Review


Table of Content


Summary

Established in 2000, PokerStars has since grown into the world's largest online poker room. Through promotional innovation and extensive tournament scheduling, PokerStars now maintains the highest traffic rate of any Internet poker site. The fact that they continue to accept US players can also be attributed to their high success.

PokerStars has several unique features not found at most online poker rooms, especially the ability to play tournaments in all game varieties offered. Speaking of which, PokerStars also provides one of the most extensive poker game varieties available, including the standard Holdem and hi-lo games, plus mixed games and other variations. With such a high traffic rate, a good poker game can be found in all game types and stakes throughout each day.

PokerStars Spade
100% up to $50 Bonus
Poker Stars Bonus Code: First2008

PokerStars Pro's


PokerStars Con's


PokerStars Game Variety

PokerStars offers a full list of poker games with variable limits (Fixed, No Limit and Pot Limit) and stakes. Games include Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo, Five Card Stud, Razz, 2-7 Triple Draw and mixed games of H.O.R.S.E. and H.O.S.E. PokerStars is responsible for the introduction of 'micro-limits', with games starting as low as $.01/$.02. These games do not take a rake.


PokerStars Player Traffic

PokerStars has evolved into the most highly trafficked online poker room in the world. Regular player traffic comes from Europe, Australia and the US. As such, poker games can be found in all varieties and stakes at all hours of the day.

Soft competition is easy to find at lower limit ring games, as new and inexperienced players gather at these tables, commonly offering a viewed flop percentage of 40%-50%. Generally speaking, the higher the stakes, the tougher the competition ill become. The same can be said of tournaments. A low buy-in tournament is going to offer the juiciest competition, whereas larger tournaments, especially the Sunday Million, will see very fierce opposition throughout the tournament, and even more so in the final table.

Peak hour, real money traffic averages 135,000 in tournament play, 17,400 in ring games, as of January 2008.


PokerStars Software

PokerStars is powered by its own, privately developed software platform, available only by download. Most online poker rooms that provide download-only software are PC/Windows compatible only. This is not the case at PokerStars, who very recently installed a Beta Version of Mac compatible poker software, almost identical to the PC version.

PokerStars software is extremely fast, with unmatched reliability. Even with frequent updates and 135,000 players at peak hours, there is little or no downtime experienced. The graphics are excellent. Many features are customizable and the statistics provide all of the essentials tools needed to find just the right poker game to suit and player.

The note taking feature has an added benefit, as all players you've previously taken notes on will depict an "N" below the players name. This allows players to immediately access the notes on this player, even if they don't remember having played them before.

PokerStars is very well suited for multi-tabling. Players can participate in up to 8 simultaneous ring games, or an unlimited amount of tournaments at any given time. Good mini-view functions, tiling and multi-colored decks create for a user-friendly multi-tabling experience.


PokerStars Bonuses and Promotions

New players at PokerStars are eligible for a 100% matching bonus up to $50 on their first deposit by using the bonus code, First2008. This promotion will continue throughout the entire year. Reload bonuses are offered frequently, though players must receive email from PokerStars to learn about and take advantage of these great deals.


PokerStars Bonus Clearing

To clear the welcome bonus from PokerStars, players must accumulate base FPP (frequent player points). These are collected by paying tournament fees (5 FPP per $1 in fees) and playing in raked ring games. Players can earn 1 or 2 FPP per ring game, depending on the amount raked. This may seem low, but very few FPP are needed to clear the bonus, unlike many online poker rooms. Players must collect 10 FPP for every bonus dollar. A $25 bonus would require 250 FPP, a $50 bonus 500 FPP. Players have 6 months to clear the entire bonus in one lump sum.


PokerStars Tournaments

The PokerStars tournament schedule is highly reputed for being the best in the industry. A full schedule runs guaranteeds, freerolls, turbos, freezeouts and satellites, all day every day. Buy-ins start as low as a few cents, up to $500+. The higher the buy-in, the tighter one can expect the competition to be.

Sunday is the favorite day for tournament players at PokerStars. First is the Sunday Warmup, a $500,000 Guaranteed held earlier in the day. First place is guaranteed at least $75,000 in their virtual pocket. Direct buy-in is $215, or enter various satellites for as low as $3.

The Sunday Warmup is aptly named, being the warmup tournament before the Sunday Million. This $1,000,000 guaranteed is highly populated with downright fierce competition - no wonder, since first place is guaranteed at least $100,000. This tournament has become so popular in recent months, it is attracting many more players than expected. In fact, the guaranteed prize has been driven as high as $2.4 million, rather than the minimum $1-million.

Other guaranteeds are held throughout the week, awarding anywhere from $50 to $250,000 in prize pools.

Freerolls run regularly 3 times a day worth $250. These incur a 10 FPP buy-in. The most popular and valuable freeroll competitions, however, are offered exclusively to loyal players, worth anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000.

Satellite and Super Satellite tournaments are held year round awarding prize packages to the world's most famous televised poker events, like the WSOP, WPT, EPT, Aussie Millions, World Cup of Poker and Asia Pacific Poker Tour. The online poker room hosts an annual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that takes place in the Bahamas every January, worth millions to the top players. PokerStars is also the home of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), which awarded more than $24 million to its players in 2007 alone.


PokerStars Customer Support

Unfortunately, PokerStars only offers support through email. On the upside, however, the support team is extremely fast and very knowledgeable. Friendly responses are always realized within 24 hours, if not 24 minutes! Visit the FAQ section for answers to many common questions.


PokerStars Payment Methods

Players at PokerStars are provided with an array of payment options for their convenience. US players, who have the most difficulties when it comes to deposits and withdraws at their favorite online poker room, will find FPS (ePassporte), eCheck or Money Order/Cashiers Check all recommended US payment options.

The full list of deposit and withdraw methods available at PokerStars includes:

PokerStars Deposits

PokerStars Withdrawals


PokerStars Company Info

The online poker room is privately developed and owned by PokerStars. The company is regulated by the government of the country in which they reside - the Isle of Man, in the British Isles. PokerStars has a gaming license from the Mohawk Native Indian Kahnawake Gaming Commission, based in Canada.