Online Poker. Times they are a changing !
 

Maybe it's me but online poker is changing, almost faster than the average punter can keep up with .
Almost all sites today are offering bigger and better sign up deals, and this is an area that recreational players should look seriously at.
However what about the people who stay loyal to one site for many reasons such as happy with the software or the games that they can play ..Do these sites keep us well informed via emails and what we can gain by staying with them ?

Well, lately Ive been playing three sites, and to be fair there's many I should try, but here's a view on the three Ive been playing..
Ladbrokes , Bet365, and Skypoker , two good, and one, well it's worse than bad ...
Ladbrokes, consistently have been improving over this last year (more to follow)

Bet365, again I cant praise them enough for the variety of cash games, Tournaments and especially their
'Sit n Go's' games , $5 ... 30, 50 seaters with 5 and 10 getting paid respectively ..

Sky Poker, well how to piss people off, now I'm guessing there lobby has to reflect and run-alongside there TV shows, so 6 seater is the 'norm' to be able to link to the TV, however virtually all there games are fast furious 'crapshoots' .. They do have what is known as a 'Sleepy-stack' 5000 chips with 15min blinds, so what you have is the sublimed to the ridiculous.
Most players I feel, would like a recreational game like the ones Bet365 put on, they have 30, 50, seaters that fill up in less than 10mins and are ongoing through the evening.

So hows this for a classic, all over the Sky Poker site this week was the resident Poker Pro, Tony Kendall saying welcome to the new 'Hi Lo Omaha' games ..
So one of the cash games started 25p/50p, now Mr Kendall is allowed two accounts one his own private account and the other one the company allow him to play to make up the numbers .. Now from a business point of view, I would have though to start the new venture off Mr Kendall would have used the business account and spread a little joy amongst the players, and dropped a few company 'dollars' just to encourage the game along for the obviously learners to the Hi Lo Omaha game on it's opening night .. No , he did what all good Pro's do used his own account and turned his £50 into £270 ..o:D

While all this was going on, I was happily coming 2nd and 5th in two games on Bet365's 50 seaters .
Ultimately I watch and wondered who are the clowns who run the business side of SkyPoker ? However I do like the TV coverage so I guess you cant have your cake and eat it, well unless your name is Tony Kendall :clap:

Nice One Tony, even I couldn't have thought of that one :loveme: and as for tonight , Oh i'll be on Bet365 again, playing in the 'Mini ECOOP' $25,000 gtd ..B (:

To be continued from ..Online Poker
 

Quick note , good old Bet365, as I said ,"and as for tonight , Oh i'll be on Bet365 again, playing in the 'Mini ECOOP' $25,000 gtd" .. :loveme:


Well at the first break were sitting cosy, with 17,000 chips in around 30th place from a starting line-up of 1650, so with my record it could be a long night, but then again it could be five minuets 8-P Back later ...

Nice :clap::clap: Good luck

whats your name on 365?

Thanks Herbie
 

BUT ...:'D Got my chips in good an outrageous river card against me took half my stack :eek!: Then twice walked into pocket AA's .. :'D
So back to the 30 seater sit n go's for the rest of the evening and try and find us a couple of winners for tomorrow, ..

We have a 'Nap'B (: already, short price but should be good , so I'm toldo:D

Saturday $5 freezeout on Bet365 mini ECOOP $10,000 gtd ..Starting at 1 30pm British time ..

how long do the 30 seaters take?

Well, thats what I like
 

about 1 hour at the most , 1500 chips ..9 min levels .. (pays 1st 4

The 50 seaters are more, 10min levels with 2000 chips (I think ?) about 1 and 1/2 hrs at most B (: pays top 10
I play either the $5 or sometimes $10, depends on how much Ive had to drink !!

thanks Benny, will watch for a while. gl

Today Saturday
 

Nice little game this afternoon...Saturday $5 freezeout on Bet365 mini ECOOP $10,000 gtd ..Starting at 1 30pm British time ..B (:

well , who can ya turn to ?
 

At the second break guess who's chip leader with 38,000 chips...o:D

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's Benny :loveme:

Well ....3rd break and tough now. 1066 started ..43 with 108 left .... in the money now though !!

:loveme:

Update mini ECOOP
 

Still grinding away and blinds are now 1500/3000 ..running anties 300o:D

12 from 49 left ... This is where the action starts , my chips 54,000 :'D

Out in 23rd, my A8 against J 10 ..allin pre flop ...he catches a Jack on the turn :'D

congratulations on your stamina benny,hope the $s were worth the effort. I have lost interest in poker at moment [since herbie won the challenge and owns me] goodluck.

Sunday
 

Lazy Sunny afternoon , hard choice between Ladbrokes or Bet365, but settled for the 7k gtd, $5 re-buy on Bet365 starting now at 3 00 pm.. 482 runners ..:loveme: Right where's the Tea and Biscuits o:D

First Break
 

No re-buys , took the add-on ..position 32nd ( 12,330 chips):cool: from 330 left .. more tea required o:D

ahhh well
 

Let that be a lesson to ya Benny ... out chasing flushes with the Ace rag sooted :-C
Onwards and upwards ..Onto a nice little turbo 30 seater ..5 being paid:loveme: . before walking the dog :'D

Good luck Benny....8-P

Cheers mate
 

Well tonight I played 3 of these, 30 seaters,(takes about an hour each)
All were $5, ... nowhere in the first , bubbled in 6th in the second ....then played a final game for the evening and at the end up pops the flashing sign :loveme:

Congratulations, Angel you are 1st winning $60 (£41) :loveme:

I love these little "sit'n'go" 10 seat game's, both the 30 and 50 runner o:D

So who's Angel? 8-P

lol. Well done. I really went off poker a while ago. Only played a few games in the past year. Apart from the 1 or 2 outers hitting on the river everytime against me I think it's because I was playing for the money, rather than playing for the fun like I used to. Spending hours playing only to get knocked out by some muppet, was getting right on my nerves. I prefered to put my entry fee on a horse and in 2 or 3 minutes know if I'd won or not o:D
Then I decided to play freerolls and really low buy in games trying to build up my bankroll. That went quite well for a while until I got bored playing for 4 hours to win a pound :'D and ended up buying into games with all my (small) bankroll and getting knocked out by the 2 outer again lol :C
Maybe i'll try again when I have more cash.

Marcus and Tony, + Skypoker Guests
 

You guys are so right and like many other online players who get disillusioned.
Oh I put 'Skypoker Guests' because both a few players and others who we wont mention do like to pop over here to see want were up to o:D

There are five or six maybe more different kinds of categories and styles of playing within online poker, which goes back to what I wanted to say at the start of this thread, " Online Poker" "The times they are a changing" !!

1 ...MTT's for people who play mainly big field events for a top prize ..

2 ...STT's 6-10 seated game, first 2 or 3 getting paid ..

3... Mutie-Tabling Cash players (3 up to 20 tables ) This is where some people try and some do make a living from the game. However it's not the game I know or for that matter want to play, and in my mind, it's not poker. It's certainly a game of sorts, if that's what turns people on but how dull and boring is that, it's not the poker I know ...

4 ...Cash Tables Single table games for players who in the main look for a profit, but also possibly playing with Internet friends with the chat ..

5 ...Recreational, Players who just want a game , when it suits them for fun.

6 ... 30 -50 STT's (or small MTT's ) Now for me this is the game of the future..
When I found these games on Bet365 I fell in love with them straight away.

Ladbrokes also do six seater 18 players and Ten seater 20 players but the payouts although good only pay three.
What I personally like about the 30 and 50's on Bet365 is they pay deeper, on 30 they pay top Five, and on 50 they pay top Ten.

Skypoker ... They are so far down the road of 'self indulgence' they cant see the wood from the trees .. They even sent ME a online survey, asking my opinion on how to make their Points structure better, I told them to start by looking at the backlog of points in players accounts and get those sorted before asking me what they should do ...!!

So here's the reason for the average "Joe" or "Sally" to play these games.
Your probably not in a game with the likes of TOP Pro players .. The games take on average just less than an hour for the 30 seater (9 min blind levels) and maybe one and a half hours for the 50 seater (10 min blind levels).. Plus the BIG thing for me with 10 seater games is they tend not to be a 'crapshoot', there's enough time to get a decent game, without it taking up your day.
I tried to explain this to the management at Skypoker but the 'click' within the management there are adamant their way is best for the company, what I'm saying is this game is Value for the likes of you and me.....THE CUSTOMER ..

Good luck in whatever games you choose , but the main thing is to enjoy what your doing, and right now although I'll always prefere to play Live tournaments, for me this kind of Online poker has got me back enjoying the Online game again ...8-P

Good Luck All ....Benny ..

These guys new how to play, the good old days ..ehh

The 30 seat "Angel" strikes again on Bet365 o:D This makes it 3 small STT wins on the $5 thirty seat games where top 5 get paid in the last 7 days...Winner $64 (£41) ..
For a one and half hour game, these 10 seaters are value without the crap-shoot :eat: