Poker Room Reviews
Online Poker Rooms love big affiliates like AllOnlinePokerSites.com. And why not, they want our players to come to their poker rooms. When you go direct to a poker room, they have limited impetus to give you much. Because the poker rooms listed on AllOnlinePokerSites.com must compete with other poker rooms on the site, they offer players going through AllOnlinePokerSites.com links and banners better signing bonuses, additional freerolls, which are free cash tournaments, and reload bonuses should you bust out. The poker rooms are smart enouph to realize that as an AllOnlinePokerSites.com player, you know where to find a replacement poker room quick enough. As the player, why not get the best deal!!!
The reviews provided by AllOnlinePokerSites.com were each reviewed by a minimum of two staff members and are updated every 6 months. They were primarily judged on 4 items: Ease of Competition, Bonus/Promotions, Poker Software, Rake/Cashouts/Customer Service. The number 7, or 7 out of 10, was considered the average in each catagory.
Once a site begins to get very popular, they begin to decrease their signup bonuses and increase their rake, especially on low stakes games, decreasing their overall review number. While the newer sites become competitive by providing lower than the industry rake, and big signup bonuses. Only by knowing the benefits and the detriments of each site can you make the smartest choices. We give you that information. Most online poker players play a single room to capture as much of their initial signup bonus as they can. We recommend you do the same. Should you bust out, consider a different room to ensure you get a new and different perspective.
Here is a more detailed explanation of the factors that made up each poker rooms overall review:
Ease of Competition: Certain sites tend to draw players of a specific level. Although they may not realize it, better players and online professionals tend to congragate, often, that is how they became better players. Better players are also the players you prefer to avoid. Over the course of playing a room for significant hours, someone who has played many other rooms can see the differences in play. To properly analyze a site and provide a complete review, our reviewers will always log a minimum of 50 hours on a site playing Holdem $1/$2 and .25/.50 No Limit, $20+2 and $10+1 Sit and Go's, various tournaments, games and other limits.
Bonus/Promotions: Bonus and promotions was grouped because they have intrinsic value to the other. The startup bonus provides the immediate short term value, while the promotions provide the visitor long term options and benefits. Rakeback is forever and this is a benefit that should be heavily weighted and it weighted in this section. All of the percentage signup bonuses require a certain amount of play to attain. When discussing the startup bonuses, knowing how easy or difficult it is to actually bring the bonus to fruition and into your player account is of primary importance.
Poker Software: Almost half of the poker rooms reviewed have undergone major software upgrades over the last two years. Some of the upgrades provide nice options, and others offer some annoyances as well. Our goal is to pick through the maze to assist you in understanding the benefits and the pitfalls of each of the poker rooms listed.
Rake/Cashouts/Customer Service: The rake is an important factor and while it is standard in most, where it is lower or higher, it is something you should know to make an educated decision for where you should play. The options you have for getting cashed out as well as how long it takes and how strong the sites customer service is provided the other 1/3 of the catagory.
Here is a short overview on each poker room, to see the complete review you must go to the rooms review page:
Absolute Poker Review
In 2007, Absolute poker merged with UB Poker (formerly Ultimatebet), and then later formed the Cereus Poker Network in 2008. The Cereus advertising campaign is "Bigger. Badder. Better." Absolute Poker is a small poker room with limited variety outside of low stakes Texas Holdem. The site has a strong emphasis on micro-limit tables and shorthanded tables. The competition is fairly soft and the sign up bonus is competitive. Absolute Poker is home to the bad beat jackpot and some of the easiest to clear poker bonuses available online. The poker room provides a fully functional Mac compatible client, with is quite fast and has multiple features to customize your overall playing experience. The merger has proved fruitful as the site now offers top 10 player traffic and a greatly enhanced playing experience. Despite that, Absolute Poker is still experiencing the aftermath of the 2007/2008 Absolute Poker cheating scandal (See Review Page) and took one of the biggest losses in customer base in 2009. Click here to visit Absolute Poker Room.
Cake Poker Review
Established in 2005 in Netherlands Antilles, Cake Poker is more than just a poker room, it is an independent network called CakePoker. This is one of the newer poker networks and it accepts US players. Cake Poker has been growing recently, and now ranks in the top 10 network site traffic, 4th in network site traffic that accepts US Players (behind Pokerstars, Full Tilt and Cereus). Cake Poker is one of the most aesthetically impressive gaming sites with well-sculpted 3D human avatars. Cake Poker offers AllOnlinePokerSites referrals 33% in rakeback! Click here to visit Cake Poker Room.
Celeb Poker Review
CelebPoker is part of the iPoker Network. CelebPoker is a nice site that offers players the opportunity to play with celebrities. The site has soft competition and a strong bonus program. The software is a solid package and the rake and the customer service is quite good. Click here to visit Celeb Poker Room.
Doyles Poker Review
Established in 2004 in Netherlands Antilles, Doyles Room is part of the Cake Network, the 4th largest network in that accepts US players. Doyles has an excellent startup and ongoing bonuses and promotions. The room is tournament dominated and ring games are almost exclusively Texas Holdem, and primarily low stakes. The competition is weak and the software is good. The site is managed by poker legends Doyle Brunson and Mike Caro. The poker room is powered by the Cake Network, which has clear graphics and good funtionality. Doyles Room offers AllOnlinePokerSites referrals 33% in rakeback! Click here to visit Doyles Poker Room.
EuroPoker Review
Established in 2005 in Gibralter, Euro Poker is owned and operated by the Ongame Italian Poker Network and uses Ongame and NetEnt Software. As part of the Ongame Network, Europoker shares customer base with Casino Room. Available in both java and download, this site and provides an excellent 3D environment in download version. EuroPoker.com provides an entire game platform in Spanish, Polish, Russian, or German. Click here to visit EuroPoker Room.
Full Tilt Poker Review
Full Tilt Poker has become wildly popular around the world and is the fastest growing online poker room. Full Tilt's top features include the smooth game play and huge game selection available. Full Tilt Poker recruits a lot of pros to play at the site, so players can have the experience of pitting their skill against a professional. Endorsers include Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, John Juanda, Eric Seidel, Jennifer Harmon, Erick Lindgren, Andy Block, Mike Matusow, Gus Hanson, Allen Cunningham, Patrick Antonius and Tom "durrr" Dwan. With the professionals came big game action and lots of the better players. Because of the growth, a looser game can be found at the lower stakes as the site has attracted many of the new players. The bonus and promotional program is also quite good. Click here to visit Full Tilt Poker Room.
Hollywood Poker
Established in 2004 in Canada, Hollywood Poker is part of Ongame Network, the world’s fifth biggest poker network. Hollywood Poker draws its traffic from the Ongame network's shared player base. Hollywood Poker has strong ring game traffic and it should be easy to find games around the clock at all holdem stakes. Hollywood Poker has some famous endorsers promote the site, including movie star James Woods and Vince Van Patten (World Poker Tour Television Host) and Jason Alexander (George Costanza on Seinfeld). Their primary advertising motto is "Where The Stars Come To Play!" More importantly, the competition on the site is easier than average. The site has a strong bonus program and very nice software. Overall, this is just nicely done all the way around. While the name implies a US site, unfortunately, Hollywood Poker does not accept US players. Click here to visit Hollywood Poker Room.
InterPoker Review
InterPoker has improved a great deal of the poker experience that they provide. The developers recently decided to outsource their network and focus solely on the software. InterPoker is now on the International Poker Network (IPN, a.k.a. Boss Media) where they have joined more than 90 other poker sites. This has increased their traffic greatly and games have gotten much better. Prior the change, the competition at Inter Poker was fairly strong, but since it has joined the Boss Network that has changed to average. This site has a strong focus on 6 seat tables. Inter Poker offers AllOnlinePokerSites referrals 30% in rakeback! Click here to visit InterPoker Room.
Ladbrokes Poker Review
Established in 2000 and operating on the Microgaming network, Ladbrokes is a well respected and established UK based bookmaker with strong land based operations. While thier online poker room is still considered a small site, Ladbrokes itself is considered the largest sports betting operations in the world and with over 100 years of experience in gambling. Click here to visit Ladbrokes Poker Room.
Noble Poker Review
Established in 2004 in Gibralter, Noble Poker is a small poker room on the ipoker network that we have found rather unimpressive. The site has soft competition and a strong bonus program. At the same time, we have found their casino software is quite good and it is recommended for casino play. Click here to visit Noble Poker Room.
Pacific Poker Review
Established in 2002 in Gibralter, Pacific Poker is operated by the Casino-on-Net Group, or 888.com, one of the world's largest online gambling operators. This creates a strong influx of casino players, which helps to make the games quite loose at Pacific Poker. Pacific poker is the 4th largest poker room right now and site is also known as 888 poker. The competition is easier at Pacific Poker than at most sites and can be a profitable room to play. But they also have one of the worst rake structures of any online poker room. Click here to visit Pacific Poker Room.
Party Poker Review
Due to the US Legislation regarding online poker, Party Poker stopped taking US customers and lost its position as the leading volume online poker room in the industry. Despite that, Party Poker is extremely well respected by serious players and still represents a strong slice of the market. The competition is average and the poker rooms and lobby are simple to operate and designed to assist the newcomer. Previously, as a monster in the industry, the new player bonuses were less than the industry standard and the rake was high. Once that status was lost, they were forced to become competitive in both bonus and rake. Software and customer service is still very strong. Click here to visit Party Poker.
Players Only Review
Established in 2006 in Antigua and Barbuda, PlayersOnly Poker recently moved from the Cake poker network to the Merge network. They join a small but growing group of poker sites accepting U.S. players and U.S. credit card deposits. The poker room has, in an extremely short period of time, grown very quickly and offers some of the loosest and juiciest games available online. Players Only offers AllOnlinePokerSites referrals 35% in rakeback! Click here to visit Players Only Poker Room.
Poker Host Review
Poker Host has changed networks multiple times since its inception in order to continue to accept US players. Beginning with SBC Global, moving on to Microgaming, and now, thankfully, it has finally landed on the Merge Network which is committed to keeping US customers. It is also fortunate that Poker Host has seemed to improve with each move. Poker Host offers AllOnlinePokerSites referrals 35% in rakeback! You can go click here to go to Host Poker Room.
Poker Nordica Review
Established in Kahnawake (Canada) in 2006, Poker Nordica is on the Merge Network, one of the fishiest poker networks on the net. While still small, this network has failed to draw the better players and the result is a very loose game. The site also boasts impressive graphic software and a fast game. Poker Nordica offers AllOnlinePokerSites referrals 35% in rakeback. Click to go to Poker Nordica Poker Room.
Poker Stars Review
Following Paradise Poker and Party Poker, PokerStars now stands as the market leader in online poker tournaments and ring game traffic. Despite its huge size, it is still growing. Poker Stars has the unique distinction of sponsoring three World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event winners: Chris Moneymaker, 2003; Greg Raymer, 2004; and Joseph Hachem, in 2005. But the best thIng about Poker Stars is that its random card generator is exceptionally true to a randon deck and closest thing to playing brick and mortar. It is no wonder their players do so well when it comes to WSOP events. On the downside is the competition at this room is quite strong and online professional poker players are littered throughout the site. Click here to visit Poker Stars Poker Room.
Titan Poker Review
Titan Poker is the leading poker room on the ipoker Network room that offers a strong first deposit bonus. The competition is soft compared to most other networks. They have made some recent upgrades to their software package .The software supplied by Playtech and used by Titan Poker and the other poker rooms on the iPoker network is visually appealing and the functionality is quite good, although the game-play can be a bit slow at times. Titan Poker is known for sending a lot of players to big poker tournaments around the globe and sponsors one of the biggest online poker tournaments of their own – the European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP) with a guaranteed prize pool of over $5 million. Click here to visit Titan Poker Room.
Ultimate Bet Review (Now UB Poker)
Ultimate Bet was one of the first big poker sites to enter the online poker market back in 1999. In 2007 the site was floundering so they merged with Absolute Poker and both sites formed the Cereus Poker Network in 2008. To complete the transformation, Ultimate Bet then changed their name to UB Poker. UB Poker is offers a strong group of professional sponsors that include Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Joe Sebok, Michael Binger, Eric Baldwin and Tiffany Michelle. The site offers one of the higher first deposit bonuses for US players, a good variety of games, and wide stakes from micro to ultra high limits. UB Poker provides a strong group of US payment options and is one of the few poker sites accepting the Diner’s Club Card and American Express. Click here to visit Ultimate Bet Poker Room.
William Hill Review
William Hill Poker is a part of the William Hill Company located in the United Kingdom. William Hill is a bookmaker in the UK that has been around since 1934. William Hill also offers telephone betting, online casino games, and much more. It is part of the booming iPoker network. The promotions at William Hill are strong with over $15 million in guarenteed prize money on the network. The competition is soft as long as you look for the right room. They have made some recent upgrades to their software package. Click here to visit William Hill Poker Room.
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