So I made the mistake...

I moved over to Ultimatebet and I love the site but... at the 10NL tables there is a glaring problem. No one has a max buy-in. Sure there are guys at every table with 1.5x or 2x buy ins but 7 out of 10 are at 1/2 or 3/4. And it doesn't matter who it is, the big stack or the small stack, if they bust they rebuy at the minimum. It is not a matter of table selection because I've tried it never gets any better. I don't want to leave yet, the bonus has not cleared (pretty slow at 10NL). Does anyone have a better strategy for small stacks. If you are sitting at 2.5x buy-in and everybody is 1/4 your stack except maybe one, do you leave and rebuy at another table with max buy in or do you move up to say 25NL and play 1/2 stack with just a slightly higher blind so you stilll have 20X buy ins and get to play bigger stacks. On the plus side they are paying to see almost every flop so it's no problem getting callers if you 3x raise, but any higher and it's to rich for them and no one plays along. The games are easy (loose passive) but it's a serious grind to get your sets or monsters paid.

Same thing at Absolute. They call 50NL 25/50, and then the layout encourages you to buy in minimum through the buy in box. I think it's like $18 minimum or something. So everyone buys in for $18. It's totally gay, and they deserve to lose business unless they change it.

At $10 NL, and even $25 NL (I haven't played much beyond that) at UB, you'll see at least a half-table of these shortstacks at half of the tables.

So I wouldn't use UB as my primary site.
Be selective and find tables with a higher ratio of big stacks to short buys, still looking for high VPIPs and big pots.
You may only find 1-2 of these per session...that's why I say to have an alternate site as well.

I finally got tired of this shortbuy crap too, so I pulled most of my money out of UB - just left in $100 for goof-off low buyin SNGs and $10 NL 1-2 tabling low-stress entertainment.

I'm gone when the bonus clears as well. To bad though, I love the site. Very comfortable and easy to use.

Up to you of course, but I wouldn't bother trying to clear this bonus as a standard bonus. It clears very slowly at $10 NL.
It really just covers blinds...so of course you make money off the tables in addition, but it's not a great bonus by any means - at least for $10 NL players.

Ya I wish I'd known that in advance. Kinda just tilted a little at Party and didn't do any research on where to go next. Just jumped on the 100% and didn't do the math on how fast it was going to clear. Next time I'll ask first.

Hit up pokerstars or partypoker!

So I haven't got time right now to play with the hand converter but I may have found a way to beat the short stacks at Ultimatebet. They have a 10NL no max table. So I started with my $10 and started busting. If I had a big stack sit to close to my left I got up and moved. Here is one of the hands I played, can you tell me if it's alright. I was seriously going to fold if the big stack made a call or reraise to my $2 post flop bet. Figured the pot was big enough to take one shot at it. he left me with the donk playing anything and often bluffing. He could have had KK or 56s.



Hand #31841808-20605 at Scotch Plains (No Limit Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 01/Jun/06 15:37:51

Buddha3281 is at seat 0 with $350.54.
KingOfRegrets is at seat 1 with $23.55.
Mike Hurley is at seat 2 with $236.86.
mokus is at seat 3 with $3.15.
losingall is at seat 4 with $4.40.
BuyFerrari is at seat 5 with $4.75.
-HRH- is at seat 6 with $4.85.
Malcolm is at seat 7 with $4.90.
Here2getchips is at seat 8 with $5.35.
Trainer_jyms is at seat 9 with $34.10.
The button is at seat 2.

mokus posts the small blind of $.05.
losingall posts the big blind of $.10.

Buddha3281: -- --
KingOfRegrets: -- --
Mike Hurley: -- --
mokus: -- --
losingall: -- --
BuyFerrari: -- --
-HRH-: -- --
Malcolm: -- --
Here2getchips: -- --
Trainer_jyms: Jd Jh

Pre-flop:

BuyFerrari folds. -HRH- calls. Malcolm raises to
$.45. Here2getchips folds. Trainer_jyms re-raises
to $1.60. Buddha3281 folds. KingOfRegrets folds.
Mike Hurley calls. mokus folds. losingall folds.
-HRH- folds. Malcolm goes all-in for $4.90.
Trainer_jyms calls. Mike Hurley calls.

Flop (board: Ah 2c 5c):

Trainer_jyms bets $3. Mike Hurley folds.
Trainer_jyms is returned $3 (uncalled).

Turn (board: Ah 2c 5c 9s):

(no action in this round)


River (board: Ah 2c 5c 9s 8c):

(no action in this round)




Showdown:

Trainer_jyms shows Jd Jh.
Trainer_jyms has Jd Jh Ah 9s 8c: a pair of jacks.
Malcolm shows Ts Td.
Malcolm has Ts Td Ah 9s 8c: a pair of tens.


Hand #31841808-20605 Summary:

$.70 is raked from a pot of $14.95.
Trainer_jyms wins $14.25 with a pair of jacks.
----------------------------------------------------------------