My Mighty Bankroll.

The online poker world better look out.  By playing some freerolls on 888poker, and then playing some 10 cent sit and goes with the results, I've managed to grow my bankroll on there from nothing to a mighty 65 cents.  Give me another decade or so and I might be playing a one buck tournament, and then look out!

These days I'm playing exclusively on 888poker.  I used to play on Pokerstars, but their current freeroll selection really doesn't have anything for me.  And since they run Full Tilt there's no real point playing there either, as the setup is the same.

All Hail The Royal!

I'm in the middle of playing a sit and go on PokerStars.  And for the first time in who knows how long I had a Royal Flush.  I was playing JK clubs, and flopped an ace high flush.  A player ahead of me went all in with pocket aces, and of course I called. The third player in the hand folded.  A 10 of clubs came on fourth street, and the Queen of clubs on the river, giving me the Royal.

A Sad Lack Of Patience.

So sad.  I'm currently playing a sit and go on PokerStars.  One of the players at my table ended up being the bubble boy, and there was no need for it.  He had a good stack, and a sitter was about to get blinded and anted off.  But apparently this guy wasn't paying attention to the other table where the sitter was, because he decided to go all in with AQ, only to be beaten by another player with AK.  There was absolutely no need for it, all he had to do was wait a couple of hands.  Instead he ended up with nothing.

Pot Limit Annoyance.

One of the minor things that annoys me about playing online pot limit poker is that some players will do nothing but hit the pot raise button over and over again.  They don't raise a smaller amount, they don't check, just mindlessly raise over and over.  It's the kind of thing that no one would do during an in the flesh poker game, at least anyone with any experience.

I Have A Bankroll Again.

I've  won $1.10 over at PokerStars.  So look out, I may soon be at a table near you.

Well, probably not.  It's not hard to go through a puny bankroll like that in short order.

My Giant Bankroll.

It's been a good while since I've won any free money from PokerStars.  But today I managed to make the money in the Weekly Round 2.  I won $1.10, so now I have a gigantic $1.11 bankroll to use to conquer the sit and goes.  I'm still thinking of putting 25 bucks in and resurrecting my 100 Sit and Go project, but with my new windfall I can play 4 of them without putting in a cent of my own money.

PokerStars Messes Around.

I'm a bit annoyed with PokerStars tonight.  They're messing around with their Weekly Round 2 freerolls.  They've changed the schedule for them, reduced time per level to 8 minutes, and they will no longer offer tournament leaderboard points.  It would be interesting to know why.  Too many computer cycles that could be better spent, from their perspective, on their new Spin and Go gimmick?  In general the number of no deposit needed freerolls seems to have gone down over the last year, which would seem to indicate they want to concentrate more on people who will deposit money, instead of the folks who want to win money or tournament entries with no deposits.

No Money, The Sequel.

Unfortunately I didn`t make the money in today`s Weekly Round 2 either.  But I came very close.  And I know exactly which late hand it was that cost me the tournament, one where I had aces, but folded because I thought another player had a stronger hand than he did.

Hey, Stud. Nice To See You.

I'm back at it on PokerStars, playing another Weekly Round 2 freeroll.  I'm doing a lot better today, which is a bit odd.  Today's game is Limit 7 Card Stud, a game I don't play that often.  Perhaps I'm taking less questionable risks than I would with No Limit Hold 'Em.  Then again it just may be my day.

Oddly a game I do more poorly at than I think I should is Limit Hold 'Em.  I think it might be because I play too many hands, and don't fold quickly enough.

No Money Today.

I just got knocked out.  Boo hoo.

Made It.

I'm not exactly burning up the table today, but I made through the first hour of the Weekly Round 2.  Unfortunately I only have managed to win one hand so far. 

Look Out!

I'm playing in PokerStars Weekly Round 2 this morning.  So if you're thinking about taking part as well, withdraw now, because I'm going to crush you all.

Hopefully you believe such boastfulness.  I could really do with the money right now.

Even There.

People in some very surprising places play online poker.  Tonight I'm playing in an Omaha Hi/Lo freeroll on PokerStars, and one of the players on my table is listed as being in the Palestinian Territories.  I wonder how many customers PokerStars has there.  You'd think that there wouldn't be many.

A Rare One.

I just had a 8 to Queen clubs straight flush on PokerStars.  It's been a good while since I've had a straight flush.  I'm playing Omaha Hi/Lo, and luckily for me there was no low hand, so I took the whole pot.

Annoy Function.

One of the ads running in the Canadian market for Full Tilt Poker makes mention of the website's "realistic" poker sounds, such as the swishing sound of cards being dealt and the sound of chips being raked across a poker table.  But one sound that has yet to appear on their site, and I assume others, is the sound of players fiddling with their chips.  If you've ever played poker, or even just seen it played on TV you'll be familiar with players making all sorts of noise as they play around with their stacks when they're not playing a hand.  It would be an interesting sound to add to online poker software, as it might annoy your opponents and effect their play.  Of course unlike real world poker the online player would have the advantage of being able to turn the sound down if it got too annoying. 

Oddly in all the poker I've watched on TV I've never heard anyone complain about players making such noise.  Given some of the stuff poker players do complain about it's surprising no one ever seems to blow up at other players for being too noisy.

Spooky.

Most weird.  I'm sitting here playing a couple of tournaments on PokerStars.  I was dealt 9c8s in both at roughly the same time.  I wonder how often that happens in a day.

Lucky Break?

I hadn't played poker in a week due to relatives visiting.  They left this morning, and I decided to play in the Weekly Round 2 on PokerStars, having a ticket for it.  I ending up coming in 112th out of 6361, and winning $1.64.  And it was in pot limit Omaha Hi, not one of my better games.  Maybe I should take a one week break more often.

Full Mess Poker.

The cover story for the January 2013 issue of Bluff is a profile of Erick Lindgren.  Lindgren is a familiar face to many poker players and poker watchers, having appeared numerous times on programs like Poker After Dark.  But as the article reveals he's a man with major problems.  His gambling addiction has put him into Chapter 7 bankruptcy, as he owes numerous people several million dollars in unpaid gambling debts, some going back almost a decade.  Yet he's still playing poker, as that's pretty much the only way he has to possibly pay back those debts.  Generally when you think of addicts trying to fight their addiction you think of them having to avoid the addictive activity, but not in this case. 

The article includes discussion about Full Tilt Poker, which Lindgren was a spokesplayer for before the US crackdown.  Some of what's in the article won't be new to anyone who has been following some of the revelations made by people like Howard Lederer online.  But for me it was a surprise just how messed up Full Tilt's management in the months before Black Friday seemed to be, with Full Tilt pros like Lindgren being given loans with little thought put into how such loans might be paid back.  In fact just before the crackdown Lindgren was reportedly give a 2 million dollar loan twice.  In other words the company loaned him 4 million dollars, instead of the 2 million they were supposed to.  It's not hard to imagine that even if the US government hadn't gone after Full Tilt the company would soon have been in the news for screwing up its finances.

Online poker players can only hope that PokerStars, which now owns and runs Full Tilt, has better people running the fnances than the old Full Tilt did. 

A Familiar Look.

The last couple of days I've been playing on the revived Full Tilt Poker, which is now owned by the same folks who own PokerStars.  They had an offer for PokerStars players that if you linked your accounts on both sites you would get a 20 buck ticket to use to play Full Tilt  ring games.  Interestingly any time the dollar balance on that ticket gets over 20 bucks you end up making money when you leave a ring game table.  At the moment my cash account is up to $3.17.

As for the game play itself if you played on Full Tilt before it will seem very familiar to you.  Pretty much everything seems to be the same as it was when the US government forced Full Tilt to suspend operations in April of 2011, including the familiar cartoon character avatars.  For example I use the cowboy one, which is what I used to use.  My old account was opertional, so if you're one of those folks who had their money frozen in a Full Tilt account you should probably sign on and see what your status is.

62 For 53.

It's been a while since I've posted about my 100 Sit and Go Project, but here's the latest results.  I just played number 53, and I came in 9th, winning 62 cents.  My current balance at Pokerstars is $20.71.  So I've won some money, but I've used that money to play other things, not always successfully.  Still, I've got a lot of banroll to have fun with.