Pokerstars Review

Pokerstars Overview

Largest online poker site today. - Download PokerStars here and you know you're playing at the largest poker site in the world. Established in 2000 with a huge player base (on average between 100,000 to 200,000 players online at any one time) you'd be hard pressed to not find a game at PokerStars. The game choice is huge with plenty to offer everyone at all stake levels.There's even a good choice of games in poker variations other than Texas Holdem, if you fancy a game of Omaha, Draw, Stud or even HORSE then you need to download Pokerstars today and check out what you've been missing.

As you would expect at such a large poker room there are players at Pokerstars at every level, right from the complete beginner to the hardened professional. It can be quite easy to find some soft games - remember the higher the player / flop percentage displayed in the cash lobby, the softer the game.

Pokerstars Bonus Codes and Promotions

PokerStars now have 2 codes for you to use when you first sign up. Full details of the latest bonus and promotions at Stars and where to enter your codes can be found on our Pokerstars Bonus page.

Satellites and Qualifiers at Pokerstars

Back for the 8th Season is the European Poker Tour (EPT) and the qualifiers are running now for EPT Copenhagen, in Denmark, February 20th to 25th 2012. The venue is the Casino Copenhagen with a buy in direct of DKK 37,250 (at today's exchange rate £4,178.75). The qualifiers are running now from only €1.10 or just 50FPPs.

The EPT rolls into Spain next for EPT Madrid to be held at the Gran Casino this coming 12th to 17th March, buy in direct €5,300. No need to pay that much though, qualifiers are just coming online and are running from just €4.44 - more qualifiers will be coming along very soon.

There are generous prize packages to be won for these top, established, EPT events that will include all you need for a top tournament plus the full PokerStars experience such as - main event buy in, accommodation and expenses.

Season 5 of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) is bringing big money tournaments to such places as Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. The next stop is the APPT Seoul to be held in the Paradise Walkerhill Casino, Seoul, South Korea this coming March 8th - 11th. The prize packages are worth $4,500 and include buy into Main Event, 5 nights in a hotel and $750 towards your travelling expenses. The satellites are running now, around the clock, from just 60FPPs or $1.10.

Pokerstars Tournaments

PokerStars can always be relied on to have plenty of Sit and Go's and multi table tournaments to suit your fancy whenever you pop in. As well as the weekly $1 million, $500k and Daily Bigs (below), there are plenty of guaranteed tournaments running 24/7. They also have a healthy tournament program in Omaha, Razz and HORSE. As an official sponsor of the LAPT, APPT & EPT and a member of the WPT, there's a full programme of live game satellites for those players who want to experience the full bricks and mortar thrill.

PokerStars have recently announced The Daily Bigs, guaranteed daily tournaments all at European player friendly times, just look:

The Big $22 ($22 buy in), 5pm UK, $25k Guaranteed prize pool
The Big $109 ($109 buy in), 6pm UK,$50k Guaranteed prize pool
The Big $11 ($11 buy in), 7pm UK, $50k Guaranteed prize pool
The Big $55 ($55 buy in), 8pm UK, $100k Guaranteed prize pool

Satellites are running NOW from just $1.65 so you can win your seat to The Daily Bigs for even less!

As from 5th June 2011 the Major Guaranteed Tournaments, held on Sundays, will now start 2 hours earlier which will please European players. So, with satellites running all day every day from just $2.20, and huge prize pools every poker player will want to make a note of these brand new times:

Sunday Warm-Up ($500k Guaranteed) 4.00pm UK / 1.00pm New York
Sunday Rebuy ($200k Guaranteed) 5.00pm UK / midday New York
Sunday Storm ($200k Guaranteed) 6.30pm UK / 1.30pm New York
Sunday Million ($1m Guaranteed) 7.30pm UK / 2.30pm New York
Sunday 500 ($250k Guaranteed) 8.30pm UK / 3.30pm New York
Sunday Second Chance ($125k Guaranteed) 9.30pm UK / 4.30pm New York
Sunday Supersonic ($40k Guaranteed) 11.30pm UK / 6.30pm New York

In addition, as part of these time changes, the Monday Omaha and Super Tuesday tournamants will now take place 3 hours earlier at 7.00pm UK / 2.00pm New York.

Whilst we're talking about time you may have noticed that WET is often mentioned on Stars, and that's not the weather but Western European Time which is the same as BST (British Summer Time) yes, it's the time in the UK!

Uniquely in the poker world at Stars you can set up your own Poker Club and invite your mates to join in and play the games YOU want to play when YOU want to play them. This revolutionary concept - Homes Games - is available exclusively at PokerStars now - full details in our Home Games from PokerStars blog.


Tournaments
Buy-in fee	10%
Disconnect protection	yes
Registration time limit	1hr
Final table deals allowed	yes
Time bank	25secs + 60secs

Tournament Info available
Payout displayed before tourney	no
No. of entrants displayed	yes
Level time remaining	yes - lobby
View own position	yes
All players position	exiting / top30 only
Exiting players displayed	yes


Multi Table Tournaments (MTT)
Lowest entry	$0.50
Highest entry	$215
Usual starting stack	1500
Usual level increments	15mins
Buy-in fee	10% included
Standard No. seats	9
1x1 (Heads-up)	yes


Satellites
Usual starting stack	1500
Usual level increments	15mins
Buy-in fee	0% - 10%
Standard No. seats	9

Pokerstars Cash Games

PokerStars is one of the few poker sites where a high stakes player has a good choice of tables even out of peak hours. There's also plenty of choice in game variations, apart from the most popular Texas Holdem, they have active tables in Omaha, Omaha Hi / Lo, 7 Stud, 7 Stud Hi / Lo, Razz, 5 card Draw, 2-7 Triple Draw, HOSE and HORSE.

General info
Minimum blinds	1c / 2c
Maximum blinds	$25 / $50
1x1	yes
Standard seats	2,6 or 9
Rake - No-flop, no-drop?	yes
Rake max.	$5

Lobby info
Players per flop	yes
Average pot	yes
Hands per hour	yes

Pokerstars Sit and Go's

Sit and Go's - Single Table Tournaments (STT)
Lowest entry	$1.20
Highest entry	$5100
Buy-in fee	10%
Usual starting stack	1500
Usual level increments	10 mins
Standard No. seats	2, 8, 9 or 12

Pokerstars have a good range of 1 table and multi table sit and go's although strangely not $5 or $10 tournies, the lower and mid range level buy-ins are $1.50, $3.50, $7, $15 and $30.

Loyalty & Rewards at Pokerstars

Pokerstars was the first online poker site to have a VIP Loyalty Programme to reward their frequent players. Every real money player will earn points (Frequent Player Points FPPs) as they play which can be exchanged for cash, used to enter online tournaments (including Live Game Satellites) or spent in the excellent online shop. VIP Player Points (VPPs) determine your VIP level and are reset every calendar month - each time you earn 1 x VPP you will have earned at least 1 x FPPs, based on your VIP level. There are freerolls to be played at every VIP level.

Freerolls at Pokerstars

The wide variety of freerolls are easily found by going through the Lobby / Tourney / Freeroll tabs. As well as the monthly VIP Freerolls and Regional Freerolls at PokerStars you can share in a $500 prizepool for as little as 10 FPPs.

Leagues and Leaderboards at Pokerstars

The PokerStars Multi-Table Tournament Leaderboard come in three formats - The Weekly Leader Board, the Monthly Leader Board and the Yearly Leader Board. Every time you place in the top 15% you will be awarded Tournament Leader Board Points (TLB points) which count towards the following:

The Weekly Leader Board takes your best 10 results for the week and the player with the highest score gets to play, Heads Up, a Pro member of Team Poker Stars. The prize pool starts at $1000 and is carried over to the next weeks' match if the Pro wins!

The Monthly Leader Board will take your best 20 results from the previous month, then, if you are in the top 200 players, you will get your share of the $30,000 prize pool. Plus the top 1000 players will receive a ticket to a $20,000 Monthly TLB Freeroll.

The Yearly Leader Board takes your top 100 results from the previous year The lucky winner will receive a 5 stamp PokerStars Passport, the runner up will get the Passport with 3 stamps and third place gets the Passport with 2 stamps.

Play for Free at Pokerstars

Inexperienced Pokerstars new players are welcomed with an abundance of play money games to get them used to the feel of the software. We strongly recommend that players new to online poker take full advantage of these Play for Free games until they feel confident enough to graduate to Real Money games.