Why Do You Play Poker By Yourself?

[grendel25]

Okay, maybe not "by yourself" but what's the point of hanging at a poker site with 12 other players?  I've been to several online poker sites and I see just a handful of people... not even enough to field regular tables with more than 3 or 4 people.  It would be soooo much better if people would consolidate to fewer poker sites.  There just isn't the player base right now to play so many poker sites. 

[Coef]

Okay, maybe not "by yourself" but what's the point of hanging at a poker site with 12 other players?  I've been to several online poker sites and I see just a handful of people... not even enough to field regular tables with more than 3 or 4 people.  It would be soooo much better if people would consolidate to fewer poker sites.  There just isn't the player base right now to play so many poker sites. 

True, but I believe the market will do the job itself.
Sites have been giving out bonus or running free-rolls to attract players. Some of them will just quit after failing to do so, while the remaining ones will have a larger and larger user base.

[sandy47bt]

The big will become bigger & the small will become smaller, this happens for poker sites too.
Just play at poker site where there are many players

[SyGambler]

Okay, maybe not "by yourself" but what's the point of hanging at a poker site with 12 other players?  I've been to several online poker sites and I see just a handful of people... not even enough to field regular tables with more than 3 or 4 people.  It would be soooo much better if people would consolidate to fewer poker sites.  There just isn't the player base right now to play so many poker sites. 

yes bitcoin poker sites are suffering of the lack of players
it's really hard to find 4 full tables in bitcoin sites , and there is a good chance that you would waste your time just waiting players
but for me I play fiat sites that use bitcoins , of course it would be much better if there is a big btc site but this is unavailable atm

[erpbridge]

Having too many poker sites doesn't seem to be the problem. There are more than 6-7 poker sites right now , but none of them have cash games going on. People just play some tournies and mostly freerolls on the site , so even if only 1 or 2 sites were to exist , it wouldn't mean the players playing would considerably increase . There isn't any solution to this however unless half of all those sites shutdown due to lack of players and revenue. 

[Indamuck]

Okay, maybe not "by yourself" but what's the point of hanging at a poker site with 12 other players?  I've been to several online poker sites and I see just a handful of people... not even enough to field regular tables with more than 3 or 4 people.  It would be soooo much better if people would consolidate to fewer poker sites.  There just isn't the player base right now to play so many poker sites.  

This is a good question. I've played at the busier sites - SWC, Betcoin - and also several of the smaller sites. A couple years back I had a positive experience at Satoshi Poker ... back when it was basically just SWC and tiny SP. What I liked about playing SP, and now some of the smaller sites, is that the mix of players is different. For example at the bigger sites at any given full-ring table I'm competing against several players that I have no history on. I don't use hand analysis software, and I don't multi-table like some autistic automaton - I like to play real poker against a real person. (Yeah, online game is not for me, that for another time.) So, often at the bigger sites I just feel at a disadvantage. Its not my best game. At the smaller sites I'm able to level the playing field a bit because the players showing up at these sites are less dedicated to the online grind. Moreover given that I don't use software to keep track of hand histories it is easier for me to internalize a history on the much smaller field of opponents.

So for example at Luckyflops right now I know that Jorjitofish and Fishkiller can always be found at the cash tables, and I've now played them enough that I can sit down and 'play the man' as opposed to playing some multi-tabling or multi-accounting bot. Actually at LF there are roughly about two dozen characters that show up somewhat regularly. I am a home-game cash player and when I play online I appreciate seeing familiar 'faces' at the table.

A second reason is that the newer sites tend to run more aggressive promotions (?), and often the promotions are run inconsistently, so that allows me to 'corner the market' from time to time. Anyway, there are pros and cons to playing both large, well-trafficked sites, and the smaller start-ups. I think both have their advantages and disadvantages.

[WhatTheGox]

Okay, maybe not "by yourself" but what's the point of hanging at a poker site with 12 other players?  I've been to several online poker sites and I see just a handful of people... not even enough to field regular tables with more than 3 or 4 people.  It would be soooo much better if people would consolidate to fewer poker sites.  There just isn't the player base right now to play so many poker sites. 

Some people like to play heads up and short handed, if there are a few decent fish who show up at these non popular sites occasionally then it can be worth it.  If the less popular or new sites have advertised and attracted players there is really nothing much to do.  Competition is good, in fiat poker pokerstars took a big giant shit over the games making them tight and non action, because they have such a big share of the market.

[Wendigo]

Anyone saw that? Bots on pokerstars got $1.5 million.
www.pokernews.com/news/2015/06/suspected-bots-on-pokerstars-under-investigation-21860.htm

[WhatTheGox]

Anyone saw that? Bots on pokerstars got $1.5 million.
www.pokernews.com/news/2015/06/suspected-bots-on-pokerstars-under-investigation-21860.htm

Haha pretty insane didnt see that yet.  I notice its in limit betting games not NL although i think some short stacker bots can be made to work in low stakes NL. 

Limit holdem and pot limit games are going to suffer as AI power grows.

[ComboChris]

Obviously 12 players per site is a bit lame but there have to be different sites where people play on since otherwise one site will have the monopoly and will be able to rip players off since they have nowhere else to go. It will hopefully slowly go towards somewhere in the middle between too many poker sites and only one

[tiggytomb]

It is a shame, I like a bit of online poker, PM Poker recently started a giveaway and had some good ideas but I was the only one in there for a good few hours so I was literally playing by myself.

[SyGambler]

Anyone saw that? Bots on pokerstars got $1.5 million.
www.pokernews.com/news/2015/06/suspected-bots-on-pokerstars-under-investigation-21860.htm

yeah I saw that and I was extremely surprised , this is a serious issue with the best poker site in the world
these bots are targeting PL games and they are making good cash
if these issues will continue to show , I'm afraid that online poker will disappear
especially when we are talking about a bot that's targeting PS

[WhatTheGox]

It is a shame, I like a bit of online poker, PM Poker recently started a giveaway and had some good ideas but I was the only one in there for a good few hours so I was literally playing by myself.

What we need is the whole poker economy to be bitcoin friendly, we need pokerstars to accept bitcoin as bitcoin and have games in bitcoin and cashouts in bitcoin.  If they cant do that then fuck them tbh because they will ust be proving themselves to be fiat shills.

[jpouza]

It is a shame, I like a bit of online poker, PM Poker recently started a giveaway and had some good ideas but I was the only one in there for a good few hours so I was literally playing by myself.

oh, that´s sad, but with so many bots I think people become afraid of this kind of game.

[FanEagle]

Well, at least we have some stable playerbase at swc, or betcoin

[patt0]

I think it's a question of trust. Even in "normal" poker rooms you have the big ones, like pokser stars etc, and then you have those new ones that try to establish, by attracting players with freerolls etc, but in the end people just end up exploring that free money, and then just go back to their big favorite rooms, where they feel safe or at least comfortable.
And then there is the support, in the other poker rooms you have site like pokerstrategy etc, that make big communities and try to teach you how to play etc, and give you money to get started, and they just keep sending you to the big sites. If a room like pokserstrategy would just give you a bankroll to a btc poker room, that room would probably get a decent player base in a short ammount of time.

[KPGuy]

It is a shame, I like a bit of online poker, PM Poker recently started a giveaway and had some good ideas but I was the only one in there for a good few hours so I was literally playing by myself.

I feel the same way tiggy. BetVIP poker had their good run of freerolls together with crypto poker, bitcoinpoker.gg, bitpoker.io etc. but bitcoin poker players only plays freerolls and some players abuse it by having multiple accounts etc. No matter where you look it doesnt help us... in the long run... as a poker player.

everywhere i go i support the sites that i play in, although freerolls are GOOD, but we as a poker player, need to think for the long run. we need to support the site. I hate seeing btc poker site goes down after several months.

it is so sad to see that we dont have so many choices to play at because alot of btc poker players dont support the site by playing cash games.

right now i put my trust in turntrips poker. as patt0 says, i put my trust in this site because from what i see, the owner put the freerolls exclusively for the cash game players, which i think is fair if you are a real poker player. too bad only a few including me see the potential. they did a rakerace leaderboard last month and i was able to get a good number of chips on that promo. now they are doing freerolls with TTP req, turntrips points.

I am sorry if my post will look kinda spammy in favor of turntrips. but i cant help it. I need to do something as a poker player to promote the site which i think is good and legit. we as a poker player need to do something to break this trend of btc poker site opening and goes down after several months. we need to support them and have a good amount of choice to play in the future.

[waterpile]

Well, at least we have some stable playerbase at swc, or betcoin

well we still don't know if those are really controlled by humans 

I've noticed that there are some users have been playing for straight hrs but i maybe just being assumptious about it.

[KPGuy]

Well, at least we have some stable playerbase at swc, or betcoin

well we still don't know if those are really controlled by humans 

I've noticed that there are some users have been playing for straight hrs but i maybe just being assumptious about it.

yes, we can't just say that a player who plays long hours is a bot. personally, 6hrs straight is standard, i can go for 12hrs non stop.

[WhatTheGox]

Well, at least we have some stable playerbase at swc, or betcoin

well we still don't know if those are really controlled by humans 

I've noticed that there are some users have been playing for straight hrs but i maybe just being assumptious about it.

yes, we can't just say that a player who plays long hours is a bot. personally, 6hrs straight is standard, i can go for 12hrs non stop.

I've done 20k+ hands in 1 sitting on pokerstars 24 tabling, thinking it was about 18 hours straight more or less.  I needed to clear a VIP bonus thingy before the next day you see.  Glad i dont do that kinda thing anymore, not worth the stress.