The Week in Poker: InterPoker Bonus, Absolute Bonus, PokerPlex and More

Poker Tip O' the Day

If you have a choice of seats at a new table, sit so that you'll have to post the equivalent of a BB to play, and will also get hit by the blinds very soon. What the hell sort of advice is that? It's just one BB and it'll instantly brand you as a silly fish to the more observant players at the table. If you hit a big hand and come out firing it also sometimes helps you immediately take control of a table, too. But the main value is a cheap fishy advertising play that only costs you 1 BB.

Overall the last week was a positive one at the poker tables, but not without the normal peaks and valleys. I ended up +$112 for week, but was sitting up about $300 mid-week. I've been pretty much sticking to limit ring games, working off assorted bonuses from InterPoker, Absolute, and PokerPlex. I played a little $25 PLO at Empire as well as a few $30 SnGs.

Absolute is getting to be a bit of a drag and I'm coming around to the side of the fence that recommends not chasing bonuses there, or doing so as a last resort. I just don't like the interface and feel like the games are limited, finding myself occasionally sitting in games to strictly get in hands to clear the bonus, instead of sitting in games that seem ripe. I especially do this with Omaha, as they often don't have a single game going, or, if they do, it's short-handed, with 3 or 4 players. I've got $100 or so left to clear on the bonus, which I'll probably grind through, but I don't see myself playing there much in the future.

I've been floating around a bit on the limit tables I'm playing, trending more to 2/4 than 1/2. The play itself isn't that much different and I've got more than the bankroll for it. My head still hasn't quite adjusted to the size of my online bankroll these days, as I've had to wipe out the roll I've built twice in the last year for real life expenses, so I tend to assume I've only got the roll for the lowest limit games. Granted, I'll likely wipe out the roll again soon for wedding expenses but them's the breaks. Until then, 2/4 it is. I enjoy it more so far, stripping out some of the fishiest of the fishy play that you see at .50/1 and 1/2.

I also got a wild hair and sat at a 10/20 6 max table for an hour the other day. Which is very dumb, when you've only got $300 to play with, but also a good learning experience in some ways. I did it mainly based on assorted advice I'd read, as far as occasionally taking a shot at higher limits if you've got money to spare and the discipline to not make a habit of it. I think it's a good exercise, especially if you do it to reassure yourself about your play and not out of some misguided notion that you're going to run $300 into 10K in one day, etc. Once you get to a certain skill level the play (especially in limit ring games) is generally the same. But knowing that and experiencing it first hand are different beasts, and I think it's good to take a shot here and there to see, first hand, that you can definitely hold your own. I finished down $10 or something piddling like that but felt I played pretty well. In the end it's all still poker.