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March 12th, 2010 |
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March 12th, 2010 |
Poker Room Review:
Noble Poker is a solid poker room. There is no aristocratic perspective, rather a noble-minded approach to the game of poker. Still Noble Poker do their best to look like the king of poker, they do alright, at least resembling a prince. The interface is top-class. The promotions are both interesting and of good value. There is always some boom around a new cool tournament/event. Furthermore the competition is soft.
Many of the good attributes can be credited to the fact that the iPoker Network, in which Noble Poker is a leading room, is an initiative of PlayTech. The second largest casino software provider is a guarantee for security and a constant influx of novice poker players.
The selection of games at Noble 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 Noble 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.
The interface at Noble Poker is sleek. The software has imitated a plush poker room, and when you sit down there is a feeling of being seated in an upper class environment. The graphics are pleasing to the eye. Graphics and functions speeds along the game play.
Each player gets to choose an avatar. If all the sound options are used, the characters announce their actions with their own voice. Cards in the chat box but most importantly in the hand history make the game play easy to track. The hand histories that are available directly after a hand has been played are outstanding but to save them on your computer you have to e-mail support.
The lobby works as expected. The tables can be filtered by betting format, heads-up play and so forth. Buddy list and player search works fine. At the table action buttons and pre-action buttons are fully functional.
Table (click to enlarge)
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Lobby (click to enlarge)
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One major reason to play at Noble 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 Noble 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 $100, 50% match, signup bonus is not breathtaking but frequent reload bonuses make up for the size of it. All bonuses are paid in installments of $10 for each 500 crowns earned. The crowns are Noble Poker's player points and are awarded according to the next paragraph.
For each raked hand in which a player participates where the rake reaches $0.25, 1 crown is awarded. When the rake rises and surpasses $0.50, 2 crowns are awarded. If the rake is larger than $1.00, $1.50 or $2.00, 4, 6 respectively 10 crowns are awarded. This makes the bonus moderately easy to clear from middle limits and above. A good feature is that the bonuses from Noble Poker are paid incrementally.
The rest of the promotion portfolio contains daily and weekly good value freerolls. Top hand of the day and bad beat bonuses makes monster hands even more monstrous. Campaign NETeller bonuses, other redeposit bonuses, and deposit freerolls are other examples of the portfolio.
Noble Poker has a better than average rake structure. The basic rake structure is the same as most other online poker rooms. The target value of the commission is 5% of each total pot. More than $3 is never taken out of the pot. “No flop, No drop”, which means there is no charge if the hand ends before the flop.
iPoker’s and Noble Poker’s policy is better than most since many type of tables deviate from these general principals. All deviations are for the players benefit. Fixed limit tables with a maximum stake of $1/$2 caps the rake at $1. For higher stakes players, the max rake reduction for shorthanded play is more important. At fixed limit and big bet poker (no and pot-limit) alike: all tables with 2-3 players have a maximum rake of $1 and all tables with 4-5 players have a maximum rake of $2.
Noble Poker offers a very good customer support and general service. The standard e-mail support is good. Noble Poker also shares a first-class 24/7 telephone and chat help with the other rooms in the iPoker Network. With this, there is always someone there to help you, and you can contact them in a manner you feel comfortable with.
Cashout speeds are average. The financial security is good. Noble Poker is safe. Playtech who operates the iPoker Network, has a spotless record in the gambling world.
