The Poker Bonus Chaser's Journal

I am, generally speaking, a low limit grinder.  While I may play $10/20 from time to time, I prefer the $3/6 and below full ring limit holdem game.  It is my poker bread and butter.  The rest of this post relates to playing the online game as a low limit grinder.

I don't think my commitment to poker bonus chasing (vs rakeback) can be questioned.  It has been an easy stance to take, though.  Mathematically, the amount of rake returned through bonus chasing is superior in almost all instances to the rake returned through rakeback. 

But the times, they are a-changin'.  In the current US online poker playing environement, I regard rakeback as essential.  Not just a nicety, but essential.

Bonus chasing requires bankroll agility.  By that I mean that you need to be able to deposit and withdraw your bankroll quickly at online poker rooms to be able to take advantage of  bonus offers.  Either that or you need an enormous bankroll wherein a deposit that maximizes a good bonus deal is only a few percent of your total bankroll.  It is my personal feeling that maintaining such a large bankroll online is a risk not worth taking.  Many players are currently experiencing the pain and anxiety of trying to retrieve their money from their online bankrolls.  I think they are sensing the risk to which I am referring.

In the absence of bankroll agility, we need rakeback.  It is the only way for American grinders to get the most for their money.  With rakeback you can continue to get a discount on your poker play without having to move your money around.

I have long held that if one can get both bonus and rakeback that will clear at the same time, then one should.  Absolute and UB being two places I don't think anyone should play with out having rakeback.  If you are, then you are paying more to see your cards than I am paying to see mine.  Why would you do that?  If you do not have a rakeback deal at UB or AP, then you should stop playing there and set one up.  It is not difficult to do (although the current depositing morass does complicate things a bit).

You may not have realized that this was my position by reading my ITH posts, because I rarely mention it there.  I am employed by them, and they are a major online affiliate.  I (and others) have encouraged them for a long time to offer rakeback.  They are now offering Absolute Poker rakeback - which is a good start.  I continue to encourage them to get more rakeback deals and to beef up their support to rakeback with online stats and such, but the running of a huge online poker presence like ITH requires a racking and stacking of priorities, and rakeback has not made it to the top of the list yet.  I will keep pestering them to get more involved in the rakeback game. 

Until then, though, I strongly encourage everyone to get set up with rakeback.  At least at your favorite rooms.  I have used several rakeback affiliates, and I am willing to recommend two:

• RakeTheRake  (referral code RTR6596)
• ThisIsTheNuts (referral code 3171)

Using the referral codes will, in fact earn me a small commission.  Much appreciated if you plug that in for me. 

Every once in a while I get an e-mail or PM asking me why I don't make BullsBetting a rakeback affiliate.  The truth is I would like to, but I would not like to be a bad rakeback affiliate.  And I would be.  I could not offer the top rakeback rates because my volume is too small.  I do not have the technical expertise to offer up to the minute online player reports.  I take frequent business trips that put me out of reach, so my customer service would be hit or miss.  I simply can not compete with RakeTheRake or ThisIsTheNuts.  So, if you can't beat them, join them!  They are the best and most trusted names in rakeback, so I am happy to direct players to them and maybe once in a while getting a little pocket change for the effort.

I still encourage players to take advantage of all bonuses that they can.

Happy Chasing!

Posted by Bullajami at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Poker Bonus Chasing for American poker players got a lot tougher this week.  On Wednesday Neteller, bowing to pressure from the US government, stopped allowing transfers between Neteller and online gambling sites for their American customers.  Being the only universally accepted payment method available to Americans, this was a fairly heavy blow to poker bonus chasers.  If you chase the bonus, then bankroll agility is a must.  Neteller was the one-stop shop for American bankroll agility, and now it is gone.

We have been working on some alternatives, but none of them are yet a panacea.  The situation is fluid.  MyCitadel also announced yesterday that they would stop service to Americans.  Moneybookers and Firepay had announced this some time ago.  Poker Stars announced that Central Coin was no longer going to be one of their options - still waiting to find out why that might be.  I personally have a bunch of money at bodog and UB, so I am not sweating the poker situation.  Sports betting is another animal altogether.

I suspect that wherever Poker Stars goes, others will follow.  Whatever online cashiering vehicle Poker Stars promotes as their recommended plan to Americans will rise to the top of the heap and be the online cashiering leader.  We should know within a few weeks what that might be.  If I was Lee Jones, I'd be wheeling and dealing for the best terms.

I had a fantastic week at the tables.  I was positively destroying the Bodog SNGs this week, and I played a $10/20 game at UB and walked off with 20 BB from there as well.  I don't normally play $10/20 but when the view flop percentage says 54%, I gotta sit down.  .  I am up about $800 for the week.  Not bad for an old hack like me.

Posted by Bullajami at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bodog 

Bodog pissed me off.  Bowmans decided to get out of the sportsbook business and transferred all their American accounts to Bodog.  I had 13 of them signed up through me at Bowmans.  Not a huge amount of money for an affiliate, but a trickle.  I contacted Bodog to find out how I would be managing those client accounts now that they were at Bodog, and they informed me that I would not be.  Those accounts were no longer mine.  Not cool, Bodog!

I am now on a quest to get $1300 out of Bodog.  $100 per account they stole from me.  I will do this by playing PLAY MONEY tables and SNGs at Bodog until I clear $1300 in bonus money.  Bodog will not make any money off me during this time.  I am at $92 so far.  I cashed out two weeks ago, so its about time for a reload!

Skybook

I gave Skybook poker a try because I was using their sportsbook and Nukelaloosh has raved a bit about their freerolls.  I missed the freeroll, but wanted to try the poker room anyways.  It is a True Poker skin.  Man I HATE that interface.  So-o-o-o slow!  The players were just horrible, though.  I made $40 at .5/$1 FRLH in about 40 minutes.  Winning is fun, but then I remembered I was not playing for a bonus, so I decided to pack it in.  I might go back if they offer me a bonus, and play it as a second window to another game I am more interested in.

Absolute

The new bonus terms are ABYSMAL for low limit grinders.  I played 77 hands at $1/2 FRLH and made 3 ARPs.  They need to change their terms before I will play there again.  Just awful.

Ultimate Bet

I have been playing there quite a lot during my Bodog break.  I have a ton of bonus stacked up there, and the clearance rate at the low ( .5/1 and below) limits is very good.  at .01/.02 NL it s unbelievable, but I can only stomach 8-tabling nano micro-limits for about an hour before I am going bats.  Somehow I had $40 there, and I ran it up to $145 at low limits.  Saw a good $2/4 FRLH table last night and jumped in.  It was a great table, but I got abused.  I took a couple of riverings, and could never hit a draw.  I won the blinds holding AA.  Just a standard bad session - except I realized I wasn't playing very well, either.  Too timid.  Not protecting my hands, etc.  So, I quit, down about 20 BB.  grrr. 

Posted by Bullajami at 09:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)