My Experience at Hollywood Poker (PokerRoom) thus far

[DavidC]

Hey guys,

I wanted to try to play Hollywood Poker, to take advantage of a decent-looking bonus / rakeback program there. I'm going to chronicle my experience in doing this over the last 24 hours or something like that.

-----------

SETTING UP THE ACCOUNT / RAKEBACK / SELECTING BONUS:

I went to raketherake, followed their link and set up an account. The instructions on the site were:

[ QUOTE ]
Click on the button below and you will be taken to the Hollywood Poker website where you will have to register your
username and email address. By clicking on the sign up button below, you are agreeing to our Terms & Conditions. You
will then receive an email from Hollywood Poker with your full account activation code.


[/ QUOTE ]

When I clicked on the button, we weren't quite at the registration screen yet, so I clicked on "create-an-account" and followed the steps there. Hopefully this didn't just screw me over.

There's three options that you can choose when you make an account, as to which bonus you get (apparently they track the affilliate you used through your cookies). I chose HP1000, which is a $1000 bonus, but it clears at 15x points instead of the $50 bonus which clears at 9x points, according to bonuswhores.

From bonuswhores:

[ QUOTE ]
Points will be awarded in the following manner:
Hold'em, Omaha, 7 Card Stud:
1 point for every raked real money hand where the rake was $1.00 or more. You get 0.5 points for every raked real money hand where the rake was less than $1.00 (but more than $0.50). You do not have to pay rake to earn points, you just need to be dealt cards. If you are sitting out you will not earn any points.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure on the details of the tourney bonus option, as I'm a poor tourney player.

At rake-the-rake, it tells you to click a link to send an email to their team, but I'm using yahoo mail (yeah, I know, it's lame), so I sent an email to Jessica instead.

I sent an email to "jessica raketherake" (avoiding spam here), explaining that I was a new player at the site, giving details, and asking her to forward it to the people who looked after Hollywood. I think I sent the email at something like 5:30pm Eastern to 7:00pm Eastern. At 8am the next day, I hadn't received a response yet... fair enough.

I went to raketherake again at 8am, and hovered my cursor over the link, to see the email address that you're supposed to send to: "newplayer raketherake". Got a response by 10a, from Jessica, at her regular email, quoting the message that I sent to "newplayer". /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I'm not sure what their hours of operation are... there doesn't appear to be any details on raketherake to let you know that sort of thing, but those of you familiar with other affiliates know that the process can be "informal" at times.

She told me someone would contact me in the near future to discuss payment. So far so good on the rakeback front.

---------

SETTING UP THE CLIENT:

I chose to download their client software rather than play the java version.

Now, in order to get any data from this site into pokertracker, you have to go into options->preferences and make sure that you have "enable statistics" checked. I don't know if this is on by default, but I'm a nit, and origianlly thought that this was just for something similar to the stats window on Party, and closed it up to save memory. After a search at pokertracker forums to find out why I couldn't find my DB from Hollywood, I went back and turned on "Enable Statistics", and it worked fine (PT).

I chose to enable the following options: auto-login, disable show menu tool tips, remove private tables, remove play money tables, show stack amount (this is important in nlhe, otherwise you have to guess by looking at a chip stack!?), removed show people, chose wait for big blind and autopost blinds under gameplyer, disabled shortcut keys (so that I wouldn't accidentally make an action), I unclicked popup table on action.

Now... this is a real gripe with their site... If you don't click to pop up their tables, then you can't keep track of when it's your action on a specific table. If you DO make it pop up, then you have to deal with stuff like:

-when you're going through your start-menu at this happens, you loose your place,

-when you're typing something (in player notes or whatever) it starts to get typed out in whatever chat box of the window you just opened. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

... but, at least you don't lose your turns... that's the consolation.

So, I think having the tables pop-up is best, but it does create some problems.

Under the chat options, since i prefer to remove all the stuff and just keep the player chat, and since the player/game is default, I chose to make the player/game chat options mimic the only-player chat options, which will basically make player-chat default. Kinda neat.

Neither PokerAce, nor the old beta of Playerview has compatability with PokerRoom skins... so you're stuck using GT+. When you use GT+, it works, but all the players names are in different areas of the screen than where they're sitting, and you can't drag them around... so basically you're left with either using GT+ and not really liking it, or using PT to periodically update player notes with their stats.

Also, you can't really datamine, from what I've seen... so it can be pretty intimidating at first, sitting at a table "cold".

------

HOW THE SITE WORKS / Interesting stuff you should know:

In order to stop posting your blinds, you right click on your name to uncheck it in a little window that pops up.

If you select SIT-OUT, while in the process of posting your SB, then you will post your SB, sit out, watch the hand get dealt to everyone else, and when you choose to sit back in, to play the rest of your free hands, it will ask you to repost blind+dead! Ouch.

The no-limit tables have really weird limits in the lobby screen: 0.25/0.25. However, when you actually go to that table, it shows you that the sb is 0.15 and the bb is 0.25... You can buy in for between 2.5 and 25. (10bb/100bb).

The site has 5-card draw, same style as Paradise (no joker, one draw of up to 5 cards, no qualifying hand to open, no antes afaik), but with many more tables and players... Kinda cool.

At the 3/6 LHE, the SB is $1.5... VERY cool! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

When you select your seat at a table, you need to choose "ok" rather than "deposit" when buying in. Otherwise it opens the deposit window (makes sense). Also, once you're sitting down, you'll be in gray. This means that you're actually sitting out of the game, and you will be removed eventually, even if you have "wait for my bb / autopost blinds" selcted. You click SIT in, with these options checked, and then it will do this for you (you won't post until your bb). This is basically one step extra than party, but I can't explain to you how frustrating it is to try sitting at 2 tables, watching the button pass you, twice, then getting kicked off teh table, before you figure it out. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

One thing that bothers me about the site is that the auto-action buttons are in different spots than the manual-action buttons... and the manual action buttons are higher. If you're using a monitor that doesn't have 1600*1200, this is irritating. Also, the windows appear tot be large enough that even at that resolution, you will have overlap. So, you should have more overlap than party while multitabling this site.

Also, when you join a waiting list, the tables pop up right away, rather than giving you the option of going there (bonuswhores has this info on their site too).

I'm not sure what the max tables are that you're allowed to play, but at minimum, 4.

-----

RAKE:

Their lowwest limit is 0.15/0.3, which rakes 5% (at each $1) to a max of 1.5, no matter how many players.

Their first 6-max table is at 0.25/0.5, with the same rake structure.

This continues to the 0.5/1 games...

Now, I think that this actually works out to being more expensive than Party's rake structure, over all, because party's average rake is something like 4.77% of the pot at 0.5/1, but it maxes out at $2 at $40... so I'm not sure what % of pots hit $2 rake at party, but they probably charge you a little less to play there.

The 1/2 games have 10-max, 5-max, and 6-max (maybe not), with identical rake structure to the earlier games, except that it's 5%, 0.25 per $5, 1.5 max, again, probably worse than party.

The 2/4 game has 5%, 0.5/$10, max of $3 after 6 players are seated, $2 after 4 players seated. Again, worse than party, I think.

---------------

CLEARING BONUSES:

If the pot is raked less than 0.5, you don't get any points. If it's raked $0.5-$1, you get 0.5 points, more than $1 and you get one point.

Now, I've only played 116 hands. 89 of them have been raked: 77% Average rake was $1.18, about $3.83% of the pot. This was during the daytime... over a small sample size, but so far looks better than party... Howver, I don't know how many points I've accumulated during this time, maybe as few as 45. If that's the case, then I have a LONG ways to go to clear this bonus!

As I pick up some sample size, I'll tell you guys about the table stats and bonus clearing at 2/4 and 3/6.

However, right now it doesn't look very good.

[imported_The Vibesman]

I haven't played on this site, but I thought I'd let you know, I have a rakeback deal w/ raketherake.com on absolute, and they have been great to deal with. This is not an ad or anything.

[DavidC]

[ QUOTE ]
I haven't played on this site, but I thought I'd let you know, I have a rakeback deal w/ raketherake.com on absolute, and they have been great to deal with. This is not an ad or anything.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you very much for that.

Their instructions weren't 100% accurate / thorough, but I think it worked out okay.

Additionally, though it'd be nice to know their hours of operation, their correspondence has been professional. I have no reason to believe that this won't go smoothly.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, though! I appreciate it.

--Dave.

[DavidC]

Two more things:

Also, the patch server (that checks for updates before you can log on, each time you log on), is in need of repair, as frequently I can't connect to it, and then I have to try again in a few moments before logging onto the server. So I can log on, but it takes a while and isn't very convenient.

Also, you have a delay on the net, naturally. I'm pretty sure that party compensates for this: if you haven't responded in time, it pings you to see what your internet delay is before declaring that you've timed out. So, if you put out a request to play at 1 second remaining, but it takes 2 seconds to get there, I THINK your action still counts at party. However, it appears that it doesn't work that way at Hollywood. I've punched in a command and gotten timed out. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

If you wish to join the waitlist for a table, in the lobby screen, select your table, but click the waitlist button at the top of the lobby, rather than opening the table like on party network.

Because of the issues with GT+, it's best to use the big deck, too.

[DavidC]

If you take a note on someone, and click the red x or alt-f4 to close out of it, it doesn't save the note. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Also, I use two monitors, and I have found that if windows are on the second monitor, they will sometimes generate large patches of black across the table, that can cover up your cards if they've already been dealt to you!

This happens most often when you switch between tables... I'm curious if this is something to do with a lack of windows updates or if this is something that happens to most people on pokerroom if they're using many monitors / programs / tables.

---------

The tables are playing more than one hand a minute, so far.

[Burdzthewurd]

I believe you should get 5 points for every $1 you pay in tournament rake like on Pokerroom, but it used to be an amazing 10 points for every $1 in rake /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[titans01]

I run up to 8 windows across 2 screens on the PokerRoom skins without the large patches of black you are talking about so my guess is it's not the site.

[DavidC]

Loaded up Hollywood Poker this morning at maybe 11, there were three 2/4 games going and maybe three 3/6 games. Not enough games! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I played 534 hands, and made 328 "points", for about 0.6177 points per hand.

At this rate, to clear the 1k in bonus, I'd have to play 37313 hands... I would be crazy enough to attempt this, but if you work it out:

At 1 hand per minute, this would take 621 table hours to do... at four tables, that's 155 hours.

However, I'd be credited with something like 10.4 cents per hand in rake, and that would work out to 3891.78 over the course of the bonus. Taking away 1k due to the bonus leaves behind 2891 for me to get a cut of...

So the total bonus would work out to ($722 + 1000) / 155, or about $11.12 per hour.

This is pretty good for such an extended period. Beats the hell out of what I have going at Party (but when the bonus expires party will be competitive again, and in the meantime, most party bonsues, due to software that I'm more comfortable with and better table selection, party be the best option).

However... (and this is going to be the bad part).

-------------------

Comparing Party to Pokerroom (Hollywood poker):

PR: 534 hands, 373 raked (69.85%), went to flop 471 (88.2%), average players on the table: 9.37, saw flop 30.51%, total rake: $490 (3.68% of pot: 3.66 at 2/4 and 3.74 at 3/6), everage pot was $26 at the 2/4 and $36 at 3/6.

At party: 26,785 hands, 54% raked, 90% went to flop, players 8.71, 33% saw flop, total rake 3.42% of pot, average pot was 27.95.

So.. you basically have something like 6% more people seeing the flop at party (33/31 = 1.06ish).

You have no table selection whatsoever. You play in far less short-handed situations at full ring tables, you pay more rake, the pots are smaller, etc.

Basically in every major metric party is a better site.

However, I'm curious about average post-flop aggression. I'm pretty sure it's much higher on this room also.

For some reason, people seem to assume that PFR's have overcards. It's been quite frustrating for me for the past few hours (can you tell?). /images/graemlins/cool.gif

Anyways, thought I'd give people a heads-up on the situation at that site. If you guys do decide to go there, hopefully this will ease hte transition for people who are used to the way party works (the client configuration and all that).

Oh yeah, and it's starting to drive me nuts looking around the table to try to find the GT+ stat tha goes with the guy that just entered the pot. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

If anyone has figured out how to datamine this site, please let me know, and if anyone has figured out how to get a good HUD going for it, please let me know.

[titans01]

You might want to give PowerPlayer.com a try. It's a PokerRoom skin like Hollywood and I just got an email yesterday saying that they are offering a Neteller deposit bonus of 100% up to $1000. It's a 10x Power points per dollar. They don't have much info on it but I emailed them and they said there is no time limit to clear it. I assume that it is released all at once and not in $50 increments like the Hollywood one. Still if a guy had an extra $1000 in his whoring account, this would be a good one to do in between good reload bonuses. It sure beats a Party rakeback deal.

[Hannibal]

Do you think it is faster to clear the bonus at Limit or NL?

I have downloaded the software, and I like some of it and don't like other things about it. The graphics are cool but it is hard to follow the action sometimes. And I was playin in a freeroll there and got AJsuited...went to raise and the table closed...by the time I got back to the table I had folded the hand and the flop came out AJx....so I was a little disappointed.

[TobDog]

If I missed it and you put it in your post, Im sorry, but you are allowed to play 4 or 5 tables max (pokerroom, I play but the software should be the same for all) you can play many more tables by jumping on every waiting list and the tables pop up when a seat is open, I was playing like or 9 a few onths ago clearing a bonus and tried to open another one and the software said I am allowed to only have 4 open, so for clearing bonuses and RB, you can/should still be able to jump on more tables at one time.

oh, does the HP $1000 is that RB + bonus or just a one time bonus? and does it have a time limit, because unless you are a full time player, I would imagine playing that many hands in 30 or 60 days would be quite taxing.

tobdog

[titans01]

I don't know what limits you play but BonusWhores has a new feature that breaks all of this down for you.

http://www.bonuswhores.com/bonus-grid.php

[dbirider16]

[ QUOTE ]
At 1 hand per minute, this would take 621 table hours to do... at four tables, that's 155 hours.
So the total bonus would work out to ($722 + 1000) / 155, or about $11.12 per hour.


[/ QUOTE ]
Hey good write up.
So doing the bonus+rakeback at 2/4 and 3/6 should equal about $3 an hour per table? That doesn't sound to good if you're playing for bonuses.

[RatFink]

Here is a long and painful method to get GameTime+ to work with Pokerroom skins.

Once you do this, it remembers it for future session.


First go to options-preferences and disable avatars. You don't need the characters and you would prefer more screen real estate for GT+ stats.

Now the problem with not being able to drag the stats to the correct location is the Pokerroom software siezes control of the mouse as soon as it enters the table area. So you need to be able to get the mouse on top of the player stat you want to move without Pokerroom thinking you've moved the mouse over its table.

There are two ways. One that is hit and miss is to put your mouse directly over a player stat and then hit ALT-TAB to go to another application, and then ALT-TAB back without moving your mouse.

The other more annoying but definite way to do it is to open an application like Notepad. Resize it and position it so it overlaps the pokerroom game table right at the players stat you want to move. Then go to notepad and click to activate it. Slowly drag your mouse to the edge of notepad and ever so slightly onto the players stats in the GT+ overlay. If you do it right you'll see the GT+ stats drop and you click and drag and position it where you want. Then move the notepad window to overlap the next players stats. And repeat.

You'll find that you may need to make minor adjustments later on, because where you thought was a good placement for stats will cover your cards when you sit in that particular seat.

[Sniper]

Its worth noting that you only have 60 days to clear the 1K bonus.

[DavidC]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you think it is faster to clear the bonus at Limit or NL?

I have downloaded the software, and I like some of it and don't like other things about it. The graphics are cool but it is hard to follow the action sometimes. And I was playin in a freeroll there and got AJsuited...went to raise and the table closed...by the time I got back to the table I had folded the hand and the flop came out AJx....so I was a little disappointed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry man, I normally only play NLHE to blow off steam, so I'm not sure about clearing bonuses using NLHE.

Also, you probably know this, but you should only be upset that you had folded AJ, and not about what happened on the flop...

[DavidC]

[ QUOTE ]
Its worth noting that you only have 60 days to clear the 1K bonus.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I'm goign to try to do it in 30, if I decide to continue, though. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[DavidC]

Titans, thanks for the heads-up, I'll definitely check this out. I'm kinda curious if there's any terms (like: you can't w/d until you're done), or stuff like that. Otherwise this is worth just a quick deposit and withdrawl, to leave it waiting for me. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[DavidC]

Thanks to ratfink and tobdog!

Great suggestion guys.

Also, I've heard that the newwest ver of GT+ let's you drag around despite PR's client. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

(I'm mildly curious if this was told to me by someone using the java version, and therefore not accurate. I haven't tested it yet. I'm also curious if you can still get hand histories in the java version, using a db, or if it's not allowed, due to limitations in java script. /images/graemlins/frown.gif ).

--Dave.

--------------------

I'd also like to note that you have to sit out to get more chips to put on the table... this could result in missing a hand or something like that. Kinda gay!

You don't have to stand up, just sit out of play while you do it. So buy in with a big stack, guys!

[RatFink]

Pokertracker doesn't work with the Java version since it doesn't store your hand histories.

[titans01]

[ QUOTE ]
Titans, thanks for the heads-up, I'll definitely check this out. I'm kinda curious if there's any terms (like: you can't w/d until you're done), or stuff like that. Otherwise this is worth just a quick deposit and withdrawl, to leave it waiting for me. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
No idea if you can do this or not. I would just send them an email and ask them because you will never find it on their site.

[TobDog]

[ QUOTE ]

I'd also like to note that you have to sit out to get more chips to put on the table... this could result in missing a hand or something like that. Kinda gay!

[/ QUOTE ]

If your fast, you can fold and sit out then hit chips, add chips, then sit in, you can do it mid hand, just have to be fast. Also, this site software allows you to remove "extra" $ when adjusting your $, if you hot chips and request $100, your total will be $100 not $100+what was there, not consistant with table stakes rules, but you may as well know what the software allows.

tobdog

[DavidC]

[ QUOTE ]


If your fast, you can fold and sit out then hit chips, add chips, then sit in, you can do it mid hand, just have to be fast. Also, this site software allows you to remove "extra" $ when adjusting your $, if you hot chips and request $100, your total will be $100 not $100+what was there, not consistant with table stakes rules, but you may as well know what the software allows.

tobdog

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I just figured that out... weird.

However, "house rules" are "the rules", and we just adjust to them expertly, so it's not a big deal.

I'm mildly curious if this is permissable in their NLHE tables. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

The notepad thing does work for gt+ movements, but I haven't had 100% success with it, and I've had none at all with trying to alt-table and then move the stats windows...

However, the new ver of GT+ is found here:

link (http://www.pokerdominion.com/viewtopic.php?t=398 )

(Thanks, smartalec!).

and it works beautifully.

--------

Trying something at the NLHE games:

Sat with max buy.

Played some hands and lost some cash. (my blinds, but still...)

Tried rebuying for less than max: didn't work... I couldn't rebuy for less than what I had on the table, nor more than the max buy.

Something neat, though... if you're up money (I got two pair a few hands after this), you can cash out to the max buy at the table, leaving just $25 on a $25 NLHE table, for example. Kinda neat. Actually, I lied... it SAID that you could do that... I just tested it out, and it doesn't let you rebuy with less than your stack.

NLHE slider works fine, and you can type in your bet which is good. But I'm a little afraid of the enter key when I'm doing this... actually enter key doesn't do anything, thank G-d, but it might, if I hadn't enabled the keyboard.

The NLHE table that I sat at was filled with really slow players... it was horrible. Maybe it was just because I was single-tabling that I noticed, but it seemed a lot slower than party's games.

----

OOC, does anyone know why the GT stats always show up in the wrong places?

[DavidC]

A couple more things:

1) If the big blind leaves and the small blind remains at the end of a hand, the small blind becomes teh button, as normal. The person who would have had to post the BB, though, still posts the BB, and there's no SB in the hand. The next hand, the button stays where it is, and two blinds are posted. The next hand, the button moves as normal.

(There's a "dead small blind".)

2) You can't join the waiting list while viewing a table, afaik. An unfortunate thing happens when someone sits in a seat but doesn't "sit in" the game (they buy some chips but don't tell the software to post their blinds, etc.). In the lobby, it appears that the table isn't full, and you can't join the wait list. When you go to the table, the seats are full, but someone is greyed out. It therefore takes longer to get a table. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[silencee]

the bonus looks pretty good from a tournament players standpoint. it's making me give some serious thought to trying this site instead of full tilt as i had planned.

[jrz1972]

Nice report, David. From one nit to another, I appreciate people who pass along all the little details of these sites; most people won't care about most of them, but a lot of people will be interested to know some of them.

I was thinking of signing up for PokerRoom because of the deposit bonuses, but it looks like clearing it would be the poker equivalent of the Bataan death march.

[radek2166]

Anyone have a way to make the graphis not so hard on my eyes. I had a killer headache after 30minutes.

BTW does the bouns count aggainst from MGR?

[uaw420rook]

Ive had one of the worse runs of my life, since I started playing here. NL 25 tables have alot of cold callers, who seem to get very lucky against me. Some of it is my fault by not letting aa or kk go when re-raised after the flop. Lot of money to be made if you know when to fold them. reloading and going to try again tonight. Just cant believe some of the beats im taking. I know the run has to change eventually lol. Also folded a royal yesterday. Guy from early position raises to 2 bucks, I have aj of hearts and fold. Fop is KQ10 hearts. That was enough to put me on tilt. I find it hard to read the names and money amounts of other players at the table. Also Red backed cards on Red table isn't real smart. I like the front page support help. They also respond pretty quickly in the green room. Well that my two cents, and my your luck be better than mine if playing here.

[lefty rosen]

Weak weak and weaker.... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[DavidC]

[ QUOTE ]
Also folded a royal yesterday. Guy from early position raises to 2 bucks, I have aj of hearts and fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

FWIW, this looks like a good fold to me. I'm not sure how many royals I've folded in my life, but I'd estimate it's somewhere between zero and lots. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I too have been running bad at this site, though. I haven't been playing much, though... Over 1,831 hands (at limits between 1/2 and 3/6) I've lost $109, or -1.69bb/100.

Hmm... something weird about PT: If I go into my session notes tab, it says that at 2/4 average pot was 24, but in the summaries tab, it says that it was 27, average saw flop is 30.05 in both tabs.

I've found that red cards on a red table isn't really that hare to deal with, but I've opted to use the four-colour deck, because I want less chance of GT painting over cards and me not being able to read them (this happened before I upgraded GT+ to allow me to move around the stats).

So, one more update on the points front:

1831 hands (sorry about the mix of 1/2 and 3/6, as this is going to produce some "unique" and therefore "useless" results):

1051 points: 0.574 points per hand.

Meaning at 240 hph, you're going to get about 9.76/hr in bonus + rakeback (adjusted for mgr).

-------------

Jessica has been polite enough to respond to my somewhat less-than-subtle hints (Edit: in this thread) about wondering about her team's operating times in a private email (Edit: that she sent me). I'm going to quote a bit of it, since I think it reflects positively on them.

[ QUOTE ]
Hey David,



Hope you are well.



A little bird tells me you'd like to know our opening times. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

We tend to cover about 18 hours a day and this can vary depending on whos on the shift /images/graemlins/wink.gif

But we are usually available between 3am ET to 9pm ET.

Our email policy is simple...if we're in the office we'll get back to you within 15 minutes. Otherwise we'll get to it as soon as we can on our return.

If you don't hear from us for any extended period it will never be because we are ignoring you, more likely that we are in transit (as was the case for your silent period when we were traveling to Scotland).



[/ QUOTE ]

Now, I have gotten a message from them with the application form for method of payment, but I haven't replied to that yet, which is kinda embarassing, since I've been such a nit so far. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

As soon as they see that the poker room has acknowledged that you've stared to pay rake, and they can track you, they send a confirmation, which is pretty neat.

At the top of their form to fill out for rakeback payment info, it clearly states "Forms must be received by 23rd of the month to enable rakeback to be credited for that calendar month.", which is fair.

I asked two questions about their policies just to make sure that they were consistent with other affilliates:

Rakeback is calculated by Calendar month, so if you sign up on the 20th you get about 10 days of rakeback. Amounts less than $50 roll into next month. Standard for the industry I think.

And the accounts department did contact me within 24 hours, as I was told they would.

--Dave.

-------------------

Actually, a few more things about the client software:

1) No swearing filter. Kinda neat. It's like they assume we're adults or something. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

2) Something weird happened. I'm not sure how exactly this happened, but someone must have sat out or something at a weird point during a button move, because I was able to play a free hand in the UTG without posting a blind when I first sat at the table! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Kinda funny.

As long as I don't notice people taking advantage of this all the time, I won't report it, as anything that reduces blinds is good for the tighter players.

-----------

Last night at about 2am eastern (monday evening/tuesday morning), I opened 5 tables, and only one of them was playable (with my style). The rest had vpips between 25 and 20.

Kinda sad, but it was a monday after all. My time of the week selection has been really rotten for this site so far, probably giving it a worse rap than it deserves.

I think Party, by comparison, was reasonably playable during this time, but I'm not sure (it was bonus whoring week there, too).

-------------------

Edit: It seems to have a quite playable 25/50 game going right now, but there's no way that i can play in it! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[DavidC]

Just found out that the DB that the downloadable client uses to store your hand histories (the db that pt uses to import hands), doesn't appear to store opponent stack/sizes, or even your own... so, even for limit play, but mainly for no-limit play, this blows! Stack size is often a big indication of how you should play, and thus, should be a factor in hand analysis.

--Dave.

[DavidC]

2k to 2.5k hands in, playing mostly 2/4 and 3/6, I'm getting totally killed. Actually, I'm only down maybe $100, but it feels like a really difficult game. Much of this is variance, quite a bit of it is tilt (sad, but true, I'm not used to dealing with this, but I'm sure I've tilted several times in the last few days).

Tonight, in the evening (Tuesday, but still evening), while Party was whirring away in bonus whoring mode (Empire: PLAYAUG), it was still better than PokerRoom. At Poker room, it took me a long time to get 4 tables open (1 table only for about 10 minutes). Once i got them open, I had to close a few of them quite quickly, because their VPIP dropped to like 20 (literally 20). So, eventually I was left with one table that was playable at 2/4 and 3/6. Some of the tables were good, but my seat sucked. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

The NLHE game doesn't appear to be too bad, but in the daytime, it's pretty tight and a tad tricky.

I'm almost clear for $100 of bonus, so I'm going to take a peek at how much rakeback I've generated (shooting for $50+ for this month) once I hit that $100 in bonus, and probably stop playing this site soon afterwards.

The only exception that I can think of is if the games in PokerRoom become better on a Friday night than Party games. This would be really weird, but would basically be the sole exception to me not playing this site any longer.

Who knows, though, if I run super-awesome while trying to clear the last bit, I might stick it out for a bit.

Also, something funny: one of the players chatting in the main lobby told the support guy (live chat) that he had just cleared the $1k bonus. The support guy remarked with surprise that he'd never heard of anyone doing that before. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

If I can think of anything else to post about this, I will (just so that it stays in one spot), but I'm probably giving up on this site after tonight...

--Dave.

--------------------------

Does anyone have anything good to say about this site? I'm not really complaining about the beats, but the table conditions are attrocious.

[Dr_Colossus]

Hi David, I opened an account with them over the weekend and have put in about 1,500 hands at the $1 ante $100 NL tables. I opened the account as I read a posted on another forum stating he cleared the bonus in one week at these levels (yeah right) I've only gained 510 points to date so it looks next to impossible to clear it all.
However at the start I was playing the short handed 5 max tables as that is what I'm used to and most suits my game. In general I found the tables very tight and the pots small therefore I wasn't collecting many points. I contacted the initial poster who apparently cleared the bonus in a week and he advised to play the full ring games as the pots were alot larger and you could pick up points without even being in the hand. Since trying that I have collected a larger proportion of points per hand but it is still minimal in comparison with what is needed to clear the full bonus.
One point regarding the site however is that I find it incredibly difficult to mulitable due to the graphics and the way it interchanges between tables. One favourable point however is regarding the tournaments. I played a tournament last night and when a player is all-in and the cards turned over it gives the winning percentages per player. Nice touch that I haven't seen on other sites. It doesn't help however to see that you loose two hands as an 80% favourite followed by a hand as a 60% favourite to knock you out of the game.

[TobDog]

[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone have anything good to say about this site? I'm not really complaining about the beats, but the table conditions are attrocious

[/ QUOTE ]

I have played there on and off for about 2 years, and while I find the software odd at times, I never really thought the games were bad(playing 1-2 to 5-10, mostly 3-6 and under) I logged in last night to see what the games were and there were quite a few 2-4 and 3-6 fulls going all with average pots over $20 and vpip over 25(i know this can change in a hurry) I was going to sign up for the hollywood RB +1000 offer, I figured it would give me enought time to see if I liked it, but if the site has turned into the newer version of what everyone here hates about Absolute(2+2 and rocks whoring off the bonus $) then it probably not worth it. Anyone else add some info, thanks.

todog

[smartalecc5]

I like Pokerroom besides the long time it takes to clear the bonus. I play almost exclusively 2/4 5max there and tables frequently have 2 poor players and average flop seen is usually etween 55%-65%. I 4-table on a 1024x(insert other resolution here) with tons of overlap. Its not that bad - Im used to it.

[DavidC]

Hey there.

I've never witnessed a tourney hand where the % chance of each hand winning is displayed before the cards come out. I don't like this idea for a few reasons:

1) It tells the fish how much they suck (though your equity in a particular section doesn't necessarily dictate correct play) and vividly displays the relative strength of different PF hands.

2) It slows down the game, if you slow down the hand, to actually be able to read these percentages.

----------------------

This site allows you to accumulate points based on whether or not the pot was raked. However, rakeback is an entirely different story!

-------------------

Firstly, there appears to be two different affilliate deals:

The old deal is:
-players are attributed their MGR somehow
-neteller deposits are subject to a 7% charge, which is subtracted from MGR
-bonuses are subtracted from MGR as they're paid (not as they're earned)

The new deal:
-Players are attributed their MGR
-No deposit fees
-Bonuses removed

Because of this, it's actually possible as an affilliate to get a player who generates NEGATIVE rakeback, which is charged against the rakeback of your positive players!!

----------------------------------------

In the new affilliate agreement, players are attributed rake as follows:

At the moment a pot is raked, everyone who is still in the hand gets attributed for an equal amount of rake.

For example, 5 people fold preflop at a 0.5/1 game, 5 people stay in. The pot is raked $0.10, and each of the 5 players is considered to have paid, as an individual, $0.02 in rake.

2 players fold on the flop, the pot goes up to $4. Another $0.10 more is raked, and three players are each attributed for $0.03 more in rake.

This differs from Party in that at party, where the pot is considered to be raked at the end of a hand, but everyone who was dealt cards is considered to have paid an equal rake.

If you're getting an affilliate for this site, it would be wise to ask them which affilliate agreement they have.

---

Now I asked Jessica how rakeback worked at Hollywood, and she gave me the Party definition, but clearly stated that it was the Party definition, so I emailed support and asked them to put me in touch with the affilliate people, requesting information so I could make a decision as to whether or not to become an affilliate.

I have no idea how the old affilliate agreement works, in terms of how rake is determined for each player, and I have no idea whether the people I signed up with are using the old agreement or the new agreement. Clearly, though, it's best to know this ahead of time, or you will get shafted every time you deposit.

Just so you guys know, under the new agreement, I've had something like a 14 vpip (which I hate, but I"m not used to tight games. /images/graemlins/frown.gif):

PT said that I'd paid 197 in rake, total. (Equal per player). Hollywood only considered me to have earned $100 in rake!

Quite a difference.

--Dave.

------------------------------------

In conclusion, there's no f-ing way I'm touching this site again, until I've really gained skills at playing in TA-A games and SH pots, and even then, probably not.

If I were a SH player, or maybe NLHE player, this may not have been a bad bonus to go after, though.

[Hannibal]

[ QUOTE ]
If I were a SH player, or maybe NLHE player, this may not have been a bad bonus to go after, though.

[/ QUOTE ]

What makes you think that NL would make it better to clear? The more I read the more I tend to agree...just wondering what you reasoning was.

[MisterNatural]

Poker Room was where I learned to play, mostly because I used to play on a Mac. Great play money system. The interface is not that bad, it's just that people get used to playing somewhere else. I remember hating playing at Party for the first month or so because PR was so comfortable. I only play there now for a bonus. Here's my system:

1) Play only during peak hours.

2) Get on the waiting lists for all of the 2/4 and 3/6 full tables that have average pots of over $20. If there are plenty of 2/4 pots hitting $30, i'll stay down there since the players are weaker, but a lot of times I have a bunch of 3/6 going. I get 4 tables going. Short handed is faster if that's your game, but it's not really mine so...

3) While playing I have the dialogue box set up so that all I see is chat and and the winning pot size. I am constantly watching the pot sizes of the last few hands. I want to see atleast 75% of the pots hit $20, or I'm leaving when the blind comes around the 1st or second time. $20 is where you get a full credit towards clearing the bonus.

4) There are plenty of tags and rocks so I want lags at the table and I want them on my right, if not, I'm probably leaving. I have the player notes set up so that each color means something to me. Lags get red, fish get yellow, etc. Before I leave a table I try to give everyone a color that represents how they play based on my observations and PT stats. This makes it easy to navigate the lobby next time you play because each player's color is next to their name, a very cool feature.

5) There are many times when Poker Room is just too dead. If I can't get my 4 tables with the conditions as mentioned, I leave and go work off another bonus. If you can't afford to work on multiple bonuses, then it may be a slight negative for you.

6) If you play less that 2/4, it will take a very long time to clear a bonus here. If you play No Limit, it's much harder to clear a bonus here than at Party. At Party the pot only needs to hit $2, at Poker Room, I think it's a $20 pot and you have to play at least .50BB (equivalent of Party 50nl)to hit the $1 rakes, 25BB only rakes a maximum of .50. Basically if you're a nl player, to find the pots that hit over an average of $20, you need to be comfortable playing some high blind tables.

7) Playing 4 tables of 2/4 and 3/6 as described, here are some of my results: 2100 Raked hands took about 22 hours, 1050 raked took 1600 delt hands and 12 hours. So about 100 fully raked per hour. Of the 7 or 8 deposit bonuses i've done, only one was a losing "whoring session", not counting the bonus. Maybe I've run well there, but tight 2+2 play has worked well for me.

8)It's more of a grind than Party but I like it a lot better than Absolute, which I stopped playing once I graduated from 1/2 limit. Now that I'm playing more nl, I might start passing on the reloads at Poker Room until I'm playing at the higher pot size rooms as previously mentioned.

Tip - PR has "hot keys" as all poker sites should have. Since the F1 key will click auto check/fold, I have the side button on my mouse next to my thumb programmed to type the F1 key. This avoids a lot of index finger burn after those long sessions, and you don't need to run AutoHotKey, etc. like at Party.

[DavidC]

Wow! Thanks a lot for your input here, man.

[DavidC]

bumpy, I seem to see poker-room and hollywood posts too much.

Also, this thread needs to be updated in accordance with pokerroom's new rake schedule and bonus point system.

If a mod would like to edit the OP with:

"Edit: This thread needs to be updated in accordance with pokerroom's new rake schedule and bonus point system."

That would be sweet.

[big show]

Absolutely. I am working on clearing the 10K bonus on Hollywood. Signed up thru bonuswhores. I lost all my data due to hard drive crash but I remember making $50 every three hours of play. 4-6 tables at a time.

[NotMitch]

Am I nuts or did the Hollywood $10k Bonus just go from 15x to 20x?

[rusellmj]

A quick check of BW.com confirms this is the case. I was contemplating this but now forget it.

[NotMitch]

[ QUOTE ]
A quick check of BW.com confirms this is the case. I was contemplating this but now forget it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Im trying the $1k bonus instead.