Wow

So I sat down tonight to play what I figured to be a long session of $200 NL6 max on Party, man was I wrong.

First orbit in the small blind I pick up AA. Raise about 5x the BB because 2 had limped. One calls and I flop a set, yay me! I bet about 3/4 the pot and he makes a pot sized raise. I come over the top and he pushes and I gladly call, he has me covered. I figured he had AK or something and sure enough he did, except it was AKs and he caught runner runner for his flush, gg me.

I rebuy laughing it off, it happens. Not two hands later I again pick up AA. One raise to me and I re-raise, he re-raises me and I push and he calls. Now Party does not turn over the cards on all in situations. Flop comes TJQ and I am praying for two things, he has KK and not QQ or a K comes on the turn/river. Of course the K didn't come and he had QQ, gg me.

That folks, is how you drop $400 in less then one orbit. After that hand I just punched out and called it a night, I felt major tilt issues coming on after that.

Oh Party Poker, How I love Thee

Things are going well for me on Party these days.  Monday my account was at $185 on Party and today before cashing out some, it sat at $740, well $940 if you count the $200 transfer someone sent me.  All of those winnings occurred in about 3-4 hours of play, so things are going rather well right now.

I wish I could attribute it to good play, but I can't really.  I have been getting some good cards and people are making big second best hands against me, so that always helps.

Last night I sat down at a $200 NL 6 max table and I flopped a set of Kings and bet out, got raised, I re-raised and he pushed, then I scooped.  He had made bottom set and I beat him set over set.  Things like that don't happen all that often, but when they do it sure is nice.

Omaha 

I mentioned that I was going to start playing Omaha on a regular basis a while back.  I started out very good by winning 3 buy ins at the $25 pot limit game.  I realized I really didn't have much of a clue as to what was going on, so I stopped and purchased 3 books from Amazon.  I have been reading those books the past week or so, and I am anxious to try out what I have learned.  Maybe this weekend I will sit down and play some.  If not, next week for sure.

Anybody looking for a good O8 book should check out Winning Omaha/8 Poker by Mark Tenner and Lou Krieger.  I have found it to be the best out of the three I purchased and I am learning a lot from it.  Well written and very easy to understand.  Highly recommended.

I bout TJ's book as well, and well not as good, it does have a great chapter where he tells stories from his old days of rounding in Texas.  This chapter alone was worth the price to me, as there are some great stories in it.

One he tells is about Doyle.  TJ is sitting next to Doyle in a tournament at Ceasers and they go on dinner break.  Instead of eating Doyle heads off to play some high limit hold'em.  Doyle comes back from the dinner break and sits down and says, "Well, if I win this $51,000 first prize, I will only be down $14,000 for the dinner break".  Classic stuff. 

Good Suggestion

Well, I have been playing most of my poker at Full Tilt lately.  I must say, I really like the site.  I had never played there before until I joined up with PokerFox.  Nice software and some pretty good games.  The limit traffic is a little low, but you can always find games.  The NL side of things offers plenty of games and the traffic is great.  I also like that I get 27% rakeback, paid directly into my account and that I can data mine tables.  All good things.

The other day I was shooting the shit with Titans, and he suggest giving the Party NL tables a shot.  So last night I sat down to record a session on Party playing $100 NL 6 max.  Let me just say, what a wonderful idea.  First hand I hit the nut flush on the turn, but didn't get much action.  Then in the SB I pick up AA and UTG raises 3x and two call.  I raise to $12 and UTG calls.  I bet out $15 and he raises to $30 and I just call.  We both check the turn and 6c falls on the river, putting 3 clubs on the board.  I bet out about $40 and he pushes, and it costs me another $30 or so to call and I do.  That 6 made his set, so it was a very good card for me.

Few hands later I pick up TT and the flop comes T high, I bet and some guy pushes with AKo and I call, taking down another good size pot.  So about 12 hands played, and I'm up about $190.  I cut the session short at about 30 minutes because I was recording it and finished up about $185, not bad for a half hours work.

I need to start playing Party more.  I have always liked the site with great table selection and an abundance of fish.  So I will probably be splitting my time between Full Tilt and Party for now on.  Full Tilt for rakeback and maybe if I play enough on Party, I can get into their VIP program which is  kind of like rakeback in a way.

5 Card Draw

I had some time to kill last night, and always looking for a new game to give me fits, I sat down to play some 5 card draw over on Poker Room.  I sat at a $1/$2 table and there were only 3 of us on the table.

I'm not quite sure what I am doing to be honest, but after about an hour of play, I was up $23.  I would equate this to beginners luck more then my superior knowledge of the 5 card draw game.  OK, so I had no clue what I was doing and got lucky a few hands, big deal.  I was actually dealt a full house one hand.  I was actually shocked that after I didn't draw one card, someone raised me after the draw.  I figured he had trip A's or K's, nope, middle two pair.  Way to pay attention donkey.

It is time to pimp Titans site for a bit.  He has a pretty nice 5 card draw guide that you should go check out if you are interested in playing the game.

More Casino Goodness

I have been hitting the casinos up pretty hard on the bonus side lately.  The other day I deposited $100 into Golden Palace for their 300% bonus, but I busted out fairly early.  I then deposited $100 into Planet Luck for their 100% bonus and again busted out.  With this one, I was literally down to my last dollar at one point.  I then ran that up to about $140 and eventually busted out.  After that it was onto Starluck Casino and I deposited $100 for their 100% bonus.  I managed to do quite well with that one and ended up clearing $509, so $409 after my deposit was subtracted.

I then moved onto Bet365 casino and deposited $200 for their 100% bonus and for the first time, I played blackjack switch.  Now, the sites running Playtech software and blackjack switch, the house edge is supposed to be .02% pretty darn good when you consider Pontoon is around .18% and regular blackjack is even higher then that.  So I felt pretty good about my odds of making some coin on this bonus.  Man, was I right.  I ended up cashing out $1,188, so $988 after subtracting my deposit.  Not bad for a few hours work huh?

Blackjack switch was a fun game to play.  It takes a bit longer because you need to figure out if you want to switch the cards or not, but you are also betting 2 hands at once, so that speeds things up in terms of clearing your WR.  So that is another $1,200 or so in my pocket.  April has been quite the month for me and the casinos.  I have taken them for almost $4,000 this month alone.  I'm sure I wont see a winning bonus chase now until sometime in December.

Put Me In Coach 

In the past few days, I have agreed to start coaching a friend in poker.  He has been playing 3 or 4 months and his game is pretty good to be honest.  He just needs some pointers here and there to help refine his game a bit.

I was a bit concerned about doing this, because I am not all that sure I am a good poker player.  I would sure hate to screw someone up because I suck at poker and then they would blame me forever.  I guess we will just see how it goes.

All In 

I have been playing some short handed NL the past few days.  Dropped about $150 right off the get go.  $96 of that was on KK three different times.  All the big hands I have lost so far, I got the money in when I was ahead.  That is all you can ask for, right?

I played maybe 50 hands tonight on Full Tilt and I ended up stacking a guy when my QQ held up to beat his AK.  He reraised me before the flop, I raised him on the J high flop and he called, then he pushed when a 2 came on the river.  I called and he flipped over AKo with no draws other then the A and K.  But, another Q came on the river and it was lights out for him.  I fully expected him to flip over AA-KK or a set, maybe that wasn't such a hot call on my part. 

The Wheel

No, not the wheel like a A-2-3-4-5 straight, I mean like Wheel of Fortune.  For the first time in years I turned that on today and caught just the tail end, the part where they are solving the final puzzle.  Man, was I disapointed when they didn't go on the shopping spree after they won.  Whats up with that?

Part of that shows greatness was watching those morons use their hard earned money on those over priced crappy prizes.  Then of course, that famous gift certificate.   If I was on that show and won, I would have been like, "Hey Pat, this stuff is crap and over priced, put all of my money on a gift cerficate".

Or I would have at least asked if they could transfer the money to one of my poker accounts  

Another Big Casino Score

Well, I deposited $300 into USACasino and got their $555 bonus today.  I then ran that up to $1900 playing Pontoon and had met the wagering requirements and was very excited.  I went to cash out and it said I could not cash out that amount.  I went back to the bonus page and read the terms over again.  Sure enough, you can not withdraw the $555 bonus.  Oh well, it was still worth $1,045 to me after subtracting the bonus and my initial deposit.

It's kind of odd really.  After my big score the other day, I took just under 1k and spent it on my niece.  I guess this was good karma coming around my way or something, becuase it totally replaced what I had just spent on her.

Now I know they are going to put me thru the ringer and ask me to fax some ID or something to them.  I'm just waiting for that email to come to be honest.  Oh well, small price to pay for the money. 

PLO

No, I didn't join the Palestine Liberation Organization, I have started to play Pot Limit Ohama.  Actually, I am playing PLO8 and I am loving it.
Honestly, I don't know anything about the game and I probably shouldn't even be playing, but everyone else seems to know even less then I do, which is always a good thing.  I'm not quite sure what to raise with before the flop, so I hardly ever raise.  I don't think you raise with much before the flop anyway.

I have bought in for the full amount at the $25 PL games on Party 3 times now, and each time I have doubled my buy in before leaving the table.  No doubt this is due to some great cards and beginers luck, but oh well.  I think I might start to split my time between Hold'em and PLO8.  Or, I might play two six max tables and two PLO8 tables at the same time.  I will report back how it goes.

Well, it is that time of the month again, the time where I wonder why I bonus chase.   I know that Titans will come overe and tell me how wrong I am, but I think bonus chasing is no longer for me.  He would be right in pointing out that $2/$4 6-max is not high enough to forgoe bonus chasing and I could make more being a whore, but I just hate it lately.  I think I am going to start concentrating my play on Full Tilt and Party Poker.  I get 27% rakeback on FT and they offer some nice stuff with their player points.  They are having a monthly promotion that lets you play in a WSOP freeroll that gives out 20 seats to the main event if you accumulate 10,000 player points in the month.  Obviously, no rakeback on Party, but the fish more then make up for it I think.  Plus, if I play enough and get into their VIP program, you can get some good offers and make some decent cash.

When I bonus whore, I find myself on stupid sites with no traffic and horrible software and I just end up disgusted with it.  So I will just stick to software I like and sites withi some traffic and take the hit on the bonus chasing.  I will also keep Stars around for some tournament play.  For the record, I say this about once a month and always head back to bonus chasing, so who the hell knows what I will end up doing. 

What A Day

So today I deposit into Interpoker so I can claim their montly $100 bonus. I decided to clear it playing Pontoon after winning a little over $400 doing it that way last month. Little did I know what I was in store for.

Instantly I started catching all the cards I needed. I must have hit 3 or 4 pontoons in the first 30 hands and a few five card tricks as well. Both of those pay off at 2 to 1. I am betting $25 a hand, with a few $100 and $200 bets tossed in just for the heck of it.

After a half hour or so, I have run my $100 up to $1100 and had completed 75% of my wagering requirement for the $100 bonus. By the time I had completed my requirement, I had dropped down to $875, so a profit of $775, not bad huh? This is where this story goes bad. I wanted to hit the 1k mark and was disapointed I had dropped down. So like a fat kid who cant stay out of the cookie jar, I keep playing even after I had cleared the bonus, doh!

Needless to say, I lost big after that. The one hand that really sticks out is one I made a $300 bet and got a total of 10 on the first two cards. I doubled for a $600 bet and hit a 20. I will be a motherfucker if the dealer didnt hit 21 and beat me out of $600. Ouch.

So now I am down to about $250 or so. That is OK, still a good profit right? Stop and take the $150 for your hours work and be happy, that is a good earn rate. Nah, that would be the smart thing to do, and we all know I am not that smart. So I keep playing, and let me tell you, I went on the rush of a lifetime. I must have won 10 hands in a row and was up big again. I was sitting at $925 when the defining hand came. I put out a $300 bet and wouldnt you fucking know it, I hit a pontoon (for blackjack fans, its a blackjack) and that bitch paid 2 to 1 for a nice $600 win. I was now sitting at $1,525 and do you know what I did? I cashed out and ran like a little girl! I'm dumb, but not that dumb. So it was a nice $1400 win in the books for me. The last two months have netted me $1800 from that stupid game, not bad.

Oddly enough, that wasn't even my most enjoyable victory today. That honor would have been the PokerFox.net league victory and not just because I won, but because I beat my arch nemesis Billinga. I had been teasing him lately because he is winning so much in the league and then last week he sent me to the rail when he rivered his gutshot to bust my set of T's. So the gloves were off after that. It was me and him HU, let the best man win.

OK, so that is a little dramatic, and the truth is, I got lucky. I flopped a straight and busted him, so it wasn't like some great play on my part. I was happy though, because he is a very good player. All of the guys and gals who participate in that league are good players, so it was a nice victory for me.

OK, I am off to see if I can run that $1,400 up to $2,000! Just kidding.