Review

Overall 86 Ease of Competition 84 Tournaments 82 Customer Service 85 Software 90

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Please note: Purple Lounge does not accept real-money players from the United States.

Overview
is a site on the medium-sized Microgaming network. The games tend to be a bit softer on this network than industry average due to the strong popularity of short-handed games. Their first-time deposit bonus is huge and exclusive to PokerTips readers. Additionally, it clears in a manner that is very friendly towards small stakes players.

Bonus
PokerTips readers can receive an exclusive first-time deposit bonus of 100% up to $1,000 at . Additionally, receive $50 instantly when depositing $100 or more. This is a fantastic bonus not only because of its size and free money but also because it clears fast and in a manner that is friendly to small-stakes players. For every 5 raked hands played, $0.25 of the bonus is released. This equates to $5 per 100 hands meaning it only takes 20,000 raked hands to clear the full $1,000 bonus. The best part is, it doesn't matter if the "raked hand" takes place at a micro-stakes table. As long as there is a rake, credit is earned towards the bonus. This is very friendly to micro-stakes players.

Promotions
is a little weak in terms of promotions, but one feature that's nice is their bad beat jackpot. Not many poker rooms offer these any more, which is unfortunate. To qualify for the bad beat jackpot, you must lose with four-of-a-kind eights or better.

They also offer promotions that send players to the World Series of Poker and a rake race promotion that essentially works as a glorified form of rakeback for high-volume players.

Tournaments
Microgaming tournaments tend to be very soft, but unfortunately huge prize pools are tough to come by. Most of their multi-table tournaments are played for buy-ins of $20 or less. Their marque event is a €100,000 guarantee on Sundays.

Software
Purple Lounge's software is fast and crisp. The hands-per-hour rate one can expect to have at this site is higher than industry average. They allow a maximum of eight tables at once. The purple color theme is pretty unique to online poker.

Competition Level
The main reason to play at Purple Lounge, other than to see what purple online poker software is like, is for the competition. Players on Microgaming tend to be pretty bad and edges can be exploited more thanks to fast software and the popularity of short-handed formats.

Customer Service
offers email and live chat support which is helpful in resolving issues. Unfortunately, they do not offer phone support.

Ring Games Offered
Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud, Five-Card Draw and Five-Card Stud

Fixed Limits: 0.02/0.04 to 50/100
NL & PL Blinds: 0.01/0.02 to 50/100

Tournaments Offered
Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud, Five-Card Draw and Five-Card Stud

Heads-Up: 0.50+01.0 to 750+50
Single-Table: 0.50+01.0 to 750+50
Multi-Table: 1+0.50 to 55+5

Minimum Deposit
50