Such was the case last night.  I decided to play in an Absolute $2 NLHE MTT.  I registered and then found, to my surprise, that they capped the field at 400.  There was no mention of this in the lobby, but that's OK.  I just found it odd. 

It was a strange little tourney.  A freezeout, no rebuys.  The first 100 donks were out by level 3.  I was card dead for just about all of it.  I kept getting short-stacked and pushing some crap like A7o that would hold up and give me another orbit or two.  My big break came with about 100 left (63 make the money).  I had QJs and ended up all-in pre-flop.  I got squoze and had too much pot equity not to make the call in a 4-way pot.  I found I was up against TT, 88, and JTo.  The flop came T84 and I was way behind, but I rivered my 9 and took down a huge pot that put me in 7th place at the time.

That was all she wrote, though.  I proceeded to get jack and shit for hands for the next hour.  The bubble broke, and then the next level and I still had chips, but I'm just blinding away.  With 20 players remaining, I am the short stack.  I push first in with A5o, and the BB, a huge stack, has to call with anything.  He shows K3o.  The board comes 458 2 A.  IGHN.

I would estimate that 80%+ of the time I get put out of an MTT, I have the better hand when I get my chips in.  Is that normal?  It seems like it should not go down like that, but I swear it does.  I realize that part of the art of winning an MTT is dodging the suckouts and having a bit of luck, but I never seem to be able to pull that part of it off.  Just a general observation.  20/400 is not bad given that my distribution of cards was below average for 3+ hours.  I never saw a pocket pair above 99.  My vp$ip was probably about 12%.  20/400 was pretty much a miracle in that situation, but still, I go out to some cheesy crap at the end - as always.  Grrrr.  Grrrrr.  Grrrrr.

I have a goal in my head to start a bankroll at Royal Vegas without ever making a deposit.  I need to money in a freeroll and then take it to the micro-limit tables and run it up.  I did this at Absolute Poker once and it was quite a lot of fun.  (Chronicled here).  There is a Prima $1,000 at 8:30 p.m. every night.  I have been playing that one fairly regularly of late.  Thursday mnight I was making a good run for the money.  There were about 430 left in and about 250 make the money.  I had 2.5 times the average stack and was looking good.  I pulled in KK and pushed all-in from UTG+1.  I got called by someone with about 2/3 of my stack, and he showed ATo.  I flopped a K, and looked good to run deep in this freeroll.  Then I took a J on the turn and a Q on the river and I lost the pot.  Now I was crippled.  Two hands later I had A4s on the BB.  The C/O limped first in and I pushed.  He called and showed 88.  I did not improve and IGHN. 

I stomped about my house muttering and cursing for the next ten minutes. 

I honestly took 4 runner runner beats that night.  I cannot get anything to hold up.  My last hand last night I had KTs and flopped trips.  I got called down and out-kicked.  It's just been the perfect formula lately for getting beat. I've dumped about $25 at the micro-limits.  Like 250 BBs.  Good grief!

Since I am too stubborn to quit, the only thing to do is to keep hacking away at it!

SittingDuck set up a conference call on Skype - a free VOIP service.  Once the three of us were all in the conference call, SD opened a pair of $100 NL 6-max tables at Full Tilt, and Fumseck and I railed.  SD would tell us his hole cards and thought processes as he played.  After a while Fumseck took a turn and followed the same pattern.  I had originally declined to take a turn playing, but after an hour and a half I wanted to try to apply the things I was learning, so I jumped onto a single table of $100 NL 6-max at Stars.  (I don't have any money at Full Tilt.)  They watched me for about an hour and gave me some great advice.

The 2.5 hours we spent in "The Clinic" was easily the most I've learned about poker in 2.5 hours in a long, long time.  Obviously I know poker quite well in general terms, but as primarily a FRLH grinder I have much to learn about NL 6-max.  They did a great job of demonstrating and explaining how to use position, bet sizes and display tools to extract value from a NL 6-max game.  The 2.5 hours was over WAY to early for me.

Humorously, I think I got the best cards of the three of us during my playing time, but I was the only one who lost money.  I nailed several flushes, and could not get paid.  Then I got outdrawn on my biggest pot of the evening, but I had not bet Villain off the pot on the turn when I was way ahead, so it is partially my own fault.  Ain't poker grand!

Looking forward to our next session and continuing to expand my poker repertoire.  Thanks guys!

With 18 left I got HU pre-flop with a LAG.  I was in the C/O with AJ and she was on the BB.  I raised 3X BB and she came over the top all-in.  I called and she showed J8o.  She boarded a straight and I was hurting with about 6M.  The very next hand I had AQs and pushed first in.  I get called by A9o.  There's a 9 on the flop and IGHN 18/107 (no money).

Next is the Jungle Poker $25.  The field started at 764 and it was wild.  On the third or fourth hand I had AJs and ended up in a 4-way all-in.  The board double-paired and I was the only one with an A, so I took a huge pot.  I was doing OK about 40 minutes later when I flopped 2 pair with crap from the BB.  I pushed and the lucky big stack called with air.  He hit his second consecutive runner runner flush, and IGHN 292/764.

Last was the Prima $1,000.  About 30 minutes in I limp with 97s.  I hit middle pair and a gut shot when the flop comes T96r.  I bet out half the pot and get cold-called.  Turn is my trip 9.  I bet out and get raised.  I am pot committed and push.  I get called and he shows T9 for the boat.  Grrrrrrrrrr.

That's why I hate MTTs.  I almost always get my chips in with the best hand, and I rarely make it deep.  So frustrating.  Cash games are so much less irritating.

I also left $6 in Bodog after my last cashout.  I assumed I was going to be redepositing there within a couple weeks, but the all hell broke loose and that looks unlikely.  I took that to the $0.05/0.10 limit tables and ran it up to about $10.40.  Then the cards went sour.  I have been getting crushed!  I am down to $4.30!  Its standard downswing fare - premium pockets busted, undersets and a brutal nut flush loses to straight flush.  D'Oh!  I figure if the deck is going to be molesting me, the $0.05/0.10 tables is a good place for to to happen!

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!

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.

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. 

I have been tearing it up.  I have been single tabling.  I really think my poker play has been excellent, and my cards have been running above average also.  I have been very satisfied for a while.  And I have been up about $400 as a result.

I did get stacked for $120 at an Absolute $1/2 NL table last weekend, though.  I was playing after a night out with my neighbor Bubba (which involved several bottles of wine, of course.)  Probably not my best choice, going to a $200 NL table with a snoot full, but it looked like the loosest table going at Absolute, so I took it.

There was one player who was being very aggressive.  He was making big raises quite often, and stealing lots of small pots.  I was waiting for my opportunity to get him.  He limped into a hand from EP, and this sent some warning signals off - he never limps.  With several callers I limped from MP3 with 43s.  5 of us saw the flop.  334.  He bet out $1 and I smooth called.  3 of us saw the turn A.  He bet the pot and I raised.  He called.  River was a blank and he bet.  I raised and he re-raised me all in.  I called and he showed pocket AA.  He had turned a bigger boat and got me!

I am not unhappy that I slow-played this and got outdrawn.  I think a flopped boat is a decent slow-playing hand.  Even a mini-boat like mine.  It was a bummer to get stacked, of course, but doo doo happens.  Had this happened when I was in a slump, I might have a different opinion, but I had been running well, so it bugs me less.  Strange thing that, eh?

I took that stack to the .02/.04 FRNLH table and went to work.  It was everything you'd expect:  6 - 8 players seeing the flop every hand.  The kind of table where you can play 32s profitably...which I did, much to the dismay of the man who played his hand awfully and never raised me out of the pot.

An hour later I logged off with $6.78.  So, what dow you thgink?  Should I make this a quest?  30 cents to $300 or something?  It's amusing to contemplate, but the bonus clears very slowly at Wingows.  I have $100 pending, but I am not sure its worth it.  Could be fun, though.

Its not just about being a cocky cheesedog who would get public accolades in that forum.  Those were nice, but I also get private messages and e-mails from players thanking me for helping them make money, or stay afloat in poker until they could make money.  There was (and is) real satisfaction in that.  Someone's wife even gave me a hug at the ITH convention and thanked me for helping her husband make so much money.  How cool is that?

But the landscape is changing.  I am not sure what I was doing at this time last year that other players were finding helpful is still helpful now.  many sites have banned/are banning US players.  Bonus terms are getting sharper.  Bonus chasers are more prevalent and the tables are tougher than ever.  Rakeback, free gift offers and VIP programs throw new twists into the equation.

My personal landscape is also changing.  Sportsbetting is far more profitable for me than poker.  I have a hard time justifying playing poker when scanning the lines can yield so much more profit.  Running my website is also very time-consuming, and its something I really enjoy.  My job is more demanding than ever, and so is Mrs. Bull's job these days.  Free time in general is dwindling.

I would like to continue to provide something useful to the online poker community.  That is more important to me than trying to move up lmits and make more poker money when my available time to study and improve is so scarce.  I haven't decided what I can do in this regard, yet. 

I am still contemplating.

I decided to start with Wingows Poker.  They had a 100% deposit bonus with no time limit.  I was not sure how fast it would clear.  You have to accrue Wingows Points and every 125 points $5 of bonus clears.  I just couldn't determine how to accumulate Wingows Points.  I contacted their CS and did not get a very clear answer.  I downloaded the software and it looked decent.  Traffic is very light, only 4 cash tables running, $1/2 NL and .25/.50 NL.  I watched the play for a couple of orbits and decided it was bad enough for me to make some money, so I decided to take the plunge even though I didn't understand the bonus terms.

I deposited and received an immediate $25 cash bonus applied to my account.  Not sure how or why, it just arrived.  I don't know if there are cashout restrictions on it or not.  I played about 100 hands and I am up over $100.  Mostly due to a ridiculously lucky suckout.  There was a player who was betting very aggressively, very LAG.  I decided to re-raise his flop bet when my pocket 88 was an over pair to the flop.  He came back over the top and I was pot committed for the rest of my stack (I was playing a bit short-stacked for the table.)  I called and he showed KK, but I turned a miracle 8 and took the pot.  That turned out to be great for my table image, and I was able to get my best hands called down for the rest of the session.

Bottom line on the bonus is that it clears VERY POORLY.  After 100 - 110 or so hands I only accumulated 62 Wingows Points.  The software is fine.  They even have some features i have not seen elsewhere - you can post a live straddle from UTG (I never saw anyone do it, but its there) and you can chop the blinds if it folds around.  If you choose the chop feature, a "chop" tag is placed on your name placard.  I was thinking that if someone on my left had their chop tag on that I would be able to steal their blinds - that the chop tag was a sign of timidity, but I never got to put my theory to the test.

Because of the poor bonus clearing I will be withdrawing ASAP and moving on to another micro-room.

One of the major items I was working on may turn into completely wasted effort. 

I did a redesign of the bullsbetting website in a sub-directory of www.bullsbetting.com.  I worked on it, with help from others, for several weeks.  I finally thought it was ready for prime time.  I moved it over exactly as the directions stated...except that the MySQL database that holds all the data will not import.  I still have all the data, but I cannot get it to load to the root directory of my server.  I am running out of hope that there is anything I can do to salvage that work.  I think I am back to the drawing board on that.  Drat!

My plan was to build the site in the sub-directory and then move it to the root directory.  Then transfer my domain to another server outside the US - just to be safe.  Since the move to the root directory looks totally jacked up, my current thinking is that I will just build the site directly on the foreign server.  Then I won't have to move it.  I can maintain the forum on my current server, for the time being.  Its mind numbing for an amateur webmaster like myself.  I should get "Webmastering for Dummies" - I bet there is one!

There's also a scramble at ITH (where I work part time) to deal with the fallout from the Enforcement of Illegal Gambling Act (EIGA).  Trying to realign the emphasis placed on the online poker rooms that will be available to the greatest proportion of ITHers has been a constantly moving target for the past two weeks.  Despite our best efforts to be proactive, I think we have been mostly reactive - although there may have been no way to get in front of this runaway freight train.  Things are calming down now and I think we are getting back on top, but its been a hassle.  (Or a challenge if you're an optimist!)

Looks to me like Poker Stars and Full Tilt are the big winners in the "where can we play now" game. No surprise on Poker Stars as it has been a long time favorite of many (if not me.)  I was a bit surprised by Full Tilt surging to number 2.  I played there when they first came online with their (then) enormous $600 first deposit bonus.  I didn't like it much - it was slow and little traffic.  I don't think I ever deposited, just played the free games, checking it out.  I was much more cautious back when my BR was puny.     I was thinking Absolute and UB would surge up to #2 and #3 respectively.  While they have been doing OK, they have not grown as much as I anticipated.  Bodog and (another surprise) Poker.com are also doing pretty well.  I am getting my traffic data from www.pokersitescout.com, btw.

Interesting times lie ahead.  I just hope I can get my site operations fixed so that I can focus more on those interesting times than I am on loading bits and bytes to servers.  Oh, and I'd like to play some poker too!  Happy Chasing!

My recent forays into higher limits are  just experimental.  I do not intend to become a regular at those tables.  Not at this time, anyways.  I was just curious and seeking information.  What I discovered was that the play at $10/20 - $30/60 is generally much worse than at $1/2 - $5/10 at Poker Stars.  My observations are purely anecdotal and not scientific.  I only have a few hundred hands at those higher limits.  However, each of the three times I decided to look at the higher limit tables I was able to easily find available tables with view flop percentages >36%.  Those loose tables are rare at $5/10 and below at Poker Stars.  I was able to play ABC TAG style poker and be a winner at any of those tables (even though I lost at $15/30, I am certain my play would be profitable on that type table in the long run). 

The risk here would be that a few very good players using notes and/or software would eventually get a good read on me and beat me out of some chips.  Of course, I would be somewhat protected by my own notes and observations, and know when I was tangling with a pro.  I would also be hampered by my inability to disassociate chips from money.  A bad string of cards and a -200 BB run would not be dealt with very well in my bulbous melon.  My frugal upbringing continues to be the 300 lb gorilla in my mental room.  The fact that I have an absurdly large bankroll for $10/20 (or higher) does not overcome the hesitation I have in making small +EV bets with $20 chips.  I know enough to know that's how you earn over time, but I still can't do it. 

Not surprisingly, the Poker Stars FPPs accumulate rapidly at the higher limits.  My bonus cleared very quickly once I shifted over to the higher limit tables. 

Its been a fun experiment.  I will be back at the low limit tables later this week.