EmpirePoker

I have been playing on Empire for about
a year now as well as some other
websites. I have not had any problems
until recently. A couple days ago I
received an e-mail saying that I was
eligible for a 100% redeposit bonus up
to $100. In fact, I got a pop-up saying
the same thing when I signed on. After
depositing, I received an e-mail
confirming that the bonus amount was
added to my bonus account. However, I
noticed that the bonus status was
"elapsed" and contacted customer
support.

Here is the first problem with Empire
Poker, the Customer Service is at best
Terrible. It is impossible to get
immediate assistance. There are is no
telephone support therefore, I was
relegated to e-mail. Upon sending my
e-mail, I received a response about an
hour later, saying that I could not
collect my bonus as I withdrew from my
account 7 days ago and management just
enforced this new rule effective
immediately. NOTICE: This was no where
listed on the disclaimers that all
bonuses had. So, of course I replied
saying how I thought this was "poor
customer service, ete." To make a long
story short I am about 7 e-mails into
this process and have not received any
adeaqute responses. In fact, one e-mail
said I would have my bonus by the end of
the day, while another about an hour
later said the most they could give me
was $10. That should give some insight
into how bad customer serivce there is.


I suggest people go to other websites.
When it comes down to it, there are a
lot of fish on a lot of different sites,
so the little things, or big things LIKE
CUSTOMER SERVICE really matter. True
Poker seems to be a good site. Nice
skin and good immediate customer service
(like you were using AIM). Plus, they
got heads up games which are a nice
touch.

Guys, please stop this nonsense about
rigged sites. The only (proven) way
sites stole player's money is much
simpler than making biased shuffle -
PokerSpot was the most prominent
example. I'm 100% sure that _none_ of
the big rooms is intentionally rigged.
Once I've made a thorough statistical
check of my hands on PokerStars - and
came up with nothing beyond statistical
expectations. So until somebody will
provide a mathematical proof (rather
than emotional "he got one-outer, it
should NEVER happen, at least not to
me") - I won't even consider such a
possibility. Face it, guys - bad beats
is an integral part of poker. And those
who cannot deal with it, just should not
play poker, ever - there are other ways
to have fun in life.

All I have to say about Empire/Party
Poker is that their customer service
people are incredibly snotty. I wanted
to play there. I tried to play there.
After actually being called stupid right
to my face by their wonderful customer
service personnel, I decided to just
keep my money under my mattress.

some of the reviews below have left me
scratching my head. taking advice from
reviews like that is like getting your
news from supermarket tabloids.

it should be pointed out to MJD15826R
that 3 hours in a live game compared to
3 hours online would produce a ratio of
hands played of about 1 to 5. possibly
higher when taking into account that you
can play 4 tables at once online.
therefore the 8 to 40 flushes seen is
mathematically correct. people will
play questionable hands, and a certain
percentage of the time they will win.
that is part of the game.

And, WhiteShark, are you smoking crack?
the hands at party and empire ARE the
same. empire is a skin of party. when
you are playing at an empire table you
are playing against party players as
well.

the site in general is good. the best
feature is the availability of games.
you can find any kind of game at any
level pretty much 24/7. this is a huge
plus and gives you many different levels
of player. if you can't eventually
make money on this site, you should
probably go back to washing dishes at
the diner.

The frequency of monster hands that come
out at this site are ridiculous.
Straights and flushes come out with much
higher frequency than live games. Often
on showdowns two players will hit
flushes. This site reels in the fish
because idiots that don't know how to
play hit monster hands and that
encourages them to keep playing. So
often the so-called "fish" are the big
winners. You will not improve your poker
skills here unless you go play the very
high limit games. If you play
tournaments you'll find players will
call with crap and often win. It's not
uncommon for some ass with 4-6 suited to
hit a flush all in while two other
players with high pocket pairs will get
beat with 3 of a kind after the flop.
The first night I played here I played a
combination of 10 (6) 10/1 , (2) 20/2
and (2) 30/3 sit and go's , winning 5
of them and having a top 3 finish in 8.
I withdrew half my winnings and over the
next month won only a single $250 multi
table tournament in about 30 tournaments
(only 2 final tables) and finished first
in a 10/1 sit and go table only once in
maybe 25 tries. Thinking maybe it was me
I went to a live tournament 100/20 in
Atlantic City and had a money finish
first time out. In three hours of live
play maybe 8 flushed came out. At Empire
in 3 hours you'll see maybe 40. An
example of a ridiculous beat would be
Having 3 kings prior to the turn and
having a player with pocket 7's hit a 7
on the turn and then the river. If you
are going to play here , then put a lot
of money in and don't make withdrawals
for a long time. If you keep putting in
the $50 minimum every so often , you'll
never win. The only positive thing I can
say is the graphics at the table look
nice. Also expect frequent disconnects
and long waits when you're in the top
40 of a tournament waiting on other
tables. The initial bonus is easy to
get.

3/4 of the players at Empire are fish.
period. If you decide to play in the
larger money tables most players will
call no matter what the bet. Overall, I
give the site good ratings. Customer
support has been good during my two
occurrences.

In my first half hour of Empire I was
playing NL and saw AA vs AA preflop,
which I have seen very little in the
thousands of hands I've played online.
Then to top that off there was an AA vs
AA vs KK preflop, which I have never
seen. In the midst of all this I got
pocket Qs losers twice, that were cold
called preflop by low suited connectors.
It really made me think about the party
poker juiced deck theory. Eventually,
however, the low level of play came to
my advantage as I was able to cash in
against a slow played pocket pair with a
flush on the river that I didn't even
have to to pay to see and that was
called all in once made.

Im not sure what it is about empire that
strikes me. Ive played on a few sites in
the months ive been playing but non of
them gave me the sence i wanted to go
back and invest more. (i was a little
wild in the early days). The VIP section
is something to really aim for and im
looking forward to getting enough
points. Interface is simply, which is
really all im looking for, and the lack
of stats i actuall find good, makes you
pay more attention to the action. Best
was is to just try for yourself.

Empire poker is just a skin on the Party
Poker network. I'm sure most of you
know that by now. But just when you
think you can't improve on perfection,
Empire Poker comes out with better
player incentives - bonueses, freerolls,
and VIP player points. Empire has made
a good thing better. If you are playing
at Party Poker, you should switch over
to Empire. The action is the same but
there are more player benefits.

I like Empire Poker the best of all the
Party skins. In fact, I like Empire
Poker more than any other online poker
room at the time of this writing. I
know people mention the interface is
dated, and maybe they are right, but
really, how pretty does a poker table
need to be? Does that even really
matter? The only issue I have with the
interface is that the lobby does not
show pre-flop %'s, only average pot
size. With regards to the action and
fish, Empire has the most... although it
has become a better mix of fish and
skilled players. Hopefully, you find
the fish because they get eaten up
pretty quickly. The bonus is great and
easy to earn. Empire also occasionally
has reload bonuses and player points for
a VIP section.

The site is part of the Party Poker
skin. There is always plenty of action
but also plenty of very skilled players.
It is a place where one time you sit
down with beginners and the next table
it is highly skilled professionals.
Decent bonus. With the amount of money
they are bringing in I wish they would
invest it in a more appealling software.

Interface is one of the worst in the
industry. Support almost non-existent.
Action is good (especially fish is
good). But if U want to have fun from
play or U want to improve your skills -
Party is not a good place to go.

Interface and Usabilitiy of this poker
room is top notch. If you have ever
played at party poker this is an
identical setup. The poker room action
is great with around 35-50k players on
at any given time. The table sorting
function is very easy to use so you can
find any game you want in a couple of
seconds. Also has a feature to hide
full tables which is nice.

Technical/Customer support leaves
something to be desired. Could be a lot
worse but you dont get a personal feel
when you email back and forth with. 95%
of responses seem to be pregenerated
which is to be expected with as many
players as they have. They do hook you
up though if you bug them and will often
give you a bonus code simply by asking
for one if you dont have one available
at the time. For this reason they get a
4. If it wasnt for that they would get
a 3.

Bonus setup is very sweet. They often
have redeposit bonuses and the intial
20% up to 100 initial deposit bonus
cannot be beat. You only have to play
5x the bonus amount in raked hands which
is the easiest bonus out of all poker
rooms to clear by far. You can clear
your bonus your first day with very
little difficulty. With playing 4
tables at the same time it can be done
in 3 hours.

Ease of Game is also very phat at this
site. At the 25NL tables they are
loaded with fish. I cant speak on their
limit games but their NL games are very
lucrative. I have been playing there
for 5 months maybe now and the fish
continually get replaced with new ones.
Havent noticed any increased difficulty
there. Maybe people get better and move
up and limits and I just keep taking the
rolls of all the new players. Makes no
difference to me I have done very well
there.

Check it out for sure it will be worth
your time!!!

EmpirePoker is awesome. Although it's
the same software and poker room as
PartyPoker, there is one difference.
EmpirePoker offers FreeRolls and other
nice amenities like a VIP club to it's
loyal players.