Newbie to the site......but thankful!!!!!

[LSUfan1]

First of all, thank you all for the posts. I have read Phil's new book, and Sklansky's HEP. I have sent in my first deposit to UB.com and I am waiting to start the real money play.

1st question: Should I not play at UB, or is party just the house of choice?

2nd question: What should my next book be? I have Doyle's on order right now...should I cancel this order?

Final Question: I generally play 3 tables at the play money tables according to Phil's majority play hands, how should I adjust for the .50/1 tables once I get started?

Thank you in advance!
Cliff Faucheux

[DesertEagle]

In my opinion, you should throw Phil's book in the trash!!

Not that I don't like Phil, but his advice doesn't translate well to online play. Most of his moves are read-dependant, and I didn't find his book helpful at all.

And his top 10 hands??? Go to Party and play $1-2, keep raising with 77 and let me know how that works out for ya... lol...

I've suggested Lee Jones on here a few times, but other posters have disagreed.

I first played at PokerRoom.com when I got started, and I really liked it... At that point I had read Krieger - Hold'em Excellence and Lee Jones - Winning Low-Limit Hold'em. I stuck to the $1-2 tables, and I made $1400 US in my first 6 months.

The play on PokerRoom is slow, but the players are passive, and I found the slow play was good for me, it gave me time to keep track of what was going on...

HOWEVER - If you're just starting out, and looking for a place to play I would suggest Party/Empire. They are the same site, just different skins... and they offer a $100 deposit bonus that's easy to clear (the easiset you'll find)

They also offer a refer a friend bonus, and several of the posters on these boards offer to kick back the full $50 bonus they get when you sign up with their code...

That $150 could really kickstart your play...

UB is the most difficult site I've played ever... even at the $.50-1 limits. Some might say that Paradise is tougher, but I cleared my bonus at Paradise easily and took some $$ off the tables with me.

As for book suggestions, I say read as many book as you can find...

Sklansky's Hold'em Poker For Advanced Players is like the Bible of Poker books... You have to get it at some point... Read it, and read it again... trust me...

good luck at the tables... and let me know if you have any more questions...

[DesertEagle]

Oh yeah, and the bonus you've been offered by UB will take you AGES to clear at the lower levels... I'd estimate it would take 4 or 5 times longer than it would take to clear the bonus at Party or Empire...

[LSUfan1]

I just sent in my first deposit of 50.00. Is there any way for me to transfer the funds without paying someone else to do this? I sent in a cashiers check and it should be coming through soon, as its already been a week.

Would it just be easier to play out my 50 at UB and see how it goes and then switch to Party if my bankroll quickly evaporates?

BTW....big time low roller here! 50 bucks is about my deposit max at this point!

[Ed Miller]

Phil's advice for limit holdem is generally horrible. For now, you should just forget that you read his book, as you won't know how to glean the few valuable nuggets from the overall swamp of wretched advice.

Instead, read and reread the 2+2 books, and participate in this forum. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[DesertEagle]

Do u have a credit card you can use online?

I strongly recommend you make a $500 US deposit at Party in order to get the full bonus. It might require you to show some discipline and not gamble more than you can afford to lose, but the bonus alone is twice your UB bankroll!!

[Inthacup]

Would it just be easier to play out my 50 at UB and see how it goes and then switch to Party if my bankroll quickly evaporates?

You should set up a Neteller account in the time it's taking your cashiers check to clear UB. Then you could withdraw to Neteller and cash in to Party that way. I would do Party first because you can get a refer a friend bonus from them where you get $25 and I get $50 for referring you. You just need to play 125 raked hands to clear the bonus. I have been returning the full $50 back to the players I refer. So for 125 raked games, you can turn $50 into $125 if you break even at the tables.

It's pretty clear the first thing you need to do is build a bankroll. For this reason, I would choose Party first. Send me a PM or an email if you want this.

Cup

[DesertEagle]

Don't get me wrong, I think UB is a great site, but I think the players there are too tough for beginners...

Let me give you an example... Lets say you call from late position with A5s... A common beginner mistake is to flop an Ace, and stick with this hand. If you do this, you'll lose a few bets to AK or AQ... The players on UB will make you pay for this mistake, but the important part is that they won't make the same mistake against you!!

When you've got AK and they've got A5s, they'll let it go if they only flop an A without a flush draw... So they won't give you a chance to earn back the bets you threw off with your A-rag....

On Party however, even if you make the mistake of staying with A5, someone will surely make the same mistake against you a few hands later...

Are you a tight player? If so, you might like UB... some people can't stand all the chasing that goes on at Party, and when you AA gets cracked over and over again by hands that had no business seeing the flop, it can get frustrating...

something to think about anyway....

[LSUfan1]

I will open an account with Netteller, and I would greatly appreciate the payback on that referral.

As far as the credit goes, neither of my cards will let me deposit to casino's....that's why I sent in the cashiers check.

Thanks anyway!

[JohnShaft]

[ QUOTE ]
When you've got AK and they've got A5s, they'll let it go if they only flop an A without a flush draw... So they won't give you a chance to earn back the bets you threw off with your A-rag....

[/ QUOTE ]

DEagle I totally believe this isn't true.
I've played at UB for almost 2 years. Anywhere from .25/.50 to 5/10. So I have a lot of experience of the typical player at UB.

Even at the higher limits you see people seeing the flop with raggy Aces and being happy to bet, and even raise, when an A flops.

Truthfully I don't think the players at UB are all that bad compared to most sites. In fact they probably are stronger, on average, than most sites.
But there are still a LOT of players who don't play well. They see too many flops, chase too much, all the usual mistakes.

The key at UB (hell, anywhere) is knowing the difference between those who will bet with nothing, and those who won't.
There's few what I'd call tight-solid players at UB. Even the ones who seem tight are prone to playing anything at times.

Don't think UB is some unbeatable site with great players. It really isn't. If you're looking for the easiest site to play at UB obviously isn't it.
But any competent player should be able to beat UB's low limit tables given time...
As a beginner it might be best not to start there though (unless you can play tight). That I would agree on...

[ReRaise]

Read HPFAP, then read Inside the Poker Mind by John Feeney. After reading HPFAP, its easy to get crazy with semibluffing. Feeney stresses not semibluffing in situations you will typically encounter at party micro limits.

[crockpot]

dear god, it hurts to see in print that someone who read hellmuth's and sklansky's books has decided to go with hellmuth's advice on how to play hold 'em. if the others haven't gotten through to you yet, hellmuth's hold 'em advice is awful and designed solely to be as simple as possible. anyone who wants to win at hold 'em should put more effort into the game than that.

i personally like both UB and Party. Party has a bigger user base and slightly looser low-limit tables, but UB's software and customer support is a significant upgrade, and UB's low limit tables are quite juicy.

as for book advice, the best i can give you is to forget everything you've learned from hellmuth. assuming you want to stick to low-limit games for now, read Winning Low Limit Hold 'em by Lee Jones and The Complete Book of Hold 'Em Poker by Gary Carson, which are both great for loose games. i have more poker book reviews here (http://www.uiuc.edu/ro/cardclub/books.htm).