Well, that wasn't so painful

Things had been going so well on Party at the $5nl tables that I thought it must be time to move up. After all, after 45 days on Party I would have to move off the beginners' tables.

My BR had just hit $200 and I thought that would be enough to dip my foot in at $10nl.
It went okay at the start and then on Wednesday I finally hit some bad luck and I lost a couple of buy-ins.
Part of me was happy, guys were getting suck outs against me on the river, paying way over the odds for cards. In the long run this would pay off.

On the other hand, having one's worst day at the tables just after moving up a level hurts confidence and I could feel myself slipping towards bad decisions.

I felt like doing something different so I took out $70 and stuck it into Titan Poker. This had the advantage of qualifying me for a free copy of PokerTracker from PokerLizard.com (anyone used this offer?).

While I was waiting for the PT codes I was toying with PokerOffice. The advantage of that one is that it understands iPoker rooms (which are a bit crap when it comes to, e.g. hand histories).

Anyway I was up $30 or so at Titan, got some deposit bonus and won a small SNG, and decided that I could give the PokerOffice deal a go.

So I moved another $60 from Party and put it in Noble Poker. (Except I didn't. Apparently Neteller had problems and between them and NP they managed to lose my deposit and it took a few hours of phone calls etc to finally get my money).
PokerOffice is available to people who open a Noble account and then accumulate 800 "Crowns". So I thought I'd give it a go.

The trouble is Noble's crowns are hard to get. You get 1 crown per hand raked at $0.25. That means the pot has to reach $5, which at $5nl is no frequent thing. Even $10nl only gets you a few points per hour and a $65 bankroll is not going to support that.

At this point I had an idea. I decided to move up to $50nl. So I was buying in at half stack at a level I wasn't bankrolled for... did I ever read those stickies?
Well, I know I'm not rolled for it; but I realised that at the rate the points rack up at $50nl level I'd only need something like 1000-1500 hands; at full tables that's 100-150 rounds where each round costs $0.75 to play (BB+SB).

I mean, even if I lost my entire Noble roll, I'd I have got a $79 piece of software for $60, so why not give it a go?

Well, it hasn't worked out quite that way. Playing ultra-tight (basically folding and hoping the hand gets a big rake, only betting if I have the nuts, seeing <20% of the flops) actually turned out to work okay on Noble's $50nl tables; probably because a lot of the players are like me, playing over their level for the points.

Anyway, two-tabling, so far I've doubled my original $60 plus received my first $10 bonus and have cleared 500 of the 800 points I need.
All this in a day.

My total BR is now up to nearly $300 (spread over three sites) and I hope once I've got my software I can go back to playing my proper BR (and playing on sites I can get HH for and see if the databases identify some leaks).

Has anyone here played the $50nl tables at Noble? How do they compare with other sites? Are they this weak?
Or have I just hit some luck? (Two good examples. I gave a small raise pf with QQ, flop comes up Q8Q. Another AQ, flop: KJT... )
I mean if they're really that bad then maybe when I've trippled my roll and am actually ready for $50nl then I'll head back to the iPoker rooms.

rofl, that's the funniest damn story.

Here's my summary of it.
"I was scared to play 10nl on a site I knew, so I spread my BR to a bunch of sites I didn't know and played NL50."

Verry funny.

It's not hard to make money nut hunting NL50. The problem most people have is that they get BORED when the FEAR dies down and they decide to play poker without having the apropriate skills or bankroll. Don't play outside your BR unless you want to redeposit it out of your pocket. IT will bite you in the ass.

all the rest sounds like good times. Just funny story to me.

congrats. Now play within your br. Sit down at nl10 tables tables and play your best game.

300$ isn't nearly enough to spread around. Stick to one soft site and build. Party low stakes is about as soft as soft gets.

Anosmic, I too have had a very, very difficult time at Party $10. I just can't seem to get my feet under me, and just didn't feel comfortable. For now, I'm sticking at $5NL until my "trial" period is over, then, well, we'll see.

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Originally Posted by Renton

Party low stakes is about as soft as soft gets.

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Way off the mark I feel. Come to fortune poker. You ever played 10NL with 80% players to the flop?

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Originally Posted by aokrongly

rofl, that's the funniest damn story.

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This is that hyperbole stuff I've been reading about? Or do I try to get Adam Sandler's agent on the phone?

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Here's my summary of it.
"I was scared to play 10nl on a site I knew, so I spread my BR to a bunch of sites I didn't know and played NL50."

Verry funny.

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Well, okay. You summary is not as funny ;)

Yes. I was concerned about moving up properly to 10NL with fewer than 20 buy-ins. (Perhaps a little conservative with the BR-management if the recommended is 15-30, but not all that conservative, eh?)
Instead I end up playing $50nl way outside of my BR.

Except I'm not PLAYING $50nl, so much as sitting around collecting raked hands. I'm not really "spreading" my bankroll. I mean as soon as I get my software I'll consolidate again.

Now my BR has reached $300 I'm actually well rolled for $10nl.

But its getting me some experience (I just wish I had PokerOffice to track some of this stuff :)).
I just was surprised at 50nl that it contained such weak play (okay, some of it's mine...). I can see that 50nl is beatable I just don't have the tools (i.e BR and perhaps a little more experience) to play there.

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It's not hard to make money nut hunting NL50. The problem most people have is that they get BORED when the FEAR dies down and they decide to play poker without having the apropriate skills or bankroll. Don't play outside your BR unless you want to redeposit it out of your pocket. IT will bite you in the ass.

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Well, that's why I made a limited deposit. I was prepared to lose $60 to get an $80 piece of software. Hopefully I'll be able to get it and keep my deposit (maybe I'll hang onto this little profit, or maybe it'll bleed out, but I should get my points).

As for boredom, I've NEVER really found that a problem. When I get bored I open up another table. The fear has died down and it's been replaced by GREED :)

I've become a little more bold since I earned an extra buy-in. I mean yesterday a guy put me all-in preflop (I raised, he re-raised and I re-re-raised and he pushed) and I had AA. So it's the right call, it's good poker, but it's risky when your BR (or playable funds) is 2xbuy ins.

I called him and it held up against his QQ, but it's why I can't play at this level. Sometimes QQ will bust my AA, sure. I knew that making that call, if I got beaten then I'd have to go over to check/folding everything but the nuts until I got my software. Now THAT would be even more boring. At least at the moment I can call with a PP and look for a set, maybe throw a raise in with AA-JJ. (I still fold KQ, KJ, QJ most of the time though- don't have the money to play them).

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all the rest sounds like good times. Just funny story to me.

congrats. Now play within your br. Sit down at nl10 tables tables and play your best game.

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Thanks :)
Well, that's part of my point in posting was to get all the reminders why doing what I'm doing is risky. ;)
I have a plan, I think it's a workable plan, but it's like holding A9s in the blinds. You can't forget why you're playing it and assume that an ace on the flop means you can play.

In my case it means I need to remember I'm there to clear a bonus, not to settle in above my level. The perfect pot for me is one where everyone is all-in but me :)
I also have to remember that after this period the rake goes back to being a bad thing ;)

Another day or so maybe and then its back to the $10nl tables for me. Hopefully BR'd for a little more of that negative variance with people sucking out on me and then paying me off.

So thanks for the advice, Aok and everyone else. Hopefully you guys will keep me sane (-ish). Thanks for putting up with the rambling posts too :)

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Originally Posted by Irisheyes

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Originally Posted by Renton

Party low stakes is about as soft as soft gets.

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Way off the mark I feel. Come to fortune poker. You ever played 10NL with 80% players to the flop?

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Okay, I think I' m more likely to listen to Irisheyes, but probably mainly because his avatar is cuter. (Who IS that btw?)

Party beginners' tables are only going to be available to me for another 2 weeks and then I think it's 25NL minimum which I doubt I'll be ready for.

I'd like to switch somewhere that has good 10NL, but I want somewhere that has good HH tools that I can import into PT or PO2 (gotta play with my new toys).
A good bonus I can clear at 10NL would be sweet too :)

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Originally Posted by Anosmic

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Originally Posted by Irisheyes

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Originally Posted by Renton

Party low stakes is about as soft as soft gets.

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Way off the mark I feel. Come to fortune poker. You ever played 10NL with 80% players to the flop?

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Okay, I think I' m more likely to listen to Irisheyes, but probably mainly because his avatar is cuter. (Who IS that btw?)

Party beginners' tables are only going to be available to me for another 2 weeks and then I think it's 25NL minimum which I doubt I'll be ready for.

I'd like to switch somewhere that has good 10NL, but I want somewhere that has good HH tools that I can import into PT or PO2 (gotta play with my new toys).
A good bonus I can clear at 10NL would be sweet too :)

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Can't remember her name I'm afraid, it was just a one night stand. :D

Nah fraid PT doesn't wotk there, seriously though the players are so easy to beat you won't need it.

Don't know anything about bonuses.

did they send through the poker tracker code? how long did it take from the time u sent them the email? How many hands did u play at the site for the reg code?

Ok... well this one stung just a little.

Noble Poker, $100NL table (!!!)
8-Players
Hero: $79 (ish.. there's no HH to go by)
Villain $22.90

Hero is dealt :Ks: :Kd:
Villain is dealt: :Js: :7c:
SB posts 0.50, BB posts 1.00, 2 Fold, Villain calls 1.00,
1 fold, Hero raises to 3.00, Villain calls.

Flop: :Jh: :Tc: :4d:
Villain bets 19.90 and is All-in.
Hero calls. (Didn't believe it was better than TP, no pf-raise, no attempt to build the pot (unless this is reverse psychology... I don't know enough about 100NL :))

So what happened next?
Yup...

Turn: :Jc:
River: :7d:

Poopers.

Still, I cleared my 800 points and have sent off for my Poker Office license. My final BR is €49 which is 2 more than I deposited (downside being I blew my €18 bonus).
So PokerOffice has cost me -€2; I've learnt a bit about the higher NL ring tables. I believe I am not the fishiest of the fish that swim those waters.

For those that are interested I'll let you know when I get my codes so that you know that it works :) Hopefully on Monday.

What else did I learn? Meh. Nothing. It's just a bunch of stuff that happened and stuff. :)

No but seriously kids, stay in school, don't do drugs and play within your BR.

Unless you're playing me; then I want you uneducated, doped up and tilting ;)

welcome to varience.

let us know how long it takes to get the pokertracker key.

i have just gone through all that is required to get it through Bodog and pokerlizard.com and am waiting for the keys. I just dont know that it is legit.

What was required jac?

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Originally Posted by Irisheyes

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Originally Posted by Renton

Party low stakes is about as soft as soft gets.

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Way off the mark I feel. Come to fortune poker. You ever played 10NL with 80% players to the flop?

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Fortune is where I would be if I wasnt chasing bonuses.

PokerOffice key came today. Yay!

As for PokerTracker, still waiting. I got an email from pokerlizard.com on Friday saying they needed my product ID number, which I sent Friday night. So hopefully, soon.

And the Poker Tracker key got here a little while ago. So that's only a couple of days. :)

Looks good so far. PT says I'm Tight Agressive Passive; which I suppose is okay for a start.
After 5k hands I have 33 ptbb/100 @ 5NL, a VP$IP of 19 and 52% W$@SD.

Now if I just understood what all that meant ;)

No, but seriously fun new toys and cheap at twice the price ;)