Hollywood Poker is ironically fronted by US movie legend and top class poker player, James Woods. You can still play him during the celebrity weekly bounty tournaments. He is the most famous play money player on the site. Many say his play money poker skills far surpass his acting talents. His bluffing skills are legendry. If only he could perform like that on the poker tables. Seriously though, James Woods is a top class poker player, who has taken some good scalps in the professional poker circuit. He is the new Pamela Anderson of the poker world.

 

Bonus:

There is a great choice of poker bonuses open to real money players at Hollywood Poker. For the regular mid stakes ring game players they have a superb 600% bonus up to $1500. You have 90 days to clear the bonus.

Your second option is to collect the 500% bonus up to $1000. Again you need to collect the bonus within 90 days. Note, for the above two bonus options, you need to be a regular player, mid level stakes or above to get the full benefit of these poker bonuses.

The third option is to collect the Hollywood 300% poker bonus. If you deposit $200, you have the opportunity to take advantage of the $600 bonus. You have 60 days to collect this bonus. Once you clear this bonus you will also receive a special signed copy of Vince Patten's "The Picasso Flop."

As we move down the levels, the poker bonuses become easier to clear

The fourth Hollywood Poker bonus is the 300% bonus up to $300. This means for only $100 deposit you will receive the full $300 bonus opportunity. For anyone who enjoys their poker, this should be fairly easy to clear.

The fifth poker bonus is very easy to clear. You will receive a 200% bonus up to $200. To get the full benefit of this poker bonus you need to deposit $100 and complete the 1200 player point requirement within 30 days of depositing.

To conclude, I would suggest if you are one of the more serious players you should go for the higher bonus, if you are a small stakes weekend player you should go for one of the smaller bonuses.

Promotions

There are several promotions and promotional events. Once you have completed your first deposit bonus, don't worry. There are plenty of reload bonuses to collect. You can purchase tournament tickets and cash with the player points you have accumulated. One of such tickets is the "Michael Woods Invitational" Bounty tournament. At this tournament you have the opportunity to play a variety of HP models and well known celebrities, also on top of the standard prize fund, you will receive a nice bounty cash bonus if you knockout one of the stars. There are several opportunities throughout the week to participate in one of the special bounty tournaments.

Also, with your player points you can purchase goods from the Hollywood Poker shop, or if you prefer and have enough points, you can challenge the celebrity of your choice to a $500 heads up contest, courtesy of Hollywood Poker.

Hollywood Poker have various other seasonal promotions and specials such as the royal flush bonus where you stand to collect 100 times the big blind if you strike the lucky hand.

Fish

At the lower end of the scale, Hollywood Poker seems to have its fair share of fish. The players here are often just playing for the chance to play and chat to one of the stars or Hollywood Calendar girls. The lobby chat facilities seem to be filled with celebrity spotters. There is a very informal approach to the lower stakes and these fish are easily spotted at the tables. I would say the play is generally tight/passive and you may find this site easier than most to dominate at the lower stakes. The mid stake ring games are moderate. At the higher stakes you will find a few sharks but you wont find many. On the tournament side, I would say Hollywood Poker is stronger than most at holdem but the less popular tournaments such as Omaha, are very beatable. The best place to find the fish is at the $1-$2 range ring games.

 

Tournaments

When Hollywood Poker first stepped into the limelight, the tournament schedule was fantastic, now with the loss of the USA based players, this has somewhat diminished. They still have a decent amount of tournaments and you wont have to wait long to enter a game at your preferred price range. The tournament fields are generally moderate in size, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your preference. I enjoy the rebuy tournaments. There you will find a lot of players who seem to think they can rebuy their way to the later stages, this means a big eventual prize pool. Another great tournament for those on a low budget is the Saturday tournament with $2500 added to the pot free. It only costs $1 to enter and if you can work your way through the field in this, you could find yourself with a cool $1000 to pad your bankroll. Also for the players who like the larger buy in tournaments, there are several satellite tournaments, one of which is the monthly "Grand Tournament." If you want to buy in directly to that you will have to fork out $1000 + $40. This event is a great experience. It is a 2 day event and if you win that, make sure you take a week off work to celebrate.

Software

Personally I like the Hollywood Poker software. It is part of the Ongame network and they pride themselves on their design. If you are not a fan of avatars, this site may annoy you. I'm happy enough with it and don't really take any notice.

You can also make the table full screen size and you will really see the detail put into the graphics. They have a good option for note taking where you can label styles of players with different colors for quick reference. You make up your own labels. You can also see the tag next to the players aviators at a glance which is great. If you want to go into more detail, you can type additional information on any player you wish. Just right click their aviators and click on player notes to retrieve the additional information.

The rake, pot size and bet is clearly visible at the bottom of your screen. You can opt for all chat options or remove dealer or player chat, if that is not your thing. You can also keep the chat screen external. There is a stats function where you can keep track of your own play. This all fits well within the table when you feel the need to open it.

Cashouts

Deposits: NETeller, Firepay, InstaCash, Mastercard, Visa and ePassporte for deposits.
Cash-outs: NETeller, InstaCash, ePassporte, Firepay, regular checks and courier's check.

Customer Service

Hollywood poker has the standard FAQ section to help with the more basic issues. There is generally a support team member at the chat lobby where you can get an instant response. If there is any issue you would like them to look deeper into then you can fill out an online form and they will get back to you fairly quickly. I have used this method and received an adequate response within a couple of hours, so I can say from a personal point of view that Hollywood Poker's support team has exceeded my expectations in that regard.

Game Selection

Hollywood Poker has a decent selection of games. You can play at limit, pot limit and no limit. They cater for micro limit ring games going as low as 15c-30c all the way up to the High Roller limits. You have the option to chose Texas Holdem, Omaha High, Omaha8, 7 Card Stud, also with the high/low version or even 5 Card Draw which is one of my personal favorites. There are regular freerolls although I would say if you are looking to play strictly freerolls maybe you would be better playing at another site. Tournament buy ins vary from 25c Quarter Roll challenges all the way up to the monthly featured tournament, "The Grand" where the entry fee is $1000 + $40. You have a great variety of choice at Hollywood Poker. Personally, I enjoy playing at the site for a bit of variety.