FullTilt Crap

When I first started playing online at FullTilt Poker I was somewhat surprised by my results. After all, I had already been playing online for over a year at many sites and done quite well at each of those sites. But when I played on FullTilt I would win a little bit for about 4 to 5 days and then I would lose it all and then some. I couldn't decide if the players were better than me or my luck was just bad at FullTilt for some reason.

At one point I actually vowed never to play there again because I just couldn't win. After reviewing my play I decided the players were not better than me. They were just much looser than the other sites at which I played. And that led to much worse luck because that loose play invited bad beats.

I can't tell you the number of times I would see someone raise pre-flop and get called from someone in late position. Both players would get their money in after the flop. The cards would be turned over and the pre-flop raiser would have pockets Aces and the caller would have Q9o or other similar garbage. The flop would have a Queen on it and so the pre-flop caller would think they were good. And the bad beat 9 (or Queen) would always come on the river. I've seen this occasionally at other sites but not with the frequency that it occurs on FullTilt.

I'm writing this because even after I vowed not to play at FullTilt, I still went back to play. I am a "bonus whore" and FullTilt offered me some pretty good bonuses if I played on their site again. Plus I found a way to earn rakeback of 27% so that was enough incentive for me. Plus many of the other online poker sites no longer allowed U.S. players because of some idiotic legislation that the U.S. government passed so I was limited as to my choices.

After about 3 months of play on FullTilt, my results had changed and I was actually doing quite well. Until 3 nights ago that is. I cannot believe the plays I saw and the results that occurred.

Here's a replay of some hands at one particular table - a $3/6 no-limit hold'em table. After about an hour at this table I was about even and nothing terribly interesting had happened. Then a new person joined the table and he sat down 1 seat away from where the blinds currently were. And he immediately posted. This is one of the dumbest things I see people doing. They're going to have to post the BB on the next hand anyway so all they have to do is sit out one hand and then they'll be able to play.

But this donkey posts and checks when it's his turn to check or raise. Everyone folds and the button raises to the size of the pot. The donk calls. After the flop brings an Ace and rags he checks and calls the button's bet. The turn is another rag and he bets into the button and the bet calls. The river is another rag so this board has a bunch of junk and both players check. The button turns over AQo so he has a pair of Aces and the donk turns over K3o for absolutely nothing.

To summarize this hand the donk called a big pf raise with K3o when he was out of position and then proceeded to call a pot-size flop bet with nothing and bet on the turn with nothing. This was all I needed to confirm that a donk was at my table.

He solidified my belief when he proceeded to play almost every hand after that by limping into the pot and then calling down all bets when he had nothing better than bottom pair. He did this on many hands and actually won quite a few of them. I guess that's why he kept doing it.

The next hand I'll summarize is when I was in the SB with Td9d. The above donk limped as usual and by now half the table was limping too because we all knew that we could easily take his money if we hit the flop hard. On this hand the flop came down KdTsTh. Obviously I hit the flop hard and was quite happy when the BB bet the pot after I checked. The donk made his usual call while everyone else folded to me in the SB. I raised to the size of the pot and the BB re-raised all-in. The donk finally folded but there was no way I was going to fold since it wasn't that much more money and I easily had the BB covered.

The BB turned over Ks3s. According to CardPlayer.com I was an 88% favorite to win the hand. Of course the turn and river were both spades so he caught runner runner for a winning flush. I'm stunned when I see this crap. I can understand if he had QJ or a King with a big kicker but did he actually think he had a decent chance with a 3 kicker? And this wasn't even the same donk I was referring to earlier!

The next hand I'll replay occurred against the first donk I mentioned above. I was in early position and limped with 22 because like I said before, everyone was limping to get the donk's money and it seemed to be working (except for me). A player in middle position raised to the size of the pot and the donk called. Everyone else folded but I called since I was getting good enough pot odds and great implied pot odds.

Bingo! The flop comes Q62 rainbow and I have flopped trips. I check and the pre-flop raiser bets about 2/3 pot. The donk raises all-in and I call. The donk has me covered so I cannot raise anymore. The donk flips over QJo and I see that I'm a 98% favorite to win. Of course the turn comes another Queen which knocks me down to an 84% favorite and the river is a Jack to complete his runner runner full house that beats my full house.

These are the kind of donk plays I see at FullTilt all of the time. I have a hard time understanding why I can't win at this site when I'm usually getting my money in with the best of it. I know it's not rigged but this kind of crap sure makes you wonder. And really makes you doubt your ability.