Full review of RiverBelle Poker

Summary
Riverbelle Poker is a good choice among the poker rooms in the PrimaPoker Network. They have much better bonus and promotions than most other Prima Poker rooms (see our deal below, which is the best Prima Poker deal currently). Riverbelle Casino, which manages this poker room, is a large online casino with very good reputation. The Prima Poker software is quite OK nowadays, but not great. On the positive side, there are many very juicy and aggressive games, which is good both for the action lover and the sophisticated players looking for a good hourly return. Real money player statistics - January 2005: 2700-3400 ring game players at peak hours, 3500-4300 tournament players at peak hours. Special $300 bonus for our users! Bonus is awarded automatically via offer page (any deposit over $20 is eligible for this bonus - paid on in $20 increments by no. of raked hans, see details at our review page)

Software and graphics
Riverbelle Poker software is a customized shared-network version of Prima Poker Network by Microgaming. There have been a number of smaller makeovers of the software during 2003 and 2004, but there are still some areas of improvement before reaching the level of top poker room software. Riverbelle Poker does share the player base with the rest of the Prima Poker Network to ensure high traffic. The game used to be slower that the average online, but nowadays the software speed as well as user's time restriction is much quicker. Hand history is available by HTML page and via email. One nice feature is the possibility to see all actions in the chat area to the right - who raised and called and for which amounts in the previous betting rounds and previous hands. This feature is invaluable for players not keeping full focus on the game (playing on other tables or having other distractions). In sum, the software is now OK, but leaves some room for improvement.

Ring game traffic
Riverbelle Poker (Prima Poker) player volume has grown tremedously during the latter part of 2004 and is now among top 6 in the industry. The ring game traffic at peak hours is currently around 2700-3400 players.

Tournament traffic
At peak times, the tournament traffic at Riverbelle Poker currently reaches somewhere between 3500 and 4300 players (lots of these ″real money players″ are in massive free rolls).

Game variety
Riverbelle Poker has the standard games (hold'em, Omaha, seven-card stud and five-card stud), but there are no Hi-Lo versions.There is very good volume for the pot- and no-limit players in hold'em.There are many short-handed tables with a maximum of 5 or 6 players.

Rake
The rake is somewhat less attractive than the average. The pot- and no-limit is raked at every $5, which is good. The lower straight limit games (up to $1/$2) are capped at $1.50 (compared to $1 at most other sites), which is high.The tournaments fees are 10% for entries ranging from $10 up to $50. For the $100 tournaments, the fee is $9.

Soft competition
Prima Poker Network offers some of the wildest ring games around, with view flop percentages most often in the 40-ies, 50-ies and even reaching the 70-ies. The tournaments are also quite wild, at least up to the $50 fees.It remains to be seen what the quality of players will be in the future. Presently there is much advertising, which typically attracts less experienced and looser poker players.

Sign up bonus
There is a special $300 sign-up bonus to all new players. You can get the full $300 bonus with a very low deposit ($20 and up) as the bonus is entirely dependent on how many raked hands you play and not the size of the deposit. Remember to get the full bonus you often need a larger deposit as you will loose out sooner or later.

Loyalty bonus
New points program, where frequent players are invited to a number of high value free rolls and other promotions.

Promotions
Since recently there are some high value promotions at Riverbelle Poker. There are currently 5 free rolls daily with $1000 or more in prize pool (in the Prima network). The progressive bad beat jackpot is for Holdem ring games, the jackpot starts at $500 with $50 added each day. There is also a daily Holdem high-hand bonus of $250.

Support
There is telephone support and e-mail support. However, email support often has slow response times.

Financial security
Should be secure, as the mother company is a well-established online casino and the poker room is part of a network. High score.

Deposit & withdrawal options
Deposit options:
EcoCard, VISA, MasterCard, prepaid ATM, NETeller, FirePay, Moneybookers.
Cash out options:
Cash out to credit card only against prior purchases make, remaining balance is paid out via various ″web wallets″ (NETeller, FirePay, Prepaid ATM, PaySpark, etc) and check.