PokerRoom was founded in 1999 and has since grown into one of the world’s largest poker sites, there are currently over 8 million registered players. PokerRoom offers cash games and tournaments in Texas Hold’em, Omaha, 7-card stud and 5-card draw. Also useful is the fact that software downloads are not required, you can play straight off the website and is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and mobile phone users alike.

Also linked to PokerRoom is CasinoRoom, using the same account it is easy to transfer money between the two sites. CasinoRoom offers games including Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Slot-Machines and Video Poker.

PokerRoom offers 24/7 support over the telephone, live text chat or email. Calls to the phone support are charged at national rate and is available in Australia, Canada, Denmark, USA, United Kingdom and New Zealand. Simply call the country specific number, give them your account number (which you will find when you log into the website) and they are ready to help. There is a comprehensive list of account FAQs to help you with some more common problems. We have tested each method of communication with PokerRoom and although our personal preference lies with the online text chat (mainly for the ease of use and speed) the people in the call centre are knowledgeable, friendly and will resolve your query efficiently.

At PokerRoom the first deposit bonus offers a 50% match up to $100. This is not the most generous offer I have seen on the internet, it does however come with three free tournament tickets. Tickets are for the Weekly Welcome Series tournaments, a Texas Hold’em tournament, are reserved for the new players who register with PokerRoom. Once you have signed up with PokerRoom there is plenty going on to keep you coming back.

Just like all other sites you can earn points through playing cash games and entering tournaments. There is a slight twist at PokerRoom as your loyalty level changes as you play more. As soon as you sign up you become a Green Room member (assuming you have made a deposit to your account). The Green Room allows you access to the bonus vendor where you can trade in your poker points for cash (more points have to be earned to clear the cash bonus), there are also daily green room tournaments with a small points buy in and a chance to win a small cash prize.

The next level of the loyalty program is the Silver Room. Here you have to collect 100 poker points in 30 days to have access to better exchange rates on your points to cash and Silver Room tournaments. These work the same way as green room tournaments but with a higher prize pool. Finally, the top-level of the loyalty program is the Gold Room. Here you have to amass over 1500 points n one month and maintain that amount month to month to remain a member. This works out to be a lot of poker, a couple of hours a day depending on the stakes you are playing. Again you will receive a better exchange rate between your points and cash rewards. In all of the different levels of the loyalty program there is also the ticket vendor where you can use your points to buy tickets into different tournaments. Remember, you get more for your money in the Gold Room!

Always running on PokerRoom is the chance to win your way into live tournaments all around the world. Throughout the year PokerRoom gives you the chance to play in The World Series of Poker, The World Poker Tour, The European Poker Tour and other live tournaments with massive prize pools. Usually qualifiers start from as little as $7.

There are other interesting tournaments which PokerRoom run from time to time with a slight twist on the norm. For example they run a King of the Hill tournament where you have to qualify through five different 1 table tournaments to end up with a shot at $2,500. The first tier for this particular promotion starts at $1.

It is worth checking the PokerRoom homepage for updates on tournament specials.

PokerRoom uses Thawte SSL (Secure Socket Layers) Certificates that offers secure communications by encrypting all data from the site as detailed in their websites security section. They currently operate under two licenses, Kahnawake and an EU license of Gibraltar.

PokerRoom has been accredited with the eCOGRA seal of approval, which means that eCOGRA states that their games are fair and that they operate honestly and behave responsibly.

PokerRoom offers a variety of methods for you to top up your account. VISA, Delta, MasterCard, Switch, Maestro, ClickandBuy, MoneyBookers, Click2Pay, InstaCash, Neteller, Firepay and PaySafeCard are all accepted.

All bank transactions are carried out as you would expect, winnings take between three to five days to reach your bank account.

Poker websites are realizing the importance of keeping their customers entertained whilst they are not playing poker, PokerRoom is no different. Their uniquely titled POKAH section of their website is your gateway to the online community. Here you will find over two thousand people online at any one time talking about poker and other gaming topics in their lively forums. Their forums range from Strategy Corner, a place to talk tactics with other PokerRoom users to suggestions, a forum dedicated to hearing your ideas about what could make PokerRoom a more enjoyable site to use. For regular posters in the forums PokerRoom run special invite only free-roll tournaments. This is the only site I have seen that reward the bloggers and posters in this way.

You can create your own profile at PokerRoom; tell people how you rate yourself as a player, your poker hero and all time best poker achievements. If you make enough friends online you may want to join a poker team or even create your own!

Team-play is considered to be the hot new way of playing tournament poker, instead of playing against your friends you now play alongside them. The team play events are designed so that you will never be on the same table as somebody from your own team, this way you don’t have to worry about any collusion from other teams. Depending on where you finish as an individual in a tournament will determine how many points your team is awarded for each round. There is also an individual payout for those that finish top. The points are counted for the whole event and the payout is then based on the best scoring teams. Playing team poker is excellent fun, for too long a poker player has been cursed by solitude and has lived and died on the turn of a card. This is no longer the case with PokerRoom, let your friends share the burden and get rich together!

PokerRoom offers an easy to use lobby. The cash game section and the tournament section are split into two, so the lobby never gets too cluttered. Registering for tournaments and viewing information about cash tables and tournaments is a simple single click on the table you are interested in. Statistics for cash games in the lobby include hands per hour, average pot and players per flop.

Playing poker using the PokerRoom software is simple to use. You can alter the amount you wish to bet by using the roller ball on the mouse (the easiest way in my opinion), using a slider bar, or typing in the amount you wish to bet or raise. As with all other sites you do have the pre selection buttons to speed up the game play as well.

One useful feature is the ability to be able to classify players and make notes on them. The classification system is achieved by using coloured dots; you can assign notes to each dot. For example, a red dot may mean a dangerous player to you whilst a yellow dot may indicate somebody that you feel you can play aggressively against. This feature coupled with the notes provides a useful tactical advantage to your poker play. It is especially important as PokerRoom has a large community and it is difficult to remember a specific opponent. Making notes on a player could make all the difference in a decision that you make against them.

The tournament game play is exactly the same as the cash game but with one small difference. When players are all-in against each other and their cards have been exposed the percentage chance of winning is displayed under each person’s name. This is helpful for tracking your chances if you are all in but also as a learning tool. I have found that by seeing these odds displayed over and over again I have become better at knowing the chances of a specific hand being the winner. For instance I know that Ace King pre-flop has a 48% chance of beating any pocket pair that somebody else is holding. These small touches go a long way to improving your game when playing online poker at PokerRoom.com.