Hollywood Poker

The self-designated "hotspot" for some of Hollywood's biggest celebrities, the online site provides exciting poker action for recreational players, world-class professionals, and also some of the most recognizable faces in the entertainment industry. A mainstay on the World Poker Tour, the show's host Vince Van Patten is its main endorser. However, Emmy award-winning actor James Woods also does a great job of promoting the software. While these two celebrities are a few of the more frequent visitors, other media moguls such as Merv Griffin and Mena Suvari have also been known to stop by for a tournament or two.

While Hollywood Poker certainly lives up to its name in terms of celebrity volume, they make it a focus to give all of its poker players the same level of poker experience. With Texas Hold'em, Five Card Draw, Seven Card Stud and Omaha, the online site boasts loads of different gaming options to suit nearly anyone. For those who are particularly interested in obtaining the biggest edge possible, statistical resources are at their peak on Hollywood Poker.

Being included on the growing OnGame network has allowed player volume statistics to flourish. With over 45,000 tournament players during the peak hours of the week, those who are searching for a lot of tournament action should flock to Hollywood Poker. There's also nearly 10,000 cash game players during the same hours, which should make it easy to find a game after you've busted from a tournament.

Labeled as "where the stars come to play," you'll love to know that this slogan is accurate in all depictions of the phrase. The professional and celebrity laden fields will often make some of your cash games and tournament tables significantly more difficult, but with a focus on solid play and game selection, players should be able to make money on this site. The plethora of generous promotions, bonus payouts and tournament qualifiers will undoubtedly make your experience on Hollywood Poker worthwhile.

The impressive black and crimson red color scheme designated for Hollywood Poker's lobby should be sure to attract new visitors. This color combination seems to provide an updated feel, and adds to the already functional layout of the lobby. More options for selecting poker games are easily clickable, with Cash Games, Sit and Go Tournaments, Scheduled Tournaments, and Play Money games all located at the top of the program. After selecting your desired game, other options such as game type and the stakes available will also populate below.

The main lobby window gives a preview of several statistical calculations, such as hands per hour, flop percentages, number of players and the average pot won. Although those elements are mostly standard, one of the best features not found on many other poker sites is the ability to have a brief screenshot of the actual table in play. With this feature, you'll be able to see exactly what seats are available, and choose the perfect spot at your leisure. This feature may not sound like much, but for those who prefer to maximize their edge by practicing seat selection will deeply appreciate it. With this screenshot, you'll now be able to see exactly where the "sharks" and "fish" are sitting, and maximize value by keeping each player on the correct side of you.

Other great options like game filters, Mac compatibility, Quick Seat, resizable tables, player notes and multi-tabling are all included on Hollywood Poker's software. For those who meet the system requirements, all consumers should be able to take advantage of all of those options at lightning-fast speeds. Hollywood Poker's software is very smooth, and even with the use of 3D avatars, it rarely shows any inconsistency in terms of gameplay. Even those who are interested in the no-download version of the client are able to use most of the suite of available features.

Action replays, a mobile-gaming platform (for real money) and chat windows all give Hollywood Poker the characteristics it needs to make it a one-stop poker destination.

With the name Hollywood Poker, each and every player (including the celebrities) are actually treated like royalty when it comes to customer service. Players are the most important aspect of any site, and keeping them content is what Hollywood Poker focuses on.

Players may contact Hollywood Poker's staff from several instant messaging platforms, including Skype, MSN/Windows Live, and Yahoo Messenger. While these services are available, live chat forums such as these have limited hours, and you'll need to adhere to specific hours of operation in order to get in touch with them. However, if you're still in need of help, email support is available 24/7 and is also the most common method used to contact the support staff.

A Frequently Asked Questions page, that addresses both beginners and experienced players is also available via the Hollywood Poker web site. A contact form may also be used (on the same page) if any of the above methods of contact aren't sufficient.

Online poker sometimes receives a bad reputation because of online security. While there's been a few sites that have ruined its perception, Hollywood Poker has never been included in that bunch. The site is host to encrypted software, and thorough audits are performed regularly by third parties. For added layers of protection, players also have all of the site's playing activity being monitored, logged and saved in a database. So should any suspicious activity ever take place, Hollywood Poker will have the facts to support you, and any claim of unfair practices.

While the action isn't quite as fierce as some of the other top-tier online poker entities, the games on Hollywood Poker are slightly tougher than most. If you need to make money on the site, you'll have to scour the lower-limit No-Limit Hold'em and Omaha tables to find most of your profitability. The inclusion of many smart and aggressive international players, coupled with the site's improved traffic statistic make for both more competition and more beginning players. Finding the right combination, will be your toughest assignment.

Nearly every game above the $5/$10 level will require significant skill to be successful. Although those games may still be beaten, you'll likely be better off participating in lesser known poker varieties or moving down in stakes.

Most of the games that you'll need to be successful in online poker are available. Texas Hold'em, Omaha and Seven-Card Stud are the most popular games, although the occasional Five-Card Draw game does peek its head from time to time. In terms of game types, No-Limit, Pot-Limit and Limit versions of most games apply.

In addition to all of the poker variants, feel free to take part in a suite of other casino games, such as Blackjack, Craps, Roulette and Horse Racing. All of these traditional brick-and-mortar casino games are brought to the client via CLUBHollywood, which serves as the ultimate in online casino liaisons for the player searching for the most lavish and lucrative environment found anywhere.

As customary with several of the bigger poker sites, Hollywood Poker offers some of the biggest rewards packages, online tournaments, and Sit-N-Gos to hit the web. Those searching for all specific types of these tournaments shouldn't find difficulty in locating those on the site as well.

Nicknamed HollywoodPoker Live, the online site is currently giving away over 40 prize packages to the 2011 World Series of Poker, with 9 of those being exclusively designated for the WSOP Main Event. There's also approximately 36 side event packages that will be given away, and all of these packages range in value from $3,600 to $14,500! (This includes hotel accomodations, spending money, free breakfast, and Hollywood Poker sponsored merchandise.) The total prize pool for the World Series of Poker 2011 is anticipated to be $68,000,000, so don't miss out on your chance to cash in on that unheard of prize pool!

Although the WSOP is just one of the premier live events that Hollywood Poker has qualifiers for, the WPT, EPT, Aussie Millions, Irish Open and Croatian Poker Series are also included on that list. Dependent upon the time of year, you'll find qualifiers for these tournaments directly in the Hollywood Poker tournament lobby.

With at least $16 million in guaranteed tournament cash monthly, it's easier to understand why Hollywood Poker's tournament tables is where most of their traffic resides. Enormous guarantees such as the Sunday $100,000, the $200,000 Championship and the $40,000 High Roller are events that attract even the biggest names in tournament poker. During the weekdays, you can usually find five-figure guarantees running around the clock, and feature buy-ins that are considerably less than their weekend counterparts.

Hollywood Poker offers bigger and better freeroll tournaments for those who participate heavily on the site. Their $100,000 Freeroll Series awards serious prizes for the real-money player, who may be interested in taking a shot at a large multi-table tournament freeroll. If you manage to come within the top 23 players in their freerolls, you'll be allowed to cash in on your share of $100,000! Known as the "Freeroll Deposit Bonus," you'll need to clear your bonus by playing in real-money games, but that process shouldn't take long at all.

New players also have the convenience of having an exclusive freeroll for them, deemed the Red Carpet Freeroll. Essentially welcoming players to the site in the metaphor of a red carpet, players can take a shot at $100 in prize money every Monday at 8:00PM EDT, or 8:00 GMT. You'll need to make your first real-money deposit, but after you do this, you'll be immediately rewarded with 4 free tournament tickets!

Hollywood Poker is host to slew of different stakes, and this begins at the bare minimum micro limits of $1c/$2c. The No-Limit games range up to $200/$400, and the Limit games are often sky-high at stakes of $500/$1000. While the amount of action found at these stakes will vary dramatically, most of the concentration of play will be between the micro stakes, up to about $5/$10.

A range of levels of play is the way Hollywood Poker determines your player rewards. Ranging from a Bronze medalist, all the way up to the Titanium medalist, those who spend the most time and participate at the highest levels will reap benefits the fastest.

With rewards that include a free updated newsletter, cash bonuses, merchandise exchanges and private heads-up celebrity challenges, it's all waiting for you on Hollywood Poker. Known as CLUBHollywood Poker, this VIP rewards system awards points based on the amount of rake and tournament fee taken from real-money play. Also, if players choose not to participate in the player points system, but would prefer rakeback instead, you may also choose that option. This is known by Hollywood Poker as the "Value Back Player Programme," and awards rakeback up to 40%, dependent upon the amount of points you accumulate in a month. If you can manage to average over 1,000 points monthly for a year, you'll receive the maximum amount of rakeback.

The Hollywood Poker Loyalty Store is where you'll find all of the latest goods, clothing and electronics to be purchased with your player points.

Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, Moneybookers, ClickandBuy, WebMoney, Click2Pay and Instacash are all options available for use when depositing on Hollywood Poker. If you're looking to make a withdrawal, all of those options are also available, with the inclusion of couriered check. (At a maximum of $1,000.)