Poker Room Review: Bet365.com

Admittedly, I'm just an amateur poker player. I don't have the math sense to judge pot odds and implied odds on the fly, at least not yet, and the more I read the various poker blogs out there, the more I know I'm not a part of that community. I'm a good amateur, however. I like to think so anyway. Then again, even idiots like to think they are good poker players.

Regardless, it's time to build a stake for Fancyhand's upcoming 40th birthday Vegas trip. Instead of simply sticking to the poker rooms I know, I've decided to try out the various options available on the internet, and pick up a couple of sign-up bonuses in the meantime. I'll be reviewing the sites as I go. First on the list...

Bet365 Poker

I chose to start with Bet365 because of the sign-up bonus. The new player bonus is $100, earned in $10 increments after each 50 raked hands. I'm using a pretty new machine running Windows XP, and the download was no problem. Initially I had a problem setting up an account, apparently there were server issues and I kept getting an error, but it was late, and I hadn't been planning on playing right away anyway, so I hit the sack instead. The next morning everything worked like a charm and I set up an account and deposited enough to get the sign-in bonus.

The interface is very smooth. During 7 or so hours of play I didn't have any trouble with the my system, and no disconnects. The poker tables are easy to get a quick read on, so playing two tables isn't much of a problem. The poker tables are a little wide, however, with running commentary all along the right hand side, so you have to do a little arranging to make more than one table easily playable.

The site is one of the most well organized I have played on yet, with separate folders in the menu bar for each type of game, blind level, and limit. The platform is extremely fast, with no extra time spent in animation or congratulatory messages, which means earning the bonus is pretty easy. In fact, the speed here is my favorite part of Bet 365. My bet is that I'm not alone in that opinion, either, as I have yet to see anyone complaining about slow play.

One interesting thing on this site is sound. Instead of limiting the sound effects to the table on top, the program plays the sounds for every table you're playing. With two tables up, and the extremely fast play, it starts to sound like you are in a casino, which is kind of cool. I haven't decided if getting the sound f/x for all the running table is advantageous or not, but it definitely isn't a hindrance.

Another thing I like is that Bet 365 offers running stats that continue to track from session to session. I like this better then simply getting the stats off one table at a time. The only thing I would like is if they also tracked the number of hands played, but that information is available elsewhere with a little digging. I do like the session stats available from other sites, but you can reset the stats on Bet 365 whenever you want, so no big whoop.

Keeping track of the bonus earned is no problem, either. One of the menu options gives you the number of raked hands within the last 24 hours, or within a predetermined period. One twist is that you have to request the bonus by sending an email to customer support, but they have been good about getting back to me quickly, so it's not too much of a bother.

The play at the tables was what I expected. Playing successfully on the $1/$2 Limit table meant playing solid poker, tight and aggressive. Even so I saw a few annoying beats. It's good practice for the low limit tables in Vegas, however, and I'm up even before you count the bonus. It's not the fishbowl Everest seems to be, but it can still be beaten. All in all, I'm a fan of this poker room. I'll be keeping a bit of my stake here, and continuing to try and increase it, as I check out other sites. Good luck.