safe and unsafe poker sites

[Bob L]

In the last few days there have been a few posts on which sites are safe and which aren't.In my opinion to be considered safe you should have alot of games and have been around a long time.Obviously Party,pokerstars,UB,pokerroom and paradise fit this criteria.To be safe, sites don't necessarily have to have lots and lots of players -examples being true poker, planet, 24 hr,wsex,ladbrokes,and now fitting in this category most would agree gaming club,pacific and victor chandler.Absolute poker and pokertroplis are coming close to fitting in this category also.
Now this leads to the risky sites.Keep in mind all sites have some risks (small but still are there) but some have larger risks than others.Any site which is new and/or have few players is the biggest risks.There are many of these around -nuttz,jetset,tiger gaming,superior,pokerclub,victorias,etc.This doesn't mean you won't get paid - it just means when sites are new and with few players -thats the sites which pose biggest risk of shutting down or going broke.Many of the sites I just mentioned could take off -you never know.But for the moment the risk is larger than other sites.
I have not mentioned william hill -only because I have heard stories of players not getting paid yet I have noticed lots of players playing there and have heard that william hill is a very trusted company in the uk(?).I also haven't mentioned dynamite poker only because they have very very small limit games and a small pool of players but have exceptional customer service-I have heard absolutley nothing bad -but they never seem to have anything bigger than around .50 -1.00..I think most sites I haven't mentioned are either skins of other sites or are so new that the same risk factor would apply to it.
I hope this helps those who are interested.

[Thythe]

All the crypto skins are gold: Intercasino, Poker Plex, William Hill, Carribean Sun, Totalbet, and now Classic Poker.

[w1ldkard1274]

Bob L, man you took the words right out of my mouth, nuttz and Tiger kind of took a while to pay me when I want to liquidate. JetSet, was pretty professional and solid though, out of the newbies that's probably the only one I trust for over a couple bucks or a five spot per game.

w1ldkard1274

"Be careful how much you put up against me because you never know when I might pull the wild card"

[Gotmilk]

i dont have experience with these sites but i thought Tiger Gaming and Victoria's were backed by larger established companies?

[csuf_gambler]

i didnt read your post cause it was too damn long.

unsafe = most if not all prima skins. and pokertroppolis

[Instyle007]

First of all hi, I'm a long time reader first time poster. Thought the time was right to give my two cents worth.

[ QUOTE ]
Any site which is new and/or have few players is the biggest risks.There are many of these around -nuttz,jetset,tiger gaming,superior,pokerclub,victorias,etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't be a slave to the big sites. I find the smaller ones are much much better with customer service & bonuses then the larger ones.

I play at Tiger Gaming for example and it is an excellent small little site (over 600 playing last night). The payouts are very fast and the cs is pretty good. They've also got a few neat games the other sites don't.

They need to work on getting more players, but the ones that are there are a bit on the fish side. They may have had issues in the past but since I've been there (over 1 year), I've had only good experiences.

[ QUOTE ]
To be safe, sites don't necessarily have to have lots and lots of players -examples being true poker, planet, 24 hr,wsex,ladbrokes,and now fitting in this category most would agree gaming club,pacific and victor chandler.Absolute poker and pokertroplis are coming close to fitting in this category also.


[/ QUOTE ]

I play at Pacific Poker as well and that site has a ton of players. In fact they are number 5 at www.pokerpulse.com. (http://www.pokerpulse.com.)

I think quite a few people read through this forum, you should really get your facts straight before posting anything. It's just not nice.

Instyle007

[Bob L]

I never said not to play at tiger gaming.I just said smaller sites have a bigger risk -that is a fact.Tiger is not a very big site and sure the games may be good but risk of not getting paid are way bigger at these type of sites.Just ask ms sunshine about pokerspot (myself also) -many people lost alot of money.Other small sites that went bust choice,highlands,etc.-the games were all awesome but it really sucks when you have a large sum of money and can't get paid.You say Tiger had over 600 playing -I really don't consider players playing freerolls real money players.

As far as you saying I should get my facts straight about pacific poker.-I never said anything bad,in fact I said that it is a smaller site that seems to be safe.However I do NOT consider pacific poker a major poker site because the software is awful,you can only play 1 table and having to wait at least 2 weeks to get your money is just not up to par with the other major sites.

[rr2000]

also, there are stories about player collusion. Avoid pacific if you can, imo.

[tiltboy]

[ QUOTE ]
In the last few days there have been a few posts on which sites are safe and which aren't.In my opinion to be considered safe you should have alot of games and have been around a long time.Obviously Party,pokerstars,UB,pokerroom and paradise fit this criteria.To be safe, sites don't necessarily have to have lots and lots of players -examples being true poker, planet, 24 hr,wsex,ladbrokes,and now fitting in this category most would agree gaming club,pacific and victor chandler.Absolute poker and pokertroplis are coming close to fitting in this category also.
Now this leads to the risky sites.Keep in mind all sites have some risks (small but still are there) but some have larger risks than others.Any site which is new and/or have few players is the biggest risks.There are many of these around -nuttz,jetset,tiger gaming,superior,pokerclub,victorias,etc.This doesn't mean you won't get paid - it just means when sites are new and with few players -thats the sites which pose biggest risk of shutting down or going broke.Many of the sites I just mentioned could take off -you never know.But for the moment the risk is larger than other sites.
I have not mentioned william hill -only because I have heard stories of players not getting paid yet I have noticed lots of players playing there and have heard that william hill is a very trusted company in the uk(?).I also haven't mentioned dynamite poker only because they have very very small limit games and a small pool of players but have exceptional customer service-I have heard absolutley nothing bad -but they never seem to have anything bigger than around .50 -1.00..I think most sites I haven't mentioned are either skins of other sites or are so new that the same risk factor would apply to it.
I hope this helps those who are interested.

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/mad.gif ProPoker /images/graemlins/mad.gif

[Dingo Puppet]

If you want professional advice about which sites are good and which aren't, go to bonuswhores.com. The top experts in the field have evaluated the crem de la crem of all sites and listed only the top ones. You can conveniently click on the poker links right there at bonuswhores.com and join up to any or all of these solid sites.

[Instyle007]

I should have clarified, the 600 players was total, all play and real money players for Tiger Gaming. This isn't a new site btw, in fact it's been up since 2001 I believe.

When's the last time you tried a cashout at either Tiger Gaming or Pacific Poker?

I've had withdrawls from both recently. Tiger Gaming was about 1 day and Pacific Poker was about 3 days. Pacific's was over a weekend and I have a feeling they don't process over weekends. So I bet if I'd cashed out on a weekday it would have gotten to me sooner.

Try both these sites' cashout processes (for the first time or again) and let us know what happens.

Instyle007

[Bob L]

I haven't played either site for a while (I try to avoid riskier sites...lol)When I did last cash out from pacific they held my cashout in limbo for 5 business days -( I guess hoping I changed my mind and wanted to cancel my cashout to play more poker) -and after the 5 business days they then began the "cashout process".I guess party and other sites have spoiled me with cashouts hitting my neteller account in a few hours.

[GrannyMae]

I play at Pacific Poker as well and that site has a ton of players

welcome to the forum instyle.

i don't have much to add here, but would suggest you do a search on poster Jim Kuhn + Pacific Poker. i know lots of people make money there, but there are no safeguards there to keep players from playing same table, in same house.

when Jim Kuhn, a very respected poster here, uncovered collusion at pacific, the site did nothing. they admitted in emails to him that the players were colluding, but they refused to refund the money to the players who were cheated.

the fact that pacific is the 5th largest site means to ME that there is a ton of collusion with all those players. it does not instill any confidence that they are on the square because of their size. the thread i am talking about includes all the emails between Jim and Pacific management. if you continue to play there, that's fine. however, i think any smart player owes it to themselves to read that thread.

i wish i had the link to save you the search. hopefully someone will post it.

again, welcome to the zoo.

http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/_950/curtsey.gif