After just clearing the pokerstars deposit bonus, I did some serious thinking. Stars has the best tournaments by far, but the cash games are basically the same as anywhere else. Rake is a biiiitch at pokerstars and now that I'm attempting 1000 hands per day, I'd rather play at a site with rakeback as I'm building my bankroll.

So yeah I'm planning on grinding it out mainly on microstakes Absolute cash tables. I had a quick quick session there tonight just to try out the software. I just bought in for $30 to test the software at a .25/50 table. I'm not pumped that it's a 100 max buyin, which is bigger than at stars. It leads to deeper stacked play, which probably could make for some kind of advantage, although it means that I really should grind .10/.25 instead. Anyways here's the gift I was given for depositing:

Stage #553305072: Holdem No Limit $0.50 - 2007-01-23 03:18:37 (ET)
Table: GRANT DR. (Real Money) Seat #1 is the dealer
Seat 1 - MACH401 ($31.97 in chips)
Seat 2 - ASTRODG ($24 in chips)
Seat 3 - JOLUSIA ($66.95 in chips)
Seat 4 - AZTECA13 ($139.38 in chips)
Seat 5 - CRAIGMONEY19 ($39.15 in chips)
Seat 6 - C04KOH1 ($29.33 in chips)
ASTRODG - Posts small blind $0.25
JOLUSIA - Posts big blind $0.50
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to ASTRODG [Qc Qd]
AZTECA13 - Calls $0.50
CRAIGMONEY19 - Calls $0.50
C04KOH1 - Calls $0.50
MACH401 - Calls $0.50
ASTRODG - Raises $1.75 to $2
JOLUSIA - Folds
AZTECA13 - Calls $1.50
CRAIGMONEY19 - Calls $1.50
C04KOH1 - Calls $1.50
MACH401 - Calls $1.50
*** FLOP *** [2c 5s 6d]
ASTRODG - Bets $5
AZTECA13 - Calls $5
CRAIGMONEY19 - Folds
C04KOH1 - Folds
MACH401 - Folds
*** TURN *** [2c 5s 6d] [5c]
ASTRODG - Bets $11
AZTECA13 - Raises $22 to $22
ASTRODG - All-In $6
AZTECA13 - returned ($5) : not called
*** RIVER *** [2c 5s 6d 5c] [4s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ASTRODG - Shows [Qc Qd] (Two Pair, queens and fives)
AZTECA13 - Shows [3d 3s] (Straight, two to six)
AZTECA13 Collects $51.80 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($54.50) | Rake ($2.70)
Board [2c 5s 6d 5c 4s]
Seat 1: MACH401 (dealer) Folded on the FLOP
Seat 2: ASTRODG (small blind) HI:lost with Two Pair, queens and fives [Qc Qd - P:Qd,P:Qc,B:5s,B:5c,B:6d]
Seat 3: JOLUSIA (big blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 4: AZTECA13 won Total ($51.80) HI:($51.80) with Straight, two to six [3d 3s - B:6d,B:5s,B:4s,P:3s,B:2c]
Seat 5: CRAIGMONEY19 Folded on the FLOP
Seat 6: C04KOH1 Folded on the FLOP

Immediately after the hand I was like "Yeahh" cause I thought I won until the chips moved to him, I was a bit dissapointed. I should have raised more preflop, but it wouldn't have changed how it went down. I bet 11 on the turn because I had 19 left in my stack and wanted a bet that would definitely comit him to doubling me up if he called.

Anyways, I am getting 30% rakeback for playing at Absolute, plus 100% on the $300 I deposited.

Today I also registered for Poker Ace HUD - I am pumped about that too, I liked the trail when I used it, so now that I'm 5-6 tabling, things will hopefully become automatic.

So I've got $400 on Pokerstars for Tournaments and 270 on Absolute for cash games. Getting from $270 into a proper bankroll for .10/.25 will be a tricky task, but I feel that I can do it.