Review of Poker Champs

IMPORTANT: Poker Champs does not accept players from the United States, therefore U.S. citizens may NOT play at PokerChamps.com. Our review of Poker Champs will give you an in-depth look at Gus Hansen-sponsored poker site. I appreciate the goals of this site, and I really like their attempt to go against the typical trends of poker software. They also feature an interesting program that allows big players to earn a good portion of their rake back, but their high-stakes traffic is still limited and/or nonexistent depending on the time you log on to their site.

Categories Reviewed at PokerChamps.com

Fish: 3
The traffic on this site is still in its formative time, so to speak. Typically, ring games are restricted to limits under $1, although at peak times you may find the occasional middle-stakes game going on. The competition tends to be a little tighter than most overall, although you may occasionally run into a fishy table. The competition mainly consists of inexperienced micro-limit players.

Sharks: 2.5 (inverse rating)
While I expect this number to grow in the future, right now the waters are pretty shark-free. You may run into the occasional shark at the higher stakes fixed limit games, but for now you will mainly find soft European no-limit competition. What strikes my funny fin is the fact the games play fairly tight on a site that is all about one of the loosest players in the world.

Bait (promotions): 2
You won't catch too many fish (or sharks for that matter) without bait on the end of the line. Poker Champs has yet to offer a consistent deposit bonus, so bonus seekers should look elsewhere. Their main promotion is the chance to play with Danish pro Gus Hansen and Swedish player Erik Sagstrom, although you can probably imagine that you'll have a tough time finding them too often. They also offer a very complex rake back scheme, which allows players to directly receive a part of the revenues they generate for the poker site. Don't expect to get too much unless you play at the higher limits, which is almost impossible as they rarely have a high-stakes game going on. I expect this to be a better promotion as they attract more players.

Skin (software): 4.5
The software is the strongest and most original aspect to Poker Champs. Reading Gus' goal for the software, he wanted to create an experience that was more about the speed and functionality of the game rather than sophisticated graphics. I like the fact that Poker Champs has taken a chance and released original software that goes against the trend. While it's true that graphics take a backseat here, the functionality is very good. They structured the software to accommodate most to multi-table players, and they did a good job incorporating this even into lower screen resolutions. Tournaments have a separate bottom tab, and I like the little globe feature that allows you to visually see where in the world the opponents at your table are from. If you see a square traveling in the middle of the ocean, that's me on vacation.

Prey (tournaments): 3
The tournament traffic currently makes the $5 and under events the most popular right now. However, Poker Champs has a few daily $10, $15, and $25 events that actually attract a decent amount of traffic. Most tourneys are under 100 participants besides their small freerolls, which attract a huge number of entrants throughout the day. The play is somewhat aggressive during these tournaments, but you can still dominate the tables with your own aggressive play when you have the cards to merit it.

Overall Poker Champs Rating

Pearls (positives)
Poker Champs has a good outlook on poker software, and provides a very unique playing experience. They also offer revenue back for bigger players, which should be popular as the site increases in popularity.

Hooks (negatives)
The games don't move along quite a fast as they should with this software. You may also have trouble making this your primary site due to the small ring game and tournament traffic.

The Hammer (overall rating): 3

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Tips for Playing at Poker Champs

Meat (tips)
Sometimes it pays to open up your game. I find this site to have a good number of consistent tables, even at the lower limits. As a result, you can make your high-percentage bluffs pay off much more often and basically allow them to pay for your blinds. By high-percentage, I mean semi-bluffs against tight players who you don't put on much of a hand. One of my favorite plays against tight player is the semi-bluff bet on a drawing hand. Not only will I pick up the pot most of the time, I also have a good chance of hitting my draw if I get called. This puts me in an excellent position to make even more profit off of my opponent.

Blubber (babble)
Take a look at the picture of Gus Hansen that Poker Champs uses all over the site and software. Could he look any more like a shark with that smile? This is an excellent choice for a player who plays a shark-esque game. It's tough to call Gus Hansen a shark because of his reckless playing style, but he has great table presence at a real table. Online, I would probably think he was just another fish, but watching his style of play in the big tournaments makes you realize his intelligence. Essentially, he is a modern-day Doyle Brunson, and his tournament record to date is one of the best. Expect him and his site to grow as the years go by.

♣ ♣ For further details and ratings for PokerChamps.com, you can visit our basic Poker Champs review.

     

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