For All Railbirds - A 'How To' Guide to Railbirds.com and the Poker Sites We Use

)))))

Due to the recent update to the Railbirds site please be aware that some blogs in this guide no longer apply to the reworked site or now have limited application and that many of the links to member's names no longer work.

If you think you have found a bug (not a change in the site...but a REAL failure) in the functioning of the site please read this blog: Site Update *BUGS* FAQ and ALL of the comments to see if the bug has already been noted. If it has not yet been noted please post a comment on the blog AND contact an online Prorail with a complete description of the problem you have encountered. The Administrators of Railbirds are working on making this a better site. PLEASE HAVE PATIENCE WITH ANY ISSUES YOU ENCOUNTER!

I am working on updating this blog to apply to the new Railbirds pages. It takes time....and I'd rather be playing poker....so have patience please.

Thank You,
David

Last Updated December 2^nd at 1045 Full Tilt Server Time

I am ALWAYS looking for new articles to add to this blog

HELP YOUR FELLOW RAILBIRDS MEMBERS!
CREATE A BLOG OR FORUM POST & TELL ME ABOUT IT!

Do you have a blog or have you found one with info a Railbirds member could use?
Do you have info that you cut and paste to answer a member's question?
Does any one have any other info that they think Railbirds members should know?
Instructions on how to do things on Railbirds or on the poker sites members play at?

If you have already published a blog or a post in the forum; or if you have a blog you just published with info that would be useful to members of Railbirds; please provide a copy of the link in a comment on this blog or go to my page and send me a Private Message containing the link and I will add it to this blog the next time I update it.

NOTES:
Some blogs were given very generic names by their original authors. In some cases I have change the name of the link located in this blog to be more descriptive.
Any underlined green text it is a link to another Railbird members page.
Any underlined blue text is a link to a Railbird member's blog or forum post.
Any underlined red text is a link to one of my own blogs or to my page
Any underlined orange text is a link to an official Railbirds webpage or a Prorail's profile page
Any underlined purple text will take you to the “blog list” of a member that has chosen to leave or has been banned from Railbirds
Any underlined black text is a link to a poker sites website. Poker site names like Poker Stars, Full Tilt, or FTP (or just &ldquo tilt rdquo; too) and the names of many players associated with these sites (like Chris Ferguson) are automatically underlined and made a link by the Railbirds site itself since Railbirds is an affiliate of these poker sites.
Anything written in Italics is my own personal opinion.
This blog was written and formatted on Openoffice.org. A FREE open source word processor and office software suite that also opens and saves Microsoft Office documents. Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ !!

I also have a blog with over two hundred links to poker strategy and “how to play” info that members have posted in blogs and forum posts. It's called the (In)complete Strategy Guide for Railbirds. If you're reasonably new to the game of poker you should check it out. You WILL learn something. I guarantee it!! Even experienced players will probably learn something.

Read these to understand how thing work on Railbirds:

1. Answers to the 6 most common questions new members have by lottie531
2. Questions asked of me daily by richsgirl187
3. A list of Railbirds Do's and Don't's : Welcome New Railbirds by mange
4. Respect your fellow railbirds : railbird vows by MrsMagoo
5. Additional Unofficial Railbird F.A.Q. by QuasiPro
6. A series of blogs written by the site administrators. The titles of the blogs are many common questions with the answers supplied in the blogs themselves : http://www.railbirds.com/user_blog.php?userID=0
7. astrogini has posted the simple to use Railbirds Tournament Schedule Chart . For a full listing of the Railbirds tournaments with specific game information and the winners of completed tournaments visit the Railbirds Tournament Schedule
8. A bounty is a promise of payment for knocking a player out of a tourney. During many Official Railbirds Tournements and some private tourneys there are players that have a bounty placed on their heads. Due to past issues related to nonpayment and scamming by those posting bounties the Railbirds Administrators decided to make bounties for Official Railbirds Tournements an organized and Semi-Official part of Railbirds. For the rules on how to place or claim a bounty uring an Official Railbirds Tournement please see the Bounties section of the Official Railbirds FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) or the rules for posting bounties found in Astrogini's Railbird Bounty Blog. Once you have read the rules and have decided you want to place a bounty you will need to send a Private Message to astrogini with the details as per the instructions found in Astrogini's Railbird Bounty Blog. Any actual bounties on players for a particular tourney will be posted on Astrogini's Railbird Bounty Blog. It is the only place on Railbirds a bounty may be posted for any Official Railbirds Tournement. Any other blogs advertising a bounty for an Official Railbirds Tournement will be deleted by the site administrators as soon as they are noticed. Bounties for private tournaments my still be listed on the blog posted to advertise that particular private tournament.
9. Asking or begging for money or for a trade of funds between sites is against the rules of the Railbirds. Doing so even in a private message to another member of the site could be reported to a Prorail and lead to a warning or revocation of your membership to Railbirds. See the Site rules and regulations and Problems with other members sections of the Official Railbirds FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). Further amplification and an explanation of the reasons for this policy can be found in this blog : PRORAIL'S REMINDER, please read and understand by richsgirl187.
10. The Prorails now recommend that on your profile page you hide your email address and make it available only to those that ask you for it. It has become a security issue since someone sent Railbirds members emails and and in some cases were successful in getting poker site passwords from those with visible e-mail addresses. They then stole money from the poker site accounts of these members. Details on this scam can be found in Security Issues -Please read by richsgirl187.
11. One of the main ideas and how Railbirds got its name is the ability of people to go and cheer on their friends in a game they are playing. Railing Etiquette by Smiley_Chicky is a great blog with a long discussion in the comments on how to do this with respect and dignity for both the players you are railing and their competition at the table.
12. More To Come

Sticky Threads in the Railbirds Forum:

1. OK new and better info for new railbirds A starters guide including common questions and explanations of the links at the top of all of the Railbirds webpages
2. Railbirds Etiquette
3. General Forum Rules
4. Easy Instructions For New Members Beginners Guide On How To Register For The Free Rolls At Full Tilt & Poker Stars
5. Having trouble finding the freerolls? Look Here a pictorial how-to guide for finding the freerolls on both Full Tilt and Poker Stars.
6. Railbirds Freeroll Tournaments
7. More To Come

If you ever have a problem on Railbirds and there is no information in the items here and you don't know what to do, you will need to send a Private Message to one of the Railbirds Prorails. Just visit the Complete List Of ProRails. Find a Prorail that is “online” and then click on their underlined name. This will take you to their “My Page” profile. In the upper left of the page is a window where you can send them a private message. Include as much information in the initial message as possible since they are very busy and the more complete the information the easier it will be for them to assist you or forward the information to someone who can.

How To Deposit and Cash out on Poker Sites: Be sure to read the comments too, they often expand on the information presented in the blog itself. I MAKE NO CLAIM AS TO THE ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION IN THESE BLOGS ON DEPOSITING AND CASHING OUT. IF YOU WANT TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOUR SELF GET POLITICALLY ACTIVE AND JOIN THE POKER PLAYERS ALLIANCE

1. How to deposit when you can't... a helpful guide! by bi0h4z4rd
2. ALL ACCESS VISA DOES WORK from richsgirl187 is a copy of an email from the Poker Stars Deposit Assistance Department with instructions on how to use the card to deposit. There is also information in the email for other depositing options for U.S. Players and an offer from Poker Stars support to walk anyone through the process
3. Deposit on Poker Sites Via Visa Gift Card "How To" by IonlyLoseToLuck
4. Full Rebate on Green Dot Visa activation at Walgreen's by pkrplr4116
5. Deposit using Epassporte: Epassporte Verification? by Wheely5
6. Deposit using Epassporte: Question to those who use Epassport by MsTony78
7. Cashing out on Poker Stars by jc322002
8. EPASSPORTE can now take your Visa by pkrplr4116
9. More To Come

How To Do Things On Poker Sites: Be sure to read the comments too, they often expand on the information presented in the blog itself.

1. Set up the “custom” tab on Full Tilt to easily find all the FTP and Private (including Railbirds) freerolls Easy to find freerolls on Full Tilt by lottie531
2. Hand Histories – how to get them, find them and post them in blogs for Poker Stars and Full Tilt by A55A55IN
3. Finding the Ferguson ($1 buyin) Tournaments on Full Tilt by AislingGrey
4. Would you like to have your own custom designed table for Full Tilt? Now you can. A member of Railbirds, TRB1965, has a blog with everything you need to know. TRB1965's Custom Full Tilt Tables has step by step instructions on how to do this. There are links to several blogs where he and other members of Railbirds have posted table designs anyone can download and use. There are also links here to blogs that will tell you how to design your own table if you want to. Once you have picked your table design he has a blog with step by step instructions with pictures (screenshots) on how to Install a Custom Full Tilt Table. Be careful and ALWAYS back up the original files! TRB1965 has also started to do themes for Poker Stars tables. More info and links to come.
5. Once you have changed your Full Tilt table image you can also change the image that is used as the back round you see behind the table. Just follow the directions in one of these blogs: Full Tilt backround by cpaulm, changing FTP backround by ZG925, or boring backrounds by SherX
6. The InsaneTexan wrote Make your own custom backround on Full Tilt with no visible table . This will create a view with just a backround image visible that has disembodied seats floating in the middle of the screen with the image completely visible.
7. chriswhite123 has a blog for Apple Mac users with instructions on how to make Custom FTP Backrounds for the Mac
8. CUSTOM FTP AVATARS & HOW TO INSTALL by 4gottn.4ver Will tell you how to install different images to replace the standard Full Tilt avatars. They will only be visible to you but you can use your own images.
9. AislingGrey has posted the FTP $100 Freeroll Schedule
10. Be careful what you say! when at a table and playing poker online by Lmille4574. Beyond the use of foul and abusive language ANY discussion about the hand by ANY player, even those still involved in the hand, before action is complete is PROHIBITED and can result in loss of chat privileges and possibly the loss of your account! Here are Full Tilt's Site Rules for all tables and Poker Star's Tournament Rules. Though posted on Poker Stars these examples of Prohibited Tournament Chat are applicable to Full Tilt as well. The Rules on both sites are based on the Poker Tournament Directors Association Rules.
11. How To Create Private Tournaments on Full Tilt Poker by DarkDoom : Read the comments to learn how to host a private tournament on Poker Stars.
12. Ever have a table popup when playing on Poker Stars and make a wrong bet on the wrong table? Stop Tables From Automatically Popping Up by lottie531 will tell you how to avoid having this happen to you. Read the comments for additional info.
13. Are you having problems connecting to Poker Stars? If you are, read these two blogs by madmaddyu : Poker Stars Response to Connectivity Problems & Poker Stars Technical Support Part II . These two blogs have a boat load of info on connection issues and the info that Poker Stars will need you to send them if you write an email with an issue. Also mentioned here is the fact that Poker Stars now has a beta version of an Apple Macintosh client available. Any one interested in play testing it with play money is asked to contact them.
14. How to get into an FTP freeroll when its maxed by Timm33
15. Play Chip Buy-In Free Rolls by TRB1965
16. Sometimes the poker sites have server or bandwidth issues during a tournament or Sit n Go and the games are canceled. Poker Stars and Full Tilt both have rules governing how the money in these games are to be split. Poker Stars Tournament Cancellation Rules and rule #31 of Full Tilt's Tournament Rules. If you ever have doubts or questions or if it was just you and not the site email that sites support with a NICE POLITE letter and theres a good chance they will refund your money anyways.
17. It can be hard to tell who is sitting out at a Full Tilt Sit-n-Go or tourney table but knowing this can give you a distinct advantage. This blog: easier way to find sitters, on full tilt by Roger1960 will tell you how to spot these sitters. Be sure to read the comments.
18. Online Poker: Cheat?, Rigged?, Integrity? by Baseball_Tim is a blog that dispels many of the myths about “rigged” poker rooms and has a great many points. It covers how cards are shuffled, collusion and cheating by players and the integrity of poker sites. A long discussion follows in the comments section.
19. More to Come

How To Do Things On Railbirds: Be sure to read the comments too, they often expand on the information presented in the blog itself.

1. Comprehensive Posting a Screen Shot (From A to Z) “How to” with pictorial guide by TRB1965 . Several other blogs have been written on this subject. They may assist you as well. Save Screenshots by DungeonMaster, How to Get Screen Shots by cepsi and how to save screenshots on laptops too: *Screenshots* by marlee
2. Post pictures in the forum by Chip.Snatcher
3. Edit Your Own Blogs by HIGHHANDTB
4. Upload Images to your Page or Blog by HALL1980
5. Insert a Link in your Page or Blog by Chip.Snatcher
6. How to edit your “My Page” on railbirds.com a pictorial guide by TRB1965
7. Editing Blogs by AislingGrey
8. Posting Pitures in Blogs by AislingGrey
9. A mostly up to date LIST OF CLANS /teams/families on Railbirds maintained by StormLindgren
10. A history of how the clans/teams originally got started by one of the founders himself Families Together by cepsi
11. Creating Groups In Your Railbirds "My Friends" List by A55A55IN
12. How to add a video from the Railbirds video page to your “my page” profile by Chip.Snatcher Be careful when you do this not to delete the info you already have on the page. Once deleted it can't be recovered. I keep a copy of my own “my page” profile in an Open Office Document on my computer.
13. Making a poll in the forum by ACardExpert
14. Hand Histories – how to get them, find them and post them in blogs for Poker Stars and Full Tilt by A55A55IN
15. Resizing Images - A Quick Tutorial by TRB1965 will help you in take a large image and reduce it to a size that will fit in a comment or a blog and without having it run off the edge of the page.
16. Instead of old fashioned screenshots you can now make a video recording of game play on your computer and post the video in a blog. Recording Tables by cepsi
17. Determine the Railbirds ranking points earned in a Ranking Freeroll or Real Money Ranking tourney or what place you need to make to earn “x” amount of points using drone540's Automatic Ranking Calculator
18. RB webpages not looking right?- Any Other Problems?- - Here's the Solution! by A55A55IN. Having problems with your Railbirds webpages not loading right? Wrong images in the place of images on the site? Can't write and publish blogs? Or send Private Messages? Read this blog and follow the instructions for a possible solution.
19. More To Come

The “How To” Video Series by TRB1965 has detailed audio/video instructions on how to do many things on Railbirds. An invaluable tool for newer Railbirds members.

The How To Video Index Page lists all the currently available videos that TRB1965 has made and posted as well as ones he has planned for the future. Check it out since he updates his own index more often than I update this members guide. If you have an idea for another video that you think would help members of Railbirds go here: Suggestions For My How To Video Series and leave a comment for TRB1965

1. How To Post a Blog
2. How To Edit a Blog
3. How To Post To A Users Profile Board on their “my page”.
4. How To Add Images To The Gallery
5. Inserting Images In A Blog
6. Inserting A Hypertext Link In A Blog
7. Creating A Draft Blog To Store Images
8. Adding An Image To A Comment
9. Adding A “My Page” Profile Picture
10. Filling Out The Information On Your “My Page”
11. Basic Functions on the "My Page" editor
12. Adding Images to your "My Page"
13. Requesting Friendship
14. Accepting Friendship
15. More To Come

Links Railbird Members should check on a daily basis:

1. cptmorgan's **BIRD FEED** where he does poker related question and answer type interviews with Railbird members. A new interview is posted every other day. Since he has become a Prorail he is posting and listing all the **BIRD FEED** blogs under a new name: RailBirdBirdFeed.
2. A bounty is a promise of payment for knocking a player out of a tourney. During many Official Railbirds Tournements and some private tourneys there are players that have a bounty placed on their heads. Due to past issues related to nonpayment and scamming by those posting bounties the Railbirds Administrators decided to make bounties for Official Railbirds Tournements an organized and Semi-Official part of Railbirds. For the rules on how to place or claim a bounty uring an Official Railbirds Tournement please see the Bounties section of the Official Railbirds FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) or the rules for posting bounties found in Astrogini's Railbird Bounty Blog. Once you have read the rules and have decided you want to place a bounty you will need to send a Private Message to astrogini with the details as per the instructions found in Astrogini's Railbird Bounty Blog. Any actual bounties on players for a particular tourney will be posted on Astrogini's Railbird Bounty Blog. It is the only place on Railbirds a bounty may be posted for any Official Railbirds Tournement. Any other blogs advertising a bounty for an Official Railbirds Tournement will be deleted by the site administrators as soon as they are noticed. Bounties for private tournaments my still be listed on the blog posted to advertise that particular private tournament.
3. cepsi's PRIVATE TOURNEY SCHEDULE is a list of upcoming private tournaments being held by members of Railbirds. If you ever host one yourself and want company this is the man to notify so it can be added to the blog. For more info visit my page or go to the blog itself.
4. Railbabes and Raildudes are daily non poker related interviews with Railbirds members. These are more along the lines of “get to know you better” interviews. The_Dragul does interviews with the women of Railbirds. The Railbabe Interview Index is a list of all the interviews he has done. StormLindgren does interviews with the men of Railbirds. The Raildude Interview Index is a list of all the interviews she has done.
5. A useful page with links to all sorts of useful websites Silent_Johnny 's Shortcuts page makes a good internet browser starting page for Railbird members.