Poker Stars Review

Summary (7.9)
Poker Stars was launched in the year 2001 and today it is rated as one of the top poker rooms available on the web. This site is best known for the winning players it has produced among whom are Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer who went on to become winners in the main event of the famous World Series of Poker tournaments. The software on Poker Stars is excellent and has high playability and navigability as well as pleasing graphics. The site also has a terrific selection of poker tournaments and a wide variety of the popular poker games. Although they added a new pokerstars marketing code in January, the only downside to this site remains that it has not been very generous with its sign up bonuses. It does however make up for this by compensating through providing its players with loyalty points rewarding frequent players.

Software (9)
Poker Stars has terrific software in terms of both functionality and looks. The software is table and has great graphics and the games play fast and smooth. Despite having heavy tournaments games the software is till top notch in terms of speed. The lobby interface is very helpful and provides players with great features and innovations including the hands played per hour and tables that indicate the average pot size and number of players per flop. Players can also check their position and the average number of chips remaining for other players as well. The interface has a unique look to it and it Poker Stars also makes it possible for players to have their own avatars.

Traffic (9.5)
Poker Stars has tremendous layer traffic as a result of it’s churning out big Poker Stars and also because of its heavy list of tournaments. During peak hours you will find a large numbers of players going up to 15,000 players for cash games and 100,000 players at the tournament tables. Poker Stars is the second largest poker site on the internet today in terms of traffic. Sometimes there will be as many as 30,000 players at the site especially during grand tourneys. About 80 % of the real money players at Poker Stars play at the tournaments.

Tournaments (10)
Poker Stars is the best poker site for tournaments. They have the best collection of tournaments available on the internet today ranging from small stake games to the huge table stakes games and to others with large guaranteed prizes. Poker Stars has great player traffic when it comes to tournaments. The sit and go tournaments are very popular here and draw large numbers of players. These tournaments range from anything from $1 to $5000. Poker Stars also hosts single tables and multi tables like normal poker sites, but in addition also has super popular heads-up tables and satellite tables as well. There are also several scheduled tournaments which include qualifiers for many of the world’s major poker tournaments including the World Series of Poker.

Game Variety (7.5)
Poker Stars has a good variety of games to offer its players. Although the site may not feature some additional games unlike other sites it does offer some quality poker games with excellent limits. Poker Stars hosts all the popular poker games like Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo. Limits offered include no limit games, pot limit and fixed limit. Poker Stars also offers their players the option of playing turbo games.

Competition (6)
Poker Stars was known for having some of the toughest competition in the business. However gradually this gas dropped especially since the sites rapid growth has brought in a large number of players, many of whom are not as skilled and are at the beginner level has brought down competition to a medium level. This site does have soft competition to offer but not in the ratios that other poker sites are able to provide. If you are looking for a place to improve your game skills and make a lot of money then this is certainly the place for you.

Bonuses (7)
Poker Stars provides a welcome bonus of 100% up to an amount of $50. They also offer reload bonuses for about 20% up to $120. Poker Stars also provides players with Frequent Player Points that they can earn by playing real money games or making purchases. The points can be used to enter several of the tournaments offered by the site.

Support (7)
Poker Stars provides 24/7 customer support but this is available via e-mail only. However response is very fast and in a matter of minutes. Queries are dealt with effectively.

Deposit & Cashout Methods (7)
Deposits at Poker Stars can be made via credit card, Neteller, CentralCoin, FirePay, Western Union check and money order while withdrawals may be made using Visa, FirePay, CentralCoin, Neteller, and check.