Overall: 4
Gaming Club Poker plays on the Prima network,
which is a collection of tens of individual poker
portals. Personally, this is my favorite site on the
network. They do run a good number of promotions unique
to their site, and I like the $5,000 Rookie Freeroll for
new players to the site. Also, the competition is
extremely weak and observant players should be able to
beat these tables. The software is playable, and the
bonus is small but easily earnable. Overall, I’ve been
pleased with this site and still leave money in my
account here because of the no limit ring games.
Bonus: 4.5 (100%
up to $50)
This is an earnable bonus, and I give
Gaming Club a good score because I don’t like
deceptive bonuses from poker sites. That’s what I would
classify a bonus that requires you to play some
ridiculous amount of hands that have to rake a certain
amount before a fraction of your bonus is released to
you. Why have any bonus at all then? This is a 100%
bonus up to $50, and you have to play 350 raked hands to
earn it. I usually play about 150-200 per session, so
this bonus doesn’t take long to earn.
Promotions: 4.5
The best promotion, in my opinion, is the $5,000 Rookie
Freeroll for new players. As far as I know, this is the
biggest new player giveaway. Many freerolls have pitiful
prize pools to reward beating 2,000 clueless opponents.
This is a $5,000 event, and they typically have less
than 400 people playing. This gives you a decent shot
actually win a few hundred dollars if you have a good
tournament. I played in one of these when I first signed
up and won $100. It isn’t a whole lot, but it was free.
I usually watch my e-mail for their promotions, since
they seem to send out almost too many newsletters.
Usually they hold several promotions every month like a
plasma screen giveaway, a new computer, or a WPT entry.
Also, they have a few $1,000 daily freerolls which are
only available to active players so it limits the field
to a few hundred.
Fish: 3.5
I like the players at
Gaming Club. They aren’t the traditional
clueless fish, but the weak-tight kind of inexperienced
player. While they do have pretty good fixed-limit
action, I prefer no limit ring games. Fortunately, the
no limit action has always been beatable and I usually
dominate the table with an aggressive style from the
get-go. Flop percentages are about average between
30-40%, but the average pots remain a decent size.
Mostly, you’ll find timid calling stations at this site
so keep betting for value throughout the hand.
Tournaments: 4.5
As I mentioned earlier,
Gaming Club is on a shared network so they
have a pretty high amount of ring game and tournament
traffic. Because of this, they hold a good number of
events throughout the day. Even though they cater to
beginner players with a lot of tournaments under $10
(200-300 opponents), larger buy-in events still fill up.
They also have a variety of Sit ‘n Go tournaments that
fill up without a long wait. Users can also easily
create private tournaments for friends or if you run a
forum. If you play late at night like I do, you’ll
appreciate that this site has a lot of traffic from
Europe to keep the site busy.
Software: 4
The software isn’t highly original, but it is probably
one of the fastest. I can never justify poker sites
actually taking to time for the software to deal out
each card one by one. It’s digital for cryin’ out loud!
Gaming Club gives you your cards right away
to cut down on anxiousness and game lag. They also have
some unique options for displaying the table like
color-coding players that are still left in the hand. I
also like the ability to resize the table and take off
the unnecessary side chat bar. Overall, this is playable
software with a decent color scheme.
Best Features
-Earnable bonus. It isn't huge but you can earn it in
one session.
-Weak competition. You can easily dominate these tables
with an aggressive presence.
-Good tournament selection. Because of the shared player
base they offer a large amount of tournaments.
Cashouts: 4
Occasionally the banking links can be slow from within
the software, but Belle Rock Gaming is a reputable
company that handles cashouts quickly once they’re sent.
NETeller money should be available the next day.
Customer Service: 4.5
The
Gaming Club offers telephone support for
different languages in addition to standard e-mail
support so I give them a good score.
Game Selection: Hold'em, Omaha, Stud (7 and 5
card)
Limits: Fixed Limit: .05/.10 - $100/200
No Limit: .05/.10 - $10/20
Tips
With a good number of calling stations probably sitting
at the table at
Gaming Club, you should probably just bet out
for value with your good hands. There are way too many
greedy poker players who slowplay very vulnerable hands
hoping to build a pot. Being greedy in an online poker
game will quickly lead you to a number of suck outs and
band beats. If you see two suited or connected cards on
the board and you’re up against a player who you’ve seen
draw to straights and flushes often, bet out at least
the size of the pot. You’re giving him the wrong odds to
draw to those hands, and he’s probably the passive type
of player who will fold if he doesn’t hit his hand on
the turn. You should save your deception against these
weak players and just do the obvious thing… BET!
Click here to visit Gaming Club Poker.
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