Ladbrokes Poker Room Review

Posted by pokerguru on July 3, 2009

	Ladbrokes Poker Room Details:
	Country of Origin	:	United Kingdom
	License	:	Gibraltar
	Year of Foundation	:	2004
	Software	:	Microgaming
	Currencies Used	:	EUR, GBP, USD
	Audited By	:	PWC
	Language	:	English
	Accepts USA Players	:	No
	Bonus	:	100% Up To $500

Ladbrokes Poker Room Review

Overview:

Ladbrokes Poker is the brainchild of the famous British bookmaker, Ladbrokes. After offering its prestigious services for more than a century, Ladbrokes decided to offer its gambling opportunities online as well. Just like its widespread gambling network offline, it has carved an equally fine niche for itself in the field of online gambling too. Apart from the regular poker games that you find on all the other poker sites, the website also offers online casino games that make your gaming experience all the more exciting. You can choose to play on the demo version or for real money as is your wish. The games are loose and there is plenty of money to be won. Ladbrokes also offers some good promotions that have very lucrative attractions.

Software:

Ladbrokes Poker now uses the well-known Microgaming network software. The software offers some neat graphics with 3D features. The lobby is uncluttered and easily navigable with the games easy to locate and quick to function. There is no wait in between games, as they move at a very fast rate. The software comes in both the downloadable as well as in the browser playing facility.

All required data can be accessed from the ‘My Lobby’ tab. This gives you immediate access to the games of your choice along with live hand history, current table statistics, flop percentages, average pot size, number of players and some other useful information. A calendar and timers are also placed at the distance of a click.

Cash Games:

Ladbrokes Poker offers Texas Holdem, an all-time favorite, besides which there is Omaha, Omaha High-Low, 5Card Draw, Five Card Stud and Seven Card Stud. Wagers can start from micro levels and go up to high stakes for high rollers. However, the most amount of action can be seen at the fixed limit tables with bets starting at $0.25/$0.40 and going up to $300/$600.

Casino games include the popular Blackjack, Roulette, Slot machine games, video slots and a few other games. Sadly, the Ladbrokes Poker Room is not open to US players.

Tournaments: 

There are lots of tournaments taking place at Ladbrokes Poker with one starting every ten to fifteen minutes. Players can find a tournament that is within their budget. Tournaments are the most sought after and include single table and multi-table tournaments, guaranteed tournaments, satellites with buy ins to great poker events carrying huge cash prizes. Also available are free rolls for players to increase their player points. Jackpot tournaments with massive amounts to be won are also held for the benefit of the patrons.

Bonus: 

Ladbrokes Poker offers 100% up to $500 to every new player who signs up and makes a first-time deposit. The bonus amount can be wagered for within thirty days by playing the required amount of raked hands and tournaments. Once you have accumulated enough points, the bonus amount will be deposited into your account. This bonus is easy to accumulate if you like to play a lot of games and can manage to wager thirty times your deposit amount.

Promotions: 

Ladbrokes Poker offers Player Points to its players who play real money games. These points can be gathered and then exchanged for cash or for buy-ins to tournaments. Also there is the ‘rake race’ leaderboard tournament every month, which awards the top 3,000 players a cash reward that sums up to a massive $1,000,000. There are free rolls with cash amounts of $25,000 and some good jackpots too.

Deposit/Withdrawal Options: 

There are several deposit options available, which include Visa, MasterCard, Delta, Neteller, Switch, Solo, PayPal, Wire Transfer and check. Withdrawal methods just like everywhere else are fewer than deposit options. These include Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, PayPal, Bank Wire and check.

Pacific Poker

Posted by pokerguru on June 6, 2009

	Basic Details
	Country of Origin	:	Gibraltar
	License	:	Gibraltar
	Year of Foundation	:	2002
	Software	:	888
	Size	:
	Audited By	:	PWC
	Language	:	English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Czech, Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian, Estonian
	Accepts USA Players	:	No
	Bonus	:	$400

Pacific Poker Review

Pacific Poker belongs to the 888.com Holdings Group that is also responsible for the creation of Casino-on Net, one of the largest online gaming networks across the globe. It allows players to access the other gaming sites on the network from a single account thereby introducing a healthy mix of players from the Casino and Sport betting sites.

There is a fair amount of games offered on the Pacific Poker website and games played provide soft competition due to the various types of players at the tables. This gives rise to some wild games that can turn out to be quite profitable.

Software:

Pacific Poker now has an upgraded software that has improved the altogether look of the website. The previously shoddy looking lobby is more attractive but is simple to use with most of the functions easily navigable. Many of the features are customizable and the graphics have improved considerably with an add-on of the 3-D avatars. It offers advanced search features, a user-friendly layout and incorporated bingo and casino games along with the poker games.

There is a multi-table facility available with players being able to attempt up to four games at the same time. Also, you can view the cashier who is always to be seen on the screen. Apart from this you can get information on the standard hand statistics, flop percentages and the average pot size at the various tables. The graphic rerun of played hands is an interesting addition as it allows you to see how you had played your hand giving you scope for improvement.

Pacific Poker has recently hosted a no-download software that has specially been designed for Mac and Linux users who are constantly left out of enjoying online games due to non-compatibility with software. This is a plus point for Pacific Poker as it is the only site that offers this special feature.

Pacific Poker Games:

Games offered on Pacific Poker are the common Poker games that one would find at all poker playing websites. These include the most sought after Texas Holdem games available in Limit, No Limit and Pot Limit versions, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High/Low, Omaha and Omaha High/Low. The stakes can start as low as $0.05/$0.10 and reach up to $30/$60 in Limit Holdem. Some of the best games are seen at Pot Limit and No Limit cash games, as the flop percentages can be outrageously high here.

The general rake applied by Pacific Poker is much higher than the standard rake of 5% of the pot size used by other poker playing sites.

As for tournament enthusiasts, there are several multi table tournaments as well as sit and go tournaments to be played too. A buy-in for a sit and go tournament can lie anywhere from $2.50 to $100. Tournaments are a hot favorite among players with peak hour traffic of tournament players being a good 8000 contestants competing for the prize money. Around 2000 players can be seen attempting other cash games.

Unfortunately, like most of the other gaming websites, US players are not allowed to play cash games at Pacific Poker.

Bonus:

New players enrolling into the Pacific Poker website are entitled to a 100% sign up bonus of up to $400 of which $100 is credited to your account immediately while the rest is put in as you play the cash games. You must wager 20 times the bonus amount in order to receive this bonus and you have only thirty days in which to wager for it, which is a little hard to achieve if you are a micro limit player.

Promotions:

Pacific Poker offers freeroll tournaments and other guaranteed tournaments with six figure rewards that attract a lot of players. Players are also offered loyalty points for every cash game they play. The Pacific Poker Points can be accumulated and later exchanged for cash or to play more cash games.

Payment Options:

There are several deposit and withdrawal options that include Credit and Debit Cards, FirePay, Prepaid ATM, NETeller among various others.

Customer Support:

You can contact the customer support staff via email or telephone though many a time the response from the support team is rather slow while the telephone lines can be hard to get.

Virgin Poker

Posted by pokerguru on June 4, 2009

	Basic Details
	Country of Origin	:	United Kingdom
	License	:	Malta
	Year of Foundation	:	2005
	Software	:	iPoker Network
	Language	:	English
	Bonus	:	100% Upto £100

Virgin Poker Review

Where there is big-time business, there is Sir Richard Branson, with his troupe of alluring women and his patent red color. And this craving for owning the best businesses in the world, introduced him to the world of gambling as well.

I have had the privilege of trying out a few of his many fantasy but daring ventures one of which are the pendulum trains. It was of course, an experience of a life time, which probably I will not have again. Although, how long the Virgin Spacecraft would last is still an uncertainty, however, we can be assured that trains will definitely stay here for a long time to come.

As there is an ever growing list of grievances against Virgin, we have yet to see how Virgin Poker fairs.

Until I had been to Virgin Poker, I had fantasized it as following the league of all the other vividly detailed Virgin projects, but all my hopes were dampened when I actually saw it. What was worse, was that the website was red! Now, is that the color of poker?

But, it had its plus points. They were very well informed on Poker, Poker School, Poker Rules and everything else to do with Poker, thereby being of great help to amateur as well as experienced players of the game. The website displays Video Tutorials and also gives Live Poker Lessons.

The very enduring round-the-clock customer help available on UK Free phone service is an added benefit. When I had to suddenly make a call in the wee hours of the night, guess what! Someone most graciously answered the call and this time it hadn’t been diverted to India.

Poker Games

Games available are Poker Holdem with a choice of playing limits being, in limit, no limit as well as pot limit. The others are Omaha, Stud and a few more of the cash games. You also have a selection of tournaments to choose from.

Virgin Poker Bonus

For those who are new to poker, there is the very convenient Virgin Poker Bonus, which allows these new players a 100% sign up bonus of up to a €100.

Apart from this you can avail of the V*POINTS that can be cashed in the future.

My final view point is that Virgin Poker is here to stay and has the potentials of being one of the most sought after Online Poker Games.
Advantages:

* Full of facts and supports
* A number of cash deposit and withdrawal facilities
* Daily Free rolls
* A paying referral program

DISADVANTAGES:

* The use of a single currency
* Availability of only English, thereby discouraging the non-English gamblers