October 07, 2010
Full Tilt small stakes redux
I have a lot of students who play on Full Tilt. Some of them play there because they only have the choice of playing on US-friendly sites. Some of them play there despite a wider choice. Normally I advise students to simply seek out the best deal they can and play on that site. That means it's unlikely to be FT, but still some people prefer it and I have no problem with that. Sometimes however, I encounter a phrase along the lines of:
"Playing FT small stakes is harder though, I mean, I could be crushing eurodonk site small stakes for X bb/100 or beating midstakes for the same winrate but FT helps me hone my skills against tough players."
Admirable. Or is it an excuse? I have no doubt that at some point FT becomes a little tougher than Euro sites if you do not apply good game selection. I know this can be true because I have students at midstakes on FT also. I do not believe that the small stakes games are considerably tougher however. As such I was told to "play there for a week and you'll see".
I was expecting some tough spots and was ready to mix it up - and then everyone just played ABC and donated to me when I wanted them to. Back to my "ridiculously soft" Euro midstake games.
8 Comments:
sforzisi posted on October 07, 2010 at 11:43 AM
VNH, sir. What do you think of the black card and rakeback changes implemented?
inavacuum posted on October 07, 2010 at 15:40 PM
Honestly I haven't studied the changes/new features enough to have an opinion. It's causing a huge stink on 2+2 and I'm just allowing that to amuse me - people don't seem to understand that FTP is running a business and will run it in order to make the most profit. If they don't like it they can act with their feet and then FTP will be forced to make changes. As it stands I feel most of it is simply posturing from the userbase and that only a small % of the biggest nits will move away.
eraser posted on October 09, 2010 at 13:36 PM
You don't have a large enough sample size! (obv joking)
On a serious note, what do you recommend your students to do when you say "seeking the best deal"? Finding the best rakeback% site or seeking deals on 2+2threads etc? I have tried finding superior rakeback%s, but most affiliates seemed to offer the same %?
In the "EuroTrips" series, you mentioned about getting good rakeback, but you never mentioned how to find them... could you elaborate or maybe give me a hint?
inavacuum posted on October 09, 2010 at 14:29 PM
Some affiliates will offer more on "VIP" deals. If you don't know how to get one, looking around 2+2 may be a place to start. The problem with those deals is that you do need to ensure the affiliate and the skin are reputable, which isn't always possible. Many Euro site affiliates will start at 30% rakeback minimum, with a rakerace and with a frequent reload bonus that's much healthier than FT's. This obviously adds up to a lot more value and that value is crucial when you're trying to build a roll. If you can find all of those things and also a rakeback deal that's more like 40-50%, you can see how much more attractive that is to FT.
I don't know how FT's Black Card system will fare in terms of what new overall RB % people will be looking at. If it closes the gap, that's obviously can only be a good thing.
I'm_ILL posted on October 12, 2010 at 08:33 AM
Besides FT the only other site I have played on is Pokerstars and I left that for rakeback on FT. The only other bonus I get is free CR membership. As for U.S. sites, the only other site I would be comfortable playing on is Doyle's Room which has a 33% rakeback but how does there VIP program fare?
thelynchmob1 posted on November 04, 2010 at 12:00 PM
inavacuum, what site do you play on? I was thinking of moving to iPoker or something for a better RB deal.
inavacuum posted on November 04, 2010 at 12:22 PM
Ongame and Boss mainly. Ongame because the regs are so bad and Boss because I have a very nice deal there. Sometimes I will play a table or 2 on Pacific or PKR. You can get very good deals on ipoker, as you are aware, but the games are terrible.
thelynchmob1 posted on November 04, 2010 at 12:25 PM
Yeah I've played on PKR before, and the games are super soft IMO (no doubt due to the novelty factor) but it's practically impossible to multitable. Might check out Ongame.
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