-----POKER GOLD-----

More BS

2009-02-18T20:06:00.000-08:00

A little while later this happens....complete BS. And two post in one night.

eat 1: aznb*** (289.00 in chips)
Seat 2: mini*** (399.60 in chips)
Seat 8: BlueDell (59.10 in chips)
Seat 9: alwa*** (808.00 in chips)
Seat 10: trum*** (736.30 in chips)
alwa***: posts small blind $2
trum***: posts big blind $4
Dealt to BlueDell [ Ah Kh ]
aznb***: calls
mini***: folds
BlueDell: raises to $18
alwa***: folds
trum***: folds
aznb***: calls
@@@ F_L_O_P @@@ [ Qh 2h 9h ]
aznb***: checks
BlueDell: bets $21
aznb***: raises to $42
BlueDell: is all in 20.1000
aznb***: returns uncalled bet $0.90
aznb***: shows Jc 9c
BlueDell: shows Ah Kh
# # # TURN # # # [ 9s ]
&&& RIVER &&& [ Jd ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
aznb*** wins $122.20 with Full House, Nines full of Jacks

Cake Network BS

2009-02-18T18:03:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted forever...but recently started playing on the Cake network. Talk about BS hands on there compared to sites like PokerStars. I've never seen so many huge hands and setups in my life, not just to me but other players as well. Here's just a typical hand I had QQ. This type of BS has cost me about 10 huge pots and a significant part of my bankroll. It's usually runner runner crap too to beat me.

Seat 1: 10In*** (200.00 in chips)
Seat 3: Poke*** (110.19 in chips)
Seat 8: BlueDell (43.45 in chips)
Seat 9: ca$$*** (40.00 in chips)
BlueDell: posts small blind $1
ca$$***: posts big blind $2
Dealt to BlueDell [ Qc Qd ]
Poke***: calls
BlueDell: raises to $8
ca$$***: calls
Poke***: calls
@@@ F_L_O_P @@@ [ 4d 8c Qs ]
BlueDell: checks
ca$$***: bets $4
Poke***: calls
BlueDell: calls
# # # TURN # # # [ 8d ]
BlueDell: checks
ca$$***: bets $8
Poke***: calls
BlueDell: raises to $16
ca$$***: is all in 20.0000
Poke***: raises to $40
BlueDell: is all in 15.4500
Poke***: returns uncalled bet $8.55
Poke***: shows Kc Kd
BlueDell: shows Qc Qd
ca$$***: shows 4s 4c
&&& RIVER &&& [ Kh ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Poke*** wins $6.85 with Full House, Kings full of Eights
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Poke*** wins $119.05 with Full House, Kings full of Eights

New show @ the Venetian - The Real Deal

2008-07-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

Looks very interesting for those who are heading to Vegas.

Playing like a Donkey!

2008-07-14T17:08:00.000-07:00

I'm running so bad lately. I tried moving up to NL600 and took a couple of bad beats.
The worst beat was when my set of kings (allin post flop) got beat by 10 10 with a runner runner flush. $1046 pot ):

Then it's just tilt and chasing losses = playing like a DONKEY!

Time to take an extended break I think.

On a side note I was able to play in the last Paradise Midsummer Madness tourney; top 10 get a shirt. I finished in the top 10. I'd much rather have the bankroll I lost back though.

June Review

2008-07-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

June was another relatively slow month for me. I didn’t start any new Promotions or clear any reload bonuses, other than the William Hill 5 hr bonus. Most of my play was on PokerStars; playing mainly $200NL as well as some FPP SNG’s. I also got very lucky in a PSO WSOP freeroll, where I chopped for 1K, finishing 2nd.

Recap
William Hill +32
Hollywood -200
PokerStars +865
PSO Freeroll +1000

Total +1697

I expect July to be another slow month; probably playing the same 3 sites a bit. I will also be cheering on Actyper at the WSOP ME. (from internet updates)

Paradise FPP Story

2008-06-17T11:24:00.001-07:00

I'm not the type to complain to a poker site over trivial things. However, I did do it the past couple of months with Paradise.
In a nutshell they finally decided to open an online store to use our FPP's in ( I had about 11k). But in there wisdom they decided to start everyone at zero and held some FPP tournaments in April/May to use up our accumulated FPP's.
I complained to them in April as all weekday tournaments were held during the day when most of us (North America) are working. At that time they responded that they would be added some 9:30 ET tournaments. I checked regularly and couldn't see these added tournaments. So I fired off another e-mail with my disappointment. I did hear back from them and they said the tournaments were held (?), but as compensation they gave me 100 euro's. I'll take it!

May Review

2008-06-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

May was a Very quiet month for me playing poker. I started off the month with a losing week, then took a couple of weeks off, and then recouped my losses the last week of the month.
Here’s the recap:
William Hill -$143
PokerStars +$213
Hollywood Poker even
Intercasino -$25

Total $+45

I also accumulated $66 T$ from PokerStars the last few days using some FPP’s.

I expect June to be very quiet as well; just too many other things going on to find time to play much poker.

PokerStars FPP’s

2008-05-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

I've been playing mainly on PokerStars this past week. I’ve accumulated about 7500 FPP’s over the past few months and have been thinking about what to use them for. I’m not sure what the best value is for using them. (any thoughts?)
I don’t want any Stars clothing, so I’ve decided to play in some FPP tournaments. I’ve been playing in the 210 FPP 20 entry SNG….top 6 win $11 entry into the Sunday 100K. It’s not very hard to to finish in the top 6 in these, as opposed to the 70 FPP SNG where the winner gets the same $11 entry. I’ve been un-registering from the tournament and accumulating T$’s.

What a lousy start to May

2008-05-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

May has started off like February did...horrendous. Hands aren't holding up playing against calling stations. I'm down 3 buyins playing 200NL.

2 big hands killed me last night. AA getting cracked by 6 9o, I thought I was raising enough too...donk hit's his second pair on the turn. Seems these Europeans hit anything on the flop and stay in the hand until the end.
Then my QQ gets cracked, not by the guy with 22 (who hit his set on the flop) but buy a donk holding k 5o.
Flop 2, 5, 10 rainbow
Turn 10
River 5

Again big bets all the way through the hand. I don't mind losing to the guy who hit his set, but the other dude who kept calling huge raises?????

Then I just went on tilt...good thing I had no more money sitting in my Stars account.

I think I'm going to take a couple of weeks off...I think it might take me that long to lose the TILT factor after last night (:

April Recap

2008-05-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

April was a bit of an unusual month for me...less cash games and more MTT's. I did ok with the cash games up and down for the month and absolutely horrible in the MTT's.

Cash Games (mainly 100Nl with some 200NL & 400NL)
Cake +558
Carbon +45
Hollywood -495
PokerStars +132
William Hill +390
Total +630

MTT's - I had a bit of an MTT marathon last weekend where I played in the following
Hollywood - 5K freeroll
Hollywood - PSO 1K freeroll
Hollywood - $10+1 James Woods Invitational
Hollywood - $3 Turbo
Absolute - 2K PSO freeroll
Pokerstars - 2 league events
William Hill - 3K RTR freeroll

I had ZERO CASHES in the MTT's that I played in April. Very dissapointed in my play.

More Paradise FPP's tournaments coming

2008-04-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

Just in case you have Paradise FPP's hanging around, there should be more tournaments added. Not sure if my e-mail to them had anything to do with it, but here's part their response to me.

"We appreciate your comments in regard to the timing of our mid-week FPP All-in Tournaments. We are due to launch some more All-In FPP Tournaments from Monday 21st April. They will generally be at 9:30prm EST and offer much the same prizes as are available in the earlier tournaments. The big plus is that as these tournaments will have smaller numbers participating, offering you much more value for your FPP’s."

Still not happy about not being able to use them in their new store, but hopefully I'll be able to play in some of the mid-week tournaments now.

Paradise FPP’s

2008-04-09T11:41:00.000-07:00

I received an e-mail from them yesteray basically saying to use your FPP’s up in some FFP tournament series or lose your pts., as they are resetting our points to zero on June 1. Unfortunately the once a day tournament(s) (weekday one’s) are all being played during the day, when most of us in North America are working.

After promising a store for the past year, apparently they are planning to open it up on June 1. But the nice people that they are, we won’t be able to use our current FPP’s in the new store. So all those FPP’s I’ve accumulated over the past year (+) are basically worthless.

Help with Rakeback

2008-04-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

After completing many (15) promo’s through PSO, I’ve finally come to the conclusion that rakeback should be a big part of one’s strategy if you are going to keep playing long term at a site. I’ve been doing some reading online trying to decide what site(s)/networks I want to keep playing at and what rakeback provider I want to go with. PSO is kind of out of the question as I’ve done promo’s at most of the sites they offer. I have my Crypto sites with raketherake, and I am very happy with them.
I guess I’m looking for reputable rakeback site(s). The only real difference I see between the providers, is the EXTRAS they give back to their customers in way of special promotions (Freerolls, etc).

I would like to have about 3 or 4 rakeback deals going, so I have some options as to where I want to play and to maximize Bonus(s) + Rakeback.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.
Sites/networks

Crypto – already have William Hill & Interpoker. (RaketheRake)

Boss - all Boss sites are at 30% rakeback, however the bonus clears at different rates via which rakeback provider you go with. ie. RaketheRake - Poker Heaven clears at €10/€75 rake but they also give you a free gift, in my case a portable DVD player based on what I think I would rake over allotted period of time. Raketracker clears Poker Heaven at €10/ €50 rake with no other freebee.

Cake network – I kind of screwed myself with this one as I have a regular Cake account and was planning on doing RedStar as rakeback; but RedStar is not accepting CDN/US players under rakeback anymore.

Are there any other sites/networks you would suggest getting rakeback at?

March Review

2008-03-31T11:50:00.000-07:00

March started off how February ended….horrendous. But I was able to let the “tilt factor” go and ended up having a positive month.

Hollywood Poker – I was down about $300 early in the month clearing a bonus (tilt factor). I finished 2/104 players in a $5.50 Canadian poker night tournament. ($104+$25 bounty on Yancy Arias). +13 for the month.

Carbon Poker – finished the PSO promo and had success playing at the site. Finished 28/2250 in yesterday’s $50K freeroll for a $300 cash. I went out on AKs vs. pocket
10’s, couldn’t catch an A or K. Had I won that race I would have been about 12th with 27 players to go. +660

William Hill – started rakeback and their sweet 5hr bonus. +168

Summery +$841

I played in a few more MTT’s than I usually do, mainly on Carbon and Hollywood. I also played in a few SNG’s; which I never do. I played way less cash game hands this month.

April – still have some bonus to clear on Carbon and then I’ll probably start rakeback on a Boss site. I will also do the monthly William Hill bonus.

Weekend of Tourney’s

2008-03-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

I decided to take a break from ring games this past weekend and instead play in a few free tournaments.

Saturday
Hollywood Poker (James Woods Celebrity Invitational) – free ticket from points
“I want to congratulate you on winning a Celebrity Bounty by knocking Kato Kaelin out of the Michael Woods Celebrity Invitational on Saturday afternoon! If you check your account, you will notice that I have already credited $25 cash.” Woot this was kind of sweet!

Cake $500 New player freeroll – finished about 19th +$4.00
Carbon $2k Freeroll – finished about 40th +$5.00

Sunday
Carbon 10K Freeroll – finished 31/1109, +$50. Played really well in this one, just went card dead near the end.
Party – I cashed in my points because they now deducted your points after only 2 wks of inactivity (stupid). I cashed them in for $10 cash, $6 SNG ticket, $3-300K qualifier ticket. I played the SNG and finished 5th no cash. I’ll play the 300K qualifier at the end of the month.

Summary +$84 which isn’t that much, but at least I didn’t lose a bunch of my own $ and I gained some more tournament experience.

Time to Regroup

2008-03-07T11:12:00.000-08:00

I continued my horrendous play over the first weekend in March. My confidence is shaken and I think I’m pushing too much; generally taking too many chances. I think I’m Gambling too much, trying to get my losses back quickly. Any gamblor knows this is a bad sign and doesn’t usually work.

I decided to start the Carbon Poker promo this week. I plan to grind away at this promo at the 100NL level. So far I’ve been way more patient, and I’ve folded a few marginal hands that I’ve been playing lately…things like mid pair when there has been a raise, re-raise situation or A 10o in early position. I’ve played hands like that recently trying to get lucky (hit a set,etc)…and I’ve been bleeding away $ doing it.

I really enjoy Carbon so far. They offer a great tracking system for your Comp points as well as showing you how many points you need to qualify for their large freerolls. The one drawback is that their traffic is kind of light. Only a couple of 100NL tables going and it looks like the same players playing on a regular basis, who also seem to know one another. I even had one guy ask me if I was new.

Back to the Grind!

February Review

2008-03-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

I really wanted to have another solid month like January, but instead I got my A$$ kicked and gave back everything that I won in January. It was a combination of VERY bad luck, bad beats, and TILT. I played mainly $100NL, $200NL, & 400NL.

Here’s the recap:

Cake poker – Completed the promo through PSO – took 3 bad beats when I was holding AA vs. small pair and losing 3 buyin’s when they hit quads on the flop (2 allins pre-flop). -$625.

Interpoker – no luck, and after being down about $300 I went on TILT on a $500NL table losing an allin on a very bad beat. -$700

Party ($175 opt in bonus) – Wow what a great offer! I wasn’t sure how to play this but I wasn’t going to try to clear the bonus playing poker so I went to the Casino with it and got lucky. +$450

Hollywood Poker – Completed the PSO promo over a weekend. There are a lot of maniac Europeans on this site and it was a rollercoaster ride. One tough beat put me at a loss instead of a nice profit. (see previous post). -$125

I didn’t play in many MTT’s because of time constraints but I did win a PSO league event on Stars. Too bad I couldn’t play in many other league events.

Summary -$1000.00.

I’m not sure what I’ll do in March as far as sites go. I’m thinking of doing the Carbon Poker promo through PSO and then take it from there…maybe start a new rakeback site. (I only have Interpoker as rakeback right now). Hopefully I can play in a few (larger) freerolls (1K+) to get some more MTT experience without risking my own $’s.

This hand just tops off my worst month playing poker.

2008-02-28T11:27:00.000-08:00

Let me set it up for you...I have a maniac to my right (Marco), which is a good thing. He got lucky a couple of times…once busting a guys AA vs. his K8o allin preflop where he hit a boat 8’s over K’s. He overbet most pots pushing like $30-$50 into a $7 pot or going allin once every 6 hands or so into $10 pots. I’m card dead and just waiting to pick up a hand.

Finally AA… here's my chance. I pushed after the flop because I thought there was a good chance he (Marco) would call with anything, like he had the previous 45 minutes. But it wasn’t him who called, it was a moron to my left.

Hollywood Poker 200NL

Seat 1: creme2 ($75.80 in chips)
Seat 6: marco...007 ($483.90 in chips)
Seat 7: BGold999 ($178.60 in chips)
Seat 8: GreatOne3164 ($369 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
marco...007 posts blind ($1), BGold999 posts blind ($2).

PRE-FLOP
GreatOne3164 calls $2, creme2 calls $2, marco...007 bets $3, BGold999 bets $15, GreatOne3164 calls $15, creme2 folds, marco...007 calls $13. (they call my large raise?)
FLOP [board cards: 6C,4D,KD ]
marco...007 checks, BGold999 bets $161.60 and is all-in, GreatOne3164 calls $161.60, marco...007 folds.
TURN [board cards: 6C,4D,KD,4C ] (4C, great a Q won’t help him now)
RIVER [board cards: 6C,4D,KD,4C,KS ] (hits a two outer…fk)
SHOWDOWN
BGold999 shows [ AD,AC ]
GreatOne3164 shows [ QS,KH ] (Q kicker?…how could he not think I have a least AK when I pushed after the flop?)GreatOne3164 wins $374.20.

SUMMARY
Dealer: creme2
Pot: $376.20, (including rake: $2)
creme2, loses $2
marco...007, loses $17
BGold999, loses $178.60
GreatOne3164, bets $178.60, collects $374.20, net $195.60

This is how my month has gone. My big hands haven’t held up at all, just very unlucky.

I’m going to post my February review tomorrow as I won’t be playing any poker tonight or tomorrow night. It’s not going to be pretty):

Free $10 x 2

2008-02-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

Every so often UB & Absolute put $10 in my inactive accounts. The other day I received $10 from both of them. Normally I just donk it away, but this time I’ve decided to see if I can build them up to at least $100/per site and/or I might try a few MTT’s with the $. Granted going down to $10NL is a big drop for me but after getting beat like a RENTED MULE on Cake (LOL) this is kind of refreshing. (At least I’m not depleting my bankroll.)

So far I have the UB $10 up to $64 and the AP $10 up to $15. We’ll see how far I get with this little experiment.

$%#*&^ quads again

2008-02-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

At least I cleared my last 100pts for the PSO promo

Seat 1: Gold999 (172.15 in chips)
Seat 2: rsa1919 (180.90 in chips)
Seat 3: MB1417 (1063.10 in chips)
Seat 4: TOTOI (122.30 in chips)
Seat 5: flightdogg2 (397.50 in chips)
Seat 6: GooseFrabbaa (400.00 in chips)
Seat 7: magicdragon1 (394.00 in chips)
Seat 8: TheDude2Beat (699.20 in chips)
Seat 9: ShameOfGlory (369.40 in chips)
Seat 10: jonniy (271.70 in chips)
flightdogg2: posts small blind $2
GooseFrabbaa: posts big blind $4
Dealt to Gold999 [ Qd As ]
magicdragon1: folds
TheDude2Beat: folds
ShameOfGlory: folds
jonniy: folds
Gold999: raises to $8
rsa1919: folds
MB1417: folds
TOTOI: calls
flightdogg2: folds
GooseFrabbaa: folds
*** FLOP *** [ 3s 4s 4d ]
Gold999: checks
TOTOI: checks
*** TURN *** [ 9s ]
Gold999: checks
TOTOI: checks
*** RIVER *** [ 8s ]
Gold999: bets $11
TOTOI: raises to $45
Gold999: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TOTOI: shows [ 4h 4c ] (Four of a Kind, Fours )
Gold999: mucks
TOTOI wins $109 with Four of a Kind, Fours

I normally don’t post hand histories but……

2008-02-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

I thought I’d share this one with you after my horrendous weekend on Cake (see previous post).

Let me set it up for you. After losing over $600 on the weekend and only needing about 100pts. to clear my PSO promo I decided to sit down at a $50NL table with my last $35. I didn’t feel like reloading as I was only planning on playing for about ½ hr and just want to clear a few more pts. This was the first pot I got involved in, which was the 10th hand I was dealt.

Seat 2: Giarc (74.30 in chips)
Seat 3: fedelta (15.00 in chips)
Seat 4: bluffer08 (48.85 in chips)
Seat 5: IronLung (48.50 in chips)
Seat 6: Elbros (11.20 in chips)
Seat 7: Gold999 (34.70 in chips)
Seat 8: hooksettcat (28.45 in chips)
Seat 9: koolclyde61 (37.87 in chips)
Seat 10: WVWVWVVWVWVW (63.70 in chips)
Gold999: posts small blind $0.25
hooksettcat: posts big blind $0.50
Dealt to Gold999 [ Th 6d ]
koolclyde61: folds
WVWVWVVWVWVW: calls
Giarc: folds
fedelta: calls
bluffer08: folds
IronLung: calls
Elbros: calls
Gold999: calls
hooksettcat: checks
*** FLOP *** [ 7d 9s 8h ]
Gold999: bets $3
hooksettcat: folds
WVWVWVVWVWVW: raises to $12
fedelta: folds
IronLung: folds
Elbros: folds
Gold999: is all in
WVWVWVVWVWVW: calls
*** TURN *** [ 5c ]
*** RIVER *** [ 8d ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WVWVWVVWVWVW wins $68.40 with Four of a Kind, Eights

I know this hand won’t always hold up, it’s just that I was beat by QUADS AGAIN. I actually laughed about it.

Cake Poker review

2008-02-11T11:26:00.000-08:00

I decided to do the Cake promo through PSO. Here’s a review of the site after 10 days of playing on it. I’ve been playing a mix of $100NL & $200NL only 2 tables at a time.

First the positives:
I really like the software, it’s easy to use and the filters are very good. It tracks your bonus really well. They have a couple of gimmicky things; gold coins and gold cards, which I think are good.

Now for the negatives:
You can’t resize the tables.
Players are getting MONSTER hands…I’ll explain

What a rollercoaster ride I’ve been on. After the first 5 days I was up around $250; mainly because my hands were holding up. The last five days have been terrible and I’m now down $400 of my $. I’ve been sucked out and taken so many bad beats it’s sickening. Players tend to push allin a lot on the site and here's few of mine where players pushed on me.

Here’s a few examples of having my $ allin preflop.
QQ vs. 99 (9 on flop) LOSE
AA vs. 77 (77 on flop) LOSE
AK vs KJ (KXX on Flop, I push him allin, J on river) LOSE
Many more like this as well.

These are just a few examples and there were PLENTY of post flop allin’s where the guy hit his miracle river card while we had all our $ in after the flop and/or turn.

This weekend, in about 500 hands, I saw 7 players get quads. (4 of them within ½ hr) I can’t remember ever seeing this many quads on other sites this frequently. I witnessed multiple player’s allin preflop with AA vs. KK. (which isn’t that uncommon) but it seemed to happen very very often here. Or even better AA or KK vs. middle pair and the guy hitting his middle pair set to win. I could almost call it every time.

I’m not sure if sites can set the randomness of the cards coming out, but I’ve seen some HUGE hands on this site.

Thoughts from anyone on this?

Finally

2008-02-04T11:28:00.000-08:00

I finally got my first MTT win on Saturday! It was in the PSO winter league event on PokerStars. I played ok, I made a couple of errors early on, but I was lucky enough to win most of the races I needed to. I was more excited about winning than the actual $ won.

I guess I’m going to have to try to play in more of these events now to see if I can come close in the overall standings. So far I have a 1st and a 7th place finish. I think it will take 5 top 5 finishes to finish in the top 3 overall.

Not sure if I should count this as part of my 2008 goal(s) of winning an MTT, as I wanted it to be a tournament with over 100 players (this had 44 players). But considering it was against some really good PSO’ers I might count it.

January review

2008-01-30T11:20:00.000-08:00

I didn't play a lot of poker this month but it was a profitable month for me. (+1000 total)
I played the following:
Interpoker - cleared a small 300MPP ($60) bonus and made a small profit playing +100
Paradise - again, it's one of my most profitable sites I play at...+$400
LuckyAce Casino - thanks to Actyper for the heads up on this, had a nice $500 profit clearing this bonus.

I probably only played about 1000 hands of poker this month....trying to balance family with poker....not to mention all the %$#@*& shovelling.

Tournaments
I played in one PSO winter league event...finished 7th.
I played in a couple of RAZZ freerolls on Pokerstars for fun.
I also played in a couple of MTT's on Paradise...didn't cash.

In Feb I plan on starting/finishing the Cake promo through PSO. Depending on how long this takes it will dictate my play at other sites like Interpoker, Paradise.
I plan on trying to play in a few more PSO league events at Pokerstars. Probably won't have much time for other MTT's.

For the Gamblers

2008-01-13T09:46:00.002-08:00

I was playing a little on Paradise today. While checking out the touney tab it was interesting to see the various qualifiers they have for their 100K euro guaranteed today, which is $120 + $10 to get in. It used to be the typical satellite with maybe turbo satellites....but now.

Here's a couple of examples of quick gambling tournys to get into the 100K guaranteed.

Lotto Frenzy - 100 starting chips & 1 minute blinds $7.50entry. 1 qualifier for every $130 in pool.

Chip & Chair - $13 entry 10 players. 1 hand played winner gets entry to 100K tourny

Obviously these are pure luck, but these tournys are FULL! Lot's of Gamblers on this site. Which is why I like playing there!

From a hand last night..WTF!

2008-01-04T12:14:00.000-08:00

Game #4862253313: Hold'em FL ($2/$4) - 2008/01/04 - 03:53:50 (UK)

Table "Red Rock" Seat 8 is the button.

Seat 1: pinku ($71 in chips)
Seat 2: kellmich ($390.38 in chips)
Seat 3: BBoBs42 ($48.76 in chips)
Seat 4: SSRFC10 ($382.49 in chips)
Seat 5: BGold999 ($63.50 in chips)
Seat 6: System007 ($30.13 in chips)
Seat 7: Keggarodo ($54 in chips)
Seat 8: M8607 ($63.12 in chips)
Seat 10: baybar sits out

pinku: posts big blind $2

----- HOLE CARDS -----

dealt to BGold999 [Ad Ah]

kellmich: folds
BBoBs42: calls $2
SSRFC10: raises $4
BGold999: raises $6
System007: folds
Keggarodo: folds
M8607: folds
pinku: folds
baybar sits back
BBoBs42: calls $4
SSRFC10: calls $2

----- FLOP ----- [6s 5h 9d]

BBoBs42: checks
SSRFC10: checks
BGold999: bets $2
BBoBs42: calls $2
SSRFC10: calls $2
----- TURN ----- [6s 5h 9d][Qh]

BBoBs42: bets $4
SSRFC10: calls $4
BGold999: raises $8
BBoBs42: calls $4
SSRFC10: calls $4

----- RIVER ----- [6s 5h 9d Qh][4s]

BBoBs42: bets $4
SSRFC10: folds
BGold999: raises $8
BBoBs42: calls $4

----- SHOW DOWN -----

BGold999: shows [Ad Ah] (A Pair of Aces, Queen high)
BBoBs42: shows [Qd 4d] (Two Pairs, Queens and Fours, Nine high)
BBoBs42 collected $63 from Main pot

----- SUMMARY -----

Total pot $66 Main pot $63 Rake $3
Board [6s 5h 9d Qh 4s]
Seat 1: pinku (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: kellmich folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: BBoBs42 showed [Qd 4d] and won ($63) with Two Pairs, Queens and Fours, Nine high
Seat 4: SSRFC10 folded on the River
Seat 5: BGold999 showed [Ad Ah] and lost with A Pair of Aces, Queen high
Seat 6: System007 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Keggarodo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: M8607 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

WTF am I missing? 1st he calls $2 with Q4 and then calls a raise/reraise preflop and then keeps calling all the way through. I'd have felt better if he hit a set or something. But Q4 and catching it on the river...I almost puked.

Not a great start to 2008.

2007 Poker Year in review & 2008 Goals

2007-12-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

With only a few days left in 2007, I thought I would reflect on 2007 and share some goals for 2008.

2007 – I didn’t build my bankroll as much as I’d hoped to do.
2008 – My goal is to build my current bankroll (at least double it or hopefully triple it).

2007 - I moved up my NL game from $25 or $50 NL to mainly $100, $200, with some $400 & $500NL sessions. I also played a small amount of Limit games, mainly $2/4 with some $5/10 sessions as well. I feel I can play at the higher levels and enjoy playing there, however I took a few really bad beats and that reduced my bankroll to a point where I wasn’t comfortable and had to drop down a couple of notches on occasion.
2008 – Maintain the $100 or $200NL level of play & if I can double my bankroll by mid year then I’ll try the higher levels again.

2007 – I still haven’t won a big MTT (however I haven’t played in many either)
2008 – I plan to read more on tournament play & hopefully get my first win

2007 – I pretty much stuck with Texas Holdem until November when I was getting bored of Holdem & played a bit of 7 card stud.
2008 – I might read more on 7card stud and Omaha and play these different games for a little variety.

2007 – The first half of the year I played at quite a few sites, bonus chasing and doing PSO promos. The 2nd half I concentrated my play at a couple of sites.
2008 – I will continue to play like I did the 2nd half of 07 and may add a couple of new sites like Cake. I will continue trying to play better poker and building my bankroll that way instead of bonus chasing. I will still take the extra bonus when it’s offered at a site I want play at. I am very glad I didn’t chase promos like the Wingows one. I don’t need the hassles like a lot of players are having with them.

2007 – I funded a trip to Vegas with my poker winnings.
2008 – I will probably do another trip to Vegas this summer. Funding already in place.

Happy New Year and all the best at the tables in 2008!

Check your account

2007-12-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

You might want to log into your Pacific Poker and CON account from Dec 12 -21 as they have a promotion called 888 Santa's Prize Surprise. They are giving away amounts of $8, $88 or $8,888.

I've been playing at Pacific Poker this week anyway as they sent me a 5K freeroll offer last weekend, which I donked out really fast. But along with that I also received a reload of 20% up to $50.

I'll let you know if I get anything from this Santa promo.

Attitudes of different sites

2007-12-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

It always amazes me how some sites are really good at keeping their customers happy and others just don’t give a crap about them. If you have problems with a good site they will probably offer you a bonus or give you a ticket to a tournament as compensation for your troubles.

On the other hand I had received an e-mail from Pokerroom yesterday about some holiday promotion. I hadn’t been on their site for a while but know that I was accumulating Player points (PP) over a period of time when I was playing there. I decided to log in and check my account and noticed I didn’t have any PP’s in my account. I decided to use the live chat and inquire about them. First the guy told me that “YES” they are still in my account. But I told him my balance showed 0 and was unable to use them. He then informed me that any points accumulated in 2006 expired. This is BS because I knew that they probably would have expired sometime in 2007 under their old scheme but since Jan of 07 the points don’t’ expire and they didn’t have an expiry date on them like they had in the past. So instead of trying to give me my points back (probably only $15 worth) or offering me some other form of compensation; it was “sorry can’t help you” to which my response was “no problem, I’ll just keep playing at PokerStars then”.

In a saturated market of Poker sites, you’d think these people would try a little harder at retaining players.

Paradise/Sportingbet

2007-11-19T11:15:00.002-08:00

I'm not sure if I'm some kind of preferred customer with Paradise, but they have been very generous to me since they switched to the Boss network. Before the switch I had about $400 in outstanding bonus with them, but they switched to contributed hands for the bonus. I play 5 handed so it's not too bad. I think it clears 1pt/$.25 rake. Meaning if it's raked a $1 then you get 4pts which clears the bonus faster. ( I could be wrong on this but I think I'm right). I started off running very lucky and have just kept playing off an on ever since.

I thought I would come up with a list of freebies/offers they have given me since the switch last summer.

1. Free $20 to try the new site (no rake hands required)
2. Free $100 superbowl pick (took San Diego at 8:1, should have picked the Pats)
3. Free 300pc chipset
4. Couple of private freerolls
5. 25% rakeback on top of the bonus for 3 months. It stopped at the end of Oct.
6. And the latest offer of $100 sportsbook reload and free 10 euro bet on blackjack (which I lost the first hand)

2 Good Paradise offers this weekend

2007-11-16T17:44:00.000-08:00

10% extra up to 100 to use in the sportsbook...3x bonus rollover. Very good offer as most books have at least a 5x rollover.

Free 10 euro bet on blackjack...must use it from paradise poker only. Good for the first 10 euro bet you lose.

"If win on your first 10eur bet, we will still return the first 10eur bet you lose"

Not sure if this is account specific, so check your e-mails. :)

Where’s your game at?

2007-11-15T11:35:00.000-08:00

After playing online poker for almost 3yrs. it’s interesting to reflect on where I’m at now. I started off bonus chasing and building a bankroll, usually at 25NL or 50NL. Now instead of flipping from site to site, I now find myself sticking to a couple of sites that I enjoy playing and where I’ve had the most success at, usually playing 100NL, 200NL with a little 500NL thrown in there.

I know a lot of people don’t like Paradise Poker, but I’ve had the most success at this site. I’ve also been playing a bit more at PokerStars, and have recently been playing a little 7 Card Stud there. I haven’t played 7 card stud online before, only in our home games, it’s been a nice change of pace from Texas Holdem. The other site I tend to play at is Interpoker, mainly because of the bonus & rakeback. I haven’t been as lucky at this site but haven’t been getting crushed either, usually making a small monthly profit. I still have a few sites through PSO that I want to try (Cake, Carbon) but I am in no rush to join them yet; especially after recently joining GNUF and having a bad experience there & dropping 5 bones.

The biggest thing I’ve noticed is that I want to play at a site that I’m comfortable with and feel I can win at. This is probably the case with a lot of players starting out; we chase bonuses and then realize that it’s important to play good poker and the bonuses aren’t as important as they once were. They are as the word is a "bonus".

I’d be interested to hear where you’re at with your game?

GNUF poker

2007-11-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

I decided to do a new PSO promo over the weekend and decided on GNUF. What a mistake; up and down like a rollercoaster playing $1/2NL. Took a few bad beats and I'm down about $500 trying to clear this stupid bonus. Worst beat was when my set of fours got beat by a guy holding AA only to get another A on the river. - $300 ):
If that hand holds I'm back to about even...but no such luck. I guess one other hand comes to mind only because we were ALLIN; my flush gets cracked by runner runner 6's to give a guy holding K6 a boat.

I'll be clearing my 400 GNUF points to finish the promo and then I'm done with this site.

Oct poker results & other things

2007-11-05T11:07:00.001-08:00

October started off very bad, I was down about $900 after the first week. This was a combination of some bad beats and going on tilt at $200NL & $500NL. I took a step back and started playing 100NL again and recouped the $900 plus a small profit for the month.

I played pretty much just at Interpoker & Paradise. Paradise has been really good to me. Not only have I won at their site (bad players) but I was also getting 25% rakeback along with their crappy bonus. I also received my chipset and they've had a couple of private freerolls that I've played in. I haven't played at Paradise in Nov yet, as they haven't offered me the rakeback offer again. They are offering cash back on FPP's and supposed to open a store in early 2008. I hope they do as I have almost 10K FPP's to use (even after the Euro conversion they did). They've been saying they would open a store for a long time, so who knows if it will happen.

I still haven't signed up for any new promo's through PSO & I've only manged to play in one league event. I think I'm getting a little bored with poker, plus I'v just been busy doing other things. I have been doing more sports wagering; playing both the NFL and CFB. I'm down a bit, but it has been fun and a nice change of pace.

On the contest front I did have 4 small wins. Movie passes ($25), Football tickets/Jersy, etc ($400), Concert tickets ($440), Cdn tire gift card ($10). I'm still waiting to win a trip or something really big.

Paradise Chipset

2007-10-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

I finally received my Paradise Poker 300pc chipset. It was delayed about 6 weeks but they had sent me a couple of e-mails apologizing for the delivery delay; they also held a private freeroll in Sept because of the delivery delay. Nice to see them come through.

It's a nice chipset that I will definitely use...and it was free :)

The Score Contests

2007-10-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

The Score has some great contests for all you sports enthusiasts. Here is a new weekly hockey contest where you pick 25 teams each week for $500 each week as well as $ for overall standings.
"The Score

Bankroll hit

2007-10-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I moved up in limits to both $400NL & $500NL (Interpoker & Dice)and of course took a couple of terrible beats along the way, losing a couple of buyins. Once again I feel like I can compete at these levels but just a little unlucky. I want to stay at those levels, but my bankroll can't sustain another hit like that. So I'll probably drop back down to $100NL and grind it out again to build up my bankroll.

I'll hopefully be playing in the Pokerstars $40K blogger freeroll on Sunday & maybe I'll do a couple of PSO promo's to boost the bankroll a bit and get a change of scenery. Or maybe I should just take a break for a while.

Pokerstars - WBCOOP

2007-10-03T17:55:00.001-07:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 2887946

Double dipping on slot play

2007-09-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

I've pretty much given up on the monthly casino reloads. I can't fund my William hill account and Interpoker increased the WR on BJ to 50X.

However, I did play a little slots on Interpoker in Sept and double dipped the bonus while doing it. First I waited until they have an additional promo on slots (besides the monthly reload). It's usually something like "play xyz slots and wager $400 to earn a $20 bonus or earn $20 for slot play on Thursday", etc. This is when I make my matching monthly deposit bonus (for maybe $25 = 18x WR) and while playing through the 18X WR($450) I am also going to receive an additional $20 at $400WR, thus making this about a 10x WR. I could deposit $22.22, but I just round it up to $25.

Slots aren't a good gamble but I'm not risking much ($25). I get a little break from poker and hopefully lowering the WR, I can turn it into a small profit.

Bodog player hit's 12 game parlay

2007-09-25T11:32:00.000-07:00

www.newbodog.com/page/2/

Getting Frustrated

2007-09-11T11:29:00.000-07:00

I just can't break the hurdle of raising limits and sustaining or building my bankroll to a more significant level.

Here's the history over the past several months.

Grind up the bankroll by playing 25NL or 50NL and chasing $50 - $100 bonuses here and there. Get the bankroll up where I think I can and should be playing, which is usually 100NL and 200NL with the odd 400NL. Get crushed by a few bad beats and/or bad decisions (maybe go on tilt), lose a few buyins and then have to drop back down to the lower limits.

I've done this at least three or four times over the past 9 months, and when you drop 1/3 of your bankroll I feel like I've been wasting my time. I'm just spinning my wheels so to speak.

I enjoy playing the higher limits and feel I can compete. The mentality of most gamblers is that it's hard to drop down in wager size and I'm no different.

ie. betting $50 or $100/per game on football and then dropping down to $5. Or playing $25/hand BJ in Vegas and then playing $5.

It just doesn't feel right and you don't get the same satisfaction out of playing. But reality for me is that I won't totally jeopardise my bankroll to play higher limits, which is why I always drop down after I reach a certain level.

Not sure what to do???

PSO Promo's

2007-09-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've checked out all the new promotions at PSO. They have added a lot of sites over the past few months.

I now have the following I can do:
Caker
Carbon
Dream
Gnuf
Hollywood
VegasPoker247
Wingows

I did go back a read a few posts about the different sites. The one thing I've learned from doing promotions is to read what others are saying about the site. How hard is the promo? What is the optimum deposit bonus? How is the traffic? Are there other perks when signing up (freerolls etc). Before I start any of these I'll be sure to read as much as I can before I sign up.

I looked a two sites today Wingows & Carbon. Wingows looks easy to clear but the traffic is sparse. If it's that sparse I think you want to get in and get out in case they don't survive (thoughts from others?) Carbon looks interesting in that they have lot's of freerolls ranging from 1K to 50K. So when clearing the bonus I think you'll want to make sure you do it when you can take advantage of these freerolls. I've decided to wait on this one until I know I can take full advantage of them.

Your thoughts on any of these sites is appreciated.

Vegas Aug 9-12

2007-08-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

This was a quick trip with three buddies (W,L,& T). Arrived Thursday evening, L & I checked into the Paris on a 2 day comped 2 days at $77 each, while W & T checked into Planet Ho. We had decided each of us would pick a restuarant for each days dinner.

Thursday
Dinner - T picked Joes Steak and Stone Crab at Ceasars for some fine dining - excellent meal $350 with tip & no drinks. There specialty is steak on the bone, I had Filet Mignon on the bone and it was the best steak I've ever had.(10/10)
Gambling - Hotel/Casino hopped to Bellagio, Monte Carlo, NYNY, Mandalay Bay. W signed up for a MGM/Mirage card at Monte Carlo and received $10 in free slot play. On his 2nd spin he hit for $1139. T & I were playing BJ and T was winnning I was about even. No poker this day. Drinks were flowing really good.

Friday
Woke up pretty sluggish and met W at the 10am Planet Ho tournament. 43 players, I finished in 14th place and W finished 3rd. I played in a 1-2NL game while waiting for him and made $65. Ate lunch at spice market buffet. (8/10) We headed towards the Mirage to see the Love 7pm show with stops along the way at Bills, Flamingo, IP, Harrah's, lost a $100 playing craps in the IP. Love was a great show and I would recommend it. 10/10. It was my night to pick the restaurant. I made reservations at Mon Ami Gabi (Paris)So we headed to Paris after the show. Meal was decent but our server was kind of cranky. (7/10)We just played BJ that night. I lost a few hundred.

Saturday
Met the boys and headed North to the Venetian ate lunch at Grand Lux. Good value 9/10. We then had plans to go to the Wynn to sit the the sportsbook to watch some sports/horse racing. (our favorite book) While walking through the Wynn Casino, we stopped by some $10 slots. I said "anyone want to throw in $10 each" only T took me up on the offer. First spin nothing, 2nd spin 7 - Triple Diamond - Triple Diamond. Light comes on, ok we won something decent... ($9k)Whoohoo!!!. Attendant comes over and takes my ID. 20 minutes later she's back with good news and bad news. Good news is I won, bad news is they took $2700 in tax. So I peel off 3K for T and we hit the sportsbook. It was all reserved for the Arlington Millions, so over to the BJ tables. We were now at the $50 min tables. I got killed for a few hundred but W won 3K. It was now about 7pm and it was L's day to pick the restaurant. He had picked the Rio seafood buffet, but we were at the Wynn and they comped us 4 buffets so we decided to eat there ($38.95 each) so why not. Great buffet 9/10. Headed back to Paris for more BJ and drinking. Lost a few hundred playing but was still an awesome day.

Sunday

Woke up early and played in the Paris 9:30 poker tournament. Card dead most of the way and becomes an allin fest after the first break. Met the boys at 11 as they brought there bags to our room. We had Sunday booked on a comp even though we were't staying, but having a room all day/evening is nice. W & I headed down towards MGM to pick up a few things for my family at M&M store, etc. We headed back and hit the 1:30 Paris tournament. Again an allin fest and I couldn't win a race. Met the others at the BJ tables to play a little more. We ate dinner at the Paris buffet. 9/10. Hung around the Paris playing some slots/BJ. L decided to put $20 into a $5 slot and hit for $600, which now took him into the black.

Summary
Gambling - Everyone won $ on this trip. which is quite remarkable
Meals - ate like kings
Drinking - had our share of libations
Shows - Love was a great show
Hotel(s) - were great, centrally located. Like the look of PH casino
Taxes - suck, hopefully I can get the $2700 back.

Looking forward to going back, probably with my wife next time.

Free $100 NFL bet at Paradise

2007-08-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

I got this offer from Paradise yesterday. Not sure if any other T&C

Anyone else get this offer or have any thoughts on it????

AMAZING $100 NO LOSE Super Bowl XLII FUTURE BET

Place a $100CAD bet through your Sportingbet/ParadisePoker account on who you think will be the winner of Super Bowl XLII and if your chosen team loses we will refund your $100CAD wager.

That's right! It's a NO LOSE BET.

Hurry! Offer expires September 1st 2007

July Results

2007-08-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Another quiet month for me playing online poker.

Interpoker - cleared the 500MPP $100 monthly bonus. +185 (inlcudes $100 bonus plus $40 rakeback)

Party - I didn't take them up on the crappy bonus they offered me. I did play in 1 MTT $11 buyin and finished 3/190 players for a profit of $184.

Intercasino as usual I busted out on the bonus -$50

Paradise I played off and on a bit on Paradise this month, usually when I just want to play < an hour. In the past 2 months I ran a $20 deposit up to $1400 and then I lost $800 a week ago, but got $300 back the last couple of days. I'm currently sitting at $900. I'm also hoping they send me the 300pc chipset they offered me.

That's it for July; August will probably be another slow month while we enjoy the summer. I'm going to try to play in the PSO summer league. I probably won't make all the events but I'll try as many as possible. Over the fall/winter I'll have to try a few more PSO promo's. They've added quite a few rooms over the past several weeks.

June Results

2007-06-28T11:08:00.001-07:00

I won't be playing at all this weekend (camping) so I thought I would post some June results.

June was a fairly quiet month for me. I started off by opening a Click2pay account so I could do the Interpoker reload.

Interpoker - I just did the $100/500MPP reload and ended up $150 including the bonus.

Paradise - Started by getting the $20 offer for making a $20 transfer to the new poker room. Did that and kept playing (because it has been so juicy)off and on throughout the month. Up $940 including a small bonus.

Intercasino - did a couple of reloads...NOT GOOD (:. Like an idiot I was playing BJ before I realized it wasn't counting towards my WR (both times). Decided to play slots and lost $400 trying to clear $130 in bonus $'s. Tilted big time playing $.25/spin times 9 or more lines,depending on the game. Down $400.

I Didn't play any tournaments other than 2 Pokerstars freerolls through PSO. Donked out of both of those for zero $. I also played a couple of $100,000 Sats on Paradise with there Frenzy sattelites. It's just a quick gamble...u start with 100 in chips and the blinds go up every minute I think. Basically you push with anything and hope to get lucky.

July will probably be pretty quiet too. I want to do more things outside and enjoy the few weeks of summer we have. I will probably only do the Interpoker reload. I have about 4 poker rooms I can now do through PSO, but will wait on those until the fall when I have more time.

Paradise (Boss)

2007-06-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

The bonus is terrible at the new Paradise site, but the players are even worse than that, making this better than any bonus chasing. I've been playing mainly 50NL(5max) with a little 7 Stud for fun. Just watch if you get on one of those Turbo tables because you don't have much time to act. I've only been playing 1 table at a time, as I'm not clearing any bonus just playing the table.

Table selection is key, I don't sit at a table with other Cdn's, it's usually a mix of France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, etc. Most players are calling stations and will call down to the river with nothing.

Stud

2007-06-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

I was going to play a little Holdem on Paradise yesterday. I sat down at a table and got dealt my first hand and I’m like “why am I getting so many cards”. Damn, I sat down at a Stud table. I’ve never really played Stud online before; but decided to play for a while. It was actually a nice change of pace from Holdem even though I donked away my $50 buyin. I might actually have to read up on how to play Stud (properly) and play it every so often when I want to play something other than Texas Holdem.

I finally opened a Click2pay account so I could deposit at InterPoker. I’m hoping with Click2pay & Moneybookers, I should be able to deposit at the sites I regularly play at.

I’m still looking at ways to qualify for the EWSOP (European)

European WSOP

2007-06-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

I just read recently that there will be a European WSOP (EWSOP) in Sept in London. I've never put any effort into winning a seat for the WSOP but I think I may try to win a seat in the European one.

I've played in a few more tournaments lately (I normally just play cash games) and I've quite enjoyed them. I'm not sure what site(s) will be the easiest to qualify for the EWSOP but did notice Titan had some sattelites for it. I have a few $'s in Titan anyway so I may just use them for this purpose.

Anyone trying any other sites to qualify for the EWSOP

On another note, I just can't withdraw my $ from the new Paradise site. Not because I can't but because it's just been so +EV playing there. What a difference from playing some of the rock gardens like Fulltilt or UB.

PSO League

2007-05-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

I just received 80,000 ($800) PSO points for finishing 2nd overall in the spring league. This is by far my biggest cash to date playing online poker. I feel very lucky to have finished in 2nd spot because the caliber of players in this league is exceptional. I have learned a lot from playing against other PSO members and look forward to playing in the next league.

Thank you PSO for organizing the league and for adding such generous prizes for the various winners!

Paradise

2007-05-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

I received an e-mail from Paradise giving me a free $20 the first time I transferred some $ and sat at a table. I figured why not it’s a free $20; but thought I wouldn’t play much now as the bonus really sucks, as they just moved to the Boss Network. (100FPP’s/$5 contributed)I still had $395 of uncleared bonus that won't be cleared now.

But I decided to play for a little while to check out the new software; and couldn’t believe what kind of donks I was playing against. I played for a total of about 1 ½ hrs at different 50NL tables and different times over the weekend. I ended up making another $100 with no really big pots just players calling down nearly every hand.

I was going to withdraw my $, but now I’m thinking I might just leave some there to play with. They also have a few interesting MTT’s going on, so I might try to qualify for them.

You might want to check your e-mails to see if they've given you some free $!

Contests (Part 3 of 3)

2007-05-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Online entries can be very time consuming & boring. Filling in your personal info all the time sucks. Fortunately there is free software to help you. Roboform.com is a free download, where you enter your personal information once to create an idendity and then you can fill forms in with one click of the mouse. Just be sure to look over the fields to make sure they are correct as well as unmark the spam newsletters, etc.

If you are entering the same contest on a daily basis you can also set up passcards. It saves your exact information for that contest and every time you go on the web page you click on that passcard and the information is filled in for you. It only takes seconds to enter these contests.

Roboform saves you a lot of time and makes entering contests a breeze.

Good luck!

Contests (Part 2 of 3)

2007-05-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of you probably enter the contests you see on Poker/Casino sites like Casino on Net. (win and ipod, etc) But where do you find other contests? There are many places that have contest entries, both online and in paper format.

Most major companies have contests going all the time. So surfing the web you will come across many of these contests. There are also many sites that post contests. I use contestcanada.com to find new contests.

I also like to enter contests that are in my local newspaper and other local contests such as the one’s you see in liquor stores. A lot of people won’t take the time to enter these contests, which gives you a much better chance at winning those than some of the big online ones.

In part 3, I will explain some easy online entry techniques.

Good Luck

Contests (Part 1 of 3)

2007-05-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed the huge amount of contests out there? Everyone has a contest going and it has grown much like poker has.

I started entering contests about a year ago when a lady I work with started talking about all the contests she enters and what she has won. Over the past 3 years, she’s won about 38K worth of stuff. Yes, you read that correctly 38K. Everything from trips, electronic equipment, and tons of smaller prizes.

So far I’ve won about 1K worth of stuff. My biggest win was in last years NHL playoffs where I won Oilers gold tickets worth $450. I’ve won concert tickets, movie passes, DVD’s, etc. I'm still waiting for the first BIG win, hopefully it will come soon.

In part 2, I will discuss where to find these contests.

April Update

2007-05-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

April was an interesting month for me. With Neteller closing to Canadian customers April 9, I felt if I was going to do some PSO promo’s, I better start them before the 9th, because I wasn’t sure if I could move money around very easily after that. I started & completed 3 promo’s each for 12000 PSO points. In the past I’ve tried to space out the promo’s to one every couple of months.

Here’s a summary:

Full Tilt – +$133 plus PSO points
UB – -$105 plus PSO points (but +$ from MTT) Thankfully I completed this promo before UB’s change to raked hand requirements.
PokerStars - +$95 plus PSO points. (I finally have a Stars account!)

I also did a small reload at Interpoker +$75 as well as the monthly bonus at William Hill +$115.

PSO Freerolls & League – I played in one $1000 freeroll and didn’t cash. I have also played in 4/5 league events. I have made 3 final tables with a third place finish in the last one. I don’t know how I lucked out finishing third but it happened. That’s an additional 9000 PSO points for third (Thanks PSO!) Unfortunately for me Wednesday night is a really bad night for me to play poker; that's why I missed last Wednesday’s game. I am going to have to try to make at least one of the last two Wednesday night games if I want to have a shot at an overall prize.

MTT’s - the only other tournament I played in the month of April was a $15 MTT at UB. It was a $3000 Guaranteed tournament with 199 players. I was short stacked around the bubble (paid top 20) but sqeaked into the $ and then got lucky when I tripled up shortly after that. I ended up finishing in 2nd place for $480. This was my biggest payout to date and I was very happy with this finish. I’m still looking for my first MTT win. It might be hard with me playing in very few of these (just a lack of time), but one day I will win one.

Uranium

2007-04-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

I haven’t had a post on the stock market lately, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about the market.

If you follow the market at all, you will be aware that Uranium stocks have been on a tear the last couple of years. I currently only own one uranium stock Urasia (UUU) which just got bought out by SXR Uranium One.

I think that uranium stocks will continue to go higher as the price per pound escalates:
1. An imbalance of production vs. consumption rate
2. It just takes so long for companies to get actual production.
3. More reactors are coming on board over the next several years world wide.

I think that SXR is still a great buy at these levels. I am looking for another uranium stock to purchase. I would be looking for companies who are close to production.

Overall I’m not sure where the market is going. A lot of people are talking about a correction and possible recession in the US. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

What to do – what to do

2007-04-04T07:47:00.002-07:00

I’ve been trying to come up with a poker money strategy ever since Neteller announced they wouldn’t allow Cdn’s to transfer $ in and out of gambling sites. My head hurts trying to figure out what to do and to not say after April 9th “damn I should have done that”.

My first reaction is bonus whoring just became really difficult if not impossible, at least in the short term until and easy and inexpensive way becomes available again.

Here’s how I have deployed part of my bankroll:

Interpoker – reload revolution & rakeback (hopefully they’ll change their non deposit reload requirements For those of you playing Interpoker, please send them an e-mail,and hopefully they'll make the change.
William Hill – monthly casino and poker bonus (don’t have to deposit every month)
UB – just started the promo through PSO
FullTilt – just started (& finished) the promo through PSO. I will leave the funds there to play with.

I still have almost 1K I could put to use elsewhere; here are my choices

Paradise – I still have a large bonus amount to clear but have no luck on that site so I’m avoiding making a deposit there.
Pacific – no bonus right now but they are changing there site around, so I might just put a small amount of $ there to play with.
Absolute – I will make a deposit for the PSO league.

I still have two promo’s through PSO I could do; Dream Poker & Poker.com. I think I’m just going to wait on these for now.

I just signed up with Moneybookers through Actyper’s link. I’m still trying to figure out if I can get a cash out from a poker site before I actually make a deposit to it first. If I could I would probably make another deposit at UB and then withdraw back to Moneybookers to use at Party, etc.
I also think I will open a US bank account. I can then deposit the balance of my USD’s from Neteller for Vegas or other family vacations to the US.

Pacific Poker - A Great Place for Online Poker

2007-03-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

If your looking for a great online poker site look no further than Pacific Poker. Pacific Poker offers plenty of game selection; whether it's Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha H/L, 7card stud. You can always find a game at the level you want to play at.

If tournaments are what you crave, Pacific Poker offers you plenty of Multi Table Tournaments (MTT's)and there are always Sit N Goes. The nice thing is they have buyin's as low as $.50 up to several hundred dollars.

Pacific Poker also has a Bad Beat jackpot & a Royal flush jackpot. You just never know if you'll be the lucky one to win one of these jackpots.

I'm looking forward to their updated version of their site which should be available soon. It will have a great new look and many new features such as time zone selection, and edit table view (for the stats you want to see), as well as Avatar's if you like them.

Good luck at the tables!

No Cruise for me

2007-03-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Last night was the Paradise poker cruise main event. (75 players) I played really decent and ended up finishing in 6th place; unfortunately it was winner take all so I got squat for 6th.

Took a bad beat about ¾ of the way through when I had a guy dominated with AQo vs. AJo allin preflop. Of course it’s 10,K,x, nothing on the turn and then you know what hit on the river…yes a Q to give him a strait.
I rebounded from that and when we got down to the final 8 or so it became a bit of an allin fest. My demise happened on this hand:
Blinds $600, $1200, $75ante.
I’m in the BB with AJo and everyone folds to the SB who raises to $4000 (he had about $21000 vs. my $12000) I push allin and he calls showing 2,3o.
Should be in great shape right...wrong (: a flop of 4, 5, x, then a 6, and finally a 7 to give him a strait.
Another sick beat to finish me off. Had I doubled up on him I’d be within a couple of thousand in chips from the leader and might have had a real shot of winning.

Still looking for my first MTT win(:

Bankroll update – **%$#@

2007-03-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

I spent the first 2 ½ months of 2007 growing my bankroll slowly; up about $850 overall (play + bonuses) playing either $50NL or $100NL. What do I do this week on Paradise, start playing 200NL and lose a couple of hundred. So then I go on TILT and start playing on a $500NL table. Took a terrible allin beat. I had Pocket QQ and donkey had A7o, after nothing on the flop but 2 hearts I go allin and he calls. Needless to say he hit runner, runner hearts to make an A high flush. F-that, and I’m out. Had I won that pot I’d be in fantastic shape. BUT NO, I lose the $850 that took me all that time to make.

So now I’m forced to take another step back in limits and will have to grind out some profits & bonuses to get my bankroll respectable again.

This is a similar scenario to what happened in December at the $200NL tables. I just can’t seem to get over the hump with my bankroll to where I’d really be comfortable playing at higher levels. And the funny thing is that I think the players at the $500NL tables are worse than the $200NL players. I just can’t take the chance of losing another large amount or I’ll be playing $.05/.10 tables.

888.com

2007-03-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

Feel the rush of the ultimate wheel of chance with online roulette at 888.com

Tournament update

2007-03-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

Interpoker 10K - probably one of my worst tournaments I've ever played. I lasted all of about 7 minutes. One guy was raising every hand. I'm sitting with KJo in the BB. Of course he raises preflop, I call his raise. Flop is Jxx and he bets the pot, I decide to go all in. Of course he actually has a hand with AJ and I'm out.

PartyPoker 10K - I played much better in this one. I ended up finishing 67/428 for $30. Ended up being an all in fest later in the tourney. I lost the coin flip I was allin on.

Last chance on March 22 for the Paradise Cruise for 2. It looks like all or nothing in this one, so I plan on playing it aggressively.

March Madness starts tonight. I plan on playing a few games throughout the tournament. I also entered a free NCAA bracket tournament through Linesmaker.

Tournaments

2007-03-10T17:30:00.001-08:00

Paradise
Well I qualified for the Paradise cruise for 2 tournament by finishing in the top 25 in last Thursdays qualifier. 75 players will be in the main event on March 22. I played pretty good in this tournament, hopefully I'll play even better in the final.

Interpoker
Tomorrow is the $10K raketherake freeroll at Interpoker. Qualify by earning 1500MPPs in the previous month.

PartyPoker
Tomorrow is also the PartyPoker 10K Bahamas trip MTT which you qualify by gaining 100 Party points last week. It's sweet when it coincides with the reload I was doing anyway.

I need some luck, I still haven't won a MTT yet. Hopefuly one of these three will be my first.:)

Tournaments

2007-03-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

Well I qualified for the Paradise cruise for 2 tournament by finishing in the top 25 in last Thursdays qualifier. 75 players will be in the main event on March 22. I played pretty good in this tournament, hopefully I'll play even better in the final.

Tomorrow is the $10K raketherake freeroll as well I qualified for the PartyPoker 10K Bahamas trip MTT by gaining 100 Party points last week which takes place tomorrow. It's sweet when it coincides with the reload I was doing anyway.

I need some luck, I still haven't won a MTT yet. Hopefuly one of these three will be my first.:)

Reloads & Promotions a plenty

2007-03-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

Lots of good reloads and promo's to start March off with.

Paradise - has a weekly Fun in the Sun qualifer tournament for Canadians for a chance to win a Carabbean cruise for 2. This week is the second of three qualifiers for the main event.

You also get a nice reload of 100% max $100 on your deposit.

PartyPoker - also has a reload going on right now. I received a 25% reload up to $100. While clearing those raked hands Canadians earning 100 party points from 00:00 ET, March 5 through 16:00 ET, March 11 for the tournament at 17:00 ET on March 11 or 00:00 ET, March 12 through 16:00 ET, March 18 for the tournament at 17:00 ET on March 18 will also be entered into a tournament for a weekend break in the Bahamas worth $3500.

Nice little extra for clearing the bonus at the same time

Interpoker - has their reload revolution going on right now and you can also get 40% rakeback from raketherake for March (32% is the usual monthly rakeback). Use RTR12388 as your referrer.

Don't forget that Interpoker also has a weekly $1000 blackjack freeroll tournament every Monday.

As a bonus Absolute gave me $30 yesterday as I haven't played their in a couple of months; no stings attached.

Poker update

2007-02-26T11:38:00.000-08:00

I haven't played much the past week or so. I played at William Hill for the 5hr bonus and ended up around $160 which includes the $50 bonus.
I also played in the $4000 (600MPP) tournament on Saturday at William Hill. I played pretty good. I was the chip leader after the first break. Cards went cold after the break and players quickly caught up. I lost a couple of coin flips later on in the tournament and ended up finishing 10/428 for $60. I was happy with my play but I am still looking for my first big MTT win.

Paradise - Fun in the Sun

2007-02-24T07:55:00.000-08:00

Paradise Poker is offering Canadians a Caribbean cruise for two. Deposit $100 using FUNINTHESUN1 for their weekly qualifiers. Top 25 from the three qualifers play in the main event. You also get a 100% deposit bonus ($100max)
Heats go as follows:

Weekly Qualifier: Thursday 1st March 10pm EST
Weekly Qualifier: Thursday 8th March 10pm EST
Weekly Qualifier: Thursday 15th March 10pm EST
Main Event: Thursday 22nd March 10pm EST

Bowmans NHL Contest

2007-02-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

I won the weekly NHL contest at Bowmans this past week. There were five of us who picked 10/10, so the $800 CDN weekly prize is split between us for $160 each.

I've been playing the weekly contest ever since my account at BetWWTS was transfered to Bowmans. The closest I’ve been so far is 7/10 and the winner usually has 9 or 10 out of 10 correct. I think there are still 10 weeks to go in this contest.

Free $ challenges

2007-02-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

I received some free $ in a couple of my accounts this week. So I've set up a few little challenges for myself.

Pacific Poker gave me $10 for some survey I did a while back. My challenge is to get this to $100, so far I'm at about $40. There are some really bad players on there.

Eurolinx called me to say that I had $ in my account (not sure how as I haven't played their in months and withdrew all my $). They are now on Microgaming, and after I upgraded their site, to my surprise I had $22 in my account. I played a few hands (maybe 20 hands) last night and got it to $50. Goal is to get it to $100 as well.

William Hill has skill game challenge freerolls. I'm only playing the BJ tournaments, but they also have Gin rummy & Backgammon. I'm not around during the day for the bigger freerolls (250euro)but they have nightly 20Euro freerolls at 9 & midnight ET. With a max of 64 players they take all of about 15 minutes to play if you make it to the end (pays top 8). I've hit the $ 3 times for a whopping $7+ profit. Goal is to get it to $40 which will give me my $40 match for their monthly casino play.

Other than that I'm just grinding out the Party Poker $100 reload. I'm about have way through the WR and am about even. I would be up $ except for a couple of bad beats. Also played one bad hand against Curatio the other night, where I new I was beat, but couldn't lay my hand down (trips), and made my donation to him...LOL.

Somthing different

2007-01-26T17:46:00.000-08:00

William Hill has launched a new skills game area.

"Play our three classic games of Blackjack, Backgammon and Gin Rummy against other players for cash!"

They have daily freerolls for all the games. I've only tried the Blackjack tournaments. It's kind of like UBT, except you play heads up matches (10 hands). If you win your match you continue to the next level.

I've tried it the last couple of nights and have really enjoyed it.

On a sad note Booya is DONE :(

Interpoker Part 2

2007-01-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

I played for about an hour last night on Interpoker. I took another bad beat about my third hand in when I hit 3 jacks with an A kicker only to get outdrawn to a strait, and was down around $60.

I then decided to play 2 tables and was fortunate enough to get on a table with a total donk. He was in almost every hand and would call large bets with not much. He must have reloaded 4 times in about ½ hour. I quickly made my $60 back and another $90 profit in that 1/2 hour, mostly from him.
It’s just too bad he left the table so soon after I joined; but I will be looking for him in the future.

I'm finally back in the black trying to clear this bonus and I'm feeling a little better about my game the last couple of days.

Interpoker

2007-01-15T11:23:00.000-08:00

What a ride at Interpoker over the past few days. Started off last Wednesday night after hopefully signing up for rakeback (thanks Actyper for the heads up on this one). By Friday night I was down $450 playing 200NL (6max). I decided to drop down to NL100 full ring yesterday and was able to get $400 back.

I was trying to figure out what the difference was and came up with this.

1. I took several bad beats on my down swing. 3 sets were taken down on the river, along with a couple of AA KK getting cracked.
2. I think I was playing too many weak starting hands at the 6 max tables.
3. I was more patient playing the full ring table
4. The day of week & time were different. I think I was playing against a bunch of Bonus Whores during my evening games and yesterday during the day I was playing against a bunch of Europeans.

The bonus (MPP's)don't clear as fast at the 100NL table, but I think I will stay here to clear the rest of the bonus. I guess I just feel a little more comfortable at this level right now. I will also try to get in more hands Sat & Sun during the day.

picks

2007-01-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

Today I have:
CBB
Penn -5.5 1.5U
NBA
Lakers -4.5 1.5u

Yesterday was good hitting both picks, I did lose 1unit on the Capitals.(which was my own pick)

The one handicapper I'm following is on a good run on CBB. He's 42-24 overall and 21-5 on his last 26 games.
Again, I'm not a huge bettor but these guys are playing hundreds per game and doing well. This is kind of a project/test that I'm trying to see if you can make $'s at.

2007-01-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

Two picks so far tonight

CBB
Memphis -7.5 2u
NBA
Phoenix -8 1u

My $10 free play at Linesmaker I'm taking Rex Grossman +1 1/2 comp over Hassleback.

Todays Picks

2007-01-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday wasn't the best day losing two 2 unit bets and winning the 1 unit bet.
Today I have
CBB
West Virginia +6 2units
Alabama -3.5 2units
Moorehead St. -3.5 1unit

NBA
Lakers -2.5 3units

Picks

2007-01-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

Today I have

CBB
Georgetown -5.5 (+100) 2units
William & Mary under 132 (-110) 1unit

NBA
Hornets +6.5 (-110) 2units

Yesterdays college pick came through to move the record to 3-1

Picks

2007-01-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

Well I started off ok with my picks from yesterday
2-1 with a modest $8.19 profit.

I not a serious sportsbetter, so this is more for my own enjoyment. I don't plan on wagering hundreds per game, but rather I am testing this system to see if it is profitable.

So far today I have
CBB
Kansas under 127.5pts 2units

I'll edit this post if I decide on any other games.

Help picking a new site

2007-01-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

I don't really have any bonuses to clear right now except for my stacked Paradise bonus.So I'm looking for a new room, with a good promo offer, to sign up to either through PSO or Savvy. (or another affiliate if anyone knows of another good one)
Completed:
Absolute
Paradise
Party
Pacific
Titan
Mansion
Pokerroom
Pokerrewards
Gaming Club

I'm sick of taking bad beats at Paradise. I've lost around 1K the last month there. Just no frickin luck. Down around 2K overall in the same time period. I think mainly from moving up in limits to 200NL, along with the bad beats and no luck at the tables.

I think I'm going to have to start bankroll building again. Doing a promo offer and grinding out some bonuses.

Do you have suggestions of what promo's/poker sitesYOU would do and from what affiliate. I'm thinking of Full Tilt or Poker.com.

As always your wisdom is greatly appreciated:)

Poker play and Sportsbetting

2007-01-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

I didn't play any poker for the first week of 2007 until last night/today. Decided to play William Hill poker & Casino....Up $73.

With the NFL and College football almost done I've decided to follow a couple of handicappers for wagering on NBA and College basketball (CBB). I don't follow those sports so I'm going to rely on their picks. They both have winning %'s so far this season so we'll see how it goes.This will allow me to take advantage of the bonus $'s and free bets that the sportsbooks offer. I'll be wagering from more than 1 book, so you may see duplicate entries if I bet at different books.

I am going to track by both win/loss and $'s wagered/$'s won or lost. My unit bet will be between 1-5/per game and each unit will be $5 to start.

If there is any interest, I'll post my picks that I make. Otherwise I'll probably just set up a column next week to show my stats.

Today I have:
CBB
Oklanhoma St. -13.5 2units
Austin Peay -2.5 1unit
Austin Peay -2.0 1unit

NBA
Portland +9 2units

Party & Bowmans

2006-12-30T12:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't played much the last few days but decided to check some of my accounts. To my surprise I have a couple of good offers waiting for me on their sites.

Party - is a free $100 to play in their casino 25x WR...no deposit.

Bowmans - is a free $25 play and a 15% reload offer.

So, if you haven't done so, you might want to log on and check your accounts.

Happy New Year everyone!

The Downhill Spiral

2006-12-21T11:14:00.000-08:00

has continued the last week and a half. I decided to play Interpoker NL200 for the monthly bonus instead of the casino, as I've had no luck in the casino. Well it went worse at the poker tables; down $500.

Then I decided to play a little more at Paradise NL200; down $300.

My bankroll has gotten killed the last few weeks.

I think I'll do the Party reload through PSO, hopefully I'll have better luck there. I think I'll have to drop down to NL100 for a while to hopefully build my bankroll back up.

Weekend Results

2006-12-12T11:12:00.000-08:00

Sports picks results
Overall:
4-6
NHL:
0-1
NBA:
1-2
NFL
3-3

I didn’t pick the free bet right again this week

Poker:
I played at Paradise for a while on Saturday and decided to move up and try the NL $200 tables. I didn’t fair too well losing 2 buyins.

Now I must decide whether I should continue to play at that level or move back down. My bankroll says move back down, so that’s probably what I’ll do.

Sports Picks

2006-12-08T16:33:00.001-08:00

Here are my sports picks for the weekend games.

NHL:
Washington (+140 moneyline) vs Anaheim

NBA:
Minnesota (pick) vs Utah
Orlando (-5) vs Detroit

NFL:
Bears (-6) vs Rams
Chargers (-7) vs Broncos
Ravens (+120 moneyline) vs Chiefs I didn't take the +3 points on this game because I think Baltimore can win the game.

My Free $10 bet is Ladainian Tomlinson to get under 2 rushing touchdowns. I didn't think he get over 2, so I chose under 2. He'll probably get 2 touchdowns and it will push on both sides.

Claim your free $10 sports bet

2006-12-07T18:05:00.000-08:00

PartyBets is the newest member of the PartyGaming family.

To celebrate the PartyBets.com launch we’re giving you The $10 Bet You Can’t Lose. Go to PartyBets.com and place a $10 bet from your PartyAccount balance - if you lose we will refund your $10.

Playing at PartyBets.com is easy. Simply log in and use your existing PartyAccount “account name” and “password” exactly as you would on PartyPoker, PartyCasino, PartyGammon or PartyBingo.

Just visit PartyBets.com and make a wager of $10 or more on our wide range of sporting events. If your bet loses we’ll refund $10 of your stake directly to your PartyAccount.

Here’s how it works:

The offer runs from 7th December 2006 (00:00 ET), bet and the event must be completed by 31st December (23:59:59 ET). Offer becomes invalid after this date.
Your $10 can only be used to make a single bet; multi-bets are not permitted
The offer only applies to your first bet
To meet the bonus requirement your $10 refund must be wagered at odds of 1.6 (3/5) or higher
You can only use the $10 refund at PartyBets.com
Your bonus may be used on other PartyGaming products once you have wagered at least $30 on PartyBets.com
Your refund will be credited back to you within 24 hours

Affiliates

2006-12-06T11:51:00.000-08:00

One way to grow your bankroll faster is to join poker rooms through affiliates. Generally you can gain an extra $50-$120 from the affiliate besides the normal signup offer the poker room offers. Or you can choose some great gift options, like poker chipsets, or gift certificates.

The two poker affiliates I’ve used most often are Poker Source Online and PokerSavvy. You can also check out Actyper’s casino ownagefor some great casino offers.

There is a little bit of overlap of the poker sites that each affiliate offers, but there are many poker sites distinct to each affiliate.

There are other advantages to joining these affiliates. They offer regular freerolls, $ added tournaments, poker leagues, and their forums are a great source of information.

As an added bonus, you will also be joining some great poker Communities. You will get to know other poker players by way of these forums, their blogs, or just running into them in different tournaments….which is good and bad at the same time, as some of them are really good players.

Crosscheck Poker League

2006-12-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

In the last couple of newsletters sent out by BooyaPoker, they have talked about a poker league that is trying get started by http://crosscheckpoker.com. They need 9 players minimum per night for it to go. The first two events just fell short (8) players, so the league hasn't officially started yet.

Here are a few details:
Dates for December: Monday & Wednesday @ 10:00pm EST
Buyin: $2+$.20 (I think there are rebuys)
Prizes: normal payout plus Booya shirts & hats for winners in December (donated by BooyaPoker) & starting in January they are supposed to have Hockey Jerseys, NHL poker chipsets, and cash for league winners.

Hopefully I'll see you at the tables on Wednesday night.

Quiet week(end)

2006-12-04T19:06:00.000-08:00

It was a quiet week(end) at the tables for me; not much time to play. I did get in my 5 table hrs on Sunday at William Hill; up $180 which also included the $50 bonus. I really enjoy playing ring games at William Hill and have been really successful playing there. If they ever gave us more table hour bonuses I would be there all the time.

I played in the Booya CPT event and that lasted all of about 10 hands for me. This week is the NHL ticket tournament, and I'm looking to do better in this one.

My College football games were a bust 0-4. And my $10 free play didn't pan out.

College Football picks

2006-12-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

Here are my College Football picks for todays games

Hawaii vs Oregon St. over 70.5

Colorado St. -1

Army vs Navy over 49

Georga Tech -1.5

The free Linesmaker $10 bet this week is

will Jay Cutler's (Bronco's) first pass be a completion or not.

I went with the opposite of what I thought would happen and picked a completion

Family & Poker

2006-12-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

I just want to elaborate on a post that http://ryeandpoker.blogspot.com/Riverrun had on his blog.

We’d all like to have more time to play poker, but how do we juggle family and poker.

I try to get in around 20 hrs/month of poker play. Some weeks, like this week, I won’t play at all during the week and other weeks I get a chance to play a little more. I can usually get in some playing time on weekends.

Here are a few tips on what I do…

1. My #1 tip is family comes first.
Kids or not we all probably find ourselves playing a little too much at times and this can have a strain on our family. Watch for signs and cut back when you need to. I usually wait until my boys are in bed before if start playing during the week.

2. I limit my tournament play to “really want to play” tournaments.
I use a calendar and plan around tournaments. Ie. If I’m planning on playing in a PSO freeroll or league event on a Sunday night at 7:00pm. I’ll have made supper, bathed my boys, made them popcorn and put in a good movie for them to watch before the start of the tournament.
I usually never just sit down to a regular MTT or SNG. They take too long and I can’t usually commit the hrs to play in them.

3. Give Notice
I try to give my wife some notice (couple of days) if I know I'm playing in a tournament that could last 2-3hrs on a specific day. Just like if I was planning on golfing on a Sunday, I'd tell her thursday. It's just some consideration that keeps her happy. She's probably out Shopping on Saturday...lol...but those are the tradeoffs.

3. I only chase the bonuses I know I’ll have time to clear.
I hate bonuses that have short expiry dates attached to them. I pass up a lot of them or sometimes I will only commit to a partial bonus. Ie. Instead of doing a full $100 – 10X Party bonus; I may just do $50-$60 of it, if I know I won’t have the hrs to complete it.

4. I’m an early riser; so I let my wife sleep in on the weekends.
I can usually get in an hour or two on a Sunday morning (8:00am to 10:00am). This works well when you want to play on Euro based sites like William Hill or Eurolinx, because that’s when they have lot’s of traffic anyway. She’s also happy because I let her sleep in!

5. Computer is in our living room
This is key for me. If we had our computer in a different room or downstairs this would be –EV for my poker time. When my wife is watching her TV shows or my boys are watching cartoons, I can play poker, and not feel guilty. Treehouse is a good thing; anyone with small kids knows what I’m talking about.

6. Multi task & limit Multi tabling
You have to get creative if you are in a “must play” tournament and other things are going on. I have to be able to change a diaper, get more juice, play Lego, all while playing poker too. Some guys are able to play 4 tables at a time. I usually have to limit my play to one table so I can do these other things. I only multi table when the kids are in bed and I can concentrate on just playing poker.

Kids really change the amount of time you have to play. My boys are both young, and as they get into more activities, I’m sure this will lessen my poker playing time.
But it’s all good. :)

Hopefully any readers have some tips they’d like to share.

Weekend Play

2006-11-27T11:11:00.000-08:00

It was a descent weekend at the tables. I played at three different poker sites; here’s the recap.

Pokerroom
I finally used my $150+$12 ticket in the Euro Grand Prix on Saturday. I lost half my chips in the first three hands but struggled along. Then I doubled up 3 times in a row and found myself in 5th place with about 45 people left out of the 191 that started. I lost a few hands when we were down to 25 left. Blinds were getting big; I went allin with an AK and had one caller with A9o. And of course he hit’s his 9 on the flop to take me out. Had I won that hand I would have been in excellent shape to finish top 10.
I made $286 for my 25th place finish.

PartyPoker
Finished clearing the November reload; up $148 which includes the $75 bonus.

William Hill
I got in my 5 hrs of play and finished up $67, which includes the $47.50 bonus

So overall it was a profitable weekend and I am pretty happy with my play.

Party Store

2006-11-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

If you have any unused Party Points lying around, now might be a good time to use them. They now have CD's and DVD's in the store as well as a few other new items. If you ever wanted any of their tacky clothing, most of it is on sale right now at 40% off the regular points price.

Perhaps this a great time to get the missus an Xmas gift....Kidding!

Bowmans Sportsbook

2006-11-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

Betcorp (Betwwts) was sold to Bodog and our Canadian accounts were transferred to Bowmans.

Bowman’s has two great contests going right now.

NFL contest – It’s probably too late for the overall prizes, but they have weekly prizes of $2500USD for the most correct selections.

NHL contest – they provide a list of 10 games for each weekend with an $800CDN weekly prize.

The also have a 15% reload bonus going right now for you sports gamblers.

Booya League event #4 & risk free bet

2006-11-15T12:13:00.000-08:00

Played like a DONKEY….nuff said

This weeks $10 risk free bet at Linesmaker.com is

Reggie Wayne (Colts) +1/2 reception
Vs
Terrell Owens (Cowboys) -1/2 reception

This is a tough pick…I’m not sure who to take here....thoughts?

Eurolinx - Linesmaker - Paradise (weekend update)

2006-11-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

Eurolinx
I cleared the November reload at Eurolinx on the weekend. Again, what a rollercoaster. I ended up $819 clearing 3 bonuses. The total was made up of $550 bonus $'s and $269 from playing. I think some of those Europeans think they are playing with tournament $'s instead of real cash. Time to cash out!

Linesmaker
I went 4 for 4 in College football, 1-2 in NFL (all $5 bets), and won the weekly risk free $10 free bet; which was Grossman (+1.5) over E. Manning for most completions.
This is not a money maker for me, but rather just a fun way to play a little, make the games more interesting, and also get the weekly risk free bet.

Paradise Poker
Is offering daily $1k freerolls and a weekly 5k freeroll by making deposits.

Depost $50 using MAKEMYDAY1 for the daily 1K freeroll
Deposit $100 using MAKEMYDAY5 for the November 19 5k freeroll

The interesting thing is every deposit also rewards you with 100 Player Club Points. Right now they can only be used in Players club freerolls. But you never know if they will open a store or something in the future.

On a stupid note, as I was playing in the 1k freeroll a $3 satellite came up for a $20,000 ($30 buyin) tournament. I decided to enter and was doing ok. It was a rebuy/addon tournament. There were donkeys continually going bust and double rebuying. Now that would be ok if the entry was a lot more than $30, but my thought was why not just buy in directly for $30 instead of continually rebuying and not qualifying anyway.

Sportsbetting (Risk free bets) & BooyaPoker

2006-11-10T10:47:00.000-08:00

Most sportsbooks have signup bonuses and redeposit bonuses, but what I’ve also been doing is making at least 5 bets per week (usually $5/game) this allows me to place a risk free $10 bet per week. This essentially gives me an additional 40% bonus every week (based on $25 worth of wagers). I’ve been doing this at http://www.linesmaker.com, but there are others in the Sportsbook.com network with the exact same offer. Let me know if you want a referal.

I played in the BooyaPoker NHL ticket tournament last night. There were only 15 people playing, so your odds were very good. (not for how I play, but for others who know how to play poker...lol)

I will definitely play in more of these tournaments as well as the CPT events and I’ll give the league (PNIC) a couple of more tries before it’s mathematically impossible for me to finish near the top of the leaderboard. BooyaPoker has only been around a couple of months and is geared to Canadian players. I like what they are trying to do with their promotions and their CS seems really good.

My week of play

2006-11-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

Eurolinx
What a rollercoaster ride at Eurolinx. I was down $650 trying to clear the $250 signup bonus, had a couple of good runs and am up $175 with the bonus. So I actually lost $75 playing, but am glad to get most of my money back. I am now clearing the $200 OCTOBER bonus. I’m basically even playing with about 30 FPP’s to go to. I was 3 tabling for quite a while on the weekend just to clear the bonus. I’m undecided whether I’ll try to clear the $100 NOVEMBER bonus. I don’t know if my stomach can handle the ride!

I’ve changed my play on that site. I’ve decided to not raise too much pre-flop because these guys are calling with anything and when you don’t hit they’re pounding it with their 6 – 9 o. So I’m playing more of a post flop game and it’s worked in my favor a lot of the time.

Pacific Poker
I played in the $10+$1 PokerSavvy $500 guaranteed tournament on Sunday. I think there were only about 11 people signed up for this, so the overlay was great. Unfortunately I stunk it up and finished around 8th. I didn’t think there would be many people playing with Pacific banning US players.

Booyapoker
I played in the $5+$.50 CPT tournament on Sunday. Once again I stunk it up and finished at the back of the field. Like the Pacific tournament there were not many people signed up for this.
I think I’ll try this again, as well as the Hockey ticket tournaments.

I have to decide if I should join the Poker night in Canada league. I’ve missed the first two events, so I’m behind the eight ball on this one. Any thoughts if I should play in this league?

Eurolinx

2006-10-30T12:18:00.000-08:00

I mainly played at Eurolinx on the weekend trying to clear a bonus. I’m not fairing too well; down about $300 about half way through clearing the bonus. I actually had a chance to get close to even when I was allin against a guy. I had KK he had JJ, but unfortunately he hit a J on the river to take the $225 pot.

I’ve played at quite a few sites and this one seems to be suckout central. I saw one guy hit quads 3 times within about ½ hour. I don’t think I’ve hit quads 3 times the entire time I’ve played online poker, and this guy hits them 3 times in that short of time….unreal.

I just hope I can clear the bonus before going bust.

League (event #7) & other play

2006-10-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Last night sucked at the tables; here’s a recap of the events.

Eurolinx
I played a little more on Eurolinx (ring games), and didn’t do too well. I’m down around $175 so far after a couple of hours of play. Definitely a different style of play with mostly Europeans playing.

Pokerroom
I used my $100 +8 tournament ticket from Pokerroom for the US Daily tournament. 156 entrants and I ended up finishing in 38th place. I hung around ok, but the whole tournament I never got any cards. Finally went out when I went Allin with A Q o and got called by the SB who had QQ; couldn’t catch an A.
I still have a $150 + $12 ticket; hopefully I’ll have a better result.

Absolute Poker (League event #7)
Once again I played like crap. I think it may have been because of the disappointment in the Pokerroom tournament and my head wasn’t in this tournament. I wasn’t patient enough and ended up in 50th place after I went allin with 99 and unfortunately ran into AA.

I think I’ll take a couple of days off from poker, maybe the weekend too. I think I’ll try to pick some College football games instead.

Bankroll ( I need your help)

2006-10-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

I’m toying with the idea of moving up in limits, so anyone reading this, I’m soliciting your thoughts/idea’s.

Where I’m at…
I’m usually GRINDING things out at the $.5/$1.00 NL tables. I’m really comfortable playing $.5/$1.00 NL (100NL). I’ve ventured to the 200NL $1/$2 tables a couple of times. My current bankroll is around 3K. I also plan on using part of my bankroll for a future Vegas trip in 2007.

I’ve read all about a person’s bankroll being about 300BB for the limits you play. So if that was the case I should be playing at a much higher level. I’m a little confused if they mean playing LIMIT POKER OR NO LIMIT POKER???

But not having played much at the higher levels I’m a little worried about:

A. losing too much of my bankroll
B. I guess I don’t really know how good the players are at the higher levels. Is there that much of a difference?

But at some point most of us want to test ourselves. I guess I’m kind of there but a little nervous at the same time.

I would appreciate any feedback on this topic

PSO League (Event #6)

2006-10-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

I played ok in this event, finishing in 20th spot.

When we got down to about 20 players I got moved to a new table sitting with around 3500 in chips. The first hand I play, Actyper goes allin with his 2100 chips. I had a hand but didn't want to risk it on the first hand at that table so I folded. (Actyper if you read this and remember what you had please share it) I was kicking myself for not calling. Blinds were up to 200-400 and I was getting crap and getting blinded. Decided to try a bit of an allin bluff in the SB position. MISTAKE..big blind calls and that puts me out of the tournament. In hindsight I think I should have been a little more patient. However most hands were being raised pre-flop so there wasn't much of a chance to see a cheap flop. I could have waited another orbit or two to see if I could catch a hand.

I'm still have a lot to learn on tournament play. This league is very good practice for me.