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Poker Stars Review
Rating Summary
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History
Poker Stars opened for play money beta testing September 12th 2001 and began offering real money games in December 2001. As the leading tournament online poker room it has produced players who won their way to become the 2003 (Chris Moneymaker) and 2004 (Greg Raymer) World Series of Poker Main Event Champions.
Player Traffic 10/10
Up to 15,000 cash game players and 100,000 tournament players can be found at the Poker Stars tables during peak periods. This makes Poker Stars by far the largest online poker room for both cash game and tournament poker.
Quality of Players 7/10
In previous years Poker Stars had a reputation of having very tough players at any game or limit. Recently the competition gotten easier except there has been an influx of tougher players at the higher limits making these games more difficult.
Games Offered
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Pot Limit |
No Limit |
Scheduled Tournaments |
Sit'n'go Tournaments |
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| Omaha | |
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| Omaha Hi/Lo | |
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| 7 Card Stud | |
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| 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo | |
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| Razz | |
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| 5 Card Draw | |
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| 2-7 Triple Draw | |
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| H.O.R.S.E. | |
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| H.O.S.E. | |
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Software 9.5/10
Since opening with an extended beta testing stage, Poker Stars has had the most stable and functional software of all the online poker rooms. Even with tournament sizes of more than a thousand people the software runs quickly and smoothly.
The statistics provided to players are comprehensive. The lobby lists tables with average pot size, players per flop and hands per hour. Statistics offered to seated players include flop seen by position, pots won with showdown and pots won without showdown. In tournaments players can also see their current position and the average chip stack sizes of the players remaining.
Bonuses and Promotions 8/10
Poker Stars offers a first deposit bonus of $100 up to $600 and there is an occasional re-load bonus, typically 20% up to $120.
Players are able to earn Frequent Player Points (FPP) by playing real money games that can used to enter tournaments or make purchases in the FPP Store. A VIP Club is offered to all players with a variety of membership levels based on the amount of Frequent Player Points earned every month.
Customer Support 9/10
Customer support is provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by e-mail only. Responses are received in minutes for the majority of enquiries and the quality of responses is excellent. Poker Stars has some of the most competent customer support representatives in the business.