by Felonius_Monk » Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:01 am
They do have O8 games going, star, but they are usually $100 buyins, PLO8, which I gather is not within your scope at present. Now and again there's a 1/2 limit I think. Most popular games on the site are 1/2 limit, NL ($100 is minimum buyin) and PLO ($100 minimum buyin) all of which are played universally poorly. I built my bankroll at these sites; I'd estimate about 80% of the money I've won playing poker online has come from Cryptologic and Pokerstars. Right now I am playing crypto, gaming club, and stars, and can always find good games in a combination of these sites. Cryptologic sites have poor software in comparison to the biggies (Stars, Party, UB etc) but the standard of play and the generous bonuses make them well worth a look. The weakest mid-level ($100 and 200) PLO online can be found at Cryptologic and Gaming Club at the moment, from what I've seen.
Other crypto sites are available to US residents but the majority of UK ones that offer a meaningful bonus (William Hill, UKBetting, TotalBet and (I think still) Littlewoods) are only available in £ or Euros, which means you'll get hammered by the cost of exchange on withdrawal. Interpoker is the one to stick with (I believe PokerPlex and the little-known Caribbean Sun also offer $ games however).
If anyone requires any specific knowledge about cryptologic or are planning on signing up feel free to PM me - I have been playing these sites now for about 2 years. I am looking into becoming an affiliate at Interpoker but I have to check if it's actually worthwhile - if (like most sites) they remove the bonus money from rake revenue it will certainly not be; however, if they don't it's a good site and one where i currently make a lot of my PLO income. Watch this space anyhoo.
If anyone is looking at Cryptologic sites I would strongly warn you against playing at Ritz Club London (customer service was difficult and uncooperative with me when my site went down and I wished to withdraw, so they still have a small amount of my money held hostage) or BetFair and Littlewoods, which I believe offer no bonus (Littlewoods also have crap customer service). The rest, and especially InterPoker which has good customer service and good response times, as well as some nice offers through the month (one day they pay you $10 every time you're dealt AA, usually they have other offers like $50 each time you get trip Q's etc etc) come highly recommended (by me, at least!).
Monk
xxxxx
The Monkman J[c]
"Informer, you no say daddy me snow me Ill go blame,
A licky boom boom down.
Detective mon said daddy me snow me stab someone down the lane,
A licky boom boom down." - Snow, 1993