New Poker Player

[tasty]

AS a new online player, what site do you guys recommend to start out on and why? thanks
Tasty

[lakong]

I would suggest that you check out the reviews of all of the major sites. They are extremely comprehensive and should point you in the right direction. The link for our online poker room reviews is at:

http://www.tworags.com/index.php?ACT...s&todo=summary

You'll find a link to each review along with links directly to each site's signup page. When you use our link to sign up, in most cases you will get a reload bonus -- e.g., for every dollar you deposit, the site will give you extra money into your account to use.

The three main sites I play are partypoker, pokerstars and bodog. Here are my pros and cons:

1) partypoker: tons of players so easy to find a game. For cash NL they have mostly short-handed tables and they don't have heads-up sit-n-goes, but all in all, they will have whatever type of game you want. Good tournaments and their software is fine. It also works with pokertracker which is good and bad. On the good side, you can keep track of all of your hands and stats and also monitor the stats of your competition. On the bad side, other people will be monitoring you.

2) pokerstars: not as much traffic as party, but they have plenty of games and it's never difficult to find a game. The graphics and software are first-rate and their tournaments are plentiful and very well run. They also offer lots of 10 handed NL games and heads-up sit-n-gos. Pokertracker also supports pokerstars, so read my comments above about this. Most people believe that the quality of play on pokerstars is better than on party.

3) bodog: their software is very cool and takes a different twist than the other sites. You can play one table while watching up to two other tables in a small window (picture in a picture). The sofware also has some other cool features that are not available on the other sites (see our review at http://www.tworags.com/BodogPoker.html). Pokertracker does not support this site, so while you cannot track other players, they cannot track you. Also, the better players like to use pokertracker to gain an edge, so by and large these players skip Bodog which can give you an edge if you're a better player.

If you're using a Mac you might want to try Pokerroom.com which features a java interface which supports the Mac platform really well.

Another thing to consider is Overlays -- some sites, in an effort to attract players, offer guaranteed tournaments. Basically they set a guaranteed prize pool regardless of the number of entrants. This often means that you get an extra 'overlay' on your entry fee in the form of the prize pool given. We explain this and examine the various overlay tournaments at:

http://www.tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=overlays

Please feel free to respond if you have any more questions!

- S

[EdmondDantes]

Tasty,

It kind of depends on how experienced you are, whether you're interested in tournaments or ring games, what kind of a bankroll you have, etc. If you post with a little more info, I'll try to be more specific, but assuming you're a relatively new player (and of legal age, of course!) that wants to give online poker a shot without a lot of financial risk, here's what I'd do:

1) consider opening accounts on smaller sites like PokerChamps, Poker.com, PokerHost or PokerRoom; those sites have low minimum deposits ($10 or so) and/or allow you to play their freerolls for free; Stars, Party, UB, etc. all have more traffic, but the minimum deposits are higher and they have some sharks swimming around their waters; the competition in the smaller sites tends to be a little sketchier;

2) on those sites, play a few small denomination full ring games or single table sit n gos and focus on pre-flop hand selection, challenging yourself to play <20% of the hands you're dealt; continue to play those levels until you're comfortable with concepts of position, varying stack sizes, responding to what betting patterns are telling you (e.g. that you're top pair might not be as good as you think!); once you're comfortable with the software, try the multi-table freerolls--the play is usually horrible, and if you're patient, you can build a bankroll from scratch;

3) of course, if you're an experienced player with a bigger bankroll, consider opening accounts on larger sites like Party, Stars or UB (lots of good players and plenty of games and tournaments to choose from) and 2nd level sites like Bodog (not as much action, but loose players and tournaments with big overlays);

4) if you're comfortable grinding it out in ring games, consider accounts on the Crypto-logic skins (Wm Hill, SunPoker, InterPoker); all of those sites offer regular monthly bonuses through which you can boost your bankroll;

5) overall, don't limit yourself to any one site; experiment with several sites and find one or two that you feel comfortable with...the software, the action, the tournament structures, etc.; if you read our reviews, you'll see that there are things we like and don't like about the various sites; as well, we try to highlight aspects that ring and tournament players might like or might find annoying; it's really a matter of 1) if the site has the action you like, 2) if you like the software and 3) how confident you are on the site; I have friends that insist they can't win on Stars but crush Bodog, others that money all the time on the PokerRoom tournaments but can't on Bodog; ones that think Pacific's software stinks but love the soft play, etc; you should experiment with the lower dollar games and tournaments on a variety of sites until you find one(s) that suit you; and

6) finally, read Harrington on Hold 'em - vol. I and Phil Gordon's Little Green Book; both are easy and informative reading; the Harrington book emphasizes tournament play (both single and multi-table) and the Gordon book covers all aspects of hold'em; the key is they're both easy-to-read--there's a lot of value in Sklansky books, but they can be tedious.

Hope that helps!

Edmond