Poker Room Review: Absolute Poker

In my constant struggle to build my Vegas poker stake, I have moved on to other sites. The newest one is...

Absolute Poker

This software downloaded fine, and I was up and playing within 15 minutes, just like other sites. For the first time, however, I've run into programming issues. Like I've said before, I'm running Windows XP on a pretty new machine. With Absolute poker the interface is not smooth. Sometimes it's bad design, like odd pop-ups interrupting you while you are trying to sign up for a tables, or the waiting list dropping you from every other table once you finally sit down at one. Other times it's actual programming problems. Sometimes tables don't pop up after you've been wait-listed, it just keeps asking if I want to join the game, but refusing to bring up the table when I say yes.

Visually the design has problems, too. If you are like me you like calming, easy to understand tables online. The default table skin they use on Absolute Poker is a little frenetic, which makes it difficult to quickly read the table. This can be easily altered by right clicking on any empty space on the table. I'll be putting a skin up, soon. In theory you can change the picture that you play under, but I haven't gotten that to work yet either.

Balancing out the programming and design problems, however, is a nice bonus structure. Typically they offer 200% on the first $100 deposited. Plus, and I don't know how else to say this, the $1/$2 limit table on this site is the softest game I have ever played. Play a little solid poker and you can own these tables. The site is also offering an little extra bonus incentive at the moment. As of today, they will give a new player 100% match up to $750. Just enter AP750 as your bonus code when you buy in. The match is paid out $10 at a time for 100 raked hands played. Playing two $1/$2 limit tables at a time, 100 raked hands takes about an hour and 15 minutes. I am averaging about $15/hour without the bonus. Not quite worth quitting my day job, but getting there.

Aside from the bonus, there are New Registration and New Deposit freeroll multi-tournaments. The first one seemed odd when it started, with some guy going all in every hand. I know it's a freeroll, but seriously, all-in every hand? Turns out the freerolls tend to have a lot of absenteeism, and Crazy Ivan was just trying to pick up as many blinds as he could before management dropped the absent players. I'm not sure why he was using all-in, when minimum raise would do, but his plan backfired. One other person at the table, aside from myself, had sat down and simply waited until he had decent cards to scoop up Ivan's stack. When management finally dropped the no-shows, the programming reared it's ugly head and left me alone with the sneaky fellow that killed Ivan. I didn't last long.

Fortunately, I learn from experience, and on the New Depositer's multi I was ready. This time I scooped Ivan's stack for a little early head start, and then stole blinds until I finally sat down with real players. I managed to take some guy out with the hammer, which is a first for me, and ended up taking 3rd.

Don't forget to sign up for the New Registration and New Deposit multis. Good Luck!

Poker Room Review: William Hill

Another couple of days have passed in my exploration of the online poker world. Exciting days, to be sure. My Vegas stake is slowly growing, and Club 506 is buzzing, as Shiny has shown his true colors and taken a monster payout from several hundred multi-tournament hopefuls. That's his story, however, and I'll let him tell it in good time. Meanwhile I have tried the play at another of the plethora of poker rooms available on the World Wide Web...

William Hill Poker

The initial download is painless, and I was up and playing within 15 minutes. As I've said before, I'm running on a pretty new machine with Windows XP. The interface for this site is smooth, with no freeze-ups or disconnects through about six hours of play. The tables are pretty easy to read, and there are no annoying pop-ups, so playing more than one table isn't a problem. Oddly enough, the "Yes" and "No" buttons are reversed for most things, with "Yes" on the right instead of the left, which can cause a little confusion. It actually took me a couple of tries to join a table from the waiting list, because I kept clicking on the left hand button when it asked me if I wanted to join without actually reading the button. I'm assuming there is some reason for this, but I didn't actually care enough to find out what it is.

Organization in the Main Lobby pretty much sucks. The website supports betting in British Sterling, Euros, and U.S. Dollars, so when you are sorting through the table list looking for play you need to be careful of the currency of the table you sit down to. I intended to sit at a $1/$2 limit table, but ended up playing for pounds instead. If you are trying to work on your stake, that can be a costly mistake to make, particularly if you catch a bad run of cards. The menu of games is one long list, with no way of filtering out the games you're not interested in. Not well thought out.

Another oddity of William Hill Poker is the bonus they offer. Players earn 25£ for 5 hours of play, renewed every month (about $42). This in itself isn't too bad, although the accounting for the Pay-for-Play Bonus is a little weird. They add the chips to your stack as you leave the table without actually telling you they did it. You can see the transaction if you go to the "Account Statement" section of the cashier, but it's extremely odd to look at. It almost appears as if they give you the bonus and then take it away again. They don't. If you keep track of the amount of your stack as you leave the table you can see that the bonus is added in. The account statement just doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, the bonus structure is the basic cause of what I really don't like about William Hill.

The Play.

Here's were the bonus set-up takes an ugly turn. Because time is the only factor, and the number of raked hands doesn't matter, no one plays. A typical $1/$2 limit table (or 1£/2£ table for that matter) involves a bunch of slow players folding into the blinds. You can try aggression if you like, but, since it's limit, the blinds will protect themselves, and frustration will follow. During my first hour, I caught a couple of pocket rockets in late position and watched the rest of the table slowly fold. I raised, the button and small blind mucked, and Big Blind called to protect his investment. I bet through a crappy-ass flop (2s Qd 5c), turn (9h), and river (7h) with confidence born of the knowledge that no set, flush, or straight could cause me problems. Only if this joker had called down a hand like, say... 5 7 off, could I lose money on my perfect pair.

I don't want to talk about it.

William Hill needs an overhaul. Revamp the lobby so players can find their game. Re-structure the bonus so people are awarded for actual play. Install topless dealers. Do something. Otherwise, Mr. Hill, you'll find yourself alone, your supposed friends simply Bonus Whores, hanging out only because you pay them to.

Poker Room Review: Bet365.com

Admittedly, I'm just an amateur poker player. I don't have the math sense to judge pot odds and implied odds on the fly, at least not yet, and the more I read the various poker blogs out there, the more I know I'm not a part of that community. I'm a good amateur, however. I like to think so anyway. Then again, even idiots like to think they are good poker players.

Regardless, it's time to build a stake for Fancyhand's upcoming 40th birthday Vegas trip. Instead of simply sticking to the poker rooms I know, I've decided to try out the various options available on the internet, and pick up a couple of sign-up bonuses in the meantime. I'll be reviewing the sites as I go. First on the list...

Bet365 Poker

I chose to start with Bet365 because of the sign-up bonus. The new player bonus is $100, earned in $10 increments after each 50 raked hands. I'm using a pretty new machine running Windows XP, and the download was no problem. Initially I had a problem setting up an account, apparently there were server issues and I kept getting an error, but it was late, and I hadn't been planning on playing right away anyway, so I hit the sack instead. The next morning everything worked like a charm and I set up an account and deposited enough to get the sign-in bonus.

The interface is very smooth. During 7 or so hours of play I didn't have any trouble with the my system, and no disconnects. The poker tables are easy to get a quick read on, so playing two tables isn't much of a problem. The poker tables are a little wide, however, with running commentary all along the right hand side, so you have to do a little arranging to make more than one table easily playable.

The site is one of the most well organized I have played on yet, with separate folders in the menu bar for each type of game, blind level, and limit. The platform is extremely fast, with no extra time spent in animation or congratulatory messages, which means earning the bonus is pretty easy. In fact, the speed here is my favorite part of Bet 365. My bet is that I'm not alone in that opinion, either, as I have yet to see anyone complaining about slow play.

One interesting thing on this site is sound. Instead of limiting the sound effects to the table on top, the program plays the sounds for every table you're playing. With two tables up, and the extremely fast play, it starts to sound like you are in a casino, which is kind of cool. I haven't decided if getting the sound f/x for all the running table is advantageous or not, but it definitely isn't a hindrance.

Another thing I like is that Bet 365 offers running stats that continue to track from session to session. I like this better then simply getting the stats off one table at a time. The only thing I would like is if they also tracked the number of hands played, but that information is available elsewhere with a little digging. I do like the session stats available from other sites, but you can reset the stats on Bet 365 whenever you want, so no big whoop.

Keeping track of the bonus earned is no problem, either. One of the menu options gives you the number of raked hands within the last 24 hours, or within a predetermined period. One twist is that you have to request the bonus by sending an email to customer support, but they have been good about getting back to me quickly, so it's not too much of a bother.

The play at the tables was what I expected. Playing successfully on the $1/$2 Limit table meant playing solid poker, tight and aggressive. Even so I saw a few annoying beats. It's good practice for the low limit tables in Vegas, however, and I'm up even before you count the bonus. It's not the fishbowl Everest seems to be, but it can still be beaten. All in all, I'm a fan of this poker room. I'll be keeping a bit of my stake here, and continuing to try and increase it, as I check out other sites. Good luck.

My 35 Cents Worth...

Through a successive number of bad decisions I am now down to 35 cents. You would expect it to be bad decisions that would do that to a stack. Of course, I started with zero. So, technically, I am still 'up'. Make that 35 cents and a chance. I'm in a ten seat tournament, with six left. I've got the second largest stack. I'm working on patience.

Don't get me wrong, although there have been a couple of minor ones, the major mistakes of the day haven't been on the poker table. The major mistakes have been made while deciding which tables to sit down at in the first place.

Five at the table, now.

I've bought into three 'C-n-C' $1 multis. I wrote about the first one. The other two were less than satisfying. I am not good with multis; I know that. I need practice, true, but now is not the time to be spending a third of my bankroll on a learning experience. I need to keep up the freeroll multis if I want to practice. No more paid multis. I need a guideline on the multi buy-in. For now I'm going to arbitrarily set it at half the amount I would willingly buy into a single table for. I have a feeling that may change downward unless I get better at coming in the money in multis. For now, it's a moot point. With 35 cents I can only afford the freerolls.

Still five, I'm chipleader.

I've been doing o.k. on the limit ring games. I've arbitrarily set my buy-in level at 25 times the blind, and it seems to be working out. I'm comfortable with a third of my bankroll on a limit table at one time, simply because I'm trying to build. This will cause problems later on.

Four now, still chipleader.

My next major mistake was turning from limit ring games to the no-limit tables. Twice I sat down with 50 cents on the no-limit game and walked away with nothing. Limit provides the opportunity to limit loss. An error that cost ten times the big blind in a limit game is survivable. The same error in a no-limit game ends the game. When you are trying to build your stake, and are putting a third on the line, the last thing you need is to lose it all in one go.

Three now, dropped back to second.

The other mistake I did was to sit down at a limit ring game with only a couple of other people at the table. Limit can be brutal if you are short stacked and you're paying the blinds every other hand. From now on, I only play the full tables.

Two now. I am significantly short stacked.

It's funny how I can speak with such logical sense, just to flip like John Kerry on Waffle Wednesday at the IHoP the next time I pull 9 4 offsuit. Everybody does it. It's what keeps people in on the long draw, just to see if they can pull the straight flush. It's an addiction, only all over, because when you finally hit it you want it even more. We're always looking over the next hump, when what we really need to learn is quit while we're ahead. The biggest mistake in poker isn't overbetting Big Slick, or sandbagging the set just to let that bastard pull the flush . The biggest mistake in poker is optimism. Stick with what you know. Play what you can win. Leave the chance for the other guy. Grind it out.

The short stack doesn't last long, and I'm out. Took second. That puts me at $1.10 overall.

That's just enough for a buy in at the Chip and a Chair.

Ace Magnets, Pocket Rockets, and Big Slick.

The Chip and a Chair multi has started out going pretty well. All it took was two all-ins, with callers, to put me in fifth position with 78 remaining players. The tourney pays to 30th. If I can keep my head I should be all right.

The first was a pair of pocket Kings in small blind. I bet the pot by the time it came back around to me and Frenchy pushed me all it. It's ever so painful to play Four Tits against a couple of righteous bastards, and the river completes the nativity for that extra bit of sarcasm.

Three hands later I've got a couple of Aces, and everyone wants to fight. There are 4 callers, but they're all short stacked, and they don't quite double me up. Still, I'm comfortably in the money, as long as I'm careful.

Speaking of careful, we've reached that point where everything slows down. The tourney pays to 30, and we're to the point where half the remaining make a profit. At this point the point seems to be just outlast the other guy. Now you'll see people wait to play just to make the game go slower. In theory, they are slowing their rate of loss below someone at another table. I'm never sure how I feel about this tactic. From a pragmatic standpoint I think it's probably a smart move, like checking down an short stacked all-in. On an emotional level, I'm against it.

Now 60 players remain. I'm in seventh. I haven't lost any since the Aces, in fact I'm up a couple of purchased blinds, but the field is slowly passing me by. Here is when I usually choke. It's very difficult for me to wait. I've the itch to play, and I'm worried about my stack, but I'm trying to learn patience. Suited big slick takes a bite out of my stack and I drop to 11th with 40 remaining. I've got to learn patience. I know I've got to learn patience. I tell myself I have to learn patience.

But I don't.

Big slick in late position and a shorter stack in front of me goes all-in. There are 35 players remaining. I call the all-in. So does the monster stack in big blind. The flop is Ad Qd 6c. The monster wants to put me all in. Deep down somewhere I know I should dump top pair, but I just can't do it. The monster had Ah Qh and I'm going to finish 32nd. Two places out of the money. Life is a bitch, and it's a bitch that put me down.

I gotta learn some patience.

See-Sawing on a Sunday Afternoon.

I just signed up for the "Chip and a Chair" multi. It's basically just a $1 buy-in multiple player tournament. Everyone pays a dollar and starts with 100 chips and a 1/.5 blind. I feel this is a rip. The title is a lie. It should give each player 1 chip and start the blinds out at 1/.5 and let the shit hit the fan. That would be a fun tournament. Short, too. You will have lost at least half the players after the first hand. By the 10th every player will have gone all-in at least once. This is a money maker. Someone aught to suggest it.

The multi's not going to start for a couple of minutes so I sat down at a $.02/$.04 limit table. This ring game has been the secret to my success so far today. I recommend it to any who are trying the Money for Nothin' challenge. I started with a bankroll of 81 cents, played with to a stake of 50, and brought that up to about $1.50. Then I did it again and brought the bankroll above $3. This time the cards are colder, and I'm just sitting at $0.50, but it wasted time while I waited for the multi to start.

Once it does, the multi is feeding me teaser hands and taking a bite out of my stack on top of it. Just as I am writing this I call K Q off mid field and catch the straight on the river. It didn't pay-off well, but it paid off, and now I'm up a little.

Now, however, the ring game is pushing teaser hands, and I'm down over there. Some days everything connects, but ends up going nowhere. I bought into the aforementioned $1 multi, cause I figure I'm still up even if I'm first out. Of course, I would prefer not to be first out.

First out sucks.

I'm won't be taking first out, of course. Anyone that folds the first hand is protected from that danger. These online tournaments tend to move pretty fast, typically losing half the remaining players every hour or so. The multi started feeding me teasers again, and I may well be out the first hour.

Just as I'm writing that last sentence, my early pocket pair sets on the flop and I double up. The cards are fickle.

The multi has swung the other way, but the teasers on the ring table aren't letting up, so I'm going to head back to the freeroll sit-n-goes. That way I can devote guilt-free brain cells to the multi. I'm up to about 50% above the average stack, and the blinds have quadrupled, so it's probably time to see if I can come in the money.