Overall: 4
Poker.com is a very new online poker room
that has been aggressively promoting to build its player
base. I like the unique software available at this site,
and their main promotion has been to offer freerolls of
actual substance to players. Because of the initial
attraction of freerolls, this site also attracts soft
competition, and you’ll run into very large pots when
you play at their ring games. Overall, I give this site
good scores for weakness of competition, promotions, and
instant cashouts. I hope to see them grow.
Bonus: 4 (50%
up to $100)
The standard bonus from
Poker.com is 30%, but if you use this link
and enter bonus code “FIRST50”, you can get a 50%
deposit bonus good up to $100. They seem to be trying to
build up their network via bonuses and other freebies.
This is a pretty good bonus, and mid-stakes players
shouldn’t have trouble clearing the entire bonus.
Smaller stakes players may be working for a while on
this as you earn $1 of bonus for every 150 comp points,
which are gained through tournament entries and ring
game play.
Promotions: 4.5
The main form of promotions at
Poker.com is through their freerolls, which
are run multiple times daily. If you want to get to know
their software, you can play one of the $100 crapshoots
every 3 hours. These are largely frustrating and
shouldn’t be taken too seriously, but I like that they
structure the blinds quickly enough to finish these
events within a couple of hours. The better choices for
freerolls are the weekly $20,000 event and the biweekly
$4,000 event. You actually have to play throughout the
week to get into these, meaning a smaller field and a
larger chance of winning. The larger freerolls are
actually very nice rewards for playing there regularly.
Of course, they also offer the sign up bonus as another
promotion, and they’re starting to offer more incentives
to players who earn comp points.
Fish: 4
The ring games here are very loose with plenty of
calling stations and inexperienced players, so you
should have a pretty easy time at full ring games by
playing a tight-aggressive game. Most of your opponents
at
Poker.com will play too many trash hands from
any position, so be sure to raise your premium hands
preflop. Flop percentages of 45-50% are normal at full
ring games, and the pots are usually 50-60x the big
blind at my favorite time of cash games – no limit. No
limit ring games are usually busy up to the $1/2 or $2/4
level, and you can sometimes find a $5/10 game going on.
Fixed limit games are popular up to about the $1/2 or
$2/4 level.
Tournaments: 3
The tournaments at
Poker.com are usually focused around their
freerolls as they don’t have a huge amount of traffic
yet. However, small stakes players will find 100-150
players at $3 or $5 buy-in events. Larger tournaments
with $10-50 buy-ins attract anywhere from 25-100 players
during peak hours. One positive about the lower
tournament traffic is their satellite system, as you can
win entries into larger supersatellites against very few
opponents.
Software: 4.5
I’ve heard snobby players criticize the
Poker.com software for its simplicity, but I
find it to be a lot of fun with some really neat
features that add to the experience. I give them credit
for coming up with an original software engine, and the
graphics are pretty sharp. You can also enter animated
smilies at the table, which will show up in its own
comic-book bubble. Other unique features include winning
percentages during all-in situations (think televised
tournaments), rabbit-hunting for extra cards if you win
the hand, and the ability to only show down one of your
cards. You also earn little stars and ribbons next to
your name for winning special tournaments.
Best Features
-Good deposit bonus. The clearing requirements aren't
enormous, even for smaller stakes players.
-The best freerolls online. They do offer the most,
especially for regular players.
-Soft tables. The competition is mostly from
inexperienced new players.
-Original software. They have some interesting quirks
that are unique to the site.
Cashouts: 5
The cashouts are a big positive from
Poker.com, since you can potentially get
instant cashouts to NETeller. You should be aware that
this only works up to the amount that you deposited. For
winnings, you’ll have to wait the standard amount of
time – usually about 24-48 hours.
Customer Service: 4.5
Currently, customer service is dealt with strictly via
e-mail, but they seem to be one of the fastest in terms
of response time – typically under 15 minutes.
Game Selection: Hold'em, Omaha
Limits: Fixed Limit: .02/.04 - $30/60
No-Limit: .10/.25 - $25/50
Tips
Big Slick can be a tricky hand against weak players at
Poker.com who have the Ace-anything
mentality. Many of your opponents will play any Ace
regardless of the kicker from any position. Even if you
raise preflop, you should realize that many online
players will stay in anyway. You should certainly bet
out with a flop like A-8-4, but you will occasionally be
up against A-8 or A-4, who has you crippled at this
point. Having A-K in this situation is a strong hand,
but it’s still only one pair. Don’t be so willing to
jump the gun and call an all-in raise from weak
opponents.
Click
here to visit Poker.com.
|