If you haven’t heard of GGPoker or the GGPoker Network (GG stands for ‘Good Game’), then you’re missing out, and you are in for a treat. Yes REALLY! We give this site a perfect five star rating. Read on to find out why GGPoker is already the third most popular online poker site in 2020.
GGPoker is the flagship poker site on the GGNetwork (which has been around since 2014). The site has some seriously lush software, designed to make your heart pump and to make poker truly fun. GGPoker seems to have found the winning formula to keep players coming back for more – with a global mass of players of varying poker skill playing from all corners of the world, there is no shortage of action at micro and mid-stakes, and high-stakes too. The site is backed by a host of familiar poker-professionals, with ‘Team GGPoker’ roster currently comprised of ‘Elky’, Daniel Negreanu, Bryn Kenny, Felipe Ramos and Fedor Holz.
GGPoker has a stellar reputation in the industry – unblemished by scandals, fines or frauds. The site is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), and all player funds are protected. You can rest assured that GGPoker is ‘legit’, and not going to scam you, or run away with your money. The site accepts players from most places but does not accept USA based poker players at the moment.
Fun GGPoker software Features
- Sweating the last card – When there’s an all in and a call, the software makes the players peel the last card slowly, causing much suspense!
- Seat swapping on the final table (unless you are chipleader)
- Sound effects to create atmosphere, eg. when a player is all in – the sounds of pounding drums echoes over the table!
- Communicate via chatbox or via Fun animated emojis, with messages like “ship it” and “i want to call”, Nice hand”, “You suck” and more!
The list of fun features seems endless, and the GGPoker developers are always innovating and trying out new ideas.
Games Available at GGPoker
Whether your game is micro-stakes to mid and high-stakes, GGPoker has the traffic levels to mean you won’t have trouble finding a game to suit your bankroll and game preference.
One great feature tournament players love is the inbuilt software alert that highlights tournaments with overlays, so you can hop in and grab some extra bang for your tournament buck. Looking to buy a piece of a player (AKA a ‘stake’)? GGPoker has an inbuilt staking system for tournaments. Players selling action set the % they want to sell, and their markup-percentage, and players can buy pieces straight though the poker client. Really great innovation by the GG team.
The site offers numerous poker variants at pretty much all stakes:
GGPoker Games Available
- Pot Limit Omaha – $0.05/$0.10 to $10/$20
- Texas Holdem- $0.02/$0.05 to $5/$10
- Fast fold poker
- All in or fold poker – $0.10/$0.25 to $100/$200
- Spin and Gold SNG Tournaments – $1 to $50, win up to 500k
- Rush poker – $0.01 / $0.02 to $1/$2
- Tournaments – Tournament players are truly spoiled, with a huge selection of games at all stakes
Players on cash games have the option of ‘running it twice’ (or more times) if they want to see a turn and river dealt twice, to effectively chop the hand into two separate pots. Straddles are also permitted.
GGPoker also offers short-deck holdem (like regular hold’em but with low cards removed, pro-tip: flushes beat full-houses!)
The GGMasters “Sunday Major” $500,000 Guaranteed Tournament
GGPoker is familar to online poker tournament lovers because of the the huge $150 Buy-in, $500,000 Guaranteed “GGMasters” tournament which runs each Sunday at 17:00 (UTC+0).
Players who play the GGMasters can buy in JUST ONCE, and there is also a player-of-the-year (POY) leaderboard for those who enjoy an extra incentive to grind.
Initially this tournament started with a guarantee of $250,000, and with the field increasing every week it has seen increases in the guaranteed win amount, which now stands at $500,00. Additionally this tournament has had huge overlays since launching in early 2020 and every time the guarantee is met GGpoker up the guarantee so the constant added value is another reason not to miss this one.
There are satellites running all week from as little as $1.50, including Sunday before the big event itself. If you a lucky winner of a satellite you will be automatically entered in the GGMasters Sunday Tournament.
Every time you cash in any GGMasters tournament throughout the entire year, you are awarded leader board points. The points are rewarded not only for the first place winner but also for making the final table and even the bubble. This is a very welcoming reward attached to the GGMaster tournament.The player who finishes at the top of the leader board, 1st place, becomes an ambassador for GGpoker a prize worth a staggering $500,000. Players finishing in 2nd place through to 10th place win entry to the 2021 GGMasters Tournament for the entire year worth $7,800.
Omaholic Tournaments
Fans of Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) won’t be disappointed at GGpoker. The site has a regular schedule of Omaha tournaments running all day, every day. Obviously the guaranteed prize pool is greater at peak times, which is worth noting if you want to maximize your value.
| TOURNAMENT | TIME (UTC=9:00) | BUY IN | GUARANTEE |
| Omaholic | 19:00 | $5 | $150 |
| Omaholic Bounty | 21:00 | $11 | $400 |
| Omaholic | 22:00 | $1 | $70 |
| Omaholic | 23:00 | $5 | $150 |
| Omaholic Bounty | 00:00 | $11 | $300 |
| Omaholic Bounty | 01:00 | $11 | $300 |
| Omaholic Bounty | 02:00 | $22 | $500 |
| Omaholic | 03:00 | $5 | $250 |
| Omaha Bounty | 04:00 | $11 | $400 |
| Omaholic | 05:00 | $1 | $50 |
| Omaholic | 07:00 | $5 | $150 |
| Omaholic | 09:00 | $1 | $30 |
| Omaholic | 11:00 | $5 | $100 |
| Omaholic | 13:00 | $1 | $50 |
| Omaholic | 15:00 | $5 | $150 |
| Omaholic | 17:00 | $1 | $70 |
Freerolls at GGPoker
Whether you’re ‘busto’ or just looking to play free poker for fun, GGPoker has got you covered.
Chinese Zodiac Freerolls
These freerolls give you a chance top up your bankroll via free-to-play tournaments which awards an avatar and a tournament to the winner.
Tournament Dollars (T$) Builder Tournaments
Every 30 minutes these “no fee” tournaments run with multiple buy in options, $1, $2, $4 and $8. These tournaments are designed to help you build your bankroll and with no fee, 100% of the buy in goes into the prize pool. However you cannot withdraw these T$ wins they are redeemable against regular tournament buy in whereby if you cash you can withdraw.
Upcoming Poker Tournaments at GGPoker
GGPoker and the GGNetwork itself has an amazingly comprehensive MTT schedule, comprising of freerolls, satellites, freezeouts, rebuys, Sunday Majors. You name it. Omaha and Hold’em players are both well catered for.
| Time | Name | Game | Buy in | Guarantee | Download |
|---|
Promotions at GGPoker
GGPoker runs some really amazing promotions to rewards grinders, in addition to their VIP Program, which rewards players with up to 50% rakeback / cashback.
Fish Buffet – GGPoker Rakeback / VIP program
GGPoker rewards grinders based their performance and rake generated, allocating points for specific behaviours. (eg generating 1 dollar of rake on a cash table). GG’s rewards program enables players to unlock bigger cash prizes as they move up to higher levels in the rewards program.
Every new player is automatically enrolled in the Fish Buffet promotion whereby your starting status is Plankton, there are 6 further status ranks Shrimp, goldfish, crab, octopus, whale and shark, and these comprise of 24 levels in total.
You earn Fish Points (FP) as you play real-money games and pay rake/fees on GGPoker. Satisfy the required FP per level within the given time limit to unlock the corresponding level. When you unlock a level, you will be given a chance to spin a wheel with different rewards. Any remaining FP after unlocking a level will be credited towards the next level. You can view the specifics of the program once you are logged in to the GGPoker client.
The fish buffet rewards program is as follows:
| STATUS | LEVEL | FP POINTS REQUIRED | TIME TO LEVEL UP | REWARD RANGE $ | CASH BACK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plankton | Starting point | 500 | 24 hours | 0.50-1.50 | 15% |
| Shrimp | 1000 | 24 hours | 1.00-3.00 | 20% | |
| Goldfish | Bronze | 22% | |||
| Silver | 25% | ||||
| Gold | 1500 | 24hrs | 1.50–6.00 | 28% | |
| Crab | Bronze | 28% | |||
| Silver | 30% | ||||
| Gold | 5,000 | 72hrs | 5.00–25.00 | 32% | |
| Octopus | Bronze | 32% | |||
| Silver | 33% | ||||
| Gold | 34% | ||||
| Platinum | 35% | ||||
| Diamond | 15,000 | 7 days | 15.00-90.00 | 36% | |
| Whale | Bronze | 40% | |||
| Silver | 41% | ||||
| Gold | 42% | ||||
| Platinum | 43% | ||||
| Diamond | 40,000 | 15 days | 40.00-320.00 | 44% | |
| Shark | Bronze | 45% | |||
| Silver | 46% | ||||
| Gold | 47% | ||||
| Platinum | 48% | ||||
| Diamond | 49% | ||||
| Black | 100,000 | 30 days | 100.00-1000.00 | 50% |
Once you climb to a new level you are presented with a wheel, which has different rewards on offer. The amount you land on after spinning the wheel is the amount of cash back you receive from the reward range, as shown in the table above.
All in or Fold Games
GGpoker is an innovative poker room bringing some spice to the game with various formats that have been influenced by their roots in Asia. The all-in or fold games have been around since the inception of GGpoker they offer fast paced action with 4 max Omaha and Hold’em tables whereby you have 2 options to either push all-in or fold, its an exciting, interesting and fun game.
All-in or Fold Bingo
Running alongside the All-in and fold game is a mini game, All-in or fold Bingo .If you win on showdown your hole cards can be marked off the bingo card, fill one line to win, there are hand limits for the game, 50 hand limit for Hold’em and 20 hand limit for Omaha. The prizes for Hold’em go up to $80,000 and Omaha prizes go up to $160,000; this is not small change for a mini game add-on.
All-in or Fold Jackpot
Additionally there is a jackpot prize up for grabs on the all-in or fold tables The jackpot is awarded when players get a Royal Flush at Omaha tables and a straight flush at Hold’em tables, the higher the stakes you play the larger your percentage share of the jackpot is.
Bad Beat Jackpot
Shown prominently at top of Lobby, currently over $80,000 and when you click the Bad Beat banner it shows you all of the latest winners and how much they have won.
$100,000 Rush & Cash Weekly Hands Races x 4
There is a rake race and a hands race which runs across four different stakes levels, with leader-boards and prizes for winners
How is Rake calculated at GGPoker, and what are the rake caps?
Rake per player is calculated via weighted pot contribution.
See the rake caps and breakdown in the following table:
| Stake | Table Name | SB | BB | Ante | Min Buy-In | Max Buy-In | Max Players | Rake % | Rake Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIP Games | VH Deep | $200 | $400 | $20,000 | $80,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $50 | |
| VIP Games | VH Ante | $200 | $400 | ($100) | $16,000 | $80,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $50 |
| VIP Games | VH Standard | $200 | $400 | $8,000 | $40,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $50 | |
| VIP Games | VH Deep | $100 | $200 | $10,000 | $40,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $40 | |
| VIP Games | VH Ante | $100 | $200 | ($50) | $8,000 | $40,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $40 |
| VIP Games | VH Standard | $100 | $200 | $4,000 | $20,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $40 | |
| VIP Games | VH Deep | $50 | $100 | $5,000 | $20,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $35 | |
| VIP Games | VH Ante | $50 | $100 | ($25) | $4,000 | $20,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $35 |
| VIP Games | VH Standard | $50 | $100 | $2,000 | $10,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $35 | |
| VIP Games | VH Deep | $25 | $50 | $2,500 | $10,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $25 | |
| VIP Games | VH Ante | $25 | $50 | ($10) | $2,000 | $10,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $25 |
| VIP Games | VH Standard | $25 | $50 | $1,000 | $5,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $25 | |
| High | NLH Diamond | $5 | $10 | $200 | $1,000 | 6 | 5.0% | $10 | |
| High | NLH Platinum | $2 | $5 | $100 | $500 | 6 | 5.0% | $8 | |
| Middle | NLH Gold | $1 | $2 | $40 | $200 | 6 | 5.0% | $6 | |
| Middle | NLH Silver | $0.50 | $1 | $20 | $100 | 6 | 5.0% | $5 | |
| Middle | NLH Bronze | $0.25 | $0.50 | $10 | $50 | 6 | 5.0% | $4 | |
| Low | NLH Purple | $0.10 | $0.25 | $5 | $25 | 6 | 5.0% | $2 | |
| Low | NLH Red | $0.05 | $0.10 | $2 | $10 | 6 | 5.0% | $1 | |
| Low | NLH Blue | $0.02 | $0.05 | $1 | $5 | 6 | 5.0% | $0.5 |
Downloading GGPoker
As with many poker sites, users need to download the client software which then communicates with the server. GG download is quite heavy and takes time. We found the progress bar confusing with erratic progress display, but eventually it worked and installed on desktop soon enough. You have the pleasure of staring at the pretty mugs of Daniel Negreanu, Elky, Bryn Kenney, and GG team of ambassadors. 🙂
Lobby Layout
Our first impression upon lobby launching is that there is quite a feast for the eyes to take in, and an overall visceral experience. It feels a bit like old Las Vegas with a plethora of promotions and headlines which can be and a little overwhelming at first. Sliding banners showing tennis legend Boris Becker, the GG World Series of Poker Circuit online series but also miuch more. Cashier is also very easy to locate on the upper right side of Lobby. When we say busy we aren’t kidding. We counted 11 tabs at the top of the Lobby each offering a different poker format, from Hold’em and Omaha to Tournaments, Short Deck (shown in Yen currency), Spin & Gold (3 player lottery Sit N Go), Allin & Fold (for the less skillful session), Rush Cash, and much more. Lobby offers the standard features of filtering Tournaments by state (if they are Running, and by stake level. Cash game filtering allows view by stake level (and how many tables of each stake are active) or you can display a list of every table available.
Are HUDs Allowed?
For all you hard core grinders, HUDs are not allowed at GGPoker. They offer their own built-in Smart HUD which is accessed by clicking on a player avatar. It shows you the players total winnings and nice chart showing the placing in the last tournaments. They have a VPIP % which shows you the percentage of times the player calls or raises pre-flop. Cash games you are also given hand win percentage, total hands played, and a selection of winning and losing hands as examples of the players tendencies. There are also stats if you play All in or Fold but let’s face it you aren’t going to be studying too hard in this game. A fire icon will show you if a player is on a hot streak. Holdem Manager does seem to work with GGPoker.
Software Sounds & Music?
Once GGPoker software is launched, the user is presented dramatic orchestral music which builds towards a crescendo, like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Me please! Another example, is similar dramatic music when you go all-in on a hand. The usual riffling of chips and snapping of fresh cards can all be controlled in your settings, along with alerts when its your turn to act, allowing you to multi-task and play poker at the same time (or multi-table).
Player Avatars
We were given a default avatar displaying a couple of ducks, but if you would like to change your avatar simply click the gear icon at top of the poker table window and there are many categories. Some are very interesting from two lesbians to guns. Whatever floats your boat. Each player shows the flag of their home country, and if you are on a good run there is a flame icon beside your avatar. You can also go mad with emojis as they offer a feast of them including rage, WTF, Tilt, Ship It, and many more tilt evoking tools.
Where to Find Loyalty Status?
Looking at the bottom right of Lobby GGPoker shows their Loyalty program clearly ‘Fish Buffet’. I started as a shrimp but have aspirations to be a killer shark soon enough. Unlike many rooms they aren’t afraid to show you Loyalty and bonuses prominently. I was offered a spinning wheel for a nice loyalty bonus right away, but only netted the minimum $0.50 prize on the wheel.
Change the Chip Display?
If you don’t like the standard tournament chip values or USD display in cash games, users can easily change their chip display to either USD, EUR, GBP, RUB, CNY, BRL. Also very popular with players today is displaying chips in BBs (big blinds)
Multi-tabling Features
Software allows multi-tabling up to 16 tables at a time, with the standard cascade or tiling (connected in a grid pattern) options to allow efficient and high volume play.
Time to Act Settings
Time to act is not adjustable, and is 12 seconds, with Time Bank ranging between 30 and 45 seconds. Extra time in the event of disconnection is 2 minutes.
Casino & Sportsbook
GGPoker is a pure poker company and does not offer links to casino or sportsbook, which is most welcomed by the die hard poker playing community.
Tournament & Player Search
Unfortunately, one area GGPoker comes up short is providing a tool to quickly find a player or tournament. Sometimes one wishes to sweat their friend as they reach the final table, but its not nice to have to ask which tournament name and other details when a simple search could easily do the trick.
Multiple Dealing
In a cash hand, the underdog has five seconds to choose multiple dealing options when All-In. Choices are to Run it once, twice or three times, and has to be agreed by all players in hand. If opponent takes insurance then no multiple dealing is allowed.
Anonymous Tables
Anonymous play is not offered at GGPoker, in fact, its nice to see the global diversity of the players on the site, each with their home country flag displayed. Being licensed in Europe its not really possible to offer this feature as there are KYC requirements which make anonymous play impossible for brands.
Languages
GGPoker is a global poker site, and offer many languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese Latvian, Turkish, Hindu, French, Swedish, and Russian. a cash hand, the underdog has five seconds to choose multiple dealing options when All-In. Choices are to Run it once, twice or three times, and has to
Taking Notes on Players
Simply click on any avatar and the Smart Hud pops up which clearly offers a note taking section where you can write about your opponents tendencies which is saved automatically for the future.
Four Color Deck
Much preferred by seasoned multi-tablers, the four color deck option is available, and if you feel so inclined, you can also change the back pattern of the cards. Go Crazy!
Configure Betting Amounts
GGPoker offers one of the most diverse bet configurations we have ever seen. There are four buttons, and you can set both the BB amount as well as the % of pot as both can be useful ways to make a raise. For example I set my buttons to 2.2BB, 2.6BB, 3BB, and Pot. In addition I set my buttons to make 33% to 100% pot size bets.
Custom Background
There is not much you can configure when it comes to the playing table scenery, only some basic color changes, but this is all we could find.
Instant Play on Desktop
If using a desktop computer, there is no instant play available, only download. But it is worth the wait as its much more table and reliable than browser based play.
Our Top Cool Features
- All-in Insurance: Great feature to protect your hand from bad beats. This feature can protect you in multi-way pots, chopped pots, and much more. You can select which streets you want protection, but generally the idea is you stake money and get odds depending on your selection and the probability of the outcome (Trust us the calculation is a bit complicated)
- Player Staking: Another nice feature is the ability to stake players in tournaments at published mark-ups gives poker fans the opportunity to sweat their favourite tournament players.
- Squeeze Hole Cards: A very cool feature is the hole card squeeze feature whereby you can slowly squeeze or peek at your cards like in a live game. This never gets old as far as we are concerned its very cool.
- Show Hand Ranking: A handy feature, if you click your cards a graphic shows your current hand ranking.
- Rabbit Hunting: Look for the rabbit icon in middle of table after the hand completes, which when clicked allows you to see the community cards that would have been dealt. This option is for the true poker masochists out there.
- Auto-Rebuy: Another useful feature is you can set auto-rebuy, so that your stack is automatically replenished (eg. to the max buyin amount) whenever a threshold you set is met.
Hand Histories
Hand histories are available by clicking on the two card icon (with spade) in top right of table view. You can scroll from hand to hand quickly to review. They only show a still shot of the hand during your last action, but a decision tree below with all betting details. You can download your hand to your computer, but there is no feature for sharing hands quickly with friends. There is a nice feature to remove avatar graphics and see the button, SB, BB position labels instead
GGPoker Customer Support / Contact information
Support at GGPoker is always on hand, 24/7. You can get in touch with the GGPoker team via the GGPoker Discord channel, via 24/7 live chat support or via Telegram. The customer service email is: [email protected].
GGPoker Banking – Cashing in and Withdrawing your funds
Poker players can enjoy lightning fast deposits and cash outs with Bitcoin, as well as using traditional methods such as MasterCard and Visa to deposit and withdraw. Note that UK-based customers at GGPoker can not use credit cards, but may use Debit-cards on the site.
What are the Welcome Bonus options at GGpoker?
Players can choose between 100% up to $600 match up bonus on their first deposit, or choose to receive $100 in cash and tickets.
Option 1: 100% up to $600 Deposit Bonus at GGPoker
This bonus is paid out in $5 increments, for every $20 paid in net rake/tournament fees paid – with 90 days to claim.
Option 2: $100 in cash and tickets over 6 days
- Day 1 $9.50 in Spin & Gold ticket (play 100 hands of AoF and $2 cash)
- Day 2 $5 in Spin & Gold ticket (play 200 hands of AoF and $4 cash)
- Day 3 $4 in Spin & Gold ticket (play 300 hands of AoF and $6 cash)
- Day 4 $5 in Spin & Gold ticket (play 400 hands of AoF and $8 cash)
- Day 5 $6.50 in Spin & Gold ticket (play 500 hands of AoF and $10 cash)
- Day 6 $10 in Spin & Gold ticket (play 1000 hands of AoF and $15 cash)
Complete all six All-In or Fold Challenges and get a $15 GGMasters satellite ticket on Day 6!
Get $40 in free tickets over the first six days following an eligible deposit (min $20), no strings attached! To grab up to $60 in additional rewards, simply play All-In or Fold on each of the six days. Hit the daily hand targets to claim up to $45 in cash. Hit all six daily targets to get a final $15 GGMasters satellite ticket!
Honeymoon for Newcomers promotion
Once you’ve joined up at GGPoker, you have 3 days from initial signup to register for this promotion to win free prizes worth $300, just go to your honeymoon page and click start honeymoon. For the following 30 days you will be given a completely random daily mission, these are wide ranging from, show your hole cards after winning a pot, play a specified number of hands etc. You receive your rewards as you earn them so you don’t complete all the missions you still get credited for what you have earned.
This mission-based promotion is to allow you to explore and discover everything GGpoker has to offer by encouraging you to try different games and formats whilst also introducing you to the unique features on offer at GGpoker.
The prize payout is as follows:
| Missions Completed | Prize |
|---|---|
| 3 | 1 x $1 Ticket for Omaholic |
| 5 | $2.50 FREE MONEY |
| 6 | 1 x $4 T$ Builder Ticket |
| 16 | T$12.50 |
| 20 | $20.00 FREE MONEY |
| 25 | T$110 |
| 30 | $150.00 FREE MONEY |
