Who plays online poker?

[SaltwaterChaffy]

I wanted to know who all on the site plays poker online, what client you use, and what screen names you use in case anyone ever wanted to get together to play.

I also started this thread for a little bragging/self-promotion. I just finished up a 153 person tournament on Full Tilt Poker, taking 4th place. I'm very very tired right now, and I'm going to go to bed.

Before you ask, it was not very much money, as I don't have the funds to enter in bigger tournaments. I mainly play for fun. This was a 5 dollar buy-in, first place paying 206. I earned 76 dollars for my work.

[Member]

I know i won't really help you with this post because I don't really have any important info. But one of my friends plays online (he's 15 HAHA) and has won 340$ over playing online within like the past month which is pretty badass. Good luck if you keep playing!

[#41]

I play some on partypoker.

[Dirks Cuzin]

PokerStars here... If u live near Denton, i can get u into me and my friends live game

[sike]

absolutepoker.com......playing as "sike" of course

[FreshJive]

I play on ultimatebet.com. Its the only one I have ever tried, but online poker players are easy to beat at Omaha. They will bet a pair of Aces all the way through even if they get no help from the cards.

[sike]

I play Holdem almost exclusively

[FreshJive]

I'm not really good enough with the strategy and mechanics of Holdem to exploit people, but with Omaha it seems like you get alot of people that think they have good hands when they really don't.

[mnmpeanut]

i play regularly at ultimatebet.com (mnmpeanut). mostly the $1-2 or $2-4 limit hold em tables and small entry ($5-10) no limit tourneys, although when i'm on a good streak, i'll enter some of the bigger ($30-50) entry tourneys. some omaha, mostly split, but at lower limits because i'm just getting my feet wet playing it. its a chaser's game and really doesn't fit well into my playing style. but its a nice change of pace and i'm holding my own while picking up some of the nuances.

i've been playing for a little over a year and i'm doing okay, although i'm in a little bit of a tough stretch the last week to ten days. a couple of tourney wins, not major $$, but enough to keep my bankroll up. won a $5 entry tourney on labor day (about 500 players) and took out about $700. that, by far, is my biggest win. hoping to win a trip to aruba this year for the world poker tour event there.

i've tried partypoker, but like ultimatebet more. i like the format at full tilt, but have yet to make a deposit over there yet. maybe in the future.

[scooterj5]

i'm a tourney player, any sort of hold'em. I'm "sjay2k" on pacific poker or "McFly123" on party poker.

[FreshJive]

Saltwater, I know your the poker guru on this site, so if you see this: What site do internet players consider the most realistic? I have been catching some hellacious beats at Ultimate Bet. There was one in a muli table tournament where I needed one more double up to place in the big money and I had 10s vs 3s in an all in showdown before the flop. The guy caught a one card club flush on me. Today my pocket rockets were cracked in a preflop all in showdown by a KQ that caught a K on fourth street and a Q on the river.

[SaltwaterChaffy]

Not really sure in terms of which is "least likely to deliver bad beats." The fact is, playing online, you see hundreds more hands than you would see playing live. Thus, the bad beats will come more frequently.

I play at Full Tilt mostly, but the top 3 sites are generally considered to be UltimateBet, PartyPoker, and PokerStars. I think PokerStars is probably the most-respected, but that's just a guess on my part.

Those are some pretty nasty beats. But, what goes around comes around. I was playing in a tourney the other day in which my AT sucked out on AA when a ten hit on the flop and the river. But you remember those beats a lot more than you do your own suckouts.

[FreshJive]

Alright thanks. I've been thinking about trying out Poker Stars. Alot of UBers chat about the infrequency of bad beats on Poker Stars, so there is probably something to it.

I know what you mean about the frequency of hands, and that is probably the reason for seeing so many crazy beats. I think it is also due to the amount of people who chase crazy draws with few outs (which I have been known to do also).

Whats the attraction to Full Tilt?

[aexchange]

ive seen several hands like this on party poker:

3 players
player A has pocket 7's
B has pocket 10's
C has pocket 6's

flop comes 6 10 7

everyone pushes all in.

another story:
i have pocket aces; flop comes A K K, i push all in. other player has 4 kings.

i have 67 suited (clubs).

flop comes 8 9 10 all clubs

player B pushes all in in front of me. i call and he has QJ of clubs.

i had so many ridiculous hands like this it just makes me mad thinking about it.

i now mostly play just on royal vegas. pretty good site, and i dont seem to get the ridiculous bad beats that i do on other sites.

[SaltwaterChaffy]

I started playing at Full Tilt because they offered a lot of freerolls when they first started, and I wasn't at a point in my game that I wanted to put money into the account. While playing, I just really started to like their software, and I think their players are better, which to me, is an advantage. I have sometimes have trouble playing with really bad players because I can't put them on hands. The quality of players I think is higher overall at FTP, and I think that helps me.

Also, I wanted to brag on myself a bit. I just finished up (what I think) is a pretty amazing run of tournaments. Classes don't start until next week, and I've been alone in the apartment here, so I've been playing the midnight 5+.50 tournaments on FTP. The lowest number of entries in these has been 161, the highest 209. I have made the money in 4 straight tournaments, (roughly the top 10%) including a win on Tuesday and a 3rd place finish tonight. I have a more detailed report of the week if anyone is interested, but I don't want to take up too much space here.

[chumdawg]

Chaff, I'd love to hear about it. How much did your win pay you off?

Are you local? For some reason I'm thinking you live in CA. What school you at?

[StvNash13]

I play on partypoker. Screenname is arkan916. Usually just play the sit and goes, I find them to be easier than the cash games online. Drop me a line if you see me playing.

[FreshJive]

I'll have to try Full Tilt out then. They have the cool players as spokespeople also (Lederer, Jesus, Ivey). I think the eratic play online has slowed my learning curve. When you are constantly beat by J3 suited it makes logic seem useless. You called a raise with that? "It was suited and I had a face card."

[mnmpeanut]

you just have to get used to the bad beats. personally, i take them very hard and will think about them for hours afterwards, if not days. they say you remember your bad beats more than your big wins. for instance...

last night, played my first tourney at fulltilt (regular at ub). eighth hand in, get rockets around back. big blind +2 raises small, i come over him big (2x pot), he flat calls. rag flop. he checks, i send him all in (i had already won a decent size hand), he calls. he had called a big reraise out of position preflop with 66. hit the two outer on the flop. left me with 400 or so chips. and an attitude.

i wander around for a few hands cursing him, then get pocket tens in the middle. i'm already short stacked, so what the heck. under the gun limps, next guy 2x's the blind, i raise all in. both guys call (for about 1/3 their stack). limper had A2 suited, raiser had 44. needless to say, A on flop did me in. just couldn't understand calling that big a raise out of position with a raiser (who had a big enough stack to empty him) and a reraiser behind him with, what in all likelihood, was a dominated hand that was barely worth a limp to begin with. he, of course, thought it was brilliant. aarrggghhhhhh!!!

play long enough, you'll have sob stories just like that one. and no one will want to hear about them, just like that one. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[SaltwaterChaffy]

FTP had a Cystic Fibrosis Charity Tournament tonight. The Buy-in was 12 dollars, with 2 dollars from every entry going to charity. I entered on a whim because I felt like playing a multi-table tourney tonight. 452 people entered, which makes over 900 bucks going to charity.

The reason I'm telling you this is because even more money went to me. I outlasted 451 other people to win the tourney, my biggest score yet. Now I'm absurdly tired, but unable to sleep because of adrenaline. So, good luck for me at class tomorrow, right? Luckily I only have one.

[chumdawg]

Unbelievable. You have MAD tourney skills!!!

Congrats, dude. Buy yourself somethin' nice. What did you take in, over 2K?

[SaltwaterChaffy]

Only (ha!) $1,062, chum. Still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with it. I'm still in semi-shock about the whole thing. If I'm acting like this after winning this, I have no idea how I'd feel if I ever won any "major" tourney. Perhaps I'm on my way? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[sike]

tell some stories about the bad beats and big hands you had/saw....and then go put "the rain song" on your playlist for next Monday [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[chumdawg]

Yes, and let us know how it went at the final table. Were you chip leader? Or did you have to double through a couple times? What was the make-or-break hand? And of course, what was the winning hand?

P.S. If you have the patience and skill to outlast a field of several hundred, I'd say you may well be on your way to bigger and better things.

You play any live tourneys around campus?

[SaltwaterChaffy]

I sometimes take notes during tourneys just to watch myself, and give myself something to study later. I didn't do this until the final table in this case. One of the biggest hands I had was right before the money. 45 were paid, we were down to 46 players. I was on the button with AQo. A guy in LP raised it about 4x the BB. I called. The flop came Ace High. He bet about half the pot, and I pushed all-in. (I had him covered by about 8k. I guess he thought I was trying to bully him, so he called with pocket Jacks. No improvement, and I put us into the money, and was in 3rd place with 44 to go. Then I started to go a little card dead.

I raised from MP with T9c, got called by late position. The flop comes J87 rainbow, perfect for me. I check-min-raise. He calls. Turn is a ten. I bet about 1/2 the pot. He calls. River is a nine, putting my straight on the board. We both check, and he shows AQ for a higher straight. That was probably the worst beat I took, but it was my mistake for not raising more on the flop.

Anyway, I couldn't get any cards for a long time. I just hung out and gotten eaten by the blinds. With 16 people left, I was in 10th place. With 13 people left, I was 10th in chips. When there were 10 people left, I was 10th in chips. I pushed all-in some to steal blinds, and just kept floating along. Finally, we make the final table.

The rest of this is copied directly from my online journal. These hands are obviously the important ones for me, but hands where others are eliminated are included. Near the end, things got hectic, so I didn't get great details, and I really had to concentrate on the game rather than good notes.


final table time
452 people

Just doubled up with 88 vs. 55. No improvement for either, and I'm at 61k. Good for 5th of 9. Avg stack is 70k though.

Two people out. I raised to 12k with 88. Some guy pushed for 44k. Another calls. I decide that 88 might not be good, so I fold. It would have been good, but someone is eliminated now. Next hand, someone gets their AK sucked out by big stack A7.

I have AJ in the BB. Stealer tries to steal (imagine that) by making it 10k. I push my 43k. Stealer folds. I'm 7 of 7 though, but still have enough chips to do damage.


some guy raised to 12k, one guy called, and I had A7o in the BB. it was 7k more to call, so I did, flopped an Ace, so I pushed and took it down. Poor play, probably should have gone for a check-raise. I only get called there by a hand that beats me, most likely. I'm up to 80k. 4 of 7.

Move up in money. Flop 789. Two guys get all in, one with A8, one with TT. TT holds up, we're down to 6.

Call a raise from BB with A3o. Flop 2 pair. Check-check on flop. Turn is a K. I bet 18k into 36k pot, he folds.

Called a raise from stealer with ATo. SB and BB both call. Flop K88. SB bets 18k, everyone folds.

Take blinds with A7s. Taking blinds is huge, worth about 12k.

Go for a steal from the button with A3o. Get called by SB. Flop QTQ. I bet 18k. he calls. Turn is a 3. he checks, i check. Riv is an Ace. He bets 12k, I just call. He has A9, we split the pot.

Another gone. A min-raise from MP, a call, and a call from the SB. I also call from the BB with A2d. Flop is J78. SB bets 18k, I fold. Button pushes, SB calls. SB has JK, Button JQ. No improvement, and we're down to 5.

I'm definitely the shortstack. I have 64k, 4th place has 111k. Push or fold time for a little while, me thinks. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd are all within 3k chips of each other. If they get involved a big hand, maybe I won't be the shortstack much longer.

Steal first hand BB from the SB with 99. Showed it to advertise that I'm not pushing with nothing.

I min-raise UTG with A4c. I get called by the button. Flop 235. I bet 16k into 49k pot. Button pushes, I auto-call. He shows A9, I double up and am now the chip leader!

Steal with A5s. that's all.

Somebody else just doubled up to take chip lead from me. Another guy is really short now, though.

Min-raise from MP. SB calls. I call from BB with 76s. Flop is all spades. I bet about 1/3 of the pot. MP pushes. I call. She has Ace of spades. No other spade hits, and I'm huge chip leader.

Some shit happened really fast. We're down to 3. I'm 2nd in chips,but barely behind.

Went down to 3rd after my A9 failed to bust Shortstack's TT.

Shit is really crazy, don't have time to update now.

Down to 3rd now.

Heads up. He has a big chip lead. I double up early on, with 77 against his 76. He's still up a little under 2to 1.

Take a pretty big pot. We now have only a 60k difference.

I fall back a bit, getting as low as 130k. (678k in play)

Whew. Double up with A6 against his K2. He flopped a 2, but I turned a 6. I'm back in this thing.

In the BB with AJh. He raises (8k/16k) to 48k. I repop it to 128k. He thinks about it for a while, and then pushes. I hesistate for about 3 secs, and then call. He shows 89o. Flop is 426, two clubs. Ace of clubs on the turn. He has a club, I don't, so I have to dodge it on the river. River is a black 7, the sweetest spade ever! He's now down to less than the SB. We auto post 2 hands, and he wins both. He has enough to almost post a full BB. I have KQ of spades. I obviously call. He has 54o. Flop J3Q rainbow. T of spades on the turn seals it, the river Jack of spades gives me a meaningless flush. OMG, I won!!!!

Biggest win ever for me! Thanks for reading.
Text

[chumdawg]

Thanks for posting. I very much enjoyed that. You did won a couple close calls, and got a couple dream flops, but it sounds as though you picked your spots wisely and played fearlessly when you did. Great work. Reading through it all, I think folding the eights was probably the most impressive play. Seems that you were really playing the tournament as a whole as opposed to playing that one specific hand. Very impressive laydown.

It sure took some stones to push the AQ on the bubble. I don't know what the blinds or stack sizes were there, but I'm guessing that being left with 8K wouldn't have been comfortable. Were you praying he didn't have AK, or were you pretty sure you were ahead based on his weak lead? Was the board coordinated, and you were trying to take it down right there? Or did you kinda expect a call from a hand you likely beat, trying to represent a bluff?

I would have been tempted to go on FULL tilt when my flopped straight got counterfeited like that. I would have been mad enough just to split the pot, but to lose it would have been infuriating. Weird hand, though. When he smoothcalls your preflop raise and then calls your flop check-minraise, what do you put him on? What do you think he puts you on? He played the hand really weird. He pretty much had to call the small turn bet with his double-gutter, I would think (though a push would have been more in line with the way he was playing his hand so far). But why in the world would he check behind on the river? If he thought you were that likely to have QK, then he damn sure should have set you in on the turn. Just a weird, weird play. I don't know what the stack sizes were at that point, but I'm sure you would have had to call a bet on the river--and I'm equally sure that he wouldn't have minded a raise.

Anyway, great read. And congrats again!

[mnmpeanut]

great read, chaffy. must have been a good 24 hours at fulltilt for dallas-mavs posters. i took 2nd in a VERY small limit omaha split tourney last night on fulltilt. didn't win much $$, but it was a nice 3 hour learning session, especially the final table, which took almost an hour and a half. having never played short-handed omaha before, i was learning on the fly. one thing about fulltilt i'm not sure if i like is that they pay so few spots in their tourneys, especially the smaller ones. mine was basically a glorified sit-n-go (27 people - no one plays omaha at fulltilt), but only paid 3 spots. felt bad for the guy who finished fourth cause i sucked out on him two outta three hands at the end to knock him out. he raised first in with A2JJ and i called him with T9QQ two suited otb, blinds fold, flop comes 58J, he bets set and nut low draw, i call with overpair, straight draw with redraws and backdoor flush draws. turn is Q, river pairs board's 8. i raise the turn with my nut straight and he flat calls, then we cap the river, both with boats. he loses high and misses low. then he's shortstacked so he raises in sb w/AQT9 two suited, and, trying to get him out, i call with A478 three suited in bb. flopped the wheel. i felt bad raising him all in cause i had a feeling i had sucked out again. turn and river don't help him. kinda the nature of omaha though. so many draws that you're getting good pot odds to chase.

i've been playing mostly limit hold 'em tables at fulltilt because most of the tourneys are still pretty small compared to the tourneys at ub. for some reason last night, i just felt like playing omaha instead of my usual $5 "turbo" nl tourney at ub.

btw, i play as "mnmpeanut" at both sites, so if you see me sitting at a 1-2 table grinding it out, sit down and i'll let you pilfer my stack. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[aexchange]

have any of you played at interpoker?

i've been crushing the $1/$2 NL games there with a bunch of fish. my winrate has been extremely high, and i find that most of the players there are extremely weak/tight.

you guys may want to check it out.

[sike]

great stuff Chaffy..........congrats to the max! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[SaltwaterChaffy]

Originally posted by: chumdawg
I think folding the eights was probably the most impressive play. Seems that you were really playing the tournament as a whole as opposed to playing that one specific hand. Very impressive laydown.

It sure took some stones to push the AQ on the bubble. I don't know what the blinds or stack sizes were there, but I'm guessing that being left with 8K wouldn't have been comfortable. Were you praying he didn't have AK, or were you pretty sure you were ahead based on his weak lead? Was the board coordinated, and you were trying to take it down right there? Or did you kinda expect a call from a hand you likely beat, trying to represent a bluff?

I would have been tempted to go on FULL tilt when my flopped straight got counterfeited like that. I would have been mad enough just to split the pot, but to lose it would have been infuriating. Weird hand, though. When he smoothcalls your preflop raise and then calls your flop check-minraise, what do you put him on? What do you think he puts you on? He played the hand really weird. He pretty much had to call the small turn bet with his double-gutter, I would think (though a push would have been more in line with the way he was playing his hand so far). But why in the world would he check behind on the river? If he thought you were that likely to have QK, then he damn sure should have set you in on the turn. Just a weird, weird play. I don't know what the stack sizes were at that point, but I'm sure you would have had to call a bet on the river--and I'm equally sure that he wouldn't have minded a raise.

Anyway, great read. And congrats again!

Re 88: I would have been left with a decent enough amount of chips if I folded, but if I called the all-in and lost, I would have been in dangerous position. Turns out that the raiser had AJ (I had thought about just calling him) but when the blind cold-called two raises, I figured he had me beat. He had 44. Eights would have been good, but I still think I made the right play. I ended up taking a bunch of chips from the guy who called with 44 (later identified as Stealer in notes), mainly based on my thinking that if he's calling with 44 there, he doesn't quite know what he's doing.

The AQ play: I had been relatively tight, but aggressive once I got in hands, whether or not I made the hand or not. The villain seemed pretty solid. After the flop, his lead seemed more like a defensive bet. Also, he could have been raising preflop with any ace just to steal the blinds (as they were pretty big at that point.) So, I decided that my hand was probably good, and on the chance it wasn't, playing the table bully right before the money might cause him to fold so he could limp into cashing. I guess he thought I was being a table bully, but I actually had a pretty good hand, and that took him out.

My counterfeited straight: Frankly, I have no idea what happened there. I played the flop poorly, but if I were the villain, I'm probably not calling a min-check-raise with just overcards. That usually seems like a big hand. The fact that he checked behind (he had position) on the river when he held a queen is baffling. Whatever.

I did get a few dream flops, but the only one I really got paid off on was the straight, but boy was that huge. I didn't include a hand when it was down to 3 and I was shortstacked. I was in the BB with 59d and got to see a flop. Two diamonds, and I lead out about 1/2 the pot. Chip leader calls. Turn is a blank. I bet about 2/3 of the pot (leaving me with roughly 40k) and he folds after using almost all his time. Definitely a huge hand. If I had been called on the turn and blanked the river (or been set all-in on the turn) there's no way I'm winning the tourney.

[sike]

I joined a league about three weeks ago and out of about 70 people a night I've finished 12th, 8th, 3rd....not bad since I have not been getting good cards...no money...but if you finish high enough you can pick up a bunch of point and they enter you into a regional tournament...

[chumdawg]

What site is that? Or is this live?

[sike]

live...

[FreshJive]

So here's a crazy hand that I got involved in at a regular NL cash game (20$ buy in) that I play in sometimes at my apartment complex.

The blinds are .25 .50 and we were six handed. I had KK and the guy to my right raised to two dollars. I reraised five to make it seven and bb called as well as the raiser. The flop came down AQJ of spades. The guy to my right fired off a twenty dollar bet (over half his remaining stack). I had the K of spades and had worked my stack up to about 100$. The BB also had about 100$ sitting in front of him as well, and he is really loose about calling preflop raises so I figured if I went all in he would fold, and I could isolate myself against the other guy's smaller stack. So I go all in and the BB glares at me, gets up, kicks his chair, walks around for awhile and starts ranting "He's got big slick and the K of spades, but I have him beat right now" over and over. Eventually he folds and the small stack calls all in and turns over AJ. BB turns over AQ and I catch a ten on the turn to win the pot with a straight. I've only been playing holdem for about a year. Did I make the right play? At the time I thought my outs would make me the favorite and confirmed this later by putting the three hands into a simulator. Should I have attempted to push the BB out? The BB is a very loose aggressive player BTW.

[chumdawg]

Congrats on the win, Fresh. How much did you make from the short stack?

It depends on your tolerance for variance, but the BB's stack is really the one you wanted in that situation, no? It sounds like he would have pushed if you had smooth called. If you had 100 to start the hand, then if he pushed you would be getting close to three-to-one on your call (depending on the size of the short stack), as a slight favorite. Great situation.

If you think there is a chance that he simply calls as well, then there is more merit to pushing. A blank on the turn reduces you to an underdog, and a spade or ten may kill your action (though in a game like this probably not, as the pot would be sizeable, the stacks are now small in relation to it, two pair still has four outs, and the short stack probably kisses his chips and tosses them in anyway). The more I think about it, you probably get paid off even if you hit on the turn. But you aren't going to enjoy playing the turn if you miss.

So I probably would have decided what I thought the BB would do, and let him get his money in on the flop if I thought he would.

[jthig32]

Never posted in hear before, but I play quite a bit of poker, mostly online (pokerstars).

Personally, I wouldn't have pushed all in. As Chum said, if you think you're drawing (i.e. you don't have the best hand at that moment), which was a realtive certainty, you want to keep the third stack in to give you better odds on the draw.

Chum's observation about the turn either killing your action or making you uneasy is valid, so that might be a reason for pushing on the flop, but I would not have because you had to assume on the flop that the SB that pushed was ahead of you at the moment.

You had a draw to the nuts on the flop, if you're going to chase your draw, don't knock out your pot odds.

The guy you chased out actually made an astute observation. If you indeed did have AxKs, I would have pushed in that scenario, because in that case it's possible you have the best hand anyway, and you want to push out the draws, but at the same time if they decide to call you still have a good draw.

[jthig32]

BTW, to add to some of what has been stated earlier in the thread, I think the easiest game to beat online is Stud H/L, especially if you have the patience to play some of the smaller tables.

[FreshJive]

Thanks for the advice on the pot odds guys. I kind of thought after the hand that I should have just smooth called to get the BBs money in the pot as well (This guy most certainly would have pushed either on the flop or turn if a blank hit had I smooth called), but at the time I was afraid of the blank turn, BBs aggressive nature, and playing my draw for 100$. Next time I'll just have to grow some balls and let the BB put me all in.

I think the small stack gave me an additional 18 dollars or so on top of the 27 he had already put in and I left that night with about 190$. Not bad for a twenty dollar buy in.

Jthig: I play 10$ stud hi lo sngs at Party and do pretty well.

[kingrex]

Not me, it might be gateway "game" to fullscale gambling.

Oh my!

[chumdawg]

Anybody ever play a double-flop Holdem tourney? It sounds intriguing to me...