Zen Poker Room - Video Poker Tournaments
Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 11:56 pm
This topic is about the Video Poker tournaments in the VideoPoker.com poker room run by Zen Gaming at the Zen site. The advertisement with the link is prominantly displayed on the home page when you log in here. It is one of the rotating ads in the large window, the one with the poker tournament table.
The initial announcement of the VideoPoker.com poker room by Webman and the resulting discussion thread is archived further down in this group of topics on "Video Poker Software".
I note that there are about two weeks a month when there are no contests at this site. Those members here who are looking for some action when there is not a contest going on at this site might find it worthwhile to play in the videopoker cash prize tournaments at the Zen site. The concepts between the contests held here and the tournaments are different. In the contests, only your best score from roughly a week of play counts in the standings. In the tournament play, each tournament is independent of the others. In the contests you are competing against all those who entered the contest at any time, while in the tournaments you are competing against only those playing in that particular tournament. In the contests, those who can devote more time to playing in the contest have a better chance of winning the contest. In the tournaments, those who can play in more tournaments have a better chance of winning more tournaments, but each person entered in a given torunament has (in principle) an equal chance of winning that particular tournament. At this time, Members have a much better chance of winning prizes in the Zen VideoPoker Tournaments than they do in the contests here. It looks like there are only about 500 of our members playing in the tournaments at present, while about 8000 members participate in the contests. However, there are a large number of the players in the Zen Videopoker Tournaments who are not members here.
Previously I posted a question about why more of our members weren't playing in the Zen VideoPoker Tournaments. There was quite a bit of a negative reaction about the Zen site, particularly about Zen Tech Support. It would seem to me that the potential benefits from playing at the Zen site would be worth a certain amount of effort to get started there or resolve any problems there. Besides, maybe we could get some of the problems fixed at the Zen room if there were more interest from the members at this site in playing in the tournaments there. Since there is little information available unless you can download the software, I suppose that there is little incentive to persist if you have problems. So I will summarize what is available that you should want, so that you will have an incentive to persist if you are having problems in installing the software.
Note that the Zen Tournaments are void where prohibited by law. At last report, I heard that they are prohibited in Okla. and Miss. In the rest of the states, they are considered a Sweepstakes, not gambling.
I would like this thread to collect various facts and issues in one place. Hopefully, we can find out what some of the problems are. We can probably provide some community-based support for known problems if Zen Tech Support is slow or lacking. As well, members can report new problems as they arise, as well as any known work-arounds for them.
In the VideoPoker.com room at the Zen site there are 30 videopoker tournaments daily with a $5 cash prize. There is a weekly Championship Tournament, which requires qualification, with a $100 prize pool, including a $50 first prize and $25 second prize. The format of the cash tournaments is 100 deal triple play draw poker. The 100 deal cash prize tournaments last 16 minutes. The software appears to be derived from the triple play software used here, with a clock and leader board added. The daily tournaments alternate between Double Double Bonus Poker (9/6) and Deuces Wild Bonus Poker (99.45%). All times are given in Eastern Time. The cash prize tournaments are on the hour and alternate on a fixed schedule with Double Double Bonus at 5 PM. In addition, there are also cash tournaments on the half hour in the evening between 6:30 PM and 11:30 PM, alternating on a fixed schedule with Double Double Bonus at 6:30 PM. The Weekly Championship Tournament is always Double Double Bonus. In the daily tournaments, the minimum number of hands to complete is 2. In the Weekly Championship, failure to complete 100 hands results in disqualification. The credits won in playing during a tournament work similar to the system used in our contests here. Only the credits won are recorded. Clicking the "max bet" button sets the credit total to "0" and deals the first hand. Afterwards, only the winnings are recorded. The highest total score in the tournament receives the $5.00 cash prize.
Entry into a tournament requires a "buy-in" of a certain number of points. The buy-in for the cash prize tournaments is 500 points. The buy-in points for a tournament form a "prize pot" which is divided among the top finishers in the tournament. Points can be obtained in various ways. Zen comps you 5,000 points when you first log in each day. In addition, you earn an additional 500 points by taking a short daily survey from Zen. Additional points can be earned by participating in offers from advertisers. Watching short videos (commercials) is an easy way to obtain some additional points, but be wary of videos that also require you to download and install some software or something. The points earned by watching a video will usually be credited correctly to your account. With regards to participation in other offers, complaints (numerous?) have been reported about not receiving credit for points earned from an offer. My attitude is "take the points that Zen comps you, and maybe watch a few short videos when available, and you have plenty of points to enter cash prize tournaments with, even if you don't win any additional points in the cash prize tournaments". A "leader board" is maitained of the players' point bankrolls for the week. The top 2,000 players receive an invitation to the weekly Championship Tournament, which has a free buy-in. In addition, invitations to the Championship can be won in qualification tournaments, but they have a 350 point buy-in. Invitations are issued based on the standings at about 6:01 AM ET Sunday, and the players totals are reset to zero. In summary, take the points that you are comped, and you can play in plenty of cash prize tournaments per week. If you do reasonably well in the tournaments during the week, you will probably qualify for the Weekly Championship Tournament as a matter of course.
Do not play in the Single Person Video Poker games. Numerous complaints have been reported about problems with them. The only thing that you can do in Single Person games is win or lose points from your bankroll, since you have to bet with real points from your bankroll. And the only thing that you can do with your bankroll is win an invitation to the weekly championship, as far as I can see. You get to keep 10% of your weekly bankroll as a separate Permanent VideoPoints Total, but I have yet to see anything that you can do with the permanent points.
I would like to have more of our members play in the cash prize videopoker tournaments in the Zen room. After all, if more people play in the tournaments, maybe we could get some better prizes for the cash prize tournaments as well as add more cssh prize tournaments. After all, the Texas Hold'em Weekly Champioship tournament has a $1000 prize pool, while the Videopoker Weekly Championship tournament has a $100 prize pool. In addition, it looks like somebody is now sponsoring a $2000 prize pool Monthly Championship for Hold'em.
With regard to posts about possibly having a problem with the download from the Zen site I would like to make the following observations.
The download may not have installed properly. When you tried to download it, it probably gave you a choice of either downloading or running the GameInstaller.exe file. If you chose to run it, it should have installed an icon on your desktop for "VP Poker Room". If you downloaded the file, you have to find where you downloaded it and execute it. Once you install it, double click on the icon to log in to Zen.
Note the way the poker room works. This point was initially made by Webman. You do not access it via your web browser. Instead, you download and install a program onto your computer. You then run this program on your computer, which goes out directly over your internet connection and connects directly to the Zen servers. There is no web site involved, such as a hypothetical Zen.com website which would be accessed via your web browser.
Since this is a program that runs on your computer, you need to make sure that your system meets the minimum requirements for the program.
I am running Windows 7. I downloaded and saved the GameInstaller file on my hard drive. Then I executed the file to install the program. I did not have any problem installing and getting the software to work. I have been playing in the Videopoker tournaments since Sept. 2010.
If your are running Windows Vista, there may be problems with installing due to User Account Control settings, which may need to be changed.
When software updates were automatically issued by Zen in January and February, my Windows 7 had problems with User Account Control settings which required a workaround. I assume that it will happen again in the future. In addition, it is possible that new installations of the Zen software on Windows 7 may now be having problems with User Account Control settings.
I would like to have people post any problems that they are haveing with the Zen Videopoker Tournaments or software. We will see what the Member Community can do to help. I would like to know if anyone is having problems with screen freeze-ups during the Tournaments. This used to be a common problem before new Zen software updates were released in January and February. If it is still a problem, I will post the workarounds that I know. In addition, I am planning a post about what to do if a Table Window or the Main Program crashes or is closed by Windows. I have seen this problem, including recently.
When posting a problem, please include the version of the Windows operating system that you are using as well as how how you connect to the Internet (Cable, DSL, etc.). Any other relevant technical information about your system would be helpful.
The best time to sign up for the Zen Poker Room is probably on Sunday after 7:00 AM. That way you will have the whole week to play in the tournaments and may even qualify for the Weekly Championship. In addition, Zen will probably comp you a signup bonus to add to your bankroll for the week.
The initial announcement of the VideoPoker.com poker room by Webman and the resulting discussion thread is archived further down in this group of topics on "Video Poker Software".
I note that there are about two weeks a month when there are no contests at this site. Those members here who are looking for some action when there is not a contest going on at this site might find it worthwhile to play in the videopoker cash prize tournaments at the Zen site. The concepts between the contests held here and the tournaments are different. In the contests, only your best score from roughly a week of play counts in the standings. In the tournament play, each tournament is independent of the others. In the contests you are competing against all those who entered the contest at any time, while in the tournaments you are competing against only those playing in that particular tournament. In the contests, those who can devote more time to playing in the contest have a better chance of winning the contest. In the tournaments, those who can play in more tournaments have a better chance of winning more tournaments, but each person entered in a given torunament has (in principle) an equal chance of winning that particular tournament. At this time, Members have a much better chance of winning prizes in the Zen VideoPoker Tournaments than they do in the contests here. It looks like there are only about 500 of our members playing in the tournaments at present, while about 8000 members participate in the contests. However, there are a large number of the players in the Zen Videopoker Tournaments who are not members here.
Previously I posted a question about why more of our members weren't playing in the Zen VideoPoker Tournaments. There was quite a bit of a negative reaction about the Zen site, particularly about Zen Tech Support. It would seem to me that the potential benefits from playing at the Zen site would be worth a certain amount of effort to get started there or resolve any problems there. Besides, maybe we could get some of the problems fixed at the Zen room if there were more interest from the members at this site in playing in the tournaments there. Since there is little information available unless you can download the software, I suppose that there is little incentive to persist if you have problems. So I will summarize what is available that you should want, so that you will have an incentive to persist if you are having problems in installing the software.
Note that the Zen Tournaments are void where prohibited by law. At last report, I heard that they are prohibited in Okla. and Miss. In the rest of the states, they are considered a Sweepstakes, not gambling.
I would like this thread to collect various facts and issues in one place. Hopefully, we can find out what some of the problems are. We can probably provide some community-based support for known problems if Zen Tech Support is slow or lacking. As well, members can report new problems as they arise, as well as any known work-arounds for them.
In the VideoPoker.com room at the Zen site there are 30 videopoker tournaments daily with a $5 cash prize. There is a weekly Championship Tournament, which requires qualification, with a $100 prize pool, including a $50 first prize and $25 second prize. The format of the cash tournaments is 100 deal triple play draw poker. The 100 deal cash prize tournaments last 16 minutes. The software appears to be derived from the triple play software used here, with a clock and leader board added. The daily tournaments alternate between Double Double Bonus Poker (9/6) and Deuces Wild Bonus Poker (99.45%). All times are given in Eastern Time. The cash prize tournaments are on the hour and alternate on a fixed schedule with Double Double Bonus at 5 PM. In addition, there are also cash tournaments on the half hour in the evening between 6:30 PM and 11:30 PM, alternating on a fixed schedule with Double Double Bonus at 6:30 PM. The Weekly Championship Tournament is always Double Double Bonus. In the daily tournaments, the minimum number of hands to complete is 2. In the Weekly Championship, failure to complete 100 hands results in disqualification. The credits won in playing during a tournament work similar to the system used in our contests here. Only the credits won are recorded. Clicking the "max bet" button sets the credit total to "0" and deals the first hand. Afterwards, only the winnings are recorded. The highest total score in the tournament receives the $5.00 cash prize.
Entry into a tournament requires a "buy-in" of a certain number of points. The buy-in for the cash prize tournaments is 500 points. The buy-in points for a tournament form a "prize pot" which is divided among the top finishers in the tournament. Points can be obtained in various ways. Zen comps you 5,000 points when you first log in each day. In addition, you earn an additional 500 points by taking a short daily survey from Zen. Additional points can be earned by participating in offers from advertisers. Watching short videos (commercials) is an easy way to obtain some additional points, but be wary of videos that also require you to download and install some software or something. The points earned by watching a video will usually be credited correctly to your account. With regards to participation in other offers, complaints (numerous?) have been reported about not receiving credit for points earned from an offer. My attitude is "take the points that Zen comps you, and maybe watch a few short videos when available, and you have plenty of points to enter cash prize tournaments with, even if you don't win any additional points in the cash prize tournaments". A "leader board" is maitained of the players' point bankrolls for the week. The top 2,000 players receive an invitation to the weekly Championship Tournament, which has a free buy-in. In addition, invitations to the Championship can be won in qualification tournaments, but they have a 350 point buy-in. Invitations are issued based on the standings at about 6:01 AM ET Sunday, and the players totals are reset to zero. In summary, take the points that you are comped, and you can play in plenty of cash prize tournaments per week. If you do reasonably well in the tournaments during the week, you will probably qualify for the Weekly Championship Tournament as a matter of course.
Do not play in the Single Person Video Poker games. Numerous complaints have been reported about problems with them. The only thing that you can do in Single Person games is win or lose points from your bankroll, since you have to bet with real points from your bankroll. And the only thing that you can do with your bankroll is win an invitation to the weekly championship, as far as I can see. You get to keep 10% of your weekly bankroll as a separate Permanent VideoPoints Total, but I have yet to see anything that you can do with the permanent points.
I would like to have more of our members play in the cash prize videopoker tournaments in the Zen room. After all, if more people play in the tournaments, maybe we could get some better prizes for the cash prize tournaments as well as add more cssh prize tournaments. After all, the Texas Hold'em Weekly Champioship tournament has a $1000 prize pool, while the Videopoker Weekly Championship tournament has a $100 prize pool. In addition, it looks like somebody is now sponsoring a $2000 prize pool Monthly Championship for Hold'em.
With regard to posts about possibly having a problem with the download from the Zen site I would like to make the following observations.
The download may not have installed properly. When you tried to download it, it probably gave you a choice of either downloading or running the GameInstaller.exe file. If you chose to run it, it should have installed an icon on your desktop for "VP Poker Room". If you downloaded the file, you have to find where you downloaded it and execute it. Once you install it, double click on the icon to log in to Zen.
Note the way the poker room works. This point was initially made by Webman. You do not access it via your web browser. Instead, you download and install a program onto your computer. You then run this program on your computer, which goes out directly over your internet connection and connects directly to the Zen servers. There is no web site involved, such as a hypothetical Zen.com website which would be accessed via your web browser.
Since this is a program that runs on your computer, you need to make sure that your system meets the minimum requirements for the program.
I am running Windows 7. I downloaded and saved the GameInstaller file on my hard drive. Then I executed the file to install the program. I did not have any problem installing and getting the software to work. I have been playing in the Videopoker tournaments since Sept. 2010.
If your are running Windows Vista, there may be problems with installing due to User Account Control settings, which may need to be changed.
When software updates were automatically issued by Zen in January and February, my Windows 7 had problems with User Account Control settings which required a workaround. I assume that it will happen again in the future. In addition, it is possible that new installations of the Zen software on Windows 7 may now be having problems with User Account Control settings.
I would like to have people post any problems that they are haveing with the Zen Videopoker Tournaments or software. We will see what the Member Community can do to help. I would like to know if anyone is having problems with screen freeze-ups during the Tournaments. This used to be a common problem before new Zen software updates were released in January and February. If it is still a problem, I will post the workarounds that I know. In addition, I am planning a post about what to do if a Table Window or the Main Program crashes or is closed by Windows. I have seen this problem, including recently.
When posting a problem, please include the version of the Windows operating system that you are using as well as how how you connect to the Internet (Cable, DSL, etc.). Any other relevant technical information about your system would be helpful.
The best time to sign up for the Zen Poker Room is probably on Sunday after 7:00 AM. That way you will have the whole week to play in the tournaments and may even qualify for the Weekly Championship. In addition, Zen will probably comp you a signup bonus to add to your bankroll for the week.