pokerstars promo

[Keith]

Just seen poker stars new depositors promo offering $500 free rolls every day this month and a $5000 freeroll final. Seriously tempted by this to cash some $ out of William Hill (£100 there at the moment) and deposit to take advantage.

questions are ....
1. how much should i cash out and deposit to take advantage of the bonuses.
2.by doing a deposit of a minimum $50 it would take my BR on pokerstars to $137 after my freeroll winnings are taken into account.
According to spoonitnow's guide does this mean i should automatically move up from 2NL to 5NL or multitable at 2NL (have been playing up to 4 tables on turbo free rolls) or even multi table at 5NL or continue at 2NL until i feel comfortable to move up by possibly adding say 50$ to bank roll through play.

[Parasurama]

It just depends on how comfortable you are. I won a tournament a few months ago which pushed my bankroll instantly to the level where I could play 100NL, but I waited for a few weeks and continued to play 25NL, then moved to 50NL, and eventually to 100NL. Obviously, the process was much faster than it would have been without the tournament winnings but it helped me feel the natural progression through limits. I would suggest you multi-table 2NL until you're winning easily at 6-8 tables. When you move up to 5NL you'll have a very solid bankroll and lots of confidence. Hope this helps.

[Keith]

thats the thing ,I only played about 90 minute session on 1 table at 2NL , so I don't want to jump up on levels and blow the BR back down through lack of ring game experience.

[AFchung]

pokerstars has a $50 first time deposit bonus. so $50 would be a good #

$75 if you sign up through FTR I hear

[Keith]

already signed up about 10 months ago and i think i did just did it by going straight to pokerstars website rather than through an affil;iate type site. Does this mean i could use a FTR code when i make the first deposit?

[Keith]

Just found the following on the bonuses page and I'm still not sure if this is for just signing up or for using with the first deposit.

This is in addition to the standard deposit and reload bonuses offered at PokerStars. By signing up through FTR, you will be given an exclusive bonus of 100% up to $50, plus an additional $25 once you reach 100 FPPs! You could use this to start your bankroll and journey up to a Supernova!

[Keith]

quick follow up , deposited today and played in the 14.00 freeroll.

tightest I've played for ages and made the money and got the ticket to the $5000 final. I'm kicking myself for the way i went out.
PokerStars Game #22742733426: Tournament #124183169, Freeroll Hold'em No Limit - Level X (300/600) - 2008/12/08 17:38:29 ET
Table '124183169 130' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: jurcix1 (3605 in chips)
Seat 2: jcarn (14663 in chips)
Seat 3: AAHOOSEIR71 (11980 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: Keith_MM (7968 in chips)
Seat 5: markus5779 (6440 in chips)
Seat 6: Cujorian (3315 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 7: Aurum Silex (5445 in chips)
Seat 8: 3 Bullits (13746 in chips)
Seat 9: kuszes (1692 in chips)
jurcix1: posts the ante 50
jcarn: posts the ante 50
AAHOOSEIR71: posts the ante 50
Keith_MM: posts the ante 50
markus5779: posts the ante 50
Cujorian: posts the ante 50
Aurum Silex: posts the ante 50
3 Bullits: posts the ante 50
kuszes: posts the ante 50
jcarn: posts small blind 300
AAHOOSEIR71: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Keith_MM [Kh Jc]
Keith_MM: calls 600
markus5779: folds
Cujorian: folds
Aurum Silex: folds
3 Bullits: folds
kuszes: folds
jurcix1: folds
jcarn: raises 1800 to 2400
AAHOOSEIR71: folds
Keith_MM: calls 1800
*** FLOP *** [4s Th 7c]
jcarn: bets 1800
Keith_MM: raises 3718 to 5518 and is all-in
jcarn: calls 3718
*** TURN *** [4s Th 7c] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [4s Th 7c 8h] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jcarn: shows [Kd As] (a pair of Aces)
Keith_MM: shows [Kh Jc] (high card Ace)
jcarn collected 16886 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 16886 | Rake 0
Board [4s Th 7c 8h Ac]
Seat 1: jurcix1 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: jcarn (small blind) showed [Kd As] and won (16886) with a pair of Aces
Seat 3: AAHOOSEIR71 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Keith_MM showed [Kh Jc] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 5: markus5779 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Cujorian folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Aurum Silex folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: 3 Bullits folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: kuszes folded before Flop (didn't bet)

my rational was ....... I had guaranteed the ticket to the final and it was time to try and gain chips to get a stack before the blinds started to hammer me. Jcarn had been playing pretty loose and spiking some luckt cards top get his stack and BB was sitting out.
when he raised i assumed he was trying to bluff me off the pot.when he led 1/3 of pot I thought he had missed the flop and that KJ would be in with a good chance.If the all in would get him to fold I'd nearly double up and put myself in a goood position chip wise.

Self criticising ......could have waited til i was in position before making a move, in this case I don't think he would have folded to a 3x raise preflop and he'd probably have called an all in with his cards preflop too.
in the tournament played 20% of hands including the blinds and would have folded this hand earler on .
any comments?