Best site for small entry Sit-and-Gos ($1-3)?
Hi, everyone--I'm new around here.
I've been studying poker and casually playing online play-money hold 'em off and on for a few years now. I'm not at the point where I feel very confident with my game (I still have a lot of reading to do), but I often find myself thinking critically without having to force myself to, and from my performance in freerolls and the like, I can tell that I'm at least above average.
I know many will say that play-money games are a horrible guage of ability, but I avoid ring games like the plague and have spent the majority of my time playing tournaments in which minor contest entries are on the line (e.g. ScorePoker.com), etc. I can't quite murder the things, but I'd say that when I'm on my game, I finish in the top 10% 4/5ths of the time.
Well, I'd like to start playing for small amounts of money online, recreationally. But I have no bankroll. I fired up PKR.com's client last week, discovering that I had $5.00 in my account. I imagine as a reward for beta testing for them a couple of years ago. At this point the $5 is squandered, but not before I did quite well in a few Sit-and-Gos.
This was obviously much more fun than playing in a freeroll. And I got to thinking, if I'm only spending $5 or so a week, isn't that a heck of lot better of an investment than a lottery ticket? I'll finally be learning against valid (albeit online) competition, and will possibly win enough to stay in the black.
PKR.com is one of those neat but gimmicky 3D sites. The avatar customization is a ton of fun, but it's probably more of a distraction to a serious player than anything else. That said, PKR.com is probably also great at drawing fish for that reason. I like PKR.com, but I know you guys will be able to tell me there's a better place for me out there.
I only play S&Gs and tournaments, generally no limit hold 'em exclusively. Ring games have never been my forte, and as I find that I'm as below average there as I am above average in tournament play, I pretty much avoid them at all costs. (But then, that might be because I've only ever played in play-money ring games.)
As my bankroll is virtually nonexistent, and I'm in many ways still a student of the game, I've been wondering if I should explore limit hold' em in greater detail. But I've honestly found the betting limitations to hinder any strategic advantage I've acquired. The few occassions on which I've played pot limit, on the other hand, I've enjoyed. Most hands seem to be played the same way as under their no limit counterpart, with obvious exceptions. And it seems to keep a lid on the suicidal-aggressive players ruining play. (Though again, that's probably far less common in real-money games.)
PKR.com has $1-2, NL, six-to-fifty-player S&Gs starting almost constantly, which is great for the kinds of games I can afford to get involved in. But other than the odd Omaha S&G, that's about all they've got. Even the ring games are dominated by NL, where it's a little too easy for me to lose my money. .02/.04 limit or pot limit games are where I'd go in between S&Gs if they had any running. So I'd kind of like a site that offers both.
As I'm only going to be investing small amounts (at this point, no more than $15 at a time), deposit bonuses don't really factor into where I choose to play. Where do you guys suggest I go? I know people used to say PartyPoker.com was great for fish, but I don't know if that holds true to this day. I guess I'm just looking for the best micro-limit site out there.
Your advice is appreciated! Thank you.
I've been studying poker and casually playing online play-money hold 'em off and on for a few years now. I'm not at the point where I feel very confident with my game (I still have a lot of reading to do), but I often find myself thinking critically without having to force myself to, and from my performance in freerolls and the like, I can tell that I'm at least above average.
I know many will say that play-money games are a horrible guage of ability, but I avoid ring games like the plague and have spent the majority of my time playing tournaments in which minor contest entries are on the line (e.g. ScorePoker.com), etc. I can't quite murder the things, but I'd say that when I'm on my game, I finish in the top 10% 4/5ths of the time.
Well, I'd like to start playing for small amounts of money online, recreationally. But I have no bankroll. I fired up PKR.com's client last week, discovering that I had $5.00 in my account. I imagine as a reward for beta testing for them a couple of years ago. At this point the $5 is squandered, but not before I did quite well in a few Sit-and-Gos.
This was obviously much more fun than playing in a freeroll. And I got to thinking, if I'm only spending $5 or so a week, isn't that a heck of lot better of an investment than a lottery ticket? I'll finally be learning against valid (albeit online) competition, and will possibly win enough to stay in the black.
PKR.com is one of those neat but gimmicky 3D sites. The avatar customization is a ton of fun, but it's probably more of a distraction to a serious player than anything else. That said, PKR.com is probably also great at drawing fish for that reason. I like PKR.com, but I know you guys will be able to tell me there's a better place for me out there.
I only play S&Gs and tournaments, generally no limit hold 'em exclusively. Ring games have never been my forte, and as I find that I'm as below average there as I am above average in tournament play, I pretty much avoid them at all costs. (But then, that might be because I've only ever played in play-money ring games.)
As my bankroll is virtually nonexistent, and I'm in many ways still a student of the game, I've been wondering if I should explore limit hold' em in greater detail. But I've honestly found the betting limitations to hinder any strategic advantage I've acquired. The few occassions on which I've played pot limit, on the other hand, I've enjoyed. Most hands seem to be played the same way as under their no limit counterpart, with obvious exceptions. And it seems to keep a lid on the suicidal-aggressive players ruining play. (Though again, that's probably far less common in real-money games.)
PKR.com has $1-2, NL, six-to-fifty-player S&Gs starting almost constantly, which is great for the kinds of games I can afford to get involved in. But other than the odd Omaha S&G, that's about all they've got. Even the ring games are dominated by NL, where it's a little too easy for me to lose my money. .02/.04 limit or pot limit games are where I'd go in between S&Gs if they had any running. So I'd kind of like a site that offers both.
As I'm only going to be investing small amounts (at this point, no more than $15 at a time), deposit bonuses don't really factor into where I choose to play. Where do you guys suggest I go? I know people used to say PartyPoker.com was great for fish, but I don't know if that holds true to this day. I guess I'm just looking for the best micro-limit site out there.
Your advice is appreciated! Thank you.
Comments
Are you focusing on your win-rate? Then you want to get as site that has alot of fish in it and longer blind schedules. I think pokerstars has the best schedules for sitngos however, they are not very fishy. I find Cake or Pacific very soft, however it sounds like you have found a good site in PKR.com
This is a fine entertaining result.
If you are focusing on skill development, Pokerstars. Yes the lower levels are fishy, but the competition for the most part is very good.
If your looking at skills development. I strongly suggest Pokerstars. You can do $1 SnG's and learn alot. Yes you will have some tables that will be pushfest donkements but for the most part you will have tougher competition at these levels.
Some hints;
SnG's are very different then cash games. You really need to have some understanding of mid to late game strategy.
Try and study an hour for each hour you play. Look for articles 2+2 has a ton of them, but you kind find alot on Cardplayer, pokerauthority etc. Look for Colin Moshman or Dan Harrington.
Use a program like SitnGo wizard to critique your play. This involves an ICM to find your equity pushes.
Actual Game Play;
1) Levels until the blinds are 5% of avg stacks, play tight. AA-JJ, AK-AQ
2) Blinds are 5-10% of avg stack, start to open much wider from the c/o or button and the SB if everyone folds to you. You want to steal as many blinds as possible. Fold to any aggression unless you have a made hand (But you want to learn where to resteal here hence the study)
3)Blinds are 10%+ of the avg stack, open push ANY two cards in the SB, open push any pair, 2 broadway cards, AK - AT offsuit and A-x suited from the HiJack, Cutoff and Button. From thwe button you can add suited connectors 78+. From earlier postition you can open push with AK-AJ, KQ-KJ, add through to A9 suited, pairs 88+.
4) Keep in mind the stack sizes. You do not want to push weak into a Bigstack in the BB, or a blind who is 2-5x blinds as you will get called in both situations, keep this in mind and you may want to eliminate open push from the sb or suited connectors from the button.
5) Bubble, many times if the stacks are average you can really open up your standards as you can steal ALOT of chips. Fold to agression but I tend to open every pot for 3-5x blinds depending on position and how passive the table is. It is unbelievable how much people tighten as you get to four runners.
6) DO NOT CALL BETS - MAKE BETS; you need a very strong hand to call or a clear reason, ie mining a set, against a NIT that you can float and push off a hand but for the most part you do not want to call unless you have AA-QQ AK-AQ. You chips are too valuable and you will quickly get commited to a hand in the later stages. Ofcourse, if you have a person before you that is opening all the time you can adjust, but a 3bet is much better then a call.
7) Heads up? I have no idea... I am still trying to learn as my H/U game is a huge leak for me. What I have learned so far is that you want to play a control game, like aikido redirecting your opponents energy and really controlling the action. Remember Q5 is the midpoint, try and get as many chips without showdown.
I hope this helps and somemore will add to it, but this is a basic strategy that should help you crush the $1-5 games.
Here are reviews of both sites from my other site:
Pokerstars Review
Full Tilt Poker Review
I also play at PKR and think its pretty fun. If anyone is interested in trying it out I can get you 30% Rakeback with PKR. The only problem is their software takes around 30-45 minutes to download, and really eats up the resources on your computer.
If you have any other things you are looking for in a site let me know as I have played at almost all of them and have all the software installed on my computer.
Admin note: please, no referral codes.
http://www.vcpoker.com/free35
This is a great promo that VC runs. I promote it on my site as its a great way for new players to get started.
I'm going with VC Poker to start out with, for the free $10. As it may take up to 72 hours for that to show up, I was thinking of depositing my own $10 for now.
1. How long does it usually take for a deposit to show up?
2. As a Canadian, can I just deposit directly from Visa/Mastercard?
3. Any legal information I should be aware of? Should I actually win anything, I will be reporting for taxes... so I'll keep good records of any withdrawals down the road.
Thanks guys!
1. Should be immediate
2. Yes, but some bank companies (Like Royal Bank) have banned their credit cards from being used to deposit into gambling sites. I have used (and using) a card from TD with no problems.
3. Best to consult an accountant, but if its small winnings, for the most part they can careless.
Wound up depositing the minimum ($25) at PKR.com, instead. Thought I'd stick with what I was familiar with, for now. At first, I regretted my decision as I found the S&G lobby not very active. But I soon found a $1.00+.10 10-person STT.
And after a 75-minute slog, I won! $5 for first place. Played very tight despite wanting to play a lot of hands... and was for a while regretting it, as I would have flopped three-of-a-kind a couple of times, and a straight once. But it obviously paid off. Still feel like I got kind of lucky stealing the blinds, though. I was really feeling the cost of the blinds entering five-handed, as I was the small stack (but not by much).
And it didn't help that I kept getting disconnected througout the tournament, haha. So maybe my luck balanced out.
A good start, at any rate.
But hey, at least I'm learning from my mistakes.
So... I entered a $2.00 + .20 50-person MTT this morning. Placed first and won $30, doubling my bankroll. :biggrin: Someone please encourage me to not get a bloated head and keep playing at this level for a while.
It will help alot. I refer to it when I start running good and want to move up.
Last couple of days, I've been trying to log in to see if it's there. But I always get the message "Cannot contact the gaming server. Please check your internet connection and try again." Well, there's nothing wrong with my internet connection, as you can see this post. Hehe. But I've reset my modem and router just to be sure.
At this point, I'm kind of at a loss. It's been like that for at least two days. Doesn't seem like regular downtime. Anyway, I'm not itching to play on VC, or anything.... So I don't feel like I need to write to support, or anything. But I'm definitely curious as to what's up. Anyone have any idea?