New Jersey Poker Software Revealed with Mike Gagliano (Gags30)

We sat down with PocketFives Training instructor Mike "gags30" Gagliano to get his thoughts on New Jersey poker software.  Gagliano has been on a heater this past week, winning PartyPoker New Jersey's Daily $5,000 Guaranteed twice as well as the network's Sunday $50K.  He also took third place in WSOP's $10,000 Weekly Sunday Guarantee.  Altogether, Gagliano has won over $13,000 on New Jersey regulated sites in the last week.
 
PokerSoftware:  What New Jersey regulated sites are you currently playing on?
 
Mike Gagliano:  I play on all of them: PartyPoker, Borgata Poker, WSOP.com, 888, and Ultimate Poker.  Even though Party and Borgata are the same player pool, I will use each skin separately sometimes to take advantage of promotions.
 
PokerSoftware:  How do you rank each site's software?
 
Mike Gagliano:  WSOP and 888 have the best software.  It's smooth, graphically appealing, and has the fewest number of bugs and issues.  There are a few big bugs that need to be addressed, but overall the software is definitely my favorite.
 
The two big bugs on WSOP and 888 are quite major, but really are the only two that plague the site.  When there are only 10 people left in a tournament, it doesn't balance tables correctly, so sometimes you'll have one table of six and one table of four.  The second issue is that, apparently randomly, the action will be in the wrong order.  Even though the small blind is supposed to act first, the button will have the first option and then the small blind will go.  Clearly, these are both major issues that need to be corrected, but they don't happen often enough for me to not play or rank the software lower.
 
Party/Borgata's software will take second place. The interface is good, but the lobby still has issues and there are numerous other bugs that affect different parts of the software.
 
Party is plagued by lobby issues.  There are lots of small bugs in the lobby, the cashier, the promotions pages, etc.  They still don't have a waiting list for cash games, which is quite annoying when you're trying to sit in a game.  As for tournaments, the software is generally okay, but rebuy tournaments are quite annoying.  I've had numerous times where I try to rebuy and it doesn't let me and I need to repeatedly click "Rebuy" until it finally goes through anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes later.  It's annoying if you're multi-tabling.  Overall, though, the software is not as good and as smooth as the 888 software of WSOP.
 
In a distant third is Ultimate Poker.  Visually, the software is actually very good and if you're the type of person who only plays one table, you may enjoy it, but for a player like me, it's just a nightmare.  It's lacking a ton of features and is plagued by a few other problems.  Ultimate recently added a time bank, which is nice, but it was long overdue.  Another big issue is that the tables don't pop up correctly when it's your turn to act, which is super annoying when multi-tabling.
 
PokerSoftware:  Does your HUD work on every New Jersey site?
 
Mike Gagliano:  I use Holdem Manager 2's HUD on all of the sites that allow it: WSOP, 888, Party, and Borgata.  The HUD generally works smoothly on all these sites.
 
PokerSoftware:  How excited are you about the possibility of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker coming to New Jersey?
 
Gags:  Very excited!  Just having the software in the state corrects 100% of the issues I just discussed.  Also, there are a lot of subpar decisions being made by some of the big sites in regards to scheduling, promotions, and marketing, so hopefully PokerStars will bring their expertise and not make the same mistakes.
 
PokerSoftware:  You've had a great week on the New Jersey sites, with two big wins and over $13,000 in winnings.  Congrats on your recent success.  How are you feeling at the moment?
 
Mike Gagliano:  Winning always feels great.  I was particularly happy to win the Party $50K.  I've played it a bunch and think I have only made one final table in it, but never had a win and I feel like it's the big flagship tourney in New Jersey and so I had to get it.
 
If you are interested in receiving one on one or group coaching from Gags30, you can read his bio and reach him at PremierPokerCoaching.com.

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