Where to play online

It seems like most people play on poker stars here. I play on full tilt, and Keith plays on sportsbook. We have a ps account and are thinking about funding it - what do you guys think of poker stars? If you've played both, which do you like better (ps or ftp) and why? I know when I see terrible play and/or someone going runner, runner or HUGE suckouts, people always say it's worse on poker stars (sometimes I have no clue how it could possibly be worse).


<---- misses Party Poker *sigh*.

I like the interface of PS over FTP. I started playing FTP, but closed my account within a few weeks, I just didn't like playing there. The free games on PS are pure donkfests, but are easy to build huge stacks to allow you to move up to better tables. The cheap cash games aren't as bad as the free games as far as suck-outs, but they still do exist. I'm curently working on building my cash stack to work up to higher limits. Been sticking to .02/.05 ring games and $1 tourneys, and have been able to grow my bankroll by about 3 fold in under a week ($5 to $15, nothing huge), but got sloppy and dropped to only 2 fold ($10) lastnight.

I'm just comfortable playing at PS, that I haven't felt a need to play anywhere else. Comfort in the familiar, I guess. PS after a while starts to get easier to spot the chasers and the spots where you have a high chance of getting "runnered."

I used to like FTP the best, I like the interface, the way the site looks, and the action but that has changed. I actually was sending e-mails to FTP telling them that if they added Triple Draw to thier games selection I would have no need to play anywhere else (this was a few years ago when only UB had Triple Draw). Now I really could care less for the site. Just the overall ebb and flow of everything on that site is kind of off for me, I can't really explain it. When I was writing those e-mails to ftp I did not like pokerstars at all but that was mainly because my time there was somewhat limited, now I really dont play anywhere else unless a) there is some special tournament or b) it is some other game stars doesn't spread (Chinese poker, Backgammon). I would say the moment stars added Triple Draw and HORSE (when I started playng there more frequently) it became my favorite site and I have had no reason to look back.

Anytime someone asks me where to play I always say Pokerstars. The action is unparralelled litterally anywhere in the world, and the interface works very well. They also have great customer service, that is if you ever encounter a problem. Also Full Tilt is prone to crashing. I have personally had 15-20 times over the years where I try to login to ftp and I cannot log on. I go to the forums online and realize that I am not the only one kicked out. The only time I have had stars go down was one time about a year ago and it was announced ahead of time that the servers were going to be down for a few minutes. it was down for less time then expected and right back up on time.

Really the only bad thing about Full Tilt is that the site has crashed periodically and I can't remember one time Pokerstars did. I still just prefer Pokerstars. Unmatched action, the site doesn't crash, great game selection, more tourenys that anyone could ever possibly ask for, and great customer service. I am all about Pokerstars.


Also side note ----

About people compaining about runner runner and crap like that I say stop whining. it has nothing to do with stars RNG it has everything to do with stars simply having more players therefore more complainers. It is the same on any site, it is not that you are being beaten any worse than the next guy, it is that you are playing more hands alltogether and you run through bad spots seemingly more often. It isn't only you getting rundown on occasion, others get run down as well (including whoever just laid the bad beat on you) and every now and then you are doing the running down. It all levels out. The bottom line is that people forget that poker is gambling, nothing is set in stone until that last card hits the felt. There is a lot of luck in this game we play. People who blame the sites for thier misfortunes have a HUGE leak in thier game. They forget that poker has a huge element of luck. Even if you are a 10,000/1 favorite, there is still one cahnce in that 10,000 that you might lose, and it can and will happen.

PoWdA wrote:Also side note ----

About people compaining about runner runner and crap like that I say stop whining. it has nothing to do with stars RNG it has everything to do with stars simply having more players therefore more complainers. It is the same on any site, it is not that you are being beaten any worse than the next guy, it is that you are playing more hands alltogether and you run through bad spots seemingly more often. It isn't only you getting rundown on occasion, others get run down as well (including whoever just laid the bad beat on you) and every now and then you are doing the running down. It all levels out. The bottom line is that people forget that poker is gambling, nothing is set in stone until that last card hits the felt. There is a lot of luck in this game we play. People who blame the sites for thier misfortunes have a HUGE leak in thier game. They forget that poker has a huge element of luck. Even if you are a 10,000/1 favorite, there is still one cahnce in that 10,000 that you might lose, and it can and will happen.

Well said. It's easy to remember you are seeing 2-3 times more hands online than a live game (5 table tourneys online last less than 2.5 hours typically). Pokerstars is a very fast paced game. If you don't act within 15 seconds, the computer will put a clock on you. The other players really start to bash anyone who repeatedly has a clock called on them, so there is also a bit of "self-governing" as far as the pace of the game.

I honestly don't feel like I'm run down very often. Most of the time when I am run-down, I simply shrug it off because I knew I had my chips on the table when I had the better cards and will win that hand several more times down the road before I'm beat again. The biggest cause of getting run-down is your opponent. There are alot of players online (again due to the shear size of the site and games being played) who simply play the luck side of things (or "hunches"), and hit. I've seen players play crap cards like 7-4 and J-7 because it's their "lucky hand," and surprisingly when it does hit, it can cash big. Typical poker: short term gain, long term loss.