So I found out that because I hadn't deposited at UB yet, I was still eligible for their 40% initial deposit bonus, which is most excellent. So I put the $445 I had in neteller into UB for a $178 bonus. Meanwhile, it appears the Stars bonus isn't actually cleared, so I'm gonna have to harrass customer support to get it, since I'm 1 FPP short. Since I withdrew I'm actually no longer eligible for it, but I doubt they'll risk losing a customer over a $30 bonus, especially since I'm so close. I swear I sat through a couple $10 pots and the number of FPPs didn't change though.

Meanwhile at UB I opened up 3 tables of $1/2 and promptly took a beating. I think I was down about $60 at one point. And the bonus itself clears quite slowly, slower than Stars even. Two of the tables had no action, so I closed them out and opened up a juicy $2/4 game. I did quite well there, and even managed a little comeback at the $1/2. After 3 hours of playing I've only finished off $24 of the bonus though, so it's going to be quite the slog. UB's miniview takes some getting used to, but it's quite nice once you do.

142 hands @ $2/4: +$89.50, 15.76 BB/100
319 hands @ $1/2: -$26.00, -4.08 BB/100
Bonus: +$24

Here's my favorite hand of the session, where I get to raise a draw for value. UTG+2 will bet anything postflop, but I've beaten him down quite a few times now and he's afraid of me.

MP1 is at seat 0 with $182.
MP2 is at seat 1 with $60.50.
MP3 is at seat 2 with $163.
CO is at seat 3 with $166.25.
Button is at seat 4 with $75.
SB is at seat 5 with $291.75.
Hero (BB) is at seat 6 with $255.50.
UTG is at seat 7 with $67.75.
UTG+1 is at seat 8 with $110.25.
UTG+2 is at seat 9 with $249.25.
The button is at seat 4.
The partial kill button is at seat 7.

SB posts the small blind of $1.
Hero (BB) posts the big blind of $2.

MP1: -- --
MP2: -- --
MP3: -- --
CO: -- --
Button: -- --
SB: -- --
Hero (BB):
UTG: -- --
UTG+1: -- --
UTG+2: -- --

Pre-flop:

2 folds, UTG+2 calls, 2 folds, MP3 calls, 2 folds, SB calls, Hero (BB) checks.

Flop (board: ):

SB checks, Hero (BB) checks, UTG+2 bets $2, MP3 calls, SB calls, Hero (BB) raises to $4, UTG+2 calls, MP3 calls, SB calls.

Turn (board: ):

SB checks, Hero (BB) bets $4, UTG+2 calls, MP3 folds, SB folds.

River (board: ):

Hero (BB) checks, UTG+2 checks.

Showdown:

Hero (BB) shows .
Hero (BB) has : two pair, tens and fours.
UTG+2 mucks cards.
(UTG+2 has .)

Hand #4940469-997 Summary:

$1.50 is raked from a pot of $32.
Hero (BB) wins $30.50 with two pair, tens and fours.

Actually Norton - you should withdraw immediately from UB and deposit again - so you can take advantage of the other bonus as well - their bonuses don't expire and you can withdraw without losing the bonus. - Just a thought.

It sucks with the Pokerstars bonus - but I believe at $1/$2 the bonus is released at $.75 rake ($15 pots) - which may account for your discrepency. In the future I'd make sure the bonus is released before you cash out (and see it in your account) - on Stars I've never seen a delay - so if its not in your account - assume that you haven't released it yet.

I actually had a good time at UB last night on a $2/$4 O8 table. Raked in $158 over the course of 78 hands for a win rate of 50BB/100... not too bad eh? Hope things continue to go well over the weekend.

I usually sit down at a $1/2 table with $100. I've been down before, but I've never actually busted out. Tonight I did. On two different tables. Dear god, it was brutal. I'm now down $50 chasing UB's bonus. That's including what's already been released from the bonus.

One of the tables was a slow and steady decline. The other one I worked my way up to $130 or so and made a spectacular plummet. Man, do I feel miserable right now. Here's a taste (one of many, to be sure):

Hand #4939597-1913 at Glassboro ($1/$2 Hold'em Kill)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 19/Mar/05 03:00:12

IaHawkz is at seat 0 with $46.
nappy512 is at seat 1 with $110.50.
bassviol is at seat 2 with $36.50.
Ngoshe8 is at seat 3 with $110.75.
flekk17 is at seat 4 with $83.75.
Nortonesque is at seat 5 with $108.
Night Shade is at seat 6 with $55.
Thebobby is at seat 7 with $48.75.
fuzzyballzus is at seat 8 with $38.75.
Card Mann is at seat 9 with $156.25.
The button is at seat 9.
The partial kill button is at seat 9.

IaHawkz posts the small blind of $.50.
nappy512 posts the big blind of $1.

IaHawkz: -- --
nappy512: -- --
bassviol: -- --
Ngoshe8: -- --
flekk17: -- --
Nortonesque:
Night Shade: -- --
Thebobby: -- --
fuzzyballzus: -- --
Card Mann: -- --

Pre-flop:

bassviol folds. Ngoshe8 folds. flekk17 folds.
Nortonesque raises to $2. Night Shade calls.
Thebobby calls. fuzzyballzus folds. Card Mann
folds. IaHawkz folds. nappy512 calls.

Flop (board: ):

nappy512 checks. Nortonesque bets $1. Night Shade
folds. Thebobby raises to $2. nappy512 folds.
Nortonesque re-raises to $3. Thebobby re-raises to
$4. Nortonesque calls.

Turn (board: ):

Nortonesque checks. Thebobby bets $2. Nortonesque
raises to $4. Thebobby re-raises to $6. Nortonesque
calls.

River (board: ):

Nortonesque checks. Thebobby bets $2. Nortonesque
calls.

Showdown:

Thebobby shows .
Thebobby has : three sevens.
Nortonesque mucks cards.
(Nortonesque has .)

Hand #4939597-1913 Summary:

$1 is raked from a pot of $32.50.
Thebobby wins $31.50 with three sevens.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing like raising it up with a 2 outer. I type "good lord" into the chat. "I know" he replies.

No, I don't think you do.

The only bright spot was when Striker showed up at my other table to witness my demise.

Oddly enough the $2/4 table I was at was pretty normal, ended up $50.

Finished off that last FPP at Stars for the $30 bonus last night. Since Party's offering their 20% bonus I've withdrawn from UB to take advantage. I had hoped to be up to $1000 for this month's, but $700 is all right.

Since it's been a month since I started bonus whoring to build up my bankroll, today seems like a good day to take stock. My stats are:

5268 hands
65 sessions
47.9 hours
MT ratio of 1.72
$100 in winnings

The low winnings are due to my recent run at UB's $1/2. By game it breaks down thusly:

game_level......total_hands.....total_won..........big_bets_won/100
$2/$4 Kill..........142..................89.5..................15.757
$2/$4...............736.................(33.75)..............(1.1464)
$1/$2 Kill..........974.................(82)...................(4.2094)
$1/$2...............2623.................63.75................1.2152
$0.50/$1..........439...................14.8..................3.3713
NL ($0.25)........354...................61.78................34.904

Since I've been chasing bonuses though, my bankroll has actually increased $500 over the last month. That includes $180 from InterPoker, $50 from PokerPlex, $65 from PartyPoker, $30 from PokerStars, and about $100 from UltimateBet.

So, I started at $200, made about $100 from actual play, and about $400 from bonuses, bringing the bankroll to $700.

Now that I've built it up a bit, I think I'll switch over to NL as my primary game. My goal for this last month was to make it to $1000, and I think it really helped motivation-wise to have something to shoot for. This month I think I'll make my goal 8000 hands, since having a monetary goal is frustrating during a bad run.

Moved my roll to Party for a $140 bonus. I only put in about 130 hands tonight, being somewhat tired from almost going to jury duty. I say "almost" because I managed to turn my alarm off trying to hit snooze, and woke up an hour and half later. I bet jury duty attendance would be higher if the courts kept more reasonable hours. Who can be expected to be awake at 8am, let alone out and about?

Anyway, ended down $3, mostly due to this hand:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (10 handed)

MP2 ($35.45)
MP3 ($11.4)
CO ($24.15)
Button ($24.9)
Hero ($24)
BB ($30.95)
UTG ($58)
UTG+1 ($19.8)
UTG+2 ($10.85)
MP1 ($24.45)

Preflop: Hero is SB with , . Hero posts a blind of $0.1.
5 folds, MP3 calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero (poster) completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.75) , , (3 players)
Hero bets $1, BB folds, MP3 calls $1.

Turn: ($2.75) (2 players)
Hero bets $2, MP3 raises to $5, Hero calls $3.

River: ($12.75) (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 calls $5.15 (All-In), Hero calls $5.15.

Final Pot: $23.05

Dude, way to not post the results of the hand

Shame to see that yet another has fallen to the dark side (NL)

-TW

Oh damn, the results were the best part. He had AA. I was really just calling for the flush, since there was $10 in the pot and he had another $5 behind

I still like limit, but I'm at a point where I think I'm fairly decent at it. I'd like to be equally comfortable at NL.

Well I slacked off poker a bit over the last week and did some home improvement type projects, so now I've got to get some hands in by Tuesday to clear Party's bonus. I multitabled 3 $.50/1 tables and got 250 raked hands in, out of the 950 I need. I ended up down 50 cents on my play.

Sometime towards the end it occurred to me that I can comfortably play the $1/2 at Party now.

Yep those deposit and reload bonuses are a beautiful thing Nothing like having a losing day and still turning a profit. I have been very lax myself lately in attacking some of these things as two of them are at Stars and in two accounts at Paradise which don't expire. I still have a 300.00 bonus pending at PokerRoom with one month to clear but just don't know if I can make myself do that one. Got close to 900 to clear at UB that I have just never gotten around to either.

Have you signed up for WilliamHill, UKBetting and TotalBET? They are all Cryptos that give a good monthly bonus and it's very easy to get them as they are on an hourly return. If you haven't you still have 3 days to knock them out and them be eligible for them again on April 1. Good luck.

Hmm, been a little while since my last update. I'm chasing InterPoker and Pacific right now -- InterPoker has a $100 bonus, and they also offered me a free $20 for depositing. Nothing like free money. They changed the requirements on the bonus though, so now it's a bit of a slog (8x raked hands). I'm up $20 after 418 hands (275 raked). Should be done with it this weekend.

I only played a little at Pacific, up $5. On top of the $100 bonus they are offering me another $25 for a $50 deposit, which I'll probably do as well. PT has support for Pacific finally (if you buy a $10 hand grabber), which should help tons. I'll probably hit up the $50NL tables, since the next lowest buy-in is $10 and you can't multitable.

I also deposited at UB, so I'll have that waiting as well.

Did my taxes over the weekend, getting a nice refund. I'll have to figure out something to do with that.

I've started playing some shorthanded $1/2 on InterPoker to clear the bonus. I like it. Of course, I was down $40 at my shorthanded table, but the opponents were absolutely terrible, and there were a lot more raked hands per hour.

I was down $30 on the day when this beauty of a hand came up at the end of the session. It was a really good 10 handed table (a rarity on crypto these days). I don't normally call two bets here, but two guys behind me were really loose and the limpers were pretty bad too.

Seat 1: BB ($14 in chips)
Seat 2: UTG ($41.25 in chips)
Seat 3: UTG+1 ($121.68 in chips)
Seat 4: UTG+2 ($81.71 in chips)
Seat 5: MP1 ($28.25 in chips)
Seat 6: Hero ($66.75 in chips)
Seat 7: MP3 ($26.50 in chips)
Seat 8: CO ($29.15 in chips)
Seat 9: Button ($45.75 in chips)
Seat 10: SB ($14.50 in chips)
SB: posts small blind $0.50
BB: posts big blind $1
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Hero
UTG: folds
UTG+1: calls $1
UTG+2: calls $1
MP1: raises $2
Hero: calls $2
MP3: folds
CO: folds
Button: folds
SB: calls $1.50
BB: calls $1
UTG+1: calls $1
UTG+2: calls $1
----- FLOP -----
SB: checks
BB: bets $1
UTG+1: calls $1
UTG+2: folds
MP1: calls $1
Hero: raises $2
SB: calls $2
BB: calls $1
UTG+1: calls $1
MP1: calls $1
----- TURN ----- [Ad]
SB: checks
BB: checks
UTG+1: checks
MP1: checks
Hero: bets $2
SB: calls $2
BB: calls $2
UTG+1: folds
MP1: calls $2
----- RIVER ----- [4s]
SB: bets $2
BB: folds
MP1: raises $4
Hero: raises $6
SB: calls $4
MP1: calls $2
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Hero: shows (A Flush, Ace high)
SB: mucks hand
MP1: mucks hand
Hero collected $45.75 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot $48 Main pot $45.75 Rake $2.25
Board
Seat 1: BB (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 2: UTG folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: UTG+1 folded on the Turn
Seat 4: UTG+2 folded on the Flop
Seat 5: MP1 mucked
Seat 6: Hero showed and won ($45.75) with A Flush, Ace high
Seat 7: MP3 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: CO folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Button (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 10: SB (small blind) mucked

Up to almost 500 raked hands, so should clear it tomorrow.