Monday, June 27, 2005

Weekend Update

So this weekend InterPoker finally had their promo weekend. Usually it happens the third weekend of the month but it came (thankfully...?) in the end. It was $30 for 400 raked hands which clears on concurrently with their regular monthly bonus, making the total bonus for the month a 6x bonus ($120 for 720) which is not bad at all. Based on my previous success playing 100NL at Absolute I started playing 100NL at InterPoker (instead of last month when I exclusively played 50NL), also I started the bonus late and only had about a week and a half to clear the 720 raked hands so I was looking for a faster clearing rate at the higher stakes.

Although not a complete disaster, this has probably been my worst bonus clearing yet, not that I have many to compare. I was up slightly at first but then took some horrid beats here and there. Some people deciding to call raises with 48suited and junk of that sort and then a couple big blind specials where I was actually in the BB and either flopped the nuts (on the flop) but someone drew out on me and another where I had a K high flush to someone's Ace high flush. I really think I should get PokerTracker to plug up some leaks as I'm sure there are some. I'm not down big, just barely ahead but its quite a different experience from last month when I cleared this bonus - I was up about $160 not counting the bonus. Then again I played exclusively 50NL and took my time with it. I don't think I really "rushed" through it this time but I guess the larger variance at the higher stakes just got me here and there. Still have about another $20 to clear on Absolute and I'm up almost $200 there from my initial buy-in so I supposed I should be happy. Only about 100 hands to clear at InterPoker and since that should be easy to clear in the next few days after work, I will finish it off on the 50NL tables and see if I can regain some ground. Update once I clear the bonus...

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Absolute Poker

Going along with my newfound fondness of 100NL I started a new site, Absolute Poker. They have a great bonus if you deposit via Neteller - 50% up to $500. since I was new to the site I decided to hit up the 50NL tables first, this was last weekend and I found it strange that there was only 1 full ring table available at that limit (not to mention that they max out at 9). I got in played, and after about 35% clearance rate (rake has to be 25cents or more so $5 pot) I left and checked out the 100NL tables and haven't looked back. I really enjoy the play on these tables and on top of that I am getting about 70-75% bonus clearance. Absolute is a 10x bonus but they make up for it by releasing the bonus in $10 chunks (so for every 100 raked hands). I really like this sytem as well and the cashier section has updated stats on your points and pending bonus.

The play is perfect for me, people with some skill and a good mix of live players may make this my preferred site. Newsflash: folded my best hand ever today, the nut flush. I limped in late position with Ah2h with 5 of us seeing a QhThKh flop. Needless to say my face lit up. BB checks, a bet to $3, I smooth call, button fold, checker raises to $6, bettor folds and I of course call. This check raise definitely caught my attention. On the turn a 5s fell, check, I bet $5 - I know a really small bet for this pot but I want to keep this guy in for as much as possible - he check raises me to $10! I raise it to $15. The river falls another Jack and he goes all-in for $40-something, putting me all in, I had about $30 left and the pot right now is about $55. I thought about it till time almost expired and folded because I put him on the QJ or KJ for the boat. He had been at my table for a while and was not a bluffer and bet his hands pretty well. I felt he had something strong to check-raise twice in the hand and it was a super hard fold but I belive the right fold. Still can't believe I did it but I would do it again given the circumstances.

But there's more money to be had tomorrow...

100NL monkey off my back

So I completely igonored my last post and have not been keeping up to date on this blog, in fact have been doing a horrible job at it. Well, I've been busy lately with a new job and any free time I have in the evenings I prefer to play poker than write about it. But again, I'll give "good posting habits" a second shot.

So for this month, I have already cleared the PokerPlex bonus ($50 for 300 hands dealt). Seems they went to a raked hands system, to allow players to clear bonus at the new micro-limit tables but a month later reverted so bonus play has to be on at least 1/2 limit or .50/1NL. Last month, I tried to clear the William Hill Poker bonus (another Crypto site - 5pounds for every hour of play at 1/2L or .5/1NL or above) I still did not feel comfortable playing 100NL with all the maniac Euros on the Crytos so I felt this would be a great opportunity to try out 1/2L as it seems this is a popular way to clear bonuses. WHAT A HORRIBLE IDEA. I won't go into details, as it was a while ago anway but I just can't deal with limit play, in fact, I think it's weak and I could be wrong/change my mind but with what little I know now I am never playing limit again. Really made me appreciate NL even more and when I hit up to clear PokerPlex I boldly hit the 100NL tables and for the first time ever playing there, I felt comfortable and at ease with play. I think it was only a matter of time but I'm definitely playing at least 50NL at any site I play but will make more ventures into 100NL.