Poker Promo Blog

Author: Steve Zolotow

People always ask, “How much do I need to play in a certain stake game?” The usual answer to all poker questions is, “It depends.” But in this case, it is the wrong question. The question really should be, “Given my temperament and current financial situation, how much can I risk in a game?”

Let’s examine these components. First is your temperament. Years ago, Mike Caro distinguished between two types of players – plodders and adventurers. I like to put poker players into three categories. First are the plodders. They are extremely risk adverse and would rather play for pennies than take a chance of going broke. Next are the normal players. The normal players are willing to take moderate risk if they think they have a reasonable advantage. Lastly there are the plungers. They love to take extreme risk. They are the poker equivalents of mountaineers who want to reach the top of Mount Everest. The risk in question is, of course, losing a large percentage of your bankroll or, in the worst case, going broke.

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PokerStars Depositor Freerolls are back, and with a combined prize pool of $500,000, they’re bigger than ever. The freerolls will take place from November 28 to December 13 and there will be eight per day, each with a prize pool of $2,500. If you reach the money in any of these tourneys, you will qualify for one of the eight huge $25K finals on December 13. Simply deposit now with one of following codes to be a part of the promotion

• Enter ‘500K’ if you are an existing real money player
• Enter ‘FIRST500K’ if you’ve never made a deposit before.

If you’re new to PokerStars, it’s easy to set up an account. Simply download the free software, follow these easy steps and you’ll be playing in no time.

The freerolls will take place from November 28 to December 13 and there will be eight per day, each with a prize pool of $2,500.

David Oppenheim

In the game of Hold ‘em, especially No Limit, aggression is usually rewarded. By being aggressive, you are putting your opponent in an uncomfortable situation and forcing him to either make a hand or make a bluff. You take over control of the pot and put yourself in the driver’s seat. And yet, for as much good as aggression can do, I still see far too many players either being too aggressive or misusing aggression altogether. Aggression is one of the biggest tools a poker player has, but it needs to be used wisely at all times.

For instance, I see a lot of young players getting out of line and being overly aggressive with hands like A-Q and A-J. They put in huge raises with these hands thinking they’re making a smart move, but really they’re just scaring the dead money away.

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PokerStars are looking for player in the US to fill the job of a lifetime. Play in the Dream Job USA qualifiers and you could win a 12-month poker contract worth a massive $100,000, including $40,000 to play at the biggest live events of your choice. Visit the Dream Job USA page to find out how you can qualify for free.

The winners of the PokerStars Dream Job will be required to play for real money on our site for at least four hours per week or 16 hours a month. They will be required to wear PokerStars branded clothing during any live events they play, and will be expected to comply to any TV and blog requirements we may have. Check out the Dream Job USA page to find out how to take part.

From November 8-21, PokerStars Battle of the Planets will get a whole lot bigger. To celebrate paying out over $5,000,000 since this weekly Sit & Go Leader Board challenge began, there will be double prize pools up for grabs in each planet division, and big cash rewards for players that break the Leader Board records. The more you play, the more chances you have to win.

Check out the Battle of the Planets celebration page to find out how to take part.. Remember, the prizes for each low and high orbit leader board in each division will be doubled!

Moon started in poker by playing Seven Card Stud with his grandfather and never even picked up Texas Holdem until about three years ago.

 Starting from October 17, play in any of the daily free-to-enter and $1.10 qualifiers for the chance to advance to the Freeroll Fantasy Main Event. You can play one freeroll a day and as many cash qualifiers as you want.

Finish in the top nine in ANY tournament to get a seat in the PCA Freeroll Fantasy Main Event, where all players that make the nine-handed final table will be awarded a $15,100 package. There are 27 $15,100 packages up for grabs - including $10,300 worth of buy-ins, hotel accommodation and expenses. *Please note: Players are prohibited from entering using more than one account.

PokerStars Freerolls Schedule

How to Enter

To register, open the PokerStars lobby, click ‘Events Tab’ –> ‘PCA’ –> ‘All’ –> PCA Freeroll Fantasy.

US players welcome. [ Register Here ]

OCTOBER UPDATE

His goal is to turn $5 into a staggering $100,000 in just 12 months - a true test of not only his poker skills but also of his bankroll management abilities. $5 does not allow much play without a serious risk of going bust! ‘Boku87′ will be completing The Challenge exclusively on PokerStars.com!

Time for another update, and unfortunately, it’s not a great start - September was a total flop! At the beginning of the month, I played a few sessions and just couldn’t win anything; I only just about managed to break even. Then I treated myself to a break for a few days to help me regain my focus and get back to playing my best. And so a few days later I was back … and the session was a catastrophe from start to finish. In the first 2 hours I basically didn’t win anything and was more than $2,000 down - the only glimmer of light was 2 tournaments that I was playing in. I was among the chip leaders in both and very likely to cash.

As you would expect from such a rotten day, I was knocked out of the smaller tournament just before the final table, and in the bigger one, a $215 WCOOP event, I went out on the bubble - an 80:20 favourite!! I think I came 1,441st with 1,440 players finishing in the money. It may have actually been 1,442nd or 1,443rd, but it may as well have been last. Anyway, it didn’t go any better with the SNGs and in the end I was actually $2,700 down. With an average buy-in of about $30, I was almost 100 buy-ins down in one day.

After such a depressing session, I needed another break and didn’t play for a few days. As soon as I was back at the tables I still didn’t manage to win a single hand and was again down $2,000 in a single session. To cap it all off, the next thing my internet went down and I was offline for the rest of September, unable to get back to the tables until October 1.

I tried to play on a different computer 2 or 3 times, but it was simply not possible (because of my particular setup - most computers simply can’t manage 40-50 tables) and these sessions were only very short ones. So I gave up and took time off until my computer was back up and running on October 1. And since everything is going wrong anyway, I am now ill and again can’t play. Once things go wrong, they really go wrong…!!

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