I thought I'd throw out a thread which we can use to talk about good sites--and bad ones.

I like sites which start with a good stack of chips. Everybody knows my feelings about this regarding the Party sites. Plus, Party sites do not allow SNG fees to apply to bonus clearing. Not good. Very bad. I don't look so much at what kind of players. Good tourney players adapt. I do, however, look at how fast the tables fill. I checked into Pacific, as they are reknowned for bad players and the fee counts nicely toward bonus clearing and they have a 60% bonus available, BUT, 800 starting chips.

In the past week, I've played at Full Tilt and PokerStars.

Full Tilt--

1500 starting chips
Blinds are timed--10 minutes, I think They go up at the right pace, imo.
Blinds increase thoughout the tourney. This is both good and bad. If you are trying to finish somebody off, the increasing blinds--up to $400/$800--help put the pressure on.
Players are somewhat loose.
Lots of choices--but tables sometimes fill slowly
Bonus applies to SNGs
CON--No PT support for tourneys

PokerStars (My favorite, ever, so far)

1500 starting chips
Timed blinds
Blinds top off at $200/$400 with an increasing ante--nice for tight playing short stack ITM
Players are somewhat better, not as fishy, but more predictable, even at the $5+.50
Plenty of choices including two table STTs
CON--no bonus

CJ, I like the Ultimate Bet sit-n-gos. 1500 starting chips, very slow blinds that continue increasing, no antes. 10-seat tables, which means slightly higher payoffs. They also have just added two- and three-table SnGs. Also, they have 6-seaters at all levels, including the mutlitable SnGs.

The players are generally tight, generally aggressive, which is not the best news in theory. But for whatever reason, I have great success there. Poker Stars I've always and continue to struggle with.

You cannot clear bonuses at UB through tourney fees, so that's a downside. They are compatible with Poker Tracker.

If bonus-chasing is a high priority, definitely give Bodog a look. Very fishy, but you only start with 1,000 chips and blinds increase by hand count. I've done very well there but haven't played there in awhile. But hurry. They're 20% bonus is about to be cut to 10%. Like Stars, you get 100% return on your tourney entry fees while bonus-clearing.

PokerRoom also is a possibility. 1500 chips, average blind escalation, no antes, they fill up fast, and I you get something like 86 cents back per dollar of entry fee while bonus-clearing.

is there a site that has it all 4 SnG's?

bonus
PT 4 tourneys
starting chip stacks deep
bad players [some everywhere]

I play on Ultimate Bet but do not like the hoops I have to junp thru to use Poker Tracker which I stoped using. I read that Full Tilt was designed by the pros for tournament play and that they give you a lot of starting chips and slowly increase the blinds but that they lack traffic at this time.

I have $200.00 to deposist somewhere and hope this thread helps me decide.

After last night, I may go from Full Tilt as fast as possible screaming into that dark night.

Yes, the players are beatable at the low limits, if the damn bad beats don't get ya. I was knocked out of three straight 10s by 2 outers. On the river no less. The number of times I saw four-flushes appear on the river staggered me. I've been around long enough to put no stock in the "its rigged" paranoia, but I sure can understand why someone would think it. It seemed statistically impossible, the things I witnessed last night. (KQo three straight hands? The number of times I got the same hand two or three times in succession?) I've seen AA five times in less than 10 minutes. I've seen KK go around the table--skipping me, of course--within a few orbits. (It was so noticeable we all laughed at the time it was happening.)

I'm not saying Full Tilt's random generator is rigged, but I do have to wonder if something's wrong.

CJ

[quote="Cactus Jack]Whats up with PS? Why do you struggle there?

CJ[/quote]

Dunno. When I was playing $10s, I did very well there. But the $20s have been nothing but a struggle for me. Just one of those unexplained things. Probably no reason at all except variance/coincidence.

I'm finding exactly the same thing on Bodog. I can't explain it, but I'm simply not doing well at all. Played a few 5s and won nothing at all, not even ITM. A few 10s and got one 1st. I don't know what's going on. I'll keep going with them, but I'm not enjoying this site very much at all.

CJ

Well, CJ. Guess this might answer your question. $20+$2 at Stars Sunday afternoon. Not atypical of the plays I run into there a lot. People there love to limp preflop and then call a big raise. And they also like to throw all their chips in the middle on a draw.

PokerStars Game #2606152441: Tournament #12726349, Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2005/09/18 - 16:07:33 (ET)
Table '12726349 1' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: simy72 (1890 in chips)
Seat 2: shield92 (1170 in chips)
Seat 3: flafishy (1420 in chips)
Seat 4: Moss option (730 in chips)
Seat 5: Jms Bond (710 in chips)
Seat 6: Floyd1479 (1820 in chips)
Seat 7: jholt (2390 in chips)
Seat 8: daisymae55 (1230 in chips)
Seat 9: nadmih (2140 in chips)
shield92: posts small blind 15
flafishy: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to flafishy [Kd Ks]
Moss option: folds
Jms Bond: folds
Floyd1479: folds
jholt: calls 30
daisymae55: folds
nadmih: folds
simy72: folds
shield92: calls 15
flafishy: raises 70 to 100
jholt: calls 70
shield92: calls 70
*** FLOP *** [Jh 6d 5d]
shield92: checks
flafishy: bets 300
jholt: folds
shield92: raises 770 to 1070 and is all-in
flafishy: calls 770
*** TURN *** [Jh 6d 5d]
*** RIVER *** [Jh 6d 5d 8d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
shield92: shows [Qd 7d] (a straight flush, Four to Eight)
flafishy: shows [Kd Ks] (a flush, King high)
shield92 collected 2440 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2440 | Rake 0
Board [Jh 6d 5d 8d 4d]
Seat 1: simy72 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: shield92 (small blind) showed [Qd 7d] and won (2440) with a straight flush, Four to Eight
Seat 3: flafishy (big blind) showed [Kd Ks] and lost with a flush, King high
Seat 4: Moss option folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Jms Bond folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Floyd1479 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: jholt folded on the Flop
Seat 8: daisymae55 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: nadmih folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I know, man, and it sucks. However, I refuse to get into this at the first 4 levels. I will not play for my full stack with these idiots. I threw away a straight yesterday, when I was bluffed off it. I came back to win the whole thing. I don't care how good my hand is, and in one yesterday I got blinded out, I'd rather wait until these guys have gone to the rail, and they always, ALWAYS, bust out at some point.

That said, I keep telling myself that I'm going to win more of these hands than I lose, that the odds are on my side, but even AA loses 21% of the time heads up. It's the only thing that keeps me from going insane.

It's funny. I have a very good record on PokerStars. I think a lot of it is the above strategy and 1500 chips, which lets me wait a lot longer here than other places.

CJ

OK, CJ. I'll have to try your strategy at Stars. I don't worry about mixing it up early at UB. I guess I do so much better there because even though the play is more solid and tight/aggressive, I do find it more predictable.

Every time it seems I play an SnG at Stars, I run into this stuff.

PokerStars Game #2662212909: Tournament #13029075, Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2005/09/25 - 23:29:54 (ET)
Table '13029075 1' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: 2riverblues (1420 in chips)
Seat 2: chrisdogg (1440 in chips)
Seat 3: CraigNY (1420 in chips)
Seat 4: VojvodinaApa (460 in chips)
Seat 5: flafishy (1700 in chips)
Seat 6: koobca (1355 in chips)
Seat 7: Wakarusa (1635 in chips)
Seat 8: Jibbs05 (1470 in chips)
Seat 9: BELLZARR (2600 in chips)
BELLZARR: posts small blind 10
2riverblues: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to flafishy [Jd Jh]
chrisdogg: folds
CraigNY: folds
VojvodinaApa: folds
flafishy: raises 65 to 85
koobca: folds
Wakarusa: calls 85
Jibbs05: folds
BELLZARR: folds
2riverblues: calls 65
*** FLOP *** [8c Th 9h]
2riverblues: checks
flafishy: bets 150
Wakarusa: calls 150
2riverblues: folds
*** TURN *** [8c Th 9h]
flafishy: bets 300
Wakarusa: calls 300
*** RIVER *** [8c Th 9h 2d]
flafishy: checks
Wakarusa: bets 200
flafishy: calls 200
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Wakarusa: shows [Ts 7d] (a straight, Six to Ten)
flafishy: mucks hand
Wakarusa collected 1565 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1565 | Rake 0
Board [8c Th 9h 2d 6s]
Seat 1: 2riverblues (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: chrisdogg folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: CraigNY folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: VojvodinaApa folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: flafishy mucked [Jd Jh]
Seat 6: koobca folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Wakarusa showed [Ts 7d] and won (1565) with a straight, Six to Ten
Seat 8: Jibbs05 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: BELLZARR (small blind) folded before Flop

I haven't seen any reload bonuses for Pokerstars. I'm bummin' as I'd rather play at PS than anyplace else.

flafishy,

I don't play any hands hard at 10/20 up to 60/80 or 50/75. I wait until the incorrigible suckout artists have crashed and burned. Early on, I'm looking to pick up a couple hundred chips, here and there, that's all. I save my ammo for killing fewer targets.

CJ