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May 17th, 2008 |
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May 17th, 2008 |
Poker Room Review:
Golden Palace Poker is well known for their creative and effective publicity stunts. The poker room is colored by creative refreshing design. The poker players in the room are creative too, in most instances too creative for their own good.
The selection of games at Golden Palace Poker is limited but of high quality. The iPoker Network have succeeded in quickly building a strong network. However the great potential is not yet lived up to in full. The big drawback is that the volume of players – of which a greater part is found in the tournament area – is still rather low. The choices of tables are still OK, especially if you are playing mainly during American daylight hours.
The game variety with Omaha as High and Hi/Lo in limit and pot-limit and Texas Hold'em in no-limit as well is sub-average, but OK considering the volume of players. The betting limits have a good range from true micro-limit games of $0.01/$0.02 up to $50/$100. The low to middle stake Texas Hold'em tables sees the most action. Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi, has been introduced with play money status.
The tournaments are appreciated by the players on the iPoker Network, the regular tournament schedule is shared by the rooms in the network. The traffic at the tournament lobby took off before the cash game section. Naturally the most frequently run tournaments are NL Hold’em. Be that as it may, the tournament area at Golden Palace Poker can be considered complete. The variants – re-buy, freeze out, guaranteed prize pools, satellites, and turbo – are all there. Here the whole spectrum is available from $1 + $0.10 re-buy tournaments to a $200 + $15 freezeout tournament with a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. The latter is at the moment the highest stakes offered on a monthly basis. The choices are less regarding Omaha Hi. Omaha Hi/Lo just became available at all.
The sit'n'gos are good. There are regular sit'n'gos and specially structured ones where progressive jackpots are attached. Choose between 6-table, 10-table or 2*6-table ones and buy ins between $2 + $0.35 and $50 +$7 and you will be awarded a prize between $2,000 and $100,000 after you have won 4 to 6 in a row. Sure, perhaps you noticed the slightly larger fee and it is tough to battle it out for the tenth of a million dollar at the end of the rainbow. That is not the only objective though. There are prizes along the way. Generally there is a nice balance between risk and reward, in an easy going atmosphere.
There is no doubt that the look of Golden Palace Poker is very well-arranged. The extra features makes the interface easy to grasp also for poker players who are not accustomed to interactivity on the Internet.
Table (click to enlarge)
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Lobby (click to enlarge)
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One major reason to play at Golden Palace Poker is the easy to beat games. The games on the iPoker Network are softer than average. While both the fixed limit and the no limit games are good, the no limit games are the best. The games are not crazy soft, but they are definitely good. A safe bet is that they will stay this way. The leaders in the online casino world stand behind the iPoker Network. The players that they recruit on their casino sites enjoy staying around. The viewed flop percentage at Golden Palace Poker lies in the 40-ies or the 50-ies. Generally the games are passive, somewhat on the opposite side of the spectrum, a few games are wild. Take a pick!
The signup bonus is a good value bonus. It is in the lower range percentage-wise with 25%. A $400 deposit will lead to a decent $100 bonus. The bonus is paid in one lump sum after a player has received 125 Action Points per bonus dollar. It is not so clear how points are calculated.
Three things are clear: Points are based on how much rake each player generates, that is the more involved you are in a pot the more points you get. Points are however also given to a player who folds preflop. The maximum point awarded in one hand is 300. A good guideline is that: a player gets approximately 100 Action points per 1 dollar that player contributes to the rake. This makes this bonus a bit difficult to clear at the lowest limits but quite easy at higher limits.
Action Points are awarded also after a bonus is cleared. They can then be used for entries in certain tournaments and to get gift certificates from giveanything. There are sporadic reload bonuses. Golden Palace Poker also has a progressive royal flush bonus.
The rake schedule at Golden Palace Poker follows the norm of the industry. This is good, since it seems most deviations are usually to the poker room’s advantage. Golden Palace Poker however follows the norm which means: A target value of 5% 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 $1/$2 limit tables and below, the maximum rake is $1.
Reaching knowledgeable support is easy at Golden Palace Poker. Each table has a “call manager” button. The floor manager you get in contact with settles all basic and most complex questions quickly. The telephone support is just as easy to get in touch with (often just a few rings) and equally knowledgeable.
High grades in both response time and quality are unusual. E-mail response time is measured in minutes, and the responses are not all standardized. Most other sites could use Golden Palace Poker support as a source of inspiration.
Golden Palace Poker gets top score in financial security. The mother company, Golden Palace Casino, is the world’s most reputable online casino. This poker room knows that it is important to take good care of the money the players trust them with.
