Best place to get started online?
So what exactly is the best poker site to get started with online? I'm totally new here so bare with me 
. The only ones I've heard of are party poker and poker room, are these good ones?
. The only ones I've heard of are party poker and poker room, are these good ones?
Comments
I've never played on poker room but I do play on partypoker. I can tell you of my experiences there. Lots of cash tables, not much choice with stt, great overlays on mtt. Playing in the evenings on this site isn't very good. Too many tight players and alot fewer players compared to peak times. You may want to get on a site that offers rakeback such as full tilt. Im joining pokerstars this upcoming week, lots of players on that site as well, no rakeback on that site though.
With alot of the european sites you will find low traffic because most of those sites don't allow american players to play.
I would agree and say don't do FullTilt Poker unless you are signing up for rakeback - which is a must if you plan to play a lot online.
1) Traffic - Nothing is worse than making a deposit on a site with no traffic. The two busiest online poker sites are Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars. Pokerstars is #1 and has almost double the traffic of Full Tilt. On average there are approximately 150,000 people online at Stars. This means you don't ever have to wait for a game and the tournaments are the biggest (prizepool and player field) in online poker.
2) Games you will be playing. If you want to play anything other than Texas Holdem, Pokerstars and Full Tilt are your best bet. These sites have the most traffic at non-holdem games. If you want to play Sit N Go's - they fill fastest on Pokerstars.. which means you don't have to wait around forever.
3) Competition - If you are looking for sites with easier play, I personally say to try and avoid ones that do rakeback. I can't speak for Party Poker, but I know Pacific Poker has very soft competition and even Pokerstars if you pick your table properly.
4) Rakeback - Every hand you play on a poker site you contribute to something called a rake (the way poker sites make money). Rakeback simply means that you get some of this money back. Not every site offers rakeback, but if you want some sites that do, here is my rakeback deals page.
5) Rewards / Loyalty Programs - Most of the sites that do not offer rakeback have amazing loyalty programs. For example, at Pokerstars you can actually get stuff in their store with minimal play. On Full Tilt, you need to put in like 500 hours to get a hat.
6) Software - Again, a personal thing... my favorites in this field are Stars, FTP and sites on the Merge Network.
I am sure I am missing a ton more things, but this should at least get you started. I recommend trying a few sites and seeing which YOU prefer. Finding a site that you are comfortable with can take time.
Thoughts on Party Poker / Poker Room:
Party Poker - Haven't played there in years so can't say too much. They took a big hit in traffic after they pulled out of the US, but recently they have changed the software and are doing some cool things to make it better. I still think this is one of the better sites, though they aren't what they were back in the day and Pokerstars has taken most of their market share.
Poker Room - One of the first sites I played on. If you can put up with the Ongame software (the software of the network that the site runs on - which I really don't like), there are some good overlay tournaments (smaller field with money added to the prize pool). Other than that, if this is the first site you are gonna play on, I would say check out stars or Full Tilt.
Good luck!
The BEST place to start online? Poker source online.
Tell them JohnnieH sent you!
Get on over to a Poker affiliate like Pokersource.com. Sign up. It's like earning air miles. When you play on any site, you get bonus points which you can exchange for cash, gifts, poker lessons and other assorted goodies.
You will really love it. I dont play poker online unless someone is paying me to do it.
Yes.
Also as Graham said, Ongame network - Pokerroom, Hollywood etc runs a lot of sats with overlays. Their regular guaranteed tourneys usually don't have overlays but many of their daytime sats so. The rebuy ones are pure gold. Quite often you can make FT and the rb period hasn't even ended yet because the players are too cheap/stupid to rebuy.
Graham you are way overstating the FT point system. I think it is relatively easy to rack up Tilt points there, especially if you play during the double or triple point times. I have over 20k points since joining in Feb 2008 and I really haven't played much there since the middle of August. A hat is only 4000 points. A Canon Powershot A590 digital camera is only 35000 points. A Toshiba portable DVD player 45000 points. Add in rakeback and it is now a semi-regular site for me.
But buying something w points gets deducted from your rakeback doesnt' it?