Hollywood Poker

Full Review of Hollywood Poker

When a name like Vince Van Patten puts his endorsement to what is still a relatively new poker site, you know that there has to be something a little bit special about it. What sets Hollywood Poker apart from it's vast range of competitors is the fun to be had in matching wits with some of the biggest names in the poker world.

Not only does Hollywood Poker offer some of the most attractive-looking and ambient gameplay to be found in the world of online poker, but there's also the chance to earn some fantastic bonus money by putting celebrity names like James Woods, Nick Cassavetes and Ronny Cox firmly in their place!

Newcomers to Hollywood Poker are offered some of the best first-time deposit bonuses available anywhere. At the time of writing, the site is offering eight different bonuses for the first-time player with deposit matches of between 50% to 1000%. That's anything up to a massive $5000 with a generous 90 days to clear.

As well as being outrageously liberal with bonuses, Hollywood Poker also offers newcomers free entry into their newcomer tournaments giving even the most novice of players a chance to build up that all-important poker bankroll without having to risk their own money. There's also a fantastic $1 buy-in tournament every Saturday that offers a minimum first prize of $1000 and, once again, offers the beginner a great opportunity of making big bucks for a small stake.

But perhaps the most appealing tournaments are the ones that put you straight in against the biggest names in poker! With buy-ins starting at just $5, Hollywood Poker hosts three different celebrity tournaments every week. And not only is there some fantastic prize money up for grabs, but there's the chance of winning up to $40 for every celebrity you manage to knock out on a head-to-head basis. It's an amazingly fun way to build your poker bankroll, as well as giving you some serious bragging rights amongst your friends and family!
Recognising the big names is made easy by the addition of a gold star next to their name and on the table in front of them. If a famous name doesn't have a gold star, they're not a real celebrity!

Being part of an established network also means Hollywood Poker can offer WPT satellite events and other live tournaments with prize pools of anything up to $50,000.

Although Hollywood Poker hasn't been around for as long as some of the more established names in the game, the fact it operates on an existing network means it already attracts more traffic than many poker sites that have been around for much longer. Hollywood Poker is now one of the most popular sites for attracting poker enthusiasts with an average of over 10,000 players cruising the tables throughout last month and a massive 30,178 during one session alone. This means that there will be times when finding a table to play at may take a few minutes, but the overall quality of the site usually means it's well worth the wait.

Although the promotions offered by Hollywood Poker are offered with the new player in mind, there's still some very experienced players on the site, so tight play is recommended until you've managed to settle in a little.

The software itself is a feast for the eyes, with sharp graphical content and a colour scheme that makes you feel like you've just walked into the plushest of casinos. The gameplay operates incredibly smoothly and the avatars are highly detailed to give that genuine 'sat-at-the-table' feeling.

Game statistics are readily available for the more studious player, and there's an easy-to-use player note system so you can keep a close eye on your poker playing rivals. Player actions are symbolised by comic-book-style speech bubbles so it's always fairly easy to understand what's going on, even for the absolute beginner.

The lobby facility is easy to navigate, and offers every version of the modern game including Texas Hold 'em, Omaha and 7-Card Stud with fixed limit, no limit and pot limit games as well as sit-and go tournaments and round table games. There's also a no-download version of the software that offers convenience and pleasantly surprising realism for a Java applet.

For the beginner, no limit games start as low as 10c/25c with the more experienced players being able to wager $25/$50 at the top end. There's also an option to create private tables and set your own buy-ins.

Payouts at Hollywood Poker are simple using today's most popular electronic methods such as NETeller, Click2Pay and Firepay, with most withdrawals taking between 24 to 36 hours. Expect paper cheques to take a little longer.

Hollywood Poker also offers excellent customer support including an online messaging facility and a telephone support line. Site representatives seem knowledgeable and eager to help, and tend to get problems fixed quickly so you can get back to enjoying your poker as quickly as possible.

The extensive range of deposit bonuses means there something for everybody at Hollywood Poker. The gameplay is great, the tournaments represent superb value and the traffic coming through the site means you should be able to find the type of game to suit your level of play without too many problems.

Best of all, there's always that wonderful chance of claiming a big-name scalp into the bargain. At Hollywood Poker, they'll even pay you for it!

US players are not currently accepted at Hollywood Poker.