Online Poker Reviews

PITBULL POKER REVIEW

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 PITBULL POKER IS NOW CLOSED: Unfortunately, Pitbull Poker has closed and will not be hosting any games or allowing any new registrations. This review will remain active for archival purposes and will contain the most current information for this poker room up to its closure. Facing a number of disturbing allegations that put our trust, and thus our recommendation, of the poker room in jeopardy, Pitbull Poker simply decided to fold rather than answer to the online poker community and improve its product.

All links to Pitbull Poker will now redirect players to our top-rated US poker room, Sportsbook Poker. Essentially, Sportsbook Poker offers every positive that Pitbull Poker did to a much greater degree. They accept all US and Canadian players, are one of the few remaining havens for loose tables, and accepts credit cards at a near-100% rate. For more alternative poker room choices, please view our complete list of online poker reviews.

  For such a small poker room, Pitbull Poker actually has a pretty extensive cashier. Even more surprising is the fact that they offer eCheck to all new and existing US players. eChecks work by debiting any checking or savings account directly through the cashier without an external e-wallet. These are able to be processed block-free and any funds deposited are available for use immediately. Unfortunately, Pitbull Poker has a $50 maximum eCheck limit until players certify their bank account, which involves sending in documentation to the poker room. Once your account is certified you can make larger future deposits without hassle.

In terms of secondary deposit options at Pitbull Poker, credit card should be your next choice with the approval rate being above average here. Other choices include the eWalletXpress or PIC-Club e-wallets, which are user-friendly and quick to use if you're already a member. Finally, players can go the cash transfer route with a couple of processors. I've used this method at a few poker rooms without issue, although it does require a trip to a physical location that supports transfers. As a last resort you can also mail in paper checks to the poker room.

Overall:  3.5/5

Pitbull Poker is one of the newest online poker rooms to service the US market and has mostly flown under the radar considering the popularity (and marketing budgets) of competing sites. The main standout feature here is the Flash-only software, which will work with any Flash-enabled web browser. Unlike other lightweight browser-based options from other poker rooms Pitbull Poker offers every feature from the Flash interface and, in fact, doesn't even have a standalone downloadable client. What that means is that any Mac, Linux, or Windows machine with a Flash-enabled browser can play at Pitbull Poker.

Besides the software, this is an acceptable option for players looking for a secondary site. On the positive side, Pitbull Poker offers an extensive cashier, strong support, a large initial deposit bonus, and much looser players than the largest rooms. Unfortunate, this site faces the biggest roadblock to any new poker room: player traffic. While there is usually one active cash game at each limit, the lack of game choices or quality tournaments means that serious players won't be making Pitbull Poker their main online poker destination. Those that can look past the occasional empty tables will find a casual US poker room with loose tables and a sizable deposit bonus. My overall summary: keep Pitbull Poker open as a second table.

Bonus (200% up to $750) and Promotions:   4/5

For a smaller poker room Pitbull Poker does offer our players a sizable initial deposit bonus. For new players coming through our links and entering bonus code BTF200 at signup, the bonus is 4 times the standard offer at 200%, good up to $750. The bonus is released in $5 increments every time you earn 50 Comp Points, which are based on the rake generated by each hand. I earned about 20-30 Comp Points per hour switching between $1 and $2 NL so I earned about $2-3 per table per hour of bonus. That's certainly a better rate than many larger rooms.

Players making a small deposit may prefer our second type of bonus, which is a small amount of instant cash. Pitbull Poker gives our new players $20 instantly on any deposit when using bouns code 20INSTANT. While the total amount is much smaller than what is possible via the 200% offer it is an instant bonus, meaning that it is added immediately to your bankroll for tournaments or ring games. Other promotions include the Bounce Back Cash system, which gives players back a percentage of their generated rake, and prizes like iPods and cash for reaching certain levels of Comp Points.

Fish:   3.5/5 

One big positive that I feel results from the slower Pitbull Poker web-only software is the overall looseness of the games. I believe that software can have a larger impact on player actions than it is given credit for. Because game speed is often slow and jerky as the server catches up with player actions I feel that it makes everyone that much more impatient. It's only natural to find an excuse to play more hands when you're having to wait extra long for each one to play out. As a result, flop percentages usually exceed 50%, which is extremely high even for shorthanded tables.

The average pot numbers at Pitbull Poker don't look particularly high but the feeling I get from actually sitting at the tables is that most hands are raised early and often. Typically there is at least one table bully that raises most hands preflop. This may be partly due to the software creating a feeling that every hand worth playing should be taken advantage of. The other reason is that most active games are shorthanded in which players tend to steal more blinds because of their increased frequency.

Tournaments:   2.5/5

Tournaments at Pitbull Poker are still in their infancy stage. Thus far, the largest recurrent event is only a $1,000 guarantee, which takes place at least daily. Unfortunately, the buy-in is also $30 and it is a rebuy event. There are tournaments offered every hour but most only draw about 25-50 players for $1-5 buy-ins. This can serve as great practice for future Sit and Gos but most serious players will just use these as a fun diversion. I won't waste an hours-long commitment to overcrowded and underpaid freerolls but Pitbull Poker does offer a $25 event every hour. The value is pitiful for 500+ players but the option is there for players to try out their tournament structure. Sit and Gos regularly fill up within 5-10 minutes up to the $2 level.

Software:   3/5

The main feature that makes Pitbull Poker unique is its browser-only software package. By requiring nothing more than an internet browser that runs Flash any Windows, Mac, or even Linux player has access to the site. The software does succeed in that goal and is one of the few poker rooms playable to those with alternative operating systems. It's perfectly functional and mostly feels like a standard (albeit dated) downloadable client.

However, those looking past the novelty of the browser-only platform who are used to the full-featured offerings of other poker rooms will probably find the Pitbull Poker software lacking. My main gripe is with the lack of focus placed on a table that requires action. It's become expected for poker rooms to either jump a table requiring action to the foreground or make it flash in the taskbar. You can check this feature in the Pitbull Poker options but it often doesn't work. This won't be an issue if you play only one table and you pay constant attention to it. However, those of us who multitable will find ourselves having to manually check every table much too often, especially when using browser tabs.

The actual table design at Pitbull Poker looks fine and you are able to resize it simply by resizing the browser windows it's located in. Each click to request table information or change an option will result in a slight delay as it has to be sent to the poker servers instead of being done offline. The web-only interface tends to slow down the games with game speed being below-average and feeling a bit clunky. Overall, this software does what it sets out to do and looks pleasant enough but doesn't compete with other downloaded packages.

US Payouts:   4.5/5 

As I mentioned in the above deposit section banking at Pitbull Poker is one of the best features. Prior to them offering bank wires as a withdrawal method I requested paper checks for several months. All were accepted without issue at a US bank and arrived in about 2-3 weeks of requesting them. For withdrawals over $1,000 you can now receive payouts directly wired to your bank account. These are usually processed in about 1-2 weeks and, unlike most wire services, they do not take a fee from your total payout amount. Of course, if you used an e-wallet like eWalletXpress you can get free payouts back to that method within a few days.

Customer Service:   4.5/5

The customer service is very good at Pitbull Poker with both e-mail and live chat support. I've generally received polite e-mail assistance within about an hour or two via e-mail. However, I'd recommend the live chat for most issues as you don't have to wait for an e-mail reply and there is usually no queue to began the chat.

Player Traffic

The biggest challenge that Pitbull Poker will face in its quest to become one of the more popular sites is player traffic. Overall, the variety of games just can't compare with the bigger names. Of course, that doesn't mean that Pitbull Poker should be ignored entirely as the games they do serve up are quite loose. The most popular hours of the EST afternoon and evening draw about a dozen active tables with almost all of them being of the 6-handed no-limit variety. There is usually an active table for each limit all the way up to NL $5. The tournament traffic is low with a sub-$10 event about ever hour but less than 50 players usually show up.

Best Features

No-download software. This is the first poker room to feature only browser-based software. This can be useful for those away from home or on a Mac.

Robust cashier. For being a smaller site Pitbull Poker has some of the best US deposit options, including eChecks.

Loose tables. This is one of the few US-supported poker rooms that hasn't significantly tightened up in recent years. 

Game Selection: Hold'em, Omaha, Stud

Limits: Limit: 4c/8c up to $50/$100   No-Limit: 2c/4c up to $10/$20

Deposit Methods: NETeller, Moneybookers, Ukash, Instadebit, Click2Pay, eCheck, PaySafeCard, PIC-Club, eWalletXpress, cash transfer, major credit cards, and wire transfers.

Minimum Deposit: $25

Tips: As I was often reminded at Pitbull Poker, practicing patience is the best piece of advice that I can give you. Of course, patience is key while playing any form of poker at any poker room but it is especially important at this site. With the software clunking along at a below-average rate it's difficult to continue folding unplayable hand after hand. If you're a chronic multitabler as I am, you may wish to open up 2 or 3 of these tables or another poker room in the foreground to resist to temptation to make the most out of the delays between hands.

Also, with the relatively high number of aggressive fish and impatient players at Pitbull Poker most pots either have at least 3-4 callers or are raised preflop. This gives you an extra incentive to play patiently and try to extract maximum profit from your strongest starting cards. With so much preflop aggression you can regularly call from early position and wait for the inevitable late position raise to come over the top. At Pitbull Poker, you'll also end up paying more than you intended for weak calls from early or middle position because of the chronic raisers. Resist the temptation to play mediocre hands just for the sake of staying entertained with the slow software.

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