Poker players, for one reason or another, tend to be attached to a particular site or other. However, there is nothing more important in poker than selecting the best sites to play at. The importance of this cannot be overstated in fact.
There are several reasons why players tend not to put as much importance on this issue as they should. First of all, they may have been marketed by a certain site, become familiar with it due to its popularity, have had it recommended to them by a friend or online acquaintance, and so on. This pretty much leaves things to chance though, and the player is never really properly aware of what the best options are in this regard.
Adding to this often is a level of comfort and familiarity. Players get used to playing on a certain site, and become somewhat loyal to it in fact. They will even go as far as arguing its merits without really even being in a position to do so. Brand loyalty when it comes to things like personal purchases is one thing though. It's quite another when it comes down to decisions which when not made with proper consideration and diligence, can cost you quite a bit of money, in terms of the difference between your current selections and the correct ones. These differences are almost always very substantial in fact.
Poker is all about information. This is true of course in terms of things like being informed of the proper odds in a given situation, being informed of the correct strategies to use, being informed about the probable holdings and playing style of your opponents, and so on. The more informed you are in comparison with your opponents, the more likely you are to succeed. THe goal is to get you in a position where you are going to be as informed as possible on all pertinent aspects of the game. We can't play your cards for you, but we can put you in the best position to succeed through our information and tools.
The bedrock of all this though is proper site selection. If you are not playing at the proper sites, then your earning power will be restricted, and in some cases severely restricted. And this will be the case, with certainty, regardless of how informed or skilled you may be in other aspects of the game. A poker expert, playing with other poker experts may not win at all, but when pitted against players who are unskilled, he will instead reap huge winnings with ease.
In deciding on sites, people use all sorts of criteria, many of which aren't particularly important at all. Perhaps the software looks pretty. Perhaps you even get to choose your own image. Perhaps your friends play there. Perhaps you've seen an ad of theirs on TV. Perhaps you have a distorted notion of your needs as far as the size of the site and the amount of players it should have. The list goes on.
The only real criterion that needs to be applied in selecting a site though has to be the ease of competition. In fact, this alone is enough of a reason to have an account at a particular site, regardless of whatever other circumstances prevail. This is true even if the traffic at the site is low, and you can't always get in a game you prefer. You can and should have accounts at several sites in fact, and playing part time at an easier site to beat at is of course preferable to playing full time at one not as easy to win at.
Often times people look to the pre-flop percentages in deciding which site is easiest. This is a consideration of course, and will give you a taste of how loose or tight the table is, pre-flop that is. This is merely one consideration though. Sites can be loose pre-flop and rather tight post-flop. We of course would generally prefer as loose of a game as possible, both pre-flop and post-flop. Another concern is how aggressive or passive the site tends to be generally. We should prefer more passive games, where players are eager to call your bets and raises when you have the better hand, but are also willing to check and give you free cards when you are behind. In addition, a site may have a lot of tight tables but through its sheer size it may have more good action tables than a much smaller site with better games on average.
Poker Edge in fact will give you an exact idea of what you are up against at any given table, in terms of these criteria and a whole lot more, both in terms of the table average and the tendencies of each individual opponent. And, unlike the pre-flop percentages you see from the sites, if they provide this for you at all in fact, the stats with Poker Edge is based upon long term play of the players at the table, not just an average of the last few minutes. Needless to say, this is an extremely valuable tool when it comes to not only evaluating the desirability of a table, but the site as a whole.
One of the most overlooked factors in site selection though is something we'll call personal compatibility. For a number of reasons, one player can do extremely well at a certain site while another will not do quite as well, but will do better at another site than the first player will. This has to do with the compatibility of a person's own playing style with the playing styles of one's opponents. While we are here to provide you with the tools and instruction for extremely successful play, we do realize that there are variations in personal style that will emerge. Most often what happens is that, among the better sites to play at that we recommend, players will do better at some than others. And it's critical that you play at the sites best for you.
This also extends to the type of games you prefer. There are sites which are great for ring play, for instance, but their tournaments are set up badly, making it more difficult to win at in spite of the competition being weak. Or a site may have too difficult competition at the ring games, but well set up tournaments that are easy to beat. Among the ring games, some may have easy limit games but more difficult no limit ones, or vice versa.
Overall, proper site selection is such a critical component of successful online poker play that I've set up an entire section of our site dedicated to ensure you receives the proper guidance in this area. I've hand picked sites for you, and all come highly recommended. You're strongly encouraged to visit myr recommended poker sites area in order to take full advantage of this service. Due to the personal element in site selection, I recommend that players try as many of the recommended sites as possible. In fact, I've turned the fortunes of many players around simply by directing them to a different site, even though both the one they played at and the new one were both fairly easy to beat. In fact, to put it bluntly, it would be a mistake not to at least try out each and every one of my recommended sites, as the one you don't try may have turned out be the best one for you, in which case you would be forsaking a lot of money due to your shyness in this area. Of course, you'll get the maximum bonus money available this way too, which we've all arranged for you automatically by going through our links.
In addition, in order to ensure everyone receives maximum benefit from this process, I'd be more than happy to provide personal recommendations on what the best site would be to try out next. Email me and include some details about your situation, including the amount you have to deposit at the new site or sites, what sort of games and levels you prefer, where you've played before, how you're doing generally, and anything else you consider important, and I'll make a custom recommendation for you.
There are several reasons why players tend not to put as much importance on this issue as they should. First of all, they may have been marketed by a certain site, become familiar with it due to its popularity, have had it recommended to them by a friend or online acquaintance, and so on. This pretty much leaves things to chance though, and the player is never really properly aware of what the best options are in this regard.
Adding to this often is a level of comfort and familiarity. Players get used to playing on a certain site, and become somewhat loyal to it in fact. They will even go as far as arguing its merits without really even being in a position to do so. Brand loyalty when it comes to things like personal purchases is one thing though. It's quite another when it comes down to decisions which when not made with proper consideration and diligence, can cost you quite a bit of money, in terms of the difference between your current selections and the correct ones. These differences are almost always very substantial in fact.
Poker is all about information. This is true of course in terms of things like being informed of the proper odds in a given situation, being informed of the correct strategies to use, being informed about the probable holdings and playing style of your opponents, and so on. The more informed you are in comparison with your opponents, the more likely you are to succeed. THe goal is to get you in a position where you are going to be as informed as possible on all pertinent aspects of the game. We can't play your cards for you, but we can put you in the best position to succeed through our information and tools.
The bedrock of all this though is proper site selection. If you are not playing at the proper sites, then your earning power will be restricted, and in some cases severely restricted. And this will be the case, with certainty, regardless of how informed or skilled you may be in other aspects of the game. A poker expert, playing with other poker experts may not win at all, but when pitted against players who are unskilled, he will instead reap huge winnings with ease.
In deciding on sites, people use all sorts of criteria, many of which aren't particularly important at all. Perhaps the software looks pretty. Perhaps you even get to choose your own image. Perhaps your friends play there. Perhaps you've seen an ad of theirs on TV. Perhaps you have a distorted notion of your needs as far as the size of the site and the amount of players it should have. The list goes on.
The only real criterion that needs to be applied in selecting a site though has to be the ease of competition. In fact, this alone is enough of a reason to have an account at a particular site, regardless of whatever other circumstances prevail. This is true even if the traffic at the site is low, and you can't always get in a game you prefer. You can and should have accounts at several sites in fact, and playing part time at an easier site to beat at is of course preferable to playing full time at one not as easy to win at.
Often times people look to the pre-flop percentages in deciding which site is easiest. This is a consideration of course, and will give you a taste of how loose or tight the table is, pre-flop that is. This is merely one consideration though. Sites can be loose pre-flop and rather tight post-flop. We of course would generally prefer as loose of a game as possible, both pre-flop and post-flop. Another concern is how aggressive or passive the site tends to be generally. We should prefer more passive games, where players are eager to call your bets and raises when you have the better hand, but are also willing to check and give you free cards when you are behind. In addition, a site may have a lot of tight tables but through its sheer size it may have more good action tables than a much smaller site with better games on average.
Poker Edge in fact will give you an exact idea of what you are up against at any given table, in terms of these criteria and a whole lot more, both in terms of the table average and the tendencies of each individual opponent. And, unlike the pre-flop percentages you see from the sites, if they provide this for you at all in fact, the stats with Poker Edge is based upon long term play of the players at the table, not just an average of the last few minutes. Needless to say, this is an extremely valuable tool when it comes to not only evaluating the desirability of a table, but the site as a whole.
One of the most overlooked factors in site selection though is something we'll call personal compatibility. For a number of reasons, one player can do extremely well at a certain site while another will not do quite as well, but will do better at another site than the first player will. This has to do with the compatibility of a person's own playing style with the playing styles of one's opponents. While we are here to provide you with the tools and instruction for extremely successful play, we do realize that there are variations in personal style that will emerge. Most often what happens is that, among the better sites to play at that we recommend, players will do better at some than others. And it's critical that you play at the sites best for you.
This also extends to the type of games you prefer. There are sites which are great for ring play, for instance, but their tournaments are set up badly, making it more difficult to win at in spite of the competition being weak. Or a site may have too difficult competition at the ring games, but well set up tournaments that are easy to beat. Among the ring games, some may have easy limit games but more difficult no limit ones, or vice versa.
Overall, proper site selection is such a critical component of successful online poker play that I've set up an entire section of our site dedicated to ensure you receives the proper guidance in this area. I've hand picked sites for you, and all come highly recommended. You're strongly encouraged to visit myr recommended poker sites area in order to take full advantage of this service. Due to the personal element in site selection, I recommend that players try as many of the recommended sites as possible. In fact, I've turned the fortunes of many players around simply by directing them to a different site, even though both the one they played at and the new one were both fairly easy to beat. In fact, to put it bluntly, it would be a mistake not to at least try out each and every one of my recommended sites, as the one you don't try may have turned out be the best one for you, in which case you would be forsaking a lot of money due to your shyness in this area. Of course, you'll get the maximum bonus money available this way too, which we've all arranged for you automatically by going through our links.
In addition, in order to ensure everyone receives maximum benefit from this process, I'd be more than happy to provide personal recommendations on what the best site would be to try out next. Email me and include some details about your situation, including the amount you have to deposit at the new site or sites, what sort of games and levels you prefer, where you've played before, how you're doing generally, and anything else you consider important, and I'll make a custom recommendation for you.
