A lot of players face the same choice between PokerStars and FTP and a big factor in their decision is whether or not the VIP level they can achieve at PokerStars will outweigh the benefits of rakeback and other promotions at Full Tilt. My FTP account doesn’t have rakeback, so my decisions was made for me. However, I think based on my level and volume of play PokerStars would work out to be the better selection anyway.

So lets take a look at the perks of PokerStars Supernova and I will go through each one and give my honest opinion about how valuable they are and how they could be improved.

Benefits of PokerStars Supernova VIP Status

• 2.5x FPP rate
  • Each VIP level has a different multiplier. VPPs refer to the base points your earn for every raked hand you play in cash games and each $1 you spend in tournament fees. FPPs are the points you can use in the FPP store or to buy into tournaments.
  • Having an increased rate of earning points is a huge part of the value in being Supernova. You get so much equity out of your FPPs by buying bonuses, buying into tournaments with them, buying merchandise from the FPP store or using the VIP Concierge Service.
• Bonuses from store
  • I used to buy a lot of these, but in terms of $ per FPP point you get more from the concierge service. Thus, from here on out I’m going to use the concierge wherever possible.
• Milestone bonuses
  • The milestone bonuses are issued at certain multiples of 100,000 VPP (base points) for a calendar year.
  • The milestone you plan to reach by the end of the year can often be the determining factor in whether or not you should play at PokerStars or not. The more play you can put in for a year, the more rewarding it is going to be to play at PokerStars because the bonuses are weighted towards the further out milestones.
• VIP store access
  • The VIP store is pretty comparable to Full Tilt and other sites.
  • Unfortunately, a lot of the electronic merchandise isn’t available to Australian’s, but for that we have the PokerStars concierge anyway.
• Weekly VIP tournaments
  • I never get to play any of these because they start while I am fast asleep (3am). It is extremely disappointing to me that they are always held at the same time of day and skewed for North American participation. I understand that the majority of of VIPs are North American, but surely they could vary the times just a little over the month to give everyone a fair go.
• FPP buy-ins to major tournaments
  • If you enjoy tournaments and have the time then using your FPPs to buy into tournaments or play in satellite’s is probably the best way to get value from your points.
• PokerStars VIP Concierge Service
  • This is probably my favourite component of the VIP program. If you want to purchase a large scale item, you can get PokerStars to pay for it for you using your FPP points! All you need to do is send them the receipt and they will reimburse you and deduct your points.
  • I recently used it to buy a laptop and for my entire trip to Sydney for the NRL grand final. I was reading another guys blog the other day and he used it to pay for his wedding!

When I am playing a lot of tables, these days I use four main scripts and I have added links to them below…

StarsPlanner is really handy for quickly buying in and sitting down at tables, as well as sitting out at all of my tables at once.

AutoReloader replenshes my chip stack when it falls below the maximum buy-in with the click of a button. Interestingly, auto-relaod to full is set to become an integrated feature of PokerStar’s software in the future.

UrgentTable precents me from mislcicking my moving my mouse away from the action buttons and brings the most pressing decisions to my attention.

PokerStars doesn’t have a Bet Pot button like Full Tilt does, so the BetPot script pretty much covers that for you. As well as betting full pot at the click of a button, it can also be set to bet other fractions of the pot using other buttons.

Links

Auto Hot Key Download

StarsPlanner Script

Stars AutoReloader Script

Stars UrgentTable Script

BetPot Script

The first and most important difference I have noticed between HEM and PT2/PT3 is import speed and the speed of the whole program general. It seems to be a lot less resource intensive and there seems to be a lot less loading time than PT (even though I imported my entire database). The HUD also runs flawlessly across many tables and I find the pop-up tabs for more information way more useful that the old PAHUD pop-up.

There are a few things that are going to take getting used to, like not seeing a summary of each hand value and its profit when I load up the cash game tab. I think I’m really going to enjoy the filters within HEM and the numerous ways you can analyse hands and situations.

After reading Belok’s series on 24-tabling, which can be found through the links below I was inspired to try some different multi-tabling techniques.

24-Tabling Like a Pro: Part III

24-Tabling Like A Pro: Part II

24-Tabling Like A Pro: Part I

Up until now I have mostly been tiling my tables across two monitors, occasionally I’ll cascade just to mix it up. For the next few sessions though I’m going to be trying stacking. I have set-up two alternative layouts for tacking. One is just a straight pile of 24 on top of each other, the other is 4 stacks of 6 tiled tables all on one screen. A script that pulls interesting tables out of the stack is crucial, because it allows me to concentrate on those big hands. Moving my start bar to the side of the screen was a genius tip! It allows me to see all 24 tables with their full names and which ones are flashing at me. Using Windows Aero theme on Vista I can also see a little preview window when I mouse over. However, I can’t get my bet pot script working while I have this enabled.

Once the first few players at full-ring fold, I really need to play more of a 6-max game and I feel like if I can learn a little from these videos and maybe practice a bit at lower stakes, it will improve my full-ring game to no end. With the sit and go videos, my goal for this month is the play a hundred or so sit and go just to break things up a bit, so I might pick up some things there.

Monitor
The bigger your monitor and screen resolution the better. The more tables you can tile without overlap and making it so small that seeing your cards and clicking buttons becomes awkward the better. A lot of players use multiple monitors, personally I find this difficult and I sometimes forget about tables on another monitor when I have a tough decision on the other and time out needlessly. Multiple monitors also increases your need for head movement and thus you are more likely to get neck stiffness or other postural soreness.

A Good Workspace
A clutter free, well set-up workspace is ideal. You want to have good posture, be comfortable and be able to move around freely with no distraction.

Poker Tracker
PokerTracker is essential even if you aren’t multi-tabling, just for you to keep track and analyse your own play. When it comes to multi-tabling though, it is an important because you need to know more about your opponents because most of the time you aren’t following them in hands that you are not involved in.

PokerAce HUD
HUD goes hand in hand with PokerTracker, it is simply the best means of having quick access to the statistics that you have compiled on a player. It makes your life so much easier when it comes to the cut throat business of making quick decisions. If you plan on playing any more than 6 tables, I wish you the best of luck, but don’t like your chances if you aren’t using some kind of HUD software.

Auto Hot Key Scripts
I’ve only recently discovered these scripts, but I love them!  They handle tasks that you can easily do yourself while you are playing, but you save a little time and distraction by having scripts do them for you. Blow is a list of the ones I use and what they do.

Bet Pot
For PokerStars, which doesn’t have bet pot button this is the best script to have. Playing good poker you are going to be betting ¾ to full pot a lot and this is a one click tool to get those bet sizes without having to type them in or using the bet slider. You can also add and subtract big blinds from the bet size using your mouse scroll.

Auto Reload
Reloads your chip stack to the full buy-in amount so you don’t have to. It’s always optimal to have the full buy-in, so this makes sure you do. Last thing you want to have to worry about when you have just been sucked out on and have four other table decisions flashing at you is to have to reload your chips.

Urgent Table (For Stacking)
This tool brings up the table that needs a decision and moves your cursor off the decision buttons to prevent you from mis clicking. If you are playing with your tables tiled this program will help you identify the tables that need action by highlighting them, but it also moves your mouse which I find annoying at times. If you are playing with your tables in stacks, then this script is simply a must.

A Good Mouse
if you are going to be multi-tabling for a good number of hours each day then a good mouse is essential, especially if you are playing tiled on a big screen. You’d be surprised how easy it is to get repetitive strain injuries trailing a mouse all over your desk all day. I’ve recently switched to a ball mouse, which you control with your thumb, thus requiring no arm movement at all.

Notes
This one is kind of a catch22, you don’t really have that much time to read notes or write them if you are playing a lot of tables, but they are really helpful when it comes to certain decisions. Do your best to get some notes down when you see something of interest and try and be aware of players you have notes on at a table so you can call on them if need be.

How to Layout Your Tables

Tiling Tables
For
- You get to observe all hands and see the results
- It is easier to check the fold box on all tables you do not intend playing on
- You don’t inadvertently end up sitting out at tables and not realising it

Against
- Lots of heads and mouse movement required
- You are restricted by the size of your screen
- Everything is small and bad for your eyes
- You waste your time moving your mouse all over the place, time you could be spending on decisions

Stacking Tables
For
- Less mouse movement required
- Less strain on your neck
- HUD overlays, cards, buttons and best are easier to read because they are bigger
- Concentrate on making +EV decisions and let the window disappear and the results take care of themselves

Against
- Annoying when you want to sit out and take a break
- You miss key hands, weird players and miss players that are on tilt