After years of speculation and rumors, the World Series of Poker has finally unveiled their official online poker client. Under the aegis of Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., the WSOP.com online software provides a venue for millions of bracelet-hungry fans to play online poker. The actual client comes courtesy of 888 and their Dragonfish programming company. It also makes its home on the popular Pacific Poker network, one of the longest standing online poker networks in the world.
Most players venturing to the WSOP site for the first time will be looking for a No Limit Hold ‘em cash game. These pioneers are sure to be satisfied, with games from $0.01/$0.02 up to $50/$100 on offer. Only the very highest stakes players will be disappointed with the range of stakes, and they make up a tiny fraction of the online poker community. There are also cash tables for Limit Hold ‘em, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, and 7 Card Stud.
As expected, most of the players on the 888 network are found in the No Limit Hold ‘em section at low-mid stakes. Although the other levels and games are not a complete loss, they cannot come close to the degree of activity in the NLHE section. Omaha is gaining in popularity on many sites, but on WSOP poker there were only a few full tables running off-peak. Omaha Hi/Lo and 7 Card Stud fare even worse and are practically a ghost-town during off-peak hours.
Sit & Go aficionados will also be very pleased with the selection at WSOP Poker. You only need 55¢ in your bankroll to start playing and you can aim as high as $1000 + $30. These are almost as popular as NLHE cash games and, even off-peak, it’s relatively easy to find tables running with $200 buy-ins. MTTs are a less well attended, but there’s still a good selection of different events to choose from. Regular freerolls from $75 - $1000 and standard events with buy-ins from $1 + $0.10 to $500 + $25 run every day. Any self respecting online tournament calender has to feature a fair few guaranteed events, and WSOP Poker is no exception. The biggest tournaments of the week are the $50,000 Sunday guarantee and $25,000 Saturday guarantee. These are complimented throughout the week by multiple $12.5k, $10k, $5k, and $1k guarantees.
WSOP Online Software Interface/Usability
The huddled masses have been waiting so long for an official
WSOP.com online poker client that you’d expect what has eventually emerged to be a super-sharp ultra-chic piece of software. In reality, the deal to develop the
WSOP software left Dragonfish only a few months to get a fully functional World Series client up and running. The results are not quite as polished as you would expect from such a prestigious company, but they have at least released a client that works properly.
In a slight change from the norm, everything in the WSOP Poker software is organized by game type. After picking either Real Money or Practice Mode, the next set of tabs asks you to choose whether you’d like to play Hold ‘em, or some other poker variety. You then have access to all the cash games, S&Gs, and MTTs for that specific game. If you want to find the Omaha tournaments, for example, you’ll need to first tab to the Omaha section. This is a slightly unorthodox method, but it does at least mean that you’ll never accidentally register for a Stud tournament when you thought you were playing NLHE.
The first and most obvious piece of unattractive design is the table list. It’s clad in Microsoft grey and is reminiscent of a Windows 98 spreadsheet. However, as with everything in this new client, it works perfectly well. All the standard information can be perused and analyzed with ease. A neat extra feature not all rooms provide, is the chance to see what players are at a table and what their stack sizes are, before you open the window.
There are plenty of different options for players to fiddle with. You can turn shortcut keys on and off, alter the size of the default minimum bet, and activate or deactivate the table animations. The WSOP Poker client will also automatically save your hand histories to a custom location on your computer. Many of the settings revolve around the look of the table window, with a choice between three different views your main concern. Classic mode is a simple top down view, while Avatar mode sticks a ropey looking digital person into every seat. You can customize which of these unattractive people you attach to your seat, but I’d recommend switching to the Clear view instead.
The table graphics are not very easy on the eye, but more importantly the game runs quickly and smoothly. There’s a bet slider for picking your wager size, with helpful buttons to snap the pointer to Min, 1/2 Pot, Pot, and All-in. The WSOP Poker client offers a unique ‘Open Identical Table’ button on each of their table windows that will instantly pop up a different game with the same stakes and rules as the one you are currently playing.
WSOP Online Poker Room Action
Almost every player should be able to find what they’re looking for at the new
WSOP.com Online Poker site. Most will arrive for the NHLE cash games and these are already well stocked with players. Harrah’s are not striking out entirely on their own, they have joined up with the 888 Network. This means that, even when the site first launched, there were already plenty of players for new
WSOP members to compete with.
Although the 888 Network does not compete with the biggest names in the online poker industry, it still sits comfortably inside the top 15 networks in the world for player traffic. With the biggest name in poker on its side, you can expect to see it rocket up the charts in the coming year. There is no poker brand more well loved and well respected than the World Series of Poker, and this is likely to play a huge factor in drawing in more players to the site and the network.
However, until the ban on US gaming transactions is lifted, it is unlikely that any kind of massive growth will occur. The
WSOP client does not currently allow any US players to register, or even download the software.
WSOP.com Ease of Game, Ease of Making Money, Fish Rating
The
WSOP site is in its infancy, but we can get a handle on the type of players currently there by considering other sites on the same network. 888’s flagship client, Pacific Poker, typically plays host to some pretty soft cash games. As more and more casual players begin to flock in, tempted by the well known
WSOP license, the overall skill level should get weaker and weaker.
WSOP Bonus and Promotions
You can’t go wrong with keeping it simple, a mantra exemplified by the new WSOP Online Poker bonus. A 100% up to $500 Welcome Bonus is available for all first time depositors. You clear the deal at a rate of 10 Bonus Points per $1 of the bonus cash. If you’re ever wondering how much further you need to go before you complete your bonus, you obviously haven’t been looking at the top of your table view. A meter displaying your current progress will display on every table window.
Bonus points at WSOP.com can be earned through raked cash game hands and tournament fees. For every $1 in rake you contribute, or pay in tournament fees, you’ll pick up one Bonus Point (BP). Aggressive players shouldn’t find it too difficult to work through a decent sum of bonus money in a reasonable time, although tighter players may have more trouble. You can also earn BPs by gambling in the Caesar’s Palace online casino, at a rate of 1 per $16 wagered.
New players are treated well at WSOP Poker. In addition to a handy Welcome Bonus, there’s also $4,500 worth of exclusive freerolls for them to compete in. Anyone depositing for the first time will be given seven tickets into regular $500 freerolls. They will also pick up one ticket for a $1,000 depositor’s freeroll. Finally, there’s the $50k Depositor’s Challenge to keep new players busy. This one-off tournament runs every Friday at 20:00 GMT and awards its top 20 finishers tickets into the $50,000 Sunday Challenge guarantee.
WSOP.com Customer and Technical Support
There are numerous ways to get hold of the
WSOP.com support staff, should you have a concern that needs addressing. The easiest way to get hold of a representative is via the Live Chat feature. This can be accessed via the
WSOP.com website, and will connect your straight to someone who can help you out. If you prefer email or phone, both options are available, with a welcome Toll Free number for many players.
