The WagerWare software is used by the rooms in the WagerLogic network and although this is not a feature of the software in itself, the first thing you will probably notice is that all games are in British Pounds rather than US Dollars. This client is well designed and has good finish but also some minor mistakes here and there. Additionally, I have serious stability problems with the software (it crashes a lot).
The lobby could hardly have been more familiar. You select games with tabs and then the individual tables and tournaments in a list view. To the right side of the lists you find the information panel exactly where you expect it and exactly with the information that you expect to find. There is a discrete clicking sound when you make selections in the list view and this is not bad, especially if the connection is slow: nothing is more frustrating than when nothing at all happens when you click an element. The information level in the list is good and so is the overview: a lot of lines fit into the quite large list view. There is a drop down main menu which is good. From here you can get hand histories, access support and change settings. You also have a couple of additional buttons below the list for easy access to the most frequently used functions.
Scheduled tournaments have lobbies that are launched by double clicking them. You don’t get a whole lot of information here. The info in the list is adequate but you expect to get some more info in the information panel when you click a tournament. If the tournament is running or finished you get a list over the players but if it is registering you get nothing at all. If you launch the lobby you get the payouts (dynamically updated as more players join which is good), a list of the tables and a list of players. You can watch tables by double clicking them and you get all necessary information about the players and you can sort them according to no less than five criteria. However, I miss information about things such as blind levels, breaks, starting chips, average stack and largest stack. A mistake in the list here as well, at least in the version I reviewed (Virgin Games): running tournaments are listed as “seating”.
Sit’n’go tournaments don’t have lobbies (you just sit down in an empty seat and the tourney starts when the table is full) and the biggest problem here is that you have no information about the tournament besides the number of entrants and the buy-in. You have no idea about the payouts unless you have played the tournaments and know it first-hand and you get no information about blind levels and level intervals.
The table graphics are excellent and there is clear information about you current best hand, the size of the pot and the players’ actions are displayed for the duration of the game turn. I think this probably makes this software very good for beginners. Some information, however, appear in places where I don’t expect them. For example, the amount to call doesn’t show up on the call button but instead above your hole cards. The buttons are ok in size and clarity (except that amounts are not displayed on them) with mouse-over effects and they work well. The order in which they appear from left to right is a bit confusing at times however. For example the half pot raise is for example to the right of the pot raise. There is no slider at all so you have to either bet one of the pre-defined amounts or type in your bet – which works well although the typed in value doesn’t appear anywhere else which I find a little bit confusing. There are pre-defined actions available as check boxes that allow you to specify some actions out of turn. Almost no settings are available at all at the table and the few options that you have must be set from the drop-down main menu in the lobby. Playing multiple tables works really well: focus shifts between the tables and focus is even chained such that if it is your turn to act on several tables the next table in turn will be brought in focus as you act.
Taken together, the WagerWare client works really well although there are some minor things that could have been done differently. As mentioned, I have problems with stability although I suspect that this doesn’t affect everybody or even most users. |
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