Thursday, November 17, 2011

Poker Hall of Fame Update

The Poker Hall of Fame has added two more names to its illustrious list as the 2011 inductions were announced on Wednesday, October 27th. Almost a dozen people were nominated, with some very notable names failing to make the cut this year. Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Huck Seed, and Scotty Nguyen were all nominated but not inducted. These players are eligible for induction in the future. In the meantime, maybe they should get a poker download and continue playing poker.

Nominations and inductions are not a simple process. The World Series of Poker oversees the Hall of Fame, and they allow anyone to suggest names for nomination. The Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council picks ten nominations to be sent to 17 prominent poker media members and eighteen people already in the Hall of Fame. Each voter gets 10 points, and they can distribute them among the ten nominations in any way they choose. The two names that receive the most points are then inducted.

There is a list of criteria that nominations for the Poker Hall of Fame must meet. Some examples of necessary criteria include that they must have played against acknowledged top competition, and they must be at least 40 years old. If someone nominated isn’t actually a player of poker, they must have contributed to the overall growth and success of poker.

Barry Greenstein, an ambassador of PokerStars, needs little introduction. Some say that he’s the Robin Hood of Poker since he has given a whopping three million dollars to charity in his lifetime. In total he has won three WSOP bracelets and two WPT titles, and his total tournament winnings amounts to over $7 million.

If you'd like to play at Pokerstars, use a PokerStars bonus code to get extra bonus funds.

The other induction was that of Linda Johnson. She is partly known for winning a WSOP bracelet in 1997. She used to own the Card Player magazine, and she helped to establish the World Poker Tour. If that wasn’t enough, she has also penned a few poker books, and she is a great ambassador of the game. Mike Sexton even gave her the nickname of “The First Lady of Poker”.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

PokerStars Sunday

If you are a tournament player, you probably know that the top holdem poker online sites have big guarantees for their Sunday MTTs. The PokerStars download recently changed the times for its Sunday Majors so that they better suit those that live in Europe.

Your first opportunity to play a PokerStars Sunday Major is at 8:00 AM ET. This event costs $109 to enter and features a prize pool of at least $75,000. If you are a fan of rebuys, you can play the $109 rebuy at 12:00 PM ET. It has a $200,000 guarantee.

The 2nd largest guarantee of the week on PokerStars is found in the Sunday Warm-Up which kicks off at 11:00 AM ET and guarantees a $500,000 prize pool. It costs $215 to play this event.

The Sunday tournament for the microstakes players comes in at 13:30 ET. Even though the guaranteed prize pool is an impressive $200k, the entry fee is an affordable $11.

The featured and most advertised tournament on the PokerStars download is the Sunday Million. The guarantee is a gigantic $1 million, and the buy-in is $215. This tourney offers the chance at a 6-figure payday.

It’s not over after the Sunday Million, though. There is also the Sunday 500 that takes place at 15:30 ET for $530 and carries a $250k guaranteed prize pool. The Sunday Second Chance takes place at 16:30 PM for another $215. The guarantee for this tourney is $125k.

If you are looking for a change of pace, give the Sunday 6-Max or Sunday Supersonic a shot. You can enter the 6-Max for $162 and you’ll be playing for at least $60k. It has a late start at 5 PM ET. The Supersonic takes place even later at 6:30 PM ET, but it finishes quite early since it is a hyper-turbo. Play it for $215 and play for a $40k prize pool.

Even though I already listed the Sunday Majors, there are actually plenty more tourneys that only run on Sundays. They also have Stud and Draw events at $215 buy-ins.

If you want just gamble on your day off, try playing Cleopatra Slots, the most popular slot game of all time!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

PokerStars and the WSOP 2011

Thanks to US indictments handed out by the Department of Justice, people residing in the US are no longer able to download PokerStars. Everyone else in the world received a much better fate as they are still welcome to play on the site, but they have seen some pretty significant changes take place.
There have been some favorable changes. For example, Europeans recently enjoyed a SCOOP schedule that was much more European-friendly than in other years. There have also been some bad changes. For instance, SCOOP had much smaller prize pools this year.
Some people will also be disappointed about the lack of PokerStars presence at the WSOP this summer. Years past have enjoyed some amazing incentives for the WSOP through PokerStars. For example, people received VPPs just for representing the site in the Main Event. They also used to give bonus cash for winning the event. For example, Duhamel received $1 million in compensation for wearing the PokerStars logo and winning the event.
Such things were possible back when PokerStars was still one of the best US poker sites on the Internet. In light of their trouble with the Department of Justice, they have decided to stay out of the US for now. They will not have PokerStars representatives at the WSOP at all.
In 2010 there was a fancy PokerStars gathering and they gave free PokerStars clothing. They used to also book their players rooms in the Palms Place. 2011 will see none of this. No one gets a bonus for winning their Main Event seat on PokerStars, nor is there a final table incentive.
None of this comes as any surprise. The target market for PokerStars is no longer the US and so WSOP would just go to waste. US TV stations have decided against airing PokerStars sponsored shows, which means that there is no payoff for investing in the Series.
This article should not be a reason to become discouraged, however! Everyone that lives outside of America has the option to download free poker at PokerStars. There are ways to win WSOP Main event packages on PokerStars, and I’ll write again soon to discuss them is further detail.
 
UK poker players continue to have plenty of awesome options for online poker.  One of the best places for online poker players in the UK is William Hill.  The William Hill download offers new players a bonus of up to £1250!  And as residents of the UK know, William Hill is a well known and trusted brand.  Get the William Hill poker download today!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

PokerStars Software

Poker Stars.com is undoubtedly the biggest poker site. But instead of quitting its drive after having achieved this distinction, Poker Stars.com continues to innovate by making sure its software is the best available from any site at any time. All told, the PokerStars software client is preferred almost universally among people who play online poker and today we shall properly explain a few of the reasons why it's the best.

To tackle things from top to bottom, let us begin with the eye candy. To get the spoiler out of the way, the PokerStars.com client is a thing of beauty. The default lobby uses colors brilliantly to guide your focus while browsing within it, and is extremely pleasing to the eye. And should it happen that it displeases you, you can switch to the classic layout or implement any other lobby you might like because it was designed with customization in mind, with tons of alternative lobbies found online. The table eye candy is equally alluring and fully customizable. You will have no difficulty in finding a theme that will be pleasing to look at for a prolonged amount of time, which is definitely the software client's objective.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The PokerStars Pros

Many of us became interested in poker by watching it on tv. No doubt if you are a poker player or a fan, you have seen many of the best players in the world either on shows like Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker or during coverage of the World Series of Poker or World Poker Tour. They are usually sporting hats or t-shirts from the online poker site that sponsors them. Many of them are sponsored in one way or another with an online poker site, and many of the world's best players are happy to call PokerStars.com their home.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

PokerStars Bonus Clearing Requirements

For my very first post, I explained the benefits of a PokerStars download. A PokerStars download offers you the highest quality poker software and the player base that comes along with it is unparalleled. To add to a superb game selection and several options to customize your playing experience, I also stated that when you make your first deposit, you receive your first PokerStars bonus. You receive 100% of what you deposit up to $600, all in bonus cash.


As soon as you've made your Poker Stars download, releasing your bonus is done quite easily. The only thing you have to do is play poker hands in real money games, and you will be generating VIP Player Points (VPP) in the process. This bonus is known as a 17x bonus, meaning you will have to earn 17 times the amount you deposited in VPPs to release it. Assuming for instance the amount in question is $300, 17 x $300 = 5100 VPP will be needed to clear the bonus. If instead the amount deposited is the entire $600, 17 x $600 = 10,200 VPPs will be required to clear the whole thing. The bonus will be released into your account in $10 increments, meaning that every time you earn 170 VPPs you will have earned a chunk of the bonus. It bears mentioning that points earned in both tournaments and cash games count towards the sign up bonus, so no matter which you play, you will be earning VPPs while doing it. You have 180 days to earn the required amount of VPPs before the bonus expires.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Online Poker in the US

Online Poker in America Still Rapidly Growing


Over the past several years, the enjoyment of poker has surged in the Unites States. Much of this is due to the expansion of Internet poker and television channels such as ESPN broadcasting the annual World Series of Poker. Millions of Americans started playing online poker.

The legal status of American poker online was unclear. But on September 29, 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) was passed. This law made it illegal for online casino gambling establishments to process payments from a US bank. During this time, PartyPoker.com was far and away the most popular poker room in the world. However, on October 2, 2006 PartyPoker announced that it would no longer accept US players.