Was thinking of depositing there. Is this a decent place to play HU? Is there enough traffic at the lower stakes? Was wondering if anyone likes playing hu here.
Be aware that there have been multiple scandals with this site.. cheating, etc. I would recommend FullTilt or Stars for better security, better promotions, and more traffic.
There have been other scandals apart from PotRipper? Are you referring to the poorly executed SSL implementation PTR reported on or something else?Either way, I agree that PS and FTP are safer bets long term. Even if security isn't an issue, you'll eventually get to stakes where traffic doesn't support you on the smaller sites. For instance, I'm planning on expanding to PS because Bodog $105 HUSNGs are slow to fill-up and even getting a table before another reg can prove difficult. The only downside to the big sites is that the games are clearly tougher. I was stunned to discover that $5 cash games on PS are populated by complete nits in both PLO and NLHE. On Bodog, it was basically everyone limping, calling any raise pre and then going with whatever they hit (this was a year ago). I assume HUSNGs are a lot tougher too but there comes a point where traffic just matters more than a better ROI.BTW: I also think Merge may be a better option than Bodog at this point. They seem more eager to improve and expand.
Low stakes is fine, soft (all levels are soft I've heard) and traffic is fine.However, as ITRIED said, they have had a lot of issues with scandals and cheating on that site. I wouldn't be worried at low or mid stakes games that I'd get cheated or anything, but with security issues and general incompetence on that skin, if something negative ever happened (think of a site being shut down and releasing your information) and so on, it would not surprise me if this site was the first or the only to do that. For those types of reasons, I will never play there.That and the fact that they still never seem to have come clean about what really happened and who was involved in the cheating, it looks like it was just covered up as much as possible. There have been ownership changes throughout, but there's always something suspicious going on throughout each one.In the end, I'd just choose a Merge skin (playersonly, sportsbook, carbon) to play at. 35% rakeback and super fishy playerbase, open to US players.
Original scandal, poor handling of that, then AP scandal, poor handling of that. Then investigations that never released the names of the cheaters, no reporting of the cheaters to any authorities, promising HHs to users that were impacted then never giving them HHs.Recently the SSL implemention, poor handling of affiliate/rakeback issues and policies, employees of the company at the HQ in Costa Rica pretending to be regular users on 2p2 and talking about how good AP and UB are.There are a few other things that currently escape me.If you want to spend a few hours going through it, there's a lot of interesting stuff to read about the scandal, their company and all sorts of info on shady dealings and wrongdoings that have happened.This is a good link to read: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/ultimatebet-scand...The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is also painted in quite a poor light if you read up on things about them. Mob ties, smuggling of weapons and drugs across the border and all sorts of stuff involving them (They are the "authority" that oversees AP/UB and used to do the same for Stars before they pulled away from them. Stars is currently operating under a different gaming authority which I have not heard many scandals or shady dealings involving).
I have the same opinion as you do.However, we continue to offer the rakeback deals on the site since users still want to play there (one of the softer networks that has some husng action and solid rakeback).
I used to be a Regular on that Site for a couple of months, but I don't play there anymore since half a year, maybe even longer.When I played there, it was shortly after the scandal - all the good players left, so the site was a huge fish pool with lots of very bad players and playing there was basically a license to print money. I was able to move up very quickly from $10 to $200, but then hit my limits. After a couple of months, more and more good players came back, so the games got more and more tough, especially at the $200 level. So I had to step down again to $50.Then - I think it was in April or May - they lowered the rake in their super turbos. The negative effect of it was that the turbos dried out very quickly, so it became very hard to find any action at the $50's. At the same time, I also got the impression that the average opponent that still played the turbos became a lot more nitty than before - I got trapped a lot with surprisingly strong hands that I simply didn't expect due to how these hands were played out.In the end, it often took 15 minutes or more to get any action in the $50 turbo's - and the person who finally sat me after this time was often a reg and not a fish.I didn't care much about the site's image as long as I could make such easy money there (I never had much money on the site, though), but as the games got drier and tougher, I simply had no reason anymore to stay.Another important reason for me to stop playing on these small sites was that I often ran into opponent that did some extremely weird things - stuff that just didn't make any sense, and that I hadn't seen before in any of the training videos on this site. And things that are considered standard here could even be extremely wrong on these sites.For instance, 3betting with JJ or AK is considered standard here - but it's a huge leak to do that on Cereus without proper reads. Or when you have QQ on the button and get 3bet, you have to flat call for set-value and even fold your overpair if you do not hit your set. I lost so much money on that before I realized that people are just not 3betting / getting it in as light as it's standard on the big sites.Regarding Stars being tougher than other sites ... I don't think so.Sure there are a lot of good players who make some really decent money, but there's also plenty of fish.Furthermore, one thing I see more and more is that other $55 regs decline the rematch and don't sit me again after I play them. This didn't happen quite as often towards the end of my Cereus times - simply because there weren't enough fish.
Be aware that there have been multiple scandals with this site.. cheating, etc. I would recommend FullTilt or Stars for better security, better promotions, and more traffic.
Brent
ITRIED2WARNU
My Coaching Page
There have been other scandals apart from PotRipper? Are you referring to the poorly executed SSL implementation PTR reported on or something else?Either way, I agree that PS and FTP are safer bets long term. Even if security isn't an issue, you'll eventually get to stakes where traffic doesn't support you on the smaller sites. For instance, I'm planning on expanding to PS because Bodog $105 HUSNGs are slow to fill-up and even getting a table before another reg can prove difficult. The only downside to the big sites is that the games are clearly tougher. I was stunned to discover that $5 cash games on PS are populated by complete nits in both PLO and NLHE. On Bodog, it was basically everyone limping, calling any raise pre and then going with whatever they hit (this was a year ago). I assume HUSNGs are a lot tougher too but there comes a point where traffic just matters more than a better ROI.BTW: I also think Merge may be a better option than Bodog at this point. They seem more eager to improve and expand.
Coaching page + Blog
Low stakes is fine, soft (all levels are soft I've heard) and traffic is fine.However, as ITRIED said, they have had a lot of issues with scandals and cheating on that site. I wouldn't be worried at low or mid stakes games that I'd get cheated or anything, but with security issues and general incompetence on that skin, if something negative ever happened (think of a site being shut down and releasing your information) and so on, it would not surprise me if this site was the first or the only to do that. For those types of reasons, I will never play there.That and the fact that they still never seem to have come clean about what really happened and who was involved in the cheating, it looks like it was just covered up as much as possible. There have been ownership changes throughout, but there's always something suspicious going on throughout each one.In the end, I'd just choose a Merge skin (playersonly, sportsbook, carbon) to play at. 35% rakeback and super fishy playerbase, open to US players.
On Absolute there is interesting format, super turbo starting with 1500 chips and blinds 5/10... I like it Frederic
Frederic
Original scandal, poor handling of that, then AP scandal, poor handling of that. Then investigations that never released the names of the cheaters, no reporting of the cheaters to any authorities, promising HHs to users that were impacted then never giving them HHs.Recently the SSL implemention, poor handling of affiliate/rakeback issues and policies, employees of the company at the HQ in Costa Rica pretending to be regular users on 2p2 and talking about how good AP and UB are.There are a few other things that currently escape me.If you want to spend a few hours going through it, there's a lot of interesting stuff to read about the scandal, their company and all sorts of info on shady dealings and wrongdoings that have happened.This is a good link to read: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/ultimatebet-scand...The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is also painted in quite a poor light if you read up on things about them. Mob ties, smuggling of weapons and drugs across the border and all sorts of stuff involving them (They are the "authority" that oversees AP/UB and used to do the same for Stars before they pulled away from them. Stars is currently operating under a different gaming authority which I have not heard many scandals or shady dealings involving).
Well, I'm definitely uneasy now! They'll need a long time to repair that image in my eyes. I will stay away.
Coaching page + Blog
I have the same opinion as you do.However, we continue to offer the rakeback deals on the site since users still want to play there (one of the softer networks that has some husng action and solid rakeback).
I used to be a Regular on that Site for a couple of months, but I don't play there anymore since half a year, maybe even longer.When I played there, it was shortly after the scandal - all the good players left, so the site was a huge fish pool with lots of very bad players and playing there was basically a license to print money. I was able to move up very quickly from $10 to $200, but then hit my limits. After a couple of months, more and more good players came back, so the games got more and more tough, especially at the $200 level. So I had to step down again to $50.Then - I think it was in April or May - they lowered the rake in their super turbos. The negative effect of it was that the turbos dried out very quickly, so it became very hard to find any action at the $50's. At the same time, I also got the impression that the average opponent that still played the turbos became a lot more nitty than before - I got trapped a lot with surprisingly strong hands that I simply didn't expect due to how these hands were played out.In the end, it often took 15 minutes or more to get any action in the $50 turbo's - and the person who finally sat me after this time was often a reg and not a fish.I didn't care much about the site's image as long as I could make such easy money there (I never had much money on the site, though), but as the games got drier and tougher, I simply had no reason anymore to stay.Another important reason for me to stop playing on these small sites was that I often ran into opponent that did some extremely weird things - stuff that just didn't make any sense, and that I hadn't seen before in any of the training videos on this site. And things that are considered standard here could even be extremely wrong on these sites.For instance, 3betting with JJ or AK is considered standard here - but it's a huge leak to do that on Cereus without proper reads. Or when you have QQ on the button and get 3bet, you have to flat call for set-value and even fold your overpair if you do not hit your set. I lost so much money on that before I realized that people are just not 3betting / getting it in as light as it's standard on the big sites.Regarding Stars being tougher than other sites ... I don't think so.Sure there are a lot of good players who make some really decent money, but there's also plenty of fish.Furthermore, one thing I see more and more is that other $55 regs decline the rematch and don't sit me again after I play them. This didn't happen quite as often towards the end of my Cereus times - simply because there weren't enough fish.