The whole ECD free chip deal has seriously gotten me back into online poker (remember to put metsfan as the user who referred you on the comp form!) I decided the best thing for me to do is to follow Chris’s strategy of some serious bonus whoring.

I’ve continued my streak for December where every hand of poker played is counting toward a bonus. So far this month I’ve cleared $800 worth of bonuses. Wow! I wish I didn’t suck so that I could actually make money on top of the bonuses.

So, to start off, I cashed out my money from Absolute, and deposited $600 into Stars, for a 25% bonus of $150. I played the required 750 raked hands at 1/2 6 max, and finished down $60 after the bonus. Off to a wonderful start. I couldn’t withdraw the money from there for 48 hours after my deposit, so I played 2/4 6max and got back even (including the bonus, so I was actually down $150 at the poker). I played pretty badly, but also got sucked out on a whole lot. I suspect the two were related (damn tilt.) The number of runner runner straights against my two pair or underpairs hitting their set on the turn or river was insane.
The bonus really helped soften that blow. It was just a waste of time, not money. Plus, I do have about 800 more FPP to let sit there because I can’t figure out what to do with them.

I withdrew that money from Stars, and put it back into Absolute. They had a promotion for three days where you could get a $100 bonus each day (15% bonus on any Neteller deposit up to $100, and you could do it for three days straight.) Anyway, I only had $656 in Neteller, so I only got a $98.40 bonus. Absolute has a much looser definition of a raked hand than most places (you only had to be dealt cards, not contribute to the pot). You have to play 100 raked hands to unlock each $10 in bonus, and three tabling 1/2 6 max, I usually play 100 hands in less than an hour. Plus, the players are bad. I’ve unlocked $40 of that bonus, and I’m up $125 on top of that. It would be $31 more, but I accidently clicked fold instead of raise on a $31 pot when I had the nuts on the river. Oops. To give you an idea of the play: One hand, I was dealt JJ in middle position. There was a raise before me, so I reraised. I called the cap, and we were heads up. Flop was J73. Capped. Turn 9, capped again. River 7, one more cap. I put in the last raise, so I show first. Instead of mucking, the other guy shows his… QTo? WTF? Of course if that river was an 8 instead of a 7…

Anyway, I think for a while I’m gonna be sticking to 1/2 6 max tables and be looking around for bonuses. It’s actually a lot of fun, and the bonus generally makes up for the time the poker doesn’t go so well.