A PokerPlex Day

First off, I'd like to thank my friends from ITH [Internet Texas Holdem; you can find the link on the right hand side of my blog], Patch and Cybrarian, who showed me a nice little trick for bringing up the notes function at the Cryptologic sites. Double-clicking on the player placard brings up the note-page on that player. This is a real time-saver and has proven to be a real boon to my play over the past few days. Thanks again guys.

Today, I decided to put in as many hands as I could at PokerPlex. With a monthly $50 bonus, PokerPlex is a decent bonus to work on. The requirement is 250 MPPs. MPPs stand for "My Player Points". You receive 1MPP for every pot raked at $1 [or £ or euro] or higher. You receive 1/4 of an MPP, for every pot raked at $.25 to $.99. Pots raked lower earn no MPPs. The good news is, that no pots in fixed limit rake lower than $.25. Therefore, nominally, every MPP at PokerPlex is worth 20 cents. It would seem that here at PokerPlex that it's monthly bonus is a 5x bonus, but that is misleading. You could pay $.75 in rake four times and get only 1 MPP. That's right, $3 in total rake could equal one pot that managed to rake $1. They changed this so that those people at the really low-limit tables would have a chance to work off the bonus. It takes about 16 table hours to work off the $50 here at PokerPlex at 1/2 fixed limit. Double that at .50/1. This works out to be about a 6x bonus at 1/2, and 12x at .50/1. Neither are bad, but obviously, if you can chase at 1/2, you should do so.

When I started the day, I had already accumulated 107 MPPs, so I was attempting to put as big a dent in the rest as I could today, so that I would be able to finish it tomorrow. Tables here at PokerPlex were vaccilating all day. Starting up, closing down, moving between great tables to play on and absolutely wretched ones. I ended up playing here in three definable sessions.

• I started this morning a little bit before 10AM. I found a decent £1/£2 table. I started off very well, up £26 in a short 20 minutes. I managed to flop a fullhouse and get paid off plus a few top pairs. It was short-lived. As would be my modus operandi today, I couldn't hit a draw. When the day finished, I missed all 10 fourflushes [9 holding the Ace], and 7 openend straightdraws. To make matters worse, I flopped 9 sets and lost 7 of them. Did I tell you it got ugly? Down $77.45, at noon, I decided it was time for lunch.
• After lunch, I went looking for the same table, but they had tighted up considerably, so I decided to play at the £.50/£1 tables because even though they were slower to earn MPPs, they were much looser. I was right. In a little less than 2 hours, I managed to get $36.81 back before the tables started to collapse, and I noticed that the £1/£2 tables were re-emerging and getting looser. Tends to do that when the Brits get sleepier and sleepier!
• My move to the higher tables, started off very slow, and I was going through swings of down 10BB and up 7 BB. I was getting ready to leave as they were feeling very tight. Then a beautiful thing happened. Two tight players left, and were replaced with the biggest fish I had seen there in a very long time. A few more tightish players left and were replaced by more loose players. Before I knew it, there were two players who were 75% of the hands and a few more who were playing about 40%. Don't get me wrong. I took some serious beats during this stretch, but when I won a pot, I won a POT! Unfortunately, quitting time was fast approaching. I needed to get dinner started. Breaded porkchops. Takes about an hour to prepare. So I logged off. Another $32.63 made back.
• I played the entire day here at PokerPlex. I managed to add 113 MPPs to the total of 107 I had earned earlier in the week. I now stand at 220 MPPs. This means it will take about 3-4 hours tomorrow to finish up and claim my $50 bonus. Then I can move on to Holdem Poker and finish my $75 bonus chase there. Take a break from the Cryptos, and then start Sun Poker either Friday or Monday.
• So far I have managed to win $8.72 chasing this bonus. Not a great result, but a lot better than losing money and needing your bonus to cover your losses. Hopefully tomorrow will see me make a little more and add the bonus to it. I'm not complaining. I've managed to win $141 plus clear $150 in bonuses here since January. If I just break even tomorrow, I will have successfully grown my bankroll at PokerPlex by $341 this year. Not bad considering I have been playing .50/1 and 1/2.

Today's total: -$8.01