PKR Poker is bringing back their popular Xmas Cracker promotion for the 2009 holiday season.  Starting on the 21^st of December the Christmas Cracker promo will run for 12 days and great prizes will be given out every single one of them.  The buy-ins for the tourneys start at just $5 and you can definitely win some prizes that are more valuable than the contributed prize pools.  Prizes include Nintendo Wii’s, Plasma Screen TV’s and much more.

This great Christmas promotion, along with the various poker bonuses PKR offers to new players, such as the 100% matching bonus up to $800, make this the perfect time to register at PKR and try out the most advanced gaming software on the internet.

PKR was also proud to announce their new official fan page on Facebook.  This page will keep you up to date on all of the current PKR promos and changes.  Joining up as a PKR fan page member on Facebook could also add some coin to your poker bankroll.  This Thursday PKR is running a $1000 freeroll exclusively for members of their Facebook fan page.  If you are off Thursday night and you are interested in playing some free poker for some decent cash this is a great opportunity for you.

As an aside note I will stray from the PKR news for a second and talk about some interesting industry news.  PKR’s online poker competitor Ultimate Bet has now officially changed their name to simply UB.  Ultimate Bet has been trying to mend their public image after last year’s scandal.  This brand name change may be a good way to continue to move past the incident and improve public relations.  If you want to check out the newly branded site make sure you use a UB referral code.

That’s it for now.  I’m going to try to update this blog section more often, so check back to find more PKR updates and some other industry news in the future.

About 9 months ago PKR announced their new initial deposit bonus offer of 100% up to $800.  This bonus, unlike many other PKR bonus options at the time, had no minimum deposit requirements so it quickly became the number one first deposit bonus option that PKR had to offer.  This article will investigate how PKR’s $800 matching bonus compares to the bonuses offered at a few of the other top online poker rooms.

PKR Bonus

First of all we will describe the details of the PKR poker bonus.  The bonus matches the initial deposit, dollar for dollar up to maximum of $800.  The bonus clears at a rate of $1 for every 225 PKR points, which equals out to $0.44 cleared for every $1 paid in rake or tournament fees.  The bonus is released as a lump sum when you have cleared the entire bonus.  You are given 60 days to clear the entire bonus and have it released into your account or you receive nothing.

Full Tilt Poker Bonus

Full Tilt Poker is one of the best online poker rooms around and they also offer one of the top online poker bonuses.  Full Tilt offers a 100% matching bonus up to $600 on all first deposits.  The bonus clears at a rate of $0.42 for every $1 paid in tournament fees.  The bonus is released in increments of either $20 or 10% of the total bonus and you are given 120 days to clear the bonus.

So let’s take a look at the Full Tilt bonus and compare it to the PKR .bonus:

Matching Percentage: Equal
Maximum Bonus: PKR
Clearing Rate: PKR
Release: Full Tilt
Expiry: Full Tilt

So it looks like it’s a tie.  If you are looking for a big bonus that clears quickly then PKR is better as long as you are confident you will be able to clear the entire bonus within 60 days.  If you want to play more casually and not worry as much about clearing your bonus in time, the Full Tilt is best because you will be clearing the bonus in increments as you play.

Doyles Room Bonus

Doyles Room is an up and coming room in the online poker world and it’s as good as any to use for our second comparison.  Doyles Room offers a 110% matching bonus up to $550.  The bonus clears at a rate of $0.42 for every $1 paid in tournament fees and the bonus is released in $10 increments.  Doyles Room gives players 90 days to clear as much of their bonus as possible.

Let’s compare.

Matching Percentage: Doyles Room
Maximum Bonus: PKR
Clearing Rate: PKR
Release: Doyles Room
Expiry: Doyles Room

So by that count, Doyles Room pulls out a close race 3-2.  However, the most important aspect of any online poker bonus is the clearing rate and once again PKR takes that category.  Doyles Room is another online poker room that has a great initial deposit bonus offer, but PKR’s maximum bonus and clearing rate are still unmatched.  It would be difficult to find any online poker room with a better clearing rate than PKR’s, especially if they offer more than an $800 maximum bonus.

PKR has just announced that their poker software is now Mac compatible.  This is great news for the growing population of Mac users throughout the world.  Mac’s are known as more visually appealing computers than PC’s and now you Mac users can also play poker on the most visually appealing and advanced poker software on the internet.

To run PKR on your Mac you must meet a few performance criteria, including the operating system, the cpu, the available ram and hard drive space and a few other specifications.  As long as your Mac is fairly new you should have no problem meeting the criteria and download PKR onto your Mac.

To download PKR on your Mac, just follow the instructions at the PKR website.

Also, remember to use PKR bonus code PKRRB30 to receive 30% rakeback from your play at PKR, as well as a 100% up to $800 bonus on your first deposit!

As it turns out, August is a great month to be a ring game player at PKR.  PKR recently announced that August will be considered “Ring Game Month” and there will be plenty of exciting promotions to take advantage of.  These include $5,000 in freerolls, PKR Live III satellites kicking off and a new ‘raise your game’ section being added to the PKR website.

$5000 Freeroll in August

This month only the top 1000 finishers on the MTT and SNG leaderboards will qualify for the $5,000 August freeroll.  This means you have double the chance of making the grade and being able to compete for this prize pool.

PKR Live III Satellites

PKR Live III will be taking place in November of 2009 and PKR has decided to kick off the satellites during August.  So compete for your chance to play in an awesome live PKR tournament and party it up courtesy of PKR.

Raise Your Game at PKR

PKR has added a new section to their website where players can find poker strategy and tips to help improve your game and hopefully turn you into a winning player!  Check it out.  There are some great tips and you will likely see the results right away.

This month at PKR will be crazy, with bigger guaranteed prize pools, updated software and lots of added value for players.  Check it out, and if you are new don’t forget to use PKR bonus code NEWBONUS to receive a 100% matching bonus up to $800 on your first deposit.

PKR is excited to bring you the final table of the second biggest event at the World Series of Poker, the $50,000 buy-in HORSE event.  This event is considered by many to crown the true world champion of poker because it requires skill in a variety of game types and has a much bigger buy-in than the $10K main event.  The live final table will begin at PKR at 21:00 GMT.  Click HERE to be taken to the WSOP viewing page of the new PKR website.

Some players that are still currently in the tournament and look like they could make the final table include Gus Hansen, Huck Seed, Vitaly Lunkin and more.  No matter which players do survive to the final table there is sure to be a lot of big names and a lot of big action.

Watch the $50K Event Now

In the spirit of the World Series of Poker, PKR has announced that the 2009 PKR Super Series will begin on June 26th and run 11 events over 12 days.  The buy-ins will range drastically in this series to ensure that players of all bankrolls can find tournaments that fit their needs.  The smallest buy-in is the $10 NLH rebuy tournament taking place on the first day of the series.  The biggest event is the $250 buy-in $100K PKR Masters tournament on the first Saturday.  From there, the rest of the tournaments are in the $20-$40 range.

As far as added value goes, the winner of each Super Series event will win a unique winners bracelet that they can wear or display proudly.  Also, the top 200 finishers on the Super Series leaderboard will gain entry into a $5K freeroll, which is a nice chunk of added money PKR is putting up to make this Series great.

When you do download PKR, make sure you use PKR bonus code “NEWBONUS” on your first deposit to receive the new 100% up to $800 bonus offered by PKR Poker.

PKR has signed an exclusive deal to be the lone WSOP video provider online.  This means that you can watch all of your favourite players battle it out for bracelets at this years WSOP right at PKR.com.   24 of the bracelet events will be shown live at PKR and all you have to do to get in on this action is register at PKR here.

Also, don’t forget that PKR is a great place to win your seat into the WSOP so you don’t have to watch online but can instead watch live!  Use PKR bonus code “NEWBONUS” when signing up to receive a 100% up to $800 bonus.

PKR is putting on a happy hour like promotion this weekend where you earn double PKR points for any play at PKR.  This promotion lasts until midnight on Monday so play to your hearts desire and rack up the PKR points.  PKR points are good for use in the PKR shop, or to buy-in to many guaranteed tourneys on PKR including the Daily $17K guaranteed tourney with a buy-in of $55 for 80,000 points or the PKR Open $18 event for just 30,000 PKR points.  The points are also great for apparel such as a PKR hoodie for 88,000 points or a PKR baseball cap for 18,000 points.

PKR points rack up fast anyways, but with this double PKR points for the weekend promotion you will be earning points like you won’t believe.

If you are new to PKR make sure you sign up using PKR bonus code “NEWBONUS” to get your bonus of 100% up to $800.  This is the best bonus for the majority of PKR players, but if you look around our site more you will find which bonus is really right for you.

Following the success of the PKR Small Stakes poker championships, PKR has announced a new poker series which is geared more towards the high stake players at PKR Poker.  PKR’s first High Stakes Championships will feature 5 events with buy-ins between $50 and $300 and will guarantee a total of over $100,000.  The action all starts on May 1st at 19:00 GMT.

PKR is also making sure this tournament series is of great value for everyone involved.  The top two finishers in each of the High Stakes Championships tournaments will win an entry into the Tournament of Champions which has a $12,500 WSOP prize package up for grabs.  In addition to his the 4th High Stakes Championships event (the $50 rebuy) will have $5000 added to the prize pool.  This means there is $17.5K in cash/prizes being added by PKR to make sure this High Stakes Poker Championship is a success.

There are satellites offered from as little as $2.10, which means anyone can take a shot at winning a seat in any of these big buy-in events.

The schedule for the PKR High Stake Championships is as follows:

May 1 – $200 buy-in – $30K guaranteed – NL hold’em
May 3 – $300 buy-in – $20K guarnateed – NL hold’em deepstack
May 5 – $150 buy-in – $20K guaranteed – NL hold’em deep and steep
May 7 – $50 rebuy – $5K added – NL hold’em
May 9 – $500 buy-in – $30K guaranteed – Main Event
May 17 – tourney of champions

Sign Up to PKR Now using PKR Bonus Code ‘NEWBONUS’

PKR has just announced their World Series double chance promotion.  If you play in any PKR WSOP satellite you will win an entry into the winner-take-all $3K World Series Package freeroll on April 26th.  The $3,000 prize package includes a seat in any $1500 WSOP tournament plus $1500 in cash to use towards travel expenses.

There are WSOP satellites from as little as $6 that will guarantee you a seat in the freeroll.  Although you will be guaranteed a seat for playing in any satellite, playing in the bigger satellites will get you more starting chips.  For example if you play in stage 2 satellite or a sit and go stage 3 qualifier you start the tournament with 500 chips, whereas if you play in the weekly final on the 20th of April you start the freeroll with 3,000 chips.  These starting chips can make a huge difference.

Regardless of how many chips you start with somebody is going to be taking home this generous prize.

Sign up at PKR today using PKR bonus code NEWBONUS in order to receive a bonus up to $800 on your first deposit.