The PlayTech software is used by the poker rooms in the iPoker network. In my opinion this is not a good client although others might have different preferences and tastes. The controls and the functionality are not bad. The critical failure of this client in my opinion is that tables don’t appear in separate windows and I could not find a way to enable this. The fact that this is so adds to my overall feeling that this client wasn’t designed by people who actually play poker. You can also change between different viewing modes: the usual top view and a 3D side-view with animated talking avatars. The latter view is clearly inspired by the Yatahay software used since long by TruePoker and although there are more types of animations in the PlayTech software the characters look more robotic I think. Also, in my opinion, they’re not as entertaining but this is of course a matter of taste.
The lobby is graphically appealing and it provides excellent access to the types of ring games and tournaments that are offered. You have the usual tabbed list view with an information panel to the right. However, they have included some things in this view that usually isn’t found there: player search and some casino games that are played against the house. I’m however not sure if the casino games are there in all poker rooms that use this software. The player search is really good and it returns results in a list so that you can search on parts of a player’s nickname. Otherwise, the list works well. There is a mouse-over effect in the list view so you can see what line you are currently pointing at. This is not terribly useful but it doesn’t hurt either. Generally you have two lines of tabs on different levels; which is logical and works well. You get most of the information you want by just looking in the list and by clicking the table you also get information about which players that are playing. However, you don’t see the stack sizes in the player list. There is no drop-down menu, only buttons. I like having a drop down menu because it allows easy access to most of the options that are available and you pretty much know how it’s arranged. I always suspect that the absence of such a menu I caused by the realization that they didn’t have a whole lot to put in it. It can be noted that I find none of the functions that many of the better poker rooms have: statistics, hand histories and so on. There is a hand history available at the tables but not the kind where you get a text history in the mail that you can use in analysis software.
The first thing you will notice about the tournaments is that the lobby is not reached by double clicking an entry but by simply clicking it. I expect to get one level of information by clicking and then yet another level by double-clicking. This is not to say that you can’t get used to this but it is different. Also here, the tab view works great and after selecting tournaments you can select if you want “Scheduled”, “Sit’n’Go” and so on. Much better than having to choose between tabs with very unclear scopes such as “Tournaments” and “Sit’n’Go” (aren’t both tournaments?). The tournament lobby looks like a window but it can’t be moved which is a bit frustrating I think although not a major cause for criticism. In this lobby you can look at everything that is worth knowing about the tournament: blind levels, breaks, starting chips, dynamically updating payouts, players, tables and so on. In running tournaments you can see most of the usual information such as the current rank and stack size of players, a table list from which you can view players or bring up the table window to follow the game and so on. The only think I am missing here is the average, min and max sizes of the stacks. If you click a finished tournament you only get a smaller summary of the tournament information and this is probably good since there is good deal of information that doesn’t apply anymore.
The tables look ok and emphasis has been on clarity rather than on elaborate cards and table surroundings: nothing wrong with that although some poker rooms manage to combine it. Now to one thing that I definitely don’t like at all with this software: tables don’t appear in separate windows but all in the same window with a little blinking indicator when it is your turn. In some Microgaming rooms this happens as well but there it can be turned off. I tried very hard to find a way to have the tables in separate windows but failed. In my opinion it is completely useless to have the tables arranged in this way and I think there is a strong and pretty objective reason for this: with separate and reasonably tiled windows you can have an overview even when it’s not your turn to act. I don’t know, some people might actually like this, but for me – I simply can’t use such an interface. It was a pain even to review it! Again, this assessment is subjective, maybe you think this way of arranging the tables is great. Well, I will continue under the assumption that you can live (or even like) with having multiple tables overlapping or that you only play one table anyway so that you don’t care either way. The controls are actually excellent (which makes it a double shame that the tables work the way they do). The buttons, although not as clear and visible as they could have been, are distinct and have mouse-over effects. Player turns are indicated in a slightly less visible way than how I like it: the name plate changes from one shade of green to another – or this is at least how it is on Club Dice Poker. The slider is smooth and wide and you can click in the interval to instantly position the slider where you want it. If you want to type the amount, then this option works well too. You also have predefined actions as checkboxes so that you can specify your actions out-of-turn. At the table you can also view the hand history and although you can’t get a text version in the mail it is very informative and graphically appealing.
Summed up, the PlayTech software feels as if it wasn’t designed by poker players. Still, it’s not completely useless: if you for some reason don’t mind having all your tables overlapping or only play one table anyway, then you might actually like this client. The controls aren’t bad and although there are some shortcomings in the interface it still works and doesn’t give you too many bad surprises. If you by any chance love playing casino side games for you poker bank roll (if you tilt badly this might not be as bad an idea as it might sound) then this client is for you. |
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