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May 16th, 2008 |
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May 16th, 2008 |
Poker Room Review:
66Poker likes good poker. They have their own professional poker team which performs well. 66Poker also awards good play at the site, monthly with cash and periodically with trips to the big tournaments. 66Poker lives up to their motto of being: “The players’ site”. Everything promotes good poker, from the games, to the software, to the bonuses. The software is downscaled but has smart features like auto-rebuy. The whole concept is top notch. 66Poker offers a 100% match signup bonus up to €200 as an incentive to test it.
66Poker is part of the B2B network which quickly grew into an established network in 2004. A well thought-out concept and 66Poker’s good loyalty bonuses should see the poker room keep improving. There is a great variety of games with many draw and stud variations not found anywhere else. The no-limit Holdem games are plentiful and first-rate.
Since 66Poker likes good poker, they supply poker in many shapes and sizes. 66 Poker supplies the common variations of Hold’em, Omaha and Seven-Card Stud. To this there are two draw games: regular Five-Card Draw is complemented with Deuce to Seven (2-7) Triple Draw. The regular draw game has world leading traffic. Soko was added to the repertoire early on. Sökö is also known as Scandinavian Stud. Just as the two newest stud variants (Telesina and Americana which are played with short decks) the action is better than at regular Five-Card Stud. Telesina is actually also has a community card. 66Poker is the only poker room to offer such a game.
Even though there is a great spread of games. The action at the Omaha but foremost the no limit Texas Hold’em are good. Seven-Card Hi/Lo is rarely played. The other formats are played to varying extents through out the day. The no limit Holdem games are always available at high stakes, Omaha Hi at times. Overall the traffic is highest in European evenings.
The full ring games at 66poker are played with 8 players. The exception is limit Holdem where there are 10 seat at the table. All short handed games are for 6 seat tables.
The B2B network (66Poker) has a fair sized tournament section, about as many players find themselves here as in the ring game section. The big bet (NL and PL) poker tournaments are generally run with 9-seat tables. The supply of tournaments is first-rate. The size of the bigger tournaments are good, the largest weekly guaranteed tournament is the Thursday €25.000 Guarantee with a €200 buy in. As the peak hours are in the European evenings, big tournaments run at complementary times compared to many other poker rooms.
The software creates a great gaming experience. The client is easy to navigate. There is no blur whatsoever; the interface has a clean, simple and appealing look. While the software is downscaled and makes it easy to take in the situation, there is room for extra features promoting the playability.
There is a small pause at the end of each hand making it easy to observe the outcome. There is also automatically a pause when a player needs to rebuy to continue, thus not missing any hands. An extra time allotment is awarded for tough decisions in large pots. The games proceed in a prompt tempo. A resourceful recent addition is an option to automatically rebuy, if used a player is just one click of a button away to have full buy in again at any time. This auto-rebuy option is great for no- and pot limit games. Another feature for big bet poker games is a drop down box giving choices of betting in increments of the pot. In other respects 66Poker’s software delivers as it is supposed to. Statistics, player notes and chat do the job.
Java client allows Apple and Linux players to participate in a convenient manner. The only drawback of the software is its stability, or sporadic instability. It seems there are glitches a few times every day. The buggy periods manifests in slower play and occasionally malfunctioning graphics. The green in 66Poker’s lobby is not as “poker”-green as the color of the table. Is it dollar green?
Table (click to enlarge)
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Lobby (click to enlarge)
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There are decent poker players in the B2B network (66Poker). The player base grew tremendously in 2004 and has continued to grow at a steady pace. A large part of the new players comes from Scandinavian sports books. While this is usually undivided good news, it has not lowered the quality of the games dramatically.
The competition is slightly above or on average online. It seems the well run poker room attracts some good poker players too. Games in the lower limits are in no way deterring. One common denominator for all games is that they are passive.
Some of the first-rate players in the B2B network play at 66Poker. 66Poker have their own professional poker team, team 66poker. Currently the team is four players strong: Ayhan Alsancak, William Thorsson, Per-Werner Svensson and Fuat Can. They share their stories from latest tournament and other adventures with 66Poker’s players.
66 Poker has a big sized, entirely matching bonus for first time depositors. Use bonus code REVIEWED200 to get a 100% match signup bonus up to €200. The exchange rate is currently about 1.2:1, making it an approximately $240 bonus.
The first deposit bonus is paid out in full 30 days after the deposit. The clearance rate is €1 per 15 VIP Points. This bonus is only paid out if the entire bonus amount is cleared. A deposit of €100 thus requires 1500 VIP’s. To get the maximum bonus of €200, €200 (a bit short of $240, making a $240 payment sufficient) has to be deposited and 3000 VIP’s has to be earned.
VIP’s are 66Poker’s promotional/loyalty points. 1 VIP is awarded to each player at the table when the pot is raked €0.31 or more. This makes the bonus a bit tedious to clear at the lowest limit. Already at one or two levels higher, the bonus becomes moderately easy to clear. The higher the stakes, the more money in the pot, and the more hands are raked the minimum amount. At about €0.25/0.50 for NL and €1/€2 for FL a comforting percentage of played hands lead to VIP’s. At levels above this almost every pot that reaches the flop gives every player points.
Everybody playing at 66 Poker is enrolled into something very similar to a rake back program. VIP’s are not “only” used to clear the signup or reload bonuses. The more you play, the more VIP points you get. The more VIP points you receive in a month, the more cold hard cash is automatically paid to your account the first of the next month through the VIP CashBack Bonus. With 500 VIP in a month the bonus is €5. With more VIP’s the bonus is increased also expressed as a percentage. With 2,000 VIP in a month the bonus amount is €30. 3,000 VIP yields €50 and so on, up to 30,000 VIP in a month which leads to a €1,000 bonus.
VIP’s are not consumed by the VIP CashBack Bonus. The bonus is paid out based on how many VIP’s were earned the previous month, the VIP’s are still there to spend. The way to spend VIP-points is as tournament buy-ins. Both MTT’s and SNG’s are available for VIP buy-ins. All tournaments do not have this entry method but a decent share of them do.
66Poker will sponsor one player with a WSOP-package worth $14,000. The player that generates the most rake before June 18th will win this prize.
To conclude the promotion part it should be added that there is a Bad Beat Jackpot which is sponsored with €30,000 each month. It should also be repeated that the VIP-points are not spent to clear the bonuses, the "same" points is used for the other promotions. There are regular (with approximately 3 month intervals) and big reload bonuses.
The rake at 66Poker is quite attractive. The usual is true. There is a target value of 5% for the rake – with the rake most often landing in the 3 – 5% range. There is also a “no flop – no drop” policy. A maximum €3 is raked at the NL tables in increments of € 0.05 per € 1.00.
It is true that the rake is capped at €2 on €1/€2 limit tables (where many other rooms has it at €1, and this cap is set on 66Poker’s €0.50/€1 tables and below). However this €2 is applied to €1/€2 limit tables and above (which is not praxis in many rooms). Also the cap when there are 2-3 players is €0.75 on all tables.
Looking at what is needed to get VIP-points (above €0.30 in rake) it is quickly realized by consulting the complete rake chart that the pot needs to reach €7 in big bet poker and €10 in fixed limit games (unless the game is played with 2-3 players). The pot needs to get larger in fixed limit games as the pot is not raked in as frequent intervals with this betting format.
The financial security at 66Poker is good. 66Poker is part of a stable network. There are no recorded problems with 66Poker or any of the other poker rooms in the network.
First contact with 66Poker is made by e-mail. 66Poker does not present a phone number on their website. This works OK as the e-mail reply time is decent. Furthermore their answers are clear and sharp. 66Poker also have an open-minded attitude when they are put to the test. 66Poker always listens to the players to enhance the complete gaming experience.
Payouts are handled safe and efficient apart form two inconveniences. Withdrawals are not processed Saturdays and Sundays. Also each player is only allowed one withdrawal free of charge every rolling 30 day-period. Generally online, bank wiring is the slowest cash out method. 66Poker’s banking system however allows speedy wire transfers. Europeans can get the money in their bank account within two days, for Swedes the process is even swifter.
