How is Golden Palace?
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Good question. Golden Palace is great! I'm not just saying it because I just won the freeroll either. I'm saying it because, no matter what other sites I've tried, I always go back to GP. Let me go through the reasons:
1. My Online Poker Virginity
Let me get this quickly out of the way. I first played online poker on GP because of Howard Stern. If it wasn't for Howard, I don't know how I'd wake up in the morning. Anyway, GP was advertising on his radio show, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'd seen GP advertised on boxing a lot, so that and the Stern ad led me to believe they are a reputable company. So far, GP hasn't proven me wrong. Since I used GP first, I may be biased towards it. It is what I cut my teeth on.
2. The Stakes: Most websites, such as Party Poker, require a $50 deposit to start. When I first started playing online, I was a student. My income was about $200/wk from part time work. I did not have $50 to spare, especially when I was a new player and did not know how god-gifted I am/was. I could, however, rationalize spending $20. It was one restaurant meal. Or a night of drinking (but not much drinking in NYC, home of the $6.50 beer). Or half the price of a videogame, which to me was the dealmaker. I saw online poker as a videogame. I still do when I get down to peanuts in my online account. The 1.50 becomes tokens in my head. Which is the other half of the stakes argument. On Party, or most other sites, the cheapest SNG is $5. On GP, its .10. Or even free, with .10 up for grabs (when you are really desperate). I don't know about Party's limit or NL ring games, but on GP the limit starts at .02/.04, and the NL starts at .05/.10, with a $2 buy in. Not bad for broke people.
3. The Avatars: I like choosing my avatar (symbol) on GP. On Party, I can sometimes choose my character, but it goes by seat. I like the fact that I can choose an American flag if I'm feeling kinda Americanny one day. The next day, I'm a dolphin...okay, never a dolphin, but a monkey. If I'm feeling pompous, I'll choose the crown. Right now, I am a black child, for the pure irony of it all. I can't imagine many black children playing online poker. Isn't that illegal? Some people may think that the Avatar is a tell. I suppose it is. But really, what is it going to tell them. Not enough to take my money.
4. The Games: First off, GP has 9-person tables, whereas other sites (tend to) have 10-person tables. Its a minor difference, but I've noticed that I do better at GP, due in some part to less players at a table. Also, in general, the amount of players on the site is less than the major sites such as Party. Some people may see this as a negative. I disagree. When I played in my freerolls, I was playing against 180-300 people, give or take. If I was on a site such as Party, I could be facing near or more than 1000 (I think...). The less people to run through, the better. I know that payoffs are better when there are more people, but I don't have 5 hrs to play a MTT. 3 hours is enough for me.
5. Access to Tables: Recently, I was playing on Poker Room with fellow Degenerate Betsy. After she busted out at our SNG, I typed to tell he to stick around to chat. She didn't respond. I later found out that as soon as she lost, she was booted from the room. At GP, she could've stuck around. Also, GP has a buddy list, on which you can add players. If your buddy is online, you can find out which room he is in and go there immediately from the buddy list. So, if anyone buys in at GP, look me up, under brodybanky. And shoot me an email, so I can add you to my list.
6. The Money: I haven't had problems depositing at GP, whereas recently I couldn't deposit on Poker Room. PR wouldn't accept my debit card, but GP was cool with it. When it comes to withdrawing, I get my check in 1-2 wks. No hassles.
The Shortcomings: I think there are two that I can think of, one of which isn't that big of a deal. The first thing is I don't know of any bonuses on GP. But I am so used to that, and, honestly, I wouldn't even know how to earn a bonus. I tried once on PR and once on Party, and lost all of my money before I could collect. I know it isn't that hard, but what can I tell you. It just ain't me. The second thing is kind of a shortcoming. GP is a predominately British site. I don't know what that means, other than there are a lot of Brits and foreigners on the site. There are a lot of USA'ers too, but I thought I'd just mention the foreigners, while I'm at it. This is sort of a non-issue for two reasons. (1) Poker is poker. I don't care whose money I am winning. (2) Foreigners can be fun. If you don't believe me, put "I hate playing against Brits." in your profile. I've had countless hours laughing at Brits and their stupid reactions. Stupid Brits.
So, there you have it. Why I love GP. I believe some sites, like's Doyle's Room (see SuperSystem for a ridiculous amount of not-so-subtle advertising), use the same skin/format. If anyone can suggest a similar site to me, please do.
So, check it out. GP baby. Hopefully I'll see you there.
**Note: GP is not paying me for this post...but they should.
posted by Jordan @ 9:29 AM,
1 Comments:
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At 2:59 PM,
Jordan said...
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I've been reading other blogs, and I may be wrong about the ability to sit in on an SNG after you bust out. I just wanted to admit my potential error, as I try to avoid spreading false information over the Internet. I have no qualms, however, about spreading false information by other means.
