Newsletter: Volume 3 - Issue 5

$150,000 MTT Leader Board

February 1st marked the start of SunPoker’s new $150,000 MTT Race!

The new race brings additional value to Multi Table Tournament players, with an exclusive Leader Board for each month, with every leader board guaranteeing the top players their share of a $12,500 prize pool.

In addition to the $12,500, $100,000 has been added for the top 20 players in an all-inclusive leader board where each will receive a full WSOP Executive Experiencepackage valued at $5,000 each. This is your opportunity to visit Las Vegas and play in the world largest poker tournament in real VIP style.

The $150,000 MTT Race will run for 4 full calendar months; February 1st until May 31st at 23:59!

If this is all new to you, don’t worry you can join in at any time…to participate all you have to do is play in ANY of the MTT scheduled tournaments (excluding satellites and private tournaments), in the tournaments listed in the SunPoker software under the name “MTT leader board

Irish Open 2011

Every weekend, SunPoker hosts satellites to different Land based tournaments around the world and we’ve noticed for 2011 the most sought after VIP package has been to the Irish Open!

This Sunday, February 6th at 20:00 GMT players get yet another opportunity to secure one of these popular VIP Packages. With a buy in of €200 + €20 the winner will receive a full €4,600 package to the 2011 Irish Open in Dublin that includes;

• €3,200 + €300 Buy In to the Main Event.
• €395 for 5 nights’ accommodation and breakfast at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, April 21st – April 26th, 2011.
• €50 for handling fees.
• €655 for flights and spending.

Daily and Weekly Satellites have already started for as low as €1.10 + €0.10!

This is the time to start planning your Easter Break in a city where pubs, night clubs and a verity of entertainment is right around every block!

$1,000.00 New Depositors Tournament

No matter when you registered with SunPoker, if January was your first month making a real money deposit into your account, then you’re eligible to take part in this Sunday’s $1,000 New Depositors Tournament

Your exclusive tournament is set to start at 18:00 Sever Time on Sunday February 6th with a buy in of only $1 or 1000 SunPoints where the top 10 finishers will share the $1000 Prize pool.

Just another way, SunPoker welcomes you to our family!

This tournament is available only to new players that have deposited and played for the first time between January 1st and January 31st with a further extended invite to first time depositors of October, November and December due to the inconvenienced kick off time in the past. 

Bellagio “Helmet Bandit” Caught

Back in December, we reported the news of a $1.5 Million Chip robbery at Bellagio, Las Vegas by the “helmeted bandit” an act that seemed almost Ocean Eleven like.

However, this story line came to an abrupt end on February 3rd as Las Vegas police now have in custody Anthony Carleo, 29, who is charged with robbery, use of a deadly weapon, burglary with use of a deadly weapon and trafficking in a controlled substance. There’s another twist to this story though, according to The Las Vegas Review-Journal the man arrested is the son of Las Vegas Municipal Judge George Assad.

According to the arrest report, Carleo’s downfall came after he tried to broker sales of the highest value chips of $25,000 through a well-known web forum for poker players.

Using the handle “Oceanspray 25″ — a reference to the beverage company because $25,000 chips are known to gamblers as “cranberries” for their color — Carleo traded emails and phone calls with another user who eventually led him to police, the arrest report said.

It said Carleo sold five $25,000 chips to an undercover officer, and told him he had robbed the Bellagio.

Add to this that Carleo was in fact a guest at the hotel in December, and you start to think that this guy was quite the knucklehead. For Assad though this won’t look good – seeing as he’s also running for re-election in April.

Assad said that as a working judge, he couldn’t comment about “any pending legal matter as it relates to anyone, including my son.”

“I can say that as a prosecutor and a judge, I have always felt people who break the law need to be held accountable,”

Las Vegas police are running further investigation into the robbery but to date have recovered $900,000 in chips of different types — the ones stolen ranged from $100 to $25,000 — and can account for $1.2 million

Carleo bail was set at $15,000 on felony armed robbery and burglary charges.

Whether Online or Land Based…justice is always brought to the tables.

What’s your Best Game?

If they want to maximize their winnings, advanced players should figure out which poker game they play best and why. Since winning at poker means having a higher level of skill in certain areas, a true winner should know why he is winning in order to maximize his advantage over his opponents. Different games and different betting structures require different skills.

The only way for you to know which game is your best game is to keep track of yourself and recall at which limit and type you win most on!
Of course, there are certain ingredients that are necessary for success at certain poker games. Poker players need to have an advantage with the technical and personal aspects of poker. The technical aspects are poker math, such as mastering pot odds and playing tight. The personal aspects are skills such as bluffing and varying your style of play. Here are the qualities that I believe certain games reward:

Longhand Limit Hold'em

Limit hold'em rewards players in patience and an understanding of hand value. Since many hands go to a showdown, reading one's opponent only helps so much because it is harder to bluff and pot odds will often make a river fold highly risky.

Shorthand Limit Hold'em

Shorthand requires a mix of people and technical skills. People skills are important for analyzing a shorthanded game. Since there can be more bluffing at a shorthanded game, you will need to know when to increase or decrease your aggression. In general, more fancy moves can be made in a shorthand limit game than a longhand game, making people skills all the more valuable. Nevertheless, it is still limit hold'em, so technical skills are still very much important.

No-Limit Hold'em

No-limit hold'em also requires both technical proficiency and people skills. Technical skills will help you understand how much you should bet and how much you can afford to call. People skills will help you in a hand (by putting an opponent on his cards) and determine your general strategy.

No-limit hold'em fundamentally comes down to how people utilize aggressive betting. Steal a lot of pots if people are meek, but fold if stern resistance comes to your bluffing. If people are being very loose, be patient and trap them. You should often be able to wipe them out in one hand.

Pot-Limit Omaha

Pot-limit Omaha is gaining in popularity among players, especially no-limit hold'em players. The skills required to excel at pot-limit Omaha are similar to those of no-limit Hold'em. However, the variance at pot-limit Omaha is so high that players need to have more "gamble" in them than typical no-limit hold'em players. Being able to tolerate huge swings and avoid tilt is more important in pot-limit Omaha than any other poker game.

So...Which One is for you?

If you are very good at remaining patient, playing quality hands, and playing pot odds, stick to limit hold'em. If you excel at poker because you know how to deal with opponents, you want to be in a shorthand, pot-limit or no-limit game.