Party Poker Bad Beats

[Slacker13]

I have been playing for only three months, live in Florida so the only way I can play is on a cruise ship which is hard because it leaves at a set time and my schedule is not so flexible at the moment, or I can play online, which I play pretty much everyday. In my three months I have entered B&M three big tournaments where I have placed 4th & 8th in two of them, so I feel my play is pretty good at the moment and I am constantly studying the game. I play at Party Poker which is going to end soon because I am starting to feel that by playing on Party Poker it is effecting my tournament play in a negative way. I have seen and have had more bad beats than I even want to remember. Played a multi table $30+3 tourny Monday, over 1000 people involved, my first 5 playable hands were QQ, AKs, AKo, KK, 10 10, all of which were either folded or beaten by some fool holding drawing to a 36o or similar. I am a fairly aggressive player, if I raise pre flop I come out betting after flop whether the cards hit me or not and it is virtualy impossible to get someone to fold in these games. Am I missing something here? Bad beats are a part of the game, but in reality do you really see this many bad beats in B&M rooms? It's obvious I need to find a different place to play online, any suggestions would help. Thanks for listening.

[MuckMuck]

Well if you cant get anyone to fold, maybe you should adjust your game in the early stages where you will run into these calling station "SLOBS." Maybe you can be a little less aggressive after the flop or raise less preflop? Or maybe just get away from Party because their tournies arent for you? Pokerstars will start you with more chips(1,500), there's less "morons"(which isnt necessarily good), and you can probably play a more aggressive style and have more success there. Just some thoughts.

lata,
Mike A.

[pokerlover]

Is this your name on pokerstars with a picture of Beatlejuice from Stern?

[CrisBrown]

Hi Slacker,

I'm going to second MuckMuck's recommendation that you move to PokerStars.

Basically, if you believe you are more skillful than most of your opponents, you would like to see more hands played over the course of a tournament. With more decisions to be made, your skill advantage will apply more often, and give you a greater cumulative edge over a weaker player.

At PartyPoker you start with only T800. At UltimateBet you start with T1000. At PokerStars you start with T1500. The extra chips mean more hands (on average) over the course of a tournament, and a greater advantage to the more skillful player.

To the UB players, yes, I know the initial blinds are lower at UB (5/10 vs. 10/20 at PSO), and they escalate slower, so in theory that offsets the fewer initial chips. However, UB has a "Bet Pot" button, which many players seem to use with reckless abandon whenever they have a decent hand, so the play tends to be more aggressive, and that reduces the number of hands played.

All things considered, I think the PokerStars structure gives the best advantage to skillful players. So, if you believe you are a skillful player with a decision-making edge over most of your opponents, you should play there.

Cris

[MuckMuck]

yes that would be yours truly

[pokerlover]

I have played with you several times. I respect your play. Nice to have you on this forum.

[AliasMrJones]

I, too, like to be aggresive post-flop after a pre-flop raise. But, in a Party tourney, you have to adjust early for the Party crowd. They are used to the low limit Party games where bluffing is mostly worthless and people will call you down with all kinds of garbage that may end up beating you.

I start out playing tight and playing it cool if the flop doesn't hit me even after a raise. I may test the waters with only 1 or 2 others in the pot after my raise and see if I can get them to fold early and then play accordingly. If not, for about the first hour I just hunker down and play tight and let the Party crowd bust out. If I hit the flop I get aggressive, but if I miss I check/fold. At a certain point the crazy callers will be mostly gone and you can start to get aggressive and steal and bluff effectively. The key is not taking chances early and surviving until about half the field is gone, usually around the first break.

[MuckMuck]

Thank you, it's nice to get some feedback and throw out/hear some different opinions. Who are you at Stars...I have a pretty good memory.