When discussing internet poker sites, whether you love it or hate it, you have to start with Party Poker.
Party Poker easily possesses the largest playing base of any of the internet poker sites. In fact, many poker sites used to simply be separate marketing entities that share the same poker software, tables, and players as Party Poker (such as Empire Poker and Eurobet among others). However, Party Poker recently split from these poker "skins" and now has its own dedicated player base. Most people assume Party Poker's large player base is a good thing. By and large I agree with this assessment. However it also has a few disadvantages which I will touch on later.
The sheer size of Party Poker's player base allows it to offer games of almost any stake at any time of the day. This becomes more important as you reach the higher stakes since many of the competitor poker sites do not have enough players to sustain $10/$20 games and higher during their off-peak hours. When they do, some of the players are often props (players compensated by the casino to play during off hours) usually possessing good skills so the games tend to be less lucrative. However, when playing lower stakes ($5/$10 and lower) or during peak hours (during US evenings) Party Poker's large player pool is not quite as beneficial.
Party Poker's large player pool, combined with its Buddy List and Search Tables features makes for great table selection as well. If you play enough hands on Party Poker, carefully track your opponent's play to identify the fish, and add them to your buddy list, you can usually always find a table to play at with at least 1 known weak player. This is how I ride. However, I have found that if you do not play enough hands in a short window, the player pool on Party Poker is so broad that you will never see many of the same players twice. On smaller websites, it is not uncommon to be familiar with several of your opponents if you stick to similar stakes. As long as you pay more attention to your opponents than your opponents do, knowing more of your opponents and knowing them better is an advantage that some competing sites might better provide than Party Poker.
It took me a while, but I have finally come around to the interface. It seems a bit clumsy at times, and periodically goes through stages where disconnects frequently occur, but for the most part I have had very little trouble with my play there. The software allows you to open up to 4 tables at a time, although I would strongly recommend against playing any more than 2 since a significant part of your advantage over your opponents will come from observing their playing tendencies. I wish their interface would allow for the player images to be removed since they clutter the screen and would provide the option to center my position, but regardless, I have seen several worse interfaces.
Party Poker's large player pool also allows it to offer some great multi-table tournaments. My main objection to multi-table tournaments is the amount of contiguous time I will have invest in them to make money. Contrary to popular belief, 1200 person tournaments usually finish in a similar time frame as 400 person tournaments. More people just get eliminated per minute. Given my time constraints, when I do play in multi-table tournaments I want to have as large of a total pot as possible so I have the best chance to make my time worthwhile. This makes Party Poker my site of choice for multi-table tournaments since they offer numerous multi-hundred (and sometimes even multi-thousand) entrant tournaments.
Party Poker offers standard player sign-up bonuses and periodically offers redeposit bonuses. The typical initial player deposit bonus is 20% of your initial deposit up to $100. Usually once a month, or every other month, Party Poker offers redeposit bonuses up to $100. I take advantage of every one of these offers and recommend that all other players do as well. This is free money.
Please keep in mind the terms of these bonuses. Party Poker usually requires a certain number of raked hands to be played before a certain expiration date before releasing the bonus to you. This makes the bonus an all-or-nothing proposition. If you play a sufficient number of hands in the given time frame, this is of no concern to you. However, if you are unsure of how much you will play, realize that you may not receive any money from these bonus offers.
Overall, I think the large player pool, decent interface, and reliable service make Party Poker a great site to try. If you wish to try it out, click on the either of the above Party Poker banners. The top banner will get you a 20% deposit bonus (up to $100) on your initial deposit.
Players who click on the above Party Poker banner, sign-up, and make a real money deposit are eligible to receive a free copy of the Texas Help 'Em guide (PDF format). If you would like your free copy, follow the instructions from the prior sentence and notify us of your Party Poker screen name at affiliates@texashelpem.com. After we confirm your account sign-up and deposit we will e-mail you a free copy of the Texas Help 'Em guide.
After Party Poker, there is a 2nd tier of very popular websites. Ultimate Bet falls within this 2nd tier category.
Although Ultimate Bet's player base is only a fraction of Party Pokers’ (every other poker sites is as well), it is still substantial in size. You should have no problem finding limit Texas Hold ‘Em games $5/$10 and below at any time. I only found the size of Ultimate Bet’s player base an issue when I began playing $10/$20 and higher. Ironically, should you make it big time, Ultimate Bet offers games of $50/$100 and higher and these games have players many times during the day. I suspect this will not be an issue for the majority of this site’s visitors, but maybe one day, right!?!? When I played $1/$2 through $5/$10 limit, I actually found this site’s relatively smaller playing pool beneficial. I usually found myself in games with a known weak player and at least 1 or 2 other players that I had some prior experience with.
One of the best features of Ultimate Bet is its companion software, Ultimate Buddy. Ultimate Buddy is designed to track friends and family members (yes, both my parents play frequently and sadly enough, we often catch-up in poker table chat dialogues). It will show you which of your “buddies” are logged in and what table(s) they are playing at. This functionality is invaluable after you have built up a large enough “fish” list. Some other sites feature similar functionality, but none that I have used come anywhere near the power and usability provided by Ultimate Buddy. If you decide to play on Ultimate Bet, I strongly encourage you to also download Ultimate Buddy, track your opponents, and use the tool to locate where the easy games are located.
I have read some differing opinions, but I really like Ultimate Bet’s interface. It is relatively thrill free, but lets you focus on who’s in the hand, who’s turn it is to act, how much is in the pot, etc…I don’t know about you but I know that I play online poker to play poker, not to mess around with the neat little attributes of some of the interfaces. I realize those bells and whistles offered by other sites but not by Ultimate Bet appeal to some people, but not to me. I want to be able to quickly identify the state of the hand that I am in, and not go blind while playing. I have found Ultimate Bet’s interface to be the best at doing this for my tastes.
The interface also automatically centers your position for your screen. I like this as I do not have to scan the table to figure out where I am. I know that I will always be in the middle. Sometimes when playing 2 tables I find Party Poker beneficial in that I can sit on the left side on 1 table and the right side of another, but in general, I like the centering aspect of Ultimate Bet.
Ultimate Bet also offers a miniature view of each table you are seated at. I know of people who love this view (so they can play multiple tables more easily or play at work!). However, I was never able to adjust to the layout of them and would get confused on the order of play so I do not use this feature. It is possible that you may find this feature helpful.
As with all of Ultimate Bet's games, their tournament service is 1st rate. Ultimate Bet cannot offer the sheer size of player entries as Party Poker, but none the less their multi-table tournaments are first rate. Ultimate Bet also does a great job in forecasting the sizes of their tournament offerings by guaranteeing a minimum total prize pool. This provides users with an accurate forecast of how many entrants the tournament will have.
Ultimate Bet offers a truly unique poker room experience. You can play at tables against some of the pros endorsed by the site and at stakes many of us can afford. Ever want to take on Phil Hellmuth or Annie Duke? If so, you may get your wish at Ultimate Bet. Be careful though, they might just kick your butt! Although I would prefer to play against a fish, one of the truly unique aspects of poker is that anyone can play against the best in the world, and Ultimate Bet provides the opportunity to make that possibility a reality.
Ultimate Bet offers a great sign-up bonus and periodically offers redeposit bonuses. The initial player deposit bonus is 40% of your initial deposit up to $200. Usually once a month, or every other month, Ultimate Bet offers redeposit bonuses up to $100. I take advantage of every one of these offers and recommend that all other players do as well. This is free money.
Please keep in mind the terms of these bonuses. Ultimate Bet is relatively unique in that they let players accrue bonuses based on their play to the penny. This eliminates the all-or-nothing problems associated with the bonuses offered by Party Poker. I do not know offhand the rate of accrual for the bonus offers, but do know that at $3/$6 or higher they accrue pretty quickly. Regardless of what stakes you play, these offers are free money, some of which you are guaranteed to realize if you play at any real money tables.
Most online casinos fall in line with each other in how much rake they skim from each pot. Ultimate Bet falls within the competitive range of rake, taking no more than 5% of the total pot and capping the rake at $2 for up to $5/$10 and at $3 for higher limits.
I think Ultimate Bet offers the best site that I have played at. The interface is great and the site has been extremely reliable during my play there. Ultimate Bet's bonus structures are also really nice since they gradually accrue and do not expire. This is particularly beneficial for low limit players. If you are interested in trying out Ultimate Bet, please click on the above Ultimate Bet link and take advantage of the 40% initial deposit bonus.
Players who click on the above Ultimate Bet banner, sign-up, and make a real money deposit are eligible to receive a free copy of the Texas Help 'Em guide (PDF format). If you would like your free copy, follow the instructions from the prior sentence and notify us of your Ultimate Bet screen name at affiliates@texashelpem.com. After we confirm your account sign-up and deposit we will e-mail you a free copy of the Texas Help 'Em guide.
Absolute Poker is a much smaller poker site than both Party Poker and Ultimate Bet, but with their great promotions they have been growing rather rapidly recently. Their marketing efforts have a "cool" edge to them and the site aggressively offers bonuses to new players as well as existing players.
Absolute Poker's player base is rather small. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. The site receives plenty of action at the $5/$10 and lower tables to offer enough table selection to warrant playing here. Many players find the smaller player community refreshing in that you get to know your opponent's play better and sometimes actually get to know your opponents.
Absolute Poker's interface offers quite a few bells and whistles, but I found the screen too busy. This might have been exacerbated for me by playing 2 tables simultaneously. None-the-less the busy interface has prevented me from playing too much at this site.
Absolute Poker's tournaments are on par with their competitors, but their smaller player base prevents these tournaments from growing extremely large. If you are satisfied with multi-table tournaments of 150 players or less, you should not have any problems here. However, if you prefer to only play the 200 player plus tournaments, you will not currently find these offered by Absolute Poker. As the site's player base grows, this may change.
The bonuses offered by Absolute Poker are 2nd to none. Their initial deposit bonuses can be as high as $500. For existing players, they continually offer redeposit bonuses. The bonuses are accrued in $10 increments which allows even lower limit players to realize some money from the offers. The bonuses do have expiration dates, usually greater than a month, and the site offers a relatively slow accrual rate for converting the bonus dollars into real money. Based on the expiration date and the slow rate of accrual, do not assume that you will realize the entire bonus offer. However, since the bonuses can be partially accrued, you will receive some money, and you can't beat free money.
I have provided you with 3 separate bonus offers via the above Absolute Poker links. The 1st banner will get you a 100% bonus offer for your initial deposit. The 2nd banner will get you a 150% bonus up to $100. What this means is that if you are depositing $150 or less, you should use the 2nd banner. Otherwise you will be better off using the 1st banner (100% deposit bonus). For you college students out there, the 3rd banner might be for you. Absolute Poker is providing a free tournament to win your college tuition. Don't miss this chance. Follow the 3rd banner above and good luck in the tournament.
I do not normally cover support for online poker sites but I think Absolute Poker deserves some special mention for its support. Although I do not play at the site much due to the busy interface, if they correct this issue I would gladly take some of my play their due to the excellent support I have received from them. I have sent them questions and problems and received personalized replies within minutes. When I moved my play elsewhere, I received a phone call asking me to return and some excellent bonus offers.
Overall, I think Absolute Poker offers a good poker site. I think their marketing edge is really cool, their support is 2nd to none, and their aggressive bonus offers are outstanding. Unfortunately, I simply can't get over the interface and how it makes me go blind. Regardless, I would strongly encourage you to check-out this site. If the interface doesn't bother you this might be the site for the majority of your place. If you would like to check it out, please click on 1 of the Absolute Poker banners above and take advantage of the bonus offer.
After Party Poker, there is a 2nd tier of very popular websites. Pacific Poker falls within this 2nd tier category.
Pacific Poker has a large player base. During week day afternoons there will typically be over 5000 players seated and it rises from there during evenings and weekends. The site offers multiple 10-seated and 6-seated tables on stakes as low as $.05/$.10 up to $10/$20, and even provides several 10-seated tables for $30/$60.
The interface provided by Pacific Poker is one of the better that I have seen. It is relatively plain, which I like. The interface allows players to quickly identify who is seated, who is in the pot, who is out of the pot, and who the action is on. The cards are a bit small, but this is no different than many other sites. If you prefer interfaces that focus on the game as opposed to the bells and whistles I think you will find this interface rather appealing. However, if you are looking for palm trees, dancing girls, beverage & food service, and other distracting features, you might want to look elsewhere. It is also worth pointing out that the table selection screen is rather annoying. The site offers good table selection, but the table selection screen refreshes about every 15 seconds which causes you to lose your spot in the list.
Pacific Poker provides all of the standard ring game and tournament features with a solid interface and with reliable service. However, the site is missing several features which may deter some players. Hand histories are not available during play. At least I could not find them. Learning your opponent's tendencies is much more difficult without access to their mucked hands via the hand history.
The site provides note taking capabilities, but the notes page does not allow carriage returns. I wonder if this is a bug in their software. It effectively eliminates note taking ability for me because I use carriage returns to format the information that I record so I can quickly diagnose my opponents. I am really surprised enough members haven't complained about this forcing Pacific Poker to fix this issue. From what I could tell, no player search features is offered. I prefer to build a list of "weak" opponents and search for them.
Pacific Poker also limits its players to 1 table at a time. This has both pros and cons. If you typically play 1 table at a time, this should eliminate some of the annoyances of playing against opponents that are on multiple tables and frequently delay the action. However, if you do sometimes play multiple tables at a time, you will not be allowed to do so on Pacific Poker. This can easily be worked around by playing on multiple sites at once. I often play in a tournament on 1 site, and a ring game at another site, depending on where I find the best tournaments and where I find the best ring games so this is not really an issue for me.
The chat functionality offered by Pacific Poker is a bit odd too. Table chat is provided via an external window that you must manually open. It works fine, but since it is not integrated into the table, not many players use it. I am not much of a chatter so this is a non-issue for me, but some users may not care for this feature.
One final limitation is the inability to change your Pacific Poker password. A randomly generated password is e-mailed to new players. This is fairly common. For security reasons the site does not allow users to change this password. This is a relatively minor point, but I found in annoying so I thought I would comment on it.
The tournaments offered by Pacific Poker are excellent. Although they are not as large as Party Poker, many of the tournaments reach 1000 players or more. The site even offers some tournaments with no rake/fee and guarantee minimum prize pools for many of them. There is a $15 tournament with no fee offered several times a day that will typically get between 500 and 1000 entrants. I would definitely recommend trying out Pacific Poker for tournament play. The cons covered under the "Features" section of this review are minimized in tournaments since your opponents are typically changing quickly.
Pacific Poker deserves some additional comments for their sit and go tournaments. Sit and go tournaments are typically single table tournaments. Many sites provide something to this degree, but Pacific Poker has a great selection of different stakes and different game types (10-seated, 6-seated, etc.) for their sit and go offerings. If you enjoy playing in Sit and go tournaments, you might find the selection offered at Pacific Poker more to your likings.
The initial sign-up deposit bonus, 25% up to $100, offered by Pacific Poker is great. It is immediately placed into your account and usable at the tables. Although you can play with the bonus money, you will not be able to withdraw it until you play a certain number of raked hands. I forget the exact formula, but the accrual method was reasonable and the fact that you can immediately use the money for table play is quite appealing.
Although Pacific Poker is in the 2nd tier when it comes to poker site popularity (behind Party Poker), it player pool is plenty big to provide for great table selection. The interface is extremely good and the tournaments are great as well. Table play at Pacific Poker lacks some features than some users require such as hand histories and good note taking facilities. Overall, I think the site is worth investigating for yourself, particularly for their tournament action. If you are interested in trying out Pacific Poker, please click on the above Pacific Poker link and take advantage of the 25% initial deposit bonus up to $100.
Paradise Poker is now promoting a $1 million free-roll tournament. I am currently evaluation the site and will provide an update on the site's features afterwards. If you would like to jump on the $1 million free-roll tournament, please sign-up via the above banner.