You will have seen in the news this week that the volcanic ash spewing from the erupting volcano beneath the ice in Iceland is causing havoc to the air transport network in the UK and Europe. Thankfully for poker players there is always internet poker to play if they are unable to play at a live poker event and due to the ongoing disruption expected over the next six months as the eruptions are likely to continue for weeks online poker may see an unexpected boost as players cannot travel as easily as they normally can. Live pokers loss may be online pokers gain!
I play a lot of my online poker at bwin.com and although I am not able to go to Las Vegas for the WSOP this year the bwin.com WSOP qualification routes are as wide as ever and offers players of all levels the opportunity to win one of their $15,000 World Series of Poker packages which could lead to life changing amounts of prize money being won as the main event first prize is always around $8 million in recent years. Online qualifiers win daily until 20th June for a place in the online finals each Sunday. The winners of that event get a $15,000 WSOP package from bwin.
The package includes a $10,000 buy-in to the World Series of Poker Main Event and $2,000 in cash for flights and spending. $3,000 is given for accommodation but if the player is still in the tournament after eleven nights then bwin agree to extend their stay. In order to participate in the promotion you must be available between the dates 1st July to 12th July and have a valid passport for travelling. You cannot transfer the package to a third party if you win so make sure you are ready to go to Vegas because if you win you are on your way courteousy of bwin.com.
If Vegas is not for you and you want a fun poker experience then the Joker Sit ‘n’ Go might be of interest to you. The prize structure is very unique. Rather than 50% – 30% – 20% for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place the prize payout structure is 50% for 1st place, 30% for 5th place and 20% for 9th place. No other site does things like this and when you play in one of these Online Sit and go poker tournaments at bwin.com you will need to use very unique poker strategy in order to succeed at these tournaments. For a light hearted poker game with your friends, log into bwin.com and try out the Joker Sit and go poker tournaments.
If you lose in these joker tournaments you are given a ticket to the “I lost the Joker” $500 freeroll tournament which takes place weekly. This makes giving this uniquely structure SNG a try. The structure of these tournaments is ten players playing with a $1,500 starting stack and ten minute blinds. Every single losing player receives their freeroll tournament ticket with one player receiving one tournament ticket each week.
If you have not registered for a poker account yet at bwin.com then it is worthwhile you doing so. They have great satellite tournaments offering packages to many of the large poker events like the WSOP Main Event, Irish Open and many more. The software is dark and easy on the eye, with excellent customer support thanks to being a division of the sportsbook business that boasts over 20 million customer’s worldwide forcing bwin to have a great structure to their business to ensure customer service levels are maintained.
Even if the volcano continues to erupt, online poker is in safe hands and we can play from home until we can fly again!
By Malcolm Clarke
