How we review poker sites
What Will I Learn?
As you’ve probably noticed, we have reviewed several online poker sites here at Beasts Of Poker. As we’re building a community of inspired poker players and enthusiasts, we want to be transparent about what happens behind the scenes as we’re writing about different poker sites.
Before we dive into the details of our reviewing process, you need to understand how our site covers the expenses created for producing all the content we have here. If you decide to click one of our sign-up buttons and open an account on a poker site or purchase a poker training course, we will get paid a fee for advertising. This business model is called affiliate marketing. The way affiliate marketing works differs a bit from other types of advertising. As an affiliate, you’re earning an income by promoting someone else’s products, not your own.
An obvious question to ask regarding our business model might have popped in your head, ‘Do you advertise any brands just to pay the bills’? The short answer: No. It would make us more money in the short term to promote all kinds of poker rooms. But, we’re more focused on only beating the drum for those sites we like to play on ourselves.
To put it bluntly, we are not Mickey Mouse affiliates – we are Beasts Of Poker! Hence we want to be friends with the best brands that offer value for both recreational and professional players. Recommending a site that we wouldn’t play on ourselves just isn’t a cool thing to do… And on our site, we strive to put on cool things only. Period.
That’s about it on our business model. Let’s now take a closer look at the different aspects of how we review poker sites:
Playing experience shared for players, by players
The first principle we have is writing everything from the player’s point of view. After all, we are here for you. Without our players all our content and reviews would be in vain. We form our reviews in a way that gives you all the necessary details to decide whether to play on a poker site. Also, we’ve removed everything that isn’t essential for that. If there’s a variable that affects the playing experience or your ability to win money on a certain poker site, you bet we’ve got that part covered!
Our reviewing process is a rigorous one. Yet, it can be summarized into a simple question: ‘Would we be happy to play on this poker site ourselves, and also recommend it to our friends?’ For a poker site to be featured in our reviews, the answer must be yes. If it’s not, well in that case we are leaving that operator out. Our editorial standards have been established to keep the players always informed of the best that online poker has to offer.
We do keep an eye though on sites that have not yet passed our criteria to be featured, as the playing conditions might change at some point. A great example of a site like this would be GGPoker, a brand that we didn’t promote at first. Their tournament series & guarantees and cash games have improved so much recently that it got featured on our site some time ago.
What are the different aspects in reviewing a poker site that we feel are important to consider? As poker players, we’ve arrived at the following factors to be evaluated during the review:
Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness is perhaps the most important aspect of a poker site. You don’t want to deposit your hard-earned money onto a site that has a history of delayed withdrawals or even not paying their players. The more years the operator has been in business without major complaints, the better.
Our main criteria for evaluating trustworthiness include:
- The track record of the site
- Has there been any complaints of players not receiving their money
- What measures the site has taken to prevent collusion and cheating
- Do they operate under a license
- Is their random number generator tested & certified by a 3rd party
- How fast are the withdrawals
Game Formats & Player Traffic
Nobody likes to play on a poker site full of nits who don’t give action. What we want for our players here is clear: Soft games in a variety of game formats. Good player traffic translates into more profit in your pockets!
Our criteria for evaluating game formats & player traffic include:
- How many tables are running at different stakes
- Is there a variety of different game formats available
- Are the games easy to beat
- Is there good action available at different times of the day
Software & Playing Experience
We evaluate the software and playing experience based on following criteria:
- How easy the site is to use
- Is navigating the poker client clear & smooth
- Is the visual outlook pleasant
- Is the user experience good on both desktop and mobile devices
- Is it easy to register an account and make a deposit
- Is it easy to follow your rewards like cashback and bonuses cleared
- How much you can alter the table layout to your liking
Rakeback & Bonuses
Last but not least, it’s important to assess the value of total rewards you get by playing at an online poker room. The value of total rewards can vary greatly between different sites and a good rewards program can make a big difference in winnings.
Our criteria for rakeback & bonuses include:
- Is there a first deposit bonus available for new players
- Does the site offer big tournament series and guaranteed prize pools
- Does the site have a cashback program
- How much is the total rakeback
How We Calculate Rakeback & Bonuses
Based on our experience, online poker bonuses can be quite confusing at times. There are so many combinations of bonuses available like first deposit bonuses, reload bonuses and no deposit bonuses. We list the value of all bonuses offered by poker sites we review, including the wagering or rake requirements to release those bonuses. For example, let’s say a first deposit bonus is matched equally to your deposit size up to $500 and clears at $1 per every $5 rake. This bonus is shown as a 100% first deposit bonus up to $500 and the wagering requirements are specified accordingly.
Same goes for the cashback and rakeback offers. We calculate the total cashback or rakeback that you can get from different sites. This way our players can easily compare where they can benefit most by playing. Our team of online poker experts negotiates the best offers from poker rooms and puts up the exact offers from poker sites. This way you’ll know what you are getting before you sign-up on a particular poker site.
The Beasts Of Poker Advantages In a Nutshell
Reviews from True Experts, not Marketers:
Our Pro Team consists of famous online players like EEE27, XD89lol<3, bustoville. They have tested all poker rooms before we publish the reviews.
Poker Site Reviews By Players, For Players:
We only promote sites we genuinely like & play on ourselves.
Best of What Online Poker Has to Offer:
Due to our vast network in the online poker industry, we are able to find you the softest games and best bonuses available at any time.
