Pala Poker is the newest site to enter the mix of NJ online poker sites.
Operating on a proprietary platform as a standalone site, Pala does not share traffic with any other room in New Jersey. This is in contrast to relationships such as the shared network between partypoker NJ and Borgata, or the shared network of 888 and WSOP NJ. The site does exist under a partnership with Borgata, but the two do not share liquidity.
Pala also operates an online casino in NJ — Pala Casino — where players are eligible for a $25 no-deposit bonus and a 100 percent deposit bonus up to $500.
Pala is licensed and regulated by the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement.
We recommend you play online poker in NJ with WSOP and claim your $10 free on sign-up.
It’s too early in the game to properly evaluate the traffic at Pala Poker, but we do know that there’s only a limited amount of traffic to go around in New Jersey. That’s going to make for an uphill climb for Pala Poker, which will be battling against established competition in a very tight market for NJ online poker.
Pala is launching with a focus on no-limit hold’em games (NLHE). Fixed limit hold’em is also available (LHE). The room may eventually expand to offer other variants, but a focus on those popular games is the right approach for a room just getting off the ground, as supporting other variants could prove challenging.
Pala Poker offers a variety of SNG tournaments. The focus at launch appears to be on supporting NLHE and lower-stakes play, which makes sense for a room that will be working to generate traffic in the early days.
There’s a full suite of multi-table tournaments available in the lobby. Again, the focus of the MTT lobby is on low-stakes, fast-resolving tournaments, primarily with no limit hold’em – a smart play for a room that is still building up a traffic base.
$25 free for new players (plus additional casino bonuses)
New players qualify for a 100% deposit bonus up to $500.
Pala offers a tiered rewards program. There are two components: Status Points and Rewards Points.
There are five levels to the rewards program. Each level requires a baseline amount of SP per month to hit. Each also comes with its own RP multiplier.
Players have the option to trade in RP for either cash or tournament dollars. The rate is slightly better for tournament dollars:
What does this translate to in terms of cash back? Obviously, it depends on your loyalty level. But let’s take the middle level (Gold) as an example. You would need to earn 5000 RP to get $1 back. To get 5000 RP, you would need to earn 833 SP. You earn 50 SP for every dollar in rake, so you would need to pay $16.60 in rake. That means you’d be getting about 6% rake back from your RP.
The Pala online poker software is available in three formats:
Pala Poker offers a full complement of standard deposit methods for NJ online poker players, including:
Players can cash out their funds via:
Pala offers five channels for customer support:
The site has a tough hill to climb, but with the right focus and strong promotions, there’s no reason why Pala can’t find a place in the market for NJ online poker.