PKR

PKR is an online poker site that lets you play in glorious 3D. After you've chosen a username you get to customize your avatar by applying all sorts of facial and physical features, along with various clothing and accessories. It's all a bit of a nonsense really but there is plenty of fun to be had nevertheless. Here is a picture of my avatar waving at you:

Once you are happy with your new avatar you're good to go and you can hit the tables. Even if you are a regular at 2D sites, PKR offers a quirky alternative to the way you play online poker and if you are at all interested in the game it's well worth giving it a whirl. There are, of course, pros and cons. I'll keep it down to two points for each:

The Good

1.  A whole community in your living room.
If any site can be said to have a community spirit then it's PKR. With a forum attached, full of all sorts of players from beginners and experts to the serious and not-so-serious to the complete nutjobs, you're really reminded that there are real people behind those avatars and they're not just faceless blobs. There is a forum invitational (just one post and you're in) and regular live events along with community meet-ups. There is plenty of news items, PKR TV and player profiles etc. They even asked yours truly for an email interview: 15 minutes of fame

2.  Easy to use and just fun to play
On a good PC the graphics and animations are sharp, slick and clean. It's just a pleasure to play in 3D after the blandness of playing in 2D and there is just more substance to the software and this just makes for a more enjoyable game. Many people will tell you that because it's not geared towards serious players, less serious players sign up and, hence, it's a softer site but I'm not fully convinced of this.

The Bad

1.  Tables are SLOW.
With the fancy graphics and cool animations there comes a price. There are lots of things going on in the background, particularly between hands, that just slows everything down. On top of this, a lot of players seem to take longer over decisions as well. For me, this often feels like I have to get busy and mix things up often in tourneys because of the fewer hands this gives per level. You're often lucky to get one orbit in during a 10-handed, 12 minute blind level, game! For cash, of course, this doesn't matter.

2. Not really multi-table friendly
Probably the biggest complaint, certainly since Version 2 came out, is the difficulty of multi-tabling. Many players have felt that the interface is cumbersome or awkward for multi-tabling and the text and cards can be very hard to read especially on small screens and laptops. Double tabling may be just about ok though.

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At the present time, PKR is my site of choice when it comes to online poker and I always come back to it after a break. I'm currently a Platinum Member and 7% towards being a Diamond Member. Not really an achievement in itself but it does show that I've paid them over $11000 in rake! Yep, poker can cost a lot of money these days.