Summary(8.0)

PokerStars is the market leader in online poker tournaments and second in ring game traffic, and brings in thousands of new real money players on a daily basis. It has a very ambitious weekly program of both fixed schedule and sit-and-go tournaments, where many high stakes games are available. The software is top-notch in terms of functionality, layout, and graphics. With such a large player base, the opposition ranges from soft to very high quality – and there are lots of opportunities to compete with top players for anyone interested in improving their skills. In addition, the customer support is well above average. Overall, PokerStars is very professionally managed with a real “feel for poker” and offers a nice VIP program for loyal players. There is currently no sign-up bonus.

Software & Graphics (10)

PokerStars' software has a great look and feel. It boasts top-notch security and always runs fast and smoothly. The poker room is positioned today as the online tournament leader because of its tremendous tournament traffic and quick and reliable software. There are often tournaments with over 500 players and, even up to 1,500 players or more, without any platform problems. The software has special tournament features. For example, it ensures that there is an even balance of tables for the duration of the tournament, and also prevents tactical slowing down of tempo with individual time banks (after the time bank is up you must act in the normal allotted time or else the hand will be folded) and at the end of tournaments by playing all tables "one hand at a time," to prevent tables from waiting out the others in an effort to escape the dreaded no-pay "bubble" placements.

Game Variety (9)

PokerStars' ring game traffic is lower than tournament traffic. Nevertheless, it ranks second in the world (after Party Poker) on almost any given day. It has been picking up lately, supported by the tournament players. At peak hours, the traffic is currently being counted at 9,500-10,500 real money players. A relatively large amount of the players are European, which makes the site reasonably busy at evening time in Europe.

Ring & Tournament Traffic (10)

Real money player statistics are as follows: April, 2006: 9,000-10,000 ring game players at peak hours; 65,000-75,000 tournament players at peak hours.

Rake (7)

PokerStars' rake is slightly below the industry average, with better offers at micro-levels and somewhat better at the highest stakes.

Soft Competetion (7)

The ring games at the higher limits tend to be pretty tough at PokerStars and the viewed flopped percentages at these limits are fairly low meaning tighter than the industry standard for the same limits. On the positive side, there are many games to choose from and also plenty of decent/good players know how to exploit the tighter games. For example, at the 9-player No-Limit Hold’em tables ($1/$2 and up) the view flop percentage is often in the mid 20s and low 30s. In Omaha, there are some loose games with view flop percentages up in the 40s and 50s, sometimes even in the 60s (at $1/$2 and up). Due to the steady influx of new players in combination with great game variety, the ring games have become softer and softer. Today there is no problem finding suitable competition for all skill levels.

Promotions & Bounses (1)

No sign-up bonus at Pokerstars. Overall, Pokerstars has decent promotions for the regular players. There are frequent re-deposit bonuses where you typically get 20-25% bonus match of deposits up to $600 for $100-$120 bonus. There are a lot of special event tournaments, which can be found at the home page. There are tons of free rolls, but they are of very low value as they are only satellites to weekly free roll finals.

Support (6)

Pokerstars should be very secure, as the second largest poker room in the world, with no earlier recorded problems. Top score.

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