Top Poker Rooms
Poker Room Reviews
Poker News
Poker Tournaments for You This Week
There is never a dull moment in a poker player’s life. Obviously, the main reason for that is the constant existence of poker tournaments and poker events that one can participate in. These events are not just for making money, but also to have some fun and get better at the game in the process. Several live poker tourneys are lined up for this week and the coming weeks. Here is a note on some of the tournaments you can … Read the rest
2012 PokerStars Macau Poker Championships Announced
PokerStars is one online poker room that never takes a break from hosting tournaments. The poker room recently released details about its upcoming event, the PokerStars Macau Live Tournaments. The Macau tournaments hosted by PokerStars is one of the biggest and richest poker events held in Asia. It includes 4 major poker series – Macau Poker Cup (MPC) Red Dragon, Asia Championship of Poker, Macau Poker Cup Championship or MPCC and the yearly Asia Pacific Poker Tour event at Macau. … Read the rest
The $30,000 Winner Wednesday Dozen Unveiled
Winner Poker has partnered with pokernews.com to bring a new promotion to its new members. The online poker room announced its new promotion called Winner’s Wednesday Dozen Freerolls, which literally lets you win free money. The new promotion is open to all the new players who register with Winner Poker and make a deposit. The promo will run for three months, and all you need to do is play poker and earn as many Winner Points as you can. Here … Read the rest
Enter the Matrix at FullTilt
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 by Phil
About a week ago, I wrote about Pokerstars and their double or nothing SNGs. I thought this was a great addition to their roster of games offered.
Of course Full Tilt knows this and they came up with an alternative to double or nothing SNGs.
They call it the Matrix. The name needs a little improvement but the games are fun. FT offers the Matrix games in NLHE, PL Omaha Hi and HORSE. Pretty nice spread there.
The buy-ins range from $1.25 all the way to $2,190 so there’s a variety of buy-ins for your bankroll.
You get 4 games for the price of 1. The prize pool is split up 5 ways. One way to win is to place in the money. So at a 6 man table, you finish in the top 2 you get paid off. In a full SNG table you need to finish in the top 3. Now since you’re playing 4 games, simultaneously I might add, you have 4 chances to cash.
The 5th element of this matrix set up is unique. It’s set up like a leaderboard for the 4 tables you’re playing at. You get 1 point for lasting longer than your opponents, you get 2 points for knocking someone out and for finishing first. So when the 4 games are over, if you finish in the top 2 in points in a 6 man SNG you get a bonus cash out (equivalent to the amount you would’ve gotten if you had won one of the tables).
Again, you have 5 ways to cash in this set up. So of I course tried some games out.
I played a few of these games. They’re fun because for the price of one buy-in you get to play 4 tourneys at the same time. You run into a donkey who knocks you out on a gutter? That’s ok, you have 3 other games to play to get even.
If you happen to accumulate enough points to cash then you’ve done fine.
The jury is still regarding the Matrix game set up. I feel that if you’re a good SNG player you’re probably better off playing the regular SNGs since your chances of cashing are better and you get more money per cash.
If you’re the type of player who can’t play multiple tables then this isn’t for you. But if you’re the type of player who wants more value for their buy-ins then this might be the game for you. Unless you’re a total donk, you won’t lose much but you won’t win much either.
Again, the games I tested were lower level buy-ins ($2 to $5 buy-ins) and they play about the same. There’s a lot pushing and calling with junk, which is par for the course at Full Tilt. Most of the time I either won a little or I lost a little. The thing about this game is that if you’re a decent player you will probably cash at least once or maybe twice. My best showing was 1 first and 2 seconds. I finished second in points also. For all that playing, I won only a few bucks, so the return was ok but I think if I had played 4 regular SNGs and cashed 3 times (1st and two 2nds), I would’ve cleared more profit.
For my money though, I prefer the double or nothing at Pokerstars if you want to build bankroll. The Matrix games are fun if you want a little more bang for your buy-in. They’re also fun because unless you’re a super bad SNG player you won’t lose a whole lot.
So go ahead and take that red pill, follow the white rabbit and enter the Matrix. You never know you might just get sucked in.
