Hits
- $500 Freeroll every day
- Special beginner tables with micro-limits
- Soft competition
Empire Poker Review
7.04 / 10
(Note: this poker room does not allow U.S. players. See more below). Empire Poker is the leading skin on the "old Party Poker" network and was acquired by PartyPoker on Feb 14, 2006. The poker room boasts very high traffic and the software offers great playability and perfect uptime.
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- Enormous Player Volume
- Guaranteed cash prize tournaments
- Special beginner tables
Info
- Name Empire Poker
- Website www.empirepoker.com
- Established 2001
- Country n/a
- Auditor n/a
- Software Party Poker
- Size 13.5 MB
- Email n/a
- Telephone n/a
Download & Play Now (13.5 MB)
Score
7.04/10
- Total weighted score 7.04
- Software & Graphics 7
- Ring Game Traffic 8
- Tournament traffic 8
- Game variety 9
- Rake 5
- Soft competition 7
- Sign up bonus 7
- Loyalty bonus 5
- Promotions 6
- Support 7
- Financial security 9
- Deposit & withdrawal options 8
Screenshots
Bonus Info
- Sign-up bonus in $ $150
- Deposit bonus in % 25%
- Referral bonus per friend $50
- Clearing Requirement
5 raked hands played /$1 bonus - Bonus expiration time
30 days
Game Volume
9.5/10
- Game Peak hours
- Cash game 7,800
- No-Limit Texas Holdem 4,700
- Limit Texas Holdem 3,100
- Omaha Hi/Lo 500
- Omaha High 450
- 7-Card Stud High 200
- 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo 120
- All other cash games 250
- Tournaments 60,000
Special Features
- $150 deposit bonus at 25% match
- $500 freeroll every day
- Special beginner tables with micro-limits
- Good player volume
- $200,000 weekly guaranteed tournament
- Progressive bad-beat jackpot
Special Bonus Details
Support Quality
7.0/10
- 24/7 Support Yes
- Website FAQ Yes
- Support features Email
- Email confirmation No
- Speed Fast
- Knowledge Good
- Friendliness 70%
- NETeller payout time 24 hrs
- Withdrawal smoothness 75%
Hits
- $500 Freeroll every day
- Special beginner tables with micro-limits
- Soft competition
- $200,000 weekly guaranteed tournament
Misses
- No lobby information on view flop percentage etc
- Limited statistics functions
- No great look and feel
Summary (7.04)
Due to US legislation to prevent credit-card companies from collecting payments for bets, Empire Poker has determined to suspend all their real money gaming business with US residents.
Empire Poker uses PartyGaming software (same as PartyPoker.com) and resides on the PartyPoker network, sharing player base with PartyPoker.com. Since the PartyPoker network is no longer open to U.S. players as of Oct. 13, 2006, Empire Poker have lost a considerable amount of player volume. Still the network boasts one the world's highest traffic in ring games and tournaments.
In addition to lots of traffic, there are many other advantages with Empire Poker, such as loose games, great promotions and loyalty program, special events and a membership referral program. There are quite a few juicy games at Empire Poker with loose action even up to the $30/$60 limits. However, without pre flop percentage it can be somewhat hard to find these games. Empire Poker also offers black jack and deal making.
Real money player statistics: 6,000-7,800 ring-game players at peak hours, 40,000-60,000 tournament players at peak hours.
Ring Game Traffic (8)
Since Oct. 13, 2006, Empire Poker has lost their position as the world's largest site (With PartyPoker.com) in ring-game traffic due to losing U.S. players. Still, they are one of the top operators on the market with 6,000-7,800 ring-game players at peak hours.
Game variety (9)
Empire Poker has good game variety mostly thanks to good volume in all games hosted: Hold'em, Omaha and Seven-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, or others. Sit-and-go tournaments are offered all the way from $3 up to $530. There are also a plethora of step sit-and-go tournaments and multi-table sit-and-go tournaments at many different levels.
Stakes offered in the Hold'em section are (1) Limit Texas Hold'em from $100-$200 down to $0.05-$0.10 and (2) No-Limit/Pot-Limit Hold'em from $0.02-$0.04 up to $10-$10. Omaha games are offered as both full-table and short handed with the stakes ranging from $0.5-$1 to $30-$60 for Limit games, and $0.10-$0.25 to $10-$20 for Pot-Limit games.
Soft competition (7)
Traditionally Empire Poker has been able to maintain loose and juicy games over time, due to the constant influx of players to the network. With so many players on the network they continue to hosts all varieties of tables, from ultra tight to loose and juicy.
Loyalty bonus (5)
Empire Poker offers a good frequent player points program as well as numerous re-deposit promotions in which you usually get 40%-100% up to $100-$200 maximum. The points earned in the frequent player program can be used to play tournaments or purchase merchandise in the Empire Poker gift shop.
Support (7)
Empire Poker handles their support via e-mail and through their FAQ section. The email support is relatively fast and accurate and the online support (FAQ) handles some of the most commonly asked questions well.
24/7 support: Yes
Website FAQ: Yes
Support features: Email
Email confirmation/receipt: No
Speed: Fast
Knowledge: Good
Avg. NETeller payout time: 24 hours
Friendliness: 70%
Withdrawal smoothness: 75%
Deposit & withdrawal options (8)
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.
Software & Graphics (7)
The software is good, with a number of significant upgrades over the last year. We are not big fans of the graphics, but from a practical standpoint the playability is great. 4 tables simultaneously per player are allowed. 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 with great playability after a series of improvements.
Tournament traffic (8)
Empire Poker traffic is the highest in the world since they have rejoined the Party Gaming network. There are high tournament volumes for Holdem, Omaha, and 7-card stud. The traffic for Empire Poker reaches somewhere between 40,000-60,000 real money tournament players at peak hours.
Rake (5)
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.
Sign up bonus (7)
Note: When depositing via methods other than direct deposit, the maximum deposit is $500 thus making the max bonus $125. Play 750 hands within 30 days of your deposit to get $150, which equals 5 raked pots per dollar. (In this case, a hand constitutes cards being dealt.)
Promotions (6)
Note: When depositing via methods other than direct deposit, the maximum deposit is $500 thus making the max bonus $125. Play 750 hands within 30 days of your deposit to get $150, which equals 5 raked pots per dollar. (In this case, a hand constitutes cards being dealt.) Empire Poker has good promotions. Regular clients are offered several types of promotions, based on the amount of raked hands played, with free rolls and added money tournaments. They have a standing membership referral scheme, paying $50 to the referrer and $25 to the new member.
Financial security (9)
Very secure, as part of the public company Empire Online. No earlier recorded problems. High score.
