Finally Broke $500 :)

Hey guys I have a couple questions about what to do now. Sorry this is so long. Background info and questions mixed together

I started late last summer about july or so. I started with AOK's performance poker challenge and basically followed the 19-hand with $50 bank roll. I got up to $180 and then went to college and found out Pacific Poker didn't work (school blocked it, along wiht lime wire etc) so I get home for winter break and find out I can't play there anymore so I cash out and get my money. Then in Jan I started playing again at Bodog where I play now. Started with $50 again and now I'm up to $495.xx (close enough to 500 ;))

So anyways I don't have poker tracker or poker office because I don't think they work with bodog with out spending even more money on extras to make it work.

Do you guys have any suggestions on what sites for a US player with ~$500 bankroll to start at (and maybe get a bonus)? Bodog is pretty easy though but I'd like to get better and I think I should get Poker tracker or office.

So I planned on cashing out $500 and depositing it in another site and leaving $100 in bodog to play there too. I play nl10, nl25 and I've been trying out nl50 and it doesn't seem any harder than nl25. Also I multi table them. Sometimes I'll play 2 nl25 tables and 1 nl10. Or 1 nl25 and a SnG etc.

Also I've played 24301 hands according to bodogs poker stat thing.

I have a lot to go and honestly I haven't read much (other than some articles here). I know about pot odds but I don't remember the percentages I just guess basically on how strong my hand is and how the other player has been playing.

I also play some $10 SnG and tried a couple mtt. I've won almost every SnG (either 1st or 2nd) and the closest to itm on the MTTs I was 20 and needed to be 18 or lower :(
I thought I did pretty good anyways since there were around 250 people at the start.

Good to hear another from another grinder....try to bonus whore FT or UB. As will everyone here, I recommend PT and PAHUD. Stick to 25NL before you start 50Nl cause you aren't rolled for it. Also sign up for rakeback if you go to UB or FT.

Congrats, now you have the perfect bankroll for 25nl. I got to $500 a couple weeks ago, but it was because of 2nds and 3rds in some tourneys. I am at $310 profit for my nl tables (10nl and 25nl) since I started getting my game together at the beginning of this month. I don't want to take my money out of poker stars because I am trying to get my poker game more solid. I need to do some more reading as far as bonus whoring at UB and FT. I dont know why I dont want to leave stars, maybe its because I am pretty happy with my game right now and I am being superstitious. Some things I want to do before I start hitting other sites are:
Get an accountability partner/mentor
Start a poker blog
Read more posts at FTR

Ohh ya, GET PT!

if you are US then bonus whoring just isnt going to happen.

IMO, stay away from FTP and stars.

UB and AP are ok, i think their games are better than the ones above.
Saying that, some of the prima's are still available to you and those games are going to be a hell of a lot better than anything else you have a choice of as is bodog, if you can fund it.

I think its fair to note poker.com that accepts US players still, but is quite small but has ok games.

Beyond that, you dont really have any more choices.
IMO, look to bodog, prima and maybe poker.com as the games are the best you can play in and you'll get some ok bonuses.

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Originally Posted by Miffed22001

if you are US then bonus whoring just isnt going to happen.

IMO, stay away from FTP and stars.

UB and AP are ok, i think their games are better than the ones above.
Saying that, some of the prima's are still available to you and those games are going to be a hell of a lot better than anything else you have a choice of as is bodog, if you can fund it.

I think its fair to note poker.com that accepts US players still, but is quite small but has ok games.

Beyond that, you dont really have any more choices.
IMO, look to bodog, prima and maybe poker.com as the games are the best you can play in and you'll get some ok bonuses.

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Do you not like stars because of the bonus (or lacktheirof), or are you talking about 25nl?

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Originally Posted by buck

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Originally Posted by Miffed22001

if you are US then bonus whoring just isnt going to happen.

IMO, stay away from FTP and stars.

UB and AP are ok, i think their games are better than the ones above.
Saying that, some of the prima's are still available to you and those games are going to be a hell of a lot better than anything else you have a choice of as is bodog, if you can fund it.

I think its fair to note poker.com that accepts US players still, but is quite small but has ok games.

Beyond that, you dont really have any more choices.
IMO, look to bodog, prima and maybe poker.com as the games are the best you can play in and you'll get some ok bonuses.

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Do you not like stars because of the bonus (or lacktheirof), or are you talking about 25nl?

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no bonus
no rakeback (cash in hand is better than points and other crap)
crap games.

Stars games are crap, few fish. if you go play prima, everyone playing 20nl is a fish.

O RLY?

So bodog and UB are the sites you would recommend for 25nl and bonus' for US players?

whats wrong with FT? I've never played there.

FT has rakeback and great table selection. I don't know about other levels or 6-max, but I think 100 & 200NL full-ring are pretty soft.

table selection isnt important when there arent any fish swimming.

What would you prefer, 100 tables with an average pot size of 5bbs, or 5 tables with average pot size 35bbs?

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Originally Posted by Miffed22001

table selection isnt important when there arent any fish swimming.

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C'mon, there are uber-fish at 200NL (just not that many of them) so I'm sure there are plenty at 50 & 25NL. Plus on FT you can datamine so it's super easy to find them. I haven't played at UB & AP though, so maybe they're easier...

i think i see your point, miff, about small pots.

however, the passivity is ridiculous at stars. FT is tougher, i'll give you that.

i would love to try bodog, but they dont take a convenient ewallet, and i am not going to mess with setting up a couple more. stars is still cruising for me. if it aint broke...

good post about US bonus-chasing.

X.O. concurs.

I play at poker.com and I love the games there. I think most of the competition sucks if you are patient and play ABC poker like always. If I stay away from occassionally trying to pull a good bluff move, I can always get their money in when I know I am ahead. I have suffered bad beats there like everywhere else from ppl playing crap but I think it's a great site. Looks nice, plays great, and almost always have tables open. Later at night it might take awhile for the smaller SNGs around 5 or 10 bucks to get full but they have good tourneys. Blinds in the SNGs start at 1000 so you have to be aggressive but at the same time not lose all your chips. I don't remember how much of the bonus I got but I have been playing for 4 months maybe and have 30,000 comp pts which is more than enough to buy some stuff in their store. Sign up through PSO and you can get the pokertracker software I think. I too play the 10, 25, 50nl and I just got to 500 also!

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Stars games are crap, few fish. if you go play Prima, everyone playing 20nl is a fish.

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I play at UB now, but I have goofed around on a friend's STARS account at low limit HORSE/HOSE and their equivalent SNGs. The absolute badness of the players defied description. How come their NL holdem players are great but I didn't even need a reel to scoop up the fishies at those other games?

Alright so here's my goal. I got stacked on nl25 several times when I raised flop someone re-raised so I pushed (after I made a set) and they called to hit their flush on the river and some other bad beats (full house vs 4 of a kind etc) along with some stupid plays :(

I'm down to $325 (up from $290 last night...lowest since the $500 mark) now

My goal: Get 850 or so in Bodog. Cash out $750. Put $600 in full tilt (the max for the bonus), buy Poker Tracker and PAHUD. Also sign up to full tilt with http://www.rakereduction.com/
Then grind nl25 or nl20 what ever full tilt offers to $1k so I'm rolled for nl50.

on bodog I'll play nl10 and low stake sngs. Cash out $150 after I reach $300 or so and use that for www.cardrunners.com membership

I did not realize you were at such a low stake. I would highly suggest that you ask any and all questions pertaining to poker HERE: such as hard decisions, positional plays, betting size until you are sufficiently rolled for NL100 at minimum or over-rolled for NL50 w/ say 1600+. The massive $99.99 initial sign-up fee and first month's fee will severely ruin your BR!

you dont need cardrunners, just post hands here and post questions you have. Dont cash out at all for the moment and makesure you have rakeback at any site you play. Id put all my money in one site and start getting hands in rather than doing anything else.

I don't have rakeback for bodog that's why I plan on cashing out there and moving to full tilt but I figured I should make the best out of the bonus and wait until I can deposit $600... right?

yeah thats cool, just put the cardrunners membership on hold. You really dont need that until you start getting to midstakes games 200nl+ AT LEAST

ok... but I shouldn't wait on poker tracker right?

yeah, get PT straight away. You can do a lot of self analysis of your stats never mind posting in here etc for advice and questions.