Poker Stars

PokerStars is a giant in the world of online poker. You can win huge prizes in cash games, tournaments, and all sorts of poker at any time of the day or night.

Players have an incredible variety of tournaments starting up back-to-back every two seconds.

PokerStars features cutting-edge software that gives you a comfortable and speedy experience, the ability to play multiple tables at once, and impressive customization options.

It's a great poker room with lots of different promotions and prizes. There's a great loyalty program, great branded merchandise, special games and qualifiers for all of the major live poker tournaments around the world.

If you love variety in poker, you've come to the right place. PokerStars offers a wide variety of poker games from Texas Hold'em and Omaha to Five Card Draw, Razz and Badugi.

At its peak in February 2009, PokerStars had an incredible turnout, with 22,500 live cash tables and 155,000 players playing in simultaneous tournaments.

Many new PokerStars poker players get their first taste of the online poker world, and it's no coincidence that they do. The sheer variety of games, huge attendance and incredible prize pools make PokerStars one of the best poker rooms in the world.

Some players have noticed that PokerStars does not offer as many bonuses as some of its competitors, since the poker room already has a huge audience. Nevertheless, PokerStars has one of the biggest welcome bonuses with the ability to get 100% of the deposit amount. The bonus is paid out at $10 each. In addition, there are lucrative repeat deposit bonuses for existing players several times a year. Typically, these are 20% bonuses with payouts of up to $120. There are many satellites to big live tournaments including the World Championship of Online Poker, the World Cup of Poker, the World Series of Poker, the European Poker Tour and the Aussie Millions. Every Sunday is the famous Sunday Million Tournament, with a total guaranteed prize pool of $1,500,000. This is the biggest weekly online no limit Hold'em poker tournament in the world. Most recently in February 2010, the tournament's prize pool reached an incredible $7,233,800!

Poker Stars is known for its speed, reliability and stability, not to mention the fact that they are constantly updating their security system. The integrity of the gaming experience has become a top priority for Poker Stars, so they have a very strict policy and pay close attention to ensuring there is no collusion. Players can set up the game lobby themselves as they see fit and they can also upload their own photos as avatars (though it should be noted that you can only do it once, so choose your photos wisely). If these distract you, there's no problem - just turn them off. The graphics of the lobby and the tables deserve all the praise. The lobby provides useful statistics on average pot size, how many players are watching the flop and hands played per hour. Poker Stars was also one of the first poker rooms to offer its players the option to resize the window, which is very important when playing with multiple tables. There's also a replay feature which lets you replay the entire way your last hand was played. There's also an option to view the last 200 hands played in a tournament. The site Poker Stars supports work in more than ten languages. There is no Flash version of the site, which allows you to play directly through a browser, but there is a free practice option.

Poker Stars has an excellent rewards program which you earn automatically when you make your first deposit. Players earn Frequent Player Points  or FPPs, every time they play a hand in a cash game or a tournament and the VIP level is determined by how many points they earn. For example, the top level of Supernova Elite can be reached only by those who play poker regularly. FPP points can be spent in a special online store PokerStars VIP Store on a variety of branded goods such as clothing or electronics. However, they can also be spent in other promotions, for example, to participate in special tournaments.

Poker Stars has an outstanding selection of poker games that no other poker room can match. You can play Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Stud, Stud Hi-Lo, Razz, Five Card Draw, Two to Seven Triple Draw, Deuce to Seven Lowball, Horse, 8 Game Mix and even Badugi. It's hard to argue with Poker Stars' claim that they are the site for the biggest tournaments with the biggest number of participants and the biggest prizes. It really attracts huge crowds, thanks to the fact that Poker Stars sponsors many well-known professionals and runs strong promotional campaigns regularly. Poker Stars is said to have between 20% and 40% of the online poker market. This means that you'll always find a table here that you can afford, whether you're an avid player or your first time playing for a few dollars. The sheer volume of players is Poker Stars' biggest selling point. At peak hours, there are easily over 20,000 real-money players. The small limits are not hard to play but, like any other poker room, the higher the stakes, the harder it is to play!

PokerStars has introduced a brand new option called Home Games, unlike any other poker room. Home Games allows players to create their own poker clubs so that they can quickly and easily play their favorite game with their buddies. It's a revolutionary innovation in online poker that will change the way you think about having fun with your friends over poker. You can set up tournaments and cash games of your choice, according to your desired time and limits. Each club can have up to 50 members.

The Poker Stars customer support team is available 24/7 for those rare occasions when you might need help. However, they can only be contacted via email. The answer from experienced professionals usually comes pretty quickly. There is also a separate "questions and answers" section on the website. If you have deposit problems, you can ask the Poker Stars staff to get in touch with you when it suits you.

Depositing at Poker Star can be done in a number of different ways, with a minimum deposit amount of $10. How you can make a deposit depends on which country you are in. Usually they are credit cards (Visa, Mastercard), debit cards and e-wallets (like ClickandBuy, Moneybookers, NETeller). Direct bank transfers and checks are used for withdrawals rather than deposits. Poker Star also allows its players to set deposit limits in order to better control their budget. Cash outs are pretty fast here, but it all depends on the withdrawal method you choose.