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Last Longer Bets

Wednesday, December 30, 2009, Steve

Last longer bets (aka LLBs) are a type of side bet on a tournament made between 2 or more players where the player that stays in the tournament the longest wins the LLB prizepool.Members on Pokerspace can create 2 types of last longer bets:...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Last longer bets (aka LLBs) are a type of side bet on a tournament made between 2 or more players where the player that stays in the tournament the longest wins the LLB prizepool.</p><p>Members on Pokerspace can create 2 types of last longer bets: Pokerspace Tourney LLBs and Non-Pokerspace Tourney LLBs.</p><p><strong>Creating a bet:</strong></p><p>To create a LLB for a Pokerspace tournament click "Create LLB" in the Last Longer Bets section of the tournament page.</p><p>To create a LLB for a non-Pokerspace tournament click the big green "Create Custom LLB" button on the Last Longer Bets page in the Lounge.</p><p>Note that to create a bet you must have at least 1 full reputation ball. There is no reputation requirement to join a LLB.</p><p><strong>Public Bets vs Private Bets</strong></p><p>When creating a bet you will have the option to add a password, which will make the bet private. Private bets can only be joined by members that have the password so if you do include a password make sure you give it to the member(s) you want to join. Public bets are open for anyone to join as long as the have the PS points buy-in.</p><p><strong>LLB </strong><strong>Rake</strong></p><p>Similar to tournament rake, 10% of the prizepool will go to the house.</p><p><strong>Selecting a Winner</strong></p><p>Once the LLB tournament has started all members registered in the bet will be able to select a winner on the LLB page. The bet prizepool can be paid out in 3 ways:</p><p>1. Any time over 50% of the LLB players select the same player as the winner and no other others have been selected, the selected winner will receive the prize.</p><p>2. 24 hours after the tournament started only 1 player has been selected as the winner, he/she will receive the points (even if only 1 player selected that winner).</p><p>3. 24 hours after the tournament started more than 1 player have been selected as the winner an email will be automatically sent to admin to investiage. The admin will then select a winner him/herself.</p><p>If someone is found to repeatedly select an incorrect winner he/she will be suspended from joining and creating last longer bets and/or be suspended from Pokerspace.</p><p><strong>Creating LLBs</strong></p><p>Here are a few rules when creating LLBs:</p><p>- Tournament start time must be in the future<br /> - Registration closes time must be in the future<br /> - LLBs may have between 2 and 100 players.<br /> - Filling in the password field makes the bet private.<br /> - The LLB creator MUST participate in the bet. Points are taken away as soon as the bet is successfully created.<br /> - It is the responsibility of the creator and then all participants that the tournament details have been submitted properly. If they aren't, the bet will be cancelled.<br /> - If there is only 1 player registered for the LLB when registration closes that player will be refunded his/her PS pts LLB buy-in<br /> </p><p><strong>Joining LLBs</strong></p><p>Here are a few rules when joining LLBs:</p><p>- You must have a correctly submitted poker room account. I<strong>t is the participants responsibility to make sure it is 100% correct.</strong> If it isn't, he/she will be disqualified from the LLB and should not be selected as the winner. <br /> - You will not be able to edit your poker room account name until the LLB is finalized.</p><p><strong>Leaving LLBS</strong></p><p>Any member registered in a LLB can leave the bet to receive a refund up until the registration closes. There will be no other refunds unless the bet is cancelled. If the creator leaves the bet the player who joined the bet first becomes the creator. If there is only 1 player registered in a bet and he/she leaves it, the bet is cancelled.</p><p>That should cover anything. If you have any questions or would like something clarified send a mail message to Steve with your question.</p><p>I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank PokerYall for all his hard work in 2009 running the Side Bets group! This group really got LLBs popular, which led to us building it as a automated feature.</p>

How you can help Pokerspace grow

Monday, December 21, 2009, Steve

While there are a ton of different ways you can help Pokerspace grow (many of the tools can be found on this page: http://www.pokerspac...ls/referral-tools/) there is a new method that we'd like your help with!Many of poker rooms out there ...Read more...

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*Text		<p>While there are a ton of different ways you can help Pokerspace grow (many of the tools can be found on this page: <a href="http://www.pokerspace.com/referrals/referral-tools">http://www.pokerspac...ls/referral-tools</a>/) there is a new method that we'd like your help with!</p><p>Many of poker rooms out there allow you to upload an image to represent your username. Some of the more popular poker rooms include: Pokerstars, Absolute Poker, and Reefer/Carbon/Walker/Rio (merge poker rooms).</p><p>We are asking the Pokerspace faithful out there to use a Pokerspace logo as their account image. It will help get the word about Pokerspace out there and hopefully get us some new members!</p><p>Here are the images we have now (we'll be adding more soon):</p><p><img alt="" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-1/1261418264-95764.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-2/1261610199-96024.gif" alt="" /></p><p> </p><p><img alt="" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-3/1261418277-27605.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-1/1261610217-86520.gif" alt="" /></p><p> </p><p><img alt="" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-2/1261418288-75336.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-2/1261610230-44906.gif" alt="" /></p><p> </p><p><img alt="" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-2/1261418306-31383.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-2/1261610240-08972.gif" alt="" /></p><p> </p><p><img alt="" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-2/1261418319-99795.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-1/1261610249-77835.gif" alt="" /></p><p> </p><p><img alt="" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-3/1261418338-74145.jpg" /> <img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-2/1261610257-28432.gif" alt="" /></p><p> </p><p>Just right-click the image you'd like to use and save it to your desktop.</p><p>Here are some quick tips of how to upload that image to your poker room account:</p><p><span style="font-size:medium; line-height: 1.2em;"><strong>Pokerstars</strong></span></p><p>Log in, click the 'Account' menu item, and select "Select/Change Image. Then click the 'Select' button and find the image you saved to your desktop. Finally, make sure the full Pokerspace logo is displayed in the preview circle on the right of the 'Select Image' box (see below) then click select.</p><p><img alt="" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-2/1261419120-69943.jpg" /></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size:medium; line-height: 1.2em;"><strong>Carbon Poker and other merge poker rooms</strong></span></p><p>It's even easier. Just loggin and click "Player Admin" at the bottom of the Carbon window. Then select "Change Player Icon". Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the "Upload Custom Player Icon" and select to the image located on your desktop.</p><p><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0);"><span style="font-size:small; line-height: 1.2em;"><strong>* For all merge poker rooms make sure you use the small to the right of the bigger ones *</strong></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size:medium; line-height: 1.2em;"><strong>Absolute Poker and Ultimatebet</strong></span></p><p>Log in and select 'Change Image' from the 'My Account' menu. Click the 'Change Image' and select the image you want to upload. Resize the dotted line box so that the full Pokerspace logo can be seen in the preview box to the right (see below). Click OK, then save and you are good to go!</p><p><img alt="" src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-2/1261420267-69845-470.jpg" /></p><p> </p><p>If you have any questions or comments post them below!</p><p>Thanks! Your help is very much appreciated!</p>

How to become a better player - preflop

Thursday, December 10, 2009, JT1swaggin

Today I want to talk about opening your 3-bet range. This is one key aspect of the game that most beginners fail to do. Even many novice players fail here who could be regular winning players at higher stakes and are only break even players...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Today I want to talk about opening your 3-bet range. This is one key aspect of the game that most beginners fail to do. Even many novice players fail here who could be regular winning players at higher stakes and are only break even players at their current stakes because of this. The following examples are mainly for 8-10 handed cash games and full tables at tournaments while averagestacks are 75+bb deep. It also works in short stack play, but that's another 2k+ word blog.</p><p>I see many players do it all the time, especially the old folks in the Casino's off the strip here in LV. Suppose you're on the button with QQ and a middle position player raises 3x and is called by the cutoff. So many players flat call in this spot. When you have a big pocket pair you have one objective preflop. You want a large pot against one player.Against one player there is less of a chance he draws out on you plus you increase your equity postflop as well simply by drawing your opponent in with great odds.</p><p>That should be fairly simple to understand, but what I want to show you is how wide we can 3-bet and show a profit. 3-betting preflop shows a great deal of strength so on almost any dry board your opponent will give you credit for a hand post-flop, even if they got a piece of the flop they will be careful assuming a large part of your range consists of overpairs.Therefore, you will be able to steal a lot of pots when you 3-bet AJos in position and miss the flop.</p><p>Tight players will usually open with a good hand, even in position we'll say ATs+, AJos+ KQs and 88+. However, most of their range will not be worth a call after a 3-bet in their minds. So you can profitably 3-bet almost any hand with potential against these players such as suited connectors and low pairs.</p><p>Loose players will open much wider but to profitably 3-bet you only need to raise about 30% of their range, especially if they open from late position. I'd say 3-bet about the same as the tight players opening range that I just stated.</p><p>Now here's one great example in a hand I played recently live at a 1/2 table. Table was semi-loose but very aggro. One player was up about $500 and was opening about 30% of the pots constantly varying the size of his raises, so I know the amount he raises means something. I'm on the bb with AKos and he opens from the cutoff for $22 (11bb) after 3 limpers.</p><p>Now I know he has a strong hand but certainly doesn't want a lot of action. I had a stack of $182, exactly $160 more. I put him on QQ or AK, possibly JJ. I figured if we went all in I have almost enough equity to make the call but not quite. I definitely don't want to put this much money in out of position and go to the flop. However, I can't raise to something like $60 because I am committing myself to the pot. I can take the easy way out and fold leaving my $2 all to him.</p><p>However, even though he is loose and up a lot of money I know I have a decent amount of fold equity here. So I shove for $160 more. He turns QQ face up into the muck. Many players here would call, which is actually your worst option. Some tight variance nits will fold, but the only play here with +EV is to shove and that's what I did. Just an example here of why you should always go through your options and remember that 3-betting is always an option.</p><p>Don't overuse the 3-bet, usually you just want to 3-bet strong hands. However, we can't polarize our range that much. As I said before we can 3-bet fairly light against a lot of tight players. Remember also,if action folds to the button he will usually open about 50% of range and he's right in doing so. Here, I wouldn't 3-bet with hands that figure to beat 50% of his range but rather about 25-30% of range plus some extra hands with potential. A great example is something like 64s, this way your not polarizing your range.</p><p>Use this advice, especially in cash games, and I guarentee you make more money over your next 1k hands. So much for keeping it short, hope you enjoyed.</p>

How To Execute Proper Semi-bluff Strategy

Tuesday, December 8, 2009, JT1swaggin

For those who don't know a semi-bluff is leading out (or raising) with a hand that figures to be beaten at the moment but has potential to win. Usually this is done with drawing hands post-flopsuch as open ended straight draws, flush draws,...Read more...

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*Text		<p>For those who don't know a semi-bluff is leading out (or raising) with a hand that figures to be beaten at the moment but has potential to win. Usually this is done with drawing hands post-flopsuch as open ended straight draws, flush draws, two overcards etc. You could categorize raising with something like 78s pre-flop on the button a semi-bluff but it's really more of a steal attempt and is irrelevant to this post.<br /><br /> For those of you who have read my EV blog this will also discuss EV further in depth in another aspect of the game, for those who haven't feel free it's in my blogs as well as the article section of the school here. Here is an example of when to use the semi-bluff:<br /><br /> First, you have to understand that a flush draw is not a favorite to winthe hand and you want your opponent to fold when you use the semi-bluff. So, suppose you picked up KdJd in the cutoff at a 1/2 tableand and called a middle position raiser for $8 (everyone folds and the pot contains $19. The flop comes Th8d4d.<br /><br /> The original raiser checks to you and you have a choice between taking a free card and trying a semi-bluff.If you take the free card you will hit your flush and win $19 one in every 5.1111111 tries, for this example we'll say it's one in every 5 tries. So, four times youwon'tmake your hand and one time you will (you're odds are 4:1). If you assume you're opponent will lead out with a pot sized bet on the turn you will be forced to fold if you don't make your hand. If you do we'll assume on average you can extract another half-pot sized bet on the river.<br /><br /> Therefore, taking the free card we lose the $19 in the pot 4 times and make $57 one time. Over 5 tries we've lost $19, over 100 tries we've lost $380 or $3.80 per try. Now, hypothetically speaking we'll say if we semi-bluff bet the flop for just over half the pot($10) our opponent will fold1/3 of the time. Instantly we win $19 once and have lost $10 twice if we don't make our hand .<br /><br /> However, knowing our opponent very well we are sure this will give us a free card on the river so now we have given ourself 2:1 odds of making our hand with $39 in the pot. We can also expect to make some money if we hit our draw, we'll say another $25 on average between if we make it on the turn or river.<br /><br /> Now we make $19+$10+$25=$54 one in every three tries being we have brought our odds up to 2:1 by giving ourselves a free card. Twice we'll lose $19+$10=$29.<br /><br /> Now over 100 hands we've made $19 -> 33 times for a profit of $627. Also of the remaining 67 tries 22 times we will win $54 for a profit of $1188 and the remaining 45 times we lost $29 for $1305.<br /><br /> Total EV is equal to $1815-$1305=+$510 or $5.10 per try. So overall we have raised our EV $8.90 in the hand by making this move.<br /><br /> Now, quickly, suppose there is no chance of him folding (so you understand the bluff aspect). Now you lose $29 67 timesfor a total of $1943 and win $54 a total of 33 times for $1782. Net profit is -$161 or -$1.61 per hand. We still gain by the fact that we've given ourselves a free card but this will not be the case against every opponent. Also the exact numbers are a little bit off as I just realized I used different implied odds in each example.<br /><br /> Hope you enjoyed and further understand the game of poker.<br /> </p>

Understanding EV (Expected Value)

Wednesday, November 25, 2009, jt1swaggin

EV is also referred to as expectation and is the most important aspect of each move you make at a poker table. To explain I'll take some examples of random gambling propositions first before moving onto some common poker situations. First, ...Read more...

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*Text		<p>EV is also referred to as expectation and is the most important aspect of each move you make at a poker table.<br /><br /> To explain I'll take some examples of random gambling propositions first before moving onto some common poker situations. First, so we all know how odds are typically written I will give you an example. If your odds of winning any proposition are 4:1, this means you will win 1 in 5 times. The 4 represents the times you will lose and the 1 represents the times you will win.<br /><br /> The easiest proposition is the flip of a coin which is 50/50. If I offered you 1:1 odds on the flip of a coin for any amount of money this is considered a fair bet. Over 100 coin flips you can expect to win 50 times and lose 50 times. Your expectation or EV is 0. Now if i offered you 2:1 odds on the flip of a coin for your $1 (I'll be paying you $2) you have +EV. I think this is obvious. Over 100 coin flips you will win $2 -50 times and lose $1 -50 times. Therefore you win $100 and lose $50 giving you an expectation or EV of +$50 or $.50 per coin flip.<br /><br /> Dice also offer a great gambling proposition. You will roll a 7 more often than any other number. If you roll a 1,2,3,4,5, or 6 you will need to roll a 6,5,4,3,2, and 1 respectively to make a 7. Another way of reasoning this is that there are 36 combinations you can make (6*6) and there are 6 ways to roll a 7. So we have 6 ways to make a 7 and 30 ways to make something else.Therefore, your odds against are 30:6 or 5:1, so if I offered you 5:1 on the roll of a 7 your EV=0. (You can take the time to figure out all the odds if you'd like, here's the amount of ways to roll different numbers: 6 or 8 -> 5 ways, 5 or 9 -> 4 ways, 4 or 10 -> 3 ways, 3 or 11 -> 2 ways. 2 and 12 -> 1 way.<br /><br /> Now if I offer you $10 to your $1 to roll a 7 here's how the math works out. Your odds are 5:1 and I'm offering 10:1. Over 6 rolls you lose $1 five times and make $10 one time. You made $5 in 6 rolls, now divide 6/5=1.2. So your EV is +$1.20.<br /><br /> Here's how it works in poker, the odds of hitting a flush on the river are 4.111:1, for the sake of easier math we're going to say it's an even 4:1. If you're opponent is all in on the turn for his last 500 in a pot of 1k, you're being offered 3:1 odds as it will cost you 500 to have a chance to win 1500 (500 all-in plus 1000 pot). Now we know this is -EV but how much can we expect to lose assuming all flush cards are outs and we have no other outs?<br /><br /> Our odds against are 4:1 so we will lose 4 times and win 1 time in every 5 tries. We stand to win 1500 once while losing 500 four times. So in five tries we've lost 500 giving us an EV of -$100 per try.<br /><br /> Now let's say our villian moved in for his last 500 into a pot of 2k. It costs us 500 four times like we stated previously, but now we win 2500 one time. So after 5 tries we are up $500 and our EV is +$100.<br /><br /> Now, here is an example of when EV debates become much more complex and hypothetical. Suppose you're in the cutoff with T9 off suit and a stack of 2k. Blinds are 200/400, everybody has you coverd but not by much. We're going to assume everybody folds 50% of the time and you win $600. The other 50% of the time you are a 2:1 underdog (remember we're being very hypothetical) so you stand to lose your stack twice and double up once in 3 called all-ins. Since this is only the case 50% of the time you have a 0.33 x 0.5 = 16.5% chance of doubling up. The chance of going broke is 0.66 x 0.5 = 33%. Of course our numbers are repeating so we'll say it's 33.5% we lose.<br /><br /> Distribution for this move looks like this: We stand to lose 2k 33.5% of the time. We stand to win 2k 16.5% of the time. We win $600 50% of the time.<br /><br /> Therefore in 100 tries we've lost: 2000 x 33.5 = 67k and we've won 600 x 50 = 30k + 2000 x 16.5 = 33k for a total of 63k<br /><br /> So the move in this very hypothetical situation is -EV, we've lost 4k over 100 hand so our EV is -40.</p>

Indy Leagues 101

Wednesday, October 21, 2009, Steve

Indy Leagues are Pokerspace's individual league competitions. Each indy league has a series of weekly tournaments hosted over the course of a month where members earn points based on their ranking in each of the tournaments. At the end of t...Read more...

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*Text		<p><strong>Indy Leagues</strong> are Pokerspace's individual league competitions. Each indy league has a series of weekly tournaments hosted over the course of a month where members earn points based on their ranking in each of the tournaments. At the end of the month the top ranking players in each of the leagues win prizes!<br /><br /><strong>What are the different types of Indy leagues?</strong><br /> There are 3 types of Indy Leagues: <br /><br /><em><strong>Cash Added/Buy-in Leagues</strong></em>: tournaments that have a cash buy-in requirement but no PS points buy-in. These leagues commonly have FREE cash added to the prizepool.<br /><br /><em><strong> PS Point Buy-in Leagues</strong></em>: tournaments in this league have a PS points buy-in and pay out PS points to the winners.</p><p><em><strong>Freeroll Leagues</strong></em>: tournaments that have a cash prizepool added require no cash buy-in but do require a small PS Points buy-in to ensure only real Pokerspace members participate and to help cover the prizes.</p><p><strong>When are the tournaments for each of the Indy Leagues?</strong><br /> The tournaments for each league run at the exact same time on the same poker room every week. Check out the <a href="http://www.pokerspace.com/promotions/leagues/">indy leagues promotion page</a> for a listing of all active leagues.<br /><br /><strong>What are the league prizes?</strong><br /> League prizes will vary but might include: tournament coupons to major tournament qualifiers, cash, PS points, and poker room gear.<br /><br /><strong>When and how are the league rankings updated?</strong><br /> The leagues are updated by Pokerspace admin as early as possible. Some tournament results will be updated within hours while others need to be sent to us by the poker room and therefore might take up to a week. However, most sent by rooms should be updated within 1-3 business days.<br /><strong><br /> How does the scoring system work?</strong><br /> The scoring system is quite similar to the Crew Cup scoring system. Basically, you are given a specific number of points based on your placement and the number of people who participated in the event. For example, if 158 people participated in the event, and you placed 1st, you would get 158 League points. 2nd place would have gotten 157 league points. 67th place would get 92 league points.<br /><br /> Please note that these points ARE NOT PS Points! They are league points and are displayed ONLY on the Indy League page within the stats leaderboard.</p><p>Also note that for any tournament that has a PS points buy-in players that didn't pay the points buy-in will NOT be included in the indy league results. He/she will be removed from the results and all players finishing behind him/her will be moved up one position.</p><p><strong>What happens when there is a tie in Indy League points at the end of the month?</strong><br /> The player that finished higher in the most recent tournament that is part of the Indy League will finish higher in the final standings.<br /><br /><strong>Where can I go to get updates on the standings?</strong><br /> You can find up to date information on the individual Indy League pages. Access them by clicking "View League" from the <a href="http://www.pokerspace.com/promotions/leagues/">Indy Leagues listings page</a>.</p><p><strong>When are the Indy League prizes paid?</strong><br /> Prizes will be paid out as quickly as possible after the month ends. PS point prizes will be paid out the quickest as PS admin are able to make the transfers themselves. However, poker room $ and coupons may take up to 1-2 weeks to be paid.</p><p><br /><strong>What happens if you submit your poker room account name wrong?</strong><br /> You will NOT receive any PS point prize and your results will NOT be include in any of the Indy League rankings. So make sure you get it right before the first event begins!</p>

How to convert loyalty program points into PS Points?

Thursday, October 15, 2009, Steve

Question: How can I convert loyalty program points into Pokerspace points or cash? Answer: The conversion process is simple using Pokerspace's partner LoyaltyMatch whom provides a solution to Pokerspace players. LoyaltyMatch helps you c...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Question: How can I convert loyalty program points into Pokerspace points or cash?<br /><br /> Answer: The conversion process is simple using Pokerspace's partner <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://LoyaltyMatch.com">LoyaltyMatch </a>whom provides a solution to Pokerspace players. LoyaltyMatch helps you convert your loyalty program points to cash. Cash you can use at Pokerspace or buy Pokerspace points. LoyaltyMatch does not exchange points from one loyalty program to another loyalty program. Instead, LoyaltyMatch creates cash for Pokerspace members by helping you sell merchandise items e.g. an iPod available in your loyalty programs to a buyer whom is willing to pay cash for the item. LoyaltyMatch accomplishes this via its patent pending social commerce peer-to-peer marketplace. An often quoted analogy for the LoyaltyMatch process is Amazon meets Craigslist meets eHarmony.<br /><br /> The points to cash conversion process requires three easy steps:<br /><br /> Step 1: register at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://LoyaltyMatch.com">LoyaltyMatch</a>. Simply become a member and register your loyalty program's points with the LoyaltyMatch system. <br /><br /> Step 2: Once you have registered, the LoyaltyMatch system will notify you when a buyer (a shopper) is requesting to buy merchandise available from the program(s) you have registered.<br /><br /> Step 3: Accept the buyer's cash offer. Use your loyalty program points to procure the merchandise and have the loyalty program deliver the item to the buyer. The buyer pays you via paypal. Use your cash at Pokerspace.<br /><br /> Further information is available at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://LoyaltyMatch.com">http://LoyaltyMatch.com</a> including an interactive selling guide, tutorials and FAQs.<br /> </p>

The VIP Rewards Program

Friday, September 25, 2009, Steve

What is the VIP Rewards Program and why reward VIPs? VIP Rewards is a program aimed at rewarding Pokerspace members that help Pokerspace grow! In most cases it is for members that play real money games on accounts linked to Pokerspace. We s...Read more...

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*Text		<p><strong>What is the VIP Rewards Program and why reward VIPs?</strong><br /> VIP Rewards is a program aimed at rewarding Pokerspace members that help Pokerspace grow! In most cases it is for members that play real money games on accounts linked to Pokerspace. We see these members as VIPs because they will play a big role in helping Pokerspace grow and expand our community. How do they do this? Well, Pokerspace takes a cut of the rake from accounts linked to us and that money will help us continue to pay all the expenses it takes to keep a community of 50,000 operating and growing. It will also help us continue to put money into our promotions to make them bigger and better for all PS'ers!<br /><br /><strong>What are the benefits for VIPs?</strong><br /> Becoming a VIP will get you exclusive access to the most lucrative tournaments on Pokerspace AND a PS Points Reward based on the amount of PS Points as you Play or Rakeback you earned in the previous month. There are 2 weekly tournaments that only VIPs will be able to access. A $500 Weekly Freeroll on Walker Poker and a $3 buy-in with $300 added to the Prizepool on Absolute Poker. Each of these tournaments will be password protected that only VIPs can access. These tournament fields are expected to be low so all VIPs will have a great chance at taking home a sick prize every week!<br /><br /> VIPs will also be able to take advantage of our PS Point VIP Rewards. VIPs will receive an injection of PS Points near the beginning of the following month based on the amount of PS Points or Rakeback they earn in the month:</p><p><img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-3/1253898452-07639-470.png" alt="" /></p><p>Another advantage is access to the VIP Manager - Zedmaster84 - whenever you have a problem, he is there to assist you and sort out any issues that may rise up. You can contact your VIP Manager in real time via instant messenger and also by personal message on the forum + email. He is just there to make sure that all runs smoothly and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact him.</p><p><strong>How do I become a VIP?</strong></p><p>There are two ways to become a Pokerspace VIP:</p><p><strong><em>1) Playing on accounts linked to Pokerspace</em></strong><br /> The best method is playing real money poker games on accounts linked to Pokerspace. For more information on how to link an account to Pokerspace read these articles:</p><p><a href="http://www.pokerspace.com/school/articles/poker-rooms-and-deals/getting-to-know-the-brand-deals-pokerspace-offers">http://www.pokerspac...pokerspace-offers</a>/</p><p><a href="http://www.pokerspace.com/school/articles/poker-rooms-and-deals/how-to-properly-download-rooms-to-get-ps-points-or-rakeback-deals">http://www.pokerspac...or-rakeback-deals</a>/</p><p>Once you have an account linked to Pokerspace you need to earn <strong>1000 PS points as you play OR $50 in Rakeback </strong>for yourself every month. Whichever months you earn the required 1000 PS Points or $50 Rakeback, you will gain access to the exclusive VIP tournaments in the following month. However, you must continue to earn those points or Rakeback every month to ensure you qualify for the following month.</p><p>Example: You earn $275 in Rakeback for yourself in October. You will get to play in the weekly VIP exclusive tournaments in November. You will also be credited with 500 PS Points at the end of the month as your PS Point VIP Reward.</p><p><strong><em>2) Paying a monthly subscription to support Pokerspace</em></strong><br /> We realize not all Pokerspace members have the ability to earn 1000 PS Points or $50 Rakeback every month because they either don't play high enough stakes or they can't get any accounts linked to Pokerspace. For members in this situation we are offering a monthly subscription purchase that will give members access to the weekly VIP tournaments for $39.99/month.</p><p>In addition to accessing the VIP tournaments, we realize they won't be able to take advantage of the PS Point VIP Rewards so we'll be giving each subscriber 1000 PS Points near the beginning of every month! So for only $39.99 you will be able to get your shot at $3200 in free tournament money and 1000 PS Points!</p><p>With so few players in the VIP tournaments you will have 8 great chances to win your monthly fee back and more!</p><p>We will also be offering discounts for members that would like to pre-purchase subscriptions greater than 1 month. Here is how it breaks down:</p><p>$39.99 for 1 month<br /> $109.99 for 3 months (save $10!)<br /> $199.99 for 6 months (get 1 month free!)<br /> $369.99 for 12 months (get 3 months free!)</p><p>Members are able to purchase their subscriptions with a major credit card, a Moneybookers transfer, or a poker room transfer (UltimateBet, Full Tilt Poker, or Carbon Poker). Note that there are no refunds for VIP subscription purchases.</p>

Crew Cup Rules

Thursday, September 24, 2009, Steve

Crew teamwork: In any team competition it is in the best interest of the team that its members play together and crew competitions are no different. Although poker rooms have rules against this behavior in regular tournaments, teamwork is c...Read more...

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*Text		<p><strong>Crew teamwork:</strong><br /> In any team competition it is in the best interest of the team that its members play together and crew competitions are no different. Although poker rooms have rules against this behavior in regular tournaments, teamwork is completely acceptable in any crew competition tournament. Crewmates are allowed to play against each other however they choose, which includes any type of "chip dumping". Here are a few things to consider with respect to "chip dumping":<br /><br /> * In tournaments with > 50-100 players the opportunity to dump chips doesn't happen very often<br /> * At times it is impossible to distinguish between a "chip dump", a bad poker play, and a misclick. For this reason it is nearly impossible to police chip dumping even if we thought it was best for the game.<br /> * Chip dumping or similar play can backfire! In fact, many crews employ and discuss strategies of how to counter it.<br /><br /><strong>What happens if less than 3 crew members end up playing in a Crew Cup event?</strong><br /> Crews with less than 3 members playing in an event will be issued extra scores to simulate 3 participating members on the crew. If a crew only has 2 members playing in a crew competition tournament their crew will receive a 3rd score equal to a last place finish plus 1. If a crew only has 1 member playing in a crew competition tournament his/her crew will receive a 2nd score equal to a last place finish plus 1 and a 3rd score equal to a last place finish plus 2.<br /><br /><strong>Sharing of hands:</strong><br /> As there is no way to protect against it online crew members are permitted to share hands with each other. However, players CANNOT give hand information in open chat on the poker rooms. If a player is found doing it they will be penalized: either disqualified from the event or in severe cases they will be either banned or suspended from the Crew Cup and/or Pokerspace<br /><br /><strong>Cross-crew teamwork:</strong><br /> While teamwork within a crew is acceptable, teamwork among multiple crews is strictly prohibited. This includes: chip dumping, sharing hands and playing "soft" or differently against other crews to reduce the risk to the crew members of being eliminated from the tournament.<br /><br /> If there is proof that crews are exhibiting any of the above behavior or a crew competition participant has instructed other crews to do any of the above please forward all information (including hand histories, chat logs, screen shots, etc) to support@pokerspace.com (or click here). If the Pokerspace admins/moderators decide the proof is significant enough the penalty may be a deduction of Crew Cup points, disqualification from a single crew competition tournament, or disqualification from the entire Crew Cup. If this happens more than once Pokerspace reserves the right to disqualify, suspend or ban a crew from any or all future crew competitions.<br /><br /><strong>Tiebreakers:</strong><br /> Tiebreaker for a single Crew Cup event: the crew with the highest individual finish will win the tie-breaker. Example: if 2 crews end up with the score of 50 where Crew A is 1st 24th 25th and Crew B is 3rd 17th 30th.. Crew A will finished ahead of Crew B. The same rule applies in 3-way ties<br /><br /> Tiebreaker at the end of a monthly league: the crew with the best finish in the last crew competition of the league finishes wins.<br /><br /><strong>If ineligible players place in a Crew Cup Tournament:</strong><br /> If a player that is not on a crew with at least 3 members (manages to get in a crew tournament) and finishes in the money, he/she will be disqualified. However, their position will not be removed from the final tournament standings with respect to the crew competition (ie. If a non-crew member finishes 1st and a qualifying players finishes 2nd, the qualifying player will STILL receive 2 points on their final crew score).<br /><br /><strong>Password Leaks:</strong><br /> * For buy-in leagues: Only Crews that buy-in to the league with at least 3 members are given the passwords.<br /> * For non-buyin leagues only crews with at least 3 members are provided the passwords.<br /> * Any PS member caught sharing our Passwords with non-eligible members will be either banned or suspended from Pokerspace, the Crew Cup and potentially banned from that particular poker site.<br /> * If non PS members enter a crew cup tournament they will not be eligible for any points/prizes and we reserve the right to have that user banned from that particular poker site, the Crew Cup and from Pokerspace.<br /> * If the ineligible player exhibits any suspect activity like chip dumping to a crew or crew member please report it to support@pokerspace.com (or click here) and provide as much info about the hand(s) as possible, including hand histories. Pokerspace will then review each case and act accordingly.<br /><strong><br /> Position on Poker Room "rules":</strong><br /> As long as we run separate tourneys for crew events, Crew competition rules ONLY pertain to official Pokerspace crew events. All other events are subject to the regular poker room rules and may result in suspension by the host poker room or Pokerspace. If you suspect players are demonstrating chip dumping and/or collusion in any games outside of the Crew Competition events, it is your duty to submit this information to the support team of the host Poker Room (and not Pokerspace) as they have a qualified Fraud & Security team to review these instances.<br /> Comments or Suggestions:<br /><strong><br /> Changes to the Crew Cup rules:</strong><br /> Pokerspace may, at any given time, edit or add additional rules. This will likely occur if a rule is unclear or an unforeseen issue arises and a new rule is required.<br /> </p>

Crew Cup 101

Thursday, September 24, 2009, Steve

What is the Crew Cup? The Crew Cup is a series of monthly poker leagues in which poker crews compete in 2 weekly tournaments earning crew cup points. Crews can join the North American or European league for 3000 PS points or play for free i...Read more...

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*Text		<p><strong>What is the Crew Cup?</strong><br /> The Crew Cup is a series of monthly poker leagues in which poker crews compete in 2 weekly tournaments earning crew cup points. Crews can join the North American or European league for 3000 PS points or play for free in a practice league. The crews with the most crew cup points in each buy-in league at the end of the month qualify for 4 final tournaments over 2 weekends where the lowest combined crew score wins a fabulous trip. The top 3 crews in the practice league will win a free buy-in into the North American or European league in the following month. Crew can also qualify via 1 of 3 direct qualifiers.<br /><br /><strong>When does it take place?</strong><br /> Monthly leagues for Crew Cup 4: Back To Vegas start in October and will run 5 months into February. There will then be 3 direct qualifiers in March with the Crew Cup Finals going down in April.<br /><br /><strong>What are the prizes?</strong><br /> The winning crew will be going BACK TO VEGAS! The 6 crew members will be staying 5 nights in Vegas and participating in the Dream Team Poker tournament just before the WSOP main event starts in July 2010! Each member will also win $1000 cash for flight and spending money and Pokerspace gear. If a crew member is unable or chooses not to go on the trip, he/she will only receive the $1000 spending money and it is the responsibility of the winning crew to find a replacement player for the Dream Team tournament.</p><p>2nd place will split $900 in online money, 3rd will split $300 in online money, 4th will split 18000 PS points and 5th will split 12000 PS points. All members of the top 5 crews will also win a PS T-shirt. <br /><br /> The top 3 crews in the practice leagues will win entry into a buy-in league in the following month. Note that a winning crew cannot choose points over the entry into the buy-in league. <br /><br /><strong>How does the scoring system work for Crew Cup Points?</strong><br /> In a Crew Cup event the rank of the top three finishers in each crew will be added up. The winning Crew will be the one that has the lowest total.<br /><br /> Example: Two crews competing in a Tournament:<br /> Top 3 Crew A finishers: 17th 25th 36th = 78<br /> Top 3 Crew B finishers: 1st 60th 117th = 178<br /><br /> Crew A will finish in 1st and Crew B will finish in 2nd.<br /><em><br /> Crew Cup Points:</em><br /> Each participating crew will earn Crew Cup points. If there were 20 crews competing then the 1st place crew (the one with the lowest total rank) will earn 20 Crew Cup Pts. 2nd Place crew would earn 19 Crew Cup pts and so on.<br /><strong><br /><br /> How to qualify for the Final Crew Cup Tournament:</strong><br /> You can qualify by finishing at the top of the North American or European monthly crew league based on your total # of Crew Cup points. Pokerspace gives away 1 entry to the final for every 15 crews participating in the league (rounded up). Crew can also qualify in 1 of 3 direct qualifiers held after the monthly leagues for their last chance to qualify for the final. Again, Pokerspace gives away 1 entry to the final for every 15 crews participating in the direct qualifier (rounded up). We will also be giving one buy-in back for every 15 crews registered in the league for both the leagues and direct qualifiers.<br /><br /><strong>What happens if my crew qualifies more than once?</strong><br /> Any crew that qualifies more than once will receive their 3000 PS points back and block out a crew from qualifying in that particular league.<br /><br /><strong>Can I get kicked off a crew after contributing points to a league buy-in or after my crew qualifies for the finals?</strong><br /> Once a crew has fully bought into a league no members on that crew can be kicked off so make sure you have your final 6 member crew set before buying in. If a crew member is voted to be kicked off before the full buy-in is paid that member will be removed and any contributions he made to the buy-in will be refunded. However, a crew member may voluntarily leave a crew at any time. Once your crew has qualified for the Crew Cup final you will not be able to kick off any members.<br /><br /><strong>Submitting incorrect details:</strong><br /> If you play in a Crew Cup tournament and submit the wrong poker alias on PS for that particular event your placement will not count towards your crew score. *We will not go back and change it for that event*<br /><br /> If you need your alias changed before a particular event please email support@pokerspace.com (or click here) at least 24hrs prior to the start of the tournament.</p>

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