ITH Poker Forum

[MacTaiga]

My current haunt has moved networks and it looks like it's dropping the monthly bonus. So I'm now in the market for a new site, I play quite a bit so I'm looking for the best deal I can get at a site with good numbers.

Stars has good numbers but doesn't do rakeback as far as I know.

Full Tilt does rakeback, does it have a bonus beyond the new player one?

Party was never any good when I checked out it's promotions before.

Cake?

I'm reading the rest of the posts, just thought I'd post this up to get any pointers as it's been a while since I really looked around.

[the_hawk]

Game? Limits? Full-ring, 6-max? Rough idea of volume (weekly / monthly)?

ISTR you were at or around 2/4 LHE a while back; not sure if this is still the case. Assuming it's so, my guess is that Cake would be well up there in pure rakeback terms, but the software and the availability of games would both be of some concern. My perception, right or wrong, is that Stars and Tilt are pretty much the only places for reliable game selection at these sort of limits. But you've evidently been playing somewhere else so I might be wrong

Stars' VIP programme provides an effective rakeback equivalent, at face value it is unlikely to be as good as Cake or Tilt although this depends on several factors (especially volume). I've nonetheless settled on Stars for a number of other reasons - which I'll expand upon later if you like.

If you give me some numbers then I can run some numbers...

[MacTaiga]

Yeah, sorry, it was more a post in response to what seemed to me a very dry landscape when I looked for bonues/rakeback.

I've been playing at interpoker (crypto), $2/4 LHE, full-ring by preference but spent the last few months playing 6-max by neccessity. About 20hrs per week is not unusual but not much more (up to 4 tables simultaneously but it's rare that the tables have been available).

I've not looked around for quite some time but last I looked I remembered bonuses (of varying quality) at most places and rakeback at some. Just seems a lot tighter at the moment.

It's looking like stars, ft or cake from my minimal research so far but I'm not sold on any completely yet.

[the_hawk]

With those numbers, there's probably not much to choose between the three in pure rakeback terms. (I'm assuming Cake is 33% and FT is 27%, both on a "dealt" basis).

On Stars, that sort of volume will get you to Platinum Star off the bat (within the first month) and just about up to Supernova over a full year. It's not going to work for 2009, though, as Supernova is an annual status depending on play between January - December. You'd need to up your volume by about a third if you still wanted to make Supernova this year, starting now. But you still should make Platinum month-on-month (by my reckoning you need about 18k hands at 2/4 FR).

At Platinum you're going to be right in the ballpark as regards effective rakeback at 2/4 (in the 30% range). If you happened to be playing 1/2 you'd do considerably better in % RB terms btw. If and when you ever reach Supernova you'd do quite a bit better again (prob over 40% RB at 2/4).

The disadvantage of Stars is that you have to commit to a monthly level of volume (or annual in the case of Supernova) and RB appears indirectly, through collecting and redeeming FPPs. On the other two you start getting rakeback from Hand 1. Also, the "rakeback" figures you get from Stars' calculations are based around redeeming for cash bonuses. If you have the time and the inclination, you can do a lot better than the cash bonus rate by playing FPP satellites.

But to my mind, Stars is the best site overall and that's why I play there. I think your only other choice is Tilt. From what I remember of Cake, I doubt there will be enough games to maintain the volume.

[MacTaiga]

Thanks for the breakdown, very much appreciated.

I've never really analysed the stars bonus approach, can you redeem FPPs for cash directly (effectively rakeback) or is it an equivalent in tournament entries? I'm a fan of tournaments so imagine that would be quite nice but there is a certain benefit to predictable cash returns.

[the_hawk]

You can take cash for FPPs by buying cash bonuses.

At Platinum level, 50k FPPs buys you a $650 bonus. Assuming you do the bare minimum to make Platinum and then maintain it month-on-month, you'll make 18750 FPPs per month or $243 in bonus. I think you'll find this to be somewhere in the region of 30% dealt RB at 2/4. (Higher volume to achieve the same FPP earn level at 1/2 would result in considerably higher rakeback percentage).

I earn somewhat fewer FPPs than that per month, and typically spend the last few days of each month parlaying my FPPs into tournament entries (T$) through FPP satellites. The basic conversion rate of FPPs to T$ is a little better than that for Platinum cash bonuses to begin with, and if you like playing satellites then the parlay can be both fun and profitable (it's not at all difficult to do better than "break-even" on the sats; i.e., earn more entries and hence T$ per FPP than you would expect all being equal).

T$ can be sold on the open market at almost 1:1 for cash (you should easily get 97-98%).

EDIT: you'll get weekly and monthly freeroll tournaments thrown in as well. The value typically isn't much, and you have to play them all, but as a Plat you'll probably get another $60 per month or so in freeroll EV.

[Winstor88]

Have you considered iPoker or microgaming. I believe you should be able to get much better bonus deals there, especially if you play quiet a lot.

[r00t]

Have you tried 888?

[ByrdGang]

Pacific poker could be your room, they have a deposit bonus, some rakeback (I dont remember if they propose some officially or if you need to ask to some affiliates) and some action at low limits.

Edit: Ipoker should be better for you, I didnt see you were playing 2/4. You can have 50%+ there.

[Triks89^]

maybe even cake..

[ChipsFun]

My current haunt has moved networks and it looks like it's dropping the monthly bonus. So I'm now in the market for a new site, I play quite a bit so I'm looking for the best deal I can get at a site with good numbers.

Stars has good numbers but doesn't do rakeback as far as I know.

Full Tilt does rakeback, does it have a bonus beyond the new player one?

Party was never any good when I checked out it's promotions before.

Cake?

I'm reading the rest of the posts, just thought I'd post this up to get any pointers as it's been a while since I really looked around.

Well ,try the site i use HoldemChips.net
Good deals,safe and bonuses .Always

[DavidLaPaglia]

I have the same problem <img src="images/smiles/icon_cry.gif" alt="Crying or Very sad" border="0" />