By Poker4us Editor, on 18-01-2008 03:40

Favoured : 10

Published in : Poker Bonuses, Poker Bonuses

Pokerstars

I’m a regular full stack Texas Holdem NL player (NL 100, NL 200, NL 400) but I try occasionally also Omaha PL games, SNGs and MTT tournaments.

I play about 60 – 80 hours per week online poker and I’m also active in Live tournaments and cash games in local Casinos.

I’ve worked 15 years as a software consultant in Europe, but currently my income depends mainly on results playing poker
and affiliate payments from my websites.
So I would say, you can call me something like parttime poker professional. My age is 40+ .

Pokerstars was one of first online poker rooms. At this time they were the second biggest room, now they are the market leader. At peak times you will see there more than 100.000 players online at the same time. As I know that I need to have weak players ( some call them fish) at the table, the probability to find some at your table is higher at Pokerstars than on other sites. Of course also the number of strong players (sharks) is high there. What I need to do there is to find tables with weaker players to get their money.

Special note: Pokerstars allows US players. This is important for me, as these players like poker
and besides numerous very good players you find also a lot of weak US players.

Rake

My biggest enemy playing online poker is me and the rake. Rake is the comission the casino takes from every pot. When you have a NL table with 10 players and each a $200 stack the rake will have wiped out almost all their stacks after 24 hours. Sounds unbelievable, but is true. The rake at Pokerstars is about average and details you can find here:

Pokerstars Rake Details

Reminder:

Rakeback /VIP Programs / Bonus Programs

are important for players who play much online poker.

Possible forms of rakeback are:

Deposit Bonuses
Reload Bonuses
VIP program where you can exchange points for cash
Free tournament entries
Cash Rakeback via Rakeback sites
Cash Rakeback directly from the site

At Pokerstars direct rakeback is not available, also not rakeback from rakeback sites.

This is especially forbidden. You won't find legal offers for this.

The deposit bonus is $50 and you need 500 points to clear it.
500 points at NL 100 for example by playing four tables at the same time need about 4 – 5 hours.
So you get paid about $10 during the first 5 hours of playing.

Pokerstars also offers two or three times a year reload bonuses.
The conditions then are for example 20% bonus up to $120 and 20 points to clear for one bonus dollar.

I normally do these bonuses as they are free extra money.

The main form of rakeback at Pokerstars is the VIP points program.

You can see details here: PokerStars VIP System

PlatinumStar is reached when you make 10.000 monthly. You will need about 100 hours at NL 100 to make the points for this. The advantages are a higher multiplier for the points and higher points for bonuses offers.

When you make 100.000 within one year, you will get Supernova Level. This is my target level. It is valid for the whole calendar year. So you should make the 100.000 points within the first 3 or 4 months when possible. This means of course to play like crazy for some time.

About the points:

You get points when you are dealt cards and the rake is above $.40

You don’t need to contribute to the pot, so you can play tight as we recommend in our strategy articles.

How much is a point worth ?

Good value you get with these offers:

$1500 VIP Reward Bonus:

You need to be on Supernova Level
You exchange 100.000 points for the $1500 Bonus
You need to make 10.500 more points after requesting the bonus to get the cash
One point is then worth 1.5 US cents

World Series of Poker Main Event Package

You need to be on Supernova Level
You exchange 725.000 points for the WSOP Package worth $12.500
One point is then worth 1.7 US cents

Pokerstars Sunday $215 NL Tournament Ticket

You need to be on Silver Star Level
You exchange 13.500 points for the $215 ticket
One point is worth then 1.6 US cents

Pokerstars Sunday $530 NL Tournament Ticket

You need to be on Goldstar Level
You exchange 33.000 points for the $530 ticket
One point is worth then 1.6 US cents

Personally my strategy is to get the SuperNova level until April each year.

This qualifies for the $1.500 bonus.

After that it is easy due to the higher multiplier to get free tickets for the big Sunday tournaments.

Deposits and withdrawals

I prefer Moneybookers or Neteller deposits generally and also on Pokerstars. A deposit using these online wallets is done within minutes.

For withdrawals I’m using Bank Wire, Moneybookers or Neteller at Pokerstars. Amounts lower than your last deposit(s) are processed within few hours. When I win and cashout more than I’ve deposited before a cashout is normally processed with 48 hours, because they control first for fraud. Bank wires arrive at my bank normally within 2 – 5 business days. So far I’ve never had problems cashing out at Pokerstars.

Game Selection

Pokerstars is famous for its big tournaments.

Sunday night you should consider always to play in the Sunday Million there. Entry for this tournament is between $215 and $530. But as explained above, you can get these tickets almost for free after you’ve qualified for the Supernova Level with their VIP System.

Personally I’m a cash game player. Multitabling 4 – 8 tables at NL 100 or NL 200 is where my money comes from. Sounds like low limit?

I don’t care. It suits my bankroll there and there I find my best customers. So I play there.

Your target level may be different, especially when you just start playing online poker.

Then play your game or level where you feel comfortable. That’s important.

Table Selection

I use Pokertracker for my poker statistics. This program tracks your results, but shows you also the stats of the other players when you have hands recorded of them.

I’m looking for tables with players with high VPIP (how often do they see the flop), low PFR (how often they raise preflop) and low total Aggression Postflop (how often they bet or raise postflop). Normally you can find tables with 2 or 3 of these players at Pokerstars.

Then just sit down and play there.

General play

I outline here my general strategy. In detail much depends on the stats of each opponent and the table itself.

Some of my recommendations:

Play tight – your VPIP should be between 18 and 22
When your table is very tight – raise from late positions much to collect the blinds and potential limpers. On NL 100 my raises are normall $4 - $5 first in without limpers and $7 or $11 when there were limpers or raisers in front
On NL 200 double the numbers
When you get reraised holding KK / QQ / JJ just call and see it you hit the flop. When you go allin preflop you will face often AA (and lose when you don’t make your set
On NL 100 call preflop raises up to $5 with 22 – TT
When you hit your set, you have big chances to stack your opponent
On the flop bet your Top Pairs pot size – middle pairs when you are last to act
When you get raised on the flop or turn and you hold less than two pair and you don’t have a good draw, you should fold
Bet your Nut flush draws and OESD aggressive to get paid. When the flush or straight shows on the board, they won’t pay you anymore

In total I expect a hourly rate of $20 - $25 when playing on Stars NL 100 or NL 200 fullring.

Additionally I make between $8 and $16 in points per hour there. So my total result will be between $30 and $40 per hour when I play there.

Of course there are swings. It happens often that I lose 3 or 4 stacks in one session and win them back and more in the next.

My biggest loss for a single day on Pokerstars: - $850

My biggest win for a single day on Pokerstars: +$1370

As said I like also to play the big Pokerstars tournaments. I cash in in about 10% of my tournaments – but no major winnings (> $20.000) so far. In a tournament where 5.000 – 10.000 players participate you need also some luck to make final tables.

In follow up articles I will show: