Nothing earth shattering to start the day but at least on the plus side. Dropped down to .5/1 Limit 6MAX to see how much slower that would clear the bonus but I played 2 tables to make up for the smaller stakes. Odd thing is that I cleared raked hands at the same or higher rate than I did at 1/2 which seems odd to me. Maybe the bonuswhores are playing 1/2 this time instead of .50/1.
Anyway, at least Jan 2nd is off to a better start than Jan 1.

So far today:

Empire-.50/1 limit 6 max, 244 hands, $11.75
Rake: 0
Various: 0
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 120 this session --- 344 out of 1000 total
---------------------------------------
Total: $11.75
Time: 2h 26m

Another session here on the 2nd of Jan. A short little 2 tabler.
Played a total of 44 minutes, 84 hands, $14.25, cleared another 24 raked hands


Jan 2nd totals:
Empire-.50/1 limit 6 max, 328 hands, $26.00
Rake: 0
Various: 0
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 144 today --- 368 out of 1000 total
---------------------------------------
Total: $26.00
Time: 3h 10m

What a difference it makes to go to a different site to play the same game. Bonuswhores galor at Empire where it's all I can do to break even while I clear the bonus, but at the Crypto's, well, let's just say that most of the whores aren't playing both sites right now.
Plenty of suckouts and badbeats still but at least you can get it back from them and then some at that site (Totalbet) right now. Never did manage to hit red pocket aces for that bonus tonight, never hit pocket aces period for that matter, but I'll try again thursday. I did clear 10gbp in bonus though.

Jan 3rd totals:
Totalbet (crypto) 1/2 6MAX, 220 hands, $38.38
Rake: 0
Various: $17.40
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 286 today --- 510 out of 1000 total
10gbp cleared on Totalbet 25gbp monthly 5 hour bonus
-------------------------
Total: $55.78
Time: 2h 9m

Seb dude if you think that's a badbeat or suckout, you have a lot instore for you in the future, and it aint gonna be pretty.

You're saying it isn't either one of those?

OK, well, I thought I'd play a bit of my Pokertstars bonus down to finish up for the night. I shouldn't have. I was "Mr. 2nd Best Hand" of the night. If it hadn't been for some good heads up play towards the end, I might have finished in the red for the day.

Ya know, I've only been playing SHLH for about a month now but for some reason, I seem to do MUCH better when it's 2 or 3 handed. Is that because I'm just not very good yet and can only beat one to 3 players at a time? Or is this a good thing? Do you normally get better at SH before FR? I'd really like an opinion or two from some of you who have played 6MAX for a lot longer than me. If any of you are still reading this.

Wow do I hate clearing that bonus now that the double points are gone! 282 hands and only 57fpp's! SHEESH!!! Pokerstars bonuses are DEFINTELY NOT designed to be optimally (sp?) cleared playing 1/2 Limit unlike many other sites.

Jan 3rd totals:
Totalbet (crypto) 1/2 6MAX, 220 hands, $38.38
Pokerstars 1/2 6MAX, 282 hands, -33.50
Rake: 0
Various: $17.40

Bonus Progress:
Raked hands cleared toward Empires $100 bonus: 0 today --- 510 out of 1000 total
10gbp cleared on Totalbet 25gbp monthly 5 hour bonus
FPP's towards Pokerstars $150 bonus: 57 today --- 430 out of 750 total
-------------------------
Total: $22.28
Time: 4h 54m

Since this journal might be a bit more entertaining if it contained a few "other than poker" snippets, I'll warn you all that today I found out that I have a herniated disk in my neck.
By the way, this is not a good thing.
The reason I'm warning you is that they put me on steroids to help out with the pain. So, if I should start looking like Ahhnuld (Pre-Guvenuh of KaliFoeniuh days) or the Hulk, well, it's ok, just don't piss me off.

enjoy the tiny family jewels and manboobs chief...

Don't be shy about getting a second opinion on what's going on with the disc. I didn't, and ended up with the surgery I should have had five years earlier, but not before doing some long term nerve damage. If you haven't had an MRI done, then you haven't done enough.

JJ

I think you asked if normal people tend to better short-handed rather than at a full table. Well, in the long-run, usually not. But in the short run, it's a lot easier to get lucky against 4-5 people a few times than it is to do so at a full table. And you said something like, Do people tend to get better at shorthanded and THEN move on to full ring? I think, for most people at least, it's the opposite. I played full-ring for a year, and then when I moved to 6-max tables, it let me put the skills I had learned at full-ring to use a lot better. It lower's the "schooling affect" or whatever it's called, so you tend to get less suckouts, less stupid call-downs, etc. And usually, your winrate goes up (substantially, at least to me). The thing about 6-max is, whoever has an edge skillwise gets a lot more chances to press that edge on their opponents, which makes it so much more profitable. Most people who start with 6-max and then move to full ring have to make a LOT of changes to their game before they can sustain half of the winrate they were holding at 6-max.

I know that's probably the most poorly written paragraph ever, but it's 2:30 and I woke up at 6am, so bite me.

When I asked that I was referring to 6MAX tables. I have been able to kill them when there is only 3 or 4 people playing compared to when there is the full 6. I still win with 6 for the most part but not nearly at the rate I do with 3 or 4. As for FR or 6MAX first, I played FR from September through the early part of December. I got "ok" at it and had a positive win rate but once I moved to 6MAX it went up substantially. Perhaps for the very reasons you mentioned.