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Sportsbook Poker
US CREDIT CARDS ARE NOT BLOCKED: One of the best aspects of
Sportsbook Poker is the fact that virtually all US credit
cards are accepted for deposits directly through the cashier. The
acceptance rate is nearly 100% and you
shouldn't experience a block with any US credit card. The minimum deposit is a positive for new players at
$20. From personal experience, I can report that a major US
bank credit card was used successfully for deposits in under a
minute or two. This same card had always been denied at other poker sites.
As an alternate deposit option, ask a
Sportsbook Poker support representative to create a UseMyWallet account for
you. This e-wallet service is now
accepted directly through the cashier and I would highly recommend
it based on my experiences. Minimal personal information is required,
processing time is extremely quick, and they offer wire transfer
withdrawals to avoid the wait-time associated with paper checks.
SPORTSBOOK
POKER BONUS CODE FOR $1,000 BONUS PLUS 10% INSTANTLY:
BEATTHEFISHPK. Our players are eligible for an instant 10% cash
bonus and a 100% play-through bonus, good up to $1,000. Please note that you must visit
Sportsbook Poker and download the software from one of our links
to the site to be eligible for this bonus.
$500 FREEROLL FOR OUR NEW PLAYERS:
Our new
Sportsbook Poker players now receive a $500 private freeroll entry after making their first deposit. Freerolls take place every Wednesday at 10:30PM EST and can be found under the "Private" tournament tab.
Sportsbook Poker now accepts players from all countries, including the US and Canada.
Overall:
5/5
While I am usually apprehensive about
newer poker rooms, I feel strongly enough about
Sportsbook Poker to make it the current top-rated overall poker
room. There are three aspects of this site
that stand out to me as extreme positives in the current online
poker landscape: the ability
to deposit smoothly using US credit cards, the collection of
extremely loose tables, and the combination of an instant deposit bonus
coupled with a larger play-through bonus. With their recent move to the
Merge network,
Sportsbook Poker
retains their poor player base and improves their software package significantly.
As is typical for sportsbook and casino crossover sites,
Sportsbook Poker
attracts some of the worst players online. Flop percentages and
average pot sizes are more than double than the usual numbers at the
larger rooms. In terms of deposits,
Sportsbook Poker uses third-party credit cards processors
built right into the cashier and even major US banks don't block the
transactions. You can fund your account in literally 30 seconds.
At this poker room you can actually do what you want with your own money for a
change. That is a significant statement in the current US online
poker landscape.
Besides the excellent deposit system,
Sportsbook Poker also has a strong promotional system with
an increased 100% deposit bonus for our players, an extra 10%
instant cash, and above-average
customer service. While it may not have the brand recognition of the
larger sites
Sportsbook Poker does offer a number of improvements over the
juggernauts with block-free deposits and, perhaps more importantly, one of the few
remaining havens for loose tables. As this site gets more exposure, I think it will
become one of the top destinations for US players.
Bonus (100%
up to $1,000 plus 10% instantly) and Promotions:
5/5
On the promotional side, I give high scores to
Sportsbook Poker for the simple deposit bonus system, which
includes an instant 10% cash added onto all first-time deposits. As
opposed to the typical pending bonuses offered everywhere the 10%
extra is added onto your bankroll and may be used immediately at the
tables or for tournament entires. Our visitors receive an increased 100% bonus with a $1,000 cap
in addition to an instant 10% cash bonus,
which is one of the highest bonuses online. Even though it is only
10%, I highly respect
Sportsbook Poker for going against the grain of convoluted
bonuses that are designed to rob average players or their full
value.
In addition to the instant bonus our new
Sportsbook Poker players earn an increased 100% play-through
bonus, valid up to $1,000.
Please note that you'll need
to use one of our links to
Sportsbook Poker when downloading the software and bonus code BEATTHEFISHPK
at the cashier to earn the increased amount. More important than the
Sportsbook Poker play-through bonus amount is the fact that most
players should be able to earn the full
amount without jumping through hoops or exorbitant playing
requirements.
As is now standard at every poker room,
Sportsbook Poker has a player rewards system that gives players
VIP points both for ring game activity and tournament fees. The
system is based on rake so higher-stakes players will obviously earn
VIP points at a higher rate. Fortunately for microstakes players,
points are still given for contributed rake as little as 10 cents.
The 100% play-through bonus at
Sportsbook Poker is disbursed in $5 increments with 75 VIP
points earning each dollar. My personal experience shows that this
equates to an above-average payout of about $1-2 per hour at each $1/2
NL table.
The same VIP points earned at
Sportsbook Poker may then be used for rewards like merchandise
and freeroll entries. More interesting to me were the abilities to
exchange points for cash and the option of a 100% monthly reload
bonus. These can be done with larger cash amounts as players earn
more cumulative VIP points. Finally, other promotions include a
$12,000 monthly Sit and Go leaderboard and a Bad Beat Jackpot that
often reached at least $50,000. Overall, the promotional
system is very strong with the large 100% deposit bonus, 10%
extra upfront with one of the few instant bonuses left in the
industry, and the player point system that offers above-average
rewards.
Fish: 
5/5
It is refreshing to see a current US
poker room still hosting such truly terrible players. With
essentially every other US poker room slowing to a crawl in terms of
loose action over the past several years,
Sportsbook Poker is an isolated throwback to the wild online
poker pioneer days of yore. The average flop percentage and pot
numbers are incredible at
Sportsbook Poker with double or triple the numbers found at the
larger rooms. A 40% flop percentage is about average at 9-handed
tables with pot sizes ranging between 20-30x the big blind. This is
truly a haven for loose tables.
As its name implies,
Sportsbook Poker began as an offshoot from a long-running online
sportsbook. Inherently, sportsbook players are more aggressive and
much more willing to gamble than the average poker-exclusive player.
As is typical with other crossover gaming sites, the poker traffic
is extremely loose. Giving
Sportsbook Poker a 5 Fish Rating may not be sufficient.
To give you an example of some of the action that
you'll find at
Sportsbook Poker, I have on more than one occasion run into players who
buy in for the maximum and then go all-in every single hand until
they go broke. Other players will routinely go, or call, all-in on
inside straight draws. I have bluffed at pots in position, drew 3
callers, picked up 3rd pair on the river, and then still won the hand at
showdown.
At
Sportsbook Poker you'll routinely see tournament style plays of preflop
all-ins with small pocket pairs matched against weak overcards. The pots
usually grow quickly and often preflop with unbridled aggression
only surpassed by the number of calling stations ignoring the value
of their starting hands. I believe that the high credit card deposit rates
at
Sportsbook Poker are a major factor in helping to keep the
tables loose. With deposits so easy to come by, players aren't
required to be constantly aware of their bankroll for fear of
redeposit difficulties.
I recommend that patient and observant players try to break the bank
at this poker room while the tables are still so loose.
Sportsbook Poker and its greater network tends to be ignored by
the elitist online poker community that focuses exclusively on the
larger games and massive tournaments at the bigger sites. The result
is a beginner-friendly poker room that is extremely profitable for
patient players who tighten up and extract maximum value from
premium hands.
Tournaments:
4/5
One aspect that smaller networks
typically struggle with is tournament traffic. Fortunately,
Sportsbook Poker is on an established network with fair existing
traffic and an above-average number of events. While
Sportsbook Poker cannot compete with the larger poker rooms for
sheer tournament numbers they do offer a number of unique variations
that require a lower time commitment and, most importantly, provide
substantial overlay opportunities.
Most of the hosted tournaments at
Sportsbook Poker are events with guaranteed prize pools yet the
player entries rarely cover the prize pool. For example, one of the
more popular nightly tournaments is the $7,500 freezeout yet only
245 players showed up and paid the $20 buy-in. This forces
the poker room to add more than $2,000 to the prize pool in
order to cover the guarantee. The value in such overlays is
excellent with players essentially beginning the tournament with
tens of players already knocked out. Most tournaments at
Sportsbook Poker have an overlay with the largest usually being
the Sunday $50,000 event.
The best guaranteed tournaments at
Sportsbook Poker draw about 300 or so
players and typically have buy-ins ranging from $5-30. Most tournaments offer a guarantee on the prize pool of between $2,000 to $7,500.
Some of the better values include multiple daily $7,500 guarantees with a
$20 buy-ins, multiple $3,000 guarantees with a $10 buy-in, a $2,000
guaranteed turbo bounty event for $10, and a
Saturday $5,250 guarantee for $30.
Another
tournament style hosted at
Sportsbook Poker that I would like to see more sites
adopt is the Bounty tournament. The Bounty events are run throughout the day
with about half of the buy-in being your bounty. Every time you knock out
a player you'll collect their bounty. The rest of the prize pool is
distributed normally amongst the top finishers. These tournaments
increase action and you have an interesting way to win some cash
regardless of how you finish in the tournament. Another totally
random tournament variation is the all in or fold event, which air
fairly popular despite their lack of required skill.
With player traffic continuing to
increase steadily,
Sportsbook Poker has been able to add a $50,000 guaranteed
weekly event every Sunday at 4PM EST. The buy-in is $100, which I
feel is just about the sweet spot for larger tournaments. That level
is attainable for more casual tournament players but also sizeable
enough to offer substantial prizes to the top finishers. Sit and Gos are also popular,
especially the shorthanded 6-seaters, without much
of a waiting period up to the
$20 level.
One Sit and Go style offered at
Sportsbook Poker that should be at every other poker room is the
Double-Up event. This unique structure offers 5 of the table
entrants nothing and the other 5 twice the buy-in. It's an extremely
addictive style that has become very popular on the network. Even
during off-peak hours the Double-Ups fill up fairly quickly up to
the $30 level. While the traditional 3-player payout system is
still a very effective way for seasoned players to make a consistent
profit the Double-Up adds an entirely different set of strategy and
is a refreshing change of pace from the typical grind.
Software:
4.5/5
One of the main reasons that I was
pleased about
Sportsbook Poker switching over to Merge was the software
package, which, in my opinion, should be rated as one of the top 3
online. This underrated software platform receives little attention
from players, but spending time with it uncovers numerous unique
features that really should become standard in the industry. The
overall graphical look is a sharp bird's-eye overhead view with
players able to customize their personal image. The lobby is also
fully customizable and each table window can be resized or shrunk
down to a Mini mode, which is still clear but can easily be tiled on
standard resolutions for multi-table players.
Sportsbook Poker also gives players graphical accolades like
stars for playing experience or trophies then, when hovered over,
show special tournament wins. Other quirks unique to this platform
include animated chat emoticons, the ability to rabbit-hunt when you
win a hand prior to the river, a deal it twice option for all-ins, a
spotlight over the active player, and TV-style average winning
percentages when players are all-in. These are excellent features
that seem minor but as a whole really make the experience stand out.
I'm truly surprised that the larger rooms haven't mimicked the
software at
Sportsbook Poker.
Perhaps more important than the fun but
extraneous features is the game speed, which is much higher than
average. Full 9-handed
NL ring games at
Sportsbook Poker usually settle between 70-90 hands per hour,
which is at least 30-40% faster than more popular rooms. The
software does not feature a player time bank, which helps to speed
up the game overall and eliminates the obnoxious posturing common at
poker rooms supporting extra time.
Sportsbook Poker also features a wealth of betting buttons that
increases game speed, including 2x, 4x, half-pot, and full-pot
options.
US Payouts:
4.5/5
Sportsbook Poker utilizes two of the best remaining payout
methods right now in direct checking account payments and Fedex checks.
Receiving payouts directly to your checking account is, in my opinion,
the easiest withdrawal method out there. You don't have to deal with
the bank in order to cash a check, which is convenient for night
owls like myself.
After initially faxing or e-mailing the site a
voided check you can receive future payouts within a few days to
your checking account via ACH. You can also choose to have a paper
check sent through a
courier service. Once they're issued, you'll receive them within 2 or 3 days
via Fedex.
Customer Service:
5/5
My first time playing at
Sportsbook Poker left me with several minor questions
about how the site worked in terms of bonuses and functionality of the software.
Instead of waiting around for an e-mail response I just used their
Live Chat option. There was no wait-time in order to connect with a representative and I
received accurate answers from someone who seemed to be familiar
with the poker room.
Sportsbook Poker also provides toll-free phone number support,
which as a gesture that I've always respected from any online poker
room.
Player Traffic
Sportsbook Poker is attracting fairly strong traffic even though
they're on a newer network. With more established skins continually
joining Merge I expect traffic for both ring games and tournaments
to steadily increase. Typically, you'll find at least 4 or 5 full
9-handed ring games up to the $1/2 NL level and double that in 6-handed
tables. You can also find 10-15 or more simultaneous microlimit games
at each level. The highest stakes also regularly have a full game or two
going, including $5/10 and $10/20 NL. Overall player traffic is at
about 5,000 during peak hours and typical tournament traffic is
about 200-300 per event.
Best Features
US credit cards are not blocked. This has to be the easiest site to
fund with virtually all credit cards being accepted.
Awful players. I'm not sure if I have seen a worse population of
players at on online poker site.
Above-average player rewards. The 100% bonus is extremely earnable
on top of the 10% instant cash.
Strong traffic. Fortunately, you can find 10-15 active cash games at
most limits with the bankroll sizes having little correlation to
player skill.
Game Selection: Hold'em,
Omaha, Stud, Draw
Limits: Limit: 2c/4c up
to $50/$100 No-Limit: 2c/4c up to $50/$100
Deposit Methods:
Visa and Mastercard. Please see the top of the
page for "US Credit Cards" for more information.
Sportsbook Poker is the only site I know of that will not
encounter a block when attempting to deposit using any US credit card. This
has been verified by our site using a major US bank. By far, this is
the easiest site for US players to deposit with.
Sportsbook Poker also accepts UseMyWallet, which is an e-wallet
I've used at several poker rooms. Very little personal information
is required, both deposits and withdrawals are made directly to your
bank account, and processing time extremely quick. If you don't have
an account already, the
Sportsbook Poker will set one up for you either via live chat
request or e-mail. Other deposit options include cash transfer and
Moneybookers.
Minimum Deposit:
$20
Tips: As I've
mentioned throughout this review,
Sportsbook Poker is a very beatable site overall if you make
the necessary adjustments. Typically, you'll have more than one fish
at your table with this profile: very aggressive preflop, likes to
draw, and puts in too much money with marginal hands. This is an
extremely profitable type of player, but it means that you'll
probably need to tighten up. While it may be cliche advice by now it
is still correct to mostly be playing the opposite style of the
majority of the table.
Because you'll be faced with so many
preflop raises, you can play it safe by waiting for your strongest
starting hands. Instead of trying to suck out maximum value with big
pocket pairs by setting traps, you can usually make
larger-than-average raises and still get plenty of action. You also
should isolate the loose players with these premium hands as they
hold up much more often against fewer opponents.
At
Sportsbook Poker, don't hesitate to
make a substantial (or even all-in) raise with big pocket
pairs or other monster hands for fear of wasting your value. This includes when you hit
hands like nut straights, flushes, and full houses. Why bother
slowplaying if you can get your big bets paid off? You're still
maximizing your EV if you get called occasionally with huge bets
as opposed to getting paid off most of the time with conservative bets.
Player Review Received via E-Mail:
"I wanted to thank you for tipping me off to
Sportsbook Poker. I just signed up there and played there
for the first time tonight and I immediately made money. You weren't
exaggerating about the Fish there! I also like their bonus structure
a lot and it was easy to make a deposit via credit card.
When you
combine the 100% bonus match and all the fish it is a no brainer...in
fact, it seems like free money. I thought the software was ok, but I
prefer Bodog because the games seem to move along a little faster.
Anyhow, thanks for the tip....I am going to keep playing there and
it looks like it is going to make me quite a bit of money.
Brian O'Neil -- Arlington, VA"
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