last big spike up and down was at 10nl, a limit so rigged that i was forced to move back down to 4nl within 100 hands.

yes, I've seen you at 10NL on merge and 1 other person whose name escapes me.

EDIT: it was you and conan I saw last night. conan, what is your AIM? I think I'm 'funkiestj' or 'funkyiestj' on AIM.

God, yes! I chose to believe I am running bad rather than merge is rigged but I've been wondering.

Of course I've played a total of something like 6-8k hands so my sample size is LOL small.

EDIT2: how many tables do you play yummy?

6-18 tables depending on how high i am and how many games are running.

No money merge, losing the positive redline:

going to be seek hu match. shame i am not rolled for the brutality!

My worst run has definitely been on Merge. Some sick hands. I think a different site means different gameflow, and that combined with bad spewy regs and lolfish creates a lot of variance if you're used to playing on other rooms. That's been my experience anyway.

lol that pretty much sums up my entire life.

Anybody wanna give me the lowdown on which merge skin is probably best? And which rakeback company I should use? I noticed I need to register for rake before June 1st...details please

There are a lot of threads on this. Trying searching in Internet Poker, NVG, or this thread.

Personally I play on Lock Poker and it's alright. The customer service used to be absolutely top-notch, unfortunately these days the Merge support system seems to be overloaded and therefor not particularly effective or helpful.

From what I've heard, Black Chip Poker is worth the most in terms of rakeback, bonuses, etc., however I have no idea if this is true or not.

Carbon Poker is one of the more popular skins, so you may feel more comfortable signing up and depositing on their site. RPM is the other big Merge skin and they have an entire Two Plus Two sub-forum dedicated to support. I'm not sure if their support has taken a hit as well but you might want to stop by and check it out.

FYI bonuses take forever to clear if that matters to you.

Good luck.

EDIT - my best advice is that you make sure the skin you choose has an active Two Plus Two rep. Rizen is the Lock Poker rep. and he's helped me out through PM and has dedicated time to the "Lock Poker/LockPoker" thread in Internet Poker.

I have like 575 hands on you at 10NL. I have defeated you out of approx $2.75. Thaz just cuz of my AA's vs you. Take that jk jk

Call me Charlie Sheen because I'm always winning.

Merge Network $0.50/$1.00 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players

BTN/SB: $224.84
Hero (BB): $101.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with A Q
BTN/SB raises to $3.00, Hero raises to $10.00, BTN/SB calls $7

Flop: ($20.00) 5 T J (2 players)
Hero bets $11.00, BTN/SB raises to $33.00, Hero raises to $91 all in, BTN/SB calls $58

Turn: ($202.00) 4 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($202.00) 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $202.00
BTN/SB shows 8 9
Hero shows A Q (Flush Ace High)
Hero wins $201.50
(Rake: $0.50)

almost BBJ'd fak

This is a level right? Right? My eyes they bleed.

I had the best hand when the money went in right?

wanna play some HU?

another 75 cents and you have quite the brag. who are ya btw?

ace high back door nut flush not a standard stack off hu?

umm overs and a gutter too?

When you take my entire stack sometime I'll tell ya. You'll be happy to know I'm around giving my mannies awayz

lol just busto'd merge account, sigh gotta get more merge money if I wanna play again:

Merge Network $1.00/$2.00 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players

Hero (BB): $200.00
BTN/SB: $226.00

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with 2 2
BTN/SB raises to $6.00, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($12.00) 3 2 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB bets $12.00, Hero raises to $40.00, BTN/SB raises to $191.45, Hero raises to $194 all in, BTN/SB calls $2.55

Turn: ($400.00) Q (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($400.00) J (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $400.00
Hero shows 2 2
BTN/SB shows 8 A (Flush Ace High)
BTN/SB wins $399.50
(Rake: $0.50)

Flip defeat you? What stakes did you play pre black friday?

Took the plunge and got some cash on Merge... already running gross haha.. Busto inc... getting used to the software is gonna be tricky.

how many hands does it take to clear a ten dollar bonus.... startin june Ima be merge first rakeback pro

[converted_hand][hand_history]Merge, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite. View Hand #9574212

UTG+2: $74.13 (296.5 bb)
Hero (MP1): $29.83 (119.3 bb)
MP2: $16.99 (68 bb)
MP3: $25.91 (103.6 bb)
CO: $33.64 (134.6 bb)
BTN: $14.72 (58.9 bb)
SB: $35.86 (143.4 bb)
BB: $20 (80 bb)
UTG+1: $27.92 (111.7 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Q A
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.85, MP2 calls $0.85, 4 folds, BB calls $0.60

Flop: ($2.65) 2 8 Q (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.98, MP2 calls $1.98, BB folds

Turn: ($6.61) K (2 players)
Hero bets $4.40, MP2 raises to $14.16

Villain is a rando fish 25/8/2.5 after 60ish hand...fold?

Hand 2: Villain is 14/10/1.8 15% to showdown after 104 hands....seems like a reg who prlly joined merge recently

[converted_hand][hand_history]Merge, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite. View Hand #9574242

MP3: $30.50 (122 bb)
CO: $28.95 (115.8 bb)
BTN: $25 (100 bb)
SB: $18.70 (74.8 bb)
BB: $50.46 (201.8 bb)
UTG+2: $27.26 (109 bb)
Hero (MP1): $29.31 (117.2 bb)
MP2: $26.41 (105.6 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with J J
UTG+2 folds, Hero raises to $0.85, MP2 calls $0.85, 5 folds

Flop: ($2.05) 9 7 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.53, MP2 calls $1.53

Turn: ($5.11) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $3.83, MP2 calls $3.83

River: ($12.77) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $6.38

Thoughts on river? Should I have bet? I dont expect him to call a river bet often with anything worse and don't expect him to bet here with a missed draw or bluff or something but can I fold for half pot here?

I like the check on river... If you bet river he folds lots of hands but when u check he bets lots of hand u beat. you snap call and count the monies

So after a week or so I likes the Merge. It is a little reggy, but I thought it would be alot worse. The fish pool hasn't dried up yet. Have played 10K hands so far, 50% 25NL, 30% 10 NL, 10% 50NL, 10% 4NL. +13.28bb/100 so far. One thing I've noticed is there are way more bad regs that you can take advantage of and improve your redline.