Hitmanxl,
Thanks, I got the idea from Piersmajestyks journal. I just kinda tweaked it to be a little more to my own liking. Until you are playing with your idol up there at NL1000, you should probably never be playing at a site without some kind of bonus working or rakeback deal. If you do you are leaving lots of money on the tables that would really help your bankroll grow.

Didn't play at all today until late this evening and now I am wishing I hadn't. Played a short little hour long multi table session at Stars and managed to lose ~$30. But I cleared a HUMONGOUS 34 VIP's worth of bonus.

Earlier in the day after much arm twisting by Piers, and after MVP did the same thing to me yesterday, I did the UNSPEAKABLE and signed for yet another B2B site. The 687.5€ for 3000 VIP's (which works out to $842.05 today) was just too much for my greedy little mind to ignore. I had sworn off the B2B sites as I have NEVER had much luck at them and their software gives me fits with the cards disappearing at times and not being able to put any of the tables on my 2nd monitor. Hell, PT doesn't even auto import by itself anymore. But yet here I am, once again heading into the void. I had planned on moving back to Paradise as my main place to play even though I don't have any bonus there, but I guess I don't have any will power. And since Piers and MVP had twisted off both my arms getting me to sign up there, I guess I'll have to follow them to get my arms back. Wish me luck. At least I know my May stats will start off on the right foot if I can clear this by April 30th without losing too much of it in the process.

Todays Sorry Ass Stats:

PokerStars NL100, 1 session 3 tables total, 193 hands, 178 minutes, -$32.15

RB: 0
Bonus: 0

Bonus Progress:

Earned 34 VIP's at PokerStars. Brings my total to 40 out of the 600 that I need for the $120 bonus.
__________________________________

Total: -$32.15
Time: 2h 58m

Hitman - bonuses are critical to success around the $100-$200 level.

Even if you make a decent win-rate like 4-5PTBB/100 you will find that the rake you pay is a little bit more than your winnings.

Top tier bonuses equate to 80% of your rake back (the occasional extraordinary ones 100%). Middle tier bonuses are about 50% and even not great ones are worth 30% RB.

You can see the difference this makes to your $/hr at these stakes.

They are also a great insurance against variance - if they are worth 3-4PTBB/100 then even break even play is going to see a decent increase in bankroll over time...in fact you are often better off financially playing breakeven with a great bonus than playing solidly winning poker with no bonus at all at these stakes.

At the $25's and $50's it's not so important as bonuses are much harder to release at those levels and huge PTBB/100's (up to 15) can be earned with decent solid play, but still you should get into the habit of always playing for a good bonus if possible.

It also helps your poker education to play at different sites, so a bit of bonus whoring can be justified on that basis too..

If you work hard...you can reliably make 1k/month at the 100NL level just from bonuses/rakeback. That's a good month just from poker winnings...so excession is 100% correct. If you add bonuses PLUS being a winning player, then you're making a LOT relative to the stakes that you're playing. Personally, I stick to the ongame network...big bonuses for a big network...

Started the Wasa Poker B2B bonus today. Actually managed to make money for the first time in a VERY long time at a B2B site. Didn't play all that long. Cleared a like 1.7% of it. Just trying to get my feet wet without drowning. I played 1/2 Limit FR since that is what I know best. But I'm sure I may have to play a bit of NL to clear this thing because of the time of day I am able to play and the ability to 4 tables on a regualr basis 5 days of the week. It's funny kinds, cuz I don't remember the FR limit players before, being as poor as they were tonight. I was giving them WAY to much credit for actually having a good hand most of the time and I'm sure that ate into some of my winnings. Still, it's a start.
Here's a few HH's that I enjoyed. No huge pots here but it was nice to actually win a few hands again.
Please be kind if you comment, I'm just gettin back into FR limit again after a 3.5 month hiatus from it. But if you have some constructive criticism for me I would like to hear it. I may have donked them up a bit but I was trying to do good.

For those of you who post ugly HH's, please take not that pretty'n 'em up a bit was not hard at all. Now they are very easy to read. Just takes an extra minute to do it too. No more UGLY HH's!!!!!!!

HH#1:

Players:
JS300 (EUR 36,50 in seat 1)
SebZero (EUR 43,50 in seat 2)
smurfsan4 (EUR 69,37 in seat 3)
HoldmTight (EUR 103,00 in seat 4)
Darkstar80 (EUR 39,00 in seat 5)
mongifever (EUR 57,00 in seat 6)
poorhoward (EUR 29,50 in seat 7)
landhawk2 (EUR 92,25 in seat 8)
Klaspoker (EUR 39,68 in seat 9)
tlamsa (EUR 31,75 in seat 10)

Dealer: poorhoward
Small Blind: landhawk2 (0,50)
Big Blind: Klaspoker (1,00)

SebZero was dealt: -

tlamsa Fold
JS300 Fold
SebZero Raise (2,00)
smurfsan4 Fold
HoldmTight Fold
Darkstar80 Fold
mongifever Fold
poorhoward Fold
landhawk2 Fold
Klaspoker Call (1,00)

Flop - -

Klaspoker Check
SebZero Bet (1,00)
Klaspoker Call (1,00)

Turn - - - I think I shoulda bet this turn as well, but I was giving these guys WAY too much respect at this point. This felt like a CR coming with him having 74. Maybe 34. Once again I was seein monsters under the bed.

Klaspoker Check
SebZero Check

River - - - -

Klaspoker Bet (2,00)
SebZero Call (2,00)

Klaspoker shows: - (a pair of deuces) That's right bitch, bet yer busted draw Jack High! LOL.
SebZero shows: - (a pair of deuces, with ace as kicker)

SebZero wins: EUR 10,00 (with a pair of deuces, with ace as kicker)
Rake: EUR 0,50
----------------------------------------------------------------------

HH#2:

Players:
SebZero (EUR 33,50 in seat 2)
smurfsan4 (EUR 85,87 in seat 3)
Chezami (EUR 71,00 in seat 4)
Drock328 (EUR 33,25 in seat 5)
mongifever (EUR 38,50 in seat 6)
poorhoward (EUR 65,25 in seat 7)
landhawk2 (EUR 82,25 in seat 8)
tlamsa (EUR 34,75 in seat 10)

Dealer: mongifever
Small Blind: poorhoward (0,50)
Big Blind: landhawk2 (1,00)

SebZero was dealt: [AD] - To be honest, I probably shouldn't have even limped from EP with AJo. But since I did, I may as well boat up!

tlamsa Fold
SebZero Call (1,00)
smurfsan4 Fold
Chezami Fold
Drock328 Fold
mongifever Fold
poorhoward Raise (1,50)
landhawk2 Fold
SebZero Call (1,00)

Flop - -

poorhoward Bet (1,00)
SebZero Call (1,00)

Turn - - -

poorhoward Bet (2,00)
SebZero Raise (4,00)
poorhoward Call (2,00)

River - - - -

poorhoward Check
SebZero Bet (2,00)
poorhoward Call (2,00) TY idiot for calling this double paired board river bet with K high! LMAO!!!

SebZero shows: [AD] - (a full house, jacks full of aces)
poorhoward didn't show: - (two pairs, jacks and nines)

SebZero wins: EUR 18,25 (with a full house, jacks full of aces)
Rake: EUR 0,75
----------------------------------------------------------------------

HH#3:

Players:
JS300 (EUR 36,50 in seat 1)
SebZero (EUR 37,50 in seat 2)
smurfsan4 (EUR 69,37 in seat 3)
HoldmTight (EUR 103,00 in seat 4)
mongifever (EUR 57,50 in seat 6)
poorhoward (EUR 30,75 in seat 7)
landhawk2 (EUR 96,25 in seat 8)
Klaspoker (EUR 39,68 in seat 9)
tlamsa (EUR 31,75 in seat 10)

Dealer: HoldmTight
Small Blind: mongifever (0,50)
Big Blind: poorhoward (1,00)

SebZero was dealt: -

landhawk2 Fold
Klaspoker Fold
tlamsa Fold
JS300 Fold
SebZero Call (1,00)
smurfsan4 Fold
HoldmTight Fold
mongifever Fold
poorhoward Check

Flop - -

poorhoward Bet (1,00)
SebZero Raise (2,00)
poorhoward Raise (2,00)
SebZero Call (1,00)

Turn - - -

poorhoward Bet (2,00)
SebZero Call (2,00)

River - - - -

poorhoward Check
SebZero Bet (2,00) Normally I might have put this guy on a boat and checked behind here but he proved he was an idiot earlier on.
poorhoward Fold
SebZero Payback (2,00)

SebZero didn't show hand

SebZero wins: EUR 12,00
Rake: EUR 0,50
----------------------------------------------------------------------

HH#4:

Players:
kgson (EUR 41,50 in seat 2)
landhawk2 (EUR 128,00 in seat 3)
Kebbe68 (EUR 24,50 in seat 4)
JS300 (EUR 51,25 in seat 5)
tlamsa (EUR 35,25 in seat 6)
mongifever (EUR 59,25 in seat 7)
cornelis (EUR 16,63 in seat 8)
SebZero (EUR 33,50 in seat 9)
smurfsan4 (EUR 47,63 in seat 10)

Dealer: JS300
Small Blind: tlamsa (0,50)
Big Blind: mongifever (1,00)

SebZero was dealt: -
cornelis Fold
SebZero Raise (2,00)
smurfsan4 Fold
kgson Fold
landhawk2 Fold
Kebbe68 Fold
JS300 Raise (3,00)
tlamsa Fold
mongifever Fold
SebZero Call (1,00)

Flop - -

SebZero Check
JS300 Bet (1,00)
SebZero Call (1,00)

Turn - - -

SebZero Bet (2,00) I might shoulda CR'd here but when the flush card hit I wanted to know now.
JS300 Call (2,00)

River - - - -

SebZero Bet (2,00)
JS300 Call (2,00)

SebZero shows: - (a full house, tens full of eights)
JS300 didn't show: - (a pair of eights)

SebZero wins: EUR 16,75 (with a full house, tens full of eights)
Rake: EUR 0,75
----------------------------------------------------------------------

HH#5: I kinda boned the river up on this one as I had him on A4

Players:
Drock328 (EUR 35,75 in seat 1)
kgson (EUR 41,75 in seat 2)
landhawk2 (EUR 152,50 in seat 3)
Kebbe68 (EUR 24,25 in seat 4)
JS300 (EUR 34,00 in seat 5)
tlamsa (EUR 28,00 in seat 6)
mongifever (EUR 46,50 in seat 7)
cornelis (EUR 26,88 in seat 8)
SebZero (EUR 33,00 in seat 9)
smurfsan4 (EUR 49,38 in seat 10)

Dealer: kgson
Small Blind: landhawk2 (0,50)
Big Blind: Kebbe68 (1,00)

SebZero was dealt: -

JS300 Fold
tlamsa Fold
mongifever Fold
cornelis Call (1,00)
SebZero Call (1,00)
smurfsan4 Fold
Drock328 Fold
kgson Fold
landhawk2 Call (0,50)
Kebbe68 Check

Flop - -

landhawk2 Check
Kebbe68 Bet (1,00)
cornelis Fold
SebZero Raise (2,00)
landhawk2 Fold
Kebbe68 Call (1,00)

Turn - - -

Kebbe68 Check
SebZero Bet (2,00)
Kebbe68 Call (2,00)

River - - - -

Kebbe68 Check
SebZero Check

Kebbe68 shows: - (a pair of sevens)
SebZero shows: - (three of a kind, fives)

SebZero wins: EUR 11,50 (with three of a kind, fives)
Rake: EUR 0,50
----------------------------------------------------------------------
HH#6: Yet another bonehead donking off bets chasing a flush against me.

Players:
Drock328 (EUR 46,50 in seat 1)
landhawk2 (EUR 122,25 in seat 3)
Chezami (EUR 66,12 in seat 5)
tlamsa (EUR 24,75 in seat 6)
mongifever (EUR 40,00 in seat 7)
cornelis (EUR 29,78 in seat 8)
SebZero (EUR 35,00 in seat 9)
smurfsan4 (EUR 58,38 in seat 10)

Dealer: Chezami
Small Blind: tlamsa (0,50)
Big Blind: mongifever (1,00)

SebZero was dealt: -

cornelis Fold
SebZero Raise (2,00)
smurfsan4 Fold
Drock328 Fold
landhawk2 Call (2,00)
Chezami Fold
tlamsa Fold
mongifever Fold

Flop - -

SebZero Bet (1,00)
landhawk2 Call (1,00)

Turn - - -

SebZero Bet (2,00)
landhawk2 Call (2,00)

River - - - -

SebZero Bet (2,00)
landhawk2 Fold
SebZero Payback (2,00)

SebZero didn't show hand

SebZero wins: EUR 11,00
Rake: EUR 0,50
----------------------------------------------------------------------


After dinner, Allstar invited me to his tables at Paradise for a little NL100 action. Didn't do great but didn't lose at least. These tables had some just HORRIBLE players but I was just plain card dead for the most part. I caught some small and medium PP's but never a monster hand. Did run a few little bluffs to steal some pots when they would check it around to me though. I will definitely be going back to Paradise once this B2B deal is over I think. Why the hell can't they have regular reloads or some kind of RB deal? I'd never leave the place! But there in lies the answer in itself huh? If they did have regular reloads or RB, then a lot more of the bonus whores would be hanging out there and the tables would suck.

Anyway, here are the boring details of the day.

Today's Stats:

Wasa Poker 1/2€ Limit FR, 2 tables, 134 hands, 105 minutes, $13.17

Paradise Poker NL100 FR, 3 tables, 144 hands, 169 minutes, $19.70


RB: 0
Bonus: 0

Bonus Progress:

Earned 52 VIP's at Wasa Poker. Only 2949 to go before April 30th!
____________________________________

Total: $32.87
Time: 4h 34m

I think the only thing that could have made this hand better would be if I had raised the flop and had the BB cap it. These Wasa players at 1/2€ FR Limit really are not good. If I could get over my fears of monsters under the bed I'm sure I would be killing these guys. I'm just not use to (yet) not giving most every player at the table a little respect towards their play. So far, these guys the last 2 nights have not shown they deserve any but for some reason I'm still giving it to them. Hopefully I'll get over it soon.

Game # 296756311 - Texas Hold'em Fixed Limit EUR 1,00/2,00 - Table "Trondheim"
Game ended 2006-04-05 03:31:21 GMT+01:00

Players:
lapo6544 (EUR 11,50 in seat 2)
Amanda_83 (EUR 33,25 in seat 3)
mongifever (EUR 25,37 in seat 4)
SebZero (EUR 38,25 in seat 5)
Gryphis (EUR 36,25 in seat 7)
DrSues01 (EUR 66,75 in seat 9)
DirtyJ (EUR 100,00 in seat 10)

Dealer: Gryphis
Small Blind: DrSues01 (0,50)
Big Blind: DirtyJ (1,00)

SebZero was dealt: - Ad

lapo6544 Raise (2,00)
Amanda_83 Call (2,00)
mongifever Fold
SebZero Call (2,00)
Gryphis Call (2,00)
DrSues01 Fold
DirtyJ Raise (2,00)
lapo6544 Call (1,00)
Amanda_83 Call (1,00)
SebZero Call (1,00)
Gryphis Call (1,00)

Flop - -

DirtyJ Bet (1,00)
lapo6544 Call (1,00)
Amanda_83 Fold
SebZero Raise (2,00)
Gryphis Call (2,00)
DirtyJ Call (1,00)
lapo6544 Call (1,00)

Turn - - -

DirtyJ Check
lapo6544 Check
SebZero Bet (2,00)
Gryphis Call (2,00)
DirtyJ Call (2,00)
lapo6544 Call (2,00)

River - - - -

DirtyJ Check
lapo6544 Check
SebZero Bet (2,00)
Gryphis Call (2,00)
DirtyJ Call (2,00)
lapo6544 Fold

SebZero shows: - Ad (three of a kind, aces)
Gryphis didn't show: - (three of a kind, aces, with nine as kicker) Did you honestly think the 9 on the board is a good enough kicker to win or even split?!!!!! LMAO!!!!
DirtyJ didn't show: - (two pairs, aces and queens) THANKS IDIOT!!!! I can always use an extra 33% in the pot!!!!!

SebZero wins: EUR 35,75 (with three of a kind, aces)
Rake: EUR 1,75
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Heard it's still kinda slow and buggy...

I think these are reducing in numbers, eg it hasn't crashed on me in a while now.