so ive been reading a lot of blogs and find that most online players seem to prefer to play with the fish on party poker. i wasnt much of an online player until fairly recently and played only on stars because they offer a bigger NL game ($2000 buy-in with 10-20 blinds) and bigger s&g's ($1000 and $500 buyins). i know full tilt has a $25-50 NL game but it rarely has more than 3 people on it and they are mostly pro's that work for the site. party has some bigger s&g's as part of their step system but you cant cash out until you make it to the $15,000 buy-in with $100,000 1st prize. plus i prefer star's 9-handed format and 1500 starting chips and timed rounds. i tried playing some of the lower limits on party awhile ago and understand the level of terrible play there and how people can make a living hooking the fish down there. so i returned to party yesterday to see if it was the same thing at the higher levels.

i deposited $2000 into my party account and sat on their biggest NL game, the $1000 buy-in 5-10 blind game. man they must of had 25 full tables going which is a plus. i expected the same loose bad playing at the tables but that was not the case at all. can you say tight as a rock? absolutely no action. stars usually has about 3 $2000 tables going on and its the same 5-6 guys everynite 3 tabling all of them. these guys are first class online action players. every once in a while, a fish will sit in the remaining 3-4 seats. but stars is action packed. not necessarily loose and bad but good action players. $5000 pots are common and the average pot is about $400. however on party, the average pot was about $30. absolutely ridiculous. almost every hand was 1 person raise 3x BB and everyone folds and the raiser wins the blinds. rarely is there a showdown to the river. if there is, its usually checked all the way down. people seem to be scared to play for big pots. i think the biggest pot i won during my play was like $150. ridiculous.

after two horrendously boring hours on these tables of stealing $15 blinds, i decided to take a stab at the s&g's. the biggest one they have is $200 buy-in. man o man is the play bad on these tables. i saw people call all in with KQ and 33 in the first round!!! not even push all in but call all in....instantly!!!! amazing. unfortunately the cards didnt fall my way and when i did catch good cards, i got massively sucked out on by the same horrible play i applaud. i bubbled out on my only two attempts. i still had my cash games going but they were not getting any better..... still NO ACTION whatsoever. i hopped around to various tables thinking maybe it was just my table but every table was the same. unbelievable that they have 25 tables going at this rate.

needless to say, i cashed out by the end of the nite. i withdrew my money leaving my $100 bonus unearned. im sure the lower level cash games are great for people that actually know how to play and are patient to catch the fish. also the s&g's i played were great, horrible horrible players. but i think i will strictly stick to stars. ive tried ultimate bet but was just not happy with their software. full tilt is actually pretty good but doesnt have enuff players at the level im looking to play, unless i wanna get raped by the pros. i havent tried any other sites but imagine that the higher levels at the smaller sites are just as bad. anybody try the higher level cash games or s&g's at noble, paradise, room, champs, doyle's, etc.? anybody have any online recommendations?