The Quick Summary
William Hill is arguably the biggest name in European Gaming. With more than 70 years of operation and thousands of live sports book throughout the continent, the Irish sports bet giant has an infrastructure that dwarfs even the largest online poker destination. Over the past 5 years, William Hill has teamed up with the iPoker Network, the largest poker network in the world, to create William Hill Poker.
Popularity: 9 of 10 – Excellent
Not only does William Hill Poker have the name William Hill attracting traffic, it has the most trafficked online poker network in the world working for it. It’s already running virtually around the clock with more than 8,000 real money players at any time, and peak hours can see spikes of over 13,000. While Will Hill – as it is affectionately known – does not yet accept US clientele, with a change in US policy imminent we can expect to see the Playtech-owned iPoker Network gain access to the biggest online gaming market in the world very soon.
Security: 8 of 10 – Industry Standard
There has never been a major cheating scandal in either William Hill Poker or iPoker Network’s history to be made public. The Random Number Generator (the algorithm which “shuffles” the digital cards) is generally considered to be the best in the world. And most importantly, the monumental power of the William Hill sportsbetting operation provides a level of protection that goes far beyond anything any other site can provide.
Player Competition: 8 of 10 – Good
There are a ton of players on Will Hill so if you look for them, you can find them. But like all sites, the fishy pond is becoming smaller and smaller, particularly because Will Hill only offers Hold’em, Omaha and Stud. On the other hand, as Will Hill doesn’t attract much of a super high-stakes crowd, nor does it do too well with grinders looking to spam promotions, so the players there never seem to be too good. Vanilla competition on William Hill Poker.
Customer Support: 8 of 10 – Industry Standard
Let’s see, you’ve got 3 fax lines, 2 24/7 toll-free hotlines, 3 support email addresses and an FAQ section. It does not get any better in this industry than the customer support at William Hill Poker.
Company Ethics: 8 of 10 – Industry Standard
The importance of William Hill’s sportsbetting operations cannot be overstated in their Poker and Online Casino – this is one of the biggest, oldest and most respected international gaming operations in the world. From an extraordinary attention to customer support, security and entirely legal player traffic, William Hill is the most ethical gaming provider known to man and a welcome addition to the online poker world.
Site Promotions: 7 of 10 – Average
William Hill’s player point system is called the WHPoint Program. While it’s nice that you will be awarded WHPoints for each and every raked hand you play in (as opposed to solely hands in which you contribute directly to the rake) the “No bonuses will be released to the player’s account until all WHPoints are accumulated” stipulation can make a big first deposit bonus tough to achieve. William Hill will match you on a 100% on up to the first $2000, but again, due to the aforementioned stipulation, it’s not all that achievable at a big deposit level save for hardcore grinders.
A few first time deposit freerolls run weekly, neither more than $1,000. If you manage to achieve a moderate VIP level though, you’ll gain access to some $2-$25,000 exclusive freerolls as well. In the end, what you get in security, player traffic and reputation you give up in promotions at William Hill Poker.
Overall Review: 7.5 of 10 – Excellent
William Hill Poker has almost got it perfect. While it falls behind the pack in the way of promotions and variants offered, its unrivaled credibility, security and customer support teams combine with the strong player traffic of the iPoker Network to put it in a different tier of poker sites.
Final Result: We give William Hill Poker a final overall score of 7.5 out of 10.
