Poker Stars - Toughest site by a mile.

Now I don't know about you guys but Poker Stars has got to be the site with the toughest competition out there by a long way! I lost my initial $200 deposit there last year after a bit of frustration but then I went and took the plunge and put $500 in there last night and geez, I got my ass kicked good and proper! A couple of sessions at the 10c/25c tables and I'm already down to $450!!

Now I know Ultimate Bet is as tight as a drum and I know I only had a one-evening session at Poker Stars but out of all the seven sites I currently play at I've never faced such tricky players.

Now I'm quite an aggressive player but the amount of times someone actually played back at me was unbelievable. About 95% of the time I make a big raise on other sites I usually just get called or they fold, but at Poker Stars they pop the question and get me to make difficult decisions all the time! Maybe my table selection skills were just bad but it was ridiculous!

I'm only gonna play the 5c/10c tables there now until I can build some of my damaged BR back.

Rant over.

With big losses like those, I suggest you start back at the beginning. Read, from the start, all the articles here.

Aggression alone will not make you a winning poker player.

All sites are the same to me.

Believe me dj11, I've read enough Poker literature and played enough poker in the last 18 months to have some idea about the dos and don'ts. Poker Stars just seems to be a magnet for the good players.

I think Stars' reputation for having tough players is probably not entirely accurate. I think at the lower limits, all the competition is pretty soft, no matter where you play.

There are a lot of good players aroud PokerStars...there are way more bad players. You just have to keep your eyes open and stay away from the sharks.

stars has the most fish and there bye has the most sharks.

There are many bad players who lose their azzez and many ok ones who about break even but wayyyy fewer who win money and keep winning. U will all know who u r the winner breakeven or loser person but there is a lot of dead money in poker just pokerstars has the most players and thereby the most sharks to win it

They put blood in the water at stars, it attracts the sharks!

For the time being, 1 mill USD in one MTT every week. Thats spiked water if i ever saw spiked water...

It's a cumulative thing- having the most players, PS has the most bad players, the most average players, and yes the most highly skilled players of any site.

Further, as you make your way thru the levels of stakes, the groups overlap somewhat. Eg, you'll find some really good players at low limits (along with many,many bad ones), and some terrible players with lots of disposable income at higher levels. And, lots of average players across the board.

idk why i agree with you for some reason i play more diffrent im ussually a tight-aggresive player but at there i loosen up my games

You will find sharks more often at the lower limits but there are still only one per table if any at the micro levels. They don't like to beat each other up either.

You just have to spot them quickly and give them the respect and distance they deserve. Stars just happens to have a very wide variety of levels to play so it is easier to get around them if you are not one of them.

[quote=TurnipHead;543064]Now I don't know about you guys but Poker Stars has got to be the site with the toughest competition out there by a long way! I lost my initial $200 deposit there last year after a bit of frustration but then I went and took the plunge and put $500 in there last night and geez, I got my ass kicked good and proper! A couple of sessions at the 10c/25c tables and I'm already down to $450!!


sorry but roflmao
I take it this wasen't a fixed limit game.



yea read it all, and read those "poker is rigged" ones twice

Sigh... do you have to troll every thread?

I love the smileys.

Find the fish, make a friend list with their names. Request to find these fish. Go fishing. Repeat.

I always take careful notes when I play and always search for the idiots before I scan tables for "good table" selection. This IS good table selection.

lol, man it sounds like your just trying to do too much too fast. If your table was playing aggressive to the point where your getting your raises repopped than you can't maintain your aggressive style. Sounds like you wouldve been better off playing tight

I have to agree PokerStars is a tought site but i do think its kinda even with the sharks to average to fish ratio. I do frequent the site and play mainly on that site and sharks do frequent the low tables alot mainly for the fishes. But the site does challenge you to change your game up as being agressive will work at times but on that site it makes you change up quite a bit.

Bad cards breed bad play and maybe (just maybe) all those junk hands I was given just made me play badly. I dunno.

But, not wanting to sound too arrogant, with my current stats as follows:

PKR - UP $500
William Hill - UP $220
Coral Poker - UP $135
Paddy Power Poker - UP $100
Poker Heaven - UP $100
Party Poker - EVEN (Yes, I know, I hang my head in shame)

POKER STARS - DOWN $400!!!

There's something here that's telling me something: No, there's only one thing for it. (Personally speaking) Poker Stars gets wiped from my hard drive, never to return

I agree with OP - I have really noticed it tightening up there since they introduced their 10B hand promo.

I've placed in a few of their 10B Trivia freerolls and play their SnGs often and i do well the site still seems the same to me. I have been playing there for a the past couple years and the only thing i noticed is more players but less promos for US players and a boom in non-US player promos but thats about all I have noticed. PokerStars is still by far on of the best in my mind.

TESTIFY!!!.....
The fish are great and the donkeys will pay you when you hit your hand hard