William Hill Poker

William Hill Poker is one of the oldest and largest bookmakers in the U.K., offering offline and online gambling services since 1934. Now part of the booming iPoker network, traffic and promotions at William Hill are first rate and a massive $16 million in prize money is now guaranteed every month on the network.

Given its U.K. origins, William Hill Poker is a very popular poker room for British players in particular (and European players in general), making the busiest traffic time around European peak hours. Bigger name pros sponsored by William Hill are also favored towards the Brits with Julian Thew and Keith "The Camel" Hawkins heading the list.

Because of the prominent sportsbook and the tendency for the punters to drift over to the poker room for a few hands, the Will Hill tables are usually filled with relatively wild and loose players. Play in general is considered pretty loose and juicy with tons of opportunities for easy games, particularly at the micro stakes. 

The software has good functionality and the lobby got a well-deserved makeover in 2009, giving it a cleaner and more usable look and making finding tournaments a lot easier. Multi-currency deposit and play is also available, as is a wide range of games and a great selection of sit-and-gos.

Games offered at William Hill Poker are Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud, Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo and Five-Card Stud. As an added bonus, William Hill Poker also spreads high-stakes blackjack, casino games and sports betting.

Real-money player statistics as of February 2010 show 10000 ring-game players at peak hours and 55000 tournament players at peak hours.

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Bonus Code and Promotions (9)

William Hill Poker offers a $$600.00 sign-up bonus at 200% deposit match for all players.

Exclusive William Hill Poker bous code for PokerListings players: PL600

Bonus Payout: Bonuses are cleared $10 at a time with 700 WH Points needed for each $10. That equals about 235 hands of ring-game poker where the rake taken is $1 or about 35 tournaments where the fee is $1. Note that at William Hill only hands that see a flop at a cash table are raked.

Loyalty Program

William Hill Poker offers a multi-tiered VIP club with increasing benefits as you gain WH points. You gain entries to freerolls, get cash back, get access to the Loyalty Shop, and for the very top levels you get live sponsorships and can play in $10k freerolls.

William Hill Poker awards WH Points in every raked hand and every real-money tournament. In cash games, anywhere from 0.5 to 16 points can be earned per hand depending on the total rake. 5¢-20¢ in rake earns 0.5 points; 25¢-50¢ earns 1.25 points and so on. For tournaments the general rule is 20 points per $1 in fees.

William Hill also offers an unusual bad beat bonus where any player that has a hand of quad jacks or better beaten can email support and receive a credit of $150. The secret is that it's not automatic, so remember to fire an e-mail to support as you are sobbing or cursing your bad beat - you might need that $150 for a new keyboard.

Exclusive Offers for PokerListings players:

Monthly $2.5k Freerolls Monthly $2,500 freerolls upcoming Dec 3, Jan. 7, Feb 4 and Mar. 4. Just 100 points in previous month to play.

> Sign up through a PokerListings link and receive a $600 bonus at 200% deposit match

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Tournaments and Freerolls (8)

William Hill Poker offers a massive amount of guaranteed tournaments with prize pools from £400 all the way up to the Sunday $250k. Other big tournaments are the Friday $150k guaranteed $100 rebuy and the Saturday $50k guaranteed.

Besides the guaranteeds, William Hill Poker also usually offer plenty of qualifiers at all levels for big live and online poker events like the World Series of Poker and the European Poker Tour. Overlays don't seem to be common though. Fields are typically around 800+ for the daily low stakes tournaments, and more like 100ish for the high-stakes ones.

William Hill Poker does run quite a few free tournaments, with freerolls very well-visited and play extremely loose. Most are multi-table Texas Hold'em events and typically have small prize pools. All new players can play the daily beginners $50 and $100 freerolls for the first three months after signing up and there are also weekly $2,000 and $3,000 freerolls you can enter with 2,000 and 3,000 William Hill points.

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Software and Graphics (8)

The William Hill Poker software offers pretty much all the functionality players are used to in online poker, meaning it runs fast and smooth with good playability. The latest update of the software added several new features like auto-top up, a quick seat option, hand-for-hand near the bubble in tournaments and a buddy list for online friends.

The tournament lobby is vastly improved from William Hill's early days. Note-taking at the table also works better than a lot of other poker sites by having the input window by the player on the table, which works nicely. Hand histories are very easy to work with in the built-in interface, though the ones received by request tend to be a little harder to analyze.

The graphics aren't the best in the industry, with somewhat crude 3D graphics and just 10 different options for avatars. That being said, the animations and sounds are all good with plenty of customization options. All in all, it's not a world-beater software-wise but more than adequate for the average player.

For a direct and free William Hill Poker download, click on the download link above.

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Soft Competition (9)

Play at most tables at William Hill Poker is pretty soft with the natural exceptions that come with playing on a large network - sometimes you just find a super tough table at any limit. Most traffic is in the No-Limit Texas Hold'em games and viewed-flop percentages tend to be in the 30s or 40s, meaning a lot of players going to the flop with little more than a hope and a prayer.

This is great for players who know even a little bit about Hold’em and playing in position. Players can sometimes even find full tables with pre-flop percentages all the way in the 50s, so it can be very easy for skilled players to clean up.

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Support (9)

Support is very friendly and responsive. The live chat function gives almost instantaneous access to help with any questions you might have. E-mail, phone and fax are also available.

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Deposit Withdrawal Options (9)

Deposit Options: VISA, MasterCard, Neteller, ClickandBuy, Moneybookers, Click2Pay, Paysafe card, ukash, Bank transfer, POLI, Maestro, Laser, Dankort, PayPal, iDEAL, Western Union, Przelewy24, eNets, Nordea, WebMoney, UseMyBank, EntroPay, wire transfer and bank draft, plus some local payment options.

Withdrawal Options: VISA, Neteller, Diners Club, MasterCard, Maestro, Electron, Solo, Laser, ClickandBuy, Moneybookers, Click2Pay, EntroPay, wire transfer, bank draft and personal check.

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