Empire Poker is a European poker room on the PartyGaming Network and features a full line up of ring and tournament action. They feature a new player $1,000 freeroll, seats to the WSOP and a wide range of guarantees for you to choose from. Since the poker room uses PartyGaming you can expect a high volume of European players throughout the day providing plenty of loose games at all stakes of the game. The poker room features a bad beat jackpot, Step tournaments; a VIP player rewards program and the ability to play in various currencies. Empire Poker does not accept players from the US.
Empire offers all new players a 30% match up to $150 and is one of the easiest bonuses for players to clear. Even those who play micro stakes shouldn't have too many difficulties in releasing the Empire Poker bonus. As you earn frequent player points by playing in real money games, your bonus will begin to unlock and released into your player account in increments of $10. Players can also expect to receive reloads which are made available each month as well as instant cash bonus offers.
The competition in this room is very weak and has for some time. You shouldn't have too many problems finding some action packed tables leading into the $5/$10 range. On average the room can have a viewed flop percentage peaking at 60% which is substantially higher than any other room online.
All of the games supported at Empire Poker do attract a high level of players especially during European peak traffic times. This means that most of the stakes available starting at $0.05/$.010 up to $250/$500 is generally quite active. They have a large enough player base that you will usually have a choice in tables in the $30/$60NL stakes. The majority of the players are Holdem players, but needless to say they do support Omaha, Omaha Hi Lo and Seven Card Stud which also generate traffic. Just not as much. Empire takes a 5% rake from each pot which is capped at a maximum of $3 per hand.
Tournaments are well supported and popular, especially the $300,000 guarantee scheduled every Sunday. Empire Poker features freezeouts, re-buys, guarantees and even turbo tournaments which are one of the fastest in the industry. You can also participate in Sit and Go games which also support Step tournaments. These give you the ability to play your way into bigger events which have increased prize pools, at a much lower cost. Also available are the Hellkat tournaments, which are signature events allowing players to play in 5 minute or 15 minute Sit and Go's. Empire Poker also sends their fair share of players to the WSOP and other land based events through qualifiers and satellites. All of these games are available within the tournament lobby and can be quickly accessed using a simple drop down menu.
The software is great and performs just as well as all the major poker networks. There are no delays or lags and everything has been laid out to allow even a novice player easy access to such information as games, your account, the cashier, news and promotions among other things. You will have quick access to lobby stats although if you want more information you will need to click them individually. Multi-tabling is available for up to eight games with options on hand to help you organize your games. Empire Poker does not offer custom avatars, but they do feature 3 dimensional characters and a 3D poker room. The overall appearance is clean and user friendly. All in all it's a great platform and if you have ever played at Party Poker you will fit right at home here.
Support is available through email ad live chat with both methods having great response times.
