Well, I stated in a previous post that the ‘rake free’ promotion at Party Poker for their tournaments was bound to make the games crazier than ever. Having found the time for a poker session on Saturday evening I’m happy to report that ‘crazy’ was a HUGE underestimate… and that ‘daft’ would have been a better description! Some more good news, Red Kings – my favorite OnGame site – have announced another ‘Fishmarket’ complete with free $11 entry for first time depositors. More on that below, first Party.Some players will care about the ‘no-fees’ in the Party Poker tournaments this month because it increases their ev… and that’s fair enough. Most of us are recreational players though, and the bigger draw is the fact that many who might not have played in tournaments before get attracted by the promo - making the fields extra soft! I played a small selection of games in the $5 to $20 range on Saturday and saw some hands which I still do not understand in the cold light of Monday morning. No, these are not bad beat stories, my only one of those happened with 26 left in the $20 game (and my policy is never to complain if I got my chips in good, so I wont!). Some Crazy Hands To Show You What I Mean So, explain this logic to me please… someone opens UTG (10 handed!) for 3x, there is a flat call. Then someone else raises 2.5x the initial raise, there is a flat call of that re-raise before the initial raiser jams all in for around 35 big blinds…. At this point the person who flatted the initial raise makes the call with, wait for it, ace-seven off (I believe the initial 3 bettor called too and the hand was AK vs KK vs erm, A7). I was thinking of working through some ranges… Initial UTG raise, 99+ AJs+, 3 bet JJ+ AQs+ flat of 3-bet (no idea, probably a pair?), UTG 4-bet QQ+ / AK… alright, I should not be critical… but where the hell does ace-seven fit in here? Anyway, the same scenario happened in a different game with an Ace-5, and then a Queen-Ten suited went a little nutty on another table again.... oh, and did I mention that 9-way pot early on? What I am trying to demonstrate here is that the standard of play falls off of a cliff the minute you move away from Stars… and that the Party Poker rake free tournaments promotion is the perfect opportunity to find out exactly how profitable online poker tournaments on other sites can be (especially with their reload bonus, see this post for details).
OnGame – The Fishmarket Is Back!
More tournament news, and some great news at that – one of my favorite tournament – the ‘Fishmarket’ is back with the next running of this $10k guaranteed event taking place on the 16th Feb. What makes this one so good? Its free for all new depositors… who get an $11 token gratis (in addition to your welcome bonus). This makes the standard more akin to a $1 event than an $11… which attracts a bigger field – making the prize pool big. So, a big prize pool and soft field – hopefully you see where I am coming from now! You can read my Red Kings Poker Review here for more on this great site… who offer a choice of 6 welcome bonuses + an extra $300 the first time you lose with the 2 red kings – click here to check out my favorite OnGame Site today!
Submitted by Planet Mark on Mon, 01/16/2012 - 14:21