We tried to anticipate some of the most common questions you might have – but we’ll also answer all other questions you might have. Just ask!
If you decide to sign up through PokerStrategy.com, please use this link: Referral – that way, TeamLiquid profits from your sign up. Please note: the offer is only available to non-US citizens and residents.
Q: What is PokerStrategy.com?
A: The world’s largest poker school and community. At our website, you can learn poker from beginner to professional level. – Easy-to-understand strategies for beginners. – Advanced content for experienced players. – Strategy articles, videos and live-streams. – Direct, personal help from successful poker players.
Q: Why should I play poker?
A: Poker is a challenging pas-time – and in many aspects it is comparable to real-time strategy games such as StarCraft: you’re doing real-time decisions under pressure with limited information and have to master the game mechanics / mathematics. So the main reasons are: – Poker is a fun, challenging strategy game. – Poker is getting part of pop culture in more and more countries. – Poker trains your decision-making abilities and your psychological self-reflection. – If you’re good at it, you can win money. – A lot of StarCraft players turned into poker pros.
Q: If I start playing poker – why through PokerStrategy.com?
A: +Many reasons: – We offer the best education in general – but especially for beginners. – It’s 100% free. – It’s a gaming community as you know and like it – and it was built up by StarCraft players. – At us, you don’t have to risk own money: pass a 20 question quiz and get real $50 to play with. – We work with all the large, well-reputed poker rooms such as Full Tilt Poker, PartyPoker, PokerStars and many more. – We’re available in 18 languages, so if you’re not an English native, you learn comfortably in your own mother tongue. – Support TeamLiquid
Q: What do I have to do to get the free $50?
A: First of all: you will not have to pay or deposit a single cent. You have to read and understand our beginner strategies to pass a 20 question test – to help you not just waste your $50. You need to provide us with some personal data as well, as we need to prevent de-frauding of our free money offer, which sadly happens.
Q: Can you share some facts & numbers about PokerStrategy.com?
A: Of course: – More than 4 million members – We gave out more than 1 million $50 bankrolls – 12,000 videos – 500 new per month – 18 languages, including Korean, Chinese, Spanish, Russian... – 600,000 forum posts per month
PokerStrategy.com is the sponsor for the TeamLiquid Starleague 3. The tournament will have a $34,500 Prize Pool and the best players from all over the world. Qualifiers are running now, and make sure to check out the official broadcasts in March. Discuss with other fans in the TSL3 Forum.
Pokerstrategy.com is an amazing site. the basic articles alone contain more information than 90% of any poker school out there, even the ones you have to pay hundreds a month for.
Unfortunately, those with a us IP can't join
I really don't understand why this is. Plenty of other sites do it, and I would imagine that PS is losing a huge customer base by not allowing US players to join.
"Online gambling" as our nanny state defines it, is illegal in the Land of the Free. PokerStrategy is only complying with the draconian perfectly fair will of the State Lotto & Casino Lobby law.
On January 13 2011 03:46 KiLL_ORdeR wrote: Pokerstrategy.com is an amazing site. the basic articles alone contain more information than 90% of any poker school out there, even the ones you have to pay hundreds a month for.
Unfortunately, those with a us IP can't join
I really don't understand why this is. Plenty of other sites do it, and I would imagine that PS is losing a huge customer base by not allowing US players to join.
Thanks for the praise of course, glad you like the site
As for the limitations on the US players - unfortunately the US laws do not allow for external sites such as ours to get involved with the poker scene in the states. Even though we are an affiliate and not an actual poker room, it is better to be on the safe side and not take risks in such things (you never know what you might get sued for in the US, right? )
@CopperLeague: It's debatable whether online poker is legal or illegal in the U.S. Some poker rooms act as if it is, some others as if it is not.
Maybe the New Jersey law change can be a start. Long-term, we of course want to be in the U.S. - but we always do what's safest for us and our members.
On January 13 2011 03:46 KiLL_ORdeR wrote: Pokerstrategy.com is an amazing site. the basic articles alone contain more information than 90% of any poker school out there, even the ones you have to pay hundreds a month for.
Unfortunately, those with a us IP can't join
I really don't understand why this is. Plenty of other sites do it, and I would imagine that PS is losing a huge customer base by not allowing US players to join.
Thanks for the praise of course, glad you like the site
As for the limitations on the US players - unfortunately the US laws do not allow for external sites such as ours to get involved with the poker scene in the states. Even though we are an affiliate and not an actual poker room, it is better to be on the safe side and not take risks in such things (you never know what you might get sued for in the US, right? )
Ya I mean I totally understand the reasoning for it, better safe than sued etc. And ya, the legal system in the US is pretty stupid. But the fact of the matter is that there are literally thousands of coaching sites that operate just fine in the US, as well as hybrids like Full Tilt for example.
I just don't understand the specific concern. Isn't the issue taking payments etc. in the US? is the $50 free bonus what puts the site in question?
On January 13 2011 06:55 Pokebunny wrote: I'm quite confused as to why such a large site wouldn't try to clear their business practices to work under US law.
It really has nothing to do with the site or business. It's all because of a great deal of vagueness and uncertainty in US law regarding the legality of online poker.
It's like this for just about any site dealing with US citizens. Even TwoPlusTwo doesn't extend any of the deals in their bookstore to US residents, and they're probably the most well known and respected poker site out there.
Probably it's because both 2+2 and us are cautious.
Many lawyers tell us: "Go ahead, what you do is fully legal in the U.S. You're not even a poker room yourself - and even that might be legal."
But we want to do only what we are 100% sure of. And that is focussing on making our players better and optimising the value we can deliver for them in content, services, events and promotions.
Hopefully at some point not too far away will we be able to do that in the U.S. without fearing legal hassle that keeps us away from doing our job. Maybe even before TSL4 - also depends on how quick TeamLiquid is on that front
On January 13 2011 07:44 Xantos wrote: Hopefully at some point not too far away will we be able to do that in the U.S. without fearing legal hassle that keeps us away from doing our job.
You and me both. Scary legal stuff scares the fish away
I'm not even sure how this is possible. States are not allowed to regulate interstate trade activity and I assume that you would be operating in a different state. I think the only thing the US government cares about is money laundering since a lot of people assume the internet is "safe".
One day online betting will be legal again as I am sure that millions of people in the US do it right now.
Seriously, everytime i see PokerStrategy being mentioned, be it when it's sponsoring TSL or just random forum threads, i sign up, i start getting into it and genuinly want to learn how to play poker, but after failing the quiz two times in a row now i feel like i'll never be able to learn how to play poker That said, i'm going to give it another shot tonight
Props for everything you're doing, if it wasn't for the fact that PokerStrategy was run by Starcraft players and sponsoring events such as TSL i never would have cared for poker at all
On January 13 2011 07:44 Xantos wrote: Probably it's because both 2+2 and us are cautious.
Many lawyers tell us: "Go ahead, what you do is fully legal in the U.S. You're not even a poker room yourself - and even that might be legal."
But we want to do only what we are 100% sure of. And that is focussing on making our players better and optimising the value we can deliver for them in content, services, events and promotions.
Hopefully at some point not too far away will we be able to do that in the U.S. without fearing legal hassle that keeps us away from doing our job. Maybe even before TSL4 - also depends on how quick TeamLiquid is on that front
I can't believe we aren't allowed to go to this site in the US... OBAMA FIX IT!
On January 13 2011 07:44 Xantos wrote: Probably it's because both 2+2 and us are cautious.
Many lawyers tell us: "Go ahead, what you do is fully legal in the U.S. You're not even a poker room yourself - and even that might be legal."
But we want to do only what we are 100% sure of. And that is focussing on making our players better and optimising the value we can deliver for them in content, services, events and promotions.
Hopefully at some point not too far away will we be able to do that in the U.S. without fearing legal hassle that keeps us away from doing our job. Maybe even before TSL4 - also depends on how quick TeamLiquid is on that front
I can't believe we aren't allowed to go to this site in the US... OBAMA FIX IT!
You can access the Site from the U.S by using a proxy server in some other country. Works like a charm
Just wanted to kinda give my testimonial to support pokerstrategy. Even though I love poker I was skeptical someone would just hand me 50$ for passing some random test. I tried it out though and its actually legit. I'm having fun playing it(whenever I'm not playing SCII)
I am actually pretty terrible at poker but I am learning :D, Who knew 1 and 2 cent blind poker could be so cutthroat ^^
So far im up 5 bucks. Cheers to pokerstrategy and oh yea <3 for one more reason to love living in Canada :D