Poker Syndicate
published on 05/05/06 at 8:59 am
Background
Poker Syndicate is a revolutionary online poker medium in that it offers its players equity in the company by means of rakeback accumulation of sorts. 50% of all rake is counted towards a stake in the company and this can be accumulated hand by hand and paid quarterly. Poker Syndicate’s poker room currently has the branding “Imperial Poker” but this is likely to change in the foreseeable future.
Service
Imperial Poker has a live support function in addition to the email help desk and having used this feature on more than one occasion I can report that the service is friendly and efficient. I am yet to encounter any concerns that have not been well handled and my initial feeling about the level of customer service is positive.
Promotions
I was pleasantly surprised to find out I had a first deposit bonus awaiting me on my first WebDollar transaction via Neteller. The details about how to secure the bonus were non-existent so I decided to enlist the assistance of “Live Help.” I was enlightened within a short space of time and was told as follows:
The first 25% of the bonus is paid on the completion of 250 raked hands. The final 75% of the bonus will be paid upon completion of a further 750 raked hands. The size of the rake is irrelevant in this case. The bonus itself is a 100% match bonus up to $200, and given the ease with which it can be earned I would suggest $200 be the minimum deposit for anyone considering opening an account with Poker Syndicate.
There really is no need for further promotions since the deal at Poker Syndicate/Imperial is so sweet I could not understand why anyone would not want an account here as part of their operation.
Game Play
Imperial offers 5 seater and 10 seater tables. This is a nice feature. 10s are commonplace but 5 seaters are unusual around online poker traps. There are no avatars but there is a lot to like about the table design and colour scheme. The writer finds it pleasing to the eye to say the least, although the chat is very hard to pick out from the hand commentary. To overcome this a speech bubble appears when a player speaks but this does not quite handle the issue for mine. The chat bubbles can be disabled via the setting menu if so desired. A nice feature is that players that have folded appear in a different colour (red) so that you can see how many active players are in the hand very easily.
Bet sizing can be a little difficult but the slider is quite sensitive and a player has ample time to make the required selection. A nice feature is that the bets are labelled numerically as well as shown in chips so bet and pot sizes are easy to read. The suits are easy to distinguish and the card placement is as it should be and not overly large. I personally find it aesthetically pleasing. There is a table feature so you may select which table to view from 1 to 5. I have not found this overly useful to this point. There are two major downers currently with the software. Firstly, there is no notes section for player notes and this is most disturbing to someone like me. Secondly, the hand histories are very simple and appear in Windows Notepad. The hand history feature is very poor at this stage and definitely needs considerable improvement.
Games
Imperial currently offers No Limit Hold ‘Em, Limit Hold ‘Em, 7 Card Stud, 5 Card Draw and Omaha Hi and Hi/Lo. Table stakes vary from 0.05/0.10 up to 100/200 and in 3 currencies; US Dollar, Euro and Turkish Lira. At the current moment the number of players varies from as low as 1100 to as high as 5000. Since the clientele is predominantly European, I imagine you can guess when the busy and quiet times might be, but there is seemingly always a game going and I have never arrived unable to find one I wanted to play in.
Players
I have now played for many hours at Imperial Poker and cannot quite believe some of the play I have witnessed so far. Others have reported similar experiences at different levels than I have played so I believe it to not be unique to the limit I play at. The flavour of the game is decidedly European. To say the play is loose and fishy is an understatement. A patient and solid player should be able to make plenty over time at this site, and with the equity deal in tow I have been pinching myself to ensure I am not dreaming. It’s too good to be true at present. I am hoping the standard remains as it is now, but I suspect as the site grows, as it inevitably will, the sharks will begin to circle. However, at present Imperial simply is not on the online poker radar so there is still plenty of fat fish for any would-be sharks to feast on. Be prepared for some horrible runner runner and 1 out beats and rake in the cash in between.
Overall
I have personally taken an instant like to this site. That could be because I have only had one losing session in my last 10, but more than that I like the look and the running of things and the equity deal is hard to ignore. With the first deposit bonus my early experience of Poker Syndicate via Imperial Poker has been a very positive one and I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for another site on which to play. Even if you are not looking this should at least replace one of the ones you use more sparingly. In the longer term it will definitely be worth the while.
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frequenicity
May 7th, 2006
I agree 100% with this review. I have been playing on this site for a week or so now, and my findings have been the same. However, the author did not go over what my biggest complaint is…the software.
Yes, it looks great, and the players are fishy which is good in the long run. But the software is very slow and cumbersome to use. The deals take way too long, tables take forever to load, and you can’t joing a tables waiting list from the table…you have to do it from the lobby.
The site is a good foundation…but needs a LOT of improvement if it wants to attract a player basis from the likes of Pokerstars and Full Tilt. Right now, I would put it on the level of Absolute Poker if AP was still beta testing.
I love the principal behind the site, and I would love to see it grow, but it has a few large kinks to work out before it becomes “home” to more players.