I think Bonus whoring is making me play a bad game.

[bonaparte]

I just cleared the Empire bonus last night, but I know towards the end of the evening there was only one thing on my mine: Clearing my last 100 hands. I was tired, a little grumpy because I had just gotten most of yesterdays 33BB loss back, and now everybody was sucking out on me. I know I should have stopped playing and taken a break. What did I do??? I kept playing. One of my tables was a VPIP of like 24%. I know I should have gotten up and walked away. I want to learn how to play better poker, and part of that is getting up and leaving a bad table. NO, I stayed because every hand had a pot over the $5 minimum needed to clear the bonus. At a second table I was continuaouly being sucked out on my a person with a 77%VPIP and a aggression factor of about 3.5. I knew he was going to get into almost every pot, and I knew he would be raising the whole time through. I should have stopped right there and reread the sections in SSH and HEFAP on how to play against maniacs, as I was weak on this last night. Again I should have left the table (even though some would argue that I shouldn't have because I had a couple nice money spewers there) and adjusted by learning how to play against this maniac who was quite successful at taking all my money.

The point is I wasn't doing what I should have been doing because I wanted bonus money. I'm new to .50/1 (2600 hands) and I need to take the time to learn how to beat it before I move up again, but I have the dilemma between playing almost good poker and getting great bonuses (short term money), or actually working more on my game (long term money). Apparently the former is winning because I signed up at another site for a $200 bonus so I would have something else to clear this weekend.

Anyway has anybody else had this problem? How did you deal with it? It is hard for me to leave (bonus) money on the table for the sake of improving my game.

I think that in and of itself might make me a weak player.

[Bodhi]

I am bonus whoring but I do not share your problem. Just play your game and think of the bonus as an insurance policy.

[carlo]

I understand completely. Bonus whoring ,especially on Party sites, can lead to difficulties especially if you are new and single table. The diminished time period which is usually 7 days is a real grind for a single tabler while an experienced multitabler should have no problem with these promotions.

The pressure of completion fights against a reasonable approach(leave if you are unhappy and come back another day). To this end, bonus whoring sites without end dates to completion or extended completion periods is a better way to bonus whore.

The crypto sites offer good bonuses and completion in 1 month is a reality. But you'll have to play at 1/2 tables.

regards,
carlo

[robinsons]

have a goal in mind for what you're trying to accomplish for the session.
Either your goal is to clear the bonus, in which case you could play fairly standard ABC poker which whilst it won't maximise your winrate or be great learning experience, it should still be making money (even before the bonus) and you can multitable to get through it quicker. Not as good long term benefits, but it obviously has the short term benefit of getting the bonus.
Or your goal for the session can be to concentrate on how you're playing, picking up reads on other players and genereally improving your game. This will often involve less tables, which is obviously worse for the bonus.

If bonus whoring is a big thing to you then a sensible approach to me (note I don't bonus whore) seems to be to switch your approach for each session between the 2 above options depending on whether or not you have a bonus to clear... if you want to clear a bonus, play ABC poker on 4 tables at once which probably won't help you learning that much but will get the bonus through quickly. Then when you have no bonus to clear, just play 1 or 2 but concentrate much more on your play.

[carlo]

Thanks,appreciate the input--I am going to consider this for the next Party/skins bonus. I did 3-table PLHE during the recent Empire bonus(went for $75 bonus) and cleared the bonus plus a little profit. I have to say it was a real headache(literally) as I had trouble keeping up--would not want to play that way too often. Do have a reasonable grip on LHE and may try this the next time.

Thanks again,
carlo

[Siegmund]

Wellll. OK. You played some bad poker in the last 7 days because there was a Party bonus. What are you going to do with the rest of the month?

Maybe you'd find a site with a bonus released incrementally (UB, Absolute, Paradise) more to your taste - play as many or as few tables as you feel like, and get however many $2-3 per table-hour bonus payouts as you earn.

Site selection can also help you choose what type of game you want to practice beating. You don't feel ready to move up to the 1/2 or 2/4 or 3/6 tables on a loose site like Party? The .50/1 tables on a more conservative site are a cheap way to practice beating tables with 35% or 40% seeing the flop. Playing at a tight site with a 10X bonus coming in and a lower rake should more than compensate you for the reduced supply of fish when compared to playing .50/1 at Party at a non-bonus time of month.

When I started playing online, I only played at UB for my first five months. Fought my way up from 25/50 to 50/1 to 1/2. Then explored other sites and ... whoa ... gee... amazing how many idiots there are at some sites! I hate to say it but my game deteriorated quite a bit - I got used to taking easy money at loose tables, and "forgot how to beat a tight 1/2 table". Trying to force myself to divide my time now between profitable tables at the highest limits I am comfortable with, and tougher tables one or two notches lower on the spectrum so I don't lose too much while I regain my lost sharpness.

Same applies to multitabling. It puts a major dent in how much time you spend studying the opponents at any given table. It can increase your immediate win rate at the cost of stunting your skills development.