Clearing a party bonus playing 25NL

[moondogg]

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Well, the upside to 25nl is that the momos so willing to call that you could probably show a profit if you folded all hands worse than AKs...


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There was a bot-related thread a few months ago about beating Party's 25NL. The stategy was:
- Raise 4xBB preflop for AA-JJ, AKs, AKo
- If re-raised preflop, go all-in
- Go all-in on the flop

Obviously this is a little overly simplistic, but beating those games IS pretty damn simple. I may not crush them consistently, but using that strategy (and limping with suited connectors and medium-small pocket pairs), I almost always break even or better throughout a bonus playing 4-8 tables. While watching TV, playing blackjack, eating dinner, surfing 2+2 and bw.com, etc.

Sure, you'll lose your buyin a few times at at table or two (AA vs KK, being outflopped by crap, yadda yadda), but you'll be up 2-3 buyins at the other tables. Also, you don't get those hands very often, and most of the time you don't see a flop. The swings really aren't that huge, if you are bankrolled for 20-25 buyins ($500-600), you should be fine.

Just don't try to get tricky. No sense fighting over pennies when they'll through dollars at you.

[getmoney111]

I've always felt stick with your game while clearing a bonus. I play the 25 NL ring games, so I play those while clearing. I usually end up $100-$150 + the bonus. Even if I get down early off beats I just play my game and always get it back in the long run.

The 25's get raked quite often, as it only takes a $2 pot (4 player no raise) for a rake to occur.

[silversurfer]

Great responses, thanks again. One last question:

Is there any way I can avoid that nasty 9% Neteller fee? 30% of my bonus is going to go right back to them(and more. I plan to clear the Absolute Poker bonus after this one)....

[Aytumious]

9% neteller fee????

[Emmitt2222]

if you have patience you can avoid the 9% because that is only for the instacash. If you are willing to wait 4-5 bussiness days it is free.

[Reef]

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Your goal should be to break even or make a few bucks. The "prize" is the bonus. Don't lose sight of that.

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Actually, your goal should be to play the best poker you can. Winning $ will be a side effect of this. Aiming to simply play break even poker is wrong.

I would guess that you play micros and that bonus whoring is more important than improving at this point. I thought like that too once. But now I see that if I get better, these $100 bonuses will continue to become a smaller and smaller % of my total earnings.

[Reef]

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I'm with the Noodle on this one. You may have to play a few more hands with 1/2 limit BUT there is a lower risk of loss or bust at the limit tables.

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This was covered somewhat extensively in some other posts. It is true that there is more variance in NL in each single hand , but overall, there is more variance in limit (assuming you're not a maniac or ultra LAG)

[silversurfer]

Excellent. Thanks for answering all of my questions, peeps. Hopefully I'll have another 460$ to add to my bankroll in a month or so (gonna do absolute/party/paradise) in bonuses alone. Add that to even moderate winnings and I can comfortably go back to the 22s (hell, by that time, maybe i'll get used to ring games [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[pzhon]

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Is there any way I can avoid that nasty 9% Neteller fee? 30% of my bonus is going to go right back to them(and more. I plan to clear the Absolute Poker bonus after this one)....

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That 8.9% is the InstaCash fee. You don't ever have to use InstaCash. InstaCash is a short-term loan at an incredibly high interest rate. Some sites will cover the fee, but I would just avoid it.

EFT from your bank account to Neteller (this takes a few days), then use a normal deposit from Neteller. If you change currencies, there is a 1.9% fee each way, but if you don't change currencies there is no fee for you to pay.

[TheNoodleMan]

a couple more thoughts on the issue:
1) I'm not at all against playing 6 Max NL, but do it because its your game, not to whore. The bonus should be treated as a bonus. (that really looks stupid in type, but I think you get the idea.)
2) Short handed tables are the last thing you want while bonus whoring. The more players there are, the more likely you are able to fold a free 7-2 and end up with a raked hand. In a perfect bonus whoring world, I'd want to play 22 handed (think about it), and then go back to a normal table after the bonus was cleared.