PokerRoom - Details

Game Variety (7)

The games offered at PokerRoom are Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud, Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo and Five-Card Draw. The games vary between No-Limit, Pot-Limit, and Fixed-Limit. Full-table games, short-handed, and heads-up tables are all available. There are ultra high-limit tables with $1,000/$2,000 stakes in Fixed-Limit and $50/$100 in No-Limit Texas Hold'em and the 10¢/20¢ games are the smallest limit.

Ring Game Traffic (8)

Traffic at PokerRoom is very good and still somewhat concentrated to Hold'em games even though more and more players are showing interest in Omaha and Seven-Card Stud. In all, PokerRoom is a site with very good ring-game traffic at almost all hours. PokerRoom has peak cash game traffic of 9,000 real-money players at peak hours (November 2008).

Soft Competition (8)

From our experience there are quite a few soft games available at PokerRoom, mainly in the lower-limit cash games and smaller buy-in tournaments. You can't look at the top stakes games for soft competition, where PokerRoom is much less of a fish pond. Still, you can at times find $5/$10 No-Limit Hold'em tables with a viewed-flop percentage of 35-40%. Overall, many Hold'em games have a viewed-flop percentage in the 40-50% range.

Rake (6)

The rake at PokerRoom is above average when viewed as a percentage of the pot but shares the average maximum of $3 per pot. The formula they use to calculate the applicable rake is based on three variables: type of game (Fixed-Limit or Pot- and No-Limit), the number of players in the hand and the size of the pot in terms of big blind multiples.

The difference is that No-Limit and Pot-Limit games can rake a little more on the larger pots and Fixed-Limit games max out at one big blind for five to 10 players or a maximum of $3 on pots with more than 12 big blinds. The No-Limit and Pot-Limit games have a two big-blind maximum or a maximum of $3 at five to 10 player tables and 32 or more big blinds in the pot.

An example of where this system gets expensive is when playing with three to 10 players and having a small pot of four to 12 big blinds. For example, if the pot is at four big blinds, there will be a 0.4 big blind charge, which amounts to a 10% rake. On larger pots, for example a $200 pot at $2/$4 No-Limit, there is less of a charge ($3 here is equivalent to 1.5%).

Overall, the effective size of the rake is going to be determined by your style of play. If you are playing a tight aggressive game, being heavily involved in only a few pots, your rake is going to be low and you could be averaging below 2%. If you are involved in many smaller pots, you are going to have a higher rake, in extreme cases as high as 8-10%.

Support (6)

The support at PokerRoom is lightning fast and offers good quality, although it does only offer e-mail support. The support staff is knowledgeable and friendly.

Financial Security (8)

Very secure, as one of the top poker brands in the world with no recorded problems. PokerRoom is also the first online poker site ever to be accredited with the eCogra seal of approval as a fair and secure online poker site.

Deposit & Withdrawal Options (8)

Deposit options: Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, Diners Club, Moneybookers, ClickandBuy, Paysafecard, Webmoney.

Withdrawal options: Neteller, Moneybookers, European VISA, courier check, normal check.

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