Stud’s Bonus

I again played a bit on two .50-1 tables and managed 11 BB off one but left almost 5 on the second table that broke up with me still looking for a profit. I’m ‘playing up’ to try to clear a last $19’s before the end of the month wipes out the remaining bonus.

The starting $190 is at ~$260 this morning. Without the $76 already cleared, I’d be underwater to the rake. Seems the house does have an edge at the tables. And, that edge makes me a losing player without that bonus money that slips away at the end of the month.

Full Tilt seems to stack the bonus against the player more than Ultimate Bet does. UB doesn’t expire bonus. I had bonus laying their in the old days when I was playing SnG’s that didn’t clear bonus in those days – it does now. UB clears bonus by the penny while FT makes you do it in 10% increments. It seemed a lot easier to clear bonus at UB on a $ for $ basis. But, I had to work when I was funding there on just finding an active stud game and ended up playing more Stud8 than I’d have preferred.

Here’s the cashier screen for Full Tilt:

The bonus period ends on 11/30. It gave me 3-months less a day. Not a biggy but annoying that they count the month you fund as a full month. That only cost me a day but what if I’d done it mid-month?I could clear gold or bronze in the Ironman promotion if I play every day to get enough consecutive days. I have enough points for the lowest level from just one active day but still haven’t qualified because you need the 25 days. Again, the promo is pretty limiting in the qualifications.

It probably sounds like I am a big, whining woose. Maybe I am. But, thinking back to before the UIGEA days, I seem to remember the bonus and promotions arena was far more competitive. U.S. facing sites seem to have fewer bonus setups and weaker promotions. The rake didn’t drop so our cost to play went up. Ultimate Bet is the only one I see that is consistently offering bonus to existing accounts. I actually got the Full Tilt Bonus by opening a new account. I guess I could do that again but if I did make an Ironman level, I’d lose that in the move.

I did leave out the stuff I am entitled to in the Full Tilt Store. Whoop-de-do! At the point level it is a plastic license plate holder, a dash pad (have one from the old account), or a deck of cards. Be still my heart.

I know. I’m not the most lucrative account by only giving them $141 in rake during the period. But, there are a ton of players just like me. And, most of them aren’t working bonus.

Of course, the other side of the picture is Full Tilt is even more underwater than I am at this point. I’m marginally profitable (But, like $8 loss wo. the bonus and excluding the $10 Epassporte Fee which FT doesn’t absorb — which was common in the old days. ) and to remain so I need to withdraw and then set up a new account with bonus. That’ll have Tilt paying out another affiliate bonus. Their marketing plan is set up in such a way that they pay for new customers but don’t invest in retaining customers with other bonus offers. It cost them a hundred or so to get me while they are doing little to keep me. Looks like post UIGEA planning isn’t helping either side of the table.

ADDENDUM:

Gave some stats for yesterday. Thought I’d continue. On average 4-5 of those 4th street stats are from doing the bring in. So, I wasn’t getting a lot of great hands but managed a bit of profit.
Statistics for 58 Hands
Street Saw Saw/Total
Fourth 17 29%
Fifth 9 16%
Sixth 6 10%
Seventh 6 10%
Showdown 4 7%
Street Won Won/Saw Won/Total
Third 1 2% 2%
Fourth 3 18% 5%
Fifth 0 0% 0%
Sixth 0 0% 0%
Seventh 1 17% 2%
Showdown 2 50% 3%

I won 12% of the hands I played. One was a very nice pot that gave me most of my profit. This wasn’t a session I won with a rush. Those happen and are a joy. Stud is rush prone and that runs up and down as the variance I’ve mentioned in past blogs shows.

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Welcome, Glenda. I think she probably is the good witch as she likes the 7-card games and I have great hopes of her helping mine. If you don’t know Glenda, you can meet her by clicking here. We’ve an expanded cast on the site you can access here. The girls are trying to be Chris Ferguson. Seems a hell of a waste in the gender area but what do I know.

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In case you missed it, check out Bill Rini’s great bit of satire. It is Daily Show grade in the poker area:

It seems there are about a dozen or so similar takeoffs using that clip. But, Bill did get the poker aspect nailed. I guess we’ll just call it an homage instead of plagiarism.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 11:22 am and is filed under Journal, Other poker. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.