Online Poker Networks Blog

Updated – Wed, May 26

I received an email from PokerTime themselves that says something a bit different than the previous email.

Due to legislative changes in the USA as of June 1st, 2010, PokerTime will no longer be accepting bets from US-based players. All players’ balances in excess of $20 will be cashed out on the 31st of May 2010.

This means that you probably aren’t in danger of having the money in your account frozen. This did happen to me several years ago when some of the online casinos no longer accepted US customers. The poker sites on the list will probably do similar to PokerTime and automatically cash your account out, just be careful that it doesn’t end up costing you.

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Attention USA online poker players! Do you play poker at a Microgaming run online poker site? If so, then you have until June 1st to withdraw your funds from your account before your account will become locked.

The UIGEA or Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act will be taking effect on June 1st and Microgaming has sent out this email to their US customers:

It is with great regret to inform you that Microgaming will be pulling out of USA as from 1st June 2010. XXXXX Poker will no longer be accepting bets from USA as from the provided date. All USA poker accounts we have will be locked and you will not be able to login.

We request that you please withdraw your funds from your poker account before 1st June 2010 since you will not be able to access it.

It was all fun to have you as our loyal customer and we wish you all the best playing at other poker rooms.

Regards
XXXXX Poker

Just in case you are wondering if your poker network is effected take a look at this list of Microgaming online poker sites below:

Of these sites, I’ve only heard of a few of these. The most popular online poker site on this list for US players is probably PokerTime.com.

Once again – If you are from the United States and have money in any one of the listed online poker sites, WITHDRAW YOUR MONEY IMMEDIATELY! You have less then a week to retrieve the money from your account before it is locked for the foreseeable future.

Online poker players want to know that they are playing at the best possible online poker site as well as the world’s largest poker network (so saith PokerStars). They want to feel as if they are getting the best of everything and this is why so many of them choose to play at PokerStars.

This is one of the most popular online poker sites available and it has made an excellent reputation for itself within the online poker scene. From games to promotions, PokerStars has a lot to offer any poker player and it is definitely considered to be one of the best. This is a great poker site for players with all levels of experience; it has something to offer everyone.

One of the biggest things that PokerStars is known for being able to win tournaments and gain entry into the most elite poker tournaments all over the world. This includes the European Poker Tour, as well as the Pacific, Latin American, Australian, Italian, Czech, UK and Ireland, and the North American Poker Tours, not to mention seat entries into the WSOP. You will find a lot of the qualifying tournaments will happen over the weekend, very often on Sundays.

PokerStars has it all and more. Need to know how to play? There are articles to help you with everything from the basics of each game to what the different types of betting limits are all about. Find out the difference between a regular tournament and a sit-n-go tournament and how to approach either of these.

The main two types of poker games that you will want to start off with are the raked games and sit-n-go tournaments. Raked hands are not in a tournament format and are played with real money on each hand. There are generally 6 to 8 players at a table and you will generally want at least 50 times the minimum bet in order to have a good chance to make money.

The sit-n-go tournaments usually have 10, 20 or 30 players that all start out with the same amount of chips. Depending on the number of players, a certain number of finishers will win money and the others will not.

Here is a quick look at a typical poker table at a room in PokerStars:

1. Shows current and previous hand – click on it to see hand history; 2. Chip Tray; 3. Viewing Options – for viewing multiple tables; 4. Leave Table; 5. View Lobby; 6. Chat with other players; 7. Take notes on your opponents; 8. Stats – shows your stats since you sat down at the table;
9. Join Waiting List – if the table is full.

Games: PokerStars makes sure they have something for everyone to enjoy by offering its players plenty of choices when it comes to getting in on the poker games they want to enjoy. Some of the types of poker offered here include Texas Holdem, Omaha, Stud, Razz, HORSE, Badugi and variations of those games. Players love the fact that the games here provide them the ability to play in a great environment and they have all of the options and choices they need to truly enjoy poker the way it should be enjoyed.

Promotions: PokerStars is one of those online poker sites players can go to knowing that they are going to be able to take part in some of the most exciting and generous promotions out there. A new player at PokerStars will be able to get in on this generosity right away by taking advantage of the initial deposit bonus that is good for 100% of their initial deposit. By taking advantage of this bonus they can earn themselves as much as $600! The other promotions do a great job of keeping players excited as they get in on a lot of great chances. Not only can players win large sums of cash, but they can also win other exciting prizes such as event tickets, trips, and even spots on TV!

Software: The software on PokerStars is just what a player would expect from such a highly regarded online poker site. It is secure, reliable, and hassle free. Players are able to use a lot of customization options and enjoy a lot of other great features. Software is a very important factor in determining what an online poker site has to offer and the PokerStars software lives up to high expectations.

Customer Support: The customer support at PokerStars is just as everything else is there, excellent. PokerStars has a lot of players who spend their time there and they do a great job of making sure that they pay attention to the needs and concerns of their players and do what they can to address their players in a timely manner. The customer support team can be reach through email and their customer support form. Although they don’t have a huge amount of ways for players to reach them, they do make sure they get back with them fast and answer their questions in a helpful manner. The FAQ section also does a great job of answering player’s questions.

Site Navigation: PokerStars has a great design to it that makes it a good choice for any player, regardless of their online poker or Internet experience. The site uses top link navigation as well as left side navigation. The content is well written and informative. The site has a great color scheme that players appreciate.

Deposit Methods: PokerStars also offers players a variety of deposit methods which include NETeller, FirePay, Central Coin, credit cards, Diners Club, cashier’s check, and money order.

The thing that can make your odds better at poker, no matter in which form you play it, is strategy. If you are master of strategy, you will be a player that other people don’t want to share a table with.

To be a master of poker strategies means not only know when to make the right moves, but also to know when others will make their moves. In 7-card Hi-lo, almost all the cards on the table lie face up in front of you. People think this makes easier for player to make a decision, but in fact, it makes the whole thing much trickier.

Now, there are only two faces down cards in the hand of each player which can turn the tables of the game. As in the other forms of poker, hi-low means that the player with the hand of the highest value doesn’t get to take the entire pot alone.

He may have to share it with the player with the hand of the lowest value. So, this makes the whole affair even more complex and even more interesting at the same time. So, let’s see what kind of strategies player can use to win:

1. Know where the cards are: As most of the cards are dealt face up, if you keep a count of cards which have been dealt and which should remain in the deck, you will have an advantage over the players who don’t.

   If you have an idea of the cards that other payers may have, you can make you decisions about betting or folding more easily. It is important to make right decision or else you will not able to survive till the end. The lowest pair in the game is of 2’s and the highest is of Ace’s and king’s. So, try to keep a track of these especially.

2. Think more if you have low cards: When you are thinking to win on the basis of low cards, it becomes trickier to make decisions. The thing is the card should not only be low, they should be the lowest. You can’t have any cards which is higher than eight.

   Usually, it is a bad idea to try to go for the low hand. A lot of time this means you are going to help pump up the pot for the person with the high hand. Ideally, you would want to try for the low hand if you have a developing straight or flush that might not come.

   You can’t have a pair of low cards less than 8. You must have 5 different cards less than 8 that doesn’t make up a straight (not that a straight would be bad). If you don’t see such a situation developing for you in the game, but it does as the game progresses, it will make you lose more than you should have. So, make the right decisions for betting on the low hand as the conditions on this side are tighter.

3. Know what the others are up to: As I mentioned in the start, if you have to win in this game, you have know all that is happening on the table.

   The cards which have been dealt the cards which have not been dealt, the bets being made and the strategies of your opponents are among the things which you must have an idea of in order to make the right decisions in the game.

   Once you know these things, you will know whether you have to bet, fold or check in each of the betting rounds. If not, then you will be confused and eventually make the wrong decision.

7-card stud hi-low poker is a fast-paced game, but should be played with a calm mind. Decisions matter a lot in this game and to make them right, one has to be strong on the strategic side.

Breaking news for residents of the state of Massachusetts. The newest version of a bill that the state government is working on will include a measure that criminalizes online poker and internet gambling. The house speaker Robert DeLeo called for a vote against internet betting in general in two weeks.

This isn’t the first time that the Massachusetts state government has tried to criminalize online gambling. Many groups and individuals have stood up against similar bills in the past and plan to do so on this bill as well. It isn’t above states in the U.S. to try to hide laws in the fine print in order to get them passed. In this case, the following lines of text were added to this most recent bill:

“Any person who knowingly transmits or receives a wager of any type by any telecommunication device, including telephone, cellular phone, internet, [or] local area network… or knowingly installs or maintains said device or equipment for the transmission or receipt of wagering information shall be punished.” What is the punishment suggested for the radical crime of playing online poker? “Up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $25,000.”

Now of course, there is some additional fine print to read as well. You are only a criminal in the state of Massachusetts if you decide to “transmits a wager to, or receives a wager from, another person or gaming establishment within or outside of the Commonwealth.” Talk about hypocrisy. It’s ok to lose your money on lottery tickets because that benefits the state. But if you want to lose your money on a different form of gambling, you need to go to jail because your have extra money and they want it.

Even better, as part of this bill, the state is will be issuing two Massachusetts casino licenses with a combined price of $200 million. So this totally isn’t about online gambling being bad. As long as you do it within the state at sanctioned areas, your not a criminal! Don’t say this isn’t about the money Commonwealth government because it so obviously is about the money. The one exemption? Law enforcement officers are allowed to set up accounts and bet so they can entrap people. Hurray!

The one good piece of news to come out of all this is the ongoing debate about slot machines with opens a path for any other quasi-legal fields of entertainment like online poker to have room to get the law relaxed for them as well.

Purple Lounge has several promotions in this upcoming month which their poker players can take advantage of for the month of April.

April $50K in Rake Races

There is a total of $50K in Rake Races to be won in April. These poker races are suitable to all players regardless of what stakes or levels that you play at.

To participate, all you have to do is play poker at Purple Lounge. The way that this poker race works is that it actually consists of two races. The first race is for the Top 75 players who accumulate the most raked hands in April. This race will consist of $40,000 of the total $50,000 prize. The overall winner will get $8,500 and the top 5 will all win over $1,000. The top 23 make over $500 and the top 50 will take home more than $100.

The other half of the $50K poker race will be the race to get the most VIP Points in the month of April. The top 10 players will win part of the remaining $10,000. First place gets $2,500 and the top 4 win more than $1,000.

You can take a look at the race leader boards at any time. These will show you the current scores of the top 75 raked hands and top 10 VIP points. The race goes from 0:00 BST on 1st April 2010 and ends on 30th April 2010 one second before midnight.

2010 WSOP Entry

Purple Lounge Poker can get you an entry into the 2010 WSOP. How does it work? There are daily satellites taking place at Purple Lounge. The are 21:30 (Freezeout), 23:30 (Turbo Rebuy), 15:30 (Rebuy), 17:30 (Turbo Freezeout) and 19:25 (All In).

These poker satellites are €15 + €1 buy-in. In the Freezeout and Rebuy satellites, players start with 2,000 chips and blinds go up every 12 minutes. In Turbo Freezeout and Rebuy satellites, players start with 2,000 chips and the blinds go up every 5 minutes. 2 seats are guaranteed in each satellite to go on to the next level.

You then move on to the WSOP 56 Daily Finals which take place Mondays – Saturdays at 19:30 BST. Each player will receive 3,000 in chips and the blinds will go up every 15 minutes. Two seats are guaranteed to go to the next level.

The third level is the WSOP 56 Weekly Finals. Two packages to the WSOP 56 are guaranteed every Sunday at 19:30 BST from March 28th to June 13th. The buy-in for the Weekly Final if you do not earn a seat is €675 + €50. Players will get 5,000 in chips and the blinds will increase every 20 minutes.

The WSOP 56 package is worth €6,000 and includes the Event 56 buy-in, 10 nights’ accommodation at the Wynn and €1,600 for travel and spending money.

$200 Weekly Depositor Freerolls

This April, Purple Lounge is giving away $800 worth of poker freeroll tournaments. Any player that makes a deposit in April is eligible to enter into one of the four weekly freerolls.

These freerolls will take place on the following dates: Deposits on April 1st through 7th play on 13th April at 7 PM BST. Deposits on April 8st through 14th play on 20th April at 7 PM BST. Deposits on April 15th through 21st play on 27th April at 7 PM BST. Deposits on April 22nd through 30th play on 4th May at 7 PM BST.

April’s Free Ticket Giveaway

Purple Lounge is also giving away $20 worth of free tickets to poker tournaments for 5 random players per week in April. In order to qualify for the free ticket prize, you must play at least 1 raked hand per day for every day of that week. If you do that, you will have a chance to win.

Weekend Challenge €100k GTD Tournament

Every weekend in April, you can win a free seat in the €100k or €20k prize poker tournament at Purple Lounge Poker. In order to win a seat, you must do one of the following:

If you get 1800+ raked hands between 0:00 BST on Saturday and 23:59 BST on Sunday, you will receive a free €50+5 buy-in into the €100,000 tournament scheduled the following Sunday at 7PM BST.

If you rake 1200+ hands in that same time period, you will receive a free €25+2.5 buy-in into the €20,000 tournament, which starts a half hour after the €100k tournament.

April Daily Freerolls

For the month of April, Purple Lounge is holding 8 daily freerolls each day. This includes €50 tournaments for Freeroll Razz Pot Limit, Hold’em Pot Limit, Omaha Pot Limit, Hold’em No Limit, Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit, and three $20 Hold’em Freerolls.

$250 First Deposit Bonus

Still looking for a reason to join Purple Lounge? Take advantage of their 100% bonus up to $250 first time depositor’s bonus. In order to receive the bonus, you will get $0.25 for every 5 raked hands that you play. After 200 hands, you will receive your first $10 bonus. After that every 100 hands you rake will get you another $5 into your account.

Note – You must contact Purple Lounge’s customer service in order to be credited with the bonus money, it doesn’t get credited automatically.

Also, if you like casino games, take a look at some of Purple Lounge Casino’s April Promotions.