Prime Poker - Details

Game Variety (7)

The games offered at Prime Poker 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, shorthanded 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 Prime Poker is very good, although still somewhat concentrated to Hold'em games. More and more players are, however, also showing interest in Omaha and Seven-Card Stud. In all, Prime Poker is a site with very good ring-game traffic at almost all hours, thanks to the very active player base on the Ongame network. Prime Poker has peak cash game traffic of 9,000 real-money players at peak hours (December 2008).

Soft Competition (7)

From our experience there are quite a few soft games available at Prime Poker and the Ongame network, 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 Prime Poker is 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 40s and 50s.

Rake (6)

The rake at Prime Poker 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-, Pot- or 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)

Support at Prime Poker is quite fast and answers are of good quality. It offers both telephone and e-mail support, and the support staff is knowledgeable and friendly.

Financial Security (6)

Very good. Even though Prime Poker is a relatively new addition to the OnGame network, it has been online since 2004 (it started out on the Microgaming network). The OnGame network is one of the largest in the world, and payment processing is made through Optimal Payments, a world leader. No negative information found.

Deposit & Withdrawal Options (7)

Deposit options: Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, Click2Pay, InstaCash, Moneybookers, WebMoney, Western Union.

Withdrawal options: Visa, Neteller, Click2Pay, Moneybookers, WebMoney, and check.

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