Full review of Planet Poker

Planet Poker
Website www.planetpoker.com
FREE DOWNLOAD!
Software size 3.64 MB

Special Features
Great game variety, with lowball, razz and five-card draw
Loyalty program
Membership referral scheme

Total score (out of 10) 4.25

 Sign-up bonus in $ $50
Deposit bonus in % 25%
Referral bonus per friend $50
Deposit free bonus $0
Paid to play ($/hour) $0

Hits
Live 24-hours chat and telephone support
Micro-limit tables with low rakes
Daily free roll tournaments

Misses
No great look and feel in software
Only one table at a time is allowed
No sit-and-go tournaments
No multi-table playing support
No statistics functions or note-taking
No lobby information on view flop percentage and hands/hour
No sophisticated buttons for automatic play
Summary
Planet Poker was the first real money online poker room, launching January 1998. The traffic is quite good, typically among the top dozen. Planet Poker has a good support and a great game variety, with lowball, razz and five-card draw and nice promotions. There are a loyalty program and refer a friend program. The site has a nice vibe, but the software is quite dated with few advantages. Real money player statistics - April 2005: 200-250ring game players at peak hours, 300-400 tournament players at peak hours.

Software and graphics
The software level is clearly below average standard, with no statistics or note-taking functions. The graphics are not attractive, with old looking interface. There are no sophisticated buttons for automatic play. A player can only be a one table at a time. Hand histories are available via email or HTML. They need to do a major upgrade of this software to not continue to loose ground.

Ring game traffic
At peak times one can find 200-250 real money ring game players (April 2005).

Tournament traffic
At peak times the traffic reaches around 300-400 players (April 2005). There are multi-table tournaments. However, there are currently no sit and go tournaments.

Game variety
Very good game variety, with hold'em, Omaha Hi and Hi-Lo, seven-card stud Hi and Hi-Lo, razz, draw, lowball. There are also heads up games, no-limit in hold'em and pot-limit in hold'em. Razz and lowball online are quite unique at Planet Poker at present.

Rake
The rake is quite attractive, especially at the low limit games (from $0.05/$0.10 to $0.5/$1). For the tournaments the charge is average, at around 10% for the various levels, including the lowest.

Soft competition
We have limited playing experience lately, but the competition should be quite good, so it is not very easy to make money just by playing tight and aggressively.

Sign up bonus
There is a 25% deposit bonus, limited to $50. Restrictions are not stated clearly on site.

Loyalty bonus
There is a frequent player scheme where Planet Points are earned for each raked hand, that the player participate in. Points are redeemable for tournaments buy-ins and merchandise.

Promotions
Planet poker has good promotions. There are daily free roll tournaments and sometimes special promotions. $50 is paid for as member referral bonus, where the friend makes a deposit on minimum $50 and plays approximately 100 rakes hands (less in high stakes over $3/$6 and more in low stakes under $3/$6). The endorsers Mike Caro and Roy Cooke take part in the games at a regular basis.

Support
The live 24-hours chat and telephone support, combined with the e-mail service provides a good support.

Financial security
Should be clearly secure, as one of the top 20 poker rooms in the world, with no earlier recorded problems. High score.

Deposit & withdrawal options
Deposit options:
VISA, MasterCard, NETeller, FirePay, P$e-direct (US only), bank draft, wire transfer, money order, personal check, VIP Sports, Casino/Bingo Vega.
Cash out options:
NETeller, FirePay, P$e-direct (US only), wire transfer, check, VIP Sports, Casino/Bingo Vega. (VISA at maximum of total deposits)