Online Poker Reviews

EVEREST POKER REVIEW

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Overall:  4/5

On the surface, Everest Poker seems to be fighting an uphill battle. US players aren't accepted and they've never been tempted to join one of the massive networks with built-in traffic like Cake or iPoker. In spite of those facts Everest Poker remains one of the most popular standalone poker rooms in Europe, frequently exceeding 15,000 active players. The reasons for their enormous growth are numerous with an improved rewards program, a varied tournament schedule, and, most importantly, plenty of active cash games. Player traffic is heavily focused on no-limit hold'em with peak hours drawing action up to the $10 NL level. Peak tournaments and player traffic occurs between about 16:00 to 22:00 GMT.

Everest Poker is also notable for its effort to be a multinational and multilingual poker room. They're highly centered around European players but do offer language support for 16 different languages. Both customer service and and the software itself is available in those different languages. The Everest Poker software has also seen a vast improvement in terms of speed, playability, and overall aesthetics. Despite its relative anonymity outside of Europe, Everest Poker continues to be a very dependable choice for non-US players. The promotional offerings may not be the most substantial but Everest Poker excels in the most important area: the quality of tournaments and ring games.

Bonus ($200 free and freeroll entry) and Promotions:   3.5/5

The Everest Poker bonus amount is straightforward and I appreciate that every player is able to earn the maximum bonus regardless of the deposit bonus. All new depositing players signing up through our site will receive a flat $200 bonus. Our players also receive a token to enter a $1,000 new depositor freeroll. Lower limit players will appreciate the ability to earn several times their initial deposit. While $200 isn't an extremely large cap it is important to note that Everest Poker is fairly generous with the play required to cash it out. Bonus money is placed into your real money account as you accrue frequent player points.

The main promotional system at Everest Poker is done through their Summit Club. As players log time at the tables they collect Summit Points based on the rake collected per hand. Interestingly, players can earn as much as 3.5 times the standard rate by playing at shorthanded tables. As I mainly prefer full ring games I would have liked to see more of a reward for 10-seated tables but this is a perk for shorthanded players. The Summit Club offers several tiers based on your monthly play that increase your points earned. Summit Points can be exchanged for cash or in their player store.     

Fish:   2.5/5

Everest Poker has an interesting split in terms of their player quality. In general, most tables are slightly tighter than average with flop percentages at low as 8-12% for full ring games. This cautious style of play continues all the way down to the 10c NL tables. If you do choose one of these tighter tables I recommend that experienced players play the opposite of the rest of the table. When in position, occasionally consider calling by-the-book early position raisers with suited connectors or small pocket pairs. If your tighter opponents over-commit with a big pocket pair you're in for an easy double-up with you hit a set or two pair. 

At the same time, Everest Poker has grown popular enough that there are at least a half-dozen or so full tables at each limit to choose from. Most of the time, you'll see an anomaly at each limit with a 25-35% flop percentage and sizable average pots. This justifies my 2.5 Fish Rating as there are plenty of run-of-the-mill tight tables but also the standout juicy choices. Use the lobby stats to your advantage and seek out the looser tables. As a final consideration, players should note that Everest Poker doesn't halve the small blind for no-limit games. In a $1 NL game, both blinds are $1. In passive games you'll be seeing a lot more flops from the small blind.

Tournaments:   3.5/5

One of the biggest areas of improvement for Everest Poker over the past couple of years is in their tournament offerings. During the peak European evening hours there are about 10-12 tournaments per hour. Some standout daily offerings are the $5,000 guarantee for an $11 buy-in and the $3,000 guarantee for a $20 buy-in. While these won't compete with the major sites there is still strong value with popular tournaments attracting 300-500 players. The biggest event at Everest Poker is the Sunday $100,000 guarantee with a $200 buy-in.

Another positive of the Everest Poker tournament schedule is the variety. Smaller tournament players have 4 or 5 events every hour under $20 with another 3 or 4 $100+ buy-in events for larger players per night. There are actually even Omaha and fixed-limit tournaments just about every hour. They usually only attract 50 players or so with a $5 buy-in or less but it can be a nice change of pace from the constant no-limit hold'em diet. Finally, Everest Poker offers an interesting winner-takes-all variation at the 15 minute mark of every hour. Unfortunately, because of the high risk of walking away with nothing these only attract a couple dozen players.

Software:   4/5

Traditionally, I've always liked the Everest Poker software but I think that the latest version is really excellent. Starting with the functionality, game speed is at least average with full tables running at 55-70 hands per hour. Hand history is also stored direct onto the hard drive, which will please stats junkies. In terms of visuals, both the table graphics and avatars are pleasant and highly rendered. I appreciate the numerous custom themes like Garden and Medieval built into the software. Not only does this change the background but also the color scheme and chair style.

Aside from the visuals, Everest Poker really excels in terms of customization. The chat window can be detached, active players can be highlighted, almost every notification can be disabled, and filters can be applied to chat. The list of players at a table from the lobby also shows a flag denoting the player's origin. Also, any language can be used to chat. Everest Poker also offers what should be standard at every poker room: the ability to resize table windows.

Player Traffic

A far cry from 3 or 4 years ago, Everest Poker is now one of the largest international poker rooms in terms of traffic. The best times to play are during the peak European hours of about 16:00 to 00:00 GMT, which draws about 10,000-15,000 online players. No-limit hold'em tables offer strong numbers with full 10-handed games busy up to the $4/4 and $10/10 levels. There are usually 10 or more active 6-handed tables at each limit. There are also a handful of active Omaha games up to the $1 level. Guaranteed tournaments also draw between 200-500 players during peak hours. 

Best Features

Large amount of European traffic. Traffic reaches as much as 15,000 active players with tables active to the $10 NL level.

Strong tournament variety. Along with standard no-limit guarantees fixed limit and Omaha events are offered every hour.

Niche poker site. The traffic is still growing and it is largely an underexposed site.   

Payouts:   4/5

Cashouts at Everest Poker are hassle-free and I've never experienced an issue in my 4 years of experience with the site. NETeller accounts are paid out within about 24 hours, which is extremely efficient. Unfortunately, the number of banking methods is limited so there aren't too many options beyond NETeller.

Customer Service:   4/5

All customer support is done through an e-mail form on their website and players can submit issues in any one of their 16 supported languaged. Responses are generally pretty fast I would have preferred to at least have the option to speak with someone immediately via live chat or telephone.

Game Selection: Hold'em and Omaha

Limits:  Limit: 2c/4c up to $50/$100    No-Limit: 2c/2c up to $50/$50

Deposit Methods: NETeller, MoneyBookers, Click2Pay, PaySafeCard, and major credit cards.

Tips: As the low-limit ring games are extremely popular at Everest Poker, I'd like to share a tip that has been pretty effective for me in these no-limit matches. In games with higher flop percentages and more passive action, I'll play more hands. Why? Because I'm getting the proper pot odds to take a cheap shot at hitting a great hand on the flop. If I play something like 5-6 suited from the button, I'd love to see a flop like 4-7-8 rainbow. If I happened to call someone's modest preflop raise with this hand I'd like it even better.

That preflop raiser probably is on a couple of big cards like A-K or an overpair. He doesn't expect this flop to hit you so he bets out. Even though you know that you're going to at least call him, take your time. If I flopped the nut straight like this, I would probably just weakly call. He'll probably put you on a small pair or a draw. If an Ace comes on the flop, you're in a great position to raise since that probably hit his hand. The point is that you should always take your time when you flop a nut hand. If you're getting action on it, let the raiser keep control of the hand until you finally reraise him on the turn or river. When you do, do it slowly! 

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