POKER SITES

[giggsy]

Sorry to go down the comspiracy route here!!

BUT.............


I played poker online for 2 half years solid.
Played on 888/Pacific Poker. (I like the tourneys) My fav site
I started playing cash games (took me well over two years how to
bet correctly in cash games compared to tourneys)

I started making a really good profit ($200 dollers plus a night)
I didn't bank the money (I learnt (conspiracy story #1) when you start
banking money everyday...for some reason I started loseing more)...I know I'm talking rubbish!)

Conspirecy #2 as soon as I won a set amount (was always $300)
again I started loseing all of a sudden!) No I didn't play loser becouse
I had more in my kitty!

Now I know poker sites can't cheat you because they would lose customers and I know bad beats happen to us all)

But lets just say after 2 years plus of playing and lets be honest
having great fun playing on a few different sites
(Pacific Poker,VC,Sun Poker, Party Poker(By far the worst for BAD beats)


I no longer play (I played solidy..well 5 days a week average 4 hours a day)

I DO NOT trust online poker sites...sorry my opinion

I do miss it!!! I would be very interested in any stories of people making
a living out of online poker. There are enough books and stories about it.
Be nice to hear from "real" people of how they have got on.

Good luck playing (maybe one day I will pay again!!!)

[Texasnut]

Poker sites have no interest in cheating because they generate the bulk of their revenue via the rake. Rake is collected from most real money ring game pots. The rake is normally calculated as a percentage of the pot based on a sliding scale and capped at some maximum fee. Each online poker determines its own rake structure. Unless you play against the house you should have nothing to fear.

[brokegambler]

Pacific Poker is by far the softest poker site of them all. i built up a bank roll of 4 figures on there in less than a month. easy. now on Poker Stars myself - harder opponents but hey " TO BE THE BEST YOU GOTTA BEAT THE BEST"
if you are a beginner though stay clear of Poker Stars and full tilt the players on there will rob you blind!!!!!!!!!!!!
good luck

[brokegambler]

giggsy mate obviously you get ya good n bad weeks but if ya stay clear of the real small tables then the bad beats are quite rare kid.

[giggsy]

I hear you!
Maybe one day I will go back to the poker tables, as said I really miss
playing. (Played far too much!!! 6pm till 2am nearly ever night!)

Maybe its a point that I went from "softer" games to the real hard core
tables, where I was raiseing and softer players folded, so stopped them
gettting hands on the turn etc... Where as real experienced players
stayed in longer (and they weren't fish) so looked like I started getting
"bad beats" Is so easy to Tilt after a bad beat as we all know.

[meoldmate]

I have glanced through everyones input and there seams to be no support behind William Hill poker site.
I have played there for over a year now and the software has been changed.
If you are the first person to go all in on the table, you are 80% certainty to win that hand whether that is freeroll all a tournement game.
I give you an example that has just happen to me.
( dealt a pair of aces player before goes all in, I also goes along with two other players. The player who went first had 8 - 5 off suit and the flop appeared with an 8 followed by another 8 so he won the hand with three 8's)
This seams to work everytime even if you require a card for the run the river will put you up.
You might say, "I have sour grapes to be beaten with a pair of aces", but no I am not.
As all poker players know there is 5 cards to play to win with, and win or lose I enjoy the game.
But to lose the game before you can play your hand in ALLINS is abit unfair as the software will have you out of the tournement without a chance.

Has anyone else played at William Hill poker site and notice this setup with the first all ins?

[suicidesam]

not played William Hill ...but my advice is go all in every hand !! this time next year you will be a millionaire i play on Betfair and so far have found it ok .....i was a big fan of the original Paradise Poker Poker and made a few quid there until they changed the software a few months ago ....since then i have won nothing at all...i still play the same but no cigar ?? just cant work it out ?
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THERES A NEW KID ON THE BLOCK !

[SuperCat]

Well I am a big fan of Poker Stars, unlike most other posters it seems!

I qualified for WSOP through them in 2005 - but that's not the reason I like playing there.

Imagine you've been dealt pocket rockets. You go all in.

On a lot of smaller sites you'll get some doughnut call you with trash and outdraw you to make a straight or whatever. You know, the kind of player who really should not be at the tables. It's so frustrating.

However, at Poker Stars, I find that the better players generally respect an all in, and will fold, (which is the correct play if you are just holding junk).

Agreed, it's not a place for beginners - but for anyone who is a half decent player, it's OK. Personally I prefer playing against better players - at least they respect an all in with AA!
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I did rather well in the February 2008 tables!

[jwoody]

You raise an interesting point Supercat, I will have to fianlly get around to srting out a Poker Stars account and take advantage of their 100% first time deposit bonus; I like the idea of playing against opponents who know their way around a poker table and think about their actions. P.S. Ghetto Red Hot is a tuuuuuuune m8
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Don't worry, we've got Neil Warnock!

[SuperCat]

Yup, the remix is a personal favourite!
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I did rather well in the February 2008 tables!

[Ukgatsby]

Tried pretty much most of them. Settled in the end for
Crypto - choices are William Hill , DtD , Sun Poker , Littlewoods , etc
I like Hills because of the Quickcash deposit / withdrawal facility although the promos on Sun are outstanding. Dtd is good if youre going to use the points to play at the live venue.

Poker Stars - Small stakes but chance to hit it big if you can survive the 9-12 hours to win a tourney =)

Betfair - Didnt like it at first when they left crypto and went alone but software growing on me

Paddy Power - same network as Bet 365 and Stan James i think

Tried but binned
Mansion - Liked the old platform - not keen on new - deleted
Full Tilt - Some love it - i just couldnt get away with it
Betfred - didnt like the table buttons

[dreamed well]

Hello all i have recently joined this wonderful site and horse racing is my fav subject but poker comes 2nd and regarding which site my view is as follows . . . Firstly what i can never understand is how each site states the cards are random,and this has been a big talkin point in a number of circles lately.I feel that your hole cards you get dealt are random but after that the rest of the hand is a scenario that is acted out by the betting,you see it time and time again 3-4 people betting heavily into the pot and when the showdown comes all had valid cases to stay in that certain hand and continue to pile the cash in .Action hands is what most knowledgeable poker pundits call it and yes bad beats is what everyone else calls it.I have played live poker for many years and never have i seen the likes of what you get online it is somedays sickening how you can sit on a table online and play the best poker of your life yet you lose and lose big in some cases,the folk who play solid abc poker do not get rewarded for patient well thought out play and i feel the action junkies who will bet on any two cards are the ones who get paid off by online sites and the reason for this is they generate a damn site more rake for that given site by playing reckless poker.

I used to play $5-$10 nl on a number of sites 2 years ago and have always used a poker tracker software to record all hands ,betting etc etc and the results of the stored info makes for interesting reading an example being getting dealt 77 on full tilt poker site the stats are as follows ...In 12 months on f/t i was dealt 77 645 times and lost 581 times but its what i lost to that makes the interesting facts in this example,out of thoose 581 times i lost someone in the hand was dealt kk 432 times and the flop contained no card higher than a 7 on 326 times thus leading you to believe your hand was in front at that stage,it happens too often for coincidence two players will dealt kk and qq then the flop will come all low say for instance 8-3-6 the two players proceed to bang it in and no overcards come out to beat their holding,its regular online and it guarantees all the money is going in the middle.

The above is a small example of 2 years data stored on my pc and i know people will have their own views but statistics do not lie when all the info is in front of you, you come to your senses and try and find a way to win so i stopped playing the cash games and concentrated on fixed buy ins in sit n go tourneys, these are where you should be playing 90% of the time online if you want win seriously because you know what you can win and most importantly what you can lose as you have already invested the most your going to lose in the buy in be it $5 or $50 whatever your chosen stakes are.You can also sit and be patient playin just the top 20 hands and your aim should be firstly to make the payout structure which on most sites is the top 3 paid for a 9 seat sng if you go out in 3rd most times you just average below doubling your buyin and for 2nd or winning you get a good return on your investment,i have a set strategy for sng tourneys and it has helped me to accumalate a decent bankroll to keep stepping up in limits and i now play in 15 per day between $50 to $100 and have made a profit in 8 from last 9 months.If anyone is interested in using my strategy for the sng tourneys that pm me and i can email you the rules and the hands, positions to play those hands and other useful info which has helped me become a winning player online but to summarise i would suggest the following..
1) Get on a site that still accepts american players that is must (more fish in the ever expanding sea)
2)Make sure you have a bankroll of 50x your stake to cover any bad runs you may encounter.
3)Start off at a comfortable level you can afford but a level that will make your efforts worthwhile,you can build a bankroll very speedily starting out at $5 level trust me thats where i started.
4)Before considering moving up a level try to treble your bankroll before the step up this gives you extra security for the nxt level and or you can withdraw the extra bankroll to treat yourself or as in my case keep the wife happy
5)Notes on players are a must and if you dont have a tracking software then these on table notes are a lifeline as you will encounter the same players time and time again at certain levels and you need to know how they play certain hands and how they bet these hands for reference
6)This is personal choice for me but i will not go above the $100 buy in sng's reason being the calibre of player in them is the calibre of player your trying to become and a lot of pro's who make their living are stalking at those levels but saying that a one off venture now and again can give your confidence a well earned boost and your bankroll hefty cash injection and believe it or not some players even at that level are terrible players.

Hope this thread has not bored many and like i said if you want my sng strategy then pm me and i will forward a copy by email as long as you don't use it against me if we meet in one of the above tourney's lol gl all and play well.