One-Time Poker: 2009

Sunday, November 22, 2009

$10 Challenge

Turn $10 into $1,000:

Currently at $20.37.

I'm pretty impressed by Boku87. He's a PokerStrategist like I am. Anyways, he took $5 (really $10 cause he lost the first $5) and has now turned it into over $20,000. The goal being to turn $5 into $100,000 within a year.

I also railed his challenge earlier this year of turning $100 into $10,000 in 15 days. That was pretty amazing.

So I've taken $10 myself and am looking to do a much smaller challenge of turning that into $1,000 playing DoN SnG's. Originally, however, I started playing the 25cent 45-man MTTs. Got my roll up to $16.94, swonged down to $15 and change, and decided to switch over to DoNs.

Am now at $20.37.

Gonna basically be loading as many tourneys as my roll will allow for each session and take'er from there.

Start again tomorrow.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

How To - Free Poker Money Strategy

How to get the most Instant Bankrolls and Bonuses totaling over $415 and $1600 respectively in 7 STEPS:

STEP 1: Rakeback at One-Time Poker Rakeback

a. Sign up for a Full Tilt account through One-Time Poker Rakeback.
b. You now have a rakeback account at the site with the best First Time Deposit Bonus of 100% up to $600.
c. Full Tilt has plenty of traffic at all times so you can easily play enough to clear their bonus (plus you can multi-table up to 16 tables making clearing bonuses super-easy even at micro/low stakes).
d. This is the account you will ultimately put all your Instant Bankrolls (IBs) into to get the full $600 Bonus, without ever having to deposit a penny of your own.

*One-Time Poker Rakeback also gives you the highest Rakeback % for any and all poker sites offering Rakeback (especially handy if you already have a Full Tilt account--simply choose another poker site [make sure it's not a poker site listed below where you're about to get a free IB]).

For Steps 2 through 6, I suggest getting and clearing 1 IB and its Bonus at a time. It will be hard to clear multiple bonuses before they expire. However, if you can do so, then do so. :0) If you have cleared enough IBs and Bonuses to have $600 combined before reaching Step 7, feel free to skip directly there.

STEP 2: Free Poker Monies!! PokerStrategy
a. Follow link to PokerStrategy
b. Follow steps to receive Cake Poker IB of $50 + $100 Bonus (running total $50 + $100)
c. Clear the Bonus (in doing so, you will only need to earn another 330 Frequent Player Points to cash out)
d. You will also receive 33% Rakeback weekly!

You are now done at PokerStrategy.

STEP 3: Free Poker Monies!! YourPokerCash
a. Follow link to YourPokerCash (hereafter referred to as YPC)
b. Follow steps to receive Titan Poker IB of $50 + $100 Bonus (running total $100 + $200)
c. Clear the Bonus (in doing so, you will clear the cash-out requirements)

d. Follow steps to receive Absolute Poker IB of $50 + $50 Bonus (running total $150 + $250)
e. Clear the Bonus (in doing so, you will clear the cash-out requirements)

f. Follow steps to receive Ultimate Bet IB of $50 + $50 Bonus (running total $200 + $300)
g. Clear the Bonus (in doing so, you will clear the cash-out requirements)

You are now done at YPC.

*You can get a Titan Poker IB at PokerSource for $75, however, there's no Bonus so you lose $75 altogether.
**Before requesting a new bankroll at YPC, you must first play 100 raked hands (Ultimate Bet and Absolute requirements) and wait 5 days between requests (YPC requirement).

STEP 4: Free Poker Monies!! PokerRoomSchool
a. Follow link to PokerRoomSchool
b. Follow steps to receive CD Poker IB of $50 + $100 Bonus (running total $250 + $400)
c. Clear the Bonus (in doing so, you will clear the cash-out requirements)

You are now done at PokerRoomSchool.

STEP 5: Free Poker Monies!! PokerSourceOnline
a. Follow link to PokerSourceOnline
b. Follow steps to receive Red Kings IB of $25 + $50 Bonus (running total $275 + $450)
c. Clear the Bonus (in doing so, you will clear the cash-out requirements)

You are now done at PokerSourceOnline.

STEP 6: Free Poker Monies!! BankrollMob
a. Follow link to BankrollMob
b. Follow steps to receive Party Poker IB of $25 + $75 Bonus (running total $300 + $525)
c. Clear the Bonus (in doing so, you will clear the cash-out requirements)

d. Follow steps to receive Mansion Poker IB of $50 + $100 Bonus (running total $350 + $625)
e. Clear the Bonus (in doing so, you will clear the cash-out requirements)

f. Follow steps to receive Pacific Poker IB of $25 + $25 Bonus (running total $375 + $650)
g. Clear the Bonus (in doing so, you will clear the cash-out requirements)

h. Follow steps to receive BigBet Poker IB of $10 + $320 (running total $385 + $970)
i. Clear the Bonus (in doing so, you will clear the cash-out requirements)

j. Follow steps to receive PKR IB of $25 in Real Tournament tickets (running total $410 + $970)

k. Follow steps to receive Poker770 IB of $7.70 + $42.30 in Bonus/Tournament Tickets (running total $417.70 + $1012.30)

You are now done at BankrollMob.

*BankrollMob allows you to request as many bonuses as you like at any given time.
**BankrollMob also offers Casino Freeplay/IBs

STEP 7: Consolidating Bankroll
You have now received over $415 in Instant Bankrolls and $1000 in bonus money. That's not bad. Now, whenever you are able to cash out a combined total of $600 from your many poker sites, do so and deposit it in to your Full Tilt account all at once. You now have another $600 Bonus for $1600 in bonus money. That's no longer not bad...that's massive!

You will also get Reload Bonuses from time to time from the many poker sites where you had an IB. Now that you've consolidated your bankroll, when offered a good Reload Bonus, you can deposit enough at once to get the maximum Reload Bonus. This way, you can consistently be playing with a bonus or with rakeback--or even both! (Full Tilt and Cake being just two examples)

Happy poker playing. See you at the tables!

Free Poker Monies!
Pokerstrategy - Best Cake Affiliate--Instant $50+$100 Bonus+Rakeback!
Your Poker Cash - Multiple Free Bankrolls--Instant $50+$50 (or Greater) Bonus
Poker Source - Multiple Free Bankrolls--Instant $50+$50 (or Greater) Bonus
Bankroll Mob - Instant Poker Bankrolls + Online Casino Bankrolls
Poker Room School - Free Bankroll--Instant $50+$100 Bonus

PS - *Some sites offer multiple bankrolls (eg. YPC and PokerSource). Certain sites have different restrictions on requesting multiple bankrolls and many of these affiliates offer the same bankrolls. I have read all their t&c and determined that the above strategy is the easiest and fastest way to get multiple IBs, covering as many sites as possible, while getting the most money/bonus money . I have also put careful consideration into which site I suggest for an IB when the affiliate allows you many poker sites to choose from but only one IB.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Going for a record!

Hey everyone,

I want to make it clear, I'm playing well and even running well altogether...however, Full Tilt is just killing me!

I'm going for a new record. I've now lost 7 pre-flop all-ins in a row as a 70%/30% favorite! We're gonna see how long this goes on for. Here are the hands:

1. KK vs AK (turned an A)

2. AK vs AQ (flopped a Q)

3. AK vs AQ (flopped an A and Q)

4. AK vs KQ (flopped a Q)

5. AK vs A2 (turned a 2 with only 2 outs left in the deck, 1 deuce was counterfeited by my flopped flush draw)

6. AK vs A4 (turned a flush)

7. QQ vs A9 (turned an A)

...and yes, at 1c/2c, people are calling shoves with A2s and A4s and A9o, AFTER a raise and my RE-RAISE! People tell me this will be profitable, lol.

I will keep this list updated as long as the streak lasts. Now, I'm not saying other hands aren't holding up, just these preflop all-ins as a 2-to-1 fave.

And if anyone knows how often one can expect to lose 7 in a row against 30%, that would be awesome if you could tell me.

Friday, September 18, 2009

1 Cent 2 Cent Killing Me...Rofl

Hey everyone,

So I've been playing a tonne of Step & Ultra-Turbo tournaments on Absolute and have now compiled 19 Step 2 tickets, 1 Step 3 ticket, 1 Step 4 ticket, and some pocket change (literally) from my micro-stake Ultra-Turbo winnings.

The above graph is not that. The above graph is my results from 1c/2c No Limit on Full Tilt. Basically, I've been running terribly. It's not even funny. Just now, I lost 5 out of 5 pre-flop all ins where I was a 70%/30% favorite. I thought I would share how beautiful that looks with you all. Even though it's for pocket change, it's the principle of the matter. It's 1c/2c!! No graph should look like that at 1c/2c!!! Lol.

All I want is to get 1 Full Tilt Point a day to clear my Take 2 Bonus...really Full Tilt, is that too much to ask? Do you have to doomswitch me for that? :-P

Anyways, I don't want to make this post a big whine. I'm running pretty good on Absolute and playing well generally speaking, so, no real complaints. Just thought that was pretty sick losing almost $5 at 1c/2c. I think it's probably greater +EV to just fold EVERY hand from now on at 1c/2c until I clear the bonus on Full Tilt and collect my bonus monies.

Monday, September 7, 2009

50NL and 100NL Results

Hey everyone,

The top graph is my 50NL results over 5.5k hands. Those winnings plus my bonus money allowed me to move up to 100NL.

The bottom graph is my results for 100NL over the last 2.6k hands. I'm enjoying a decent winrate of 2.21BB/100 hands, however, 100NL has been SUPER swongy. I was coolered a few times, being 2 outered on the river twice in a row, and so proceeded to tilt off a couple buy-ins. Once I got over that (if poker is gonna cold deck me that's bad enough, I don't need to tilt and do it myself), I made a strong comeback.

Looking forward to playing about 2k hands a day for most of this month.

Free Poker Monies!
Pokerstrategy - Best Cake Affiliate--Instant $50+$100 Bonus+Rakeback!
Your Poker Cash - Multiple Free Bankrolls--Instant $50+$50 (or Greater) Bonus
Poker Source - Multiple Free Bankrolls--Instant $50+$50 (or Greater) Bonus
Bankroll Mob - Instant Poker Bankrolls + Online Casino Bankrolls
Poker Room School - Free Bankroll--Instant $50+$100 Bonus

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Clearing Bonus

Hey all,

Above is the last 5k hands of mine at .25/.50NL on Full Tilt. I've been playing short stack strategy with a win rate of 1.59BB/100Hands. When you combine the two (short stack + 1.59BB/100Hands win rate) you get a graph that looks like this. The point is--be prepared for swings.

I've only cleared $70 of my $500 Bonus so I'm going to play as much as I can throughout the week, and this Saturday I'm issuing myself a Marathon Challenge. Basically, the plan is to play 12-Tables for 8 hours. You know, like a real job.

Free Poker Monies!
Pokerstrategy - Best Cake Affiliate--Instant $50+$100 Bonus+Rakeback!
Your Poker Cash - Multiple Free Bankrolls--Instant $50+$50 (or Greater) Bonus
Poker Source - Multiple Free Bankrolls--Instant $50+$50 (or Greater) Bonus
Bankroll Mob - Instant Poker Bankrolls + Online Casino Bankrolls
Poker Room School - Free Bankroll--Instant $50+$100 Bonus

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Free Poker Monies!

Alright Everybody, Here It Is:

Free Poker Monies!

Pokerstrategy - Best Cake Affiliate--Instant $50+$100 Bonus+Rakeback!

Your Poker Cash - Multiple Free Bankrolls--Instant $50+$50 (or Greater) Bonus

Poker Source - Multiple Free Bankrolls--Instant $50+$50 (or Greater) Bonus

Bankroll Mob - Instant Poker Bankrolls + Online Casino Bankrolls

Poker Room School - Free Bankroll--Instant $50+$100

With solely the Starting Capital you can have a $250 Poker Bankroll right away, before ever spending a single dime of your own. Throw in the $50 or Greater Bonuses and you know have a bankroll of at least $500. All this and it's at no cost to you. The best part--you don't even need a credit card. Have fun, guys!

Once you've signed up for Instant Bankrolls at the big sites, you'll find there are still a few smaller sites kicking around on the Affiliates page(s) that offer you $50 Starting Capital but only a $25 Bonus (or $25 Starting Capital with a $50 Bonus). They may not be the $50+$50 (or Greater) Bonuses, but hey, $50 bucks is $50 bucks. And a $25 Bonus is a $25 Bonus. Sign up for those ones too (via Affiliates that offer multiple bonuses)!

Not including bonuses, all in, you're looking at over $450 JUST in Instant Bankrolls.

PS- I will post these links at the bottom of every future blog for easy reference.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Back at the Tables

I'm back at the tables after a long break. I withdrew a hefty sum from my bankroll to live off of and enjoy since my downswing was really affecting my play.

I also took the time to study SNG theory and will be playing more of those.

Now I'm playing 50NL, feeling super laid back about it, and I feel confident again.

Full Tilt gave me a nice $500 bonus that I'm working on clearing. If I play 2k hands a day it should be cleared in a fortnight. That's the plan!

Next post, I will put together my list of Free Poker Monies and how you can get it!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

What Is My Problem?

So after all my work to get back to even I donk it off in spectacular style! Once again, I'm down $500 for the month.

When will I learn? Because when I learn, I will be a poker player to be reckoned with. Until then, i'll just be another guy gambling. Case in point:

Raise. Call. I look at JJ. I re-raise. Immediately the guy to my left 3-bets me all in. Fold back around to me. I KNOW I'm beat but I call. Why? Because JJ was the nicest hand I had seen in a while and I wanted to play it.

That, my friends, is not good poker. I know live play can get boring but that's no reason to play poorly. And I played poorly yesterday and today and now I've paid the price.

Until I fix this problem of mine, feel free to be in any pot with me.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Dreaded Weekday Evening at the Casino...Not So Bad

It's easy to get the idea stuck in your head that you only find good TAGs (Tight Aggressive) and LAGs (Loose Aggressive) at the casino on a weekday, even at 1/2NL.

So today I bravely ventured the Weekday Warriors at the local poker room. Turns out, it's not so bad after all. It's certainly not spewy like a good Friday night, but it's not some boogey monster. And since spewy sometimes means high-variance, and since I'm not always in the mood for high-variance, it was actually quite decent.

I suffered my first decent hit to my chipstack today in the 7 hours of live play I've put in since swearing off online poker. I had top pair against a flush draw.

Luckily, I had position on my Esteemed Opponent who raises EVERY flush draw. When he check-raised my pot-sized flop bet, I felt quite certain he was raising the flush draw and not two pair or better, which allowed me to comfortably call with my top pair of Queens even with a Ten kicker.

The turn came an Ace and he bet out. I figured if he was on the nut flush draw, he just pulled ahead but I wasn't going to fold to one bet just yet.

The river was another Queen, giving me trips but completing the flush. He checked.

Of course, once he checked the river the Hopelatron in me thought, "Maybe he doesn't have the flush after all." Then I thought better of it, knowing what I know about how he plays flush draws and thinking back to the flop. Not being one to fall into his trap, I checked my trips behind. He turned over the nut flush. So my stack, which was originally $200 was now down to $125.

As I sat folding hand after hand, I contemplated how I played my top pair vs. his flush draw rather than tilt off more chips by playing any two cards. My conclusion: My call of his raise on the flop was fine, however, re-raising/shoving would have been fine as well, if not better. My call on the turn was bad. My check behind on the river was great (not because it was sooo amazing, although I am proud of it [a year ago I would've never checked there], but because he tried to lay a trap that I didn't fall into).

So, I kept folding and picked up pocket Fives utg (under-the-gun). I love playing low-mid pocket pairs, however, not utg. That being said, I can't just fold. So I limped. Why? Because if I get raised, I can call. If I raise utg and get re-raised, I'd have to fold. Luckily, my watch, which I use as a randomizer, agreed with me.

Sometimes my watch is gonna tell me to fold that hand in that position. Sometimes it's gonna tell me to raise. And sometimes limp. Thanks Dan Harrington for teaching me non-self-weighting strategy. Anyways, back to the hand...

A bunch of people limped as well. I'm not sure how many limpers since my head was down and I was wearing a baseball cap (just a cap, no shades, hoody, or ipod). My Esteemed Opponent, who likes to raise with draws, likes to raise limpers too. He raised 5x the big blind. He really just likes to raise. Now I was still keeping my head down but eyes up so I could see. I called. Two others called. And we're off to the flop...

4h 5d 6h. Success! I got my set...aaannd potential straight and flush draws out there. Isn't that always the case?

My Esteemed Opponent bet $40 into a pot already a little over $40. I wanted to flat call so bad here but the board and the two players still to act kind of forced my hand. I pushed all my chips in ($115, which worked out nicely to basically a standard 3x raise).

Actually, I initially missed one $1 chip and tossed it in once I saw it, apologizing for "so obviously" string betting ;-). The table forgave me and the dealer accepted it.

The two players behind me folded as I had hoped, and my Esteemed Opponent tanked and finally called, as I had hoped. Before the turn was even dealt, and before I'd turned over my hand, he said "Nice hand." The turn was a 4 giving me a full house. I forget what the river was. I turned over my Fives Full of Fours. My Esteemed Opponent mucked.

I'm so curious what he could possibly call with but then admit defeat before there was even another card dealt or I'd shown. Maybe pocket 10s or Jacks. That's my guess. I had the right to see his hand, in retrospect, since he called.

So winning that pot brought me back to even for the month! Well, depending on the exchange rate. Earlier today apparently I was still down $7. Tonight apparently I'm down $8. Freaking exchange rate.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Crazy Friday Nights at the Casino

At a live game, raising 3x or 4x the big blind isn't going to get anybody to fold. Standard raise is anywhere from 5x to 10x (at least in Vancouver). So today, after 3 people limped into the pot, I raised on the button to $15 with AQo. Naturally, every limper called.

So now the pot is $60 and we haven't even seen a flop. The flop comes 2c 7s 10c. It checks around to me, so of course I bet $20. It's a small bet but I've found, when playing live, post-flop bets don't have to be quite as big as pre-flop bets to get people to fold. I get one caller. Pot is $100. My read tells me he's weak so I figure he's on a club flush draw.

The turn is a blank. He insta-checks. I start to think maybe he doesn't even have a draw. I bet $40 which gives him 3.5 to 1 on his money. He thinks and calls. Ok, maybe he does have the draw. Pot is $180. I'm hoping the river doesn't bring a 3rd club.

The river is a blank. No completed flush. He insta-checks again. Now I'm certain he's not strong so I figure a 3rd bullet should do it. Since I'm absolutely sure he was on a busted draw I know the bet doesn't have to be big. I bet $25 expecting a fold. He calls. Uh-oh. Now I'm thinking, "How the hell did I get myself involved in a $230 pot with nothing but A high? I could've sworn he was weak."

I wait for him to turn over his hand because whatever he called with must beat my A high. He doesn't table his hand. Juuust great. He's going to wait for me to turn over my hand since I was the aggressor. Reluctantly, I say "A high" and turn over my AQo. He pauses for a moment and turns over AJo. Lol. I scoop a $230 pot with A high. Not only am I stunned he called 3 bullets with A high, the whole table is as well. My basic read was correct, that he was weak, however, my hand read was wrong.

And that was the start of my Friday night at the casino. Needless to say, I've been running well. +$395CDN in 3hrs total live play this month.

I'm only down $63.06USD for this month now. Crazy.

Anyways, I'm sticking with live poker for a while longer. Even though I don't always know exactly where I stand (clearly, as the above example illustrates), I at least have a better idea.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Regrouping

After starting this month off so well, I hit a downswing and went on life-tilt. I knew it was time to stop playing online and get back to live poker.

I went to the casino today and had a nice $113 win in a couple hours.

I'm still down for the month, however, I feel better about my game now. It was great being able to slow down, play 1 table, and read people's body language. It's also easier to coax information out of people about past hands they were involved in.

So I'm going to ride this live-poker train for awhile since my online game is completely off the rails.

Less tables + more concentration = better results.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

June - New Month, New Start

I ended up finishing May with $148.96 profit.

I'm up $126.05 for June.

Starting this weekend I'm going back to 5hr sessions to earn some decent, daily rakeback.

For some reason Universal Replayer and my PC aren't cooperating, despite the fact that I have the most current version of Java. Should I not get that up and running tonight, I will use CamStudio to record and post an interesting hand from today's session.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

One Time, Dealer

Hello,

Welcome to my new poker blog. Its purpose is to chart my progress and show you, the reader, that progress through multiple means (eg., hand replayer, videos, etc.).

A quick update on my month so far -- I play 200NL and I'm up $95.36. Let me tell you, being up $95.36 has never felt so good. I had a $999 downswing and since then I've been playing super-short sessions, the goal being to have a quick win and get out. Thanks to that, some rakeback, and not running incredibad anymore (plus getting the ensuing life tilt under control), I've made it back above even!

This downswing prompted me to create a spreadsheet where I track how I'm running (based on all-ins). I will post this regularly for your enjoyment.

Also, I will show you how you can get free money to get your poker bankroll going!

-Samzilla,

aka Sam