Poker Stars Review

PokerStars is an industry leader. They have been around for quite some time and are not going any where anytime soon. They offer the most online tournaments of any of the sites with over 70,000 playing in the various tournaments at one time. They are also the sponsors for the last 3 WSOP champions. They single handedly sent almost half the field to the main event last year. While they lead the industry in tournament players they come a close second to Party Poker for ring game traffic. The software is among the best as far as graphics, smoothness of play, layout, navigation as well as holding a vast number of simultaneous players without a hitch.

Poker Stars Game Selection

They offer Texas Hold’em Limit and no limit from stakes as low as $.01-$.02 up to $100-$200.

Poker Stars also has Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo are also available. These games frequently have some of the best and the worst opposition in the marketplace. They also offer micro stakes heads up action, as well as a variety of Sit and Go and Multi Table Tournaments.

PokerStars Competition and Tournaments

The competition is such a variety that at any one time you could be sharking a fish or looking like a minnow in a matter of minutes. Some of the best players in the world play here so you will learn a lot about your game just by getting beat here, but you will also take advantage of mistakes made by less experienced players. What you do see quite often there is players riding their hand to the river and catching though so player beware. That is the only knock I have with this site. A solid player could lose a lot to a lucky player making the swings here outrageous, but with a cool head you will re-coup your losses tenfold if you don’t play above your bankroll. The tournament action is non-stop and they offer the most multi table tournaments on the market. There is a new one running almost within fifteen minutes of the previous one starting, so if you are a tournament specialist this is the site for you.

PokerStars VIP Program

PokerStars offers a VIP program that offers some fabulous gifts to frequent players. There are five levels of VIP status. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Supernova. At all levels you earn 1 point for every flop that takes in a dollar. You also earn 5 points per dollar in tournament house fees. These are called frequent player points, as well as VIP points. At the Bronze level if you earn 1500 VIP points in a month you get promoted to Silver and you start earning FPP’s at a 1.5 rate. After 1500 VIP points for the month, you will need to work your way to 4000 VIP points to get to the Gold level. At the gold level you earn 2 FPP’s for the price of one. After 4000 VIP points you will need to get to 10,000 VIP points to get to platinum and start earning FPP’s at 2.5 per hand. All these levels are good for the current and the following month. If you fail to earn the status in the following month you will go back to Bronze and start the process over. The only VIP points that carry over for the next star level is Supernova at 100,000 VIP points for the year you will become a Supernova. All the levels offer different prizes very similar to ours here at WCD. They also offer direct buy-ins to various WSOP events as well as a Porsche Cayman.

PokerStars Bonuses

PokerStars bonuses are few and far between but are usually 20% of your deposit at a given time during which they specify. This is the worst site for bonuses if you are a bonus chaser though. I do use the bonus opportunity if I can just for the free money when it comes available.

Final Verdict For PokerStars:

PokerStars gets scores a 9.5 out of 10 stars. It would have gotten a 10 but no site has it nailed down yet although this one is close. This is a good site to improve your game on as well as your tournament play. They offer great support (via email only) as well as prompt cash outs and superior service all around.