Poker Stars

PokerStars is a giant in the world of online poker. You can win huge prizes in cash games, tournaments and all types of poker at any time of the day or night.

Players have access to an incredible variety of tournaments that start one after another every two seconds.

PokerStars uses state-of-the-art software that ensures comfortable and fast play, the ability to play at several tables at once, and impressive customisation options.

This is a great poker room with plenty of varied promotions and prizes. There is an excellent loyalty programme, great branded merchandise, special games and qualifying tournaments for all the major live poker tournaments around the world.

If you love variety in poker, you have come to the right place. PokerStars offers a wide selection of poker games, from Texas Hold'em and Omaha to Five-Card Draw, Razz and Badugi.

At its peak in February 2009, PokerStars had incredible traffic: 22,500 live cash tables and 155,000 players playing tournaments simultaneously.

Many new poker players get their first online poker experience at PokerStars, and that is no accident. The huge variety of games, enormous traffic and incredible prize pools make PokerStars one of the best poker rooms in the world.

Some players have noticed that PokerStars does not offer as many bonuses as some of its competitors, since the poker room already has a huge audience. Even so, PokerStars has one of the largest welcome bonuses, with the chance to get 100% of your deposit amount. The bonus is paid out in increments of $10. In addition, there are attractive reload bonuses for existing players several times a year. As a rule these are 20% bonuses with payouts of up to $120. Many satellites to major live tournaments are held, among them the World Championship of Online Poker, the World Cup of Poker, the World Series of Poker, the European Poker Tour and Aussie Millions. Every Sunday the famous Sunday Million tournament takes place with a total guaranteed prize pool of $1,500,000. It is the largest weekly online no-limit Hold'em tournament in the world. Quite recently, in February 2010, the tournament prize pool reached an incredible $7,233,800!

Poker Stars is known for its speed, reliability and stability, not to mention the fact that they constantly update their security system. The fairness of the gaming experience has become a top priority for Poker Stars, so they maintain a very strict policy and pay close attention to ensuring there is no collusion. Players can configure the game lobby as they wish and also upload their own photos as avatars (although it should be noted that this can be done only once, so choose your photos wisely). If they distract you, no problem — just turn them off. The graphic design of the lobby and the tables deserves nothing but praise. The lobby shows useful statistics about the average pot size, how many players see the flop and how many hands are played per hour. Poker Stars was also one of the first poker rooms to offer its players the ability to resize the window, which is very important when playing at several tables. There is also a replay feature that lets you play back your entire last hand. There is also the option to review the last 200 hands played in a tournament. The Poker Stars site supports more than ten languages. The site has no Flash version that would let you play directly through the browser, but free practice play is available.

Poker Stars runs an excellent rewards programme that you join automatically when you make your first deposit. Players earn Frequent Player Points, or FPP, every time they play a hand in a cash game or tournament, and the VIP level is determined by the number of points earned. For example, the highest Supernova Elite level can be reached only by those who play poker regularly. FPP points can be spent in the special online PokerStars VIP Store on a variety of branded goods, such as clothing or electronics. However, they can also be spent on other promotions, for example to enter special tournaments.

Poker Stars has an outstanding selection of poker games that no other poker room can match. You can play Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha High-Low, Stud, Stud High-Low, Razz, Five-Card Stud, Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, Deuce-to-Seven Lowball, HORSE, 8-Game Mix and even Badugi. It is hard to argue with Poker Stars' claim that it is their site that hosts the biggest tournaments with the most participants and the biggest prizes. This really does attract huge crowds, thanks to the fact that Poker Stars sponsors many well-known professionals and regularly runs powerful advertising campaigns. Poker Stars is believed to hold between 20% and 40% of the online poker market. That means you will always find a table here to suit your budget, whether you are a dedicated player or playing for a few dollars for the first time. The sheer number of players is PokerStars' biggest advantage. At peak hours there are easily more than 20,000 real-money players here. Playing at low limits is not difficult, but as in any other poker room, the higher the stakes, the harder the game!

The PokerStars poker room has introduced a completely new option, unlike anything at other poker rooms, called Home Games. Home Games lets players create their own poker clubs so they can quickly and easily play their favourite game with their mates. It is a revolutionary innovation in online poker that will change your idea of how to have fun with friends over poker. You can create tournaments and cash games of your choice, with the time and limits you want. Each club can have up to 50 members.

Poker Stars support is available 24/7 for those rare occasions when you might need help. However, you can contact them only by e-mail. A reply from their experienced specialists usually arrives fairly quickly. The site also has a separate "questions and answers" section. If you run into problems with a deposit, you can ask the PokerStars staff to contact you at a time convenient for you.

You can deposit at Poker Stars in several different ways, with a minimum deposit of $10. The deposit method depends on the country you are in. Usually these are credit cards (Visa, Mastercard), debit cards and e-wallets (such as ClickandBuy, Moneybookers, NETeller). Direct bank transfers and cheques are used for withdrawals rather than deposits. Poker Stars also lets its players set deposit limits to keep better control of their budget. Withdrawals are processed fairly quickly, but it all depends on the withdrawal method you choose.