What Is The Difference Between My Favorite Poker Site .Com and .Net?

http://www.holdemreview.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/psnet.gifWith the PokerStars.net APPT Macau Summer Festival around the corner, an interesting point came up that seems worth mentioning.

You may notice that the official sponsor of this event is listed as PokerStars.net. This is the same PokerStars you know and love, with more than 25 million players; the .net simply refers to the free, play-money, “training” arm of the PokerStars network. They no doubt did this to more easily be able to advertise in countries (like the United States), where online gambling for real money is illegal, and therefore advertising for a tournament sponsored by a real-money poker site would be prohibiting in those venues.

Many sites do this. Many of the online satellites tournaments you’ve played in, and if you participate in any of the land-based tournaments sponsored by onine poker sites then many of those you’ve played in as well, were actually sponsored by the .net branch of the poker site you’re familiar with.

Almost every leading poker site has one: there’s UltimateBet.net, FullTiltPoker.net, TitanPoker.net and so on. These sites usually feature loads of poker strategy articles, some have video tutorials, celebrity instructors (the pro team on most sites that have one also teach on the sites’ resepctive free money “sister”), and they all host freerolls galore (sometimes with real prize money up for grabs) including ongoing freeroll Sit ‘n Gos for players to really hone their chops.

If you’ve never checked out the training sites, you might find them worth a look during some downtime from the real-money tables. You may even find yourself picking up a tip or two that can improve your game (and your odds) next time you do sit down with some real cold hard cash on the line.