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There are many
online poker sites out their just begging for you to sit down at their
virtual tables and try your luck. The trick is, of course, finding
the one that best suits your needs and style of play.
Most of these sites all have a distinct personality and you will
want to try out a couple before you find one that you are comfortable
with.
Don’t feel pressured to stay with one particular site either.
While some of the players will be the same, the software will be
different and when you are not comfortable with the entire experience
you won’t
be able to concentrate on the poker itself.
Poker.com
My absolute favorite.
This site is one of the most robust out there online. There are many pages and information to go through from how to build a poker table to desktop wallpaper to many other gimmicks trying to get you to spend your money here. But the bottom line, of course, is the poker software and customer service.
Poker.com just released their latest software in May of 2005 to pretty good reviews. They seemed to take in all the advice from players and made some very user friendly software for online poker. They currently only offer Texas Hold’em and Omaha although they promise to include more versions just down the road.
An important thing to note is that their software uses Flash for animation and sound so if you do not have the Macromedia plug-in you will need to install that as well. Once install is complete game play is smooth and easy after a simple registration process.
The free side has many players with huge bankrolls so those rooms can be frustrating as some players out bet their hands, but that is a danger on most poker sites. The pay tables are filled with good player and there are many tables where beginning play is not only welcomed but encouraged.
Poker.com has many promotions and offers a 30% bonus for new accounts up to $200. They also do $5000 a day in free rolls. One free roll every 3 hours, including the massive daily $3000, two huge $500 free rolls and another five $200 tournaments. They are actively pursuing new players and then trying to keep those players. Why not take advantage of these offers while they last?
Overall Poker.com is a good middle of the road choice with a mix of good software and average skilled players. Their servers are usually busy and you can get a game going at most times of the day. Payouts are quick and easy so no problems there either. You won’t go wrong if Poker.com is your online poker choice.
Absolute Poker
Although this site is one of the newer kids on the block, the site
is quickly getting a good reputation for customer support. This is
an area than many of the big boys forget and can make for some frustrating
times. Absolute Poker strives to eliminate those problems and so
far has been doing a great job.
Another factor that Absolute Poker has that some others don’t
are a number of low stake tables. This can be very useful to players
who hit a streak of bad luck and don’t want to re-deposit.
Often times playing on these lower stakes tables will help a player
get their feel for the game back and allow them to work their way
back up to the bigger limit tables.
An advantage to some who enjoy the no-limit tournaments is that Absolute
Poker allows 1500 in chips instead of just the 1000 at Poker Room
or the 800 that Party Poker allows.
The blinds in Absolute Poker also go up much slower during tournaments
than they do on Party Poker's. With the slower blinds and larger
amount in chips skillful players find Absolute Poker tournaments
far better to their style of play than some others. Many advanced
player sometimes feel other site’s tournaments are an “all-in
luck fest” and no real skill is needed to come out victorious.
The only disadvantage to this site is that it does have a smaller
client list so that sometimes you can’t get a stakes table
going at all hours to your liking. But the smaller base of players
also has its advantages in that you quickly learn player’s
styles and can become king of the tables quicker.
Promotions and bonuses are rather generous on Absolute Poker as well.
In fact they have one of the highest first time deposit bonuses in
the online world of poker. They offer a 100% first time deposit bonus
up to $100 to every new player on their first purchase or a 50% first
time deposit bonus up to $500 if using NETeller.
Party Poker
Party Poker is arguably the most popular online poker site out there
on the Internet. If not the most popular they are certainly the largest.
At any time of the day you can log on and find a table game with the
stakes to your liking. In fact you will have multiple options available
to you. There are simply that many players online at the same time.
An advantage to this is that if you are new to the game there are a
many beginner tables available to practice your skills and if you are
an advanced player you can find a table where you are not so well known.
The ultimate advantage to an experienced player not having your style
recognizable by other players.
There are some that say the software on Party Poker is not as friendly
as some of the other sites, but it is far from being unusable. The
sounds and animation are fine and the tracking is correct at all times.
Party Poker prides themselves in having certification from several
authorities and adopted the Code of Conduct of the Interactive Gaming
Council of which they have been a member since 1997.
Party Poker offers many different versions of play such as Texas Hold’em,
Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 card Stud, and 7 card Stud Hi/Lo. By far this
is more than most other online poker sites.
In the past Party Poker has been criticized for having a slow response
to online help, however lately they have added many more support personnel
and the service time has improved greatly.
There are several sign up bonuses at Party Poker and you should decide
how much you are depositing before choosing which option that will
be best for you. They have both a 20% sign up plan and then a $25 version.
The cut off amount for that decision is about $125 so that if you are
depositing more than $125 you should sign up for the 20% as they will
account up to $100 on this plan. If you are depositing less than $125
dollars you should sign up for the $25 extra program.
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