Newsletter: Volume 3 - Issue 19

COMING SOON….SNG Leaderboard Promotion

Attention Sit and Go players, SunPoker is proud to be bringing back the SNG Leaderboard starting

June 1st 2011 and this time with a total prize pool of $105,000.00!!

The summers SNG Leaderboard will run in two cycles; June 1st- June 15th and June 16th- June 30th,

The total $105,000.00 prize pool will be spilt accordingly;

• $51,015 for two bi-weekly leaderboards.

• $2,000 for two bi-weekly freeroll

As previous leaderboards, you will accumulate points based on your participation in ANY of SunPoker’s

SNG tournaments, based on the total amount of points earned and your finishing position on the bi-weekly leaderboard you’ll be awarded with a cash prize according to their leader board points.

To maintain fairness of play and equality, the promotion will consists of a of 5 leader boards series, divided

by stake and game type, to determine the top players of each category.

Further details on the SNG Leaderboard promotion will be posted to www.sunpoker.com soon so be sure to stay tuned!

We warned you…It’s Hotter Here!!

WSOP WARRIOR CHALLENGE

With SunPoker’s Five A Side Poker Championships well on it’s way this week, May marks the eve of the WSOP and the time to let the poker Warrior in you emerge is here!

The WSOP Warrior Challenge at SunPoker has started! A battle where the top 20 victorious challengers will be on their way to Las Vegas for the 2011 World Series Of Poker!

The Warrior Challenge is an 8 event MTT Master league that starts off with a one time entry of $200 + $15 that will gain you access to all eight events. Once entered all you have to do is play the best you can, finish as high as you can, gain points for every tournament played, and you’ll win prizes based on your final position in the league.

You will be earning points for every league tournament played, and will be ranked based on the amount of accumulated points gained from each of the tournaments. The best 6 out of 8 tournaments will count towards the leader board points.

The tournaments will run twice a week during May 2011 - Tuesday and Friday at 20:00.

You will be able to enter the league either by directly registering to the finals or by qualifying through a series of satellites under the WSOP Warrior tab on your SunPoker account.

At the end of it all the top 10 Leaderboard winners, or should we say the top 10 victorious Warriors, will win a VIP exclusive WSOP package each!

Where as The first place Ultimate Warrior will win an Executive WSOP Package, valued at an amazing $20,000!!!

For full details on the Warrior challenge visit http://www.sunpoker.com/promotions/promo_WSOPWarrior.asp

The WSOP is what every player dreams of and we are giving you a chance to live the dream and battle your way to the top!

ESPN to double 2011 WSOP coverage

ESPN has announced that it will be doubling coverage of this year’s World Series of Poker and is closer to getting live peeks at hidden cards. The expanded coverage will include first time daily coverage of the Main Event.

Expect to see just a 30 minute televised delay as the ESPN airs WSOP events. The 2011 WSOP begins on May 31st at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

In previous years, ESPN has limited its Main Event coverage to just the final table, but this year will be markedly different with 32 hours of weekly airing. The biggest coverage change will be coverage during the last week of the Main Event from July 14 – 19.

The introduction of the ‘hole cams’ will only be used at two designated tables during the Main Event and will include the 30 minute live delay so no player has an unfair advantage over another.

ESPN also announced that, due to events on Black Friday, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker will not be involved in the WSOP advertising this year, but Jack Links Beef Jerky will remain the main sponsor of the series.

If you had my job for a day – and were responsible for the financial repercussions of your decisions for every day thereafter – what's the first thing you would do?

Spotting Online Tells

It’s obvious, online poker isn’t the same thing as live poker, you can’t see your opponent therefore, a lot of ‘tells’ can’t be spotted, however, there are two tells to look for that can
assist you tremendously with your online play;

1. Time patterns and tells:
This is a dangerous source of information that can work for you or against you, so be extremely careful if you’re looking for a time pattern. To look for an estimated time to get a player to raise be sure to take into consideration all the fact’s as to why he plays fast or slow…it isn’t always true if it’s long than he has a real hand, if it’s fast he is bluffing and this certainly isn’t always the case in online poker, what if the player is playing multiple tables or just took a drink when he was thinking a little longer.

See the danger in relying on time patterns? Unless you are absolutely sure you found a tell/pattern (if someone shows it over and over again) you can rely it, otherwise just neglect it.

2 Betting patterns and tells: This is a more reliable source for they represent facts: a move by a player can be seen and it can be recorded. With betting patterns you look for two things:

a. How much does a player bet/raise/re-raise with what holdings, and do they do this consequently or do they mix it up?

b. What kind of moves does a player make with a certain holding until the show down.

How to handle the most forthcoming betting patterns?

Raise, Bet, Check:   When you think of this pattern, imagine the hand ace-king missing the flop. For example, most people with two un-paired high cards, such as ace-king, will always bet the flop even if they hold nothing. This is one of the biggest signs of weakness you will witness at the poker table. When an opponent does this, one immediately puts him on ace-king and raise the turn with most hands, occasionally this read will be wrong, but this is a typical ace-king pattern that most mediocre to advanced players use.

All Check-Raises:   When an opponent check-raises you, probabilities are 90% of the time you’re beat. Most opponents just aren’t skilled enough to try a check-raise bluff. In fact, most players don’t even think about trying it. I always fold to check-raises unless I have the nuts.

Fast Check:  The best online poker tell. When a player instantly checks, he has probably clicked the "auto-check" tool featured in all online rooms. This means that before you have even bet or checked, he was planning on checking. Most of the time, you’ll be able to steal the pot with a reasonable bet. However, some players might try to use this tell against you so you should be careful with it.

Wait and Bet:   When a player waits and bets, he usually has a legit hand and is probably thinking of how much to bet which almost always results in the timer running slightly lower than normal. You’ll notice this if you pay close attention to the time a player takes to bet. If they wait a long time and check instead of bet, they are usually trying to make you think they have a hand. If that’s the case, you can probably take the pot right there.

Fast Bet: When someone quickly bets, they’re almost always trying to scare you, a fast bet shows strength and is a very intimidating tactic to employ.

Generally follow the rule of thumb:
Quick Check = Weakness
Waits Then Bets = Strength
Quick Bet = Weakness (trying to show you strength)
Instant Call = Strength