Betfair Poker Review 2023
Betfair is best known as the world’s leading online betting exchange, accepting bets on a large range of sporting and other events, opening its doors in 1999. However, in recent years they have expanded into new areas and now also offer online poker as a product.
As the main sponsor for World Series of Poker Europe, Betfair has taken a strong position in the poker market and is growing into one of the most popular online poker sites. Their poker section is very well represented by their poker pro representative from Norway, Annette Obrestad, one of the true elite female poker pros that has gain much success in the different live poker tournaments.
As mentioned, Betfair originates from being the first betting exchange online, however have from there besides poker, also moved into online casino as well very successfully. Having said that, playing poker at Betfair will open up a plethora of different gaming opportunities, as well as big promotions which you can use on the different gaming products of your choice on Betfair.
Detailed Review
Poker Competition:
Because of its history as a sports betting exchange, a large proportion of Betfair’s customers are primarily interested in football, horse racing and other sports. As Betfair has expanded their range of products, many of these customers have become frequent users of their other offerings, including poker. When looking for a new poker rooms, many players prefer sites that also offer sports betting, because a good proportion of the players are not poker specialists. This can make it easier to win, especially at the low stakes poker tables. There are however some games, such as Pot Limit Omaha for stakes of $5-$10 or more, where the competition is quite tough.
Our Poker experts tried out Betfair Poker for a week and confirmed that while the action during the weekdays was fine, it was the standard of play at weekends that really justified Betfair’s reputation for soft action. This is probably due to the large number of sporting events that take place at weekends. These attract many sports bettors, some of whom also like to try their luck at playing poker.
Poker Software:
Betfair Poker recently moved to the iPoker Network, which uses poker software from PlayTech. PlayTech are well known to offer solid and user-friendly poker software. Although some users may find the design a little dull, the software provides good support for the most important functions, such as easy resizing of tables, access to the poker lobby and access to hand histories.
Good news is thought, that PlayTech aims to be a pioneer in poker software development. Thus they have put a large team of developers in place working continuously to improve their software and develop new functions that will help their online poker customers. One of the true let-downs of the Betfair poker client is that yet you are not able to play poker thru your Mac, or other Apple device, without using emulators. However, our poker team has been in contact with the Betfair poker management team and they have informed us that they expected to launch a full Mac compatible software end of 2014.
Multi-table mini view.
Has become a very popular feature at Betfair, and on the iPoker software, which allows the poker players to play numerous of tables at the same time. You can customize the tables as per your own preferences in size, and you could basically on a normal 15 inch screen fit as many as 15 tables at the same time.
Games Offered
Although Texas Hold´Em, and nowadays Omaha, are the main games played at Betfair poker, there is still a large offering of other popular poker varations that you can play. The action might not be the best, but you should be able to find sine action at the lower stakes at least.
* Texas Holdem
* Omaha
* Omaha Hi/Lo
* Seven Card Stud
* Five Card Stud
* Five Card Stud Hi/Lo
Sit & Go (SNG). Playing smaller SnG has always been very popular at Betfair poker. The different SnG´s ranging from a few dollars buy-in, up to a few thousand dollars – so there is a game available for everyone. The most common amount of players in the SnG´s are 6 or 10 players at the same time, however you are also able to play Heads Up, and even larger field SnG´s.
Thus, if you like to play Sit and Go´s, we are sure that you will find a good game the fits your poker bankroll.
Satelites. Hence that Betfair are main sponsors to the WSOPE you will be able to qualify yourself to a seat at this tournament, and as well the side events. Betfair poker also runs satelites that you can take you to the other large live tournaments around the world.
Other satelites that are available are the ones where you can qualify yourself to the larger online poker tournaments where there are large prize pools up for the top contenders.
Rake
When playing poker at Betfair Poker, you are charged a small fee of rake depending what limits your playing, as well if it is a cash game or a tournament.
The fees are structured as following: In Cash games:
Fixed Limit Rake: $0.02/$0.04 – $0.05/$0.10
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 – 10 | $0.01 for each $0.25 | $0.04 |
Fixed Limit Rake: $0.10/$0.20
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 – 10 | $0.01 for each $0.25 | $0.10 |
Fixed Limit Rake: $0.25/$0.50 – $0.50/$1.00
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 – 10 | $0.02 for each $0.50 | $0.40 |
Fixed Limit Rake: $1/$2
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 – 10 | $0.02 for each $0.50 | $1 |
Fixed Limit Rake: $2/$4
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 | $0.20 for each $5 | $1 |
| 3 – 4 | $0.20 for each $5 | $2 |
| 5 – 10 | $0.20 for each $5 | $3 |
Fixed Limit Rake: $3/$6 – $10/$20
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 | $0.40 for each $10 | $1 |
| 3 – 4 | $0.40 for each $10 | $2 |
| 5 – 10 | $0.40 for each $10 | $3 |
Fixed Limit Rake: $20/$40 – $30/$60
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 | $0.75 for each $20 | $1 |
| 3 – 4 | $0.75 for each $20 | $2 |
| 5 – 10 | $0.75 for each $20 | $3 |
Fixed Limit Rake: $50/$100 and above
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 – 3 | $2 for each $100 | $2 |
| 4 – 10 | $2 for each $100 | $4 |
Pot Limit & No Limit Rake: $0.01/$0.02 – $0.02/$0.04
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 – 10 | $0.01 for each $0.15 | $1 |
Pot Limit & No Limit Rake: $0.05/$0.10
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 | $0.01 for each $0.15 | $1 |
| 3 – 4 | $0.01 for each $0.15 | $2 |
Pot Limit & No Limit Rake: $0.10/$0.20 – $0.25/$0.50
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 | $0.01 for each $0.20 | $1 |
| 3 – 4 | $0.01 for each $0.20 | $2 |
| 5 – 10 | $0.01 for each $0.20 | $3 |
Pot Limit & No Limit Rake: $0.50/$1 – $10/$20
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 | $0.05 for each $1 | $1 |
| 3 – 4 | $0.05 for each $1 | $2 |
| 5 – 10 | $0.05 for each $1 | $3 |
Pot Limit & No Limit Rake: $25/$50 and above
| Number of Players | Rake per Pot | Max. Rake |
| 2 – 3 | $1 for each $20 | $2 |
| 4 – 10 | $1 for each $20 | $5 |
Poker Promotions
Betfair Poker are well-known for offering some of the industries best poker promotions. At the moment they have a stellar Caribbean poker package promotion where you can win a trip to Punta Cana, with a buy-in to the $500K live event. The package also includes hotel, traveling expenses, welcome party and much more. The total value of the is 5,000EUR.
To win this package you can either qualify thru the numerous satellite tournaments that you can find in the poker lobby, or if you simple want to rely on lady luck, you just need to hit a royal flush, and a package is awarded to you.
Furthermore, other fun promotions running at the moment are UK football match promotion, where you can win tickets to any football game of your choice. Also this you can find satellites to in the poker lobby and the satellite tournaments run every day at 8PM GMT, and the Main Event´s every Wednesday at 8PM GMT.
Besides on-going promotions Betfair Poker offers all their new customers a fantastic welcome package which includes the following:
* 200% Match bonus up to €1500!
* €20 bonus when you transfer €10 or more into your poker account.
* 5 tokens for a Rookie SnG tournament.
* €5 free play token at their casino games.
Customer Support:
Betfair Poker offers customer support both by e-mail and by phone. One of their strengths is that customer support is available in all European languages, so if you feel more comfortable expressing yourself in your native tongue, Betfair give you the benefit of that option.
We tested their support, and although they took almost 8 hours to respond to an e-mail, the response was helpful and resolved the issue. There is no online ‘live chat’ support at present, so for quicker assistance we recommend that you use their telephone support service.
Security:
Like most online gaming operations, Betfair Poker has a large security department that handles all aspects of your contact with them. They monitor all poker tables to ensure that the game of poker is played fairly. Your withdrawals and your deposits to Betfair Poker are handled on a secure encrypted platform which encrypts all your information and makes your transactions safe.
Betfair PLC, which is the owner of the Betfair products, is listed on the London Stock Exchange. This gives you access to all their financial results, and the comfort of knowing that they are subject to the controls and regulations that govern all listed public companies.
Conclusion:
Betfair is a well-respected and popular brand in online gaming. When you become a customer of Betfair Poker you also have the benefit of access to their other gaming products: their sportsbook, casino and other games. Betfair Poker offers you online poker on a secure and user-friendly platform, with many useful functions.
The large first time deposit bonus shows that Betfair Poker are doing their utmost to offer their new poker customers the best value in promotions. Besides poker bonuses you will also be able to take advantage of weekly $1,000 Freerolls as well as other worthwhile poker tournaments.
Overall Betfair Poker is one of top picks for online poker.
