Passed in 2006 as a “rider” to the Safe Ports Act, the UIGEA has been controversial from the beginning (even though it was voted for almost unanimously). It was attached to the Safe Ports Act by conservative Republican Senators Bill Frist and Jon Kyl, but its inclusion was voted for by almost every member of Congress.  

In recent weeks, some legislators have made efforts to overturn the bill — or at the very least, to clarify the nature of its vague wording. Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank has recently emerged as the default leader of this movement. His anti-UIGEA bill, HR 5767, has so far been defeated, but seems to have clued Congress in to the fact that many Americans dislike UIGEA.

Since then, Texas Republican Pete Sessions has introduced a bill that seeks to “clarify” UIGEA, claiming (with justification) that UIGEA is basically unenforceable because it relies on financial institutions to do the work of the Justice Department. However, some online poker players have spoken out against Sessions’ bill, stating that it’s not the proper solution to the problem. 

So, although no real progress has been made in the fight against the UIGEA, we are definitely seeing more legislators cluing in to the fact that it might help their popularity to try to get the law changed.

And this is where you come in: Congress acts on the will of the people, so don’t be afraid to send a letter (or letters!) to your representatives and let them know how unfair this bill is.

100 Metres – A short sprint, play fast to earn the most number of poker VIP points in one day. The winners will receive the following:

• Gold - $2500
• Silver – $1000
• Bronze – $500

Relay – They are combining all VIP points earned playing poker during Saturdays in August to determine the winner of the Relay event. To qualify you must play every Saturday of the month.

• Gold - $2500
• Silver – $1000
• Bronze – $500

Marathon – Taking the place of Mad Dash for Cash, the Marathon runs for the entire month, with prizes for the top 50 poker players ranked by raked hands, and the most number of VIP points earned.

• Gold Raked Hands - $8000
• Gold VIP points - $3500
• Full prize structure on the website

High Jump – Jump up to take the prize at this event – it will be awarded to the player who moves up the most number of places in their monthly poker rankings.

• Gold - $2500
• Silver – $1000
• Bronze – $500

50KM Walk – Stamina will be needed here, as this event is run on the most number of games played in the casino.

• Gold - $6000
• Silver - $2000
• Bronze – $1000

Bonus info

Unibet Poker offers a variety of sign-up bonuses, from $50 to $500, depending on the market.

The bonuses are paid out in three steps, where you need to collect different amounts of VIP points for higher amounts of money.

They offer these bonuses without a minimum deposit.

Ring Game Traffic

Ring game traffic on average ranges between 2,500-3,500 real money players spread out between tables of limits as low as $0.02-$0.05 and as high as $100-$200.

Tournament traffic

Unibet Poker has high tournament traffic upwards of 15,000-19,000 real money players peaking at over 20,000 players when including freeroll tournaments; the largest tournaments available now are at 12,000 players. A large number of tournaments of all sizes and game varieties are offered, often with a minimum guaranteed prize pool regardless of how many players sign up.

Game variety

The game variety is good with all standard games offered in No-limit, Pot-limit, and Fixed-limit. The games offered include Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha H/L, 7-card stud, 5-card stud. The site also offers turbo tables for the quick acting players. The turbo tables generally make for looser games.

Soft competition

The players on Unibet Poker mainly come from their sportsbook and they often gamble too much. This leads to many loose tables. The short-handed (6 players max) tables and turbo games produce wild games with viewed flopped percentages of approximately 55%. The average viewed flop percentage for full 10 player tables is just under 40%.

Loyalty bonus

VIP points are earned by contributing to a raked pot, you get between 0,5 – 1,5 VIP points per raked hand, depending on the amount of rake taken from the pot. The bonus is paid out in levels, depending on how much you play each month. Through the first levels you get $1 per 100 VIP points and at the highest level you get $1 per 30 VIP points.

Deposit & withdrawal options

Deposit options: VISA, Mastercard, NETeller, Moneybookers, Bank Transfer, Telephone.

Withdrawal options: NETeller, Bank transfer, Moneybookers, Telephone.

Software & Graphics

Unibet Poker has a customized version of the Microgaming poker software on the Microgaming platform. Although they have closed Ring Games on most of their tables, the Unibet Software differs from other Microgaming clients since they have integrated both Live-betting and live results from ongoing sporting events in the Poker Client. The table options are extensive including 4 different table sizes. The software supports 10 tables of simultaneous play and if used with the mini table size option, up to 6 tables can be viewed at the same time. Your personal stats can be viewed at any table displaying analysis of your play to date including your personal viewed flop percentage, when you fold, and how often you check, bet, fold, call, raise, and re-raise. In the Lobby stats on table’s average pot size and players per flop are available. The software currently runs smoothly while supporting more than 20,000 players. There is also a function where you can download log files of your played hands for you to analyse your own style of play. Prima Poker also offers an integrated Casino in the Poker client where you can play several of the most popular Casino games, including Blackjack and Roulette.

Rake

The rake is set at 5% of the pot with a max rake of between $1 and $3, depending on the number of players at the table. Reduced rakes are offered for micro-limit tables. Tournaments take a fee of 10% of your buy-in.

Promotions

Unibet has one of the largest tournament offers in the world, with over 15 Unibet-only tournaments every day, ranging from a $1500 guarantee to several freerolls. The network also offers a wide range of freerolls and guarantee tournaments every day, not counting the big $250,000 guarantee every month, the $125,000 guarantee every week and a $25,000 guarantee each day. They also run lots of satellites to big live events like European Poker Tour and World Series of Poker, as well as lots of other tournaments with great prizes, for example Plasma TVs and Rolex watches.

Financial security

The site has high financial security, they have been in the business a long time and they have a separate auditor monitoring their every move.

Support

Unibet support can be contacted via a free and local phone number or email. The support staff is well trained to help with the poker site as well as the sports book, casino and deposit/withdrawal issues. Support is offered in local languages, both by phone and e-mail.

Highlights

• High stakes guaranteed tournaments
• Play up to 10 tables simultaneously
• Free Telephone and email support in local languages
• Micro-limit tables
• Closed Ring Games
• European Sportsbook of the Year 2006
• Online Poker School
• The Poker Million TV-show in Sweden
• Turbo tables available
• Live sports betting integrated in the poker client
• Live score from current sports events available in the poker client

Summary

The software is very versatile; it has four different table sizes and also provides very useful stats for the player. Thanks to the wide range of short-handed tables and turbo tables the playability is quick with over 120 hands played per hour. The software could use improvements, especially the lobby but overall the Microgaming network has proven fast and reliable. Ring game and tournament traffic ranges between 2,500-3,500 real money ring game players during peaks hours, for a total of 15,000-19,000 players. They have also got their own Poker TV-show in Sweden that is called the Poker Million.

They have an amazing new first time deposit bonus for all new players.

They will match your first deposit 100% up to a fantastic $600. Simply make a deposit, in the poker room click Rewards, Deposit Bonus and enter the code POKER600.

25% Monthly Reload Bonus

Every month receive an amazing 25% bonus on your first deposit of the month up to $600.

To activate this bonus simply make a deposit, in the poker room click Rewards, Deposit Bonus and enter the code 25%EXTRA.

2. New Website - “Check out the chick!” Once you see their new website, you will just want to play there!

3. Redesigned Poker Software - “She’s easy on the eyes, mate!” The software has been redesigned with the avid player in mind. The gentle colour scheme allows for hours of play in a comfortable environment.

4. All New Australian Predators VIP Club - “Bite me!” You can play your way to the top of the food chain! Players will earn huge rewards and a bigger bite of the action every month just by playing at Centrebet Poker!

So get over to CentreBet Poker now and give them a try!

Visa Electron - available for non-North American players

Maestro - available for UK, Austria, and Spain players only

Giropay - available for German players only

Nordea Solo Sweden - available for Swedish players only

Nordea Solo Finland - available for Finish players only

iDeal - available for Dutch players only

By using these options in combination with your Moneybookers account, players will be able to instantly fund their player account, without the need to pre-fund their Moneybookers wallet!

To deposit, enter the amount players wish to deposit along with their Moneybookers account information. This will redirect players to the Moneybookers site where players can complete the transaction.

I write a bit about being capable of breaking away from straightforward tight-aggressive play. But when it comes to the early stages of single table tournaments, tight is right. In early position, you should play pretty much nothing. AA-KK and AK is about on target. If your table is really loose passive, you can limp with any pocket pair. And if your postflop play is superb, you can toss AQ into the early position mix.

In late position, you can come in with a slightly wider mix in unraised pots (hands like AJ, KQ and KJ). But in raised pots, keep it simple and stay really tight. When you do enter a pot with an unpaired hand like AK, either limp or raise small for value. If you raise preflop and get only one opponent, continuation betting is a play you shouldn’t be excited about.

Play hands that play themselves post-flop – you want to be able to play confidently for stacks if you hit postflop because the starting stacks in STTs don’t give you much room for probe bets.

Once the blinds have increased, it’s jam or fold time. And now, tight is far from right… especially when it comes to aggressing on the bubble. When you have 4-8 big blinds, you have opponents who’ll only call you with something like AA-55, AK-A9, and you’re in the cutoff or later, push all-in no matter what two cards you have when you’re first to enter the pot. Your opponents will fold a huge percentage of the time, and you’ll never be a prohibitive underdog the times that you’re called (32o wins 24% of the time against AA-55, AK-A9). When the bubble has burst, and opponents widen their calling distributions, you’ll need to tighten up a tad, but hyper-aggressive shoving will still be par for the course when you have 4-8 big blinds.

When it comes to calling all-ins, you should typically be somewhat tight because you can always fall back on your jamming edge. And with the 50/30/20 payout, survival and just getting in the money is important. But you shouldn’t take it to the extreme where you’re only calling all-ins with super-premium hands. With the size of the blinds, you should be willing to get your chips in whenever your hand is a little bit better than 50% against a jammer’s distribution.

Times may exist where you can profitably stray from the generic battle plan outlined here. But generally, “Tight and snug early; loose-aggressive late” is the successful STTer’s creed.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

Their next two day seminar is being held at The Bycycle Casino in Los Angeles.

Learn poker skills, strategies and applications through live hand demonstrations, seminars with Q & A, and tournaments.

Joe Navarro FBI ret. is confirmed for this event. Other instructors include Annie Duke and Alex Outhred.

A private WSOP Academy tournament is included and will give away a $5000.00 WSOP Circuit Main Event seat at a Circuit Event of the players choice.

William Hill have the following weekly tournaments available:

• Monday 19:30 UK - £1,500 ADDED Buy-In £15 + £1.50
• Wednesday 19:30 UK - £1,000 ADDED Buy-In £7.50 + £0.75
• Friday 19:30 UK - £500 ADDED Buy-In £2.50 + £0.50

Each of these tournaments will have 2,000 starting chips and 15-minute blind levels. This means that you won’t be rushed into a decision, and combined with the guaranteed value this makes these tournaments some of the best around. Satellites to Super Series events are available daily from 1 and have no fee attached! You simply login to the Poker Lobby to find out full details, including times and buy-in.

If you would like further information regarding poker tournament visit William Hill now.

The league winner will receive $50 to their PokerStars account, courtesy of Pokerisrigged.com.

• The league will run every Sunday for 5 weeks with the first tournament starting on Sunday 6th July at 8pm GMT.The buyin will be $5.50 and will be a freezeout tournament.Don’t worry about missing the first few tournaments! By playing in any of the tournaments you will earn yourself reward points that you may redeem for cash or forum bonuses!
• Prizes will be distributed normally in each tournament depending on how many runners there are.
• Ranking first in a tournament will earn yourself a Gold Trophy reward to put next to your avatar. Ranking second and third in tournaments with a larger amount of runners will earn you a Silver or Bronze trophy. All awards are exchangeable for reward points.
• If you are good enough to win the league at the end of the 5 weeks, you will be blessed with a unique and special Poker Is Rigged bracelet!