When I started out working off my holdmpoker bonus nearly two months ago, I had no idea what a long hard slog it would be. I also had no idea that when I was about 20% of the way through working off the player points needed to release the full $666 bonus, I’d be an impressive $500 in the hole. That was a fun time, I can tell you. Two weeks ago, one Sunday, I managed to turn a small loss into a huge dent with some pretty spectacular sessions at the 3/6 limit tables. Playing 5 tables at once (how wise, I wonder?) at one point I checked three of the tables and noticed that after 50 hands on each table I had not raked in one single pot. it’s hard to make a living out of those kind of stats, I can tell you. For three or four hours, I just could not showdown a winning hand, or win without showdown, for love nor money.

When I finally called it a night, way later than I should have done, I was not looking forward to a restful night and a cheery morning. Clearly, I couldn’t just stop playing the bonus and cashout there and then. Not only was this my “coming out of semi-retirement” bonus chase, but damnit there was the about £350 waiting for me at the end of it.

I needed a plan!

I reasoned that all I had to do was ease up on the multitabling a little, get back into the swing of things, and over the course of the 5-6K hands it would take to earn the bonus, the natural order would at some point hopefully be restored and I would end up making a small profit. I also opted to focus on 2/4 and 1/2 for a while, even though that would mean the bonus taking longer to clear (I was pretty much forced into dropping down anyway, because my bankroll was now somewhat depleted, and this is a serious bonus chase, not a ridiculous small bankroll challenge…)

Since that bleak evening, with steely resolve, a keen eye for aggression at the right time, a little bit of fortune, and a greater focus on playing the player, my balance stands as of this morning, at +$60.40. After 5573 hands, that only works out at 1BB/100 (without exporting the data to PokerTracker I can’t say whether I’m nearer the 0.5 or the 1.5 mark, ) and would be a pretty disappointing return if it wasn’t for the bonus, but with only 1000 hands or so to go, I’m suddenly feeling more optimistic about this chase being worthwhile in the end. Of course, I’ve been running good, at probably around 4BB/100 since the nadir, but I feel like I’m playing well, too. Except that my showdowns won is an alarmingly high 63%, which is definitely something I’ll need to investigate.

All of this pre-chrimble holdem cheer might encourage me to go for the Check n Raise bonus for another $600, followed by the Eurobet bonus for yet another $600. Which means that I’m going to spend a large portion of my winter staring at an old lady with a handbag, a fat bloke with a cigar, and some young woman who is totally unremarkable in all most every way…

Tags: Poker, Holdempoker, Bonus