Review of Poker Room

Reading our review of Poker Room, you'll find it is a strong, established poker site that pretty much excels in all areas. Their player base is growing, the competition is fairly weak for sharks like you and me, and the software is very easy to use yet still has sophisticated graphics. This is an excellent site overall.

Categories Reviewed at PokerRoom.com

Fish: 3.5
Any site that has been around for more than a few years, like PokerRoom, will have a loyal player base. PokerRoom does a good job in terms of keeping their players happy and anyone who's been around online poker for more than a couple of years will tend to have one pointy fin sticking out of the water. However, since PokerRoom still attracts new players with heavy promotion, they have a steady flow in new incoming fish. Expect games to get more difficult as the stakes increase.

Sharks: 3 (inverse rating)
As mentioned above, this site does have its fair share of players who'll sink their teeth in. However, lower limits still tend to be very soft, and the higher stakes are still beatable. Being on the same network as a newer site like Hollywood Poker, the fish-to-shark ratio is still relatively high.

Bait (promotions): 5
One of Poker Room's strongest attractions is from their promotions. They offer daily freerolls for all players, and even larger ones for regular players. Poker Room's initial bonus for everyone else is modest at 20%, but at 40% through our site the bonus is a major plus (use bonus code: Turtle). They have one of the best mixtures of promotions for beginner players (freerolls and deposit bonuses) while still catering to larger players (lots of guaranteed tournaments and satellites for live tournaments). Mmmm… their bait smells like squid, and I love squid!

Skin (software): 5
A big advantage to PR is their software as they have detailed table graphics and avatars without overdoing anything. The color scheme is nice, they seat 10 to a table, and the game speed moves along at a fast pace. Statistics and chat are clearly visible without detracting from the table action. If you don't feel like downloading their software, you can play directly from their website without knowing the difference. This also allows Mac users to partake in the action.

Prey (tournaments): 5
Tournaments are a big deal to PokerRoom, and they provide plenty of action on any bankroll. They host huge tournaments with $1 buy-ins as well as $50,000 guaranteed events. Tournaments are very popular for PokerRoom players, so you don't need to open up another site for decent tournament action. PokerRoom also structures their tournaments well.

Overall Poker Room Rating

Pearls (positives)
This is a poker room that will keep most players satisfied in all areas. They have excellent customer service and provide a large amount of traffic for both ring games and tournaments.

Hooks (negatives)
Being an older online poker room, PokerRoom has not only shown that they are stable, but also that they can keep their players happy. This results in many loyal players who are better than inexperienced fish at other sites.

The Hammer (overall rating): 5

♣ Visit pokerroom.com

Tips for Playing at Poker Room

Meat (tips)
As you build your bankroll and move on to higher stakes, tend to mix up your play more. Players at this site are more observant in bigger games, so always be willing to change gears regularly.

Blubber (babble)
While I think that there is a good balance between fish and sharks at this site, I have to spew a quick bad beat story that reeks of swordfish. I was playing in a $2/4 no-limit ring game, so I expected the competition to be relatively strong. I had about $200 in front of me and I picked up pocket Aces in early position, and raised it $45 to go. I got only one caller and the flop came out Q-9-4. I bet another $75, he raised me all-in, and I naturally called. The last two cards were no help to me, and he turns over pocket 9s. That's something fishy to consider next time you're playing on PokerRoom and pick up Aces. If was at the local cardroom, you better believe that the swordfish would just be a plain fish after I was through with him.

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

     

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