OK - I have moved up to $1/$2 at Martin's Poker (B2B network) and am really 'in the groove' this week - something has really clicked in my positional play and player-type reading abilties and I am running at 24PTBB over my first 650 hands there.

Have also split the euro 75 referral bonus with Piers (after 100 raked hands I think).

Have 450 raked hands there now - at 600 I get another $240 bonus and at 3000 a huge $720 one.


I also have a $250 bonus ready at Bet Fred in 1000 raked hands time and a half-cleared Stars one of $120 I'm working on, so bonus-wise things are looking very good in the next few weeks.

At present all time winnings are $9800 and my current roll $7400. My targets are to get all-time over 10k this weekend and to hit my target BR of $8000 (over which i will take 80% of any excess out as spending money).

The other thing I am doing is punching numbers into a calculator all the time that tell me that, even with a PTBB of 3 at $1/2, that I can make more money after tax 3-4 tabling for 40 hrs/week than I do in my present job - hmm..I guess I need about 50k hands under my belt at $200NL to find out what my win rate really is..

Across my first 4500 hands at Stars, UB and B2B at 6 max $200 NL my PTBB is 6, but I am getting much better than when I first started out..

Made my $10,000 + winnings target

Just $250 short of my $8000 bankroll target now (after that I and the wife get to spend 80% of my winnings!)

Tearing up the $200 NL 6 max at Martin's (15PTBB over 1000 hands) and the $100 NL 6 max at iPoker (11PTBB over 2000 hands) this last week.

And have picked up $285 bonus at Martin's and am 1000 hands off a $250 bonus at iPoker (bet fred).

Earning money at about $80/hr over past 8 days - well we can all dream of being pros once in a while before variance kicks us back down to earth

I do really feel that I've turned the corner in 6 max though - it's a bit like when I worked out the full ring $50 games last year - just expect to win when I sit down most every time - had 7 good winning days and one day losing less than 1/2 a buy-in - good for anyone's self-belief..

MADE IT!



Total winnings $10507, current bankroll $8053 !

Great job, now go and enjoy those winnings !!!

My goal was to hit $10K and then take out 75% of all winnings and spend on stuff I didnt need. I did it the first month or 2. I was giving my wife a couple hundred each month to blow on whatever she wanted and I spent a bit on a few toys. Then there wasnt anything I really wanted for a while so I didnt spend any.

Then I got back into the routine of not spending any and my roll has skyrocketed. I do owe quite a bit in taxes, but even after paying them, Ihave more than enough to play any stakes I want to (but probably never will). Im a saver by nature and find it hard to spend money frivolously. Im eyeballing a 50" Plasma TV right now, but cant seem to be able to pry the money out of my wallet.

I think I am going to do it though, because this money is gathering dust and spending money on extravagant things that I otherwise couldnt or wouldnt is one way to really enjoy poker.

The other reason I havent bought the TV yet is because I also do alot of woodworking and I built one hell of an entertainment cabinet for my 36" TV and its more than just an entertainment center. Its a huge piece of furniture that I will no longer have use for. I guess I could sell it? Its pretty awesome of I do say so myself. I built matching spealer cabinets also, so I hate to just do away with them. maybe I'll build a smaller matching stereo cabinet to hold all my other electronics and mount the Plasma on top of it?

OK been playing a few MTT's - can be frustrating - and my ring play has been stuck in a rut the last 3 weeks, but this week I moved over to Paradise 5 max as I've $500 of bonus to work off there..

I started at $100 to get the hang of the site. My first 1.5 hrs 3-tabling tonight has netted me $311 ($20 bonus, rest profit).

The 5 max tables are full of passive calling stations - just bet out with top pair and clean them out

So my lifetime winnings are now over $12k and my excess roll has bought me a satnav system and laser printer this week and now has enougn spare to buy me the Nikon Digital SLR with the Nikkor 18-70mm autofocus zoom lens that I've had my eye on for a while.
This is on top of the Dell 9300 and home wi-fi set up I bought some time ago...

Truly for those of you who are enthusiasts like me slogging thru tough patches to the promised land of 'enough bankroll' it really is worth it in the end - hang in there and you will soon enjoy buying great toys for yourself and loved ones with other people's money

My roll is slowly growing as I leave in 10% of winnings minimum each week but for the $20 max MTT's/SnG's and mix of $100/$200 ring games I play, $8k really is more than enough..especially with the insurance of $15-$20/hr in bonuses or RB against a bad run..

3-4 tabling $100-200 6 max tables will generate between $4-8 bonus/table/hr

It's better on some sign up bonuses and a bit worse when grinding out at places like Stars/UB but as a rule of thumb $15-20 is about right.

bonuswhores do a handy bonus grid for comparison purposes here

http://www.bonuswhores.com/bonus-grid.php

so for example as I'm currently 3-tabling Paradise $100 5 max for a reload bonus I can expect $4.60/table/hr or $13.8 at average tables. However as I select tables with high average Vp$iP the bonus release rate is a little higher and is probably $16 / hr or so overall