Poker rooms are hungrier than ever to keep players happy. If you’re an online poker player you should definitely think about maximizing the bonuses you receive from playing. Most advanced players settle on rakeback. A rakeback provider is a poker affiliate who will deal with the poker rooms for you and pay back a percentage of the rake you pay at the tables. Obviously this scales up the more you play and is a bonus which keeps on giving – unlike one time signup or reload bonuses.

There are several providers online and it’s worth choosing a reputable site as once you sign up through an affiliate you are usually stuck with them for as long as you play at a particular poker room. Nobody wants to give up their Full Tilt account because they’ve dealt with a bad affiliate. We can recommend rakeiteasy.com as they pay out on time, have great support and offer a large variety of poker rooms.

What is rake?

You might be wondering exactly what rake is. It varies a little from room to room but essentially rake is how the online poker rooms make money. They take a small percentage (usually around 5%) of each pot. It’s capped at a few dollars per pot. Although each piece of rake is small this soon adds up. A regular player can rake 100’s or 1000’s of dollars each month.

What is rakeback?

A major source of players for poker rooms is affiliate marketing. Whenever you see a site offering poker room reviews or bonus codes they are receiving a cut of the profit from every player they send on to a poker room. Rakeback affiliates share this cut with the players they refer. A standard rakeback deal will give the player back about 30% of the rake they pay. The affiliate keeps a small amount and the poker rooms see this as a good way to offer a loyalty bonus to players.

How much can I make?

It will vary greatly player to player. The more you play, and the higher the stakes, the more rake you will pay and thus the more rakeback you can receive. It will also depend on the site you play at. Generally the bigger the room the smaller the payout. Popular poker rooms offer around 30% rakeback while new poker rooms will offer up to 50%. Trying out a new room can pay out some really nice bonuses.

A big misconception is that rakeback is only worthwhile to high stakes players. In fact because the amount of rake is capped small stakes players suffer more from rake. If you’re trying to build up your bankroll then rakeback will definitely help. If you want to see how much you could be receiving then have a look at this rakeback calculator.

How do I get started?

To get rakeback you will often need to sign up for a new poker room account. It can sometimes be added to an existing account but that will depend on the policy of the poker room and whether you originally signed up through an affiliate. If you did then you’re usually out of luck. Contact your rakeback provider with your poker room account details and they’ll see what they can do.

Our friends at rakeiteasy have over 25 poker rooms on offer including the big names like Full Tilt, PKR, Cake Poker, Ultimate Bet and Carbon Poker. Go check out their offers and see if you could be benefiting.

The latest innovation from the leading online poker room gives players multiple chances to win cash prizes, a 2009 WSOP package, and a Peugeot 207cc luxury car.

Online poker players making their first deposit during the month of May at Titan Poker, the largest poker room on the iPoker Network, will receive free entry to a series of freeroll tournaments awarding a grand total of $63,000 in guaranteed prizes.

New depositors get tournament entries to a series of satellites awarding seats to the poker room’s monthly $20,000 New Depositors Freeroll, where a guaranteed prize pool of $20,000 is distributed among the most skillful poker players.

In addition, new depositing players get entries to satellite tournaments awarding seats to Titan Poker’s exclusive Peugeot 207cc Freeroll, which will be staged on June 5. The winner of that tournament will drive away in a Peugeot 207cc Coupe Cabriolet convertible sports car, valued at $30,000.

And finally, Titan Poker’s is giving its newest depositing members chances to win a 2009 World Series of Poker package, valued at $13,000. The package includes the $10,000 buy-in to the WSOP Main Event, travel to Las Vegas, 7 nights of luxury accommodation and spending money.

With $63,000 in prizes available to players, more and more poker enthusiasts are seeing the advantages of making their first deposit at Titan Poker during May 2009.

The PPA has an estimated 130000 player residents in Kentucky. The Poker Players Alliance was a big part of bringing in a positive decision. The other groups included online gambling interests such as sportsbook.com, sportsinteraction.com, mysportsbook.com, sbglobal.com, carmenmedia.com and hundreds of others collectively.

John Pappas adds, "We are pleased that the appeals court has forcefully reversed Judge Wingate’s earlier ruling and confirmed many of the arguments that have been raised in opposition to the seizure effort. The Court of Appeals has agreed with the PPA’s position that Judge Wingate did not have jurisdiction to issue the order that he entered against these domains and that Secretary Brown has no legitimate right to deprive the citizens of Kentucky of the legal right to play poker online."

Rich Muny, Kentucky State Director for the PPA, said, "This common-sense approach would benefit Kentucky’s poker enthusiasts and the revenue will benefit the state as a whole. Rather than spending hard to find dollars on this case, the Governor could actually turn this into a much needed new revenue stream for the Commonwealth."

This is a massive decision for the world of online poker. Domain names are not a ‘gambling device’ the court has ruled and therefore are not subject to seizure or forfeiture. Internet freedom was in question in this case, so this outcome was an important one.

Source: swiss-press.com

After seeing this I don’t think I am ever going to forget that a straight flush beats for queens, not to mention the fact that every time I end up with either a straight flush or four queens I am going to have to resist the urge to burst out laughing at the table.

PS: If you liked this video, please take a moment to pop over to the YouTube video page and leave a comment or a rating so we can encourage these guys to produce more of these kick-butt funny poker tutorials.

I read on Card Player that The MGM Casino in Las Vegas is hosting the Fourth-Annual Road 2 Recovery Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament tomorrow at 4 p.m., and that it isn’t too late to register to join motorcross and poker celebs in raising money for charity.

Supercross celebrities in attendance will include the likes of Chad Reed, Jason Thomas, and Grant Langston, and poker pros Andy Bloch, Jennifer Harman, Joe Sebok, and 2008 World Series of Poker final table chip leader Dennis Phillips will also be there. The tournament is open to the public and the recommended donation to compete is $300. The tournament will allow $100 rebuys and add-ons will be for the first hour. The winner will receive a 2009 World Series of Poker main event, with second and third place finishers collecting a swanky Curtis & Company watch valued at over $2 000.

The charity that will be benefitting from this poker tournament will be the Injured Riders Fund for Road 2 Recovery, an organization founded partly by Jimmy Button, a Supercross professional who injured his back in an accident and is now finding a way to help others with the same ailments through poker.

In a recent press release Button stated that “The past couple of years have been especially difficult for industry riders,” before going to on to say that since his own recovery, he has dedicated his life to helping professional AMA licensed Motocross and Supercross members sustaining career-ending injuries with financial, motivational, emotional, and spiritual support.

At 26 years old, Jimmy Button was at the top of his career, but in January of 2000 he sustained a devastating spinal cord injury at his second and third vertebrae. Button’s courage eventually won him the race not to ride again, but to walk.

Players can preregister for the tournament online and find more information on the tournament at the Road 2 Recovery Website. The event is sponsored in part by Card Player.

Image Credit: coloribus.com

The Isle of Man based giant online poker website PokerStars was in conflict with the UK Advertising Standards Authority this week over its new "Play Mind Games" poster campaign, reports The Guardian newspaper.

The campaign features top pro poker player Daniel Negreanu holding an ice hockey stick and sporting the line: "Poker is a sport of courage, conviction and confidence," and the Authority, which has been strict in its adjudication of gambling advertisements, invoked the guidelines that ads are not allowed to link gambling with sexual success, an improved self-image or appeal to children or young people.

PokerStars argued that the ad was based upon Negreanu’s own opinion that success in poker required courage, conviction and confidence and that this was appropriately conveyed by the picture of him with the ice hockey stick and the use of the word “sport". The poster in no way implied that a person would acquire or improve upon these virtues as a result of gambling, the poker site asserted, and the reference to the offending terms was intended to highlight the difference between poker and other forms of gambling where the human elements affecting the outcome is significantly less.

The company argued that it was widely understood by the general public that poker was a game of tactics and ingenuity, and that the poster accurately positioned poker in a sporting context where self belief was a key factor.

However, the ASA ruled that the statement contained attributes that demonstrated mental toughness or resilience, and could be seen as admirable qualities in the target audience of 21 to 44 year old men. The claim implied not only that those qualities were needed in order to play poker, but also that success at poker would enhance those qualities in a player, and therefore breached CAP Code clauses 57.4(f) and 57.4(i) (Gambling) and the material was not to be used again.

Source: Online-Casinos.com

Happy birthday to Jennifer Tilly.

The Entities who comprise Wicked Chops Poker are all about the cougars, and remind us that one of the poker world‘s hottest female players, Jennifer Tilly, just turned 50.

So we’d be remiss not to mention that Jennifer Tilly, a woman, turned a cougarific 50 yesterday (Tuesday). Read more (slightly more) about this half-century milestone here.

Whatever she’s drinking, please bottle it up for our current/first wives. So whoever they’re married to at 50 will be stoked that they look that hot.

The Academy Award-nominated Canadian-American actress and a World Series of Poker bracelet winner is probably best known to those outside the poker world for her starring role along side Chucky in the slasher film "Bride of Chucky".

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a hopelessly bad actress in Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway (1994).

On June 27, 2005, Tilly won a World Series of Poker bracelet (and $158,625) in the Ladies’ No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em event, outlasting 600 other players. She followed up this accomplishment on September 1, 2005 by also winning the third World Poker Tour Ladies Invitational Tournament held at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Tilly has appeared in the GSN Poker Royale series. She appeared in the third season of Poker Superstars but was eliminated in the preliminary round.

Tilly’s total poker winnings are As of 2008 her live tournament winnings exceed $450,000.

She is currently dating the Unabomber – Phil Laak.

Source: Gambling911.com

Barney Frank the Chairman of the committee has attempted to pass a similar bill and this was his second attempt to discontinue the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act HR 5767. Frank’s original Payments Systems Protection Act introduced in conjunction with Congressman Ron Paul. The original Payments Systems Protection Act was struck down by the Committee in June of 2008.

Barney Frank noted that the legality of internet gambling in the United States is still open to interpretation. Frank stated that whether betting on horse racing is legal depends on what department you ask. Barney Frank, he summed up his views by adding,

"How people spend their leisure time should not be made illegal or encouraged in a free society. If you’re going to [impose restrictions using the UIGEA], you’re hijacking the banking system. If this bill is passed, I would still like to repeal the law. Under this bill, at least the banks will know what is and isn’t illegal."

For online Poker players this brightens the future for the game they enjoy to play online. Most will agree poker is a game of strategy and luck, brining huge profits to the players who master the game. Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned pro today was a huge step forward which would allow you to enjoy the game of online poker.

The new online poker site will offer regular ring games, as well as a plethora of sit ‘n go’s as well as single and multi table tournaments.

New players can take adavantage of the poker school and play for free and claim a $350 bonus when taking the plunge and deciding to set their poker plans in motion at the real money tables.

Cool Hand Poker makes use of the new Microgaming poker software, which looks fantastic and really does seem to be a vast improvement on their old software, which was hailed by many as the best in the buisiness.

Online poker is a pastime rapidly gaining ground among Italian gamblers, it seems from a survey conducted recently by the Consumers Defense and Orientation Association (ADOC) and reported this week by the Agipronews agency. The survey found that Italians punters annually spend an average of Euros 600 each on Internet gambling, making a total yearly spend of Euros 350 million.

Almost 2 million Italian residents have gone online at least once to play a game of chance on the Internet, with a quarter of that number using offshore Internet gambling sites for this activity. With the Italian government poised to legalise, license and regulate online gambling the survey will be read with interest by many involved in the industry.

Agipronews comments in a statement that the online gaming phenomenon increasingly appeals to Italian people, with visits to foreign gambling sites up 25 percent. According to ADOC, 16 000 Italian citizens ‘may be considered’ to have gambling problems with an average level of debt that ranges between Euros 10 000 and Euros 12 000, in exceptional cases reaching Euros 40 000.

Source: Online-Casinos.com