Full review of Empire Poker (Party Poker)

Empire Poker (Party Poker)
www.empirepoker.com 
FREE DOWNLOAD!
Established 2001
Auditor PWC
Software size 2.09 MB

Special Features
Highest game volume in the world (in Party Poker network)
Good membership referral scheme

Total score (out of 10) 5.50

 

 Sign-up bonus in $ $100
Deposit bonus in % 20%
Referral bonus per friend $50
Deposit free bonus $0
Paid to play ($/hour) $0

Hits
Soft competition (loose/weak games)
Live 24-hours support and toll-free support number (for US customers)
Good promotions
Note taking support

Misses
No lobby information on view flop percentage etc
Limited statistics functions
No great look and feel

Summary
Empire Poker is part of the highest traffic poker network in the world (it is the sister site to PartyPoker). It is a less good choice than Party Poker, as the multi-table tournaments at Party Poker are not included. Also, the support is not so good at Empire Poker. There are decent promotions such refer a friend program, free rolls and money added tournaments. There are quite a few juicy games at Empire Poker with loose action (although you don’t get the statistics to easily locate those games). There are lots of multi-table tournaments. Beside the packed Holdem tables, the seven-card stud tables offers great action around the clock as well. Real money player statistics - May 2005: 18000-20000 ring game players at peak hours, 11000-13000 tournament players at peak hours.

Software and graphics
The software is reasonably good, with a number of upgrades during both 2003 and early 2004. We are not big fans of the graphics, but from a practical standpoint the playability is good. With its phenomenal growth, Empire Poker has added servers and increased bandwidth in order to secure full reliability at 50,000 simultaneous players. However, a few players have complained over delays and disconnections at certain tournaments. Overall though, Empire Poker has very good quality nowadays in line or better than most competitors. 3 tables simultaneously per player is allowed. Unfortunately, the view flop percentages are not presented, neither are hands per hour rate. (This has the benefit though, that the looser games are "protected"). You see the average pot size of the last 20 hands. The personal playing statistics function is somewhat rudimentary, but works well. Player notes function is included. In sum, the software is good today after improvements to support the record braking traffic.

Ring game traffic
Empire Poker's network (Party Poker) became the world's largest in ring game traffic already by late 2002/early 2003. Lately the traffic has picked up further in May 2005 reaching: 18000-20000 ring game players at peak hours.

Tournament traffic
At peak times the traffic in May 2005 reaches somewhere between 11000-13000 real-money tournament players. (The multi-table tournaments are not shared with PartyPoker, as the other games are)

Game variety
Good, thanks to the leading volume in all games hosted; Holdem, Omaha and 7-Card-Stud in both High and Hi-Lo. However, Empire Poker does not offer certain games such as heads-up matches, draw poker, crazy pineapple, etc. Moreover, there is no pot-limit version in any of the 7-Card-Stud games or the Omaha High.

Rake
The rake is not so attractive, as it highly disfavors the low limit games. The higher limit games actually have a comparably low rake. The rake runs as high as 10% in $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 games, as 50 cent is raked when the pot reaches $5. This holds true also for the tournaments, where good value only is provided at the higher stakes. 20% fee in $5 games and 8% fee in $100 games.

Soft competition
The games overall are less tough than at most of the other top poker rooms. Thanks to the massive marketing efforts by the network lots of novices and gamblers are attracted to the games.

Sign up bonus
Sign-up bonus at Empire Poker is 20% deposit match bonus up to $100. Play 500 hands (where you just get dealt cards), within 30 days of deposit to get $100 (equals 5 raked pots per dollar).

Loyalty bonus
Yes, Empire Poker has a new VIP program for the big players. Also, there are free rolls and promotions for frequent players based on raked hands.

Promotions
Empire Poker has decent promotions. The regular clients are offered several types of promotions, based on the raked hands they have played, with free rolls and money added tournaments. They have a standing membership referral scheme, paying $50 to the referrer and $25 to the new member.

Support
The live 24-hours floor person support has worked less than satisfactory during our testing. Also, many of our users have complained about a "non-existing live support" a lot of times and also about "irrelevant automatic email responses". The complaints have increased during summer/fall 2004. Hence, we have downgraded their support score.

Financial security
Should be clearly secure, as one of the top 10 poker rooms in the world (in the largest network). No earlier recorded problems. High score.

Deposit & withdrawal options
Deposit options:
VISA, MasterCard, NETeller, FirePay, ePassporte, Citadel, eChecks, bank draft, cashier's check, money order, inter-account transfers.
Cash out options:
EChecks, NETeller, wire transfer and check.