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The Party's Over For Poker Players in the United States

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 20:20:38 -0400

I just received the following from PartyGaming: On September 30, 2006 the United States Congress passed The Safe Port Act. That measure also contained certain provisions known as the ‘Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006’. On October 2, 2006 PartyGaming made an announcement regarding the impact, the Act would have on business when, as expected, it is signed into Law.

PartyGaming will no longer accept wagers from US Customers once the Act becomes Law.

Customers resident in the United States or accessing us from US will no longer be able to access our real money gaming services. Customers will still be able to use the play money and any non-gambling services we may offer. They will also be able to cash out their present balance if they wish to.

There will be no impact on non-US customers.

US Customers will also no longer be eligible for sign up bonus incentives. Players who have already received bonuses will be able to cash out a part of the bonus amount in proportion to the wagering restrictions that have been met.

PartyPoker.com adds real money Mac client!

Sun, 1 Oct 2006 11:30:00 -0400

Party poker . com has now added a real money Mac client. This is a huge boost to all Mac users.

Mac users had previously only been able to play free-money games. Now the Party Poker . com downloadable Mac OS X native client is available in its first real money version, featuring single table games, with tournament capability soon to follow.

The software is free and easy to download, and takes only a few minutes to install; which will be popular among Mac users. Existing PartyAccount users can just log in after downloading the Mac version, new users can open a PartyAccount in only a couple of minutes.

We look forward to welcoming the Mac community to The World’s Largest Poker Room.

2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem Joins PokerStars

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 12:26:59 -0500

There is a reason PokerStars is known as the place where poker players become world champions. In 2003, Chris "Money800" Moneymaker parlayed a $39 satellite tournament into $2.5 million when he won the World Series of Poker and turned the poker world on its ear. In 2004, Greg "Fossilman" Raymer did it again, turning a $160 double-shootout into $5 million in what was then a record-breaking WSOP field.

Now, it has happened again. The 2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem defeated the biggest-ever WSOP field and won $7.5 million. While Hachem didn't win his entry through PokerStars, he is a familiar face at PokerStars' tables. He has been playing at the world's largest tournament poker website for more than three years, amassing more than 109,000 Frequent Player Points. There's little doubt where this champion was born.

The $1 Million Freeroll!

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 12:24:26 -0500

The $1,000,000 main event will take place on August 27th at 2pm Eastern (7pm GMT/London time). Players must win their seat into the main event through any one of the Heats running July 1st through August 26th.

The 10 players at the final table will be taken on an all-expenses paid luxury vacation to an exotic Paradise location to finish the remaining portion of the tournament face-to-face in front of the TV cameras. The winner will walk away one million dollars richer!!

Players must win their way into the final event. Each Player gets one free entry into one of the daily freerolls, and can enter as many as they like simply by playing raked hands. So, Paradise gives you a reason to come to Paradise!

Free Trip to Las Vegas

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 13:14:32 -0400

How does a free trip to Las Vegas grab you? How about luxury hotel accommodations and a seat at the table for the greatest tournament the poker world has ever seen – the World Series of Poker, too? This year's prize pool is expected to top $50,000,000 and you could be there – for free!

Just open a PartyPoker.com real money account today and you'll be eligible to play in our WSOP New Player Freeroll, where we'll be giving away three seats to the WSOP in Vegas every week.

You can play in the World Series of Poker (WSOP)!

Sun, 5 Jun 2005 13:48:06 -0400

Just because you've never played for real money with PokerStars before doesn't mean you don't have a great chance of playing at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). In fact, your best chance to play in the
WSOP is going on now at PokerStars.

Just by making a small deposit today, you can compete against other former Play Money players for 1 of 25 $11,000 WSOP prize packages. Each prize package holds your ticket to Las Vegas, where you will play for the estimated $66 million WSOP main event prize pool.

What you can win:

$10,000 WSOP buy-in
$1,000 in cash
9 nights luxury Las Vegas hotel accommodations

How to enter:

Make a deposit (new $25 minimum)
Earn 10 Frequent Player Points

The second annual World Cup of Poker is coming from PokerStars.

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:59:22 -0500

The battle for poker supremacy is getting underway. Join me for the second annual World Cup of Poker. PokerStars players from all over the world will team up and face off in a round-robin tournament to determine which country is king for 2005.

Free travel, PokerStars gear, $125,000 in prize money and ultimate bragging rights are all on the line during this year's World Cup of Poker. Best of all, it's absolutely free to enter. You only need 50 Frequent Player Points (FPP) to get in the game. World Cup of Poker finalists will win an all-expense paid trip to London where the final match will be taped for television broadcast and a champion will be crowned.

United States qualifying rounds kick off Monday, February 21. One heads-up No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament will be held for each state (plus Washington DC). The top two finishers from each tournament will team-up with the top two TLB players from their state to form a 4 man team. Your state's team will then compete in a round-robin tournament to determine which states will represent the USA in the World Cup of Poker.

The 2005 Aruba Satellite tournaments have started again this week at UltimateBet.

Sun, 6 Feb 2005 14:42:16 -0500

Starting this week, there will be three $9,000 Aruba super satellites every week which include the $5,200 entry to the Aruba Classic, plus airfare and hotel for two people. Not to mention invitations to parties and VIP events all week long. There will also be weekly $5,200 Aruba Super Satellites which pay the winners' entry into the Aruba Classic. Players can buy-in to these tournaments directly or win Tournament Entry Chips in daily satellites. You can check the UB tournament schedule for details. Click here to go to UltimateBet now!

Win a $10,000 seat to the 2005 WSOP for FREE

Tue, 11 Jan 2005 13:02:37 -0500

Want to be the next Moneymaker? Want your chance at fame? The WSOP 2005 will be held in July and until then you have a good chance to get a seat, FOR FREE. EmpirePoker is giving 50 FREE WSOP seats, each valued at $10,000 to its loyal players.

Every month you have many chances to win, with no money involved. If you like to playpoker, and play with us, your chances are better than ever to win your way to the biggest pokerevent in history.

FIND OUT HOW at our WSOP 2005 page.

Progressive Bad Beat Jackpots

Fri, 31 Dec 2004 14:23:21 -0500

Partypoker.com has the online poker’s ONLY progressive jackpot. For every raked hand played on our Progressive Bad Beat Jackpot tables a jackpot contribution of 50 cents will be collected from the pot. That way, every time a hand is raked on one of our many jackpot tables the jackpot increases. With more than 100 tables, the jackpot typically increases by $1000 every hour!!

Every time the jackpot is hit, 70% of the jackpot amount will be distributed and 20% will be used as seed amount for the next jackpot. 10% will be retained by Party Poker as administrative fee. Of the distributed amount, 50% will go to the loser of the hand (the Bad Beat), 25% to the winner and 25% will be split between the other seated players who actively participated in the hand (any player sitting out will not receive a portion of the jackpot).

Visit PartyPoker.com now!

PokerRoom.com offers support for Macintosh computers.

Sun, 26 Dec 2004 01:12:37 -0500

Although most of the people visiting these pages have some sort of Windows machine, I thought you should know about at least one poker room that's offering support for Macintosh poker. PokerRoom.com states The software has been tested with Mac OS 9.6 together with Internet Explorer 5.1.7. It might also work with earlier versions of Mac OS9 and maybe even some versions of Mac OS8, but that is not guaranteed.) The software works with Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later, together with Safari 1.0.2 orlater, or Mozilla 1.5 or later. No special settings are required for Mac OS X.

Cool! Click here to download and play now Macintosh poker!

$50,000 Freeroll Tournament

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 15:03:31 -0500

On December 26th 2004 and January 16th 2005, Party Poker.com will be holding special $50,000 Freeroll Tournaments. These are no ordinary tournaments - you will be playing against the TOP Party Poker players.

In order to qualify you will have to be amongst the top raked hand players during the two weeks before the tournament. The higher your rank, the better are your chances of getting a seat. In addition, the top 3500 players get extra starting chips. So if you beat the rest, you get a chance of beating the best!

Click here to check out PartyPoker.com!

Seven-card Stud Rules and Overview

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 14:00:55 -0500

Play proceeds as follows ("player" refers only to those who have not folded and are still in the game), with betting rounds in-between.

Betting is clockwise, the player with the highest poker hand showing starts (ie 2-2 beats K-Q).

2 cards dealt face down to each player, 1 card dealt face up
upcard to each player
upcard to each player
upcard to each player
downcard to each player
Showdown

The game begins with each player being dealt two cards face down and one card face up. If played with a bring-in, the player with the lowest-ranking upcard pays the bring-in, and betting proceeds after that in normal clockwise order. The bring-in is considered an Open, so the next player in turn may not check. If two players have equally ranked low cards, suit may be used to break the tie and assign the bring-in (see High card by suit). If there is no bring-in, then the first betting round begins with the player showing the highest-ranking upcard, who may check. In this case, suit should not be used to break ties. If two players have the same high upcard, the one first in clockwise rotation from the dealer acts first.

Texas Hold 'em Traps

Sun, 12 Dec 2004 03:39:03 -0500

A trap is a move that causes others to bet into a "monster" hand.
The first, and a very common trap is the check-raise. The check-raise is
move in which a player has a strong hand, but checks it to let someone else
bet, and then comes "over the top" by raising them. This causes the opposing
players to feel "pot committed".
The next popular trap is when a player feels "pot commited". This is when
s/he has put a sufficient amount of money into the pot, and doesn't want to
fold a hand that they usually know they cannot win because of the money in the
pot. This is very common with new players, and is a very bad habit to have.
TIP Fold a hand as soon as you know you cannot win with it.

An Introduction to Poker

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 14:31:12 -0500

Poker is a card game, the most popular of a class of games called vying games, in which players with fully or partially concealed cards make wagers into a central pot, after which the pot is awarded to the remaining player or players with the best combination of cards.

In order to play, one must learn the basic rules and procedures of the game, the values of the various combinations of cards, and the rules about betting limits. Some knowledge of the equipment used to play is useful. There are also many variants of poker, loosely categorized as draw poker, stud poker, community card poker, and miscellaneous poker games.