Which Site?
 

Flamers, forgive me. I'm sure this is getting to be an odious question, but... I'm wondering which site to recommend to a friend who's looking to make a deposit online. He's played on Stars occasionally, but seems to dislike the frequency of the bad beats so he's searching for a new site. He plays anywhere from .25-.50 NL ring games to $5 SNGs. He occasionally likes to dabble in non-hold 'em games, so game variety is a plus. Also, he has a dial-up connection and is worried about a site that doesn't support that as much. Any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated... Thanks guys.

Re: Which Site?
 

Stars is not the cause of the bad beats, poker is.

Every other site will have exactly the same beats.

Tell "your friend" to remain at Stars due to their snazzy new VIP program. Party is also a good site, but only due to the volume of bad players (which won't be much help to your friend considering he probably is one of them).

Re: Which Site?
 

I'm guessing your the friend, but I prefer party to stars. For 5 dollar sng's pacific is cool. their tourneys in general are good

Re: Which Site?
 

First, the big sites are all fair. As you learn more about the game, you will understand that variance is a huge part of poker. That said, I'd refer someone to Stars because that's were I started playing and were I won my first couple K. It also has the best micro-limits on the net. I'm sure you'll hear a lot of people say Party, but I would never refer anyone there.

Re: Which Site?
 

Thanks for the confidence, guys, but I am NOT the friend... I enjoy Stars just fine, just trying to do a (real) friend a service here...

Re: Which Site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
He's played on Stars occasionally, but seems to dislike the frequency of the bad beats so he's searching for a new site.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have had a surprising bad luck streak on Stars for about 14 months. I'm sure it's just variance though. Or maybe not.

I think your friend is right to look elsewhere.

Re: Which Site?
 

If micros are his thing, he should stick with stars.

Except for the begginners tables, there's nothing lower than .5/1 on party. Also, he'd be paying a 20% vig on $5 sngs.

Re: Which Site?
 

How bout Ultimate Bet? My husband plays lots of low limit there, they have good game selection, good bonuses and I think the refer-a-friend is good too.

Plus if he downloads Ultimate Buddy, he can watch for when Phil Helmuth gets on, hahahaha! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]


-S&SGW

Re: Which Site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
He's played on Stars occasionally, but seems to dislike the frequency of the bad beats so he's searching for a new site.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have had a surprising bad luck streak on Stars for about 14 months. I'm sure it's just variance though. Or maybe not.

I think your friend is right to look elsewhere.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually I've changed my mind. Everyone how reads this should stay the hell away from stars especially if you play 3/6 or 5/10 6m.

Re: Which Site?
 

I probably should chime in here. I am indeed "the friend", and my big beef with stars is that I think the quality of play there is by far worse than anywhere else. Ive played at party, stars, royal vegas, and pokerroom. I like the options stars gives you, but I think all these newbies see the advertisements on espn and what not, and qucikly jump to stars. My problem with stars isnt the poker-initiated bad beats, its the pricks who call preflop with j-7 offsuit after I quintuple the big blind with KK, and then get beat. Thats my main problem, but I've since moved to full tilt, and I haven't had much problems yet.

Re: Which Site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I probably should chime in here. I am indeed "the friend", and my big beef with stars is that I think the quality of play there is by far worse than anywhere else. Ive played at party, stars, royal vegas, and pokerroom. I like the options stars gives you, but I think all these newbies see the advertisements on espn and what not, and qucikly jump to stars. My problem with stars isnt the poker-initiated bad beats, its the pricks who call preflop with j-7 offsuit after I quintuple the big blind with KK, and then get beat. Thats my main problem, but I've since moved to full tilt, and I haven't had much problems yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Move up limits then. I'm sure the people playing 1000NL on stars aren't calling many raises with J7o. You should do great.

Re: Which Site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I probably should chime in here. I am indeed "the friend", and my big beef with stars is that I think the quality of play there is by far worse than anywhere else. Ive played at party, stars, royal vegas, and pokerroom. I like the options stars gives you, but I think all these newbies see the advertisements on espn and what not, and qucikly jump to stars. My problem with stars isnt the poker-initiated bad beats, its the pricks who call preflop with j-7 offsuit after I quintuple the big blind with KK, and then get beat. Thats my main problem, but I've since moved to full tilt, and I haven't had much problems yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

you have a fundamental miusunderstanding of poker.

Re: Which Site?
 

Why do you hate money?

Re: Which Site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I probably should chime in here. I am indeed "the friend", and my big beef with stars is that I think the quality of play there is by far worse than anywhere else. Ive played at party, stars, royal vegas, and pokerroom. I like the options stars gives you, but I think all these newbies see the advertisements on espn and what not, and qucikly jump to stars. My problem with stars isnt the poker-initiated bad beats, its the pricks who call preflop with j-7 offsuit after I quintuple the big blind with KK, and then get beat. Thats my main problem, but I've since moved to full tilt, and I haven't had much problems yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Learn more about poker. Don't worry about which site. BTW, I am not trying to be condescending. If you want to take it that way, so be it.

Re: Which Site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I am indeed "the friend", and my big beef with stars is that I think the quality of play there is by far worse than anywhere else.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure if you understand poker. You should be looking to play with the weakest opposition possible. Yes, it opens the possibility for more bad beats, but over the long run you win the most when the ability gap between you and your opponents is the greatest.

If you pounded with KK against J7, you did the right thing. Whether you won the pot or not doesn't matter.

BTW, Stars has a reputation of having players that are somewhat tougher than at Party or anywhere else.

Re: Which Site?
 

For a wide range of low stake Ring games and SnG's I would recommend Stars, UB or the Prima network.

I would absolutely get PokerTracker + PAHUD asap as well.

Contrary to what some of the posters seem to be saying you don't necessarily have to play at the site with the best maximum income potential when you are learning - so long as your bankroll is growing it is more important to play some poker against players that let you see some flops and don;t bet every 2nd pair like it's a set - sure bear-hunts can be fun are are very lucrative but hardly require that much in the way of poker skills esp. at low-limits. You should play different styles and at different flavors of table to see how the game works.

UB and Stars have some of the stronger low stake players on the Net, but they are still good places to start.

Re: Which Site?
 

Back when I was too young to legally play I played at UB's play money tables. I played there for a month or two. Reading super systems helped out a lot I went from 1k in play chips to 3 million in about a month. This gave me the confidence and set me on the right track of playing agresive and semi-tight. You dont need to lose thousands to learn poker. I was a winning player from the start altough I got very lucky that I did not lose my 100 BB roll since I had no clue about roll managment or any of that boring stuff they dont teach on ESPN. So keep learning and you will start winning!

Re: Which Site?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I probably should chime in here. I am indeed "the friend", and my big beef with stars is that I think the quality of play there is by far worse than anywhere else. Ive played at party, stars, royal vegas, and pokerroom. I like the options stars gives you, but I think all these newbies see the advertisements on espn and what not, and qucikly jump to stars. My problem with stars isnt the poker-initiated bad beats, its the pricks who call preflop with j-7 offsuit after I quintuple the big blind with KK, and then get beat. Thats my main problem, but I've since moved to full tilt, and I haven't had much problems yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

what was the guys screenname? does he still play at stars? I heart him.