PokerStars Review 2010

PokerStars overview 2010.

PokerStars is the most popular online poker room. It is easily my first recommendation for anyone looking for the best all-round room with top-notch software and the most player traffic.

• Best overall online poker room with exceptional software.
• Most popular online room. Comfortably #1 for traffic.
• Friendly $600 bonus.
• No rakeback.

PokerStars is a highly refined poker room that works hard to ensure that the software, support and everything else about the room is the best in its field. PokerStars isn't the #1 poker room on the Internet without good reason, which is why I would recommend it as the top room for any new player.

Regular players may not be interested in PokerStars due to it's lack of rakeback, which is why some will prefer Full Tilt over PokerStars. However, PokerStars does offer an attractive VIP program (see the "PokerStars Rakeback" page), which acts as a decent substitute for actual rakeback.

PokerStars competition and traffic.

• Top room for traffic. You won't find a room with more players.
• A large amount of soft competition. Softer than the average room.

You can't argue with having more players than any other room, so I'll just leave it at that. If you can't find enough players at the right stakes at PokerStars, you are not going to have better luck anywhere else.

PokerStars has softer competition than most for two reasons:

1. Absence of rakeback means that there are fewer tight-aggressive grinders.
2. The incredible amount of advertising makes PokerStars the first choice for many new players.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that the other players will be so bad at PokerStars that they will be handing their money over to you as soon as you sit down. However, you will definitely bump in to a few more amateurs and less grinders than you would at a room like Full Tilt.

Visit the PokerStars website

PokerStars software.

• Incredibly well designed and constructed software. Client is of the highest quality.
• Plenty of in-game features. Great for multi-tablers too.
• Loads of mods and skins.
• Not a big fan of the table audio.

I'm going to feel very "salesy" as I write this section, but I don't care. I've played at almost every poker room out there, but I have never played at one that runs as smoothly and works as well as the PokerStars client.

Loads of features, lots of mods and customizations, impressively fast and never any problems. Honestly, you're better off just downloading PokerStars and trying it out for yourself. I don't have the time or a good enough thesaurus to highlight and describe all the great aspects of the room. I'd likely do it an injustice as well.

My friend's PokerStars.com review does a good job of covering more of the software and features on offer. The whole client is incredibly well-constructed, which is the reason why it's so easy to run PokerStars on Ubuntu also.

The only minor thing I do not like about the PokerStars room is the table audio. I doubt most people will even notice or care, but it sounds a little clunky and it's just not quite as sleek as the rest of the room in my overly-critical opinion.

PokerStars bonus.

The $600 bonus is new. See how is compares to the old one on the new PokerStars bonus page.

• Easy to clear.
• $600 bonus lasts for up to 3 deposits (you don't have to deposit $600 in one go).
• 100% up to $600.

The 100% up to $600 bonus at PokerStars is available to all new players to the room using the bonus code STARS600 on their first deposit. You can enter a PokerStars marketing code when signing up, but it will make no difference as to whether you receive the bonus or not. Entering STARS600 when making a deposit is the important part.

Be wary of entering an alternate PokerStars code (< example) when signing up, as they may not entitle you to the maximum possible bonus. I can assure that the bonus codes and marketing codes listed on this site are top notch (of course).

The PokerStars bonus clears at a pretty good rate (17FPPs per $1 bonus). After you have cleared the full bonus amount, it will effectively work out as receiving ~29% of the rake you have paid back to your account (see the poker bonuses section).

Poker Stars bonus details.

• 100% up to $600.
• Full bonus can be obtained within first 3 deposits - you do not need to deposit $600 at once.
• Use the bonus code STARS600 when making a deposit to get the bonus.
• 17 FPPs needed for every $1 of bonus.
• 10,200 FFPs needed to redeem the full $600 bonus.
• Bonus released in $10 increments for every 170FPPs collected.

You earn 5 FFPs for every $1 paid in rake at PokerStars. To get the full $600 bonus and collect 10,200 FPPs, you will have paid around $2,040 in rake. Therefore the bonus works out to give you 29% of your rake back, which is about the same percentage as standard rakeback deals.

Of course, the PokerStars bonus period will not last forever, but it does act as a very good substitute for rakeback in the meantime.

Useful PokerStars pages.

• PokerStars rakeback - See how earning FPPs and trading them for cash converts in to a rakeback %.
• PokerStars Ubuntu - Using Ubuntu? Find out how you can play PokerStars on the Ubuntu OS.
• New PokerStars bonus - PokerStars updated their bonus to a new 100% up to $600 one at the beginning of August 09. See how it compares to the old $50 bonus that they used to offer.
• New PokerStars VIP system - PokerStars also updated the way you earn VPPs in August 09.

Visit the PokerStars website

Go back to the Texas Hold'em rooms.