POKER STARS
PokerStars Review
Pros
US Players Accepted
100% up to $600 Welcome Bonus
Largest player base
Highest guaranteed tournaments
Most Live Event satellites
Cons
Stiff competition at all stakes
Serious poker players will find no better online poker site than PokerStars. The poker room offers the widest game variety, highest paying tournaments, largest rate of player traffic, some excellent promotions and an elite software platform, compatible with PC, Mac and Linux operating systems. Poker Stars even accept US players.
REVIEW
Summary
PokerStars has held the rank of world’s largest online poker room for several years running, currently playing host to more than 40% of the entire online poker world (based on average peak hour player traffic of 177,500 in January, 2010). Launched in 2004 on its own private network, that’s a phenomenally impressive record for a stand-alone poker site.
How did PokerStars become so incredibly popular? By developing an unparalleled software platform and integrating the widest selection of games and tournaments. PokerStars is home to the largest weekly tournament schedule, including the $1.5 Million GTD Sunday Million. Combined with awesome promotions, fantastic customer service and US player acceptance, PokerStars is lacking virtually nothing.
Welcome Bonus
PokerStars finally increased its welcome bonus to a competitive rate, now offering a fairly standard 100% up to $600 bonus on every new player’s first deposit. What’s not so standard about it is that new members can actually spread the bonus over their first three deposits. Input the PokerStars Marketing Code “STARS600” each time you deposit to continue stacking the bonus up to a maximum of $600 over three deposits.
To release the bonus, start earning VPPs in real money poker games and tourneys. You’ll need VPPs equal to 17x the bonus amount. Every 170 VPPs releases $10 of the bonus. Players have 6 months to release each portion of the bonus.
Games
PokerStars is overflowing with different types of online poker games, extending much farther than the standard variations of most poker sites. On top of that, PokerStars maintains more than enough traffic to maintain activity in all poker variants and stakes at all hours of the day.
Games include Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo, Razz, 5 Card Draw, 2-7 Single and Triple Draw, Badugi and various mixed games like HORSE, HOSE and 8-Game Mix. The stakes range anywhere from the lowest possible micro-limits to as high as $1,000/$2,000; perfect for players of any bankroll size.
Tournaments
Online poker players will not find a better tournament roster anywhere. PokerStars has the largest tournament schedule in the business and with more than 150,000 tournament players at peak hours, even the weekly Sunday Million, guaranteed at $1,500,000, often exceeds its expected prize pool.
PokerStars runs plenty of smaller tournaments as well, with buy-ins starting at $1 and up in both MTT and SNG settings. The SNG menu is always brimming with activity, replacing filled tables with new tourneys every few seconds.
PokerStars is known to send more players to more destinations all over the world, playing in major live poker events throughout the year. The online poker room also doles out more WSOP packages than any other poker site. About 20% of the WSOP Main Event field came from online poker prize packages, the majority of those straight from PokerStars. Steps SNGs are the favorite way to win a live event prize package, requiring only 6-Stepsand a starting entry of $7.
Promotions
PokerStars hosts plenty of promotional tournaments, like the Turbo Takedown. This is a monthly freeroll tournament with $1,000,000 on the line, and requires only poker points to enter. The first place winner gets an Audi TT. Take down a Team PokerStars Pro to claim his/her bounty.
Other promotional tournaments include a $3 million Battle of the Planets SNG series, and a chance to “Meet Joe Cada in Las Vegas”. Play ‘Meet Joe Cada’ tournaments every day, in freeroll and $1.10 satellites.
Earning poker points is one of the best ways to get extra perks from PokerStars. These points can get you entry to exceptional tournaments, as well as some awesome gear from the PokerStars Store. To earn points, just play real money poker games at PokerStars. Points are awarded for all raked hands and tournament fees.
Software
Developing and maintaining its own poker client over the years, PokerStars has set the standard for others to follow. The software is lightning fast, very stable and user-friendly. Packed with extra features, players can customize the software to their liking, take notes on other players and use the sophisticated hand history software to analyze and improve their poker game.
PokerStars software is especially accommodating for multi-tablers. Resize your tables, auto-tile all windows and play at up to 24 simultaneous cash games and unlimited tournaments, all without depreciating the speed of game play. PokerStars was the first to introduce a long-awaited Mac-friendly poker client in 2007.
Payments
PokerStars welcomes players from all corners of the globe, and is especially inviting to US poker players. The online poker room provides a wide range of secure payment methods that include Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Maestro, Solo, Switch, NETeller, Moneybookers, ClickandBuy, PaySafeCard, Web Money, E-Check, ELV, Local Bank Transfer, Online Bank Transfer, Money Order, Bank Draft and Check.
Support
PokerStars has one of the fastest, most reliable customer service departments. Surprisingly, email is the only viable contact option, but a large staff of professional support reps is on hand 24/7 to keep response time to 10 minutes or less for most queries.
FULL TILT POKER
Full Tilt Poker Review
Pros
US Players Accepted
100% up to $600 Welcome Bonus
Massive tournament roster
Top-quality software
Many Live Event Satellites
Cons
Support via Email only
Tournament lobby lacks certain details
Full Tilt Poker is an elite online poker site, the 2nd largest in the world, providing one of the best tournament rosters and cash game stakes in the industry. Endorsed by a plethora of pros, FullTilt hosts many live event satellites. 100% up to $600 welcome bonus; US players welcome.
REVIEW
Summary
Full Tilt Poker brings together all of the most rewarding aspects of the online poker industry, from valuable promotions and tournaments to elite software and the widest range of stakes anywhere. After only 6 years in the business, Full Tilt Poker has already spent much of that time ranked as the world’s largest online poker room, averaging over 80,000 players at peak hours. Many of those players are drawn by the chance to rail (or even compete in) the highest stakes online poker games, where today’s biggest poker pros frequent the virtual felt. Full Tilt Pros include Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Chris Ferguson, Patrik Antonius, Tom “durrrr” Dwan and many more.
Welcome Bonus
When you register a new account and make your first deposit with Full Tilt Poker, you’ll automatically receive a substantial welcome bonus matching 100% up to $600. Full Tilt pays bonuses in increments of 10% or $20, whichever is less, requiring 1 FPP for every $0.06 of the bonus. FPP are earned by playing real money games. Every $1 raked in ring games earns 1 FPP, while every $1 in tournament fees earns 7 FPP. Plus, you get to keep all points earned towards the bonus to use in the FullTilt Store or to buy-in to special tournaments. You’ll have 120 days to clear the bonus before any pending amount expires.
Games
The ring game and tournament lobbies at Full tilt Poker offer an extensive range of poker games, with enough traffic to occupy all variant tables and most stakes throughout the day. Poker games include Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo, Razz and plenty of mixed games; everything from H.A. to H.O.R.S.E., plus a new 7-Game Mix. Stakes come in the widest range in the online poker industry, scaling from as little as $0.01/0.02 to as high as $2,000/$4,000. While Full Tilt Poker is well known for its excessive player traffic, it is not so popular in the loose competition department. You’ll have to do a lot of searching to find a low stakes game with better viewed-flop percentages than 30-40%.
Tournaments
No matter what your favorite tournament style is, you’ll find plenty of them at Full Tilt Poker. Sit’n’Gos come in single-table, multi-table, heads-up, satellite and custom formats. Multi-table tournaments include freerolls, guarantees, turbos, bounties, double stacks and super stacks, not to mention satellites and live event satellites to every major poker event in the land.
Full Tilt boasts one of the largest guaranteed tournament schedules, paying out over $8,000,000 every week. Buy-ins range anywhere from $1 to $25k. There’s a monthly $1 million GTD, a weekly $750k GTD and several other 6-digit guaranteed prize pools throughout each week.
The online poker room is the home of the FTOPS series, a seasonal online poker championship which seems to get bigger and more lucrative with each hosting. Full Tilt’s FTOPS XV jumped another million from the last installment, guaranteeing $17+ million over 27 events, including the Main Event worth $2.5 million alone. A Mini-FTOPS runs alongside the FTOPS series, offering 1/10th buy-ins and prize pools.
Promotions
Full Tilt Poker hosts a lot of promotional tournaments, the most popular for serious online poker players are the many live event satellites that send players to major poker events around the world. If you ever dreamed of playing in the World Series of Poker, WSOP Europe, WPT, EPT, Aussie Millions or just about any other major poker event, Full Tilt Poker is the place to win your prize package for as little as $0.10 in Steps Satellites.
If you’re looking to earn more poker points, whether you’re trying to release a bonus or purchase that special item in the FullTilt Store, join the tables during Happy Hour. All ring games marked with a yellow smiley face are Happy Hour tables where players earn double or triple the standard poker points.
Refer a friend to Full Tilt Poker for a quick and easy bonus of up to $100 per friend.
Software
Full Tilt Poker’s acclaimed software is privately developed and consistently updated with some of the most awesome features in the online poker industry, making it one of the most realistic sites you’ll ever toss chips at. All of the preferred features are present, like note taking, in-game stats, vital lobby stats, unique avatars and more. Special features include a “time bank”, multiple lobby views and excellent multi-tabling functions like resizable tables, detachable chat windows and up to 18 tables at once.
Full Tilt Poker is one of the few online poker rooms to have released a Mac-friendly download of its poker client.
Payments
Full Tilt Poker is, and always has been, open to players from all regions of the world. The online poker room has a relatively limited number of payment methods available, choosing quality over quantity to ensure everyone, including US players, have a viable, secure method of deposit and withdrawal. Payment methods include Visa, MasterCard, Click2Pay, Cash Transfer, Instant E-Checks and Paper Checks (for withdrawal).
Support
The support at Full tilt Poker is fast, professional and very reliable. Some have complained that support is available via email only, with no live chat or telephone support, but on the flip side, responses tend to come in 10 minutes or less, so there’s really not much to complain about.
Horse Poker
HORSE is actually a combination of several types of poker. They are Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo. HORSE is played in a fixed limit format. In order for a person to be an excellent HORSE player, it will be necessary for them to have a good grasp on each of these games. Because this requires a great deal of versatility and skill, an individual who commits to learning each game, can potentially make a killing. If you are interested in becoming a quality HORSE poker player, take a look at the resources we have listed below. They are amongst the best on the web.