[ontheuptick]

For several reasons, I've waited to start playing online. Now, I would like to get rolling. I have some questions and hope you all can help me out.

I need to know many things...

1. Which site? (P* or FullTilt)
2. What are my options for funding the account? (I know this changes often)
3. How do the money bonuses work?
4. I've read about rakeback briefly, it seems that i need that? (I even remember theMightyJim2K mentioning to contact him about it?)
5. Other things I should know?

Some things to know about my situation..
1. I run a Mac, so obviously the site has to work on a Mac.
2. I'm a cash game player, mainly NL.
3. I won't be playing a ton, mainly when my wife and son go to bed.
Maybe 5-10 hours a week, on average.

Thanks everyone for your help!!!

[jojobinks]

Originally Posted by ontheuptick

For several reasons, I've waited to start playing online. Now, I would like to get rolling. I have some questions and hope you all can help me out.

I need to know many things...

1. Which site? (P* or FullTilt)p* has the most games and the most players. for that reason alone i recommend it. if you go ftp you can get rakeback, though.
2. What are my options for funding the account? i know p* is doing echeck and many visas. if you're lucky you can work out a transfer for paypal here(I know this changes often)
3. How do the money bonuses work?you deposit. you play X number of hands in X amount of days, and you get a bonus. depends on where,and in the beginning ftp was hard to clear. p* is pretty easy if you're not playing tiny
4. I've read about rakeback briefly, it seems that i need that? (I even remember theMightyJim2K mentioning to contact him about it?)yeah, tmj can get you a hookup. basically...you get some portion of your rakeback, which makes it a lot easier to make the monies.
5. Other things I should know?playing online is like crack. if you're worried about addiction/obsession...be careful

Some things to know about my situation..
1. I run a Mac, so obviously the site has to work on a Mac.both sites run on mac, i believe
2. I'm a cash game player, mainly NL.be very careful with bankroll management, unless you plan to deposit often. 20 buyins is generally considered conservative. i'm more conservative (more like 50 or so) and haven't gone broke on p* in years
3. I won't be playing a ton, mainly when my wife and son go to bed.
Maybe 5-10 hours a week, on average.

Thanks everyone for your help!!!

comments in red.

edit: ouch it burns. highlight my text and then it's not red anymore. sorry. won't happen again.

[cdnmoose]

You can't get rakeback on Stars so I would start there and evaluate how much you are playing then consider adding Fulltilt from a rakeback site.

If you start with Stars then register first through pokersourceonline.com - there should be a sponsor link somewhere around ct.

Right now is a good time. I just got this in an email from STars.

Special PokerStars Freerolls For You

[cdnmoose]

Hey cool. The sponsor link pops up right in the post. That's way cool.

[ontheuptick]

jojo -

Thanks for the thoughts. Regarding bankroll management, I'm going to start off very conservative. I plan to deposit 20 buyins of the level I anticipate playing (.10/.25), but I'm going to start out playing .05/.10 for a little to learn and get comfortable. Eventually, I'll then start playing .10/.25, as long as I still have 20 buyins.

[abby99]

What Jojo said, plus the following:

Try to arrange for a deposit using one of the approved methods for the site you choose. Transfers are nice but won't qualify for the deposit bonus. I've done an Echeck recently at P*, which works fine if you aren't opposed to entering your SS#. I haven't made a deposit at FTP in a long time so I don't know which method works well there.

If you open an account on FTP, definitely do it through a site that offers rakeback. If you don't sign up for rakeback now, as part of the process of opening the account, you'll have an extremely difficult time doing it later.

Some people (including me) think that the games are a little softer at Full Tilt.

Opening an account on P* will enable you to play in the CT Thursday NLHE and the Monday mixed games tournaments.

Good luck!

[ontheuptick]

I didn't mention that I specifically an interested in funding through the Visa/Mastercard method.. How exactly does that work?

[ipgyst]

Originally Posted by ontheuptick

I didn't mention that I specifically an interested in funding through the Visa/Mastercard method.. How exactly does that work?

If you get lucky, you input your CC info and the transaction goes through. Every time I've tried a CC transaction it's been denied and I get a phone call from my CC's fraud department asking about the transactions.

My transactions weren't at P* or FT, however. CC transactions may work there, especially with FT where I've heard good things about CCs.

[ontheuptick]

Haven't people used the CC's that are like giftcards before?

I don't know exactly how it works, but I was under the impression you could buy a Visa card with $500 on it, and get that deposited into your online account... Am I way off here?

Originally Posted by ipgyst

If you get lucky, you input your CC info and the transaction goes through. Every time I've tried a CC transaction it's been denied and I get a phone call from my CC's fraud department asking about the transactions.

My transactions weren't at P* or FT, however. CC transactions may work there, especially with FT where I've heard good things about CCs.

[BrettButter]

The last time I deposited, none of my actual credit cards would work. However, my bank card does work, when used as a credit card. It shows up on my bank statement as "PSTARS CCP" - which is credit card purchase, so no fee on my end for using as a debit, or a money transfer, or anything else weird. This may vary based on your bank, your card, and probably some other stuff..but this is the only way I got any sort of credit card to work.

Best of luck! Try to keep a cool head, don't get too rattled by a few bad beats. They seem like they happen more online, but you're playing a ton more hands than you would normally see in a live game, so it does even out. No other advice, everyone above pretty much covered everything.