The software is graphically pleasing and reliable, with many good features and competition is fairly soft. Members can play for free or for real money, with USD, GBP, CAD and EUR currency options. Paradise Poker offers good game variety, an average number of deposit/withdraw methods, plus excellent security and customer support.
Paradise Poker developed it's own software, which was since purchased by Sportingbet PLC. In 2006. The software was ranked the best in online poker for years and still maintains the highest standard of speed and playability. Features include player notes, vital statistics displayed in the lobby like average pot size and hands per hour, smooth multi-table play at up to 3 tables at once and standard customizing controls. The graphics are quite smooth and pleasant to the eye. The software is very stable with infrequent updates, resulting in very low downtime.
A good game variety is presented at the online poker room, consisting of all the usual online poker games, plus a few extras. Texas Hold'Em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, plus Blackjack, Pineapple, 5 Card Stud and 5 Card Draw. Short-handed, full-table and heads-up games are available with No-Limit, Fixed-Limit and Pot Limit options. No Limit blinds start as low as $0.01/$0.02.
Players find Sit-n-Go, Multi-Table and Heads-Up (1-on-1) Tournaments consistently ongoing at Paradise Poker with buy-ins as low as $1. Competition is very loose at lower buy-in tournaments. Promotional Tournaments include Best of British, with a prize pool of $50,000, Paradise Poker Leagues worth $5,000 every month and a low buy-in of $3, King of Canada worth $50,000 with daily qualifying rounds to enter or players can win a seat at the Main Event. Paradise Poker also offers a unique Monday Night Takedown. The prize pool is $2,000, sometimes doubled to $4,000, where the players take on Paradise Poker's best pros who became millionaires playing at this online poker room. Players can even win a seat at the 2007 WSOP through daily cash satellites, Players Club and the WSOP Mayhem event.
Freerolls are offered which attract a large number of players, resulting in soft competition. The majority of Freerolls are offered in No-Limit Texas Hold'Em. Paradise Poker is famous for it's annual $1,000,000 Freeroll. Entry to the Million Dollar Freeroll can not be bought - it must be won.
Real-money traffic at peak hours for ring games is around 900, tournaments 8,000. Paradise Poker's customer base continues to grow steadily. Ring game traffic is primarily situated in No-Limit and Limit Texas Hold'Em, especially in lower to mid level stakes. Competition at lower level Limit and No Limit Texas Hold'Em is much looser than in the past, but high level stakes typically find much tighter action.
The rake taken at Paradise Poker is quite high compared to some other online poker rooms, especially in lower limit games. 10% up to $0.50 is taken on games up to $1/$2 that reach a pot of $5 or more. The rake drops considerably lower for higher limit stakes, but still meets the industry standard. Tournament fees follow this same pattern as 20% is required on lower stakes games of $5 - only 8% for $100 games.
New players who sign-up an account at Paradise Poker and make their first deposit will receive a 100% matching bonus up to $100. To receive the bonus, players must use the promotional code “firstbonus”. The bonus will be credit to the players cash account in $10 increments according to the following wagering requirements: $10 for every 100 Players Club Points collected.
Players Club Points are accumulated for ring games and tournament fees. For every raked hand of $0.25+, the player receives 1 point. Single table tournaments award 1 point for every $1 in tournament fees, heads-up tournaments award 1 point for every $1 in fees (fees less than $1 still acquire 1 point). Multi-table tournaments accumulate points based on 10% of the buy-in. Fractional points are always rounded up. Example: $10 buy-in = 1 point, $15 buy-in = 1.5 points, rounded up to 2 points. Players Club Points can also be used to enter special Players Club Cash Tournaments held Monday, Wednesday and Friday worth $500 and every Sunday worth $1,000.
Paradise Poker provides a relatively good selection of deposit methods which include Visa, MasterCard, NETeller, NETeller InstaCash, FirePay and Switch/Maestro. Withdraw methods are available via FirePay, NETeller and Bank Drafts. European and Canadian players who deposit with Visa may attempt to withdraw funds through Visa, but Paradise Poker does not guarantee it's effectiveness.
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