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Full review of PokerRoom
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PokerRoom
www.pokerroom.com
FREE DOWNLOAD!
Established 2001
Country Costa Rica
Auditor PWC
Special Features
Available in Java and download version
3D environment in download version
Statistical analysis of hands per each game type
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Sign-up bonus in $ $300
Deposit bonus in % 50%
Referral bonus per friend $0
Deposit free bonus $0
Paid to play ($/hour) $0
Hits
Fast and reliable software, with nice look and feel
2 daily free roll tournaments of good value
24/7 telephone support
Easy note taking function
Good statistics functions (online and via email)
Misses
Scattered lobby info (has to click on each table to see view flop percentage,
average pot and hands per hour)
Platform has been unstable at times (in particular in larger tournaments) |
Summary
PokerRoom is the world's leading no-download poker
room, with a unique and sleek design and good traffic. There is a download
version as well which has very nice graphics. PokerRoom has managed to get real
soft games the last 6 months with their huge traffic increase. The focus is more
on 6-handed tables than most other top rooms (together with InterPoker).
PokerRoom.com is the best choice for Mac-users, who can play without any special
installs. PokerRoom offers great statistical analysis of your game and an open
database of the hands played at the site. There traffic is very concentrade to
the Holdem and tournament section. A large proportion of the games are
short-handed tables with 5 or 6 players. The sign up bonus is huge coming from
our site, but the rake is slighly higher than industry average (partly due to
all short-handed games). The games have become very juicy lately where soft
games are found even up to $5/$10 no-limit Texas Holdem which is impressive.
Real money player statistics - July 2005: 2300-2700 ring game players at peak
hours, 4000-6000 tournament players at peak hours.
Software and graphics
Widely regarded as one of the leaders with its clean, sleek and reliable
graphics and software. The software is available as both Java applet and as
standard Windows download. The Java version is a great feature for Linux and Mac
users who otherwise need a Windows emulator. The Java version is also for
certain users who cannot download programs to the computer.The statistics
functionality on your played hands in the various games is good, with extra
features such as hourly win/loss rate and Big Bets won or lost. There is a
random delay in the automated pre-selected actions a client can take, not to
give away any extra information via an immediate check. The lobby information is
a little tricky to use, as you need to click on each table to get the full
statistics.
Ring game traffic
The traffic at peak hours is currently 2300 to 2700 real money ring games
players. The high limit tables in particular have grown very much since last
year.
Tournament traffic
The traffic at the tournaments at peak hours reaches currently between 4000 and
6000 real money players. There are two big daily free rolls, which draw very
large crowds.
Game variety
Good variety, but traffic very concentrated to Texas Holdem. Finally pot- and
no-limit games as well as Omaha and seven-card stud (both Hi and Hi-Lo) were
launched in the spring and summer 2004. (Omaha is both available in fixed-, pot-
and no-limit where the no-limit version is rather unusual for Omaha, in
particular in the Omaha High version).
Rake
The rake is now on par with the industry standard (used to be less attractive
than the average), with 5% of the pot up to a maximum of $3. The policy to rake
uncalled bets and no flop games is changed with no raken taken.
Soft competition
From our experience that there are quite a few more soft games available at
PokerRoom since the big marketing push in the summer 2004 and their good
positioning in search engines like Google. But you cannot look at the top stakes
games for soft competition, where PokerRoom is less of a "fish pond". Still, you
can at times find $5/$10 no-limit Holdem tables with a view flop percentage of
35-40%. Overall, many full ten-player hold'em games have a view flop percentage
in the 40-ies and 50-ies, and some in the 60-ies - so the games are quite soft
and the trend is good.
Sign up bonus
World-exclusive monster sign-up bonus via our site, with up to $300 bonus at 50%
deposit match. You need 10 points to convert each bonus dollar. Hence, you need
3000 points for raked hands (where you just get dealt cards) within a 60 day
time limit to get the $300 at a 50% deposit bonus. Each pot with rake of $0.5
gives 0.5 points and all rakes over one dollar give 1.0 point (which means 10
raked full pots per bonus dollar).
Loyalty bonus
WSOP-seat worth $13,500 is given away in June 2005 to the player that wins our
private tournament for the 20 most active PokersList players during Jan 2005
to May 2005. Points are awarded for every raked hand in which a player
participates. The points can be converted into cash (Player Points Payback) or
used as buy-ins in free roll tournaments (Player Points Freeroll). Each 100
points is converted to $1.
Promotions
There a good level of promotions nowadays, including two daily $1000 free roll
tournaments and two $500 added money tournaments as well as a $2500 added money
"Lucky Dollar" every Saturday. One unique policy is that players scoring the
most points any given day are eligible for cash prices, ranging up to $250. Also
check out the new super promotion of becoming a full paid poker pro via
PokerRoom for one year with an up to $240,000 package!
Support
There is both live chat and telephone support 24/7 plus email support, which is
reasonably quick and very knowledgable.
Financial security
Very secure, as one of the top 6 poker rooms in the world, with no earlier
recorded problems. Top score.
Deposit & withdrawal options
Deposit options:
VISA, MasterCard, NETeller, FirePay, 900Pay, PrePaid ATM, MoneyBookers, Delta,
Switch and Instacash
Cash out options:
NETeller, FirePay, PrePaid ATM, courier check, normal check.
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