Elio Fox Takes Home the WSOPE Bracelet
Mood:  cheeky

WSOPE came to a close recently in France. Because Americans have been banned from the PokerStars download thanks to Black Friday, several of them travelled to Europe hoping to get some live action in. As a result, an American rose to the top of the leaderboard to win the biggest payout in WSOPE history.

The WSOP Europe Main Event had a buy-in of €10,400. 593 players participated, which sent the prize pool rocketing up to €5,692,800 with €1,400,000 awaiting the victor.

Elio “smokrokflock” Fox came into the final table enjoying the chip lead thanks to a gigantic pot he won with TT in a three way preflop all-in against AK and AA. When the AA was flipped over, he probably thought he was gonna have to slink back to his laptop to play on his 888 Poker download!

The first bust of the final table was Max Silver, who went all-in with AJ against Chris Moorman’s JJ. Silver failed to connect, which meant he was the 8th place finisher.

Things calmed down for a long while, but then an enormous pot was played by Jake Cody and Fox. After a series of bets preflop, they ended up getting it all-in preflop for a 140 big blind pot: Cody’s JJ against Fox’s TT. Fox was probably happy to see the 876 that gave him additional outs, and they weren’t merely a tease. A 9 fell on the turn to give Fox a straight, which meant that Cody needed one of two tens to make a higher straight. Neither materialized; Cody was sent to the rail in 7th place and reeling.

Going home next was Shawn “buck21” Buchanan, losing an all-in pot to Dermot Blain. These extra chips didn’t get Blain further than 5th place, however, and then fourth place was Brian Roberts. Despite busting outside of the top 3, these guys will have so much money that they won’t have to clear their Roulette bonus anymore.

The final three consisted of Fox, Moorman, and Moritz “catenaccio” Kranich, all great players. Kranich didn’t last too much longer as he raised all-in with 54 suited and got called the pocket nines of Fox. No bad beat occurred and Kranich was sent to the rail in third place.

Fox began the heads-up exchange with Moorman holding nearly two thirds of the chips in play. He held this lead up until the final hand in which he got it in with AT against Moorman’s A7. Fox held on against Moorman and was declared the winner!

If the idea of Internet poker appeals to you, play at PokerStars. If you want a bonus to help your bankroll, be sure to use the PokerStars bonus code.

 

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WSOPE Event 1 Won by Guillaume Humbert
Mood:  amorous

The 2011 World Series of Poker Europe kicked off on October 7th with a €2,680 Six-Handed No Limit Hold'em event. 360 people took to the brick-and-mortar and temporarily left the best Euro poker sites for the chance to score a bracelet. The prize pool ended up at €753,600, leaving €215,999 for the eventual victor.

When Day 3 started, Phil Hellmuth was the topic of discussion as he was 2nd in chips with only 12 left. Already the proud owner of 11 bracelets, he was looking like a good shot to increase his number to 12. On top of that, a final table appearance would allow him to overtake Ben Lamb in the 2011 WSOP Player of the Year rankings.

However, Hellmuth spent the majority of the day stuck in reverse as he watched his stack get lower and lower as the final table neared. He ended up the bubble boy and busted in 7th place. Perhaps he drowned his sorrows in some real money slots after collecting his pay cheque.

Marton Czuczor started the final table as the short stack with 24 big blinds, and Matan Krakow, who had 66bb, was the chip leader. Czuczor didn’t stick around too long as he got in the last of his chips with QT against Azusa Maeda’s AK and failed to connect, busting in 6th place.

Maeda chose a good time to go on a heater. First Adrien Allain made the mistake of getting it in with KT against Maeda’s QQ. Allain could not find one of three Kings in the deck and was eliminated in 5th place. The next to lose a number of chips in his stack was Krakow. He lost a huge pot versus Maeda, then he lost more chips after losing all-in pots against Guillaume Humbert and Roy Finlay.

Krakow decided to attempt a comeback, shoving JTo over Humbert’s button raise. Humbert made the easy call with AQ suited and managed to hold up for the big pot, forcing Krakow to settle for 4th place.

As three handed play wore on, Finlay found his stack heading south. He pushed on the button with unsuited KT and was called by Maeda’s A7 suited. The flop came A84 and Finlay did not hit his runner runner outs, so he was sent to the rail in 3rd place.

When heads-up play began, Maeda held a 1.6 to 1 chip lead over Humbert. Humbert didn’t appear bothered by the chip disadvantage and set out to whittle his opponent down, however. Maeda was eventually a very short stack, and he finally made his move with 43 on a 976 flop. Humbert happened to have the nuts in 85 this time, though, and Maeda was eliminated by the straight.

Huge congratulations to Humbert, who pulled out a €215,999 win along with a sexy WSOP bracelet. To make his win even more impressive, he claimed that it was the first major live tourney he had ever played!

Give PokerStars a try if you are interested in practicing your poker game from the comfort of your own home. De PokerStars download installeert snel en gemakkelijk en geeft een nieuwe gebruiker een $600 aanmelding bonus!

 

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Collect Some Winter Cash
Titan Poker, among the best Euro poker sites online, unleashed the All-In Winter competition around a month ago. The best thing about this competition is that there is a leaderboard for everyone, including the ring game enthusiasts and the tournament advocates. There are even freerolls to look forward to!

People that download free poker this season have the opportunity to play in the Cash Tables Races. Every week people play as much cash as possible, and then they are ranked on a leaderboard according to the amount of rake they paid. Those that play $1/$2 or higher will get ranked on the High Blinds leaderboard, and all lower stakes show up on the Low Blinds leaderboard.

You are about to see why Titan is one of the most well-liked online poker rooms available – they give out tons of cash during their promos. Each week has $7k available for the High Blinds leaderboard, and 1st place receives $1k. Similarly, the Low Blinds leaderboard has a $3,000 prize pool, with a cool $425 for first place.

If you are a Sit-n-Go player, you should also think about a Titan Poker bonus code. The Sit-n-Go promotion also has two different leaderboards and is also based on rake paid. The High leaderboard has a $6,000 prize pool, and there is $2k reserved for the Low leaderboard.

If you are new to the Titan Poker download and have a very small bankroll, there are two huge freerolls scheduled: one in January, one in February. Each freeroll has a $10k prize pool!

Last but not least, let’s discuss the promotion available for tournament players. Leave your free bet sportsbooks for the month because you need to play as many tournaments on Titan as possible. This leaderboard has an incredible $50k prize pool, and first place also receives a live tournament package worth $14k!

See you on the felt!

Earn Big Rewards on Titan
Mood:  happy
Titan Poker, one of the best Euro poker sites, claims to have the best VIP programs on the Internet today. If you like collecting points and saving for huge cash bonuses, they might be on the right track. This entry will discuss the process of collecting points, and then we will talk about the cash rewards.

Using a Titan Poker bonus code and receiving points is easy to understand, even more so if tournaments are taken into account. Tourneys give 17 points for every $1 in tournament fees paid. For example, a tournament worth $20+$2 would give 34 points.

Cash games work a bit differently since each pot produces a different amount of rake. More rake means more points. If you got a Titan Poker deposit bonus, you should pay close attention since the bonus requires points to become cleared. You will need to see the Titanpoker download’s website for a full chart, but I will list a couple examples here to give you an idea. $0.07 rake would hand out 0.3 points, $0.90 would hand out 4 points, and $3.05 would net you 24 points.

Just like the rewards system provided by the PokerStars bonus code, some VIP rankings provide point multipliers. For example, obtaining 1,000 points in 1 month would move you from VIP Bronze to VIP Silver and give a 20% points boost. The highest volume players will reach VIP Diamond. You must earn 35k points every month to reach Diamond, and then you will receive a handsome 120% bonus on your points.

When it comes time to trade your points in for cash, it pays to wait. The reason for this is that cashing in more points at once means that you pay less per bonus dollar than if you had cashed in just a few points. You might recall that this is different from the Everest Poker download. For instance, if you were to buy a $10 bonus 12k times (for a total of $120k), it would cost you 24 million points total. If you buy the entire $120k at once, you only pay 7 million points. That is a huge difference!

Many of the top Texas Holdem sites boast rakeback or rewards programs, and it is up to you to decide which one best suits your playing style. If you would like to read more about Titanpoker, take a look at the articles I wrote before this one.

Software on Titanpoker
Mood:  don't ask
In the last entry I stated that Titanpoker is one of the best Euro poker sites available today. In my next two entries I intend on telling you more reasons why. Today’s article will discuss the interface and in a couple weeks I will talk about their rewards program.

The Titanpoker download offers great graphics and dealers that call out action as it happens. This adds a level of authenticity to your poker game. The chat bar can be moved according to your preferences, or you can just get rid of it completely. If you decide to keep the chat bar, you have options to list all chat, summaries, dealer, or player chat only. Since chat can be annoying to some players but great to others, this really gives you the chance to have exactly what you want. You have a number of choices where your avatar is concerned, but unlike some US friendly poker sites, you are not given the chance to make a unique one for yourself. You can choose to have the option “all-in” removed and also have a warning displayed for a large all-in bet, a very useful safety for preventing mistaken clicks. If personalization is important to you, you will love the customized options.

When you play poker, your tables open up as individual windows. If you have spent a lot of time on money poker sites, you likely prefer to multi-table. To make it easier, the room offers a Mini Table option that shrinks and tiles your tables instantly. This makes it easy to see all the action on many tables at once!

Hand Histories are displayed in a nice graphic format – just press a button and they are set. However, some may prefer to have standard text hand histories, especially if they are used to using a PokerStars marketing code.

If you need a flash site for your Mac, you will be pleased to know that the software was updated in a number of languages. So if you have a Mac or prefer free poker no downloads, now you will not feel so left out!

Play at Titan Poker
Mood:  mischievious
Titanpoker is one of the best Euro poker sites on the Internet today. Titanpoker shares their player base with the rest of the iPoker network, and this makes them one of the largest rooms on the Internet. TitanPoker uses high quality Playtech software and the program looks very nice because of this. Americans will be disappointed to know that Titan is not a US friendly poker site.

The Titanpoker download is one of the most popular sites for Texas Holdem, but they also offer Omaha, Stud and Razz. The heads-up games are running at all times and the SnGs are always a popular option. The MTT poker fans with find plenty of options and many of them have guaranteed prize pools. Titan Poker also turns your first deposit into free entry tokens to their $20,000 New Depositors Freeroll, something you don’t get with a PartyPoker bonus code. There are often players who sign up for the tournament but forget to play it, so it can turn out to be an easy money-making gem for those that remember.

Sit & Go tournaments on this download free poker site have lots of players in them. You can play as low as $0.10+$0.02 and as high as $5,000+$200. Sit&Gos get hundreds of participants on this site. Fans of American poker online will point out that certain US friendly poker sites have way more SnG players than this. That being said, only the mass multi-tablers will run out of games to play in this room.

If you intend on playing MTTs after using your Titanpoker bonus code, you should be satisfied with the player pool. The scheduled tourneys usually have excellent participation, and when they don’t, you have the chance at some overlay. There is a large variety of game types to choose from as well as stakes for every bankroll. The buy-ins range anyone from $0 to $172. Occasionally they even host exclusive events for VIP players and send out special invitations to them. Are you reconsidering your Lucky Ace Poker download now? Don’t toss it out yet, but definitely consider Titanpoker before making a decision!

VIP Program at Everest Part II
(This entry is a continuation of the last entry)

The Death Zone – Everest shows that they can compete with the biggest US poker sites with the benefits of the Death Zone. You need 30k SPs to get into the Death Zone, and this level increases your SP multiplier to 700%. The maximum cash bonus allowed every month increases to $2,000. This VIP level also has the maximum refer-a-friend bonus of $200. Aside from the monthly $10k event, you also get to compete in a $25k freeroll. Not a lot of the other download free poker sites have a monthly freeroll so large. In addition to the special customer support you already receive in lower VIP levels, you now receive assistance for live event registration and can cash in SPs for live tourney seats. Here’s even more good news: you keep your perks for an entire three months rather than just the usual one.

The Summit – If you want to be the best on one of the top Texas Holdem sites, you will want to be in the Summit. You become a Summit player, the highest VIP level, with a minimum of 50,000 monthly SPs. Since only the cream of the crop reach this level, these players get an SP multiplier of 750%. Every month points can be converted for up to $5k in bonus funds. Your other perks remain the same as in the Death Zone, and the perks stick around for an entire 3 months. This is better than the 1 month you usually get when you use a PokerStars marketing code.

One thing to note is that the bonus SPs do not count towards your VIP level. Just like VIP programs on most of the best Mac poker sites, you only move up in VIP levels with non-bonus SPs. For an estimate of which VIP level you might achieve depending on how much you play, take a look at their points calculator. The calculator shows that playing 50,000 hands at $200NL earns around 33,000 base SPs, which is good enough for the Death Zone. Taking into account the top VIP levels on some flash Texas Holdem sites, this is quite attainable. Also consider how many bonus points you will earn along the way!

All cash bonuses cost 250x the amount in Summit Points on your Everest Poker download. So if you want $350, you need 87.5k SPs. As this does not change when your VIP level increases, you might think that it's not worth playing on this site. It is important to remember that higher VIP levels means huge SP multipliers, however. If you can play a lot of hands, Everest Poker’s VIP program provides some excellent rakeback. Before you use that Titanpoker bonus code, be sure to review the perks of an Everest download.

VIP Program at Everest
Mood:  surprised
I would like to continue the Everest Poker theme, with the focus on their rewards program. You might notice that their rakeback program is better than those you will find on some US poker sites. You earn Summit Points (SP) for playing real money poker, and more points mean more benefits. When you reach the top of the VIP ladder, you’ll be getting an SP multiplier of 750% as well as $5k every month as a cash reward. This means you will be getting up to 50% rakeback!

You have to enroll yourself in the VIP Summit Club to participate, unlike when you get a Full Tilt Poker 下载. Go to “My Account”, click on the “VIP Summit Club” button, check the “agree” box, and click “enroll”.

I think it is time for me to tell you what can you get for all your hard work at the tables! I will now list the VIP level and their benefits.

Base Camp – If you can earn 500+ SPs on this download free poker site in one month, you will earn your way into the Base Camp. The first thing you receive is a 250% bonus multiplier for all the SPs you earn. For instance, if you get 100 SPs one day, you will get an extra 250 SPs as a bonus. You can also convert your SPs to cash now. Your maximum at Base Camp is $50 for 12,500 SPs. Your refer-a-friend bonus increases to $50, and you get tickets into the weekly $1k freeroll. Similar to the PokerStars download rakeback program, you get the benefits for each Camp level for a month.

Camp I – Earning 3,000 Summit Points in a month will get you into Camp I, the next VIP level on the Everest Poker download. Your SP multiplier increases to 500%, giving you an extra 5 SPs for every 1 you collect. You can convert SPs into even more cash in Camp I: $250 for 62,500 SPs. Camp I also keeps the Base Camp benefits.

Camp II – To make it to Camp II, you have to collect at least 10,000 SPs in one month on Everest, one of the softest money poker sites around. This third VIP level sees your SP multiplier rise to 600%. The bonus cash increases to a whopping $750 in exchange for 187,000 SPs. The benefits really start to improve at this level, and you will be happy to learn that they beat many of the benefits found in online casino USA sites. Your refer-a-friend bonus increases to $100, and you can access priority customer service with in game chat support. Where freerolls are concerned, you get to enter the monthly $10k tournament.

Camp III – If you want to get into Camp III, you need to earn at least 20k SPs every month. You will earn a bonus of 650% on all Summit Points. It is possible to earn up to $1k in bonus cash in Camp III, which is more than you get every month from many of the top slot machine downloads. You will have to exchange 250k SPs to get the $1,000 bonus. And, as expected, all the Camp II benefits stick around.

To be continued…

Interface at Everest Poker
Mood:  sad
For those that are not bound to US poker sites, Everest Poker is a very good room for those new to the game. I’d like to continue my Everest coverage today by talking about the software.

As I explained a couple weeks ago, the biggest weakness of Everest’s download free poker site is the amount of memory the software uses. You shouldn’t go thinking that everything about the interface is poor, though. There are definitely a few good things.

Players have come to expect easy navigation on the best online poker sites, and Everest has done a great job with their lobby and menus. You have the choice of searching through the poker room via their tabbed navigation system, or there is a way to customize the menus to show only the stakes of your choice. Either way works just fine and is more than sufficient.

A major benefit of being able to play on money poker sites is the option to play multiple tables at once. You will be happy to hear that Everest Poker tables are fully resizable, but as a bonus, you can also choose one of 4 resolutions for your tables! You can choose from 640x480, 800x600, 1024x728, and 1280x960. Combined with the ability to resize your tables to your own custom choices, the Everest Poker download is ahead of most other sites.

When it comes down to it, however, the huge resources required to run the program is a major negative. To come even close to a Bwin Poker download, they at least need to provide the option of reducing graphics at the tables. You can cease table animations, but this does little to combat the problem.

If you want to wait for Everest to change their software prior to playing on their network, there are plenty of other sites to download. You already know about Tiger Gaming, so why not start there?

Everest Poker Download
The site I talk about in this entry is the same as Tiger Gaming in that it is also not one of the US poker sites. Everest Poker is filled with mostly inexperienced low stakes players, which is great for those with a solid game looking for an easy profit. No Limit stakes start at $0.10 - $0.10, and you can progress up to the highest stake of $50 - $50. Most players are satisfied with this range of buy-ins, and those that feel otherwise should consider alternate money poker sites. Oh yeah, and you might wonder why I listed the No Limit stakes the way I did. The No Limit stakes are described by using the same value two times, but this is in fact the amount of the big blind while the small blind is half the same amount. Why they chose to break with tradition and list stakes in this confusing way is a mystery to me.

Limit stakes are listed more sensibly, and they start at $0.02 - $0.04 and the highest you can play is $50 - $100. As you can see, players hoping to play very high will need to go somewhere else. Sit and Go's can be entered at stakes as low as $0.04 + $0.01 and as high as $500 + $30. I already advised that similar to Tiger Gaming, Everest Poker is not listed as one of the US poker rooms available to Americans. In addition to the U.S., players from Russia and China are also not allowed on Everest.

Everest Poker has expanded considerably since coming into the poker world, working extremely hard to be considered among the best ways to download free poker. They are an independent poker room on their very own network: the Everest Network. Where traffic is concerned, the Everest Network has the 6th most players on the Internet today. For the beginner player, an Everest Poker download has a lot to offer.

As with all sites, there are still a few downsides. For example, Everest offers just Holdem or Omaha which is disappointing because the best online poker sites these days feature at least some Stud varieties. Also, if you do not own a computer on the newer side, the software uses a fair amount of memory. But overall you'll encounter a lot more good than bad on Everest Poker.