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Sign up for a PokerStars account at:

Click on the PokerStars banner to the right. Create an account, download and install software, and start playing.

In order to start playing with real money, you’ll need a pre-paid debit card that will allow you to deposit funds to your PokerStars account. Major Bank cards do not allow you to deposit funds to online gambling sites. I use a pre-paid debit card from NetSpend and haven’t had any problems with it.

Go to : http://mynetspendcard.com

Referral code: 7914171517

(Use code and receive $5)

Some useful websites.

Use this website to view tournaments that you have played. It keeps track of the amount of money won and your overall ranking among all other players.

http://www.officialpokerrankings.com

Use this website to view your cash game rating.

http://www.pokertableratings.com

Very informative website. Your able to be stake or back other players in the forums.

http://www.parttimepoker.com/

Keep track of your hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/

Pokerstars Dream Job Promotion

Start playing Pokerstars.com and you could enter tournaments that could win you a $100k contract to play poker for a year! You can enter the tournament in many ways by cash, frequent player points, or for free by playing in the freerolls.

More information are on their website : http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/promotions/dream-job-usa/

Staking

When you have no time to play poker, you can have other players play for you. At www.parttimepoker.com you can either stake player or be stake by others.

I've tried staking players for small amounts to understand the whole system and I plan on staking more players more often. The great thing about online poker is being able to see updated statistics on players through many sites. One site I go to view player statistics is http://www.officialpokerrankings.com. I use that as a tool to pick the player I want to stake. So far I didn't have anyone get into the money for me yet but hopefully that'll change.

Today I'm staking A-D-Tang for a $2.20 NLHE 180 man Turbo. I post the results afterwards.

A-D-Tang was one place away from getting in the money. A-D-Tang placed 19th out of 180. I'll most likely stake this player again for getting so close to cashing. So far I'm 0/7 cashing from staking.

Ending Bankroll: $91.73

Cash Game

Played one table of $1/$2 Limit Hold'em for about 180 hands. Started off with a $20 buy-in again and left with $66.50.
Had a good run but there was one hand in particular that got me good.

I kept on raising with my pocket Q's to find out someone had a straight/flush draw and someone that already had me beat from the beginning with pocket A's. I find it hard to fold my pocket Q's even when I'm being raised after raising them. That's something I need to work on but all in all, I think I played my hand right.

Ending Bankroll: $93.93

The road to $200

I've been playing online poker at Pokerstars.com since February 2009 and haven't had much success yet. I was able to make my bankroll up to about $70 and then it went straight to $0. I've made 5 deposits so far, a total of less than $200. I've been playing small tournaments ranging from $0.10 360 man to $1.75 18 man. I've been placing in the money more often than before and hope to increase that percentage.

This blog will be used to track my play at Pokerstars. I will include my starting bankroll which is $0 right now and hopefully make it to $200. I'll be depositing $30 into my account today and start playing once I have a chance. If and when I do reach my goal, I will increase the goal amount until I make it big!

My Ranking OPR