I just tried a new poker site. Well, it's not exactly new; has been around since 2004. But thought I'd try it on a recommendation. Well, before I even deposited any money, I thought I'd try a freeroll. Get this: Every hour, they have a single-table SnG (10 players) freeroll where the winner gets 10€. That's about $15 US. That's more than I expect to make on average playing $11 SnG's on Party - and there I'm risking real money. So I decided to try one tonight.
OMG the players are weak-passive! Like, "limp-limp-limp-limp-ME:RAISE-fold-fold-fold-fold" or "limp-limp-limp-limp-ME:RAISE-fold-fold-fold-call; ME:C-BetOnCompletelyUncoordinatedFlop-fold". Then again it didn't hurt that I was dealt AKs in the very first hand, got it all in against 99 and AKo, and split the 99's starting stack when an A flopped. Ditto when I got it all-in later (as the big stack) against a couple of shorties with QQ and flopped quads.
Anyhow...
Anybody else play on smaller sites? Is the play usually this horrible? One could argue that it's because I was playing a freeroll... but if good players knew about these (and that it's free money for an hour of play), they probably wouldn't be this easy.
I used to play at a place called JetSet. It was pretty small compared to P* and FT. They had really good freerolls several times a day that payed out cash. I really liked the place, then one day at 11:45pm I was playing and got a message saying "JetSet will be shutting down forever in 15 min. please cash out your money now." 15 min later it's gone forever, along with tons of people's $ they had on the site.
I've been searching for a smaller site like it ever since w/o any success. I really miss that place. It was like everyone knew eachother. Usually max 3 or 4 thousand people online at a time if I remember correctly, but they had tons of good tourneys.
I'd like to know if anyone uses any good smaller sites as well.
I used to play a lot of smaller sites when we were able to move money around easily. One of my favorites was poker4ever. They had a store that required very little for quality items. I got my first Ipod nano from them and earned aroun 1k in profits in the process. The play is pretty bad at a lot of the smaller sites, especially ones with sportsbetting attached to them. In the days of Netteller when you could bounce money around easily, and get your payment almost immediately. Plus a lot do not allow US players any more
I would try smaller sites except that
1. I'm not sure which smaller sites except American players
2. I have heard several stories fairly recently where smaller sites are using the players money to run the site -- then when an investment gos bad the site/company closes down and the players have lost their cash -- obviously I'm not interested in that
I would try smaller sites except that
1. I'm not sure which smaller sites except American players
2. I have heard several stories fairly recently where smaller sites are using the players money to run the site -- then when an investment gos bad the site/company closes down and the players have lost their cash -- obviously I'm not interested in that
What I'm thinking:
Play/win enough free-rolls to build a small starting bankroll (maybe 100€).
Start playing real-money SnGs and cash games.
If I go broke, head back to the freerolls and start over.
That way, if the site closes shop, at most I lose money that I never invested - and I got to play for free. Yes, it would suck to lose $1000 that I'd earned playing for hundreds of hours, but at least I'm not losing a $500 initial investment or something.
Also, a nice thing about this site is it doesn't have a rake in the typical sense. They make money by charging 10% on withdrawal. That's especially nice when my bankroll originates from freerolls, as I'm essentially paying "tax" on other people's money. I don't mind it as much when I think about it that way (although it's really not much different from being raked in the usual sense).
Another quick story: I only have 1 data point (only played 1 freeroll SnG), so YMMV, but here was the make-up of the table. 3 players literally check/folded and were blinded out. They never played a hand unless they were in the blinds. They finished 4th, 5th, and 6th (out of 10).
Of the 3 of us at the end, the other 2 players were ridiculously obvious.
One played almost every hand but never raised pre-flop. He limped from UTG 100% of the time when we were 4-handed and fewer. He even limped KK, I raised with A7 from the button, he just called. Flop had an A. He checked, I bet, he called. Board got scary (flush), we checked it down. I took the pot. If he decided to bet after the flop, it was always a min-bet, regardless of the pre-flop action (e.g. pot size). He finished 3rd.
The other ended up finished 2nd. He would occasionally raise pre-flop, but after the flop, he would either check/call, check/fold, or check/raise-all-in. He literally NEVER bet after the flop, and his check-raises were always all-in, regardless of the pot size or his stack size. Needless to say, I stole a lot of pots with air, controlled the pot-size when he check/called on every street (or folded on a later street when I was strong enough), and dodged his (presumably) big hands when he pushed. Heads-up, he let me walk as often as he called, and might have raised once pre-flop. It didn't take long to eliminate him when I flopped two-pair with QT and he check-raised all-in. I didn't even bother to check the hand history to see what he had. Probably an overpair or TPTK, given he check/called my pre-flop raise.
It was quite possibly the weakest table I've ever played at.
I'll play another one tonight and see if it's as bad. Unfortunately you can only be in a queue and/or playing one free-roll at a time (although you can play for cash at the same time), and the NLHE freerolls fill 3 hours in advance. They also have PLO, PLO8, and 7CS free-rolls, and they fill just before they start, if they fill at all.
They also have multi-table free-rolls (they split 50€ to the top 4; max 250 players), but those have qualifying restrictions (have to have put a certain amount of cash into real-money tournaments first).
I'll play another one tonight and see if it's as bad. Unfortunately you can only be in a queue and/or playing one free-roll at a time (although you can play for cash at the same time), and the NLHE freerolls fill 3 hours in advance. They also have PLO, PLO8, and 7CS free-rolls, and they fill just before they start, if they fill at all.
They also have multi-table free-rolls (they split 50€ to the top 4; max 250 players), but those have qualifying restrictions (have to have put a certain amount of cash into real-money tournaments first).
Doh!! Didn't read the fine print:
One player can win only 1 freeroll, afterwards he is not allowed to take part in them.
'Guess it's time to start grinding the 1˘/2˘...
*EDIT* That also explains the lack of skill. Who knows how many times these guys have played - and never won - at the SnG freerolls...
*EDIT*
Multi-table free-rolls can be repeated: Each freeroll has a prize pool of €50 and 4 places receiving prizes: €20, €15, €10 and €5. The minimum required amount of players is 10. To participate in these freerolls players have to take part in any tournaments with buy-ins without guaranteed prize pool or added prize money except for Heads-Up tournaments. Every €1 spent as a buy-in gives a chance to take part in one €50 MTF.
First off I want to mention that I'm not a poker pro, but I get by at the poker tables somehow Honestly the only sites I've played at so far are the smaller platforms. They usually offer pretty good guaranteed tournaments as well as freerolls with a low participation, which is very prize money friendly. Since I'm not a US player I don't really have the issue that I can't deposit, nevertheless I try to keep my deposits as low as possible as well. Freerolls are certainly the best way to handle it that way, get the money you need for your bank roll there, then hit the micro limits and climb as high as possible with the won bank roll.
Currently I'm playing at TrueMoneyGames Online Poker, if anyone here is interested in backgammon they probably know the site, they offer poker and backgammon there, you can actually play against people like Robert Wachtel or Japanese pros there.
The good and bad about TrueMoneyGames is that the traffic is pretty low. So when joining a freeroll you'll face off against a participation of 30 to 200 people usually, probably better to join the freerolls outside the GMT core time. The prize money ranges from €10 to €500. They currently offer 12 Hold'em Poker freerolls per day, most of them are member freerolls, so you'll need an FPP buy in of like 50FPPs, as an alternative you can use 50cts to join.
The only way for US players, which are accepted but can't deposit money(they can cash out however), is to build your bank roll at the freerolls which don't require a real money or FPP buy in. Currently there are 4 of these freerolls daily with a pretty low prize money, enough for a member freeroll or the micro limits though, maybe even a guaranteed tournament.
You'll meet all kinds of opponents there, the average donker as well as the pretty skilled player, but usually not at the freerolls. As soon as you hit the cash tables you'll start taking part at the monthly €10K poker races for the limit you're playing at(they have one for each limit), which is also a way to extend your bank roll.
The software is quite ok, hardly any lags, stable and if you care about the visuals, they are fine as well. Anyway, hope that's constructive enough for a nice alternative among the platforms out there.
Re: Smaller poker sites
Honestly the only sites I've played at so far are the smaller platforms. They usually offer pretty good guaranteed tournaments as well as freerolls with a low participation, which is very prize money friendly. Since I'm not a US player I don't really have the issue that I can't deposit, nevertheless I try to keep my deposits as low as possible as well. Freerolls are certainly the best way to handle it that way, get the money you need for your bank roll there, then hit the micro limits and climb as high as possible with the won bank roll. 
Linear Mode
.jpg "The Home Game Specialists")
.png "ChipTalk Poker Chip Factory for the iPhone!")
