I just started playing on Interpoker-have some questions

[Pinky]

1) How do I find out how many hands I've played?
2) What are their Points good for?
3) I've emailed them twice about this and other stuff but have gotten no answer after over 48 hours!
Aside: The software sucks compared to the Party skins. I don't know why they can't categorize the tables better. I don't want to play for pounds! I'm used to playing for dollars!

[OrangeBaller]

I know there is a network hand counter you can download but I don't know the name or have a link, I usually just use a tally sheet. As for the pounds/dollars, just pay attention to where the number amounts are and you should have no problem determiing which is which. Hope this helps.

[Spartacus]

1) Here is a download link for a 'Crypto' Counter .
2) Freerolls I believe. I have never used them on InterPoker but did use some on CarSun(another Crypto) once for a freeroll.
3) Forget about their email. Call them if you really want to know something though you may be put on hold for some time.

As to the pound games, they rake the same but in pounds so the rake is 1.82 times greater in those games, beware.....

[Cris]

I've seen several posts where the "higher rake" is mentioned. This is clearly a misconception. If you compare the rake of a 1£/2£ table with a 1$/2$ it is obviously higher, as you say 1,82 times higher. But what you overlook here is that the stakes are also 1,82 times higher. What is relevant is what percentage of the pot is raked. And no matter what currency you play, this percentage is identical.

A more realistic comparison is the rake of a .5£/1£ table (equivalent to a .91$/1.82$ table) to a 1$/2$ table. The rakes at these two tables will be quite similar in dollar value, as are the stakes.

The only time the currency does affect the rake such that it should be taken into consideration, is if you play limits where the pot frequently reaches the max rake level. The rake reaches its max at 3 currency units, regardless of the games currency. In these games you will be better off playing dollars, for example joining a 10$/20$ dollar game instead of a 5£/10£ game, even though in dollar value they are similar games.

[kdog]

[ QUOTE ]

I've seen several posts where the "higher rake" is mentioned. This is clearly a misconception. If you compare the rake of a 1£/2£ table with a 1$/2$ it is obviously higher, as you say 1,82 times higher. But what you overlook here is that the stakes are also 1,82 times higher. What is relevant is what percentage of the pot is raked. And no matter what currency you play, this percentage is identical.
A more realistic comparison is the rake of a .5£/1£ table (equivalent to a .91$/1.82$ table) to a 1$/2$ table. The rakes at these two tables will be quite similar in dollar value, as are the stakes.

The only time the currency does affect the rake such that it should be taken into consideration, is if you play limits where the pot frequently reaches the max rake level. The rake reaches its max at 3 currency units, regardless of the games currency. In these games you will be better off playing dollars, for example joining a 10$/20$ dollar game instead of a 5£/10£ game, even though in dollar value they are similar games

[/ QUOTE ]

This is what's clearly the misconception. The same % or not, it's still more money coming out of the game as rake.

Let's look at comparable games, say US$2-4 vs. GBP 1-2. One unit raked in the 2-4 is $1, one unit in the 1-2 is $1.82. Two units is $2 vs. $3.64. The rake is triggered with the same amount of units entering the pot for each game. Which game is a better deal for the player?

[Cris]

[ QUOTE ]
The rake is triggered with the same amount of units entering the pot for each game.

[/ QUOTE ]
Exactly the point. The same amount of BBs trigger rake. Your comparison is flawed though. You compare 1 unit raked in a 1/2 game with 1 unit raked in a 2/4 game. For 1 unit to be raked in the 1/2 game the pot must be twice as big in terms of big bets as in the 2/4 game. This gives your misleading conclusion.

Let me redo your comparison of the 1£/2£ game and the 2$/4$ game. If half a big bet is raked, the rake in the 1£/2£ game is 1£ or 1.82$. In the 2$/4$ game the rake is 2$. The 1£/2£ game is equivalent to a 1.82$/3.64$ game. This will hopefully illustrate the point clearly.

[ QUOTE ]
Which game is a better deal for the player?

[/ QUOTE ]
They are the same.

[Spartacus]

I don't care if you are playing for ping pong balls, it concerns how many ping pong balls are coming out of the game. Look at the maximum rake, $3 versus 3£, taken from CarSun Poker's rake table , more money is taken from the table in a £ game regardless of the stakes. The pots will be higher before any rake is taken, 5£(~$9.10) versus $5, but more money is taken from the game at each increment, .25 £ (~$0.46) versus $0.25.

Albeit there is more money on the table, but that has nothing to do with it. The point is, you may as well play $2/$4 rather than 1£/2£ because you will pay less rake.


If you still want to dispute this, consider my wager. We will flip a coin, every time it lands on heads, I will give you $1. If it lands on tails, you give me a 1£. The amount of money we have is irrelevant. You may want to consider finding a better game, if not, well then you a sucker.....

[Cris]

If you had taken the time to read the whole thread before replying, you would have seen that in my first reply I wrote:

[ QUOTE ]
The only time the currency does affect the rake such that it should be taken into consideration, is if you play limits where the pot frequently reaches the max rake level. The rake reaches its max at 3 currency units, regardless of the games currency.

[/ QUOTE ]

Could this be stated any clearer? Is it not obvious that this means that if you play limits where pots reach the max rake, you should obviously play $ tables. What we are discussing at this point is pots where the rake usually does not reach the max rake. In these cases the currency is not important.


[ QUOTE ]
Albeit there is more money on the table, but that has nothing to do with it.

[/ QUOTE ]
This has everything to do with it. You don't see the high limit players dropping to the micros to pay less rake do you? What is relevant is the percentage of the pot that goes to rake.

[ QUOTE ]
every time it lands on heads, I will give you $1. If it lands on tails, you give me a 1£.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, you seem to have missed the point. In my post I compared a .5£/1£ table to a 1$/2$ table. I stated that these were close, the .5£/1£ being the equivalent to a .91$/1.82$. So as for your coinflipping proposal, the payoffs are .91$ for heads and .5£ (yes £) for tails. Seems fair to me.

I may have stated my points unclearly in my earlier posts in this thread. I hope this one clears it up.

[Cris]

Lets look at an example. For readability I will in my calculations assume an exchange rate of 1£ = 2$. It should be clear that a .5£/1£ table is the equivalent of a 1$/2$ table. A 5£ pot at the first table is the same as a 10$ pot at the second table etc. Lets look at the rake paid at a $ table and compare it with the rake we would have paid at the equivalent £ table. Rake structure is that of Caribbean Sun.

Pot size at dollar table.....Equivalent pot at £ table.....Rake paid at $ table.......Rake paid at £ table
............ 5$ ............................... 2.5£ ............................ 0.25$ ......................... 0£
.......... 10$ ............................... 5£ ............................... 0.5$ ........................... 0.25£
.......... 15$ ............................... 7.5£ ............................ 0.75$ .......................... 0.25£
.......... 20$ ............................... 10£ ............................. 1$ ............................. 0.5£
.......... 25$ ............................... 12.5£ .......................... 1.25$ .......................... 0.5£
.......... 30$ ............................... 15£ ............................. 1.5$ ........................... 0.75£
.......... 35$ ............................... 17.5£ .......................... 1.75$ .......................... 0.75£
.......... 40$ ............................... 20£ ............................. 2$ .............................. 1£
.......... 45$ ............................... 22.5£ .......................... 2.25$ .......................... 1£
.......... 50$ ............................... 25£ ............................. 2.5$............................ 1.25£
.......... 55$ ............................... 27.5£ .......................... 2.75$........................... 1.25£
.......... 60$ ............................... 30£ ............................. 3$............................... 1.5£
.......... 65$ ............................... 32.5£ .......................... 3$............................... 1.5£
.......... 70$ ............................... 35£ ............................. 3$............................... 1.75£
.......... 75$ ............................... 37.5£ .......................... 3$............................... 1.75£
.......... 80$ ............................... 40£ ............................. 3$............................... 2£


From this we can see the following: Up until the pot hits 60$ we have that at half of the intervals the rake is the same, while at the other half the rake is lower at the £ table. At pots of 70$ and above, the rake is higher at the £ table.

At the lower limits on the Cryptos, most pots will be under 60$, a few will be over. When playing the lower limits at the Cryptos you will therefore often be better off playing £ and not $. Is this so hard to understand?

By the way, don't know how to make nice looking tables in here, thats why the layout looks so bad.

[Mike Haven]

Let's look at the CarSun rake table again.

Let's say the exchange rate happens to be £1.00 = $2.00, or $1.00 = £0.50, for ease of calculation.

Let's say all rake is taken in dollars.

If you are playing on a dollar table and the pot reaches $60, (= £30), you pay the maximum rake of $3.00, (= £1.50).

If you are playing on a pound table and the pot reaches:

£30 you pay $3.00
£35 you pay $3.50
£40 you pay $4.00
£45 you pay $4.50
£50 you pay $5.00
£55 you pay $5.50
£60 you pay $6.00

It seems pretty obvious to me which table you should be playing on if you're not a sucker, and the pots ever reach £30/$60 +.

I understand in your post that you are stating that unless the pots reach $60, it doesn't matter whether you pay $3.00 "max" or £1.50 "max", but I think that you are overlooking the overriding issue that there is absolutely no valid reason for an internet poker site to charge more just because the currency unit on some tables is different, for the apparent but false convenience of inexperienced players. It is purely and simply a disguised and calculated way to suck even more money off the tables and into the site owners' pockets, as quickly as possible.

The naive new players who play on pound tables are giving their unknowingly tacit approval to this sharp practice, and they should be advised constantly by more knowledgeable players to move to the dollar tables to leave more money on the poker table for all the players to divvy up between them as per the results of the game, not persuaded that these ludicrous rakes are fine as long as you only play 50 cent poker.

I posted these Virgin/Party comparisons a while ago. This seems like an opportune moment to show them again:

Here are a just a few examples for $4/$8 and higher limit games, using £1.00 = $1.92 exchange rate:

Party 2-3 players $1.00 cap;
Virgin 2-3 players $3.53 cap.

Party 4-5 players $2.00 cap;
Virgin 4-5 players $3.53 cap.

Party 6-10 players $3.00 cap;
Virgin 6-10 players $3.53 cap.