Online Poker Update Question

[albionmoonlight]

I have a buddy who plays local poker games who is going to start playing online. I used to play online, but got out of it. I have not been on since they passed all those laws about the banks or whatnot.

Anyway, what's the status of playing online now? What advice do you give someone who is starting?

What are the best sites?
What tools, if any, are essential?
Can you still get rakeback? If so, how?
What is the best way to get money in and out of the sites?
Any general tips that might not be apparent?

[MJ4H]

Poker Stars
Poker Tracker+Ace HUD
Not from Poker Stars but other sites, yes.
Real Money Poker - Texas Holdem has a list of acceptable ways to get money in and out of Poker Stars

I literally recommend not dealing with anyone but Poker Stars anymore after all the scandals on other sites. Full Tilt might be ok, but even it worries me a little.

[NoSkillz]

I've played all the sites but IMHO, Full Tilt is easily the best these days. Great games with lots of bad players willing to spew their chips into my lap.

I used to use Poker Tracker along with Gametime Plus as my HUD but I've gone to Holdem Manager for my stat tracking and it has a built-in HUD. MUCH, much better than Poker Tracker, with much more versatility. I love this software!

My buddy is a bigtime online player and got me set up with Full Tilt about a year ago. He gets rakeback on my behalf for setting me up and he ends up giving it back to me. Not sure how you can get it back for yourself...maybe someone else can answer that question for you.

Good luck AML!

[Radii]

Pokerstars has the best and most reliable support and I think rates a little higher than Full Tilt with most people. Full Tilt is the obvious #2 and no one else even comes close. Full Tilt offering rakeback tips the scales for many people, just make sure to sign up through one of the big affiliates(I use Rakeback Online Poker Deals & Rakeback Offers and have had zero problems with them.)

For software I prefer Holdem Manager to Pokertracker as well.

Any general tips that might not be apparent?

I don't think Pokerstars has a very large initial deposit bonus, while Full Tilt offers a $600 signup bonus. If your buddy is going to play small stakes and deposit less than $600 I'd probably recommend Pokerstars first, that way if he gets more into it down the road he can still take advantage of the full $600 bonus at full tilt.

[Lathum]

If he like tournament play Pokerstars has an amazing variety

[digamma]

I like Full Tilt's interface a little better than Poker Stars, but the tournament variety and overall bad play on PS is hard to beat.

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

I have a buddy who plays local poker games who is going to start playing online.

If he plays limit holdem, he should see approximately the same skill level at about 1/10th the stakes he plays live. For instance, if he plays 10/20 live, the level of play at most 1/2 online games will be fairly close.