Planet Poker



Planet Poker, founded in 1998, touts itself as the "first and most-trusted cardroom on the Internet". It is not nearly as big in terms of number of players as the top 5 online poker rooms, but still has reasonably good software and reasonable games. It does not advertise much, and therefore has trouble attracting new players. Most games played on it are low-limit and micro-limit, though there are a few 10/20 and 20/40 players who frequent the site.

Games spread
Limit hold 'em: 0.02/0.04, 0.05/0.10, 0.10/0.20, 0.25/0.50, 0.50/1.00, $1/$2, 2/4, 3/6, 5/10, 10/20, 20/40 (they do not offer fixed-limit games higher than 20/40). Higher-limit games run sporadically, but games at 3/6 and below are usually always running. There is usually at least one 5/10 game as well.

No-limit hold 'em: $2 max 0.01/0.02 blinds, $5 max, 0.02/0.05 blinds, $10 max 0.05/0.10 blinds, $25 max 0.10/0.25 blinds, $50 max 0.25/0.50 blinds, $100 max 0.50/1.00 blinds, $200 max 1/2 blinds, $300 max 1/3 blinds, $500 max 2/5 blinds, $1000 max 5/10 blinds. Games under the $50 max are always running; higher games (while always available) generally only run on evenings and weekends.



Omaha high: Pot-limit Omaha high listed at five levels: $2 max, $25 max, $50 max, $100 max, $200 max. Fixed-limit Omaha high listed at seven levels: 0.02/0.04, 0.25/0.50, 0.50/1.00, 1/2, 2/4, 4/8, 8/16. I have never seen any active games of Omaha high here, but there may be some, sometimes.

Omaha/8: Pot-limit Omaha/8 listed at five levels: $2 max, $25 max, $50 max, $100 max, $200 max. Fixed-limit Omaha/8 listed at nine levels: 0.02/0.04, 0.10/0.20, 0.25/0.50, 0.50/1.00, 1/2, 2/4, 3/6, 4/8, 8/16. There is always at least one game going (usually micro-limit), and often interest in two or three more. On evenings and weekends, you can usually find six or so games at different levels and betting structures underway.

7-Stud: Fixed-limit games listed at 0.05/0.10, 0.25/0.50, 0.50/1.00, 1/2, 2/4, 4/8, 8/16, 15/30. I have never seen a game going for 7-Stud Hi, but I have sene people on the waitlist. Must be very rare that these run, but they must run or nobody would wait for them.

7-Stud Hi-Lo: Fixed-limit games listed at 0.05/0.10, 0.10/0.20, 0.25/0.50, 0.50/1.00, 1/2, 2/4, 4/8, 8/16, 15/30. Usually one low limit game (0.50/1.00 or thereabouts) going, during peak hours there may be three or four games in play.

Five-card draw: As one of the few online sites that even offer five-card draw, it's surprising that Planet doesn't have more players playing it around the clock. They offer pot-limit $2 max, $25 max, and $50 max, and fixed-limit at 0.05/0.10, 0.25/0.50, 0.50/1.00, 1/2, 2/4, 4/8, 8/16. There is always at least a waiting list for a table, but at any given time there seems to be at most two tables going, usually at mid-range fixed-limits.

Scheduled Tournaments
They have a fairly busy and frequent schedule of tournaments with a good mix of games and buyins. As a low-limit site, most tournaments have fairly low buyins ($5, $10, and $20). A new tournament starts about every five minutes. Most tournaments are single-table tournaments, but they do offer a reasonable number of multi-table tournaments as well, usually about two or three per hour. Rake on the tournaments is pleasantly low: the rake at a $5 buyin single-table tourney is only 0.50, unlike many other online sites that round it up to a dollar.

Their tournament schedule is fixed on a daily basis. For example, the $1 buy-in five-card draw tournament starts every day at 2:25 pm eastern time. (And where else can you even play a five-card raw tournamnet, much less one for a dollar buy-in with no house rake?). They offer tournaments for all their offered games and betting structures (e.g. Pot-limit Omaha tournaments, no-limit hold 'em tournaments, fixed-limit 7-stud hi-lo tournamnets, etc). Some no-limit hold 'em tournaments are designated as "Turbo", where blinds increase every five minutes instead of increasing every 10-15 minutes, as is standard.

Sit N Go
As of August 25, 2006, Planet now offers sit-n-go tournaments, though the variety of limits and games is still a bit wanting (though they do have sit-n-go 5-card draw tournaments!)

Quality of opposition
Cash games and tournaments are average to weak.

Customer Service / Cashout Issues
None, yet.