To move, or not to move

EDIT: After posting this, I realized it may be better for the Online Poker Rooms forum. If the mods agree, please move it.

I've been considering moving away from pokerstars and finding another site to play at.

This is primarily for two reasons:
1) As long as I'm playing, I may as well be working off a bonus somewhere. and
2) I keep hearing about how many fish are around on other sites compared to stars.

So here's my situation, then I'll list the sites I'm considering.

- I am in the US, and in one of the states not allowed on Prima, so that option is out.
- I'm currently rolled for 10nl.
- I really would prefer a site that accepts epassporte so that I don't have to setup another ewallet.
- I really REALLY would like a site that Poker Tracker will work with.
- I don't want to waste a big deposit bonus unless there are frequent reload bonuses that are just as easily cleared.
- I'd like to sign up w/ rakeback if the sites allow, but having rakeback isn't a top priority at this point (should it be?)
- I really only play FR. I'll be learning to adjust to 6-max eventually, but I don't quite feel like I want to do that yet.

So, here's what I've found so far, along with my perceived +'s and -'s.

Full Tilt: Seems to have a similar reputation as stars regarding the average opponent and I won't yet be able to maximize their initial deposit bonus. At the same time there shouldn't be any problem finding games and PT works. I think I'm going to hold off on FTP for now.

Carbon Poker/Nordica: According to the review, few players, but bad players. The deposit bonus is around what I'm looking for, but it seems PT doesn't work with that site.

Cake Poker: Basically seems like Carbon, except maybe more players. No PT really is a downer though.

Ultimate Bet: This seems like the best all-around choice I've seen, and I'm leaning towards this, but at this point I won't be able to deposit enough to take advantage of the full bonus...but at the same time I read that it's a very slow bonus to clear, so even if I had the 1k+ to deposit I may not be able to clear it all. I'm also considering going with UB skins, but haven't really looked much into that yet.

Absolute/Vegas Poker 247: Looks all nice and good, but it IS Absolute and I'm not sure I want to support them...and playing on Vegas247 would essentially be supporting them as well, right? I haven't completely ruled this one out, especially since it's supposed to be loaded with fish now, but I'm just not sure about them.

Bodog: Said to be very fishy, but no support for epassporte, and you are limited to 3 tables. I only play 4 on stars, but I don't like that restriction.
Bonus is a little larger than I'm ready for, so if I go with this I'll wait a little while.
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I obviously didn't list all sites I would be able to play at, but many of the other sites are ones I haven't heard (much) of, so I'm automatically a little leary about them.

I'm interested in what everyone would suggest, if thats one of the sites I listed, something I didn't list, or just tell me to stay put for now until my roll is larger.

Multitabling 3 NL10 tables at UB, you can clear most of your bonus if you play a couple of hours per day on average. I don't know how much your play. The fishiness level at UB's NL10 is fine, but I feel like there's a HUGE jump when you move to NL25. BTW, Absolute bought out UB, so your "hate Absolute" problem compounds the UB option.

Why do you need a bonus? Do you have rakeback? Some sites only allow one or the other, and make you wait until the bonus is cleared to get rakeback. Rakeback is better than a bonus if you think you'll have trouble clearing the full bonus.

Originally Posted by Robb

Why do you need a bonus? Do you have rakeback? Some sites only allow one or the other, and make you wait until the bonus is cleared to get rakeback. Rakeback is better than a bonus if you think you'll have trouble clearing the full bonus.

I appreciate the info on UB.

And as of now, I'm on stars. I had my initial deposit bonus cleared a couple months ago, and because it's stars, no rakeback either.

It seems like playing with neither is just throwing good money away.

UB and its really not close. They changed the TOS for their rakeback since the last time i played there but as long as youre playing 10nl and 25nl (so you dont have to worry about BBJ tables) then its perfect for your situation.

Me leaning towards UB + bonus clearable + fishiness is fine + "its really not close" = Me preparing to sign up for UB.

Now I'm wishing there was a way to get my rakeback and still be able to enter the FTR bonus code so the site can get something out of this as well. Rakeback does get priority, but I'm going to at least wait to sign up until someone can answer if this is possible.

Originally Posted by Hawkfan79

Me leaning towards UB + bonus clearable + fishiness is fine + "its really not close" = Me preparing to sign up for UB.

Now I'm wishing there was a way to get my rakeback and still be able to enter the FTR bonus code so the site can get something out of this as well. Rakeback does get priority, but I'm going to at least wait to sign up until someone can answer if this is possible.

I dunno the answer to that one. Good luck, and see ya soon at the tables!!

see, i am more of an AP fan. they allow a ton more reloads while working rakeback simultaneously. they also allow 200 bb buy-ins, which i like at lower stakes.

yeah, rake sucks, and BBJ really sucks, but BBJ doesnt start until 50NL. which makes 25NL a bit tighter, due to cheapasses like me.

and, they dont share UB's player pool, to my knowledge. they are the same ownership group, allowing the free exchange of money, but they are still two independent sites.

someone correct that if i am wrong.

as for the "superuser" rumor/confirmation crap. do you really think superusers are hanging around 10NL and 25NL tables?...non BBJ? c'mon.

Well this sucks!

I cashed out from stars to my epassporte account, but only about 2/3 of it went through today. The rest comes "within 72 hours."

Which means I either have to wait until then to play any poker, or deposit what I have and lost a good chunk of the bonus I would get otherwise.

grrr!

sucks, but once you've kind of committed, just stick it out. dont lose that bonus money due to impatience. it may come through faster than 72 hours.

you can always go back to play money to cure "the fix." lol.

wait i am confused. i thought you could only play on Full Tilt and Poker Stars if you live in the U.S.

Originally Posted by will641

wait i am confused. i thought you could only play on Full Tilt and Poker Stars if you live in the U.S.

nope. Stars, FTP, AP and UB are the 4 largest rooms that accept US players. Look on the front page here for the poker room listings. It has a little american flag next to the room name if it accepts US players. There are actually quite a few small rooms.

well ill be god damned. maybe i should switch to UB.

will, look in our site reviews. there are a good many sites that are open to US players. all are denoted with an American flag.

Originally Posted by Ultimate Bet

Bonus Dollars will be converted to real money for play on the site at the rate of $1 for every 10 UltimatePoints™ you earn at our Raked Ring Game tables.

I can't find anywhere on their website where it states how UltimatePoints are earned, e.g what the rake needs to be to equal 1 point.

Is this for everyone at the table or just those in the hand?
Can partial points be earned?
When does the bonus expire?

I'd appreciate it if anyone has the answers to these questions. I'm tempted by this but would like to know if I have a decent chance of clearing it (currently 2 tabling 25NL 6-Max with an appropriate bankroll).

Originally Posted by kevster

Originally Posted by Ultimate Bet

Bonus Dollars will be converted to real money for play on the site at the rate of $1 for every 10 UltimatePoints™ you earn at our Raked Ring Game tables.

I can't find anywhere on their website where it states how UltimatePoints are earned, e.g what the rake needs to be to equal 1 point.

Is this for everyone at the table or just those in the hand?
Can partial points be earned?
When does the bonus expire?

I'd appreciate it if anyone has the answers to these questions. I'm tempted by this but would like to know if I have a decent chance of clearing it (currently 2 tabling 25NL 6-Max with an appropriate bankroll).

From: http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews...ltimateBet.php

Originally Posted by FTR's review of UB

• Bonus Dollars will be converted to real money for play on the site at the rate of $1 for every 10 UltimatePoints™ you earn at our Raked Ring Game tables.
• Bonus Dollars will be converted to real money for play on the site at the rate of $1 for every 30 UltimatePoints™ you earn at our Sit 'n Gos and Tournaments.

UltimatePoints for each raked hand will be earned as follows: If the rake is $.05 - $.20, you earn 0.10 UltimatePoints, $.25 - $.45, 0.25 UltimatePoints, $.50 - $3, 0.5 UltimatePoints. You also earn 6 UltimatePoints for every $1 in tournament entry fees.

Also, iirc, you must contribute something to the pot to get points, even if as little as a SB.

So the rest of my money from Stars came through last night and I got started on UB.

My first impressions...I don't like the software compared to what I'm used to from stars, and the games seem to play at a faster pace.

I was 4-tabling at stars with no problems, but I lost a couple buyins in my first few hundred hands where I largely blame the fact that I was rushed into my decisions and didn't have time to think them through at all.

I dropped down to two tables and did better, then eventually added a 3rd and did OK too (in terms of being able to think a little bit). Maybe it's just a matter of adjusting to the software, but the time given to make a decision HAS to be considerably less that what you get at stars.

This means I won't (for now at least) be able to play as many tables, but the fact that I'm getting in more hands per table/hour will help make up for that.

I'm going to do all I can to adjust (I may drop down to 2nl and 4-table just to get used to the software and timing), but if I continue to feel rushed like this when my bonus is cleared I will be looking to change sites again.

I'm actually looking to move from UB as soon as as I max out a bonus somewhere else. There's a few small details I'm not happy about and I don't like the way UB feeds your bonus into your account in small increments without telling you. If you want to see what you've earned bonus wise you have to constantly check your transaction history. Is this the same elsewhere because I know that Party told you rather than had you work it out for yourself?