PSO

Does anyone play the PSO league on pokerstars for the fun of it?

To be honest, I'm not even really sure what you do in the league. I actually JUST signed up for PSO. I took the basic quiz and aced it, so I guess I need to start with the "core" class. Are the classes even worth reading? Do they actually have good information in them?

Also, what's with the online league? Do they have any freerolls that one can play in (I'm trying to bankroll with freerolls, so this is all I can play..)

the classes have some good info in them, but I'm not sure how the league works, I have a tournament ticket I can use for entry into any of these pso skill league tournaments, the thing of it is it sounds like the ticket can be used over and over again, which gives players with a lot of time on their hands to play every one that comes along so if there is any kind of a point system I'm not sure how that affects players like me, who can only play these once a week.

actually it sounds more like a skill ranking system, I just read on there that you would have to play at least 5 a month to even make the leaderboard, so that leaves me out.

I signed up yesterday. Will play the 11$ monthly final I think.

I played the PSO and left it for now as it is not good for bankroll building Lots of freerolls but each worth only 10bucks wit about 1000 participants...
Also the monthly prizes from the leaderboard are good only if you are "active" meaning that you played 20VPPs in the preceding month. As a newbie without a bankroll I dont reach that so will wait till I can. I think one can spend the time learning more profitably in other freerolls available.

The other thing is that the level is sometimes not so poor as one would expect(after all the top prize in the leaderboard is 1500 bucks) and I experienced there a game much more serious and real than in the general freerolls which is a good thing.

I personally plan to take a shot at the leaderboard once I have the required 20 VPPs in a month because last month I found it hard to play seriously enough for the freerolls prize(I finished 6th out of 1000 after 4 hours of play to receive an astonishing 0.6$ which demoralized me a bit :-].

Guys,

if you pass the SNG quiz, you get a ticket to play in the freerolls under the private tab. This ticket lasts forever and it never goes away even if you use it for a tourny. I think there are 5 freerolls a day. You get points based on how well you do in the tourny. You can play in as many as you want - but if you go out early, you get negative points.

At the end of every month the top places get paid. Its really easy to get $50 if you play well.

The winner gets $1500 and its really not that far of a reach to win.

I think this league is really hard, you have to play tons of tourneys every day to get paid at the end of the month..You cant have a life really besides poker if you want to get rewarded.

Start the month with 1500 points, winner of the monthly league usually has around 1900 (first place pays $1500).
Now, if there are 1000 runners (and its usually in that rough area) then it scores as follows;
a win pays you about 80 points,
300/350 gives you a break even (no points up or down),
cashing (top 150ish) gives minimum 20 points, working up to 30 or so if you make the final 70.
Drop out before 350 and you'll be in negative scoring. One of the first out and you'll lose about 30 points or so.
So yes, you do need to grind them and consistantly cash, but its not too difficult provided you get a good start. Playing one of these every day is do-able, though there are people who will play 4 or 5 a day.
The prizes in the individual games are a joke - $2 or so for winning the tourney. For that reason, half the players don't take them seriously, so its quite easy to pick up loose chips early on.
These are a great way for learners to get involved in MTT play. I only played 8 last month and finished just out of the $30 spots.
If you can work up to 1650 points or so (only approx 5 cashes) then you'll bag a fiver. Worth a look for the freerollers.

i played in the PSO one month and the way it seems to work with the skill based system is that it is fairly easy to get to about 1800 points but between 1800 and 1850 it gets alot harder to score points that is why at the end of the month the leader is only on about 1900 points and you could probably get yourself up to 1800 in 2 weeks.

on the leader board do they rank you strictly based on your skill rating or is it a combination of other factors such as number of tournaments played, average finish, how many times you made the money ect?

curly said:

on the leader board do they rank you strictly based on your skill rating or is it a combination of other factors such as number of tournaments played, average finish, how many times you made the money ect?

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The rank is based just on points.

I would add though that the points received in an individual tournament for certain placement vary depending on your current ranking in relation to the placement(you wont receive much if you are first in the league and/or have a lot of points and finish 200th I would think) on the number of players in a tourney and on the average level of people playing in that particular tourney.
Also if you make it to the money there is a significant jump in points received, points are not just linear function of placement.

Krk said:

The rank is based just on points.

I would add though that the points received in an individual tournament for certain placement vary depending on your current ranking in relation to the placement(you wont receive much if you are first in the league and/or have a lot of points and finish 200th I would think) on the number of players in a tourney and on the average level of people playing in that particular tourney.
Also if you make it to the money there is a significant jump in points received, points are not just linear function of placement.

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Nope, a lower ranking player will be awarded more points for a high finish that a high ranking player. Similarly, they will drop less points for an early exit than a usually good player.
i.e. your skill ranking actually works against you!

well, I finally got my reply back from the support staff at Pokerstars and it basically stated that if I cannot participate in at least 5 PSO skill league tournaments a month, then I wouldn't even be high enough on the leader board for it to matter anyways. I guess my lifestyle makes it impossible for me to be a part of any poker league, its kind of a bummer, but it is what it is.

curly said:

well, I finally got my reply back from the support staff at Pokerstars and it basically stated that if I cannot participate in at least 5 PSO skill league tournaments a month, then I wouldn't even be high enough on the leader board for it to matter anyways. I guess my lifestyle makes it impossible for me to be a part of any poker league, its kind of a bummer, but it is what it is.

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a lucky escape in my opinion,i played in this league for a month and the only 2 things it will teach you in my opinion is to waste time(which alot of people in this league do)and to play only premium cards(range of hands played is too low in my opinion and its unlike most MTTs that you would play).also this league is in my opinion should be for people trying to start a bankroll from scratch,but you need to get 20VPPs to be an active player or else you will only recieve 10% of the prize(places 11 to 98/100 recieve $50 if active,but if you are not active you will only recieve$5)

kevkojak said:

Nope, a lower ranking player will be awarded more points for a high finish that a high ranking player. Similarly, they will drop less points for an early exit than a usually good player.
i.e. your skill ranking actually works against you!

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I thought that is what I said .