Overview:
 The
Paradise Poker website is a good example of how
something doesn't necessarily need to stun you
with pretty graphics to be good. Their site is
simple, not fancy, but it provides you with all
the information you need to get started, learn
how to play the game, and operate your account.
Themes can be good, but not
when they detract from usability. The Paradise
Poker lobby is very busy, and it's not very intuitive.
The games themselves are all categorized, but
variations on the games are not - play money tables
are lumped in with real money tables. There are
really no stats available on the rooms, other
than players within the room and chip stacks.
It's colorful, and pretty... but all the pretty
in the world can't sway bad user experience.
Paradise Poker has a similar
graphics engine to Absolute Poker, but it's slightly
less cutting edge since there are no avatars at
all. One thing I don't like is when you have a
hand your chip stack isn't shown near your cards
- it's hidden down in the bottom left - but everyone
else has their bankroll shown by their name. There
aren't many options inside the room.
Tournaments and Promotions:
Paradise probably offers
one of the busiest tournament schedules - and
some big events like their Million Dollar Freeroll
promotion. These tournaments usually have stiff
competition however, with so many entrants. Micro
buy-in players might not find as many smaller
events. Typically, the buy-ins range from $15-30.
During peak hours, there are 4 or 5 tournaments
per hour. Recently, they've added a weekly $100,000
guaranteed event every Sunday.
Conclusion:
I like the website, but that's
about where it stops. I didn't play on Paradise
very long, there were just too many quirky usability
flaws (or things that I didn't personally like)
- and too many missing features. The paradise
theme is nice (especially when you're stuck in
New Jersey in the middle of January) but it's
sometimes overworked, like with the "snack
bar" feature which lets you buy a drink for
your side table. In the end... the software is
solid, it has good tourny traffic, but I wouldn't
recommend the site to my friends as a first choice.
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