Pokerstars promotions

[rerazor]

The first "magic hand" went to a speed stud table, the 2nd went to a penny omaha 1 on 1 table. I assume Stars can afford these things due to not offering an affiliate/rakeback program...well I'm cashing out as soon as I clear this bonus and going to a site that gives the people who pay the bills (normal hold em) the rewards.

I'm beginning to question the sites popularity given how tough the games are and the lack of rakeback programs. This bonus is barely worth it.

[M.B.E.]

You're saying they should have rigged the hand numbers so all milestone hands are on "normal holdem" tables?

[rerazor]

No, more like it's a stupid promotion. Last time they did this the money went mainly to that speed bull**** too. This is hundreds of thousands of dollars they're giving away and apparently you have to play shorthanded speed junk for a chance to win. Given the slim odds, it just makes me want to ignore it. And what about tourney players? They don't even get a taste.

I mean come on, a head to head penny omaha table?

[Overdrive]

(1) There is a whole lot more to poker than hold em. Hold Em is my least favorite game.

(2) Pokerstars promotions are easy to get if you play the right game.

(3) Pokerstars banned the notorious internet criminal Dutch Boyd from their site. If they do nothing else - that is a good enough reason to play there. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[rerazor]

"(1) There is a whole lot more to poker than hold em. Hold Em is my least favorite game."

Yeah I'm aware. But check the number of players - Hold em dwarfs the others.

[Vince Young]

Assuming they play the same number of hands at the same limits, a Stud player pays the bills of Stars just as much as a Hold'Em player. Restricting Stud players from these promotions would be like not allowing soldiers overseas to vote in the election, since, as a whole, they don't contribute to society as much as people on US soil. You see why your claim is ridiculous?

[rerazor]

I should have left that last line out cause my point is being missed. I don't want to play shorthanded speed poker, and that's apparently what you have to do to win this promotion. People log in around the time the "magic hand" is being dealt, probably many of them as teams, just to win this crap. Because of that, and given the huge amount of $s they're giving away, I find it kind of insulting since I can't get a rakeback program there.

My bias against the Omaha/Stud goes back to the last time they held this promotion and as I recall those games won an inordinate amount of the prizes then, too.

[MicroBob]

1. "I find it kind of insulting since I can't get a rakeback program there." Well....at least we REALLY know why you're upset. Go back to your party tables and get your rake-back if it bothers you that much.
You do realize the rake is already better at Stars anyway, right?

2. BTW....you're not exactly losing by NOT winning the prize money. Party recently had their 1-billionth hand and didn't give away a thing. At least Stars is giving away all kinds of cash.

3. I'm one of those hitting the penny tables and speed-folding as much as possible. They allow it, so I do it. It's hardly cheating. It IS +EV though. I came awfully close to hitting it a couple of different times the last time around.

4. I hardly think the Stars bonus 'isn't worth it'. If you multi-table the 2/4 or 3/6 6-max you'll clear it in a few hours.

5. You're awfully bitter about this.

6. I am almost positive they have cut down on the number of 1-on-1 penny-tables available. I used to be able to get on those fairly easily for this promotion....but it appears there aren't nearly as many of them. So, believe it or not, Stars actually has done something to make it at least a little bit more difficult.

[Jim Kuhn]

Bob,

I think you have to have five or ten fpp's for that day to be elgible for any of the prize money. Just make sure you have met the qualifications to be elgible. I would hate for someone to be at the winning table and not be included in the prize money.

Thank you,

Jim Kuhn
Catfish4u

[rerazor]

[ QUOTE ]
Well....at least we REALLY know why you're upset. Go back to your party tables and get your rake-back if it bothers you that much. You do realize the rake is already better at Stars anyway, right?

[/ QUOTE ]

Where do you think the money for these promotions come from? What makes you think I play at Party? (I don't, except to clear bonuses). And I doubt that the rake at Stars is better than Party when you factor in the rakeback you can get.

[ QUOTE ]
"BTW....you're not exactly losing by NOT winning the prize money. Party recently had their 1-billionth hand and didn't give away a thing. At least Stars is giving away all kinds of cash."

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the point I'm making. Party and the other sites allow players to get Rake discounts. I'll take that over a Lottery any day.

[ QUOTE ]
"I'm one of those hitting the penny tables and speed-folding as much as possible. They allow it, so I do it."

[/ QUOTE ]

When I log on to a poker site I want to play poker, not play a lottery. This gets back to there being better ways to disperse all this excess cash they recieve...

[ QUOTE ]
I hardly think the Stars bonus 'isn't worth it'. If you multi-table the 2/4 or 3/6 6-max you'll clear it in a few hours."

[/ QUOTE ]

The games at Stars are the toughest online, that's what I was referring to. I think it's probably easier to clear playing limit too, which I don't play. In NL it just plain takes forever compared to Party.

[ QUOTE ]
You're awfully bitter about this.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're probably right. I just spent 15 minutes responding to this post.

[johnnycakes]

It looks like they've stopped dealing to the heads up tables.

[MicroBob]

Yup. I saw a couple of 1-on-1 tables where the administrator gave info that they were pausing the 1-on-1 tables during the promotion.

But on most of the tables there was no administrator info so the guys that were waiting there were wondering why they couldn't go into auto-fold mode.


What's more.....there are enough people that don't know about it that it's tough on the full tables.
Although I suspect that a couple of them are jumping on the newly forming tables to 'steal' some money. Hey....if they'd rather have my BB of $0.04 than $500 that's fine with me I guess.

Oh well.

[MicroBob]

Yes, this is correct jim.


[ QUOTE ]
To qualify for any of the prizes for the milestone or billionth hands, you must collect at least 10 (yes, just 10) Frequent Player Points between Friday, December 17, 2:00 PM ET, and the time you are dealt into the milestone hand.

[/ QUOTE ]


I'm already all set on this....but others may need the friendly reminder so they don't screw themselves over.

[Guy McSucker]

[ QUOTE ]

In NL it just plain takes forever compared to Party.


[/ QUOTE ]

Since there's no time limit on Stars bonuses, that doesn't really matter very much does it? That is, unless you weren't planning on playing at Stars very much, and in that case, please explain why they should give you anything, Mr Loyal Customer...

Guy.

[cjs]

I used to think the stars bonus was not worth it because the site was much tougher than party or crypto sites. But I have begun to enjoy the stars bonuses. I get to play in a different game to my usual, which hopefully will improve my game, at a discount.

cjs

[MicroBob]

I'm playing 3-4 tables of 3/6 and 5/10 6-max and the FPP's are adding REALLY fast. 200 points in a bit over an hour (not positive though as I didn't mark down when my session started).

[Guy McSucker]

[ QUOTE ]

I'm playing 3-4 tables of 3/6 and 5/10 6-max and the FPP's are adding REALLY fast. 200 points in a bit over an hour (not positive though as I didn't mark down when my session started).


[/ QUOTE ]

Good work. I played the $3/6 6-max for 200 hands earlier today and accumulated a massive 17 FPPs.

Very weird morning.

Guy.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
I played the $3/6 6-max for 200 hands earlier today and accumulated a massive 17 FPPs.


[/ QUOTE ]


How on earth is that possible?? I'm up to 225 points now...so I have 25 points since my last post which was 10 minutes ago.

[Stupendous_Man]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, this is correct jim.


[ QUOTE ]
To qualify for any of the prizes for the milestone or billionth hands, you must collect at least 10 (yes, just 10) Frequent Player Points between Friday, December 17, 2:00 PM ET, and the time you are dealt into the milestone hand.

[/ QUOTE ]


I'm already all set on this....but others may need the friendly reminder so they don't screw themselves over.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for posting this MB, as this is the way I remembered the requirement... not that you had to get 10 FPPs on the exact date you're dealt into a milestone hand. I too took care of the 10 points prior to the milestone hands starting.

I like your idea about sitting at heads up tables with low stakes. A buddy and I discussed this, but didn't actually try it. Now it looks like we missed out. I went with the 6max high speed tables. It's a good pace! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[playersare]

at $2/4 fixed limits and up, you get 1 FPP per raked hand guaranteed. This is because the FPP minimum is $1 rake and they don't rake quarters at $2/4 and higher...it starts at $1 once the pot hits $20. So if there is a flop and a rake, you've got your FPP.

With 6-max tables it's possible that the raked hand percentage is lower because there are less flops seen, or the pot sizes are just under $20, perfectly possible for $2/4 or even $3/6 limits. But I agree that 17 raked hands out of 200 is nearly impossible unless everybody is folding on purpose trying to bag this billion hand thingy for cheap, or mistakenly thinking they are earning FPP's for just being dealt cards without a flop or a rake.

[Guy McSucker]

[ QUOTE ]

But I agree that 17 raked hands out of 200 is nearly impossible


[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't really believe it myself, so I checked the histories.

There were a lot of $19 pots.

Guy.

[mbpoker]

Cuurently Stars running:

- 25% deposit bonus without a time limit to clear
- when you earn your bonus you collect FPPs that are yours to use, so you can use them to enter into $100,000 freeroll

If you don't like to try to get into the jubilee hands why don't you concentrate on the above promotions?

As to the lottery aspect, doesn't Party run a lottery called "bad beat jackpot"? Supposedly fish does like lottery kind of promotions. You complain about Stars being the toughest online room (which is wrong) so you should be happy that they try to bring fish through lotteries.