| The Power Network has a rather low volume of traffic but around peak hours there is an acceptable range of limits going and traffic appears to be growing. The partners in the network are rather diverse in design and web site content but they share the cashier function which is a good thing, the bigger the better when it comes to handling money – even if your poker room would default the shared cashier will still be there. The True Money Games poker rooms appears to be an exception though, they handle financial transactions themselves. There is also a shared support function but it is not used by all partners. The level of promotions varies quite a bit between the partners, some have none and some even have a rake-back. However, even if no promotions are listed all partners still participate in network promotional tournaments which are many and rather good. In particular, their $10,000 freeroll at the end of the month is noteworthy. If you are looking for communities and a lot of content, this is not where you will find it. Download can be very problematic if you run an Internet security program such as Norton. |
A bit jokingly it could be said that the Tribeca Tables software is used by more poker rooms than poker players. This is since it is the software used by the, to say the least, sprawling Apex network. The software, however, is very good and in fact it is used by quite a few more players than network skins. The Tribeca Tables software has been around for a long time and it is a good stable software that retains and improves on some if its trademark features. The most visible such feature is the common chat room that you encounter when starting the client. In most other clients the first you see is a list of tables, but not here. What’s more, the chat is actually quite busy and it is obvious that it adds to the experience for many players.
Finding the tables is not hard. There is a single row of buttons and the second one from the left reads “Tables”. Once you click this button the client looks more like you might be used to. You have the standard list of tables with buttons to change between game types, tourney/ring games and play money/real money. If you select a room you get all information about this table that you can wish for even including the geographical location of the players (to the extent that this information makes sense and is truthful). The waiting list options are more detailed than in most other clients. You can select the types of tables you want to wait for using a number of criteria that all make good sense.
Apart from the “Tables” button there are buttons leading to the cashier, the profile editor, a “buddies list” and support. You can specify a lot of information about yourself that is visible to other players and this does add another dimension to checking out who the other players around the table are – quite a few have entered something here since you get the impression that this is expected when you register. You can select avatars from a rather big gallery so there is a good chance you will find something you like. An anecdote: a friend of mine actually uploaded one of the Tribeca avatars to PokerStars where you can upload whatever you want. I don’t know, however, whether this says more about the gallery or about my friend.
One irritating thing about at least some of the Tribeca rooms is that they don’t allow more than two tables at a time. This is irritating for a number of reasons, one being that it is completely pointless: if someone wants to play five tables they will play the extra ones with someone else, or, worse, all if they think it’s irritating to use more than one interface. Thus, the effect on game speed is likely next to none. Well, among those two tables that you can play (or possibly more if your request it and have a good track record?) the focus transfer work well and sound effects are informative. It is reasonably visible whose turn it is and very visible if it is your turn: a large square around your cards flashes. The cards are shown very large and this is really useful I think since it does happen on some clients that you misread what you are holding. There is no slider in the big bet games, however, but instead a text edit field with buttons for increasing and decreasing bet sizes, buttons for entering multiples of the big blind. The tables work reasonably well for quick multi table play but by no means optimally. In the bottom right hand corner of the table window you find (along with your avatar for some reason) your hole cards, your current amount of chips and what your best hand at the moment is. This is useful when you are in your hand since the chip amount is hidden by your very large cards and when you have folded because you can see what it was that you mucked.
There is no dealer tray to click but instead a “$” button for brining in more chips and an “option” button for setting some preferences. This brings me to the chat function which, in my opinion, is a pain in the Tribeca software. The chat is in a separate window that will always quickly find its way to the bottom of your desktop and leave you browsing around the great number of windows in the activity field. When you do find it (or click the “view chat” button) you will see that you have the standard filters available plus a link to manager chat and profiles. Yes, there is a button for bringing the chat window up but still: it is an extra thing you have to do while playing and you have more important things on your mind when you are playing.
The tournaments are handled in a pretty standard and straightforward way. There is a tournament lobby for multi table tournaments but for single table sit and go’s there is just a table where you sit in on any available seat. While this makes it hard to introduce multi table sit and go’s it is a simple and quite adequate way of handling single tables tourneys.
The graphics of the Tribeca Tables software is in most cases excellent: beautiful chips, cards that are easy to read and sober graphics for face-down cards and tables and the surroundings. Overall the Tribeca Tables software is very attractive and since the poker rooms that use this software offer most types of games and have games going at most times there is no reason why you shouldn’t try it out. |
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