Poker satellite tournaments

Poker Satellite Tournaments – The Chris Moneymaker Story

In 2003 Chris Moneymaker was an accountant and also worked part-time at a restaurant. He enjoyed playing small stakes poker at Pokerstars as a hobby. At this point Pokerstars wasn’t the giant it is today. Pokerstars was focused on tournaments in 2003.  Chris played in a $39 WSOP Main Event satellite at Pokerstars. After that he quit his jobs and became the spokesperson for Pokerstars.

Satellite Tournament Guide

Nowadays online poker sites like Pokerstars send thousands of players to major live events around the world. Every poker room I have ever played at has promotions like this. To win a five figure seat package at a live event you can go one of two routes in regards to satellite tournaments:

• Low buy-in, multiple steps – The road to the Main Event can start with as little as $1.10 or you can simply use poker points to buy in to the satellite. This is true for both satellite sitngos and tournaments. If you go this route you will likely need to win several satellites in a row. Winning a $1.10 satellite will mean you win a seat at a $30-$40 satellite. Winning this will give you a seat at a $1,200 buy-in satellite. When you win this you will have your package to a live event. I just made up these numbers right now. Depending on the poker room and the promotion you might only need to win 2 satellites or you could have to win 5 sitngos.
• High buy-in, single step – You can jump straight into a direct satellite to a large live event by risking a little more cash. The actual amount of cash will depend on the satellite. If you want to invest a couple hundred dollars into your new online poker career you can sign up for a direct satellite.

How Satellites Work – A Real Example From Pokerstars

I just checked at Pokerstars and I found a good example of the types of satellites available today. The prize is a seat package at the LAPT (Latin Poker Tour) Grand Final in Brazil. This package includes the seat buy-in, hotel reservations and $1,630 in spending money, for a total of $5,700. To buy directly in to the Grand Final satellite it would cost $215. There are five different satellite buy-in levels to get into the Grand Final if $215 is out of your budget:

• $4.40
• $16.50
• $22
• $44
• $51

This gives everyone a chance regardless of their bankroll. If you want to risk a little more and give yourself much better odds to get a seat at the Grand Final satellite you can play in 6 or 10 player sitngos.

Another option would be using your Pokerstars FPPs to purchase a ticket to a satellite. You can buy satellite tickets through the VIP store. A $215 satellite tournament ticket costs 13,500 FPPs at Pokerstars.

PlayPokerOnline.com

Other Asian countries are also starting to warm up to online poker. South Korea is a good example. They recently hosted an Asian Pacific Poker Tour event in Seoul. The APPT is sponsored by Pokerstars and they have been running it since 2004.

Another hot spot for online poker is in Macau. Many of you likely associate Macau with gambling because of their world famous casinos. The APPT hosted a poker tournament here as well.

According to a PlayPokerOnline.com press release published by MSNBC about the growth of online poker in Asia there are many international gambling companies setting up businesses and partnerships in a host of Asian countries.

PlayPokerOnline.com reports that one of these companies is 2UP. This online gaming company recently issued a report that concurred that there is big potential for growth in several countries in Asia. This is also true for other forms of online gambling like casinos.

PlayPokerOnline.com also reported on another company that has done some research into online poker in Asia. Media Entertainment Consulting Network recently published a study the potential for an online poker market in India. They estimate that online poker could generate $50 billion per year in India.

India has an excellent economy and an educated work force. They also have a large population so the government would certainly love to tap in to this kind of revenue. After reading PlayPokerOnline.com’s press release about this I think that the most impressive emerging market is in India. Other the next few years we will certainly see many companies setting up in India. Rooms like Pokerstars and Party Poker probably have already started this process. This is great timing for Pokerstars especially. They had to ban US players last year so India could recover the lost traffic and revenue easily, and then some.

For more information on this topic or anything else poker related check out PlayPokerOnline.com. They offer guides and articles on a host of topics including the legality of online poker in certain parts of the world. They also cover poker room reviews, poker bonus codes, poker rules articles, poker strategy articles, deposit option articles and general online poker guides. They are one of the Internet’s top resources for the latest poker news and they can help you get better than normal bonuses at the best poker sites.

Online betting sites

Sometimes it is better to sign up at a specialized betting site though. Horse race betting is a solid example. Many online sports books also offer horse race betting but it can be better to place all of your horse wagers at one of the mainstream horse betting sites. Since these sites only deal with horse racing they tend to offer a better overall service.

Types Of Betting Sites

As I mentioned there are many different types of betting sites. Beginners may not even know some of them are even available. The online betting industry is expanding all of the time so this list will continue to grow. Here is a basic list of the major types of betting sites available in 2012.

• Sports betting
• Horse race betting
• Currency betting sites
• Spread betting

Sports betting sites are pretty self explanatory. I would shop around and look at the number of sports any given sports book offers action on before signing up. Some cover every major sport, many obscure sports and some things that are more games than actual sports. Having a large number of betting options is always good.

I’ve found that horse race betting sites offer a better overall service than sports books that dabble in horse racing on the side. You will have access to more races and be able to take advantage of the specialized loyalty programs.

Currency betting sites and spread betting are very similar. I would have grouped them together but there are some benefits to choosing one over the other, just like with sports books and horse race betting sites. Spread betting sites allow you to wager on the future of a particular stock, index, market or currency. Currency betting sites specialize in just this field.

Spread betting allows you to win money by betting on a stock going up or down. How much you win is determined by the changes in stock value. You can pull out of a bet after a week for a quick win, or to minimize losses, or you can stay with the bet for months. It is important to note that you are not betting s fixed amount. If you bet $1/point you can essentially win or lose hundreds or thousands of dollars. These types of betting sites do allow you to specify a minimum and maximum for gains and losses.

• Do they accept players from your country?
• Do they offer the type of games you prefer to play?
• Do they boast enough traffic to make playing your preferred games there worthwhile?
• Do they accept a deposit option that you are able to use?
• Do they have solid reputation for fairness and responsible banking practices?

You might be wondering why we testing a poker room’s reputation would come last. I put it last because the other factors can be tested very quickly and there isn’t much room for debate. If a room doesn’t accept players from your country or doesn’t offer your favorite game (i.e. Stud) there is no point in sifting through poker forums and other sites to find out if they have a good reputation. Here are some tips for quickly finding answers to the test questions listed above.

Many poker rooms offer LiveChat and/or phone support so finding out if players from your country can play there for real money is both fast and easy. If they only offer email support and you don’t feel like waiting hours or even days you can search their FAQ to find out. The next two questions are even easier to find answers to. Downloading the poker room’s software, without signing up, typically enables you to view the lobby. Checking out the game variety and traffic will only take a second. If traffic is somewhat low it may be the slow hours at the poker site so be sure to keep that in mind.

If the poker site test is looking good thus far you will want to spend a little time with the next question, especially if you are an American. You want to make sure the poker room has a deposit option that you can use. Almost every poker room has a page on their web site that lists the accept deposit methods. Sadly these lists are usually out of date so I would either contact them or create a play money account so you can visit the cashier and find out exactly what options are available.

The final part of the poker room test is the most important and time consuming. Finding out if a poker room has a decent reputation can be tricky. Googling the poker room’s name will likely lead you to review pages at affiliate sites. These rooms will say anything to get you to signup under their links so don’t put too much weight behind what you read. I’ve found that poker forums threads about the poker room will provide you with a trustworthy and up to date picture of the poker room’s reputation. There are some affiliate sites that are completely when it comes to poker room tests and reviews. Best-poker-bonuscode.com is a good example. They offer unbiased reviews and tests for the top poker rooms in 2012.

Bovada Poker and Bodog Poker also use the same software. This platform was recently upgraded so I should go over some of the new features and improvements. Before I get in to that I want to take a look at Bovada Poker’s bonuses and promotions. Here is an overview of what is going on at Bovada Poker in January, 2012:

• Welcome bonus – A 100% match up to $1,000. This bonus is issued in six increments ranging from $10 to $400. Five poker points at Bovada Poker are equal to $1 in bonus money.
• Poker Points tournaments & sitngos – Bovada Poker is running $15,000 worth of Poker Points tournaments each month. Buy-ins range from 25 points to 1,000 points. The smaller ones are satellites to the bi-weekly $7,500 freeroll. You can also buy directly in to this event with 1,000 points. One out of 5 players will receive money and the top finisher will receive $1,000.
• Royal Flush bonus – Catch the hottest hand in poker and receive50X the table’s big blind, for a max of $200.
• Badbeat Jackpot – Bovada Poker is home to the easiest to win Badbeat Jackpot in the world of online poker. Other poker sites require you to lose with a minimum of four 7′s. At Bovada losing with AAAKK or better will set off the jackpot. You can win up to 100X the table’s big blinds when this happens.

New Bovada & Bodog Poker Software

The most recent software update at Bodog and Bovada Poker is really much more than a few minor upgrades. They basically reinvented their software and changed the way people play poker online. It is certainly the most controversial software upgrade the online poker industry has seen in a long time.  Here is an overview of the changes and new features:

• Blackjack – You can now play Blackjack from within the poker client at both Bovada and Bodog Poker. In the past you had to go through the casino to do this but now it is built in to the poker platform.
• Multi-table feature – In the past it was difficult to play at more than a few tables at this poker room. With the recent update multi-tablers can easily play at twenty tables simultaneously.
• Anonymous tables – This is the feature that has caused so much controversy. Most savvy online poker players know that they can type in another player’s screen name at one of several data-mining sites to learn about a wide range of statistics like tournament wins, history and playing style. In an unprecedented move Bovada and Bodog has blocked these sites from collecting data by only displaying your seat number at a table, instead of your username. Some argue that this is a great feature for recreational players but others claim that it limits transparency.
• Other upgrades – Lower rake, more types of poker tournaments, Rabbit Cam and better software performance.

Luck based games like scratch cards and Roulette are different. When you play scratch cards you cannot possibly make a mistake. Nothing you can do will decrease your odds of winning. Some of you may be wondering why I am using scratchcards as an example. The common belief regarding scratch cards is that they are sucker bets. If you are referring to the cards sold by your local government lottery agency you would be correct. You may as well throw your money away. The scratch cards that I am talking about are the ones available online.

Online scratch cards can also be classified into two categories; generic and interactive. Generic scratch cards are usually available on a very limited basis at online casinos and you will simply use your mouse to scratch off the card. These are typically boring and not very popular. The new interactive scratch cards involve much more and have excellent odds.

At 888games.com less than half of the scratch cards are even remotely comparable to what most people are familiar with. They are more like new casino games than updated versions of an old casino game.

As a 100% luck based game scratch cards are ideal for recreational and inexperienced casino gamblers. They remind me of the cool games that people play for fun online to pass the time. The house edge will vary from game to game but luckily 888 Games allows visitors to play their scratch card games without downloading or signing up for an account. These games are fun to play when they are played for free so it will not take you long to get a feel for which games have great odds.

Once you have found a few scratch card games at 888games.com that you like to play you can opt to signup, deposit and play for money. This game site is offering some cool promotions including a free $5 to new players. When you make your first deposit 888 Games will give you even more money. There are some minor clearance requirements so you cannot simply receive a bonus and cash it out. They would have gone out of business a long time ago if they let people do that.

Visit the 888games.com web site and play a few of their scratch card and other online casino games through your browser. If you enjoyed the games and want to play for real money there is a section on their web site that explains how you can receive the free $5 just for creating an account.

Pokerfest

What Is Pokerfest At Party Poker?

Pokerfest is a series of 47 separate poker tournaments. This is the first year that Party Poker is hosting Poker Fest, but they ran several events yesterday and it has been very successful. Pokerfest officially started October 23rd, 2011, so I’m a day late with this blog post. Party Poker will be running Pokerfest events daily until November 6th so you have only missed a few tournaments. Anyone can play in these tournaments. You do not even need money to play in about a third of these tournaments. Party Poker has setup quite a few Pokerfest tournaments that have buy-ins ranging from 5 to 30 Party Points.

Every single Pokerfest event has a guaranteed prize pool. Party Poker is putting up a total of $3,000,000 in guaranteed prize pools. The largest tournament will be the Main Event, a $640 buy-in tournament with a $1,000,000 GTD prize pool.

Every day Party Poker will be hosting 3-4 Pokerfest events. Here is an overview of the Pokerfest events scheduled for tomorrow:

• $500 GTD (14:00) – PL Omaha tournament with a 10 Party Point entry fee.
• $2,500 GTD (14:30) – $11 buy-in PL Omaha tournament.
• $25,000 (15:00) – $109 buy-in PL Omaha tournament.

Pokerfest Side Events

Party Poker has definitely done everything they can to make Pokerfest one of the best poker tournament series online. They will be running some cool promotions and contests to compliment Pokerfest:

• Cash in 10 Pokerfest events – $5,000
• Make the final table for 10 Pokerfest events – $10,000
• Winning three Pokerfest events – $20,000

There are other cool promotions taking place at Party Poker right now. You will receive an entry into a prize draw for each Pokerfest tournament that you play in. They are giving away a total of 500 prizes.

The thing I love about Pokerfest is the fact that you do not have to have a dime in your account. You can use Party Points to buy in to 15 out of 47 Pokerfest events. If you have 185 Party Points in your account you can play in all 15 events and potentially win any of the side event jackpots or prize drawings. Even if you just win one Pokerfest event you will receive a prize of some sort, in addition to the money.

Party Poker is even running a Pokerfest leaderboard promotion. They are giving away $100,000 to the leaderboard winners. There are three separate leaderboard categories:

• Party Point tournaments – $5,000, pays top 250.
• Small buy-in tournaments (up to $33) – $30,000, pays top 500.
• Large buy-in tournaments ($55+) – $65,000, pays top 500.

WCOOP events at Pokerstars are far too large for 99% of online poker players. Party Poker’s Pokerfest is designed to give micro stakes players the same opportunities as high stakes players. Even people that haven’t had any cash in their account for months can win tens of thousands of dollars just as easily as a Palladium Elite status player.

Online Roulette

Single Zero Vs Double Zero Roulette – Tip #1

The house edge on almost every bet at a double zero (American) Roulette table is 5.26%. This basically means that on average a $100 wager will pay out $94.74. The more popular single zero Roulette game’s house edge is 2.63%. When it comes to casino gambling you want to play the games that are as close to 50:50 as possible. Vegas casinos tend to offer both Roulette versions but restrict the single zero game to medium and high stakes bettors. I’ve never been a fan of this policy because it gives well bankrolled gamblers an advantage over everyone else.

Online casinos are different though. You will not have any trouble finding a single zero Roulette table that has a minimum bet of $1 or less.

Bankroll Management For Online Roulette – Tip #2

Proper bankroll management is just as important in Roulette as it is in poker. You should always play within your means. In this case bankroll management has another definition. You should set strict goals when you play Roulette for real money. As with any casino game you will lose all of your money if you play long enough. Knowing when to quit when you are head and cutting your losses when Lady Luck isn’t smiling at you will help you win more money.

$200 bankroll:

• With a $200 bankroll you should be placing wagers of $5 or less on the 1:1 bets like Red/Black and Odd/Even. Your maximum limit for single number bets should be $2 or less.
• Goal: If you are having a good run at the Roulette table it is important for you to know when to walk away a winner. I typically end my session if I have won 50%-100% of my bankroll. So if you sit with $200 a good goal would be $300-$400. If you think that your luck will hold you should at least lower the amount of your wagers so a bad streak will not eat too much of your profit.
• Cutting Losses – Every real money Roulette player has experienced a bad run. Sometimes you just can’t seem to win anything. I always suggest that players should walk away if they have lost 25% of their original bankroll.

When you are down never increase your bets with the goal of winning your money back in mind. If anything you should lower your bets and see if your luck changes. Online Roulette is perfect because you can place wagers that are 90-99% lower than you can at brick and mortar casinos.

Speed Control in Roulette – Tip #3

Online casino software usually boasts an option to customize your speed. When you play at extremely high speeds it can cause you to lose perspective on your winnings or losses. Live Roulette has an average speed of around 25-40 spins per hour. Internet Roulette players can easily clock in at around 500-750 spins per hour.

You should be very cautious when playing at these speeds. Online Roulette players have been known to develop something like tunnel vision and they lose track of their bankroll rules and objectives.

This post will be comparing the bonus offers available at each room. I’ll look at several factors including:

• Bonus size
• Match amount
• Clearance requirements
• How the bonus is released
• Time limit to clear the bonus

I will start with Party Poker since they practically pioneered the online poker industry.

Party Poker Sign-up Bonus

The Party Poker sign-up bonus is pretty standard in regards to the size. Before I get started explaining how this bonus works I should point out that this particular deal is an exclusive offer. To claim this bonus you will need to enter the Party Poker bonus code THEGAME. This code will need to be entered when you sign-up for a new account at Party Poker.

The size of the welcome bonus this code provides is a 100% match bonus up to $/£/€500. Party Poker does not change the size of the bonus depending on which currency you choose to fund your account with so this bonus is actually higher than it appears to be unless you deposit in U.S. dollars:

• 500 British Pounds equal ~$789 USD.
• 500 Euros equal ~$689 USD.

As you can see this bonus is almost $800 due to the discrepancy in currency values. The clearance requirements for this special bonus vary depending on the currency you used:

• USD/CAD ($) – Earn 6 Party Points per bonus dollar
• Euros (€) – Earn 8 Party Points per bonus dollar
• Pounds (£) – Earn 9 Party Points per bonus dollar

The bonus is released at 10 installments so a $200 bonus would be issued in $20 increments and each increment would require 120 Party Points. These points are earned very quickly, even at the small stakes table so Party Poker scores high marks in this category. They give you 4 entire months to clear your bonus, which is 25% longer than the bonus at Pokerstars.

Overall, Party Poker’s first deposit bonus offers a lot of value and doesn’t come with the ridiculous fine print many other poker rooms use.

Poker Stars Sign-up Bonus

Poker Stars designed an extremely unique bonus for new players. Once again, this deal is an exclusive offer and can only be claimed by those who enter the Pokerstars marketing code PSP3653 and the bonus code STARS600. The first code needs to be entered when you create your account and the other will be entered when you deposit.

This bonus actually consists of three separate bonuses:

1. 1st deposit – 100% match
2. 2nd deposit – 100% match
3. 3rd deposit – 100% match

Each deposit bonus combines with the previous bonus(es) and the max is $600. Micro and small stakes poker players benefit the most from this unique format because they can make three small-medium deposits and still claim a decent overall bonus.

Pokerstars does lower the maximum bonus amount depending on the currency. This fact essentially makes this bonus lower than Party Poker’s in some cases. Here are the details:

• USD – $600 – Req. – 17 VPP/$1
• CAD – $625- Req. – 16 VPP/$1
• Euro – €465 – Req. – 22VPP/€1
• British Pound – £390 – 26 VPP/£1

So if you deposit in USD or CAD you will receive a larger bonus at Poker Stars but if you deposit in Euros or Pounds it will be lower. The clearance req’s are also dependent on the currency, as shown above.  These requirement can be hard on micro stakes players but everyone else is usually cool. The bonus is issued in $/€/£ 10 increments and you will have 90 days to clear this it.

Who Has The Better Bonus?

In my opinion Party Poker has the better welcome bonus. It is easier to clear, significantly larger if you deposit in Euros or Pounds and you will have more time to clear it. The bonus at Pokerstars is really good because they match your first three deposits but that isn’t enough to compensate for everything else.

I’ve since learned all there is to know about basketball betting. This post is dedicated to new sports bettors with a focus on those who want to bet on basketball. Online basketball sports books give you many options when it comes to making a bet. The hardest part is understand how these bets work.

The most difficult to understand is the moneyline bet. A money line basketball bet will list two teams and two numbers. One number will be positive and the other negative:

• Boston Celtics +275,  Chicago Bulls -250

What example does this mean? The trick to understanding this bet and many other basket ball bets is that they are all based on either betting $100 or winning $100. In the moneyline odds listed above there are two outcomes:

• Bet $100 on the Celtics to win $275
• Bet $250 on the Bulls to win $100

A common mistake people make is thinking that they must bet $100, or $250. You can scale this down by any amount that you want. Calculating 10% is the easiest. You can bet $10 on the Cfeltics to win $27.50 or $25 on the Bulls to win $10.

Most basketball bookmakers will allow you to wager small amounts. I suggest making small bets during your first few weeks of betting online so that you can get the hang of it without making a costly error.