Received large online "GIFT". What game is most profitable to play?

I'm fortunate enough to know someone that won a large sum of money recently (nothing to do with poker). This person knows I love online poker so she gave me 5K to play with and we'll share the winnings and she told me "if you lose, don't worry about it. It's just a fun gamble". I have not deposited the money yet, and I only play Pokerstars so I need help to point me in the right direction to my best interest.

Obviously this is a great predicament to be in. I'm wondering what is the best site(s) for me to play on, taking into account bonuses, and strength of players.

A little about myself. I have been playing online poker for about a year. I consider myself an average player. Sometimes I do lousy in $6 SNG's and sometimes I win $200 SNG's, just like the average run of the mill player. I often play $10-$150 MTT's on Pokerstars and have done well, but never won a tourney. I have made 10 final tables but have yet to get my first win. I'm average at Ring Games. I like to play $5-$10.

I know a lot of this is pretty vague, but its all the info I really have. If anyone could tell me what my best bet is, as far as sites, and the games I should play to make a profit I'd appreciate it.

[Lloyd]

I'm moving this to the Internet forum because you're asking questions about ring games, SNGs, and MTTs. If you have questions specific to MTTs feel free to post again in the MTT forum.

[adanthar]

First and foremost: get ONE stakes level for SNG's and ring games and ONE range of buyins for multis (5's-30's, 50's-100's, 150+) and stick with those ranges. Obviously, this doesn't mean to play 15/30 with a 5K roll, so stick to something you know you can consistently beat. After playing for a month, post some stats in the appropriate forum.

5K is a nice amount of seed money, but not a roll you can't blow through, especially if you start playing 215's out of your league. If you're average but break even or do slightly better at lower stakes, start with something like 2/4 - $22 SNG's - $10 multis and stay there until you feel you play better than them.

Post lots of hands while you do that and you'll get way better.

Thanks.. What about sites?

[Quicksilvre]

I like Stars myself, since the interface is pretty good and the support is good, both of which are fairly important to those starting out. IMO, it's hard to make a really bad choice as long as you stay with the big sites

[pokerjoker]

you are going to lose the money no matter where u play.

[PLOlover]

bonuswhore/ casinowhore until you double your roll.

[Patchmaster]

What is your goal? Do you want to just build the bankroll however you can? Are you looking for 'action'? Are you primarily interested in building via play as opposed to bonuses? Are you looking to improve your game? Also, how much time do you have available for this? Are you in a hurry to double up or will you be happy to add $500 a month?

If you're looking for bonuses, Hollywood has one of the largest bonuses going right now. It's not easy to clear, but if you can play at least break even at $3/$6 you should be able to do it playing a couple hours a night. The new rake structure kind of sucks for $2/$4 and $3/$6. It's okay at the higher limits.

The Cryptos collectively are worth close to $400 a month in bonus. Play tends to be fairly tight, but the games are beatable if you're patient.

Absolute is the land of the effectively bottomless bonus, but there's a reason they have to continually offer bonuses to attract players. I hated it there. YMMV.

Party, of course, is widely known for soft play. The bonuses aren't the best, but they're easy to clear.

Pacific has a pretty terrible bonus, but the play is probably the worst on the internet. Of course, so is their software. And only one table at a time.

If you're looking to hone your skill, Pokerstars is a great place to play. If you're looking for easy pickings, I wouldn't recommend it. It's far and away the toughest place I've played.

For tournaments, I'd suggest Pokerstars and maybe Poker Room or one of the skins.

[BeantownCaller]

I think every site has its strong and weak points.

I've dabbled in some of the higher limits bodog spreads (often times splitting the stake with friends), and maybe it's dried up but the 15/30 and 20/40 there was CRAZY a couple months back. If someone handed me 5k to GAMBOOL with I'd love to play some highish limit with LAGs, there's a lot of possibility there. I've played a few stars tourneys and I like them, the structures are great and after playing for 2 years on party skins going after ante's is fun.

You could also just play decent big buy in MTT with overlay you can find.

How about some 100-200 triple draw. I dont know. There are lots of games online, as you know [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]