Help me build my bankroll with bonus

[Samara]

Hi! Can someone help me build a BR by bonuswhoring?

The following paragraph is just to illustrate my state of mind and what I want to be carefull not to do again(very LC, but keep reading please, its just this pharagraph I promise):
Recently I got a $20 no deposit from PP. Turned into $150 at NL25 & PL25. Then I started playing $6 SnGs (I know now, 20% rake is a bad idea), lost $50. Withdrew the rest. Then I thought, ok, I'm going to do right this time, lets start in micro-limit. Played at PS, this time I learned Omaha. Then the Topbucks50 in PP appeared and I thought I could increase my bankroll again. Well, Party hates me now!!! Played 3 tables of PLO8-25 to clear the bonus, and I kept losing from 1-outers, 2-outers, my nut lows got conterfeited everytime on the river I was all in on the turn with a flush draw and made nut low, just to lose my beautiful A23x low to some guy that had 46xx etc. I won net $3 w/ bonus.

So now I am money scared and with $103 in neteller. I want to increase this in a safe manner as I learn. I think now I am just a little above fish so I want to be honest with myself. But I think my main problem is that since my BR is so small, when I lose like $10 to a 1-outer on the river it hurts me bad. Please help me grow in Poker. I am not in a hurry, I can play as low as suggested, I don't need to multi-table if I don't have to etc. Also, I am concerned of getting the bonus now and giving up RB in the future, so please leave that into account. Thank you in advance.

[Andrew Karpinski]

You want to clear bonuses that can be cleared at $.5/$1 limit. There's not too many but there are a few. Check out the www.bonuswhores.com bonus grid to see your clear rates at low limits and pick one of those.

[1huskerfan]

Clearance rates are going to be especially slow with that BR. I started off by playing .10/.25 on UB and FTP. Clearance rates are probably even slower there, but the sites are pretty soft and you can combine the bonus with RB. Then you can hit up the juicier bonuses when you have an adequate BR.

[raphet99]

If you are in no hurry, just play the micros at PS until you build up to a about $300...that should be enough to start taking advantage of other sites bonii and still have some bankroll cushion. Then you are also working on your game, which will be more than helpful once you start moving up in levels. PS is pretty easy to beat up through .5/$1 (or more, I suppose, but I'm not there yet), but other sites, for example Prima sites, will be tighter/tougher and you don't want to just play breakeven or worse, lose, even though you will make up some of it with your bonus. It's not as fun and it takes an emotional toll.

BTW, my experience was that I built up $25 to $300 in about 2-3 months between .05/.10 and .25/.50.

Good Luck...

[smoore]

learn 6max limit holdem, you won't find an abundance of omerhaw at small sites. build your bankroll at 'stars.

I personally suggest 100% match bonuses at online casinos for $25 or $50 when people have <$300. If you accept the risk of ruin you stand to make quite a bit of money.

The site where I learned is onlineblackjackguide.com he does have affiliate links on his site but he only gets paid if you lose. Some of the casinos won't allow you to download the software if you use his affiliate link (heh.heh.heh.) but if you just go to the site directly they will.

edit: take advantage of casinomeister.com it's basically a watchdog group for players with online casinos

[daedalus]

Read the following thread (Building a bankroll for a newbie). Especially the part about 'moving up in limit's'. Be patient at low levels or you are going to bust out with the small bankroll. Be careful with bonuses as they may be at a sit and level that you can bust out on. I'd pick a soft limit room (party or pacific) with micro-limits and work up. Won't take long if your good. If your having trouble read WLLH and/or SSHE and you'll get good. This does assume you are playing limit however.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...&PHPSESSID=

[OrianasDaad]

Leave off on bonus-hunting until you build your bankroll up the old fashioned way. Namely, by playing a winning game. There's not much in the way of bonuses with such a small roll, and I'd recommend at least $300 so you can play .5/1.

That's how I did it, by the way. I started with free $10 at a Prima site and built that up to over $600 in the course of three months (I did make a $50 deposit, so I "move up" to .25/.50, and withdraw). I used some of the winnings during that period to pick up a few books, and improve my overall game (SSHE and HPFAP are two of the notable purchases I made here). Overall, I probably turned my initial $60 into about $900 during those months (in winnings, mind you), and took $600 of it forward to hunt for bonuses.

As far as RB is concerned, except for one site, I have largely ignored it. I make regular withdrawals from my bankroll to cover personal expenses, so I haven't been able to move up to a limit where it matters. When I get to a point where RB is more valuable than bonuses, I guess I'll be missing out at alot of places, but I'll know that I'm a winning player without RB, and that is something that is against the norm, even here at 2+2, where a vast swath of players would be breakeven or worse without it.

LO8/b is a good game for a small bankroll, but that's for a good->expert player. If you are still learning the game, then you'll want a bigger bankroll. I'd stick to LHE, since there will always be availability, and because of the plethora of literature on the subject. I've got more books on LHE than there are good books written on the subject of O8/b.

One last note. Losing a large pot to a 1-outer is a painful experience at first, but with understanding and study you'll come to appreciate and even welcome the situations under which getting sucked out on occurs, since they are your most profitable - in the long run.

[AaronL]

Agree with the above...quit playing 8 or better since you're going to probably be playing at a ton of small places... I would also do the starluck and planetluck casino bonus... deposit $100 on each and flat bet $1 on both using a chart... very low risk of ruin and you should have close to $300... from there there hit up the free money places (like the primas) and play the lowest limits to meet the terms... from there hit up bodog.com (through cardplayer for a free upfront $100 match) and pacific poker (not sure what the conditions are there... just know the bonus is up front...) good luck...

[Kriber13]

[ QUOTE ]
Leave off on bonus-hunting until you build your bankroll up the old fashioned way. Namely, by playing a winning game. There's not much in the way of bonuses with such a small roll, and I'd recommend at least $300 so you can play .5/1.


One last note. Losing a large pot to a 1-outer is a painful experience at first, but with understanding and study you'll come to appreciate and even welcome the situations under which getting sucked out on occurs, since they are your most profitable - in the long run.

[/ QUOTE ]

I strongly disagre with the lay of whoring part, when I started out a year and 3 month ago I was a slightly losing or break even player at superlow limits and bonuses made me money especially as I was moving up and struggling. I made about 14k my first year playing poker and I probably would have busted my roll and quit without bonuses.

As for the sucking out part I know that is the text book example on how to act, but if you really embrace it, understand it and play accordingly you should be a world class player unless of course you're unable to grasp the simplest strategy concepts. The tilt issues is probably the number on leak in most players, and I'm not talking about full blown tilt but the subtle forms. I reccomend reading Feney's book it really puts it in perspective.

Whore away and constntly work on your game and you should be ok, Kristoffer

[OrianasDaad]

Bankroll management is as important, if not more important, than poker strategy. If you were in danger of losing your roll without bonuses, then it reflects a flaw in your preperation for the game. No worries, nobody does it perfect from the beginning. I busted out of my first $50 on Party, before I'd heard of 2+2, playing .5/1. Lost the last bit of my "playroll" with pocket aces, go figure. I returned humbled, but armed.

To the OP: By all means, if you wish to play a breakeven game and make money via bonus whoring, then go ahead. Like I said in a recent post, the bonus bonanza will dry up eventually, and slightly losing or breakeven bonus whores will be left out to dry. What will they do when the bonuses are all 20x or worse? I don't care, since I can beat the game either way.

Building a bankroll via bonus-hunting with $100 is possible, and is outlined in stickied posts in various forums. At least one of these should be intuitive for a thinking reader.

If you do build your bankroll up solely through bonuses, and if you find yourself suddenly wondering why you can't beat the 5/10 internet LHE games, then think back to this post. There's something to be learned at every limit, something to be learned from every player who does something you don't expect. In order to become a serious poker player, you have to become a student of the game, and building quick bankrolls via bonuses is detrimental to that.

All that being said, I realize that I've been donking around in the micros for far too long myself. Shame on me. Time to move up.