Archive for the ‘Pokerstars’ Category

7 Card Stud Hi/Lo

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

The variation of 7-card Stud Hi/Lo has the same basic game play as a standard game of 7-card stud. However, the difference in the games is in how the winner is determined. In a Hi/Lo game, the pot will be split between the highest and lowest hands at the table. As in all stud games, there are no community cards, so the best or worst hand must be made from the cards that you are dealt.

Starting play is the same as in 7-card stud, with an ante being bet from each player. As in the standard variation, players will receive 2 pocket cards, dealt face down and 1 door card, dealt face up. Once the deal has been completed, betting will begin, and continue through five rounds before reaching the showdown.

Opening The Betting

Once the first cards have been dealt, the “bring in” must be determined. As in a standard stud game, the player with the lowest door card begins the betting for this round. If two players have the same value card, the opening bet is placed by the player with the lowest suit, alphabetically. From here, betting continues clockwise around the table.

Fourth Street

Once the initial bets have been placed, another door card will be dealt. From this point in the game forward, the highest door cards will determine which player will start the bet. Double bets on a door pair are allowed exclusively in this round. Bets continue clockwise around the table, as before.

Fifth Street

Once betting is completed, players receive another door card. Then player with the best door card combination will start the bets for this round. Should someone have a pair within their door cards, betting should start with a big bet. If no pairs are displayed, betting should begin with a small bet.

Sixth Street

In this round, the last door card will be dealt to each player. The player with new current high combination will have the first bet for the remainder of the hand. Betting will continue in a clockwise rotation around the table.

The River

Players who have stayed in the game to this point will be dealt a final pocket card. The first bet will be placed by the player who started the last round, and continue around the table, as previous. Players who remain standing after the final bets are placed go on to the showdown.
The Showdown

Once the final round of betting is complete, players will reveal their cards. The player with the highest and lowest hands split the pot. With an eights or better rule, a low hand cannot contain any card higher than an 8. By these rules, there may not be a low hand, so the full pot would go to the high hand. In the case that a player holds both the high and low combination, they would receive the entire pot, as well.

7 Card Stud

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

Since the days of the Wild West and saloons, 7-card stud has been the game of choice for poker players. While the recent interest in Texas Hold’em has drawn some attention away from this classic version of poker, 7-card stud is still one of the supreme poker games. Any player who sits down to learn 7-card stud will find themselves learning one of the most challenging poker games.

There are certain features of stud poker games that are unique from Texas Hold’em and Omaha. There are no community cards in stud poker, as there are in other styles. Another unique feature is the ranking of suits. Suits are ranked alphabetically, clubs being the lowest rank and spades being the highest.

The game begins with all players putting in the ante. Next, the dealer will begin by dealing 3 cards to each player. One is dealt face up, which is the door card. The others are pocket cards that stay face down. Once the initial cards are dealt, the betting rounds begin.
Opening The Betting

The Player with the lowest door card will be the one to start the betting. Should more than one player have a low card of the same face value, then the suit-ranking rule comes into play.
Third Street

Once the bet has been brought, betting continues with the player to the left of the initial bet. Each player must choose to raise, call, or fold, as bet are placed in clockwise sequence around the table.
Fourth Street

Once the first full round of betting has completed, the dealer will then give each player another door card. This round, the player with the highest two door cards will start the betting round. Should any player show a pair with their door cards, they may place a double bet in this round. Betting will continue to the left, until everyone has had their chance to decide their play.
Fifth Street

Another door card will be dealt to begin this round. From this round on, the player with the highest door card combination will lead the betting. A full round of betting follows.
Sixth Street

Again, in this round players are dealt another door card. At this point in the game, each player will have 2 pocket cards and 4 door cards. Check the door card combinations carefully, as again the highest card combination leads the bet.
The River

The final card is dealt to start the round. This time, each player will receive a third pocket card. Betting begins with the same player as the last round, and will continue around the table.
The Showdown

The remaining players will now show their cards to determine the winner. Hands are ranked as in any standard game of poker. In this game, however ties are possible and the players will split the pot, with an odd chip going to the player with the highest ranked suit.

Pokerstars VIP Program

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

Recently Poker Stars upgraded their VIP program for all registered online poker players. It is the hope of Poker Stars to develop the most rewarding program for the most loyal players on the internet. Knowing that online poker players are competitive and loyal, the company developed a 6 layer plan to begin to reward players from day one. As flair and a showcase of how valued their players are, each level is related to a star as follows: Bronze Star, Silver Star, Gold Star, Platinum Star, Supernova and Supernova Elite. Each level will enhance the online poker playing experience. Accrue Frequent Player Points (FPP) to move through each shining level of achievement.
Bronze Star Benefits:

* Qualify from the first ring game or cash game played.
VIP Store Access
Daily and Weekly Level Specific Tournaments
Monthly 2,500 Tournament – 200 FPP (points)

Silver Star Benefits:

* 50% earning increase of FPP/VPP earnings (1.5 FPP for every 1 earned)
Qualify from 1500 VPP’s (VIP Players Points)
VIP Store Access
Daily and Weekly Level Specific Tournaments with pot up to 20 thousand dollars
Monthly 100 thousand dollar tournament with satellites available – (130 FPP)

Gold Star Benefits:

* 100% earning increase FPP/VPP (2 FPP for every 1 earned)
Qualify from 4000 VPP’s
Reward Bonus 285 dollars for purchase from VIP store
Exclusive VIP Gold merchandise for FPP’s
Daily and Weekly tournaments (including a 50 thousand dollar with satellites)
Monthly 100 thousand dollar freeroll
Use FPP’s to buy into specific weekly and monthly tournaments

Platinum Star Benefits:

* 150% earnings increase FPP/VPP (2.5 for every 1 earned)
Qualify from 10, 000 VPP’s
Reward Bonus 650 dollars
Exclusive Platinum Level Merchandise at VIP Store
Daily and Weekly Tournaments
Monthly 100, 000 dollar freeroll with satellites
Use FPP’s to buy into any weekly or monthly tournament or major event (WSOP prelims, EPT, WPT)

Each of the above statuses requalify every month. Each Poker Stars Poker Player must accrue these points to remain in the same VIP level. For the next two it is a multi-month tabulation to qualify. To reach Supernova will take 6 months. During such time the player must earn 100 thousand VPP’s. On the last day of month 6 they will attain that status, and must continue with that pace of play to maintain it at the end of the following 6 months. Should they decrease their rate of play the benefits reduce to that of a Gold Star VIP member. If they increase their rate of play they will attain Supernova Elite. A player needs to reach 1 million VPP’s in 8 months to achieve the Elite Player status. To maintain such status they need to earn more than 50 thousand VPP every three months. A step down from Elite means a reset to the Bronze Star level.

Supernova Benefits:

* 250% FPP earnings increase (3.5 FPP’s for every 1 earned)
1500 dollar Reward Bonus for VIP Store
Exclusive VIP Store Merchandise – many customized
Weekly Level specific tournaments
100, 000 dollar Monthly tournament
FPP’s can buy into any tournament at Poker Stars, as well as major events such as WSOP Main Event, EPT, and the World Championship of Online Poker

Supernova Elite Benefits:

* 400% FPP earnings increase (5 FPP for each 1 earned)
Non Disclosed total of Reward Bonus
Exclusive VIP Level Store Merchandise – customized and more
Weekly 50 thousand dollar freeroll
Monthly 100 thousand dollar freeroll
Free entry to World Championship of Online Poker
A Choice between either 2 major events (Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure, World Series of Poker Main Event, European Poker Tour Monte Carlo, Asian Pacific Poker Tour Sydney – or One of the above events and a 10 thousand dollar bonus.

It is obvious that Poker Stars see all of their loyal online poke players as the shining stars they are.

Pokerstars Review

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

The highest volume of traffic for any poker room is without a doubt, PokerStars. The poker software is player friendly and complete with personal icon upload at all the poker tables. Round the clock cash games, tournaments and sit n go’s are available day and night, 365. Regardless of your desired game, and buy it, there is a table in the PokerStars poker room just right for you. As further incentive for the poker players who enjoy PokerStars online hospitality, the VIP Club is unprecedented, offering all players the opportunity to exchange online players points for freeroll entries and Poker Stars store merchandise. The variety of games available at Poker Stars is surprising when compared to many other poker rooms. Yes you can find HoldEm and Omaha games but following up on the list are Razz, Stud, Draw, 2-7 Triple Draw, and of course the pro’s favorite mixed games of HORSE and HOSE.

Adding to the allure of the online poker giant is Team Poker Stars. This fantastic group of talented poker professionals features some household names such as Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, and Daniel Negranu. Watch the pro’s or be one of the hundreds of online poker players to all the major live events, including the World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tour, and Asia Pacific Poker Tour. To compliment and bring the competition to one global location, Poker Stars also holds the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) with a guaranteed 15 million dollar prize pool for those who make it past the bubble. To open up to everyone, the satellite tournaments with cash buy in or VIP points entry make it easy to get in on the action.

Poker Stars Bonuses, Promotions and Marketing Code

The sign up bonus for this incredible poker room is a 100% up to 50 dollars. Although this may seem limited when comparing other rooms, Poker Stars offers generous reload bonuses. Additionally this is the best location for any VIP Club across the board. Points for the VIP Club start to be accumulated from the time players start in their first cash game or tournament. These can be then be exchanged for a wide range of products at the VIP Store, including high end electronics, poker books and supplies, or simply PokerStars memorabilia. Along with the purchases available from the VIP Store there is also a VIP only 50k freeroll and satellites to enter the Poker Stars Sunday Millions.

Traffic / Player Volume

The average volume of online poker players participating on PokerStars at any given time is more than 100 thousand. With this in mind, the events are wide ranging and always open. Sit n Go’s have only seconds between games, while there are always cash games available in any stakes level.

Software

PokerStars software is downloadable and easy to navigate. The personalization of the ‘my account’ section allows for icons or avatars for display at the table. Making the poker tables resizable achieves the best format for players who play simultaneous tables at once. It is possible to select the seat at the table or tables you want to play.

Tournaments

Along side the World Championship of Online Poker is the weekly Sunday events. The Sunday poker tournaments start with the Poker Stars Sunday Warm-Up, which begins the tournament week with a 75 thousand dollar first place pay out. Then Sunday Evening features the biggest weekly online tournament available, with more than 6000 regular poker players, and a prize pool of more than 1.5 million dollars it is easy to tell way Poker Stars Sunday Millions is such a draw to the online poker community. To wet the pallet of any poker player there are tournaments for every skill level and stakes available. The format range is wide enough to attract the best poker players to Poker Stars for the tournament made to order.

Support

With departments to specialize in many issues pertinent to their players, Poker Stars email customer service is unequaled. All serious problems and concernes are looked into by specialists and follow up is expedited through the process. They are also leading the industry in security measures for the poker player so playing with confidence is never less than the expectations.

Deposit Options

Acceptable deposit methods are ePassporte, PaySafeCard, Visa, Diners Club, as well as Western Union Quick Pay. Withdrawals and deposits are handled professionally and quickly. There is not a long wait for transactions to be completed at Poker Stars.