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March 12th, 2010 |
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March 12th, 2010 |
Poker Room Review:
Inter Poker might be too big already in order to be able to call them "up and coming". Their rapid growth and insolent, immoderate behavior warrants some kind of cheeky remark though.
Inter Poker has been online since 2001 and it is managed by the world's second largest casino, Inter Casino, so there is loads of experience and know-how behind this site. The background for it being called up and coming, is its growth spurt in 2004 - it grew more than any other poker room - and its fresh attitude towards bonuses.
The main reason to play at Inter Poker is the great action in easy to beat games. The number of high limit tables is outstanding. Now you will have to come up with an adjective of your own to describe their monthly 100% match reload bonus up to $100, that is well over $1000 a year.
The game variety at Inter Poker is OK. The only game missing out of the "big five" is Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo. The growth of the Cryptolgic network which Inter Poker is a part of can, at least in part, be explained by the introduction of pot- and no-limit games as well as multi-table tournaments. For some reason these forms of poker, which are virtually indispensable in online poker, were not introduced at first. Inter Poker has proved to have better poker sense since. The Cryptologic network nowadays lives up to its potential and is one of the bigger networks out there.
Almost as many players are playing at the ring game tables as in the tournaments. The Omaha Hi games are occasionally busy even at the higher limits. Seven-Card Stud and Omaha Hi/Lo games are infrequent. The limit and no-limit Holdem games are equally popular.The spread of the limits is excellent upwards. The lowest limit is $0.25/$0.50 and upwards it does not end until the £150/£300 level. The observant reader noticed the different currencies. Inter Poker lets you play with € and £ as well as $. The numbers above goes for fixed limit games; for no limit games the range is between blinds of $0.15/$0.25 and £10/£20.
From being virtually non-existent, the tournament traffic at Inter Poker today measures up to other rooms. There is lots of choices, concerning tournament starting times and buy-ins. Apart from occasional fixed limit tournaments it is all no limit though, and on top of that exclusively Texas Hold'em.While the guaranteed tournaments are solely no limit Texas Hold'em, the other aspects of the tournament schedule is good. One tournament starts every fifteen minutes. The guaranteed prize pool each month is $4,000,000. There is no day where the total is allowed below $100,000. Bigger tournament like a Sixpak 600k are run every now and then. (Sixpak stands for Short-handed Internet X-citement.) There is good enrollment most hours of the day due to players from both sides of the Atlantic.
The interface at Inter Poker is attractive and clean. You still would expect better software from Cryptologic. The graphical interface does not have that little extra. Apart from a few glitches, the functionality is good. If it is simply the case that such a large casino software provider has more to live up to or whether the misses in the software really are annoying in themselves, is perhaps best left undecided in this review. For certain the software has become much better with major upgrades.
Inter Poker has a time-allotment which promotes good speed at the tables. This effect is sometimes neutralized by the resource intensive software. It is not possible to enter the cashier while at a table, that is another irritating circumstance. The voice options are good. The notes are in a drop down menu in the chat box. This solution is different from most other poker rooms, and it does facilitate an easy-to-handle note taking with a good overview.
While on the subject of other online poker rooms, the Cryptologic software is well described as a polished Party Poker version. The two different softwares have the same general concept. There are no avatars, or anything else distracting. Cryptologic takes that extra step while still keeping it basic. That extra does come at the expense of making it extra resource intensive. The hand histories are accessed from a log viewer where the information is saved for 90 days; it is hard to get instantaneous feedback from the hand history but they are easily saved for the archives with the push of a button.
Table (click to enlarge)
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Lobby (click to enlarge)
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Inter Poker is populated with many unsophisticated poker players. This is because many of the customers comes from sports books and casino environments. The action at the tables is as loose as you would expect with that recruitment base. Generally it seems as the lack of poker experience is as most evident at the short handed tables. A basic tight-aggressive strategy is often enough to have a substantial edge.The level of competition can be higher in the beginning of the month since some bonus hunters flock to the tables then. Many of the players who play to clear their monthly reload bonus month after month are better than average.
Inter Poker comes from the casino world where promotions and appreciation of big as well as small players is key to success. Thereby Inter Poker offers a monthly bonus of up to $100 at a 100% deposit match. Only 5 raked hands are needed per bonus dollar.
However the raked hand is defined harsher than at most other rooms. Unless the rake reaches $1 - that implies a pot of $20 - then the hand does not go towards clearing the bonus. Same goes for every currency. No half points are handed out. So wether this is a really easy or a hard bonus to clear depends on your bankroll. It is stated that bonuses expire after 90 days, but this is not enforced. Bonuses are stackable.
Poker points are awarded for played hands, raked hands and such. These points can be used to enter tournaments. A jump start is given as points are given just for signing up.
Their bad beat jackpot grows at a steady rate. There is Royal Flush money and also the poker room manager roams the tables and gives away money with no strings attached. Freerolls, guaranteed money tournaments, and get paid to play (to start new tables) are also part of the promotion package.
Inter Poker has a rake which is slightly higher than average. The target value for the rake is the normal 5%. Two issues makes the rake bad from a players perspective. First off Inter Poker are good at hitting the 5% mark in many instances. Inter Poker does not have many exceptions from the general rule. Of course there is a “No flop, No drop” policy. Otherwise the complete rake chart shows there are few relieves for the players.
The second thing that is damaging is the different currency tables. A £3 cap is much higher than a $3 cap. This is easily avoided by playing dollar tables.
Banking is generally efficient at InterPoker apart from the withdrawal procedure. The cashout speed is poor. It takes a few days to receive your money also through Neteller. Before any withdrawal is possible at all you have to have a PIN code. The PIN code is sent by regular mail directly after the first deposit. The PIN code hassle can be seen as plus for the safety aspect. Inter Poker is safe. The owners also run a well established and one of the world’s largest online casinos. The financial transactions are handled by ECash which have handled large volume online transactions since 1996.
The support speed is average but at an above average quality. There is telephone as well as email support. Bonuses are handled automatically and flawlessly.
