PokerStars is without a doubt the most massive poker website that dominates the online poker jungle today. Appropriately, Poker Stars.com also has one of the best rewards programs among online poker rooms, which involves earning VPPs and FPPs through real money play.
Let's get into the gist of it: VIP Player Points and Frequent Player Points, better known as VPPs and FPPs are at the heart of the PokerStars Frequent player reward program. By participating in real money games you will be generating certain amounts of VIP Player Points. FPPs, or frequent player points, will be generated simultaneously as well at rates depending entirely on your VIP Level. Higher VIP levels collect FPPs at quicker rates than lower VIP levels. To get started just boot up the PokerStars Download.
Poker Stars' VIP system has 6 levels, which are reached by earning set amounts of VIP player points on either a monthly or yearly basis depending on the level. The levels are called Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Supernova and Supernova Elite. Of the six, 4 are a monthly thing while the last two will last until at least the following year. Every level opens up additional rewards that will be available for purchase using FPPs from the VIP store. Obviously, the higher your VIP level, all of the VIP store will magically get ready to be purchased using only FPP points. The rate at which you collect FPPs will also go up if you compare it with a lower VIP level.
You will be earning FPPs by participating in any of the real money games on tap at PokerStars, in the ring game or tournament of your choice. For every $1 that you pay upon entering the tournament of your choice you will generate 5.5 VPPs which will be then multiplied by the multiplier that belongs to your specific VIP level. The lowest level, Bronze, has a 1.0 multiplier, Silver level benefits of a 1.5 multiplier, Gold VIP level gets twice as many FPPs as VPPs, Platinum level has a 2.5 multiplier, SN a 3.5 and finally Supernova Elite level which has a 5.0 multiplier. For example, if you partake in 2 tourneys each having a buy-in of $10+1, the VPP calculation is as follows: 2 x 5.5 = 11 VPP. If you posses the Gold VIP level at the time, you would then receive 11 x 2 = 22 FPPs, whereas a SN player would be getting 38.5 FPPs, because 11 x 3.5 = 38.5 FPPs, for the same two tourneys. It should be clear, your amount of FPPs will increase by leaps and bounds as you climb the VIP ladder.
If you play in ring games you will also be receiving VPPs at rates that depend how many seats there are at the table. A table that has room for 8 or more players to play on will award 8.5 VPPs per raked dollar which is in turn split among the players who were dealt into the hand. Tables with 7 or fewer seats will award 5.5 VPPs per raked dollar which is in turn split among the players who were dealt into the hand. And then just apply the multiplier to know how many FPPs you should be getting.
You will be able to find a lot of items inside the Poker Stars.com VIP store, and can be bought using nothing but FPPs. The wealth of choice in this store is unrivalled at any of the best us poker sites. The items cover a wide range of categories, with anything between: exclusive poker accessories such as cards and timers; a Porsche Cayman S; electronic equipment, such as DVD players and iPod Touches; RSA tokens that enable two-factor authentication; Tournament tickets and entries into various tournaments both live and online, including the WSOP and the SCOOP; poker DVDs; a plethora of bonuses, from small to very very large ones; PokerStars exclusive clothing, including customized shirts; and lastly autographed books, including ones from authors such as Sklansky, Schoonmaker and Negreanu.
The goods available are wide and varied and it's only natural some items in the store may be more favorably priced than others. Some of the cheaper items, at least when compared to how much they'd cost you if you buy them somewhere else: The $4,000 PokerStars Marketing Code available to SN and SNE only; Steps 3,5,6 Tickets and also Sunday 530 and Sunday MTTs; Titleist Golf Balls; $1000 OneCall.com gift certificate; surprisingly, the Porsche Cayman S is also of great value; $2500 ePlatinum Travel gift certificate; and the always popular concierge service. The bulk of these items have been calculated to be the best ways to get value from your FPPs. By taking the bonuses from these options you can earn money equivalent to a PokerStars Rakeback deal, even though they do not offer a traditional alternative.
Items you should avoid are: $50 cash bonus; Laptops, including the Sony Vaio and the Macbook Air; Nintendo Wii; and the Sony portable DVD player. None of these items offer good enough value to warrant getting them from the PokerStars VIP store.
The folks at PokerStars sure seem to know what they are doing when it comes to VIP programs. It’s undoubtedly the best mac poker sites loyalty system there is. FPPs, VPPs, the VIP store and the drive to play all come together in tremendous synergy making playing on the site a very fulfilling and rewarding experience. It should give you motivation to cope with the harder sides of poker which can have the unintended consequence of honestly improving your game which which is borderline miraculous coming from just a VIP program. To say that it's hundreds of times better than competitor's offerings is truly remarkable. Commence the grind as soon as possible to collect your piece of the pie.
01/25/2011
Poker Stars.com Frequent Player Points
12/22/2010
Poker Stars VIP Club
One of the most important reasons to play on PokerStars is its VIP Program, which makes it very worth of your while to play some online poker at PokerStars. Even in the absence of real rakeback, getting some hands in on PokerStars will net you VIP Player points, which will get you an entrance in one of the best online poker loyalty programs that you will find in all of online poker! What is more, just make a comparison with other rakeback and loyalty programs and you will come to the conclusion entirely on your own that you will be getting a ton of additional benefits in this one if you do put up with a moderate volume of playing.
It goes like this. Each individual player on PokerStars.com starts out as a BronzeStar, which is the default VIP level. Play some hands and tourneys on Poker Stars and you will be generating the aforementioned VIP Player Points. Once you generate enough rake you will have advanced in VIP level. Some VIP levels are monthly, meaning that they will have to be renewed each month for an additional month of membership. Others are yearly, and will remain in place until the next February, and to extend them beyond that you need to accumulate a certain amount of VPP each month thereafter. As you reach the higher VIP levels, the faster you will be collecting FPPs and the more things will be available to you in the VIP store, such as bigger bonuses etc.
Now we will be going deep into the bowels of what is possibly the best us poker sites loyalty program you can find online today!
Before we do that though, let us give you some of the prime details. Playing real money games on the PokerStars Download, whether cash games or tournaments, will net you VIP Player Points. How high you get in the VIP club is related to how many VPPs you accrue over either a calendar month or a calendar year. Earning VPPs will grant you Frequent Player points at a rate which is determined by your multiplier, which changes depending on your current VIP level. FPP's are the cornerstone of the Poker Stars VIP Store; they can be used to purchase a variety of stuff ranging from Teddy Bears to an old fashioned box of chocolates to replenishable bonuses and even the car of your dreams. You will also be able to directly buy your way into land based events and also WCOOP and SCOOP type events using FPP's.
Unleashing VPPs is done in the following manner: 5.5 VPPs per dollar and 8 VPPs spent for every Euro in tournament fees, while for cash games it depends how many people were dealt in for the hand. In games which have 8 or more seats, you would collect 6 VPPs per dollar raked, and 8.5 VPP per Euro raked, with the ceiling being USD3 or 3 Euro. In cash games with an amount of seats that is under 7 or exactly 8, we will be getting as an amount of 5.5VPP for every dollar raked and 85VPP/€. The amount of VPPs awarded will then be dived between all the players who got dealt cards during the hand.
First up is BronzeStar, which is the level at which every players starts out. Playing at this level will net you 1 Frequent Player point for each individual VIP Player Point you earn. Most of the really good stuff will be either unlocked or prohibitively expensive FPP-wise in the VIP store while playing at this level, but you can still spend your FPPs on Poker Books, clothing items and various poker accessories such as branded playing cards, card protectors etc.
The following step up the PokerStars VIP Club Ladder is the SilverStar level. This level is attained by accumulating 750 VPPs in one calendar month. This level is also marked by the FPP multiplier in action, which entails that you will be earning FPPs at a faster rate than the VPPs. BronzeStar player collect FPPs at a 1:1 rate with VPPs: at SilverStar you will now earn FPPs 50% as fast, which means that you will be getting 1.5 FPPs for every 1 VPP you generate. SilverStar specific items include a $50 bonus which costs 5000 FPPs and takes 350 VPPs to clear, a ton of branded clothing accessories and a large selection of electronic equipment and gift certificates for a large selection of stores around the globe, and all of this is on top of the things you had access to as a BronzeStar.
Next up is GoldStar. Reaching this VIP level is done by reaching the 3,000 VPP milestone in a month. Benefits you can expect for being a GoldStar include a 2x FPP multiplier, which basically means you will be earning twice as many FPPs as VPPs. You will have access to every item in the store that are exclusive to lower VIP levels, but there will also be items available that are specific to the GoldStar level, which include a Deluxe 500 piece poker chip set and $320 and $530 buy-ins for online tourneys. You will also be able to buy a few Poker Stars money clips, which are very useful aside from looking good.
And next up we have the final monthly VIP level, which is PlatinumStar. You will have to earn about 7,500 VPPs in any given calendar month to reach this. Arguably the best benefit available to PlatinumStars is the 2.5x multiplier which makes it very easy to generate enough FPPs to buy everything in the store, and you will get access to a host of new things in the VIP store, as pretty much every non-cash item is unlocked. As before, every single item available for the lower VIP levels plus a few PlatinumStar goodies, which include: large cash bonuses up to $650 and a variety of big screen TVs. Generating FPPs to buy things in the store becomes incredibly easy at this level: meeting the requirements to maintain your level means that you will be earning at least 20,000 or so FPPs each and every single month.
The next VIP level is Supernova. Awarded on a yearly basis, to reach Supernova level requires you to amass at least 100K VPP's during a 12 month period, starting January and ending in December (the real definition of one year:)). Every single PokerStars Marketing Code in the PokerStars VIP store will be available to Supernovas, all the way up to an extra juicy $4000 bonus. The picture should be clear to you as the amount of money you can warn while you are a Supernova on PS.
And the biggest item of all, the Porsche Cayman S, becomes available to users of this level, but to get it you will have to spend 3,000,000 FPPs, so getting it while being purely a Supernova will be quite a stretch. If you ever want to reach this incredible status, make sure you brush up with PokerStars’ poker video content to get your game ready for the challenge.
Supernova also makes you eligible for the very awesome PS concierge service. To use it you would have to simply buy something with a total value greater than $500 and then mail the receipts to PokerStars, and get the money back in your account in exchange for FPPs. The amount of FPPs required will obviously vary depending on what you bought, but you can get in contact with the extra super PS CS and any doubts and curiosities you may have had would be cleared.
But wait, there is more. If you want to get the ultimate in rewards, you should definitely try to reach the Supernova Elite VIP Level. It's the ultimate VIP player level on PS and requires 1,000,000 VPPs to reach, and will unlock every single thing you can get in the VIP Store. It is also a yearly VIP level meaning it is valid until the next February. Basically, you just reached the top of the mountain if you attain Supernova Elite.
This level awards you 5 FPPs for every single VPP you earn, which entails a 5x multiplier is in effect. On the road to reach Supernova Elite, thankfully, Poker Stars has implemented a whole host of cash bonuses which can be purchased and will be deposited immediately in your account for every 100,000 VPP milestone you reach until Supernova Elite. The bonuses you will encounter along the way on your road to SNE will amount to very close to 100K USD. As you can see, it is a very lucrative affair to reach Supernova Elite.
every discrete VIP level also has access to Daily, Weekly and Monthly VIP tourneys for which you would have to buy-in using FPPs; check the website or the PokerStars client for more details. Also, while climbing the VIP ladder, PS will also be offering a large amount of milestone bonuses that reward you for reaching various amounts of yearly VPPs. Further details are available on the site.
The PokerStars VIP program is considered by many to have the best mac poker sites loyalty service. Playing on PokerStars is a very lucrative thing to do, and the more you play the more money you will be making. Also, the motivation you get when you reach the next VIP level should not be overlooked, as this will keep your mind steady in the most trying of times. But now that you know all this, and know for certain just how lucrative playing poker on PokerStars is, what are you waiting for? If you start playing today you will still be able to make PlatinumStar this month, with the sky being your only limit!
11/15/2010
PokerStars Videos
Young poker players may not realize poker has been around for hundreds of years. Before 2003, only an elite group of players were good enough to call themselves "poker professionals". The most famous poker variant, Texas Hold 'Em, was introduced to Las Vegas in the late 1960s. It didn't take long for Texas Hold 'Em to draw the attention of poker professionals and amateur players alike. Seasoned veterans discussed basic poker strategy amongst each other but never with outsiders. That all changed in 1979 when Doyle Brunson unleashed pages of poker secrets in his book titled Super System. After Texas Dolly's book, more players saw an opportunity and penned their own books. The primary way for players to attain poker knowledge was through the pages of poker books.
The Internet changed poker forever. Money Poker Sites started in 1998 but did not take off until Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event at the 2003 World Series of Poker. Moneymaker made it to the main event via a $39 satellite tournament on the download PokerStars client. Those who watched the 2003 World Series of Poker believed they too could make serious money by playing No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. The Moneymaker effect coupled with effective promotions from poker rooms led players to online poker. Players registered at online poker rooms such as Ladbrokes and began raking in the cash. The addition of poker flash clients brought online poker to an even wider audience.
With thousands of novice players entering the poker arena, the games were rather soft. There were only a few consistent winners while others lit money on fire due to their poor play. Frustrated hobbyists invested in poker publications and began to gain an advantage on download free poker sites. On the other hand, some players began turning towards each other in hopes reviewing hands could improve their game. Poker forums, like FlopTurnRiver.com, were created as a place to analyze poker hands, strategies, and hold poker discussion. As time passed, more amateurs turned to poker forums.
As computers got better and Internet speeds got faster, people thought up better ways to present poker theory. What were they? Dynamic and interactive poker videos. Poker videos are a fresh medium to instill knowledge in green poker players. In general, poker videos are produced by proven players within poker community. There are a few varieties of poker video content. Poker lectures can be prepared via video as a series of slides while the creator of the video elaborates on the slides. Players can record poker videos of them playing an actual session. With session sweats, the viewer can see hands an expert player has already played. While the video is being recorded and the action is fierce, the expert narrates his thought process and why he or she chooses to make a certain decision. One more sweat session is a talented player going over a session recorded by a weaker player. This process forces players to view holes in their game. Lastly, in hand history review videos, a successful player may review hands they played or hands others have played and convey their opinions.
Watching poker videos is currently the most popular way to improve poker play. Most of the best euro poker sites have them. It is more practical than trying to read a lame poker book since it replicates a dynamic environment not found on the stale pages of a book. Also, unlike books, poker videos are updated quite frequently. Players can learn from the best players on the internet simply by checking out recent videos. Has your copy of Super System magically updated to teach you about the tougher games? We didn't think so. Lastly, poker videos are made on different disciplines of the game that poker books do not have. Relying solely on books is a good way to risk your poker deposit. With so many winning players nowadays, thousands of poker videos are out there and being watched by the new players. There are hundreds of instructors which means intriguing angles on situations. After watching these videos, a player will develop a deeper understanding of poker strategy and win more money.
Put down that old book! The best place to start one's poker journey is a poker forum like FlopTurnriver.com. There are a ton of veteran players that are available to weigh in on winning at top texas holdem sites. For example, nutsinho is one of the best players to grace FlopTurnRiver's 6-max forum and is one of the biggest winners at PokerStars today. Besides great forums, there are tons of free poker videos available at FlopTurnRiver. They cover subjects from ring games to Sit and Gos and from full tables to shorthanded play. Viewing them is guaranteed to improve one's poker game much faster than reading a book. Besides the videos, if there are any questions that arise about a certain poker video you watched, a friendly poker forum that will be happy to assist you is right there.
10/22/2010
PokerStars Big Game Week 7
Following a short break to recharge its batteries, the Poker Stars Big Game was back again for 7th week of TV poker magic. A quintet of the game’s best players arrived with hundreds of thousands of dollars in their wallets to play against a Loose Cannon who pitched up with nothing at all. This PokerStars Download qualifier is given $100k to play with and is allowed to keep any winnings he makes on that stack. If he ends the week in the black he has the choice of taking his winnings home or coming back to play again.
The amateur player making his bow this week was Russell Harlow from Connecticut. The bakery truck driver works the graveyard shift, delivering all manner of delicious bready goods in the dead of night. He also plays a lot of PC and Mac Poker online. Clearly a big win on the Big Game would make a huge difference to his circumstances. Back home he and his wife have three lively kids to take care of. Going into the contest, Mr. Harlow seemed upbeat. He confessed to having a specific target amount. If he were to finish above $100k without hitting that mysterious target, he would come back again and have another shot at reaching it, rather than retreating back to the cash games at top texas holdem sites.
Russell was going to have his work cut out for him. Up, as he was, against some of the finest minds in the game. Representatives from the most popular us friendly poker sites were out in force. Isaac Haxton, Jason Mercier, and Antonio Esfandiari were at the table, along with two famous loudmouths Phil Hellmuth and Tony G. And so it proved, going into the final episode, with the Loose Cannon still down $7,000. He needed to claw his way back into the black in just 30 hands. Anything he’d learnt watching PokerStars poker videos was going to come in handy now.
2009 Bluff Player of the Year, Jason Mercier had been running over the table. He had more than $100k over his nearest opponent. With Russell struggling to get into the black, Jason took a back seat and waited for his chance to pick off some loose play. Jason is a member of the PokerStars Bonus Code sponsored team. Hogging centre stage was, unsurprisingly, Phil Hellmuth. He took some more cash of the Loose Cannon, easily picking off a bluff by rivering a full house. That left Harlow down over $40k, with only 15 hands left
With only 5 hands to go, a big hand gave the Loose Cannon a glimmer of hope. Holding KQ, he made a raise preflop and saw Phil Hellmuth come of over the top. The duo saw a flop of K-5-K fell. A few hands earlier, Phil had been agonizing over whether to call an all-in bet from the loose cannon with a just a flush draw. He took almost 15 minutes to make the decision, prompting Tony G to berate him from the sidelines. This time he wasn’t about to wait around and pushed all-in with just A-high. It was a snap call for Russell, who dodged Phil’s few outs and racked in a big pot. Phil would have been dying for some PokerStars Rakeback after that hand.
That win left Russell with just over $100k. He now had a decision to make about whether to take his profits home or come back for more. Russell decided that he hadn’t won enough yet and opted to return to the Loose Cannon seat for another week.
PokerStars is one of the world’s best online poker sites and you can qualify now for future episodes of the Big Game by playing in one of their free qualification tournaments.
At the end of Week 7, the winners and losers were:
Jason Mercier (+ $150,800)
Ike Haxton (+ $33,600)
Tony G (+ $20,200)
Russell Harlow (+ $16,400)
Phil Hellmuth (- $89,300)
Antonio Esfandiari (- $131,700)
10/07/2010
PokerStars Rakeback
A great way to boost your bankroll while playing at money poker sites is through rakeback. For the most part, each online card room will offer rakeback pay-outs on a weekly/monthly basis while others will use VIP systems to reward their loyal members. The PokerStars Download, along with their VIP store and great customer service has the best VIP program found online today. Their VIP program is based on VIP Player Points commonly referred to as VPPs. As players play in real money cash games, tournaments, or SNGs they will begin amassing VPPs which can be used to purchase bonuses, tournament tickets, electronics, and other prizes. By purchasing bonuses players can turn the VIP system into a PokerStars rakeback program.
VPPs are automatically awarded to players based on the amount of rake paid in a cash game pot or the fees paid in SNGs and tournaments on both the PC and Mac Poker clients. In tournaments or SNGs players will receive 5.5 VPPs for every $1 in fees they pay. For example, a $20+$2 SNG will yield a player 11 VPPs while a $5+.50 will pay out 2.75 VPPs to those involved. Determining points in cash games is tougher as VPPs are distributed based on the number of seats at the table, the number of players at the table, and the amount raked from the pot. From there your VPPs will be converted into Frequent Player Points (FPPs) based on your VIP Level. As you climb the VIP ladder you will begin earning more FPPs per VPP.
PokerStars has a handful of VIP Levels including BronzeStar, SilverStar, GoldStar, PlatinumStar, Supernova, and Supernova Elite. Those new to PokerStars will start off as a BronzeStar and work their way up through the system based on both monthly and yearly VPPs earned. Those at higher VIP Levels will be able to receive a better PokerStars rakeback percentage. For example, SilverStar players might expect anywhere from 8% to 26% rakeback while PlatinumStar members should be able to receive 17% to 46% depending on the games and stakes they play. Try to avoid the temptation of purchasing one of the smaller VIP bonuses. Instead, new players should make sure to use the PokerStars bonus code to get a 100% up to $600 initial deposit bonus. Clearing the $600 deposit bonus will increase your PokerStars rakeback and help you boost your bankroll in a hurry.
The reason your PokerStars rakeback will be higher if you wait until you reach the PlatinumStar level is because you will earn more FPPs per VPP and the bonuses available with PokerStars Marketing Codes will be bigger. Players at the GoldStar level can purchase up to a $300 VIP bonus (for 25,000 FPPs), PlatinumStar members can buy a $650 bonus (50,000 FPPs) and Supernova members can earn bonuses in excess of $3,000 for just 50,000 FPPs. Once at the Supernova level you will earn 25% of more rakeback, the kind of figure you’d expect from the Top Texas Holdem Sites. If players work the system correctly they could earn even more as the Supernova Elite Level pays up to $150,000 in bonuses through out the year. These members will earn more than 50% rakeback as well as many other prizes and perks.
The one problem with the PokerStars rakeback system is you will have to clear the VIP bonuses. In order to turn the bonus into real money players will have to earn a certain number of VPPs. This is what makes other us poker rooms a bit more appealing in the rakeback race. However, players should factor in the softness and variety of games at PokerStars as well as a customer service group which is second to none. As long as players are willing to be patient and wait until they reach at least the GoldStar Level they should be able to match the rakeback percentages available at other major poker sites. Make sure you use the PokerStars bonus code which will help in your initial stages at PokerStars.
Players can find all pertinent information by clicking on the “cashier” section in the PokerStars Lobby. Once there you can view your VIP Status, take a look at the VIP Store, and check up on any pending bonuses. If you have any questions about your VIP status feel free to contact PokerStars support.
¡Aprende con los profesionales! ¿Qué esperas? Descargar PokerStars, haz clic aquí.
09/21/2010
PokerStars Big Game Week 6
Sitting quietly in the midst of all this turmoil was Andre Capella, the inappropriately named Loose Cannon from Greenville, Tennessee. He proved to be a very tight player who wasn’t in the habit of creating exciting pots. Thankfully he only last a total of 88 hands. Like all Loose Cannons, he qualified by winning a free tournament on the PokerStars Download. The 76 year old did put up a fight in the early going, but the Mr Hellmuth soon put a stop to that. Holding J-J against the poker brat’s J-8, he saw a blank flop, followed by runner-runner eights. Had Phil been the recipient of such a beat, the whole studio would have erupted, but he was perfectly happy to be raking the chips. Perhaps the Poker Brat needs to spend more time with a hand converter.
Sadly Capella did not have the game to build his way back up from this setback. In his final hand, he once again got a bad slice of luck, this time against Dani Stern. He needed some cold hard poker tells to help him out, but they weren’t forthcoming. His K-Q hit top pair on a board of K-6-4, as did Stern with K-10. His fate was sealed by a 10 on the turn and an all-in call, which resulted in Stern collected the entirety of Capella’s stack. They ran it twice but both times the Loose Cannon missed his outs. He’ll was sent on his way, back to grinding PokerStars Bonus Code offers.
Dani Stern was the big stack after all was said and done in Week 6, to the consternation of Phil Hellmuth. Phil couldn’t handle losing a pot after having the best of it early on and began running his mouth in riveting fashion. A veteran of US friendly poker sites chat wars, Dani wasn’t one to take it lying down and began firing back with both barrels. It didn’t last for the whole session, with Hellmuth offer to buy Stern a conciliatory bottle of Dom Perignon. As the week was winding down, Big Game host Amanda Leatherman brought on a surprise bottle of the fine champagne for Hellmuth to award to Stern as an apology. As the credits rolled, the pair appeared to be patching up their differences.
Proprietor of Daniels Room Poker and PokerStars talisman Daniel Negreanu was also on hand to stoke the fires of Hellmuth’s tilt. At one point Phil asked Daniel, “What have you ever done in holdem?” with Daniel wasting no time in replying, “not that much.” It seems fair to say that the four time bracelet winner has more claim that most to hold ‘em prowess.
Jump online now with your PokerStars Rakeback deal in hand and you could fill the Loose Cannon spot at the next Poker Stars Big Game.
The winners are losers in Week 6 where:
Dani Stern (+ $185,000)
Eugene Katchalow (+ $56,200)
Jason Mercier (+ $44,000)
Daniel Negreanu (- $19,300)
Prahlad Friedman (- $67,800)
Phil Hellmuth (- $100,000)
Andre Capella (- $100,000)
09/03/2010
PokerStars Big Game Week 5
Making money in the PokerStars Big Game is no cakewalk, a fact Loose Cannon Aaron Jensen is now acutely aware of. Hailing from Seattle, Aaron was had more poker experience than all previous Loose Cannons, but even with his extra skills, he couldn’t leave the game in the black. He’ll have to go back to grinding a PokerStars Bonus Code.
As with all the Loose Cannons, Jensen had made his way to the table by winning a series of freerolls on the PokerStars Download. Once he’d proved his skills online, he cut together an audition tape and sent it off to PokerStars HQ. Successfully vetted, he was handed a $100k stack and chips and a seat with the pros. Any profits on that initial buy-in are his to keep, but a gaggle of the game’s top minds were on hand to help prevent that eventuality. This is tougher than any game he’s ever likely to play at money poker sites.
Jensen was hoping to fund his impending wedding with Big Game winnings, but his dream ended early. After having his tricky play picked off by Scott Seiver, who spotted some poker tells and called him with Ace-high, Daniel Negreanu dealt the killer blow. Following some pre-flop raising, the flop of K-9-7 prompted an all in from Jensen with nothing more than A-Q. The Daniels Room Poker proprietor thought for a moment and made a tough call with J-9 middle pair. No crazy cards came on the turn or river, leaving Jensen to pack his bags and return home dejected.
Aaron Jensen wasn’t the only player to leave the table during Week 5. Well known wildman Tony G began the week in high spirits, but quickly had his dreams crushed. In one particularly gruesome hand he lost a $192,000 against Vanessa Roussou and her A-A. Although his 6-5 hit two pair on the flop, an Ace on the turn put him way behind. A card that gave both players a full house on the river was the worst thing he could have asked for. The winnings were shipped to the PokerStars Marketing Codes pro. With no money to hand Tony was forced to ask Daniel Negreanu for a $100,000 loan. Even with that extra boost, he couldn’t stop the leak and he was soon back to $0 and on his way home. He was replaced by the equally talkative Phil Laak, who joined a table which also included Lex Veldhuis.
Hand Converter analysis showed that the most impressive, aggressive, and successful player was Scott Seiver. He threw chips into almost every pot and usually came out ahead. One particular hand had Daniel Negreanu confused for around 10 minutes as he went through his thought processes in detail for the camera. In the end Danny made the right fold, managing to figure out that his 6-6 was behind to the two pair Seiver quietly held. Impressively, Phil Laak joined host Amanda Leatherman on the couch during Negreanu’s quandary to reveal that he had correctly guessed Seiver’s two cards. Scott is a well known player on us poker rooms, so it was no surprise to see him doing well.
The winners and losers at the end of the week were as follows:
Scott Seiver (+ $251,200)
Vanessa Rousso (+ $131,500)
Todd Brunson (+ $47,300)
Phil Laak (+ $40,800)
Daniel Negreanu (- $4,600)
Lex Veldhuis (- $87,900)
Aaron Jensen (- $100,00)
Tony G (- $278,600)
08/02/2010
PokerStars Big Game Week 3
The Born behind the Iron Curtain, Nadya now lives in Illinois with her teenage son. The single mother is a regular pokerstars download tournament player who hopes to make the move into full time play. She was also playing on behalf of her mother, who passed away unexpectedly, less that two years ago.
It was going to take heaps of inspiration to squeeze any money out this encounter. Her cohorts were the cream of the crop at top texas hold’em sites. Every loose cannon starts with $100,000 free and can keep any profits they make from that stack. If they manage to finish in the black, they are given the option to walk away with their winnings or come back for the next week to fight for more. The Loose Cannons have only 150 hands to try and make an impact. They have the chance to generate the kinds of profits they could never hope to pick up from the same number of hands with a pokerstars bonus.
Nadya had to contend with some of the best in the game at her table. Barry Greenstein is a cash game legend who continues to terrorise the tables in Bobby’s Room. MTT Poker sensation Jason Mercier sat alongside him, just next to master tactician Justin Bonomo. Daniel Alaei filled the 4th seat, with the World Champion Joe Cada bringing a portion of his million dollar prize to the table in the final chair. You can find these players regularly swapping huge pots in Daniels Room Poker on PokerStars.
Nadya wanted to do more than make money, she was determined to best the $50,300 total generated by the best Loose Cannon to date. If she was able to beat that figure, she’d be in line for a PokerStars NAPT Passport, which allows free entry to all of next year’s North American Poker Tour main events. These events will feature top pros and thousands of qualifiers from us poker rooms. Nadya got off to a dynamic start, showing no fear of her illustrious opponents. She took a $47,000 pot off Jason Mercier, before getting cold decked against Joe Cada - JJ against QQ. Even with some of Nadya’s money, Cada couldn’t win many other pots. With only half the game complete, he decided to call it quits and left the table dejected. He looked like he was headed back to make another poker deposit to refine his game. This made space for Joe Cassidy to take a seat. Jason Mercier also had a tough time, losing his whole stack to Justin Bonomo.
It looked bad for Nadya after the first episode, sitting $20k in the hole. Her biggest win of the week came against Cassidy, with her A-2 two-pair beating out his A-J top-pair. There were only two hands remaining for Nadya to put herself onto the top of the Loose Cannon leaderboards. The poker gods dealt her A-K suited and she used it wisely, brining her total winnings to $63,000. With enough to give her a comfortable spot at the top of the leaderboard, she decided to take her winnings and return home to her son.
For your own chance to compete in the Big Game and grab a whole host of PokerStars Marketing Codes, sign up and get playing now.
PokerStars Big Game Week 3 Results:
Justin Bonomo (+$227,700)
Nadya Magnus (+$63,600)
Barry Greenstein (+$32,600)
Daniel Alaei (-$58,700)
Jason Mercier (-$77,400)
Joe Cada (-$86,400)
Joe Cassidy (-$101,000)
07/16/2010
PokerStars Big Game Week 2
One seat remains open for the Loose Cannon, a PokerStars Download qualifier who has had his or her audition tape approved. The man for the job in Week Two was mid-level pro William Davis. All of the Loose Cannons are given $100,000 to play in a $200/$400 Pot Limit Hold ‘em game, with $100 ante on the Button. If the qualifier manages to pick up any profit over their starting stack it is theirs to keep.
The players the Loose Cannon had to battle against were the very best in the business. It’s not like grinding through a PokerStars Marketing Code. Davis had to contend with PokerStars poster boy Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, David Williams, Abe Mosseri, and Jason Calacanis. The Loose Cannon trained his muzzle on Negreanu in particular. His wife doesn’t like the way Daniel chatters at the table and tasked her husband with taking all of his money.
A leading figure in the top texas hold em hands sites, Daniel didn’t keep quiet as Week 2 got underway, but he wasn’t such a dominant force in many pots. Doyle Brunson was the real winner early on. No one doubts that the Godfather of Poker is one of the greatest ever players, but even the most rank amateur would have done well with the stream of great hands he was dealt. In just the first 30 hands, he hit KK, QQ, QQ, 77, and then KK again. If anyone got that run of hands on free poker no downloads sites, there would be cries of “rigged!” One seat to his left, David Williams was also raking in his fair share of pots. The former Bodog player has recently joined the PokerStars Bonus Code sponsored team.
Sadly, the former Magic the Gathering player would come unstuck towards the end of the session, in a huge pot that also involved Davis and Negreanu. As the last 30 hands of the 150 limit began, the Loose Cannon was still down over $20,000. Not the kind of money you can make up with a pokerstars bonus deal. With little time remaining, he’d have to start playing loose and aggressive if wanted to take home any money. With just 10s-4s, he got himself involved in a pot against the Negreanu’s Q-Q and Williams’ KK. Luckilly for him, the Ks-Js-3s flop was the perfect fit and left him in a comfortable lead. It looked like Davis might finally get the chance to bust Negreanu, who called his all-in bet along with Williams. It wasn’t to be, as the turn laid another spade, giving Daniel the third-nut flush with his Queen of spades. Williams had very little hope left and could all but kiss goodbye to his $100,000. That left Daniel reaping the profits, with both William Davis and David Williams leaving the table empty handed. If you want a chance at busting Negreanu, you can find him regularly playing at the highest stakes in Daniels Room Poker on PokerStars.
In the final reckoning, Daniel had made a profit of over $134,000. The next closest were Doyle Brunson, who was up around $80,000 and Abe Mosseri who accrued an extra $40,100. Jason Calacanis finished down $65,200 and the two remaining players donated their full $100k to the table.
If you want a seat at the Big Game, download PC or Mac Poker Stars client now and take part in one of the qualification
06/25/2010
PokerStars Big Game
If you want to sit down at this stacked table, you’ll need to find a minimum of $100,000 from somewhere. Even the lucrative PokerStars bonus code won’t pay out that kind of money. Thankfully, PokerStars have decided to give the aspiring online player a little helping hand. The Loose Cannons who win their way to the table are permitted to keep all of the profit they make from their starting stack. So if you really think you’ve got what it takes to get in the ring with the toughest players in the world and pick off poker tells, PokerStars will put their money where your mouth is.
To get involved, potential players need to run through a series of online qualifiers. Log on to PokerStars and put down your name for one of the free daily qualifiers. If you finish inside the top 300 of this MTT Poker tournament, you’ll be eligible for the Round 2 event on the following Saturday. End your run in the top 1000 of that event and you’re through to the Final Round on Sunday. Finishing in the top 200 of that contest won’t immediately get you on TV, but it does make you eligible to send in an audition tape. You need to be on top form to impress the head honchos at one of the top texas holdem sites in the world. The most entertaining of these will be put into the Loose Cannon pool and selected to fill a seat at the table. The luckiest and most skilled players will be able to last a whole week in the jungle, but there are always more Loose Cannons snapping at their heels. Loose Cannon No. 1 was Ernest Wiggins, who set the bar high with a $50,000 profit. You can keep up to date with the results of all the Loose Cannons on various poker wordpress blogs and news sites across the internet.
The pros who will grace the PokerStars Big Game table are the very cream of the crop when it comes to playing texas hold em hands. The figurehead for this series is Daniel Negreanu, who sits alongside The Godfather of Poker, Doyle Brunson. Throughout the series, they will be joined by Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Laak, Isaac Haxton, and many more. You can even keep on top of just how well your favorite pros are faring by checking out all the facts and figures on the Big Game website. Huge numbers of stats are being collected, including percentage of hands won, poker range, and aggression levels.
