March 2007 Archives

Do you sometimes run your mouse curse across the screen to hover over a player picture at the other side of the table? Interestingly when you tickle another player with your mouse pointer they don't giggle, instead they'll tell you a little bit about themselves. They'll tell you where they're from - you might see 'Belfast' or 'Buffalo' or 'Bucharest.' Or you might see some exotic unknown location, like 'Houten' or 'Sarasota' or 'No Chat'. So then you might play your next few hands pondering where in the world 'No Chat' is, and wonder whether it's citizens are enjoying good health and fine weather today.

One of the nicest things about online poker is that players anywhere in the world can view the same flops, face the same bets, or share the same jokes around a PokerStars table. Whether they're sitting under the hot sun in Australia, or chilling in the cooler reaches of West Dakota Freezer Centre, PokerStars players will see the same chat box, be dealt the same random cards, or type the same '****' when they lose to some lousy bad beat on the river.

Most of the time all is equal for players wherever in the world they play, but just now and again PokerStars acknowledges the differences between nations. Sometimes a special effort will be made to create features, host events, or offer promotions for players from a specific country.

Take Canada. Did you know there's never been a Canadian World Series of Poker winner? Well, PokerStars hopes to put that right. So every Canadian at PokerStars.net has been issued with a couple of freeroll tickets, and a chance to play in Vegas.



Already Canadian mom, 'Ngaru' has won herself a World Series of Poker seat. She calls herself "just a plain Jane girl who played a poker tournament well enough to win it."

I think she's being modest. Ngaru's boyfriend introduced her to Texas Hold'em a couple of years ago. She's been playing at PokerStars ever since. Other than playing in a couple of small tournaments at her home casino, Ngaru has learned everything she knows about poker at PokerStars's tables. Ngaru has a lot of responsibilities in life, she has a two-year-old son and a full-time job. She tries to squeeze poker in where she can. She's practiced enough to find her way to the World Series. When she made it to the final table of the qualifying tournament, she relaxed until she got heads-up, something she considers a speciality. An unkind turn and river gave her opponent a 3:1 chip lead, but Ngaru battled her way back and took first place.

"Since then, all I can think about is how crazy it is that I won the tournament, and I'm going to the World Series," she said. "People dream of it, and I get to go. It's the opportunity of a lifetime, and it will be an experience I'll never forget. Thank You, PokerStars!"

To learn more about Canada's largest free tournament, visit Pokerstars Team Canada page.

So a Canadian is taking a journey to the US in June...? And next January PokerStars will be sending Japanese players to the Caribbean!

The Japanese Poker Players Association has formed a Poker League based on weekly tournaments at Pokerstars.net. Players in these games earn points and the best players will a $12,000 value tournament prize, that includes a World Poker Tour seat at PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Click on this link if you speak Japanese, and want to know more about the Japanese Poker Player's Association's eight month long quest to send the best Asian players to the Bahamas.



The USA, unsurprisingly, is the nation to seat the largest number of players at PokerStars tables. For US players PokerStars recently supported the work of the Poker Players Alliance, offering daily freerolls with cash prizes.

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) is a non-profit organization set up to protect and fight for the rights of poker players in the United States. Part of the PPA's mission is to protect the right of poker players to play online. To sign up for the PPA and help ensure the future of online poker you can click here.

In Europe PokerStars has been highly involved with the development and success of the European Poker Tour, now in its third season and attracting ever bigger fields. PokerStars recently offered EPT Grand Final seats to new players from European countries in a series of special freerolls.


A freeroll seat might have brought you here...
It's nothing like as glamorous as a seat it a Monte Carlo final, but plenty have fought over the prizes of a chip-set and PokerStars goody bag.... UK soccer fans have found a lot of fun in freerolls for Premiership teams.

Chants are hugely popular at football games and fans have adapted some of these for their weekly PokerStars games. We've recently heard, "Stand up, if you hate that river." And, "Can we play you every week?" sung to the worst player at the table. Of course there's, "Who ate all the pies?" for anyone who looks fat on their button image. Players obviously don't sing their favourite chants at Pokerstars tables, but instead fans have to type these words in the chat box. Which leads me to, "You're not singing, you're not singing, you're not singing anymore!".

There are many more events on offer at PokerStars, these are just a few. If I haven't mentioned a special game for your country please don't worry, PokerStars has a new department dedicated to assesing and responding to our players local needs. As well as inventing special events for many countries, they're busy looking at everything from deposit issues in Norway, to translating our web pages into Korean.

If you're feeling left out and wondering what PokerStars could do for your nation, we're always glad to hear suggestions from our players. If you can think of something specific that would suit the poker players of your home place, or any specific nation, please write to me. I'll send PokerStars prizes to the best suggestions, or to any that make me chuckle.

Finally, I have to mention PokerStars pioneering contest to find the best poker nation in the world. PokerStar's World Cup of Poker is a free to enter worldwide competition between national teams of poker players. The WCP pits team vs. team and country vs. country, with players from all around the world competing with national pride, bragging rights, and $200,000 cash on the line.


Team Poland, Winners of the World Cup of Poker 2006

World Cup of Poker details are still being finalised, but the live stage of this contest is likely to be held in Barcelona in September. This competion offers something for every Pokerstars player, not least a chance to prove your nation is the best.

I'm rooting for the citizens of 'No Chat' to win the cup. I expect they'll get it quietly...

Do you remember your first time? I was shaking with nerves. Hot and cold with sweat and tension. I'd heard a lot about this, but fear filled me because I still didn't know what to expect.

"Where are you from?" Texan guy asked.

I didn't answer. I wanted to feel anonymous. This was a stranger, that was the point. I didn't wanted to know him. That thought was thrilling and at the same time frightening. I was trying to remember what I was supposed to do. A friend had told me not to rush this, but, one night after a couple of beers, I decided that was bad advice. I claimed, ' I'm ready.'

Would I regret it? I didn't feel ready, but I wasn't quitting. I can be stubborn sometimes.

A strange concentration seemed necessary at all times, even though most of the time I needed to do nothing at all. Doing nothing was comforting. I could just watch and wait, somebody else would to something... I didn't want to think and act. I knew this couldn't last...

Then it happened.

I was dealt Ace-King.



This was my first playable hand, in my first ever online poker game.

Ace-King. No more chaste folding... This was a need-to-do-something hand. A hand that could be the tournament climax for this on-line poker virgin.

There was a raise. This I called meekly. I called when my shaking fingers could persuade my mouse pointer to reach the right button. Then, quickly -the tension blessedly brief- the flop was dealt.

An eight. A ten. Another card... I don't remember it... It didn't matter. It was neither a friendly Ace, nor helpful King. My opponent checked.

Decision to me.

My first experience of online poker felt very serious. It was just some freeroll, but I was very aware that there were real people across that computer screen. It was very different from the poker I'd played before, with friends, a cosy game around our kitchen table. Now I played with strangers whose faces I couldn't see. My friends would always smile if I ever played a dumb hand. In my head these stern unseen strangers wore all scowls, were all poker experts, from exotic far-flung places, and they would punish any mistake with a cruel put down. If I lost a purse-full of cash to a friend at my kitchen home game I knew it would hurt less than the disapproval of these poker playing strangers.




I wasn't sure this was the right place for a London girl, sitting with a scrap of paper on her knee, some scrawled hand rankings provided by her boyfriend. Hand rankings sometimes weren't enough. I would often name each card out loud if I thought there was a straight, counting to see if there were five cards in a row. And often naming just four.

I don't do that these days, you'll be pleased to hear... If you could fast forward my poker history you'd see lots of Ace-King's dealt, and many freerolls played, a fair few real money tournaments, and a handful of proud wins. If I were to watch my poker life on fast forward, or even in slow motion replay, I wouldn't see how or when my poker nerves were lost, but somehow that happened. Online poker became comfortable, became fun. People across the table stopped feeling like strangers. They feel more like allies these days, sharing the bond of seeing Ace-Kings dealt, freerolls played, and proud wins... The enemy feels shared too - the scary cruelty of the cards.

So fast forward to today, and a London poker girl sits at her computer, nervous again, a scrap of paper on her knee, her own handwriting this time. She thinks poker, she thinks doesn't know what to expect, and on her knee those scribbled notes for her blog post don't seem so reassuring. That's me, today, writing the new PokerStars blog.

Only I'm not so very scared, because I know now that online poker players aren't scowling strangers, ever ready to criticise. I know they might help. Just like they did in that first online game, that time I was dealt Ace-King...

I'm sure there are long scholarly articles written on the play of Ace-King when it misses the flop. There might even be enough to fill a book. And Ace-King misses the flop 67% of the time, so there's plenty of sales potential for, 'Post-flop Overcard Play for Dummys...'

But I hadn't read any poker books, or clever strategy articles, then. I had Ace-King, I'd missed the flop, my opponent checked...

Decision on me. It felt like one big decision, it felt all on me...

A button on my screen looked inviting. It felt appropriately big, it felt 'all', it felt suitably decisive. It said, 'All-in'.

My mouse pointer moved smoothly this time, one quick sharp click and it was done.

Don't you love the all-in feeling? The pressure suddenly lifted, you feel free, there's nothing more you can do. You can laugh, cry, scream, it doesn't matter. You 're all-in, and it might be all over, or it might be all good, but it's no longer you who has to play a part. Someone else's turn...

My opponent's chips slid across the screen and into the centre of the table. He made the call.

Cards revealed.

For me - Ace-King. (You know that...) For him - Ace-Queen!

I looked at the poker hand rankings on that scrap of paper on my knee. It didn't seem to explain this. I was winning. I had Ace-King. I was winning with my over cards on the 8-J-x flop.

The remaining cards were dealt so quickly... Then the chips slid across the table. They headed towards that Ace-Queen...

I tried to make sense of the cards I saw on my screen. Talking cards out loud was a habit, it made me say, "Eight, nine, ten, jack, queen." That seemed to be five cards in a line. I checked again, "Eight, nine, ten, jack, queen." Then I looked at the hand rankings. That was a straight.



Texan guy typed chat, "Gg. Unlucky. Y'know there's another freeroll in 5, go grab yourself a seat."

I did go grab myself that freeroll seat, and that would be my second online poker game. I don't remember that so well. I do remember my hands didn't shake so much. I do remember I had less fear of my opponents were scary poker experts, well some of them played A-Q quite badly.... And I also knew some of them gave friendly advice in the chat box. I rate that good advice still. There's always another game...

But that game was special. That was my first time. Do you remember your first time?

This is my first post on this new PokerStars blog. I hope you'll help me shape it into something you want to read. If you have any advice, stories, news, questions, comments, suggestions, or recipes for pasta sauce, please get in touch. The pasta sauce recipes will be for personal use, the the rest I'll share with you on here.

I'll be especially glad to hear your experiences as a new player. Do you have any funny stories about your first experiences of online poker? I'm sure someone called with pocket sixes on a board of 9-9-8-8-T? Or was that just me..? I'll pop PokerStars goodies in the post to the writers of all the best emails. Send these to Jo@psblog.net. I look forward to hearing from you.

Hmm, looks like I got to the end of this without a bad beat. I hope you liked this post, if not, there's always another... I'll be writing again for you soon.