Win an iPad 2! On Tuesday, February 14th, spend part of your Valentine’s Day on HogWild Poker, home of a free poker league for PocketFivers from the United States and around the world. HogWild Poker is giving away a brand new iPad 2 to the winner of the league, which awards points based on a person’s finishes over the course of four free tournaments, each held on Tuesdays at 9:00pm ET. There’s no money to pay, but the chance to get an iPad 2 should definitely be on your radar. USA players welcome!

We realize that a lot of our members aren’t familiar with HogWild Poker, so PocketFives sat down with HogWild Poker’s Greg Friend and Jeff Amrein in recent days to get the inside scoop on this U.S.-facing, rake-free site. And by the way, it’s definitely not too late to jump into the PocketFives league and play with your fellow community members.

PocketFives: Thanks for joining us. Tell us about the idea of forming HogWild Poker.

Jeff Amrein: I’ve always been a developer and was traveling a lot, so I couldn’t participate in my poker league. A few of us in the league said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get a toolkit and play poker on our website?” After I looked into getting a toolkit, I found out it was very involved. Long story short, I said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we made a poker site that anyone could use and do what no one else has done?” Anyone can get on here, create their own league, and play.

Greg Friend: We tried to create a fun and competitive environment and offer our players optional enhancements. You think of Facebook poker and how they sell you tokens with which you can buy things on the side, but we take it further than that. We’ve found out very interesting ways for you to use our optional tokens to bet with and buy virtual goods. The tokens are becoming instrumental, but you’re spending very little money for entertainment overall.

PocketFives: The tokens you’re referring to are called HogBucksand are an optional purchase outside of the PocketFives league. Tell us more about what users can do with HogBucks.

Greg Friend: It’s optional to buy HogBucks. You can take your HogBucks to the ring game tables and try to win more. You can invite friends and get more HogBucks for that. You can side bet with friends and get more HogBucks. People spend about $10 per month on average on HogBucks, so it’s not that much. We want a fun site that’s affordable where everyone can feel like they’re playing for something.

PocketFives: We’ve heard that HogWild Poker players have higher skill levels than players on other free money sites. Why is that?

Jeff Amrein: The players administer their own games on HogWild Poker. I’ve had several administrators say that they’re kicking a person out of their league because they go all-in on every hand and don’t play real poker. As long as it’s a private league you set up, you can do anything you want. It’s your league.

Greg Friend: We create promotions and host leagues with the intent of having competitions that stretch out over multiple games with a prize at the end. To get to the prize, you have to demonstrate skill over and over again. That motivates people to play hard.

PocketFives: What’s involved in setting up a HogWild Poker league? How many leagues do you have going on the site?

Greg Friend: We have over 1,000 leagues on the site right now. Many are private, some are public, but they’re all free. You can customize the leagues in any way you want. You can set the rules and run your games the way you see fit. You can schedule games around-the-clock or once a week. Anyone can create their own poker league.

PocketFives: We know that the poker software used by HogWild Poker is a lot different than that found on rake-based sites. What features are unique?

Jeff Amrein: We tried to make HogWild Poker more like a home game, so our table view is a little different. You sit at the end of the table (pictured) and we play with the cards face down. If you want to look at your cards, you have to click them. Mike Caro, who has talked with us about the software, loved playing with the cards face down. When you look at your cards, they light up, so there are tells and you can confuse people that way.

We have a scoreboard right on the screen. I remembered how much I hated leaving my table to go back to the scoreboard in the main lobby, so it’s on the table instead. We have side bets on the main screen. We have the ability to find your friends on the main screen. Everything you need is right in front of you.

Greg Friend: You can talk to the other players at the table via a headset. I really think we were the first ones to come up with showing bubbles over the players’ heads when they chatted via typing too. So, what we display is much different than a standard chat box. It’s little things that separate HogWild Poker from the pack.

PocketFives: What went into creating the software initially?

Jeff Amrein: It was important that we developed every bit of it ourselves. We even wrote our own RNG, which is certified for real money gaming. That’s important because we know we’ll have to partner in the future and didn’t want to be tied down to anyone else.

PocketFives: The first PocketFives league eventwas held last Tuesday. Who won and what’s in store now? How can someone win an iPad 2 through our league?

Greg Friend: The first game lasted two hours and a PocketFiver named photokid won it. Over four events, we’ll give points to PocketFivers based on how they finish in the league tournaments, and it’s definitely not too late to sign up. I know several people who have said, “Holy cow. I only have to beat a handful of people to win an iPad 2. I’m getting in immediately.” At the end of the month, we’ll be featuring who won in our banner ad on PocketFives, so that will be something to look forward to.

PocketFives: We understand you have a pretty buzz-worthy feature coming in March that will be geared toward live players.

Greg Friend: We’re getting ready to launch a program in March that will be exciting to aspiring pros and put them into live casino events. Watch for an announcement in mid-February. There will be lots of prizes with this promotion. We’ll also be unveiling a partnership we’re forming with the Poker Players Alliance and PokerGives.

PocketFives: Jeff, we understand you’re a longtime member of PocketFives. Tell us about your poker background.

Jeff Amrein: Everyone at HogWild Poker is a poker addict. I have been a PocketFives member since 2008. I’ve played on both of the major poker sites that used to be in the U.S. HogWild Poker has a poker pro on staff. We work with a number of poker pros and all of us have taken lessons from poker pros. We play every day and we love it. What a job we have!

Sign up for HogWild Poker today. Remember, USA players are welcome and the league is completely free. We look forward to seeing everyone in our second league event on Tuesday.