Special Features
Lots of short-handed tables (5 or 6 players maximum)
Famous endorsers
4-table view option
Sign-up bonus in $ $300
Deposit bonus in % 100%
Referral bonus per friend $0
Deposit free bonus $0
Paid to play ($/hour) $0
Hits
Has bad beat jackpot and high-hand bonus
Note taking support
Lobby info with players/flop and average pot
Good telephone support
Misses
Limited software
No live table hosts
Fewer high-stakes games
Summary
World exclusive $22,000 private promotion including: (1), a $17,000 WPT Bellagio
Five Diamond package for the finals at the Bellagio Casino, Las Vegas in
December 2005 and (2), a $5,000 cash prize free roll at the Gaming Club. For all
details see promotion page. Gaming Club Poker is one of the fastest growing
poker rooms in the PrimaPoker Network. They are sponsoring offline poker
tournaments and have better bonus and promotions than most other Prima Poker
rooms (see our deal below, which is the best Prima Poker deal currently). Gaming
Club Casino, which manages this poker room, are known for their generous bonus
offerings and fair bonus clauses. The Prima Poker software is OK, but not great.
On the positive side, there are many very juicy and aggressive games, which is
good both for the action lover and the sophisticated players looking for a good
hourly return. Real money player statistics - July 2005: 3000-3500 ring game
players at peak hours, 3500-5000 tournament players at peak hours. Special $300
bonus for our users if they use NETeller for deposit, plus private super value
free roll!
Software and graphics
Gaming Club Poker software is a customized shared-network version of Prima Poker
Network by Microgaming. There have been a number of smaller makeovers of the
software during 2003 and 2004, but there are still some areas of improvement
before reaching the level of top poker room software. Gaming Club Poker does
share the player base with the rest of the Prima Poker Network to ensure high
traffic. The game used to be slower that the average online, but nowadays the
software speed as well as user's time restriction is much quicker. Hand history
is available by HTML page and via email. One nice feature is the possibility to
see all actions in the chat area to the right - who raised and called and for
which amounts in the previous betting rounds and previous hands. This feature is
invaluable for players not keeping full focus on the game (playing on other
tables or having other distractions). In sum, the software is now OK, but leaves
some room for improvement.
Ring game traffic
Gaming Club Poker (Prima Poker) player volume has grown tremedously during the
latter part of 2004 and is now among top 6 in the industry. The ring game
traffic at peak hours is currently around 3000-3500 players.
Tournament traffic
At peak hours, the tournament traffic at Gaming Club Poker currently reaches
somewhere between 3500 and 5000 players (lots of these "real money players" are
in massive free rolls).
Game variety
Gaming Club Poker has the standard games (Holdem, Omaha, seven-card stud and
five-card stud), but there are no Hi-Lo versions. There is very good volume for
the pot- and no-limit players in Holdem. There are many short-handed tables with
a maximum of 5 or 6 players.
Rake
The rake is somewhat less attractive than the average. The pot- and no-limit at
Gaming Club Poker is raked at every $5, which is good. The lower straight limit
games (up to $1/$2) are capped at $1.50 (compared to $1 at most other sites),
which is high. The tournaments fees are 10% for entries ranging from $10 up to
$50. For the $100 tournaments, the fee is $9.
Soft competition
Gaming Club Poker (Prima Poker) offers some of the wildest ring games around,
with view flop percentages most often in the 40-ies, 50-ies and even reaching
the 70-ies. The tournaments are also quite wild, at least up to the $50 fees. It
remains to be seen what the quality of players will be in the future. Presently
there is much advertising, which typically attracts less experienced and looser
poker players.
Sign up bonus
You can get the full $300
bonus with a very low deposit ($20 and up) as the bonus is entirely dependent on
how many raked hands you play and not the size of the deposit. Remember to get
the full bonus you often need a larger deposit as you risk losing out sooner or
later AND you need to use NETeller. Points are awarded as follows:
Table limits .50/$1 = 1 point (capped at 400 points)
Table limits $1/$2 = 2 points (capped at 800 points)
Table limits $2/$4 and greater = 3 points
Loyalty bonus
New points program, where frequent players are invited to a number of high value
free rolls and other promotions.
Promotions
World exclusive $22,000 private promotion including: (1), a $17,000 WPT Bellagio
Five Diamond package for the finals at the Bellagio Casino, Las Vegas in
December 2005 and (2), a $5,000 cash prize free roll at the Gaming Club. For all
details see promotion page. Overall at Gaming Club Poker there are some high
value promotions. There are currently 5 free rolls daily with $1000 or more in
prize pool (in the Prima network). The progressive bad beat jackpot is for
Holdem ring games, the jackpot starts at $500 with $50 added each day. There is
also a daily Holdem high-hand bonus of $250.
Support
There is both telephone support and e-mail support.
Financial security
Should be secure, as the mother company Gaming Club Casino is a well-established
online casino. Top score.
Deposit & withdrawal options Deposit options:
VISA, MasterCard, prepaid ATM, NETeller, FirePay, Moneybookers, EcoCard. Cash out options:
Cash out to credit card only against prior purchases make, remaining balance is
paid out via various "web wallets" (NETeller, FirePay, Prepaid ATM, etc) and
check.
