For tournament players and cash game players

The other day I was surfing through a list of top-tier poker sites. Of course I settled on the name I know and trust, TitanPoker. A friend of mine – Jaclyn – was dazzled by Titan’s alluring offers being made available. Like many others, she couldn’t quite understand why poker rooms would pay players to sign up. To say that she was ensconced by the buzz would be an understatement.  I’d like to address several of the points she raised.

• YES it’s TRUE – you can earn whopping deposit bonuses from poker rooms. After you sign up, you are eligible for their advertised offers.
• YES it’s TRUE – you earn points from money collected in the poker rake. The more you play, the more reward points you earn and the more of your promised bonus is released to you.

Take Titan Poker for example, they’re offering all new poker pundits an offer whereby you earn 100% up to $500 in bonus cash. Remember though that you will be required to clear that bonus within a certain amount of time. Once you’re in though, you’re hot. Titan is offering entry into the APT Philippines 2010 in Manila with a grand prize package of some $5,500. They have even summer specials with $20k in monthly summer races Mon-Thurs with a grand total of $125k in cool prizes.

First, yes, they are indeed different titles and not connected in any way whatsoever (other than the fact that they both evolve around the game of poker … duh!!!). In fact, they are in competition with one another.

Let me describe the WSOP first up which btw was just won by a 21 year old whiz kid in case you missed it. It’s an annual event that takes place every year in Las Vegas. The WSOP first began in 1970 and has grown phenomenally since then to now include 57 events. How much the winner of each event wins depends upon the number of entrants and the buy-in amounts.  The Main Event (No Limit Texas Hold’em) is the most prestigious with the winner literally receiving millions in prize money (not to mention the glory of the unofficial title ‘World Poker Champion’). Most poker variants are included in the WSOP but Texas Hold’em is by far the most popular.

The WPT, on the other hand, is a series of international tournaments taking place year round rather than a once-off annual event like the WSOP.  Also, the WPT is a baby in comparison as it only had its first season in 2002.  As for who can play in either event – the answer is the same for both. That is, anyone who can simply afford the tournament buy-ins. I hear that for the WSOP, these range from $1,500 to $50,000 whereas for the WPT, they range from $2,500 to $25,000. Other than with a buy-in you can also qualify for either event through winning a seat though a lower-priced satellite tournie or win a free seat through a cardroom or online tournie.

Cada, online whiz kid, had to overcome fellow American player, Darvin Moon, your regular guy-next-door type who’s a logger from western Maryland and more than twice the age of Cada. At first I thought well this just goes to show that playing endless games of online poker really does improve your game as this has been Cada’s strategy. He said that he regularly plays about a dozen tournaments at a time on time.  But then I read that Moon hasn’t ever even played a single had of online poker and in fact doesn’t even own a computer!!  Although I wouldn’t feel too sorry for Moon – he still won $5.18 mil for taking second place.

It was a gruelling final table taking more than 14 hours, 364 hands of heads-up Texas Hold’em poker and finishing in the wee hours of the morning.  Moon and Cada swapped leads several times in the final three hours when it was just the two of them left at the table that had started with nine.  At one point, Cada only held 1 per cent of the chips in play and was very nearly eliminated.  However, Cada held his nerve under pressure and fought back. Ultimately, Cada defeated Moon with pocket nines against QJ in what is certainly to become one of the most memorable moments in the WSOP’s history.

Peter Eastgate was the previous youngest winner and won last year’s event when he was 22 years old. Cada is apparently 340 days younger than Eastgate at the time of winning. Prior to the new record set by Eastgate, it was held for 2 decades by Phil Hellmuth who never thought the record could be broken.

Cada has already declared his intentions to win the tournament back to back.

Here’s Cada reflecting on his final table experience ….

Following last year’s great success, this annual event has now grown to be double in size and will be a 12 day extravaganza. This reflects the growing popularity of poker in the Asian region.

There will be over 21 events and 15 official side events. It is one of the most varied schedules ever seen and even includes a ladies only tournament for the first time, demonstrating just how far the game of poker has progressed during the past year alone.

One of the biggest highlights of the tournament will be the ‘Battle of the Nations’ team event where teams of three members from the same country face each other at a table and try to eliminate all the members of the opposing team.

Be sure to check back soon for updates about how the tournament is progressing.