Hella Hold'em

After much debate, I decided to do a little bonus chasing with the Party Poker reload bonus (code: BONUSAPR). Why the debate over potentially free money? Well, I'd have to deposit from Neteller, which is currently the home of my WPBT Vegas trip savings fund. I feared risking that money. While I barely could have done the max deposit for the $100 in bonus money, I decided to play it somewhat safe (being new to the bonus chasing thing). Tonight, I deposited $300 into Party Poker, with the intent that if I lost a hundred of it, I'd give up the chase and suck the money back out.

A $300 deposit would get me $60 in bonus money, and require 420 raked hands. It was about 9:30pm when I started, and I estimated that I could pull off the feat in 4 hours or so if I 3-tabled it. That became the plan.

I chose three $25NL tables on Party, and pulled up Poker Tracker and PlayerView. Oh, how I have missed thee, PT and PV! I wish Full Tilt supported them. I had to grab my copy of the Poker Tracker Guide to remember what all of the auto-rate player icons mean - it's been so long I've forgotten! I settled in with the intent to focus-focus-focus and play some good poker.

That I did, for the most part, anyway. A few bad suckouts, a few big pots my way. My biggest pot was a bit of a gambooool but I did it knowingly. I'm holding JJ under the gun. I raise to $2 (blinds are $.10/.25). I used to raise big with my big hands, and smaller with the weaker pairs. Then, I realized that with the weaker pairs, you don't reeeealy want to be called. So you raise more, hoping to drive out the marginal holdings that can kill your weaker pairs, and hope for the best if you do get called. Anyway, so I raise to $2 (usually I'd go 5x or 6x the big blind, but the average "big" raise on this table was two bucks, so....) and the big blind pushes all in for $25. He was new to the table. I'm like, wtf... damn it! I think and think. Does he have QQ, KK, or AA? Am I willing to risk a suckout if he's got overcards, or a smaller pair to smack a set on my ass? I was up $20 or so at this point, so I was basically risking my profit.

Eff it. I call. He ends up having 44, and my Jacks hold up.

Huh??

Ends up this guy is a really tight player (he was at my table most of the remaining few hours I played) - to the tune of 18% VP$IP or so - but had a habit of pushing all in against a single raising opponent. It was weird. I saw him get chopped off one other time for $30, and saw lots of people fold to him.

Other than that, not much in terms of exciting hands. I lost a big pot when my top two pair ran into a flush (when will I learn....) and another when I held top two pair AK on the flop, and the board ended up pairing on the river to hit trip eights for my opponent's 10-8 offsuit. (Any two cards will do, yes indeed - he was the button, so more hands become playable, but for the 4xBB raise I'd put in with Big Slick??)

Not bad for four hours' work. I'll take it! I think I like this bonus stuff.

Now that I'm up way past my bedtime.... I'm glad I was up though. Randy called from Vegas (yes, he's in Las Vegas, without me, *sniff*sniff*) so I got to say goodnight to him. It's a free trip to Vegas, no less! Maybe he'll win enough $$ out there to book a flight to come with me to the WPBT Aladdin tourney in June...

Goodnight all!