PokerStars

[tightpoker]

PokerStars.com Review



Please post your thoughts and opinions of the site here. Things to consider:

Popularity - Total players, game selection, tournaments, etc
Competition - Toughness of ring games and tournament games
Software - Quality of interface, multi-tabling, audio cues
Security - Operator integrity, certification, gut feel
Promotions - Sign up bonuses, bad beat promos, deposit bonuses
Support - Quality and speed of technical or game support
Ethics - Trustworthiness of site, true customer oriented site

Overall - 1 to 10 overall ranking of the site

[bdmk]

popularity: now starting to break the 70k player barrier nitely, should overcome party soon as the overall #1

competition: the best tournaments anywhere, especially online. best/most choices for anything from all levels of cash buyins to tons of sats to big live events

software: the best there is online, bar none. cleanest graphics, best player options (stars pioneered the notes and stats features as well as the personalized player avatars, for example), smooth interface, virtually no server crashes/downtime to speak of, best audio/visuals

security: super secure, never experienced or heard of anything untoward in that regard

promos: they have nice reload promos from time to time, and other good promos around the big events, esp the WSOP

support: excellent, friendly, competent, very fast email support

ethics: nothing to complain here either

overall grade: i'd give them an 11 if i could, so a 10 would have to suffice

[billy b]

Popularity - Very Popular, lots of dumb players though


Competition - Lots of great competion but also lots of morons as well.


Software - Very impressed with the software / interface. It seems to run flawless, there has only been one instance where it froze but it came back after about 2 min so, not bad. Been playin on it for about a year.

Security - Seems secure, no problems thus far. Consindering they are one of the most popular I doubt they have many security flaws

Promotions - Love the freerolls

Support - Never had to deal with it


IN all I give it a 10!

[carrera]

only being able to join the wait list for a specific table is a negative point with their software for me.

[goofyballer]

The Stars interface puts me on tilt!! I play like shit on Stars. I really don't know why, but I swear that if you put PartyPoker's graphics on it I'd play 10x better.

[jacedk]

The Stars interface puts me on tilt!! I play like shit on Stars. I really don't know why, but I swear that if you put PartyPoker's graphics on it I'd play 10x better.

Wierd...I have the same problem. I have lost more money on Stars than ANY other site. Don't know if it's the interface or something else, but I play like a donk there.

[leopard47]

For a new player, its one of the best sites. Reading the other posts, it's is one of the top Sites, and for good reason.

Plenty of tournaments, I had one of my best tournaments in a freeroll, finishing 15th out of 4000, so I "Won" 9,000 on a 300 playmoney buy in.

Still, it was great fun. Site has worked extremely smoothly every time I have played there.

Grade: 10

[cj hames]

Easily the best RNG's I have ever played. If you are looking for a site that plays as close to "real poker" as you play at home, look no further. Very good players and most of them very polite.

[mervhage]

Very good players and most of them very polite.

Are we talking about PokerStars the poker site? Their players suck just as bad as any other site and as far as politeness, I say "fuck you" to them.

[dmopiela]

The only problem I have with PS is some of the idiots who stay in with 10,6 off and draw out on you; but then again thats on every site. I think its a good site and I give it close to a ten.

[labatsman]

I try and take a lot of notes on players as I play a lot of h/l stud and you tend to see a lot of the same players in the sng's.
I love that the fact that in Poker Stars through their Instant hand History you can see a players hands If they muck on Showdown. This is a great benefit, obviously if your playing in any money betting game. Lets you know who's bluffing and how they play certain cards.
I don't know if any other sites have this feature.If they do please let me know.

Still a lot of bad players here but not as many as I saw on Party poker where i will never go back ever.

Loads of choices on types of games and great qualifiers for the European tour.

I also like the easy use of their stats. My favourite site so far

[scotty1139]

Still a lot of bad players here but not as many as I saw on Party poker where i will never go back ever.

Ugh, I wish you hadn't ruined an otherwise good review with this piece of trash line. While your sentiment is assuredly echoed by many players, this kind of thinking is not only detrimental to your development as a player, it betrays a lack of understanding about how you make money at poker. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you're an accomplished player, and maybe you have made a nice profit in the games you play, but it's not due to this line of thinking. I'm not attacking you personally, but we need to correct this flawed line of thinking.

I'm usually a pretty eloquent guy, but in this case I can't say it any better than David Sklansky and Ed Miller... this is from Small Stakes Holdem, page 16-18, in the chapter "Where the Money Comes From."

Every cent of your long-term profit playing poker comes from exploiting your opponents' errors and predictable tendencies. The more numerous and egregious their errors, the more money you can make. Some small stakes players who struggle to beat their game think that they would do better if they moved to a higher limit. "If only I played in a game where people respect my raises, I could be a big winner." This notion, appealing to many harried [read:tight] players, is absurd.

We've all thought this at some point. Sound familiar? Here's more:

Money comes from exploiting mistakes. When your opponents make mistakes, you can make money. When they don't, you don't make money. There is ALWAYS more potential for profit in games where your opponents make frequent and costly errors.


There are many reasons why I play on Party, but one of the biggest reasons is the sheer # of bad players. You're free to play wherever you want, but I think you'll eventually realize that you're missing out on a big fat bag of money that people are eager to hand you.

[labatsman]

Still a lot of bad players here but not as many as I saw on Party poker where i will never go back ever.

.

I'm usually a pretty eloquent guy, but in this case I can't say it any better than David Sklansky and Ed Miller... this is from Small Stakes Holdem, page 16-18, in the chapter "Where the Money Comes From."

Every cent of your long-term profit playing poker comes from exploiting your opponents' errors and predictable tendencies. The more numerous and egregious their errors, the more money you can make. Some small stakes players who struggle to beat their game think that they would do better if they moved to a higher limit. "If only I played in a game where people respect my raises, I could be a big winner." This notion, appealing to many harried [read:tight] players, is absurd.

We've all thought this at some point. Sound familiar? Here's more:

Money comes from exploiting mistakes. When your opponents make mistakes, you can make money. When they don't, you don't make money. There is ALWAYS more potential for profit in games where your opponents make frequent and costly errors.


.

Could not agree with you more on above quote Scotty,but its a personal thing I hated playing on PP. Many others will agree there were a lot of too many sucker hands dealt...ie.... j/j k/k and a/a all in same hand ... I got burnt way too many too times raising with the best and losing ...I know happens all the time everywhere on the net... its internet poker..

It's a personal thing and I prefer playing on other sites looking for bad players to play against. Again It's my opinion .

And it's not like I moved to a higher limit..I moved to a Different Table ie poker Stars

[labatsman]

Hey Scotty

I reread your reply a few times now, And just wanted to say that your right ... P P has the the biggest Aquarium and the most fish to catch.. PS is enlarging it's aquarium all the time and there is still lots of fish too catch.

And there are so many new and increasing poker sites ( aquariums) out there , lets continue to share what are the best lures to hook the fish.

all the best

[goofyballer]

Could not agree with you more on above quote Scotty,but its a personal thing I hated playing on PP. Many others will agree there were a lot of too many sucker hands dealt...ie.... j/j k/k and a/a all in same hand ... I got burnt way too many too times raising with the best and losing ...

Dude, IT'S NOT RIGGED.