Action Poker Overview
Action Poker has been a leading poker room since 1999, and takes great pride in its reputation for integrity and security. It is part of the well-respected Action Poker Network, a company dedicated to developing multiplayer software.
Action Poker is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commision and offers a great variety of poker games, both traditional and exotic. Traffic in Action Poker has decreased significantly since the restricting of American players, but it has been opening new markets lately and steadily growing back.
Action Poker is a room on the Action Poker Network, along with two other popular online poker rooms; Tiger Gaming and Poker In Canada.
Action Poker Game Features
Action Poker stands out from the competition because of the variety of games if offers: besides the traditional versions of poker (Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi and Hi/Lo, 7-Card Stud Hi and Hi/Lo) it also offers the lesser known but no less exciting Guts, Chinese Poker and Big 2; and on top of this you can also play Panguingue (Pan) and Blackjack.
If Hold’em is your thing, you will be spoiled for choice. Action Poker offers Limit Hold’em at stakes from $0.10/$0.20 to $50/$100, and No Limit and Pot Limit from $0.05/$0.10 to $10/$25. Oddly, the stakes for NL and PL Hold’em are not displayed: what you see in the list is the maximum buy-in, which is 100 times the big blind. Most Hold’em players seem to be in the 10-seat tables with buy-ins up to $5.
Omaha games are all in the same list, with stakes from $0.10/$0.20 to $10/$20. It can be a bit difficult to sort the limit from the no limit and the Hi from the Hi/Lo, so navigate carefully before choosing your table.
7-card Stud tables are all limit, with Hi and Hi/Lo variants mixed in together (use the “Limit” column to sort them). Stakes range from $0.50/$1 to $10/$20, but there is very little action even at the best of times.
Guts Poker is offered in the Monte Carlo and Survivor varieties, and the minimum bets start at $0.10 and cap at $10. Chinese Poker (a big favorite of pros like Ivey and Hellmuth) can be played for as little as $0.25 and as much as $10 a point, and finally Big 2 tables also go from $0.25 to $5 a point. It is a shame that this amazing variety of games and stakes does not get the traffic it deserves.
Action Poker only offers Hold’em tourneys, which are sorted by status on the menu: announced, registering, running and completed. They make up for their limited selection with $50K in Guaranteed tourneys a week. Navigating the tourney list is quite difficult, as heads-up, singles and multi-table tourneys are all mingled together with no option to sort or filter them. Buy-ins range from $0.03 to $1500, and there is plenty to choose from if you have the patience to wade through the list. The blinds go up every 5 to 12 minutes – check the tourney lobby to find out the speed for each particular tourney.
Action Poker Software Features
Action Poker has a bold and efficient main lobby, with a tree menu on the left sorted by game and a main window with the usual info: name, stakes (or maximum buy-in), limit, playersr/seats (tables hold 2, 6 or 10 players), players waiting, average pot and % flop. For impatient players, four large buttons at the bottom of the lobby allow you to dip right into a table.
The table display is understated and well rendered with some adornments like plants and drinks. There are no options for changing skins or for adding avatars. The dealer action is fast and smooth and the sounds are crisp and adequate. From the table you have easy access to the cashier, lobby, live chat assistance and your table's statistics. The chat window is both easy to read and in an out-of-the-way corner.
Multitabling is supported up to 4 tables, but you must have a monitor big enough to hold them all. Action Poker does not offer a reduced table display, nor do they let you sit in the same position always – features they may have to improve to attract serious multi-table players.
Action Poker has an easy to use buddy list, and buddies can be added right from the table. Player notes are also available by right-clicking on an avatar.
You can access your hand history from the cashier under the link, “game report”. Unfortunately Action Poker does not keep your stats once you leave a table, so you have no access to a comprehensive stat history.
Action Poker Support
Action Poker definitely wants to make its players feel supported: you can get help via email, live chat, or even a callback system (this one is only available for real money players). Getting live chat help takes a few clicks, but the advisors are friendly and reasonably swift to answer.
Security and integrity are key values for Action Poker, which uses multiple layers of encryption to protect your data, and state of the art software to detect collusion. To ensure fair, random cards, Action Poker uses two different random number generators to control the shuffling of each deck.
|
