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| Poker Stars Intel Report |
© 2006,2007 |
PokerStars
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Summary ALLOWS U.S. PLAYERS
PokerStars
is the largest U.S. payable online poker site available. It is, without question, the #1 Tournament Site you can play. You would think with the huge volume of players that the ring tables would be soft and fat, but that's not the case. The one major draw of
PokerStars
is the TOURNAMENTS AND SIT N GO's. The field sizes for tournaments are HUGE, the guarantees are also HUGE. Where else can you play a $3 rebuy tournament and end up with a $30,000 prize pool? NOWHERE except PokerStars! $5 rebuy tournaments regularaly have $60,000 prize pools. You don't have to play poker on TV to win $400,000 and Million Dollar Tournaments; just register at this site. Keep reading to find out how to make money on
PokerStars
.
Software
The one word for the platform and software on PokerStars is Robust. It is incredible reliability. I have never been booted off the site when it wasn't my fault. This is very important when you're playing tournaments where one poorly timed disconnect can be the difference between big money and losing. (Quick Story - My home network crashed in the late stages of a tournament one time. I went from first in chips to last in the 20 minutes it took me to get back on. I also lost the opportunity for a $12,000 win and only got about $1,700 for 7th place. After that I really beefed up my home network).
It's easy to keep notes, you can select what seat you want to use, and it has the typical online poker site functionality. If you're looking for unnecessary bells and whistles (other than being able to upload an avatar) then this isn't the place. You can't change the background or pick decks with unicorns on them here. This is a poker focused site.
Traffic
120,000 players (during peak hours) can't be wrong. Most PokerStars players are primarily tournament players. This seriously affects how the ring games play.
Ring Games and Competition
When it comes to ring games on
PokerStars
you need to imagine that you're primarily a SnG or Tournament player and you just sit in on ring games to add to your bankroll. Ring play is not your primary weapon, but you know how to play poker. That's what happens primarily at PokerStars, in my opinion. You end up with tables full of TIGHT players who just fold/fold/fold. You get 17-22% preflop callers - and you have to remember that TWO players at any table are the blinds!! The average pot sizes run 10 to maybe 15xBB on average. The two words for the ring games here are Tight and Cheap. I can't recommend them. There are many other sites with much better ring play - just look at other reviews. If you want to play ring on Stars then create a game to steal lots of small pots. If you can find any tables with large preflop callers and large average pot sizes, then by all means use 19 hand, counterplay and the other strategies on PerformPoker.com.
Tournaments and Competition
FAT, JUICY ACTION on
PokerStars
happens in the tournaments, especially the rebuys. I rank the tournament "softness" on other sites by using PokerStars as the "average". It has what I consider typical tournament play in MTT's, that means that 1/2 of the field is eliminated each hour. The first hour of any tournament is dominated by idiots who don't know how to play and players who are convinced they need to get a big stack NOW (which equals unnecessary aggression). Once you get past the first hour of the tournament the competition calms down into "have's" and "have-not's", and they play as you would expect each of them to play. Those WITH chips choose to either tighten up and just play quality hands, or they choose to take a "limp and see" attitude where they limp a lot but only play flops that hit them hard. On the other side of the table are the "have-not's" who think they are chip short (whether they are or not) and are looking to push early and push often. The final stages of the tournament turn into much more of a 2 card, preflop aggression wins most hands type of game. For me, this is a typical tournament system.
The payouts on Stars are wide but not deep until you get to the final table. You will see as much as 20% of the field make it ITM, but the real money is on the final table. I love Stars because I think it's a great opportunity for learning and average players to practice their skill, make it "in the money" fairly easily and then work on their final table game.
Sit and Go's on Stars are tighter than on smaller sites (a little). But you have a zillion to choose from and you never have to wait for a game. If you're a strong SnG player then multi-tabling SnG's is easy as pie on this site.
How to Make Money on PokerStars
All the money is in the tournaments and SnG's. If you create a consistent ITM SnG game then you can crank up the stakes easily and turn some quality coin. The great thing about the SnG competition is that it's fairly consistent from $5 through $50. It gets a little smarter, but not twice as smart. So, if you put the work into a good SnG game (use the Harrington on Holdem system with some slight adjustments) and you can turn this site into an ATM machine.
The 2nd cash cow on Stars are the tournaments. I'm a big fan of the rebuy tournaments, because they seem to provided the biggest prize pool for the buy-in. See the rebuy strategy on the PerformPoker.com site for the best way to crack this game. PerformPoker's REBUY strategy in the first hour followed by the HOH chart and a little experience can start to turn a good profit. The thing about big field tournaments like this is that you need to play them REGULARLY. When my primary focus was beating these tournaments I played them every night! You can't just play one a week and hope to be successful. You need to play 5-7 per week and know that your strategies will take you deep in 3-4 of them per month. With an average final table amount (for the $10 rebuys) at $2200, 3 or 4 final tables is real money!
U.S. Deposit & Cashout Methods
Deposits: Credit Card, ePassport, wire transfer, bankdraft/money order by mail,
Cash-outs: ePassporte, check.
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