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PokerStars Leaderboards

A large number of the players that use a PokerStars bonus code are wanting to play MTTs. You’ve already seen in this blog that PokerStars is one of the best places for exactly that. With so many players and guaranteed prize pools, you could make an impressive amount of money if you’re a good player. To add even more incentive to use a PokerStars bonus code, PokerStars has a few leaderboards, and the prizes that go along with them are definitely worth striving for. Playing large volumes will give you a good chance of placing on one of the leaderboards. If you want to earn leaderboard points, you’re going to have to place in the top 15% in as many tournaments as possible.

The weekly leaderboard takes your top ten tournament scores of the week. If you’re the winner, you get to play for at least $1,000 versus a PokerStars pro! Being one of the top Texas Hold’em sites online, the team is chock full of great pros. This means you’ll have the chance to play versus top notch players such as Dario Minieri, Gavin Griffin, and Katja Thater. You have the advantage of choosing the game, and the prize pool is added to next week’s match if the PokerStars pro wins.

The monthly leaderboard counts your top twenty MTT results. If you’re able to place in the top 1,000 people, you receive a free entry to the Monthly TLB freeroll which has a $20,000 prize pool. Furthermore, PokerStars divides $30,000 amongst the top 200 for the month. You start with $50 if you place 200th, but if you can get up to 1st, the prize is $5k! Is this enough incentive to make you stop playing Daniels Room poker in favor of MTTs? If not, keep reading!

The yearly leaderboard takes your 100 best results during the year. Warning: once you see the prizes for the yearly leaderboard winners, you won’t feel the urge to use free bet sportsbooks ever again. First off, the top 100 players receive tickets to a $100,000 freeroll. Your goal is obviously not 100th place, however. If you can place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, you’ll receive a PokerStars Passport with 5, 3, or 2 stamps (respectively). Each stamp in the passport can be redeemed for a live tournament package from any of the PokerStars tours, and all of your accommodations will be paid for. These prizes are definitely better than anything you’ll get with a Bwin Poker download.

While a roulette bonus is tempting, it might not be worth the opportunity cost. It’s every player’s dream to travel the world and play huge live tournaments, but a huge percentage of the population simply can’t afford it. The dream could easily become a reality if you’re able to win a PokerStars Passport. You will probably have to focus the bulk of your poker hands at the tournament tables to have a chance, though. Here’s to getting good cards and running good!

PokerStars All Star Week

You’ve already gathered from my earlier entries that people use the PokerStars bonus code because of high quality software and unique promotions. A promotion happening now is the PokerStars All Star Week, scheduled to take place next week for 7 days. The upcoming week will see heads-up matches between Team PokerStars Pro and a group of Challengers that must qualify via satellites. Have I convinced you to play with your Internet slots some other time? I doubt it, so keep reading and maybe you’ll change your mind!

PokerStars is one of the top Texas Holdem sites online, and they’re proving it with a $25,000 prize pool. Every day during All Star Week, there will be five different heads-up matches. Each match has a $1k prize pool. After all 35 matches have taken place, the team with the most wins will receive the $25,000 prize pool.

Daniels Room poker might have fewer participants during All Star Week. The team is selected via five freerolls, and each satellite awards five or six spots. To play in these freerolls, you will have to have made a final table of one of the PokerStars majors last year or you have to be a Supernova Elite. To make it a little more fun, each freeroll winner will also be given a free seat in a WCOOP tournament worth $1,050. The WCOOP will probably be scheduled for September of 2010. If you’re a fan of earning bonuses, take note that there will probably be a new PokerStars bonus code to kick off the series.

If you are not invited to play in the satellite freerolls, you can play in an $11 Wildcard tournament. The top three in this tournament will earn their spot as a Challenger and, of course, get that WCOOP ticket.

After you qualify as a Challenger, you then must play some additional selection tournaments. You play against your teammates in tournaments featuring a certain game, and if you win, you get to play the heads-up match against the PokerStars Team Pro during All Star Week. Challengers also go up against each other for the Most Valuable Player award by accumulating as many points as possible. You get a point for playing in a selection event, three points for winning a qualification tournament, and then five points for winning $1k in a heads-up tournament during the big week. If you have experience playing in casinos for US players, it should be easy to play as many events as possible to earn tons of points.

There will be heads-up matches for all types of poker available, so All Star Week is targeted to all those that have used a PokerStars bonus code. Also keep in mind that if you didn’t get a spot with the Challengers this year, you will have another chance next year. To make sure you are eligible to play in some of the freerolls, you should probably use less time in Mac compatible casinos and more time sitting at poker tables. It will be worth it, though!

MicroMania

The site that brought you the PokerStars bonus code is offering a one-of-a-kind promo for beginner players this month. Dubbed “MicroMania”, players at micro stakes can look forward to special VIP perks, money-added tournaments, live event satellites, and another PokerStars bonus code. If you’re a beginner poker player looking to get ahead as quickly as possible, play close attention because July is the month for you to shine.

If you haven’t made a real money deposit before, you’ll benefit a lot if you collect your 100% deposit bonus this month. If you’ve already collected this bonus, you can use the PokerStars bonus code “MICRO” to obtain a special MicroMania $1.10 tournament ticket. This ticket can be used for tournaments, Sit-N-Go’s, or satellites.

You’ll earn points much faster on PokerStars than on any of the other online casinos for USA players if you’re a cash game player. For all stakes up to $0.05/$0.10 No Limit and $0.10/$0.20 FL, you are guaranteed to receive a minimum of 50% more VPPs when you’re dealt cards at these tables. You’ll be able to earn the PokerStars jacket you’ve been saving for in no time, and you can also earn your bonuses at almost twice the speed! You might feel like using your Titanpoker bonus code, but I think you’d be better off clearing a fat PokerStars bonus instead.

The largest of the top Texas Holdem sites has something for tournament players, too. On a daily basis the site will host four $1.10 NLHE tournaments, and each of them will have $1,000 added to the prize pool. Find them in the lobby by searching for MicroMania Specials. If you’d rather play Sit-N-Go’s, you’ll find special $1.10 tournaments that host 50 players each. The bonus for winning one of these Sit-N-Go’s is a piece of a $100k prize pool. This bonus money will be allocated to all Sit-N-Go winners in early August.

Tournament players can also take advantage of some $1.10 satellites. If you can win one of these satellites, you’ll win an MTT prize package for either LAPT Florianopolis, NAPT Los Angeles, EPT London, or the WCOOP Main Event. I'd appreciate that version of free poker no downloads required!

PokerStars is doing a great job of attracting new players during a time of need in the poker community. With MicroMania in the picture, you should forget about your Bwin Poker download. Good luck at the tables!

The Big Game

A highlight of a PokerStars bonus code is that there are always new promotions to prevent you from getting bored. There’s always the normal WSOP and deposit bonuses, but PokerStars also likes to host their own live poker tours and often they’ll even host events specifically for players in certain parts of the world. In this entry, I’ll write about “The Big Game”, an exciting new promotion happening this month for players living in the US and Canada. You’ve probably already seen The Big Game commercials on TV since the site has been using it to encourage people to use a PokerStars bonus code.

The Big Game is a unique cash game in Vegas that will be aired on national television. If you’re selected to be on the show, PokerStars will hand you $100,000 to wager in Texas Hold Em hands with a table of poker professionals. The object of the game is to win as much money as you can because when you’re done with the show, you get to keep all the profit you make.

Players can get on The Big Game by participating in free satellites on the king of play money poker sites, PokerStars.net. The free events happen 4 times each day until June 25th, and the top 300 from each qualifier move on to Round 2. The same thing happens in Round 2 except that this time 1,000 players move on to Round 3.

You win the chance to send a casting video if you place in the top 200 of the final satellite. When you make your casting video, you should tell the site what makes you a good candidate for The Big Game, and you can tell them that PokerStars is one of the top Texas Holdem sites for a few brownie points. If you can impress them, you’ll be invited to be on the show.

This new TV show is a great opportunity for a normal person to become a famous poker professional in just a few days. One thing to keep in mind is that even though you qualify for The Big Game by winning satellite tournaments, on the TV show you’re actually playing cash. If you have logged more hours in flash compatible casinos than on ring tables, you should probably get some cash experience before your big day on the show. No better place to do that than on PokerStars!

PokerStars WSOP Satellites

Players using a PokerStars bonus code are searching for more from their main site than a mere first time deposit bonus. As soon as the first-time bonus is cleared, they’ll be waiting for something else to keep them busy. There’s a chance they would be happy with a different promotion, one or two free gifts, or an additional PokerStars bonus code so that they can clear another bonus. There’s no better time to ask for something interesting because the World Series of Poker is here, and PokerStars has a huge number of excellent opportunities to ship you to Vegas. If you’re craving excitement, participating in a large scale tournament series is a step in the right direction. PokerStars provides a huge number of chances to participate in the WSOP, and if you’re able to money the Main Event, you’ll receive some great bonus prizes.

There’s no PokerStars bonus code required for the great bonus incentives. All you need to do is wear some PokerStars clothing and represent yourself as a PokerStars player. The first thing you receive is an automatic free 50k VPPs at the start of next year. That’s right – just represent PokerStars and you’re automatically half way to Supernova in 2011! If you place in the money in the ME, you receive a complimentary PokerStars Caribbean Adventure or North American Poker Tour prize package. And finally, if you’re able to win the big tournament, you’ll receive the Main Event Champion Bonus: $400,000 cash, free online tournament buy-ins, and free live tournament buy-ins. If you add up all the free MTT poker, the entire Champion Bonus is worth $1 million!

Now that you’re excited for the prizes you have the chance to receive, I’ll tell you how to win your seat. If you don’t mind using your bankroll to buy-in to cash satellites, you’ll encounter a large number of regular tournaments of all buy-ins that give ME entries to the winners. If you’d prefer to start at a really low buy-in, you can always work your way up to a ME seat by playing in Steps Satellites. Because it’s also possible to buy-in to the higher levels of the Steps Satellites, higher stake players will find that this is a good alternative for them, too. Are you so broke that you can’t even afford the cheapest Step Satellites? As usual, Stars has an alternative for you. If you don’t mind what might amount to online bingo, your FPPs are good for entering special satellites. Think about how jealous your fellow players will be once they find out you won your seat to the ME without even spending a dime of your own cash!

To help with some expenses, the ME package awarded in satellites gives more than just a seat to the tournament. You’ll also receive $1k cash to buy anything you want (most people spend this on airfare), 8 nights at the Palms, and use of a free shuttle to the Rio. If you’d rather have cash instead of the accommodations, you’ll receive an extra $1,000 instead. Even if you're properly rolled for the big tournament, it might still make sense to make a poker deposit into PokerStars and just win your way in since the site makes it so easy when you’re in Vegas.

If you want to download free poker before the WSOP, you could argue that a Full Tilt Poker download is superior because they offer $10 million for placing 1st in the ME, but also consider that you’ll be tied to Full Tilt for a full decade before you receive all the money. You are offered the same value per year at both Full Tilt and PokerStars ($1 million), but PokerStars only makes you sign a one year deal. I think both site’s incentives are worth considering, and it all depends on whether or not you want a long term contract.

Supernova and Supernova Elite

I previously talked about the VIP program that comes automatically when you use a PokerStars bonus code. I explained that if you make a download and use the PokerStars bonus code, start as a BronzeStar member, but you’re able to earn your way to PlatinumStar level each month for the really worthwhile benefits. The site soon decided that PlatinumStar wasn’t enough, however. To show the high volume grinders that they were really appreciated, they introduced Supernova and Supernova Elite. You’ll earn these statuses yearly rather than monthly, which means they’ll require a much higher commitment than PlatinumStar.

Let’s start with Supernova as it is the easier of the two to earn. If you go ahead and provide a PokerStars bonus code and then click the cashier button, you can check the VPP points you’ve obtained and the VPPs you must get to reach Supernova. When you first start your account, it will read that in order to become a Supernova, you must earn 100k VPP by the end of December 2010. When you get to 100,000 VPPs, you are a Supernova until the end of next February. If you want to keep Supernova further into the year, you have to obtain at least 7.5k VPPs each month (although you are allowed to miss one month without penalty). If you haven’t earned 100k VPPs by the start of October, you will lose Supernova status until you get 100k VPPs again.

Supernova benefits are awesome. If you’re into accumulating a bunch of valuable FPPs, you’ll be happy to know that your multiplier will increase to 250%. And now the VIP store will give you access to special Supernova merchandise. Now remember that quarterly million tournament that I told you about in the last entry? Supernovas actually freeroll these tournaments and can play all of them without satellites. At this VIP status, you also receive Milestone Cash Credits. You buy these once you hit certain VPP levels, and you don’t need to worry about poker bonus clearing like with a regular PokerStars bonus. Go ahead and pay the FPP amount and the cash will immediately go into your account. There’s a total of $29.8k in Milestone Credits to earn at the Supernova level.

How do you like the Supernova benefits? Go ahead and get ready to be completely blown away by Supernova Elite, the VIP level that asks for an incredible 1 million VPPs. There aren’t many players around that can play enough poker hands to earn a million VPPs, even if they have a year to attempt it. I have to admit that the benefits are absolutely worth it, however. You’ll start to receive 400% more FPPs at this level, and you probably know by now that you’ll have access to a few exclusive items in the VIP store. In addition to the Supernova Milestone Cash Credits, you also get to strive for an extra $100,000 in Elite Cash Credits. Many people find the MTT poker opportunities that Elite players receive the most exciting benefit, however. For one, you get automatically entered into the WCOOP Main Event which takes place in the second half of the year. Now check out this list of live events: APPT Sydney, EPT Monte Carlo, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and WSOP Main Event. You get either one event package and $10k, or two event packages (which are worth more than $10k each).

I must admit that this site has done an amazing job with their VIP program, for many people spend all their playing time at PokerStars as they strive for Supernova or Supernova Elite. While it depends on what you do with your FPPs, it’s actually more than possible to earn huge PokerStars rakeback if you can achieve Supernova or Elite. This means that you play on the site paying very little rake with everything they give back to you. I can’t think of any other site with a better rakeback deal than this! If you’re not already playing on PokerStars, you should probably be re-thinking your decision.

BronzeStar to PlatinumStar

For today’s article, I will go over a further incentive to use a PokerStars bonus code. Like many other sites out there, PokerStars has a VIP program, but they have spent a lot of time making their program unique and extremely rewarding. As incentive to play several hands, PokerStars gives VIP Player Points (VPPs) and Frequent Player Points (FPPs) to those who play games with real money at their tables. Playing higher stakes and more often will earn you more points, and the more points you earn, the more cash bonuses and merchandise you’ll receive in return.

You won’t have any FPPs or VPPs until you deposit using a PokerStars bonus code and start playing at the tables. VPPs are only there to determine your VIP level and keep track of bonus clearing. For purchasing merchandise from the VIP store, you will redeem your FPPs. In total there are four possible monthly VIP statuses and two special yearly VIP statuses.

A first time PokerStars download automatically gives you BronzeStar status. It’s true that BronzeStar is the first VIP level possible, but its members can still earn plenty of extras. They’ll still earn FPPs for sitting in real money games, and they can redeem FPPs for regular merchandise in the VIP store. At this status, people also receive Stellar Rewards, cash bonuses deposited into player accounts when they get to certain VPP milestones. Over the course of a year, a player can earn up to $1,000 in Stellar Rewards.

When you become a SilverStar (you must earn 750 VPPs in a month), you keep going with the BronzeStar benefits and you are given further SilverStar perks. First off, you receive an FPP multiplier of 1.5 so that you’re able to receive FPPs 50% faster. In the VIP store, you now have access to specific SilverStar merchandise. Finally, you can now play in weekly and monthly VIP tournaments. Every week you can participate in the $30k VIP tournament for 100 FPPs, and you can now satellite into the monthly $100k tournament.

The benefits start to get pretty good once you hit 3,000 VPPs and GoldStar. You now receive two times more FPPs via your multiplier, and when you spend them, you can buy GoldStar merchandise. This VIP level gives you even more chances to play VIP MTT poker. You receive a free ticket to the $100k tournament so that you don’t have to satellite in, and for an even larger prize pool, you can play the quarterly $1 million VIP tournaments. These tournaments are available four times per year and most players (including GoldStar members) must win a ticket to play them.

If you play enough poker hands to earn 7,500 VPPs and reach PlatinumStar, you receive an FPP multiplier of 2.5. You have access to PlatinumStar merchandise in the VIP store, and there is also an additional chance to satellite into the quarterly $1 million tournaments. These satellites give more seats than the GoldStar satellites and are exclusive to PlatinumStar members.

That’s all there is to know about the monthly VIP statuses, but there is still plenty to know about the  yearly VIP statuses. In fact, hitting one of the yearly VIP statuses is equivalent to earning substantial PokerStars rakeback, something many players don’t know. This entry is becoming long, so that will be our topic for next time. Until then, good luck at the tables!

Clearing the PokerStars Bonus

In my introduction post, I wrote about the benefits of a PokerStars download. The download gets you top quality poker software and the player traffic that comes along with it is matched by no other site. To add to a large game selection and several choices to personalize your online poker experience, I also mentioned that if you first deposit and use the PokerStars bonus code, you get your first bonus. With a PokerStars bonus code, you receive 100% of what you deposit up to $600, all in bonus cash.

Releasing your bonus shouldn't be too difficult. What you have to do is participate in real money games, and you will be earning VIP Player Points (VPP) in the process. This is a 17x bonus, which means you have to earn 17 times the amount you deposited in VPPs in order to clear the bonus. Assuming, for instance, you deposited $300, you have to earn 17 x $300 = 5100 VPP to get the bonus. If you have deposited the full $600, you will need 17 x $600 = 10,200 VPPs to clear the whole amount. The bonus dollars are credited to your account in $10 increments, meaning that for every 170 VPPs, a chunk of the bonus will be released into your account. It bears mentioning that points earned in both tournaments and cash games count towards the sign up bonus, so no matter which you play, you will be earning VPPs while doing it. The bonus expires in 180 days after you use the PokerStars bonus code, so you will have that as the time limit to collect the required amount of VPPs.

PokerStars bonus clearing speed is entirely dependent on the games played and the stakes at which these games are played. For example, if you decide to play 25NL cash games, it will take you approximately 159,376 hands at Full Ring or about 110,870 hands at 6-Max to clear the whole bonus. These numbers are extreme and are only correct if you only choose to play one or the other. Mixing the types of games at the same stakes will result in an amount somewhere in between these. If you play higher, for example $50NL, the amounts drop yet again, this time to an approximate of 77,273 hands for Full Ring and 56,667 hands for 6-Max.

Any other combination will also lead to clearing your bonus, such as playing both cash and tournaments, or playing exclusively MTT poker. You will be earning 5.50 VPPs for every dollar paid in tournament fees. Assuming you play $15+$1 tourneys, you’d have to play about 1,855 tourneys (10,200/5.5 ~ 1,855) to clear your bonus. Up the buy-in to $25+$2, and you would have to play half as many to clear it. As already thoroughly explained, these are the absolute extremes in any one category of games you could choose; different combinations of game types and stakes will give different VPPs.

Of course, most players won't grind just one type of game like that, so take these numbers with a grain of salt. But we've shown one thing for sure and that is that the higher you play, the less volume you will need to clear the bonus, and the opposite is also true. One possible scenario in which a player may clear the whole bonus, is to play 50% $10+$1 SNGs, 25% 25NL FR and 25% 50NL 6-max. In this scenario, you would need about 900 SNGs, about 36,000 poker hands 25NL FR and about 14,500 hands 50NL 6-max.

PokerStars SCOOP

In my first entry, I gave an introduction to PokerStars, the most frequented poker site online today. I described the PokerStars bonus code, talked about the large player base, and described the customer support. To further describe the offerings of PokerStars, today I am going to talk about the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), a tournament series hosted by the site every year. The 2010 series goes from May 2nd to 16th and has 38 different events. The series has an impressive $45 million guaranteed prize pool.

One of the best things about this series is that each event has three different buy-ins: one for high stakes players, one for low stakes, and then one in between. This means that no matter how high or how low you play, you will still be able to take advantage of the PokerStars bonus code and use these tournaments to help you clear the bonus. Each SCOOP champion will also receive a special watch when they win first place.

If you read my previous articles, you’ll already know that a lot of players choose a PokerStars download and the PokerStars bonus code partly because they have a good variety of poker games aside from Texas Hold Em. With this in mind, it comes as no surprise that the SCOOP schedule has many different poker games such as Omaha, Razz, and Triple Draw. If you’re a fan of mixed games, you’ll be able to play HORSE and 8-Game. All these events have a posted guaranteed prize pool, which means you won’t need to speculate that these events will have a small first place prize due to bad participation.

If you want to play in more than just the low stakes events but bankroll management prevents you from doing so, don’t fret. Satellites are the answer to this problem. You can play in satellites using cash or Frequent Player Points. Many of the SCOOP satellites have seats guaranteed so that, once again, you don’t have to worry about a lack of prizes.

For the MTT poker player, you’ll have trouble finding a better place to play. Huge prize pools attract many players, and there’s a lot of money to be made for the adept player. Be sure to grind hard and play as many poker hands in these tournaments as possible. Here’s to hoping you get plenty of pocket aces!

PokerStars Overview

PokerStars has become the largest and most well known poker site on the internet today. The site of choice of several professional players such as Barry Greenstein, Chris Moneymaker, and Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, PokerStars kept its doors open for Americans and has by far the largest player traffic available for online poker players. You’ll find that there are many other reasons PokerStars is so popular. Using a PokerStars bonus code the first deposit bonus is large and easy to earn, the software is reliable with a multitude of options for personalization, and the support is without any doubt the best of any online poker site.

Let’s discuss about the PokerStars bonus code first and foremost since bonuses are what most people are most interested in. As you deposit for the first time and use the PokerStars bonus code, PokerStars will give you a bonus of 100% the amount you deposit up to $600! If you cannot deposit $600 all in one shot, don’t stress. You have 90 days to deposit $600 total (over 3 deposits) and PokerStars will match it all. If you want another PokerStars bonus after you clear this one, you’re in luck. The site often rewards deposit bonuses throughout the course of the year, and you’ll be able to take a few months to clear them. To earn the bonuses, you will need to earn VPPs. Do this by participating in real money poker games of any type and any stake.

The quality of the poker software is frequently a big factor determining whether a player keeps going at a particular site. Players everywhere agree that the PokerStars download is perhaps the greatest software online today. The play is always very smooth and bugs are rarely found. The lobby is user friendly and there are several options to personalize it to help you find what you need faster. The tables themselves also have many choices, from changing the color of your cards to changing the sounds to enabling observer chat. You can change the size of your tables, change where you sit, and choose from a variety of advanced multi-tabling functions. It seems like the options go on forever! You might even be pleased to learn that you can play Mac poker if you prefer an Apple computer.

Last but not least there is customer support, a factor that many sites forget about or deem as less important. PokerStars has shown over and over again that they provide the best support in the industry, hands down. When you have an email request, they have many people available to respond in a timely fashion. You could just need a couple hand histories or maybe even your entire deposit history, and either way you are sure to get it and you need not wait a long time for it either. To ensure a secure site, they often monitor money transfers, deposits and withdrawals for illegal actions. PokerStars certainly believes that keeping a good customer support is vital for making its players loyal.

I could just keep writing about more awesome things about the site, but it’s probably time for you to just see for yourself. Use a PokerStars bonus code to get a great bonus and then good luck choosing from the impressive amount of tables available to you. It’s a fact that you’ll soon find that you’ve picked one of the best legal US poker sites on the internet today.