Any advice for people playing in Australia

[kolonel]

Gday all,

Was hoping to get some responses from Australian players, as well as the general public, on the following questions :

Which sites do you find the best around 8pm - 1am AEST ?

What rakebacks do you suggest for a beginner playing mostly SNGs with an initial deposit of $200 ?

Who would have the better initial deposit bonus for $200 ? Is it worth building it up before depositting ?

Are there better sites with regular freeroll tournaments ?

Finally, is there a site that can offer all of the above ?

I know that these Q's might have been answered in seperate/different topics, but was hoping to get an idea on the above general outline all in one.

Regards
kolonel

[bjsaust]

Hi there,

Really any of the bigger sites are ok around 8pm onwards. The euro sites you're getting their morning players, so its pretty busy (Everest, Party Poker, iPoker skins, etc), and Stars and Full Tilt are just both so huge with so many players from everywhere that theres always a lot going on.

With $200 rakeback/bonus isnt really an issue. You really want to build up the roll first, then pursue the better deals. I'd probably go with stars first. Nice little $50 bonus (unless its grown in the last year or two), and as an SNG player no site will have as many running and starting up as quickly. Build your roll up to $600-$1k and then go bonus whore the better offers when you can take full advantage.

I dont know anything about Freerolls so maybe someone else can answer this. I do know the Euro sites often end up running these around 3am or something our time, which kind of sucks when they're part of the bonus/VIP structure.

So in general, I'd advise starting on stars and bulding the roll first. Good luck!

[daven]

First piece of advice - get organised. Have a digital photo of your passport and a utilities bill with your name and address clearly visible. These will be useful later when/if you want to withdraw from the sites (trust me!). Keep the money online and in US$, you don't want to be losing money on currency conversion fees/transactions. I like using Neteller (US$ account) as my central point to move $ around - all the sites use it and there are no charges. There are probably sign-up referral bonuses etc for neteller too, i should check then refer you

As the aussie said (and this kiwi agrees!) - for SnG play at those stakes your best bet is to go to stars. Biggest site and loads happening 24-7. Clear the $50 bonus, win some flips, and decide whether you want to play cash or SnG's long term.

Once you get more of a roll you should start considering bonus whoring your way to Bankroll greatness - noting that most first deposit bonuses clear a lot more easily playing cash than SnGs (i think). With this you should also look into referral/other bonuses at the same time. Maybe the first two should be:
Party poker (get a referral)
& then
Full Tilt (sign up through a rakeback affiliate - get a referral to the rakeback affiliate)

also consider pacific - they used to have welcome freerolls = a week of freerolls after your first deposit, plus an ok deposit bonus. Cash one or two of these is good to accelerate bankroll growth.

bonuswhores is a good site for comparing bonuses etc, but i suggest that you use it as a source of information then post here for confirmation.
Pokerscout is a good site for looking at player volumes at different times of day
....

I wouldn't bother choosing a site for its freerolls if you already have a roll. Like playing 3hrs vs 2k players to lose a flip and win 40cents seems a waste of time.

best of luck! I remember depositing $200 and starting from there, it can be a fun journey

Once your friend has signed up and made their first deposit, you’ll both receive your referral bonus:
* Your bonus will be equal to 20% of your friend’s first deposit amount (up to €16)
* Your friend’s bonus will be equal to 10% of their first deposit amount (up to €8)

[kolonel]

Thanks for the quick response bjsaust and daven,

Good to hear from fellow a resident and tasman partners.

I already have a PS account running (Real money), so i guess i will miss out on any extras that go with it.

Will look into more cash games, as this appears to be the better way to grind, and earn some side benefits as well.

Thanks again.

Regards
kolonel

[jyms]

DO NOT sign up anywhere else to play without checking back with one of these two guys. There is a ton of money lost if you sign up without referrals and a RB provider. Play at Stars, build the roll and when you have $500+ then a world of bonus/RB will be available. Before that you will lose way too much valuable BR building bonus's by playing anywhere other than stars.