Sports poker. ABC Poker: Basic Strategy International and National Sports Poker Associations

He conquered the hearts of millions of people around the world, many of whom are now asleep and see how in the near future they will begin to earn huge sums or win a major tournament, providing themselves financially for the rest of their lives. This is fueled by annual stories of poker stars winning millions of dollars at events such as the WSOP or WPT.

Surely, if you are at least a little fond of poker, you have heard such a phrase as "sports poker" more than once, but you probably do not quite understand what it means and what is the difference between sports poker and non-sports poker.

First, let's define the very term "poker":

Poker is a popular card game in which from 2 to 10 people can take part (meaning at the same table). Depending on the type of poker, players are dealt from 2 to 7 cards, of which they need to make a winning combination.

Well, that's in short.

Now, let's find out what sports poker is:

Sports poker is an intellectual card game in which players compete with each other, according to the established rules, in the ability and skill to calculate various probabilities and chances of collecting a winning combination, to evaluate the tactics and strategy of the opponent's game.

Thus, in sports poker, the main thing is not the money / chips earned, but the place the player has taken. In other words, sports poker is tournament poker.... Sports poker is analogous to tennis tournaments. Their participants also make a certain contribution at the beginning of the tournament, and then compete in skill. The best players receive prize money as a reward for winning.

Poker is a game of incomplete information. For example, while playing chess, you see all the opponent's pieces and you can use this in building your own strategy. At the same time, in poker, the opponent's cards are closed, which means the task becomes more difficult.

Poker in Russia was recognized as a sport on March 16, 2007 and was such for more than two years - until July 20, 2009, until the Minister of Sports and Tourism of the Russian Federation Vitaly Mutko deprived him of this status. It should be noted that Russia became the first country to recognize poker as a sport.

How sports poker differs from regular poker

To begin with, let's note that sports poker only contains poker tournaments. That is, players can compete in skills, skills and knowledge of strategies only in tournaments and this is easy to explain. The fact is that when playing in cash, the main task of the player is to obtain a stable income over the longest possible distance. At the same time, the main task of a sports poker player is the need to take the highest possible place.

So, at the cash tables, players play for real money. That is, having got to the table, the player can either lose or win an unlimited amount of funds (of course, it is limited, but only by the financial capabilities of the players themselves). This is all the difference between regular poker and tournament poker. The fact is that in fact, tournament poker players do not play for real money, but for chips. The buy-in that they make acts as a payment for entering the game, but the game itself and progress in the standings depend on the chips accumulated by the player. It is due to this that sports poker in some countries can be legalized, but ordinary poker at cash tables is not.

Sports poker rules

In fact, there is no such thing as a sports poker rule. If we talk about the rules of poker in general, they depend on the type of game, but not at all on the discipline.

If we talk about the rules of playing in tournaments, they differ from event to event. There are many tournaments. In some, it is allowed to make rebuys and add-ons (to buy chips if the player has lost the entire stack), in some the blinds grow every three minutes, there are also deep tournaments (with deep stacks) and many other types, each of which has its own rules.

The essence of sports poker is to first get into the prize zone (ITM), and then try to get as high as possible in the standings. That is why it was called "sports", as there is rivalry between the players in it.

The history of sports poker

It is easy to guess that the history of sports poker is closely intertwined with the history of the emergence of poker in general. Let's start with the official emergence of poker as a game in 1872, when Robert Schenck, the US ambassador to Great Britain, put together a written set of rules for the game. At that time, poker was a fairly popular game in pubs and other similar establishments, but only cash games were played.

The first professional tournaments have been held since 1970, so this year can be considered the official date of the birth of sports poker. It happened in the following way. Jack Binion, a man who just loved poker, announced a competition between the best players in the United States, the winner of which will be the King of Poker. Only six players took part in the tournament, but, despite this, the competition lasted for 7 days. All this time, the participants competed among themselves in various varieties of this card game. The winner was chosen by voting and became Johnny Moss.

Since the tournament caused a sea of ​​admiration among the public, Jack Binion decided to make it a regular event, and called it the WSOP (World Series of Poker), which today gathers tens of thousands of participants at its tables.

The very next year, in the second WSOP tournament, 14 people played, and every year the number of participants continued to grow.

Thus, sports poker was born on the same day as the World Series of Poker and Jack Binion should be thanked for that.

International and national associations of sports poker

As the popularity of sports poker grew, various associations began to appear around the world, holding local tournaments on their territory. They took responsibility for the competition, the development of uniform rules and much more. So which international sports poker associations are there?

• World Federation of Poker
• Poker Tournament Directors Association
• European Poker Sports Association
• Ladies Poker Association

These are the four main world organizations that regulate all poker-related activities and are also responsible for hosting international competitions.

In addition, there are national federations of sports poker and they are in almost every country:

• United States Poker Federation - USA
• Russian Sports Poker Federation - RF
• Belarusian Sports Poker Federation - Belarus
• Fédération Française des Joueurs de Poker - France
• Australian Poker Association - Australia
• Dansk Poker Forbund - Denmark
• South African Poker Association - South Africa
• And many others.

Where can you play sports poker?

If you are just starting to learn poker or until now have only played cash, but have now decided to start playing sports poker, we hasten to please you: you do not need to do anything special for this. The easiest way to start playing sports poker is online.

First of all, you need to choose a suitable poker room that offers a wide variety of multi-table tournaments with different buy-ins and structures. You can search for such a poker room for a long time, but there is no doubt that today the best site for playing tournament poker is PokerStars.

We recommend that you pay attention to the 888 Poker $ 88 bonus when registering, because it is issued mainly with tournament tickets, therefore, you can play sports poker for free, as well as increase your bankroll for future tournaments.

Sports poker in Russia

Sports poker developed actively in Russia after the collapse of the USSR, when casinos and gambling clubs began to appear in most cities. From the very beginning, poker was considered a game of chance and most of the players agreed with this, but there were also people like Dmitry Lesnoy who actively fought for the legalization of this game.

Is sports poker banned in Russia or not?

In 2006, Dmitry Lesnoy founded the Russian Sports Poker Federation, and the following year it was recognized as an official sport. Unfortunately, today, sports poker in Russia does not receive proper development due to the fact that the government does not recognize it as one of the sports. According to the Federal Law, since 2009, poker in any of its forms has been banned in Russia: sports, cash, online or offline - it doesn't matter. It is possible to play poker in Russia today only in special gambling zones, of which there are six in the Russian Federation: Sochi, Crimea, Yantarnaya (Zelenograd), Primorye (Vladivostok), Siberian Coin (Altai), Azov-City " (Krasnodar region).

Only by visiting one of these gambling zones, you can legally play sports poker. Of course, there are many underground casinos and poker clubs operating throughout the country, but their activities are illegal and if you do not want problems with law enforcement agencies, it is better to refuse to visit them.

Despite this, Russian players regularly participate in European and world poker tournaments. Such famous personalities as Ivan Demidov, Vitaly Lunkin, Alexander Kravchenko, Alexander Kostritsyn, Maxim Lykov, Kirill Gerasimov, Andrey Pateychuk and others are frequent participants of the World Series of Poker and from time to time take prizes in the events of this series.

You can also read additional materials on this topic in the article

SECTION 2.

2.1. SHOPPING (BUY-IN)- the minimum amount to enter the game.

2.1.1 The minimum number of chips (money) that a player must have in order to sit at a game table he likes is determined by the club's management.

2.1.2. In a tournament, the size of the entry fee is determined by the organizers of the tournament.

2.1.3. Players must buy game chips as cash is not accepted in the game. Each game table has its own minimum amount, with which a player can take a seat at this table.

2.1.4. Additional purchases to your money-chips can be made in any amount during the break between distributions.

2.2. INCOMPLETE PURCHASE

A player who wishes to make an incomplete purchase must buy chips in the amount of at least half of the full purchase (Buy in) in this type of game, provided that he has already paid for the full purchase earlier.

2.3. MINIMUM BET

2.3.1. Each game has its own minimum betting unit. The size of the minimum unit of bets for each game (ANTE or BLIND) is set by the Management.

2.3.2. The minimum bet during a draw is equal to either the big blind in BUTTON games or the forced initial bet in the STUD POKER varieties, with the exception of all in bets. If the “big blind” or the size of the forced initial bet exceeds the bet of the player who has bet “all in”, the next player must accept this bet in full, unless the fight is one-on-one.

2.4. CHIPS ON THE TABLE

2.4.1. This rule applies to all types of poker. Only those chips that are on the table can be used during the play. The player is not allowed to place additional chips and / or cash on the table during the draw. The player does not have the right to remove chips and / or cash from the table until he has completed his gaming session.

2.4.2. Between deals, the player can add any number of chips to those already on the table in front of him. If he wants to add chips (buy, get out of his pocket or take out a loan), he must do it between deals, announcing to other players: "Plays this much."

2.4.3. A player can remove chips from the table only at the end of his game.

2.4.4. All players have the right to see how many chips his playmates have. Any player has the right to ask and get an approximate answer to the question of how many chips a player has in the game.

2.5. SERVING ERRORS (MISDEALS)

The following circumstances cause an error in a hand to be declared, provided that attention was drawn to the error before two players made a move. (If two players make the next move, the hand must be played to the end).

(a) The first or second card in the hand was dealt face up or was revealed by the dealer by mistake.

(b) Two or more cards were revealed by the dealer.

(c) Two or more wrong cards were found (face up).

(d) At the beginning of the game, two or more extra cards were dealt.

(e) The wrong number of cards was dealt to the player.

(f) The card was dealt in the wrong order (except for the face up card, which can be replaced with a burned card).

(g) The button is out of play or in the wrong position.

(h) Cards were dealt to an empty box or to a player not participating in the game.

(i) A player participating in the game was missed in the distribution.

The game is considered to have started when two players, after the obligatory bets, started the game (they started to act on the basis of the cards in their hands). In games with the "button", the game is considered to have started when two players, after placing blind bets, have started playing. Once the game has started, a retake can no longer be announced. The deal will be played to the end and the money will not be returned to the player whose cards were dealt not according to the rules.

2.6. PAS (DEAD HANDS)

2.6.1. Your cards stop participating in the game if:

1. You abandon the game or declare your intention to abandon, faced with the need to place a bet or increase

2. If you throw your cards forward, thus prompting the other player to walk behind you.

3. In stud poker, when revealing your cards, you remove your cards from the table, turn your cards face down, or shuffle the top and bottom cards together.

4. The cards given to you are not enough for this particular game.

5. A player who takes action without looking at the cards assumes responsibility for finding the wrong card.

6. You show your cards without answering the last bet.

7. The time for placing a bet or increasing it is limited, and a certain time limit has expired.

2.6.2. Pass cards are declared "dead", however, in exceptional cases, if the cards are clearly separable, they, at the discretion of management, can be returned to the player if they were discarded as a result of incorrect information transmitted to the player.

2.7. VIOLATIONS

2.7.1. In games with the BUTTON (SHARES), if it is found that the BUTTON was placed incorrectly in the previous hand, its position and the blinds will be corrected in the new hand so that each player is given the opportunity to play in each of the positions in the circle (if possible ).

2.7.2. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS PROTECT YOUR CARDS with your hand, token, or other object placed on top of the cards. If you failed to protect your cards, and they were discarded, or the dealer accidentally removed them, then they will not be restored.

2.7.3. A player who knows that the deck is defective is obliged to report it. If, instead, the player tries to win the pot by choosing an aggressive course of action, the player may lose the right to receive the payout and may be required to keep the chips in the pot until the next deal.

2.7.4. A card found face up in the deck (boxed card) will be ignored and replaced with the next card next to it.

2.7.5. If one or more cards are missing from the deck, this does not affect the outcome of the deal.

2.7.6. If before the first round of bets the dealer deals an extra card, then it is returned to the deck and used as a burn card.

2.7.7. Face-up procedures vary by type of poker and are listed in the section for each game.

2.7.8. If the card was revealed through the dealer's fault, the player is not given the choice to accept or refuse the card. The situation will be settled in accordance with the rules for this particular game.

2.7.9. If you drop one of your cards to the floor, that card still takes part in the game.

2.7.10. If the dealer has dealt the cards prematurely, before all the bets have been made, these cards do not take part in the game, even if the player who has not yet made a move in the game decides to fold.

2.7.11. If in a cash game a player opens his cards while under a bet, then his hand is automatically declared "dead". In the tournament, the cards remain "live", but at the end of the distribution, the player receives a penalty.

2.7.12. The dealer must take away the cards of the absent players one by one. In a tournament, cards are taken immediately after the initial cards are dealt to all players (cards are taken regardless of where the absent player is).

2.8. BETS AND INCREASE IN BETS (CALL & RAISE)

2.8.1. In limited games, if three or more players take part in the game, then it is possible to make a bet and three raises.

2.8.2. If only two players participate in the game, the bet is allowed to increase an unlimited number of times. This applies whenever there are two players left in the game.

2.8.3. Any bet of the circle must be at least equal to the previous bet or increased. An increase can be made from the smallest possible step to the largest possible increase in a given game, unless the player is going to bet all his remaining money (all in), which does not exceed the maximum possible increase. The minimum increase (step) is equal to the value of the last increase in that particular game.

2.8.4. A verbal statement defines your actions and is a commitment. If, in turn, you verbally declare that you will take a fold (Pass), check (check), place a bet (bet), equalize on a previous bet (call) or increase the bet (raise), you must take these actions.

2.8.5. A deliberate move out of turn is not allowed. The player, who has declared a check (check) in the wrong turn, cannot make a bet or increase it in this round. A move or an oral statement not in turn may be considered mandatory if the player to whom the move is transferred does not make a bet (Bet) or does not increase the rate (Raise) after the violation has been recognized.

2.8.6. To retain the right to move, the player must stop play by saying "time" (or an equivalent word). If you have not stopped the game two or more players after you have already made a move, you may lose the right to move. You do not lose the right to move if the player in front of you missed a move, this only happens if you did not take action when, according to the rules, it was your turn to move. That is, if you were waiting for a player in front of you to make a move, and three or more players after you made a move, this still does not deprive you of the right to move.

2.8.7. The player who bets or calls when depositing money into the pot is bound by this action.

2.8.8. It is not allowed to increase the rates in several steps (report chips). The increase is made in one-step action, or the amount of the increase is announced in advance.

2.8.9. If you throw one more chip into the pot and do not announce an increase, you are considered to have called at the previous bet.

2.8.10. If the player wants to increase the bet, he must say "Raise", "plus", or silently place a bet in one motion, which is at least more by the amount of the last increase in this particular game. If the player makes an increase in silence, but the amount of increase he gave is less than half (50%) of the minimum possible increase, then his action is accepted as an answer “Call”, and the dealer gives the change to the player. If this increase is more than half, or equal (50%) to the possible increase, then the player's bet is accepted as “Raise” and the player must deliver to the amount of the minimum increase.

2.8.11. Players can increase after all in, even if all in is less than the minimum increase. But the increase can be made by the players sitting after the player who made the “all in”, and the player (s) who made his move in this betting round can only deliver to the “all in”. But if after “all in”, any of the players sitting after him made an increase, then the player (s) who made a bet before “all in” can make an increase. Also, all players, without exception, can make an increase if the player's “all in” is a full-fledged raise in the given game.

2.8.12. If the dealer misses one player by mistake and immediately goes to another, and after this missed player two actions took place, then the player who was missed (and who did not react to the dealer's mistake in any way) loses his word (i.e. if all “check ", Then this player is automatically" check ").

2.8.13. If a player has placed a bet out of turn, then depending on the actions of the players in front of him, the bet will either remain in the bank, or it can be removed. Namely: If the player, whose word will check, pass or call, on the previous bet, then the untimely placed bet must remain in the game. If, however, the player, whose word, made the first bet “Bet” or an increase in “Raise”, then the player who placed the bet at the wrong time can remove it and make any other decision. This rule applies only to tournaments, in cash games the bet is placed outside the queue remains in the bank, except if the player acted on the basis of incorrectly received information.

2.9. WORDS AND GESTURES RESPONSIBLE

2.9.1. A verbal announcement is accepted along with an action if it intends to play a BET, CALL, RAISE, CHECK or PASS. Any player who, by word or gesture, expresses his intention to make a CHECK, BET, RAISE or PASS, must adhere to his word.

2.9.2. The word is responsible. That is, the player who announced “Pass” cannot “change his mind” and place a bet. His hand is considered "dead". Likewise, the player who said "Call" or "Pot" (Bank) must put money in the pot.

2.9.3. Verbal announcements regarding showdown are not allowed. At the end of the rally, only the revealed cards are taken into account, and not the announcements of the players.

2.10. SHOW DOWN

2.10.1. "The cards speak for themselves." The dealer helps determine the hand, but the players are responsible for keeping their cards until a winner is announced. While verbally claiming a combination is not an obligation, it is not ethical to deliberately misrepresent a combination in order to induce another player to fold winning cards and may result in bank confiscation.

2.10.2. Before the dealer gives the winning pot to the winner, he turns face down and removes all the losing cards.

2.10.3. If a player, seeing the cards of his opponent (s), agrees with his loss and folds his cards face-down to Pass, then none of the players at the table has the right to look at these cards, unless the player himself shows them. Exception, if in the tournament all in and call, then the cards of both players are revealed, even if it is the river and the player who made the call sees that he has lost.

2.10.4. If, during or after the deal, you show cards to another player, any of the players at the table has the right to look at these cards. Cards shown during the deal to a player not participating in the bank can be shown to all players only after the end of the deal.

2.10.5. If everyone announces “check” in the final round, the player who played first (the player sitting after the “button”) reveals his cards first, in any other case, the player who last took action, making a bet or increasing it, is the first to open his cards. If there is a second pot (side pot), the players participating in it must show their cards before being revealed by the player who put the last money in the main pot.

2.10.6. In cash games, if during the Show Down the player (s) folds their cards face-down to the Pass, thereby agreeing with their loss, then the player who remains with the cards is declared the winner of this particular game and he does not need show your cards.

2.10.7. In tournaments, when all the betting rounds are completed in the distribution, then in order to win any part of the pot, the player must put all cards face up on the table.

2.11. BETS IN THE "DARK" (BIG & SMALL BLINDS)

2.11.1. Each player must be able to be in the position of the dealer (Button), and fulfill the total number of obligations for bets in the dark (Small & Big blind). Any of the following methods can be used for this:

Moving button - The button always moves forward in a circle to the next player and the rates in the dark are adjusted accordingly.

Fixed "Button" (Dead button) - "Big blind" is placed by the player who must bet him in this hand, "Small blind" and "Button" are bet accordingly, even if this means that "small blind" and "Button" will be placed in front of an empty seat, giving the same player the last move in two consecutive games.

2.11.2. The player (s) making a blind bet (Small & Big blind) has the right to increase the pot in the first round of betting.

2.11.3. In a two-bet small & Big blinds game with only two players left, the "Small blind" is bet to the player "on the button".

2.11.4. A player starts the game with "Big blind" if he:

Enters the game with the Guest Blind equal to the Big Blind.

Sits in the seat of "Big blind".

Changes to another seat, getting up from the position of "Small" or "Big blind"

Changes to another place, while moving away from Big Blind.

2.11.5. The game is possible without the "Small blind", but it cannot do without the "Big blind".

2.12. DARK (STRADDLE)

2.12.1. Straddle can be allowed or prohibited, in the opinion of the management or by agreement between the players.

2.12.2. Only the player who is immediately behind the big blind can make a "straddle".

2.12.3. "Straddle" can only be equal to twice the big blind, no more, no less. In 5-card stud, the size of the "dark" can be equal, from the pot to the doubled product of the pot, and the player sitting closer to the "button" has the advantage of betting "dark".

2.12.4. A "straddle" is considered "live" and gives the right to say the last word to the player "in the big blind" in the first round of betting.

(maniac, fish, rock and others).

A player using the ABC poker strategy is an easy read for the seasoned poker player. This approach and the table of starting hands are recommended to be used mainly by beginners playing at micro stakes.

Below we will consider 3 situations where ABC play can bring relatively good results.

Short stack game

Most professional players play with maximum stacks, and therefore prefer to use meta-poker, focusing on large pots and high stakes. However, cash lovers not always can afford to buy up to the middle table level. It is in this case that the poker player needs to turn to the good old ABC poker, which allows you to make a stable profit and move towards a big win in small steps.

The ABC strategy focuses on selectively playing strong hands and being calm about aggressive opponents with medium strength hands. Thanks to these qualities of the basic strategy, you can profit from opponents who are willing to invest in the pot with dubious hands in response to your aggression. Adequate assessment of hand strength with different board textures will help you not to succumb to the provocations of your opponents once again and save your funds.

Playing at a table with only "short stacks" when using the ABC strategy can generally become very simple, because many poker players tend to take risks with small amounts more easily and make mistakes more often.

Showdown equity

Lately, showdowns have become a rarity in no-limit games. Most often, players fold on the flop or turn, and the last person to bet wins the pot. If the game is played for little money, then income before showdown becomes more likely, and in this case the ABC strategy will come in handy again.

By focusing on playing with a strong range of hands preflop and value-betting top pair and higher hands postflop, you can feel at ease on the late streets and will take the pot much more often at showdown.

No bluffs

This is the main reason for using the ABC strategy at any level of game proficiency. If your opponents are betting mostly with strong hands and checking with weak hands, you should probably do the same.

Of course, you may think that this behavior is passive and robs you of the initiative in the game, but a follow-up check can bring you much more information than meets the eye. So, checking in response to the flop KT4, you seem to be asking your opponent the question "Do you have a king in your hand?" A check on the turn will mean a negative answer, but a bet should confirm your guess.

Of course, strong opponents can exploit your return checks and give you false information, but against weak opponents this line of play will be very effective.

Check all weak hands and wait for information from your opponent. Another check will mean a weak hand and you will have to act accordingly. So, with a strong hand like top pair, you can safely check to showdown, and on weaker hands, you should bet to take the pot before the showdown.

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At a time when the majority continue to play in large publicized poker rooms such as PokerStars or 888Poker, there are a huge number of small poker rooms on the Internet that can also offer quite good conditions for users.

Usually, the main advantages of these poker rooms are not the quality of the photos and the large number of tournaments, but the audience of users. The fact is that strong regulars usually play in those places where you can earn the most, that is, on popular platforms. Therefore, the overall level of players in such rooms is quite low.

This is a great opportunity for newbies to practice their skills with players of the same level. One of these rooms is Offside Poker. This article is dedicated to him.

What is this room?

This room has been functioning for a long time, but at the present time its affairs are not going in the best way. It flourished between 2009 and 2010. It was at this time that most of the players were registered, but after that the decline began. Most likely, the reason for this was the scandal around the room, which was widely discussed at the time. This will be discussed below.

Permanent promotions

Naturally, in order to expand your audience of users, you need to arrange all kinds of promotions and give new players generous bonuses. However, to be honest, you can find more profitable shares from other operators.

However, the deposit bonus is as much as 200% of the amount you have deposited into your account. In this case, the maximum amount of bonuses is as much as $ 2,000 per account. But the money will not be credited immediately, but as the user accumulates a certain amount of rake.

Badbeat Bonus. Poker is a brutal game. Regardless of your playing skills, no one is safe from the situation when your flush is overtaken by a full house, which reached your opponent on the river. Such a thing is very offensive and there is a special bonus specially to mitigate this in Offside poker.

Each player who loses the hand, having at least AAAKK in his hands, receives $ 150 on his account. But there are some details. Such a bonus will not be received by any user who lost with this combination, but only by the one who had the highest combination during the day. For example, if you lost with such a full house, but after a while someone in the room lost with quads of twos, then the bonus will be paid not to you, but to the user with quads of twos. Another detail is that the bonus cannot be withdrawn immediately, but you also have to wager it.

Best hand bonus. A similar action, which is similar to the previous one. This time the best hand is considered. If you win with at least four of jacks, you will be credited with $ 100 in bonus dollars. But here the same restriction applies as with the previous example: the hand must be the strongest of the day and the bonus money will have to be wagered. An additional condition is that this promotion is valid only at limits of $ 0.50 / 1.0 and above.

Royal Fush Bonus. Another promotion of the room, which has its pitfalls. It has the following conditions: there is a starting jackpot of $ 100. Every day, 10 dollars are added to it until one of the users gets a role-flash. But the bonus has a maximum amount, it is $ 500. An additional condition is that the game must be played at the limits of $ 0.50 / $ 1.00. In this case, both pocket cards must participate in the composition of the combination. The jackpot is one-time, if this combination is collected by several players, then only the first of them will receive the prize.

Loyalty program

There is a VIP system for regular players, thanks to which users can get a part of the rake back. Previously, there were six levels, ranging from "white" to "platinum". Currently, the loyalty program has been reduced to four: White, Blue, Black and Silver.

To go to the next level, you will have to accumulate a certain number of OPP points. The accumulated points can be exchanged for goods in the in-house store at the rate of $ 5 for every 2000 OPP points. We can say that these are relatively good conditions.

Deposit and withdrawal

Now you can deposit and withdraw funds from your account in the Offside poker room using:

• Bank cards VISA and MasterCard
• Skrill
• NETELLER
• UCASH
• WebMoney
• EcoCard

At the same time, it will be possible to withdraw the day only through the payment system with which you replenished the account. This means that if you made a deposit using Skrill, you will also have to cash out using Skrill. It is worth mentioning that the minimum amount that can be used to replenish an account is $ 1.

registration

A characteristic feature of the poker room is undoubtedly the fact that no one has the right to register in the room without an invitation. It is difficult to say what was the reason for this, but the management of the poker room decided to make their site closed. In order to start playing in the room, you need to receive an invitation from your friend, and if there is none, then you will have to look for it. It is believed that this policy is associated with an attempt to avoid paying taxes and not showing their income in the open.

If you want to start playing Offside Poker, just clicking on the “Register” button will not be enough. You will have to write a letter to the official email of the room [email protected], with a request to allow registration on the site. This approach seems very strange. Especially considering the fact that the room is far from the most popular and by complicating the registration in this way, you can lose a large number of potential users.

Bookmaker's office

The indisputable advantage of Offside poker is that users have one gaming account both for the bookmaker's office, as well as for casinos and poker. Thus, many users in the room play poker in between matches or just for fun. Obviously, in such conditions, there will hardly be a lot of good players.

In addition, the bonuses received do not have to be wagered at the poker tables. They can be spent by placing a bet at a bookmaker's office.

Scandals

As mentioned earlier, there are several scandals associated with Offside Poker. After them, most of the audience of the poker room stopped playing on this site and on more non-greedy rooms. This story began in 2013 when Offside Poker suddenly changed the conditions for wagering cashouts, which made it completely unprofitable.

But nowadays big rooms also resort to such changes, one of them, for example, is PokerStars.

But the more important part of the problem is that in addition to changing the conditions of Offside Poker, a large number of game accounts were frozen along with this. With them, users have not been able to cash out their bonus funds. And when the account holders contacted technical support, they were told that they had not fulfilled the conditions of the poker room, so the restrictions would not be lifted.

Outcome

Thus, on the one hand, Offside Poker can be a good platform for beginner poker players, because the audience level of the poker room is quite low. But on the other hand, closed registration and scandals in the recent past make you think about the reliability of the room.