The Switch From Pokerstars to Party.... (no hand)
 

I know this isn't the right forum for this, but since this is where I regularly post, and I know I have some fellow pokerstars players here, I thought I'd indulge.

I switched because I wanted to use Gametime with live updating. What an amazing program.

Most importantly, there is a marked difference in the quality of the players (I play $25NL). It may be too short term to be statistically significant, but in the short weekend, it seems quite different.

DIFFERENCES-
*Much looser. I couldn't believe I was at a table where multiple players were seeing over %70 of all hands. You really don't see that so often at Pokerstars. Furthermore, I had players calling raises with 2-5os. There are fish at PS, but not quite as many.
* They WILL pay you off. If you hit a set, they'll call you with inside straight draws. I bet $50 into an $18 pot and got called by top pair. You just don't get that as much, even at $25NL on PS.
* This may be a product of the blind change, but the standard raise for many seems much higher. So many people open with $2 (8xbb) (as opposed to PS where 3-5bb seems standard). At many tables, this makes it more difficult to play speculative hands since many of them have 1/2 the buy in giving poor pot odds for more speculative hands.
*a lot more bluffing. Really, terribly bad bluffing.
*Less People seem to be able to read hands. On The river, there's a pair on the board, someone raises, someone else reraises... 2 other people call... and none of the callers can see the reraiser has a full house.
* The pots are larger (on average). People have larger pf raises, and there's much more (misplaced) aggression, the pots get larger.
* A lot more all ins. People seem to push a hell of a lot more. On less then premium hands too.
* players seem to have LESS ability to let go of a hand. People can't lay down AK... even with nothing.
THE BAD
*I don't care for the interface as much. You have to type in your bet since I find the slider awkward.
*no player pictures. (the photos make it easier to remember players)
*** No where does it say the current total in the pot. I find this odd. If you want to figure out pot odds, you have to add up everyone's bets yourself.

Last note... Bless you Party/pokertracker. I'm on one table with (autorated players) 2 fishes, 1 calling station and a bunch of tight passives (when they raise... I fold. Its easy). I've been averaging 185bb per 100. ALMOST ALL OF IT FROM THE SAME 3 PEOPLE. After 2 hours, they haven't changed the habits one iota.

See you regulars at the tables!

Re: The Switch From Pokerstars to Party.... (no hand)
 

[ QUOTE ]
I know this isn't the right forum for this, but since this is where I regularly post, and I know I have some fellow pokerstars players here, I thought I'd indulge.

I switched because I wanted to use Gametime with live updating. What an amazing program.

Most importantly, there is a marked difference in the quality of the players (I play $25NL). It may be too short term to be statistically significant, but in the short weekend, it seems quite different.

DIFFERENCES-
*Much looser. I couldn't believe I was at a table where multiple players were seeing over %70 of all hands. You really don't see that so often at Pokerstars. Furthermore, I had players calling raises with 2-5os. There are fish at PS, but not quite as many.
* They WILL pay you off. If you hit a set, they'll call you with inside straight draws. I bet $50 into an $18 pot and got called by top pair. You just don't get that as much, even at $25NL on PS.
* This may be a product of the blind change, but the standard raise for many seems much higher. So many people open with $2 (8xbb) (as opposed to PS where 3-5bb seems standard). At many tables, this makes it more difficult to play speculative hands since many of them have 1/2 the buy in giving poor pot odds for more speculative hands.
*a lot more bluffing. Really, terribly bad bluffing.
*Less People seem to be able to read hands. On The river, there's a pair on the board, someone raises, someone else reraises... 2 other people call... and none of the callers can see the reraiser has a full house.
* The pots are larger (on average). People have larger pf raises, and there's much more (misplaced) aggression, the pots get larger.
* A lot more all ins. People seem to push a hell of a lot more. On less then premium hands too.
* players seem to have LESS ability to let go of a hand. People can't lay down AK... even with nothing.
THE BAD
*I don't care for the interface as much. You have to type in your bet since I find the slider awkward.
*no player pictures. (the photos make it easier to remember players)
*** No where does it say the current total in the pot. I find this odd. If you want to figure out pot odds, you have to add up everyone's bets yourself.

Last note... Bless you Party/pokertracker. I'm on one table with (autorated players) 2 fishes, 1 calling station and a bunch of tight passives (when they raise... I fold. Its easy). I've been averaging 185bb per 100. ALMOST ALL OF IT FROM THE SAME 3 PEOPLE. After 2 hours, they haven't changed the habits one iota.

See you regulars at the tables!

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would anyone want to play anywhere but party now?

Re: The Switch From Pokerstars to Party.... (no hand)
 

I cashed out of PokerStars last week and Ive been playing there for 3 years.

I think Stars and UB are going to be in serious trouble very soon. I still like Prima quite a bit, but Party is a very very large fish tank and the variance is much lower now that the blinds are lower and its not an all in fest.

Re: The Switch From Pokerstars to Party.... (no hand)
 

"Why would anyone want to play anywhere but party now?"

I can't believe I waited so long to switch. Though I'm glad I learned on Pokerstars. Playing on pokerstars taught me to be tighter and more cautious. Though there were 'fish', there were enough good/tricky players to keep you somewhat on your toes.

Switching to Party is almost like a completely different game. A more crazy profitable game.

Re: The Switch From Pokerstars to Party.... (no hand)
 

"and its not an all in fest" I don't think half the players have figured out that the lower blinds mean a change in style. I've seen more 'all ins' this weekend on Party then I would on a week at pokerstars.

Re: The Switch From Pokerstars to Party.... (no hand)
 

Party NL is the greatest. I played over at Stars for a little while and just found it aggravating. Nobody would pay me off! I quickly switched back to Party, and I'm never leaving.

Re: The Switch From Pokerstars to Party.... (no hand)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Why would anyone want to play anywhere but party now?

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: The Switch From Pokerstars to Party.... (no hand)
 

I find the potsize thing pretty easy, but I play live (home game) a decent amount.

Re: The Switch From Pokerstars to Party.... (no hand)
 

I hate the lame-o's that open raise 8-16 BB ... all you can do is wait for a monster and drill em...

Re: The Switch From Pokerstars to Party.... (no hand)
 

Care to elaborate on Gametime? I just picked up PokerTracker and have figured out a bit of it, and I've tried Gametime but I'm still manually filling in players' names when I sit down at a table. Anyone out there want to give a step-by-step on how to use Gametime effectively?

I'm also trying out PokerEDGE, but I'm getting the impression that PT Gametime will somehow make PokerEDGE irrelevant, if only I can learn how to use it properly.

I've been using these tools for less than a week, and even in idiot-user state the change is like night and day. The fish just stand out now. Amazing.