Roots Update....

Having withdrawn all by about $70 from my Royal Vegas account for baby expenses, I've doubled it again, in just 3 sessions to $147.

Why did I ever quit playing poker at Royal Vegas? (Oh yea...it was the constant reload bonuses and rakeback at Absolute Poker).

I'm seriously considering just dropping my bankroll here or another prima poker room with rakeback. One thing that I've always been proud of though, when looking back on the freebie $10 to $1000 bankroll that I built at Royal three years ago. It was completely devoid of rakeback or bonuses. I even screwed up my first time deposit, only depositing $20 for an $8 bonus when I could have deposited $100 for a $40 bonus. Doh!

Point is, a lot of "winning" players are only winners because of bonuses and comps. To grow a bankroll on strictly poker table earnings actually takes some work and study.

....that or someone at Royal likes me and is rigging the deck in my favor?

See you at the tables!

No Time for Poker...

I tell ya, when I got into building poker tip sites, it was something I did while not playing poker. Now it seems I don't have any time to play poker! Not that I'm complaining. Working with poker portals is a lot less stressful.

Leslie (my wife) is 35 weeks and 5 days pregnant as of this posting, so looks like the prospects for extra time are on the decrease.

Ahh well.... a little time away makes the heart grow fonder no?

I certainly enjoy and value my poker time more, now that there is a serious lack of it. Oh 12 hour sessions, how I miss thee!

The Sunny Caribbean...

Sounds like a nice place to be this Fall, doesn't it?

After giving away thousands of dollars in rakeback, running a World Series of Poker freeroll, and lots of other interesting events, we decided to look for something unrelated to poker.

Viola! Everyone likes vacations right? We've launched a Freeroll your way to a Cruise Vacation package this summer. Pretty simple rules and eligibility requirements too.

Play poker, win a cruise. Better yet, take that cruise when everyone else is firing up the gas heaters and winterizing their RV's.

Finally, a poker promotion that even our wive's can support!

Back to my roots...

Having withdrawn the majority of our bankrolls to buy baby stuff, I'm back to nickel and diming it with about a $500 roll. While tooling around my old stomping grounds (Royal Vegas) I happened upon an active .50/$1 room. That's correct...quarters. Back when I first started playing 7 Card Stud online for real money, this room was no ante, but it's a dime ante now. It makes me wonder if I would have been able to turn the $10 no deposit bonus into $1000 a couple years ago, if they'd had that ante...

Interesting, the little twists of fate. It was after turning the $10 into $1000 that I got together with Bryan and really decided upon launching a poker tips website.

I digress. At any rate, I sat down with a gent heads up and had a very nice session. Cleaned him out twice, and finished the one hour session +25 big bets... (that looks better than + $25!) ... I think I'll play a little more at Royal. I've always had good success there and never had bonus or rakeback to inflate my earnings.

With a wife at 34 weeks and 6 days pregnant as of this posting, I'm playing for diapers!

Wanna play a quick game of HORSE?

Leave it to the competitive poker world to turn one of the most popular backyard games into a poker tournament acronym.

We're not talking basketball here! The poker world spells H.O.R.S.E like this:
H= Holdem
O= Omaha
R= Razz
S= Seven card Stud
E= Seven card Stud Eight or better.

In essence, it is a single tournament but at different intervals, a different variation of poker is played. The World Series of Poker has added a $50,000 buy in event World Series of Poker 2006....(that's right, $50 grand to play).

If you plan to play a HORSE Poker Tournament, then make a point to bone up on the rules and basic strategy before plunking down fifty dimes!

Oh, and a good place...check that, the only place to practice HORSE Poker online? Full Tilt Poker my friends.

I hope more sites add it after WSOP 2006!