Personal Experience With PokerStars

Some of you may remember my thread a couple weeks back regarding me joining PokerStars for the first time. I started on Full Tilt and never really played on any other site. So here's a new thread about my experiences with PokerStars and some of my likes and dislikes.

The lobby view was nice. It wasn't anything to fancy but it wasn't plain either. I like the sleek design of black and red. When I first sat down at a table, I knew switching the background was a must. I immediately switched the background to PokerStars' Slick Light Theme. It's a darkish design and easy on the eyes. I guess the reason I choose this is that it's similar to Full Tilt's Marble background with Racetrack view enabled. I don't understand why so many players like the default background. It feels blurry to me and just plain ugly. Oh well, we all have our personal preferences.

The lobby interface in my opinion could be improved. I'm primary a SNG player and filtering all the games was a hassle. I feel everything is so clustered and it's difficult searching for what you want. There's also the buy in tab. I have no idea why it's even there. Instead of putting the buy-in amount neatly lined under the tab, they camouflage it in the name. I just don't get why they would have that little tab. I guess it's only use is clicking on it to set the buy in from highest to low. I just think it makes more sense putting the buy in amount under the tab. There's just something that makes Full Tilt's lobby interface better.

Then there's the game lobby. That has got to be the most frustrating thing. Why can't they show the current prize pool distribution!? You only get to see it after registration closes. I don't want to use a calculator to do the math manually to see what first place makes! Then there's the player's standings. Why do they only rank the top players? They should SHOW each and every player's ranks in the game lobby. It's very frustrating to have to scroll all the way down and play "Where's Waldo" with my username to see where I stand in a tourney! Even in a 9max SNG they don't rank the players. I would like to open the lobby up to see how I'm doing. But seriously, the current prize pool distribution amount and player's ranks should set in.

You can find games very quickly and players are around the same level, but I feel at the micro stakes 1 cent 2 cent, the players are a lot worst compared to Full Tilt's players. Like Full Tilt I'll usually have 1 regular at the $3-5 9Max SNGs.

The table's interface is ok. The sound effects aren't too bad. I'm just not too fond of the time waiting sound. It's kind of frustrating to have it go off in short intervals if you're a muti-tablier. Anyway the sound can be custom edited so I can't complain. Then there's the chat box. Someone times when I'm chatting with someone and another table requires my attention, the chat box thing "fades" out. Meaning that I have to re click the cursor into the chat typing area to continue typing. It's very frustrating to have to make the motion between your keyboard and your mouse.

PokerStars' support is great. They reply back in less than a day usually a couple hours at most. I felt Full Tilt's support was very automatic. Sometimes it feels like they don't even read it, and just reply back using general info copy and pasted from their website. At PokerStars it feels like I'm interacting with an actual person that took the time to write out a legit sentence.

I really like PokerStar's VIP program. It's not as good as rakeback unless you're Gold+ level which requires dedicated playing. Right now I'm a SilverStar and it's been Ok. I already got 100% of my $50 initial deposit back and an extra $10 from achieving SilverStar. For more casual once in a while players, going with a site that support rakeback is better, but for more frequent players, PokerStars is the way to go. I like this because PokerStars reward the more regular and active players.

Cashing out was no problem. I made my first withdraw and I got my check in less than 2 weeks. You can also do a direct transfer to your bank account, but I haven't tried that yet so I can't comment.


KEY CHANGES I WOULD LIKE TO SEE:
Updating prize pool distribution
Current player's standings
Better SNG organization

I typed this really quick so I might have left out a couple of stuff. If anyone here is thinking about joining PokerStars, reply back with a question and I'll give you an idea from a "new member's" point of view.

PS doesn't update prize pool distribution until registration is closed. In a re-buy add-on tourney it's not updated till that period is over.

You can check your standing in a tourney at any time by clicking the "info" tab at the chatbox while you're at the table...no need to go to the lobby.

i play at both hv had better results on stars. as far as table designs go they hv plenty to choose from that suit wat u like. i like the original lobby instead of the black theme but switch it up occasionally lol. i also like how i can turn of the sound alert its so fckn annoying on ftp its everying or no sound at all pfff. i perfer pokerstars but whatever floats ur boat or play both

i play on both sites and think they have a very comparible edge to doyles room, Ub, absolute poker and a few other poker sites. I just wish both sites would provide more easier opportunities for free players to move to cash.

Yes exactly! I don't understand why they can't show the current prize pool distrubution as player register. On Full Tilt, it shows how much each position would recieve as the amount of players join. It updates constantly so you can see how much each position would be getting. It's just a lot easier.

Most of us may have a vague recall of someone else's previous threads, oftentimes it is better to report the content or at least a link.
Just Switched To PokerStars
I always had the impression that on Pokerstars the life of the pros is in someway easier compared to the Full Tilt counterparts. What I noticed that on Full Tilt professional players are often battling with other professionals, while on Pokerstars you often see 1-2 pros sit in with other good, regular but relatively unknown players. It is not so rare to see on Full Tilt a 6-max Omaha table filled with 4-5 world class players.
Full Tilt has no rival for the red cashier button, feels like a material real button on the screen, it has been made in a way that is so enjoyable to push.
I always wondered if people appreciate more the cartoon-like avatars that Full Tilt offers to represent players at the tables or the option of Pokerstars where you can personalize your image by uploading your own icon to display.

[quote=JEP712;1533812]. When I first sat down at a table, I knew switching the background was a must. I immediately switched the background to PokerStars' Slick Light Theme. It's a darkish design and easy on the eyes. I guess the reason I choose this is that it's similar to Full Tilt's Marble background with Racetrack view enabled. I don't understand why so many players like the default background. It feels blurry to me and just plain ugly. Oh well, we all have our personal preferences.
Try the hyper-simple theme. I think it's the best one!

The lobby interface in my opinion could be improved. I'm primary a SNG player and filtering all the games was a hassle. I feel everything is so clustered and it's difficult searching for what you want.
Once you're familiar with the different sng's they offer, just punch in the buyin range & it's pretty easy to read (but yah, maybe not the greatest)
I would like to open the lobby up to see how I'm doing.
You can just clieck on the info. tab while sitting on your table to get details, you don't need to open up the lobby
You can find games very quickly and players are around the same level, but I feel at the micro stakes 1 cent 2 cent, the players are a lot worst compared to Full Tilt's players. Like Full Tilt I'll usually have 1 regular at the $3-5 9Max SNGs.
Yes I too believe the players are worse in the micros on Stars. I think your estimate of "1 reg. at the $5 STT/SNG tables" is way off
Depending upon the time of day you're playing & whether or not it's on a weekend or weekday... (I believe it's closer to 3-4 'winning' regs. on the $5 tables on Fulltilt, sometimes even more.... this isn't based on my assumption but rather based upon fact from doing player searches on a fairly large sample size and I would say it's less than 3 on the Pokerstars $5 tables).
and another table requires my attention, the chat box thing "fades" out. Meaning that I have to re click the cursor into the chat typing area to continue typing. It's very frustrating to have to make the motion between your keyboard and your mouse.
There's a way you can change this from happening... I ran into similiar difficulties when writing player notes on a player, then table action switches and I have to re-click mouse back to player notes. I wrote to support & changed whatever it was to keep this from happening as I found it very INCONVENIENT (I forget what it was but will check my pokerstars support response & will add it to this)



quote]

Will add in what pokerstars support said here shortly.

Yah it's just the "Pop up table when action is required" Personally I make sure this option is 'not' checked off (I play 4-6 MTT's simultaneously but not all of them on the same site, if I'm playing 2 or 3 mtt's on Pokerstars I find it uncessary to have the table pop up... there's no 'convenience' for me, instead it's just inconvenient cuz I'm having to jerk around with the mouse. If I were playing a bunch of SNG's I would more likely 'check' it.

Another thing that I found/find disturbing on Pokerstars was needing to double-click on tables (one click to take focus to table and then next click to act on table). I much prefer 'Single click table activation'

Maybe one of these above is what you were referring to?

Oh.. hang on here... so you just deposited recently then went deep in one of those $3 or $4 buyin MTTs on there. Okay, lol... you've got the 'new depositer switch' clicked on for ya.. nice!!! New Depositor's should play the SunMillion for first MTT (< and this post of mine should be making it's way over to the 'all things rigged section').
Great cash for being new to that site!! WTG!! I would think all of the lobby things you have a problem with would be insignificant, hee hee hee.

On that note, I've never personally been concerned with seeing the payouts in an MTT. They're basically pretty much the same in most of them. Some of the micro tourneys actually payout Top20% but generally it's Top10-15%, with final table payouts being heavily weighted towards the top (on Stars maybe even a bit more so than on Fulltilt). Prior to first break it really doesn't have any significance to me??? I mean, I'm going to play the game in hopes of getting as deep as I can & once I'm in there (a few hrs. along, sometimes 5 or more before it makes much of a difference) I'll check out the payouts in the lobby. In the first hour (or prior to start) I don't see how it makes much of a difference? (all early finishes in the money are a bit more than the buyin unless you're in a rebuy, where it can be ~6x the buyin). Kinda straightforward.... no??

Agreed. The mustard yellow default background is a disaster. Why would PS set that as the default choice? I also like the simple black and red theme with large fonts.

I play at Carbon now. I wish the user interface was larger and contrast better. It's hard to read the text. But other than that, I like Carbon better than PS or FT.