Build Your Bonus Promotion

There is still another week to go if you want to opt-in to Full Tilt Poker’s Build Your Bonus promotion. Here is how it works:

• Step 1: Opt in

Starting on Friday, August 9th, players were able to opt-in to the Build Your Bonus promotion via your My Promotions page. The last day to opt in is Saturday, August 24th.

• Step 2: Build Your Bonus

Once you have opted-in you must earn at least one Full Tilt Point on five days or more during the Build Your Bonus qualifying period –Monday, August 19^th  through Wednesday, August 28^th

The amount of bonus money you will be eligible is determined by the number of points you earn during qualification:

From here it gets a little tricky, so I’ll let the FTP website take over:

At the end of the qualifying period, 40% of your total bonus will be automatically credited to your account in cash, with the remaining bonus released in three equal chunks as your earn Full Tilt Points during the bonus clearing period.

For every day you earn a Full Tilt Point during the qualifying period you will have a day to clear your bonus money. For example, if you earn one or more Full Tilt Point(s) on eight separate days you will have the first eight days of the bonus clearing period – taking place between Thursday, August 29th and Saturday, September 7th – to release your full bonus.

• Step 3: Release Your Bonus

The 60% that was turned into bonus dollars will have to be cleared by playing at the Full Tilt Poker tables.

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/promotions/build-your-bonus

Satellite Hero Promotion

From August 19^th through September 1^st players at Full Tilt Poker can take part in the Satellite Hero promotion, which will reward any player who wins a satellite into any tournament on the site with a buy-in of $1 or more, and then goes on to win said tournament.

So what is the prize? Every person accomplishing the above detailed feat will win an entry into the Satellite Hero Freeroll Tournament that will be held on Full Tilt Poker on September 7^th. Players accomplishing this feat multiple times will receive larger starting stacks in the Satellite Hero Freeroll Tournament.

The Top 126 players in the Satellite Hero Freeroll Tournament will win an entry into a mini-FTOPS XXIII –the total prize-pool of these tickets is estimated to be around $3,000. Additionally, the winner of the tournament will get a crack at Full Tilt Poker Pro Gus Hansen in a heads-up match. The Satellite Hero winner will receive a 2:1 chip advantage over the Great Dane and if they are able to beat Hansen they will receive an entry into every mini-FTOPS XXIII tournament on the schedule.

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/promotions/satellite-hero

Winner Take All Rake Method

One of the most interesting aspects of the Ultimate Poker VIP Program is the way the site will award rake to players. Generally speaking there are two rake allocation methods used in online poker:

• Dealt: In the Dealt method any player dealt a hand at the table will receive an equal share of the rake at the end of the hand. Dealt is the preferred option for mass multi-tablers and tight players.
• Contributed: The Contributed (usually called the Weighted Contributed) method of rake allocation divvies up the rake based on the percentage of the pot you are personally responsible for. Most poker rooms have moved toward this method as it rewards looser “action” players.

There are other methods in between the two, such as any player who puts money in the pot (no matter how little or how much) receives an equal share of the rake.

And then there is Ultimate Poker. UP has decided to go with the “Winner Take All” method, which will credit the winner of the pot with the entirety of the rake. This method goes even a step beyond the Weighted Contributed method, rewarding looser players, while severely punishing tight players who play few hands and win fewer pots.

Color UP Tiers

Some details of the Color UP program at Ultimate Poker have been revealed, including the monthly and yearly tiers –which are modeled on the chips used in casinos around the world. Unfortunately the site hasn’t revealed the monthly requirements to reach each of the monthly levels. However, since we know that the first yearly tier is at $10,000 in rake we can hypothesize that the monthly tiers will likely resemble their chip denomination:

• Tier 1: White Chip
• Tier 2: Red Chip
• Tier 3: Green Chip
• Tier 4: Black Chip
• Tier 5: Purple Chip
• Tier 6: Yellow Chip
• Tier 7: Orange Chip
• Tier 8: Cranberry Chip

So, while I can’t be sure, it would seem that to reach Cranberry (A $5,000 chip in a casino) you would need to reach $5,000 in contributed rake each month.

Here is my best guess at the monthly requirements:

• Tier 1: White Chip = $1 in rake
• Tier 2: Red Chip = $5 in rake
• Tier 3: Green Chip = $25 in rake
• Tier 4: Black Chip = $100 in rake
• Tier 5: Purple Chip = $500 in rake
• Tier 6: Yellow Chip = $1,000 in rake
• Tier 7: Orange Chip = $2,500 in rake
• Tier 8: Cranberry Chip = $5,000 in rake

As I mentioned above, there are also two yearly tiers a player can reach in the Color UP program, which Ultimate Poker has released the requirements to reach:

• Gold Plaque: $10,000 in total rake
• Platinum Plaque: $100,000 in total rake

PokerStars started handing out cash bonuses for certain milestone hands way back in 2007 when the player who won the 10 billionth hand dealt on the site pocketed $100,000. The current Road to 100 Billion hands began with the 60 billionth hand, and Pokerstars has been running special promotions every five-billion hands ever since. With millions having been awarded, the Road to 100 Billion has been an absolute success for the site, and there was only a single issue along the way, when two players colluding won the 70 Billionth hand promotion.

The precise terms of the promotion have not been released, but PokerStars has announced that $1,000,000 is being set aside for the 100 billionth hand alone, with at least $100,000 going to the winner of the historic hand. Another $1,000,000 will be awarded during key milestone hands leading up to the 100 billionth hand, and another $3,000,000 will be handed out during other promotions running at PokerStars in honor of the 100 Billionth hand promotion.

PokerStars has always been a major player in the world of online poker since their launch back in 2002, but it wasn’t until UIGEA shook up the online poker world back in late 2006 that the site shot to the top of the online poker world. Since late 2006 PokerStars has been the top-trafficked online poker provider in the industry. Even with indictments and having their website seized by the US Department of Justice on Black Friday, April 15, 2011, didn’t slow the site down, and PokerStars emerged from Black Friday with an absolute stranglehold on the online poker market.

No other online poker room is anywhere near 100 billion hands dealt, and with traffic that is roughly 10x their closest competitor (which at the current time is Full Tilt Poker, which is now owned by PokerStars parent company the Rational Group) it’s unlikely any online poker room is going to reach 100 billion hands anytime soon.

Always an innovator, it appears that Full Tilt Poker will continue to push the online poker envelope after seeing their latest software update –remember, Full Tilt Poker was behind the creation of Fast/Fold Poker (Rush Poker) as well as multi-entry tournaments.

The new software upgrade was unveiled on Tuesday, and features two brand new poker formats for players to choose from, Irish Poker and 5-Card Stud, as well as “Elevator” tournaments, all of which I’ll detail below:

 Irish Poker

I’ve never heard of this one before, but apparently Irish Poker is played a lot like Holdem, and is quite similar to Crazy Pineapple: Each player receives four cards pre-flop and must discard two of those cards after the flop is dealt. The game seems to be a good fit for PLO/NLHE players, with starting hands playing a lot more like PLO, with the exception that wrap draws will have to be broken-up on the flop –So playing big pairs/two-pair hands and big suited cards would be my first thought.

Full Tilt Poker is the first online poker room to offer the format.

5-Card-Stud

One of the older forms of poker, the addition of 5-Card Stud poker will likely be more of a gimmick than something players have been lobbying for. 5-Card Stud is highly skillful, which is what has led to its downfall as bad players simply have no chance of winning and lose money extremely fast.

Full Tilt Poker isn’t the first poker room to spread 5-Card Stud games, and from past experience I expect the tables to short-handed and sparsely populated most of the time –if the table is full with a waitlist yiou can bet your bottom dollar that a fish is sitting.

Elevator Tournaments

Full Tilt Poker’s Elevator tournaments are an interesting concept, bringing a higher skill factor to the game. Basically, in the early stages of the tournament, when the stacks are deeper, the blinds increase at a faster rate (akin to a turbo event), and as the tournament progresses so do the blind levels, keeping the tournament’s stack-to-blind ratio higher.

The FTOPS XXII will commence on March 17^th, 2013 (St. Patrick’s Day) and run for two weeks until March 31^st, 2013. In all there will be 38 total tournaments over the course of the tournament series, with $10 million in guarantees up for grabs. The two largest guarantees will come on the final two days of the FTOPS: Event #34, a Two-Day tournament No Limit Hold’em 6-Max Ante From Start Re-entry (3x), with $2,000 + $100 buy-in and a $1,000,000 guarantee: Event #38, the FTOPS XXII Main Event, a $600 + $40 No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry with a $2,000,000 guarantee.

In addition to the prize-pools there will be a number of added goodies up for grabs in the tournaments. As usual Full Tilt Poker will award each final table participant a limited edition FTOPS jacket, with the player winning the tournament getting the added bonus of a gold FTOPS jersey, and a gold jersey avatar at Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt will also bring back the FTOPS leader-board, with the overall leader receiving a custom Full Tilt avatar and a prize package including buy-ins to every FTOPS XXIII event, sans the two-day High-Roller tournament.

Here is a look at the complete FTOPS XXII schedule (three events have yet to be announced including Event #1):

• March 17, Event #1 TBD
• March 17, Event #2 $200+$16 No-Limit Hold’em Re-entry – $850,000 GTD
• March 18, Event #3 $200+$16 Pot-Limit Omaha Rush – $85,000 GTD
• March 18, Event #4 $1,000+$60 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max RET – $500,000 GTD
• March18, Event #5 TBD
• March 19, Event #6 $200+$16 Pot-Limit Hi-Lo 6-Max – $75,000 GTD
• March 19, Event #7 $300+$22 Razz – $50,000 GTD
• March 19, Event #8 $200+$16 No-Limit Hold’em Rush Turbo – $150,000 GTD
• March 20, Event #9 $240+$16 Pot-Limit Omaha Knockout – $75,000 GTD
• March 20, Event #10 $300+$22 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Rebuy – $250,000 GTD
• March 20, Event #11 $207+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Rush – $100,000 GTD
• March 21, Event #12 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em – $100,000 GTD
• March 21, Event #13 $200+$16 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo – $35,000 GTD
• March 22, Event #14 $200+$16 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max – $150,000 GTD
• March 22, Event #15 $500+$35 10-Game 6-Max Multi-Entry – $100,000 GTD
• March 23, Event #16 $500+$35 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up – $100,000 GTD
• March 23, Event #17 $300+$22 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max Triple Chance – $100,000 GTD
• March 23, Event #18 $200+$16 Hold’em Limit Rush – $50,000 GTD
• March 24, Event #19 $120+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Knockout RET – $500,000 GTD
• March 24, Event #20 $300+$22 No-Limit Hold’em RET – $850,000 GTD
• March 25, Event #21 $100+$9 Pot-Limit Omaha Rebuy – $100,000 GTD
• March 25, Event #22 $1,000+$60 No-Limit Hold’em Double Chance – $250,000 GTD
• March 25, Event #23 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Multi-Entry – $150,000 GTD
• March 26, Event #24 $200+$16 Pot-Limit HA 6-Max – $75,000 GTD
• March 26, Event #25 TBD
• March 26, Event #26 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo 1 Rebuy, 1 Add-on – $60,000 GTD
• March 27, Event #27 $300+$22 Pot-Limit Omaha Heads-Up – $50,000 GTD
• March 27, Event #28 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Rebuy – $200,000 GTD
• March 27, Event #29 $310+$12 NLHE Super Turbo Knockout Re-Entry – $250,000 GTD
• March 28, Event #31 $200+$16 HORSE – $60,000 GTD
• March 29, Event #32 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Rush – $75,000 GTD
• March 29, Event #33 $300+$22 2-7 Triple Draw Limit 6-Max – $50,000 GTD
• March 30, Event #34 $2000+$100 NLHE 6-Max Ante from Start RET (2-day event) – $1m GTD
• March 30, Event #35, $200+$16 Omaha Hi-Lo Limit – $35,000 GTD
• March 30, Event #36 $100+$9 No-Limit Hold’em Rush Rebuy – $250,000 GTD
• March 31, Event #37 $240+$16 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Knockout RET – $750,000
• March 31, Main Event $640 No-Limit Hold’em – $2m GTD

The first running of the tournament series was a hit with both poker pros (who saw some juicy prize-pools for scant buy-ins that could be added to their regular tournament schedule) as well as with amateur and casual players who simply lack the bankroll to participate in multiple events of the site’s larger tournament series, like the WCOOP and SCOOP.

PokerStars is guaranteeing $5 million across the 100 tournaments with the $22 Main Event sporting a massive $1 million with $150,000 guaranteed to go to the winner (that’ only a multiplier of 6,818 on the cost of the buy-in!) by far one of the largest low buy-in tournaments in the history of the game.

Also returning will be the MicroMillions Player of the Series race, where PokerStars will award cash and prizes to the top finishers on the leader-board at the end of the MicroMillions II.

Here is a look at the complete Micro Millions II schedule announced this past week by PokerStars:

For more information on the MicroMillions you can visit the PokerStars website

The migration of Lock Poker’s player base along with the slew of new updates and upgrades to the Revolution Network software, caused the inevitable technical issues, and with customer support already swamped with questions about “what happened to my VIP Points?” and “where is this and that feature?” some players were unable to log into the network or get in touch with customer service reps.

For the most part the transition was relatively seamless, but some of those that did log-in had mixed feelings about the new software, some complaining that the old Cake Poker Network software (which is being upgraded by Lock Poker) was inferior to the software of the Merge Gaming Network, the network Lock Poker left to purchase and join the Cake Poker Network.

However, despite the expected hiccups on Day 1 of the Revolution Gaming Network’s launch, there was plenty of traffic at the site, with Revolution Gaming traffic surpassing Merge Gaming traffic for cash game players at many points throughout the day –After just a single day the Revolution Gaming Network is already moving up the pokerscout.com traffic rankings and should eventually settle in somewhere around the #10 spot.

Players are still waiting on the full unveil of the Revolution Gaming Network, including promotions, a new tournament and Sit & Go schedule, a revamped VIP Program, and a flat 36% rakeback deal with cash-back potential of up to 55%.

With Lock Poker leaving the Merge Gaming Network and creating the Revolution Gaming Network there is for the first time since Black Friday some legitimate competition in the US online poker industry. Instead of taking rewards away from players, and Merge skins engaging in in-fighting, the two networks are now battling each other as they fight to be the top network in the US. Merge has already brought back its flat-rakeback deal (35%) in the wake of Revolution Gaming offering 36%, and it’s very likely that Merge will begin to lower its rake and tournament fees in order to be on the same level as the Revolution Gaming Network.

Despite the splintering of the US player base, the competition between the two networks could wind up being a godsend for US players, who have had very few options since Black Friday. US players might not have to simply “deal with it” anymore, as they now have two viable alternatives to choose from.

In addition to the added tables, games, and stakes, as well as the mobile version on Android, PokerStars also has plans for a full mobile version available for iPad and iPhone users sometime this summer.

The announcement will surely make many online poker grinders very happy, with one well-known member of Team PokerStars, Daniel Negreanu, among that crowd. Negreanu was quoted as saying: “Zoom Poker offers people a different way to play poker. Recreational players, who want more constant action, will be able to fold instantly and wait for better hands, while pro grinders will be able to get in hundreds of more hands an hour and win more. On top of all that, it’s just so much fun to play!”

PokerStars customers will now find ZOOM Poker available in the following poker formats, with stakes starting at the penny limits and going up to $2.50/$5:

• No Limit Holdem
• Limit Holdem
• Omaha 8 or better
• PLO
• Five Card Draw

ZOOM Poker is the PokerStars version of Full Tilt Poker’s innovative Rush Poker. ZOOM Poker operates in virtually the same way: Players choose the game and stakes they wish to play and join a pool of players instead of a specific table. From there the players are randomly sent to different tables whenever they are no longer involved in a hand, whether they win or lose at showdown or fold at any point in the hand, the software immediately sends them to a new table where they are dealt a new hand.

Playing ZOOM Poker allows players to participate in up to 3-4x as many hands as a standard online poker table (which is already that much faster than a live poker table), allowing a person 4-tabling ZOOM Poker to play in the ballpark of 1,000 hands in an hour –as someone who has done this let me tell you it is very fast, and mentally draining!

It will be interesting to see if the PokerStars deal to purchase Full Tilt poker goes through, and what effect that will have on wither ZOOM Poker or Rush Poker, or whether PokerStars will continue to tinker with both versions.

Unfortunately, after first green-lighting the project, the Merge Gaming network has decided to cancel the LockOps tournament series just weeks before it was scheduled to launch on May 6^th. The announcement appears on Lock Poker’s Twitter page as well as on the LockOps home and schedule page on the Lock Poker website. Here is a look at the brief message Lock Tweeted out on Monday that also appears on the LockOps pages of the website:

“We are sad to announce that Merge has officially cancelled LOCKOPS and revoked previous approval given to Lock to run the series.”

LockOps was scheduled as a 33-event tournament series cut in the mold of the Full Tilt Poker FTOPS tournaments; each tournament would be hosted by a specific pro at the website and bounties would be placed on the heads of all competing pros.

It’s unclear what the snafu was that caused Merge Gaming to pull the plug on the project, or what details have arisen since approval was first granted to Lock Poker. It should be noted that this is not the first time Lock Poker and the Merge Gaming Network have butted heads:

1) Rumors abound on the Internet forums that Lock Poker has ceased using the Merge Gaming Network’s cashiers and have gone out on their own. The rumor seems to have some validity as Lock Poker cash-outs tend to process faster than other skins on the network.

2) In an effort to circumvent Merge’s cap on cash-back deals to players, Lock Poker created their Casino Bonus, which Merge eventually ruled against, but not before players had been racking up Casino Bonuses playing poker at Lock for at least a month. Over a year into the failed Casino Bonus promotion some players at Lock still have bonus dollars sitting in the Lock Poker Casino that they are unable to transfer to their poker accounts. Players are torn over whom to blame the issue on: Lock Poker or the Merge Gaming Network.

3) Merge Gaming Network skins have been involved in some heavy-infighting, trying to cherry-pick their competitors’ highest volume players. This has led to some accusations and anonymous mudslinging on the Internet forums between several of the Network’s top skins.

We’ll be sure to update you on any new developments between the Merge Gaming Network and Lock Poker regarding the LockOps tournament series or any other developments.

The Party Poker Pokerfest will be a 47 tournament series that will take place from the 22^nd of April until the 6^th of May; when the $1,000,000 guaranteed Main Event is scheduled to run. Altogether the Party Poker Pokerfest II is guaranteeing $3.5 million in prize-pools, making it one of the largest poker tournament series in the site’s history.

Party Poker will also be running special jackpot prizes for players who manage some exceptional feats during the tournament series, as well as the usual leader-board contest.

Here is a look at the Jackpot prizes Party Poker is offering:

• Win any three Pokerfest II tournaments: $20,000 + $14,000 WSOP 2012 prize package
• Final table in any 10 Pokerfest II tournaments: $15,000 + iPad
• Final table in any five Pokerfest II tournaments: $7,500 + iPad
• Finish in the money in any 20 Pokerfest II tournament: $5,000 + iPad
• Finish in the money in any 10 Pokerfest II tournaments: $2,500 + iPad

Pokerfest II will feature three separate leader-boards (one for events with Party Point buy-ins, low buy-in events, and one for high buy-in events):

• The Party Points leader-board will award a total of $2,500 with the top 250 finishers receiving a prize. The Top prize of $250 will go to the winner of the leader-board at the end of the series.
• The Low-Buy-In leader-board ($6-$33) will award a total of $15,000 with the top 500 finishers receiving a prize. The Top prize of $1,250 will go to the winner of the leader-board at the end of the series.
• The High-Buy-In leader-board will award a total of $32,500 with the top 500 finishers receiving a prize. The Top prize of $2,500 will go to the winner of the leader-board at the end of the series.

Here is a look at the complete Party Poker Pokerfest II schedule:

For more information on Pokerfest II you can visit the Party Poker website at www.partypoker.com