Seeing that PokerStars is the largest, if not most popular, poker room in the world, you should only expect the very best from this premium poker site. Thing is, though, that’s not the case. You’ll get a great game selection, decent functionality from the software and game engine, fairly acceptable game play, and okay game graphics; it’s not a 3D poker fest with console-quality avatars like those found in other virtual poker rooms, but it’s perfectly satisfactory for those multitasking, multi-dealing, and multi-table clients.

Furthermore, this is a poker room that still allows US Players to play—great news for Americans who feel like online poker sites are slowly excluding them from the online poker scene—and has excellent customer support to boot. But the true bread-and-butter of Poker Stars promotion is the fact it has excellent level of competition. Expect only “stiff” (as opposed to “soft”) competition in its player base. In fact, it got some great publicity after some of its players (Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, and Joe Hatchem, to name a few) was able to win the World Series of Poker Main Event. The message here is clear: If you want to go to a poker site that’s not only bonus-heavy but also competitive and challenging, then Poker Stars is the website to visit.

PokerStars - Player Competition

Yes, competition tends to be stiff at Poker Stars; still, finding suitable competition for a customer’s given skill level shouldn’t be a problem. Unlike other sites that cater to “soft competition” a bit too, leading to a loose and casual player base that many an expert poker champion can take advantage of but immediately get bored of, Poker Stars offers you both numerous pros at the higher stakes and small fry at the lower stakes. Find the stake you’re most comfortable with and start from there.

The ring games at higher limits are rather tough; in particular, the viewed-flop percentages are tighter than the average for the same limits. However, the ring games have eased up as of late due to the boom in Poker Stars popularity, the site’s dependable game variety, and influx of steady, casual player traffic.

The player quality at the tournaments, since they’re so all encompassing of the entire player base, is softer, although the competition at the bigger buys in tournaments remains stiff and tight. As an online tournament leader, Poker Stars attracts both expert and non-expert poker players alike.

PokerStars - Traffic and Popularity

The popularity of Poker Stars cannot be questioned, because traffic is heavy in all its games—whether you’re yearning to play some H.O.R.S.E., Omaha Hi/Lo, Limit and No Limit, No Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, Texas Hold ‘Em, Seven Card Stud Hi, Seven Card Hi-Lo, and Razz, among other games. Full-table games are also an option, as well as heads-up and short-handed tables. Take note that there’s no rate at the micro-limit tables.

Because of the level of competition present in this room, Poker Stars plays host to a lot of tournaments and freerolls; besides which, the site’s high traffic guarantees that players searching for a tournament will most likely find one to their liking. Poker Stars even runs plenty of satellite tournaments to the World Series of Poker and many other live and online poker happenings. For those high-stakes, high-roller, and decently skilled players out there, you can even join a Million Dollar Guaranteed Tournament and earn really big! When it comes to tournament organization and high-level poker, look nowhere else than Poker Stars.

Of course, regardless of competition levels, the heavy concentration of players still assures those looking for an easy win a large amount of casual, low-level “fish” they can hustle and swindle in juicy smaller buy-in tournaments, although most of the tournaments have low to medium buy-ins anyway. In any case, there are plenty of $500 or more buy-in tournaments available to the more skillful, high-stake clients.

PokerStars - Site Software

Forget 3D poker fests and the fact that Poker Stars software looks about the same as many other software out there in the Internet poker industry—when it comes to smooth and intuitive poker game play that both pros and amateurs can appreciate. Reliability is the name of the game with this feature-filled software that provides players with at-a-glance data and statistic functions, a lobby that provides crucial information such as notes on other players and stats on the percentages of action in different hands. As you can see, it’s highly technical and complicated—just the way the pros want it, although the casual players can easily adopt this kind of remarkable game play.

As mentioned above, advanced multi-tabling is supported at up to eight cash games at any given moment, and at an unlimited amount of tournaments. Go ahead and take control of the software—you can customize most of the features to your liking via individual themes and settings. Just like your desktop or mobile phone theme, the classic Poker Stars poker room look can be easily replaced by a host of other preset Poker Stars themes. Moreover, players can even load images and avatars to represent themselves, just like in Internet chat, plus an option to block these player images if they’re not of your taste. Yes, Poker Stars tends to pander to both hardcore gamers and casual ones, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

PokerStars - Everything Else

Sadly, the customer support in Poker Stars isn’t as dependable as many other poker sites; you still have 24/7 email support, but they lack live chat and telephone support. On the other hand, their email-only system seems to be holding up, and its agents are knowledgeable and friendly enough to handle the direst of customer complaints. Still, all-in-all, compared to other sites, customer support is mostly mediocre.

On the other hand, this poker room’s promotions are excellent and rewarding. Are you a first time depositor? You can get 100% first-time deposit bonus of up to $50 by using a bonus code (search on the PokerStars website for latest codes available) and playing on Poker Stars the collect the number of Base Frequent Player Points equal to 10 times the bonus points. In simpler terms, Poker Stars uses the same successful point system other poker sites use, only they named it differently. Still, it’s a great way to earn extra bonuses outside of the winnings you get from playing at the site. You can buy items from the Poker Stars FPP or use the points to enter other tournaments.

All in all, there’s little wonder why Poker Stars is the market leading in online poker tournaments and ring games. With its premiere software catered to serious poker players and player incentives that reward loyal players, you’ll be hard pressed to find a reason why you shouldn’t play in this poker room. If you’re a poker player who wants to bring his poker-playing skills up—or a casual player who wants to leave his fate to chance—then register at Poker Stars today!