Author: giorgio

PKR Poker Version 2.0 Software & $10k Premium Freeroll

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PKR Version 2Happy 4th Anniversary PKR Poker! Or would that be Happy 4th Birthday?

Either way it’s a cause to celebrate, and celebrate PKR Poker is doing indeed, with, among other player bonuses in honour of the occasion, $10,000 in Premium Freeroll tournaments and a huge poker software overhaul.

Version 2.0 of the PKR Poker software includes enhancements and additional implementations of the site’s unique 3-dimensional interface, now offering body language with player avatars that includes facial expressions, chip tricks, and oddly enough, poker tells.

PKR has now also upped its ante (figuratively speaking) on multi-tabling by offering players the chances (or chances rather) to compete in up to nine games, sitting in at nine different poker tables at the same time. Players don’t even have to switch between screens to view the action on all nine tables, though they can switch between tables interchangeably at will. And six of those tables will be shown in 3D.

PKR players can now also add extra accoutrements to their poker display with the addition of national flags, adjustable button sizes and chat window size, and more new customization features.

For its 4th birthday/anniversary special, PKR Poker is also hosting new Premium Freerolls. Ten-thousand dollars worth, to be exact. Since its start, launching on August 17, 2006, the UK based, Alderney licensed site has given away nearly $3 million in freeroll cash winnings.

In 2009 PKR Poker won the eGaming Review Award for Poker Operator of the Year and the International Gaming Award for Online Poker Operator of the Year. Every year since its inception, PKR Poker has increased its overall player pool by an average of 1 million players per year, already at nearly 3 and 3/4 million players now, and well on its way to breaking the 4 million mark. At any given time at PKR Poker, approximately 15,850 players will be found there.

The 2010 WPT Festa Al Lago Satellites At partypoker

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WPT Festa al Lago BellagioAt partypoker right now you could win a fabulous $14,000 package and a guaranteed seat this October at the 2010 World Poker Tour® Festa al Lago at the Bellagio Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

If you play in the daily mix of qualifiers, including daily freerolls, starting from August 30th and going all the way until October 3rd 2010, you could win your way to Vegas for free. The top 25 players from each of the daily freerolls will gain entry to the next WPT Festa al Lago Sub Qualifier Speed Rebuy.

The WPT Festa al Lago Sub Qualifier Speed Rebuy is a $2 buy-in daily event. For every $80 in the prizepool partypoker will award an entry into the next WPT Festa al Lago Satellite Qualifier.

1 in 10 players will gain entry to that partypoker World Poker Tour Festa al Lago Satellite Qualifier via the WPT Festa al Lago Sub Qualifier Speed which is a $9 daily event.

And from there it’s on to the WPT Festa al Lago Satellite Qualifier! A $75 + $5 daily at 14:50 ET (for Speed look to Sundays at 12:10 ET), the WPT Festa al Lago Satellite Qualifier allows 1 in 10 players to gain entry to the next World Poker Tour Festa al Lago Satellite.

At each 2010 WPT Festa al Lago Satellite at least 1 partypoker prize package will be awarded. The direct buy-in for these events, if you want to skip all the qualifiers and cut the chase, is $700 + $50 on Sundays at 14:15 ET.

Only 1 in 20 players will win a partypoker $14,000 WPT Festa al Lago Package which includes one $10,300 WPT Festa al Lago main event buy-in, $2,000 in spending money, and a seven-night luxury hotel accommodation in Las Vegas.

Massive Variety Of Tournament Styles At PKR Poker

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PKR Poker TournamentsPKR Poker offers a massive variety of both Multi-table and Sit & Go online poker tournament styles.

Re-buy/Add-on Tournaments: Familiar to most online poker players at any poker, these forgiving tournaments allow players the chance to re-buy into the tournament when they bust out and add-on to a diminishing chip stack before you bust out.

PKR Points Tournaments: Also familiar to online poker players everywhere, these tournaments don’t have cash buy-ins; the only way to register for these big money events is with PKR Points.

Freerolls & Premium Freerolls: PKR offers more than its fair share of freeroll tournaments, free to enter with large money or live tournament entry payouts.

Shorthanded Tournaments: And PKR offers more than its share of Heads-Up, 6-Max, and 10-Handed tournaments.

Winner Take All: Just as the name says, PKR will give the winner of these rewarding tournaments all the money in the prize pool; no cash payouts for 2nd, 3rd, or any places lower than 1st.

Break Thru: In these breakthrough events, PKR promises all players who survive into the final third of the player pool will get their money tripled.

Double Thru: Like the Break Thru tournaments, Double Thru tournaments double the buy-ins of all players lasting into the top half of the playing field.

Terminator Tournaments: These bounty style of tournaments offer big bonuses for taking out other players, however you finish in the event.

Double & Triple Chance Tournaments: A special style of re-buy tournament, the extra fee for these PKR tournaments pay in advance for extra chip stacks kept for you in reserve to use during rebuy periods or breaks, as you see fit.

Phase Tournaments: As the name implies, these are tiered events, in this case Sit & Go style, in which you enter for a low buy-in and then advance through levels, or “phases”, until you graduate to the big money final table; PKR offers two types of Phase Tournaments currently – Ten Seat Phase Tournaments & Heads-Up Phase Tournaments.

Private Tournaments: PKR allows players to create their own private tournaments with an invite-only player pool.

PKR also offers deep stack, speed, and turbo tournaments. And many of these tournaments are available not just in Texas Hold’em but in Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo Split as well.

Win Seats At The Power Poker Championship At Celeb Poker

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Celeb Poker 2010 Power Poker ChampionshipFor one week, Celeb Poker is holding satellite tournaments into the Power Poker Championship coming up on September 9 through 12 at the Grand Casino Portoroz, in Portoroz, Slovenia.

Starting August 18, 2010 Celeb Poker is hosting Super Satellite tournaments daily with €40 + €4 buy-ins. These are all rebuy and add-on events, all of which start at 19:35. Celeb Poker is also hosting multiple satellite daily into the Super Satellites. Rebuys are €20 for 2,000 in chips and add-ons are €20 for 2,000 in chips.

The Celeb Poker 2010 Power Poker Championship prize packages are worth €1,350 and include the €500 + €50 entry into the Power Poker Championship Main Event, €545 to use for flights and spending money, €240 to use for a 4 night stay at The Lucija Hotel the 9th through the 13th, and €15 for fees.

The first of the Super Satellites took place last Thursday, on August 19. The last Super Satellite takes place tonight, Thursday August 26.

The Power Poker Championship satellite promotion is being hosted by the iPoker Network, parent network of Celeb Poker, and with flagship site Titan Poker.

Minimum number of players required for Celeb Poker to hold the Super Satellites is 30 players. Ongoing SNG Stage 1 satellite tournaments into the Power Poker Super Satellite as €22 + €1.1 heads-up events, €5 + €0.5 eight-player events, and €10+€1 four-player events. There are also a variety of Stage 1 cash satellites and Stage 2 SNG satellites and cash satellites at a variety of buy-ins. Most of these events are Turbo or Speed events. In addition, Celeb Poker will be hosting ongoing 1-hand, 10-player Stage 2 SNG satellites for €0.11 + €0.01.

Both the Power Poker Championship 2010 Main Event and the hotel accommodations are Obala 75a, 6320 Portoroz, Slovenija.

bwin Poker & partypoker Merge

Posted on by giorgio

Party Gaming bwin MergeFor those of you who have been following the story since early in the year, it may not come as much of a surprise, but to the rest of us, this could be news that shakes up the whole online poker balance of power, as two of the world’s leading poker sites, bwin Poker (#5) and partypoker (#3), have finally officially merged, according to a press release dated July 29, 2010.

In that same press release, it was asserted that the new bwin Poker/partypoker combination will surpass the top two sites (which shall remain nameless) and take the top spot of number one poker site in the world. Only time will tell whether those claims can be met.

Based on traffic numbers, it looks as though the bwin Poker/partypoker merger will essentially double both sites player pools, with bwin Poker get slightly the better end of the deal (having slightly fewer players to start with). In all, the post-merger poker room should have close to 6,000 daily players. Currently, the merged sites joint network is valued near $3 billion. All it would take would be a re-entry into the United States online poker market, where most poker sites get 50% of their traffic, for partypoker and bwin Poker to fulfil their claim of market superiority.

What can bwin Poker and partypoker players expect to get out of this deal? Expect twice as many fish in the online poker sea, more big money promotions, now cross-platform, most likely with bigger prize pools too.

Party Gaming, which is based in Gibraltar, and bwin Poker, which is based in Vienna, Austria, are still currently running their separate sites, and members of either site will not yet be automatically admitted entry to the other, soon-to-be sister site (although that seems imminent).

Next PKR PokerStars Event Coming Up

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Have you ever won a major poker tournament event sponsored or co-sponsored by PKR Poker? If so, then you are eligible to enter an exclusive PKR Poker online tournament with a low buy-in and an added prize pool called the PKR Superstars of Poker. The next Superstars of PKR tournament is coming up on August 19 at 20:35 GMT and this is your chance to find out if you qualify to enter.

In order to qualify to enter a Superstars of PKR tournament you must have won one of the following headlining tournament events:

  • Aussie Open or Canadian Open
  • Club PKR Money Added
  • PKR Gold Rush
  • PKR Grand Prix
  • PKR Late Night (6-handed)
  • PKR Masters
  • PKR Open and PKR Open Bounty
  • PKR Omaha Showdown
  • PKR Sunday Open

You may also enter the Superstars of PKR tournament if you won any PKR Poker festival tournament, such as the Springfest, the Super Series, or the Xmas Cracker series or, of course, any of the PKR Poker Live tournaments.

Keep in mind, you only ever need to qualify for a Superstars of PKR tournament once (as long as it’s been since 2008). After you’ve won any of these above-mentioned PKR headlining tournaments, you have earned the right to play in every Superstars of PKR tournament from then on.

No longer counted as qualifying tournaments for the Superstars of PKR tournament are: the Big Shot, Daily $17K, Deeper & Steeper + Antes, High Roller, Nifty Fifty, Saturday Showdown, Sunday $30K, or Sunday Classic.

The buy-in for the Superstars of PKR tournament on August 19th is $25. The prize pool added by PKR Poker to the Superstars of PKR prize pool varies at each event. This time, for the August 19 Superstars of PKR event, the prize pool added is $2,000.

Whether you are able to compete in this Superstars of PKR tournament or not, you can watch all the excitement on PKR.TV.

Palladium Rewards – A Higher Standard Of Player Loyalty At partypoker

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partypoker has revamped its Palladium Rewards player loyalty programme, and it’s both simpler and more rewarding than ever. In apparent response to player feedback, partypoker has improved the Palladium Rewards programme with more status levels, greater bonus options and cash redemption options, and most importantly perhaps, a cleaner, more easy to understand points system.

partypoker Loyalty ProgrammeNow you just play at any real money game of any time – cash or tournament – and earn PartyPoints, at a rate of 2 points for every $1 spent in either rake or tournament fees. partypoker updates your PartyPoints balance as soon as you leave a table. You can apply those PartyPoints toward purchases at the PartyPoints Store, which includes gift certificates, tournament entries, and even cash redemption. Plus, players get a progressively increasing discount on items purchased at the PartyPoints Store the more PartyPoints spent at one time.

The only exception to all that is that you don’t get any PartyPoints for games played at private tables on the site.

partypoker Rakeback – up to 40%

As you earn PartyPoints, you advance up status levels, or what partypoker calls “Key Levels”, starting everyone off at Bronze, the lowest, and progressing up through Silver, Gold and beyond. At each level you can now redeem PartyPoints for cash, at increasing redemption rates as you advance levels, and what’s more, with increasing cash bonuses on top of the redeemed amount. And clearing poker bonuses are now a simple (and easy) 25% of the bonus amount.

The highest Key Level to which a player can aspire at partypoker is now not “merely” Palladium but Palladium Elite. At this level, players can purchase bonuses that give them as much as $20 cash back for every 100 PartyPoints earned, making for the equivalent of a 40% rakeback.

To advance to the Silver Key Level you must earn and maintain 400 PartyPoints per month. To advance to the Gold Key Level you must earn and maintain 1,000 PartyPoints per month. At the Palladium Key Level, the requirement shifts to a quarterly period, wherein you must earn 9,000 PartyPoints in a calendar quarter to maintain Palladium Key Level status and 50,000 PartyPoints in a calendar quarter in order to maintain Palladium Elite Key Level status.

Last Chance For Apt Philippines Seats At Titan Poker & Celeb Poker

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The Philippines stop on the 2010 Asian Poker Tour is almost upon us, docking August 23rd through 29th, which means there are only a couple of weeks left to win free tickets in the APT Philippines 2010 main event at two leading poker sites – Titan Poker and Celeb Poker.

These are the last chances players will get to win free 2010 APT Philippines main event tickets at Titan Poker and Celeb Poker. To reiterate some of the crucial information on these satellites that we’ve previously mentioned in case you still want to take your shot at an all-expenses (or most-expenses) paid trip to Manila to play against some of poker’s finest:

The 2010 APT Philippines prize packages from both Celeb Poker and Titan Poker are worth $5,500 each – each with 6 nights in luxury accommodations, about two grand in spending cash (helpful in getting those flights), and of course the $2,500 + $200 main event buy-in.

Where Celeb Poker and Titan Poker differ in their 2010 APT Philippines satellites is in the tournament structure. Celeb Poker’s is simpler but more restrictive, Titan Poker’s by turn is more complex but also allows for greater choice in how you climb to the top and grab one of those $5,500 APT Philippines prize packages for yourself.

The Celeb Poker APT Philippines satellite structure involves a three stage ladder with a variety of buy-ins, most of the events rebuy/add-on events. The Titan Poker APT Philippines satellite structure gives players three different choices of paths to follow to a variety of Super Satellite finals exclusive to each path. Within each Titan Poker satellite structure are both Sit & Go and MTT ladders to climb, both with a variety of buy-ins.

Whichever path you take, or if you decide to try every one available, you’d better hurry. Only two weeks of Celeb Poker and Titan Poker satellites into the 2010 APT Philippines main event in Manila remain.

bwin Poker B’inside Tournaments – Points For Buy-in, Cash And More Points For Prizes

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bwin Poker B'Inside TournamentsB’Inside is the name of the bwin Poker VIP Club (or player rewards programme). The currency that bwin Poker uses in this program are called Market Points. And one of the great benefits of earning Market Points at bwin Poker is all the exclusive online poker tournaments with real money prizes (and big ones too) that you can gain entry to. Prizes for B’Inside Tournaments also include additional Market Points. Collectively, B’Inside Tournaments award a guaranteed $55,000 every month and 10 million Market Points every 2 months.

Buy-ins and other eligibility requirements for various B’Inside Tournaments vary based on a player’s status level in the B’Inside programme, but regardless of status level, these events have Market Points buy-ins only. No cash buy-ins available. Green level is the lowest status level and has access to the least number of big money B’Inside Tournaments. Then comes White level, which has access to all the B’Inside Tournaments with cash awards but not the 10 million Market Points event, which is only available to Yellow level members, the highest level in the B’Inside program.

The B’Inside Tournaments currently running are as follows:

  • Daily $500 GTD
  • Weekly $5,000 Qualifier (every Sunday)
  • Weekly $5,000 GTD (every Sunday)
  • Monthly $20,000 Qualifier (last Sunday of each month)
  • Monthly $20,000 GTD (last Sunday of each month)
  • Bi-monthly 10 million Market Points (3rd Sunday, every other month)

bwin Poker recommends you boost your bankroll by availing yourself of the sundry poker bonuses the B’Inside programme makes available to you. Just buy in to any of the B’Inside Tournaments, trade your Market Points in for poker chips, and get a bonus.

For example, redeem 6,000 Market Points for poker chips into a B’Inside Tournament, and get $5 as a bonus. You just have to collect 40 Poker Points while playing at bwin Poker in order to activate or “clear” your bonus. Bonus amounts tend to vary depending on the player’s status level, with the highest bonus available at $500 (for Yellow players who redeem 200,000 Market Points, then needing to collect only 4,000 Poker Points to clear it).

partypoker Offers You A Full House Of Promotions

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partypoker Full House PromotionThis hot month of August is doubly hot at partypoker … or should we say triple hot as there are three major promotions running at partypoker, which makes for a Full House of Promotions happening at partypoker this summer. Between the Sit & Go Jackpots, the $50,000 Cash Game Race, and the $100,000 Grand Final, players have a chance to win a share of over $350,000 in guaranteed prize money.

As would only be fair in a three-in-one promotion designed to appeal to all different players, partypoker is offering one promotion to Sit & Go single tournament players (Sit & Go Jackpots), one promotion to players who enjoy scheduled MTTs or multitable tournaments (the $100,000 Grand Final), and one promotion to players who prefer the cash game tables (the $50,000 Cash Game Race).

The Full House Sit & Go Jackpots promotion, for Sit & Go tournament players, offers jackpots of $10,000 to $50,000 (depending mainly on table stakes), for players who win 5 Full House Sit & Go tournaments of the same table stakes in a row.

The Full House $100,000 Grand Final is an event taking place on August 30th with, you guessed it, a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool. There is no direct entry, you can only qualify for the event by qualifying for at least two of the weekly $10,000 Freeroll tournaments. To qualify for the weekly event, just earn at least 1 PartyPoint each day for a minimum of three days of the week leading up to the freeroll. When we said there is no direct entry, we were fibbing a bit. There actually is but it is not money you need: You can reserve your place at the $100,000 Grand Final with 1,000 PartyPoints.

The Full House $50K Cash Game Race, for cash game players, is a leader board based events where players are ranked based on how many points they earn while playing at partypoker’s cash tables during the promotional period (August 2 – 29). Only partypoker’s Bronze, Silver, and Gold members can participate.

More info on how to earn PartyPoints can be found on the partypoker website or in our review of the partypoker Bonus offered for player who sign up at partypoker through Max Poker Bonus.