Poker Bingo Sports Betting Casino - Top Online Deals

My Thoughts and Insights about Gambling Online

Sidebar
Menu

PokerStars Breaks Records, Named Among “Best Workplace in the UK”

PokerStars has come a long way from the setbacks that rocked the online poker network following last year’s Black Friday legal indictments. 2012 has seen the company rebounding from its troubles in a major way, breaking records and even earning the honour of being named one of the “Best Workplaces in the UK.”

The first achievement comes following the conclusion of the latest edition of PokerStars’ Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). This year’s SCOOP paid out a total prize pool of $65,332,179 (topping 2010’s $64.2 million) across its 120 tournaments and 40 events, setting the record for the largest online poker tournament series to date. Broken into three bankroll levels, the 20120 SCOOP Main Event recorded 517 members at the High level ($10,300 buy-in), 3, 567 at Medium ($1,050 buy-in) and 22,128 players at Low ($109). These type of numbers — a total of more than 526,000 players overall — helped to break PokerStars’ SCOOP registrant numbers and establish the landmark record.

Adding to the massive success of this year’s SCOOP was the Great Place to Work Institute, a workplace assessment consulting firm, awarding PokerStars as one of the United Kingdom’s best workplaces. The Institute surveyed employees and performs “cultural audits”, scoring company results in credibility, pride, fairness and other factors against other businesses in their nation. PokerStars’ high rank came from the many developmental opportunities it offers employees, its diverse workforce and the generous number of employee benefits and perks it offers.

Sky Vegas Adds to Games Roster with Hi-Lo Poker

Sky’s massively popular online gaming network continues to offer players plenty of reasons to stick around, this time in the form of a brand new game. The addition of Hi-Lo poker to the site gives members of Sky’s casino platform a fresh take on a classic style of play.

Sky Vegas’ version of Hi-Lo poker is intended to capture the kind of excitement that comes from real-life versions of the game. Like most variations of Hi-Lo, Sky’s edition sees players placing high and low bets on the poker hands they hope to make from the standard, 52 card deck used by the virtual dealer. The betting involves taking a chip from the dealer rack and choosing whether to place it on a staked area of the table or placing individual bets. The player then triggers dealing and watches two high and low buttons that predict the value of the next card to come. After winning a hand, players choose whether to collect their warnings or risk an attempt to better their hand by continuing on.

A statement from Sky Vegas described its Hi-Lo poker as a “highly engaging game and one of a long list of games that players both old and new can enjoy.” In order to publicize the addition of Hi-Lo to its site, Sky added a new promotional offer that provides a £10 welcome voucher to all new members.

Software Updates and New Features Arrive at Sky Poker

Sky Poker continues to offer its members a fantastic gaming experience with new promotions and, most recently, an upgrade that brings changes to the site’s software and feature set. These new improvements are planned to launch in the very near future and will enhance the poker play on offer from Sky.

Most exciting of the updates are the three new features that will be brought to the site. The first of the new improvements is a lobby filter feature that allows players to set the Sky software to mark whenever they log on or off the site. The second sees Sky Poker reconfiguring how its stakes filter works. High stakes will now show £2.50/£5 tables, medium at £0.50/£1, low at £0.10/£0.20 and micro reset to display £0.02/£0.04. Sit and Go games have also been affected by these changes. The third update will be brought to tournaments and involves the introduction of a five minute break once every hour during play, allowing competitors to clear their heads without missing any of the action. Along with these changes, Sky has just launched the Early Bird bonus, a promotion that gives players a shot at earning extra Poker Points during a four hour period.

Sky Poker told press that the three new updates and the Early Bird bonus will be introduced one by one over the coming weeks. The company also stated that its decision to implement these changes was part of a greater business strategy aimed at “enhancing [site] usability and introducing new features [that] benefit customers.”

Marvin Rettenmaier Signs to Team Party Poker

Party Poker’s squad of sponsored players/brand ambassadors continues to look better and better as the site signs yet another up and comer from the world of professional poker. The latest addition to the team is Germany’s Marvin Rettenmaier, a young player who has already made a serious mark in competitive games across the world.

25 year old Rettenmaier was born in Stuttgart, Germany, now lives in London, England, is an avid guitarist and holds a degree in Management and Business Law. Until recently he played as a member of Titan Poker’s team of professionals, but has now been snatched up by Party Poker. Rettenmaier has cashed $1.7 million through live tournament play, his biggest earnings to date coming from his impressive victory in last year’s France Poker Series. He is the second German currently signed on as a member of Team Party Poker, joining the renowned Bodo Sbrzesny as a representative of the country.

Marvin Rettenmaier played his first event as a member of Team Party Poker at the World Poker Tour World Championship in Las Vegas. Speaking to press about his decision to join up with the squad, Rettenmaier said that “it feels like a natural move” and that he is “looking forward to representing them in WPT events and beyond.” The remarkable accomplishments Rettenmaier has managed in his brief time as a professional poker player should prove his ability to properly represent Party Poker in the future.

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations Come to Sky Poker

With all of Britain getting ready to help celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s rapidly approaching Diamond Jubilee, popular online poker network, Sky Poker has announced plans to add to the festivities. Sky’s Diamond Jubilee tournament series will launch next month, coinciding with Elizabeth II’s 60th year anniversary as Queen.

The Diamond Jubilee tournaments come with a £60,000 total prize guarantee, made available to competitors through a number of special games. The promotion gets underway with Saturday, 2nd June’s £10,000 Super Bounty (with a £22 buy-in), an event that will begin at 8pm and be broadcast over SkyPoker TV as it plays out. On 3rd June, Sky’s series will continue with the £20,000 Jubilee Super Roller (with a £110 buy-in) and a Bounty Hunter tournament (with a £5,000 prize pool) before moving on to the 4th’s second Bounty Hunter event, this time with a £10,000 guaranteed prize pool. Tuesday, 5th June will finish out the celebrations with a £22 buy-in, £5,000 guaranteed open competition and a one hour, £4,000 timed tournament.

Sky Poker’s statement described the Diamond Jubilee tournament series as a great way to enjoy some spare time during “the extra days off work” that the Jubilee brings with it. Interested players will certainly have a lot of great poker to get into as the event kicks off on Saturday, 2nd June and runs through until the 5th.

Sky Poker Awards Every New Player with Free Token

Players looking for a reason to sign up for an account at Sky Poker have just been given some extra incentive with the launch of a new promotion. Now looks to be a great time to register at the site as Sky has decided to offer up a token to every one of its new members that can be exchanged for real tournament money.

The free “Tournament Token” up for grabs is worth £5 and can be redeemed by players who choose to enter into any of the site’s roster of Sit and Go tournaments. To claim it, new Sky Poker members only need to head over to their account page and find the offer through the “Promotions” section or enter a special promotional code (“Poker&rdquoWinking when signing up for their account. Sky has also extended the offer to current members, providing one Tournament Token for every 75 loyalty points players earn while competing at real money tables. While these Tokens can be “bought” for points multiple times, the free sign-up Token can only be redeemed once.

A statement from Sky Poker explained the site’s choice of offering the Tournament Token to new players, describing how the voucher provides “a great way of practicing your poker prowess” and “the chance to play a few duds or win big.” The Tournament Token promotion has already launched and is available to new and existing members now.

Team PokerStars Pro’s Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom Wins Big at 2012 SCOOP Tournament

Sweden’s Viktor Blom (who plays under the handle ‘Isildur1&rsquoWinking has been making a big name for himself in recent years. With his victory at the 2012 PokerStars’ Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) his career looks to be continuing on an upswing.

Blom took part in this year’s SCOOP as a member of Team PokerStars Pro, making good on his endorsement by winning two events and cashing out more than $407,000 in the process. This year’s edition of the massive online tournament series (which continues to run until Sunday, 20th May) features a total of forty tournament events that allows players of all bankroll sizes to compete — and win big prizes — according to their budget. Blom sat in on a Monday night medium buy-in (Event 2) and beat out more than 8,000 players throughout the $215 No Limit Hold ‘Em event. After cashing $247,200 from his first place win he went on to take down 485 competitors, winning $160,000, at the following evening’s high stakes buy-in (Event 3) No Limit Hold ‘Em 6 Max (with rebuys) event.

The 21 year-old Swedish player, now living in London, England, has had a great year at the tables. Earlier in 2012 Blom won $100,000 in the PCA High Roller tournament series. His recent wins have marked his current 2012 earnings at roughly $1.3 million. Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom plans to continue his meteoric rise to poker stardom by competing in his first World Series of Poker this summer where he is sure to be carefully watched by competitors and spectators alike.

Everest Poker Offers Players a Shot at Competing in the 2012 WSOP’s Event 54

Keen-eyed poker players have been able to enjoy a surplus of opportunities to prove their skills through online satellites and win their way into this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP). The latest offer comes from Everest Poker and Austria’s Montesino Casino and will provide winners with entry to the WSOP’s illustrious Event 54.

Everest Poker has recently announced a partnership with Montesino Casino that will provide members of the site with an upcoming satellite event, hosted at the famous venue. Beginning on Friday, 1st June, Everest players will be able to enter into the two day Live Vegas Satellite for a €165 buy-in (and €150 re-buy option) and test their luck and skill against other live competitors, eager to win their way into the 2012 WSOP. This highly sought after prize package, valued at some $4,000, includes seven nights of accommodations in Las Vegas, airfare, $1,600 in spending cash and the $1,000 buy-in to the WSOP’s Event 54 (a three day No Limit Hold ‘Em Tournament scheduled to begin on 1st July). Everest Members can enter the Live Vegas Satellite by buying in directly or competing in a newly launched series of satellites (with buy-ins as low as $33) and freerolls.

Everest Poker told press that their goal was to “[make] it easier than ever to get to Las Vegas this summer” and, considering the generosity of the prize packages on offer, they certainly have done so. Players can buy in to Live Vegas Satellite now or check Everest Poker for upcoming satellite and freeroll events.