Poker Stars is the most popular online poker room in the world. It has the best software and is the undisputed leader for poker tournaments. Due to the huge number of players and the variety of games offered, you’re sure to find Poker Stars a great poker playing experience. Highly recommended!

Note: see the Poker Stars Bonuses & Promotions section of this review for more information.

Poker Stars Screen Shots:

Poker Stars – Full Review

Poker Stars is the world’s largest online poker room, and for good reason. I have played on Poker Stars for over 6 years, and it still remains my favourite online poker room. In my opinion it has the best software, and is the undisputed leader for poker tournaments.

The site has been popular for many years but it’s huge growth in recent years was helped enormously by the publicity they generated after seeing Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, and then Joseph Hachem win the WSOP main event in 2003, 2004, and 2005 – they all qualified via PokerStars and have since become its official ambassadors. Poker Stars continues to send huge numbers of players to the WSOP main event each year, more than all the other poker sites put together.

Poker Stars have not always been the biggest online poker room. The breakthrough occurred when they decided to allow U.S. players to continue playing at the site after the U.S. legislation (UIGEA). It was this decision that enabled them to become the largest online poker room, taking over from Party Poker – who pulled out of the U.S. market, along with many other online poker rooms.

Poker Stars now offer a great sign up bonus of $600, so now there’s no reason not to join!

See why they’re the best: Click here to join Poker Stars

Software & Features

Poker Stars have their very own software and unlike many other poker sites, they don’t share their players with other poker rooms via a network/skin. Their poker software is generally nice and quick, and it runs very smoothly.

The lobby area at Poker Stars is nice and clean, and very easy to navigate. They’ve recently introduced a new “black theme” for the lobby, and I think this looks great. With the help of the tab system in the lobby area and the additional filters which remove any unwanted games from view, finding a suitable game of poker is really easy and straightforward.

As for the table software, one of the great features of Poker Stars is the ability to upload your very own avatar image. You can upload an image of yourself or your pet dog (there are other options too!). It doesn’t affect the actual poker, but it does make it a little bit more interesting than the usual generic avatar images used on most of the other online poker rooms – which I usually turn off. It’s a nice touch which separates Poker Stars from the rest.

The Poker Stars software now also allows you to resize the table windows. This is really useful if you’re playing on multiple tables. Another feature is the ability to change the default theme of the poker table, which in my opinion is a bit dull. There are a few different themes to choose from such as Marine, Stars, and Saloon. Most of them are a bit naff and far worse than the default, but I like the “Hyper-Simple” theme, which I have set as my default. The themes are quick to install (from the lobby select view > table themes) and are good if you’re a little bored with the default look and feel.

One feature not to be overlooked is the new hand replay tool, which is instantly available directly from the playing table. This very handy tool replays previous hands so you can re-live the awful bad beat over and over again, or take pride in how well you played those pocket rockets. Oh and if you get to a showdown situation with a player and they then muck their cards, you can use the hand replay tool to see what their cards were. Obviously it’ll only show you an opponent’s cards at showdown situations where they called or you called them, and they then mucked. In the past you’d have to look in the hand history logs, but now it’s just a mouse click away. It’s a great new feature!

Click the mouse and: Sign up to Poker Stars today

Player Traffic / Ease of Competition

It’s often said that there are too many good poker players at Poker Stars and not enough fish. Of course the standards vary substantially depending upon the buy in level, but that’s the same anywhere. I think in the past it was a fair comment that Poker Stars attracted a slightly higher class of poker player, due to its independent software and the fact they don’t share their players with other rooms. I still believe that there are generally better and more aggressive players at Poker Stars than on other sites. However since it’s now the largest online poker room, this status is somewhat over exaggerated. There are plenty or really bad players to be found. It’s your job to find them!

Find them today: Play at Poker Stars

Cash Game Action

Poker Stars is known for its great tournament selections, but it should also be pointed out that they also have the highest number of cash game players. There is a huge choice of games to suit all budgets and unlike other online poker rooms you rarely have to wait for a decent game. You can just scan the games offered and usually jump straight in.

As expected, there are many hold’em ring games running at all levels. But what separates Poker Stars from the rest is the sheer variety of games on offer. There are plenty of Omaha and stud games running at all times, including Hi/Lo and razz variations. There are also draw games on offer such as 5 card draw which is fairly popular, although the 2-7 single/triple draw variations don’t attract many players. If this isn’t enough, there are also mixed games on offer, including: HORSE, HOSE, and 8-game. There’s also a healthy selection of Badugi games.

If you get bored of hold’em and you like playing these poker variations then Poker Stars is definitely the place to be. No other site comes close to offering such a variety of cash games to suit all bankrolls. However, if you’re predominantly a hold’em cash game player, then you’ll probably notice that the games at Poker Stars are a little tougher to beat than most. The players at Poker Stars are more aggressive than at other sites, even in the low to medium stakes. This probably stems from an overflow from tournament traffic. Of course, if you’re a good cash game player and can find a suitable table then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do well here – but it should be said that there are easier pickings elsewhere!

Choose your game: Visit Poker Stars

Multi Table Tourneys (MTTS)

PokerStars is the undisputed king of poker tournaments. There are multi table tournaments (MTT) for all budgets and tastes, drawing huge numbers of players and massive prize pools. Each Sunday they host the daddy of all online poker tournaments – the “Sunday Million”, a (you guessed it) $1,000,000 guaranteed tourney. You can buy in direct for $215 or try your luck in the numerous satellites for this event. There’s also a “Sunday Warm Up”, with a $750k guaranteed prize pool, in addition to a huge number of daily scheduled MTTs with big guarantees and large fields. There is quite literally something for everyone!

As mentioned earlier, Poker Stars sends more players to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) than all the other online poker sites put together. So it’s no surprise to find a large amount of WSOP satellites on offer. But it’s not just the WSOP, as you’ll also find satellites for a whole host of other live poker events such as the European Poker Tour (EPT), and the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour (APPT).

If big live poker events aren’t you’re thing (why the hell not?) then each year Poker Stars play host to the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), which first started in 2002. The 2008 WCOOP had poker players from 119 countries and was contested over 33 events, with Poker Stars awarding a grand total of $39,958,000 in prize money. So as you can see, Poker Stars is the undisputed king of poker tournaments.

Take your seat for glory: Start playing at Poker Stars

Sit & Go (SNG) Selection

If you don’t fancy the long slog of MTTs then there is a huge choice of sit & go’s to be found at Poker Stars. If you’re a SNG specialist then you’ll absolutely love Poker Stars. They have SNGs for all budgets and cover many different formats. You can be waiting around for a game to start at other online poker rooms – but not with Poker Stars. There are always a huge number of games starting and sometimes you have to be very quick with the click or you momentarily miss out. But don’t worry; another game soon starts up – usually within seconds. This kind of action is unrivalled anywhere!

Get in on the action: Join Poker Stars

Bonuses / Promotion

Poker Stars now offer a first time deposit bonus of 100% up to $600. To get this bonus sign up to Poker Stars and use the marketing code POKEROLOGY. When you are asked for a bonus code then enter STARS600. The other good news is that you can claim the bonus by making up to three deposits in total, and you have 6 months in which to earn the full bonus amount. Although you must use the bonus code STARS600 within 60 days of the first deposit. The bonus is released in $10 increments and has a clearance rate of 17 VPP per $1 of bonus.

Poker Stars doesn’t offer any rakeback to its players, but they do have a fairly good Frequent Player Program (FPP) in operation. You can earn FPP credits in cash games and for entering tournaments. Earning FPP credits is fairly easy at Poker Stars if you play regularly. You can use your FPP credits to enter tournaments, or to buy merchandise from the FPP store. It doesn’t take much to earn enough credits for things like t-shirts and baseball caps, and a whole host of other goodies. For the dedicated player Poker Stars now has a VIP club, which is an extension of the frequent player program, but the rewards are far greater. Porsche anyone?

Claim your 100% sign up bonus: Visit Poker Stars (enter marketing code: POKEROLOGY)

Customer Service

This is another area which I think Poker Stars excels at. The customer support at Poker Stars has always been of a very high standard whenever I’ve had a question, query, or concern. The only downside is they only offer support via email. It would be better if they also had a live support system like other online poker rooms. However, when I’ve emailed Poker Stars support I’ve often had a reply within minutes, which is excellent service. It also seems to me that the people at Poker Stars support know their poker and are very well trained, which just gives you a greater sense of security and satisfaction.