Poker Stars Review

PokerStars Summary

Poker Stars is widely acknowledged (even by the competition) to be the best site for tournaments and is the single reason that the 2003, 2004 and 2005 World Series of Poker main event champions were even at the tournament to begin with (all qualified online through Poker Stars). Poker Stars offers simple software that is very user friendly, and their large player base means that there are plenty of games around for everyone. No matter what your skill level, you are sure to find a table just right for you. You will have the chance to look around before choosing a table to play at giving you the advantage.

PokerStars Key Points,
100% up to $50 Bonus
Over 100,000 Players Online At Peak Times (The Largest Online Poker Site)
Accepts All Players, Including Players From The U.S
Competition is pretty tough at mid to high stakes
Clunky and Slow Software.

PokerStars Deposit Bonus

Poker Stars is known for a lot of things, but a generous bonus is not one of them only offering a first time deposit bonus of 100% up to $50. Furthermore, this bonus historically has not been consistently available and the current one is set to run only until the end of 2007. In addition to this bonus, they also offer very inconsistent and sporadic reload bonuses, none of which are being offered as of the time of this writing.

PokerStars offers the lowest bonus out of all the poker sites we review.

PokerStars Player Rewards

Poker Stars loyalty program revolves around its Frequent Player Points (FPPs for short), which are awarded based on play in ring games and tournaments. For ring games, FPPs are awarded based on the limit and the rake taken from the pot. A maximum of 3 FPPs can be earned each hand in a ring game. For tournaments, 5 FPPs are awarded for every $1 in tournament fees generated by the player; decimal figures are rounded (i.e. a tournament with a $0.20 entry fee generates 1 FPP, while a $0.30 fee generates 2 FPPs).

FPPs can be used for two purposes: Firstly, some tournaments stipulate that the entry fee can be posted in FPPs instead of actual cash (the actual FPP requirement varies from tournament to tournament and is listed in the information for the tournament). Secondly, Poker Stars maintains an "FPP Store", where players can use earned FPPs to purchase merchandise such as Poker Stars attire as well as electronics and many other great prizes!

PokerStars Games Available

Poker Stars has a wide range of games and with one of the largest player bases of any poker site, finding a game to play in is extremely easy.

They offer Texas Holdem cash games, with limits ranging from $0.02/$0.04 to $1000/$2000 for limit betting structures, and from $0.01/$0.02 to $200/$400 for no limit betting structures. Despite the number of limits, however, it is worthwhile to note that limit games above $100/$200 and no limit games above $25/$50 are rarely populated.

In addition to Texas Holdem, Poker Stars offers the following poker variants in ring game form: Omaha, Omaha/8, 5 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud, Razz, 5 Card Draw, Deuce to Seven Triple Draw and H.O.R.S.E.

PokerStars Player Traffic

Around 100,000 People are online at peak times. No matter what the time you are sure to find at least 2,000 tables with live players at them around the clock!

We only rate their traffic at 8 out of 10 even though they have the largest traffic by far, because play at mid to high stakes are pretty tough, flop % levels average from 14% - 25% which is very low compared to sites like Bodog.

PokerStars Tournament Info

For tournaments, Poker Stars really excels. They offer sit and go tournaments that boast some of the fastest filling speeds of any in the industry, with buy-ins ranging from $1.20 all the way up to $5100. Scheduled tournaments are running 24 hours a day with high frequency and have buy-ins as low as $0.50, running all the way up to $1,050.

PokerStars Software

Poker Stars utilizes its own software, which was created and is maintained by Poker Stars.

The lobby is very easy to navigate and laid out in a manner that serves to reduce the clutter and create an overall effect that is easy on the eyes. Buttons at the top of the lobby screen signify the different categories of games available, and players bring up information about the tables in each category by clicking on that button. Initially, a player might be confused by the buttons as ring games are separated into their own categories by poker variant whereas tournaments (with the exception of sit and go tournaments) are given just one category. However, this confusion is momentary, and a few moments of browsing the lobby should clear things up for the player.

The table view is straight overhead and there are no three dimensional avatars. Players can upload a picture to represent themselves, but the overall table graphics are largely two dimensional in nature. This serves to give the table a very simple, yet elegant feel. Cards are easy to read, and like most sites Poker Stars gives players an optional four-colour deck (green is used to represent clubs and blue diamonds in the four-colour deck).

Other good things about the software include the ability to tile tables to automatically make them all fit on one screen (great for multi-table players) as well as the ability to manually re-size any window.

But overall we feel its quite slow and clunky and not as good to look at compared to other sites.

PokerStars Promotions

Poker Stars is also the home of the Weekly Poker Millions Sunday Tournament. This is said to be the longest running, biggest pay out tournament available online today! For as little as $3 you can buy in to a satellite to win entry into the Sunday Million Tournament. If you do not want to go through the hassle of winning a satellite to the tournament, you can also buy right into the tournament. The buy in for the first 3 weeks is usually $215. The last week of the month, the buy in goes up to $530. The winner of the tournament always wins at least $100,000 depending on how many players have entered. 4 times a year, Poker Stars holds a best of the best tournament with a buy in of $1,050 allowing all of the top players in the Sunday Millions Tournament to enter and play to see who is the best!

PokerStars Deposit & Withdrawal Methods

Poker Stars real money accounts may be funded through the following payment options:

* NETeller (not available for players in the US, Canada and Turkey)
* Central Coin (not available for players in the US)
* Credit Card
* ePassporte
* Wire Transfer
* Online Bank Transfer
* PaysafeCard
* UseMyBank
* MoneyBookers (not available for players in the US)
* Cashier's Check
* Money Order
* Bank Draft
* ELV (only available in Germany)
* Bpay(only available in Australia)

Poker Stars will credit amounts up to the initial deposit amount back to the method they were deposited with. Any further amounts are either sent by cheque or by one of the following payment methods:

* Switch
* Maestro
* Solo
* NETeller (not available to the US, Turkey or Canada)
* ePassporte
* VISA debit card
* MoneyBookers (not available for players in the US or Canada)

If you have used a method other than the ones listed above and are trying to withdrawal your winnings, you will have the choice of the following options;
* NETeller(not available in US, Canada or Turkey)
* VISA debit (if you have previously made a deposit with an approved VISA debit card and the withdrawal is between $100 and $2000)
* ePassporte (only if you have made a previous purchase with this account)
* MoneyBookers (again only is you have made a previous purchase with this account).

Withdrawal methods other than cheque must have been previously used by the player to make a deposit; otherwise they are ineligible for use.

PokerStars Customer Service

Poker Stars support responds quickly to questions, although they do not offer a large amount of options vis-à-vis methods of obtainable support. They have a fairly extensive FAQ section on their website, and they encourage players to thoroughly read this section before contacting their support directly.

For players whose concerns are not addressed by the FAQ, Poker Stars offers additional e-mail support. Players can reach their support by e-mailing support@pokerstars.com and with their well above average response time players concerns will be addressed very quickly.