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Site
Rating (8.7/10):
Poker
Room was the one that started it all, the very
first online poker room. They started out as a
play money site in 1999, then moved into real
money play in 2001 when they had sufficient
traffic. Poker Room never looked back after
that, and they have steadily built up a
reputation as one of the most respected poker
sites on the web. Poker Room happens to be my
absolute favourite site to play on. They say you
always have a special place in your heart for
your first, and the first time I played online
poker was with Poker Room. I had a Mac at the
time, and the only Mac-friendly site I could
find was Poker Room (Poker Room is by far the
most accessible poker site for Mac users,
supporting offline play in Java windows). It was
love at first rake, and I have loyal to the Room
ever since.
Software
/ Graphics (9.5/10):
Poker
Room has the best software and graphics of any
poker site, hands down. Its not even close.
Poker Room is the gold standard, the one the
others aspire to be. For starters, there is
Poker Room's availability to Mac users, meaning
literally anyone who owns a computer can play on
the Room. Poker Room has clean, sleek software
that is a cinch to use. The lobby is extremely
well-organized, with tabs and listings for each
game, allowing players to easily locate any one
of Poker Room's thousands of tables. The
statistics functions are remarkably detailed,
giving players everything they could ever want.
There is viewed flop percentages, hands per
hour, average pots and personal session
statistics, such as hourly win/loss rates, big
bets won/lost, cumulative wins/losses, folds on
the flop, river, turn etc. (this is a must for
the serious player) Poker Room also has a loyal
"community" of users, with lobby chat
functions (open to any logged-in player) and the
Pokah pages, where players can create profiles
of themselves (including date of birth, country
etc.) Poker Room also allows players to host
private tables, where they can set their own
buy-in and starting time and play with their
friends.
The
table graphics on Poker Room are also the best
in the business. The player avatars are
amazingly life-like, and each different player
seems to have their own personality (the fat
party guy, the hot chick, the rumpled
businessman). The player avatars are so real
that you almost feel like you're playing with
real people. I also love the all-in table
feature, where the percentages of the all-in
players' hands are shown (just like on the WPT).
This feature becomes painful, however, when you
get all of your chips in as a 90% favourite and
you still end up losing.
Bonuses
/ Promotions (8/10):
Poker
Room's signup bonus is right in line with
industry standards, 20% up to $100. There is
also the standard refer-a-friend bonus of $25
for the friend and $50 for the referrer. Poker
Room also has frequent reload bonuses, usually
once a month for 20% of the deposit. I will say
that Poker Room's deposit bonuses are very
difficult to clear. You need to get 10 points to
convert every bonus dollar. Points are earned in
both ring games (one point for every rake over a
dollar) and sit and gos (10 points for a $20
game and so on). The problem is that you have to
earn your bonus within a 60 day period,
something I have failed to do on a number of occasions.
Poker
Room has a number of good promotions. There is a
solid loyalty point program, where accumulated
player points can be converted into cash (100
points get $1) or entries into tournaments (the
top fifty player point earners of each day also
get to share a $1,000 prize pool). There are
numerous WSOP and WPT qualifiers, and too many
free tournaments to mention, like the daily
freeroll with a $500 prize pool. There are
"Lucky Dollar" tournaments every
Saturday ($2500 added), and regular
"Frenzy" tournaments ($2 rebuys with a
guaranteed $4000 prize pool). There is a royal
flush jackpot (players get 100 times the big
blind in ring games if they hit the royal). At
present, there is also the "Poker
Apprentice" scheme, where one lucky winner
gets to go on the tournament trail for a year,
courtesy of Poker Room, a prize package worth
over $240,000.
Player
Skill (8/10):
When
I first started playing on Poker Room the
competition was pretty tough. Granted I was new
to poker, but I got my ass handed to me a few
times in the early days. It seemed like
everybody could play fundamental poker.
Recently, Poker Room has been doing a lot of
offline marketing, and this has brought many
fish to the site. Yum yum. This is definitely
evident in the low limit ring games, especially
the $1-$2 and $2-$4 games. Viewed flop
percentages tend to hover around the 50% mark,
which is always a good thing. The sit and go's,
however, are a different story, and they tend to
be tough. Even the $10-$20 games can be a battle
to cash. If a player is looking to make some
easy money, the sit and go's are not the place
to be. Stick to the small stake ring games.
Poker Room has a fair bit of higher stake
action. There are $100-$100 NL ring games, and a
$1000 buy-in Grand Tournament every couple of
months. There are also $300 tournaments every
week and $100 tournaments every day.
Number
Of Players (8.5/10):
Poker
Room has good traffic, placing it in the top 5
of all online card rooms. During peak hours,
there are around 2,000 ring game players and
5,000 tournament players. Finding a game on
Poker Room is never a problem, in fact there is
usually a waiting list five deep to get into the
low limit ring games. All the more time to scope
out the fish you are about to skin. The hourly
$10-$20 NL tournaments always have more than 200
players, generating decent prize pools.
Cashouts
/ Customer Support (9.5/10):
The
customer support is top notch. There is
telephone and live support (staff is pleasant
and knowledgeable), in addition to email support
(returned in a timely manner). I have never had
any problems with Poker Room in this respect.
Deposit options: VISA, MasterCard, NETeller,
FirePay, 900Pay, PrePaid ATM, MoneyBookers,
Delta, Switch and Instacash.
Cash out options: NETeller, FirePay, PrePaid
ATM, courier check, check.
Poker
Room Pros & Cons:
Pros:
-
Industry leader in software and graphics
- Excellent statistic functions, session
histories and life-like table avatars
- Very accessible for Mac users
- You can play Poker Room on your cell
phone
- Good traffic and game selection ( even offer 5
card draw)
- Excellent promotions, including loyalty points
and daily freerolls
- Great customer support
- Daily 20K guaranteed tourneys
- Showdown odds can be displayed on the
table
- Players can run private tables
- Large selection of shorthanded tables and
games
- Monthly $1000 Grand Tournament
Cons:
-
Bonus can be difficult to obtain
- Poker Room gets choppy when multiple tables
are played
- When you bust out you get booted from the
table immediately
- Some tough competition in the sit and go's and
tournaments
Poker
Room Site Review Conclusion:
The
best. I have tried all of the other online poker
rooms, but I always come back to the Room. I
love Poker Room for a number of reasons, but
here are the main ones right now:
1) There is tons of shorthanded action - I love
shorthanded play, and Poker Room has the most. I
have been making a killing in the shorthanded
$2-$4 limit Hold'Em games.
2) The daily 20K guaranteed tournaments. I am
absolutely hooked on these $20 rebuy
tournaments. First place consistently pays out
over $4,500, and there are always over 500
runners. That's pretty good value for $63. I
don't have any nice cashes yet, but I'm working
on it.
3) The monthly $1000 Grand Tournaments - Entry
fee is $1000 + 0 with a starting stack of
$10,000 and $20 - $20 blinds. I definitely
don't have the bankroll to buy into this
tournament, but I have been close to qualifying.
In two separate qualifiers for the last Grand, I
was heads up with the chip lead. In both
instances, I ended up coming second, thanks but
no thanks. The next Grand is coming up, and one
way or another I'm going to be there. See you on
the tables!
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