Betfair Poker Review
Betfair Poker is an independent online poker room, established in 2001 by the largest sports exchange in the world. Operating on its own private network, Betfair Poker does not use any shared player base, relying on vigorous promotional campaigns to rapidly increase traffic. The software is well suited for both novice and experienced online poker players, especially since a 2007 update that integrated a more user friendly interface, better graphics and lots of new features.
- Deposit Bonus: 100%
- Signup Code: BF1500
- Rakeback: VIP
- Network: Ongame
- Mac Friendly: No
Betfair PokerÂs growth rate dropped off for awhile when the online poker room made the decision to stop accepting US player deposits, but the recent software upgrade, combined with bountiful promotions and its direct association with the number one sports betting exchange has put numbers back on pace. The rings games offer lots of juicy competition at low to mid level stakes, while an abundance of low-cost tournaments and Freerolls give players the best value.
Betfair Poker Welcome Bonus
Betfair Poker is currently offering all new sign-ups a chance to earn a welcome bonus of up to $150. There is no deposit required to earn the bonus, but the player will need to earn Betfair Points by playing raked ring games and/or paying tournament fees. (This can be done without a deposit by winning a Freeroll, for example.) For every 400 points, the player earns $10. Collect as many points as you can in the first 60 days of membership before the welcome bonus expires.
New members also receive an entry to the $1,000 Weekly Welcome Freeroll, held every Saturday at Betfair Poker.
Betfair Poker Payment Methods
Betfair Poker has plenty of accepted payment methods to accommodate all players (US players not accepted).
Deposits: Visa, MasterCard, Visa Electron, Visa Delta, Solo, Maestro, Laser, PayPal, ClickandBuy, NETeller, Moneybookers, EntroPay, BPay, NAB, Western Union, Bank Transfer and Cheque.
Withdrawals: Visa, MasterCard, Solo, Laser, PayPal, NETeller, Moneybookers, Bank Transfer and Cheque.
Betfair Poker Game Variety
Players will find a very limited selection of games at Betfair Poker, providing only Texas HoldÂem, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo. HoldÂem is available in Limit, No Limit and Pot Limit, Omaha games in No Limit and Pot Limit, with heads-up, short-handed and full table action.
Betfair Poker Tournaments
Betfair Poker hosts a lot of low-cost tournaments and Freerolls, scaling up to the largest guaranteed prize pool of $55,000, held every week. Betfair Poker is also well known for hosting satellites to all major live tournaments, including the WSOP, WSOPE, WPT, EPT and many more. Most Freerolls award seats in bigger events, though there is a ÂEuro Â08 Daily Freeroll open to all players where the ending prize pool is based on the final results of that nightÂs games. Every point scored in that nightÂs games adds another $100 to the prize pool  a big draw for the sports bettors of Betfair.
Betfair Poker Player Traffic
Without the use of a shared player base, Betfair PokerÂs average real-money traffic of 5,200 is impressive enough. As of July 2008, Betfair Poker sees about 4,000 tournament players and 1,200 ring game players at peak hours.
Cash game players are drawn mostly to the low stakes Limit and NL HoldÂem tables, though Omaha games are picking up pace. Viewed-flop percentages reveal very loose competition at the majority of games, even at higher stakes. Tournaments are also quite loose, but become much more competitive at the final tables of bigger events.
Betfair Poker Promotions
Betfair Poker offers plenty of valuable promotions to its members. Referring your friends to Betfair Poker is worth $100 to you and $50 for the friend. Leaderboard competitions are almost always ongoing, though Betfair Poker is putting them on hold throughout July 2008 to follow Team Betfair at the WSOP.
Betfair Poker is the home of Satellite competitions. Daily Freerolls and satellites starting at $7.70 will be sending members of Betfair Poker the 2008 WSOPE (World Series of Poker Europe) Main Event. Satellites to other live tournaments are always starting up as the event approaches. Betfair Poker also host satellites to all of its most popular tournaments, like the weekly $55k GP, AnnetteÂs $20k GP and others. To top it off, every tournament Betfair Poker offers satellites to, also presents Freerolls awarding seats into those satellites.
Join the rankings of Betfair PokerÂs POKERFECTA by taking down 3 MTTs in a single week. ThereÂs no actual cash prize for accomplishing this feat, but taking three top prizes is a nice reward, topped by recognition to all of Betfair Poker.
Earning Betfair Points is not only useful for collecting bonuses, but can be used in multiple ways on all Betfair sites (Betfair Poker, Betfair Sports Exchange, Betfair Casino and Betfair Games).
Betfair Poker Software
Betfair Poker is powered by its own privately developed software platform that is solid, stable and very fast. A download is required to play, and the software will only run on Windows computers (Betfair Poker recommends Mac/Linux users use Windows emulator software like VM Fusion). The graphics are clean and crisp. An upgrade of the software in 2007 brought about many new features, including Multi-tabling at up to 15 tables with good mini-views and a highly functional filtering system in the lobby.
Note taking is available during play. ThereÂs an excellent Poker Buddy program for analyzing hand histories, and is a highly recommended download for anyone who plans on using those vital hand histories. The Betfair Poker Lobby presents all of the essential stats to choose a suitable table, including avg pot size, viewed-flop percentages, hands per hour and seated players stack size.
Betfair Poker Customer Support
Customer support is available 24/7 by email and telephone, with toll-free numbers available. The staff is very helpful and fast to respond to any issues or inquiries. Visit the FAQ page for quick answers to general questions.
