Online Poker

[Buckeye Bob]

There have been many posts over the last year regarding playing Poker online. Many opinions have been given on the various sites. Curious as to where everyone is playing now, what their player name is and any critiques you may have for the various sites.

As for me, I have been playing at PartyPoker.com on a limited basis for real money. Had some luck but still a little nervous about putting a lot of money in. We have also been checking out a new site known as FullTiltPoker.com. They have Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Phil Ivey, among others, as part of their team. Looks like a good interface. My screen name is BuckeyeBob86.

Bob

[volfanga]

I play at pokerstars.com and have been very happy with this site.

[joshrocker]

i'm playing at empire poker right now, its a mirror site of party poker. they share the same players but are run by different company's. i've also been playing a lot at gaming club poker. I was burned out on playing online poker and haven't played in a month, but i should be back on here pretty soon.

at empire i'm rockerrocker (i think) and i'm joshrocker (i think) at gaming club poker

[PatekPhil]

Sites where I play & my thoughts on each site:

Pokerstars (PatekPhil) - Good 3-6 and 5-10 Limit games, tough 1-2/2-4 No Limit games. Best tournaments anywhere. I like the interface (but I have heard reviews to the contrary) - I especially like the 'NOTES' option.

UltimateBet (PatekPhil) - Toughest ring games I've played online, but do really well playing their tourneys. High hand jackpots are a nice incentive. Also very nice software, including 'NOTES'.

PartyPoker (PatekPhil) - Ring games can be VERY juicy if you shop around for a passive & loose table. Games seem to get noticeably better immediately after a new episode airs of WPT/WSOP. ;) Software is only so-so.

PokerRoom (PatekPhil18k) - Software is kind of marginal, and at times there are not many players at the 3-6 / 5-10 levels so it can be tough to get a full table of 10 to play. But - they DO offer 40% signup bonus, and cash bonuses when you hit royals. (use code CARDPLAYER for the 40% signup bonus)

Pacific Poker (PatekP18) - Not a bad site - some VERY weak players at their 3-6 limit games. Software is only so-so.

InterCasino Poker (PatekPhil) - I had problems cashing out from this site, so I stopped playing here. I eventually DID get paid out, but it took a number of phonecalls and running around. They do give you $50 for playing 300 raked hands - which is a pretty juicy bonus - but buyer beware on their cashout process. Ring games were juicy, but not many players at the site and I had to play a lower limit than I wanted since there was no action at 3-6/5-10. $50 for 6 hours play was pretty nice too.

(If you want a free $25 at PokerRoom or at Pacific Email me offline and I'll send you a link.)

Aces to you!

-PatekPhil

[ July 16, 2004, 08:24 PM: Message edited by: PatekPhil ]

[Buckeye Bob]

Okay, anyone still playing poker online? I have been playing at Full Tilt for about 6 weeks now with real money and doing okay. Interesting site as a number of pros play on there like Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Phil Gordon, Erik Seidel, etc. I have seen them playing as low as .25/.50 NL. Lots of good chat during those games. Curious what everyone is doing in the online area lately.

I have noticed a lack of Texas HE discussion recently. Mikey, I miss your weekly poker writeups.

Bob

[Jer]

Still play at Party Poker... Can't seem to get away.

In my last 10 Tourneys, I havent finished less than 3rd. But the 10 before that? Yuck...

[HurricaneMikey]

Hey Bob--

Well, the honest truth is that I haven't played poker but once in the past two months. I still have my account at Party Poker, but haven't used it since August. Just this week I was thinking of putting a hundy in there, but I have a large chunk of expenses coming up over the next month, so I may not.

As far as my weekly updates, I don't play in that weekly game anymore. Too many insufferable morons at the table. Believe me, it takes a lot to give up an easy hundred bucks every week, which is what I was averaging by the time I left, but one can only swallow pride and bite your lip for so long before you just want to open up a can. I would've stayed if the stakes were bigger, but for a 2-4 game it just wasn't worth the hassle. For instance, one of the guys at the table was also the bartender at the club, and all the drinks had a 15% gratuity already added in. But he'd whine and cry all night after losing all his cash that we should still tip him out. His begging for money got so bad that I just completely resigned my membership. So if you win a hundred bucks and this guy had his hand out at the end of the night, there goes 10% of your profits. Screw that. I'd rather play in the living room and get my own beer from the fridge.

I think, for me, that the big rush to play poker all the time is behind me. In the cash games around town, I'm way up. Online, I'm up maybe $400 for the last year. In casino card rooms in Vegas and Tunica, I'm easily down a grand. Overall, for the past 12 months, I'd say I'm within $200 of breaking even--either in the profit side or on the loss side--I'm not really sure. I stopped tracking my weekly results about 4 months ago.

Another thing that has turned me off on poker-as-an-addiction is the World Poker Tour--

The announcers are more annoying than Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan combined, and those two can throw cliches and belabor a point worse than just about anyone. Besides...when I'm watching football or baseball on TV, they don't waste several minutes at the beginning of each telecast going over how the game is played. Believe me, anyone in the world who would be watching the telecast ALREADY KNOWS HOW TO PLAY THE FRIGGIN GAME! Just move on and quit wasting my time. :mad:

And another thing, since I'm ranting, is that the networks, both ESPN and the Travel Channel, try to make stars out of the most annoying players. Mike Matusow? He needs more face time? That scrawny idiot from Europe that screamed after every all-in hand? That's what people want to see? I don't think so. Maybe they feel that every sport needs a villian (as evidenced by all the coverage they give people like Terrell Owens...)

Anyhow, I still love the game, and as long as Vegas keeps trying to rip me off on blackjack, I'll spend more time in the poker rooms (that is, until they raise the rake to an unacceptable level). But I've certainly had enough of the WPT, and I won't watch any more of the WSOP reruns. If they truly want to broaden the appeal of poker and keep the ratings up, they should feature players with class like Sam Farha and Howard Lederer, not prissy prima donnas like Helmuth and any of those dopes from 'The Crew'.

Has poker's popularity peaked? For me it has. But for the rest of the world, I doubt it.

Mikey

[sevenout]

I have not played online now for probably 3 months. When I played it was at Partypoker and Ultimatebet. What I found is that the partypoker tournaments are much easier to win than the Ultimatebet tournaments and it is easier to win at the $2-$4 tables on ultimatebet than on partypoker.

There is an open game that I attend once in a while. It is a $50 buy-in no limit tournament for the first 2 hours and then after that, it is an open game. No-Limit bets, no-limit buy-ins, $.50 and $1 blinds. Unfortunately I have not been able to attend very often. I have gone 3 times in the last 2 months. The first time I won $650 off of my initial $50 buy in. The second time I won $300. The last time I won the No-Limit tournament. The last hand I had pocket 9s on the button (blinds were $2 and $4). There was only 3 guys left. Small blind had like $10 and big blind had a little over $80. I raised to $30. Small blind called all-in. Big blind then raised me $10. I called thinking that maybe he had an AK or smaller pocket pair. Flop was 10, 6, 2 rainbow. Big blind checked, I bet $20 (1/2 of his stack) and he then went all in. With a big chip lead and only a 10 or higher pocket pair being better I obviously called. He flipped over A-10. The turn brought a K and the river was a 9 to give me the pot. In the open game I lost all of my winnings ($350) to go home even while watching my friend cash out $1060.

Over the past year I am +$400 at partypoker, -$50 at ultimatebet, +1100 or so at home games and -$300 at Casinos.

[blackjack]

I just started playing on-line a couple of weeks ago. I play for the fun of playing & therefore sit in on .10/.20 cent or .25/.50 cent tables. So far I've played at SportingBetUSA.com & PokerRoom.com and my name is u-fool at both. I like SportingBetUSA better because the GUI is eye friendly and they offer the .10/.20 whereas PokerRoom offers .25/.50 as the min & I don't like the computer people sitting at the table. Too much going on. SportingBetUSA has the poker table & chairs all done in eye friendly darker colors plus there is a voice interface announcing "check", "fold", "raise". "player #2 wins the pot with a pair of aces", etc... What I don't like (& I'm sure it's everywhere) is the idiots, however, I'm sure that the higher the stakes the fewer scmucks you'll find. Sitting at a low stakes table there are mostly bankrolls under $20.00 but every so often someone will show up with a $50.00 plus bankroll & bully around by constantly raising & re-raising. If someone has 5 bucks and a mediocre hand, they almost have to fold with .50 cent re-raises & $1.00 plus calls. I know that this is part of the game but at this level it is just for fun & folding every hand isn't fun. One other complaint on SBUSA is the chat area. They could do without this. It is too often used for unnecessary bashing. The other day I sat down & was one hand in when some wuss hiding behind his keyboard called me an incest lover out of nowhere. I did reply back with "Is that the best you can come up with?" & quickly won 2 out of 3 hands & the idiot left - probably to go ask mom for more money.

[martay]

I play for play money on pokerroom.com here and there, because it supports the Macintosh. I'm quite bored with it, though, particularly since I am meeting with a great deal of success in the low-limit home games I play in.

[CAP]

I play at paradise poker (CAP11). Started at ultimate bet but I like paradise a little better. I mainly play at the $10 sit-n-go mini tourneys.

Hosting my first live tourney next week (10 players) at my house. I'm probably the most experienced player, which is not saying much. The rest are rookies, I'll let you know how it turns out. Should be fun.

[doctor_al]

Bumping this thread up. Been mickey-mousing around with play money on pokerstars and empire, and have gotten to the point I'm willing to put some money down. Any suggestions on sites with good bonuses?

[CAP]

Doctor Al,

Here is how I got started: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=inet&Number=1060198&fpart=&PHPSESSID=

Just be aware that is an older thread and a little bit of the information is no longer valid. I pretty much followed those suggestions. As it suggests I started with the Crypto sites, but if I had to do it again, and I had a $500 bankroll I would start with Party Poker and do it and all the Party skins first. There is nothing wrong with the Crypto sites but they are a good bit tighter than Party. When you do decide to do the Cryptos, make sure you do PokerPlex first. It's bonus is the easiest to clear.

My bankroll started at $400 and I have slowly built my bankroll to nearly $2000, not great but a decent start. I mainly play 1/2 limit and some 2/4 limit. I would guess that about half my profits have come from poker play and the other half has come from bonuses.

If you have any more questions please feel free to ask. I was in your shoes about a year ago, and I wish I would have asked more questions before I started :D.

[bronx12]

I play at Pacific Poker. Their deal is if your are recommended by someone, you get a free 25 bucks and then you get 25% of your initial deposit. Its a decent site, not alot of bells and whistles, but cashing out is easy and everyone that I know has not had a problem getting their money out. If your interested, or anyone else.......PM me and we'll get you set up with a free 25 bucks.

[doctor_al]

Great link, CAP. My bankroll is going to be small, just a benjy to start. Pokerplex looks like a decent option. Doesn't look like they do netTeller though? bronx, I'll take a peek at pacific too.

[blackjack]

sportingbetusa.com does netteller. I know they give an initial deposit bonus as well. I play around with some small sports wagers there so it's convenient for me plus I like the feel of the "poker room". Let me know if you sign up & what your name is so I can look for you. I'm "VegasV at the moment.

[Buckeye Bob]

Doc,

I played for a long time on FullTilt.com but found the ring games to be better than other sites. I have now been playing on UltimateBet.com with more success. They do accept NetTeller and I have had zero problems adding money or cashing out some. My name on there is BuckeyeBob86.

Question for you. Since you live in Minneapolis, do you ever play at Canterbury? I come there every other month or so for business and like to work my schedule so that I have an evening free to play some poker. Would love to meet up with you next time I am in town.

Bob

[dfense072]

I've been on FullTilt poker since last fall. I like the graphics, and it's fun to watch the pros throwing money around on the high limit tables. The site's player base has doubled over the past few months; there's plenty of cash games at all levels, and they've added a number of tournaments to their schedule as well.

They also get very creative, some of their weekly tournies gave the winner a 10% stake in one of the FullTilt pros (Ivey, Lederer, Juanda, Jesus, etc.) for the WSOP main event- on top of the normal first place prize.

If you use the link below, you'll get a 100% match on your first deposit (it takes a while to get the full 100%, but they release the bonus into your account at 5-10% intervals), and also qualify for a freeroll tourney when you get to 100 FullTilt player points. They also accept Neteller.

I get a referral when you get to 100 points as well, and I'll gladly give you a cut of that.

Let me know if you have any questions, thanks!

Jim

[CAP]

Doctor Al,

You can use Neteller at PokerPlex, that's what I do. Just be aware that at PokerPlex the lowest limit you can play and clear your bonus is 1/2 limit. However, all it takes to get your $50 bonus is to play 300 hands (not raked hands) but 300 total hands. If you can just play break even poker for 300 hands to get your bonus your bankroll will go from $100 to $150 fairly easlily. A 50% increase to your bankroll ain't too bad. It will take about 5 hours to play the 300 hands if you play one table, and naturally about half that if you two table.

Two warnings about PokerPlex and all the Cryptos: (1) after you deposit, they snail mail you a pin number and you can't cash out until you get this number. Mine took about 10 days to get. This is a one time PITA that you won't have to repeat again. (2) the games are much tighter than the games at PartyPoker. Many players are there just to get the bonus so the games can at times be a rock fest. Lot's of people say that the best time to play is during the European evening hours. Those Euro players are known to be much looser.

Here are a couple of more links to check out:

www.bonuswhores.com
www.pokerpromotions.net

[CAP]

I agree that Full Tilt and Ultimate Bet are great sites. However, unless they have recently changed, their bonuses are among the toughest to clear. To be honest I gave up trying to clear both of these bonuses simply because there were too many other sites that were offering better bonuses. Those are the only two sites that I have ever given up on a bonus. If you play higher stakes it is probably much easier but I'm not good enough to do that yet.

Also be aware that there is a huge difference in online poker players vs. live players. A 1/2 and maybe 2/4 game at Party is fairly equal to most 10/20 live games. So if you are used to playing 5/10 or 10/20 at live poker don't go online and play those games because more than likely you will be eaten alive.
To be honest a huge portion of live players are horrible poker players.

There are lots of good online players that make a decent living taking money from new players. You would be much better off starting off playing at the small limits and working your way up slowly.

[CAP]

Here is another link to some excellent online poker bonus opportunities: http://www.bonuswhores.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4720&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Enjoy.

[Rhinestone Cowboy]

Here is a link to get a free $75 at party poker if you've never played their before. If you put my name in as a referral I think I get $5 which I will be more than happy to use to donate to the website. PM me for details..

http://www.instantbankroll.com

They also offer gifts valued at around $60 per site you sign up for if you try new ones. This can be checked out at

http://pokersourceonline.com

As for me, I am currently playing most of my poker at PartyPoker. My name is "BustMeNow". I do decent at their 6 max NL tables, but I gave back a lot of money playing tournaments...

[budh]

I play mostly at PartyPoker, only because I'm used to it. Played limit tables, then $25 NL tables, now mostly sit-n-go single table tourneys for $10 or $20.

A friend plays at UltimateBet and seems to like it better. They have heads up games and charge less than PartyPoker to enter tourneys, I don't know if the rake is different at table games. (example $10 single table tourney at PP costs you $10 + $1 but only $10 + $0.50at UB) Not a big deal, but I'd love to have all those extra 50 cent pieces in my account right now!

Most people are curteous, but there are occasionally those that find swearing or name-calling some kind of sport. I never reply to them, don't need to feed their stupidity, I just take sport in trying to take them out!

Have fun!

"Tripacer"

[Buckeye Bob]

So Doc Al,

Do tell. Did you deposit and start playing? If so, which site?

And budh, the $10 single-table tourneys on UB are also $10+$1 to play. Where it is cheaper is on the $5 +.50 which are $5+$1 on Party. At least they used to be. I will say that if you do a heads up, it is $10+.50.

Bob

[doctor_al]

Still deciding. Strongly considering pokerplex and partypoker.

Meanwhile, on the brick and mortar front - had a nice run on the 2/4 limit table at Canterbury last weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't stand up until after I'd run (full tilt) into a couple absolute newbies. Can't read people who don't know what they're doing. Ah well, good times anyway.

Thanks again all on the links!

[CAP]

doctor al,

If you decide to do PokerPlex, I just wanted to let you know that the easy bonus is probably the only reason to play there. Just deposit your $100, play your 300 hands, collect your $50 bonus and cash out. Then move on to another easily cleared bonus. You probably won't want to make Plex your long term "poker home" because there are too many tight players who are only playing to get their monthly bonus.

I only suggested it because of its easy bonus for a small bankroll. Party Poker and its related skins, are a much easier game to beat, but to take full advantage of their bonus you need to deposit $500. Good luck.

[doctor_al]

Yeah, exactly. I'd like a playable site with a bonus, ideally. My last trip to vegas made me a convert to "advantage play". And having tried out empire, I do like that interface, better than the pokerstars one.

I'll be on as some permutation of my handle here.

[AndyAkeko]

I have jumped around from PokerRoom to PartyPoker to Doyle's Room and now have seem to have found a home at Full Tilt. There's definitely the coolness factor in playing against the pros, and unlike other sites, they do play at the lower levels from time to time (I made it to the final table with Chris Ferguson at a $5 tournament, and I've seen Phil Ivey in a play money sit-and-go). And of course the 100% matching bonus on your initial deposit is a pretty sweet deal.

However, I really don't recommend the site to newbies. The cheapest tournament is $4.40 and that's a satellite. Doyle's Room has sit-and-gos for as little as 11 cents, and there's even a 1 cent multi-table tournament. Granted at those levels, the caliber of play is not much different that the play-money games at any other site, so be braced for the bad beats. But at least when you take advantage of those bad players (and in the long run, you will), you get real money.

The one thing I hate about Doyle's Room multi tournaments is that they always seem to end up with all the chip leaders at the same table. It's very frustrating to be fifth overall in a tournament with 50 people but only fourth at your table. I don't know if it's by design or not, but it happened to me so often that I took my money and ran. I found Poker Room had the same problem. Anybody know if this is just my imagination, or do sites do this to keep the medium-size stacks happy that they can still back-door their way into the money?

[budh]

Andy,

Do you go to the Akwesasne casino in NNY? I live 30 miles from Canadian border at 1000 Islands bridge. We go to Turning Stone because it is a bit closer and has more to offer. Does Akwesasne have a poker room?

Thanks for the info on Full Tilt... I think I'll try it!

[AndyAkeko]

Yeah, the Akwesasne casino has a card room, though they pretty much only deal hold 'em (they say they deal 7-card stud, but I've never seen it there). They also have tournaments 7 days a week. You can check out the schedule at www.mohawkcasino.com. If you go on the weekend though, come early. The tournament fills up fast with Montrealers.

I haven't been to Turning Stone, but I'm sure it's nicer than the AMC. It used to be a real dive, but since they got their license upgraded and they installed Vegas-style slots instead of the cheap "World Touch" machines, the vibe has really picked up.

Only 30 miles from the border? Did you know the 1000 Islands Charity Casino in Gananoque is the only charity casino in Ontario that doesn't have a poker room? Us Eastern Ontarians have to cross the border to get a (legal) live poker fix!

[budh]

Yes, I've been to Gananoque several times... they have added more BJ tables though which is nice, and I truly believe their slot odds are better than Turning Stone (maybe because it's a gov't facility?). I do like T.S. for table games, poker tourney's, rooms, food, comps... etc... They are good about comping a meal if you play BJ for about an hour, even if it's only $5-$10 tables (just ask a pit boss). We also get the (mailed) coupons for free play/match play or free rooms (mostly fall & winter). Excellent restaurants and entertainment.

We went to the Busker's Rendezvous in Kingston recently.... had lunch and watched performers. Stopped at the casino and made a quick $80 on BJ, which paid for gas and lunch... so we were outathere within 30 minutes!
Hated to leave, but better to leave a winner than stay and lose it back, which we've all done too many times.

I'll have to venture up to Akwesasne sometime to check it out... thanx for the info!

[doctor_al]

Just thought I'd throw in a followup, I'm grinding it out on Pokerplex, once I get that down I'll get setup on party...

[CAP]

Hope it's going well for you at PokerPlex :D. I just finished up doing my 300 hands tonight. According to my Poker Tracker stats I ended up $229.59 before the $50 bonus. That is easily the best I have ever done at this site, the cards were running good. I only played the 1/2 and the 2/4 tables.

One good tip for playing this site is to hit up the 1/2 GBP tables. Most of the guys at those table are terrible, they play everything to the river. At least it worked for me this month.

If you need a referral at party let me know. I think you get an extra $25 and I'll get an extra $25, that I'll gladly donate to T2V. Send me a PM and I'll get back to you if your interested.

[RebelDiceMan]

So far, I have only played on Partypoker. I play a few low limit ring games but concentrate more on tournaments than ring games. I have only been playing for a couple of months but so far I have been able to scratch out enough of a profit that I haven't had to re-deposit.