Dear Players,

As always, this is an extremely riveting newsletter that has lots of important and exciting information. Really! Especially the cash prize information section. If you are a cash prize winner PLEASE make sure you read this section very carefully!!! In the next month we're implementing alot of changes to PrizeClub and if you have any feedback you'd like to offer, please email us. Not everything you suggest is possible, but I still like to hear it and you might be able to get some info as to why we don't have something that you want. For example, a Mac version of the client (it's coming!!)

This week's newsletter features:

• Mothers Day Wrap Up
• Important Cash Prize Information
• Support Responses
• Upcoming Tournaments
• Feature Article

MOTHERS DAY WRAP UP

We had a massive 441 player entry for the special $100 Mothers Day Freeroll which was won by Ironvixen. Congratulations to the top 5 players who won cash in the event:

1. Ironvixen ($40)
2. carirsif ($25)
3. Nwardy ($20)
4. tandalee ($10)
5. meatace ($5)

We hope you enjoyed this special event freeroll and Happy Mothers Day to all our mums playing with PrizeClub.

IMPORTANT CASH PRIZE INFORMATION

You may have heard rumours around the poker tables about the paying out of cash prizes, or lack of. This is absolutely untrue, and PrizeClub will always pay all our winners the cash they are owed.

Normally we would have a payment run every two months, so for January/February we would pay out in March. If you have been following our news, you may have seen that we were trying to put in place new initiatives for payouts for that period: PayPal and bulk cheques (which were supposed to more automated and far quicker to send out). After a lengthy to and fro with both PayPal and the bank, we have made an executive decision that we are not offering PayPal, and cheques will continue to be processed as they have been in the past.

As such, we are now catching up on the payment run from January/February, and are on time with payouts for the March/April period. Here are the current status of payouts for January to April:

• Cheques/Cash will be sent next week, with all cheques mailed out by Wednesday, May 21 (cross fingers - there's 155 to hand write and address!)
• Remaining bank deposits will be processed by Monday, May 19. If you would like to be paid out via this method, please email us your details. If you send us your details after a cheque has been written for you, any future payments will be made via bank deposit. We strongly encourage any winners to send us their details as it is the easiest and quickest method to pay you.

May Cash Prize Payouts: May will be paid progressively over the remainder of the month and be completed through the first week of June.

It costs us a lot of money to send out cheques; money which we could be putting to prize pools. So as a reward to those who have saved us money by choosing bank deposit as their payout method, we want to put that money into an exclusive $200 Freeroll for you!!

***BONUS OFFER*** ANY CASH WINNERS FROM JANUARY TO MAY WHO CHOOSE BANK DEPOSIT AS THEIR PAYOUT OPTION WILL RECEIVE AN ENTRY COUPON TO AN EXCLUSIVE $200 FREEROLL!*

As of June 1, all players who have sent us bank deposits will be able to have any winnings paid within 24 hours (Monday to Friday only). Any cash won on the weekend will be paid on Monday.

Note: It is NOT COMPULSORY to send us your bank details. If you do not feel comfortable or have not won a cash prize, you do not need to do anything, and we will continue to payout with cheques if necessary. Direct Deposit is our preferred payment method as it is quick, easy and free for us, which ultimately allows us to payout within a 24 hour timeframe instead of every two months.

* Bonus Offer Terms & Conditions

• Cash winners from January 01, 2008 to May 31, 2008 inclusive
• Includes players who have sent details in prior to May 16 (coupons will be manually issued before the tournament date)
• Tournament to be played on Sunday, June 01 at a time to be announced
• Bank details for payment must be sent by Friday, May 30, 5:00pm.

SUPPORT RESPONSES

Players often complain that I don't respond to them, however if you do not receive a response from Support, it will ALWAYS be because of one of three reasons:

1. Your email was not received (yes, the internet is not infallible!)
2. Your email server is blocking our response (this is typical of ISP accounts and free email providers)
3. You sent me an abusive email (I'll usually reply to these because I really don't stand for abuse, but if you email is stupid, then don't expect a response.)

1. Send your email again, or email support@prizeclub.com.au directly. If you can't remember that, we do have a catchall, so feel free to email me at ireallylovepoker@prizeclub.com.au.
2. Add the domains prizeclub.com.au and prizeserver.com to your email contacts/safe list/whitelist.
3. Be nicer, or at least form a proper sentence. If you're going to swear at me, at least spell it right.

I hope this helps all our valued PrizeClub members, and please feel free to contact me at anytime, about anything on the network. Our email address is support@prizeclub.com.au.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

$100 I Read The Newsletter Freeroll

Due to the success of the last "$100 I Read The Newsletter Freeroll", we're having another one, because this newsletter has taken me half a day to write (yes I know, unbelievable) and its 6pm on a Friday night and I'm still at work! But I love you guys so much I am willing to do that for you. SO - find the password contained somewhere in the newsletter and I recommend copying and pasting it so you don't get it wrong! Enjoy everyone, and have a great weekend!

For those of you who don't know how it works: somewhere within this newsletter you will see the words "the password is: xxxxxx" with a 6 character password in place which will allow you to enter the $100 I Read The Newsletter Freeroll. The tournament will play on Sunday at 3pm AEST. Good luck! And don't be a spoilsport and give other people the password!

FEATURE ARTICLE

University Study Shows Poker is a Skill Game

A study completed at Case Western Reserve University and published in the Gambling Law Review has determined poker to be a game of skill, rather than a game of luck or chance.

Dr. Douglas K. Detterman and Michael Dedonno conducted this study with two groups of poker novices. Each group was supplied with the basic rules of poker, and each group played a predetermined number of hands against "Wilson's Texas Holdem Software."

After the first set of hands was completed, one group was supplied with instructional materials which included starting hand rankings and other basic strategy that would set apart a beginner from a complete novice.

Their first study used a total of 200 hands, and the group that had received instructional materials significantly outperformed the group that received no information. They completed another set of hands, 720 this time, and gave the first group even more instructional materials. The new instructions included the concept of outs, and some basic strategy on flop, turn, and river play. The results were the same, with the treatment group outperforming the control group. The password is: 861JPJ.

One notable conclusion that the two conducting the study came to was that "the reason that poker appears to be a game of luck is that the reliability of any short session is low." Any poker player will tell you poker is a long run game, although it might appear that luck is a huge factor in the short run - and there's no denying that sometimes.

Dedonno and Detterman went on to conclude, "Luck (random factors) disguise the fact that poker is a game of skill. However, as these studies show, skill is the determining factor in long-term outcome."

Click here for the full article in PDF format.

Next week's newsletter: Other news!

Good luck at the tables!

-Catherine

Tournament Director