The Online Poker Player Resource

Lobby

Tournaments and the kinds of ring games (Holdem, Stud, Omaha) are sorted through the use of tabs making it easy for players to navigate the lobby. Unique to the site, the tournaments are filtered through the use of buy-in tabs with the labels of micro, low, medium and high. No matter what time is, players always can find sit ‘n’ goes filling up and starting fast.

The table interface is one of best out there in terms of game play practicality. The size of the window is adjustable. This function makes it easy for the online pro to play at multiple tables while at the same time, it serves people like me who needs a big table to see the cards and what is happening at the table. The area of the table is big which makes it easy to see who has folded and placed what bets.

Game Play / Mini Table

Recently, PokerStars has added some variety to their graphics and players are now allowed to choose different backgrounds. PokerStars also allows players to submit their own custom pics to use as avatars. Furthermore, the software lets players choose where their seat is on the table

Chat window is comprehensive with statistical functions at the top. The interface supports note taking in general and on players themselves. The hand history function is great and very detailed but the format of how it is delivered can be a bit cluttered.

Hand History

PokerStar Ring games during peak hours can spill over the 13,000 mark which is second only to Party Poker. Many of these players are European, so U.S. players can expect decent amount of player traffic even during the evening. At higher limits the games can be very tough.

No other online poker site comes close to having the numbers PokerStars does when it comes to tournament traffic. Recently, there numbers during peak hours crossed the 100,000 threshold. For many of the sit ‘n’ go tournaments, there is hardly a long wait for one to start.

Recently, PokerStars has added a Sunday Warm Up tournament where the buy-in is $215 dollars. This tournament, as the name suggest, takes place before their Sunday Million.

Because of the high traffic volume, the games can vary quite a bit in terms of competitive players. On average, the lower stake games will have softer competitors; however, this is not always the case. Lobby area does show flop percentages, best to take look at and see what the current group looks like.

PokerStars has one of the best game varieties available to players. The key thing to note here is that not only are games such as Horse, and Five Card Draw available, but that there is plenty of traffic in these other games.

The rake is the amount of money a dealer takes for the house.

PokerStars Rake is currently close to industry standards. In the ring games, the rake is at 5 percent where the max amounts are adjustable depending on the number of players and the limit.

PokerStars bonus for first time players is at 100 percent with a maximum of 50 dollars. Not one of the best bonus offers in the industry, but in reality, they do not need to offer much more.

PokerStars has great promotions and it rewards it regular players quite well in the form of Frequent Player Points (FPP). For details on how to earn these points click here http://www.pokerstars.com/fpp/. Players earn these points threw participating in raked hands and real money tournaments. These points are then used to decide what type of VIP the player is (Bronze, Silver Gold and Platinum). The higher the points, the easier it is to earn more points. With these points, player can enter freeroll tournaments that have cash prizes added or are satellites. PokerStars players can also use their FPP points to obtain prizes from their store.

The strength in PokerStars Promotions lie in the various events they have such as the recent celebration of their 5 billionth hand and the Moneymaker Millionaire tournaments.

The only way to reach PokerStars Support is through e-mail. Despite the limited option, PokerStars does respond to its e-mails quite promptly.