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Visit PDC Poker
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Overall:
4/5
Bonus and Promotions:
4/5
Fish Rating:
4/5
(Tuna.fish)
Tournaments:
3.5/5
Software:
4.5/5
Payouts:
4/5
Customer Service:
4/5
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PDC Poker Coupon Code for 200% bonus:
FISHBONUS600
PDC Poker
has recently made some improvements to their cashier by increasing
their credit card acceptance rate and adding several more payment
options. A major credit card should be
your first option as it's the most seamless and hassle-free deposit
method that doesn't require setting up an e-wallet account. A
secondary option would be the eWalletXpress third-party service,
which is tied to your personal checking account.
Another electronic deposit method,
PicClub
is available to US players and works like other popular e-wallets by
offering several deposit methods. Once you've loaded your PicClub account, you can then move the funds to the poker
room. PicClub seems to be gaining more widespread acceptance and the
numerous poker rooms offering the service makes it attractive to
players who often transfer funds between sites. As a last resort, you could contact customer service about
paper
deposit methods such as checks or money orders.
 
Overall:
4/5
PDC Poker
and the greater Merge network is still fairly new to the online poker
industry, yet I feel it has a lot of potential because of the unique
software, promotions, and strong customer service.
I also certainly appreciate their decision to continue service to US players
indefinitely.
PDC Poker
has mostly tried to attract new players via lots of promotions with
one of their largest being entry into $100,000 worth of monthly freerolls in
exchange for
earning Comp Points at ring games.
With promotions geared mainly around
freerolls
PDC Poker
is attracting mostly new and
inexperienced players to the tables. The poor player base is a major
draw to this poker room with essentially every larger site becoming
a haven for conservative tight players. This is one of the few remaining US poker rooms that still
has a respectable Fish Rating.
PDC Poker
has also improved their traffic level with several regularly active tables
up to
the $1/2 level and active shorthanded games up to the
$5/10 NL level.
I also give
PDC Poker
credit for increasing their US credit card acceptance rate, which is
something more poker sites should really learn from if they want to
cultivate their US player base. The software is also a major
positive with a unique interface and quirky features such as
rabbit-hunting, the ability to show only one card, and animated
smilies.
Overall,
PDC Poker is
mostly suited for the casual
low-to-medium stakes no-limit player who prefers big freerolls,
unique software,
and a smaller community feel that you won't find at the larger sites.
Bonus (200%
up to $600) and Promotions:
4/5
The typical
PDC Poker signup bonus is 30%, but
players signing up through our site earn a 200% initial deposit bonus. That means that new
depositors can earn a $200 bonus on a $100 deposit. This special
bonus is the largest this site has offered and is only valid for our
visitors. Please note that new players need to use our links to
PDC Poker,
download the software, and enter coupon code FISHBONUS600 to
ensure that the 200% bonus is credited.
The maximum new players can earn on the bonus is sizeable at
$600. Their bonus payout
structure is moderately easy to cash out if you play fairly often.
PDC Poker
has set
up a "Comp Points" system, which gives you points when you
contribute rake. You'll receive the bonus in $10 increments after
accruing Comp Points. Other promotions include a Royal Flush Bonus
as well as rewards for placing well in their multi-table and
single-table tournaments. They also have regular seasonal promotions
with special freerolls or other cash incentives for earning Comp
Points.
As far as I know,
PDC Poker offers the
largest freerolls online
with $100,000 every month for regular players. The only players
allowed into freerolls over $50 are those who have earned points
throughout the month. This is a great way to keep the field low and
only reward players who actually deserve it. The largest weekly
freeroll is a monthly $50,000 event on the last Sunday of the month.
Other freeroll rewards for players include a $10,000 event and daily
$1,000 event. The large exclusive bonus and the private freerolls
earn
PDC Poker a
strong promotional score.
Fish:
4/5
In contrast to most of the remaining US
poker room the PDC
Poker competition is quite loose with both above-average flop
percentages and pot sizes. At a typical no-limit
ring game the average pot is usually over 30-40 times the big
blind, which is much more aggressive than the predominantly
weak-tight larger sites. You'll also be getting great pot odds on drawing hands like
suited connectors as it is the rule, not the exception, to have 5
or 6 players seeing every flop. What this adds up to is a lot of
action on just about every hand.
Unfortunately, your premium hands
go down in value with more opponents so tend to limit the field preflop with your big hands and encourage action to get the right
odds on your mediocre hands. No-limit ring games at
PDC Poker were previously limited
to smaller stakes but as the traffic has grown you can usually find
games going at the $1/2 stakes or higher. The ratio of 6-handed
tables to full ring games is about 3 or 4 to 1.
Tournaments:
3.5/5
The
PDC Poker freeroll traffic is massive
and, as mentioned above, they are very generous about freeroll prize
pools. They host several $50 freerolls daily that are open to
everyone, but the real rewards are in their daily $1,000 freerolls,
weekly $2,000 and $10,000 freerolls, and a monthly $50,000 freeroll.
These are open to all players who have earned a certain number of "Comp
Points" so the field is usually limited to only a few hundred
players. The time necessary to earn the Points is usually a playing session or two for the
smaller events and over a few extended sessions for the larger ones.
One
thing that I value in how a poker site runs their freerolls is how
quickly it is run. Freerolls at
PDC Poker are typically over within a couple
of hours, making them very playable.
Besides the freerolls, the biggest guarantees are in the evening
with a $2,000 prize pool for about a $25 buy-in. Other comparable
prize pool tourneys allow rebuys, of which I'm not a fan of. The
Bounty events are fun but only offer small prizes. Unfortunately, the traffic
hasn't grown enough to be able offer tournaments with
prize pools more than a few hundred dollars. While
there are a few worthwhile nightly events, regular players who don't
like rebuys will find the best value in the large Comp freerolls.
Software:
4.5/5
While the graphics aren't exceptionally
detailed, I really like
the software at
PDC Poker and I think that it deserves a
high score. First of all, I appreciate when an online poker site
actually creates original software as opposed putting out another skin on
someone else's engine. This site has done that, and in terms of
functionality it's one of the easiest to navigate.
In addition to
offering multiple windows,
PDC Poker
uses tabs (similar to Firefox or
IE7) for each table. I also think that they had the right
idea in creating some unique options at the table. For example, they
offer an animated smiley box that allows you to laugh at your
opponent's suck out or wave to a newcomer at the table. Also, during all-in situations, they show winning percentages
for each hand similar to what you see on televised
tournaments.
Other neat features of the
PDC Poker
software include a rabbit-hunt on winning
hands and the ability to show only one of your cards after winning a
hand. You can also earn little stars and ribbons next to your
name if you win tournaments or other special events. While the lobby plays some cheesy muzak in
the background (you can disable it if you wish), the animations are very smooth. Game speed at a full
ring game usually runs about 45 hands per hour, which is decent.
Overall, I found this software very appealing and a change of pace
from the cookie-cutter design found at most sites.
US Payouts:
4/5
While initially slow to add more options
to their cashier,
PDC Poker
has recently upgraded to two better payout methods. As I prefer
electronic payments, my first recommendation for payouts would be
an electronic method such a eWalletXpress or PicClub (provided you have also made a deposit using this
method). Once requested, you should receive the funds in a day or
two. The second option is a "Fast Check" payout, which is a paper
check sent through the regular US postal mail. The checks are drawn
on a US bank and I received several within about 20 days of requesting
them.
Customer Service:
4/5
While I think that it's best to offer
all forms of support,
PDC Poker does respond
in a fair amount of time to
e-mails, which is their only form of service. I contacted them
once before I set up my account, and I received a personal response
within 20 minutes. They've also started offering live chat support
with very little, if any, waiting period prior to connecting with an
agent. Fortunately, the support seems to be done my actual poker
room employees rather than a third-party company with little
knowledge of the actual site.
Player Traffic
Player traffic will probably be the
biggest obstacle that
PDC Poker
has to overcome. However, I've been monitoring their progress and
they are improving ring game traffic as US players continue to join
the ranks. While this was a site
restricted to tables under $1 stakes, you can normally find a $1/2
no limit game going on and even the occasional $5/10. While you can
mostly find action at the small no limit stakes, traffic is
improving to include mid-limit games. Tournament traffic is very
good for their freerolls, and is about average for events under a
$10 buy-in.
Best Features
 The best freerolls. This is the main
promotion for the site right now, and the best ones with decent
prize pools are the events that actually require previous gameplay.
Original software. I wish that more
poker sites would add the all-in winning percentages to their
software.
Soft competition. The flop percentages
are extremely high with opponents regularly playing too many hands
for too much money. I recommend raising your strong hands more than
normal to thin the competition as you'll probably still get plenty
of action.
Game Selection: Hold'em,
Omaha
Limits: Limit: 2c/4c up
to $30/$60 No-Limit: 10c/25c up to $25/$50
Deposit Methods:
NETeller, EcoCard,
eWalletXpress, Moneybookers, Citadel,
Click2Pay, major credit cards, and wire
transfers.
Minimum Deposit:
$25
Tips: Play a
well-rounded
game at PDC
Poker and raise your strong hands to make trash hands think twice
about calling before they catch a monster flop. With so many callers
preflop, you should also consider playing hands with lots of
possible draws, like low suited connectors. The beauty of playing
suited connectors in no limit hold'em is the fact that your hand
will be very well disguised when you hit a monster. You have great
drawing potential to both straights and flushes, and you should be
able to easily release a hand like 5-6 if you don't flop at least a
good draw, two pair, or better.
Remember, you should be getting the
proper pot odds to play draw-heavy hands so look for at least 4 or
5 callers ahead of you for the minimum bet. You'll also find a good
number of calling stations at
PDC Poker, so bet at least the size of the pot if
there is an obvious draw on the flop. This way, you're statistically
making your opponents go against to odds to draw out on you. Even if
you bet your opponents out of the pot in this situation, remember
that it's always better to win a small pot than lose a large
one when your opponents draw out on you.
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PDC Poker
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