William Hill Poker Overview
is one of the foremost names in British bookmaking and has a very well-respected reputation in the online gaming community (ranked as the world’s 7th most visited betting site in a recent survey). Its poker site is part of the iPoker network and it offers comprehensive sports betting and casino games.
William Hill games are offered in £, € and $. Most players are Europeans. US-based players are not allowed to play, as with most other UK/EU sites. Cashing out seems extremely easy (a personal credit card had no problems at all depositing or withdrawing) and the iPoker network offers guaranteed security. NETeller is supported and a very useful feature is that you can use the chain’s local betting shops as banks for withdrawing from or depositing into your account!
William Hill offers over 200 games including poker, roulette, slots, craps, etc., and these can be played in an instant online version as well as using the software download. Various promotions are run from time to time to attract gamblers. While the new player bonus stands true and claims to offer £250, there is also a monthly loyalty bonus which gives away £100 once your new player bonus expires. A player also stands to claim £25 for every five hours of real play at the casino. Tournaments are organized on a regular basis here.
The games offered at William Hill Poker are Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud and Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo. The games vary between No-limit, Pot-limit, and Fixed-limit, with full-table games, shorthanded, and heads-up tables all available.
Some of the advantages offered to players at William Hill Poker:
- Initial sign-up bonus of £400.
- An in-depth VIP Loyalty Program rewarding frequent customers.
- Reload and refer-a-friend bonuses.
William Hill Software Interface/Usability
has a fairly customizable table, with 4-colour decks, animation options, automatic hand mucks or not, and has an authentic-sounding cockney dealer voice. The look is simple, clear and classy, bet amounts are obvious, and the buttons are a good size (making them hard to click by accident). Playing is very straightforward, with no irritating software quirks, and the pace and flow of the cards is about right. The players, however, are a good 30% slower than on sites such as Pokerroom, Empire or Pacific, which can get tedious.
The lobby doesn’t offer much info on players but it does let you know stats about each table. The waiting list function can be engaged to wait for a specific table, or any table with ‘X’ number of players at ‘Y’ limit.
The note-taking facility is useful and iPoker supports Poker Tracker and Gametime+. The chat function is customizable, depending on the amount of detail and interaction you require. The stats button gives you useful info about your actions during the session: how many flops you’ve seen; showdowns you’ve won; when you’ve folded; etc.
Hand histories can be called up at any time but the software seems to decide how many you get to see. It can be very frustrating trying to find the right hand. Mucked cards are not revealed, either in the hand history or by Poker Ace.
William Hill Poker Room Action
The action at is good for 6-max tables. Fans of 6-max are very well catered to at all levels beyond the lowest fixed limit ($0.02/$0.04), but those who prefer full ring are often frustrated. The tables seemed to be crowded most of the time. A common occurrence is having to wait for a full table to open during peak (early-mid evening) hours, then find yourself playing against three others on a ten-handed table as people start logging off for bed.
SNGs are available from $0.10+$0.02 to $5000+$200 and are pretty well populated, although the lower levels have an annoying 1000 chip starting stack (most prefer at least 1500). There are plenty of decent MTTs, as well as a heads-up cash arena (where you’ll quickly realize that you spend more in rake than you would in an equivalent HU tourney).
William Hill also offers 7-card Stud, Omaha High and Omaha High/Low, and will be helpful to people wishing to set up private tables, although they don’t allow these at peak times. A great feature is the availability of note taking on the tables. Also, the lobby supplies vital table statistics like the viewed-flop percentage, average pot, and hands played per hour.
The software offers graphic display of the latest hands played and hand histories are available on request. With a few face-lifts, the lobby has become easy to scroll through and navigate properly with easy tab buttons.
William Hill Ease of Game, Ease of Making Money, Fish Rating
Being part of the iPoker Network is full of European fish ripe for the picking. With the recent addition of microstakes games the site has attracted a whole new audience of bad players. At any given time there is plenty of action at the smaller stakes games which are primarily full or new, less-experienced players.
As for SNGs and tournaments, just like cash games the smaller stakes seem to be quite soft. Be careful at the higher levels, and the lack of action tends to be a result of only strong regulars playing the bigger stakes.
William Hill Poker Bonuses and Promotions
See our William Hill Bonus page for details on clearing your bonus.
offers a nice first time deposit bonus up to $600. The bonus is automatic; there is no need to enter a code when signing up. All you have to do is deposit money and you will be matched 100% up to $600. Earning the bonus is simple, all you have to do is earn a 350 WilliamHill Points (WHPs) and $5 will be credited to your account. Players have 60 days from their initial deposit to clear the bonus.
WilliamHill also offers a refer-a-friend bonus program, giving $50 to a player every time he/she refers a real-money player to the site. In order to receive the $50 the referrer must have an active account with in the past month. The referred-player will have to earn 3500WHPs to release the $50 bonus.
The bonus clears fairly quickly, especially for those either multi-tabling or playing mid to high-stakes games.
William Hill Customer and Technical Support
is happy to offer 24-7 support along with toll free phone help. For those looking for immediate help there is live chat support available through the lobby. From all accounts the support seems to be top notch.
UK Toll Free: +44 800 066 4293
Canada Toll Free: 1-866-278-7896
International: +632 756 7805
Email: customerservices@williamhill.co.uk