Choosing the right Poker Room for you!

Originally posted by keoghh
Thanks for the detailed replys, with that point in mind i may actually choose party as i quite like the software and soft tables stand out to me, whats the rakeback like at party?

Not amazing in truth. I would expect you will probably get ~10% through party points, though they have pretty good promos running every month without fail. Just to give you an idea, I made ~500 strategy points on Party in September from maybe 2 weeks of playing and my reward was access to about $80,000 of freerolls.

If I played a bit more, they would have started giving me cash rewards. And that was just their Accelerator promo. So yeah, I quite like party and I think that their software is good and their traffic consistent enough to always find a game. Not as soft as 888 for example, but still significantly softer than stars.

Hope that helps mate

Our Party download page is here:

Originally posted by Shevtshenko
Hey,

I'm looking for a) soft games, b) bad regs, c) nl100-200 tables (sh/fr), don't need to have many tables running since i'm not rly a multitabler. Preferably the site would have games running at most times tho but as said, i don't require many tabs.

I don't care much about the software, but it has to support hem and be trustworthy.

Hey Shevtshenko,

Ok, so the softest games are 888/PKR, maybe Merge. I would recommend the first 2 above Merge though.

Good points and bad points for both:

888 - Good software, lots of fish and traffic is increasingly daily. Right now, there is enough traffic there to play at least 5-6 tables without any problems.

Down sides are the VIP system, which will only give about 10-15% rb even at your level. However the lack of rakeback also pushes a lot regs away, keeping the site pretty fishy.

PKR - The software is slow and tilting at first, but it grows on you and can support3-4 tables at most. Competition is amazingly soft, but you are only guaranteed a table during peak hours. Usually there are a minimum of 2-3 full tables at your limit, but still not as many as say 888. On the other hand, by signing up through us you will get 30% rakeback as standard.

Based on the above, I would say that maybe WH on iPoker is better for you. Their tables are still pretty fishy and the regs are not great. A lot of "break even" players who rely on the rakeback from the VIP system, which frankly is good for everyone who learnt to develop their win-rate and exploit them.

WH obv uses the standard iPoker software, which isnt too bad, a bit cluttered, but definitely still usable. Their VIP system will give cash game players a max of about 55-60% rakeback. I would expect that you will get in the region of 35-40% from their VIP system alone. Their first deposit bonus is pretty good as well, giving about 40% whilst being cleared.

So I think in terms of added value, WH probably has soft enough tables, combined with a good VIP system and FDB, which would probably make it the best place for you

Hope that all made sense!

1. Which game type you play? (No limit? Sit & Go? MTT? PLO, Fixed Limit, Other?)

2. Which limit do you play? (example: NL25, SNG $11, FL .50/1)

3. Short handed or full ring tables, or even Heads-Up?

4. How much do you play? (e.g. I play 3 hours a week, or I generate $1000 rake/month)

Hi all.

I am currently playing on Cake Poker which I really like but I bought Omaha manager and I cannot use it there.
I play only cash games.
I am looking for a room where I can play PLO20-100
6-max
I play about 4-8 hours a day.
I am looking for good rakeback and bonuses together.

Regards.

I am sorry I post it like a new thread. Can you move it please to the proper section. thanks.

done ttetti

The brilliant David will be with you in the morning and help you with some suggestions

Ingrid

nice. I am feeling like the people here really try to help. It is like a community. So nice. happy

Ok, any1 know about being able to deposit from student bank accounts? (UK)

Originally posted by DtotheC

Originally posted by Shevtshenko
Hey,

I'm looking for a) soft games, b) bad regs, c) nl100-200 tables (sh/fr), don't need to have many tables running since i'm not rly a multitabler. Preferably the site would have games running at most times tho but as said, i don't require many tabs.

I don't care much about the software, but it has to support hem and be trustworthy.

Hey Shevtshenko,

Ok, so the softest games are 888/PKR, maybe Merge. I would recommend the first 2 above Merge though.

Good points and bad points for both:

888 - Good software, lots of fish and traffic is increasingly daily. Right now, there is enough traffic there to play at least 5-6 tables without any problems.

Down sides are the VIP system, which will only give about 10-15% rb even at your level. However the lack of rakeback also pushes a lot regs away, keeping the site pretty fishy.

PKR - The software is slow and tilting at first, but it grows on you and can support3-4 tables at most. Competition is amazingly soft, but you are only guaranteed a table during peak hours. Usually there are a minimum of 2-3 full tables at your limit, but still not as many as say 888. On the other hand, by signing up through us you will get 30% rakeback as standard.

Based on the above, I would say that maybe WH on iPoker is better for you. Their tables are still pretty fishy and the regs are not great. A lot of "break even" players who rely on the rakeback from the VIP system, which frankly is good for everyone who learnt to develop their win-rate and exploit them.

WH obv uses the standard iPoker software, which isnt too bad, a bit cluttered, but definitely still usable. Their VIP system will give cash game players a max of about 55-60% rakeback. I would expect that you will get in the region of 35-40% from their VIP system alone. Their first deposit bonus is pretty good as well, giving about 40% whilst being cleared.

So I think in terms of added value, WH probably has soft enough tables, combined with a good VIP system and FDB, which would probably make it the best place for you

Hope that all made sense!

I've played on WH and merge, so i'm aware of the problems those sites have. If merge still allows US players, i'm not depositing a dime on that site (trustworthyness). And fwiw those games on both sites weren't very soft, waiting lists were long (esp. on WH) and no one was willing to start tables, meaning that it was tough to get good games going. So WH is not an option, merge is not rly an option, i play on 888 so that doesn't rly help.

So i'm left with pkr, which afaik doesn't support hem. I've tried the software a couple times and i think it's manageable but very cluttered.

What are your thoughts on e.g. Boss/Everest/Entraction?

And if you happen to have the knowledge about how willing regs are to start tables on any of these sites atm, i'm very interested in that.

Originally posted by Shevtshenko

Originally posted by DtotheC

Originally posted by Shevtshenko
Hey,

I'm looking for a) soft games, b) bad regs, c) nl100-200 tables (sh/fr), don't need to have many tables running since i'm not rly a multitabler. Preferably the site would have games running at most times tho but as said, i don't require many tabs.

I don't care much about the software, but it has to support hem and be trustworthy.

Hey Shevtshenko,

Ok, so the softest games are 888/PKR, maybe Merge. I would recommend the first 2 above Merge though.

Good points and bad points for both:

888 - Good software, lots of fish and traffic is increasingly daily. Right now, there is enough traffic there to play at least 5-6 tables without any problems.

Down sides are the VIP system, which will only give about 10-15% rb even at your level. However the lack of rakeback also pushes a lot regs away, keeping the site pretty fishy.

PKR - The software is slow and tilting at first, but it grows on you and can support3-4 tables at most. Competition is amazingly soft, but you are only guaranteed a table during peak hours. Usually there are a minimum of 2-3 full tables at your limit, but still not as many as say 888. On the other hand, by signing up through us you will get 30% rakeback as standard.

Based on the above, I would say that maybe WH on iPoker is better for you. Their tables are still pretty fishy and the regs are not great. A lot of "break even" players who rely on the rakeback from the VIP system, which frankly is good for everyone who learnt to develop their win-rate and exploit them.

WH obv uses the standard iPoker software, which isnt too bad, a bit cluttered, but definitely still usable. Their VIP system will give cash game players a max of about 55-60% rakeback. I would expect that you will get in the region of 35-40% from their VIP system alone. Their first deposit bonus is pretty good as well, giving about 40% whilst being cleared.

So I think in terms of added value, WH probably has soft enough tables, combined with a good VIP system and FDB, which would probably make it the best place for you

Hope that all made sense!

I've played on WH and merge, so i'm aware of the problems those sites have. If merge still allows US players, i'm not depositing a dime on that site (trustworthyness). And fwiw those games on both sites weren't very soft, waiting lists were long (esp. on WH) and no one was willing to start tables, meaning that it was tough to get good games going. So WH is not an option, merge is not rly an option, i play on 888 so that doesn't rly help.

So i'm left with pkr, which afaik doesn't support hem. I've tried the software a couple times and i think it's manageable but very cluttered.

What are your thoughts on e.g. Boss/Everest/Entraction?

And if you happen to have the knowledge about how willing regs are to start tables on any of these sites atm, i'm very interested in that.

Hi Shevtshenko

Have you had a look at this plugin that one of our members has developed

HMP - HUD Meets PKR 1.15.08

regards

Thazar

Nice Thazar! Having a HUD at PKR would be super handy.

Shev, completely agree about merge. That is why I didnt even discuss the pro's & cons of it, but didnt want to get into my reasons for not considering it, despite the tables being quite soft.

Re: Boss: The software is really bad imo. The traffic isnt great either, though again the tables are soft. Bear in mind, that when I point out that tables are soft, it is based on a comparison to Stars, which comparatively has very tough tables at all limits. Moving between sites such as PKR and 888 though, you are only likely to see a change in win-rate of ~5% or so.

Entraction isnt too bad. I found the software pretty annoying at times, but definitely superior to Boss imo. The traffic at the higher limits isnt going to be great, because the network itself doesnt have a huge amount of traffic.

The same can be said about the traffic about Everest, although they do seem to run quite a lot of value adding promos like their rake races, which are really soft and would definitely mean you cash in on them.

Overall of the 3, I would go with Everest, then Entraction and then Boss as my last option. I can't say how likely the regs are to start games at the different limits mate, unfortunately I havent been able to play at every limit on every site. Not yet anyway

Over the coming weeks I am going to be playing on each and every room we partner with, play a variety of limits and see what the competition is like, the software, pull apart their VIP systems and see how much value it adds etc. At the moment my recommendations are largely based on stats like average win-rates on the tables, traffic at various limits, VIP system rakeback and our promotions which add value. Once we get into the specific details of how the regs play at the various limits, it gets harder to answer with any great value.

So I will work on sorting that, but I would really appreciate if I could get feedback from you guys about the regs at your limits! Drop me a PM and tell me what you think about the competition; were they super aggro? was the average level of the regs high or low? how successful were you at exploiting them?

Stuff like this would be really valuable to me and would help me help everyone else even more.

Ok, so in summary, Shev, I would suggest try the PKR HUD mod, since that site really is very soft, as you probably already know. Failing that, I would go for Everest.

@Keoghh, I would suggest that you check with customer service at your site, however I see no reason why you would have any problems.

The room wont know it is a student bank account. I have a "Graduate" account, which was a student acc beforehand and not experienced any problems.

Obviously not solid guidance there, but I honestly dont think you will experience any problems.

Originally posted by ttetti90
1. Which game type you play? (No limit? Sit & Go? MTT? PLO, Fixed Limit, Other?)

2. Which limit do you play? (example: NL25, SNG $11, FL .50/1)

3. Short handed or full ring tables, or even Heads-Up?

4. How much do you play? (e.g. I play 3 hours a week, or I generate $1000 rake/month)

Hi all.

I am currently playing on Cake Poker which I really like but I bought Omaha manager and I cannot use it there.
I play only cash games.
I am looking for a room where I can play PLO20-100
6-max
I play about 4-8 hours a day.
I am looking for good rakeback and bonuses together.

Regards.

Hey ttetti

So I had a look around for you, since PLO isnt a regular request on here and have a few options for you.

Ok, so Ongame has the best traffic outside of Stars for PLO that I could find. With Betfair, which is tailored towards SnG players, but also very nice for PLO players, you would be getting both a good % of rb through their VIP system and a nice first deposit bonus to go with it.

888 also has good traffic for PLO, but the VIP system isnt great. You would likely get 10-15% max. You do get a FDB but I am not sure that it adds enough value for someone playing your volume & limits.

Party has acceptable traffic for PLO as well, their rakeback system also isnt great, but would probably net you about 20% rb a month. They do have a lot of good promotions however which add value, but their FDB is fairly low.

For VIP systems & FDB, the best place is going to be iPoker, specifically WH/Titan. The WH VIP system will give you a large amount of rakeback each month and the first deposit clears at ~40% rakeback, up to a max of $2000. The Titan VIP system is less rewarding than WH, but the FDB bonus clears at ~50% rakeback up to $2000. The only downside for iPoker is that the traffic actually seems a lot less than on the other sites I mentioned. I suspect this is because of the countries of the players who play there. Maybe during peak teams you would be ok, but if you want tables steady for 4-8 hours a day, then I guess I would look elsewhere.

Ok, so bit of a rare occurence for me here. I recommend you take the time to create 2 accounts. One focussed on rakeback and another to provide games when there isnt enough traffic.

So I would say sign up at WH, get the FDB and good rakeback % each month. When there isnt enough traffic, then I would play on Ongame, which seems to have good PLO traffic and softer tables than Party. Plus you can get a FDB on there as well and the VIP system is pretty good (just not as good as WH).

Just my suggestion, but it seems like the best way to get the most out of table softness, vip systems and FDBs and taking into consideration the traffic, then this is the route I would take.

If you cant be bothered to make 2 accounts, then I suggest Ongame (betfair) as the overall compromise for traffic, vip system and fdb.

Hope that helps

Wow I just checked betfair. There are about 20 tables. This is great. I did not understand what WP is. Is it Titan poker or what. What is going to be the rakeback in betfair.

Originally posted by ttetti90
Wow I just checked betfair. There are about 20 tables. This is great. I did not understand what WP is. Is it Titan poker or what. What is going to be the rakeback in betfair.

You lost me mate. Thinking the "WP" you meant, was either intended to be "WH" which is William Hill or you meant "V.I.P" which I use to refer to their loyalty program aka VIP system.

For Betfair I would think you would get 20-25% flat from your VIP points, with your FDB and promotions on top. We also have our exclusive $50k Ongame race, which you would probably get some more % from, depending on your rake.

Originally posted by DtotheC
@Keoghh, I would suggest that you check with customer service at your site, however I see no reason why you would have any problems.

The room wont know it is a student bank account. I have a "Graduate" account, which was a student acc beforehand and not experienced any problems.

Obviously not solid guidance there, but I honestly dont think you will experience any problems.

Was thinking more from the banks side, seen as tho its gambling and my friend told me theyre strict on where you can deposit money.

hahahah. WP I am such a idiot. I meant WH. so WH is William hill. I just checked William Hill now there are about 8 tables which is really good. I usually play at 4 tables. So I have to choose between this two poker rooms. I prefer to choose only one poker room to play. I will be more focused. I generate about 1000-1200 rake per month and this is on PLO20 but I am looking to move up to PLO50 which means that the rake that I am going to generate is going to be about 4K per month. Considering this which of this two poker rooms bet fair or william hill is going to be better for me?

i have decided that staying bronze is no longer an option for me, and will make a run for reclaiming my deserved gold status here, also i's like to clear a deposit bonus

i have narrowed my options down to Unibet VS 888 (possibly Party)

i played NL25 on FTP before they used my money on coke and hookers, now i am rebuilding at Stars and am back up to NL10 with grinding from nothing, however i am not tracked by PS, and not eligible for first deposit bonus, wich both suck...

i play as much as i can currently tough only about 1k hands per day since i just had a baby and kynda preoccupied with that happy i am willing to invest in my game by depositing more than my current roll at stars and combine the two to play NL25.
however my volume will increase tremendusly in December to being some 4-6 hours a day minimum, (Icelandic winter + unemployment)

1) wich site is best for clearing first deposit bonus? (playing NL10/25) realisticly clearing at least a good portion of the bonus
2) how is the traffic/field in comparision to other sites
4) the rake strucklture at the micro/low limits

if anyone is willing to take the time to give me some info on this it would be greatly apopreciated happy

thank you

i ask for wich one of these three Party/Unibet/888 ??? however i will listne to any well argued suggestion

i am tough verry reluctant to play iPoker unless given a REAL good reason for doing so, the software is comparable to an 80's arcade game, and the BOT discussion and others do not help them in any way.

thank you verry much whoever is willing to take his time and reccomend me a good tracked room with decent rakeback and good value on feposit bonus

Hi Mongomob,

First up, congrats on the new addition to the family!

Pleased to hear you have decided to take up your gold status as well of course!

Your question is a bit tricky; not because I dont have the information to hand, but more because the mix of preferences is hard to meet at any one room.

Edit - Added more on the bottom of my post here since I saw you added your reluctance to play on iPoker to your post

Originally posted by mongomob
1) wich site is better for clearing first deposit bonus?
2) how is the traffic/field in comparision to other sites
3) wich software is easyer on the eye
4) the rake strucklture at the micro/low limits

For clearing your First Deposit Bonus, you get the best value from William Hill and Titan Poker on the iPoker network. They offer by far the best clearing terms, with about 40-50% rakeback while you are clearing it.

The software isnt amazing on iPoker, but it isnt the worst either. It is certainly usable without causing too much distress.

The traffic there is really good and the competition about average. Stars and Full Tilt both had/have tougher tables.

The rake structure at the low limits sucks in most places to be honest. You can expect a minimum of 5% at all sites and the "weighted contributed" rake system as well. So the tighter you play, the slower you generate rake.

The William Hill VIP system is pretty good and for a gold member you would probably earn about 15-20% flat, plus the FDB and room promotions on top. Our raked hands race just finished on there recently, but it may come up again in the future, which would add another few % if you can cash in.

888 is good, relatively soft and the software was updated recently so it is also pretty nice. The big downside for them is that their VIP system is pretty poor and their FDB doesnt compare to a lot of the other rooms.

Unibet give you a flat 30% rakeback and up to $1000 FDB. The deposit bonus is deducted from your rakeback however. So you wont be getting more than 35-40% from the promos & other bonuses, even when clearing your FDB.

So generally, based on traffic, rakeback from the vip systems and rakeback from the FDB, I would recommend William Hill or Titan.

For software, I would go 888 over Unibet. The tables are also soft, so I think I would play there if I didnt want to go to iPoker.

Hope that helps mate!

Originally posted by keoghh

Originally posted by DtotheC
@Keoghh, I would suggest that you check with customer service at your site, however I see no reason why you would have any problems.

The room wont know it is a student bank account. I have a "Graduate" account, which was a student acc beforehand and not experienced any problems.

Obviously not solid guidance there, but I honestly dont think you will experience any problems.

Was thinking more from the banks side, seen as tho its gambling and my friend told me theyre strict on where you can deposit money.

In truth mate, it will depend on the bank. Being a UK guy myself and having worked for HSBC & Lloyds TSB in the past, I dont foresee it being a problem tbh mate.

It isnt their job to influence what you spend your money on. If you go into debt, then they can offer advice and whack you with charges, fees and interest.

Originally posted by ttetti90
hahahah. WP I am such a idiot. I meant WH. so WH is William hill. I just checked William Hill now there are about 8 tables which is really good. I usually play at 4 tables. So I have to choose between this two poker rooms. I prefer to choose only one poker room to play. I will be more focused. I generate about 1000-1200 rake per month and this is on PLO20 but I am looking to move up to PLO50 which means that the rake that I am going to generate is going to be about 4K per month. Considering this which of this two poker rooms bet fair or william hill is going to be better for me?

I almost just replied with "Well Played"

Ok, if we put aside everything else and look at the value. WH will give you more rakeback % per month and their FDB is better value. Sounds pretty good.

Betfair is likely to be softer, meaning a better win-rate but has lower value VIP system and FDB.

I dont think that the softness of the tables will be such a big factor though considering your playing PLO.

So I would go with WH mate.