PokerStars Review

posted in Poker Room Reviews

When someone thinks of online poker, the first thing that springs to mind is PokerStars (PS). One of the original rooms to play on, established before the turn of the new millennium, PS has a very solid player base. IT is one of the only sites to offer some niche poker variations, such as 2-7 draw lowball, 5-card draw and badugi. PS is the largest site on the internet, experiencing traffic up to 250,000 in peak times, and is by far the most popular site to play on for amateurs and professionals alike.

Marketing code: PSP1056

Site Layout and Graphics

Despite their popularity, PS needs some work on its site layout. The lobby is a little messy, and tends to feel very cluttered at times. It is clogged up by promotion advertising, and a lot of the necessary information is hidden to a certain extent. However, once you are used to it, PS is very easy to browse and games of choice can be found quite quickly.

Graphically PS does well. Tables are very simplistic and are able to be customized. The ability to upload your own personal avatar is a very popular attraction. Players can play on up to 24 tables experiencing very little lag at all.

PokerStars lobby.

Support

The support team on PS is top-notch and matched by none. Support is available 24/7 in a variety of languages. Emails are responded to promptly and politely. Support also has the option of chatting to you real-time, either in their customized chat section or over the phone. The skill and responsiveness of the team really adds an extra notch to a great poker experience.

Tournaments

PS is really the home of tournament poker. Thousands of tournaments run daily, with buy-in ranges for any player. Prize-pools are large, with some of the smaller buy-in tournaments regularly attracting 15K+ players. Tournaments are offered in various styles, such as deep-stacked MTT’s with 30min blind levels, or turbo rebuy tournaments. Some may say that due to the multitude of tournaments, PS’s schedule feels a little overcrowded. Flag-ship tournaments include the $200+15 Sunday Million, $500+30 Sunday 500 and $1000+50 Super Tuesday. PS is also home to two excellent series – the SCOOP and WCOOP. The SCOOP buy-ins are three-tiered (low, medium, high), and thus cater to every player. The WCOOP is online poker’s equivalent to the WSOP, and is the number 1 highlight on any tournament grinder’s calendar. All game types are covered, including the lesser played draw games and badugi. Winners are also awarded a bracelet along with considerable cash prizes. This event culminates in a $5000+200 2 day main event, which has had a guaranteed prize-pool of at least $10 million.

Sit-and Goes

PS is home to some of the world’s best multi-table SNG grinders, and they have a world-class schedule to boot. Buy-ins start as low as $0.25, making it possible for any player to participate. PS offers a wide variety of games and formats, so being bored is out of the option. Popular game types include Double or Nothing (DoN) games, and the successful Steps SNG’s, whereby people can grind a buy-in of $1 to a profit of well into the thousands.

Cash Games

Cash games are very popular on PS, and remain one of the room’s main highlights. Many professional mid- to high-stakes grinders call PS home, due to the ability to 24-table and the associated bonuses. Despite this, most nosebleed cash action takes place on FTP, not that this is a terrible thing for players. As such, the playing level of cash is reputed to be generally of a lower standard to that of FTP.

PokerStars ring game table.

Bonuses

PokerStars offer very good bonuses. The PS elite bonus system is their VIP club. Players start at bronze level, and work their way up to higher levels by earning player points (VPP). Higher levels allow you to earn player points (FPP) faster, which let you purchase items from the store. The elite of this program is earning Supernova or Supernova Elite status; achieving this allows you to purchase cash bonuses with your earned player points. Pokerstars.com also has a deposit bonus, reload bonuses, and several other bonuses, like “Battle of the Planets” for SNG’s and MTT leaderboard challenges. Use the Pokerstars Marketing Code: PSP1056 when you sign up and your first deposit will be matched 100% up to $600.