Up until 2012 there were almost 70 iPoker skins that were connected to the iPoker Network, like the well known iPoker Skin Titan Poker, and rooms like Paddy Power Poker. Since that time, a number of skins have gone out of business, shut up shop or left the network for greener pastures, condensing the network down to a collection of 20 or so sites. 2014 Winter Sales tournaments buy-ins reduced on iPoker network sites Titan Poker, WinnerPoker and Betfair. Get up to 80% off the same guarantees. The Best iPoker Skins. The most famous iPoker skins are clearly Betsson, Betsafe Titan Poker, William Hill, Bet365 and Betfair. All these sites are big names in the poker industry; they also offer their players a lot of exclusive promotions that can’t be found elsewhere.
My Complete Guide To iPoker Network Poker Tournaments Big And Small!
It is no secret here at SNG Planet that the iPoker Network (and especially Titan Poker) is high on my list of favorite places to play. This network is a common poker software system shared by many of the biggest sports-betting brands including big names like Paddy Power, William Hill and Bet365 - who pool together their players to offer more games and tournaments than they would be able to alone. With peaks of 67,000 players there are plenty of games to choose from. The ‘recreational’ nature of the players who find their way to these games from the sportsbooks – you’ll find entertaining and profitable tournaments running with buy-ins from just $1 right up to $525.
This guide to poker tournaments on the iPoker Network gives you valuable insights into what to expect. I’ll go through the types of tournament you'll find there first, in quick-fire format. Then the showcase games will be covered including the iPoker ‘Sunday Major’ and regular big buy-in events. Finally you will find some information on the Sit and Goes and Satellite qualifier tournaments.
Before we get going – I have a special deal for readers wanting to check out the iPoker Network at the biggest single site, Titan Poker. This is an extra $20 free cash on top of your 200% welcome bonus. All you need to do is register with bonus code SNGPLANET and I will ensure that the extra money is in your player account within 48 hours (usually sooner). A nice boost to your bankroll while you check out the cool tournaments at Titan Poker for yourself!
Poker Tournaments On The iPoker Network – Quick Overview
Here is what to expect from the tournaments at iPoker.
- Inexperienced Opponents, A LOT of Inexperienced Opponents! Not only at the lowest buy-ins either… You’ll find plenty of people who ‘obviously’ do not understand poker strategy very well at the mid-stakes and even some at the highest buy-ins. This makes the games profitable for those who do know the strategy, though you’ll need to be prepared for a lot of strange plays!
- Huge Choice At Lower Limits: Especially up to $20 buy-ins, and in the evenings / weekends. There is a ton of choice at iPoker – focused on No Limit Holdem and Omaha. Turbos and rebuys are the main variations – many of the smaller games come with guarantees too.
- iPoker Online Poker Series (iPOPS): This is the big tournament event on this network, and comes around every 3 to 4 months. You’ll find a week+ of guaranteed prize tournaments, with a $500,000 ‘Main Event’ to top it off. What I like about this one is that the satellite qualifiers ensure that a lot of smaller bankroll players get to take a shot.
- Bigger Buy-ins: The $200,000 Guaranteed Sunday game is the regular showcase event, though there are several others in the schedule. If you are a big buy-in tournament fan these are probably too spread out to form a complete schedule. Though the inexperienced nature of the opponents you’ll find at the tables mean it is worth playing them alongside some other sites as part of your bigger buy-in schedule.
I should note that Titan Poker have a couple of cool promotions which directly benefit tourney fans. These include the awesome ‘Tournament Super Sale’ which chops up to 70% off of the buy-in for the guaranteed tournaments, the sales come around regularly, so keep an eye on the Titan website. The other scheme is the ‘Titan Treasures’ system, which gives you gold coins for completing certain challenges – you then swap the coins for more bonuses. There are always several challenges involving tournaments, and if you are going to play them anyway, why not pick up the extra money!
Poker Tournaments On The iPoker Network – The Big Prizes
Big buy in tournaments on this network come in 3 types. First the regular bigger events, including the big Sunday game. Next the events, currently in the form of the iPOPs. Finally the big event satellite qualifiers – for example to the World Series or Aussie Millions live events.
Sunday sees the $200,000 guarantee – which is a $215 buy-in – kicks off at 18:00 (GMT+1) each week and attracts big fields. There are qualifiers to this game running all week via iPoker’s 3-stage satellite system. Other bigger tourney guarantees include a $50k Friday Event, and $40k weekday tournaments too.
iPOPs ups the prizes for tournament fans, with this event getting bigger and better each time it is run. This online event mixes smaller and big buy ins (between $5.50c and $370) with a series of guaranteed games totaling $1,200,000 at the last running. The main event is a $215 game with $500,000 guaranteed – enough cash to make a big difference to the life of the winner! Again, a lot of smaller bankroll players get seats in the events via satellite qualifiers.
Satellite Qualifiers to big events make up the last category of big buy-in games on the iPoker Network. You can win prize packages which include travel, hotel, expenses and tournament buy-ins up to $10k for the premier events. There are also many smaller event qualifiers, for example for the Irish Open, which add up to around $4k.
IPoker Tournaments At The Excellent Titan Poker – Sit and Goes and Satellites
I have a dedicated SNG Review for Titan Poker, which goes into these smaller games in a lot of detail, so this is just a quick summary. The games are soft, again it is the recreational traffic via the big sports betting brands who keep the ‘fun’ players coming. Choices outside the usual 1 and 2 table games include Steps (great for winning tokens for bigger tournaments), the famous Jackpot SNGs (win 6 in a row for $50k) and turbo variations. The SNGs at Titan are a strong recommendation in their own right.
Satellites already got a mention in this article. Here I will just clarify the excellent 3-stage setup for these. Having tiers of sub-qualifiers allows you to get involved in the bigger games (either online or live) starting from less than $1. If you do not want to fight your way through the stages, then you can always buy-in direct to the stage 1 satellites. Where the tickets to the big events are awarded.
Poker Tournaments On The iPoker Network – Summary And Next Steps
Well, you can probably tell that I am a big fan of tournaments on the iPoker Network. The mid-level games are fantastic, though you’ll need to be capable of adjusting your play to people who are reluctant to fold!
Check out these games for yourself with the help of $20 extra cash on top of your 200% matched welcome bonus. All you need to do is register at iPoker’s biggest and best site – Titan Poker – with bonus code SNGPLANET and I will ensure that the extra is with you within 48 hours (usually much quicker). Check out Titan Pokerfor yourself now – I’ll see you at the tables!
More Articles With iPoker Network Connections!
- iPoker Split Special: At the end of last year this network split into 2 tiers, with the big sports brands (who supply the fish) forming iPoker 2 and the smaller skins relegated to iPoker 1. This affects cash games and some SNGs, you can find out who is in and who is out in this detailed article.
- Alternatives To The Sunday Million: iPoker's Sunday $200 guaranteed is one of my favorite Sunday games, you can see how this compares to other site's big Sunday tournaments in this article.
- Fish-o-Meter: My exclusive fish-o-meter widget finds you the softest games for your personal preferences... if you have read this article it should be no surprise that iPoker feature heavily for both SNGs and larger tournaments.
The iPoker Network is the online poker offering of leading casino provider Playtech. Each site on this poker network shares players and games – meaning the action you’re getting is the same, regardless of which site you play through. You can, therefore, pick the site that has the best bonuses and promotions for your playing style.
In the table below you’ll find our pick of the top iPoker sites for UK players, along with the welcome bonuses they offer. As you might notice, the iPoker network seems to be favoured by many high street bookmakers and land based casino operators.
List of UK iPoker Bonuses
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iPoker Network Review
The iPoker network is the largest poker network in the world. The company behind the network is that of PlayTech, which is just so happens to be behind many gambling formats such as sports betting, online casino and bingo sites. Whilst PlayTech has been in operation since 1999, the iPoker network wasn’t formed until 2004 and since then has had mass promotion around the world.
Ipoker Network Sites
As it currently stands iPoker do not accept players from the US, that being said they still have a massive player portfolio behind them meaning volume of traffic is right up there. The company currently entertain over 60 skins on their network from an array of betting backgrounds including the likes of William Hill, Titan Poker, Paddy Power and Blue Square.
Ipoker Network Sites For Sale
Since its entry into the poker market iPoker has seen many software changes and now provide their users with a safe, unique and player friendly service. The ability to incorporate tracking software such as Holdem Manager and Poker Tracker make it a haven for poker players of all abilities.
iPoker Network Traffic
As they are the largest poker network, you would expect traffic to be high, and it is. Numbers can range between a 7 day average of over 2500 up to a 24 hour peak of over 5000. Weekends are the most popular times where numbers can hit anything up to 8000 at any time resulting in games being at their best.
With the inclusion of so many sportsbooks and casinos on their network, iPoker provides a real mix of player abilities. Off peak hours can often be relatively tough with the majority of players being grinders and bonus seekers. Peak time such as Friday evenings and weekends are the best times to play with the ratio of recreational to better players being much favourable.
iPoker Network Game Selection
A big attraction for so many players to the iPoker Network is the array of games it has on offer. Up to 7 different variants including Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo, Razz and 5 Card Stud are all available. It is worth mentioning however, that not all games get a lot of traffic. The less popular formats such as your stud and razz games receive very little off peak traffic and it’s only at peak times where games really come alive.
The tournament scene at iPoker is really buzzing with around the clock games being run. Their guaranteed MTT’s often bring in a nice balance of prize money and player numbers allowing for completion to be in a reasonable timescale.
iPoker Network Promotions
Ipoker Network Sites Review
As with the majority of online poker networks most promotions in terms of deposit bonuses or rakeback deals are skin dependent; iPoker is no different. Network wide their biggest promotion probably comes in form of the ever popular ECOOP (European Championship of Online Poker) series where over $4 million in prize money is guaranteed over a host of tournaments. You can also find satellite entries for some the biggest UK live events such as GUKPT grand finals and the Irish Open. On top of this every Sunday iPoker run the ‘Sunday Bash’ which is a $100+9 buy in tournament with a guarteed prize pool over $200,000. There are also a host of leader boards that you can win for a share of $760,000 by simply playing as many hands as possible. Depending on which stakes you play will depend on which level you will qualify in terms of leader boards.