| Paradise Poker is among the oldest online poker rooms and although it is not part of a network it is also one of the busiest poker rooms. There are games going in most variations and limits (tournaments and ring games) at most times of day. Although it was once launched as a separate business it is not operated by Sportingbet which also runs Sportsbook.com. It offers a very wide selection of poker variants and tournament types with people playing throughout; the only shortcoming is that it lacks the higher end of the stake interval. The rake is a little higher than in many other poker rooms but not a lot. In particular, they have the same rake cap for all number of players on the lower limits so if you play short handed low limit this might be noticeable. There is a small section with articles, tips, hand rankings, player bios and so on. Support is unfortunately only available via email although I know from experience that this works well. There is also a good amount of online support material available on the web site. Promotions has never been Paradise's strong side but this has improved a bit. Although this is not the place you will find the biggest cash bonuses on the Internet there is a deposit bonus as well as quite a number of freerolls and special events. In summary, Paradise Poker is a serious and trustworthy online poker room with a great selection of games and good traffic and unless you are looking for the highest stakes you should check it out. Some sources have it that Paradise has very good players and tight games. This is something I have noticed too, but only in the fixed limit games and it was quite a while since I last played fixed limit here. The no limit games are however good and the resistance here is not harder than anywhere else. |
The Paradise Poker client looks like most other clients, or is it the other way around? Paradise Poker started in 1999 and is thereby one of the oldest poker rooms online. The client is very good although it doesn’t have terribly many features, unless you really count the option to put donuts and drinks on the table next to your seat.
The lobby looks offers no surprises at all: the usual tabbed list of tables and tournaments. All information is readily available and you can conveniently join and leave waiting lists or go to tables. The drop down main menu is to some extent redundant with the buttons beside the table list but from there you can make settings, transfer money to other players and request hand histories. The waiting lists are ok but I think they could have let you sign up for several tables also when you are already sitting in. They initially let you play three tables and if you have been a good boy or girl for some time they will let you play a fourth as well.
The tables look and sound great. The sounds are not entirely standard but they work well because they’re soft and logically connected to the actions that trig them. You can easily make the relevant settings: auto post blinds, sit out and set dealer detail level. More chips are brought in by clicking a “$” button in the top left corner of the table window and with other small buttons here you can also get statistics of your game (“%”) and order food and beverages. Although unnecessary, I guess the trademark bar menu of Paradise is at least very harmless and I have myself entertained myself with ordering items to see what they look like. Also, this is actually serves as something of a tell: you don’t see the sharks ordering too many margaritas! Also to be counted among the unnecessary but harmless effects is the occasional extra effect when you take down a pot: smoke and fire around the chips and applause. I’m not sure which poker room was the first to provide applause with the pots, Party Poker or Paradise, but if it disturbs you it can be turned off. It doesn’t disturb me much and if anything (almost ashamed to admit it) I kind of like it.
The game controls are nice and distinct although they could have added some mouse-over effects to make the interface more alive. Still, the contrast between buttons and background is high enough that there is little doubt what is clickable and what isn’t. There is no opportunity to type in bet amounts but on the other hand the slider in the big bet games is very good so I hardly even miss it. You see whose turn it is by the name plate of the player blinking between gold and yellow which is quite adequate. The table focus shifts smoothly but there is unfortunately no chaining between them such as at PokerStars where the next table in turn will pop up when you have acted on a table.
The tournaments work in the way most tournaments do: on single table tournaments you simply sit down and the tournament starts when the table is full and for multi table tournaments you register through a lobby that comes up when you double click the tournament in the list. In the lobby you can see the pay-outs change dynamically as more players buy in which I think is a good feature that many other rooms don’t have.
The graphics are comparatively good I think, not the best but very far from the worst. All-in-all the Paradise client appears to be well implemented and thought through.
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