Buh-Bye Bonuses?

So I officially crossed the 10,000 hand mark last night, as far as play at 15/30. First things first, that's still a wee sample size, in the grand scheme of things. Not necessarily indicative of anything. Prone to misperception. Ambiguous.

All that said, I'm clocking in right at 1 BB/100. Which, uhh, works out to a decent little chunk of change.

The most encouraging thing is that I'm not playing anywhere near as aggressively as I should be, and still managing to book decent results. I basically need to amp up my aggression from every position and open up the range of hands I'll raise with, if first in. I also need to defend more, from both the SB and BB.

As much as it pains me, I think maybe it's time to bid adieu to grinding out bonuses at lower limits. I'll likely still do the Cryptos and Party skin ones, just at higher limits as part of the course of normal play. The bonus safety blanket is nice but if I can maintain anywhere near 1 BB/100 at 15/30, it's pretty foolish not to spend more time there.

I've also been playing a bit of $200 PL Omaha 8 at Party of late, which can turn into pretty crazy games. It's amazing how one maniac can completely alter the nature of a game like that, as everyone tries to limp along with the moron, only to have someone come over the top and raise, then one donkey calls, then another, then suddenly everyone else is getting odds to call, and there's a +$300 pot sitting there, before the flop, with 7 or 8 players in. I have much, much admiration and respect for people who specialize in the bigger PL Omaha games, as I get a little sick in my mouth on a regular basis, watching the craziness at the lower limits I play, and can only imagine what that's like with truly big pots getting shoved across the table, when some muppet catches runner runner for quads.

What's all this sudden Vegas talk in the poker blogosphere? Oh, snap, that's right, I'm going to Vegas in nine days, along with the wife, with our badass WPT wannabe shades on, flinging chips around, staring you down.

And yes, this is a not-so-subtle attempt to avoid some of the whole eventual introductory rigamarole in Vegas. To complete the attempt, via a suggestion of the Good Doctor via Human Head:

"Hi, I'm ONLINE NICKNAME from the YOUR BLOG. You can call me YOUR REAL NAME/NICKNAME."

or, you know...

"Hi, I'm Scurvydog from Sound of a Suckout. My real name is Seth, and I'm a normal human being who answers by their real name and typically introduces themself that way, not some gay poker blog moniker. But if you call me Scurvy or Scurvydog that's fine, too, as long as you're willing to wait a half-second or so for me to realize that hey, they're talking to me."