Fulltilt or Pokerstars for my first real $ deposit?

[gr8johnson]

I was wondering which site to use for my first try at playing with real cash. I know there are some bonuses and things like that to think about. I am not sure which for starting with a 25-35 deposit.

[Red Rabbit]

I think it depends on what you want to play. If you're going to play cash games then I'd say Pokerstars as they have lower stakes games than Full Tilt. If you're going to play sit and go tournaments then I don't think it makes much difference unless you intend to play the $0.10 SnGs on Pokerstars.

However, there are other considerations. Both sites offer a 100% first deposit bonus but pokerstars will only match up only match up to $50 where as Full Tilt will match up to $600. Many people say your first deposit should be on PS and then move over to Full Tilt when you can deposit the full $600.

There is also rakeback to consider. There is no rakeback on PS where as you can get 27% rakeback on Full Tilt. However, at low stakes this probably won't amount to enough to worry about.

I'd probably go with Pokerstars based on how much you want to deposit as you'll have more flexibility with what games you can play while staying within your bankroll.

[Jernej Zorec]

one thing to mention is that rake at fulltilt micro tables is insane
and for that reason alone id go with pokerstars to start out with

[miaowmiaowchowface]

do you need to get rakeback BEFORE you register a name to full tilt? (sry for mini-hijack)

[gr8johnson]

Please explain the rakeback issue. What is rakeback and why should I consider it? I will be playing the lower stakes games , micro I guess to sart out. Cash games with a tourney thrown in once in a while since it is hard for me to find the time to sit in front of the comp for longer periods fo time. Thanks.

[Ensano]

when you play in cash tables the poker site takes an amount out of every pot (usually 5%)... at higher levels there is a max the site will take (usually 3$)

rakeback is something you sign up for through a 3rd party (lot of different sites offer rakeback)...

basically you'd register with that site then download, install and deposit on the site (like Fulltilt)

as you play that 5% it taken out of the pot but what happens now (since you signed up for rakeback) the website keeps track of how much rake you paid... then at a certain time each month they pay you back 27% (in the case of fulltilt) of what you paid in rake...

doesn't sound like a lot but say someone playing 200NL full ring (9 players) plays 3000 hands a month.. and the average rake 2.5

2.5*3000 = $833.33 in rake paid...

833.33*.27 = $225 in rakeback for that person
which works out to be 1.875ptbb/100 bonus

and that's just for 3k hands... there are some crazy people (many even in this forum) that play 10-20k hands a month... so you can see how valuable rakeback can be....

my advice since you're only gonna play micro... stick to pokerstars... then when you're at least at 25-50NL move to fulltilt and get the 600$ bonus and rakeback...

[gumbie]

I was wondering which site to use for my first try at playing with real cash. I know there are some bonuses and things like that to think about. I am not sure which for starting with a 25-35 deposit.

I'm pretty sure the minimum deposit is 50$ almost anywhere. If you're depositing from the US make sure you find out how much you are gonna be charged in fees; it can be quite steep.

[HalfSugar]

I think the deposit minimum at Pokerstars is only $10 but Full Tilt is $50.

[Jernej Zorec]

usually deposit minimum is different for different paying methods