Free Poker
No deposit bonuses; poker freedom
Various methods of enabling players to initially play for free are constantly being devised. Poker rooms have moved to offer no deposit bonuses and freerolls, among other promotional options, to new players in a bid to woo more players into their poker sites and also stir a lot of interest in the game. A no deposit bonus is a real money offer given to new players for free once they register. The no deposit bonus does not require one to deposit any funds at all to their online account in order to unlock the money.
What’s the catch?
However, a certain number of raked hands may be required in order for one to be able to withdraw the funds after some time. This is in a bid to avoid players from joining poker sites and then leaving immediately. Some poker rooms also demand that a player must prove their poker playing skills before getting the whole bonus. As such, they offer the bonus in phases, a few dollars at a time until the whole amount has been deposited into the player’s account.
Freerolling for funds
Freerolls on the other hands are tournaments held by poker sites daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly or seasonally with no financial obligations to the players. They offer real money prizes to the top 50 or so finalists and are especially good for new players. Freeroll tournaments are absolutely financially risk-free, as are no deposit bonuses. The only disadvantage with freerolls is that the winners end up getting very low prizes. The top 5 are probably the ones who end up making the most which ranges from between $10-$30. The final 5-10 in the group of top 50 players could even end up winning cents. This means that a player desiring to make a bankroll from freerolls must dedicate him/herself to the freeroll tournament and have a lot of patience while playing in order to accumulate funds which could later be used to play higher limit games.
Play poker with PokerStars
Pokerstars.com has received a lot of praise from poker players all around the world. Its ratings and positive reception have gone beyond expectations. It has remarkable traffic and numerous facilities. The number of poker rooms available at any one sitting is more than most poker rooms around the world.
Pro competition
Pokerstars.com has the most number of sponsored professional poker players, host the most television commercials and has the highest number of worldwide poker tours. It boasted in excess of 20,000 real money players as of beginning of 2009. This could translate to over 50,000 player if the fake money players are put into consideration. The games in this poker site vary from Texas hold ‘em, to Omaha hi, stud and even not so common games like Badugi. They also offer a multi-table tournament which is non-stop with a Sit and Go option meaning that the players can go their own ways and come back to continue their game later on.
Room security
The security at pokerstars.com is always kept at an all time high with collusion strongly prohibited. Their security is privately undertaken by consulting firms such as Cigital and BMM international. Frequent updates are also ensured to enforce the security level. Soft games are frequent at pokerstars.com,. They are however rapidly losing their popularity with much higher stake games due to the good publicity that is there about this poker site. A low stake such as $1/2 may be full of hard grinders thus increasingly upping the stakes. Their higher tournaments with say $100 re-buys are full of pros. The advantageous side of it is that fake money games and marquee tournaments such as the Sunday $200 and Sunday Million are still a favourite for players looking to play for fun. The up side to their software is that apart from being way better than other software, it is occasionally upgraded and more and more games keep on being added with newer options. Players are also at liberty to change the theme of the software outlook to fit their desired look. An inbuilt filtering system also allows for players to find the exact game they are looking for without wasting much time. A facility which allows for the uploading of photos is also present, thus each player can upload an avatar of their choice every once in a while. A relay button allowing players to view their last move is also available.
Top traffic turnover
Due to the high number of players in the site, pokerstars.com does not necessarily offer high bonuses, but it does have amazing promotions. Such promotions however require one to play repeatedly in order to begin bearing fruits. A Supernova Elite status is granted to virtually full time players. Frequent Player points are also available to all players as are a wide range of VIP offers. The only mode of communicating with pokerstars.com staff is through email. They however offer very quick responses to any queries and offer 24/7 support staff for settling disputes that arise only from the tables between players.