Tag Archives: full tilt

Are Poker Players Cool Or Just Nerds? Here’s One That’s Both

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Do you think poker players are cool or nerds? It’s not always easy to tell.

Back in the day they most definitely had a reputation for being cool, and this was also part of the essential bluff. Remember the scene in Cool Hand Luke, where the eponymous character keeps repeating “Kick a buck”? Paul Newman was undeniably cool as a cucumber because he simply didn’t care whether he won or lost. But he won anyway, this was after all an American movie where the cool, good-looking guy wins. He would undoubtedly have “got the gal” too, but it was a prison movie.

Since poker has become more popular over the last ten years or so, with the advent of major online tournaments, you can’t help but think that many players are trying a bit too hard to be cool, and failing very badly.

It seems essential to wear any combination of the following at a poker table: a hoodie, sunglasses, a Stetson hat, a baseball cap (preferably styled back to front), a beanie hat, and something a bit wacky to make you stand out from the rest. It’s also essential to try and look mean and cool, carefully weighing the possibilities of everything about the game.
Now some of these players are real, but others are most definitely nerds who are trying way too hard. Many also look distinctly unhealthy and, consequently, wear very baggy tops. It’s almost as if they’ve spent too long sitting in chairs in darkened smoke-filled rooms…

In the coolness stakes though you quickly get to sort the wheat from the chaff if you watch any of these poker tournaments online, but this isn’t always about who wins. You can be a genuine nerd and still be successful. In fact, it probably helps. In real life, the game of poker isn’t always won by the “Cool Hand Luke” character, but by the nerd who calls his bluff on a mathematical formulaic basis and who is blissfully unaware of whether he or she is cool or not.

Some of the best players today seem to combine these two types of personality, and refreshingly there are an increasing number of female players. UK player Sinem Melin (interestingly named ‘Sin’ for short) was recently featured in The Independent having been successful in getting Full Tilt Poker sponsorship.

Melin is certainly no nerd, but nor does she try too hard to be cool either. She reached the final tables of both the UKIPT Brighton Main Event in 2011 and the GUKPT London Main Event last year. She signed on with Full Tilt as an ambassador in the summer of 2013 along with Ben Jenkins, Martins Adeniya and Ireland’s Dermot Blain.

Melin has explained how her down-to-earth personality actually helps her game as it gains the opponents’ trust, which means she can get away with more bluffs. This in itself is sort of cool by not trying to be cool, which is doubly confusing!

 

French Investor Could Save Full Tilt

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Full Tilt has said it has received an offer to buy it from French investment company Bernard Tapie. The deal could mean more than $300 million currently owed to players could be paid back.

However the deal will only happen if the company can resolve its legal problems with the US government.

The investor Bernard Tapie is best well-known for owning German sportswear company Adidas for a few years in the 1990s
In June the poker world was stunned when Full Tilt was shutdown worldwide after it had its channel island gambling licence suspended. Federal prosecutors accused Full Tilt of being a giant Ponzi scheme.

This was especially shocking as the site is predominantly owned by some of the most famous poker players in the world including Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer.

The site is alleged to have paid $444 million in players money to board members leaving it owing far more money than it has.

Full Tilt was first sued by the US government in April. Although initially Full Tilt argued that players accounts were segregated from operating activities. It has subsequently been discovered that they were drained regularly.

POKER SHUT DOWN – UPDATE

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On Wednesday there was some good news for online poker players following the shutdown last Friday. The two biggest sites in the US, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, came to an agreement with the United States Attorney Office for the Southern District of New York. The deal means the sites get there domains back but US players will still not be allowed to play. However the agreement means that the sites are once again open for all non-US players.

Although unable to play, many US players believe this is an important first step to getting their money back. This was affirmed by FullTilt.

‘The agreement represents an important first step towards returning funds to U.S. players because it allows Full Tilt Poker to utilize its domain to facilitate the withdrawal of player funds. But, unfortunately, there remain significant practical and legal impediments to returning funds to players in the immediate future.’

Since the shutdown, poker players have exerted a substantial amount of pressure on US politicians and many believe this is the reason for the swift agreement. Well known player Andrew Robl tweeted, ‘Part of the reason for swift return of the domains is the huge public outcry. call/email your senators etc’

We can now be hopeful that US account holders will receive their money back in the future at some point.

In a statement the US attorney for the Southern District of New York stated, ‘this Office expects the companies to return the money that U.S. players entrusted to them, and we will work with the poker companies to facilitate the return of funds to players, as today’s agreements with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker as today’s agreement demonstrates.’

See the 2+2 thread below for the poker communities reaction to the shutdown in MS Paint form!

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/mspaint-online-poker-players-before-after-1023686/

 

Where is the Best Site to Play Online Poker?

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 A Review of All the Major Online Poker Sites.

I’ve now been playing online poker for many years and I’ve played at all the major sites at some point or another. For many years I’ve been trying to find the perfect site to play at. There are so many now that it can be very difficult to find the right one. The problem with the current poker site review sites is that they are rarely independent, even if they give the facade that they are, most of them are paid some sort of fee when they get people to sign up to a certain site. So here is a genuinely independent guide from someone who knows what you really want.

The first point to start with is that wherever you play you should be looking for rakeback. What is rakeback? Poker sites take a small amount of money usually 5% out of every pot you play online. This is known as rake. If you sign up to a poker site through a rakeback scheme you will receive some of the rake you pay to the poker site back. If you go direct to a poker sites own site and download the software you won’t get rakeback. It may not sound like much but rakeback adds up very quickly, even a casual player should look to take advantage of it. You should also note that if you have signed up to a poker site before you will not be able to receive rakeback from them.

Unfortunately some of the main poker sites don’t offer rakeback. Most notably the ipoker network and pokerstars do not. Pokerstars does however offer a very good VIP system which if you play enough comes to a similar amount to rakeback. In most cases it is not quite as good as other sites rakeback schemes but some players may feel the other benefits of the site outweigh this. One very large site which does offer rakeback is FullTilt. See the table at the bottom of the article for details on other poker rooms.

So what else do you want from your pokersite. Well I would put my priorities in this order.

  1. Safety and Security
  2. Player Traffic
  3. Good Software
  4. A Good Bonus Scheme
  5. Good player support and withdrawals
  6. Weaker Players

Safety and Security

You will find most safety with a large respected site. There is almost no chance they will go bust. Moreover the larger sites invest a fortune on security. For this reason I would not recommend putting money on one of the smaller sites. Very secure sites are Pokerstars, FullTilt, the Ipoker network and party poker. Avoid the Cereus network comprising Absolute and Ultimate Bet poker. Both sites have been involved in major scandals in the past. They are both owned by the same company.

Player Traffic

Having enough players, tournaments and games of the type you want is vital for any poker room. You don’t want to be waiting around for an hour for the tournament you want to play in to begin or for a cash game place to become available. Once again bigger is better. The larger the poker site the more different types of poker and tournaments are available. In my experience both poker stars and full tilt are excellent in this regard. You will find more games and players on poker stars than anywhere else. Full Tilt is also very good and experienced players may want to play on their new rush poker games which allows players to play very quickly. For all information on poker traffic see this excellent website. http://www.pokerscout.com/

Good Software

Sorry to sound repetitive but once again I would argue that both Full Tilt and Poker Stars have the best software of all the poker sites. Poker Stars is very clean and easy to navigate, the layout of the tables is simple and effective. Personally however I rate the Full Tilt software far above any other site. You can tell the site was designed by poker players. Everything has been thought of from the position of the button to the way you drag in the chips when you win a pot. I also really enjoy the fun and numerous avatars available. Casual players may enjoy the unique PKR site. Players take control of a Sims style 3d character whilst they play. You can perform chip tricks, customize your character and display various attitudes towards the other players. It won’t be for everyone, particularly those players who wish to play multiple tables at once. Personally I do not particularly enjoy the ipoker or party poker software (although party poker is much better since it was updated a while ago). I would still argue it is the consensus amongst most players that these sites and other sites lag behind the main two when it comes to software.

Bonuses   

Unfortunately bonuses can be very complicated. Whilst the headline figure may look good one often has to be careful of the small print. Things to be aware of are the number of days you have available to work off the bonus. Casual players need to be careful of this or you may end up losing your bonus if you don’t play for a month or so. The other thing to be aware of is how quickly your bonus gets paid back. You can’t go wrong with the Full Tilt 100% bonus up to $600. I have done this successfully in the past. I see poker stars have now brought in a similar bonus scheme. If you look a little further out you will tend to find some better deals but again be careful of the small print. There are some good deals to be had on the boss media network through the likes of poker heaven and paradise poker (200% up to €1000). I see PKR also has an attractive bonus on at the moment (up to 100% on $2000).

Good Support and Withdrawals

Without any doubt the best support amongst all the poker sites is to be found with pokerstars. In the few times I have needed to contact them they have been phenomenally quick and helpful. Friends of mine have had very similar experiences. With all the sites I have dealt with I have never had any problems with withdrawals. I have usually used moneybookers to withdraw which I have always found fairly easy. It can sometimes be difficult to withdraw large amounts. However this tends to be the same across every site. In most case you can come to an agreement with a site or just withdraw in stages.

Weaker Players

In my experience the most difficult site to play on is Full Tilt. It tends to play a level above other sites. The very best players tend to end up on Full Tilt and this tends to ultimately filter down to the lower levels. Poker Stars also tends to be a much harder site than the average particularly for cash games, although I have always found tournaments to be reasonably soft. For some reason the European sites (ongamenet and party poker have always tended to be softer in my and others experience.) PKR is also especially soft since it is made up of mostly casual players.

Conclusion

Which poker site is right for you will depend very much on what you rank as your priorities. As I mentioned at the start you should be looking for rakeback and good bonus to start with whatever you want.

Remember: US Players can only play on pokerstars, full tilt, cereus, cake and some smaller sites I wouldn’t recommend.

For the casual player perhaps just starting a bit of online poker I would recommend FullTilt you can get a decent rakeback and bonus as well as their great software, strong support and a wide range of different games to play. The slight downside is the tougher players, but if you’re playing casually at the lower limits this won’t be very noticeable. Moreover casual players are probably more likely to play more tournaments in which case I wouldn’t worry too much about player skill levels as they will always be reasonably weak. Some casual players may prefer PKR which also has decent rakeback and bonus schemes. You will struggle to play multiple tables but the players will be weaker.

If safety and support are your top priorities the best site is definitely pokerstars. The only real problem I have with poker stars is that you lose out a bit on the rakeback.

For the regular player looking to make a decent profit I’m going to recommend a site on the boss media network. The combination of weak players, decent traffic and good rakeback and bonuses make it a great place to rack up the profits. The only problem for me is the software. A similarly decent option is the entraction network where you may achieve slightly higher rakeback. If software is really crucial for you then stars or full tilt are still excellent options. Whilst you won’t be as profitable on these sites you will learn faster against tougher opponents.

Thanks for reading the article and I hope you found it helpful. Please note that the scores in the table below don’t include a rakeback score and I have played on all the sites in the table below. Please leave any of your own experiences in the comments below.

This site is one of the best for rakeback and bonuses but don’t be afraid to look around.

http://www.raketherake.com

Boss Media – Paradise Poker, Poker Heaven, InterPoker, Fortune Poker, Virgin Poker, Parabet, OPoker

Cake Poker Network- Cake, Doyles Room, Juicy Stakes, Victory Poker, Power, Red Star

Cereus Poker Network – Absolute, Ultimate Bet

Entraction Network – NoiQ Poker, Devilfish Poker, PokerMambo

OnGame Network – Betfair, EuroBet, Betsafe, Hollywood, Tower Gaming, Red Kings

Ipoker Network – WilliamHill, Titan, VC

Column1 Rakeback Software Support Traffic Safety Weaker Players Bonuses Total
Poker Stars VIP 9 10 10 10 5 8 52
FullTiltPoker 27% 10 8 9 10 4 8 49
PKR 33% 7 7 6 8 10 9 47
Boss Media Network 30% 5 6 6 9 9 10 45
Party Poker VIP 6 7 8 9 8 7 45
OnGameNetwork 30% 6 7 7 8 8 8 44
Ipoker network VIP 5 7 8 9 6 8 43
Entraction Network 30-45% 6 7 5 8 7 9 42
Cake Network 30% 4 6 4 7 7 6 34
Cereus Network VIP N/A N/A N/A 0 N/A N/A 0