Favorite Poker Site?

[Stuxnet]

Just curious what people's favorite poker site was. I've been playing on PokerStars for years, but the play there has become so tight (and frankly, the players too good for me). I've been test driving FullTilt for a couple days and I really like it. Players are good (so you don't see the wild, loose crap you see at Party Poker) but not so tight that the pots consist only of the blinds and one bet.

I thought about trying UB, but I remember there being a huge scandal over cheating and incorrect payouts.

Anywho, just rambling... thoughts?

 

[KeithTalent]

Interesting, I was just thinking of posting a thread about online poker. I have been playing for free at PokerStars for quite a while and was thinking of finally taking the leap to pay poker and was just going to ask for thoughts/strategies for a noob.

Don't want to hijack though, so I'll try to just watch the discussion, but if anyway wants to through some advice out there, I'd aprpeciate it.

KT

 

[minendo]

Full Tilt. I've won a decent amount of money from there.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Interesting, I was just thinking of posting a thread about online poker. I have been playing for free at PokerStars for quite a while and was thinking of finally taking the leap to pay poker and was just going to ask for thoughts/strategies for a noob.

Don't want to hijack though, so I'll try to just watch the discussion, but if anyway wants to through some advice out there, I'd aprpeciate it.

KT

Hijack away! I just like talking about poker .

If you're going to play at Poker Stars, be prepared to grind it out. The players there are good and well disciplined. Very little bluffing from my experience - if someone is in a hand, they have cards.

Party Poker is the exact opposite and is, in my opinion, a terrible place to play. Besides the insane action you'll get from idiots drawing on a 7-3 looking for a straight, there has always been speculation that they employ "action flops" (flops designed to suck people into betting). I've seen some CRAZY shit at that site over the years and will never give them a dime again.

As for strategies, there's always the tried and true "tight/aggressive". I tend to play much better at real tables than I do online because there's so little information online. When I play online, I rarely try to put people on a hand. If I have cards, I bet 'em. If I don't, I get out. I save the "reading" for real life.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Interesting, I was just thinking of posting a thread about online poker. I have been playing for free at PokerStars for quite a while and was thinking of finally taking the leap to pay poker and was just going to ask for thoughts/strategies for a noob.

Don't want to hijack though, so I'll try to just watch the discussion, but if anyway wants to through some advice out there, I'd aprpeciate it.

KT

Hijack away! I just like talking about poker .

If you're going to play at Poker Stars, be prepared to grind it out. The players there are good and well disciplined. Very little bluffing from my experience - if someone is in a hand, they have cards.

Party Poker is the exact opposite and is, in my opinion, a terrible place to play. Besides the insane action you'll get from idiots drawing on a 7-3 looking for a straight, there has always been speculation that they employ "action flops" (flops designed to suck people into betting). I've seen some CRAZY shit at that site over the years and will never give them a dime again.

As for strategies, there's always the tried and true "tight/aggressive". I tend to play much better at real tables than I do online because there's so little information online. When I play online, I rarely try to put people on a hand. If I have cards, I bet 'em. If I don't, I get out. I save the "reading" for real life.

That's pretty much how I feel. I play with some buddies every now and then and I never end up worse than second, but they are just buddies and it is easier to get a read on them after playing with them often.

Online is so tough. I speculate here and there, but it's rare I go in without much in my hand, unless some guy has shown himself as a bit of a cowboy. I imagine though, playing for real coin will make everything different.

A friend of mine recently started playing for money on PKR and he loves it, but the UI is too fancy shmancy for me, I like the basic, stripped down feel of PokerStars. Thanks for the info about PartyPoker.

KT

 

[Firebot]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

If you're going to play at Poker Stars, be prepared to grind it out. The players there are good and well disciplined. Very little bluffing from my experience - if someone is in a hand, they have cards.

Have to agree there. Cash games on pokerstars are ridiculously tight. You will very rarely find leaks in a player's game. It's basically a game of waiting until you get monster > monster and hope your monster is bigger then your opponents...as soon as the bets get bigger, you need to think about how strong your hand really is. Top pair top kicker has no business being in a big pot for example, it works alright in a casino or a home game, but on pokerstars you better have a damn good read to risk a big pot.

Sit and gos are a whole other story, and you can make a fair bit of money at lower stakes.

 

[Firebot]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Interesting, I was just thinking of posting a thread about online poker. I have been playing for free at PokerStars for quite a while and was thinking of finally taking the leap to pay poker and was just going to ask for thoughts/strategies for a noob.

Don't want to hijack though, so I'll try to just watch the discussion, but if anyway wants to through some advice out there, I'd aprpeciate it.

KT

Hijack away! I just like talking about poker .

If you're going to play at Poker Stars, be prepared to grind it out. The players there are good and well disciplined. Very little bluffing from my experience - if someone is in a hand, they have cards.

Party Poker is the exact opposite and is, in my opinion, a terrible place to play. Besides the insane action you'll get from idiots drawing on a 7-3 looking for a straight, there has always been speculation that they employ "action flops" (flops designed to suck people into betting). I've seen some CRAZY shit at that site over the years and will never give them a dime again.

As for strategies, there's always the tried and true "tight/aggressive". I tend to play much better at real tables than I do online because there's so little information online. When I play online, I rarely try to put people on a hand. If I have cards, I bet 'em. If I don't, I get out. I save the "reading" for real life.

That's pretty much how I feel. I play with some buddies every now and then and I never end up worse than second, but they are just buddies and it is easier to get a read on them after playing with them often.

Online is so tough. I speculate here and there, but it's rare I go in without much in my hand, unless some guy has shown himself as a bit of a cowboy. I imagine though, playing for real coin will make everything different.

A friend of mine recently started playing for money on PKR and he loves it, but the UI is too fancy shmancy for me, I like the basic, stripped down feel of PokerStars. Thanks for the info about PartyPoker.

KT

Do not compare play money at all to the real deal. Cash games are a whole different play (for one play money nobody has anything to lose). I'd suggest to put in about 50$ expecting to lose, get a feel of real games, and then to read a book or two (harringtons' cash game books and No Limit hold Em; theory and practice are very good cash game books). Once you've dipped your feet in the real poker world you will have a better feel on what to do. You will learn about new levels of strategy and thinking that you never even thought existed in poker.

 

[Newbian]

Pokerstars ftw.

 

[buck]

I prefer the tournies on stars.

 

[intogamer]

which should a noob start with?

 

[xboxist]

I've only played at one site ever, Party Poker.

With that said, I deposited $100 about 3 years ago, which I have grown to about $800. I only play the $2 and $5 sit-n-go's. My strategy there is super simple: fold all hands except for AA, AK, KK, QQ, and some lower pocket pairs if you can see the flop for cheap. If you just play extremely tight, everyone around you will knock each other out with horrible and reckless play. When the 8 is cut in half and you're down to 3 or 4, then open up your play a bit.

 

[intogamer]

Originally posted by: xboxist
I've only played at one site ever, Party Poker.

With that said, I deposited $100 about 3 years ago, which I have grown to about $800. I only play the $2 and $5 sit-n-go's. My strategy there is super simple: fold all hands except for AA, AK, KK, QQ, and some lower pocket pairs if you can see the flop for cheap. If you just play extremely tight, everyone around you will knock each other out with horrible and reckless play. When the 8 is cut in half and you're down to 3 or 4, then open up your play a bit.

That's pretty much my plan for micro NL. I've been hearing that the higher-up games are getting harder Now time to fund my account....

 

[DayLaPaul]

I'm not sure how True Poker got thrown into the mix. They aren't even in the same league as the rest of the poker rooms you mentioned. Check out this site if you want to get a general idea of how much traffic a poker room gets.

http://www.pokerscout.com/

My favorite poker room is usually the largest one that I can get the most rakeback at. Currently that's CakePoker. That site is large enough that I can always find a game at whatever stakes I feel like playing, has a 110% match bonus (up to $600) that wasn't terribly difficult to clear and I get 33% rakeback to boot.

Definitely the most important decision an online poker player makes when he decides to play is which affiliate to use. If you aren't collecting bonuses as well as rake back, you're not doing it right. You're basically leaving money on the table. Rakeback is especially important because that actually stays with you for the life of your account. Depending on how much you play, we're talking about g-money here.

As far as the percentages are concerned, most poker rooms max out at a certain percentage for rakeback and you won't have a hard time finding multiple affiliates offering that amount. The most important thing is to read up on the affiliate, see if he has a large user base and a good, active forum. That ensures that if you have problems, you have a means to communicate that to the community. Affiliates make money by doing nothing but getting you to sign up with them as the referrer. It is in their best interest to keep their customers happy.

 

[intogamer]

DayLaPaul, where is a good place to start studying about the in-and-outs of getting started on online poker? I'm getting overwhelmed by all the stuff I find on the internet 2+2forums, etc.

 

[illusion88]

Its all about multitabling sit and gos. If you have a large bank roll you can do all right on cash games, but you have to have a good stomach for the swings. If cash games are your thing, don't enter a table until you have over 30x the buyin.

 

[DayLaPaul]

I don't really regularly follow any poker forums. I find reading other people's hand histories boring and people's bad beat stories even more boring. 2+2 forums is pretty much the biggest poker forum out there and really the only one I can recommend. I'm sure there are smaller ones with much tighter knit communities, but in the end, there's no substitute for experience. Once you've read enough hand histories and learned enough different people's perspectives on a range of hands, reading any more is pointless.

Maybe google the term "bonus whore." Despite the offensive title, it's not really as bad as it sounds. Bonus whoring is basically taking maximum advantage of free money. I started out as a bonus whore myself. My goal was to put in the least amount of money and see the greatest amount of return.

There are legitimate blackjack sites out there that will basically give you free money if you follow the precise instructions. For example, let's say a site offers a 100% match bonus up to $200. If you consult www.wizardofodds.com, you will see that if you play perfect blackjack (using an easy to read chart), you will usually get back 98% of what you put in. When you figure in the bonus money, unless you are the unluckiest man in the world, you will come out ahead. Many times this you will gain a profit in addition to the bonus money.

What I did was bonus whore as many sites as I could find, playing the absolute minimum amount of hands required to withdraw my money. I'm not sure what the landscape is nowadays, but when I did it, I was able to come out with anywhere from $2000-6000 free and clear. I didn't really start keeping track of my hands as religiously as I do now, so I apologize for the wide range.

Once you have that bankroll built up, you are literally playing with the houses money. You will not believe how much of a psychological edge this is. In poker, you have to be fearless. As the saying goes, scared money is dead money.

If you want me to recommend you some affiliates, I can do that. I happen to use two different ones that seem to be honest. Other than that, just get your hands in, take your licks and if you are cut out for it, you will come out ahead. Poker is just a game, no different from Sega or Nintendo. Some people are just better at it than others. You will learn very quickly if you are cut out for it and if you're not. It's nice to have that cushion that you aren't risking your own money while you're trying to figure that out.

 

[intogamer]

Yes, I would be thrilled if you could recommend me some affiliates. Also, can the poker sites stop you from continuously creating accounts to only play for bonuses? It seems like a good income generator, no? Are rake backs only for specific rooms?

DayLaPaul, I appreciate your well thought-out responses. And the same to Xboxist and illusion88

 

[DayLaPaul]

I use rakemeback.com and pokertrikz.com.

In order to cash out of a poker account, you need to produce some form of identity. Unless you have multiple partners or are willing to commit fraud, you are limited by the amount of different sites there are. Once you've exhausted the supply, you're finished. Hopefully by then you will have built up a sizable bankroll.

Illusion brought up a good point about having a 30x bankroll. Although the actual size of your starting bankroll is the subject of debate, I think 30x is a safe starting point. It is very important to be able to survive the ups and downs of a poker game. The absolute worst thing you can do is drop a couple buy-ins, then get mad and step up to the next level in order to recoup your loses. I've done that. I gotten lucky a few times, but I also risked my entire bankroll by doing it. Hopefully you are wise enough to learn from my mistake. You have to be able to keep and even keel and take a step back and analyze why you lost. Did you get outplayed? Did you make the right move? Did you outplay your opponent but he simply got lucky? It's more important to make the correct move than to make the winning move. Hindsight is 20/20 and if you make the right move in a situation and continue to make the right move whenever the same situation occurs, you will come out ahead in the long run. That's the poker player's mantra that keeps him calm, cool and collected despite taking a bad beat.

 

[amoeba]

online poker is tougher than before but still beatable.

I play on stars but my choices are limited due to living in the US.

30x buyin roll with plans to move down if you hit 20x is a good idea for $.5/1 NL and below (ie $3000 for $.5/1 nl games).

For $1/2 NL and above, you might want to increase your bankroll requirements but it all depends on whether you are playing for a living and how easy your deposit options are.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: intogamer
which should a noob start with?

PurePlay is good, and you can win real money without putting any of your own up. It's pretty small for the most part ($10, $20 tournies that can last hours) but if you win enough of the qualifiers you can play in the $1,000-$10,000 games for free too. I chatted with a guy who has won about $15,000 from the site. I don't know if I believe him, but somebodies winning on there. I play the free point tournies in hopes of one day getting in the free WSOP qualifier. Hay it's free, why not? Also if you get 50k in points you get a free premium membership, which has more free cash games, which are higher amounts too. I think a few $1,000 a day plus $20-250 scattered throughout. And a weekly $10k which you can get in by winning enough qualifiers.

 

[nanobreath]

I play on full tilt. One of the things I love about them are all the free tourneys from which you can win real money. You can literally build your bankroll up from nothing if you have the skill/time to do so.

I play primarily for fun, but of course part of that fun is winning. Is one reason why I still play fake money games occasionally. I KNOW I can win those games. Play tourney's and real money when I want a challenge.

 

[amoeba]

if you are playing fairly low stakes, a site with rakeback will yield more than pokerstars fpp.

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: amoeba
if you are playing fairly low stakes, a site with rakeback will yield more than pokerstars fpp.

What rakeback sites do you recommend? I only play stars now, full tilt isnt so bad, I cashed out a while back and didn't really look back, stars has better tournaments.

 

[TallBill]

None would accept my credit card.

 

[amoeba]

Originally posted by: buck

Originally posted by: amoeba
if you are playing fairly low stakes, a site with rakeback will yield more than pokerstars fpp.

What rakeback sites do you recommend? I only play stars now, full tilt isnt so bad, I cashed out a while back and didn't really look back, stars has better tournaments.

I play on stars only now but basically how I had it broken down to me is that if you aren't platinum star, then the amount you get back from fpps is not as much as the amount you get back from rakeback. basically platinum star is close to the breakeven point assuming like 25% rakeback. Once you make supernova, the fpp amount actually often surpasses rakeback due to the high VIP multiplier.

I believe cake has a 33% rakeback and you can probably get 25% rakeback from FTP. obviously competitions suffer on the smaller sites but I haven't played on anything aside from stars since the UIGEA unfortunately so I can't tell you anything about level of competition.