OK, in this thread, I tried to discuss freerolls and was told basically “not to bother”…
As I stated, my wife will not allow me to move ANY money in the “wrong direction” ever again, even though I’m way in the black, long term.
So anyway I continued playing the Empire freerolls (a hobby) for a week or so… (hell they were fun and FREE)…
Suffice it to say, I placed in enough of those hobby games/wastes of time/deathofusalls to earn enough to play in a single-table sit and go.
I won the first one, $6 into $25. Poker bankroll=$25.31
Then I played two more:
Next table, third place, playing WEAK TIGHT with NO CARDS all the way until the bubble. I was down to 150 chips when the BB was 100 and 5 people still in. $6 into $10. Poker bankroll=$29.31
Third table, first place again: bankroll=$58.31
“Hey! That’s enough to cash out and collect a SIGNUP BONUS from the next unsuspecting online poker room.”
So off I go to Pacific Poker where my measly $58 immediately earns a $15 signup bonus: bankroll = $73. (aside) The Very best thing about pacific is you get your whole hand history immediatley…
VERY FIRST SIT AND GO at Pacific (and here begins the hand for hand/point of this thread). 15 minutes, 21 hands later and the tourney was mine. I KNOW I got lucky, but, luck doesn’t count for everything:
Oh yeah, 6 handed, “fast tourney”, POT limit… (oops I Prefer nine or ten, slow blindups, and NO limit)… anyway…
Disregard the spoiler, I got bored 1/3 through recapping the whole damn thing and quit…
HAND 1: (and please forgive me for losing the table position lingo here…) two left of BB, 97o, raise ahead of me, FOLD.
HAND 2: one left of BB, 43o, FOLD.
HAND 3: BB, everyone calls to me, Qs5c, CHECK. Flop is 8cKc9c (time to get a little agressive and/or (semi)bluff with the flushdraw). I decide to represent the low bigblind flush flop. I bet the pot (max). two callers. Turn 3d (no help). I’m still representing the flush so I bet the pot again. One caller. River Jd (no help). I have only 180 chips left but my only caller has 140. I go all-in, he folds. WOOHOO! I’m the chip leader.
HAND 4: 62o easy FOLD from the small blind, after a reraise.
HAND 5: on the button now, K9s. blinds are still only 10/20. raise to 60 on my right. I call. Both blinds call. Flop is 2Q9 rainbow. I now have second pair with a decent kicker and gutshot flush draw. BB bets 50 (the pot is 160), two folds, I call, SB calls. Turn = 8s. I still have second pair but now a real flush draw… SB checks, BB bets 1/3 the pot. Easy call for me cuz any 9, K, or spade will probably take it for me. I call. SB calls. River Js. I have almost the nuts… the only hand that can beat me now is the Ace of spaces Plus another space. SB checks. BB bets 20 (pot is now 760) I raise the full pot amount. SB calls, I win.
HAND 6: 82o, raise, reraise, I Fold, flop was 884 but AQ takes it on the river.
HAND 7:
Anyway, the point is that the freerolls I started with have bestowed me with a slightly decent bankroll of $200+ which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. My wife is decidely NOT pissed, and my hobby MAKES money (for now). If I lose in the future it’s not our money, just my freeroll poker money… and if I win… then at $1000, she gets $500 of it… then it doubles every time… I build that $500 into $2k, she (we) gets $1k, that 1k becomes 4, she gets 2k… It’s more fun than work… and maybe I’ll become the next Daniel Negreanu or Phil Helmuth…
Either way I never lost a dime.
And if not… HELL IT’S JUST A HOBBY and I have other more significant income from my real business.
Online poker is fun and easy.