Betfair Poker

Hits

• Satellites to all major live poker tournaments
• Supports up to 15 simultaneous games for multi-table play
• Supports completely automated import of ring-game data to Poker Tracker
• New $55,000 weekly guaranteed tournaments
• $4 million in tournament prize pools every month
• Presenting sponsor of World Series of Poker Europe with most satellites online

Misses

• Offers Texas Hold’em and Omaha only
• Doesn't accept U.S. players

FULL REVIEW - Betfair Poker (8.00)

Due to U.S. legislation preventing credit card companies from collecting payments for wagers made by U.S. residents, Betfair Poker has determined to suspend all real-money gaming business in the United States.

Betfair Poker is owned and operated by The Sporting Exchange Ltd., the biggest sports exchange in the world, and as an independent poker site is not part of any poker network.

Betfair Poker has always had a solid reputation and a very active player base and is once again growing at a strong rate. With dependable software, massive promotions and access to an enormous sports exchange customer base, Betfair Poker is sure to become a major player in the European online poker market.

The Betfair Poker software is privately developed and offers great functionality, good playability and stability. The latest software update added the option to play up to 15 tables simultaneously, with great mini-view functionality further enhancing the multi-tabling experience.

The functionality is very good overall, with good player notes, statistics functions and a solid overall feel. The addition of a "player buddy" program, where players can analyze hand histories and replay hands, only adds to the already excellent software.

The games at Betfair Poker are mainly fast and loose and at low- to medium-stakes Limit and No-Limit Texas Hold'em. There are plenty of lower buy-in tournaments and freerolls with great value. Betfair Poker also offers the unique "Threedom Pass tournament," where players can win free buy-ins to live tournaments of their choice for three years straight - something unprecedented in the industry.

The traffic volume overall is in the middle segment of the industry. Real-money player statistics as of November 2008 show 1,200 ring-game players at peak hours, and 4,000 tournament players at peak hours.

In general, Betfair Poker offers loose games and first-rate software that plays well and is updated frequently to ensure safety and stability, with little downtime as a result.