Poker online is simply the most popular game of poker played online. It has in part contributed to a large increase in the total number of poker players all over the world. This means that there is an ever increasing potential for new players to be introduced into this fast expanding, highly lucrative industry. And why not? Poker online has some unique advantages over playing poker offline.
First of all, buying-in is much easier to establish online. In a game like poker, where all the action takes place in real time, the ability to establish a buy-in is easier. Players can see each other and make sure that they are indeed "playing poker online" before ever entering the playing hall. Online, players can also communicate with each other through instant messaging or even voice, if voices are allowed - which, given the language barriers, is often not. Buy-ins can be determined with a simple click of the mouse.
Also, when you play poker online, there is no physical presence! Players can play their game in rooms or on their computers, wherever they choose to. They do not have to find a designated room or computer to play their game. They simply sit down in any corner of the house, in front of the computer, and go to town. They literally can play poker online from any location that they want.
Finally, free tournaments are provided by many online poker sites. For a minimal nominal fee, these poker sites offer large cash prizes - sometimes even as high as thousands of dollars - to eager players who sign up to play. Free tournament play is also available to players who do not own any cards or chips. Many times, these freeroll tournaments require a deposit to be made before the player may start. Once the initial buy-in is made, these freeroll tournaments provide constant, reliable money throughout the duration of the event. Players quickly begin to see the benefits of signing up for free online poker tournaments.
Now that you understand why poker online is a great way to play free poker for fun, you might wonder where you can find these tournaments. Many of the top poker websites offer freeroll tournaments daily, weekly, and monthly events. Many times, a good number of these online poker sites host both freeroll and tournament tournaments, allowing players to mix and match at their leisure. Another option is to play free money onsite at various poker online casinos. Many of the top poker websites provide an excellent pay-out experience, with money being sent to players' account within minutes after the end of a game.
In summary, by having a monthly membership to one of the top online poker websites, you can reap the benefits of frequent player specials, freeroll tournaments, and the opportunity to make money playing with free money. By constantly meeting monthly volume requirements, you'll be able to gain enough referrals to become a full-time poker star. In addition to the above benefits, you'll be exposing yourself to the best ways to make money playing online poker. Frequent tournament play will increase your skills, while receiving lots of referrals will assist you in becoming a frequent poker player with bankrolls. When you combine the above poker strategies with the above free money tournaments, you'll be a force to be reckoned with in no time at all!

If you are looking for a poker game that doesn't require you to download any additional plug-ins, then IDN Poker is the poker perfect game for you. It is a free online poker game with a free casino version, which is available from the official website for iPhone and iPad devices. IDN Poker is an extremely popular free online poker game for both Android and iPhone devices, thanks to which you are able to play high-stakes games and lay bets from anywhere in the world. If you are a member of an existing poker room, then you need not download any additional plug-ins.
There are several distinct features of IDN Poker that distinguish it from other online poker games. The first and foremost feature is the free casino version. The fact that this is a poker room gives you the opportunity to try out the software for a limited period. This gives you the opportunity to see if you feel comfortable playing the games in the casino version. You will also be able to learn more about the poker strategies used by the experts. Once you make the decision to upgrade your membership, you will be eligible to participate in live tournaments and participate in freeroll poker tournaments.
Another major difference between YYG poker and login IDN poker is the system of registering. With the free version of IDN Poker, you get access to a limited number of hands and you are not entitled to any chips. The registration process is simple and easy, and you need not provide any personal information. All you need to do is register with your valid email address.
In addition to getting all the information you need, you will also be sent a download link of all the best current poker strategies. These strategies will help you improve your game considerably and you will be able to win quite a bit of money as well. Another great feature of YYG idn poker link alternative is the fact that it is entirely automated. It is designed in such a way that it will generate new random strings of numbers automatically, thus ensuring that it is always generating the highest quality poker IDN poker links.
Another major difference between YYG poker and login IDN poker is the ease of navigation. Even though both games have their distinct names, they are very easy to understand and play. For example, with the straight 5 4 3 2 variant, you can simply click on your mouse and start playing right away without having to read through any lengthy instructions or begin shuffling cards.
A significant number of poker communities have a number of IDN poker links available for you to try out. One of the most popular IDN poker links is the one provided by yang perlu anda ketahui. This particular IDN poker link was created by yang perlu using the original version of the game. The main aim of this link is to provide beginners with a good amount of basic hands that they could try out in order to practice. After a while, you may even want to try to play against better players so that you can improve your game strategy.

I just wanted to tell a short story about a time in January where I won an online freeroll tournament. I won a package worth €1200, which included buy in to a live tournament in Tallin (I live in Norway) hotel, and some travel money. But the casino the tournament was held in had an age requirement of 21 (which I am not) so I easily just sold the package to a random person in a buy/sell group on fb. Sold it for €1100 with no problem. Fast forward to august, obviously due to COVID this tournament was canceled. And this person messages me that he was refunded €1350, and said that it is only fair that we split the “surplus” and immediately transferred it to me.
I know it’s not that much money to anybody, but to me it was money that really came in handy, and hadn’t thought about this matter since January. Even though it’s not directly poker related, I just wanted to share a nice story that genuinely made me happy, and to see how kind some people actually can be. He had no obligation to tell me, he just found it fair. Warms my heart.

The new 99-Poker online is a revolutionary poker software that is free for the users to try before they have to pay any fees. But there are certain players who do not want to lose their money just yet. And these people want to know if it is worth giving a try. The review on the site shows that this software has been tested and there are no major problems detected so far. So what does this mean to players like you who are waiting to avail of this offer? Well, the answer is... everything.
First off, you are going to save a lot of money playing poker on the Internet. This is because you would not have to pay for gas expenses when you are playing from home. This is very important in today's economy where so many people are working part-time jobs or running small businesses just to make ends meet. You can simply save your gas expenses by playing poker on the site instead of going out to a real casino.
Another thing that you can enjoy about playing poker on the site is that you are going to have a great time without having to worry about being cheated or robbed. With the increase of cheaters on the Internet, this is a reality for many players. The only thing that you can do is to make sure that you are playing poker at a reputable site. 99 Poker offers this to its players and that is why it has continued to be one of the top ranking sites in the Internet.
There are so many different types of poker games available to you when you are playing poker online. You can choose between freerolls, payoffs, and even tournaments. If you are a casual player, then you will find that there are more free games available to play on the site. But if you want to take it up a notch, then you can opt to get involved with live events and tournaments to enhance your gaming experience.
If you are interested in playing a particular game on the site, then you will need to find the specific game on the site and sign up for it. Once you have signed up, then you will be able to begin playing on the site. 99 poker is known for its friendly and knowledgeable players. They will be able to help you through every step of the way.
If you are interested in playing an online poker game, then you will want to check out the site out. It is important to do your research and find a site that fits your personality and your budget as well. By doing that, you will be able to enjoy playing on the site and winning some money while you are at it.

Playing poker online with play money is a really good way to learn the basics of poker (understand the development of the game, know the rules better, observe how the bets work), in addition to knowing all the information on how to play poker For beginners , but despite all this you don't understand what poker is until you start playing real money poker online.
The fact of playing poker online for real money leads the player to feel a series of sensations that play money cannot create and the decisions become more sensible in a much more interesting game. When playing poker for real money, you begin to feel that characteristic tingle when bluffing or the feeling of relief and joy when performing a conflictive action thanks to which you take your opponent's chips. Play money gambling is definitely a good way to enjoy poker early on, but real poker comes when you get into playing online poker with real money at stake. For this, it is not necessary to be at a high-stakes table with professional players since when the tables are with real money (even if the tables are one or two cents), you can see that the game is totally different and much more entertaining.
Here is a small guide to real money poker to better understand its characteristics and some aspects to take into account so that after reading it, or if you have already decided to play for real money, you can visit any of the rooms that we offer down here with the best bonuses to start playing online poker for real money.
The first question that a beginning poker player usually asks himself when starting to play online poker is whether he should do it playing online poker with real money or is it better to do it with play money, this is a really difficult question to answer because each option has its pros and cons when starting out in poker. Most poker experts agree that the poker without money is a very interesting option and totally recommended for the beginning of any poker player , but usually only serve starting to take the first steps to begin to know the rules of the poker and the operation of the game.
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Online poker for real money vs. play money
When a player takes his first steps in poker he needs to understand how a hand works in poker, the different types of tables that exist and learn the basics of the game. To give an understandable example, we can say that playing poker with play money is like driving in the driving school, being a necessary step (obviating the fact that it is mandatory to obtain a driver's license) to be able to really drive on a highway. In driving school, the student learns where to find each of the instruments used in driving (gearshift, accelerator, brake ...) and to use them properly, although it cannot be said that he really drives since he has to follow all the teacher's instructions. It would not be surprising if you have ever heard that you learn to drive when you already have the license, that in driving school you only learn to pass the exam.
In play money poker it happens exactly the same as playing online poker for real money, the player has the cards, the chips and faces real players, but there is something missing and this is because the game, despite also called poker and that the development is the same as with real money, the way of playing is totally different. As there is no money at stake, there are many players who are only there to enjoy it as if it were an arcade game , using all-in too many times and betting without sense, which makes games of poker with free money does not serve as training to master the game strategy since it is not difficult to put any strategic learning into practice.
In short, play money poker is a very interesting option to understand the game, but the action that takes place in these types of tables does not correspond to what happens later when playing with real money, a fact that does not prevent it from also be a very interesting option if you just want to enjoy a moment. Another example for comparing play money poker and real money poker is sports. Poker without money is like playing a soccer game with friends, there is a lot of action, a lot of goals, it is even more attractive than a real game, but it does not serve as tactical training since there is usually no control, serving only as entertainment and to gain a bit of physical condition, taking into account that it cannot be considered football but rather “pachanga”. The lack of rewards and the fact that there is nothing at stake means that poker games without money lack an incentive that is necessary in most cases. Why do people play the pool? Why do people participate in cheers or sports bets? The possibility of winning a little money really makes the games look different and offers more entertainment even if nothing is won.
Online poker with real money and no deposit
Freerolls money Freerolls and free tournaments with real prizes are perhaps the best option for players who still do not want to risk their money because they do not look prepared but who want to feel the feeling of playing real poker. These types of tournaments are really interesting both for novice players and for those more experienced players who want to learn a new strategy and put it into practice.
Why, if these tournaments are free, are they different from tournaments and games with play money or no money? The reason is usually that when there is a prize at stake, even if it is minor, people give their best, playing as if they were doing it with real money, but especially because in this type of tournaments, most players are regulars of real money tables or aspire to play at them in no time.
This would be like playing a friendly between two soccer teams. Despite the fact that the tension is not the same, the teams and players use the strategies learned in training sessions and the game is quite similar to the official matches, which is why it is useful for practicing for league matches.
At Poker Listings we have created a page dedicated exclusively to free poker , where you can find all the information related to it. It is also interesting to know where and how to download the Approval poker game from any of the sites that we offer you.
Real money online poker games
When playing online poker for real money, three aspects must be taken into account: the type of game (where you can differentiate between the different poker variants: Hold'em, Omaha, mixed games, Stud ...), the type table (where you differentiate between cash poker tables, sit-and-go tournaments, and scheduled tournaments) and bet sizes (ranging from microbets and frequent player points tournaments to high-end tables). stakes).
In this case, since we are talking about online poker with real money we are going to focus on the size of the bets, but this does not mean that we do not believe that it is important to know the other two aspects already extensively developed on our page. We recommend that you visit our page dedicated to poker games to find out which ones exist and their rules.
Finally, if you are looking to know all the types of tables and tournaments that exist, you cannot miss our guide-tutorial on poker tournaments where we explain in detail all the options that exist from online poker tables with real money, in cash, to scheduled tournaments, going through the different satellites that exist as well as visiting our page where you will find a comparison of Spain poker sites .
Real Money Online Poker: Gambling
Taking into account the amount of bets that are made both at the cash tables and in the different tournaments, we are going to make a list of the different options that there are and that the different poker rooms make available to their players.
Play money tables
At the beginning of this article we have talked extensively about this type of tables and the differences with online poker tables with real money, these being those in which no economic amount is put at stake and, therefore, they are not tables of real money poker.
Freeroll and frequent player point tables
On many occasions it is possible to qualify for real prizes without having to make any financial outlay or only use frequent player points . This is the middle ground between no money poker and online real money poker.
Microstakes
Both in the microstakes and in the rest of the size of the bets, it is necessary to differentiate between the cash tables and the tournaments since the amounts are different depending on the type of table in which it is played . Micro bets are characterized by very little money at stake , including in this group tables with bets up to € 0.10 / € 0.25 (small blind / big blind) and tournaments up to € 3 (3.50 $). These tables are the ones with the greatest number of players and you can find a multitude of tables and tournaments of all the poker variants available at all times since the vast majority of poker room users tend to play at these levels.
Low stakes
Depending on the poker room in which it is played, low stakes tables are usually considered those that go up to € 1 big blind . In tournaments the maximum buy-in limit for low-stakes tournaments is usually between € 10 and € 15 . Professional players can be found regularly at this level as there are usually quite a few players, a fact that does not occur at the higher level tables.
Socks
At this level there are usually many professional players, varying the bets at the cash tables up to € 5 or € 6 (speaking of the big blind) and can go up to € 50 entry (as a general rule) in most of the poker rooms.
High stakes
Also known as high-stakes, this group includes all tournaments and cash tables that exceed the amounts mentioned in the previous groups . In addition to professional players, it is possible to find at these levels regular casino players with money and really rich people who only enjoy the game if they make bets of this type.

Hey folks, below I will write my story about the impact that gambling had upon my life, hold tight, I like to give details.
Early days
It all started when I was around 15-16 y/o and got into high-school. It was somewhat of a trend in my classroom that some of the kids were gambling their lunch money on football ( and in my country nobody would care if a kid would walk into a betting shop). Me and my best friend got interested and started looking into it. Fast forward 2 years later (after we've tried and failed a lot of things and lost some money, but not a lot as you don't have a lot of money in your hands as a kid, we managed to find out a way of actually winning out of football bets) I started making serious amounts of money for my age (17-18 y/o), somewhere around the same money my mum was making after 20-25 years of career. A few months into this, my mum finds the stacks of money hidden in my room and the papers where I was writing my BankRoll transactions and bets by hand to keep track of winnings and losings and she thought I was selling drugs or doing some weird kind of shit, I told her what I was about and she forced me to stop - despite the amounts of money. So far no hard feelings were involved into gambling, it was more of an interesting challenge for me.
A few months later, after the money had run out, I lost a good chunk of money my mum gave me for a holiday on gambling and promised myself to never do it again like this...
I ended up getting into poker... I've started reading a few books and strategy about poker and then I did an online deposit after I turned 18. The first tournament I play with money won at freerolls, I end up taking 1st place - I can't tell you how excited I was.
Where is this taking me?
A few years later I find myself going through a Computing Science degree at uni. Poker was a huge dream of mine but I ended up playing higher stakes than I should, I ended up throwing away a lot of my own money (earned through part-time jobs while studying) online and live in the casinos. Truth is I could've had fun using that money but I spewed it away. Through these years I started developing an addiction for the feelings that gambling gives you. I had huge issues with depression and anxiety, was suicidal two times but never ended up doing it, gambling and videogames were the perfect getaway...with gambling slowly creeping in.
I find myself getting an internship at a top company and got paid really well that summer. I end up blasting a good chunk of it on high stakes poker and then I get into slots...
At slots, I end up spinning 1k into 12.5k, withdrew it all away knowing this amount of money was covering all my loses through the uni years and it was adding some good profit on top. I sit on that money for about a month, ready to buy my dream car and get away from gambling....I end up depositing chunk after chunk after chunk...guess what? losing all of it!!!
Then I realize how big of an issue gambling is and how much is degrading my mental health and the way I feel about the world, I go through therapy and stop.
It has to stop now
Few years later, my internship turned into a well paying job at a top corporation. I've been gambling free for a couple of years, I'm saving a good chunk and of income and investing most of it. But hey...working a 9-5, wearing a suit and dying in front of a screen is not the dream, is it? So I'm starting to think about a way of getting away, of living differently and I remember about my old friend..poker..and how so many people live off poker. But I don't remember the issues that I had with slots and the roller-coaster gambling took me so far.
Anyways, I start studying the game deeply and promised to be professional about it. At this time I sit on savings that I can use to deposit money to get my first house, or to buy a brand new sports car....at 25 y/o, but I decide to give poker a chance and see if it can take me places.
Few months into the grind, I end up playing high stakes poker and winning at it by a small margin. Was winning at the game but my mental state was degrading, gambling for a living if you are not strong mentally is not to be advised, and I was not that strong mentally if you remember the issues that I had before. I promised I would use only 25-30% of my savings to give this a shot, I end up using 70% of my savings,I end up losing all of it playing nose bleed stakes with the crushers and in a few days they crushed me, and to be honest it's not the money that I lost that is the issue. I completely stopped and I will never get back to this, I will go seek a different self and run away from this.
The real issue
The main problem is that gambling kills you mentally and messes up with your energy as a person. You end up seeing life differently, you end up with the wrong view of what happiness is. I wish I could go back in time to when I was in high-school and look at my classmates placing football bets and take the opposite route and be like..that's stupid, that's not for me. Could've saved me of so many years of self-inflicted pain.
For anyone reading this post, thank you and if you have or believe to have an issue with gambling, winning or losing, it's not going to end up well, even if you are winning, that's my opinion. You might be winning money, but you are losing soul.
I will go ahead and buy myself a 2nd hand car with the money left and for the time that I will use it, let it be a daily reminder that I should not gamble ever again, and be happy with what I've managed to achieve in my career so far.
I'm posting this as none of my family know about my issue and I'm looking for a bit of support.

I've tried this previously on here with a moderate level of success, but with casinos around the world closing down and everyone quarantined at home, it seems like there's a lot more interest in playing online poker right now.
I prefer to use https://blockchain.poker for this, because it is open to players of every country and there is no registration process... you don't have to provide any personal info to play on the site. I wrote a guide explaining the features of the site and how it works without registration here: https://read.cash/@Jake/a-quick-tour-of-blockchainpoker-dcb8deae
I've messaged the mods of poker seeking their approval but I'd also like to drum up some community interest as well. I am willing to put up $200 of my own money in prize pool guarantees for this event. The last time I did this, there were many people who were disappointed they couldn't attend because they were either busy or the time zones weren't convenient, so this time I'd break it down into a few separate tournaments spaced throughout the day. (Maybe 4 $50 tournaments, spaced 8 hours apart?). I'd also password protect the tournaments so it would just be other poker readers playing and not the general population of the site, although I'm sure there's some overlap.
If this is something you'd like to participate in, please let me know in the comments. If it's popular enough, I'll create the tournaments for a few days from now.
edit: Based on the comments so far it seems like there's interest, so I've made the first freeroll for tonight, 11 hours from now.
Time: Tuesday March 17 (TODAY), 7pm PDT, 10pm EDT Buy-in: Free Prize pool: 0.25 BCH, currently $45 Password: foldpre Link: https://blockchain.poker?tournament=8742
Based on how many people participate in this one I'll have a good idea of timing and when the next one should be.

A few people asked for my story so I figured I'd share. Writing it out has been good therapy I think.
I first played poker on a camping trip with some friends some 10 years ago when I was 16. We didn't play for money and we used one of those cheapo wallmart sets of chips. None of us had any idea what we were doing. Pretty much every hand was limped family pots and checking down to the river.
A year later my dad's boss invited me to a homegame with his staff. This was the first time I played with someone who knew how to play. It was $10 to play, and my dad's boss won all 3 tournaments he ran that night. For me it was pretty embarassing, folding straights face up because I thought I had a high card. Thinking a straight beats a flush. That kind of thing.
That night I learned that poker was more than just luck, and that good players could make money. So I became determined to learn how to play and how to win.
I started hosting games at my school. I brought my wallmart chip set to school and classmates would play with me on my free periods and during recess. Never for money though.
During this time I started reading some articles about poker strategy online. Or at least that was my intention. After reading some articles about bankroll management and leveling I read an article on continuation betting.
I didn't need to read any more articles because it only took the cbet to make me a BEAST at the school games. Pratically every player in this game was weak-tight and would limp preflop and check/fold any board that they missed. I started to win most sessions just by cbetting 100% of boards.
A couple wins under my belt, combined with my secret weapon (the cbet!), and I knew that I was destined to be a professional.
I started to host real home-games for money (none of us were old enough to play at the casino). Every second Friday we'd play a game with a $5-$10 buy-in (None of us had jobs). It took a few weeks to realise we had to increase the blinds to force the game to end at a reasonable hour, and a few more weeks to figure out a structure that actually made sense.
I tracked all the results of these tournaments over the year, and by the end it was clear that I was the best. I had the largest ROI, the most first places, the most cashes, the most final tables. Every metric that mattered. And it was all thanks to my trusty cbet.
I wanted to go pro. I had no other career aspirations so I stopped paying attention in school and would just day dream about poker. I wanted to play all the time so I signed up to pokerstars under my mum's name because I was still only 17.
Because I had no bankroll on stars I played in the freeroll tournaments every day. The field was usually 9,000 players large, and I played in the 6pm game after school ended but before I went to bed. First place payed $6, so I knew I only needed to win 1 to launch my online poker career.
I quickly learned that 100% cbet was actually not so good against the stations and maniacs that play in freerolls. I had to change the way I played if I wanted to make it to the money.
Eventually, after a few weeks of busting before the first break, I made it to the money and I cashed in at 200th place for 50 cents - which just so happened to be the minimum buy-in for the 1c/2c cash game on stars.
I FINALLY HAD AN ONLINE BANKROLL!
I immediately sat down at a 9-ring cash game and bought in with my prize winnings. It took less than 5 minutes to completely decimate my bankroll. Much to my dismay, the players sitting at the lowest stakes cash game available in the entire country played like poker GODS! What the hell? Every one of my bluffs was called down. Every time I called down a bluff they had it. It was mental, these players were so good. Unlike anyone I had ever played against before.
At this point I knew I'd have to return to my poker studies if I wanted to have any chance at all. So I picked up my very first poker book, "Crushing the Micros", because I was gonna be playing micro stakes of course. One of the early chapters talked about the concept of set-mining and this BLEW. MY. MIND. Needless to say, I didn't feel it was necessary to read the rest of the book.
So, a few weeks later when I cashed my next freeroll tournament and returned to the 1c/2c cash game I completely changed my game. I used a new strategy where I only played pocket pairs preflop against opponents with full stacks. If I missed the flop i'd check/fold, but if I hit my set i'd check raise all in if OOP, otherwise i'd triple barrel pot bet every street if I was IP. It only took a few minutes to win my first stack with a flopped set. So I cashed out of the table and bought in to two tables.
If you've never multi-tabled before, let me tell you, it's the real deal. Twice the hands means twice the speed and that means twice the winnings. It made sense to me that I could scale this as big as possible. Back then, Pokerstars would let you play 24 tables at once - So as soon as my bankroll allowed it I started playing 24 tables at once using my se-mining strategy. The beautiful thing is, it worked!
So, playing 24 tables, only set-mining, I grew my stars bankroll to $1,000. I WAS A POKER GOD and I knew it. I crushed the school games, i crushed the home-game tournaments, and now i was crushing micro-stakes online too.
The day I turned 18 I knew it was time to crush all those fish at the casino. So for my 18th birthday I got my school poker friends (the ones who were 18 anyway) to take a trip to the casino with me.
We each brought $100 with us. 1/2 was too intimidating so the floor offered to open a 1/1 table just for us. Because it was a new table and 1/1 rarely got up, it was just us at the table for most of the night. Luckily for me though, I knew I could crush these guys with my 100% cbet strategy, and throw in a bit of set-mining and my friends stood no chance. I ended up busting every last one of my friends that night yet I only finished $300 up, which didn't make much sense. If I busted them all then shouldn't I be $800 up?
In any case, it didn't matter. I'd just proven to myself I could win at the high stakes casino games. Now I knew beyond a doubt that I could beat any game I played in. Soon I would go pro.
The next year I started uni but because I had no career aspirations besides poker, I'd just stay home and play poker online each day. Sometimes i'd go to class but I'd just play poker on my laptop in class
At some point I picked up holdem manager and imported my hand histories. Over 1 million hands I had a win-rate of 0.5 bb/100 - Yeha I know, I played a shit-load of poker.
It was eye-opening though. I'd played one million hands for pennies, with a win-rate that was hardly even positive. Just imagine if I'd been crushing that whole time instead. If my win rate was 10 bb/100 i'd be up thousands.
So once again, I was determined to get better. I bought books. Lots of books. Like, enough to fill an entire shelf of my bookshelf. And I started reading.
The theory of poker was first. Every time your opponent makes a mistake, you win. Every time you make a mistake, your opponent wins. Yes, got it, basic stuff. What's next?
Professional no limit holdem volume 1. Pot odds, implied odds, stack to pot ratio. This was life-changing stuff. Simple mathemetical concepts I'd never considered before that made so much sense in hindsight. This was it, I didn't need to read any more. Like the cbet and then the set-mine, these concepts were the missing piece I needed to take my game to the next level.
Now I know you're thinking: "Yeah ok, this is great and all but can you get to the part where you lose 200k?". And yes. Yes I can.
So I started skipping uni completely to go to the casino every day. Obviosuly I realised that the rake on 1/1 and 1/2 was fucked, so I started playing 1/3. Even though I was over 1k up online, the buyins for this stake were still HUGE to me and I played pretty scared money. And honestly, I never ended up beating 1/3. I was break-even AT BEST. (I rationalised my results by blaming the high rake. It was unbeatable, you see)
But, I made some friends playing 1/3 at the casino. One guy, Billy, started to invite me to his home game. I LOVED Billy's home game because the rake was lower than the casino's and the buy-in was only $100, which was much more reasonable.
Billy had this rule, where you could buy-in for the max stack on the table. This worked well with my set-mining check-raise all-in strategy so of course I would always buy-in for the max.
One night i'm playing in this game that's been going for 2 days straight and one palyer's got a 2k stack on the table. He's one of the fishier players so I think to myself, why not? And I buy in for my entire roll. 2k.
First hand i get JJ. Flop comes AJ7r. I check, fish bets pot. "Got ya" I think to myself, and I raise all-in.
Snap call. Oh shit. He flips over AA.
I just lost my entire roll that i'd spent the past year grinding for over 1 million+ hands. I'm tilted. Billy asks me if i'm rebuying. That was my entire roll I say.
And then Billy utters the words that you've all been waiting for. "Credit?"
And yeah, basically that's it. I've played in Billy's game ever since. And funnily enough, it turns out I'm not some poker god, i'm just a grade-a egomaniac poker fish. Billy has me for 100k on his books and i've tracked another 100k in losses i've been able to repay. So i'm down 200k over my poker lifetime.
Also, I flunked out of uni. Got married and subsequently divorced due to financial arguments. If you want to know where the money's come from I can assure you it's not my parents or a trust fund or anything like that.
I sell drugs to poker players at Billy's game.

Previous: Inside Underground NY Poker #10
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Spades — 1.10
I had just woken up minutes ago, still not yet home from my first trip to Turning Stone. I had just received an unexpected text from Andy — he said that he wouldn’t be playing at Spades any longer, and to call him as soon as possible. I immediately texted him back.
“What happened? Is everything okay?”
“Are you alone?”
“No, I’m still on my way back from Turning Stone. I’m in the car with my friends.”
“Call me when you’re done.”
An hour or so later, all of my friends have been returned home, except for Theo. We drive to his house and he puts the car into park. I say goodbye, and he makes his way towards his front door, while I hop into my driver’s seat. I take off and instantly give Andy a call.
“Andy, what’s up. I just dropped everyone off. What’s going on?”
“Well, I won’t be playing at Spades anymore. Gonna start playing in Queens again. What I’m about to tell you *has to* stay between us, alright?”
“Of course. What happened? You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, but again, this must stay between us. You’re a good kid and I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you, so I hope you take this piece of advice. You should find a new place to deal. It’s not safe at Spades.”
“What do you mean? Why?”
“How well do you know Matt? Do you guys work together at all?”
“I don’t know him that well. Sometimes he’s working when I deal the tournaments, but for the most part I don’t really know him.”
“Buddy, I’ve known Matt for a long time — you know that. I bailed him out of jail earlier today.”
Andy proceeds to tell me the entire story.
The night before, Matt had been driving home shortly after the game broke at Spades. Unfortunately, he got pulled over while he was riding dirty. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem in suburban Long Island, however, Andy informed me that Matt also had a drug habit.
When the officer who stopped him approached his window, it was crystal clear that Matt wasn’t sober. The officer, doing his due diligence, was no longer interested in simply issuing a ticket. He gave Matt a breathalyzer test — no alcohol was present. The subsequent sobriety test resulted in a failure, giving the officer probable cause to search Matt’s car.
The cop found a bag of prescription pills, which contained enough to reasonably suspect that they were being sold. In addition to the amount of cash found in Matt’s pocket, something to the tune of a few thousand bucks, the officer reasonably came to the conclusion that Matt was a drug dealer. For all intents and purposes, that’s exactly what Matt appeared to be in this situation. He was about to be arrested for some serious charges — felonies — that could ruin his life.
However, Matt vehemently denied the cop’s allegations of any drugs being sold, and said that he could explain the situation. However, he couldn’t provide a reason as to why he had so much cash on him. He was then arrested and brought down to the precinct for questioning.
During Matt’s interrogation, it became quite obvious to him that he was going to get booked for drug distribution charges. In Suffolk County, Long Island, this is no joke. In most cases, it’ll end with you saying goodbye to your freedom.
At first, and this is from Andy’s account of things, Matt tried lying and said that he was simply playing poker at a home game, which was why he had so much cash on him. He confessed that he had a drug problem, but that he wasn’t a drug dealer. The questioning detective didn’t buy his story.
Matt didn’t have a real job that issued W2’s, so there was no sense in trying to lie about it, and he couldn’t provide a phone number for the host of the alleged home game that he was supposedly coming from — an easy and immediate way to prove his claims to be true. The detective wished Matt good luck in court.
In a final and desperate attempt to try and walk away from his predicament as cleanly as possible, Matt played the only card up his sleeve, and offered the truth about the whole situation.
He told the questioning detective that he wasn’t a drug dealer — he just had a drug problem — again, the only consistent part of his story. He revealed that he was driving around so late and had so much cash on him because he worked for an illegal poker club. The detective regained interest in what Matt had to say.
He ultimately wound up coming clean and answering all of the detective’s questions, some of which had certain stipulations attached to them.
In exchange for providing more information about Spades, Matt was ultimately booked for only a measly DUI — a misdemeanor which often resulted in nothing more than an inconsequential fine and rarely probation, if you had a halfway decent lawyer.
In case you don’t know, there is a massive difference between a DWI and a DUI in the county of Suffolk. Judges are incredibly harsh on people who drink and drive, even first time offenders. DUI’s on the hand, which explicitly define a difference between alcohol versus drugs, are not looked upon the same way in the eyes of the judicial system.
In Matt’s case, the detective made sure not to book him with any illegal drug allegations. This meant that a lawyer could easily provide a story of innocence to a judge, that Matt had simply taken a drive to the convenience store, after taking some sleeping medication. The result of this situation would undoubtedly be a measly fine and an ACOD — adjournment in contemplation of dismissal.
In other words, stay out of trouble for a year and all of your charges will be dismissed. Needless to say, a good lawyer is always worth the cost.
Matt spent the rest of the night in the precinct’s holding cell, and was brought to court later on in the morning. Not yet having hired a lawyer, the judge presiding over Matt’s case surprisingly did not grant him OR, short for “Own Recognizance”, which means you get to walk out of the courthouse by simply legally promising to appear in court at a later date.
Judges grant OR depending on a number of factors. Matt didn’t have an existing criminal record, however, he also didn’t have any ties to the community, a history of meaningful employment, or a lawyer to essentially vouch for him, and as a result, the judge set bail on Matt to the amount of $5,000.
This meant that he would be held in the county jail until his designated court date, unless he could pay his own bail with only the cash that he had on him at the time of his arrest.
Matt didn’t actually live in Long Island, he resided in Queens, which meant that he didn’t know anybody in the area who could post his bail for him. At the time your bail is set by the judge, you can usually walk out of there the same day, as long as you are able to have someone post your bail before the court’s end of day time — usually 5PM.
If you can’t get someone to post your bail in time, your situation will become much more complicated. You will be sent to the county jail where you will be searched, stripped of all your clothes, issued a prisoner’s uniform, and assigned either a cell or pod. You’ll stay there until either your court date arrives, or someone posts your bail for you. Nothing about this is process is expedient, whatsoever.
Not wanting to spend any length of time in jail, Matt decided to call the only person he knew who would be in Long Island and also have access to at least $5,000 in cash — that would be Andy.
“So, I bailed him out, which funny enough, left him in debt to me, yet again, for $2k. Although, I made it clear I wasn’t bailing his ass out if he couldn’t immediately pay me back.”
“Holy ****, man. What happened to his car, did the cops impound it?”
“No, actually. They left it on the grass, on the side of the state parkway.”
“How’d you find all of this out? Why would Matt tell you any of this, I don’t get it. Couldn’t he just have told you that he got arrested for a DUI?”
“Absolutely, but then I would wonder why he had to suddenly quit working at Spades, immediately after bailing him out of jail. He couldn’t take the risk of me asking questions.”
“Why would he have to do that? What’s that got to do with anything?”
“It’s too big of a liability for him, now. Buddy, don’t you get it? It’s a 100% chance at this point. An investigation on the club will be conducted, if one wasn’t already being done, which would surprise me if that were the case. It’s only a matter of time now before the cops come in and shut the place down. If that happens when Matt is there, he’ll be arrested.”
“I already know that dealing is illegal. The cops let dealers go, you even said so yourself. You don’t remember? The first time I ever met you, after I told you how old I was — you asked me if I knew that it was illegal to run a game. When I answered “no”, you literally gave me a checklist of things to do, in case I ever found myself in a raid.”
“I remember, and yes, cops *usually* let the dealers go. However, if anything should happen at Spades, it’ll probably be after Matt gets a sentence on his court case. I’ll bet you 10-to-1 for any amount, that he gets at the absolute worst, sentenced to probation. If he gets arrested, it will absolutely end with him getting a jail sentence.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, buddy. There are a ton of other clubs, all over, where he can find another job. And it would be in his best interest to not stick around, especially after narc’ing to the cops. That’s why I’m telling you all of this — find another job, I don’t wanna see you get arrested. You never know, some cop might want to teach you a lesson to stay out of trouble, because you’re so young and caught up in all of this. It wouldn’t surprise me, at all.”
“Can you help me get a dealing job at another club?”
“Yeah, no problem, but it’ll be in Queens. I’ll see what I can do and get back to you. There’s no way I could get you into Fox’s — not yet, anyway. You’ve gotten great at dealing tournaments, but you don’t have enough experience dealing cash.”
“I know. Well, **** man. My mind is blown. I was expecting you to tell me something like you had a disagreement with Vinny, or you wanted to renegotiate your agreement with Gary, or… something like that. Nothing like this.”
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t have told you at all, but… well, you know how I am. There aren’t too many people in the poker community who I actually respect. You’re a smart kid, don’t **** up your future.”
“Well, thanks man. I appreciate you looking out. Please let me know, and get back to me as soon as you can, if you find another place where I can deal.”
“I will. And buddy, one last thing. If you tell anyone about this conversation, I’ll never speak to you again. I trust you. Don’t let me down.” — he says jokingly, yet with authority, in a rather stern tone of voice.
“What conversation?”
“Perfect. Later, buddy.”
I end the phone call, closing my Nokia 6126 flip phone. I begin to think, weighing out my options and trying to come to a decision, in order to formulate some type of plan.
If you were to ask people who know me well, to describe me in one word, the obvious answer would be — cunning. I’ve always considered that to be one of my strengths, to be frank, it has allowed me to capitalize on many of the opportunities that have come my way. I’m an honest person, generally forthcoming when it’s paramount, and take comfort in believing that people are generally good-natured.
Sometimes, the smartest thing to do is to tell people what they want to hear. As Canada Bill Jones once said, “It’s immoral to let a sucker keep his money.” In my paradigm of the world, deceiving someone isn’t even remotely the same as intentionally withholding information or being purposefully vague. Come to think of it, that might be what makes me a decent poker player.
Taking everything Andy had just told me into consideration, I came to a final decision. I was going to continue dealing at Spades, regardless of if he could get me another dealing job somewhere else. If he were to ask me if I had quit, I would respond by saying something like, “Do I look that dumb?”
Dealing at Spades was consistent, lucrative, and simply just too close to where I lived to give up. I did, however, decide to put an end to my ignorance about what I did to make money — cold, hard cash to be exact, that I could earn pretty much anywhere I could find a poker game. A realization that led to my deep appreciation for unmistakably skilled dealers, and floors who possessed vast, intricate knowledge about the rules and procedures of the game.
I did some research on the legality of poker in New York — I wanted to be certain of any and all legal consequences that were attached to running a game. I scoured the internet for everything I could find in order to educate myself. I even had a serious conversation with Jennifer’s father, a successful lawyer, who made a few personal calls and got me in touch with a colleague of his. That was how I met Rich.
Rich was a young, yet successful criminal attorney who practiced law in New York City. He was in his late 30’s and always wore an expensive suit — a bit of a hefty guy, prominently intelligent, articulate, and was way better at poker than I was. He was on Andy’s level, without question. When I first met him, one of the first things he told me about himself was that he was able to pay his bills, shortly after graduating law school, by playing in underground clubs.
I know, it’s incredibly cliche. However, back in 2007, if a reg in a Manhattan-based club was a lawyer in their mid to late 30’s, it would actually be surprising to find out that they *didn’t* pay their law school tuition, student loans, or bills by playing poker. In other words, back then, any winning reg that practiced law and was of the right age, most likely adhered to the stereotype. You’d be surprised to know how many young law students were inspired by the movie Rounders.
Rich and I would later on become poker buddies, and play in a ton of different games together. More relevantly, he was someone who would always show up and play in a new game to help me out — something that facilitated the acquisition of many of my dealing jobs.
No pun intended, Rich had money and played stakes as high as $25/$50 NL regularly. He played in bigger games actually, but, was only comfortable playing up to $25/$50 in private or underground games. For him, anything bigger required playing in a casino.
My first conversation with Rich would take place over the phone. Jennifer’s father set everything up and made it *very* clear to call him on a specific date, at a very specific time. I would be getting free legal advice, as a favor, and I was not to waste this man’s time.
“Hello, this is Rich. Is this Julius?”
“Yes, Hi. Thank you for taking my call, I really appreciate your time. I won’t take up too much of it.”
“Not a problem, whatsoever. I’ve been informed that you are looking for legal advisement in the scope of poker games. Is that correct?”
“Yeah. To be clear, these poker games are not friendly home games. They are ran as businesses and located in commercial areas.”
“I see. Are you a player?”
“Well, yeah. But, I’m also a dealer. I make money in the form of tips, from dealing the game. The players who win a hand will usually give me a few dollars after every hand. And — ”
“Julius, let me stop you right there. Are you familiar with the Mayfair Club?”
“Of course.”
“I used to play there regularly. You’re preaching to the choir. I’m well aware of how these games operate, and fortunately for you, also experienced in the legal affairs that can manifest from them.”
“Wow, a real life one-outer. What are the odds? So then, can you tell me what kind of consequences I could face from dealing?”
“Do you have a criminal record?”
“No, I’ve never been in trouble with the law before. I’ll be 18 very soon, if that means anything.”
“Pardon me, you’re 17 years old?”
“Yes, sir.” — I tell him about my family, my grandmother, hosting tournaments at my house, essentially rationalizing why my age is not a big deal.
“Interesting. How long have you been dealing?”
“Not too long. Less than a year, but I don’t see myself slowing down anytime soon.”
“I see. Where do you deal?”
“At a club called Spades in Long Island. I deal the tournaments, three times per week.”
“Spades? No kidding. I know all about Spades. I play there whenever I visit my parents on the island. As you put it, what are the odds?”
“Yeah, well, a friend of mine who plays for a living is trying to get me another dealing job in Queens. I feel like I might be putting myself at more of a risk, that’s why I needed to talk to you.”
“I understand. Well, let me educate you about the law. In the state of New York, it is completely legal to play poker. You and I could set up a table in the middle of Times Square and play heads up. Inherently, playing poker isn’t the issue. The concern arises when someone starts profiting off of the game by taking rake. That individual is the one who is breaking the law, and can be charged with the promotion of gambling to various degrees, all of which can result in different consequences. It’s important that I point out that keeping a credit book is also illegal, in which you can be charged with the possession of gambling records. You don’t run the floor at all, do you?”
“No, not yet.”
“Not yet. I admire your ambition. Well, that’s a good thing. That means your legal risk is minimal.”
“So then, I’m not breaking the law because I don’t get any of the rake, right?”
“No, not exactly. The legal verbiage used, in the New York State Penal Code, to describe what actually constitutes the promotion of gambling is incredibly vague. However, legal precedents have been established that demonstrate that the court is more than willing to charge you with a crime, even if you never see the literal “profits” of the game. It’s uncommon, but it can certainly happen. For example, if the landlord of a rental property that houses a game was aware that it was being used for illegal gambling activity, they would certainly be in violation of the law. Even if the landlord only collected rent from their tenant, it would still be considered as profiting from the game. It’s very difficult to prove, but nevertheless still illegal.”
“I gotcha. So, receiving tips from the players is illegal and puts me at risk.”
“Correct. To be exact, it puts you at risk of being charged with the promotion of gambling in the second degree, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of up to one year in jail. It’s worth mentioning that the law doesn’t care if you’re a first time offender, or if you have no existing criminal record — anyone who gets charged can receive that sentence. In reality, it’s *extremely* rare to receive a jail sentence for that charge, but it’s still possible. I’m not trying to scare you, however, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I were to leave anything unclear.”
“Wow. How often do people go to jail for this?”
“Almost never. As I said, it’s extremely rare. The police will usually let the dealers go free, if that is, in fact, the complete extent of their involvement. What usually happens, if you even make it to this stage of the judicial system, is that you’ll receive a fine and be on your way. Even repeat offenders usually just get another fine. If you receive a cut of the rake, but are caught dealing at the time of your arrest, then it’s a different story. I’m not going to go over that scenario, because you told me that you don’t get any of the rake, correct?”
“Right. Okay, then. So, to be clear — at the absolute worst, I could go to jail for a year.”
“Yes, at the absolute worst. However, I can’t imagine a situation that ends with someone like you going to jail for this. You’re a minor, you have a clean record, and I suspect that the police would just let you go and call your parents, rather than arresting you. I’m just speculating about that, to be clear. Even if you were to get arrested, I’m all but certain that the police would still let you go. Any decent attorney could demonstrate that you’re a minor being used as a tool, by a conniving adult who is taking advantage of you.”
“Are you trying to say that I’m a victim?”
“I’m saying that that’s the way you would be seen in the eyes of the court, which is why you’ll most likely be let go, should you even get arrested.”
“Ah, okay. I see. Well, Rich, I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to help me. You’ve given me some peace of mind. I really appreciate it.”
“Not a problem, Julius. I would have told you all of this at the table, had you been my dealer.”
“Oh, you still play?”
“Absolutely. Currently, twice a week in Midtown. Why don’t you take down my personal cell number? If you actually find yourself in need of a lawyer for anything poker related, please don’t hesitate to call me.”
“Awesome. Thanks, Rich. Before I let you go, do you play online?”
“To be completely candid, I actually have Full Tilt running on my laptop, as we speak. I’ll usually sit at a couple of tables while I eat my lunch. Nothing serious.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Not in the slightest.”
The conversation went on for a while longer. We talked more about poker, the underground community, and exchanged Full Tilt usernames. The conversation ended with Rich asking me if I could bring him to Spades, the next time he was on the island. The club was in a different location when he had last come around to play.
Rich actually did have Full Tilt opened in the background during our conversation. He had arranged for me to call him during his lunch break, which was when he would keep a few tables open, and play only if he happened to pick up Aces or Kings.
Now that I was well informed about the legal risks I was taking, I felt very confident about sticking to my decision. I was sure now, I wasn’t going to give up my job at Spades.
Almost a month later at the club, on a warm, weekday evening, I was sitting in a cash game during the break of the tournament. It was remarkably busy that night, and there were a lot of new faces playing. Every week was busier than the last.
When I had arrived at the club to setup, Vinny had asked me if I would be okay with getting bought into the cash game instead of working. He explained that he needed someone to deal in order to work off a debt that they owed. I told him it was fine — I’d get to take a night off while freerolling in a cash game.
Shortly after the break ended, I hear Vinny yelling at the entire room.
“HEY! YO! WHO IS THAT GUY HOLDING THE DOOR OPEN ON THE SECURITY MONITORS? LOOK! DOES ANYBODY HERE KNOW WHO THAT IS?” — pointing to the flatscreen that displayed the security camera feeds.
All of the players were looking around at each other, but nobody answered.
“****!”
Vinny makes a bolt for the steel door, closes it behind him, and begins running down the stairs to stop this unknown guy from holding the door open any longer.
The entire room is watching this happen in live action, on the security monitor. Each of the four sections on the screen displayed a feed from a different camera.
Just as Vinny reached the bottom of the stairs, a line of a dozen or so SWAT officers appears on the bottom left section of the monitor. The officer at the front of the line is carrying a bulletproof shield, they all have helmets on, and it’s clear that they are well-prepared for action.
We all watch as Vinny collides into the SWAT team, face first, only to get MOWED down by the entire line. He got pummeled — it looked painful.
SWAT makes its way up the stairs and over to the steel door.
*BOOM* — A loud bang is coming from the steel door, as a huge dent appears simultaneously.
*BOOM* — The door becomes bent in half now.
*BOOM* — The steel door violently swings open, and pieces of the wall fly off into the air.
About 12 or so SWAT officers flow into the club. As the sound of their boots hitting the wood floor fills the silence of the room, they begin to draw their rifles on each table, making sure that everybody is surrounded.
“NOBODY ****ING MOVE! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! DO IT NOW!”
​
To be continued…
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Next: Inside Underground NY Poker #12

Previous Post: https://www.reddit.com/pokecomments/bg7xox/inside_boston_underground_poker_part_4_bubbles_in/
So there I was, walking to the Wynn craps table with about $38k in cash in my pocket. I was up $30k for the day in poker, but as always, I had to push my luck.
There's a table off to the side with only one player at it, while the rest of the tables are pretty packed. I prefer a relatively empty table, so I head over there. The guy at the table has weirdly colored chips in front of him, and I realize he's some mega-whale with over a million in chips in his rail. I walk up to the table and he stays sitting, staring into his rail of chips. The table is $100 minimum which is why no one else was there, and I buy in for $10k.
The guy is just starting a new roll, so I put $600 each 6 and 8 and $250 on the 5 and 9, and he instantly 7s out. I'm down $1700 already in about 3 minutes, shit.
I throw $100 on the line, throw a 6 on the come out and put $600 on the 8, $250 each 5 and 9 again. The other guy started the roll with $12k each 6 and 8, $10k each 5 and 9 and $5k each 4 and 10, plus $1000 each on the hardways. I end up going on an insane roll. I'm throwing hard 6s and 8s like crazy, the guy has pressed up to $5k each on the hard ways and $30k each 6 and 8, and I just keep rolling them. I'm pressing my bets as well, and I'm up like $20k plus I have my bets up to $1000 each 5 and 9 and $3000 each 6 and 8, and I'm still going. At one point I bounce one of the dice off the table, and the other guy turns his bets off, and I roll back to back hard 6s, so he missed out on $160,000 from those rolls, it was pretty sick.
I think in total I made something like $35k off of my roll, and the other guy made over a million. The sickest part was that he barely even looked up from his chips, and he never said a word to me or tipped the dealers at all. He went to the bathroom at one point and I made a comment to the dealers, and they said he was still down overall on the day... What a sicko.
I played for a bit longer and ended up with $90k in my pocket, a profit of over $52k in a couple of hours of craps. I went into the Wynn with $8k in the morning and was leaving with $90k about 12 hours later. It was absolutely insane. I walked outside to wait for my car at the valet, and I had stuffed all 9 of the $10k "straps" into the pockets of my jeans. My jeans were busting with all of the cash, and these old people who were waiting at the valet noticed it and were staring so hard, it was hilarious.
Between my cash, bank accounts and investments, I had about $350k to my name at that moment, less than 3 years after moving to Boston with a roll of around $1500. As you can imagine, I felt absolutely on top of the world. All kinds of thoughts ran through my head. Should I go buy a Porsche in cash? Should I listen to my mom and go to school in Santa Barbara, and use my money on a down payment on a house there?
What was certain was the first thing I should have done was taken a bunch of that cash to the bank and gotten it out of my degenerate hands. Instead I drove to the Bellagio, got a room, got some room service, and went to bed. I woke up in the morning and had lost the $90k at the craps table before lunch.
Now you might be thinking that this was the start of my spiral down, that I went and cashed out my investments, got it all in cash, and blew it all at the Bellagio craps tables, but that would have been too simple. Instead I went back to grinding $10/20nl like nothing had happened. I had lost 2 buyins, oh well.
I took a few more shots at juicy $25/50nl games that summer, and like the lucky asshole I was, I never had a losing session in the 5 I played of that game. The other 4 were all at Bellagio, and usually only ran because a couple of specific businessmen wanted to play. They were bad, the games were great, I was still on top of the world in terms of poker.
One session in particular stood out. I sat down with $10k and was on a roll again, running it up to over $20k within a couple of hours. I had maybe $24k in front of me and was the big stack at the table, it was early and there hadn't been too many rebuys yet, and in walks Viffer (David Peat). Viffer was apparently down a few buyins in Bobby's Room and only had enough for our game, so he sat in with $50k. Being the biggest stack at the table besides him, as well as a 21 year old dressed like a complete douche, Viffer instantly focused on me. He was sitting all the way across the table from me (I was in seat 3, he was in seat 8), but as he sat down he called across the table to me, "hey kid, ever lost a $50,000 pot before?". "Not yet, but I look forward to it!", I retorted. Not my greatest comeback ever, but oh well.
I continue working up a stack without playing any big pots with him, and I'm at close to $30k and Viffer is still around $50k when a big pot happens. Since it was a $25/50nl game with $100 dead on the button, a typical raise was $300-350. In this hand, UTG raised to $350, Viffer called from the CO or HJ, the button called, the SB called, and I woke up with KK in the BB. There's over $1500 in the pot already, so I make it $1500 total and everyone calls. There's over $7500 in the pot preflop. The flop comes KTx rainbow, and I'm trying to figure out how long I should wait before checking, and if I should ham it up, when instead the SB open jams for around $8000. I have nearly $20k behind, and I wasn't sure what to do. UTG had about $12k, Viffer had me covered, and the button had under $10k, so raising vs flatting only really mattered significantly vs Viffer. I decided he didn't have much that could have hit this flop strongly, I wasn't getting paid unless he had KT or obviously TT or bottom set, and I didn't want to let him have pot odds with QJ, so I just jammed. UTG snap folded and Viffer stared me down for a minute before folding, and the button folded as well. We didn't flip our cards up, and the turn came an A and Viffer cursed to himself. He admitted later to having AT. River came a blank and the SB flipped up QJo to ship the pot with his straight. Bye bye $24k pot.
I shake it off, I still have around $20k in front of me, and I run it up a bit once again, sitting with around $25k when I get into a big pot once again. This time I raise to $300 with J9s from the CO and one of the donkey businessmen that the games run because of reraised from the blinds up to $900. I called the $600 more, he had around $13k in his stack to start. The flop comes QJ9 and I'm loving life again. He could have QQ, but JJ is unlikely since I have one, and I had only seen him 3 bet once in around 4 hours. Great chance he had an overpair. He instantly bet out $1500 into the $2000 or so pot, and I reraised to $4000, he went all in pretty quickly, and after a little bit of thought I made the call and he proudly flipped up KK. He had a decent number of outs with his gutshot, another K or a Q giving him the pot, but instead the board ran out 5, 5 to give him higher 2 pair in a different way. Bye bye $26k pot.
Those were 2 of the biggest pots I had ever played where it actually went to showdown and I hadn't gone all in with 100% to win. I had around 62% equity with the J9 and 74% with the KK, so it was a less than 10% chance for me to lose both. I ended up leaving the table up $7k, which was awesome after having lost my only 2 all ins for the night, but I was feeling negative, and of course went to the craps table. I lost my $7k profit and went home even for the day.
Another of the biggest pots I ever played was actually at $10/20nl at the Wynn vs another pro who liked to try to make huge bluffs sometimes and had a habit of overthinking stuff in my opinion. I was sitting with over $15k from $8k in buyins, and was having a pretty great session overall, and the other pro had around $10k. I don't remember the action nearly as well in this hand as the others, but I had KTss in a 3bet multiway pot to the flop, and it came KT7 with 2 hearts. Someone bet, the other pro raised, I 3bet, the original better flatted, the other pro 4bet for like 40% of his stack, I shoved, the original raiser folded after tanking, and the pro went into the tank hard. Now this was a guy whose game I respected. He was facing a bet of another $5500 to win a pot of about $23000. When he went into the tank, I figured he had a non-nut flush draw and was trying to figure out if I had some pair and higher flush draw combos or nut flush draws in my range where he'd be way behind. He tanked for nearly 5 minutes and eventually called, the board ran out A, 5 and he said "you've probably got me". I turned over my KT and he goes "oh holy shit I figured you had a set!" and turn over A5hh. I'm not sure why he tanked so long getting over 3:1 with a nut flush draw, even if he put me on only sets, he still had the odds to call, and I'm playing QJhh and 98hh the same way, hands he is ahead of. I didn't mind losing 2 pair vs flush draw as much as I minded that he had me convinced I was good with his tank, and then even more when he said "you've probably got me". I had to leave the game because I was close to tilt after that one.
The WSOP ended and the games dried up a bit. There were still $10/20nl games going at Bellagio usually, but with more grinders and fewer donks per table. Throughout the post- WSOP summer, many of my friends came out to party, and I spent a lot of time with Ashley, growing closer with her. At the end of the summer I decided not to stay in Vegas full time, moving to Berkeley, California, near my hometown and where several of my friends went to university. I played some of the juicy $5/10nl and $10/20nl games in the Bay Area with a medium amount of success, and partied a bunch with friends in frats at Cal. I made lots of trips out to Vegas, usually just for degenerate gambling and not a ton of poker. I had taken some losses in the market, but was still sitting with around $300k between cash, accounts and investments. When Bank of America dipped in November, I bought some for under $12. I still had Jetblue stock which wasn't doing great, and a handful of other stocks which were all struggling in the bear market, but I was convinced it would turn around.
My host at the Bellagio was always inviting me to special events, and 2 stood out. A $1 million freeroll heads up blackjack tournament was the first. It was 128 players, so nearly $10k in value. If you won your first 3 rounds, you were in the money and guaranteed $50k. After dominating my first 2 opponents who knew very little about blackjack tournament strategy, I was feeling confident. Blackjack tournament strategy is very different than normal blackjack strategy since your objective is to beat your opponent, not the dealer, and there are weird rules like blackjack paying 2 to 1. There are a set number of hands you play, and whomever has the most money after those hands wins. My first opponent went broke, so I automatically won that. My 2nd opponent just bet small every time, and didn't compensate when I took a lead, so on the final hand he didn't even give himself a chance to win with his bet.
My third opponent was semi competent, he at least knew basic blackjack strategy, but his betting was wrong and he still played as if he was trying to win chips from the dealer, not merely outplay me. I managed to make it so that on the 25th and final hand of our game, if both me and my opponent won the hand, I won, if both me and my opponent lost the hand, I won. Outside of making it impossible for them to win at all, which is very hard with correct strategy, this is about all you can ask of in a blackjack tournament. Me and my opponent both received face cards first, a great sign for me. For my 2nd card I received another face card, great news, until my opponent was dealt an A and got paid 2 to 1. My only chance was to split my face cards and try my luck to still end up on top, but it didn't work out and my opponent was the winner.
A few months later I was invited to a free $1 million poker tournament. This was it, my ultimate chance. It was 100 invited players only and based on pit and slot play, not anything to do with poker. It was going to be me vs a bunch of degens without any poker skill! The time for the big tournament came, and there was a twist. There were actually 110 players, 10 of whom were MGM executives and had cash bounties on their heads between $1000-$10k depending on their level at the company. They couldn't cash the tournament, they were just there to have fun and add a wrinkle to the game.
I easily navigated the field to start, although someone else at my table got the $2k bounty for knocking out our MGM employee. As the tournament progressed, it became clear the structure wasn't great, especially with so many inexperienced players taking a long time to make decisions. We were down to about 14 players including 2 executives left. Once only 10 real players were left, all of the executives remaining would be removed and their bounties would be put into the regular prize pool. Top 10 got paid, so there were essentially 12 left plus 2 fake players. I don't remember the action too well for this hand either, but I believe I was about 30 bbs deep to start the hand and raised with AJ from the button and got called by both blinds. The big blind was a $5000 bounty and she only had about 5bbs left after the call. The flop came KJ4 and they both checked, and I bet the 5bbs that the bounty had left. They both called. Turn came a T and after the other guy checked, and I thought I had him beat, so I went all in for the remaining 20 or so bbs. The SB tanked and was talking about how he really wanted the bounty. He ended up calling, he had about 1bb behind, and we all showed our hands. The SB had T9 with no flush draw, and the bounty had QJ, so I was 81% to scoop the hand, and only 11% to bust. River T and I'm done. The worst part was that the guy who stacked me with T9, having called with just a gutshot on the flop, managed to lose all of his chips on the bubble and go out in 11th place. He got his $5k cash bounty though...
The stock market continued to crash, and I went harder and harder in on the stocks I thought would bounce back, still investing on margin. Eventually I lost it all in February/March of 2009 when Bank of America stock dropped to $3. I had bought in more at $7, then even more at $5, and when the margin call came in I lost nearly $200k just on that one stock. My average buy price was a mere $6 since I had bought in huge at $5. If I had been able to pay the margin call and hang on, by August of 2009 my 50k+ shares would have netted me a profit of over half a million dollars. Instead I was completely broke. My losses in the market for 2008 and 2009 were nearly $400,000, and I later found out my casino pit game losses were nearly $200,000. If I had been patient, diversified, not on margin, and kept out of the pit, I would have been a 22 year old millionaire. Instead I was busto.
I continued on in poker for several years after that, but unfortunately my persona of trying to seem like a rich kid wasting daddy's money had left me without many poker friends, and without many people who respected my game enough to stake me. I ended up turning to online SNGs and being moderate successful, but still lazy and not putting in the hours I should have. Ashley and I tried to make it work, but she wanted me to move out to Vegas for good, and I was afraid being in Vegas would end in disaster for me as I'd continue to waste a huge amount of money on gambling, money I no longer had. My high school sweetheart came back into my life at that point as well, and I pushed Ashley aside for nostalgia, ignoring the reasons the high school gf and I had broken up several times in the past. In the end, I wanted to be more serious than she did, and I haven't spoken to the high school ex in 10 years. Ashley moved on quickly as she always did, and already had a serious boyfriend by the time I came around and realized I wanted to be with her. She ended up becoming a stripper in Vegas, and the last time I saw her she was a bit of a mess. She moved out of Las Vegas these days and I think she's doing better, but we don't keep in close touch.
By Black Friday I had joined a good staking group and was successful at online SNGs, making a nice hourly, coaching other players, and generally doing well at poker, although in my personal life I was a mess after losing both girls I loved in close succession. After Black Friday I made several stupid mistakes, alienating my backers and many in the poker community. I paid everyone back in the end, but I knew I needed to get out of poker. I went back to college, met my wife and we've been together for nearly 7 years now. I now work as a financial adviser.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed my crazy life journey! Some other crazy stuff happened along the way that I might throw together at some point, but those are more Vegas party stories than much to do with poker.

Currently visiting Japan and was keen to check out poker rooms and finally made my way to Hiroshima Poker Club today. Thought I'd post about it because I couldn't find much information on these joints online and think it's an awesome relaxing activity for those visiting Japan :)
A few photos + lat/long from Google maps - https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/%E5%BA%83%E5%B3%B6%E3%83%9D%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E5%80%B6%E6%A5%BD%E9%83%A8/@34.3930073,132.4555534,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipPl57NKOJKcl2ZRGgpkiHyzioMYbfuQORG75WqX!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPl57NKOJKcl2ZRGgpkiHyzioMYbfuQORG75WqX%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i1188!8i890!4m8!1m2!2m1!1sHiroshima+Poker!3m4!1s0x355aa3dc3c42c767:0xa86b1a6817d2d779!8m2!3d34.3929661!4d132.4557313 - the club is very spacious w/ 4 tables + plenty of additional room.
After walking in, one of the players was very friendly and explained how to sign up (name, DOB, proof of ID), and that I was too late for the tournament but there were ring games available. As a starter I would receive 10k in chips for free - normally they charge 2500 yen (~$22USD) for 10k, there was also a second more expensive pricing for players who wished to 'keep' their chips meaning they can come back tomorrow and play again with the same BR. As I intended to a few hours I took the free 10k, I went to rebuy half way through just so I wasn't freerolling this awesome joint, but they told me as a new player a rebuy was 1000y - so I did that + bought a few beers as a mutually beneficial transaction ;)
I sat down at the game which was 50/100 w/ a 40k buyin cap (rake was 5% capped at 500). There were dedicated dealers. Cards / chips were in English as were actions when announced by players. Banter etc was mostly in Jap but there wasn't any issue with me speaking English at the table and some players were able to communicate basic things - nonverbal banter was still good though. There were a few rules which I wasn't used to - blinds posted even if you're not at the table, one of the more experienced dealers was also playing while also dealing which was fine by me.
As gambling in Japan still seems to be officially illegal/banned, I was unsure if the club would be 'Amusement' or if there was some value associated with chips similar to Pachinko - it was pretty quickly explained that there was no exchange for prizes etc which was fine by me. If you've never heard of Pachinko check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tBy2jemw4s it's pretty interesting.
The general vibe of the club was awesome - as with most places I've explored in Japan, the environment was absolutely spotless and very comfortable, there was a bar serving beer / tea / coffee / spirits at pretty reasonable prices (500yen for a beer) and indoors was non-smoking w/ a balcony for smokers. Fwiw I was surprised about the smoking - bars and pubs tend to allow it so it was refreshing to leave after a few hours and not smell like cancer.
There were dealers which were somewhat new to the game, but still were talented / switched on and did a brilliant job, the players were also awesome - everybody was friendly, actions were snappy, blinds posted quickly, there wasn't the dance at the end of every hand to get the other person to show first, people behaved themselves even when coolered etc. I don't recall a single instance of anyone being an asshat. In fact, in four hours I saw maybe two players act out of turn. I also noticed after the tournament, dealers were disinfecting/cleaning each individual chip and my guess is this happens after every game - I wish western casinos did this more often!
Play style wasn't what I expected - loads of the players were taking the game casual-serious and there were no silly actions/all-ins with ATC like pub poker / online play chips. There didn't seem to be a lot of bluffy / action players and my read was there people weren't the kind that would enjoy someone getting OOL too much, so I mixed in a few bluffs and some loose play but didn't push to any extremes to make sure everyone is having fun :)
All in all, I was surprised by how awesome and professional the place was - I'd highly recommend this to anybody who's visiting Hiroshima - it was a pretty cheap and very enjoyable activity, I'm sure other cities have similar places but ymmv on them - either way, if you're curious, defs go for it!
Hope that someone finds this info helpful!
- Anonymous Coward :)
Footnotes:
I was wary about legitimacy of the place to begin with - but this was definitely not that kind of establishment. Be wary because there are some underground Casinos in run by gangs in Japan.
If you do visit, please remember these are venues for entertainment - leave your ego and asshattery at the door and make sure the game is fun for everyone, nobody cares if your opponent calls your all in bluff shove with second pair.
I don't recall seeing anyone eating but I think you're not supposed to eat while doing other things so probably avoid that. If you do visit Japan, please respect Japanese culture - read / youtube Japanese culture do's and don'ts etc before you visit!
I am not affiliated with the Poker room, just providing some insight :)

Hey guys, go check out https://www.luckynano.com/index.php
It's an online casino exclusively for nano!
Freeroll Tournaments several times a day
Plus get free nano every hour!
Credit goes to Emulord for creating the website

I've always played poker growing up. Played NL holdem just about every other day($5-$10 buy in normally, with like 5-10 people, sometimes more) for 5 years growing up.
Then after my friends all moved away, I started playing online poker, and did freerolls(even put a little money on).
On top of this, I used to always watch WSOP, and watch NL poker strategy videos. I'm familiar with a lot of basic concepts.
However, I'm completely clueless about "getting a good deal" from the house. I am not that familiar with "rakes", or what levels of rakes are good. So, I normally just play tournaments.
I've never played a Tournament at the Casinos, but I live less than an hour from Atlantic City. I was thinking of starting to play some Online Poker(NJ has a few sites like Borgada, and Poker Stars, plus I've been playing international BetOnline.com, which has some good freerolls for practice), against lower level money players.
I understand that right now, I'm probably not that good against high tier poker players. But, I want to get some SERIOUS practice in(and start potentially earning a little money).
Wondering how people recommend starting a career in poker. Is online, or in-person more profitable, in general? Does anybody know of specific casinos/tournaments in AC, that would be low buy in? I'm not even sure if they exist, but I'd be looking for like a $10/$20/$50 max buy in.
The lower the buyin, the better, as I'm doing this for experience, and while it's possible I'll place in the money, I'm not counting on it(and I'm pretty poor).
Basically, I'm not likely to ever work a real job. It's either Stand up Comedy, or Professional Poker, or bum who dies in the streets(funnily enough, both of those careers often lead to the latter). So, I understand this isn't a career that works out for everyone. But I don't have many other things that I'm willing to do, and i'm willing to do this, so I want to give it an honest shot. Plus, I enjoy poker, and am pretty good at it(relative to my competition, which is admittedly, not that good).

Click HERE to submit your questions in the #ama_questions channel. All non-questions will be deleted in order to keep the channel clean for the AMA, along with anything abusive, so please keep it polite but feel free to ask anything you want, as long as it's Stars Rewards related.
I'll update this post with the full AMA once it has concluded.
For anyone who misses the AMA, still feel free to submit your questions as the Stars Rewards team will hang out in Discord and keep answering questions throughout the next week.
Edit: Clarification
Full AMA:
July 7, 2017 Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 5:02 PM Hello @everyone and welcome to today's AMA! We've received a lot of questions and feedback regarding the new Stars Rewards program and we wanted to take the time to address as many of them as possible. So, on that note, it is my pleasure to introduce @Dylan | Ravageur . Dylan is the Head of Customer Loyalty at PokerStars and has overseen the transition and launch of the new Stars Rewards program. He has been with PokerStars for over 6 years and is here to answer your questions today :smiley:
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 5:04 PM Hi Pete, thanks for having me on here. Looking forward to diving in to the questions and will do my best to provide some answers.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 5:06 PM Welcome welcome :smiley: I know you've been crazy busy putting this whole thing together, so let's jump straight in with some of the harder ones so that we can address them while our brains are still fresh... "PokerStars hate winning players and is doing everything to destroy online poker and turn it into casino? Do you really think your customers don’t understand what you’re doing? Shame on you"
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 5:11 PM Oof, jumping right into the deep end I see. Well here we go...
We designed Stars Rewards to offer better rewards to net-depositing players than winning players as these players ultimately drive the poker economy. We want to encourage players to win at the table using their skill rather than playing primarily to maximise returns. One of the main differences between this program and the VIP Club system is that it ensures that volume is not a decisive factor like it was in the past to receive meaningful rewards.
It's not that we don't love winning poker players - we do. However, there's a difference between appreciating and celebrating winning poker players versus giving them additional rakeback on their winnings. A lot has changed over the course of eleven years since the VIP Club was first designed, and the online poker landscape is a different place now that needs a new program that better serves our diverse customer base. Since we implemented the changes in 2016 to reduce rewards for the highest-volume players, more hands are seeing the flop which indicates a more appealing table-dynamic and deposits are lasting longer for new and casual players. We no longer believe that the previous approach which allocated the majority of the rewards to winning high-volume players is the right direction for us.
I appreciate that this is not what many of you want to hear, and the significance of these changes is not lost on us. Our goal is to grow poker as a whole and a new and better designed rewards program is an important step towards achieving this.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 5:13 PM So, in simple terms, the goal is to keep net-depositing players playing the game, adding more money to the economy?
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 5:14 PM Put very simply, yes. The goal is to engage and retain new and casual depositing players, who are ultimately the backbone of the poker economy.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 5:16 PM Ok, thanks for the clarity there :smiley: We'll move swiftly on to another tough one... "Will PokerStars pocket the rakeback decrease or will it just be more distributed to losing players?"
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 5:20 PM I am already sensing a trend....
The overall percentage will decrease for poker. Casino and sportsbook will of course see an increase as they're giving more rewards where they previously hadn't. Loyalty remains our most significant spend as a company and we will continue to invest in the development and engagement of our players. We invest in poker far more than anybody else and we play to continue to invest in our innovations and our marketing. We announced this week that we are picking up the tab for 60,000 PKR customers left in the cold without their bankrolls, we've hired Usain Bolt and Kevin Hart to reach out beyond the current poker base to bring new people to the game, and with the launch of PokerStars PowerUp, a new poker product, we are again trying to bring in new players to the game and reactivate players.
This kind of stability & resilience comes at a price, but we believe these changes are working. The company and the ecosystem is healthier, and we believe recreational players are having more fun.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 5:23 PM Well then, that leads perfectly on to "I see people justifying the changes by saying it goes to recs yet I haven’t seen stats that they say the same amount of rakeback is being paid out?" asked by @Gosha(edited)
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 5:28 PM Because the program is personalised to each player, I don't think I'll be able to satisfy that question. I can share that most of our recreational players will receive a similar level of rewards as before, and in many cases players will receive more rewards.
I've heard a lot of players in the questions thread claiming that the program only offers 5% in rewards, but recreational players will receive much more than that and this is across the full spectrum of our player base. As an example, there are former Supernova VIPs who are now receiving more with Stars Rewards than they did in our previous program.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 5:30 PM Ah, that somewhat addresses my next question already "Can we get a tangible figure for RB now that the new rewards are in place? Party does 40%"
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 5:34 PM Yes I think it does. The short answer is that Stars Rewards is not a traditional rakeback program. Rewards are personalised and can vary based on recent activity.
We cannot guarantee a specific level of rewards for any given player givena few factors:
-The rewards inside Chests are randomised -Progress bar requirements are personalised and may change based on recent activity. For example, a long-term winning player will need to earn more reward points to unlock a given Chest than a net-depositing player -Players receive additional reward points in Chests which are also randomised -Players who play more frequently will benefit from boosts, which net you double reward points when boosted.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 5:38 PM Given the untraditional nature of the Rewards program, people are finding it hard to find ways to compare it to the old one, maybe you can help with this? "Hey, greetings! My question as i have not yet understood ( and dont think it has been specified at all), is what is the ev of rakeback that the company is giving back? I understand that rewards are randomized and for 1 chest people can get different rewards depending on their vip status. But what i dont understand is how ev rakeback should a goldstar or a silverstar for instance expect to get on 1 month? with the previous system , to say , we knew a goldstar could get minimum 100 usd per month and platinum star 300. what is the difference ev wise in the new system? Thanks"
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 5:39 PM That's a good question. First - Stars Rewards is a significant departure from the previous VIP Club program and it's very difficult to compare the two as it's apples and oranges. In general terms if you are a long-term winning player you will be receiving less rewards than previously. Other players will be receiving a similar level of rewards, or more, with Stars Rewards.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 5:46 PM Since we're changing things quite drastically for the winning players, maybe you can help explain where we received our positive feedback? "I would really like to know where the positive feedback has been found regarding Stars Rewards. Since I havent heard a single positive word from people I rate highly that have gotten their rakeback slashed from 27-35% to 4-5%" This question was asked both by @BarreMolenaar "LordBarre II" and @TilTinDuCeR
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 5:49 PM I had a feeling this one was coming :). A lot of what is posted about the program on forums and in the press originates mostly from winning players, who understandably are upset that they are receiving fewer rewards than previously. The program is designed to appeal more to recreational players. The level of engagement we have seen with the program so far in Denmark and Italy has exceeded our expectations. We have been reaching out since those launches to speak to recreational players about their experiences with Stars Rewards and the majority prefer the new program than the previous one.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 5:51 PM Speaking of the launches in Italy and Denmark, we received this question about how the launches there seemed "sketchy at best"... "Why did you switch from a transparent system to a non-transparent, “individual” one? I personally believe that the poker industry especially needs to be as transparent as possible. The way this has been rolled out in Italy and Denmark so far seems sketchy at best."
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 5:54 PM I agree that the poker industry needs to be as transparent as possible. However, while Stars Rewards is "individual" as he says, the probabilities and prize values for each Chest are published on our website and you can see how many points you need to unlock a Chest by clicking on your progress bar or visiting the 'My Stars' portal. In addition to the 'normal' Chest values on our webpage, there will be additional top prizes on a regular basis such as the $1,000 Chests we are currently awarding for launch.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 5:56 PM A recent question from @Croakspkr which ties in well with transparency... "why cant i review how many chests i've opened yet and what i got from them?"
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 5:58 PM You can contact Support at any time to receive a full audit of your Chests and everything that was in them. However, I agree that it would be beneficial if you could review them in-client, so I will add this to the list of future developments we'd like to add. Thanks for the feedback/suggestion @Croakspkr
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:01 PM And this one has come in from @Artello referencing a previous question... ""As an example, there are former Supernova VIPs who are now receiving more with Stars Rewards than they did in our previous program." It doesn't sound logical at all with rewards we have, unless some regs hit 1k from chests (which is luck, not a statistic)."
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 6:03 PM Just to clarify, long-term winning Supernova VIPs will be receiving much less. However, there are net-depositing former Supernovas who are receiving a similar level of rewards, and in some cases more. That isn't assuming they get lucky or win a $1K Chest.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:05 PM In terms of the rewards in general, there has been a lot of feedback regarding how different the size and frequency of the rewards are compared to what people are used to. That feedback has been accurately summed up by @IFlipBurgers in this question: "Do you believe that rewarding people with extremely small rewards (compared to the buyin of the games they play) at a high frequency gives them satisfaction and make them feel like a valued customer? So far, I've only heard feedback of people feeling insulted by these rewards and would go as far as to argue that they have a negative net effect on their playing experience, even compared to not receiving anything at all."
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 6:09 PM Unlike the previous program, Stars Rewards aims to reward players multiple times within a single session. Most of our players can only play a few times a month and we feel that offering them multiple opportunities to win something significant does, in fact, make them feel valued. Of course, there's no "one-size fits all" and some players would rather receive fewer Chests but that held a higher value, so there is a balance to be maintained. Like any other new product, we will be reviewing feedback from all our players and looking at the numbers to determine if we've found the right balance between frequency and value.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:11 PM That leads perfectly into "Are rewards completely finalised or are they very much experimental and subject to change?"
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 6:13 PM The rewards could change over time, yes, especially in regards to our top prizes. Currently we're awarding $1K Chests as the top prize, but, for example, when WCOOP comes around later this year Stars Rewards can award WCOOP tickets in Chests. In the future, these top prizes will change and can range from cash prizes, tickets, and exclusive physical items. FailFish1
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:15 PM Okay! :smiley: Thank you very much for digging into some of the nitty gritty about EV and reward amounts with me, now I'm going to address some of the questions we've received about how everything functions We received this question "hey, im fairly sure i was on like 80% towards 2k vpp and didnt receive anything for it. isnt it supposed to convert? is this a problem more people ran into or just me" from @don artie , perhaps you could clarify?
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 6:17 PM Good question, and that shouldn't be the case. Players received the full prorated StarsCoin value for their in-progress VIP Step when Stars Rewards launched. You can verify having received this credit by going to your StarsCoin audit in Tools -> History & Stats of the desktop client. You can also just shoot our Support an email and they can check on your behalf and makes sure that you received everything you should have.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:20 PM Thank you for clearing that up :smiley: Now, in terms of the exact functionality, @Scoobydubious asked: "When you open your chests, what are the coins for that go to the right side of the chest? I think theymight be purple if I recall correctly."(edited)
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 6:22 PM Purple?!! They are green, and those are reward points :smiley: You get reward points everytime you open a Chest, so that your progress towards your next one gets kick-started. In poker you earn 100 reward points for every $1 in rake/tournament fees paid with the exception of high-stakes cash games.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:23 PM On that note, from @Caribou "What is the least amount of points necessary to clear a red chest? How many points, on average, will net depositors need to clear a red chest?"
Dylan | Ravageur- Yesterday at 6:28 PM That's a good one. Reward point requriements can vary over time, but for example, some higher-volume recreational players need to earn 8,000 reward points to unlock our biggest Platinum Chest. They will also receive on average 800 points every time they open it. Some of these also receive a boost of 4,000 points every 8 hours from their last one. Effectively, they need to earn 3,200 reward points to earn their first Platinum Chest each day (which is worth about $23.50 on average).
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:33 PM So in terms of this being more weighted for net-depositing recreational players @SetMiningWithKings asked "So that I can make a decision whether this is a better thing for players, or for Pokerstars - Has your average revenue per player gone up or down when you account for the new programme being in place?"
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 6:35 PM We certainly hope to increase engagement in our playerbase which ultimately should increase revenues, but it's much too early to say what the impact of Stars Rewards is given we only just launched in most areas this week!
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:38 PM In that case, asked by @TilTinDuCeR "Question: Do you think you as a company understand the gaming industry enough to try to emulate it and accurately project the success of such endeavour?"
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 6:42 PM There has been a massive amount of effort and research across the company in preparing for Stars Rewards based on years of data and experience in the industry. We're confident that this is a step in the right direction, and early indications in Denmark and Italy support this as well. So I guess in short, yes. But we are of course also listening to our players on all our channels (here, other forums, social media, customer support, 1-1 discussions, etc.)
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:46 PM Speaking of feedback from the players, we're seeing a lot of people asking for a more specific breakdown of what they need to do to earn their chests. "is there anywhere we can check the least and the most points requiered for a certain chest?" from @monroymx
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 6:48 PM Each individual can always click on the progress bar to see how many reward points they need to unlock a Chest. However, because these targets can vary over time based on recent activity, they aren't being published.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:50 PM Ok, good to know that it's easy for people to see what they need to do then :smiley: Let's burn through another couple of quick ones and then wrap this thing up so I don't leep you all night. "Will players be able to weed out the rewards that they will never use?"
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 6:53 PM If I remember correctly that question was referencing not wanting to recievemore than one freeroll ticket in a day. This is a great suggestion and something that we are actively looking to add to Stars Rewards functionality. Ideally once you receive, for example, a freeroll ticket for a weekly freeroll, you shouldn't receive the same ticket until the following week (and that prize would be replaced by something that isn't redundant). It's on our list of future developments that we'd like to add, and I hope we can add it in the coming months.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:55 PM So, to quickly summarise a question that is being asked a lot, are there any plans to decrease rake? Spin and Go's and PLO seem to be mentioned a lot here "With such reduction in rewards to SN Winning players, is there a chance that (for example) Spin and go rake might be decreased a bit to compensate, because as of it is today, average 60$ limit player regular was earning around 44% of his overall profits from rakebacks, because there are a lot of regulars in the pool, only a handful of crushers get better results (in chipEV) than that to stay comfortable withouth rakeback" Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 6:57 PM That's a popular question. We are constantly evaluating pricing and the economy of each game. However, at this time there are no plans to decrease rake.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 6:57 PM That being the case... "Wouldn’t they be making more money if they brought back the old vip system which incentivized volume players coming back = more rake being paid?"
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 7:02 PM This is a good question as there are quite a lot of misconceptions out there on this topic. There is a very high overlap between "volume players" and "winning players". This is pretty intuitive given poker is a skill game and you improve the more you play. The poker economy is fuelled by deposits, which for the most part originate from low to medium-volume players. This is one of the main reason that the level of rewards players receive through Stars Rewards is not solely based on volume, so that we can allocate rewards to the players who contribute the most to the poker economy (and of course, our company).
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 7:05 PM Thank you for explaining that :smiley: Ok, I hope that this session has helped to clear things up for a few people, @Dylan | Ravageur thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to do this with us. I know that we haven't managed to address everything which we've been asked, but Dylan will be around throughout the coming week to hop in here and answer more FAQ as they arise. If there are an absolute tonne of questions, we will schedule a second AMA for some time next week :smiley:
Dylan | Ravageur - Yesterday at 7:08 PM Sure - thanks for having me Pete and I appreciate all the questions and feedback from the players. I know that not everyone will love the answers, but I'll continue to chime in here next weeek to try and answer questions as they come up. Sure - I'd be down to do this again. Cheers.
Pete Simm | Ice3lade - Yesterday at 7:09 PM Awesome, thank you again for joining us!