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Poker Stars Review |
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| Summary, Download & Bonus |
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Summary (8.5)
Poker Stars is probably the hottest online poker room around for tournament playing. Spokespersons for PokerStars include: WSOP Main Event winners from 2003, 2004, and 2005; Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer and Joseph Hachem respectively. Over the past several years, Poker Stars has sent dozens of online poker players to various WSOP events, including the main event. Dozens of new poker players join everyday. Poker Stars offers a large variety of tournaments, sit-n-go games and ring table games all day every day. You will almost never have to wait for sit-n-go games but you may have a short wait for some of the more popular ring table games.
Software (10)
When it comes to awesome software, PokerStars has most other online poker rooms beat. The software is fully customizable, and easy to navigate. You can also upload your own graphics to create custom backgrounds. You can also change the table size of all of your poker games. Complete with 11 different themes and 3 different styles of card graphics to choose from, you will no doubt be hooked on this poker room. I haven’t had but a few connection issues while playing at PokerStars and most of them have been on my end.
From within the lobby you will see loads of great information. Within the lobby is very good information for the players including flop percentages. You can also navigate through the lobby to find other players, transfer money to other players and if you happened to forget, you can see very easily what tournaments or tables you were playing on. Once you get into a game, you can use the ‘player notes’ feature to help remember a person's play style in the event that you are up against them again.
And don’t fret Mac users; you can also play at Poker Stars by using Virtual PC emulation. Once you install the PokerStars software, you can copy the Virtual PC folder to your Mac.
Bonuses (6)
Loyalty rewards can be earned here at PokerStars where they use a Frequent Player Point (FPP) system to reward their players. For every raked hand you earn 1 FPP and you can earn 5 FPPs for every $1 paid in tournament registration fees. Those FPPs can be used to as buy-ins in weekly and monthly special tournaments or they can be used in the member’s store. PokerStars also has a VIP program with 5 different levels including Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Supernova. Basically, the more you play and the higher the limits you are playing the higher VIP status you will attain. Also, the higher-level VIP you are the faster you will earn FPPs and it will be easier to clear your bonuses.
Promotions (8)
The promotions at PokerStars are better than average and especially good for returning players. The satellite seats alone keep players coming back day after day. Those satellite games can earn you a seat in tournaments for the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, Professional Poker Tour, Asia Poker Tour and the European Poker Tour. There are also plenty of freeroll games to keep you busy. The frequent player award system at Poker Stars can be very lucrative. You can now use your FPPS (frequent player points) to buy into a H.O.R.S.E. game with professional poker player Barry Greenstein. You also have a chance to win a seat at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), The 2008 PCA will take place from January 5th to 10th at Atlantis, the most luxurious resort in the Caribbean.
Players (8)
One thing that you must remember when playing at Poker Stars is that there are quite a few professional poker players here. What that means is that most of the ring table games and especially the high limit ring games will have some very tight competition. But the ring tables at the lower limits have become a bit softer in recent months. Even though there are so many pro players at Poker Stars you will still find the occasional fish, especially at some of the freeroll and low buy-in games. Of course, the higher buy-in games will bring stronger players. In short, the competition has pretty average toughness in the ring games, with much softer opposition in most of the tournaments.
Variety (9)
The variety of games available at Poker Stars is among the best of any online poker room. You will see plenty of heads-up action, and not just in Texas Hold’em. Poker Stars offers Omaha, both Hi and Hi/Lo; 7-Card Stud, HORSE, and Razz. PokerStars has ring table games with what are commonly called micro limits, which are $0.01/$0.02.
The tournaments are set a little differently from most other online poker rooms also, with blinds increasing every 10 minutes on the sit-n-go games instead of every 10 hands. Players also start out with $1,500 worth of chips. The Hold'em tournament tables seat 9 players, as do the No-Limit and Pot-Limit Hold'em and Omaha ring game tables. Fixed limit ring game tables seats 10 players.
Site Traffic (9)
The average number of players on PokerStars typically tops the 100,000 mark. The vast majority, about 80% of those players are seated at tournaments. The other 20% of players you will find at the ring table games.
Cash Games (8)
Like almost all of the online poker rooms, the ring table traffic is much lower than the tournament traffic. However, you will still see about 12,000 players at ring table games during peak times. That traffic here has seen steady increases, especially since the UIGEA ruling. Players want to know that they are safe and this is where most of the online poker action is. There are also a large amount of European players, which makes the site fairly busy in all day long.
The tournament traffic at PokerStars is the highest in the industry. With players numbering into the hundred thousand range at peak hours. This number goes even higher during the spring and summer months when players are vying for spots at the World Series of Poker and the WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker).
Support (6)
One would think that with a player base the size of PokerStars, you could have every available support option but, there is no live support and no telephone support. However, the email support at PokerStars is very good, is quick to respond and is generally quite knowledgeable.
Site Security (10)
The Poker Stars network of player is the ranked the second largest online poker room in the world. And as you could expect, security is a high priority here. There have been no known issues of site or financial security seen here. Bravo for the Perfect score!
Banking (8)
The banking options you have at PokerStars are way above average. Deposit options at include: VISA (Delta, Electron, Gift and Prepaid), MasterCard (Gift and Prepaid), NETeller (minimum deposit only $25 and free instaCASH for US and Canadian players), FirePay, eChecks, CentralCoin, Diners Club International, Solo/Maestro/Switch (available to UK players only), Cashier's Check/Money Order/Bank Draft (min deposit $100). The cashout options for players are a bit more limited with only Neteller, FirePay, Centraloin and eCheck, with an average Neteller cashout time of 8 hours.
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