NoPayPOKER’s model of free poker started as a fortuitous accident, but now it’s a steamroller gaining momentum as time goes on… It’s easy to forget how it all started, so let’s have a peak at the past.

My partner and I created NoPayPOKER 3 years ago from the ashes of CardCrusade. A few years before that, we were convinced that online poker was one big rip-off and needed an alternative site. (The fact that I’m still convinced of it needs to be explained in a later posting).

The statistics were ridiculous, in 2005 PartyPoker generated nearly £5 billion in revenues on the back of only 1 million players. That  meant that every player was paying $16.50/activeplayerday on average. We looked at the costs and were convinced we could offer the same service for $25 per month without “raking” any players.

What’s the “rake” you say? On a traditional site the house takes on average 1-5% of the winning pot which is know as the “rake”. That’s fine if you pay the rake once per day, but players pay it 60 times per hour! It’s been calculated that if you play 50hrs of $2/$4 and end up flat, you will still have generated $300-$500 of rake…your potential profit has been paid out to the house.

Looked at another way if 8 players started with a bankroll of $100/player on a $5/$10 table, after 8 hours there would be $0.00 left on the table!

99% of poker players don’t make a profit, so who does? It’s becoming obvious, isn’t it? That’s right, the vast majority of the money goes to the house. That’ s crazy when you consider that in an efficient game with a normal distribution of skill levels, 20% of players should come out ahead!

Armed with those facts, a small group of us raised some seed financing, built a site and started a never ending software development process….

We had thought of everything, for instance we knew we were a low cost operator so we expected to charge the players for transferring money in and out of the site, similar to discount airlines. Initial marketing would be through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and word of mouth. After the model was proven we would go on to a second round of financing to power a more traditional marketing campaign.

If you are from the poker industry you might have spotted the big flaw at this point

Any guesses? OK, I’ll put you out of your misery.

It turns out, surprise of all surprises, that the traditional poker industry survives off of bonuses and a huge marketing spend to attract the newbies, otherwise known as “fish”. In contrast CardCrusade was the chum bucket of the poker world. Every shark (experienced player) in the sea was attracted to the rake-free utopia.

And that’s where it all fell apart. The fish were too inexperienced to realise how badly the rake hurt them and too easily distracted by the smoke-and-mirrors bonuses offered by traditional sites. The sharks swam around looking for an easy lunch but only found other sharks who were always ready to take a bite. In short it was an imbalanced nightmare.

Once we came to that realisation it was a unanimous decision to close down CardCrusade. I’m not suggesting that a rake free site isn’t possible, but it wasn’t possible on the financing we had available – again that is a topic for another conversation.

My partner was left in the enviable position of having the rights to the software that was developed during CardCrusade’s operating life. The fact that it didn’t run for more than 5 hours at a time and never had more than 50 players using it didn’t seem to be any deterrent. Oh, what a mistake that was

…for the next time – Why Start a “Free” Poker Site?

All The Best,

Overworked

Welcome to NoPayPOKER. You’ve joined a truly great online free online poker site….a truly great poker community. The members are fun, pleasant, and social; where some of the members are good players, and some of the members are not quite there yet so as a free online poker site to learn how to play poker for beginners it’s utterly perfect!

However, no one, good, bad, or indifferent, takes the liberty of bringing anyone else to task…it’s simply a group of people who enjoy playing poker, a group of people who enjoy each others company, and a group of people who routinely display an exceptionally high level of respect; for one another and the game.

And, these people reside all around the globe, with many different native languages; although, all NoPayPOKER members, when they type in the Lobby Chat Box, are required to communicate in English…be it the Queen’s English, the Americans bastardization of her English, the outlaw Australian version, or the Canadian usage, eh?

Plus, the Moderators are courteous, helpful, entertaining, and readily available. However, they are very attentive to the ‘rules’. So, please be sure to read the NoPay ‘terms of agreement’, and the ‘chat lobby rules’.

Moreover, of note, the majority of the Moderators are very good players….and, as such, you’d be well advised to seek their wisdom and guidance on your poker-related inquiries. Additionally, all of them, whenever they’re on the site, will be more than happy to assist with whatever questions you might have.

The NoPayPOKER.com site itself employs fairly simple software, and is easily navigated. Anyone with the slightest of on-line experience will have few problems in developing a mastery of the ‘ins and outs’ of NoPay. You’ll find multi-table freerolls, league freerolls, a weekly 5K freeroll, a monthly 20K freeroll, a weekly ‘Champions’ freeroll, sit-n-go’s, ring games, and ‘buy-in’ tournaments; just about any type of No Limit Texas Hold-Em game you might choose to play in, is available at NoPay. Importantly, you’ll find it extremely difficult to bring about any degree of ‘boredom’, since a new game begins at least every half-hour.

And, best of all, NoPay is FREE POKER….you are never allowed to make a deposit; ever. The site uses a currency known as FreeD’s. When you joined, you were given 10 FreeD’s. If you fill out the ‘personal details’ page, you’ll get another 15 FreeD’s. Then, every day, throughout every 24 hour period of time, you can get another 26 FreeD’s. This is accomplished by ‘clicking on’ sponsor ads; 1 FreeD per ad ‘clicked’. Plus, every Freeroll game at NoPay offers a prize pool where FreeD’s are won by the ‘in the money’ participants (usually the top 10, 20, or 40 finishing places in the tournament).

Possibly, of most importance, each FreeD is worth 0.5 US Cent. Thus, 200 FreeD’s are worth 1 US Dollar. In time, as you accumulate FreeD’s, you’ll be able to cash out. However, please note, when you’re cashing out, you must have a minimum balance of 8,000 FreeD’s; the equivalent of $40 (US$). Or, if you’re a Premium Member, you’ll be able to cash out with a minimum balance of 5,000 FreeD’s; the equivalent of $25 (US$).

And, you should know that a significant number of NoPay members have individually cashed out amounts in excess of $1,000 (US$)…you can do likewise, it’s not very hard to get yourself a big enough balance to begin ‘cashing out’. But, you’ll go a long way towards attaining a “big enough balance” if you possessed some degree of knowledge about the game of poker.

Thus, what follows should serve as an introduction to the game. Plus, once you understand the rules, the basics, and the parlance, you’d be well advised to take the time to read the series of articles entitled ‘Building a Bankroll‘.

Best of Luck at the Tables,

Michael.

(c) copyright 2010; no reproduction, all rights reserved by D. M. Vadnais

Next – Part 2 in the How to play poker for beginners series is The Rules of the Game Part 1.

Talk about easy money! Congratulations to those players for seeing how easy the money was! The final winners were:

1) andrespint08 – won $250
2) xxx_seal_xxx – won £100.75
3) francis1237 won €75.05

Now get off your fat butts, play the $25,000 FreeD PartyPoker 10 Fold Freerolls every day at NoPayPOKER and get into the end of month $500 USD Freeroll at PartyPoker.

Login to NoPayPOKER then visit http://www.nopaypoker.com/UserSection/SecurePages/General/withdrawTitanPoker.aspx where you will find that withdrawing a minimum of $20 from NoPayPOKER will get you an instant $20 USD at Titan, plus $4,000 FreeD at NoPayPOKER, plus 20,000 to 40,000 Bonus Chips.

Please note that you need to deposit at Titan Poker first, then NoPayPOKER will pay you back for that money and more!

This was the winner of the NoPayPOKER free poker article writing contest for February 2010. Member Vincer won $1000 FreeD.

Perhaps one of the most disturbing trends in poker in recent years even on free poker sites is the increasing number of so-called “good players” that regularly criticize those who play poorly. Chasing away “fish” makes little sense for anyone who wishes to win money playing poker. The surest way to win money is to play against inferior opponents who don’t realize that they’re poor players. That’s why people say that you shouldn’t “tap the fish tank” or “tap the aquarium.”

You want to people to gamble. You even want fish to get lucky a few times so that they’ll keep gambling.

That is why you should try to treat fish with respect. You want them to enjoy themselves and have a good time.

You may even congratulate them on their bad play to make them think that they’re playing correctly. This, of course, would be a form of hustling that some people wouldn’t be comfortable with engaging in.

If you don’t feel like hustling the fish, then you should at least try keeping it jovial at the table. By creating a fun atmosphere at the table, people will care less about the money that they’re throwing around and start playing loose and wild. This is what you want if you’re a good player. You’ll be playing solid poker, while they’ll be throwing their money away.

If you’re rude and disrespectful to fish, they’ll be less inclined to play anymore. They’ll take their money to other places where they can play without being harassed. By chasing fish away, you’re giving up opportunities to profit from their mistakes.

Can you imagine if everybody played well? The game of poker would be very tough to beat.

The main goal of playing good poker is to make as many correct decisions as you can, while forcing your opponents to make as many incorrect decisions as you can. It’s much easier to encourage bad players to make bad decisions, so you shouldn’t scare them away. In the long run, you’ll profit from their bad plays.

Another reason why you shouldn’t berate fishy player at the table or in your online chat box is because you don’t want them to improve. If they feel embarrassed with how bad they play, they may actually take the time and effort to improve their play. In other words, you’re encouraging bad players to become good players. Once they’re good, they’ll be tougher to beat. You won’t be getting their money quite as easily anymore. Why would you want to make it any harder to earn a buck in poker?

It’s hard enough to win at poker nowadays with all the information that’s available to improve your game. There are a lot of decent players out there. The games simply aren’t as soft as they were when I started playing online seven years ago.

That’s why I try not to “tap the fish tank and why I still play free poker freerolls at NoPayPOKER.com were there’s real money up for grabs!