Originally Posted by
Lowly Oaftard
There's little doubt that Bovada has the softest ring games available to all US players at the moment. I played on Cake a while back, and did a PT3 database analysis of a 50k hand sample played at the micros for a friend of mine on True Poker ( which is on the Winning network, which I also believe hosts ACR and Black Chip games). I also played ring games in the micros on Full Tilt prior to Black Friday....and I've put in a lot of volume at a casino about 2 hours north of my location that has digital tables for small stakes ( which creates a unique and very profitable dynamic for even small stakes games). Across all the online games I've ever played, Bovada is without a doubt the softest site for ring games. However, the games get tougher and tougher as more time goes on and grinder types eventually find their way there. There are some things about Bovada that close off a lot of the grinders though, and will keep the site profitable for good players as well as a good environment for net depositing players ( a nice way of saying Fish) and I'm grateful for them. The 4 table cap is one of them.....along with the anonymous tables/lack of long term stats, and the lack of rakeback. A lot of mass multi-tablers play a robotic style that nets them a small profit off of many tables at once and collect their rakeback and frequent player benefits...and these types of players make for some pretty miserable games to play in. When I did the db analysis of my friends True Poker sample (about 60k hands at 25-50 NL full ring, not much volume but enough for me to get a good feel for what was going on).....he foolishly did not have a rakeback account ( which is bankroll suicide on that site), and his tables were full of 10/8/2 (vpip/pfr/3bet) players mass multing for their giant rake race ( which I think was called "The Beast") that are beatable in a vacuum but when you factored in the high rake and the BBJ they charged on that site....I determined the game was close to unbeatable at the stakes he was playing without finishing near the top of the rake races. I have another friend who plays on True at small to midstakes(1/2-3/6), and does very well there...and is very happy without the payout times they provide ( Last I heard, he had an atm type card provded by the site that he used to cashout there, and his cashouts were processed within a couple of days).
Bovada is definitely a unique poker site. The 4 table cap makes for a much better fish:shark ratio ( If on a site like Stars your average fish 1 or 2 tables, and your average shark 12-24 tables...well, the math is easy to do there), and without massive frequent player benefits/ability to log mass volume....many good players stay away from the site because it makes them uncomfortable and/or they don't think it will be very profitable for them. Also, I don't think a lot of mass multi players are comfortable without the deep reads their HUD provides. I do prefer 6max to 9max there because of several reasons. Because I'm capped at 4 tables and it's the only site that I play on, I think it's better to play shorthanded because it allows me to maximize my edge more and isolate fish easier, and because the games move at a much much faster clip ( Bovada allows players far too much time to make decisions, and if you get 1/2 slow players at a 9max table...yowza. 15-20 hands an hour per table , which is rough and cuts into your profits). I also have the bulk of my strategy study and work away from the tables in improving in the 6 max format...although I think I'd adjust to HU pretty well, I'd still feel like a dog to a lot of good HU players....I haven't played in many 3-6 handed games on Bovada where I thought I gave up an edge). The games are definitely softer on Friday and Saturday nights than in general, although if you are willing to exercise extreme table selection you can unearth really good games fairly often. And I think this is critical at the stakes I play at because the rake is prohibitive....I don't want to do battle with nitregs or regfish that I have an edge on, because the edge isn't that great (especially anonymously) and the rake eats it up.
I'm sure we probably both use HI there, and yes I have the hand converter...although my copy of PT3 is for microstakes only (50NL and below), so I stopped converting hands when I started logging in a lot of time at 100NL. It's obviously worth it to get HEM2/PT4 and take advantage of the features that software offers to help plug leaks/improve....but I think I have a pretty good review/improvement system outside of that which is fairly effective ( based largely on things I learned from TMGP ). In my reviews, I always go back and check showdown results ( which appear after 24 hours) for hands I was unsure about/big folds I made that were iffy. I've used this to great effect to bust up some regs that I can identify by their chat/timing/bet sizing...but you have to be careful that you don't become too results oriented by letting 1 or 2 sets of hole cards dissuade you from folding when you just encountered the top of a villains range.
I'm definitely down to set up sweats/HH reviews. I've received coaching from multiple sources at various points of my poker career, and have a pretty good idea of how to conduct effective reviews and/or sweats. PM me your skype name, and let's get the ball rolling on something like this. I play Wed-Sun every week, and put in a decent amount of sidework on my game, and can def incorporate some sweats into my off table efforts...especially with someone who is motivated and can help me improve.