Top Poker Sites

Limits and Rake

Party Poker offer limits from $0.5/$1 right trough to $15/30. At an initial glance the rake for the $0.5/$1 game does not look that attractive when you consider a maximum of 10% can be taken out of a pot. However, this could offer quite good value since no rake is taken until the pot reaches $5.  One thing I can say is the rake for the $1/$2 game certainly is good value. A maximum of 5% can be taken out of each pot, but the pot is not raked until it reaches $20. This is very generous relative to other sites. For higher limit games the rake at Party poker is similar to most other sites.

Player Traffic   Rating 9

I personally think that Party Poker is one of the loosest sites on the net. They do a lot of advertising all over the web and I believe that attracts a lot of first time poker players. First time poker players are the key to making money at an online poker room. I have been fairly successful playing at Party Poker and their client base of new players keeps on growing. They are a very busy site with tons of action at all limits. They usually have at least one big game going all the time and plenty of smaller limit games running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All in all, Party Poker is one of the best sites to make money at whether it’s winning at the tables or making free money through all their promotions.

Promotions    Rating 10

Party Poker is the king of giving away free money to its players. You get a 20% bonus on any amount of money you deposit into your poker playing account. You also get a free $50 if you refer a friend and they make a deposit at Party Poker. Now get this, Party Poker will pay you 10% annual interest on the money you have in your account over $100. Let’s say you have $2000 in your account at all times over the year, then you will receive a total of $200, for free, paid to you in monthly installments. Check it out at their web page, its even better than it sounds. Along with all the free money their giving away, they have other promotions to attract players. They are currently offering seats in their “Party Poker millions” tournament where the winner get a cool $1.5 million. If you sign up after clicking on my banner, you will receive a free entry into the "Party Poker Millions" tournament. There’s so much stuff, you really need to go to their website and check out all they have to offer, its amazing!

Playability     Rating 8

The software at Party Poker runs very smoothly and is very pleasing to the eye. However,  many of the features found at other sites are missing. For example you cannot make player notes on your opponents, there is no % pre-flop and you can not tell how many people are logged on and playing. Maybe I am being too harsh, but I like these features. Major advantages in playing at Party Poker include getting a 20% bonus on any amount of money you deposit into your poker playing account. You also get a free $50 if you refer a friend and they make a deposit at Party Poker, and better still Party Poker will pay you 10% annual interest on the money you have in your account over $100

Customer Service/Site Security     Rating 8

Noble Poker has moderate game variety with Texas Holdem and Omaha Hi-Lo and High, which are available in both limit, pot-limit and Texas Holdem in no-limit as well. Table stakes are from $0.5/$1 to $20/$40 in the fixed games, with $0.25/$0.50 up to $5/$10 in pot-limit and no-limit versions. (The fixed limit Omaha games have a bit lower maximum limits) There are both heads-up, sit-and-go and fixed schedule multi-table tournaments.

Range Rake
The rake at Noble Poker is actually better than the average online. The general policy is the standard 5% rake taken in increments up to $3. But on several types of tables there are lower max rakes. On fixed limit tables up to $1/$2 there is a $1 max rake. More importantly all tables with 2-3 players have a max rake of $1 and tables with 4-5 players have a $2 max rake – which also includes no-limit and pot-limit short handed games! There is a "no flop - no drop" policy for hands not reaching the flop.

Noble Poker is a good new poker room, with limited traffic today – but they has come to stay!  Noble Poker and the iPoker network only have about 50-100 ring game players at peak hours in November 2004. The traffic at the tournaments is mostly consisting of free roll players, where real money traffic can reach somewhere around 30-50 players at peak hours in November 2004.

Sign-up bonus 
Standard promotion is 25% deposit match up to $100 bonus (which you get for a $400 deposit). The requirements to have the bonus released are a bit harsh with 10 raked hands per bonus dollar. Also, currently you have to email support to get the bonus. There is no published time limit to reach the required hands and it is not clear if a partial bonus is given out.

Noble Poker has been designed with one mission in mind. A great place to play with a suite of gaming products to choose from all under one roof, 'The Best Games in Town'. Their goal is to create the biggest online gaming community, a place where you feel comfortable to play, and where you can make and meet new friends, who also have online gaming interests too. The software is working well and can be resized into two sizes to allow desktop space to be used for other purposes. The software seems to be Java and the download is rather big almost 16 megabytes so if you have a slow connection to the Internet you will need some patience.
Platforms: MAC and PC.
HW requirements:
128 megabytes of memory (RAM), 256 MB is better
A Pentium/AMD class processor
Processor speed must be at least 500 Megahertz
Windows 2000 or higher recommended OR MAC O/S X
dial-up modem speed of at least 52 Bps- cable or broad band is better

Great options with 24/7 telephone support as well as live online and email support at Noble Poker. Good score.

Deposit options; VISA, MasterCard, NETeller, Citadel, FirePay, Moneybookers, InstaCash, InstaDebit, EcoCard, UseMyBank, wire transfer, bank draft and personal check. Cash out options; NETeller, FirePay, Moneybookers, InstaDebit, EcoCard, bank draft express and wire transfer.

Cash out options:
Initial deposits made by Credit/Debit card, cash out requests will be paid back first to your Credit/Debit card up to the amount of deposits in the last 3 months. Remaining amounts over your initial card deposits will be paid to choice of NETeller, FirePay, wire transfer, pre-paid ATM, Central Coins, cashier's check.

4. Poker Room  (Best Hold'em)  Rating 41/50

Poker Room.com offers games limits from $1/$2 right through to $25/$50. This site's rake structure is comparable to most sites with one notable exception. Poker Room.com's maximum rake schedule for varying numbers of players playing at a given table compares favorably to all other sites. The schedule of rake increments for table numbers 2-4 ,5-7, 8+ is different from the traditional 1-3, 4-5, 6+. So if you are lucky enough to be playing at a table with 4, 7 or 8 players you will benefit by paying less of a rake relative to most sites for limits above $1/$2.

The games at Poker Room.com are excellent. Percentage pre-flop games of above 40% are easy to find. If you love  Hold'em this is a great site to play at because Poker Room.com have some of the loosest games around. Percentage pre-flop calculations are more dynamic at this site than others, since the average is calculated over just the last 20 hands. Poker Room.com is one of the few sites that don’t require you to download their software onto your computer. They use JAVA technology so you can quickly get you into the game. Poker Room.com graphics come in 2 formats, the 3D version, and the lighter 2D version. To be honest I much prefer the 2D version of the software, it is much easier to see the cards and betting chips. This form of the software is quite pleasant to the eyes. But if you are one that enjoys a true-life poker experience click on the 3D version. Both versions of the software run very smoothly, although it is fair to say JAVA style software does not have the gloss of its downloadable counterpart.  Extra features that Poker Room.com offer include expected value statistics, whereby you can type in a starting hand and the software calculates the historical expected value of that hand over 6 million real time playing hands. For example pocket AA’s translate to a 2.44 average big bet profit over the sample. Furthermore the web site offers a poker school for those new to the game giving helpful tips. The top 50 all time winners are given at the web site so you can avoid getting in a game with these players. 

Customer Service/Site Security      Rating 8

Poker Room.com is fairly good when it comes to their service. They do most things well but do have a few hitches. Pokerroom.com has a live hosts to help you if you have an immediate problem. Having a host is a huge bonus when looking for a good online poker site because you can talk to someone who works for the site at any time, 24 hours a day. Poker Room.com  has a secure deposit system with the standard encryption system so no one can steal your personal information. I don’t want to get into all the technical stuff but I guarantee you can be at ease when depositing money at pokerroom.com. Their cash-out system is comparable with other sites. They offer free cash-outs to any neteller, paypal, or major credit cards. They also offer free cash-outs via regular mail. They’ll send you a check for any amount under $1000 via regular mail, for free. If you cash-out over $1000, they UPS it to you for free and it should arrive in 2 days or less. You also have the choice to ask for a UPS delivery of a check under $1000 but it will cost you $30. Poker Room.com  also offers hand history so you can see how you're playing, and where your making you're money. They also tell you where each player is from in the world in the lobby of their site. Like many other sites, pokerroom.com allows you to see how loose a game is by posting the average pot size at a given table and the percentage of people in on every flop . This is important information when trying to find a soft game. The current player traffic at the site indicates that it is in no immediate danger. I would feel comfortable putting my money into this site .

5. Planet Poker  (Best Low Limit Action) Rating 40/50

Planet Poker offers a variety of games limits from$0.05/$0.1 all the way through to $15/$30. They are one of the few sites that has limits below $0.25/$0.5, which caters for the small limit players.The rake is 5% capped at $3, but the actual rake taken for various limits and pots sizes varies due to rounding. For a detailed description of higher limit games, please refer to the webs site since the rake structure is too complicated to present here. However, take it from me that the rake structure at Planet Poker is one of the fairest around no matter what the limit.

While Planet Poker is trying to attract new players all the time, they are the oldest site on the web and therefore have a lot of solid poker players playing at their site. I’m not saying it isn’t possible to make money there, but most players there know what they’re doing. Planet Poker has as many as 600 people logged on during their peak hours but they are not the busiest poker site on the web. With their easy to use software, their client base is growing everyday.

Promotions    Rating 7

Planet Poker is one of the internets leaders when it comes to offering cool promotions and jackpots for it’s players. Each month they offer new promotions to attract new players and they are constantly giving away free stuff and free cash. They offer plenty of “ free-roll ” tournaments where you can win lots of money. Planet Poker has introduced a new “Planet Points” system for it’s players. The more you play, the more points you earn. For the next few days they will give you "Planet Points" anytime you deposit over $100. Planet Poker is holding tournaments where you can use your points as buy-ins and win tons of free cash. The more you play, the more chances you have at the free cash.

Playability     Rating 8

Planet Poker has maybe the best server in the business because I have personally never lost connection with it while playing poker at one of their tables. Chip stacks and pot sizes are always clearly visible and can always see how much money you or someone else at your table has. Playing at Planet Pokers tables are easy because they offer the simplest game play of any site on the web. From simple alert sounds when its your turn or easy to use action buttons . Because of the simplicity of Planet Poker’s software they are trailing other sites when it comes to their graphics. Their characters and chips are fairly simple and uninteresting. Players chats are simple and straightforward with one added twist, you can get your characters to talk. They have a limited vocabulary but it is funny having words coming out of a motionless character.

Customer Service/Site Security     Rating 8

Planet Poker is the worlds longest running online poker room and they pride themselves as being the most trusted when it comes to it’s players security. They have top of the line encryption technology and are second to none when it comes to the security of it’s players. Planet Poker is the leader in helping people learn about poker and how to play poker like a pro. With Mike Caro’s universtiy of poker you can learn everything from strategy to terminology. Planet Poker prides themselves on offering complete customer service and outstanding software to ensure the safety of it’s customers. They are the only site that I know of that guarantees they’ll look into any complaint a player may have. They also have “Planet Poker News” to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the poker world. Table stats are clearly posted in the lobby area and hand histories are available to players that want them. I’m a big fan of having live hosts at the tables so I was a little disappointed that Planet Poker didn’t have them. All in all, Planet Poker offers exceptional service along with unparalleled security and integrity.