Pokerstars vs Full Tilt Poker

That's the question of my poker career. The decision is tough for any poker player. If I didn't have rakeback on FTP then it would be instantly stars. Through extensive research I will attempt to break down my decision making process between money and other. Money just outweighs so many factors, so it will be a large part of my decision.

Pokerstars is better up until 25NL vs FTP with rakeback. After that the rakes become the same, but the rakeback on FTP outweighs the VIP/FPP on Stars. If I play high volume and reach Platinum VIP or better than Stars is better. I guess if I ever reach 1000NL stars will be an easy supernova even with low volume. But there's a good chance in the long run I'll end up stuck in the low/mid stakes playing low/medium volumes, which would make the FTP rakeback better. For as the money part, I think FTP has a slight lead just because reaching supernova status will be tough, but Stars can surpass it if I really put in the volume. This is keeping in mind that I will not be switching back and forth. It's one or the other because I never plan on making any deposits or withdrawals until MANY years later.

Now for the other part. Stars just destroys FTP. Software, customer service, volume of players, aesthetics. God the stuff at the stars store is just so much sexier than the FTP store. But then again I'm probably getting a better deal at FTP with the rakeback.

Well, the final decision comes down something else. Possibly being banned from FTP for making a second account with rakeback. Even though everything has gone smoothly since. I don't want to risk building a bankroll and having FTP taking it away because I created another account for rakeback. I mean I already got the free HEM, which is the MAIN reason why I did it. I have never submitted any personal information to FTP, but there's still that slight chance they can track me through IP address. Even though it would be totally suicidal to take a consistent loyal customer away by banning my account, I still don't want to risk it. So from that note I am now officially a

I Lied

I've actually been way ahead of what I said I was doing on those past days. My first two posts were more of a detailed description for myself. I shall give you a short recap with the correct dates, so everything can be all up to date.

Sometime in early December, I won my first FTP freeroll with $2.25. Joined 2p2 around the same time and downloaded poker tracker on 12/9/09. Lost the rest of my FTP money in the same night.

On 12/11/09, I moneyed in 2 freerolls on Pokerstars totaling $2.25.

Grinded up to $73 before making a new account on FTP on 1/23/10 for rakeback, but mainly for the free holdem manager (HEM).

Grinded up basically just for MGR because my trials were running out on PT3 and HEM and I desperately need a HUD (Heads-up Display). Hit $100 MGR two days ago and just got my free HEM and CR subscription today on 2/26/10.

Haven't decided whether to stay on FTP or go back to Stars yet.

Back to 23o

So after my epic battles at the Pokerstars freerolls. I played my first 17k hands.

Yeah it's 2NL, but you have to admit 9.77 BB/100 is pretty baller. I really don't understand it when fish call my all-in bets with just top pair. I guess thats how they got the name fish? lol

Anyways, the title says "Back to 23o" because I'm pretty much starting this journey all over, or at least pausing it for a bit. I realized eventually my trial was going to run out on Poker Tracker 3 and playing without a HUD was not an option. My goal was to never put in any money into poker and I wanted to stick to it. I really didn't feel like reformatting my computer every 2 months just so I could keep using the poker tracker free trials, so I found an alternative method. I made a "new" account on FTP through Cardrunners for the free Hold'em Manager. Well, at least almost free. I have to work up $100 MGR before they give it to me. =(

YAH!! MORE FREEROLLS!!!

The Beginning

Why I decided to right my first ever blog, I don't know. Personally, I've always thought blogs were stupid as fuck and why bother writing things people don't care about. But I decided it might be nice to keep "journal of my journey" through poker and life.

The title you ask? 72o (seven two offsuit) is the the worst possible hand in Hold'em poker and it essentially means zero. This is where I'm starting from, in life as well as poker. I have never made a deposit and have never given out personal information to any poker sites. I essentially plan to keep it this way until I graduate college and find my own place. My parents think online poker is risky and don't want me to play, but they really can't stop me. I just promised them I would not submit any personal information to the sites.

To 54o

72o is not exactly where I'm at right now. More like 54o (better because the possibilities of flopping a straight). I started my epic journey with play money at Pokerstars before realizing that Full Tilt Poker (FTP) had a crap load of freerolls. Freerolls are free tournaments where you can win (usually small) amounts of money for free. I won $2.25 around the fourth freeroll I entered. These freerolls are literally full of Helen Kellers with down syndrome, but are still extremely hard because you have to place within the top 1% to get paid and that means playing at LEAST 5 hours in the tournament. I think I placed like 36 out of 7500. Anyways I was successful at play money, so I must be good at the 1c/2c tables right? WRONG!!! Although I wasn't terrible, it was difficult to play with most of my bankroll on the table. I was playing nitty ABC style postflop, while Limpy McLimperson preflop. Lost it all in a couple hours and destroyed my computer (just kidding, but I did scream and cry like a baby). I continued trying FTP freerolls again and lost heart. I almost had giving up after placing in the top 5% multiple times.

Then a shining star appeared. A shining Pokerstar email to be exact. Because I played a lot of play money, I was invited to the Juno Invitational Freeroll. Pokerstars normally has freerolls, but they are really gay because you have to place high in one freeroll before entering a weekly freeroll to win money. The Juno Invitational Freeroll was spectacular because it had a $500 prize pool (as opposed to $150 from FTP) and 20% payout(as opposed to 1% on FTP) and had only a couple hundred players (as opposed to 7500 players on FTP). On my first try as soon I hit the payout I got super excited and went WTF AGGRO DONKEY FISH HAPPY. I busted out soon after and won 65 cents. I went straight to the tables to find out at Pokerstars the minimum buyin was $1. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily, they have quite a bit of these freerolls per week. I won $1.60 the very next one making my total bankroll at $2.25 (the exact same amount I started with at FTP).

This time I went to the 2plus2 poker forums first to make sure I had my game in tack. Learned what preflop raising and position was (which is all you really need to beat the 2 cent tables (also called 2NL). Got my bankroll to like $5 and then played a few more Juno Invitational the following week placing in one to win an additional $2.10. I planned to continue playing the freerolls as well as 2NL to increase my bankroll faster.

The following week, those Jews at Jokerstars stopped giving me tickets to the freerolls. >_<