Founded in 1997, Unibet offers several gaming brands with 11 million players in 100 countries worldwide. The platform is part of the Kindred Group, headquartered in Malta and regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority. Kindred is one of the largest online gaming companies in the world.
What’s interesting about this platform is that its owners are absolutely adamant about prioritizing the needs of recreational players over the expectations of hardened cash game veterans.
In an attempt to level the playing field for all poker enthusiasts, Unibet issued a blanket ban on the use of poker tracking software. What’s more, all Unibet players can change their names three times a day, which is supposed to prevent grinders from singling out the fish. Needless to say, poker vets haven’t exactly been enthusiastic about these changes, but there’s no denying the fact that you’d be really hard-pressed to find a more newbie-friendly site.
How to register a Unibet account
Registering an account at Unibet is a simple process. First, in order to sign up for a Unibet account, you have to be at least 18 years of age. To get started, visit the Unibet home page and click on the yellow “Register” button at the top right. You’ll then be asked to provide some basic information such as date of birth, name, address, username, and password.
You may also need to confirm your account via a copy of a government-issued ID, depending on the country. Just a reminder, Unibet isn’t available in countries where playing online poker for real money is illegal. To check whether Unibet is accessible from your area of residence, please consult the list of eligible countries available on its website.
Unibet new player bonuses
Players are in luck with some nice free cash at Unibet. The site’s welcome bonus offers players a free Playthrough Bonus of €200 to new players.
Free €20 Bonuses and Poker Tickets
You can also earn entry into four weekly €500 Welcome Freerolls and €20 in Poker Tickets just for signing up. The Free €20 includes:
- one €8 cash game ticket
- three €4 Unibet Open tournament tickets
That money included in the cash game ticket can be used exclusively at the $0.02/$0.04 tables. Tournament tickets, on the other hand, have to be spent on Unibet Open event qualifier games and expire after seven days.
€200 Playthrough Bonus
The playthrough bonus activates as soon as you deposit on the site for the first time – at least €10. Playthrough bonuses are released in increments and automatically credited to your real money balance once these levels are cleared.
The rules are simple: You have 60 days to grind through six levels of this promotion and win as much money as you can. Completing each level requires you to pay a specific amount of rake and tournament fees:
- Level 1 – pay €2 in rake – earn a €1 cash reward (50% rakeback)
- Level 2 – pay €10 in rake – earn a €4 cash reward (40% rakeback)
- Level 3 – pay €50 in rake – earn a €15 cash reward (30% rakeback)
- Level 4 – pay €150 in rake – earn a €40 cash reward (27% rakeback)
- Level 5 – pay €588 in rake – earn a €140 cash reward (24% rakeback)
What you get here is a simple rakeback system with diminishing returns. Its biggest advantage lies in the fact that you don’t have to invest a massive amount in order to earn some additional cash.
Four $500 Welcome Freeroll tickets
These tickets allow you to participate in four $500 Sunday freerolls. They expire after 35 days, which means that if you skip more than one tournament, you will forfeit some of your tickets.
Unibet traffic overview
Unibet is a niche site for inexperienced players, so the traffic isn’t as high as on PokerStars, 888poker, or even partypoker. That being said, the player pool is big enough to sustain 24/7 cash game action, especially considering the game selection is essentially limited to Hold’em and Omaha.
As of April 2020, Unibet checked in as the 18th-most popular poker site in the world. If you’re looking for a reference point, we’d say that the numbers are somewhat comparable to what you’d find on the iPoker network and the partypoker Europe network.
Cash traffic
The weekly average for real money ring game players usually falls within the 600-650 range. The traffic usually reaches its peak between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, or 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time. During that time, you should expect between 1,100 and 1,300 cash game players. That’s about 90 percent of the traffic on iPoker, or 5% of the traffic on PokerStars.
Tournament traffic
Even for a network of its size, Unibet doesn’t attract a whole lot of tournament traffic. Really, if you think about it, it wouldn’t make sense if it did. Recurring tournaments are usually attended by people who play poker on a regular basis, and Unibet is more appealing to casual players.
Despite the low buy-ins, most events attract between 40 and 200 contestants, which is something you’d expect to see on networks which generate three times less cash-game traffic.
Unibet games
Unibet uses proprietary software which supports the two most popular poker variants, Hold’em and Omaha. It also features one additional gimmicky poker game that does a decent job at spicing up the overall gameplay experience.
All things considered, keeping things that focused isn’t a bad move when you’re working with such a relatively small player pool. Players don’t get frustrated over empty Stud tables, meanwhile, the games run 24/7 without any hiccups.
Along with a traditional poker client, Unibet also offers a browser-based quick-play feature for players to easily log in from anywhere and play. There is also a poker app available as well for mobile devices. Unibet also offers some fun features like the ability to switch aliases often and unique avatars to display while playing.
Unibet cash games
Unibet cash games are all about low-stakes Hold’em, with a touch of Omaha on the side. As mentioned above, niche poker variants simply aren’t represented here. Instead, you get Banzai poker, which is essentially a short-stacked NLHE cash game.
It’s also worth noting that despite the lack of any poker HUD support, Unibet software is actually quite multi-tabling friendly.
Hold’em
NLHE is the only Texas Hold’em variant offered by Unibet. Stakes range from $0.02/$0.04 to $4/$8.
The lack of $0.01/$0.02 tables is a rather big drawback for a site that’s supposed to be all about recreational play. However, the low one-percent rake at the micros makes this omission easier to swallow. Both 6-max and 9-max tables are available, but keep in mind that finding full-ring action during off-peak hours might be problematic at the higher stakes.
Omaha
Pot-Limit Omaha is the only available format. Just like in the case of Hold’em, stakes range from $0.02/$0.04 to $4/$8. Since Omaha is considerably less popular than NLHE, you should generally stick to the 6-max tables. That is unless you’re willing to limit your sessions to peak traffic hours exclusively.
Banzai
Banzai is a variation of classic Texas Hold’em invented by Unibet. The rules are the same as in standard NLHE, but players are only allowed to buy-in with ten big blinds.
Since the maximum stakes are $0.10/$0.20, the maximum amount of money you can bring to a Banzai table is $2. As you’d expect, the games are very random due to shallow stacks, so the few skilled players who play on Unibet tend to avoid this mode.
Unibet multi-table tournaments
As mentioned above, multi-table tournaments definitely aren’t Unibet’s forte. The amount of traffic they get is pretty disheartening. After all, low traffic tends to result in low prize pools. Nevertheless, the fact that their MTTs are smaller than tournaments hosted on other global networks doesn’t mean that they aren’t fun.
Below is an overview of Unibet’s more popular MTTs:
Unibet Open Qualifiers
These tourneys will give you plenty of opportunities to qualify for high-profile live poker events. Buy-ins are very affordable. You can actually get in on the action for as little as $2. Obviously, if you start that low, you’ll face a long and difficult battle to go up against the pros in a land-based casino setting, but hey – even if you don’t win, you’re essentially guaranteed to improve your MTT skills along the way.
Wednesday Omaha
Unibet’s weekly Omaha tournaments usually come with a $1,500 guarantee. The action starts at 7 p.m. CET and the tickets cost $25.
Saturday Deepstack
These recurring deep-stack tournaments come with a $100 buy-in and a $10,000 guarantee. Players start with 5,000 chips, so there’s plenty of room to reduce variance. Each event kicks off at 7 p.m. CET.
Sunday Sundown
Sunday Sundown tournaments are the perfect opportunity to close your weekend with some MTT No-Limit Hold’em action. Entering this contest costs only $10. Each event sports a nice $3,000 guarantee. Cards go in the air at 7 p.m.
Other poker offerings on Unibet
Aside from cash games, freerolls, and standard MTTs, Unibet customers can also enjoy classic Sit & Go tournaments with a small twist.
Sit & Go tournaments
S&Gs on Unibet run in heads-up and 5-max formats. Unlike fun gimmicks on this platform, the 5-max tourneys actually do serve a practical purpose. The smaller number of players reduces variance and speeds the game up. If you’re a serious grinder, this will allow you to play more tournaments per gaming session. The 2-seat STT buy-ins range from $1 to $200, while 5-seat buy-ins are from $1 to $100.
Unibet rewards program
Unibet’s rewards program is quite unique, as it uses a trophy system commonly employed in modern video games. Don’t expect it to be consistent though. Like everything on this platform, it’s supposed to entertain players rather than giving them options to work on their playback percentages.
Forget grinding for volume and advancing up the loyalty ladder. Instead, you’re here to do monthly missions, which are conveniently displayed at the top of every open table. If you’d like to know what you’re supposed to do, simply click the appropriate icon and read the description.
In order to progress to the harder missions, you must complete the easier ones first. Objectives for entry-level missions range from changing your table background to playing a bounty tournament.
When you get to the hardest missions, things become highly random. For example, one of the tasks in February 2018 was to be dealt 20 cards with a value of 10 or higher at a Pot-Limit Omaha game. Rewards for completing those missions usually consist of STT or freeroll tickets.
All things considered, this system certainly isn’t boring, but its unpredictability makes it impossible to assess overall value, which is guaranteed to discourage serious players from participating.
Unibet deposit/withdrawal options
Like most Europe-facing poker sites, Unibet gives you access to a wide range of reliable banking options. If you’d like to see which of the supported methods are available in your country, simply go to My Account and click Deposits or Withdrawals.
Deposits
In most countries, you can make your first deposit using a credit card, from your bank, or via a prepaid card, such as PaySafeCard or Ukash. The only gripe we have with Unibet’s rules is the fact that e-wallet services such as Neteller or Skrill are not available to new customers. You must make at least one successful deposit first.
Withdrawals
When it comes to cashing-out, Unibet provides two options: either a withdrawal to the bank account or credit card used to make the deposit, or a withdrawal to an e-wallet such as Neteller or Skrill.
On average, you will have to wait:
- Up to 12 hours for an e-wallet withdrawal
- 1-3 business days for a bank transfer
- 3-5 business days for an e-wallet withdrawal
The site does not charge patrons any fees for requesting a cash-out but takes no responsibility for external fees.
Unibet support
Customers can reach Unibet customer support using the following methods:
- Phone (toll-free): 0800 329 393
- Phone (international, operator charges apply): 0207 257 8701
- E-mail: [email protected]
- 24/7 chat
The average response times are eight seconds for phone support, 11 seconds for chat support, and about 45 minutes for e-mail messages.
Apart from their live customer service, Unibet also gives you access to a comprehensive Help section, which contains excellent articles and video tutorials that will guide you through the registration process, tell you everything you need to know about their software, and even teach you the basics of Hold’em and Omaha.
Overall, we found Unibet’s support to be one of the best in the business.
Other Unibet promotions
Unibet isn’t big on promotions, but it’s really big on freerolls.
If you’re a paying customer, you’ll get about a dozen opportunities to participate in free Hold’em and Omaha events. You’ll also get opportunities to enter Unibet Open qualifiers for $0.01.
Aside from standard freerolls, Unibet also hosts special freerolls that are supposed to introduce you to its other iGaming services, such as casino, bingo, and sports betting. For example, in February 2018, Unibet’s customers could earn $500 freeroll tickets by placing a $10 bet via the Unibet Sportsbook.
Conclusion
Unibet offers you a different take on online poker. It’s a real-money platform that often feels like a play-money social game, which makes it extremely polarizing.
If poker to you is more of a casino game and you go in expecting to spend some money and have a lot of fun, you’re going to find plenty of genuine enjoyment over at Unibet. On the other hand, if you treat poker like a second job, you’ll probably hate it. Yes, the competition may be extremely soft, but are you willing to give up on Poker Tracker to exploit it.