Golden Palace Poker is the poker arm of Golden Palace Casino, and operates on the Tribeca Tables Network, a network which includes Doyle Brunson’s DoylesRoom. While Golden Palace Casino is renowned for its eccentric publicity stunts (remember the tattooed lady and the first casino in space?), its poker room is much more down to earth, as it were, and its players are treated not to fantastical hype but to the sort of pure-poker promos today’s ambitious online poker players appreciate. Aside from the inevitable WSOP qualifying package ($12,500 prize), Golden Palace Poker is currently running qualifying series’ for the European Poker Classic which takes place in London on the 24-26 March 2006 and has a prize of $5,000, the World Poker Challenge (WPT event) in Reno on the 27-30 March with a prize of $8,000, the World Heads Up Poker Championship in Barcelona on the 19-28 May with a prize of $5,000, and the WPT World Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas on the 18-24 April with a prize of $28,000. There is also an online $100,000 Guaranteed tournament beginning on Sunday 26 February which will replace the current $50k version.

The Tribeca network on which Golden Palace operates is one of the lesser known networks, but player volume is good and the software is neat and reliable. Players are encouraged to submit their profile upon registration, and for want of a better word, there is a prevailing feeling of ‘community’ amongst the players. The software has some excellent features including gameplay stats which can be broken down into 2-seat, 6-seat or 9-seat figures; the note-taking facility is probably the best there is in that it provides a large box in which to take notes and an index of all players tagged. The only disappointment is the lack of Stud games – only Hold ’em, Omaha and Omaha hi-lo are supported here, but at least a player can get a game of Omaha, unlike the iPoker cardrooms (Noble, Titan, CD et al) where the Omaha rooms are generally barren. All in all, Golden Palace Poker is quite the surprise package.

Features

Golden Palace Poker features:

  • Advanced gameplay stats
  • Buddy Alerts
  • Create a profile
  • Hotkeys
  • Removable avatars
  • Auto-login on startup facility
  • Note-Taking with index
  • Option to implement an enlarged ‘chat’ box

Stakes

The stake-range at Golden Palace Poker accomodates players of all budgets, with tourneys ranging from $0.10 + $0.01 to (at the time of writing) to the maxi rounder $2000 + $60 (heads-up) and ring games from $0.02 / $0.04 to $150 / $300

Freerolls

Golden Palace Poker freerolls run on a daily basis and consist of dozens of ‘Action Points’ redeemable games. Prizez range from $5 (for 5 action points) to $2,000 (10,000 action points)

Golden Palace Poker Bonus

Golden Palace Poker offers a bonus of 25% on initial deposits up to a maximum of $100. The current bonus code is ‘fishie.’

Player Numbers and Growth

Golden Palace Poker has a very healthy level of players – over 9000 were online at the time of writing this review (6.15 pm est Sat 11 Feb)

Golden Palace Poker Promotions

Golden Palace Poker is currently running several major event qualifiers:

WSOP Main Event

World Heads Up Championships

WPT World Poker Challenge

WPT World Championship

European Poker Classics

FAQ:

1. How easy is the Golden Palace Poker bonus to clear?
2. What are the negative points, if any?

ANS 1:

The Golden Palace Poker bonus is impossible to calculate objectively as the points-system on which it relies has no absolute parameters. 125 ‘action points’ earns $1 of the bonus, and these points are awarded on a combination of rake-amount and number of players involved in the hand’s action.

ANS 2:

The lack of stud games is a negative.

Rake

0-5% to a max $4 on tables with limits of $30/$60 upwards when more than 5 players play, 0-5% to a max $3 otherwise. No flop no drop.

Deposit options

NETeller, Visa, Mastercard, Citadel, onlinebankingxpress, eWalletxpress, 900Pay, Firepay, bank wire and others

Security

128 bit SSL encryption

Customer Services

Golden Palace Poker provides 24/7 ‘live’ support via the website, phone and email.

Conclusion: How does Golden Palace Poker Shape-Up?

Golden Palace Poker has a small sign-up bonus but some excellent promos and good traffic. The lack of Stud games is a negative, but on the whole this a decent poker room. Recommended.