GGPoker - the Future of Online Poker

[MattRyder]

Mind if I ask, what Negreanu controversy? Because he left Pokerstars under the premise that he wants to focus on his marriage/family and then joined GG Poker?

Anyways, I also tried out GG Poker because I stumbled across Negreanu's video on YouTube, the GG interface is quite smooth, both PC and Mobile, it has a lot of key visual indicators about who's behind, the outs that they need etc.
I used to play on Pokerstars quite few years back, have no idea how their clients are nowadays, but might try to recover my account and see the differences.

Haven't tried the tournaments on GG yet though, so can' t give a review on that. But I guess it shouldn't be bad as the clint itself is quite well built.

This is what I was referring to when I said the Negreanu controversy:

https://www.cardschat.com/news/daniel-negreanu-apology-poker-92521
https://www.cardschat.com/forum/pok...ons-463233/?highlight=Negreanu+GGPoker+Twitch

I was aware that he had left pokerstars and became a GGPoker ambassador but never paid any attention till he went on his Twitch rant.

 

[Highsolation]

GG Poker

Oh thanks, I didn't know this happened.
Although I can understand he wanted to defend his wife, that is no way to react, specially if you are a poker player, you can't let other people know what triggers you.
I guess all in all, we're all humans and we all have good/bad days. Too bad this happened.
I do agree with punishment for his behaviour, but maybe permanet ban was too harsh, but I haven't read the Twich rules, so maybe it was justified.
Thanks for the clarification!

This is what I was referring to when I said the Negreanu controversy:

https://www.cardschat.com/news/daniel-negreanu-apology-poker-92521
https://www.cardschat.com/forum/pok...ons-463233/?highlight=Negreanu+GGPoker+Twitch

I was aware that he had left PokerStars and became a GGPoker ambassador but never paid any attention till he went on his Twitch rant.

 

[panaloto]

The Negreanu controversy really is what brought GGPoker to my attention. I started playing on their site a few weeks ago in the (one or two per week) Cardschat freerolls.

I like them so much that I'm planning on making a first deposit. This is noteworthy as GGPoker is the first offshore site to which I've ever wanted to make a deposit. And I've played on many, many sites over the years.

Their desktop software is the best! And I'm playing on a Mac, which most sites consider a low/afterthought priority. There's only one site which comes close - Pokerstars, and their Mac software still has the same bugs it had five years ago.

The GGPoker mobile client, which I use on my Android phone, is beyond INCREDIBLE! It blows EVERYBODY away! It blows the Pokerstars mobile client away. (That said, I'm referring to single table, tournament play. I haven't tried multi-table cash games with them). GGPoker is the ONLY site that I will play on my phone.

I don't know for sure why, but from my limited experience with them, the calibre of play seems far more "professional" if that's the correct way to put it. I see more of what I expect (high stakes) professional players to do at the $3 and $5 buy-in tournaments at GGPoker.

GGPoker is staying away from the many super-cheap, micro buy-in tournaments that seem to be a mainstay at PokerStars. They seem to have a clear business model in mind and a good handle on prioritizing to get there. This may also be why they seem to attract a higher calibre clientele.

GGPoker seems to me to be the future of online poker. You won't find freerolls there, other than the Cardschat freerolls, which would be a good place to start. If you're looking for a new site to try, I definitely recommend them.

Thank you. Let me try it out.

 

[MattRyder]

Oh thanks, I didn't know this happened.
Although I can understand he wanted to defend his wife, that is no way to react, specially if you are a poker player, you can't let other people know what triggers you.
I guess all in all, we're all humans and we all have good/bad days. Too bad this happened.
I do agree with punishment for his behaviour, but maybe permanet ban was too harsh, but I haven't read the Twich rules, so maybe it was justified.
Thanks for the clarification!

I'm pretty sure I would hit the roof too if someone were saying disrespectful things about my wife, especially in a public forum.

It's funny though, I think, how things sometimes evolve. I wouldn't have given GGPoker a second thought if not for the controversy (which I heard about at Cardschat), and now I'm one of GGPoker's biggest fans.

 

[fundiver199]

I do agree with punishment for his behaviour, but maybe permanet ban was too harsh, but I haven't read the Twich rules, so maybe it was justified.
Thanks for the clarification!

Reportedly Twich has reversed their decision, so he is back on there again hopefully controlling his temper a little better. I do think, that this whole "tough guy" image, he was build up around himself, is a little weird and artificial. I prefer the old rounded Daniel from like 10 years ago. But I still watched a few of his streams from the online wsop to see, if I could learn a trick or two

 

[Highsolation]

Reportedly Twich has reversed their decision, so he is back on there again hopefully controlling his temper a little better. I do think, that this whole "tough guy" image, he was build up around himself, is a little weird and artificial. I prefer the old rounded Daniel from like 10 years ago. But I still watched a few of his streams from the online WSOP to see, if I could learn a trick or two

I do have noticed that tough guy image in some of his vlogs, where he shows weights and gym stuff around his house.
And I do agree with the old Daniel being more charismatic.

I'm pretty sure I would hit the roof too if someone were saying disrespectful things about my wife, especially in a public forum.

It's funny though, I think, how things sometimes evolve. I wouldn't have given GGPoker a second thought if not for the controversy (which I heard about at Cardschat), and now I'm one of GGPoker's biggest fans.

Of course I would hit the roof too if someone insulted my wife in real life, but I think this is different, as he's being on the internet, and from my online gaming experience, internet trolls will insult you/your family no matter what you do, so I have learned not to be triggered by them, (if I got a penny everytime someone insulted me on an online game, I wouldn't be here reading about poker and trying to make profit out of it XD), I though Daniel being a more public figure than I am, would've known this better.

 

[Djon25]

Now loading GG Poker

 

[Clean]

I'm curious why you say that?

It keeps crashing

 

[MattRyder]

It keeps crashing

Are you using an older phone? The GGPoker App is pretty sophisticated, the downside of that being that it's going to be pretty demanding on your phone's resources.

 

[Suns of Beaches]

if gg is the future of online poker, i dont want to think about it.

 

[Clean]

Are you using an older phone? The GGPoker app is pretty sophisticated, the downside of that being that it's going to be pretty demanding on your phone's resources.

I am using 2019 ipad

 

[MattRyder]

I am using 2019 iPad

That definitely sounds like it should run well. I'll try installing it on my older iPad later and let you know.

It's so old it doesn't hold a charge too long, so I have to charge it first.

 

[qWald0]

Not so long ago I registered at GGpoker, I liked their site, but there are few freerolls

 

[olesyafarion]

Hi! GGPoker is a little different here. And it's called GGPokerOK. I don't like their software, so I hardly play there. But I read that they have more and more players.

 

[fegyo]

I'm still a little confused why GGPoker has other skins (including Natural8). Perhaps similar to PokerStars and FullTilt?

From what I'm reading Natural8 focuses on Asia. Their homepage says as much:


Can anybody explain what this means to the average player who doesn't live in Asia?

Yeah, they focus on Asian players, but allow players from all over the world to play if their IP address is not blocked automatically.
It is consulted with support. Just login with email address instead of mobile number.

 

[MattRyder]

It keeps crashing

Are you using an older phone? The GGPoker app is pretty sophisticated, the downside of that being that it's going to be pretty demanding on your phone's resources.

I am using 2019 iPad

That definitely sounds like it should run well. I'll try installing it on my older iPad later and let you know.

It's so old it doesn't hold a charge too long, so I have to charge it first.

While I was waiting for the app to download & install on my iPad I skimmed thru the reviews on the Apple App Store. There are a LOT of people who say it crashes all the time.

I ran it on my iPad, logged in, went to observe a table in a tournament and it crashed right away. So I gave up trying.

I wonder if it's because the app was somehow crippled in order to get Apple to allow it on the app store? This is the only real money gambling app I've ever seen on the app store.

It runs perfectly on my Samsung Galaxy S10 phone.

Sorry.

 

[MattRyder]

One reason folks might want to give GGPoker a try is - they give you a free $0.25 Spin & Gold ticket every day.

https://en.ggpoker.com/promotions/daily-free-spin/

You have to give them some KYC (Know Your Client) info/documents, but you have to do that anyway if you want to be able to withdraw money from your GGPoker account in the future.

 

[padman400]

One reason folks might want to give GGPoker a try is - they give you a free $0.25 Spin & Gold ticket every day.

https://en.ggpoker.com/promotions/daily-free-spin/

You have to give them some KYC (Know Your Client) info/documents, but you have to do that anyway if you want to be able to withdraw money from your GGPoker account in the future.

Restrictions in place

• Only players that register for GGPoker via en.ggpoker.com will be considered eligible to participate in this promotion. Players located in CIS countries are unable to participate.

 

[Principg]

I opened an account there, and tomorrow will make depozit. I like their software, but i am afraid that field is strong, or i am wrong? Cause games are with higher buy-in than usual...

 

[MattRyder]

I opened an account there, and tomorrow will make depozit. I like their software, but i am afraid that field is strong, or i am wrong? Cause games are with higher buy-in than usual...

Definitely seems to be the case, in my opinion. Others have said the field is soft.

Personally I like the $3/$5 tournaments, but we'll see if my opinion changes a year from now.

 

[MattRyder]

Restrictions in place

• Only players that register for GGPoker via en.ggpoker.com will be considered eligible to participate in this promotion. Players located in CIS countries are unable to participate.

Sorry, I hadn't actually noticed until you pointed it out. I guess that's one of the peculiarities associated with having three different skins each catering to different regions in the world.

 

[elizeuof]

In comparison to the changes that the other rooms have made, referring to games on the smartphone, I can point out that partypoker is striving to bring a new dynamic, it has changed the way of playing in some modalities, and now it is doing the same in the others and the PokerStars changed some details, and inserted these throwable objects that made the game more fun.

When I tried GGpoker I noticed a different way that I was used to, with more interaction and animations, making the game fun and a good option.

Certainly that all rooms have their differentials and their respective space, I think it is healthier to maintain differences between platforms, each one will have its pros and cons, and have allowed companies to invest in changes and that they can always please more your users.

The opening of cards on GGPoker pleased me a lot, I was impressed, the way to play more than one table on PartyPoker allows a better view of the actions on the smartphone.

Among the rooms that I play, who that i am least adapted to on the smartphone was 888poker, I didn't like the version, I had difficulty getting to play, and since I'm using my phone more than the computer I ended up not playing as much in that room as I would if I had on the computer.

 

[MattRyder]

Unfortunately GG Poker does not accept customers from Sweden, presumably because they are still in the process of aquiring a license. And for this reason I have not been able to give it a try. But I can certainly see the point in raising the bar a bit and getting rid of things like freerolls and 10-50c tournaments, which generate very little revenue but put load on the server and support system. And maybe get rid of 2NL cash as well, since with 20+ years of inflation this limit has also gotten a bit silly.

But maybe GG Poker are taking it a bit to far. As I understand it, they have no SnGs at all, and the cheapest normal MTT without bounties is for 5$. They do have some 2,2$ MTTs with bounties, but if you are brand new to tournament poker, its not a good idea to start playing with bounties. Their game selection would be fine for me as a relatively experienced player, but I would not call GG Poker a beginner friendly site.

You're right, they don't have Sit & Gos, which is a disappointment.

They have $1, $2, $3, & $4 tournaments that are not bounty types or satellites, but not a lot.

Here's an example. The following three screenshots are for the same $2 tournament - one showing "Info", the next "Structure" & the last one "Prize Pool" in the middle window:

 

[MattRyder]

Another nice feature is "Bubble Protection".

You get your buy-in back if you register before the tournament starts and bust out at the "bubble". The number of places this applies to is based on the following table:

 

[MattRyder]

So, good news/bad news.

Good news - made my first deposit via Interac E-transfer (a Canadian only method of transferring money directly from my bank account). The transaction took a few seconds, so instant!

Bad news - it took 3 days to get "verified". There was some kind of glitch on their end with online submission of documents. Once it was clear their system was hung up, I e-mailed the document that was hung, and got verified almost immediately. Nobody on their end was actually monitoring what was going on, so I as the client was required to take the initiative to work around the problems on their end. This did not leave me with a warm & fuzzy feeling.

They have two first deposit bonus options - one for us normal folk ("$100 in Free Rewards" which is actually only $40 with the potential for more depending on how much you play/spend on AoF poker, which I know nothing about), and one for high rollers or degenerate gamblers who are happy to mortgage their homes to play poker (100% up to $600) and possibly earn up to $600 in bonus rewards. I chose the first:

https://en.ggpoker.com/promotions/welcome-bonus/

I made a $100 USD deposit and will get $40 in free tickets over six days, so a 40% bonus which is $40 better than no bonus.

Here's what it actually looks like in my account:

I should add that I actually like playing Spin & Gold, which is the same as Pokerstars Spin & Go. They're hyper-speed, short stack, 3-player games. You either love them or you hate them. if you hate them, or have never played them before, this bonus may not be nearly as attractive to you as it is to me.