Rewards for Tournament Players
As the name of the promotion suggests, Freeroll Frenzy is mainly aimed at tournament players. There are a number of benefits, including a 33% Merit Point boost on your tournament entry fees and 360 freerolls ñ one every two hours for the month ñ with prizes ranging from $25 to $100.

The freerolls also serve as qualifiers for a series of $10,000 guaranteed prize pool tournaments. 500 free seats will be reserved in each tournament for the 500 players who performed the best in the freerolls the previous week. In addition to the freeroll route, Sit and Go players can also win their way to a seat in these guaranteed tournaments or players can buy in directly for $10+$1.

Rewards for Cash Game Players
During Freeroll Frenzy, Bet365 is running a Cash Ladder (rake race) for players who play the Premium Tables. Premium Tables are designated in the Bet365 Poker lobby and are exclusive to Bet365 ñ not shared with the other rooms on the iPoker Network.

Bet365 is giving away $10,000 in a series of Cash Ladders during Freeroll Frenzy, and players can win up to $1,000 a week simply by earning the most Merit Points at the Premium Tables.

First Deposit Bonus
Bet365 Poker offers players a first deposit of 200% up to $1000. Use the Bet365 bonus code PBONUS when creating your account, and remember ñ the bonus is only good for your first deposit, so maximize it with the maximum deposit if possible.

Freeroll Frenzy is running now ñ Sign Up At Bet365 >>>

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PokerStars has guaranteed that there will be a minimum of $10M up for grabs throughout the 50 events at the TCOOP. All of the tournaments will have a turbo blind structure including hyper turbo events and 3x turbo events. If you love the fact paced action that turbo tournaments provide you’ll love this new tournament series. The entire schedule has been posted on the PokerStars website and you can head over there to view the entire schedule although we’ve posted a few of the highlights below.

• Event #1 – $22 NL Holdem 6-Max $200K Guaranteed – Jan 19^th 12:00 ET
• Event #7 – $22 NL Holdem Rebuys $400K Guaranteed – Jan 20^th 12:00 ET
• Event #19 – $215 Sunday Supersonic (Hyper Turbo) $300K Guaranteed – Jan 22^nd 18:30 ET
• Event #25 – $215 NL Holdem $500K Guaranteed – Jan 24^th 14:00 ET
• Event #46 – $215 NL Holdem $750K Guaranteed – Jan 29^th 11:00 ET
• Event #47 – $2100 NL Holdem High Roller $500K Guaranteed – Jan 29^th 12:00 ET
• Event #49 – $700 NL Holdem Main Event $1.5M Guaranteed – Jan 29^th 15:30 ET

PokerStars TCOOP Satellites

Satellites are running right now at PokerStars to many of the top TCOOP tournaments. You can view a live schedule of the satellite tournaments on the PokerStars site or in the PokerStars lobby under the “TCOOP” tab. Event buy-ins for the TCOOP range from $5 to $2100, so everyone will be able to play in some of the tournaments if they want.

The more expensive tournaments have satellites running right now and players will have the opportunity to earn seats into the TCOOP events for a fraction of the price. You can also enter FPP satellites right now where you’ll have the chance to earn a seat into some of the TCOOP events without risking any cash at all.

PokerStars will be running Holdem, Omaha, HORSE and several other tournaments during the TCOOP. Most of the tournaments are Holdem, but there are a few tournaments where you’ll be able to play other poker games. Turbo tournament players normally don’t get to play in huge MTT’s, but PokerStars will be changing that with the TCOOP. I’m sure this new series will be a success and I bet that the guaranteed prize money of $10M will be exceeded.

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Although the news blows for US poker players, I guess the good news is that there are so many European poker operators trying to capture the void left by these players by offering superlative poker promotions and bonuses.

Party Poker’s decision to remove buy-in fees for all of their tournaments this summer is a great example of a poker room taking advantage of a bad situation.  The story behind their decision goes something like this 1) Full Tilt Poker lost their eGaming license from Alderney and got shut down.  2) 48 hours after Full Tilt Poker was shut down there was a massive increase in traffic at European based poker rooms.  Party Poker saw the biggest increase, which PokerScout.com showed as a 20% increases in cash game traffic compared with the previous week.  3) Party Poker decided to try and take advantage of all these homeless players by offering free buy-in tournaments.

The aim of the “no buy-in” promotion for Party Poker is that not only can they increase the number of players at their site in the short term, but in the long term these players may stay there.  No one really knows what’s going to happen to Full Tilt Poker right now.  There are rumours that they’re selling a $150 million stake in the company to European investors in order to raise the cash needed to pay US players back; however there are also rumours that Full Tilt Poker is being sued to not releasing US players funds. Thus, it’s kind of hard to see how the world’s former 2^nd largest poker site is going to pan out.  What I do find ironic however is that Party Poker used to be the world’s largest poker room until the UIGEA in 2006.  Full Tilt Poker carried on accepting US players which led to them taking over Party Poker’s dominance.  Now however, the US government has worked against the US market and now it’s Party Poker’s chance to get revenge (and ironically get their own players back).

Party Poker isn’t the only poker room trying to usurp non-US players at poker sites that have been closed down or lose their reputation.  PKR, the world’s top 3D poker site, also offers two fantastic bonuses to new players.  If you use the PKR Bonus Code “Instant” than you’ll receive a free $10 instantly as soon as you make a deposit of $10 or more.  This instant bonus is great for new players with a small bankroll of $10 – $50.

More advanced players with bigger bankrolls however can take advantage of a 100% up to $800 bonus at PKR.  Starting from a minimum deposit of $10, this bonus is released in increments of $1 for every 225 PKR Points earned in the cash games or tournaments.  The good news is that PKR offers a lengthy 60 day clearing policy for the bonus which gives multi-tablers like me ample time to clear the whole $800.

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The multi-million dollar pound scratch card industry is typically most popular in the UK and Europe where online bingo and lotto type games have prevailed.

When signing up to a scratch card site there are plenty of choices for new players.  In addition to the big gambling operators and bookmakers such as William Hill, Paddy Power and Bet365 Games, there are dozens of new UK scratch card sites such as Top Scratch, Scratch2Cash, Go Scratch, Prime Scratch and more.  Even UK magazines such as OK have launched their own scratch card games and promos to players.

Advantages of Playing Scratch Cards Online

There are a number of reasons why playing scratch games online is so popular among players.  First of all, online scratch card sites such as Top Scratch and 888 Games tend to have much higher payoffs and a chance of winning then offline scratch card games that you’d find at your local newsagent shop.  Where as a typical newsagent scratch card ticket may cost you a couple of quid with a grand prize of £100 up to £1,000, most online scratch card sites will let you buy tickets from as little as 1p.  Top Scratch’s games all have a 97% payout and you have a 1 in 3 chance of winning.  With prizes won every day by their players worth anything from £1,000 up to £5,000, the fact that you will win 1 in every 3 games makes these sites extremely profitable to play at.

Secondly, scratch card games are extremely easy for new players to understand, play and win.  The most popular themed games such as Deal or No Deal and Monopoly Riches have extremely simple rules which even the most dumbfounded of people would have no problem understanding.  The ability for new players to win in basic scratch card games like this for real money makes them extremely popular.  In no other game online can you win thousands of pounds within a few seconds just by spending 10p or 50p on a ticket.

The great and unique thing about playing scratch cards is that you can play them at any time you like.  All scratch card sites use Java or Flash software which means you can select a game and open it in a new browser to begin playing immediately.  This is really good because unlike bingo sites or poker rooms you don’t have to wait for a specific schedule of games or wait for enough other players to start.  The fact that scratch cards are a luck-based game also make them more popular among beginners because it means you won’t be disadvantaged if you’ve never played before.

Find £5-£10 in Free Scratch Card Bonuses Online!

You can get free sign-up bonuses worth between £5 and £10 at a variety of UK-friendly scratch card sites online.  For example, if you sign up to 888 Games or Top Scratch (one of my favourite games sites with more than 75+ instant win games including scratch cards, lottos, sports games and video slots) you can receive a £5 free bonus.  If you make a deposit here you’ll also get a 100% up to £100 bonus plus the ability to take advantage of weekly bonuses and prizes in the exciting VIP rewards scheme.

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On Friday 15^th April 3 of the internet’s biggest US-friendly poker sites had their domains seized and the owners were indicted by the FBI and US Department of Justice over allegations of illegal money laundering and gambling.

The news has hit US poker players like a pitchfork in to the eyes, with US poker players now squabbling for US-friendly operators to play online poker at.  With PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker respectively making up 30% of total US poker traffic before the indictments, a flurry of players were forced to move to smaller US-friendly operators such as Carbon Poker (Merge network), Bodog and Sportsbook.com.

However, just weeks after the DOJ’s indictments against PokerStars, Full Tilt poker and UB/AB, Sportsbook.com also announced their retraction from the US market.  This meant that new players from the US could no long play at Sportsbook poker.  Sportsbook.com had a 15+ year long reputation and was one of the top poker gambling and online betting sites in the US market.  Their removal really made a huge blow for online poker players.

However, one of the biggest issues for many US poker players who had their accounts seized was when will they get their money back.  PokerStars was the first to process US player withdrawals and give them their money back after negotiating a deal with the DOJ, whist Full Tilt Poker also got round to processing US players funds.  The problem child is UB/AP, which is heavily thought to be bankrupt after their holding company (Casablanca Gaming) recently fired 95% of their employees and is presumed to file for bankruptcy in Norway.

Unfortunately, if you were a former player at UB.com or AbsolutePoker.com and still had money in your account, you may as well forget about it to be honest.  These poker rooms are going under.  In addition to poor management and ownership, UB.com was also hit the hardest after being forced to move out of the US market since around 50% of their traffic was US.  2 weeks after the FBI seized the domains of the 3 largest US poker sites, UB.com had suffered the biggest traffic drop of 78%, compared to PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker which only lost around 30%-40% of their traffic.

The biggest gainers from the recent indictments against US poker sites from the DOJ have been all of those operators based in Europe.  Bwin.Party’s traffic has increased 30% 3 weeks after the dust has settled, while 888 Poker is up 5% and the iPoker network (Titan Poker et al) is also up around 8%.

Shares of Bwin.Party increased 15% since the latest news, while 888 Holding increased 5% and Playtech increased 3%.  Investors are obviously assuming that poker players, affiliates and professional players are likely to play at safer sites rather than stick around the US operators.

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This style of heads up is one that has a great deal of variance and one that is more risky than a turbo heads up. In this style of heads up you start off with 1/3^rd of the stack, or something like 500 chips, and there is a faster blinds structure. You will start with 500 chips and 10/20 chip blinds on a site like full tilt. The best way to play these heads ups is with a great deal of patience. Often, one hand will come along and win the match for you. If you start getting too reckless with your stack throwing chips in pots you shouldn’t be, then this one hand, if it does come along, will not get you the victory.

The play before the flop from the button should be either fold, limp, or raise. The majority of the hands you play should be limped from the button. The reason you should limp in tournament is so that your opponent has no clue what your hand is and you are in position after the flop. Most players at the lower limits will raise and then fold after their opponent shoves in. This play of raising with weak hands isn’t profitable at all. You will be bleeding chips away and if they decide to trap you; they will have more of your chips at the end of the hand. Limping in from the button does allow you to control the betting after the flop and the streets to follow. It also lets you win pots with less risk of losing chips. If you do happen to hit the flop you are now in position and can manipulate your opponent accordingly.

If you happen to limp in and your opponent checks the flop and the turn to you; regardless of your hand, you should be able to bet and win the pot on the turn. There are certain situations as the blinds go up where you can pick up pots and chips. When you pick up a big pair you want to get the most value for your hand.

If you are in the big blind you should be trapping your opponent with big hands. The idea is to get the most in every spot you can before and after the flop. Just calling sometimes can be the best play or making a small raise. If you start to shove all-in, the variance can get higher and you will have to get lucky in spots.

Also, if you just go all-in with big pairs you are losing value for your hand. They will have to get a big hand like yours for them to call and this is not the case all that often. As the blinds hit the 3^rd or 4^th blind level you will have to start moving in with weaker hands, but the best idea in this style of heads up is to get your opponent to put their chips in with the worst hand, and you with the best hand. If you can manipulate pots for your opponent to shove in weaker then you will win more times than not.

For more poker strategy articles similar to this one you can visit PokerStyles.com.

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When playing a heads up sit and go there are things to take in to account. You can figure these things out in the first couple hands of the heads up most of the time. To start off, with small blinds and both players having deep stacks, you should try to put some pressure on your opponents’ blinds before the flop. This is one thing to do early in a match because you will see how your opponent reacts to pre-flop aggression. If they react by re-raising you then you can be sure to wait for hands later in the match to win it. If they just call; then most of the time you can continuation bet and win the pot on the flop.

The hand ranges to play in a turbo heads up are pretty wide depending on your opponent. The flow of the game should determine what hands you should play in certain situations. When the blinds start to get bigger you should be applying more and more pressure on your opponent whether it be from the button or from the big blind. The hands to play in these spots generally could be two cards above an eight or king or ace high, but they are not limited to these hands. It all depends on the opponent you are playing. You will have to make adjustments depending on your reads.

When the blinds get bigger, for example; 50-100 blinds with 1500 in chips, this is the time to start shoving all-in. This time in a match is the later stage and point of a match where the biggest swing in chip stacks will occur. By this time in the match you know your opponent well; and know what they should be capable of doing given certain opportunities. Your opponent as well as you should be shoving your stack a great deal at this point in the heads up match. There are different plays though besides just going all-in. Limping in with these blinds is something you can do if you feel you are better than your opponent. The reason to limp in is to take the pot on the flop. If you can do this with some success then you should continue to do it. If your opponent starts to shove to your limps then you should start either shoving or just folding before the flop. When you get big hands however you want your opponent to shove in before the flop, so, you should make a minimum raise or a smaller raise before the flop to induce a shove. The time to make raises is when you have hands that you are never folding before the flop. These hands are almost all pairs above fours or fives, and AK, or AQ. With these hands this is when you can make a raise before the flop. To shove with these types of hands loses some value because they can only call with hands like the ones you have. You would have to cooler them to win the pot most of the time.

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Online gambling has taken off in the last decade or so.  Most of the biggest poker and sports betting sites including PokerStars, Sportsbook.com, UB.com and William Hill only launched their online services in 2000 – 2002.

But, from the player’s point of view in terms of usability, features, profits and fun, which is better – online poker or online sports betting?

Online Poker vs Sports Betting Bonuses

To begin with the debate, lets compare the new player bonuses between sportsbooks and online poker rooms.

As you’re probably already aware, poker bonuses are generally much larger than sports betting bonuses for new players since they can be worth on average between $600 and $1100 (UB.com being the biggest poker bonus that I’ve come across).  Compared to sports betting bonuses, which are generally only worth 10% of this, the online poker players get the better bargain.

Which is Easier, Online Poker or Sports Betting?

The main difference between sports betting and online poker is that in the former you’re betting money against the house with fixed odds, where as in poker you’re competing against other players which means the competition is always increasing.

Depending on which poker room you play at, the competition can differ massively.  For example, Bodog is widely regarded as the fishiest poker room.  Now that Bodog Poker has banned the use of live tracking software it has made the room even friendlier to fish.  Overall however, while online poker is becoming increasingly more difficult, sports betting has largely remained the same.

If anything, the increasing number of sportsbooks on the internet has led to better odds and player rewards, meaning that betting online might actually be getting easier!

Mobile Sports Betting vs Mobile Poker

Mobile sports betting is years ahead of mobile poker in terms of playability, choice of mobile sites and volume.

Personally, I don’t believe that mobile poker will ever become very popular since poker is too complicated a game to play on a small screen.  There are too many limitations with regards to multi-tabling, seeing things clearly, making different raise amounts, using a poker HUD etc on the mobile.  Also, Apple’s stance of iPhone Apps has meant that poker sites can’t develop apps that use flash or java technology – hence why Full Tilt Poker’s “Rush Mobile” service isn’t available on the iPhone.

Mobile sports betting on the other hand is growing rapidly with mobile turnover increasing by around 50% per year.  Most sports betting sites offer mobile betting including Betfair, William Hill, Bet365, Sportsbook.com, Bookmaker and BetUS.

Earning Potential – Online Poker vs Sports Betting

I think that profit and earnings potential for pro poker players is where online poker wins the battle of professional gambling.

Pro poker players can easily make over $100,000 per year in addition to winnings from live tournaments and packages.  Even newish poker players can make $10,000 – $20,000 per year in the low stakes games within a few months.

Professional sports handicapping however are a lot more difficult, with huge variance.  Even professional NFL handicappers can only expect a win percentage of 55% at most.

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As the world’s biggest poker site with more than a 3:1 ratio of cash players to their rival site Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars natural offers the most lucrative and exciting VIP Rewards Club.

However at the top of PokerStars VIP ladder is the holy of holies, aka SuperNova Elite.

SuperNova Elite is the highest VIP status that you can earn at PokerStars.  In fact, it is so hard and difficult to achieve this status that many professional poker players make it their life’s ambition to achieve SuperNova Elite status.  In 2010, only around 100 players manage to qualify for SuperNova Elite.

What Makes SuperNova Elite so Special?

It’s a good question – no self-preserving man would spend every single day grinding 20 tables at high stakes just to qualify for a VIP club that didn’t really have great benefits.  But SuperNova Elite isn’t just another VIP club; it’s the most rewarding club status in online poker.

To begin with, all players who qualify for PokerStars Super Nova Elite will receive a guaranteed $100,000 in rakeback (made up through various cash rewards).  This means that as long as you manage to rake up 1,000,000 VIP Player Points (FPPs) in a single year from January 1^st to December 31^st, you’ll receive a guaranteed payout of $100,000.  Win or lose overall in the cash games, you get paid.

Super Nova Elite players also receive a free ticket to the WCOOP Main Event.  The WCOOP Main Event is a high stakes $5,000 buy-in online tournament with a massive $12 million prizepoool.  The Main Event pays 1^st place more than $2 million in cash prizes.  Last year’s WCOOP Main Event received just under 2,500 entrants.  Many of these entrants are top online pros such as Chris Moorman and Joe Sebok, so you’ll also get a chance to play against the best pros online in one of the biggest, most anticipated tournaments.

Other rewards and special promotions that Super Nova Elite status earns players includes exclusive entry into weekly $30,000 GTD tournaments (100 FTP buy-in), Monthly $100,000 Freerolls at the end of each month, cash rewards, discounts on live seats to events including EPT, NAPT, LAPT and APPT tours, and entry to $1 million tournaments every quarter.

You’ll also be able to purchase exclusive Super Nova Elite merchandise in the PokerStars Online Store.

How to Qualify for Super Nova Elite by Playing MTTs

In order to qualify for PokerStars Super Nova Elite you need to earn a minimum of 1 million VPPs (VIP Player Points) within a single year starting from January 1^st.

VPPs can be earned in both cash games, SNGs and MTTs.  You receive 5.5 VPPs per each $1 paid in tournament fees.  For example, if you play a $10 + $1 tournament than you’ll receive 5.5 VPPs.

Earning 1 million VPPs within a year through tournaments is hard, though not impossible.  The major factor stopping most players from achieving this is that you need to be able to afford the mid-high stakes MTTs to be able to earn enough VPPs.

In order to earn 1 million VPPs per year, you need to earn on average 83,500 VPPs per month, or even 21,000 per week.  If we realistically say that you only play 5 days per week (this will obviously include Sundays) than that’s an average of 4,000 VPPs per day give or take a few.

This means spending at least $727 on tournament fees which would amount to registering for $7,000 in tournament buy-ins per day,

So there you go ladies and gentleman.  If you really want to qualify for PokerStars Super Nova Elite playing MTTs than you’re going to need to register for up to $7,000 in tournament buy-ins per day during the course of the year!

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Say you manage to get to the final table of a large field MTT and get into a heads up situation.  It can be a pretty difficult situation to master especially when your stack is only 10BBs deep.

But what if I told about a system that allowed you to play HU in a mathematically un-exploitable way?  Well, introducing…the SAGE system!

(SAGE stands for Sit and Go End Game System).

The SAGE system was introduced in Lee Jones’ ‘Winning Low Limit Holdem’.   It outlines how to play HU poker with less than 10BBs in a mathematically un-exploitable way.  It uses power rankings on the cards that you’re dealt, letting you know when to push/shove.

First, let’s look over the conditions for when the SAGE System can be used:

• Heads Up at the end of a No-Limit Holdem MTT or SNG
• One prize
• Average stack-size is less than 10BBs
• The SB shoves all-in from the button.  We have to make a decision whether to call or fold.

So, what is this SAGE System?

If there are any economists reading this than you should be familiar.  The SAGE system is an “equilibrium strategy” for Game Systems, which means that if either opponent were to deviate from the SAGE strategy their expectation will go down (thus the others would go up).  What this means for you is that no matter whether you’re playing the Dan Harrington or Chris Ferguson, it puts you in a level playing field effectively making it a coin-toss situation (subject to differences in chip stacks).  Thus, it’s a great system for when you’re up against a much better opponent than you.  It brings the odds more into your favour.

The SAGE system ranks each of the possible 169 starting hands in Texas Holdem according to their Power Rankings in Heads Up situations.  AA is the best; 32 off suit is the worst etc…

Optimal Top Percentage and Cutoff Hands

How to interpret the above table:

• The “R” column is the ratio of the short stack to the big blind, after the blinds have been paid. So if the short stack is 10,000 and the big blind is 2,000, R=5.
• The “SB Top%” is the percentage of hands that you should call all-in from the SB.
• The “BB Top%” is the same thing but for BB.
• The “SB Cutoff Hand” and “BB Cutoff Hand” is the worst hand in that criterion.
• “SB Edge” is the expected amount that SB can win, in terms of big blinds, if both players follow this system.

Simplified Version for Live Games

As interesting as these nerdy calculations are, it’s not the sort as practical in a live tournament setting.  SAGE System simplifies the entire process into two steps, computing a Power Index (PI) and then using PI to know when to call.

How to Work Out PI

• Take the “power number” of each card in its rank (e.g. 10 = 10, J = 11, Q = 12, etc..).
• Take the power number for your highest card and double it.
• Add the power number to your lowest card.
• For Pocket Pairs, add 22.
• For suited connectors, add 2.
• The sum is the Power Index of your hand!.

Once you know the PI value of your hand, you can use the SAGE table below to know when to jam an opponent’s shove from SB or BB according to R.  This strategy can be used for any HU situations such as SNGs, MTTs or especially satellite tournaments when there’s only one prize.

The SAGE Table

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