Not Going to the WSOP? Part 1

May 29 2008, Barry Carter

Like just about every poker related media institution at the moment right now, you'll be noticing we are making plenty of references to the World Series of Poker at the moment. We are all getting very excited about it and we are sure a lot of you guys are too. But we also realise that a lot of will not be making their way to the big one this year, not everyone will have the Las Vegas sun soar down on them as they attempt to win a life changing amount of money and we all know how much that can suck.

But don't despair, we haven't forgotten about you, because there are still plenty of reasons to stay in Blighty this summer. When the sharks are away, there is plenty of money to be made in the UK, so we are bringing you our guide to staying at home during the World Series of Poker. This week we'll take a look at online poker:

There is never a better time to play online cash games than during the World Series of Poker. All the really good players have made their way to Las Vegas and you'll have all the fish (Who have never heard of the World Series of Poker) to yourself. If you have been thinking at taking a shot at a slightly bigger game, now is the time, because they will be softer than ever.

The absolute best time to be playing would be from around the 31st of June to about the 10th of July. This is when most of the poker world is travelling to, playing in, or returning home from the main event. Obviously plenty of players will have taken their laptops and can still be found online, but generally the waters are the least shark infested during this time.

This period of time is also the best to play the online tournaments, but mainly the higher buy-in events as the fields don't really change for the low to midstakes MTTs. It's a great time to go in for events like the Pokerstars Sunday Million because the field would be predominantly made up of satellite entries, rather than direct buy-ins, so the best chance to take a shot at a big MTT payday.

If you still want to create that Vegas feeling, a couple of big poker rooms are holding their own versions of the WSOP for a fraction of the price. Bodog are holding a mini-series to mirror the hold'em bracelet events at a 1% fraction of the price. Full Tilt Poker are also holding a carbon copy of the WSOP schedule for 1% of the buy-in. The $100 main events of both will be great value as all the sharks will be sitting down for the real main event and there will be plenty of dead money at the virtual felt.

There are plenty of reasons not to get down while the World Series is on and you are stuck at home. Next time we'll take a look at where you can play a little bricks and mortar poker while the big one is on.

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