Juicy Stakes Casino + Poker for Australian Real Money Gamers
Following the passage of the restrictive Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill in 2017, opportunities for online casino and poker in Australia have dwindled. However, there are still reputable organisations that happily deal out hands of virtual poker to Australian players, and Juicy Stakes Poker is one of them.
You may not have heard much about this company, but it is an offshoot of the Intertops sportsbook, which is well-regarded by players around the world. Sadly, the ACMA put too much heat on Intertops for them to continue serving the Australian market under their own name, but Juicy Stakes is owned by the same management group, and it spreads all the same poker games as its big brother.
About Juicy Stakes
Juicy stakes is a member of the Horizon Poker Network. It's a bit on the smaller side, but in the barren landscape of Australian online poker, it fills an important role as an upstanding operator with reliable payouts, fair games, and profitable promotions. Because this room flies under the radar of most serious pros, the games tend to be on the softer side.
Furthermore, every user who signs up through our links is well-rewarded by this room with a 200% up to $1,000 bonus, 25 free casino spins, and, perhaps most importantly, 36% rakeback for life!
Juicy Stakes Poker Games
The Juicy Stakes poker software is descended from that used by the old Cake Poker. As such, it has all the features you would expect of such a mature platform, like table themes, preferred seat, auto rebuy, and four colour deck. Juicy is fully compatible with Poker Tracker and Holdem Manager, so if you want to track your results over the long term or wish to profile your opponents with the assistance of a HUD, you will be able to do so.
The poker lobby has the familiar tripartite division into cash games, tournaments, and sit and go.
Cash Games
The two main types of poker played at Juicy Stakes are NL Texas Hold'em and PL Omaha. Sometimes, PLO/8 also runs. Tables for these variants span from $0.02/$0.04 up to $10/$20. Tables sizes are heads-up, six-max, and eight-handed.
$0.25/$0.50 Pot Limit Omaha GameDuring peak times, you might find about a dozen tables going simultaneously, However, there are only seldom any games running above the $0.50/$1.00 or $1/$2 level.
Hold'em, PLO, and PLO Hi-Lo are also spread in fixed limit format, but action is scarce.
SNGs
Sit-n-gos are offered at buyins from $0.25 to $200. HU games are prevalent as are six-max contests. In addition, there are some four-player sit-and-gos. The three speeds are regular, turbo, and hyper turbo.
Some of the special types of sit n' go available include DoubleUps, Coin Flips, and satellites to major tournaments.
Though there are PLO and PLO/8 sit-n-gos, the action is concentrated in NLHE. Anyway, there are usually only a couple of these games with players registered at any given time.
Tournaments
Tournaments are where the majority of the players at Juicy Stakes seem to be concentrated, and it's easy to see why. There are dozens of tourneys scheduled every day, and many of them come with guarantees ranging from $50 to $10,000.
These numbers are a bit on the modest side, but the fields generally tend to be small as well. So small, in fact, that there are frequent overlays – where the player-contributed buyins are insufficient to meet the guaranteed amount and the site must make up the difference from its own pockets.
This means that you stand a good chance of picking up extra value via the additional money the house must kick in. The reasonable sizes of the tournament fields mean that these games don't take all day to conclude either, and so you can benefit from this phenomenon without having to dedicate countless hours to grinding.
Tournaments at Juicy StakesThe major weekly event at Juicy Stakes is the Sunday Sundowner. This $10,000 guaranteed tournament costs $100 + $10. It does not permit rebuys and add-ons; however, re-entry is allowed.
Despite its name, the Sunday Sundowner actually begins on Monday morning in Australia, at between 6:15 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. AET depending on the vagaries of daylight savings time. Therefore, you might be looking for tournaments that are more conveniently scheduled for Australian players.
Fortunately, there are two events every day from Monday through Saturday that are geared toward citizens of the Land Down Under. They are the RIPPER $750 GTD and the TRUE GOLD $500 GTD FAIR DINKUM.
The RIPPER takes place at 7:05 p.m. AET and costs $10 + $1 to join. The TRUE GOLD occurs two hours later and carries a buyin of $5.50. Both of these tourneys permit rebuys and add-ons.
Juicy Stakes Bonus + Promotions
One area in which Juicy Stakes really shines is in its menu of promotional specials for new and returning players alike. This starts with a 200% up to $1,000 first deposit bonus. Also, when you sign up through our links, you'll get 36% rakeback.
Although the bonus clearing rate depends heavily on the specific formats of poker you play, the combination of rakeback and bonus means that you're very likely to see returns exceeding 50% while the bonus is active (which will be for 90 days).
Beyond these perks, you will also be able to compete in a rake race each week where there's $4,000 awarded to the top 100 players. A loyalty levels system exists to give you further free money, and it's possible to obtain no deposit bonuses by trading in the gold chips you collect merely by playing.
Free tournaments every day, a monthly freeroll for depositing users, reload bonuses, overlay tournaments, and a rotating line-up of other promotions mean that you'll be able to collect a ton of extra value beyond what you win at the tables.
Juicy Stakes Mobile Poker
Juicy Stakes doesn't have a dedicated mobile app, but there is a web interface through which you can log in and access the games. This isn't the most polished mobile poker experience around, but it does work, and it's compatible with most smartphones and tablets in existence.
Juicy Stakes Poker on a Samsung Galaxy Tab A TabletThe mobile poker site is also an option for Mac users because there's no Juicy Stakes Mac download. However, those who wish to have the best experience ought to run the downloadable Windows poker client.
Juicy Stakes Casino
In addition to poker, Juicy Stakes also provides excellent casino gaming. The titles come from four software houses: Betsoft, Nucleus Gaming, Worldmatch, and Tangente. This means that you have a wide selection of games to enjoy with enough variation between them that it would be difficult to get bored.
By far the most prominent style of gaming possible here is video slots. The newest titles from Betsoft and Nucleus feature slick graphics and 3D animations. The offerings from the other software houses are not quite as up-to-date, but they do provide a welcome change of pace if you seek something a bit offbeat.
Frankenslot's Monster by BetsoftBeyond the slots, there's a full complement of table games, most of which are provided by Tangente and Nucleus Gaming. They include several varieties of blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, and casino war. There are plenty of video poker games too, like Aces and Faces, Jacks or Better, and Joker Poker. Some of these VP options let you play multiple hands at the same time, up to 25.
Juicy Stakes Blackjack TableWe have reviewed several of the games present in the Juicy Stakes Casino, and you can read what we think of them:
When you open your new account, you'll get 25 free spins to try out the casino. Going forward, you can expect more opportunities for free spins, occasional free hands of blackjack, casino tournaments, and cash-back rebates.
The Bottom Line for Australian Poker Players
We heartily recommend Juicy Stakes as a superb poker room for all our readers. In the current Australian poker ecosystem, Juicy Stakes particularly stands out as one of the few offshore rooms still willing to serve the country.
Though player traffic is a bit light, Juicy Stakes makes up for this in other ways, like the many lucrative promos it provides its customers. Juicy Stakes, for Australian players, is certainly on the shortlist of reliable poker sites.
To find out more about this room and why we regard it so highly, take a look at this info-laden Juicy Stakes review.
Frequently Asked Questions
We've endeavoured to inform you above of everything important that you need to be aware of before beginning to play at Juicy Stakes. However, we recognise that you might still have doubts. Therefore, we have presented below the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about the site.
Yes, Juicy Stakes as it currently stands today is an honest and safe place to play cards online for Aussies.
You may have heard tales in the past of customers waiting a long time for their withdrawals to be processed, and this was indeed the case before October 2013. In that month, Juicy Stakes was acquired by Zagox Management, an entity closely associated with Intertops.
Though there were some annoying issues related to the changeover, like requiring existing customers to rake a certain amount before requesting a withdrawal, these issues are long in the past. The current team behind Juicy Stakes has been faithfully paying out both Australian and non-Australian customers without any needless delays.
No, there's nothing in Australian law making it a crime to play online poker at Juicy Stakes or any other site for that matter. There are penalties for those running or managing the site, but this doesn't affect ordinary players at all. To learn more about how the law interacts with Juicy Stakes and other internet gaming organisations, head over to this article on Australia online poker law.
No, there have been no serious attempts by the authorities in Australia to block users from accessing Juicy Stakes.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority does use its powers to attempt to block – at the ISP level – users within the country from designated online gambling websites. For whatever reasons, Juicy Stakes has managed to fly under the radar of the ACMA, which has not yet added it to the blacklist.
No, it's not possible to bet on sports at Juicy Stakes. This organisation only offers poker and casino gaming, not sports.