Review of Poker.com

My review of Poker.com will critique the relatively new poker room with soft games and interesting promotions. They are the first site that I've seen that offers instant withdrawals using Neteller. Also, their freerolls are probably the most generous of any online poker site giving you the chance to play in $35,000 worth of freerolls by playing regularly on their site.

As they have just started some heavy promotion, I expect Poker.com to grow steadily with their unique offers.

Categories Reviewed at Poker.com

Fish: 4
One thing that I like about new poker sites that promote aggressively is that they tend to attract a lot of inexperienced fish, which can easily find their way into your mouth. Even better, the fish tend to be timid and soft as opposed to aggressive and maniacal. There are a good number of calling stations on Poker.com, which allows you to bet with confidence when you're holding a strong hand. Don't waste your time slowplaying a vulnerable hand, as these opponents will happily take a free card that could complete their potential draw. You'll often run into 4 or 5 callers seeing the flop for cheap, so make these opponents pay when you see a potential draw on the board.

Sharks: 1.5 (inverse rating)
One major advantage to this poker site is the fact that they've yet to attract a large number of sharks to the ring games. Most likely, you'll be the only one putting the Hammer down at the table. Unfortunately, ring game traffic is mostly restricted to the lower limits at this point, which could explain why the fish-to-shark ratio is so high.

Bait (promotions): 4.5
Poker.com promotions are mainly their daily freerolls, which are very generous. The many daily $100 freerolls are open to everyone, which is limited to the first 1000 registrants. What I really like about these is how they're structured in terms of speed. Most low-level freerolls are often more trouble than they're worth because of the huge number of opponents, the low prize pool, and the time that the tournament takes because of the huge number of opponents. Poker.com runs these tournaments pretty quickly so you can take a shot at the prize and be finished with it in a reasonable amount of time. Also, by playing a reasonable amount of 250 raked hands per week, you can enter the much better $500 and $3,000 freerolls all week. This is a very good deal. Also, they offer instant Neteller payouts, which allows you to actually see your winnings immediately. The deposit bonus is also easy to earn. By using the coupon code: 100PERCENT, you get a 100% bonus on an initial deposit (max value of $100), and you get a free coupon for entry into one of the $3000 freeroll tournaments.

Skin (software): 3
While Poker.com didn't make its software very advanced in terms of graphics, it is simple and usable. They did develop their own table style, which I always value more than sites that use another's engine and slap on their own color scheme. The software has some unique features such as mini-avatars and a list of smilies that are available with one click. One pet peeve that I have about their software is the lack of a physical dealer "button" graphic on the table. The game speed is fairly quick, and this site is still young so they can only improve on their software.

Prey (tournaments): 4
The freeroll selection of tournaments on this site is excellent, and my favorites are the restricted tournaments with higher prize pools and a lower number of entrants. As Poker.com is still pretty new, they can't support a large number of normal tournaments just yet, but I do like the structure for their existing tournaments.

Overall Poker.com Rating

Pearls (positives)
Poker.com has some very soft low-limit ring games and is extremely generous with their freeroll selection. They're also the first site to offer instant Neteller cashouts.

Hooks (negatives)
They have basic software and a lack of traffic for middle and high stakes games.

The Hammer (overall rating): 4

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Tips for Playing at Poker.com

Meat (tips)
If you plan to play in fast-paced freerolls, such as the ones hosted on this site, you should know use some basic strategies to help ensure your survival. Firstly, many of your opponents will be a free tournament just for kicks and will be extremely wild during the first couple of rounds. If there are 3 or 4 players going all-in on every hand pre-flop, you're probably better off waiting for another opportunity as your chances of winning plummet, even with your dominant hands. Secondly, you will need to open up your starting hand requirements as the blinds increase to have a chance at finishing in one of the top places.

Blubber (babble)
Why is soft competition better than "hard" competition? Well, let me give you an analogy that might help to answer the question. When I run into an especially large school of, say, salmon and I can't finish every last bite, I'll sometimes take home a few to munch on as a snack when hunger hits me next. I dump them in the seaweed fridge and forget about them for a few days. Unfortunately, when I do finally remember about the salmon sitting in the fridge, the meat's gotten quite tough and hard. I definitely prefer that soft fresh flavor to my fish, eel, or stingray. How about you? What? That didn't answer your poker question? Well, let's put it this way: do you want your opponents playing "soft" and letting you take control of the hand, or do you want them playing "hard" and fighting you for every pot. 'Nuff said…

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

     

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