Poker Stars and Full Tilt

Last week, I started playing at Poker Stars and Full Tilt. I bought a prepaid Visa card and was able to get money into the accounts with it. I had been playing on UltimateBet ever since PartyPoker disallowed US players. The problem with UltimateBet is that there just aren't that many players, and not enough selection in tournaments and cash games.

I have learned one thing. The cash players on Poker Stars and Full Tilt are better. At the same levels (.25/.50 and .50/1 no-limit), the players are much more aggressive. There is rarely an unraised pot preflop. On Ultimatebet, I could limp in with small pairs and suited connectors all the time. That just doesn't happen on Stars. If you limp on Stars, I guarantee someone will raise and shut out the limpers.

As for the tournaments I've played, the skill level is about the same. My goal is to win satellites to play in the big Sunday tournaments. Stars has double shootout satellites for $11? with a good structure. I played in a shootout with about 60 players tonight. I made it to heads up at the first table and we played a long time. In fact, we were the last table out of 10 to finish. It was a close match and I had a good read on my opponent; unfortunately, I jammed A3 at the wrong time, when he had AK.

I can definitely win the first table in a shootout. There are usually 2-3 players who bust out pretty quickly, which is silly because the structure is so good. There is plenty of time and no need to be overly aggressive. Winning the final table is another matter. That will be tough and require a lot of luck too. I think I'm playing decently and learning from my mistakes. Hopefully I'll have some results to show for it soon.

- schneid