Another Poker Bonus Cleared

Results: many hours played; down $75; $30 bonus cleared

It's been a while since I've posted, but I've been playing quite a bit. I'm a little ashamed of a couple sessions, so I hoped to spare the gory details. Since Drewspop asked, I'll post them anyway.

During the week last week, I played a couple short sessions at the $.25/$.50 or $.50/$1 tables for a small gain. On Saturday evening, I really wanted to put in a long session to get back into the groove. Unfortunately, there weren't any of the lower limit tables available. Instead of turning on the TV or just spending a quiet evening with my wife (or any of another million things I should have done), I noticed that there was a seat available at a $2/$4 table, and it looked looser than I expected.

WARNING: Do not read any further if you have heart conditions or have recently stopped taking antidepressants. If you decide to continue, do not not drive heavy machinery for at least an hour.

Since I had played the $4/$8 tables on vacation, I was pretty sure that I could handle this one without much trouble. I never even thought about the bankroll requirements of playing at this level. As a refresher, your minimum bankroll for no limit poker should be 300BB; my total bankroll was 125BB and only 78BB on this site at this limit.

As you would expect, the cards just wouldn't fall for me. If I'd had a decent run of cards, it wouldn't have been so bad, but every time I made 2nd nut flush, someone else had the nuts. If I made nut flush, someone would hit a full house. When I hit a full house (J's/T's), someone else had a higher boat (K's/T's). Over the course of a 2 hour session, I had a few smallish wins but lost my whole buy-in ($100). I should have stopped after $50, but I was on serious tilt at the end of the session.

This week, I went back to the basics of $.50/$1 poker and climbed back out of the hole a bit. I was at a pretty loose table last night and was up aout $10 when I lost power to the computer. When it came back up and I reconnected, I saw that the final $30 bonus had cleared, and my bank on the site was at $298.50 (much better than it was on Saturday). Since I cleared my bonus, I thought that I might as well win another $1.50 to make the withdrawal an even $300.

WARNING: The bloodletting continues below. Read at your own risk.

I went back to the same table I was at before (the software had held my seat), and began working on the last $1.50. Over the course of the next 2.5 hours, I never won a hand! The table was full of donkeys, and every time I had a decent hand, they outdrew me. I had AA, KK, and QQ all busted.

In the most memorable hand, I had AKs and re-raised preflop; one of the blinds capped and there were several who stayed in the hand. The flop was AKQ. Yep, one of the pre-flop limpers called three raises with JT off-suit.

I finally decided it was time for bed and left the table down $24.

Since the bonuses cleared, I went ahead and requested a withdrawal. Total balance - $459 (up $74 on Total Poker).

A couple learnings from the losing sessions:

• No matter how tempting, I won't play above my bankroll again. If I can't find a table at my limits, I won't play.
• My buy-ins are usually 50BB. If I lose 1/2 of my buy-in at any table, it's time to take a break to avoid tilt.
  
• Once I've cleared a bonus, it's time to move on right then.

posted by Kent @ 6:20 PM