Empire Poker Review

Empire Poker Deposit Bonus:~ Bonus Code: N/A Deposit Options: VISA MasterCard NETeller FirePay Western Union Citadel (US only) eChecks (by iGM-Pay)bank draft cashier's check money order check

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Name Empire Poker Country Gibraltar Network Party Gaming Established 2001 Support email support Telephone N/A

Overall Rating 4.10 Software/Interface 4.6 Ring Games 4.2 Tournaments 4.4 Game Variety 4.2 Soft Competition 3.9 Signup Bonus 4.5 Frequent Player 3.4 Promotions 3.9 Customer Support 3.7 Deposit & Cashout 4.9

Empire Poker was one of the skins on the old Party Poker network before Party Poker moved onto its own platform leaving the skins on the much smaller older network. After a legal battle Empire Poker was acquired by Party Poker on Feb 14, 2006, and since then Empire has returned to its role as a skin of Party Poker, only this time it is also owned by them. However, Empire is still part of the old network, which has a substantially smaller amount of players. The software offers great playability and easy functionality.

Empire Poker has an average amount of traditional games, with none of the "unique" variations that some of the other sites carry. Fortunately, they do have plenty of traffic in Limit Texas Holdem, No-Limit Texas Holdem , Omaha and 7 Card Stud Stakes at Limit Hold’em range from $0.05/$0.10 to $100/$200, and at  NL Hold’em the stakes range from $0.02/$0.04 up to $25/50. The action at the NL Hold’em is very good and the games at the lower limits seam to be softer than some of the other sites. At peak times the tables are rather full and you may have to wait to get into a lower limit game. The Pot Limit games have minimal action at the higher limits, and they cover from $0.10/$0.25 up to $10/$20. The Omaha stakes range from $0.50/$1 through $30/$60 with a medium amount of action. Empire Poker’s Pot Limit Omaha has a fair amount of action as well at any time of day. Their 7 Card Stud stakes start at $0.50/$1 and go to $30/$60, and they are reasonably busy during peak times.

Empire Poker offers a wide range of consistent Multi-Table Sit-and-Go’s of 1, 2, 3, and 5 tables with varying buy-ins that range from $6 to $55. They fill up fast at peak times so you do not have to wait too long to get playing, and the action there is usually pretty good. The Multi-Table tournaments offered include NL and PL Hold’em, as well as 7 Card Stud and Omaha. They have standard tourneys, re-buys and of course guaranteed prize pools. They do not offer anything unique from a tourney perspective… it’s all very ordinary but well done, and you can always find special tournaments and qualifiers for the $300k Sunday Guaranteed. Rakes are average (about 5% or better), though for low-limit pots they can be as high as 10%.

Bonuses—both for sign-up and loyalty—have improved. The VIP program consists of players earning points for their real money play and tourney buy-in fees. These "EPoints" are redeemable for gifts at the Empire Poker Gift Shop, special tournament buy-ins, a personal web page on Empire Poker.com, real cash into your Empire Poker account, and other prizes. They also offer a personal 24/7 support for their VIP Club members.

While the Empire Poker software is nothing special, it is very easy to use and understand. The look and feel is a bit ‘cartoonish’ and players lack the ability to customize the room which is a feature that many other sites of their size have. The community cards are large and very easy to see, and the dealer action is fast. Players are not able to add their own unique custom avatar; they are subjected to the Empire Poker cartoon characters for graphics self-representation. They offer short handed tables with 6 seats, while full tables have 10.

There is a visual text display at the player’s positions for player table action i.e. ‘bet’, ‘raise’, ‘check’ etc. as well as sound effects. Again this allows the players to easily follow what others are doing on the table. This is very helpful for the newbie to online poker, since it takes some of the ‘first time’ anxiety out of the equation and allows a new player to focus on their game a bit more. At some other sites it is a little more difficult to follow the action. Empire Poker gets good marks for their ‘ease of use’ site features. Since the site is so easy for the first time player this may contribute to the ‘softness’ of the games at the lower levels. They seem to have more fish than some other sites.

What is missing in the lobby is the ability to see the flop percentage of the tables; many players use this feature at other poker sites and may find its absence disconcerting. Personal percentages are available during play, but they aren’t very sophisticated. The lobby displays the number of hands per hour and the average pot size, which of course is always helpful.

For players who like to multi-task, Empire Poker allows you to play up to three tables at once, less than at most other sites the size of Empire Poker. A nice feature includes the ability to create private tables just for you and your buddies. There’s also the Buddy List, a place where you can add names of your friends so you may invite those online to your table. Also offered is the ability to take notes about your opponents and save them.

Empire Poker offers professional customer service via 24-hour online chat, with someone always available to help (though it usually takes a while). They also have 24-hour email and phone support—the phone support is even toll-free in the US. (NOTE: At the time of this writing, online chat has been disabled. As far as security goes, Empire Poker’s is top-notch, fully regulated and controlled.

They use 128-bit encryption for the “highest level of privacy and confidentiality.” According to their website, their security is so good it has made them a "globally respected benchmark of online poker room operations since 2000."