want to find a GOOD online poker firm for texas hold em.
any views,expierience?
TIA

Hijeff,

I am a regular player of the poker tables on-line. I have tried many of them but my preference is William Hill or Betfair. They are the same tables with the same players. I do use others too. There are many out there. The big two US ones are Pokerstars and Party Poker.

Unlike Fundamentalist (greetings sir!), I don't personally like the Ladbrokes site although there is a far greater numbers of games on there. The Ladbrokes platform (or "skin" as they are known in the trade) is also used by Stan James Poker. You will find several firms all use the same skin from various suppliers. The supplier of the skin must prove total trustworthyness to the licensor of it, ie the bookies. There is no way Willhill, Laddies or any of the big companies are going to jeopardise their entire reputations by buying up the use of an iffy platform for poker. It is lucrative business for them so it is checked, audited and tested to exhaustion.

I have made circa 7,000 from on-line poker in the last 9 months and this is from low limit poker, a mixture of limit hold'em, no-limit hold'em, pot limit Omaha at the cash tables, and no limit hold'em at the tournament tables. Bigger bankrolls that play higher limits will make much much more (provided they know what they are doing). On Stan james, the UK pro, Ram Vaswani, regularly plays the 40/80 Pot Limit Omaha table (which is named after him). Each pot played runs to '000s if it is contested!

I won the 14k guaranteed no limit hold'em tournament last week on Betfair (it is run every night at 8pm). First prize 3,360 from a 22 entry. Believe me, it requires luck as well as skill. Over 600 players entered but don't let that worry you. 400 bust out early because they are too aggressive and bluff too much. I usually make the top 100 and the top 50 - 70 are paid 28 upward in prizes. The real money is in the top 10. That said, I busted out early last night as I hit a flush in the big blind and was outflushed all-in. It goes that way sometimes!

That brings me to your point about bluffing. Poker is NOT chiefly a game of bluff. Bluffing is a weapon of the game but not the main part. The reason I can win at poker and why the bookies clean up is because the majority of players constantly churn their stacks bluffing and calling when they are clearly losing the hand. They contribute a percentage to the bookie in rake (the commission) and hand the rest over to players who know what they are doing.

That doesn't mean bad players don't have winning streaks nor that good players have losing streaks. The turn of the cards can do this and it is what makes the game fascinating and attractive to addicts.

I am flying out to Lithuania tonight to play a couple of tournaments in Vilnius. A case of knowing someone who knows someone who was keen to attract business at the casino there. There will be a couple of pros playing too which should be fun. Roy Brindley for one.

In conclusion, Hijeff, don't be concerned about fraud. On the tables the losers bleat all the time in the chat boxes. It is part of the tapestry. They often blame the software for a bad beat but you have to live with those. They lose overall because they don't know when to fold a hand. So, when you start, go to the very low limit games and don't play no limit or pot limit until you've got a grip of limit games.

Good luck.

I don't play poker or even gamble except with shares. As you guys seem to be serious players and I'm in GMC have any of you tried the findpoker site or the other sites GMC have. Your opinions would be much appreciated.

MS

Short answer, Mickeyskint, is no! I haven't used Findpoker.com and I don't need to. The market is bursting with poker sites and I don't see how GMC can ever be more than a short term success, but that's just my opinion. Good luck with it.

Hijeff, one further point. Many sites offer bonuses to join. These are basically cash "gifts" to your account, except that you have to play, say, 250 raked hands (ones you are involved in contributing bets) before it is released to you. The problem for new players is that they often bust out trying to make the bonus so no advantage is gained (except by the casino/bookie). William Hill is better because it isn't aggressive about offering bonuses. Instead it will give you 5 for each hour you play up to 5 hours per month. You should be able to play 5 hours low limit hold'em without busting out if you are sensible.

I also prefer this to Ladbrokes because it plays at a slower pace enabling you to see the cards come down in an orderly fashion and before they disappear. It is more "lifelike" whereas Ladbrokes cards are dealt and disappear at a fast rate which I find unsatisfactory. They are maximising their hands dealt per hour at the expense of its users which I don't agree with.

Bones

i must pop onto betfair again so that we can have a game - life has been to busy recently and ive barely played in the last few months - well done on the multi win (i picked up the laddies $100 a few months back - believe me a huge amount of luck involved incl beating aces with Qs when all in)

agree with the answer re new sites - ultimately people will go to play at sites which have a critical mass of players meaning that a game is always available - this is not a barrier to entry but appears to be proving a barrier to longer term success for a lot of sites

thanx for the imput.
most sites play in dollars but cant find the exchange rate in/out?
dont set much store by the pretend money tables,people would not hang ont their cards so long in real money games.this gives a poor reading of your skills.

hijeff

spot on re: the free play tables - most hands you will still see 4/5 players at least in at the river

as for exchange rates, they change all the time, though i know ladbrokes dont charge a margin ie if you by 100 of dollars then change them straight back you get the whole 100 back

poker is much the same as spreadbetting,play only what you can lose whithout missing.i'll give it a go and see how i go.will let you know what transpires.

I find the software and the tournaments on bet365 poker very good. There are many different levels you can play at and lots of satellites for the big tourneys, I also have had no problem withdrawing cash, immediate to a UK bank.

Regards
WR

Basically it makes sense to download a number of poker sites (if you are interested) because most of them give free introductory offers - typically 25 or $25. If you are learning the game this is invaluable.

Remember that the biggest mistake with poker is that most people play too many hands. If you have crap cards at the start - then (Texas) fold em!!

rgrds
gk

Good advice Gallick!

I play both on-line and at casinos with a couple of other UK guys. In fact, we have just came back from Italy where we were meant to play the Amalfi Open, only the police stopped it!!

We have a website dedicated to our off-line play which includes an exclusive deal with a UK poker room. If you want a $125 bonus and the chance to play free on-line tournaments (freerolls) only available through our site, please take a look at The Sterling Cartel.

I highly recommend signing up because the players in that poker room are very "soft" (ie, reckless and easy to take money from if you play a disciplined game). It's much harder to win at the more established sites.

Feel free to send a private message if you want to know a bit more, but the website should give plenty of information. If you do sign up through our site, I might even throw in another $25 as a welcome gift. Can't say fairer than that! Send me a private message if you are interested in that.