Poker Stars Review's

[5teamparlay]

FROM Online Poker Rooms Top-10

Poker Stars

Poker Stars continue to specialize in multi-table tournaments which are exceedingly popular. Their site is also popular with play money players, as they offer some fun aspects to their software. Their interface can appear quite cluttered with all the graphics people can use for their identities, but this tends to be a personal preference issue.

"PokerStars is the leader in multi-table tourneys, however, their ring game action is limited."

"I play at PokerStars, ParadisePoker.com, and sometimes PlanetPoker.com. I must say that the software at PokerStars and PlanetPoker.com is not nearly as slick and visually appealing as Paradise. PokerStars have action for multi-table tournaments!

"I like the funny pictures you can use as icons."

FROM POKER LISTINGS.com


Full review of Poker Stars


Summary (6.44)
Poker Stars is the runner up in online poker tournaments and since late 2003 also second in ring game traffic. Poker Stars has a very ambitious weekly program of both fixed schedule and sit-and-go tournaments, where many high stakes games are available. The software is top-notch both in terms of functionality and graphics. Players are on average of very high quality - as lots of advanced players play here. The customer support is well above average. Overall, Poker Stars is very professionally managed with a real ”feel for poker”. There is currently no sign-up bonus. Real money player statistics - July 2005: 4500-5500 ring game players at peak hours, 20000-23000 tournament players at peak hours.

Software and graphics (10)
Poker Stars' software has a great look and feel, with top-notch security and it always runs smoothly. Poker Stars is today positioned as the online tournament leader, with it tremendous tournament traffic and quick and reliable software. There are often tournaments with over 500 players and even up to over 1500 players, without any platform problems. The software has special tournaments features. For example, they ensure that there is an even balancing of the tables during the course of the tournaments and also prevents tactical slowing down of tempo with individual time banks (after time bank is up you must act in the normal allotted time or else the hand will be folded) and in the end of tournaments by playing all tables "one hand at a time" time (so no table can wait out the others to escape the dreaded last no-pay "bubble" placements). The player has a great overview of his or her stand in the tournament, relative to all other players. Poker Stars showed the way for the industry by introducing support of notes on other players, but even more importantly playing statistics functions. There is good lobby information with view flop percentages etc. Poker Stars supports personal uploaded images at the tables, which makes playing more personal (and quite hilarious). Mac users can play at PokerStars using VirtualPC, but it's not optimal.

Ring game traffic (9)
PokerStars' ring game traffic is lower than at the tournaments, but is nevertheless in the second spot (after Party Poker) in the world on almost any given day. It has been picking up lately, supported by the tournament players. At peak hours the traffic is currently 4500-5500 real money players. A relatively large share of the players is European, which makes the site reasonably busy also at evening time in Europe.

Tournament traffic (10)
The traffic at Poker Stars tournaments is the second highest in the industry (after the Party Poker network). At peak hours the traffic currenlty reaches 20000-23000 real money tournament players. The site has greatly benefited from the "first mover advantage" in the multi-table tournament area and a dedication to stay at the top with lots special promotion events and the WCOOP (World Championship Of Online Poker) hosted annually during summer.

Game variety (9)
Poker Stars has a good game variety, with the world's leading heads-up action and good volume in all major games. The games includes both Hi and Hi-Lo versions in Omaha as well as seven-card stud. The site also offers no-limit Omaha Hi-Lo games. Poker Stars started the trend with with their micro-limit tables, going as low as $0.01/$0.02 in Holdem, and Omaha Hi. At these micro-limit tables there is no rake! The "sit-and-go" tournaments have a 10-minute increase in blinds, instead of 10 hands at many other sites. The players also get 1500 worth of chips. This gives more play for the money and better odds for the good players. The Holdem tournament tables seat 9 players, as do the no-limit and pot-limit Holdem and Omaha ring game tables. Fixed limit ring game tables seats 10 players.

Rake (5)
PokerStar's rake is at the average of the industry, with better offers at micro-levels and somewhat better at the highest stakes.

Soft competition (1)
The ring games are very tough at Poker Stars, due to its very poker savvy players. The view flop percentages are markedly lower than the online average. For example, at the 9 player no-limit Holdem tables ($1/$2 and up) the view flop percentage is often in the mid 20-ies and low 30-ies. In Omaha there are some loose games with view flop percentages up in the 40-ies and 50-ies, sometimes in the 60-ies (at $1/$2 and up). The tournament player quality is of more varying level. Of course there are mostly strong players in high stakes sit-and-go and the main fixed schedule events. However, a lot of non-experts take part as Poker Stars attracts many tournament players as the tournaments leader. In short, the competition is quite tough, but less tough in the tournaments.

Sign up bonus (0)
No sign-up bonus at Poker Stars, but private freeroll for PokerListings players. See above and below.

Loyalty bonus (5)
A Frequent Player Point (FPP) is awarded for each raked hand and five points are awarded for each $1 paid in tournament registration fees. The FPPs can be redeemed for entries in weekly and monthly special tournaments and other promotions, as well as the very well maintained member's store.

Promotions (3)
Overall, Poker Stars has decent promotions for the regular players. There are frequent re-deposit bonuses where you typically get 20-25% bonus match of deposits up to $600 for $100-$120 bonus. There are a lot of special event tournaments, which can be found at the home page. There are tons of free rolls, but they are of very low value as they are only satellites to weekly free roll finals.

Support (7)
Poker Stars has good email support, which is very quick and with great poker knowledge. However there is no live or telephone support.

Financial security (10)
Poker Stars should be very secure, as the second largest poker room in the world, with no earlier recorded problems. Top score.

Deposit & withdrawal options (8)

Deposit options:
VISA, MasterCard, NETeller, FirePay, CentralCoin, Western Union, cashier's check and money order.

Cash out options:
NETeller, FirePay, CentralCoin and check.

[TomGoddard]

In my opinion, PokerStars is one of the better poker rooms on the net along with Ultimate Bet, Full Tilt, and Caribbean Sun Poker.

- Tom

[5teamparlay]

PokerStars.com
Poker Stars Player's Guide More
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With the introduction of Poker Stars into the marketplace, online poker took a major step into adulthood. As time passes, online poker will continue to grow and mature, but PokerStars gives us a taste of the future today. The photo at left is Chris Moneymaker, 2003 World Series of Poker champion, who won his seat into the main event by winning a preliminary $40 tournament on Pokerstars -- $40 into $2,500,000. The photo at right is 2004 World Series of Poker champion Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, who amazingly also won his entrance into the World Series of Poker main event on Pokerstars. When he bested the record field of 2576 players, Fossilman took down the five million dollar first prize, double what Moneymaker won the year before. Click here for a Chris Moneymaker Profile and a Greg Fossilman Raymer Profile.

Click to Visit PokerStars.com

A critical element separating the best online cardrooms from the pack is superior software. PokerStars software was developed by designers who also play poker, and it shows. The game moves briskly -- cards are dealt, bets made, pots awarded, and then we do it again. But more than its clean, efficient speed, what really interests me about PokerStars is how it introduces several new functions to online poker.

My favorite PokerStars feature is "Stats." Ever wonder what percentage of Holdem flops you see? How about how often you see sixth street in Stud? Or how about what percentage of showdowns you win, or how often you play the big blind? On PokerStars, you have all this information at the click of a button. You can see your dynamic stats for your current session right on your game screen, or request an Email of your stats for some number of previous hands, or even for your entire history on the site. In poker, knowledge is power. This is especially true of online poker. Since we lose much of the human interaction online, the statistical analysis of our play is even more important than in a casino. And with PokerStars many of the key statistical facts about our game are now at our fingertips.

Pokerstars also provides an aid to help with the human aspect of the game too. Like Statistics, the "Notes" feature is integrated into the games chatbox. (You click on different tabs on the chatbox to switch between Chat, Statistics, Notes, and "Info" modes.) Many online players keep some sort of player notes or database on their opponents. In the Winner's Guide to Online Poker I mention how I keep track of the small group of the very best players as well as the somewhat larger group of extremely poor players. Over time, this can get pretty cumbersome. Some people have their player databases organized very well, but PokerStars offers an integrated way to do this. Simply click the Notes tab on the chatbox, then click on an opponent's icon. That opponent's name will now appear in the upper part of the chatbox. In the lower part, type in whatever comments you want to make about that player, for instance: "Biff -- likes to checkraise." This note about Biff will be stored on your hard drive (and only your hard drive), so when you next play against Biff, all you have to do is doubleclick his icon and your previous notes on him will appear in the chatbox -- even if it is days, weeks or months later.

PokerStars multi-table tournaments represent a dramatic step forward from previous online functionality. Once again, a key word in describing PokerStars is integration. When you play a multi-table tournament on PokerStars, you sign up in a tournament lobby just like (and accessible from) the main game lobby. No need to switch back and forth to a website to sign up. Navigation between tournaments and ring games takes one mouse click. The Tournament Lobby also provides a wealth of information. You can see the results of previous tournaments. You can see who is at what table and exactly how many chips each player has. You can go to each table and observe the play. You can see who has been eliminated, how many players left, average stack size, etc. Some additional information is accessible under the "Info" chatbox tab. Info tells you exactly where you stand in the tournament (for example, third out of twenty remaining players) and more.

PokerStars also offers satellite tournaments for larger events, which are again fully integrated. When you qualify from a satellite to a larger tournament you are automatically and immediately registered to the target. There is no guesswork to see how many other players are registered or any doubts about whether your win will be somehow "lost" in cyberspace.

Another original tournament feature is a "Time Bank." Some tournament decisions require extra thought. At the same time, it is important to not let angleshooters stall at critical junctures. PokerStars Time Bank gives players a stash of extra time to use when faced with difficult decisions, so no player can habitually stall (or just play super-slow). When it comes your turn, once you take most of your normal allotted time to act, a time bank button appears. If you want to think a more, click the time bank button and you get more time, up to your total time bank limit for the tournament (usually 120 seconds). In practice, a person might use this three or four times a tournament, maybe taking an extra ten or 15 seconds each time. Your total available time bank balance can be viewed by clicking the Info tab.

A final tournament feature I've seen in action but am not enough of a technogeek to understand is "Crash Recovery." On rare occasions on any Internet site there are server failures. These are often just momentary things, but for online cardrooms it means all players are dumped simultaneously. PokerStars Crash Recovery allows for an almost instantaneous re-start of a tournament with only one hand being lost, rather than having to re-start the tournament from scratch (or cancel it). Some major glitch could still force a tournament to be cancelled in midstream I suppose, but because of the Crash Recovery ability this should almost never happen.

Other PokerStars features are the ability to have your own unique photo as your "game face." You can use a picture of yourself, your cat, John Wayne, your mother-in-law, or any other (non-lewd) photo you desire. You can also disable this feature and see the usual sort of generic icons for everybody. PokerStars offers Pot Limit and No Limit capability (including play money), hand histories (including tournaments), and the ability to see all players' connection speed/status. They also have chosen to take a strong stand on all-in abuse -- when a player is connected but does not act on his hand, it will be folded. Players who are disconnected are put all-in.

Statistics, notes, the multi-table tournament lobby and features... I hope all online cardrooms adopt these innovations. They are technological advances, but they also provide thinking players with information. And since knowledge is power, PokerStars is a powerful online poker room. (Pokerstars.net is the free-games-only section of Pokerstars.com. You can access the same things from the .com that you can from the .net, but the .net offers no direct path to the .com)