Overview

Betfair, a medium-sized poker room, recently moved their poker room from the Cryptologic network and is now a stand-alone poker room that spreads primarily no-limit online hold’em games. This online poker review looks at several of this room’s distinguishing features.

Bonus

Betfair Poker offers one of the largest bonuses – up to $1500 – to new players. To claim this bonus, players must enter the promotional code * at sign-up. $10 in bonus money will be received for every 400 Betfair points earned. Players have 60 days from the time of signup to earn as much bonus money as possible.

Each $.10 in rake or tournament fees is worth 1 Betfair Point. This rate amounts to a 25% reduction in rake for the first 60 days, a satisfactory but not exemplary bonus.

Promotions

Betfair has twice-daily freerolls which amount to $1,400 per week as well as an interesting promotion called “Threedom Pass.” Players who qualify for a live tournament through BetFair and then go on to make the final table will be allowed to compete in the same tournament for the next two years, courtesy of Betfair. Online hold’em players can also earn Betfair points through participation in real money games. However, the site is still in the process of determining how to use these points, so these points currently have no definable value.

Tournaments

Betfair offers a great selection of scheduled tournaments for decently bankrolled players; however, it is not a great site for those players looking for cheap buy-ins and large fields. A $100 buy-in $15,000 guaranteed event is their most popular daily tournament, and they hold a $250 buy-in $35,000 guaranteed tournament every Sunday. One drawback of the site is that they do not host enough cheap events. The addition of micro-priced MTTs would lure value-oriented players onto the network. These players would increase Betfair’s fairly small player base and could perhaps convert into medium buy-in players.

Software

Betfair’s software allows for smooth gameplay for online hold’em; however, the lobby is not well-designed visually. The lobby’s color scheme is very hard on the eyes. Furthermore, the tournaments section is difficult to surf because the tournament names are very long, making the tournament lobby seem cluttered.

Betfair’s software is designed to make it easier to multi-table, and users have the choice between playing one, two, four, or six tables. However, players must decide to multi-table when booting up the software. If the decision to multi-table is made later, the program must be closed and then re-opened.

Competition Level

This online poker review found that the competition level at Betfair is fairly soft. Because this is the largest betting exchange in the world, sports bettors who are not familiar with poker strategy often stop-in for a hand of online hold’em.

Ring Games Offered

Texas Hold’em, Omaha hi-lo, Omaha, 7-stud

Fixed Limits: $0.10-$0.20 to $250-$500

NL & PL Blinds: $0.05-$0.10 to $250-$500

Tournaments Offered

Single Table and Multi-Table Hold’em

Heads-Up: $10 to $5,000

Single-Table: $2.50 to $800

Multi-Table: $5 to $250

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