clearing bonus in time

[luckydog]

I'm playing at Pacific and have a total of $75 in bonuses.
I have been playing about a month and only have 12 bonus points.
I think this is a combination of not having much time to play and perhaps playing way to tight.
At this rate I will not clear the 50 points for one bonus by the end of Nov and no way will I make the 100 for the second bonus.
My thought is to just move up in limits but as a beginner I'm a bit concerned that all I will do is get my butt kicked and perhaps learn some bad habits out of frustration.
Anyone else faced this problem and what did you do?
By the way I play at Pacific as NickMA in case anyone would care to comment on my play.

Luckydog

[AncientPC]

How well are you winning at your current limit?

If you are winning successfully, you might want to take a stab at higher limits, but only if you're willing to drop back down if you're not doing so well.

Normally I wouldn't recommend this, but Pacific is so soft that it's worth a shot.

Another suggestion is to sign up on another site and open up a second table, once you're multitabling it seems to go by faster but I know you've already tried party and didn't like the pace.

Unfortunately Pacific's pace is one of the slowest online.

[luckydog]

Thanks for respondng.
I haven't posted any stats before because its such a small sample I didn't think it would be worth while. I have only about 1000 hands I think. Pacific stopped updating had histories at 700 and I need to have them reset it so I can keep track. Anyway here is what I have on my spredsheet.
17 sessions from the time I log in to log out.
Bankroll started at $25 and is now $45.
I didn't start tracking how long each session was until #17 so thats where the BB/hr starts.
From session 7 to 17 I averaged 2.6 BB/hr.
I don't think that is very good but there are some aberations in there.
Out of 17 sessions I have had 6 losing sessions. Four of those occured between sessions 7 and 17 including my biggest one which was 14 BB/hr in a 1 hour session. I learned on that one what happens when you just can't get cards or when you get beat when you do. I had AKs, flopped an A and got a K on the turn and lost to a flush on the river. Also did the I got a straight someone has a flush or someone has a bigger full house. Very bad day.
I have already moved up from .05/.10 to .10/.20.

Another site is probably a good idea so I can use Poker Tracker but of course that won't help clear my bonus at Pacific.
I have been giving some thought to Paradise. I tried some play money at Stars and was thinking about them but have read that its a pretty tough crowd for a beginner.
I did try Party again, even though I said I wouldn't, to try and clear the bonus. The second table seemed to move one player at a time rather than in big leaps so I could follow the action which was nice but I'm not good enough right now to be messing around at the .50/1.00 limits with my own money :-)
I lost $50 clearing a $25 bonus so I have proof positive I don't belong there yet.
So my current thinking is this.
If I stay at the limits I probably belong at I won't clear my bonus in time and it along with my winnings will go away. If I jump to .25/.50 I may get my butt kicked but if I hang in long enough to clear my bonus.
I think part of my reluctance to leave is just that right now I have no money invested (at Pacific) in my education which is kind of nice.
I guess now that I have typed this all out its probably time to look into Stars and Paradise or some thing like that. I think Stars has a bonus going right now anyway.
I will be interested to hear what your thoughts (and anyone elses) are on all of this.

Luckydog

[AncientPC]

Poker Stars has a deposit bonus right now, so if nothing you can just deposit $600 and cash it out to leave the bonus pending.

Paradise is a good choice too. They have microlimits, support Poker Tracker, and an easy to clear bonus (as long as you play .25/.5 or higher).

[AncientPC]

I'm sorry my last response didn't have as much meat. /images/graemlins/smile.gif I've been following your Cinderella story ever since the tournament win at the local casino, and I've been happy that you're improving your poker game at a good pace.

I didn't really have too much to comment on your results because for one, microlimits play is really loose aggressive especially at Pacific. The second reason is (I'm sure you've heard this before) the small sample size. It may stem from the slow play at Pacific and the fact that you can't multitable at Pacific, but 1,000 hands really isn't all that much. On average I play anywhere from 700 to 2,000 hands a day, it really depends on the speed of each site.

Regarding those bad beats there's not much you can do about them, it's just how the big pots are won and lost.

Regarding your setback on Party, how many hands did you play to lose that $50 and did you put the hands into Poker Tracker yet and evaluate your play?

If you feel comfortable at Pacific's microlimit tables, if you're willing you can just cash out what you can from Pacific and just play with the bonus money. Then use what you've cashed out to deposit into Poker Stars or Paradise and try playing a second microlimits table.

[luckydog]

Not a problem. I appreciate your time. I just thought that maybe the way I finished my reply led you to believe that I had made a decision and wasn't looking for any more input.

I know the sample size is small. It took me a month and about 30 hours (estimate since I didn't record the time for my first 7 sessions) to get to around 1000 hands on Pacific.
With the day job and obligations at home I don't get much time to play and as you say the pace is slow.

I know from reading here that bad beats happen and losing sessions do as well but when it happens you for the first time its a shocker. I have just about recovered, bankroll wise, from the 3 in a row losing sessions.

I don't know how many hands I played at party. I would guess I played for 2 hours but that is a wild guess at best. I did download the last hundred hands (all I could get because I didn't think about it until after) and put them in PT but I haven't had time to figure out what all the stats mean. Plus we are talking really small sample here.

At Pacific what I did was to put in $100 and then as soon as the bonus showed up I pulled my $100 back out so everything in there now is really their money. I thought I read that you couldn't cash out any winnings you earned using bonus money until the bonus clears but I haven't tried.

I'm thinking that Paradise would be a better choice than Stars for now. What is your opinion?
I noticed a link here on 2+2 for Granny that I think said 50% bonus at Paradise.
I think I feel comfortable enough right now with my preflop decisions (although I think I'm to tight) to try two tables.
Have to see if my monitor will accept a high enough resolution so the tables don't overlap and see what happens. Should be an interesting weekend. If I get it done I will post the results.
Still reading SSH I think I really need to work on my agression but I want some PT stats first.

Thanks for the help

Luckydog

[madmisha]

I think that you need to move up a level or you will lose your bonus. Cash out your winnings and play with their 75$. I don't think you have much to lose, and on Pacific they .25.50 game is very soft.

[luckydog]

Thanks.
I agree that moving up is required to clear the bonus with the hours I have available to play.
I'm sure (subject to being wrong) I read on 2+2 somewhere that Pacific won't allow the winnings, from bonus money, to be withdrawn until the bonus clears so I didn't try. All they can say is no. Nothing to lose by trying so I will give it a go when I get home tonight.
My only concern about moving up prematurely was that I might pick up some bad habits out of frustration. However, it might be a good test of my control for when those bad runs happen and help me learn the game as well.
I also think that moving to higher quality sites and sites supported by PT will be of more value now that I have a little experience.
So I have some new things to try, probably this weekend, to continue with my poker education.

Luckydog

[AncientPC]

While Pacific is good in terms of soft play, use of bonus money, and good variety of microlimits it lacks one thing that helps beginning players a lot: statistics. Even though they're making the right choices preflop, they don't have any numbers to back that up.

At least at Paradise you have local stats that might help in addition to Poker Tracker support.

You may try cashing out, if they don't let you it was worth a try.

Otherwise you could try moving up in limits at Pacific a little bit at a time to clear the bonus. While moving up is good, if you move up and lose the bonus money it's all moot point anyhow. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[madmisha]

I am pretty sure you can cash out down to just the 75 in bonus money. I put 500 in for the bonus and then pulled it out. I have since pulled several hundred out without problems and have not cleared the bonus yet.

Actually I am in you same situation. I had given myself a timeframe for moving up levels, but prematurely went up to 1-2 to clear the bonus quicker.

For me personally, I seem to player better after moving up, but let a few bad habits sneak in at lower levels.

Good luck

[luckydog]

I got signed up at Pardise last night, made my initial deposit and got a 50% bonus using the GRANNY code.
Took extra time because my ISPs email antispam intercepted the email verification message from paradise and I didn't figure that out right off.
Didn't try the cashout at Pacific but plan to.
I agree 100% with your move up idea. If I don't move up I will lose the bonus. If I do move up and lose the bonus money its the same result.
Also checked out my system to see if I can get high enough resolution to multi and I should be fine.
I need to read up on all the acronyms (VP$IP etc) on PT to find out what they mean. Also setup a new database.
I didn't have time to check out the Paradise site very well but will look for the stats page and also how many hand histories they keep.
Big plans for the weekend once I get the chores done.
I think first try moving up in Pacific and then play some at Paradise. If both go well I might try to multi one of each and see how that works.

Luckydog

[luckydog]

madmisha

Thanks for the help.
If you have pulled out a couple of hundred then you are way ahead of me.
I'm really looking forward to getting some PT stats from playing at Paradise. I think I have some really bad habits already like I'm very weak/tight. I know it takes awhile to get reliable stats but at least I will now be working in that direction.
Right now I'm playing at the .10/.20 level in Pacific. Did you find a huge change in the level of play as you moved up to 1/2 or did you do it all in one leap?

Thanks again
Luckydog

[madmisha]

I noticed only a slight difference in difficulty until .50/1.00. There are a few more good players at 1/2, but still only about 2 per table.

[ccartman2]

Just a question, on Pacific you can pull out your money and play on the bonus? So pretty much you are gambling their money? Any other sites like that?

[AncientPC]

[ QUOTE ]
Just a question, on Pacific you can pull out your money and play on the bonus? So pretty much you are gambling their money? Any other sites like that?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes to question #1, no to #2.

[ccartman2]

thanks for your reply

[tranimal]

excellent, thanks for this info... i'm going to take advantage of their 25% bonus up to $100 tomorrow (waiting for neteller money to clear). they don't charge anything for depositing $400 (not instacash) and then immediately removing it, do they?

[tranimal]

btw, they said you need to wager 20x the bonus money (2k for 100 bonus) before you can cash it out. approximately how many hands do guys think this will take at 0.5/1.00 tables? based on play at party, i think on avg, i wager $3 on hands i play... so ~670 hands... not quite as easy to clear as party/empire unless you're playing higher stakes

[tranimal]

is GRANNY code still available? what are the terms? didn't see this promo on 2+2. thanks

[AncientPC]

Pacific's bonus is pretty difficult to clear.

To find the Granny bonus (which is for Paradise, not Pacific), check the classified ads section on the left hand side.