Archive for March, 2010

Take 2 at FullTilt

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

FullTilt.comWhat a great incentive FullTIlt is offering all its players for 9 days in April.  The best part of this deal is you don’t have to do anything that you aren’t already doing.  You just have to play your in your normal ring games to earn these specialized points.  Starting April 3, 2010 through April 11, 2010 will be when this deal goes down.

What do you get during Take 2?
1. Double the Full Tilt Points
2. $25 in hard cash in your account.

What do you have to do to earn these special items?
1. Play in any Rush Poker game during the Take 2 event.
2. Play at two ring games tables at once during the Take 2 time period.

How do you ear the $25 Cash?
The more you play during the Take 2 hours the more FTP points you will earn which in turn puts you on your way to free cash. This deal requires you to earn 5 FTP points in 5 days, which is not that difficult to do. More information about this can be read at the FullTilt site.

At this point all you have to do is open an account at FullTilt and make a real money deposit. Then starting April 3rd you can start participating in this deal. You will then be on your way to earning those points that can then be used in the poker store.

Sportsbook.com FreeRoll and Bonus

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Sportsbook FreerollOnce in a while you have to say to yourself, am I really happy with the poker room I’m playing at right now.  This will happen more often than not especially after you take a few bad beats.  That leads me to our discussion today which is about the poker room provided by Sportsbook.com.  Obviously you see the name and you think NCAA or NFL, but in reality they provide their customers with a great poker room with a lot of players.

The cool thing about joining up is the New depositor Freeroll offered to all new players.  Right away you are in the mix and going after real money even though you really haven’t spent a dime yet.

You will also get your bonus of course, if you use the right promo code that gives you 100% up to $650.  Once your account is setup you can watch how your bonus clears the more you play.  It will take some time, but you should be able to clear it relatively soon if you play $1/2 or above.  For every $10 of bonus money that you clear, this amount will be dropped in your cash account and ready for action.

Of course, the freeroll tournament is one of the greatest things that has happened to poker.  This gives all players a chance at the prize with nothing to lose.  This $500 freeroll runs every Wednesday at 10:30pm EST.

Now that you account is all setup you are well on your way to better poker playing and building that bankroll.  Stay tuned for some more poker tips in the future.

Simple Strategies for Sit-and-Go Tournaments

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Slide into the Sit-and-Go Money

Poker Babe giving Poker TipsThere are a lot of people playing poker online who literally make a living by sliding into the money at basic, nine person sit-and-go tables. Their strategies vary from one person to the next, but if you follow the guide below, you should have a good chance of making it into the money most of the time.

Don’t Play at the Beginning
Wait until the third or fourth round of blinds before you even start playing. This allows you to weed out the initial donkeys in your room that might just be there for a quick all-in double up. If you decide to play a pot for some reason, only play excellent cards and go into the pot for three times blind or less. You want minimal investments, even in these early stages.

Play Only Good Hands
When you hit that third or fourth round of blinds, you can start playing tier one hands, which are 10s and above, and Ace/King. For those, raise three times blind pre-flop to get the computer in your favor. If you face an aggressive opponent, just fold and wait for a better opportunity later on. Only stay in the pot if you are entirely sure you will win. You don’t want to lose too much too soon. Do this for two more rounds of blinds.

Expand the Hands You Play
You can now play tier two hands, which include all of tier one, plus 7s or better and suited Aces (AQ, AJ, A10, etc). Play with only these hands and the aforementioned betting strategies until you get down to one player before money.

Fight for the Money
When you only have to get rid of one other player, determine if you are low enough in chips to go all in. This would be if you are down to half or less of your original chip stack. If not, continue playing low risks hands until you eliminate the low stack on the table. Once you have slid into the money, play as you would normally since the goal is just to make money.

Win a WSOP Seat

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Only 64 days until the start of the 2010 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, NV.  That is just great, how do I pay for that?  Well, how about qualifying for your seat by playing in the many online qualifiers.

AbsolutePoker.com has setup a way to make your way into the 2010 WSOP for as little as 10 cents.  Although it will be a tough road ahead there are other ways.

Win Your Way to the WSOPThe Series 2010 Options for Qualifying

Steps – Play in tournaments for only a dime to get your ticket

Super Satellites – Every week there will be a tournament with a Buy-in of $500-$30

Towering 25 Seat Satellite – On June 6th is a huge event with 25 guaranteed seats being given away in the $500-$30 poker tournament.

Fantastic 50 Seat Satellite – Win one of 50 guaranteed WSOP prizes on June 20th at 4 pm in this $500-$30 event.

Daily Qualifiers – Of course instead of paying the your way into these $500 tournaments you can qualify in many of the daily events that you will find in the lobby.

As you can see there are several ways to make into the main event of the WSOP with not that much money.  Of course this is only one of the many poker rooms offering this sweet deal.  Sometimes you may find it easier to get your qualifier at a smaller room then say PokerStars.com or FullTiltPoker.com

Stay tuned for more information about other great rooms and there special events.  Getting your ticket into the WSOP is our goal, so stick around.

Sure-Fire Signs of a Poker Newbie at a Table

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Poker Babe giving Poker TipsPoker players have a tendency to pick on the newbies because they’re usually a quick source of money. If you’re looking to find that newbie on the table, there are a few things you can look for, many of which are listed below. Also take some time to look over this list if you are in fact a newcomer to the game. This may help you be less preyed upon when it comes playing time.

Quickly Looking at Cards
If you don’t know this already, you don’t have to look at your cards right when they’re dealt to you. Instead, you’re supposed to watch everyone else when they look at their cards so you can see if they have a positive or negative reaction. The hasty glance at the deal is a sign of a newbie.

Fumbling with Chips
Tossing your chips into a pot should look just like that – a toss. If you see someone just set their chips in the pot or practically throw them in, they likely don’t have much experience in poker. Also, if the person tries to casually play with his or her chips and is doing more fumbling than playing, he or she is most likely a newbie.

Confusion with the Blinds
If you have to repetitively tell someone at the table what the blinds are and when it’s their turn to put money in, chances are you’re dealing with a newbie. Same can be said for pot sizes and minimum betting amounts. Forgetting on occasion is normal, but consistent forgetting is a sign of a newbie.

Overbetting the Pots
If you have a person on a table betting more than pot all the time or who is going all in consistently for low pots, you probably have a newbie on your hands. A standard three times blind raise is expected pre-flop, so if you have someone raising double that or more,you should question his or her experience.

What’s Your Poker Game?

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Poker Babe giving Poker TipsBecause of the popularity of Texas Hold’Em, a lot of people don’t even realize the array of poker games that exist out there. Some people do better with certain games than others, so to increase your chances of winning, you need to figure out your strong suit. Below are some different poker games for you to consider.

Texas Hold’Em: Players are dealt two cards face down and five cards total on the board. Rounds of betting occur before the board cards are placed, after the flop (the first three cards), after the turn (the next card), and after the river (the last card). Player with the best of five cards in between the ones on the board and the ones in his/her hand wins, unless betting causes a fold. This is a great beginner game to introduce someone into the concepts of poker, betting, etc.

Omaha: Players are dealt four cards instead of two and still have the same five on the board. Players must make their winning hand out of two cards in their hand and three on the board. This creates more possibilities for combination’s, but it also makes it more likely that an opponent has a better hands. The nut flush is often a bad hand because of the amount of full house possibilities in Omaha. This game is normally played with limit betting though, so it can provide great opportunities for conservative players.

Stud: Players are dealt two cards each face down and one face up. Three more cards are dealt to each face up and the final, seventh card is dealt face down. Rounds of betting happen after the first set of cards and each card after that. Stud is often difficult to play because you can practically see the other players’ hands. This evolves into a lot of bluffing, or a lot of easy defeats. This game is also played in limit most of the time, so you can usually see a lot of cards for little investment. With all the cards on the table, you can also determine the likelihood of you getting that one card you might need for a big hand, giving you a chance to get out when things aren’t looking good.

Razz: This game is dealt and played just like Stud, but the goal is to get the worst hand possible. Disconnected cards (those that don’t make pairs) are the best, but straights and flushes don’t count against you.”The Wheel” is the best hand in this game, or any low versions of the games above, and it is comprised of A, 2, 3, 4, 5. With Razz, you just have to like playing low hands. Some people do; some people don’t.

HORSE: If you can’t make up your mind, play HORSE. There you get a round of each of the games listed above, with the last round being Stud Hi/Low (Eight or better). It’s the perfect solution for the not-so-choosy among us.

Cake Poker WSOP Satellites

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

Cake Poker Launches WSOP Satellites

CakePoker.com WSOPWith the slogan “What happens in Vegas is up to you”, Cake Poker launches its World Series of Poker satellites for another season.

The Cake Poker 2010 WSOP series satellites give players the opportunity to win a prize package valued at $12,500 featuring a free seat in the 2010 World Series of Poker in Vegas. Each prize package includes $2,500 cash to spend as you will, along with some other special treats.

This is where the “entirely up to you” part comes in. For example, now instead of staying at the site of the 2010 WSOP, you can choose to stay where you choose.

And instead of winning a seat into the event of Cake Poker’s choosing, you can choose which events you’d like to participate in with your satellite win. That’s why the site isn’t calling these 2010 WSOP Main Event satellites, just 2010 WSOP satellites. That means you can apply your $12,500 prize package to entry into the $10K No Limit Championship, two $5,000 buy-in events, or even a dozen $1,000 buy-in events.

Even more incredible, Cake Poker isn’t even requiring its satellite winners to wear Cake Poker gear during the tournament in order to receive their free tournament entry. Cake Poker isn’t asking you to advertise for them in order to win a WSOP seat. As they put it best “No strings attached”.

Satellites run daily for $3.30 and $5.50 with a thrice daily semifinal and a weekly final in which the $12,500 WSOP prize packages are awarded. There is also a 5-step Sit ‘n Go satellite structure with buy-ins starting at just $1 that you can climb in order to win free seats in any of the WSOP’s many $2,500 buy-in events.

Titan Poker 9.6 Out Now

Friday, March 19th, 2010

TitanPoker.com Bonus CodeIf you like Titan Poker already, then you’re going to love the new Titan Poker 9.6 software upgrade. And if you’re not yet a fan of the biggest iPoker Network site and one of Europe’s most popular online poker rooms, then maybe this will convince you to finally join the bandwagon.

TitanPoker 9.6 is totally Mac compatible, boasts advanced uses of Flash for a more visually striking online poker experience, new tables and tournaments in Razz poker, and five more languages added to its list of multilingual skin, those being for the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, and Romania.

They’ve also got a stylish brand new logo, but that’s not likely to draw any more player action. What will draw more player action, most assuredly, is TitanPoker’s newly launched online poker training site, Titan Poker Academy. Lessons at Titan Poker Academy will range from beginning poker concepts all the way up to advanced topics like bluffing, positioning, odds calculations, and so on. The Academy also includes a hardy poker strategy handbook that could potentially be as valuable to its readers as the Titan Poker Academy could be to TitanPoker’s overall player base.

Currently Titan Poker is giving away 5 prize packages into the 2010 WSOP Main Event with its World Challenge promotion. Since there’s still time win you way into the world’s biggest and most notorious live poker tournament (won many a time by a formerly unknown online poker qualifier), you could head to the Titan Poker Academy and bone on up on your skills, then put them to the test online in the 2010 World Challenge before you ultimately find yourself squaring off against the best poker players in the world in Las Vegas.

Ultimate Bet Cancels Aruba Poker Classic

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Ultimate Bet Cancels One Big Live Event, Schedules Another

UB.com Poker TournamentsUltimate Bet Poker, now going by the cuter and catchier moniker UB.com (or UB.net depending on where they’re advertising) has cancelled a major land-based poker tournament event that it had been scheduled to sponsor and for which it was running satellites to award free entries.

That now-cancelled event is…was the 2010 Aruba Poker Classic. A disappointment to some it may be, but UB did create the event, and as they say (whoever they are)—the hand that giveth can also be the hand that taketh away.

When explaining why they cancelled the event, UB representatives said they were trying to grow into a larger poker site and that the resources going toward this land-based event could maybe be put to better use bolstering the site’s online presence.

Ironically, in stark contrast to that statement, Ultimate Bet is now co-sponsoring with the newly launched Poker Pro Canada magazine the inaugural Four Aces Poker Pro Canada Classic, to be held April 15 – 18 in Montreal, Canada. Sounds like they’re trying to bolster their Canadian presence as well.

In the way of increased online poker offerings UB.com will also be running its popular UB Online Championship two times a year instead of just once. The site is also working on establishing a monthly $500,000 guaranteed tournament with the hopes of building it into a $1 million guaranteed.

Ultimate Bet currently boasts as one of its sponsored pros the recent winner of the 2010 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship, Annie Duke. Phil Hellmuth, the other poker legend who represents the site, is also making quite a showing in 2010, making at least one major land-based tournament’s final table.

The PokerStars 2010 Americas Cup

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Represent Your Country In The PokerStars 2010 Americas Cup

PokerStars 2010 Americas Cup Ten countries from the Western hemisphere will be facing off for a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool in the PokerStars 2010 Americas Cup. The online poker series starts March 15 and runs through April 14. Players can go online now and fight to represent their country in the live final taking place in South America’s Iguazu Falls.

The ten countries participating in the PokerStars Americas Cup will be: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, the US, and a “Rest of LATAM” team composed of the players from the other Latin American countries not otherwise represented.

Here’s how the online part of the PokerStars 2010 Americas Cup contest will go. All ten teams from all ten countries will compete in 3 tiers of poker tournament—a freeroll tier, an 11-cent buy-in tier, and a $1.10 buy-in tier. The best 100 players from each of these will get points. Players points are then pooled according to country, and the country with the most points secures themselves a spot in the final. At the final, the top 4 players based on individual points earnings will be chosen to represent the rest of their team against the top 4 points-earners from each of the opposing teams.

At this stage, 2 teams will be eliminated, and 8 of the 10 teams will be heading to Iguazu Falls for the final. The first 6 of these teams will be automatically chosen based on the top 6 performing countries in the online poker portion of the event. Then the remaining 4 countries will compete in an online playoff the 2 remaining spots on April 16 – 18.

The first place winners at the 2010 Americas Cup final will share a $50,000 top prize, with $35,000 going to second and $20,000 to third.

PokerStars freeroll Sit ‘n Go satellites into the $0.11 buy-in qualifiers are running now.

Party Poker Women’s World Open

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

PartyPoker.com Women's World Open IVParty Poker Puts Out Schedule For Women’s World Open IV

The fourth annual Party Poker Women’s World Open is coming up soon—Tuesday, March 23rd and Wednesday, March 24th to be exact—and it features twenty-four of poker’s hottest ladies (and we don’t only mean by physical appearance) in a fierce ladies only fight to the finish for a share of approximately $72,000.

Cosponsored by top online sports betting site Matchroom Sport, the PartyPoker Women’s World Open of Poker IV takes place in London, England and some of Britain’s best female players will certainly be in attendance, most notably last year’s big winner, the Women’s World Open III champion Aisling Collins. Her runner-up Wooka Kim from Japan will also be there too, hoping this time to go all the way (and not just almost). Other headliners planned to be present will be the winner of the Women’s World Open II, Soraya Homan; Annette Obrestad, representing Betfair Poker; and Team PartyPoker member Kara Scott.

The prize pool is estimated to be $72,000, based on the expected sum of all the $3,000 buy-ins paid by the contestants—like Shelley Rubenstein, Stefanie Bergener, and Pippa Flanders—for entry.

Competitors—like Christine Kleez, Laurence Grondin, and Maria Demetriou—will be divided into 3 groups doing battle in 8-handed deep-stacked tournaments that will seed the top 2 players from each into a 6-handed final table.

With Annie Duke having just won the NBC National Heads-Up Championship of Poker, the year has already got one leading lady of poker. And now, with the Matchroom Sport and Party Poker Women’s World Open IV, it’s time for another of the world’s finest female poker players to join her in the spotlight.

Free NCAA Bracket Entry

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Everyone wants to get in on the action around March Madness. What better way to get access to not one, but three different pools without spending a dime and a chance to win $1000’s. I was thinking the same thing. This is too good to be true. It only takes you a few minutes to sign up and get in on the action.

SportsBook.com

SportsBook.com March MadnessYour first stop is at SportsBook.com. They are offering you $13,000,000 if you get a perfect bracket, but seriously who ever gets that. You have a better chance at winning the lottery. The cool thing is with Sportsbook.com, is that you will have access to a sweet poker room and you’ll be able to place some bets on the tournaments games.

Bodog.com

Your second stop is at Bodog.com. Bodog is offering $5000 for first place, which isn’t bad considering it is free to enter. You can even create a private league with your friends. The Bodog Bracket Buster Public league will be locked at 9:00am on March 18th.
Round 1 = 1 Point
Round 2 = 2 Points
Sweet Sixteen = 4 Points
Elite Eight = 8 Points
Final Four = 16 Points
National Championship = 32 Points

Betus.com

Once you complete your brackets at both Sportsbook.com and Bodog.com, you are off to BetUs.com where you can win $5,000,000 if you get the perfect bracket. Worth as shot I guess. The cool thing about BetUs is, you can enter in the full bracket, the round of 16 and the round of 8. There are multiple options for you to go after with big fist place prizes. The coolest feature is the the first round busted bracket contest. In this case you go after as many wrong as possible. The more you have wrong in the first round the better your chances of winning become.

Get out there and get busy filling out those brackets. You have nothing to lose at this point and only a short while to get your picks in.

Good Luck.

Deposit and withdraw from an online casino

Monday, March 15th, 2010

For an online gambling operation (and even for online poker rooms) player deposits and withdrawals constitute one of the most delicate issues. After all, how can an online gambling entity expect to attract high numbers of depositing players if they fail to provide everyone with the handiest method to upload funds? People are generally not too keen to get any of their money online for any reason, so in order to make the sale, the casino has to provide a wide array of deposit and withdrawal methods, which are certain to satisfy the needs of all potential customers. No casino can afford to lose a single real money player on account of the limited funds-transfer options offered.
Anyway, let’s see some of the deposit and withdrawal methods casinos offer and the advantages or disadvantages they carry.

Credit cards represent one of the most common solutions to depositing money into an online casino account. Credit cards are generally accepted by all online casinos (at least VISA and MasterCard are) and payments are fast and commission free. The only problem paying through credit cards poses is that you’ll have to give out sensitive personal information in order to complete the transaction. Nowadays, when personal privacy is more and more encroached upon, keeping sensitive information away from those you transfer money to for whatever reason, is an increasingly popular demand. If you’re trying to withhold sensitive data from your online casino, credit card deposits do not represent a viable option for you. This doesn’t mean you can toss the plastic aside though. You can still use them for deposits, only you need to insert a buffer entity between your credit card and your online casino.

Moneybookers.comSuch buffer entities are called e-wallets. Neteller and Moneybookers are such ewallet solutions, but since Neteller has pretty much withdrawn from online gambling I’ll take Moneybookers as an example. Creating a Moneybookers account will only take a few minutes of your time. Before you know it, you’ll have a fully operational e-wallet, to which you’ll be able to upload funds through a variety of ways. You can use the good old fashioned bank transfer if you wish, but you can also use your credit card to upload funds. It is true that there’s a small commission on credit card uploads, but once you get the money into your e-wallet account, you’ve pretty much created a stealthy, instant and 100% reliable solution to transfer money online to any e-shop, online poker room, online casino or online gaming facility. Lately, e-wallets are accepted by online auction sites too, which turns them into a one-package solution for all your online financial needs.
Most of these e-wallets feature limits on the amount of money you can transfer (in order to prevent money laundering and fraud) but those limits can be expanded relatively easily.

The great thing about them is that you can use them for funds withdrawal as well, which means stealth works both ways and an e-wallet cash-out won’t carry the fingerprints of the casino where you win your money.
Checks can also be used for withdrawals together with a whole bunch of other options, but none of them beats e-wallets. E-wallet withdrawals usually charge people a very small flat fee.
Remember, if you’re an online poker player, always sign up for a rakeback deal before you begin playing.
Deals like the Entraction rakeback or the Full Tilt rakeback will make certain you always have money to withdraw at the end of the month (provided you’re at least a break-even player).

Sit and Go Tournaments

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

Win Crazy Money In Full Tilt Poker Sit & Go Madness

This weekend, Full Tilt Poker will be reprising its fast-paced, high-adrenaline Sit & Go Madness promotion, an opportunity for players to win a share of a $125K guaranteed prize purse.

Full Tilt Poker Sit and Go Madness runs from Friday, March 5 at 4 pm ET to Sunday, March 7 at 4 pm ET. It’s a 48-hour period that will be broken up into 24 two-hour segments. At the close of every two-hour segment, prize money will be awarded to the highest 7 finishers as determined by a leader board keeping track of players performance throughout the event.

In addition to being divided up into chronological segments, the participants in the Full Tilt Poker Sit and Go Madness event will also be divided up according to the stakes at which they’re playing. There are 4 different Sit and Go Madness stakes ranges, and all of a player’s leaderboard points must come from the same stakes range in order to qualify them for a cash prize.

Also, besides giving away prize money every two-hours, Full Tilt Poker will also be giving out major bonuses at the end of the entire 48-hour period to the player who scored the most leaderboard points in any given two-hour segment.

What’s more, there will be a $5,000 freeroll and a $50K Sit and Go Madness freeroll for players who performed well but not well enough to win them top awards to have a chance at still winning big. And lastly, there’s the Full Tilt Poker Sit & Go Madness Raffle.

Heads Up Poker

Friday, March 12th, 2010

NBC Heads Up PokerNBC Heads-Up Poker Championship Contestants Announced: Series March 5-7

On February 23, 2010, and following several weeks of buzz, the complete list of poker pros and other celebrities participating in the upcoming NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship was announced.

The list includes several expected names, many from NBC Heads-Up Poker Championships of years past, like

That’s not to mention the champions of this event from years past: Huck Seed, Chris Ferguson, Paul Wasicka, Ted Forrest, and Phil Hellmuth, and the previous two runner-ups Vannessa Rousso and Andy Bloch, who qualified automatically.

Also on the list by virtue of automatic qualification were: 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada, his runner-up Darvin Moon, the 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Peter Eastgate, and the inimitable Phil Ivey, as well as Eric Baldwin, Sam Farha, Peiter de Korver, Jason Mercier, Greg Mueller, Brock Parker, Leo Wolpert and Jerry Yang.

There were the self-evident invitees: rivals Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan, Godfather of Poker Doyle Brunson, the first online qualifier to nab a WSOP Main Event title Chirs Moneymaker, and PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge star Daniel Negreanu, along with Annie Duke, Antonio Esfandiari, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Scotty Nguyen, and Mike Sexton.

And the usual suspects of actor cum poker stars were also on the list, namely: Don Cheadle, Orel Hershiser, Gabe Kaplan, and Jennifer Tilly.

But there are also a bevy of new faces scheduled to sit in at one of broadcast television’s biggest and most popular televised poker tournament , such as obscure WSOP bracelet winners Jesper Hougaard (2008) and John Paul Kelly (2009).

The NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship will take place from March 4 to 7, 2010 and the total list of players includes 68 names.

Notably absent from the list were 2010 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) main event winner Barry Shulman and multiple 2010 WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro.

Rush Poker

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Earn A Fast $50 or More At Full Tilt Poker’s New Rush Poker Tables

Recently Full Tilt Poker introduced a brand new innovation in online poker, designed to heighten the pace of an already fast paced game. They aptly named it Rush Poker.

In Rush Poker, there is no waiting around after you fold from a hand until the other players are finished playing it out. Instead Full Tilt Poker jettisons you to an open seat at another table of the same table stakes where a new hand is just being dealt out. This way, you actually play a lot more hands per hour, and you’re always in the action at the table. You also stand to win (or lose) a lot more money in any given session of online poker at Rush Poker than at standard online poker cash tables.

Rush Poker at FullTiltPoker.comTo help encourage people to play at their new and already amazingly popular Rush Poker tables (in fact a playing field which, from the looks of it, needs no encouraging) Full Tilt Poker is running a promotion involving free money—a Fast $50, to be precise—for speedily clearing outstanding bonuses.

Clearing a bonus means you earn enough Full Tilt Points (FTPs) by playing in enough real money games at Full Tilt Poker to access your bonus. Accessing your bonus means earning the ability to withdraw your entire bonus, if you wish, from your Full Tilt Poker real money account.

With the Fast $50 bonus you have until March 10 to make your first deposit and clear your welcome bonus. That’s where Rush Poker comes in, since that’s not a lot of time to earn FTPs, but in Rush Poker, you not only play faster, you earn FTPs faster too.

Poker Stars Revised 2010 SCOOP Schedule

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Last week PokerStars released the schedule for its 2010 SCOOP, or the Spring Championship of Online Poker. If you missed it, don’t worry, it’s since changed.

After releasing the schedule, PokerStars did an interesting thing. They asked their loyal players on the PokerStars user forums what they thought of the schedule and actually implemented some of the feedback. So the new revised PokerStars schedule has 5 more tournaments and $9 million more in guaranteed prize money.

The 2010 PokerStars SCOOP starts on Sunday, May 2nd and is made up of 38 events for a total guaranteed prize purse of $45 million.

The PokerStars.net Spring Championship of Online Poker always has something for every type of wallet, with each event offered in a low stakes, medium stakes, and high stakes level, with buy-ins and cash prize amounts to match.

PokerStars.net Scoop 2010And the 2010 SCOOP is more than just a Holdem event. On the contrary, the schedule includes games of 7-Card Stud, 5-Card Draw, Razz, HORSE, Omaha, and Badugi. In addition there are heads-up events and six-max events too.

The series finishes off with a $10,300 Main Event taking place Sunday, May 16 with a guaranteed prize purse of $5 Million Guaranteed tournament, $1 million of which goes to the winner. The medium stakes main event guaranteed prize purse is $3 million and the low stakes main event guaranteed prize purse is $1 million.

Including the main event, the 2010 SCOOP schedule includes 4 events with guaranteed prize purses of $1 million and not just 1 but 2 high-rollers two-day event with guaranteed prize purses for both the high stakes level and the medium stakes level players of $2 million, one on May 2 and one on May 9.

The PokerStars 2010 SCOOP may not be starting for a couple months yet, but the early notice is so that you can take your best shots at getting your seats in the action free (or for lower buy-ins) by way of PokerStars satellites running daily between now and then.

March Madness

Monday, March 8th, 2010

We’re getting closer to the best time of the year for watching sports. In this case, we are talking real deal NCAA basketball. Division one plays their individual conference tournaments this week and then we have selection Sunday. Will Syracuse take down a National Championship or will a Cinderella bite some heads off this year like George Mason did a few years back.

No matter if you watch basketball or not, the NCAA tournament bracket competition is one of the most well known events that everyone can bet on fairly. Office pools, school pools, friends, it doesn’t matter, you will find some action as long as you know a couple of people.

If by chance you don’t know anyone running a tournament pool, then a great place to look is at Bodog.com. This year they are offering all there members a free buy-in into the March Bracket madness. The winner of the Free Bracket Buster contest at Bodog will take home $5000 in cash and prizes while the top 250 people will also win some kind of prize. The cool thing is, you don’t need an entrance fee. It is free to enter. You have nothing to lose at this point.

Figuring out who to pick is the fun part and most likely you will not get every pick right, but if you can find that one diamond in the rough, you may be able to make the run into the top 250. To sign up today all you have to do is head over to Bodog.com. Remember don’t be afraid to pick some good upsets. Every years there is a good nail bitter, so hang on.

Treat Your Poker Like a Business

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Treat Your Poker Like a BusinessI’ve been a follower of several online coaching sites for quite some time. The one I’ve followed the most is Stoxpoker.com. This site has tons of coaches sharing their plays on videos, blogs and in a classroom environment. There was always one player that stuck out from the pact. This was largely due to his bankroll and amount of hands he plays. His name is Dusty Schmidt.

Recently Dusty came out with his own book called Treat Your Poker Like a Business. This story is about where Dusty has been in the past and how he got to where his is today. Besides the last couple of chapters, most of the book is really about treating poker like your own business. He gets down to the nitty gritty and truths about the online poker lifestyle. He also points out a lot of his mistakes which will help you progress faster over time.

The cool part about the book, is the personal story being told by him. He shares his life with everyone, which includes some really tough times and how he overcame a lot of crap. This will touch a lot of poker players that have issues in their life.

The section on psychology was decent, but nothing that blew me out of the water. We all know by know that bad beats will occur. It is a matter of how we deal with them. His psychology expert included in the book provides some decent knowledge, but it will most likely not change your game that night. A lot of the stuff written could take a long time to really digest.

The strategy section caries some of his strong moves when he’s grinding at eight or even 16 tables on PokerStars. He covers position and out of position. Some of these poker tips are really good. The question is, after this book circulates for a while, I wonder how many other players will be doing the same moves. For now the strategies included will help your game and could plug up some of your leaks. You may need to reread this section several times for it to sink in.

Overall, this was a quick read and really easy to follow. It gives the average to above average poker player an idea what Dusty did to accumulate SuperNova on PokerStars.net and rake in over $2 million dollars. I would recommend you add this one to your poker library more for the story than the strategies. 3.5 stars out of 5

Click here to get your copy of Treat Your Poker Like a Business

Home Game Poker

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

It’s the second Wednesday of the month. What does it mean? It means it’s poker night with the fellas. Here is a look at how I play my home game every month.  It may help you with yours in the future. We usually have around 8-10 guys for a little 1-2 No Limit Texas Hold-em. The Cash buy-in is $100 and you can reload up to $100 at anytime.

What usually happens with most of these games is we have more or less the same crew. Seven guys out of the ten are pretty tight players, which makes it somewhat difficult to build a pot. At the same time it makes it easy to take down the small pots. This is critical however in a small game with tight players. Usually I will play pretty tight knowing that the rest of the table is tight except, when I’m in position.  No matter what the hand just about I will loosen up a whole lot. This allows me to attack the bettor or checker. This will easily take down 8 out of 10 pots. It could be a small raised pot, but a pot is a pot.  This is how I manage to stay on the plus side almost every poker night.

When I do get monsters or strong draws I will play strong as well. This will tell me if the other tight players are holding something as well. I do know several of the guys live for the flush draw, so if one hits on the river I will be less inclined to throw down some big bets with pocket QQ-AA. Most guys at my table will only call a big bet when the better option is to re-raise, so I’m always on the look out for the calling stations with draws on the board.

Should you hit a set on the flop with a tight player, you will want to slow it down and let them try to make a bet first. Only do this with a pretty empty flop. This will mean they hit something, but at the same time they are not looking for a big draw. They may have top pair, or two pair. This puts you in a great position against a tight player. You let them lead into you. This is how you take another man’s stack when they are tight. You become the calling station, when the board is favorable. These hands won’t come often, but when they do, you need to take full advantage.

In a home game it is critical to take mental notes of how the players play. Of course you will run into bad situations, but over time playing tight and strong in position will be your best bet against an overwhelmingly tight table.

Gladiator Returns To Party Poker

Friday, March 5th, 2010

The first time the Gladiator reared his head at PartyPoker was November 2009. And his appearance was such a popular success that PartyPoker has invited him back for another big money challenge.

The latest Party Poker Gladiator challenge takes place from March 3 to April 1, during which time players must earn at least 10 PartyPoints per day for at least 5 days of the promotion in order to win some amount of prize money.

There are 9 levels in all, with successively higher targets of PartyPoints per day that must be reached, as high up as 2,000 PartyPoints per day. Also increasing in concord with the amount of prize money at stake is the number of days in which a player earns from 10 – 2,000 PartyPoints.

And unlike in Gladiator promotions past, you do not need to earn these points on consecutive days in order to qualify for a reward.

The lowest level prizes are freeroll entries with prize pools of $10,000, $`15,000, and $25,000, respectively, all of which take place on April 3 at 2:30 pm ET. From there, cash prizes range from $15 up as high as $7,500.

The top prize in The Gladiator promotion goes to the players who can accumulate 2,000 PartyPoints per day for each day of the entire 30-day period. That top prize is a World Series Poker main event prize package valued at $12,500. Of course, it is taken for granted that you understand if you win one of these prize packages, you must wear PartyPoker gear while you play at the event.

Before you start playing at the Party Poker real money tables and accumulating PartyPoints towards your targets, you must first go to the PartyPoker lobby and opt-in to The Gladiator promotion.

Click Here to get your Free Bonus Cash and take on the Gladiator.

PokerStars TV Videos

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

We have all watched Poker on TV at some point before, during or even after our online poker run began. A good majority of players were watching Chris Moneymaker back in 2003 take down the World Series of Poker and thought, hey if this guy can do it why can’t I. This is when Poker on TV was everywhere. It was on ESPN, Travel Channel, NBC, BRAVO and many other cable channels.

In the past couple of years, Pokerstars decided to create it’s own Poker channel on the Web. It is now called PokerStars.tv which carries live events from poker tournaments online and in the poker rooms themselves. You also get access to tons of video highlights and video blogs. The video blogs cover all the players from around the world and give you the insight of what the player is thinking at the table or in life.
Here is a look at a recent Sunday Million tournament at PokerStars.com

Watch Online Poker Show: Sunday Million – February 28th, 2010 on PokerStars.tv

You can also check out videos of all your favorite PokerStars players including Katja Thatcher, Luca Pagano, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, and many more. These videos take you behind the scenes of the poker world. Real cool stuff. With 100’s of videos available at your disposal, you can not only learn a few things, but you will be entertained for sure. The clarity of the videos will keep your attention for some time and you will always find something that brings interest to your Poker campaign. PokerStars.net is the leader in the online poker world and this added value makes it that much better.

Coming up March 6, 2010 will be the EPT Berlin live action. Final table will be on March 7th. All Free of course.

Small Pot Poker

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

When faced with difficult plays in poker, it can make you or break you. The bigger the pot the higher the difficulty your decisions will be unless you flopped the nuts of course. Some of these decisions can make you want to hit the bottle soon after if you judge incorrectly. Why not play safe early on?

When holding an average hand in tournament poker play, you want to make sure the size of the pot is kept in check until you make your hand. You are better off calling versus betting or raising on nice pairs, when there is a draw heavy board. Let the play come to you in case you are out kicked or crushed, when you may not even know it. A difficult decision for all your chips can be a disaster. You are better off not even playing the hand then getting into a sticky situation.

An example of this hand would be early in a tournament and your in the High Jack position and you decide to raise and the button calls. You don’t have position which is the first thing you need to think about. You are holding K-Q off-suit. Flop comes Q-10-3 with two spades. Right away there are some draws on the board and we have top pair with a decent size kicker. You are first to act and you decide to check. The button puts in a solid bet. You decide to call. Your opponent most likely thinks you are on a bigger hand at this point. You decide to check again after a 5 of diamonds comes on the turn. You are still holding top pair. By checking again you avoid being raised for most or all of your stack. You call the the pretty sizable bet the button makes. Your opponent is drawing big or may have two pair or a small set. The river comes 8 of hearts meaning all draws are broken.

You decide to check again just to make sure and keep everything in line. You have a nice hand at this point, but early on you don’t need to force it. The Button checks and mucks. In this case you take down the small pot with a top pair. Anything could have happened. It is sometimes better to sit back and play safe then getting over aggressive and being crippled or knocked out early in a poker tournament.

Avoiding sticky situations is not always easy to do, but when you do, the bottle stays on the shelf.

Absolute Poker Donkament

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Need a good reason to play poker or better yet beat up on some donkey’s? Start playing The Donkament poker tournament at Absolute poker every second Sunday of every month. These tournaments kick off at 14:30 ET. This is a points buy-in tournament, which means you can only use your accumulated poker points to enter. The best part is, you can turn those points into cash. You may also qualify for the THE DONKAMENT by playing in point Qualifiers.

The bottom line:
* $50,000 in cash in prizes up for grabs.
* It will cost you 10,000 Absolute points to enter the tournament.
* Low cost satellites such as ones at 100 points are running all the time.
* No cash buyins.

If you are low on points you will need to play some cash games at Absolutepoker.net or even tournaments and Sit and Go’s will earn you points. Too even earn points faster if you climb up the FAME ladder you will accumulate points that much faster giving you even more chances to play in the DONKAMENT.

If you are new to AP, then you can also take advantage of the Poker deposit bonus which will give you 150% up to $500 for free. Playing for bonus cash will require a lot of action and patience, but over time you will clear the full bonus and be well on your way to a nice size stack.

Oh, I almost forgot, you can play during power hour which are usually during off peak times and earn double the Absolutepoints. There is plenty of action to go around and you get to earn more towards the monthly tournament. Good luck and have fun.

Compete at the DONKAMENT without burning your poker bankroll

Full Tilt Poker Action

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

It has been brought to our attention that several things are going on at FullTiltPoker.com this month.

The first thing we wanted to talk about is Sit and Go Madness which is a 48 hour event in March where you can win $125K in cash including a free entry into the $50k Madness Freeroll. All you have to do is play in your favorite SitnGo games and you will have a chance. If you win at least two of your sit and goes you will be entered into the $50k Freeroll. You can use your points earned at the Full Tilt Poker Store.

Another thing we want to mention to you about playing at FullTiltPoker.net is the value you have underneath your bankroll. Full Tilt Poker merchandise is at your fingertips with all your points that you have accumulated. You can get anything from electronics such as Ipods and laptops to furnishings for your poker room with some really cool FTP merchandise. Don’t be afraid to start spending those poker points.

MiniFTOPS XV is coming around the corner as well. Starting March 10-21 over $6 Million in guaranteed money will be rewarded to the winners. There will be 27 events many in which will be hosted by long standing Pros. These FTOPS events are a true test of your poker Skills. Don’t be afraid to take one down. There are a lot of satellites going on right now to gain entry into the higher stakes events.

Winter is still in full affect. I don’t know if you looked outside recently, but it sure is cold still. This is a good time to bang out some cash games or tournaments before the warm weather comes and the golf course starts to look real nice. Moving forward stick to your tactics and make your winning pots huge. Don’t let some donkey get in your head as well. Play smart and the bankroll will grow.