Full review of 24hPoker

Summary
24hPoker grew 500% from June to December 2004 and it's becoming very popular for its innovative style. Most of the traffic is at the no-limit Holdem and lower stakes fixed limit Holdem. The games have loose and wild action as lots of sports betting customers have joined. What also stands out are the world-leading traffic at the five-card draw poker and really decent Triple Draw games! In pot-limit Omaha High there can be huge high stakes games sometimes. The software is a Java-based download, with sleek graphics, innovative functionality and it runs smoothly. Real money player statistics - July 2005: 1500-1900 ring game players at peak hours, 600-900 tournament players at peak hours.

Software and graphics
The software is Java-based, with very nice and sleek graphics and a good playing feeling. It has some nice advanced functionality such as extra thinking time on big pots, 7-second-rebuy after all-in. The software is normally running smoothly, but with other online poker room applications running simultaneously you can get into trouble. 24hPoker has eight-player tables (except certain fixed limit hold'em tables with 10 players) designed to drive more action in the games. You can play at several tables at a time. The software has some good features in the tournaments, which lets you track your standing relative to all other players in real time. There is also in all games pre-set choices of betting 10% increments of the pot (i.e. 10, 20, 30...100% of pot) which is nice. At showdowns there are animations and colors for beginners to more easily read the hands. Overall this is software with good feel with very innovative functionality and it has all the normal standard features you expect with statistics, player notes, etc.

Ring game traffic
The traffic is much higher since more partners joined the network late summer 2004. At peak hours there are currently 1500-1900 real money players in the ring games. As over 80% of the players are European, the site is busy at evening time in Europe. Lots of the players are from Scandinavia from local sports books.

Tournament traffic
The traffic is now much higher at tournaments as well. At peak hours there are currently about 600-900 players in real money tournaments.

Game variety
Very good, including both Hi and Hi-Lo in both Omaha and seven-card stud, as well as Soko (Scandinavian Stud), 5-card draw and Triple Draw Lowball. The draw poker games are the most trafficked in the world with up to 15 to 20 tables going at European peak hours. Most games are of course Texas Holdem, but check out the super high stakes action in Omaha High games (often on Mondays and Tuesdays) - there have been many pots over EUR 20,000!!!

Rake
The rake has changed and is now only in line with industry average. The max rake is EUR 2.50 no matter pot size (except for Big Bet Poker) and EUR 0.75 and EUR 0.50 for 3-handed and 2-handed games respectively. The rake is typically 3-5%, depending on pot size.

Soft competition
With the great growth of the 24h Poker network, where sports book customers are signing up in droves, the action has turned wild on the Texas Holdem tables. Lots of the players are classical "loose/passive" players, which is ideal for players looking to win money consistently. But watch out for certain games, in particular the high stakes Omaha tables which are not at all "full of fish". The full Texas Holdem tables reaches view flop percentage in the 50-ies and 60-ies quite a lot. The Omaha tables are frequently up at view flop percentage in the 60-ies, but not higher (which makes the Holdem tables relatively more loose at 24h Poker).

Sign up bonus
Very good. Deposit match bonus for a maximum of EUR 200, play 2000 raked hands (where you are dealt cards), which equals 2000 VIP points, within any time limit to get the EUR 200 (equals 10 raked pots per dollar).

Loyalty bonus
1 VIP-point is awarded for each raked hand (with minimum EUR 0.50 rake) where you are dealt cards and VIP points are also awarded in tournaments. The VIP-points can be used as buy-ins in special tournaments and other promotions. There are quite a few good free roll tournaments for VIP points. There are quite frequent re-load bonuses when players reach certain number of raked pots.

Promotions
There are some promotions, mostly notably the big Bad Beat Jackpot that is sponsored with EUR 30,000 per month, which provides a very nice value for the smaller players. There are also quite a few special tournaments for the VIP points. As mentioned above, there are re-load bonuses for existing players. At Mondays at 19.00 EST there is Big Bet Poker with very high Omaha action (these hours can change to be sure to check in advance).

Support
There is telephone support and email support. They are not always very quick, but otherwise knowledgable and professional.

Financial security
Should be clearly secure, as one of the top 15 poker rooms in the world, with no earlier recorded problems. Very high score.

Deposit & withdrawal options
Deposit options:
VISA, MasterCard, NETeller, bank transfer.
Cash out options:
Credit card (max what was deposited on the card), NETeller, bank transfer, check.