ericMPro wrote:
TimeIsUp wrote:
Yes, I would trust PP and PS a lot more, but you can’t play on those sites from US.
This is the relevant bit... do you know why?
Also, help me understand the cash game landscape, to know what I don’t know so to speak. I’m completely out of the loop on player tracking software, the mathematical “stock market” aspect of volume and brute force decisions vs. normal live poker where things move at a normal pace and the dynamic is the usual live cash game dynamic.
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Sorry, had to go to work and see the carnage from our idiot governor finally issuing a shelter in place but people not understanding they can go grocery shopping anytime they want. Shelves blown out yet again.
Why I would trust PS and PP a lot more? They are regulated and invest the resources to keep their games fair as well as have a player pool that is always on the lookout for collusion and bots.
Why can't the US play on them? Long story short,
Black Friday happened when some legislation was slipped into a bill at midnight and passed without any members of congress having time to read it. Not saying they would have cared anyway, but it was hogwash the way it went down. Basically named poker as gambling instead of a game of skill which made the transfer of money from player to site illegal. Owners of sites were arrested and payment processors were fined and shut down. Players did nothing illegal (same as with ACR today) so they were always in the clear, although many of us had funds in particular sites (PS and Full Tilt) frozen. All money was eventually returned to players years later after the court cases were settled.
ACR operates in a sketchy area for them and their payment processors who allow US players to transfer funds to their site. I have only deposited once and used one of my credit cards. I forget who was listed as the vendor, but it most certainly wasn't America's Card Room. Most everyone I know who deposits and withdraws often uses BitCoin as that is the quickest method. Again, they are violating the law as well as anyone (including my CC company, unknowingly) who allows us to get money onto their site. That is the rub. They aren't regulated in the same way as PS and PP and have no incentive to because they allow US players to deposit and play. PS and PP comply with the current laws and refuse US players. Unfortunately ACR is what US players have at the moment. Some also play on the GG Poker Network which has a couple of different skins (sites), but I am not at all familiar with those.
As far as player tracking software - PP recently stopped allowing players to use HUDs (Heads-Up Displays - tracks every statistic you can think of on every player). They even went a step further to allow everyone to change their usernames and will probably do some again in the future. This rendered all results tracking sites useless as well. They are doing everything they can to protect their player pool.
PS and ACR still allow HUDs and you are at a significant disadvantage if you choose not to use one. However, if you aren't using it the right way it could actually make your "reads" worse. For example, if you don't know what the hand range is for a player with an early position VPIP (voluntarily put in pot) of 21% then it doesn't do you much good and if you misinterpret this range, it could make it even worse.
Online poker has been infiltrated by computer science nerds because it is a relatively solvable game if you know what to do with the stats by using them to exploit other players weaknesses or "leaks". Online cash games are incredibly difficult. I've heard people say an online .10/.25 game is tougher than a live 2/5 game.
Like I said, I wouldn't put a dime on there you aren't willing to lose. I would challenge any politician that thinks poker is gambling to play some of the online wizards. They will quickly learn it as complicated as chess. A better analogy might be backgammon because of the dice. Sure, there is a component of luck to it, but in the end the players making the decisions with the most expected value will come out ahead. Maths is cool like that.
Hope that helps a bit.