Newsletter: Volume 3 - Issue 8

MTT TOURNAMENT RACE CONTINUES

SunPoker’s MTT Tournament Race continues to draw a large attraction and with an overall prize pool valued at $150,000 including 20 VIP packages to the 2011 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, this race has rightfully owned its popularity!

If you are a multi table tournament player, this is your time to join and cash in part of the $150K prize pool!

Participating in this race is particularly effortless, 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.

With our MTT Tournament a variety of games are offered daily, but as with any race there are always a few games favored over others; to help you out, we’ve put together a short list of the most popular weekend games

Keeping track of your points is just easy also, the point formula and a full break down of the cash winning along with a daily updated leader board for the current MTT Race is located directly on SunPoker’s website;
http://www.sunpoker.com/promotions/promo_50kMTTLB.asp

Irish Open 2011

SunPoker congratulates “untruth” in being our most recent player to secure a VIP package to the 2011 Irish Open!

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 27th at 20:00 GMT SunPoker is granting players yet another opportunity to secure one of these popular VIP Packages. With a buy in of €200 + €20; just like player “untruth” 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 are ongoing for as low as €1.10 + €0.10!

We look forward to seeing you in Dublin, a city where pubs, night clubs and a verity of entertainment is right around every block!

Chilean Alex Manzano wins LAPT Brazil

The Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) has come a long in its short history. What began as a three tournament series played in the previously untapped markets of Central and South America, has blossomed into six stops for Season 4, with buy-ins that have doubled from the original $2,500. There was no better indication of the LAPT’s growth than at the recently concluded LAPT Brazil Championship where the tour broke the 400 player ceiling for the first time –not only did they break the ceiling, they shattered it, with 536 registering for the tournament!

Despite a final table loaded with Brazilians it was Chilean Alex Manzano who would come out on top of the largest field in LAPT history –as well as the largest overall prize-pool in the history of the tour, and Manzano was awarded the second largest sum in the tour’s history.

Here is a look at how the final 8 players fared at the LAPT Brazil Championship:

· Alex Manzano — $615,840
· Joao Bauer — $352,760
· Marcelo Fonseca — $224,800
· Marcio Motta — $165,000
· Leandro Csome — $117,190
· Santiago Nadal — $93,270
· Henrique Bernardes — $69,350
· Bruno Politano — $45,440

The next stop on Season 4 of the LAPT will be on Manzano’s home turf of Chile, as the tour heads to Vina Del Mar, Chile for the LAPT Chile National Poker Championship beginning March 17th, 2011.

Exciting things are happening at SunPoker in 2011. With our many Land Based packages to win every week and some exciting promotions coming up, SunPoker is the place to play! Also, be on the lookout for some exciting changes in the next couple months...

No one really wants to Lose

Of course, no one plans on losing, what’s the point in playing the game if you don’t plan on cashing in? Although losing is never our intention, sometimes silly mistakes are done that result in failure to cash out; so let us explore these unintentional habits that sometimes leave us walking away empty.

Poor hand selection -  If you are playing particularly every hand dealt you are falling into a rat trap and will eventually tilt, do not try and hold on to a hand that practically stands no change to a draw or a pot. Calculate the odds, the pot odds and the implied hand odds, also pay attention to the persons you are playing with and your position along with the game limits.
Remember “if you can’t spot the fish at the table, you’re the fish” ~ Rounders

Gutshots - Drawing a gutshot means you are hoping for one card to make your hand. Holding out for that one card will without a doubt cost you money. Think about what your minimum bet is and how many times you will be called or even raised and all this just to see what the next card maybe in anticipation of you possibly making a hand.
Regardless of how good you dealt hand was you have to know when to fold it…following your gut isn’t always the best way to play poker.

Backdoor Flushes – This is even worse than gutshots. A backdoor flush means that you need the perfect two cards to complete your hand and they have to be of the same suit. If you really want to draw to such a hand then you must see if there are extra outs because if not, chances of you winning are very low. So if you thought holding out for one card was bad trying holding out for two and see what really happens to your bankroll.

Small pairs – A pair is a pair or is it? Some players play a pair of 3’s as it were a Pair of Aces, just refusing to let go a hand even on the river, just because “it’s a pair”!
Sure these hands are great but if not utilized to the max pre-flop the closer you get to the river the lower your odds of winning this hand become.  Our advice with a small pair, start your betting as if it were a pair of aces, but if anything higher starts to come out remember it isn’t as strong as your imagination makes it out to be…get rid of it!