Session on Tropics Poker last night.
In the latest issues of CPP (which came two days after I recieved the all_aces issues 
) had an add for a site called Tropics Poker. The article advertised several free-rolls, so I decided to give it a try.
I loggged into the site and saw that the $2000 free-roll was populated by 14 people (you needed FPP's to enter it) but I saw that the $100 free-rolls were free. My first tournament went ok until my all-in bet with AKo was called by someone who just had me covered with 8Th... and I lost.
The second one went much better. I was out of the house for the first three levels and when I came back I had $950 of $1000 left with blinds of 12.50/25 (don't ask)
I started playing and quickly found myself one of the short stacks, dropping down to about 5-600 hundred when the blinds hit 50/100 ante:25. Luckily, I always managed to find a decent hand to go all-in and I either won the blinds and antes or doubled up when called.
A turn with pocket rockets tripled me up and I went into the final three tables with about an average stack.
As we played, and eliminated people, I noticed that there were 6 people playing at our table. I also noticed that there were 22 people remaining in the tournament. I though this a little odd (as the mix should have been 8/7/7. I checked the tournament lobby and the population at the three tables were 10/6/6. A player then busted out on the second table and the numbers went to 10/5/6. I was still playing but started asking around why the tables weren't balancing. No one responded.
I then went to the populated table and asked if anyone though it odd that the tables didn't balance and the response I got was..
"We're stuck"
Yep. Apparently a hand had finished, but everything, except for the chat was completely frozen. According to them, this had happened to them just after the first break (45 minutes ago) I checked the lobby again and noticed an interesting stat. The shortest stack at our table was only a few hunndred below the largest stack at their table.
The tables eventaully merged to two and I was in 6th chip position. I started thinking how fruitless this would be, because once this table gets down to one player the game would do nothing.
An admin **finally** arrived has we continued played and I asked what the resolution would be. We said we'd be paid as normal (which made no sence) then went to the other table to gather player feedback on how to make the game better. (lol)
I think it finally sunk in that one of the tables has crashed and so I (and many other players) repeatedly asked what would happen with the pot. I had requested that the tournment be frozen until this could be worked out, but he refused, citing that it was just a freeroll tournament.
With 5 players left on our table (and still 10 on the other), he finally gave the impression that our active table would be paid out as the final table! The next hand I saw was Presto, and went all-in (just as we hit break), got called by AJo and lost the coin-flip on the river.
Someone asked if that meant I got $8 (the 5th place prize) and the Admin said yep! The software, however, disagreed with him. I was out (as I expected) in 15th with no prize money (top 10 positions paid) I let the Admin and the player know what happened, and the players weren't too happy.
The admin immediately then said. "Ok. Here's what we'll do, we'll split the remaining $100 14 ways."
Needless to say, I was less than impressed. Luckily a couple players came to my defense and said that I should be part of the deal too. (Which, of course, I agreed with) and finally the admin said, "OK. We'll split $150 15 ways so that everyone gets $10". The large stacks complained and were given an extra $10 each and everyone went home, more or less, happy.
The rumour going around as to the cause of the crash, was that the only two players left in the hand somehow folded at the same time and the computer had no clue who to award the pot to.
I took my $10 and entered the only game active (a 1/2 Limit - 4 player game) and tried to earn the 2 FPP's to enter the $400 tournment. I was in one pot with a double-ended straight draw, which never came. The program pulled $0.25 from the pot ($6.50) and I got no FPPs and was down to $5.50 in my account. So, I stopped playing as I now have enough for one $5+0.50 SnG. (which earns me 3FPP)... assuming I can find anyone to play.
I don't want to go into a real review, but it's obvious the site is in trouble and there are two glaring reasons why.
1) They offer nothing different from any other site. It's the usual selection of games (and actually offers less than most sites), and nothing makes it stand out.
2) This wouldn't be so bad if they had good software, but they don't. The engine looks like the typical top down style which is used in most places, but the speed is notably slower than even TruePoker. There is a 4 second pause, for no reason, between hands. The blinds in our tournament increases every 12 mintues, but we couldn't do a single rotation around a 10 player table in that time. The table offers no sound cue when it's your turn and does not pop the window into focus. (This is a feature we take for granted and was really missed.)
Since last night, they've removed all the larger pay tournaments and are now offering two $100 free-rolls a night (at 7pm and 10pm) until they can fix the problem.
All in all, it's a frustrating experience, but it is a new site, and it is a free-roll. If you're bored come out and join me for a free-roll or two - but be prepared - it's SLOOOOOOOOW.
) had an add for a site called Tropics Poker. The article advertised several free-rolls, so I decided to give it a try.I loggged into the site and saw that the $2000 free-roll was populated by 14 people (you needed FPP's to enter it) but I saw that the $100 free-rolls were free. My first tournament went ok until my all-in bet with AKo was called by someone who just had me covered with 8Th... and I lost.
The second one went much better. I was out of the house for the first three levels and when I came back I had $950 of $1000 left with blinds of 12.50/25 (don't ask)
I started playing and quickly found myself one of the short stacks, dropping down to about 5-600 hundred when the blinds hit 50/100 ante:25. Luckily, I always managed to find a decent hand to go all-in and I either won the blinds and antes or doubled up when called.
A turn with pocket rockets tripled me up and I went into the final three tables with about an average stack.
As we played, and eliminated people, I noticed that there were 6 people playing at our table. I also noticed that there were 22 people remaining in the tournament. I though this a little odd (as the mix should have been 8/7/7. I checked the tournament lobby and the population at the three tables were 10/6/6. A player then busted out on the second table and the numbers went to 10/5/6. I was still playing but started asking around why the tables weren't balancing. No one responded.
I then went to the populated table and asked if anyone though it odd that the tables didn't balance and the response I got was..
"We're stuck"
Yep. Apparently a hand had finished, but everything, except for the chat was completely frozen. According to them, this had happened to them just after the first break (45 minutes ago) I checked the lobby again and noticed an interesting stat. The shortest stack at our table was only a few hunndred below the largest stack at their table.
The tables eventaully merged to two and I was in 6th chip position. I started thinking how fruitless this would be, because once this table gets down to one player the game would do nothing.
An admin **finally** arrived has we continued played and I asked what the resolution would be. We said we'd be paid as normal (which made no sence) then went to the other table to gather player feedback on how to make the game better. (lol)
I think it finally sunk in that one of the tables has crashed and so I (and many other players) repeatedly asked what would happen with the pot. I had requested that the tournment be frozen until this could be worked out, but he refused, citing that it was just a freeroll tournament.
With 5 players left on our table (and still 10 on the other), he finally gave the impression that our active table would be paid out as the final table! The next hand I saw was Presto, and went all-in (just as we hit break), got called by AJo and lost the coin-flip on the river.
Someone asked if that meant I got $8 (the 5th place prize) and the Admin said yep! The software, however, disagreed with him. I was out (as I expected) in 15th with no prize money (top 10 positions paid) I let the Admin and the player know what happened, and the players weren't too happy.
The admin immediately then said. "Ok. Here's what we'll do, we'll split the remaining $100 14 ways."
Needless to say, I was less than impressed. Luckily a couple players came to my defense and said that I should be part of the deal too. (Which, of course, I agreed with) and finally the admin said, "OK. We'll split $150 15 ways so that everyone gets $10". The large stacks complained and were given an extra $10 each and everyone went home, more or less, happy.
The rumour going around as to the cause of the crash, was that the only two players left in the hand somehow folded at the same time and the computer had no clue who to award the pot to.
I took my $10 and entered the only game active (a 1/2 Limit - 4 player game) and tried to earn the 2 FPP's to enter the $400 tournment. I was in one pot with a double-ended straight draw, which never came. The program pulled $0.25 from the pot ($6.50) and I got no FPPs and was down to $5.50 in my account. So, I stopped playing as I now have enough for one $5+0.50 SnG. (which earns me 3FPP)... assuming I can find anyone to play.
I don't want to go into a real review, but it's obvious the site is in trouble and there are two glaring reasons why.
1) They offer nothing different from any other site. It's the usual selection of games (and actually offers less than most sites), and nothing makes it stand out.
2) This wouldn't be so bad if they had good software, but they don't. The engine looks like the typical top down style which is used in most places, but the speed is notably slower than even TruePoker. There is a 4 second pause, for no reason, between hands. The blinds in our tournament increases every 12 mintues, but we couldn't do a single rotation around a 10 player table in that time. The table offers no sound cue when it's your turn and does not pop the window into focus. (This is a feature we take for granted and was really missed.)
Since last night, they've removed all the larger pay tournaments and are now offering two $100 free-rolls a night (at 7pm and 10pm) until they can fix the problem.
All in all, it's a frustrating experience, but it is a new site, and it is a free-roll. If you're bored come out and join me for a free-roll or two - but be prepared - it's SLOOOOOOOOW.
Comments
So, that site sounds terrible. Thanks for the warning.
Regards,
all_aces