Some of you might be curious about PokerStrategy.com, but would rather want to ask some questions here inside your forum instead of looking for the answers directly at our web site.
To give you this chance, here's a thread with some more info & the chance to ask whatever you want to know. Xantos from PokerStrategy.com will try to answer all your questions.
But first, we try to give basic answers to the most common questions we encounter:
Q: What is PokerStrategy.com?
A: A poker school & community - i.e. a place where you can learn poker from the very basics to advanced levels. This is supported by a community with active forums in 18 different languages - because interaction & collaborative learning plays an important role in becoming a good poker player. On top of that, PokerStrategy.com offers you a way to start your career without risking your own money: on passing a quiz, you can get $50 on a poker room of your choice. And most successful players at PokerStrategy.com built their bankroll on just these initial $50.
Q: How do we teach poker?
A: PokerStrategy.com uses a mixture of articles about strategy, coaching videos (like commented first person VODs), live-coaching & discussions in the forums that are moderated by professionals. The basics are easy to teach - as the players on the micro limits where you should play with your $50 are on average pretty bad. To advance through the limits, you need some dedication & effort - but it's much easier to become a profitable poker player than to win the TSL. A small example for an instructional coaching video about the basics of tournament poker: http://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/5589
Q: Why do they offer $50 for free? Where's the catch?
A: Indeed it seems counter-intuitive how PokerStrategy.com can pay for the education & the services, be free & give you $50 on top of that. But as poker is played by hundreds of thousand of recreational players around the world, chances are that you will play profitable with your $50 with some minor learning effort.
If you do so, you will play long enough that PokerStrategy.com recovers their $50 investment into you by earning their share on the rake that the poker rooms take from players.
Q: I'm already an online poker player - what do they have to offer for me?
A: Even though the offer is most attractive for absolute newcomers, PokerStrategy.com also has some stuff to offer for experienced poker players. 600 coaching videos are released per month throughout the 18 languages. The forums offer professional hand judgments to improve your play. And the best: this comes at no direct or indirect cost to you. PokerStrategy.com offers the best possible rakeback, bonus deals, VIP systems & rake races on their partner poker rooms. To see an overview of their partners, visit: http://www.pokerstrategy.com/online-poker-rooms/ If you have a specific question or issue in mind - just ask here!
Do you teach full stack play @ nlhe cash or is it just all shortstacking like I've heard?
I can't see a point in teaching shortstacking as its boring, not as profitable and the only good thing it does is generate lots of rake (and rakeback).
Oh and as a member of other training sites (dc and cr), would you consider it to be worth it for me to sign-up, do you have something to offer the other sites dont?
edit: thank you for the answer below, I will look in to it more when its the time for me to consider playing on other pokersites than the ones im currently on.
Q: I am in the USA and it is really difficult for me to get involved with international poker websites. In fact I tried to start up on PokerStrategy and I wasn't able to transfer money over. Is this just a brick wall for Americans or is there ways around this?
im not quite sure of it, but afaik non-US gambling institutions are prohibited from offering there services in the US by US law (i could be wrong though but at least that was my impression)
On November 08 2009 22:34 Puosu wrote: Do you teach full stack play @ nlhe cash or is it just all shortstacking like I've heard?
I can't see a point in teaching shortstacking as its boring, not as profitable and the only good thing it does is generate lots of rake (and rakeback).
Oh and as a member of other training sites (dc and cr), would you consider it to be worth it for me to sign-up, do you have something to offer the other sites dont?
Hey Puosu,
Regarding shortstacking: it is true that we also teach shortstacking to beginners, as it is a safe way for a beginner to build his bankroll. But we also offer beginners the option to chose Fixed Limit or SNGs and soon also big stack strategy to start playing with their $50.
For advanced players, we have far less educational content on shortstacking than on the other game types.
Regarding comparison to DC/CR: DC & CR are great coaching sites for sure. The biggest difference lies in the concept, i.e. DC & CR are mainly subscription fee based while PokerStrategy.com is free, but you have to play on a tracked account.
Upsides of PokerStrategy.com: - available in 18 languages, not just English - live-coaching [audio-streaming with interaction] - professionally moderated hand judgement forums - free as long as you play on a tracked account - full rakeback / best bonus offers + rake races [$172k in November e.g.]
Upsides of DC/CR: - considering coaching videos in English language, I admit that DC & CR still have a edge on us. But we work on it - if you already have an account at all sites you like to play at, it's favourable to pay subscription instead of playing tracked to a specific affiliate
So all in all, it's safe to say that we're the by far best option for any beginner - but for advanced players, it needs to fit & you have to compare & think about the tracking possibilities you would have.
On November 08 2009 22:35 {88}iNcontroL wrote: Q: I am in the USA and it is really difficult for me to get involved with international poker websites. In fact I tried to start up on PokerStrategy and I wasn't able to transfer money over. Is this just a brick wall for Americans or is there ways around this?
Hey iNcontroL,
Sadly, we currently cannot allow members from the United States for legal reasons (maybe you heard about the UIGEA legislation). When a great player like you is ruled out by that situation, it makes me feel annoyed by that situation even more ;(
Maybe as a pre-emptive answer towards people that already play poker: the reason why in contrast to other coaching sites we take no subscription fee lies in our principle.
The principle is: It must not be a monetary disadvantage to use PokerStrategy.com.
It leads to the following consequences: 1. The $50 bankroll is free - but you have to pass a quiz & sometimes also an ID check [because we experience a lot of fraud on this offer, naturally] 2. All contents & services are free [but you have to play tracked] 3. Being tracked to PokerStrategy.com must be equal or better in monetary terms than other affiliates [so that even if at some point you do not feel our content & services add value for you, you do not regret of being tracked on us]
I have been curious about Pokerstrategy for a while now, i actually don't know a thing about poker i just heard about it about a year ago when you could play Mondragon or something similar when you signed up.
Anyway, i don't really have a question i just got even more interested now seeing as you're sponsoring TSL2
On November 08 2009 23:50 Stormer wrote: Do I need to make a new account on the poker site if I register to your site or can I just use my existing one for tracking?
In order to gather StrategyPoints & gain access to higher status content & services, you need to create a new account through us - either by getting our $50 offer or by using a self-deposit bonus if you're already an experienced poker player.
Sadly, near to no poker room allows retracking. Some might do it in singular cases, though.
Btw. as you're from Croatia: former Croatian StarCraft National Team player CLF.Wasp is also a member & earns his money with developing poker tools nowadays.
On November 08 2009 23:58 grobo wrote: I have been curious about Pokerstrategy for a while now, i actually don't know a thing about poker i just heard about it about a year ago when you could play Mondragon or something similar when you signed up.
If you don't know anything about poker, but are interested in it, we're the right choice.
Mondragon btw. spent an internship here at Gib this year. I hope he applies after he finishes his studies in 2010
I started playing poker though this site. i had to verify my Id with pictures of passport etc. but that just let me know that these guys were legit enough to actually ask questions when handing out "free" money it's a great resource in my esteem. glad to see you fellows using some of your $$$ for a good cause in supporting TSL.
Thanks for the answer, also, how long does it on average take to pass the quiz? And does this work in the manner that you get 50$ and then can get +100% or +200% from your affiliates? So 100$ or 150$ when registering? EDIT: How does legitimation work? Scan of passport?
On November 08 2009 23:50 Stormer wrote: Do I need to make a new account on the poker site if I register to your site or can I just use my existing one for tracking?
In order to gather StrategyPoints & gain access to higher status content & services, you need to create a new account through us - either by getting our $50 offer or by using a self-deposit bonus if you're already an experienced poker player.
Sadly, near to no poker room allows retracking. Some might do it in singular cases, though.
Btw. as you're from Croatia: former Croatian StarCraft National Team player CLF.Wasp is also a member & earns his money with developing poker tools nowadays.
On November 08 2009 23:58 grobo wrote: I have been curious about Pokerstrategy for a while now, i actually don't know a thing about poker i just heard about it about a year ago when you could play Mondragon or something similar when you signed up.
If you don't know anything about poker, but are interested in it, we're the right choice.
Mondragon btw. spent an internship here at Gib this year. I hope he applies after he finishes his studies in 2010
quiz took 5 minutes reading the guide took 10-15 i did not need to scan my passport but i take it this is not always the case, but i had a previous rudimentary knowledge of poker and it's terms.
i signed up about 6-7 hours ago and my account has now been credited with the $50, well $53 CAD lol exchange rates ftw.
the euro is raping the dollar right now so maybe ftl for quite a few of you.
I read the short staking strat, to sum it up be a nit. an EPIC nit, both in bank roll management and ranges with a heavy raise button. basically it capitalizes on thee simple fact that in micros people somehow get it into their heads that you might be pushing all in with k 4 simply to push them around
one thing I'd like to ask PS guys though; seeing as SSS is simply a structured way that gets people in the game to see hands whilst building a BR. do you guys have a quality method on segueing out of that mentality( short stacker) easily into a deep stack cash game mentality seeing as this is more profitable ( for a competent player) specially at higher stakes?
edit:
On November 09 2009 00:49 Sfydjklm wrote: *snip*
If it was so requested could Strafe provide 10k worth of thai hookers to the winner instead?
On November 09 2009 00:21 Stormer wrote: Thanks for the answer, also, how long does it on average take to pass the quiz? And does this work in the manner that you get 50$ and then can get +100% or +200% from your affiliates? So 100$ or 150$ when registering? EDIT: How does legitimation work? Scan of passport?
Quiz If you take an hour to read through the articles, you already should have a good chance of passing the quiz. Also note that while taking the quiz, you can still browse the articles where the answers are basically included. The goal is not to test whether you're already a great player - but to test if you're willing to invest a little time and crawl through written stuff you need to know to beat poker.
$50 Bonus You get the $50 on conditions that vary slightly from poker room to poker room [you have the choice where to get them]. What you get on top: - first deposit bonus in case you already play poker and deposit own money to play higher limits [this bonus is usually the best available deposit bonus for this poker room] - best rakeback / bonus deals available for that poker room
ID Check / Legitimation You might need to pass an ID check before getting the $50. The type varies - common is to send in an ID card scan (you can anonymize stuff such as the ID card number). The goal is to find out that you do not get the $50 for the 10th time [sadly, some professional fraudsters try to get the $50 for a thousand times].
^ can't you just not use IP tracking to each account and ban repeat accounts, similar to what TL does (on occasion)?
oh and they have a video with a sexy British accent as an alternative to reading the article, although through reading it you have little mini quiz sections which will help crystallize the information.
WCS
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