It's all about the Iron, baby...

[Talking Poker]

This is a first for me, and I did it without missing a single day! I also only need about 1100 more points (by 11/14) to qualify for next month's Aussie freeroll.

BTW - that amount of play was enough to clear my $500 reload bonus and earn a good $600 in rakeback on top of that.

I'm really glad I decided to FINALLY start taking poker seriously last month. So far, I'm quite pleased with the results...

[lightfungus]

Nice! I didn't even realize this thing was going on, until someone mentioned it and I was going strong for 2 weeks, above the 300 mark, then I took a day off. Doh!

[Spidey44]

Damn nice work. I haven't played a lick since the baby was born two weeks ago.

[BrianSwa]

like I said and pm to you, congrats on that. Kids are unbelievable!!

[GeoffM]

Is the bonus cleared first, then the rakeback kicks in?

Just not clear on this. I haven't signed up for the rakeback yet due to the backlog of an expiring Stars bonus I need to clear.

[Penguinfan]

I've played in the smaller freerolls and know how much play it takes to get into those, so I know where I'm coming from when I say congrats.

Good luck in the freerolls.

[Penguinfan]

Thats not how it works, bonuses are taken off your TOTAL MGR (monthly gross revenue) so it's not even like you lose the entire amount off your rakeback anyway.

Example, you were getting a $100 bonus and contributed $500 towards your MGR and were getting 25% rakeback, you would be expecting $125 in rakeback (25% of $500) instead they take your $100 bonus off your MGR and now your MGR is $400 so your rakeback payment is only $100 instead of $125.


You know how MGR is figured, right?

[jillaj]

I didn't notice these freerolls at first either. I am 2 days away from the gold freeroll and should get to the iron man one next month.

[Talking Poker]

This is correct... but remember that you are getting $100 in rakeback PLUS the $100 bonus, so for this time period, you actually grossed $200 in total free money. That's how I look at it.

Fancy Schmancy TP Forumla:
Free Money (FM) = Bonus Money (BM) + Rakeback (RB)

When BM = 0, RB will be at its max.
When BM > 0, RB will dip, but who cares? FM is the number we care about, and that will be at it's highest when BM > 0.

When you crunch all the numbers, it works out to a 40something% of your rake that you are getting back when you have a bonus to clear as well, instead of just 27%. In other words, bonuses are a good thing.

[Penguinfan]

Maybe I wasn't clear, but I am agreeing with you TP, completely.

$100 in bonus and $100 in rakeback beats the hell out of $125 in rakeback alone.

BTW, if you are playing on rakeback now TP, that should be a nice bonus next month as well for all that play.

[Talking Poker]

Indeed. As I said in the OP, I'm at $600 and counting.

And yes, I knew what you were saying, but wanted to make sure it was clear to everyone else too.

[Tony Cheval]

So can we expect you to actually WIN an WSOP event next year, then?

[omahilo]

next month Im going to try to get to bronze or silver freeroll...

I dont play high enough limits to get to the big boy freerolls. I only play $25 and $50 NL.

[Talking Poker]

I hope so.

I'm not kidding you when I say that there are specific hands that STILL pop into my head from this year's final table.... . It's not like I think about it every single day, but I do think about it a lot more than I expected to. If I could go back in time, I would have come over the top of him all in on the turn. He'd PROBABLY call with his QQ (maybe not though), but even so, I'd have 15 outs to improve and have a monster chip lead at the final table if I got there.

That was my shot...

[JDMcNugent7]

next month i might try to do this, not really for the freeroll at the end, but just to play consistantly everyday, and while getting RB.

TP, how many tables do u play at a time?

[Talking Poker]

It depends. I'd say I average 3+. I play as many as 5, but usually go for 4. A lot of times though, because of waiting lists I'm on, etc, I end up only playing 2 or 3.

And I'm totally with you - it's not so much about the freeroll (although that is a nice bonus), but about me playing consistently, day in and day out for the first time ever.

According to PT, I've played 167 hours this month. That's TABLE time though, and not REAL time. I don't think it shows me my real time played anywhere, but if we assume I average a little over 3 tables at a time (that sounds reasonable to me), that's ~50 hours of actual play this month.

I'm playing 85 hands per hour (per table).

[JDMcNugent7]

The huge tables is the only thing that keeps me from playing FT.

When i play 3/6 on stars i always play 7 or 8, and playing 4 Stars 4 FT doesn't work because they get off synch and dont pop up at the right time which makes it akward.

As soon as Full Tilt comes out with resizable tables I will probably play there only.

[JDMcNugent7]

Well I decided to grind 3/6 for awhile. Im gonna do this for a month or so probably. This limit is officially cursed for me, I've never ran good at it. I ran probably the worst I've ever run in one session today, -4k off the bat. Fun stuff.

[Talking Poker]

27% vs 0% rakeback doesn't make it worth putting up with "huge tables?" Hell, take one month's RB payment and buy yourself a better monitor... or two new monitors, for that matter and set up dual screens like I have.

That's just a really lame excuse, IMO.... think about it from a $ standpoint, and I'm sure you will agree.

[Talking Poker]

Well, I'll be damned. JD and I are playing the same limits. Never thought I'd see the day.

[JDMcNugent7]

So u think 27% rake on 4 tables will be better than an extra 4, 3/6 tables??

[Talking Poker]

No..... I think buying a better (or second) monitor with a FRACTION of the money you will earn with just one month's 27% RB will allow you to play 8 tables.... at 27% RB!!!

[Tony Cheval]

I have to agree with TP there, at your level it's well worth 'investing' some $$$ to improve your setup.

[omahilo]

you got 100K sitting around somewhere, dont be afraid to spend a few bucks on a better setup which will in time pay for itself then some.

[JDMcNugent7]

two main reasons i dont get a new setup:
1) I can 8 table fine on my little ass 13'' laptop with touchpad
2) Theres nowhere in my dorm where I'd really want it