pokerstars.net

My question is this: How do .net players get into cash games?
I had thought PS.net was all play money.

I think they can just sit at the table. My experience is that players who signed up at .net have a small white star at the bottom of their avatar. I just discovered that a while ago. I'd often wondered what the star meant.

You're right, they have to download .com. I don't think they even see the money tables. Why do you ask, did you see a star at a money table?

Huh, really? I've been meaning to check out PS, can someone clarify the EXACT differences between .net/.com?

If this is true, why do I see them on occasion frequent the $ guaranteed tournaments?
Take right now for instance, there is a player with a little white star above the name(.net I assume) in the 200k.

I always thought the .net was so that they could advertise it on TV, as they say its "not real money play" and it isnt technically, but they still get their poker site viewable by the public.

Then the .net will have a linky of some sort so that they have the option of downloading the .com version and playing for real money.

Correct me if im wrong though, I just didnt see the point in having 2 unless it was for this reason.

You are exactly correct. They are unable to advertise "gambling" on US air so the net site was developed to circumvent this prohibition. The net site (to my knowledge) has no real money games, essentially the net site is a "skin" to play money games only.

Everyone gets the same mailers for the dotcom site. The hope/expectation is that everyone will "graduate" to real money. Players with the star above their avatar are players playing from the net software. When I first started playing about 2 1/5 years ago, I remember that when they first beta tested their software the .net players got it first. I had net installed because of getting to see the new features and skins first. The new black skin is a variant of one that was being tested then.

You might notice that the sites that don't have a .NET counterpart have tape over the .COM part of their name on televised games.

Merlin333

So the software is technically different, but entirely the same? That sounds oxymoronic but seems to be the case?

I don't think it's a matter of "technically" different - I don't personally have specific enough knowledge about the program to speak knowledgeably about whether they (DOT or NET) are technically different, I do know that at the least, money games are filtered from the .NET skin and that difference is sufficient to skirt the issue of prohibited online gambling advertising that prevents the DOT skin from being featured in the commercials.

I recently read an article about the exorbitant costs associated with this software - UltimateBet claimed it would costs them 6 million dollars to rewrite their program. I imagine, since so many networks do this with ease and less expensively, that just placing a skin on their core program, filtering out real money games would be significantly less expensive.

Merlin333

I always thought the white star was something special I wasn't a part of. But, now that I think of it, I think I have seen it on cash tables as well.

ok if thats the case then how come on full tilt on some of the freerolls some say .net and others say .com? always wandered that

That was my next question too. Sometimes I see, say, "One on One with Antonius .NET freeroll." Does that mean .com-folks can't play? That doesn't make sense, I'm fairly sure I registered .com, but played the .net roll.

I know on pokerstars, you cannot enter either freerolls for money or weekly's, nor can you sit at cash game tables. I don't think it's possible that someone with a star sat at a cash table. I've never seen it there.

I just know this because I played on pokerstars.net for over a year before I even knew pokerstars.com existed. Everything on .net is also on .com so I am pretty sure that they just filter out the cash games.

I played the .net freeroll yesterday and I only have the .com version. I don't know what the .net is for.