Sportsbetting Poker Review

SportsBetting Poker has been offering US players real money poker since the late 1990s. Despite the turmoil that has engulfed US poker in the past few years, the Antigua-based firm continues to run its site. While they offer a leading sportsbook and casino online, SportsBetting Poker also has a poker room packed with tournaments, cash games, and promotions.

About Sportsbetting Poker

Set up in 1999, SportsBetting Poker started out life as a real money sportsbook targeting US players. It has a base in Antigua, where it holds its license, and has branched out into real money Live Casino and poker games.

It is a sister skin of another leading poker room, BetOnline, which acquired SportsBetting Poker back in 2013. The two now form a duopoly of sites on the Chico Poker Network (previously Action Poker Network).

Software

SportsBetting Poker forms part of the Chico Poker Network with several other US-facing online sites. Like other skins, SportsBetting Poker has a sportsbook, racebook and casino for players, as well as a Financials betting book.

PC and Mac users can download the client to their desktop for easy access. The site recently underwent a huge rehaul, including lots of added features for American players. New additions to SportsBetting Poker include better satellites into the big-money guarantees, new player challenges, and better bonus release times.

Across the Chico network, players can now play Stud and 32-card Draw on the cash tables. In addition, players can now have more time to make decisions with a new Time Bank.

Players

Play has traditionally been soft at SportsBetting Poker, but with the big guarantees there is still plenty of opportunity to take advantage. The best action is in the $22-50 tournaments, but the SNGs can be fruitful ground. The new Stud cash game tables are full of fish, as are the lower-stakes No Limit Hold'em games. Hit the $0.25/0.50 tables and clean up.

Stakes & Cash Games

No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit dominate at SportsBetting Poker, but new Stud additions are attracting more players. Stakes start pretty low, and the network enjoys around 1200-2000 players on the tables at peak times. The action is softest at the low-stakes NLHE games, but it's worth hitting up the $1/2 tables too to take advantage of migrating sportsbook punters.

Tournaments

If MTTs are your thing, you won't find a shortage at SportsBetting Poker. Most big guarantees are in NLHE, including the $50,000 GTE that runs on the last Sunday of the month. Take part in the Winners Series of $7,500 tourneys and you can win free entry into the 50k.

Across the Chico network, in fact, there is over $100,000 in guaranteed prizes running on Saturday and Sunday. Sit 'n Go fans can enjoy heads-up, 6-max and full-ring tourneys running throughout the day. Limits range from $5 upwards.

Poker Bonuses & VIP Programs

New SportsBetting Poker players can earn entry into an exclusive $5,000 freeroll upon sign-up.

MTT grinders can join the Mult-Table Tournament Challenge where the top 100 ranking players get free entry into the Leaderboard Face-Off Tournament. First place in the MTT leaderboard gets $1,000, with 'silver' getting $500.

Cash game nuts can join a weekly $10,000 leaderboard with a share of the cash up for grabs for the top performers. And for SNG players, the $5,000 Weekly Challenge also dishes out money for the top Gold, Silver, and Bronze players.

Customer Support & Banking

Customer service is good at SportsBetting Poker, and like other skins in the Chico chain has 24-hour support via live chat and phone. Poker players can also use the dedicated email for poker queries.

In terms of banking, there's a wide range of deposit options available. MasterCard and VISA payments can be made from as little as $25, but bitcoin is also available and carries the lowest deposit minimums.

Cash-outs are reserved for Skrill, bank wires and bitcoin. However, the maximum withdrawal amounts are fairly large across the board.

Summary

SportsBetting Poker will never win awards for its software, and it's taken the Chico Poker Network years to get its act together on things like Time Banks.

If big guarantees are more your thing, you'll discover some great weekly and weekend overlay. It can even be profitable hitting the new leaderboard challenges for a chance of hitting a big score.

When it comes to US-facing poker sites (outside New Jersey and Nevada), players Stateside often struggle for decent competition. Luckily, SportsBetting.ag is way up there in terms of traffic, range of games, and deposit methods. Make sure you find the tastiest value and turn your initial deposit into a game-changer.