BetOnline Poker Review

by Noah Taylor Last Updated
Casino Highlights
  • Strong Cryptocurrency Support
  • Great Welcome Bonus
  • Reliable Software
Deposit Options
Mobile Capability
Poker Network

The first thing you’ll notice when arriving on their site is that they’re certainly not a one-product site. Rather, a quick look at the tabs on their homepage reveals they also offer sports, a stand-alone race book, Esports, an Online Casino and Live Casino.

So, plenty for the all-round gambler to get involved with and stay entertained but it’s the online poker we’re concerned about so that’s what we’ll be discussing.

Without jumping the gun too much, there are plenty of things we like about this poker site starting with a good welcome bonus, much-improved software, plenty of benefits for the Bitcoin depositor and an all-round superior product on the technological front compared to the competition when it comes to such things as the mobile app and Native Mac software download.

Of course, no poker site in the world is without its faults either, so we’ll be discussing a few areas where they’re not quite as great.

BetOnline Screenshots

betonline-gameplay
betonline-gameplay-2

Bonuses and Promotions

Welcome Offer

Ever wanted to know how a typical poker welcome bonus works? We’ll tell you.

At an online Sportsbook or Casino, the house offers a bonus of between say 50% and 150% on your first deposit. If it was 50%, you’d deposit 100AUD and get an extra 50 AUD to play with.

If it was 100%, you’d deposit 50 AUD and they’d give you an extra 50 AUD. Sportsbooks work the same way, except getting a bonus and being able to withdraw a bonus and winnings from it, are two very different things. That’s because of the small matter of wagering requirements. You can’t just get a bonus, make money from betting it and run for the hills. You need to wager it through 40x or 50x before you can withdraw it and that’s not so easy.

Poker welcome bonuses work differently. Here at BetOnline Poker you get an 100% up to 1000 AUD but you don’t get the bonus straight away. Rather, every time you pay 50 AUD in rake, they’ll give you 5 AUD back as a bonus. You have 30 days to play as much as you want/can in order to release that bonus. After the 30 days it disappears into the ether.

So, getting the full bonus amount requires a lot of playing but once the bonus is released, there are no wagering requirements at all, and the bonus is yours to withdraw. Just make sure that you a) don’t ask to withdraw your deposit before the 30 days are up and b) that you send an e-mail at the moment you open your account to the address provided asking for the bonus(es) to be credited. It seems an unnecessary step but that’s just the way it goes.

Freerolls and Other Bonuses

Freerolls are so 2008! We joke of course and freerolls are great but we also like the new concept of Freebuys. These are tournaments that are freerolls in nature- no buy-in required- but can quickly become tournaments where you increase your chances by getting out your wallet. That’s because as soon as you go beneath 1,000 chips, the amount you get to start with, you can re-buy or purchase an add-on by paying for those extra chips.

So, you can enter the tournament at no cost and go all the way or you can boost your chances by purchasing more chips. Check their schedule for when they take place but there are at least four a day and they increase in value as the day goes on. There are also some special ones on weekends.

There are also some Weekly Leaderboards, also known as Cash Races. You opt-in on Sunday night and the more you play at a particular stake level, the more points you get, and the bigger a share of the prize pool you’ll receive at the end of the week. Unsurprisingly, the higher stakes leaderboards are the ones with the biggest prize pools. Our advice if you want to do really well on the Leaderboard is to choose a stake and always play at that stake, rather than at differing amounts.

In addition to cash rewards, those at the top of the Leaderboards can also win tickets to the Sunday Main Event, where the real money is on offer. Again, remember to opt-in by going to the Missions/Contests lobby in the Poker client.

Poker Games and Tournaments

Poker Games

Texas Hold’em is King at this site just like it is at any other. The two-hole card game with five community cads is the one most people want to play and it’s therefore unsurprising that it’s featured more than any other in cash games and tournaments.

But there’s also the chance to play Omaha, Stud, American and 32 Card Draw. So, plenty of choice beyond Hold’em.

Tournaments and Cash Games

This is a site that will favour the cash game player over the tournament one. You won’t always get the ‘liquidity’ in terms of players wanting to play the tournament format because the Chico Network isn’t that packed, so in the absence of guaranteed prize pools, sometimes you won’t be playing for the big bucks you’d like to be playing for.

But one example of a tournament with a guaranteed prize pool is the 150,000 AUD one on Sunday. You can even chance your arm at qualifying through satellites if you don’t fancy paying the buy-in.

A word about their Bad Beat Jackpot. This is hardly something unique to them but that’s no to take anything away from them for offering it. Just sit down at a table that has the Yellow Star on it and if your four-of-a-kind-Deuces or better gets beaten, everyone at the table owes you a drink. You’re about to find out why.

You admittedly get paid out more than anyone else (20% of the Jackpot) but the winner of the hand (15%) and the other players at the table (12.5%) get to enjoy the rewards for your bad luck, too.

Banking Methods

Deposits and Withdrawals

You can get the old credit card out or you can use eWallets such as Skrill or Neteller to make deposits.

You can also use cashier’s checks or wire transfers to get some money into your account, though these are by far the slowest methods and certainly not the ones we recommend. No deposit method accepted at BetOnline Poker comes with any fees but the same can’t be said of withdrawals.

They do come with a 2% fee on the amount you withdraw but that’s countered by the fact that you have a 50 AUD monthly ‘subsidy’. In effect, it’s an amount of money you can use when you wish to knock off cash from your withdrawal fees. So, use it wisely!

There’s plenty more worth knowing about deposits and withdrawals so the best thing to do is to become acquainted with max and minimum amounts, fees and processing times. All the relevant info is on the site.

Cryptocurrencies

Like many Sportsbooks, Casinos and Poker Rooms, they seem to be big fans of cryptocurrencies and especially Bitcoin, though unusually, Litecoin and Ethereum are also available. Unusually because you don’t normally see them available as an option at gambling sites.

Benefits of using Bitcoin are that you can make a lesser deposit (20AUD) than with other methods, it’s always approved, it’s more anonymous than other methods and it’s the fastest method when it comes to withdrawals. The flipside is that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Getting your head around it all ad how it works takes a bit of time and patience but it’s probably worth it in the end.

Creating an Account

This is all pretty painless. Once you’ve submitted some basic details, two things to remember are that you should choose a username and a password that you’re going to remember and that it’s worth opting to receive communications about promos. There are some pretty good ones from time to time so worth being kept in the loop about.

betonline signup

Customer Support

They get Brownie points for a) having a phone number available, b) having Live Chat which is free, quick and efficient and c) they’re extremely knowledgeable and helpful once you get through. Oh, by the way, Skype is also available which is a bit odd, but ends up working quite well.

A few years ago, they ditched the old Chico network software and replaced it with the much improved and more modern Connective Games software, which ironed out problems with the actual games.

So now that games don’t crash when you least want them to, there are no other areas of concern regarding safety, including the fact that your money and data is protected just like it would be in a Swiss bank. That’s thanks to cutting edge technology that codes all that info.

Frequently Asked Questions about BetOnline Poker

Back to top