Party Poker has two reload bonuses going this month. Both are for 15%, up to $100. Yesterday, I cashed out some, and redeposited 15 minutes later for a $30 bonus (when I play 210 raked hands, which I will do.) I’m going to do it again today, but for my whole bankroll there, instead of just part of it. As long as I can play break even poker (and, at Party at least, I play better than that), I make money.

I’ve had two pretty amazing sessions there lately, playing 1/2. Both were under an hour, an both I finished better than +50BB. I played fairly well, but also got the best cards when everyone else got good cards (in other words: I got pretty lucky). You have to be lucky to make 50BB/hr. I’ll just give a few of the hands from these sessions.

I get dealt A♣2♣ in the small blind. UTG calls, someone in MP calls, I call, big blind checks. Flop comes A♠7♦A♥. I bet, everyone calls. Turn is the 2♥. I’ve made Aces full. I bet, BB calls, UTG raises. We lose the MP player, and it gets capped. River is 5♥. It gets capped this round, with all three of us left staying it. I show my aces full, the other two players muck. BB had K♥6♥ for the flush, UTG had 2♠2♦ for the little boat. I take down a 27BB pot.

A few other nice ones:
I get 77, try to limp in, and it gets raised behind me. The small blind makes it three bets, and I call. I hit my set on the flop, we’re capped every round, and I beat AA and T4o (who, lucky for me, flopped two pair). The AA (small blind) checkraised me every round, and every time I raised him back. Took down 32BB pot.

I get 65s in MP. As I’m clicking the box to call, someone raises, and I accidently call the raise. It gets capped behind me, and the pot’s too big to fold at this point. The flop comes 667. I bet, the two preflop raisers call. Turn 4, I bet, two callers. River 8 for my straight to go with my trips. I bet, same two callers. I flip my straight, they muck AA and KK. Like I said, I was getting lucky.

It almost makes up for the bad luck I had Friday and Saturday at Chumash. I’ll save my bad beat stories for later.

After staying at Chumash all night Friday and well into Saturday, I decided to go watch the qualifying round of the Masters tournament at Zodos. (In case anyone’s confused, I’ve moved the topic on to bowling now.) It was fun to watch, and a bunch of my friends qualified for the tournament. After the qualifying round, I decided to get some bowling in. I had been bowling terribly now for a few months, but I came right out and shot a 244. I think it must have been my first game over 240 in 6 months. My next game, I shot a 254. The lanes must have just been easy. Or not: third game was a 133. I finished off with two decent games and then another 243.

After oversleeping, and missing the Sunday morning tournament at Chumash, I went back to Zodos to watch the bowling tournament. Again, I bowled afterwards, this time an insane 22 games (with a two hour break in the middle). I shot another few 240s, and several more over 200. I don’t know what happened, but as soon as my leagues ended, I started bowling well again. At this point, I decided I was going to bowl in the handicap tournament they were having Monday night.

I show up Monday night, and after a bit of a rocky start in the first game, I finish it off strong for a 214. Then I go nuts and throw a 241 and a 240, for a 695 series for the first three games (my new high)! I’m a bit annoyed, since I left a 4-6-7-10 split in the 9th frame of the third game, killing my 700 series, and what could have been a 279 game (until that frame, I had all strikes, except for one solid 9 pin that I picked up). Then, I started the last game with four open frames in a row. The first one was a tough pickup, but the next three was easy spares that I should have made. I moved left one board, and then threw four strikes in a row, and finished the game with a 183, for an 878 scratch series, and 1026 handicap.

1026 was good enough to win, by ten pins. I took home $115 for first, and three $33 sidepots (my 241, 240, and series sidepot), for a nice $179 profit. The money’s nice, but I really just wanted to win. I will very likely be going up to the tournament in Lompoc this Saturday, and hopefully my luck (or skill?) will hold.

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