This site is so interesting to me. I came there a few months ago to play a couple of the CC free rolls, and was immediately struck by the outdated software they use. As many other posters have noted, they REALLY need to update their software. I play mostly low buy-in tourneys and SNGs, and the step tournaments. With the low traffic on the site, some get cancelled for too few entrants, which is a bummer. Some SNGs I’ve signed up for, even just 4-6 max, have kept me waiting for long periods for enough players to start. Sometimes I just give up and unregister.
That said, here are some things I enjoy about the site:
1) The lower number of entrants in tournaments means fewer people to beat out to win or place (though fewer places paid too).
2) There are a decent number of turbo, hyper, and other such quick moving tournaments. I appreciate not having to slog for hours in tourneys with 10 minute blinds.
3) The cards dealt at this site seem to be fair—no miraculous 4-of-a-kind over straight flush over full house over straight (in one hand). On BetOnline, where I’ve played a fair number of low stakes tournaments, you see this kind of stuff ALL of the time!
I mean ridiculous cards coming out on the turn and river to produce better hands over previous great hands. I haven’t collected evidence to backup my claim, as I know people will want to see. But I know what I have observed, and it isn’t a one-time miracle. It is happening regularly—typically the big stack holder winning with a crappy hand, over the low stack who has waited patiently for a nice all-in hand like qq, kk, aa, ak,…. Mr. big stack calls with 49os and flops 499. It’s almost predictable to the point where I just don’t want to play there anymore. I do wonder if it only happens at the tourneys with low buy-ins, but haven’t played the higher stakes to really explore that. Anyway, a long-winded way of saying Intertops algorithm for card dealing seems to be random and fair. I have not left a game yet where I felt like it was completely outlandish cards coming off. They occasional bad beat, yes, as one would expect. But not a regular thing every other hand.
4) They offer a decent number of freerolls and step-up tournaments. Nice for building your bankroll, practicing your skills, and earning your way into a big tournament.
I’m hopeful that Intertops will make some improvements to encourage more players—better software and faster payouts seem to be the biggest needs. I’ll keep playing there for now, as they do offer some features that I believe give them potential to be a great site at some point. Time to invest some money on improvements, though.