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Paradise Poker Review
Reasons to Join |
Great variety of games - the best place if you dont just play holdem
Low standard of play at the lower ring games
Make 3 consecutive final tables in guaranteed MTTs and get entered into a 10 seater tournament where everybody goes home richer |
 | Signing Up |
Paradise Poker is now part of the Sportingbet brand, so when you open an account with them you can use those login details to access their casino, backgammon, sportsbook and video game portions of the site too; that's right, you can play video golf, rally driving and shoot'em ups for real money!
There was one simple form to fill in and I was ready to start playing within minutes. |
8/10 | Software |
When I think of Paradise Poker, I think of variety; this site is'nt all about Texas Hold'em.
Although that's where most of the traffic resides, there's a notable subsection of different poker variants like Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 5 card Draw, 7 card Stud and even 5 card Stud for the oldies.
The lobby is very simple to use and built in filters make it even easier to find a suitable game, the find player facility enables you to quickly locate any fishes you may have devoured in the past, there's copious amounts of space for player note taking, all in all there's a lot to like about the Paradise experience. |
7/10 | Ring Games |
At the time of writing, Paradise has the 7th largest traffic for ring games, most of the traffic is found on the Texas Hold'em tables but there are still a considerable amount of players who frequent the Omaha, Stud and Draw ring game tables.
I concentrated solely on low stakes Texas Hold'em and managed to make over €100 profit in an afternoon, this is much more than my normal hourly win rate at that stake level, variance played a part but I do think the low standard of opponent contributed significantly. |
9/10 | | Tournaments |
For MTT specialists, there's a delightful offer called the Final Table Freeroll
If you make 3 consecutive final tables in their tournaments with a guaranteed prize pool, you're automatically entered into a 10 seater tournament where everybody goes home richer, 10th pays €350 and 1st is a whopping €3,500; judging by the smallish number of entrants for their guaranteed tournaments, I'd say it's very much possible to make 3 consecutive final tables.
I spent a day hitting the low stakes MTT's, I played a total of 8 tournaments, cashed in 3 of them, finishing 2nd of 270 players and 1st of 458 players.
I managed to earn slightly under €1,500 for my 12 hour session, not a bad days work.
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8/10 | Sit & Gos |
The most exciting aspect of their Sit & Go scene surely has to be the Jackpot SNG's, win 6 in a row and net a tasty €10,000!
Don't fret if you finish 2nd because there's a €200 bonus for finishing 2nd or better in 6 consecutive tournaments.
For high volume players the chance of cashing in on this offer is very real and potentially could offset the effect of the 20% rake, basically the bad players pay twice as much as they normally would while the better players get the chance of a huge rebate.
If you can finish 2nd in 6 consecutive Sit & Go's over the span of 100 games then effectively you're playing in a rake free environment, definitely an attractive prospect.
There's excellent traffic to the standard Sit & Go tables, it only took a few minutes for tables to fill at peak and off peak times, I found the standard at the lower stakes to be average and believe an accomplished player should have at least a few euros equity per tournament. |
8/10 | Support |
There are a multitude of options for contacting Paradise support, their website states they have highly knowledgeable customer support and I can vouch that all methods produced a timely and accurate response; there are toll free numbers for those living in the UK, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Turkey, Thailand and Singapore.
For the rest of the world, I suggest using their excellent live chat which is manned 24 hours a day with friendly staff, otherwise there is an online form or email support available.
Loyal players get a quicker response from email support as part of the Paradise VIP program. |
10/10 | | Banking |
Major debit and credit cards are accepted in the form of Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and Delta, they also allow transfers from Moneybookers, Neteller and Click2Pay.
I already had money in my Paradise account, but judging by how quickly I was able to withdraw a nominal sum, I'd say there's no flies on their banking system. |
9/10 | Standard of Players |
Paradise used to be the number one online cardroom back in 1999, they were one of the founders of online poker and stood for reliability, security and excellent game traffic; today this still holds true.
I found the overall standard to be weak enough to turn a profit, especially from the tournament based sections of the site, but what truly sets Paradise apart from their rivals is the superb range of poker variants on offer; if you fancy trying something other than Texas Hold'em, Paradise Poker is well worth checking out.
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9/10 | Loyalty Promotions |
Paradise has very much changed with the times, they now offer a wide range of promotions to their customers.
At the time of writing there was a 100% bonus on your initial deposit up to €500, redeemed by earning Frequent Player Points (FPP's) whilst playing in real money tournaments or cash games.
Be part of a lucrative players club where you get the chance to swap your FPP's at the club shop for a wide array of items such as poker books, jewellery, watches, clothing, electronic items including Nintendo/Xbox aswell as plasma TV's, camcorders, laptops, you can even buy a luxurious holiday to Panama! The VIP players club rewards active players by giving them an improved exchange rate for FPP's, so you literally get more money for each point earned; as a VIP member you also get a sizable discount on many items in the club shop.
If you are serious about playing poker on Paradise, they are serious about rewarding your loyalty. |
8/10 | Summary |
| Paradise used to be the number one online cardroom back in 1999, they were one of the founders of online poker and stood for reliability, security and excellent game traffic; today this still holds true. |
8.4/10 | |
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