In my last article, I gave those of you who are new to online poker a rundown of what I consider the most important things to look for when choosing an internet poker room. While I did hint at some additional items that you might also want to consider, I have no problem at all if you didn’t wait to hear more about them. What I presented to you were, for the most part, enough to be able to make a good, informed decision on where to commit your poker money.
That said, I now want to lay out a few more things to note when looking for a poker room. While these are secondary to poker room size, game selection, bonuses, and kickbacks, they are still important and worth considering.
Security
Now, when you see the heading above, you may think to yourself, “Why would security not be at the top of the list in the previous article?” Valid question. To me, it’s not that security isn’t important – it is – it’s just that most online poker rooms are safe places at which to play, so unless I see something glaringly wrong with their security, I tend not to worry about this too much. Of course, there will always be bad apples in every bushel, but fortunately the online poker community does a good job at weeding them out before they get out of hand.
Every online poker room should have at least a basic explanation of its security measures on its website. While some sites provide the general public with much more information that others, they should provide some information and be willing to answer questions, within reason (for example, don’t expect the security department to give you every last detail about how they spot cheaters, as that would give cheaters the information they need to avoid detection.) Some information to read up on may include:
- Data transmission security – how does the poker room make sure data sent back and forth is safe from prying eyes?
- Game security – what, in general, does the poker room do to deter and catch cheaters and fraudsters?
- Card shuffle – what process does the poker room use to generate a random shuffle? Has this been verified by an independent auditor?
- Account security – what is the login process? Are usernames different from screen names? What are the deposit and withdrawal policies?
- Financial security – are player deposits kept separate from the poker room’s operating funds? (Hint: the answer should be YES.)
- Staff – do employees have access to players’ personal information? Are they allowed to play at the poker room’s tables?
Again, not all of this may be readily available on the site, but at least a few answers should be there. Don’t hesitate to contact the poker room if you have questions.
What you do with the information you gather is up to you. For example, in the past year, Absolute Poker and UltimateBet have been rocked by insider cheating scandals, causing thousands of players to leave for other poker rooms. Some people will never forgive them and want the two rooms to disappear, while others believe that current management had nothing to do with the cheating, that the security holes are being fixed, and that the rooms are perfectly safe aside from this (allegedly) isolated incident. I probably lean towards the opinion of the latter group, but at the same time, I have not played at those rooms with my own money in quite some time (Absolute did give me a free $10 to goof with once.) I may venture back one day, but I want to feel confident that all their problems have been straightened out.
Software
When you go to Las Vegas and wander into a casino, you don’t just automatically sit down at a poker table and start playing, do you? You want to feel comfortable. You don’t want it too hot or too cold, too crowded or too empty. You may want plenty of cocktail waitresses coming around to get your drink order, or you may not want to be bothered. You may want the room to have televisions so you can catch up on sports, or you may not want the distraction.
Online poker is similar. You are going to want to make sure you are comfortable with your surroundings before sitting down. This means making sure you are comfortable with the software. Each online poker room is going to have a different look and feel; each is going to have its little quirks. While I have never encountered poker room software that was so bad I couldn’t play at that room (aside from the times where the software is so buggy that it crashes, but these things happen and are always fixed,) some rooms to take more getting used to than others.
If you want to find out more about the software for an online poker room, just read our review of the site on BonusWhores.com. In the Software Review section, we list the pros and cons of the room’s poker client.
Even after reading reviews, I still recommend always taking the software for a spin at the play money tables before trying your hand at real money. This way, you can figure out all the bells and whistles and let your brain acclimate itself to your new virtual surroundings. Playing poker is hard enough sometimes – you don’t need to feel uncomfortable, too.
Customer Service
In general, and I would assume this goes without saying, you want to play at an online poker room that provides high quality customer service. But for a lot of people – including yours truly – this isn’t always that important; after all, if you rarely need help, it shouldn’t really matter to you how good the customer service is. Ideally, a poker room will have three methods of contact: phone, e-mail, and live chat. Typically, however, you’ll only get two of these, and often e-mail will be the only option. The best customer service departments answer e-mails quickly and personally; one of the most frustrating experiences you can have with an online poker room is when you pose a question via e-mail only to get a canned response that doesn’t even answer your question. Some poker rooms respond within a couple hours to e-mails, but don’t expect that often: if you get a response within 24 hours, I would consider that to be a good response time.
It is usually a good sign when a poker room has different e-mail addresses for different departments (ex: security, cashier, account management, games) as this often means that your question will get to the appropriate person right away, rather than needing to be filtered through multiple inboxes.
American players (as well as Brits and most Canadians) should keep in mind that many of the customer service representatives you will speak with are not native English speakers, so it may sometimes be difficult to get your point across. That combined with online chat and phone scripts, can often make dealing with support staff a bit frustrating, but the best poker rooms will typically have the most knowledgeable and accommodating customer service reps.
Just like with software, you can find information about customer service quality on each poker room’s review page on our site.
