75

Even though I should be working on clearing the bonus, I've been playing more sit-n-go tournaments. Now that I feel like I know what I'm doing, I started enjoying them more. Last night I came in 2nd in a $.75 buy-in tournament, and this morning I came in third in a $2.50 buy-in tournament. I've signed up for the $5,000 freeroll tournament this afternoon, but with 10,000 players, it's going to be tough. If I bust out, I'm going over to the ring games to clear some hands.

I usually don't like to share my bad beat stories, but here's my last hand from the last tournament. If I had won the hand, I would have been in position to win the tournament. My stack was almost tied with the chip-leader's before the hand, and the short stach was really short.

I had 6J in the big blind, and the chip-leader called from the small blind. The flop came 668 and he bet. I put in a pot-sized raise (hoping for a fold or a bad call), and he went all in. When I called, he showed AK and needed some improvement. At this point, I was feeling pretty good, but he got runner-runner aces for a boat to put me out. You win some you lose some.

The tournament starts in forty minutes, so I'm going to get something to eat and drink before the game starts. Wish me luck!

Site Administration Tip

2006-02-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

I read an article on Doubleas site about using BlogRolling to help with the management of links on your blog. Since it looked easier than having to edit the template every time I add a link, I started using it for the blog links on this site. If you haven't used it yet, I'd suggest taking a look at their site.

Back in the Action

2006-02-24T11:17:00.000-08:00

Results: 2 hours played; up $9

I finally was able to play some poker last night and again this morning. Last night I played three 10-player $2.50 no limit tournaments on Bet65. The results were 2nd, 3rd, and 5th for the three games for a profit of $4. This morning I played for an hour of .25/.50 limit poker and was up $5. I doubt if I had any hands count towards the bonus, but it's been so long since I played limit poker, I thought I'd ease back into it.

I should get in a substantial amount of play this weekend, so I'll post more over the next two days.

I did some searches this afternoon and found a new link to my page, so I'm adding one back to Hometown Poker. Thanks Drewspop!

A Couple Interesting Home Games

2006-02-19T09:10:00.000-08:00

Results: 8 hours played; up $115 (doesn't count towards bankroll)

While the computer was down two weekends ago, I played a home game to keep me sharp. It was a ten player, $10 buy-in no limit hold 'em tournament; after the first one was finished, we played a second six-handed $10 tournament. They were interesting games, but I lost both.

On the first hand of the first tournament, I was dealt AKs in middle position. Everyone limped to me ($100 bb), and I raised $500. A few hands to my left, someone went all in, and I called. He had pocket 10's. By the river, I would win with a 10 for a straight, any heart for a flush, or an A or K for top pair (16 outs or 1.88 to 1), but I never improved.

In the second tournament, I made it to third place, but only the top two payed. The guy who came in first place misplayed a couple hands to let the short stack stay in the game, and he ended up coming in second place. It was a fun evening, but it left me with a bad taste in my mouth even though I only lost $20.

Last night, I played in another home game. We had six players, and played 3 $10 buy-in no limit tournaments with one rebuy allowed during the first hour. I won all three tournaments for a total of $135.

I won the the first one (no rebuy) playing pretty conservatively. After winning the first tournament, I played very loose in the second tournament and eventually had to rebuy. At times, my aggressive play hacked off the other players. I called a fairly large bet with 87s pre-flop (the bet felt like a bluff), and ended up beating two pair with a flush; the loser was pissed at my call. In the third tournament, I played pretty much by the book, but the cards just kept falling for me.

Over the course of the two evenings, was involved in some play that I thought I should share. Most of this is common sense, but each could be the difference between winning and losing a close tournament. Maybe these will help someone else:

If someone goes all in, check down unless you have the nuts

The goal of the tournament is to get each of the other players to lose all of their money

When you're big stack, put the small stack all-in at every opportunity

If two players go all in or nearly all in, get out of their way and let one lose

If all goes well, I'll play some online poker this evening. Maybe my luck from last night will hold up.

The Computer is Working Again

2006-02-16T18:08:00.000-08:00

This hasn't been a good month for my online poker, but at least the bankroll is stable.

The power supply in my computer was fried, so I ordered a new one online. I found a 500 watt ps (with a huge quiet fan) on Pricewatch for $42. I installed it the weekend it was delivered and it lasted exactly three hours and went out. The replacement came in today, so hopefully it will last a little longer.

I'm only going to run the computer for about an hour and then give it a chance to cool down before I try a long session. Maybe I'll finally get to play poker this weekend.

I played a home game (tournament) two weekends back; I'll post the details for it tomorrow.

My Computer Died

2006-02-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

Results: 2.5 hour played; down $30

My computer died last week, so there's no poker until the new power supply comes in. I could play on my Wife's computer, but it's in high demand right now. No hurry; the games will still be there when I get back. The good news is that I've had a lot of time to read up on the game.

I did play one session last week before the computer died, and it was similar to the previous session. I posted a few hands on Two Plus Two, but although the consensus was that I wasn't aggressive enough post-flop, being more aggressive would have probably just cost me more money on those hands. I might have won more on others, but my run is probably as much bad cards as bad play.

I'm going to play a home game on Saturday, and I'm sure that it will be quite fishy. Maybe I'll make up for some of these losses.

The power supply is supposed to be in tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be back to the routine by the weekend.

Looking for Leaks

2006-01-25T10:03:00.000-08:00

I haven't played at all since my last post, because I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong when I play these tighter games. I don't think the players I've been up against are any better, they are just playing tighter. Since all of the answers are hidden in the hands I played in the last two sessions, I've been analyzing the Poker Tracker numbers, reviewing how I played those hands, posting some of them on the Two Plus Two forums, and reading other hand posts to see how my play compared to the suggestions from the other players.

I found a post by UATrewqaz on the Two Plus Two forums that seems to fit me pretty well. It wasn't directed at me, but it probably sums up my play better than I could:

Your postflop play probably isn't as good as the other TAGS. Playing the typical [idiots at the lower limits] you can just play perfect preflop strategy and still make money. Against people who are making [fewer] preflop mistakes your postflop play is really the only place to punish them.

I'm doing ok preflop, but I'm not playing as well as I could post-flop. My Poker Tracker numbers (although the sample is tiny) show that I'm not being aggressive enough post flop. My review of some hands as well as the review on the forums said the same thing. There were opportunities to raise where I just called and ended up losing to a draw. I might have lost if I had raised and was called down, but by raising, I put the other player in a bad position where he's just as likely to fold a drawing hand.

I'm going to take a little more time to review my play before I play again. When I start back, I'll play one-hour sessions and review each one when I'm finished until I feel like my play is where it needs to be. I'm even considering some training advice I read somewhere on the Internet: drop down to a lower limit, and only bet/raise/fold post-flop on any hand I play (no calling). A session or two playing like this should help the aggression factor.

Playing Awful in the Tight Games

2006-01-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

Results: 2.5 hours played; down $36

Now that I have some Poker Tracker stats, I should be able to figure out what I'm doing wrong, but I'm still losing when the games are tighter. I played two different sessions at $.50/$1.00 tables, and lost at both sessions. Both tables had around 32% of the players seeing the flop.

Some of it was just plain luck. I had KK in the big blind and everyone folded to me (I won $.25). On the very next hand, the player to my left had KK and everyone but me called his pre-flop raise (he won $9.50).

The only positive not of the evening was that I got up to 100 raked hands which clears $10. At this rate, this is going to be an expensive $100 bonus.

First Impressions of Bet365 Hold 'em Poker

2006-01-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

Results: 1 hour played; up $4

Well, I have a couple observations from my first hour of play at Bet365. I played at a six-player $.25/$.50 limit hold 'em table. It was the loosest table I could find at that limit:

Their software is a little buggy when you make a deposit. I attempted to deposit $200 into the poker room, but it went into the sports bet site. It wouldn't let me transfer it to the poker site nor would it let me make a withdrawal (my email address didn't match the one I registered ad Neteller).
I ended up depositing an additional $200 into the poker site. Once I closed the client and went back in, I was able to transfer the first $200 into my poker account. It's a little frustrating because they only allow one free Neteller withdrawal every 28 days, so I'm going to leave the majority of my bankroll there for the time being.
The play is much faster than any of the other sites I've played on. The cards are dealt much faster, and betting goes around the tables much faster. A couple times I felt pressured to make a decision before I was ready. Once I realized what was happening, I made a mental adjustment to prepare for my play a little sooner.
There wasn't a large selection of games to choose from. At the level I was playing, there were two full rings and three 6-handed games. I don't know if this improves later in the day or not.
Poker Tracker works on the Prima network. I'm finally able to see my stats for this session. I'll share the stats if anyone is interested, but one thing jumped out at me pretty quickly. According to Poker Tracker, I contributed to 41 raked pots (out of 65 played). Since Bet365 only counts hands raked at $.25 or above towards the bonus, I only logged 17 raked hands on Bet365. At this rate, it will take 59 hour of play to clear the bonus. If they all counted, it would take 24 hours of play time. If I'm going to do this in a reasonable amount of time, I'm going to have to move up in limits.
The players here range from good to bad (even at the level I was playing). The skill range seemed very similar to what I used to see on Party Poker. I played with the fish and was more careful around the decent players.

I'll play some more this evening and post another recap then.

If you missed it, I added a link to Poker with WillWonka in the link section. I read through part of his blog this weekend, and liked what I saw. I'll be back in the future to read through some of his older posts.

On to Bet356

2006-01-23T09:36:00.000-08:00

I got my payout today, so I'm going to move 1/2 of it to Bet365. Their games are supposed to be pretty loose and they have a very good sign-up bonus ($100).

I'm not sure how many games they have available in the evenings (they don't have very many mid-day games), but I'll give it a try. I think I'm going to continue to mix in some freerolls to improve my NL play as well.

I'll post more after my first session.

Waiting and Waiting

2006-01-22T20:49:00.000-08:00

I'm still waiting on a payout from Casino.net. I didn't expect it to take this long. Tomorrow is five business days, so maybe I'm just impatient.

While waiting, I started reading Winning Low Limit Hold 'em by Lee Jones. It's a much easier read than SSH, but I wonder if he took some EV shortcuts to make the play a little easier. His examples make a whole lot of sense, and I'd highly recommend this book to someone who wants to get a quick edge on the game. I'm about 1/3 of the way into it, so I'll post more about it when I'm finished. The plan is to read it through once, read it a second time while taking notes, and then memorize the notes. I should have it all down pretty well vy Valentine's Day.

Tournaments

In the last post, I said that I was going to look for some freerolls to pass the time. I only have accounts on four poker sites, and I don't want to open any others if it will mean missing out on a potential bonus. The 2 UK sites (Sporting Bet and Casino.net) have some decent daily freerolls, but they are in the early afternoon. I intended to play them this weekend, but I forgot all about them.

Since nothing else is available in the evenings, I've been playing the "play money" tournaments on Poker Stars. I know that these games aren't very realistic, but I found that the do tighten up quite a bit when you get to the final table. I played my 5th 45-player NL tournament this evening and won it in a fairly interesting fashion:

Preflop: Hero is BB with [ Qc 5d ]
Villian raises 1600 to 2400

(I thought I'd push him off the pot)
Hero raises 5600 to 8000
Villian said, "lets end it here"
Villian raises 20945 to 28945 and is all-in

(He probably doesn't have a pair, and as long as he doesn't have a K or A, I'm OK. Maybe this is a bad call, but I'm the chip leader by a couple thousand...)
Hero calls 20945

Villian shows [ As 3s ] (Uh oh!)

*** FLOP *** [9c Js 4d]
*** TURN *** [9c Js 4d] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [9c Js 4d Td] [8d]

Showdown:
Hero shows [Qc 5d] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
Villian shows [As 3s] (high card Ace)
Hero collected 57990 from pot

I came in 4th on the previous tournament (AA beat my KK), 6th on the one before that (ITM), and 17th the first two. I'll mess around with these a little while longer and then try some of the low limit multi-tables at the next casino. Hopefully the play is similar.

The Bonus Whoring Continues

2006-01-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

Results: 0 hours played; cleared $70 bonus

I logged in to Casino.net this evening expecting to play a little poker, and much to my surprise, I had the second half of the bonus ($70) in my account. It must have cleared sometime during last night's play. It looks like I won't be playing limit hold 'em to build the bankroll again for a few days; I'll request a withdrawal, but I can't play elsewhere until it hits my Netteller account. It said that it would take 1-4 business days, so I might be playing again this weekend.

While I'm waiting for the payout, I think I'll play some freeroll tournaments on some of sites where I have an account. I suck at the NL tournaments, so the freerolls are a chance for me to try out different play styles. We'll see how it goes.

Table Selection Equals Winning Poker

2006-01-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

Results: 45 minutes played; up $15

I kept looking for a loose table today, but for most of the day the tables on Casino.net were a little tight (33% - 35% players seeing flop). When I checked again at 9PM, I found that the tables were much looser (65%). Looking back at last week's fiasco, I played two tables during the day on Sunday when they were they were at their tightest. I'm not winning as much when the tables tighten up, and when I don't get my draws, I'm punished heavily. From now on, I'm only going to play when I can find a table with 55%+ players seeing the flop.

On a side note, I found myself getting a little more aggressive post-flop on a couple hands. On one, I had AJs (raised and called around the table pre-flop) and the flop had an A with two low cards. Someone bet in front of me, all four others called and I raised. All of the bettors called my raise then checked to me on the turn (a 10). From that point on, I was the lead bettor, and got all but one to fold before the showdown. The other player had A5, so I won with high kicker. If I'd called post-flop, some of the others might have stayed in and beat me on a later street.

The other hand was similar; I had AKs, flopped a pair of kings and pushed hard. I don't know what the other guy had at showdown (he mucked), but he lost in any case.

Although I've read the chapter in Small Stakes Hold 'Em a few times, I don't think I really understood the idea of pot equity until tonight. In both of these hands, the odds of me improving my hands were a higher percentage than my percentage of the pot. I think that's called "raising for value" if I understand the concept. Instead of letting the other players see a card for cheap (or free), I'm making them pay to see it, and I have an equity edge on the money they are adding to the table.

I'm such a newbie to poker, but I really think I'm learning.

Lots of Hands Today

2006-01-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

Results: 3 hours played; down $12

I played three different sessions today multi-tabling the $.25/$.50 hands each session. The first was brutal: I lost $23 in an hour and forty-five minutes. After a little break, I played a different table for the rest of the second hour and won $3. Later this evening, I had another hour-long session and won $8.

Overall, the first session really wasn't bad; unfortunately, I lost four big hands for the majority of losses. On one, I had the nut ace-high straight on the turn and was beat by a flush when the third spade fell on the river. On another, I had AdKd; the board was xdKcxdAc at the turn. I had two pair on the board with a decent shot at a flush. The flop was another club, giving my opponent the flush instead.

In each of these four hands, the person who beat me shouldn't have been in the hand with their pre-flop cards. I'm not going to worry about it too much though. If it weren't for players like these, it would be much harder to win in the long run. If they didn't win every once in a while, we wouldn't have as many fish. Maybe they'll be there again tomorrow.

Slowly Building the Bankroll Again

2006-01-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

Results: 30 minutes played; up $8

I played a single $.25/$.50 table for 30 minutes before bed. The cards were good to me once again. Maybe I can clear this bonus this weekend and move onto the next poker site.

Back on Track?

2006-01-13T19:07:00.000-08:00

Results: 1.5 hours played; up $20

I played 2 $.25/$.50 tables at Casino.net again this evening with good results. The tables were looser than normal, so I made the best of it. Because of the interface, I wasn't able to save my best hand, but here's my second best hand of the evening:

Casino.net 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Qc, Qs.
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds,MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, CO (Fishy) raises, Button (Fishy2) 3-bets, Hero caps, BB folds, UTG calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, Fishy calls, Fishy2 calls.

Flop: (29.52 SB) 7s, 6s, 9d (7 players)
Hero bets, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, Fishy calls, Fishy2 calls.

Turn: (18.26 BB) 6d (7 players)
Hero bets, UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, Fishy calls, Fishy2 calls.

River: (23.26 BB) Qh (5 players)
Hero bets, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, Fishy calls, Fishy2 folds.

Final Pot: 25.26 BB
Fishy has Jc Ah (one pair, sixes).
Hero has Qc Qs (full house, queens full of sixes).

Outcome: Hero wins 25.26 BB.

The other hand was better than this one (hit the nut straight on the turn), and the other players were equally fishy. I watched them call with anything the whole session; I felt like Pavlov's dog.

Legal Again!

2006-01-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

Results: 2 hours played; down $4

I took the afternoon off to renew my driver's license (it expired last June), so I was able to get in a two hour session this afternoon. I played two $.25/$.50 tables, and it was a decent session. Although it ended on a down note, I was playing pretty well and the tables were quite loose.

I'm going to take a little break and play more later. Multi-tabling is more taxing than playing on single tables. After two hours, I'm ready for a break!

On another note, I'm going to look for some type of virtual desktop software that will let me spread things out a bit. What I'm looking for is available on UNIX, but I don't know if it is for Windows.

The Bonus Might Make the Bankroll

2006-01-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

Results: 2 hours played; even

I played the $.25/$.50 tables again tonight (ten handed), and it felt like I was back on Sporting Bet. Although the session ended up even, I was up $4 until the last two hands brought me back down. In any case, I got in another two hours of play and should have had a good number of hands that count towards the bonus. A few more days like this and I'll get the last $70 on Casino.net.

One thing I noticed, I'm misplaying a few marginal pre-flop hands when compared to the suggestions in Small Stakes Hold 'em. I'm not sure how this is affecting my overall winnings, but I'm going to tighten up a bit and see if it helps. I'm also working on a small Windows application that will help with the pre-flop decisions (so that I'm not making mistakes). Since I've been without the poker odds calculator, Texas Calculatem, on these sites, I have to find another solution.

The Short Handed Tables are Looser

2006-01-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

Results: 1.5 hours played; up $7

The short-handed low-limit tables on Casino.net are looser than the ten-handed tables.

After reading quite the last few days, I thought I'd give it another try this evening. I may have been tilting a bit after the group of losses (although I was trying not too), so the layoff was probably good for me. I wish I knew who wrote which part of Small Stakes Hold 'em so I could give proper credit, but thanks to Miller, Slansky, and Malmuth for the great book. I read a review that calls it "the Bible of the low limit game," and I'd have to agree.

I was a little more picky this evening with the table selection. I've noticed that the five-handed tables on Casino.net are generally looser than the ten handed tables. Normally, the ten-handed tables average around 40% players seeing the flop; the five handed tables (at low limits) average 70% and higher. Also, playing the short-handed games, the blinds come around faster so the bonuses should clear faster.

The table I chose was a five-handed $.25/$.50 table that was averaging 86% of the players seeing the flop; I'm sure that went down a bit when I joined the table. Although most everyone called the blind to see the flop, they would play tighter on a raise. There was a really reckless player (raising with 3c5d pre-flop and calling down all the way to showdown), but most were just careless pre-flop. It was a slow and steady grind, but that's much better than what I've been seeing on the full tables lately.

I'll give it another try in the next couple evenings to see if the play is similar. Maybe I can clear this $70 after all.

Done With $0.50/$1 Tables at Casino.net

2006-01-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

Results: 2.5 hour played; down $27

I'm not sure what's going on, but the bleeding continues at Casino.net. The tables aren't quite as loose as they were on Sporting Bet, but I doubt if that's what's going on. I chased a set on one hand and lost to a straight on the turn; that hand alone cost me $9. The pot was too big to let go, but I really doubted that he called 2 bets preflop with cards that would complete the straight (he had 4c5c). I read two pair and got burned.

On another hand, I held QQ and flopped Q7K; lost that one to the guy that held KK.

If I could run poker tracker, I'd have a better understanding of what was happening. However, I doubt that I won 10 showdowns over the entire session. In any case, I'm done with the $.50/$1 tables at this site. I'm working on clearing the last $70, but at this point, I'm in the red on this site. It doesn't do me any good to clear the bonus if I can't at least break even in the process.

Back to the Books

2006-01-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

Results: 1.5 hour played; down $17

Again, the cards weren't falling for me. It's going to be hard to clear this bonus (and it won't mean much) if I keep going backwards. I would have improved the session a bit if I'd held my ground with some hands on the later rounds. As an example, I folded a straight-draw on a turn re-raise with a decent pot; the river would have finished the straight for me, but I was gun-shy after all of the bad hands.

Other than the few bad plays on the late rounds, I didn't make very many bad decisions. As I said, I just wasn't hitting any cards. The few times I had a high pair, I would be beaten on the flop. I watched everyone else hit their flushes, draw into sets, boats, or quads.

As I planned last night, I think I'll take tomorrow off to re-read some sections in SSH. I'm also going to work up a pre-flop cheat sheet to make sure that I'm not making any mistakes on the close hands. I'm also considering limiting myself to one table until I can be sure that I'm not making any mistakes. It's hard to judge when playing on these sites where I don't have good hand histories and can't use Poker Tracker.

On an unrelated note, I got an email from one of the local newspapers this week. They want to do an article on Geocaching and asked me for an interview. If the weather holds up this weekend, we might go out and find a cache as well. I really enjoy the sport, so I also like sharing it with others. If you haven't heard of it, be sure and check out geocaching.com.

A Very Timely Bonus

2006-01-05T18:45:00.000-08:00

Results: 2 hours played; down $16; $30 bonus cleared

I multi-tabled again tonight with results similar to last night. The bonus couldn't have cleared at a better time.

After thinking about it all day and reviewing my play tonight, I do have a few more insights:

Although the high pairs pre-flop keep me in the game, hitting flushes and straights are what makes me the real money. The pots are usually higher, and you're paid off for taking the draws. These last two nights I haven't hit one flush or straight.
Paraphrasing Ed Miller from his book, Small Stakes Hold 'em, if there's a good chance that you have the second-best hand on the river, get out. I chased hands both nights to be beaten a better kicker. That probably cost me $7-$10 over the two sessions.
There were four or five hands where a sleeper (caller) woke up with a bet on the turn or river. When that happens, I need to be a little more observant and think about what might have caused him to wake up. I know of at least two hands and $5 that I lost by not seeing this until after showdown.
I was tired from staying up to watch the game last night. When I sat down at the computer, I drank a beer to relax. This wasn't a good combination; I never drink when I gamble, and I really wasn't playing as much attention to the game as it deserved.

I was getting a little jaded by the winning sessions, but it's probably good that I'm getting some wake-up calls at these levels. I'm going to try to finish Miller's book over the next two evenings, go back and review a couple sections, and hopefully play better this weekend.

2006-01-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

Results: 2 hours played; down $14

Played while watching the second half of the bowl game. The cards wouldn't fall for me (playing $.50/$1). At one point I was down $28, so I did make a bit of a comeback. The game was much tighter tonight, but there weren't many tables available. I might have to work on my short-handed play for Casino.net since there were plenty five-handed tables available.

2006-01-03T20:58:00.000-08:00

Results: .25 hours played; up $13

I played during the Orange Bowl halftime and did pretty well. Since I didn't have time to wait for a $.50/$1 table, I took the first seat I could find on a $.25/$.50 table. I hope the Seminoles do as well as I did.

Started Playing on Casino.net

2006-01-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

Results: 1.5 hours played; up $29

Since I did so well at Sporting Bet, I decided to open an account at Casino.net. It uses the same poker software as Sporting Bet and offers the same bonus: $30 after 100 raked hands and $70 after another 400 with a $100 initial deposit. I deposited $300 and plan to play at the $.50/$1 limit tables as long as they are nice to me. When I'm finished here, I think I'll reserve half of my bankroll when I move to the next casino to avoid down time.

My initial impressions of Casino.net are that it is tighter than Sporting Bet at these limits. The tables on Sporting Bet were consistently 60%+ in the pot pre-flop. On Casino.net, I only saw one above 50%. The 5-hand tables, but I need to work on my short-handed play before I commit any money to them. It was a little more difficult to get on a table here as well; I had to queue up on both tables that I played.

I ended up multi-tabling a $.50/$1 table and a $.25/$.50 table. I've only tried this a couple times before, and it can get nerve wracking when you have good hands on both windows. At one point I had pocket rockets on both tables! Even though the tables were tighter pre-flop, the post-flop play was similar to Sporting Bet. The other players give way too much value to A-anything, and they don't seem to care that there are 3 cards to a straight/flush on the board once they hit their pair. I guess that's why these low limit tables are so easy to win.

I had a little run at the higher limit table that I'd like to share. The first four times I went to showdown, I lost to the same player to my immediate right. He showed me no respect from that point on. Late in the session, I had AA big blind (the hand I mentioned earlier) and after capping the bets pre-flop, flopped the set. He and another player stayed with me until showdown and I bet through the whole way.

The next hand, I had KK in he small blind and flopped another set. He again stayed with me calling me down through all streets. The third hand I had AdKd on the button and re-raised his raise (he said "I don't think so."). I flopped four to a flush and then hit it on the turn. He bet and I raised through all three streets. I'm sure he's talking about his three "bad beats" and doesn't remember whipping up on me early in the session.

Payout Received in Four Days

2006-01-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

After I finished the last post, I decided to check my Neteller account. The withdrawal from Sporting Bet was posted. I'm not sure where I'm going next, so I'll post again when I make the move. I probably should have waited until after the holiday for the withdrawal, but this way I was able to spend some time with the family.

Don't Buy a Bankroll Building Ebook!

2006-01-03T09:54:00.000-08:00

I requested a payout from Sporting Bet on Friday night, so I haven't been playing since then. I've read that it can take six or seven days for the payout; I'm in a holding pattern until they release the funds. I guess the good part about this is that my wife can't say that I spend all of my free time playing poker!

While I'm waiting, I've been finishing Small Stakes Hold 'em by Ed Miller and reading poker articles on the Internet. Although Miller's book is great for learning the best play on a given hand to maximize your expectation, it doesn't really talk about the psychology of the game.

Although no-limit hold 'em play is much different than limit poker (which is what I'm playing), Doubleas blog has some great articles on betting to push your opponent off of a hand. When I've ventured into the Dark Side (NL tournaments), I find that I'm often pushed off of a good hand by an aggressive bet, yet I never bet aggressively in return. Hopefully the next time I play one of these tournaments, I'll remember Doubleas articles.

While searching though Google, I came across a handful of e-books that teach you how to build your bankroll using bonuses at online casinos. While there may be valuable information in those books, there is plenty of relevant (and free) information available in the Internet. Here's my suggestion:

Start at the Two Plus Two forums. Read through the links in their Beginners forum. The most important two for learning how to build your poker bankroll are Homer's post and Greg J's post. Not all of the bonuses in the initial post are valid any more, but read through the comments for updated ideas.
Read through the guide at Bonus Whores. They have a step-by-step guide that is fairly up to date. I decided to start on Sporting Bet because I liked their bonus structure, but I'll move to the sites listed here soon enough.
Do some Google searches and blog searches for Building your bankroll. You aren't the first one to go down this path. Emulate others who have been successful.
Read some good books on hold 'em poker. I've mentioned and highly recommend Small Stakes Hold em by Ed Miller. If you're new to hold 'em poker, I'd suggest Hold 'em Poker by David Slansky. Another highly recommended book for advanced players is The Theory of Poker also written by David Slansky.

Keep in mind, you don't have to be a poker expert to begin building your bankroll. As long as you are tight pre-flop and play decent poker, your bankroll will grow almost by itself with the help of the bonuses. As you play more poker and begin reading the books I recommended, you'll see your win rate (and bankroll) increase.

What is a Raked Hand?

2006-01-01T21:05:00.000-08:00

Someone asked me today what a "raked hand" was. Since only raked hands count when working on clearing bonuses, I thought I should explain for those who don't know. Here's the definition from Mike Caro University on Poker1.com; the first definition applies to raked hands:

Rake
1. (v) Take a percentage of the pot, usually by the house as its means of making money on the game. Sometimes called snatch. 2. Get someone out of a game; so called because the signal is often a finger run up the person's spine. This is sometimes used by a floor person to unobtrusively request a thief to cash in. 3. (n) The money taken as described in definition 1, or the house's cut taken in some other form (as, for example, time). In a nonrake game, you might hear a loser sarcastically say, "Hurry up and deal; you're slowing down the rake." Sometimes called take or takeoff, juice, vig. 4. The percentage of a pot represented by the rake. A Vegas casino might advertise, "Lowest rake in town." If a new player asks, "What's the rake?," he wants to know what percentage is taken by the house from each pot.

The rake varies by casino. For the hand to count for your bonus clearing, you have to contribute some money to the pot that is eventually raked. If you're playing tight (as you should in these games), you may have to see a couple hundred hands to get a hundred raked hands.

Finished on a Whimper?

2005-12-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

Results: 1 hour played; down $11; cleared $70 bonus

Yet another session where the cards just weren't falling for me. Since I knew that I had to be close to clearing the second part of the $100 bonus, I decided to play two $.25/$.50 tables. Neither one was very good to me. When I left the second table, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the $70 bonus had cleared. The first 100 hands went by pretty fast; it took forever for the second 400.

I'm playing a home game tonight with some buddies. They like to play all of the crazy poker games (the dealer picks the game). I read an article on Badugi last night, so I think we'll give it a try. It has to be better than "Peg-Leg Pete" or the other crap they come up with. Why can't we just play hold 'em?

Loose Two Hour Session

2005-12-29T19:16:00.000-08:00

Results: 2 hours played; up $4

Tonight I played $.25/$.50 for two hours with decent results overall. At one point I was down $14 for the session, but the table was so loose I decided to play another hour. The loose players were hitting cards on the river when I was losing; they didn't hit them when I charged back. I won $18 in the last twenty minutes.
Here's an example of the play you're liable to come across on Sporting Bet. I watched a player UTG raise pre-flop and bet/raise every street; he had 45 off-suit, flopped low pair (4's), and drew trips on the river. The same player cold-called a preflop raise on another hand with 10 5 off-suit. Although he won big with the 4's, he lost his entire $28 afterwards and left the table.

A Little Tired

2005-12-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

Results: 1 hour played; up $5

I was a little tired tonight, so I didn't feel like playing for very long. During the session, I had a couple good hands, but the table was tighter than normal. I thought about looking for a different table but decided to call it an evening instead.

I had a nice win on pocket 9's when I flopped a set. Probably the best hand was Ah Jh one off of the button. I flopped a pair of aces, and everyone folded to the MP in front of me who raised. I re-raised and everyone else folded. Heads-up, we traded bets on the last two streets, and he showed Ac4d (why would you raise preflop with that hand?).

Five Minutes - Three Hands Won

2005-12-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

Results: 5 minutes played (3 hands); up $4

I only had a few extra minutes at lunch today, so I thought I'd play a few hands. The only limit table with an open seat was a five-handed $.25/$.50 table. In one round of the table I won 3/3 hands played for a $4 profit. Time to get back to work.

Oh, and I wanted to thank Matt for stopping by and checking out my new blog.

Not a Good Night

2005-12-27T19:14:00.000-08:00

Results: 2 hours played; down $11

I played for almost 2 hours tonight, and the cards just wouldn't fall for me. I was playing at a full table of $.25/$50 limit hold'em at Sporting Bet and ended the session down $11. This was my worst session since I started playing here. At one point I was down $21, so I can't complain too much.

The table was as loose as usual: 60% of the players were staying in to the flop (always a good sign). Unfortunately, you have to pick up some draws to take advantage of them. The guy sitting next to me could do no wrong; he doubled his $30 buy-in in under two hours.

Remember, poker = gambling.

Winning at Small Stakes Hold 'em

2005-12-26T21:12:00.000-08:00

I've been playing Texas Hold 'em at Sporting Bet for two weeks now. I started with a $100 deposit and have been playing $.25/$.50 up to $1/$2 limit poker tables. Slansky's book has really made a difference in my skill level (I'm half way through it), although as mentioned before, this is an extremely loose site overall.

Since I can't use Poker Tracker on Sporting Bet's Poker site, I'll have to approximate some of the stats. After the first 100 hands, my bankroll was up to $120. Adding the first $30 bonus that released brought it up to $150. Once I reached the $175 mark, I started playing some of the higher limit tables.

The bankroll's currently up to $233, but I don't know how many hands I've played. The 500 hand bonus is still in my account, so when it clears, I'll get an additional $70. In the next update I'll give some examples of the type of play you can expect at Sporting Bet. I love it!

My only complaint about the site is that it's sometimes hard to find a table at the limits I want with an opening. I can usually find a no-limit table, but Slansky recommends that you stick to limit tables to maximize profit. I think I'll continue to follow his recommendations.

Secrets to Building Your Poker Bankroll

2005-12-26T20:21:00.000-08:00

While reading through the Beginner's Forum on the Two Plus Two forums, I came across a post that sent me in the right direction. The post explained how to build up your bankroll while getting deposit bonuses at several different poker sites. Although the main post was outdated, there were further current suggestions for sites in the comments to the post.

Since my short bankroll was one of the main reasons that I was losing at the higher limit Texas Hold 'em games (especially the no-limit games), this was exactly the help I needed. I decided to start with an account on Sporting Bet. As of this post, they offer a $100 bonus with a $100 deposit. You have to play 100 raked hands for the first $30 and another 400 raked hands for the remaining $70. According the everything I read, the players there are very loose, so this looks to be a great place to start.

Unfortunately, none of the poker software I've been using works with this site. In the long run, this will be very good for me since I will have to learn to play without it. We'll see how it goes.

Learn to Win at Texas Hold 'em

2005-12-26T20:05:00.000-08:00

Although I was playing pretty well, I figured that it was time to become a student of the game of Texas Hold 'em if I wanted to win regularly. At some point I found the forums at Two Plus Two Publishing.

It only took an hour of reading to realize how bad I was playing. I could win a bit against the really low levels because they were worse than I was. When I moved up to the higher levels, I was getting beaten because I was a bad player. In addition, I also realized that I needed a much larger bankroll to play in the higher stakes games. I read through all of the beginner guides linked in the Small-stakes Forum, and bought Ed Miller's and David Slansky's book, Small Stakes Hold 'em. I was on my way.

Play Tracking Tool for Hold 'em Poker

2005-12-26T20:03:00.000-08:00

While searching for answers to my Poker problems, I read a couple articles online that suggested using Poker Tracker software to track your play style. It reads the hand histories from many of the online sites to track your play for both Texas Hold 'em and Omaha/8. Once you have a decent history, Poker tracker will help you find leaks in your game.

I quickly discovered that it would also track your opponents. You don't even have to play to build information on your opponents. On Party Poker, for example, you can watch up to ten tables at a time without playing. Over the course of a week (24 hours a day), I built up a huge history of players at my level. When playing, the Game Time window lets you see these stats real-time during the game. When you know the playing style of your opponents, you really get the edge over them.

Once I started using Poker Tracker while playing, I quickly saw the value in the program and bought it. You can get a free trial from their website, but it only tracks 1000 hands. The registered version is $55, but I think it's really worth it.

The articles I read also suggested using PokerAce HUD along with Poker Tracker. This program will put your opponents' stats right on the tables while you play. You can try it for free and use it on one table at a time. If you play more than one table, registration costs $25. I don't have much screen real estate, so I really like using it.

I played for a week or so using these two programs with good results. I thought they would help me in the mini-tournaments as well, so I gave them another try with the same results: I didn't make the money in four attempts. It was during this stretch that I decided that it was time to learn how to play poker instead of just finding a good crutch. I withdrew my money from Party Poker up $40.

Poker Odds Calculator Helps

2005-12-26T19:03:00.000-08:00

After the Hold 'em beating, I decided that I needed some help. I searched around on the Internet and found that there are programs that will watch the poker tables while you play and tell you what your correct play should be. These programs looked like they would make things much better for me.

I came across Texas Calculatem's website and was intrigued by their program. It's a live poker odds calculator that works with Party Poker, Poker Stars, and a hundred other sites. You can get it for free if you make a deposit to a poker room from their links. You can adjust it to your playing style (loose/tight), and it will recommend the correct play for each betting round. If nothing else, it's a fantastic tool to help you count your outs while you play (but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Armed with a new tool, I made another deposit of $100 at Party Poker. I decided that if I couldn't win this time, I would quit for good. During the earlier attempt at Party Poker, I did pretty well at the lower limit hold'em tables and didn't do so well at no-limit hold 'em (ring games or tournaments). This time I focused on the $.50/$1 limit ring games.

Although I don't remember the numbers, I was up a bit over these play sessions. Texas Calculatem really helped, but I found that over the course of a session at a table, the other players would outsmart me and push me off of pots. My frustration level continued to build, and between sessions, I searched the web for answers.

Prologue

2005-12-26T17:03:00.000-08:00

I decided to take a little break from playing Texas Hold 'em to start a blog of my experiences. As the blog description says, I'm trying to build a poker bankroll of $1,000 so that I can play in the larger limit tables. Hopefully by the time my bankroll grows that large, I will be a good enough poker player to make keep the earnings up at the higher limit tables. I should have started logging my activities a few months back, so let me back up to the beginning.

A few months ago, a couple guys at work were talking about their experiences playing online poker. I had played quite a bit of the play money poker over the last year or so, but I never tried the real money games. Their stories intrigued me enough to open an account with Party Poker.

At Party Poker, my initial $100 deposit lasted several weeks. Some days I would be up and others I would be down. My bankroll was trending up, but the swings were sometimes $20-30 each way. I didn't know what I was doing or what type of game I liked, so I played in limits from $.50/$1 to $2/$4. When I talked to my coworkers, they suggested that I try the tournaments, "That's where the money is."

My tournament experience was brutal. I played several $5 single-table tournaments at Party Poker with dismal results. Although I could regularly get to the top five finishers, I never made it to the money. I'd win a little at the ring games then lost it at the tournaments. Eventually, I withdrew my remaining balance in frustration: $70.

A few weeks later, one of my buddies suggested that I try Poker Stars. He said that it was much looser than Party Poker, so I opened an account there with $100. Over the next few weeks, I lost my bankroll at the $5 single-table tournaments. Beaten and bruised, I gave up. Thus ended my first foray into online poker.