Poker Stars Review from Actionflop Poker

POKER STARS REVIEW

SCREEN SHOTS

Poker Stars lobby

Poker Stars table

OVERVIEW

Regularly boasting over 100,000 players on the site at one time, Poker Stars is the largest online poker room in the world. Poker Stars offers all manner of ring games and tournaments, including its own World Championship of Online Poker. Its Sunday Million No-Limit Hold'em tournament is the longest-running, largest weekly online tournament, featuring a purse of over $1 million. The last three winners of the World Series of Poker main event, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, and Joe Hachem, are affiliated with Poker Stars. Poker Stars has a well-deserved reputation for unparalleled customer service.

Poker Stars continues to serve all real-money players, including those from the U.S.

BONUSES

Initial deposit:	100% up to $50 - Use bonus code FIRST2007 when depositing
Difficulty to clear:	Moderate
Expiration:	First deposit bonus and reload bonuses expire after 6 months
Method of tabulation:	Frequent Player Points (FPPs)
Details:	In order to clear the first deposit bonus, you must earn 10 times the bonus amount (in dollars) in FPPs. So, you must earn 500 FPPs to clear the maximum $50 first deposit bonus. Reload bonuses are easier to clear than the first deposit bonus, requiring you to earn 7 times the bonus amount (in dollars) in FPPs. Moreover, the maximum reload bonus you can earn is larger than the first deposit bonus ($120 vs. $50). It is easier to earn FPPs playing limit hold'em than no-limit hold'em, particularly at $3/$6 and up. Unlike many other sites, Poker Stars awards FPPs for tournament play. Click here to see how you earn FPPs.
Opinion:	Poker Stars does not offer bonuses as frequently as other sites, but they clear at a fair rate and do not expire for 6 months. (They used to have no expiration date!)
Reload bonuses:	From time to time, Poker Stars will offer a reload bonus, usually 20% up to $100, meaning that you must deposit $600 in order to claim the maximum amount. As noted above, these reload bonuses clear at a faster rate than the first deposit bonus. The online community spends a lot of energy trying to guess when the offer will come. Offers often come just before an important event such as the World Series of Poker or Poker Stars' own World Championship of Online Poker.

GAME SELECTION/COMMENTS

Game / Variation	Fixed Limit (ring)	No Limit (ring)	Pot Limit (ring)	Tournament

Texas Hold'em
Omaha
Omaha Hi/Lo
7 Card Stud
7 Card Stud Hi/Lo
Razz
5 Card Draw
2-7 Triple Draw
HORSE
HOSE
HA
HO

Often with over 100,000 players logged in at the same time, Poker Stars offers one of the widest variety of ring games and tournaments in the industry. The weekly Sunday Million NLHE tournament usually attracts over 7,000 participants alone! Day or night, you will never have a problem finding a game at Poker Stars.

Poker Stars has benefited from the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), signed into law in October 2006. The UIGEA forced publicly-traded poker sites to refuse real-money play from U.S. residents, and many of these players have turned to Poker Stars. In September 2006, Poker Stars claimed an average of about 6,000 active real-money players; by November 2006, this number had risen to almost 8,000.

For many years, Poker Stars has had the reputation of having tougher-than-average players, particularly at higher limits. While I can see why people say this, and while I believe it to be true, I have still been a consistent winner at this site by playing disciplined poker.

RAKE

Poker Stars has one of the most favorable rake structures in the industry. While you may not notice how much money you are saving in rake (compared to other sites' rake) as you are playing, the amount can be substantial. For an in-depth article comparing the rakes across several sites, click here. Click here to see Poker Stars' rake tables.

PLAYER REWARDS

FPPs that you earn to clear the first deposit and reload bonuses can be valuable in other ways. You can use them to enter tournaments that offer cash prizes or entry into other more lucrative tournaments. Or, you can visit the FPP Store and spend your points on poker books or Poker Stars-branded clothing and merchandise.

Additionally, with their first raked hand, players become part of the Poker Stars VIP Club. The VIP Club has six tiers: BronzeStar, SilverStar, GoldStar, PlatinumStar, Supernova, Supernova Elite. Your level of play every month determines which tier you belong to. VIP Club benefits include exclusive tournaments, bonus FPPs, and a special VIP FPP Store (earn an Aston Martin V8 Vantage for only 5 million FPPs). Click here to learn more about the VIP Club.

MISCELLANEOUS

Poker Stars' software has always been rock solid stable and offers many unique and innovative features. Players can personalize their avatars by uploading an image of their choice (pending Stars' approval) and can choose from a variety of graphical skins ("themes") for the table. Hand histories can be automatically saved to your hard drive for import into programs such as Poker Tracker.

The weekly Sunday Million NLHE tournament is the most prestigious and lucrative online weekly tournament. A $530 buy-in might net you almost $200,000 as the first place winner (of a purse in excess of $1 million). Many well-known professional poker players participate in this tournament.

Poker Stars was the first site to allow final table tournament players to "cut a deal" for the prize money. For tournaments with large cash prizes, a manager is usually available to halt the game and work out the specifics with the remaining players.

If there is one site that comes close to having it all, it is Poker Stars. Everything about the company is professional: superb email customer service, a superior rewards program, fast cashouts, the biggest and most plentiful games. If not for the fish that seem to be more plentiful at rival sites, you could be perfectly happy playing all of your online poker at Poker Stars only.

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