April 2007 Archives

Who is most likely to play at PokerStars tables?

A) Santa Claus
B) Sharon Stone
C) Dick Dastardly

Answer in a moment.

I remember my Mum's reaction when I told her I'd taken a job with PokerStars. She didn't actually scream, but I think that was only because shock had rendered her speechless. I told her at a Methodist church fair, and she hadn't any idea her daughter gambled on more than £1 Tombola tickets. It's not just my Mum who fears online poker industry is a shady underground world. A player the other day wrote in to say, 'You can hide away in the jungles of Costa Rica but your business is EVIL. Your conscience CAN NOT be clear! Don't think I'm just bitter because you made my aces lose. AGAIN!!!!!'

I think he was just bitter because his Aces lost. And if they'd won he'd have sent flowers to the PokerStars office.

I find it hard to fit these preconceptions with all I know about PokerStars. To me PokerStars feels like the kind of site anyone's Grandma would like to play at. She can knit woollies for the grandchildren as she learns Hold'em at the fun money tables. She can even use a picture of Tiddles her cat as her button image.

PokerStars is low key about it all, but they are a company with a conscience, much money has been raised in the past for Katrina and Tsunami relief, and on Saturday there was a Hokie Spirit Fund Raiser for the Virginia Tech Memorial fund. 281 big-hearted PokerStars players donated money through this event, and PokerStars matched their donation.

PokerStars is supporting Europe's biggest AIDS fundraiser, the Life Ball as one of the event's chief sponsors. From now until May 5th there'll be a Daily "AIDS charity qualifier - Life Ball I" at 2pm EST (8pm CET.) PokerStars is supporting AIDS research by donating $100,000 and $1 for every charity freeroll entry it gets in the run-up to the event.

What's more, if you play in one of the freerolls, you have a chance to attend the gala event in Vienna, Austria. Players who place 1-27 in each freeroll will play in an online final on May 6th or May 20th, where they will have the chance to win an exclusive Life Ball package. For full details, visit the PokerStars Life Ball freerolls page. These special freerolls are located under the "Tourney/Freerolls" tab in the PokerStars lobby.

I haven't yet persuaded my Mum to play Hold'em at PokerStars, but she has come round to realising that PokerStars is a caring company. She was very impressed that the London office has a fruit bowl so staff can snack on healthy stuff as we work..!

I like to think that PokerStars players are a good bunch too. Dick Dastardly would play at some other site for sure... So did you guess who plays at PokerStars tables? He visits the site on Christmas Eve, to give away money to all the good people he can.



I hope some of you good folks will show your support for the Life Ball Freerolls and help this very worthwhile cause. For full information on the 2007 Life Ball, please visit the PokerStars Life Ball page.

My last post was all about a touching email request from a player, this post is about some of the stranger requests that PokerStars receives. PokerStars Support do their very best to help, but some players do challenge their excellent, aim-to-please, support skills.

All names used in this post have been changed to protect the stupid.

Chat

Table chat is usually used in a friendly way, to make the games enjoyable, but if a player abuses the feature they may have chat privileges revoked. Players sometimes get creative when they ask for chat to be returned.

'The original owner of the account has been killed in a car wreck on Feburary 10. I have been given his account name and have been using it ever since. Please re-instate his chatting privilages.'

'I have since then taken anger management and gotten my license to operate a motor vehicle back. I am really trying to get my life back on the right track so I would really appreciate my chat back.'

'i wasent offending anyone on the table as i was merly cussing under my breathe.'

And some players expect rather a lot from the chat box...

'...my name was not showing up on the tournament board. I asked the dealer why not. No response.'

Will a straight beat a flush?

Some players are new to poker and PokerStars Support are happy to advise anyone who's learning the game. Some players need more help than others.

'I won a ticket to the weekly tournament on Sunday but if I turn off computer do I lose my registration?'

'two days ago i got an error. it was red and grey and popped up by itself. and this was in the middle of the screen.'

'I played the 2,500 tournament it said the first 81 were the "places paid". I was in the top 81 and then it said 4781 would be credited to my account. Now it seems like it is not for real money. If it is just for chips, then why does it say "places paid". When you say "paid", it means you will pay someone and I played this long tournament wasting my time thinking I would win money.'

'Do you see a problem with this?:
Dealer: ABDADS has two pair, Aces and Kings
Dealer: niteflyer452 has three of a kind, Aces
The hand is not possible. Since when is there five aces in a deck???'

Player Pictures

PokerStars allows players to personalise their table button with a picture. Most players think it's a neat feature, but pictures can sometimes cause problems.

'I made a very bad choice putting a real picture of myself on here, it is
causing marital problems...'

'sorry but i need to change my picture again. my mom doesnt like the idea
that her picture is on pokerstars. guess i should of asked her first...'

'...concerning my picture, my boyfriend uploaded a picture for me from a movie,
I didnt realize that it was a picture of a dead cat.'

'A few weeks ago, I had a serious accident and it is difficult for me to all the time to see the face which was mine before this drama.'

'i have seen twice today a player's image be removed & replaced with a capital "R" in a blackball. why is that? what does one have to do to get blackballed in this way?'

What's in a name?

PokerStars allows players to have just one account each, and players can only change their name if there is a very good reason. Here's some requests PokerStars has recieved to do with names:

'Hi...Is there any way I can register another account on my computer? I have split personalities and would like to play on specific accounts on the way I feel that day.'

'i really messed up when i was trying to setup my nickname... can you'll change it from Omar26 to Omar29 please?'

'Please may I be allowed a user id change? This isn't a name its a load of numbers. Thanks from 659753207057'

'My player name is ......JayneGuitar....without the dots.'

'I really don't want to use this as my account name, since it's the name of my dead dog and I would not enjoy playing on your site at all with that very sad memory.'

'I was wondering if there is anyway to have my player name changed? A few years ago I signed up with the name 77forskinner. This was before my son could read. The other day he came in and started watching me, and asked what my name meant, boy was I embarassed. Can you help a guy out!!!'

'Hello pokerstars support. You asked me to provide my real name. My real full name Anton Steblin.
Best regards,

Dexter'

Anything to please..?

Sometimes players decide PokerStars poker is not for them, and despite Support's best efforts request their account to be closed, sometimes in amusing style...

'Your site is pathetic. If I want to lose money and get verbally abused, I'll
visit my family.'

'You simply make it impossible for me to win. Is it because you know Im a good player? Thats not fair.'

'Will you please close my account? I just inherited a couple of million dollars and don't see the point anymore. It was fun though. Thanks.'

Sometimes players ask for help in unexpected ways...

'I enjoy playing 4 to 8 simultaneous sit n go on PokerStars... This morning my Electrical Power was CUT and my PC just shut down. No Power, no PC. No Power, no internet. Dude ! I was not playing! After 10 minutes of investigation, I found that my "Cuisiniere" (in French) has an electrical leak... I shut down my cuisiniere and start to find a new one.

What do you think of this one? Expensive ? I dont know the brand but it seems OK, any advise would be welcome. I hope to play again on stars as soon as possible.'


Sometimes player requests are impossible...

'I would love to know if it's possible to receive hand histories for every hand I played on this site from the past or even every hand I'm going to play in the future.'

'The book 'One of a Kind' about Stu Ungar, who autographed it? The author? I'd like it autographed by Stu.'

'I'd like to set up a name for my 9 yr old daughter the user name will be JessicaWessica is that possible?'

Spellling misstakes

Did you know that many of PokerStars chat complaints involve chickens?

'Subject: Fowl language'

But hens aren't the only animal to cause trouble at our tables.

'Subject: foal language'

'Subject: player cursing in cat'

But don't worry. It is possible to summon assistance at the table.

'I called the modulator...'

If we need to look at a chat log we might need information.

'You asked me for the scream name.'

PokerStars are proud of our random number generator, and the integretity of our site's deal, so we're always happy to discuss this with our players... Or alternatively we could tell you about our digging skills?

'I have a question about your random shoveling...'

We offer regular promotions, and get many questions about these...

'Do you have prefer a friend bonus?'

'I see your freerolls, I put my country as Nederland but thats wrong, can you change to my country? I want to play the Canadese freerolls.'

Whatever your question or concern Support aims to please, but there are limits...

'Please service me soon, as i really enjoy playing on your site.'

If you need customer support service, by email... of just the regular kind, do please write to support@pokerstars.net. We look forward to recieving your emails. Especially if you can't spell.

PokerStars prides itself on our customer support, so whenever players write to us we'll always try to help. The usual request is for a new picture at the table, or perhaps a few million play chips... We do aim to please, but I'm afraid we can't grant play money millionaire status, however nicely you ask us by email.

PokerStars Support recently received an email that wasn't asking for play chips, or for a picture change... The writer started out with, "I have a question, I will tell you right now it has nothing to do with poker, but please hear me out."

The email was from Kelly Gould, 'Calypso-Star' at our tables. Kelly's a Mum of three from Nova Scotia, Canada. She said, "I know how generous poker players can be, so I was wondering if PokerStars could help a little boy with a wish. I'm sure you have heard of the Child's Wish Foundation, they grant wishes for terminally ill children who have wishes and dreams they want fulfilled. Now I read this story about this little boy who wants his wish granted. He could have went to Disneyland, or visited his favorite movie star, but instead he wants to feel special on his birthday. He wants to get into the Guinness book of World Records for getting the most birthday cards ever."

Kelly explained that her local school was asking students to send cards to this brave cancer patient, and encouraging the community to get involved. When she'd mentioned this story to PokerStars players at a play money table she'd been overwhelmed by their response. "I told just a few people on a play money table about this little boy and they all quickly agreed to send cards, so I figured if I can get a few poker players to do this on a table, imagine if I could get to all the poker players."

Shane Bernier is seven years old, from Lancaster, Ontario. He's being treated for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and making promising progress in his fight against Cancer. He turns eight on May 30th, and whether he breaks a record or not, hopes to celebrate the day with a big pile of birthday cards.

Kelly said, "I have three very healthy children and it breaks my heart to hear of a child's suffering. It is not fair for someone so young to have such a huge illness, I just wanted to use all my power to help."

Kelly's email was a touching change from the usual emails that reach Support, "I was wondering if PokerStars could put something up to advertise this? I'm sure he would get tonnes of cards from generous poker players."

PokerStars is happy to help by way of this blog post. So if you want to help Shane, visit his website and you can send your birthday cards to:

Shane Bernier
P.O. Box 484
Lancaster, ON
Canada
K0C 1N0

I can think of a few good reasons to play in PokerStars PPA Freerolls over the next couple of days. There's the $5,000 prizepool of course, with the chance to win $1,000. Then there's the bragging rights if you win a seat in Sunday's 1-table match with world champion Greg Raymer. But I still think the best reason to register for these freerolls is to support the important work of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). The PPA supports the freedom of all US citizens to play poker.

Team PokerStar's Greg Raymer had this to say about the organisation, "The PPA is dedicated to preserving the game of poker (online and live), its integrity, as well as the rights of American poker players. I myself am a member, along with thousands of other poker professionals and enthusiasts. In fact, I think it is so important, that I also volunteer as a Director on the Board. Registration is free and instant when you play in one of the $5,000 PPA freerolls."

I asked Greg what he thought of PokerStars.net freerolls, and he said, "I still love playing poker, and I play to win whether it's a tournament with millions of dollars at stake, or a play money game. Plus, who doesn't love a freeroll? A chance to win something for nothing."


Greg 'Fossilman' Raymer
He explained his views on 'fun money' games, "Well, you need to learn the basics before you can hope to move to the real moneygames and become a winner. And why not learn the basics for free, in play money games and freerolls?"

Greg told me about the challenges he faced when he first played. "I started out 15 years ago. At that time, the smallest games I could find,other than super cheap home games, was 3-6 limit poker, mostly Hold'em and Omaha hi-lo. Even though 3-6 sounds cheap, you can easily win, or lose, a couple of hundred dollars in an evening. And that's a lot of money for most of us. I wish PokerStars had been around back then, so I could have learned on play money tables, then moved up to penny games, nickel games, etc. I suggest to everybody that they start small, and only move up when they can beat the game they are in, and win the necessary money in the smaller game."

I speculated that this PPA freeroll would be very different from Greg's usual games, but he made it clear poker was his passion, whatever the stakes. He said, "I still love to play poker. I do play for high enough stakes that it is hard to have fun when I suffer a losing session. But, overall, I still love what I do. And the most fun is either when I win a big tournament, or when I am playing for very small stakes with a group of good friends, and we just enjoy one another's company."

Perhaps you too can enjoy Greg's company and play cards with the Fossilman this Sunday afternoon? Greg Raymer's love of the game is very clear and his message to US PokerStars players heartfelt, "Take part in the freerolls and support the PPA - poker is worth it!"

PPA freerolls run 3 times a day on Wednesday 11th, Thursday 12th and Friday 13th at 20:05, 21:55, 23:05 ET. To read more details about the PPA and these tournaments click here.

PPA supporters may also be interested in a live webcast by PPA chairman, former U.S. Senator, Alfonse D'Amato. He will discuss the PPA's work on April 12th at 3pm EST, details here.

The PPA membership currently stands at 320,000 members - they're aiming for a cool 1 million. Please show your support and help them to reach this target. Who knows, playing Greg Raymer and winning $1,000 might even be a happy bonus.

When I'm not writing PokerStars.net blog, my usual role is in the Support Team, helping players with all sorts of problems - from passwords to pictures, via regular explanations of the rules of Omaha. When players write in they don't know my name, so usually they'll write, 'Dear Support,' but a few write, 'Hello Lee.'

Lee Jones has been the public face of PokerStars for nearly four years now. Our Poker Room Manager has championed our site on poker forums, hosted tournament final tables with famous wit, and regularly made tough poker-savvy decisions behind the scenes.

Lee has recently decided to move on from PokerStars, taking up a new role at the European Poker Tour. PokerStars players and staff will surely miss Lee's daily input at Pokerstars, although he will still retain a role as a consultant, and the EPT is in-part a PokerStars venture.

I know I'll personally miss Lee's good natured readiness to help with any simple question, and his gentlemanly grace in giving thanks for small favours, or praise whenever he felt it due. Lee felt like PokerStars friendly household head, a firm but fair boss to all the PokerStars family.

Many have heard of Lee Jones due to his book, 'Winning Low Limit Hold'em', many found this an ideal introduction to the game. Many more will meet Lee and learn more important poker lessons, picking up on his enthusiasm for poker people, for poker play, for leading a good poker life.

Lee had this to say about his decision, writing on a few of his favourite poker forums: "It is with great delight and profound regret that I announce that, I will no longer be the poker room manager at PokerStars. It's a wonderful opportunity for me to expand my horizons and stretch some new muscles. I will be at all the EPT events, doing final table announcing, and commentary on the TV shows and webcasts. I love meeting and hanging out with the players so this will be great fun for me. And it will give me time to do some other projects, including actually playing a little poker!

Of course, the regret comes from leaving a job that I've had, and loved, for three and a half years. I've gotten to watch PokerStars go from a promising enterprise in third place on the online poker ladder to the clear market leader. And working hard daily to stay there. The people at PokerStars are an extraordinary bunch and I've been honored to be part of that team."

I feel honoured to have worked for Lee. I wish him very well in his new role. I also wish him luck now that he has time to play a little poker!

Gavin "wsop2005" Griffin, the pink-haired PokerStars player, from Orange County in California, became the European Poker Tour Grand Final winner on Monday night. He beat 704 players, in the richest poker tournament ever held outside the US, winning €1.8 million ($2.4 million.)

Gavin became a tournament favourite when he revealed that his pink-dyed hair marked his involvement in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer charity. He and his girlfriend Kristen, 21, who suffered breast cancer a few years ago, walked the 39-mile, two-day Los Angeles marathon last September.

During the seven-hour final table PokerStars helped players donate money to the Breast Cancer charity via the site. PokerStars matched player's gifts and now the final donation looks to approach $30,000.

Gavin is no stranger to tournament success, in 2004 he became the youngest player ever to win a World Series of Poker bracelet, aged just 22. He turned pro four years ago and has already made four final tables this year, including 3rd place for $86,685 in the San Diego WSOP Circuit Event in February.


Gavin Griffin, winner of the EPT Grand Final
He's not the only PokerStars player to succeed at this Monte Carlo Grand Final, three more reached the final table - allowing PokerStars to claim an easy-to-calculate 50% of the eight-man final table as PokerStars own. Our statisticians probably needed PokerStars-branded calculators to make the proud claim that €3.6 million, a remarkable $4.9 million, was won by players who might log in and play PokerStars Sit and Go's now and then.

Do you remember I mentioned PokerStar's special European freerolls in a previous post? Well, Jacob Larsson won an EPT seat playing as 'Toke2k' in our Swedish freeroll, he finished 27th at the EPT Grand Final and won €26,550. Kristof De Smedt, or 'deLuxy' to his PokerStars friends, won his Monte Carlo trip in the Belgian freeroll, and he finished 17th for €33,180. Both must be very pleased with these 'something for nothing' results!

Here's the Final Table payouts, with PokerStars players listed in bold type.

1 Gavin Griffin (USA) €1,825,010
2 Marc Karam (Canada) €1,061,820
3 Soren Kongsgaard (Denmark) €610,550
4 Kristian Kjondal (Norway) €471,180
5 Josh Prager (USA) €391,550
6 Steve Jelinek (UK) €305,270
7 Andy Black (Ireland) €238,910
8 Ram Vaswani (UK) €159,270

EPT director John Duthie claimed, "This season has seen the EPT turn into something truly incredible - sell-out events across Europe with record numbers of players, and record prize pools. The Grand Final attracted the toughest field ever seen for a poker tournament in Europe, including stars like Marcel Luske, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Barry Greenstein, Vicky Coren and Phil Hellmuth. Two of Europe's finest players - Ram Vaswani and Andy Black - both made the final table." And I'm sure we all understand his feelings, when he said, "I am gutted that I couldn't play myself."

Well, EPT season 4 kicks off in late August in Barcelona. PokerStars blogs will keep you posted on all the EPT news. Who knows, maybe next year you can find your way to Monte Carlo and be the PokerStars player we're talking about?

This feels like I've set up my stripy big top, found some tigers who'll jump through burning hoops, gathered a few clowns with custard pies, and then announced to the World, "Roll Up, Roll Up, the Greatest Show on Earth is... Someplace else actually."


No EPT coverage, only tigers...
Over 700 players entered PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final, held at the exclusive Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort. This event becoming the richest poker tournament ever held outside the USA. We're now into the final day with eight players remaining to play for the top prize of €1,800,000 (over $2.4 milllion).

Final Table players and chipcounts at the start of play today:

Seat 1: Ram Vaswani (UK) 432,000
Seat 2: Steve Jelinek (UK) 758,000
Seat 3: Marc Karam (Canada) 1,742,000
Seat 4: Andy Black (Ireland) 683,000
Seat 5: Soren Kongsgaard (Denmark) 1,612,000
Seat 5: Josh Prager (USA) 1,593,000
Seat 7: Gavin Griffin (USA) 2,597,000
Seat 8: Kristian Kjondal (Norway) 1,203,000

More than 250 PokerStars players started in this event, now 3 remain (in bold above) they're Josh Prager, Gavin Griffin and Steve Jelinek. Good luck!

Play begins at 4pm local time (10am ET) and PokerStars is also offering a live broadcast of the Grand Final by web cast. Lee Jones and John Duthie are amongst the expert commentators, with Team PokerStars World Champions Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker likely to stop by to share thoughts on the game. It promises to be quite a show.

So, "Roll Up, Roll Up, the biggest poker tournament outside the US, with a €6,636,400 prize pool, and exciting poker action is... Someplace else."


Monte Carlo. It might be glamorous, but we've got the tigers.