Online Casino Conditions - Poker Nordica Review

Poker Nordica is the premiere poker site to emerge from the newly formed Merge Gaming Network. With thousands of players online at any given time, Poker Nordica has rapidly grown into a leading trafficker of international online poker players. Offering both an English and Danish brand (Casino.dk), Poker Nordica is owned by the Danish gaming company, Casinokontanter.com Ltd. and holds its financial assets in Malta. Casinokontanter.com Ltd. is registered with the Malta Financial Services Authority and is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission under the regulatory powers of Kahnawake Gaming Law (Section 35). Holding a license with Kahnawake means that Poker Nordica is bound to paying all winners, offering fair and random card hands and meeting strict fraud checks and maximum fraud detection and compliance. Spawned from an experienced management team credited for operating Denmark's leading online gambling guide and the wildly successful ex-poker room and leading portal, Poker.com, Poker Nordica is backed with a high degree of credibility and a sound reputation. Poker Nordica's associated billing company is located at Glacis Road, Suite 2, Portland, Gibraltar.

Software & Games

In terms of poker software, Nordica is powered by one of the best, albeit not as well known as others. The Merge Gaming Network was originally led by the former poker room, Poker.com, which now acts as poker portal for sending traffic to well known brands like Bodog, Full Tilt and Poker Stars. Merge launched its software platform in February of 2007, thus making it one of the newest networks in the business. With three online poker room licensees and 6,000+ players online at at any given time (at the time of this review), Merge has come a long way in a short time. We expect them to continue a successful run amongst the international online poker community.

Software Platform - The software platform at Poker Nordica comes in both download and no-download Flash packages. The download is guaranteed 100% free of viruses and spyware, and uses minimal space on one's computer hard drive. The download requires at least 30 MB of free disk space (the actual size of the download is 400 KB), 128 MB of Random Access Memory and a 400 MHz processor running on Microsoft Windows 98 or above. Detailed instructions for downloading and installing the software are available on the PokerNordica.com website, as well as via an installation wizard. To create an account, players will need to provide a unique username and password, valid email address, and a nickname. Once logged in, players will find themselves in the software lobby, which is where the Merge platform begins to really shine.

The lobby interface possesses several interactive features, including a Help/FAQ section, Player Administration, Customizable Play Settings, Cashier and Live Chat access. All players have the capability to optimize game performance, graphics, as well as change window modes. The software also allows players to tag other players with titles of Shark, King, Easy or Buddy. This can be a very helpful tool in helping to optimize playing strategy and for identifying compatible players.

Games - Poker Nordica stands out from the majority of online poker rooms with their large offering of games. Players can choose from popular standards like Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha High/Lo, 7-Card Stud and 7-Card Stud High/Lo or less common but just as fun games of 5-Card Stud, 5-Card Draw, A to 5 Lowball, 2 to 5 Lowball, Triple Razz and Badugi.

Buy-ins - Minimum Buy-ins for No-Limit games are always 20% of the table amount (max buy-in). They start off at $.40 for No Limit $2 tables and can reach as high as $1,000 for No Limit $5,000 tables. Minimum buy-ins for Pot Limit games are also 20% of the maximum buy-in/table amount. These start as low as $10 for $50 tables and go up to $80 for $400 Pot Limit tables. The Blind Structure for Buy-ins are minimal. Big Blinds are always twice the amount of Small Blinds, and range from $.01/$.02 for $2 No Limit Tables to $25/$50 for $5,000 No Limit Tables. For Pot Limit tables, buy-in blinds range from $.25/$.50 for $50 tables to $2/$4 for $400 tables.

Poker School

It's strictly online poker at Nordica. While there is no school for newbie players, the Nordica website lists a comprehensive rules section available through the Poker Games page on the main navigation menu at PokerNordica.com.

Betting Structures, Rake & Tournament Fees

All rakes at Poker Nordica correspond to the percentage of the pot. Enforcing a "No Flop, No Drop" policy (meaning there is no rake if a game ends before the Flop), Poker Nordica offers standard betting structures with small and big blinds valued at half the size of the minimum and maximum stakes. Games of Limit Texas Hold'em start off at $.10/$.20 stakes ($.05/$.10 Blinds) and go up to stakes of $50/$100 ($25/$50 Blinds). Blinds for No Limit/Pot Limit Texas Hold'em range from $.05/$.10 to $25/$50. No Limit games start as low as $.02/$.04. Betting stakes for Limit Omaha Poker range from $.10/$.20 ($..05/$.10 Blinds) to $30/$60 ($15/$30 Blinds). Blinds for No Limit/Pot Limit Omaha Poker range from $.10/$.25 to $25/$50

Limit, Pot Limit and No-Limit games can be played at Poker Nordica. The rake for 2 player no limit/pot limit games is better than most rooms, while larger tables are raked at the normal standard (see table further below). All rake fees are listed below:

The rakes for fixed limit games are as follows:

STANDARD LIMIT POKER GAMES
LIMIT	# OF PLAYERS	RAKE	MAXIMUM RAKE
Up to $1/$2	2	$.01 for every $.20 in pot	$.50
Up to $1/$2	3 to 10	$.01 for every $.20 in pot	$1

$2/$4 and above	2	$.01 for every $.20 in pot	$.50
$2/$4 and above	3	$.01 for every $.20 in pot	$1
$2/$4 and above	4 to 5	$.01 for every $.20 in pot	$2
$2/$4 and above	6 to 10	$.01 for every $.20 in pot	$3

The rake schedule for pot-limit/no limit games are as follows:

$0.01/$0.02 AND UP NO LIMIT/POT LIMIT GAMES
# OF PLAYERS	RAKE PER POT	MAX
2	$0.01 for each $.20 in Pot	$.50
3	$0.01 for each $1.0 in Pot	$1
4 to 5	$0.01 for each $1.0 in Pot	$2
6 to 10	$0.01 for each $1.0 in Pot	$3

Poker Nordica offers one of the largest selection of poker games on the Web. Although it's not Poker, per say, Backgammon is served up here as well. All real money games are raked at a rate of 3% of all cumulative bets, with a minimum rake of $.01 and and a maximum rake of $1 per game.

Tournaments: Home to Sit 'n Go, Charity and a Free Roll tournaments, Poker Nordica offers guaranteed prize pools no matter if all tournament entries are filled by players or not. The selection of free roll tournaments, which are tournaments that do not have buy-ins or entry fees, is impressive. With guaranteed $50 free roll tournament every two hours, there is a tournament suited to every players skill and bankroll. Nordica pays out the big bucks with their daily, weekly and monthly free roll tournaments. Every Monday through Friday, there is a guaranteed $1,000 free roll for players who have acquired 1,000 comp points in the previous seventy-two hours before the tournament starts. Every Saturday is home to a $2,000 free roll (same comp point requirement), while Sunday's host $10,000 free rolls (except the last Sunday of the month, which is a $50,000 free roll open to players who have acquired at least 5,000 comp points over the course of the month).

Promotions

Poker Nordica offers one of the best Welcome Bonuses on the Web. A 100% Match Bonus up to $200 Free is available for first time depositors - not to mention a free coupon for seven days entry into one of their many $500 free rolls. Bonus takers have ninety days to fulfill the cash-out requirements on the bonus money, which equates to earning a specified amount of comp points. $1 of bonus money is released for every 250 comp points earned, and payouts are given in multiples of $10. If one takes advantage of the full $200, this amounts to earning 50,000 comp points. To claim the bonus, simply log into the software platform, click on the Cashier Tab, Deposit Tab and type the bonus code (100PN) in the coupon code box. Make a real money deposit via the same screen and the bonus will automatically be added to your real money account.

In addition to the welcome bonus, Poker Nordica awards players for their continued patronage. Every month, the top three players who have raked the most hands will share $1,000 ($500 for First, $300 for Second and $200 for Third). For the icing on the cake, Nordica offers low buy-in satellite qualifications for the World Series of Poker and seats to any European Poker Tour event (max buy-in of $7,000) after having acquired 400,000 comp points over the course of 2007. Comp points also earn players entry into a horde of free roll tournaments ranging from $1,000 to $50,000 (see Tournaments section above).

Cashier

Poker Nordica accepts EcoCard, ePassporte, Click2Pay, Neteller, Neteller InstaCash, MyCitadel Wallet & Commerce and MoneyBookers for processing both deposits and withdrawals. Credit card deposits via MasterCard and VISA are accepted as well. Details of each payment method are listed on the Poker Nordica Website, as well as within the cashier lobby accessible through the online software platform lobby. Poker Nordica advises players who are unsuccessful at using their credit cards to make deposits, to try using one of the accepted alternative methods.

Depending on a player's country of residence, Poker Nordica will use different billing companies and finance merchants to process credit card transactions. In keeping with their transparent operations, Poker Nordica publishes contact details of these companies on their website. These include WireCard of Berlin, Gateway Financial Services of Canada, Webtrade and SpaceCard. All financial transactions processed between Poker Nordica's gaming servers and personal computers are guaranteed secure by way of 128-bit encryption and Thawte SSL certification.

Security

As mentioned earlier, Poker Nordica's licensing through the Kahnawake Gaming Commission guarantees players are betting in a fair and secure online environment. All data, including personal registration details and financial information is processed and stored using 128 bit encryption. In addition to being physically monitored, Poker Nordica software servers are virtually secured to prevent hacking and fraudulent activities, as evidenced by the Thawte SSL certification posted on their website. Thawte is one of the internets leading issuers of Web security certificates, providing their services to a diverse range of online businesses conducting eCommerce functions.

Disconnection Policy

As is the case with the best online poker rooms, Poker Nordica exercises a flexible disconnection policy. For all cases in which a player loses their internet connection and/or is disconnected from the software while in the middle of playing a hand, the software will automatically try to reconnect the player. If successfully reconnected before one's hand has been timed out, the player can continue playing the rest of the hand as usual. If, however, a player's hand has been timed out due to a disconnection, the software will count the player as being all-in (not actually) and all funds contributed by the player to the pot up until the time of disconnection will go towards the players initially dealt cards and any community cards yet to be dealt and used for shaping the highest possible ranked hand.

Customer Service

Toll-free telephone, email and live chat are available to players who need to be in contact with a customer service representative at Poker Nordica. Being a European based company, available times for telephone support are in GMT +1. Monday through Friday, support is available from 10:00 A.M. to 11 P.M. On Sunday's, Customer Service reps are available from 2:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. Poker Nordica has done an excellent job in providing cordial and responsible service to all of their customers.

Visit Poker Nordica for more information.

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